Extinction Machine

Chapter One Hundred Fourteen

VanMeer Castle

Near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Monday, October 21, 7:57 a.m.

I landed on my side with Ghost cradled against my chest; the impetus of my dive sent us sliding fifteen feet across the polished floor. The shock wave kept us going until my shoulders slammed into a table on which was a huge bouquet of flowers. The blast flattened the table, withered the flowers and splattered us with splinters and chunks of masonry.

The aftershock of the explosion echoed away from me, rolling down the halls. The screams of the maimed mercenaries filled the air. Ghost staggered to his feet, barked once, and then fell over on his side. It was only then that I saw the blood smeared on the left side of his head. A piece of debris had struck him, ripping open the flesh.

I lunged over to him, touching his chest, and my heart almost stopped while I searched for his. Found the beat. Rapid, thin. But there.

He was alive, but he was out cold. Maybe crippled. Maybe dying.

I tapped my earbud.

“Cowboy to Echo Team, I have the package. I need extraction and backup right now.”

Nobody answered me.

Across the room, Howard Shelton laughed weakly.

I turned to him.

“You dumb f*ck,” he said.

I heard a sound behind me. There was nothing but empty wall, but as I spun around, something hit me. I had a vague image of light coming through a doorway that shouldn’t be there. There were figures in the light. Men. One small man with glasses. Several very big men.

I saw the stock of a rifle swing toward me and then blackness screamed in my head.