The second hand of the big clock on the wall behind him swept past the twelve. It was 538 a.m. Right on schedule, the vast room was jolted by a violent shudder.
One of the technicians working the operating system monitors along the wall behind him said, “Blackout in five, four, three, two, one”
Huth gripped the catwalk rail as night fell and a hurricane was born. Gale-force wind plucked at his lab coat, and he had to hold on with both hands.
Over the howl of the wind, another technician was screaming out more numbers, counting down the time until the complex’s battery backup power kicked in.
Light returned to the grim, low-ceilinged chamber.
And as it did, the room was rocked by a tremendous explosion. Concrete dust rained on him. Right away, Huth knew it wasn’t the thunder of the passage opening. It came from the hallway behind him. More explosions, and a blinding white light flashed through the window of the bulkhead door. For a sick-ening instant, the catwalk teetered, and the vibration through the rails was so violent that it made his hands go numb.
First thing he thought was that it had to be one of the Globals, trying to seize control of the passageway. The second thing he thought was that he had to get to the door.
Bar the door.
Huth dashed across the catwalk. When he looked out the scorched glass of the bulkhead door, he saw the one-eyed man charging at him. Cursing his numbed fingers, he fumbled with the lock.
RYAN DIDN’T WAIT to toss the grens, and neither did the others. With six second fuses burning, to hesitate was to die. Ryan took a step out into the pitch-black hall and chucked his grens at the far end.
Twenty-four grenades landed among the sec men guarding the bulkhead door. They heard the clunks on the floor and felt impacts against their armor as the grens hit and bounced off. By the time the lights came up two seconds later, and they saw what lay all around them, it was too late.
The first explosion was really a dozen grens popping off at once. It dropped the hallway ceiling, blew out the walls and blew the sec men through the walls and the ceiling. The explosions that came after that were pure overkill. They propelled already flying bodies farther down the hall.
“They’re powering up the passageway!” Nara said. “Let’s go!”
Ryan charged out ahead of her. Through the plaster dust he could see a head on the other side of the door’s window. He threw himself against the barrier and it gave, slamming back.
The man behind it went flying.
Ryan didn’t give him a second look. He held the door open as Nara and Damm ran past.
Thrill Bill had to have slipped on a body because he was still halfway down the hall. “Go on, go on!” he cried as he dashed toward Ryan.
The one-eyed man gave the warlord covering fire, but it was impossible to control the whole corridor. From the opposite end of the hallway, green flashed. Thrill Bill screamed, and a blast of light sizzled past Ryan’s hip, narrowly missing him.
Thrill Bill crashed down, just outside the doorway. Ryan grabbed him by the shirt. “Come on, stand up,” he said.
“Can’t do it. My legs”
When Ryan pulled him through the doorway, he saw the terrible injuries. Thrill Bill moved, but his right leg didn’t. It was severed at the hip. His other leg dangled by a thread. Ryan shut the door and locked it.
“Never had any luck,” Thrill Bill said.
“Come on, Ransom, you can make it,” Nara yelled as she started across the catwalk. “We can carry you.”
“I don’t think so,” Thrill Bill said. “I’m dead meat, no matter which side of the passageway I’m on. If I stay here at least I can do some good. Get some payback. Give me your tribarrel for a backup. I’ll keep them off you.”
Ryan passed him the weapon, then gave his shoulder a squeeze.
“Pleasure knowing you.”
“It’s mutual, Shadow Man.”
Ryan crossed the narrow bridge. With Damm’s and Nara’s help, he managed to push the end of the catwalk off the pad. It didn’t tumble into the canyon as they’d hoped, the other end was held by hinges. The catwalk dropped to the vertical, crashing into the opposite side of the abyss, and hung there.