Day of Doom (21 page)

another.

“Feels like we’re inside a mountain,”

noted Ian.

His sister nodded. “It’s so cold and

dark.”

“But not completely dark,” observed Fiske.   “There   are   low-level   lights throughout these tunnels. That is not naturally occurring. There must be some source of power, possibly a generator.”

“But who would have a generator inside a mountain?” asked Evan.

Fiske looked at Phoenix. “Phoenix, you got away before. Where were we?”

“In Washington State,” answered Phoenix. “Somewhere in the Cascade

Mountains.”

“So why move us from thosemountains to wherever we are now, inside

another mountain?” wondered Nellie.

Ted said, “I think we’re somewhere in the Rockies.”

They all looked at him.

“How can you know that?” asked Hamilton skeptically.

“I counted the seconds in the trip. And one of the wheels on the truck had an imperfection. I could feel and hear the resulting bump and squeak. I calculated the revolutions of the wheels and arrived

at the approximate speed we were being driven. Multiplying that by the length of the trip equaled roughly thirteen hundred miles. That’s about the distance between Seattle and Denver, give or take. That is if we were heading east. But heading south in that direction would not really put us in a mountain range. And north would be in

Canada with the same issue.”

“But why hold us in the Cascadesand then move us to the Rockies?” asked abewildered Jonah. “It makes no sense.”

“It   obviously   makes   sense   tosomeone.”

“Someone like Vesper One,” said Nellie grimly.

Fiske took charge. “All right. Wehave gained our freedom, but we’re stillin great danger. They’ll know by now thatwe have escaped. They will be searchingfor us. They will know the layout of thesetunnels better than we do. I think the best

strategy is to split up. That way if we are captured, they won’t get us all, at least in one fell swoop.”

“Sounds like a plan we can execute,” said Reagan in her pumped-up, kick-butt

Reagan way. “So let’s divvy up the assetsand go nail some Vespers.”

Fiske looked them all over. “Okay,there are ten of us, so we’ll go five andfive. I’ll lead one group. Ian, you take theother.”

Reagan looked incredulous. “Youdidn’t pick
 
me
 
as a leader?”

Fiske smiled sweetly. “Dear Reagan, I know your propensity to fight, as well asyour brother’s, and your desire to be at theforefront of the action. But the leader muststay back, not be captured or hurt. I didn’twant either of you to have to work againstyour own very natural instincts.”

Reagan   brightened   at   thisexplanation. “Okay, then. Good thinking.”

“Yeah,”   added   Hamilton.   Hesmacked his fist into his palm. “I am

definitely ready to bust some Vesper

heads.”

Fiske split them into groups. He took Nellie, Reagan, Jonah, and Ted with him. That left Hamilton, Evan, Phoenix, and Natalie to go with Ian.

Before they headed out in separatedirections Fiske said, “Whatever happens, I want you to know how very proud I amof all of you. The bravery you’ve shown. No person could ever have any peoplebetter than you in a dangerous situation. Ithas been my honor to serve with you.”

Some of them blinked back tears.

Even Reagan and Hamilton looked misty-eyed.

Fiske continued, “This will not beeasy. It will be very difficult, in fact. Whatever the Vespers are planning, it will

not be good for the world. We must do all we can to save it. Even if we have to die

for it.”

Fiske looked at them all. “Good

luck.”

The two groups set off in opposite

directions to save the world.

“Ready?” Jake asked the others.

Amy stared resolutely back at him. “Ready.”

Jake pushed the button to open the door of the train car they were in.

The door hissed open and Jake looked out.

“Pretty dark tunnel,” he said.

Dan exclaimed, “What did you

expect, big guy, bright, shiny lights

pointing to exactly where we need to go?”

“Shut up, Dan,” said Amy crossly.

They climbed off the train and reached the track bed. Only a few feet separated the train car from the side of the tunnel.

“Keep tight to the wall,” said Jake.

“Which way do we go?” asked Amy.

Before Jake could answer, they saw a pinpoint of light farther down to their right.

“Get down,” hissed Jake, and they quickly knelt.

“What is it?” whispered Sinead.

Amy slapped on the night-vision goggles and focused them.

“It’s Isabel and her people. And they have Atticus.”

“At least he’s still alive,” said Jake

grimly.

“And at least we know which way to go,” said Amy. “We just follow them.”

“And get Atticus back,” said Dan.

“Safely,” added Jake.

“Okay, we can start moving,” said Amy. “They’ve gone far enough ahead. Just keep quiet.”

They  moved  forward  and  then stopped.

Dan said anxiously, “Was that just me, or is the mountain shaking?”

“The mountain is definitely shaking,” said Amy. “Let’s pick up the pace a little.”

They hurried along faster. Amy was in the lead because she had on the goggles and could see the best.

She hissed, “It looks like they’re

stopping. No, wait a minute. I think they’re going through a door.”

“A door!” exclaimed Sinead. “In the mountain?”

“Well, there’s a tunnel in the mountain, so it makes sense that there might be rooms carved in here, too, like for   train   supplies   and   emergency equipment and stuff,” noted Dan.

“Let’s hurry,” said Amy.

They picked up their pace even more.

Then another sound reached their

ears.

Jake said nervously, “Um, is the trainstarting to move?”

They all glanced at the long double-decker train that was next to them. It wasdefinitely starting to move. The big metalwheels were turning.

“Hurry!” said Amy.

They ran headlong toward the door that Isabel and the others had already gone through.

The train started to move faster. They could feel the force of the airflow created by the moving train start to pull them toward it.

“Once it starts going fast enough, it’ll create enormous suction,” cried out Dan. “Especially in a tunnel. It’ll be strong enough to throw us right under the wheels.”

“Faster,” shouted Amy. “Run.”

They sprinted as fast as they could. But they were also running in the same direction the train was going, so they would never be able to reach the end of

the train where the air pressure created by

the train’s speed would no longer exist.

“It’s really moving now,” shouted

Jake as he ran after Amy.

Dan could feel the force of the

airflow being pushed along by the train. He could almost feel his heels starting to be lifted off the ground.

They reached the door, but the shallow doorway cut in the solid rock provided almost no relief from the building air pressure.

Amy stared at the door in dismay.

“It’s a combo lock,” she said. “We don’t have the code,” she added quite unnecessarily. The light on the alarm box glowed red. It might as well have said “KEEP OUT AND DIE!” in Amy’s mind, because if they couldn’t get through the door they were dead.

“Let me see it,” snapped Sinead, and

she pushed Amy out of the way.

It was a pad with buttons and an LED

screen.

Sinead pulled a can of somethingfrom her bag.

“What’s that?” asked Dan.

“A chemical that causes material to fluoresce in the darkness,” she answered. “I carry it with me in case I need to get in somewhere.”

“And how exactly does that help us?”

asked Dan.

The train was moving faster andfaster. They now had to hold on to oneanother to keep from being sucked underthe wheels. But soon, that would no longerbe enough.

“Just watch,” said Sinead.

“We’re going to, like, die, guys, real soon,” yelled Jake.

Sinead sprayed the pad. Four number keys glowed with Isabel’s fingerprints, where she had touched them.

“Okay, it’s a four-digit code,” said Sinead. “Now we just need the correct order to make the door open. For that we need some number-crunching capability.”

Jake, seeing where she was going with this, pulled out his laptop. He fired it

up.

“Do you have a USB cable?” shouted

Sinead. “We can interface with the lock’s

computer that way. There’s a port on the

side.”

He pulled one from his pocket andpopped the USB cable into the side of thelaptop and handed the other end to Sinead.

Sinead plugged the cord into the porton the side of the locking mechanism.

Jake brought up an app on hiscomputer and hit the start button on the

program.

The train was reaching its top speed. Amy grabbed hold of Dan, who was the closest to the train tracks. He was literally being lifted off his feet. Amy held on to him with one hand and grabbed the door handle with the other.

Jake leaned against the door and

braced himself.

Sinead sat on her butt, and put herback against one edge of the doorway andher feet against the other, wedging herselfin.

“Hurry, Jake,” screamed Amy. “I

can’t hold on much longer.”

Dan was now completely in the airand horizontal, his feet bare inches fromthe train whooshing by.

“How long is this freaking train?” heyelled. But no one could hear him. Thetrain was like a tornado going by.

Amy could feel her grip slipping onher brother’s wrist. She thought quickly,did the splits with her legs, and pressedone foot against one edge of the doorwaydirectly above Sinead’s head and the otherfoot against the other doorway edge. Sheleaned against Jake, who was directly infront of her. She reached back and

grabbed Dan with both hands. But she felt herself being inexorably drawn toward the train.

Dan could sense this and screamed, “Let me go or you’ll be sucked away,

too.”

Tears falling down her face, Amyshook her head stubbornly. “No!”

“Let me go.”

She shook her head again. “Never,”she said. “We
 
both
 
go or not at all.”

Sinead reached up and snagged Amy’s belt and held on for dear life.

Amy looked down and saw this. Shesmiled grimly at Sinead, who managed aweak smile back.

Sinead mouthed the words,
 
I won’tlet you go, Amy
 
.

Amy looked at her, conflictingemotions running through her head. Shewould have to figure that out later. Fornow, she focused everything on holding onto her brother.

Jake stared dead at the screen as the

numbers continued to flash by.

“Come on. Come on!” he yelled.

He could feel himself being pulled backward. He pushed harder against Amy, who was holding on to Dan. Sinead was below them and holding on to Amy. Sinead reached her other hand out and

grabbed Jake’s leg.

“Got it!” he yelled.

The correct order of numbers flashed across the LED screen. The red light turned to green and the door clicked open.

But the sudden opening of the door caused a powerful tunnel of wind to bleed off and into the opening behind the door.