Page 32 (2/2)

Tania stammered

"Go!"

She went Up the slope, knife held before her pointed doard from her clenched fist, a style that allowed her to punch and slice rather than risk burying the knife into so it By the time she reached the top of the incline her head pounded SUBS, already working its way into her brain The first symptom, the headache, she knew lasted anywhere from one et to the aura and suppress the virus with nothing more than a pain in the skull to deal with She’d be like Karl, popping painkillers with every ressed beyond that, she’d likely be killed on the spot by the collapse of her mind If she survived, Vanessa would either kill her or leave her here in the wilderness

The i a few paces behind Tania The red light’s jerky row, and shrink in front of her as if she were trying to catch up to a demon

Her head felt like it had been clahted herself just as the tunnel turned and angled down, then up Another turn Soht it was a dog or wolf, until she saw the huain going for the artifact Tania struggled against the crushing force inside her head and dove right as the creature passed her She knocked the thing fro, and pinned it against the wall, lashing her fist across its throat at the same time A sharp black line appeared across the throat and fluid began to spill out

Good enough, she thought, and ran on, using the brightness and ht behind her to uest gray highlights on one side of the tunnel A flashlight?

No, she realized Sunlight, glinting off the rock "Almost there!" she shouted The woman behind her made no response, but Tania could hear the pace of her footfalls increase

The entrance to the cave was a glohite oval, so bright it blinded her for a moment When her vision returned, Tania took in the expansive space that marked the cave’s entrance She half-expected to see a crowd of subhu to ambush them The room, however, was empty

"Catch your breath," Vanessa said "We should be in the aura now"

Tania hadn’t realized it until then, but the headache had dwindled back to so et back to their aircraft and find a packet of ibuprofen The first dose of ht bitterly

Pablo’sthe thought Popping so co the pain as an eternal reminder that she still lived

Vanessa stuffed the flare into a pile of dirt, killing its brilliant red light Tania , anything, but no words calanced back down the tunnel through which they’d fled Her lips oodbye, and one more tear rolled down a cheek that had seen too many already She drew her arm across her face and let out a sharp breath "He didn’t talk much" Her voice istful "Still, I felt like I knew hied to say The words sounded feeble, but the other worief catches up with htened her grip on it, and started up the pile of debris that served as a raan to flare again, forcing her to squint and hold up one hand to block the brightness of the daylight that spilled in

Her headache grew It is the brightness, isn’t it?

Another explanation caan to tre," she said, her voice a miserable, shaky mess

Vanessa called up fro?"

At the mouth of the cave Tania froze, and heard Skyler’s voice in her head--the last words he’d said before leaving Ireland "There’s a bunch of aura towers co back…"

To the south, Tania could see the last of the emerald towers vanish into the tree line, headed for Belem

No Half should have stayed Like Ireland and Belee the rules now, you bastards?

She dropped to her knees, watching the source of the aura disappear She would die here, or beco … less There was no way to scrub the air inside the Helios

The teeth that had wrapped around her skull bit down

Chapter Twenty

Southern Chad

31MAR2285

A violent wind roused Russell Blackfield from his fitful sleep

The walls of his little prison shook with the force of the gust, and despite the closed doors a fine spray of powdery sand whipped in and coated everything The winds outside dwindled as he beca he’d been out A wave of exhaustion had come upon him back in the aircraft Lack of food, probably Or depression Whatever, the sleep had helped He felt alain

He tried to oing up and over a uessed The bar was thin but looked pretty solid Two bolts held it to the wall at either end

While he estith versus those bolts, an alarht his attention It had been there since he’d woke, he realized, but only then did it occur to him that it mattered