walked a bit slower and fell a few steps behind them. I was hoping to make a move before we got to the other end of the empty hallway.
I halfway unzipped my chemical suit and reached around to the small of my back, where my gun was safely tucked away. I pulled it out and softly crept forward.
Both hands on the barrel of the gun, I raised it over my head and brought it down on the security guard’s skull. It hit with a crack.
Unfortunately, instead of taking him totally down, it just kind of stunned him a little.
That was all the time Nash needed. Nash lassoed the guy’s neck with his arms and pulled backwards, using the handcuff chains to place pressure on his windpipe.
The guard lashed out, knocking Nash back up against the wall. I pointed my gun at the guard. His eyes went wide with a deer in the headlights look, and he stopped struggling. Finally, unable to breathe, the guy passed out.
I lowered my gun and pulled the paper mask down around my neck. “It’s me,” I said.
Nash’s jaw dropped. “Wow. You are even crazier than I gave you credit for.”
“What?” I asked. “You’re not happy to see me?”
“Oh, I’m happy to see you, all right.” He pulled the guard’s keychain off his belt and unlocked his cuffs before enveloping me in a giant hug.
The effect on me wasn’t quite the same as it would have been if I hadn’t been encased in a coated chemical suit, but it felt good to hold him, nevertheless.
“How did you get here?” Nash asked, disarming the guard and taking his gun for himself.
I quickly told him about the marathon to Miles’ car and Cameron’s hacking ingenuity. “Everybody’s either in the control room or outside,” I said. “They think the catalytic converter is about to blow.”
“Is it?”
“I don’t know. Cameron says he has it under control,” I said.
My cell phone buzzed. I picked it up. I could hear Lucy barking in the background and the sound of Miles panicking.
“Somebody’s coming,” Cameron said. “We have to get out of here.”
My stomach dropped down to somewhere around my ankles. “What do we do? What do we do?”
“I’m taking down the entire video surveillance system so nobody else can track you,” Cameron said. “Get Nash back to the supply closet and get a suit on him. Then walk out of there.”
“The supply closet is all the way on the other side of the building! I don’t remember how to even get back there!”
“Do your best. I’ll call you when we’re clear.”
The line went dead.
I swore. “We lost Cameron. He took down video surveillance, but if we meet anyone in the hallways, we’re dead meat for sure. I have to get you into a suit so we can get out of here.”
“Don’t bother,” he said. “The limp will give me away anyway. Put your mask back on and take my arm, like you’re escorting me somewhere. It’s a good thing you’re tall. Nobody will be able to tell you’re a woman in there.”
“Where do we go?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Nash said impatiently. “Out! How’d you get in?”
“With the Cameron Gilbert GPS system,” I said.
“Okay, we’ll just have to figure it out.”
I took Nash’s arm, and he began limping along beside me.
“How’s your foot?” I asked.
“It hurts,” he said simply.
I tried to remember the combination of turns that brought me here. In reverse, that would be. . . what? Left, then right, then left? I couldn’t remember. All the hallways looked the same. Nothing on the walls, which were painted solid beige.
“I think maybe we better just follow the exit signs,” I said. “The problem is, we have no way of knowing which way is the right exit. We need to get back to the supply yard so we can get out under cover with access to a vehicle.”
“Okay, it’s trial and error then,” Nash said. “Let’s go.”
For the most part, the hallways were deserted. The chiming alarm continued to sound. I wondered what would happen to the catalytic converter now that Cameron wasn’t actively monitoring it. Did that mean we were about to have a real catastrophe on our hands?
We occasionally passed people who were fully suited up and wearing respirators. They were so consumed with managing the emergency they barely gave us a second look.
We were making progress. I started to even think we might have a hope of making it out.