Page 51 of The Ghost

There were probably two ways off the base, three if you counted walking out the front door. He could either take a helicopter off the roof or a motorboat from the bottom of the cliff. I had no idea how deep the structure went, but if it was anything like Dark Sparrow’s, there could be multiple levels underground.

If I picked the wrong one, he would defiantly get away. I had no time left to debate, so I decided to go up. Though I wasn’t certain, it was more likely that the helipad was closer. Maybe a flight or two above me. If I was correct, that was probably something that would factor into Mr. Ashcroft’s decision.

I needed to find a staircase or an elevator. I hadn’t seen one in the brief time I’d been conscious. That meant setting out on a new course. I turned right, away from the sunroom and the dead body of my former boyfriend. I hurried to the end of the corridor and took another right. Assuming that stairways would be at the end of the hall, I just kept running.

Another intersection approached, and I had to make up my mind which way to go. But as I started down the left fork, I heard a voice call to me from behind.

“Clark!” Theo said.

I turned around, hardly daring to believe my eyes. There, flanked by several friendly fighters, was the man I wanted to elope with. He opened his arms wide, and I flew into them. For a moment, nothing else mattered. With Theo’s help, I was sure to be victorious. I had no doubts remaining. We were going to do this; we would find Mr. Ashcroft and avoid a nuclear war. I reached for his hand and held it as we continued searching for a way out.

Chapter 23

Theo

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I LET CLARK GO BUT followed after her. It was wonderful to see her alive and have confirmation that I had done the right thing. This whole time I had been worried that I’d left her alone with New Dawn, but she’d resurfaced, just like I knew she would.

We held hands for a moment, but that became problematic. There was gunfire in the hallway up ahead, forcing us to take cover against the wall. The three Dark Sparrow soldiers with us fired first, and we heard a shout and then a thud, indicating that someone’s bullet had met its mark.

“Mr. Ashcroft is gone,” Clark said, breathing heavily. “He has a detonator with him.”

“I thought he couldn’t blow the nukes without the key,” I replied, hoping that I was right.

“He has a backup,” she answered. “It turns out he didn’t trust us.”

“Then why make the keys in the first place?”

“I guess he thought it would bring us all together. Like we would be one big happy family after Armageddon.”

“Funny how it didn’t work out that way,” I observed.

She gave me a quick smile, and I loved her for it. I had a sudden sinking feeling that one of us wasn’t going to make it out alive. I hoped that was just my fear talking, and that it wasn’t a premonition.

“I think he’s gone to the roof,” Clark said, pointing up.

“How do you know?” I countered.

“I don’t,” she said. “But he left just a few minutes ago, and I can’t think of anywhere else he might have gone.”

She started forward, but I grabbed her elbow and pulled her back. “What about Ryan?” I asked.

Her face grew tight, and she shook her head. “He’s dead.”

“I’m sorry,” I responded. I knew how much she’d cared about him at one point, despite all the mischief he’d been up to recently. It was never easy to watch someone you once loved die. I knew that as well as any other field agent.

“How do we get to the roof?” one of the other fighters asked.

“I don’t know,” Clark answered. “I’m looking for a stairwell.”

“We should split up,” I suggested.

“I’ll radio it in,” the operative said, pulling out his communication device.

Clark motioned me forward, firing down the hall as she went. I kept close to her heels, watching our back as she hunted for the stairs. We took one turn after another, always on the lookout for something familiar. I expected stairs to be identified by some marker, the way they always were in corporate buildings. But it quickly became apparent that this was no normal building.

Clark grew frustrated, spinning around to look at me. I had to laugh. Of all the goofy things right in the middle of a firefight, the fact that we couldn’t even find the stairs seemed ridiculous.