Condemn (BUNKER 12 Book 2) (35 page)

The colonel stared at Cheever for a
moment, frowning.

"It's all true," the blind man said,
speaking up for the first time. He didn't move from his chair, but
he'd swiveled his head toward them, tracking their location by
their voices. "I was sold to the same people, too. Me and my two
boys. I don't know what this couple meant to do with us, but they
went on and on about saving people. And Wraiths."

"Grant," Wainwright whispered, pulling
Cheever out of the room and into the hallway, "I thought you said
the girl volunteered information about the bunker."

"She did."

The colonel studied his protégé's face
for a moment, then said, "You told me we were done with those whack
jobs. They were supposed to stay on their side of the
river."

The captain didn't answer.

"Grant," the colonel said, shaking him
harder, "you gave me your word you'd deal with those people.
But—"

He stopped and looked down in surprise
at the gun pressed into his gut.

"Grant?"

"I'm sorry, Lyle," Cheever said. "I
really am." And he squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Eddie heard the muffled gunshot from clear outside the building,
and he was up the front steps within seconds, moving past a
surprised Corporal Lawton before the guard even knew Eddie was
there. "What the—" the young man cried, and fell senseless to the
ground from shock. Later, he would swear he'd seen a
Wraith.

"I'll take this," Eddie said,
relieving the kid of his rifle.

The wood of the door splintered
between the locking bolt and the hinges, but it took a second kick
and a blast from the gun before a hole opened up wide enough for
Eddie to fit through.

Light spilled into the darkened
hallway from the office, illuminating the colonel as he lay on the
floor clutching his side.

Eddie covered the distance in a flash,
but he was already too late to catch the killer. He stepped past
the fallen man into the office, where a shocked Finn and Bix stood
pressed against the wall.

Bix pointed at the window, and Eddie
flung back the blinds just as a gunshot echoed in the night. Wood
chips separated from the frame, spraying into the room. Everyone
ducked.

He pointed the gun out, not caring
where the bullet went, and fired off a round. Another shot tore a
hole through the blinds and shattered the glass on a framed
certificate hanging on the wall.

"You need to stop him!" the colonel
cried weakly from the hallway.

"Why?"

"Because he'll destroy the
camp."

Finn crawled across the floor.
"Listen, Eddie, this isn't our fight. Let's just get the rest of
our people and get the hell out of this place."

More gunshots rang out, followed by
several people shouting. By the time Eddie made it back to the
window, Cheever was gone.

"We can't," Eddie told Finn. "Not yet.
Bren's gone with the bus back to the bunker."

Finn's mouth dropped open. He spun
around to face the colonel. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I was . . . about to.
She accompanied a rescue team to bring . . . the
rest of the survivors back here."

"Who put the team together?" Eddie
demanded, spinning around. "Was it Cheever?"

"Yes," Colonel Wainwright said,
gasping for air. He'd pulled himself halfway back into the room and
now lay against the door frame. Fresh blood spurted out when he
pulled his hand away from his wound. "Jesus, I can't believe he
shot me, after all I've done for him."

Eddie stared at the man, confusion on
his face. "Are you saying you didn't know?"

The colonel coughed and shook his
head.

"I . . . suspected. The
disappearances . . . . Happened
before."

"Who shot Danny?"

"Sergeant Bolton. He fired the last
shot."

"Is he involved?"

The colonel nodded.

"Where is he?"

"Relieved of duty.
Sent . . . to quarters. Dammit, I should've seen it
sooner."

"Will Cheever try to take over the
base?" Finn asked. The last thing he wanted was to get in the
middle of a gunfight.

"That or run."

The sound of an engine reached their
ears, followed by several others starting up. Finn ran to the
window, ignoring Eddie's cries to get away. "Looks like they've
chosen to run. They're at the gate on motorcycles!"

People were shouting now. A gunshot
rang out, and Finn ducked instinctively.

"This place is freaking insane!" Bix
cried. He started crawling across the floor to get to the
door.

"Make yourself useful, Bix," Eddie
told him. "Put your hand on the colonel's wound. We need
him!"

"Why?

"Just do it!"

"Let me," Byron offered, slipping off
the chair. "Someone needs to find the medic, and I doubt I'd be of
much help there."

"No . . .
medic,"
Wainwright panted, his voice fading to little more than a whisper.
"They're all . . . Cheever's men."

"Get Hannah," Finn yelled. "She
learned a lot from Doc Cavanaugh when—"

Eddie bolted for the door. "I left her
at the infirmary!"

Finn shouted at Eddie to come back,
but the man was already out of the building before he could cross
the room.

There were more gunshots outside, then
a crash that sounded like metal being torn.

"That'll be the front gate," Byron
quietly said. He sat in the doorway pressing his palm on the
colonel's abdomen. Wainwright was still conscious, but only
just.

The building shook from an explosion.
The lights dimmed.

"What the hell?" Finn
shouted.

"You have to . . . go
after them," Wainwright said. His skin had gone as white as
paper.

"No way in hell we're doing that," Bix
cried.

"We're leaving," Finn said, standing
up. He ducked as several more gunshots rang out. "But not for him.
We need to get back to the bunker and find Bren."

He turned to gather up the maps he'd
seen on the desk. "We're taking these with us, Colonel," he
said.

But the commander didn't argue. He lay
on the floor, his eyes open and glassy, staring at
nothing.

More explosions rocked the night, sending everyone to the floor as
dust sifted down from the light fixtures. Objects fell off of
tables and shelves. But the explosions weren't bombs, and the last
gunshots had faded into the night twenty minutes earlier. Cheever
and his men had fled.

Finn finished rolling the maps. He'd
instructed Bix to look for more information on the bunkers. As they
gathered up loose papers, more of their people arrived.

The hallway outside was crowded by
people seeking answers. Many of them were from Bunker Seven. Most
of the long term denizens had either fled to the other end of the
compound to avoid the explosions at the gate and the gunfire at the
armory, or gone to fight the fires.

"I'm not finding much more about the
bunkers," Harrison Blakeley said. He and Susan had gone through the
papers in the filing cabinet, heeding Finn's orders as willingly as
if he'd been leading them forever. Finn didn't have time to reflect
on this, he just accepted it.

Upon seeing his son, Harrison paused
only long enough to give Bix a quick hug, then asked Finn what
needed doing.

While they searched, Finn explained as
best as he could what he knew. Eddie filled in the rest, arriving
with Hannah not five minutes after he left. She had fled the
infirmary upon hearing the first shots of gunfire, leaving Ramsay
alone where Eddie had tied him to a bed using patient restraints.
It likely saved her life, as the building was soon raided by armed
men rescuing him. The structure was now burning to the
ground.

"Think Cheever knows about Bunker
Twelve?" Bix asked.

"I don't know," Finn replied. "I don't
care."

"But if he does, then—"

"We're not thinking about that, Bix!
We're going after Bren!"

Finn stepped out into the hallway and
shouted for quiet. "Captain Cheever and his people are on the run,"
he said. "If there are others outside the fence sympathetic to his
cause, he'll likely return. You need to prepare to defend
yourselves."

"Take us with you!"

"I can't, not where I'm going. This is
your home now. Stay and defend it. Protect those too weak or too
small to fend for themselves."

"We have no one to lead
us!"

Finn turned to Harry Rollins. "I think
you should stay."

"I'm no leader."

"Neither am I, and yet here we are.
Anyway, you know it's even riskier going back, and I can't do that
to your family."

He gestured to where Byron was sitting
with his two sons. "They'll need your help, too, especially Jerry.
And Charlie's a good kid."

"You'll come back once you find
Bren?"

"Yes. Straight back, I
promise."

"Then Bunker Twelve?"

Finn nodded, but he was doubtful.
Judging from the maps and the papers they'd found, there was simply
no proof of a twelfth bunker. Not even a mention.

"Finn! Hey!"

He turned to see Kari pushing her way
through the crowd. "I got us another ride, some weapons, and food.
Oh, and guess what else?"

She stepped aside, pulling the person
behind her forward.

Hannah shrieked and pushed Finn away.
"Oh my god! Jonah, you're alive!"

* * *

"Absolutely not!" Finn said. "I can't let you leave
Hannah—"

"It's not your choice, Finn," Eddie
told him. "I'm coming with you. So is Hannah."

"It's too dangerous!"

"Bren is Hannah's best friend. And
someone has to keep an eye on Jonah."

"Why can't he stay here with the other
children?" Bix asked.

Jonah scowled at him. "Don't start
with me, Blackeye. After what I've been through—"

"We've all been through a lot," Finn
said, cutting him off. He turned to Jonah. "You do know where we're
going, right? Seth Abramson's not going to be happy to see either
of us."

"The feeling's mutual, Bolles.
Besides, who else is going to make sure you stay out of
trouble?"

"Why you sonofabitch!" Bix cried. "I
ought to . . . ."

Finn pushed away from the two. He
grabbed Eddie and pulled him to the side where Kari, Harrison, and
Susan were finishing loading up the last of the weapons and food in
the van. It didn't look like very much, but they would hopefully
only be gone a day and a half.

"Listen, Eddie," he said, "don't get
me wrong. I could sure use your help, but I don't know what's going
to happen out there. We might run into Cheever and his men. They're
armed and trained. And then there are the Wraiths."

"You think staying here is
safe?"

Finn gestured at the gate, where
several people were working to repair the damage that Cheever and
his men had done while fleeing. A half dozen others stood outside,
watching the desert landscape in the flickering light of the
burning buildings. "Once things settle down here, it will
be."

"No place is safe, Finn," Eddie said.
"I think you should know that by now." He shook his head and gave
the boy's arm a squeeze. "There are no guarantees. Safety comes
from having your friends and family around you. Not from isolating
yourself."

Kari walked over and slapped a set of
desert camouflage into his arms. "Better put these on," she said.
"That is, unless you plan on attending a sorority pajama party
anytime soon."

"Hey! What about me?" Bix said,
trailing at her heels. He pointed at the Delta Delta Delta on his
sweatshirt.

"You're definitely not pretty enough
to be wearing that," Kari said, and threw him a set.