Leviathan(115)

Connor didn't care. He shouted wildly, breaking open the grenade launcher to shove in another APG. He slammed the chute shut hard to send a vengeful and murderous message. The impact echoed dimly in the smoke, and, sensing death on top of him, Connor turned and shouted again.

“Jordan! Son! Son! Where are you?”

Jordan's answering cry was only twenty feet away and Connor was instantly moving forward, more carefully this time. He knew that, despite his determination, he couldn't afford to collide with another piece of machinery. Even as it was, his leg felt broken.

In a moment he found Jordan huddled beneath a computer panel. Connor immediately recognized the broken paneling, realized that they had somehow found a way into the Observation Room. He lifted Jordan into his arms, holding him tight.

After a moment Connor released him, searching him for signs of injury. But it was needless. He was all right, all right. Connor picked him up and held him tight as they headed to the door.

A roar shook the hallway.

Jordan screamed.

“Shhhhh,” Connor whispered, holding his son closer, turning to find another means of escape. “It's going to be all right ...”

Connor saw the section of titanium that had been shattered by Leviathan's entry into the Observation Room. The bullet-ravaged titanium wall was leaning outward at a forty-five-degree angle.

It was climbable, even in his condition, so he moved to it, stepping with difficulty onto the matrix control. Frantically he slung the rifle across his back to free one hand and instantly began scrambling toward the top of the titanium fire wall, holding Jordan tight in the other arm. The wall rose up and out at a not-so-difficult angle and Connor managed to make it to the top before he heard another roar and whirled to see a fantastic, brief burst of flame that reached down the hall.

Flame, flame again.

Testing for a trap.

***

Thor waited a long time, crouching.

He heard Barley rise behind him, tensing to run. But Thor didn't turn, didn't give a command. Even in the fierceness of the moment he knew somehow that the beast was no longer behind them. He rose to his feet, staring angrily at the entrance of the narrow corridor. The anger that was borne from the center of all that he was spread and dissipated into a frantic concern for something ... else.

He spun toward Barley.

“Where does this corridor connect?” he shouted.

Barley was shaken. He didn't seem to know how to reply.

Thor roared, “Where does this corridor connect!”

“It connects with everything!” Barley answered, swaying, slamming his hand against a wall for balance. “It connects with everything, Thor! It connects with everything!”

Thor lifted the battle-ax. His fist was tight on the haft.

“Then we become the hunters.”

* * *





Chapter 26



Thor was the first up the passageway, moving close and quiet with his back to the wall. Flame flickering through the encircling smoke was the only thing visible, ghostly tendrils of orange heat. Only cold sweat cloaked his titanic frame.

Barley was behind him, face glistening in perspiration, moving carefully. He was holding the rifle close against his chest, his teeth clenched in rigid control. They had divided the last ten grenades and Thor had hastily loaded his M-79. He also held his battle-ax in his other hand, prepared for anything.

He cautiously paused at a wide junction of tunnels, glancing around a corner—it was a smoke-filled passageway descending toward a flowing white, a volcano's soul, a demon's heart. For a cryptic moment Thor listened closely, hearing nothing. He leaned back, whispering. “Why has the beast retreated from battle?”

Barley shook his head tiredly, eyes closed. Thor frowned, suspicious, taking another minute. “It could have killed us by now,” he rumbled. “Why did it not pursue us into this corridor?”

“Maybe it got tired of the chase,” Barley answered, blowing out a deep breath. “It's got to be getting tired!”

Thor shook his head angrily, sweat scattering. “No, the beast does not tire so easily. It took Chesterton, but that was not enough to restore its strength. It needs more food and needs it badly, as Connor said it would.” He paused. “It should have come for us by now.”

“Maybe it's gone to lick its wounds like it did before.”

“No. We did not hurt it so badly. In another moment it would have caught us.”

Exhausted, Barley shook his head. “I don't know, Thor.” He fought to control a violent trembling. “There just ain't no way of knowing. That thing does whatever it wants. It does whatever it wants...”

“But it kills. And yet it did not kill us.” Thor paused, concentrating. “But why? Why did it not kill us? It had almost caught us. And in another moment it would have killed us like it killed Chesterton.”