Roaring, the beast tore through the vault, landing on its feet as they finally reached the exit. Then Barley slid beneath the titanium portal, dragging Jordan behind him. Connor was last to the vault, slamming himself against the cold niobium-titanium in the throes of ultimate exhaustion. He could not stand, but fell to the ground, sweating and breathless.
“We can't – ” he gasped, “outrun it.”
Thor seemed to sense the Dragon's approach and turned, glaring angrily. And for a brief, flashing moment Connor caught something in his gigantic friend's face that he never imagined he would see.
Fear.
* * *
Chapter 30
Connor saw it as purely as he felt it.
Thor was afraid.
Hand tight on the battle-ax, Thor hurled a curse at the Dragon before he bent to effortlessly shove Connor beneath the vault. Barley lifted Connor from the other side, holding him in a strong arm. But Connor was wasted, passing out, his head faint and light. His vision was blurring, dimming, and in an unfocused daze he staggered across the cavern, recognizing vaguely ... Matrix ... they were back in ... the Matrix.
But it meant nothing to him. He was lost in the fatigue and confusion and pain as he stumbled to the opposite door, yes, yet another door where the vault still stood. And as they reached the vault together the Dragon beat a path into the cavern, pursuing, pursuing ...
Staggering, Connor saw Leviathan in the doorway, glaring.
It smoldered with flames.
Blinking sweat, clutching his heart, Connor felt an exhausted groan of deathlike pain escape him and he knew with terrible certainty that it was over. Grimacing painfully, Connor lowered his head and closed his eyes to pray that their deaths would be quick, for Jordan's sake. Then Barley went under the vault with a soldier's skill, carrying the child.
Light-headed, collapsing, Connor fell at the door, too tired, too fatally exhausted from the long run to go another step. And he felt himself lifted once again, sensed Thor's giant presence beside him as he was carried the last few strides.
Then the floor shook and Connor somehow found himself at the door, rolling out the other side. Faint and shocked, he turned to see Thor glaring coldly at the beast.
Leviathan stood fifty feet away.
Savoring the kill.
Grim and enraged, Thor glared at the Dragon as if he knew further retreat was futile. He turned back to Connor, his ice-green eyes solemn and sad and resigned.
He did not move.
With a shock Connor realized what Thor was about to do.
Connor tried to rise, to leap forward to grab his friend and drag him back beneath the door but Thor had already unslung the grenade launcher from his chest to toss it beneath the fire wall. Connor saw his face darken with fear and regret and love and every other emotion that could cause pain.
Connor gasped, staggering.
“No ... Thor ... Don't—”
“Go!” Thor shouted, dropping to a knee. His voice was choked with fear. “I will hold it long enough!”
Barley heard and whirled, shouting.
“Nooooo!” Connor shouted as he gained his feet.
“GO!” Thor roared. “I will hold it long enough!”
Thor's blazing eyes met Connor's for one flashing, immortal instant as Thor lifted the battle-ax wide to the side, sharing all the pain and memory and love that could be shared by any brother who had chosen to sacrifice his life for the other. Then the battle-ax flashed between them, swung by Thor's massive arm to solidly strike the steel cord that held the vault open.
At the sharp impact the cord was severed.
The vault descended.
* * *
“Five minutes until detonation ...”
Aflame from a violent viral attack, Frank plummeted wildly through a white haze, losing direction for a fantastic, flashing moment. He spun uncontrollably through a wall of fire and saw another killing light beam slicing through space from his far right, a scintillating blaze that was almost instantly destroyed by a fiber-optic laser.
By an effort of will Frank shed the flames, speeding forward. He didn't have time for relief.
Bending forward, he hurtled deeper into the light tube, arms over his face, regaining control as he moved farther and farther into the heart of the cylinder. Somehow, in the distance, he thought that he could see the Logic Core, a dark red planet-shape suspended by an electromagnetic field in the center of the cylinder. He knew that if he could only make it to the interior of the Core, he would be safe from further viral attacks.
With a violent twist he angled down and away to avoid another sudden light blast from the side. He pitched and rose, leveling with an effort, maintaining as much momentum as he could.
He sped forward ...
Speed, speed ...
It was everything now—speed, speed ...
He saw another white wall of fiber-optic fire rise before him, watched nervously as Beth's laser blast destroyed it. In his frantic, chaotic descent he saw the phosphorescent haze disintegrate, neutralized by the fiber-optic flame hurled from her hand. In a swirling fog it disintegrated and he torpedoed through it.