Page 131 of The Atlas Maneuver

AIKO RESTED IN THE DEPTHS OF BLACKNESS, A WHIRLPOOL OF LIGHTSswirling ever larger, ignoring her subconscious pleas to go away. A voice could be heard, soft at first, in sync with the light, growing in volume as things grew brighter. A familiar voice, that never grew older, never lost its strength.

Her father.

Urging her to wake up.

COTTON ROSE FROM THE FLOOR.

Pain and apprehension were compounded by shock and confusion. He’d dived down once he realized that the guard below was not going to heed his warning and intended on firing at the man with the controller. Aiko had shot the guard, but not before the man sprayed the two attackers with automatic weapons fire and the one with the controller flicked the switch.

He stepped to the window and saw Aiko slowly coming to her feet, shaking off the cobwebs caused by the blast. Her legs ebbed and she stumbled forward, seemingly trying to regain her senses. He recalled the moment of the explosion. The tent rearing up like a balloon expanding upward atop an orange cloud. At the peak of its ascent it began to separate, the vinyl surely flame-retardant but not immune to the effects of searing heat, pieces shearing off and melting in a cloud of hot gas. Fragments from the aluminum supports flew in all directions, most likely accompanied by ballbearings that had become lethal projectiles. Another explosion blotted everything from view before the tent reemerged from the fireball, dropping back to the ground wrapped in flames. Shrapnel had burst outward, most heading downward within the tent but some had made its way beyond thudding into the stone walls. Many of the glass windows near the tent were gone. The one here in this room had survived but only because it had been swung inward.

He’d hit the floor, his head covered with his hands and arms.

Always get low.

That’s what he’d been taught.

He now saw that the aluminum support poles were nearly all gone. But the vinyl fabric of the tent itself had settled back down like a searing blanket of melted material coating the charred tables, chairs, and bodies. The two men who’d brought the terror and the guard lay dead on the ground. More sounds cut through the haze that clouded his brain. Screams. Yells. The crackling of fire. And an unmistakable odor. One he’d smelled before.

Flesh burning.

“You okay?” he called down to Aiko.

She nodded, seemingly back in control of her balance. He had to get down there, so he fled the bedroom and headed outside. More of the security detail had arrived and were headed for the blast site.

He and Aiko stared at the devastation.

Was Suzy in that tent?

He had to find out.

AIKO HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE. SHE’Ddealt with cars driven into pedestrians, a bus and plane hijacked, and the deadly sarin attacks conducted by Aum Shinrikyo.

But nothing even close to this magnitude.

She followed Malone into the devastation. A few of the people who’d been inside were moving on the ground, moaning in agony, one screaming with pain.

Malone began searching.

She knew for who.

Kelly Austin.

COTTON SCANNED THE CARNAGE LOOKING FORSUZY AND HE SPOTTEDher among half a dozen other bodies. He rushed over and knelt down. Her skin had been pierced with multiple wounds from the steel balls, leaking blood at an alarming rate. Her hair was singed and awful burns were on her arms and legs, her face charred black from the heat, one eye sealed shut. Blood gushed from a deep cut to her forehead, trickling down over her left eye. He held her limp, torn body in his arms, anguish in his eyes.

“It’s Cotton, Suzy. Can you hear me?” he asked her, voice low and soft.

She did not rouse.

He gently nudged her and she came alert.

“Suzy, you need stay with me. Can you do that?”

She blinked her one eye, trying to focus on him.

“That’s good,” he said. “Try to stay awake. I’m going to get you help.”

But he realized that would be too little too late. She was bleeding badly, no way to stop the flow. He quickly glanced around and saw that most of those who’d been inside the tent were dead.