Part 9 (1/2)

Riding frozen rapids. Squeezing all the speed out of the snowmobile. Kristal would have willed it to fly if she could.

Even on the expanding borders of h.e.l.l, there was a certain terrifying poetry to Kristal's situation. Leela's arms locked around her waist, Kristal found her courage sh.o.r.ed up by the added responsibility she felt for her pa.s.senger. Nature's destructive forces make children of us all, she thought; so what, then, were any of us in the face of the supernatural?

Behind them the storm played predator.

Zooming into view on her left, she saw Landers, up on one knee with the rifle slammed against his shoulder. She didn't hear the discharge as he launched a round from the M203 grenade launcher far over her head. Then she was zipping between two shallow foxholes and glimpsed Marotta in one of them, his machinegun braced to fire the moment the other snowmobiles had pa.s.sed him by.

She glanced aft to spot the blast. The eruption was negligible, a cough in the cloud front, like it had swallowed nothing more than a harmless pill. The storm carried on tumbling over the rise like the fallen walls of Jericho.

Kristal hadn't expected much more. She wanted some sign though of the effects on the forces driving that wintry smoke-screen. That was over-optimistic, maybe, but she could rely on Marotta to give it his best shot before following them.

Leela s.h.i.+fted her grip. The foxholes slipping far behind, Kristal aimed her eyes front - and saw they were running out of level terrain. Kristal shouted back. 'Hold on!'

Chill wind gnawed at her cheeks.

She thought hard about the storm's rate of advance, next to their own. She also thought about how the Plains tribes hunted buffalo. All right, she concluded, we're through running.

One final glance back, and she could hear the guttural spit and crack of the machinegun above the other rifles. She didn't know what good it could do, and had to tear her gaze free from the icy vortex to focus on her driving. She managed a quick signal for the three snowmobiles to follow her lead.

Then, praying it was a slope and not a cliff, she made sure the accelerator was at maximum ready for when the ground dropped away.

Leela's hold nearly squeezed the breath out of her.

The vehicle cut the lip of the hill and took to the air, taking half a ton of broken snow with it. The engine whined in panic and they were flung like ammo from a catapult. They hit just as hard too, the impact jarring Kristal's every nerve.

She fought to swing them round, the vehicle's b.u.t.t backing into the snow until the engine suddenly cut out. Finally, Leela lost her balance and Kristal felt herself dragged off her saddle, sliding on her back some few feet down the snowy slope.

The prow of the snowmobile peered timidly up from its burrow, like a gopher checking the coast was clear. Of course, Kristal knew it wasn't.

Three more snowmobiles fired themselves over the brow of the hill in quick succession, skiing down the incline with a deal more control than Kristal had managed. Kristal didn't have time to get all compet.i.tive She sprang to her feet.

'Leela, you okay?' Kristal said. Leela gave a dazed nod.

hauling herself up. 'I wanted to stop, but not quite like that.

Sorry about that.'

Satisfied her freshest recruit was okay, Kristal launched herself onto her knees and started shovelling snow with her hands. She was pleased to see Leela pitching in, no questions asked, and she shouted across at her troops as they were dismounting. 'Get busy! We need to be under the snow before that storm hits us!'

'Under the snow?' asked Leela anxiously. 'Is that not dangerous?'

'Not if you know what you're doing.' Kristal kept shovelling, sorry she was too busy to offer any more rea.s.surance.

Fortunately, Leela was giving it her all on the digging as well.

'We can bury ourselves or we can wait for that thing to do it for us.'

Looking at the gouge they'd taken out of the slope, Kristal stayed Leela's efforts and reached into her pack for two smoothly rounded grenades, and one more for luck. She packed them together deep, eggs in a nest, and looked to make sure the troops were doing likewise.

There was no gunfire to be heard over the rise - which might mean Marotta was on his way.

'How will we know when the storm has pa.s.sed over?'

'Trust me, we'll know.'

Kristal yanked the pins and hauled Leela into a dive. The crater blew out like an ice volcano and she listened to the snow falling back to earth in chunks. When she looked up she was relieved to see Marotta's crew riding the last two vehicles into view. Further along the steep bank, a second explosion punched another hole.

When the snow settled they would at least have somewhere to hide. a.s.suming the storm had no eyes to find them.

The town built itself around her out of snowflakes and pale shadows. The wind followed her on the last stages of her trek, but Amber never got the feeling it was helping her along. The main feeling she was getting was of being watched all the way and she kept daring whoever it was to just step the h.e.l.l out and show themselves. All this white was getting to be worse than the dark in her room at nights.

Pa.s.sing along the main street, she hurried her pace as she crossed the side road by the church. Ahead, figures moved behind all the white spray paint.

Some were gathering in small knots a respectful distance from the vehicles parked in front of the hotel. Others were getting busy unloading. Something exciting had come to town at last.

Amber found a whole new reserve of energy at the thought.

She ran the final stretch.

She stopped abruptly, nearly skidding where caterpillar tracks had squashed the snow to slush. These guys were carrying rifles: soldiers, wow! She watched some of them and moved slowly around the back of the nearest trailer, hitched to the big ugly tracked vehicle. The tarpaulin was still in place, and Amber thought about peeling the corner back to peek inside.

'Hey, get out of there, kid,' a man's voice startled her.

Sandpaper skin and coyote eyes, the guard herded her out of the gap with his rifle. Kyle, his uniform-tag said. She peered into the mouth of the large tube under the barrel, but she decided, no, the guy was scarier.

Amber ducked onto the sidewalk and scowled back at him when he wasn't looking. Then she walked sullenly along the line of trucks, smiling secretly because of the excitement stirring inside her. This was great, the best ever.

No. No, it wasn't.

Voices had been carrying on in the background all the while. One was louder than the others and now she was closer she could hear him above the noise of the soldiers and the unloading. What was more, she could see him, not far along, in a face-off with a dark-haired soldier.

'I'm doing my Job Job, Kenzie,' the soldier was answering back.

'You might try doing the same. These townsfolk of yours are getting mighty restless, looks like.'

There were other soldiers standing around him and she guessed he must have been as important is he acted. He was shorter than Makenzie. but just as solid and he stood right up to him, didn't so much as notice Makenzie's size.

Amber could have told him how smart-a.s.s gibes never dented Makenzie.

'I'm not asking you to broadcast your secrets over town, Morg, but I have a right to know!'

She edged a step or two closer. As she did so, she noticed the other man. Not Not a soldier, she couldn't tell what he was supposed to be. He was outside the group. Even he wasn't as big as Makenzie, but somehow he towered above all of them. a soldier, she couldn't tell what he was supposed to be. He was outside the group. Even he wasn't as big as Makenzie, but somehow he towered above all of them.

He watched everything from under his silly hat, but didn't seem very interested in the argument.

'You're taking over this town, bro, and jamming our streets with your G.o.dd.a.m.n trucks and suddenly I see myself having to go round to every door and tell everyone how my kid brother has everything under control. ”Oh yeah, I remember little Morgan - he made Special Forces, didn't he?” That's all I'll hear, and none of them will mind that you left us all behind because you thought we were all too d.a.m.n small for you. Or that you won't lend me any of your men to help with the search.'

Makenzie's brother, Morgan. Of course. She could see that flame in their eyes now, too much like her heart whenever she saw her Daddy. Angry - love. Her eyes stung and her mouth curled as she remembered a torrent of stuff.

She was aware of the tall man then and the fact that he'd noticed her. Makenzie hadn't even seen her. The man smiled.