Stranded (A stand-alone SF thriller) (The Prometheus Project Book 3) (18 page)

Panicked, he slapped at his face, killing a number of them but agitating even more. Several stung him, causing him to forget about everything but the bees. More and
more of them now arrived at a furious pace, like a living cloud. They landed on his face and hair until his face could no longer be seen. He now had an ever-moving ball of thousands of buzzing yellow insects sitting on his shoulders where his head should have been.

Screaming, he dropped his machine pistol and began to run, completely forgetting where he was. He had only gone about twenty yards when he cracked his head against a thick, low-hanging branch. He fell to the ground like a sack of bee-infested cement, completely unconscious.

It had all happened in less than a minute.

The mouths of all three kids fell open as if they were unable to believe what they had just seen. No one spoke for several long seconds.

Finally, Kelsey broke the stunned silence. “It worked!” she said excitedly. “You did it, Alyssa. Great job!”

“
We
did it,” corrected Alyssa. It had been her idea but Kelsey had done the hardest part—and had paid a price. “How’s your shoulder, Kel?” she asked worriedly.

“I’ll be fine,” said Kelsey bravely. “He barely nicked me.”

Alyssa glanced over to where the merc was lying unconscious under a tree, his head still a crawling ball of wings, antenna, and tiny feet. “They’re suffocating him,” she said with a frown. “We can’t let that happen.”

She picked up the thermos bottle from where her sister had dropped it and rushed over to the fallen soldier. She poured its contents onto his shirt and dropped the
bottle onto his stomach. The swarm immediately left the soldier’s head and traveled the short distance to his stomach, hungrily drinking in their sugar-water reward.

The tall soldier had sustained about thirty stings, but he would live. Had he stayed conscious and continued to try to fight the mild-tempered bees the outcome would have been far worse for him.

“Good work guys,” said Alyssa to the swarm as she raced back over to Ryan and her sister.

While Alyssa was saving the merc, Kelsey had picked up the pocketknife and had finished sawing through Ryan’s plastic handcuffs. He rose, freed at last from the tree, as Alyssa joined them. “Thanks,” he said to them both. He turned toward the fallen merc twenty yards away and shook his head in utter disbelief. “Wow. Did you
see
that! That was
so
lucky!” he said in amazement.

“Luck had nothing to do with it,” said Alyssa, a proud smile coming over her face. “It’s our project for the Science Fair. We’ve trained bees to respond to sweat. That’s what we sprayed him with. A bee’s sense of smell is as good as a dog’s.”

Ryan’s eyes widened. Incredible, he thought. Now
that
was an impressive science project.

Ryan was about to tell them so when he spotted two mercenaries off in the distance through the trees, coming from the direction of the Proact grounds.

And the soldiers were heading straight toward them!

C
HAPTER
22
The Hunt Continues

O
ne of the two advancing mercenaries was Tony DeMarco, the man who had tied Ryan to the tree. He must have discovered that Ryan had tricked him and he was returning to retrieve his prisoner.

There was still some light, but Ryan knew it wouldn’t last long enough for them to risk running for it. Luckily, neither merc had seen them yet.

“Let’s go,” whispered Ryan, so faintly that his two companions read his lips more than they heard him. “No noise. Don’t step on dried leaves or sticks.”

Ryan carefully picked his way among the trees and the two girls followed his lead. When he found an area in which the undergrowth was especially thick he lowered himself to his stomach and motioned for Alyssa and Kelsey to join him. They disappeared within the dense patch of green leaves.

“Don’t move an inch,” whispered Ryan.

And then he realized that he recognized this particular undergrowth.

It was the thickest bed of poison ivy he had ever seen.

Perfect, he thought miserably. He was really showing the girl of his dreams a great time. If he didn’t get them all killed, how could Alyssa
not
go for him? What girl didn’t like lying in poison ivy while being hunted by professional soldiers?

“Hey kid, listen up!” came a booming voice from where the towering mercenary had fallen. Most of the bees had had their fill of sugar-water and only a few remained on his stomach. “I know you’re out there. You got me good, kid. And it looks like you got my unconscious associate here even better. I don’t know how you did it, kid, but I’ll tell you what—I won’t hold a grudge. Surrender now and I’ll go easy on you.”

Ryan glanced at Alyssa and Kelsey and shook his head no.

Alyssa looked into Ryan’s eyes and found nothing but resolve. Her first instincts about him were
not
just the product of an overactive imagination. She had been right. Ryan Resnick was
anything
but a normal high school kid. He was involved in something big. What it was she had no idea, but it was dangerous. And judging by the number of soldiers that were after him it was something important.

“Consider this,” continued Tony DeMarco, his voice getting even louder. “We have two other men deeper in the woods, patrolling. You’re boxed in, kid. And soon it will be pitch dark. We have night vision equipment and you don’t. You don’t have a chance.”

Ryan knew they were right. But there had to be
some
way out of this. After thinking it through, Ryan decided their only chance was to reenter Proact. The soldiers wouldn’t expect that.

Ryan quietly moved his hand and picked up a small rock lying nearby. He turned to the two girls, ignoring the poison ivy that was touching his face from all sides. “Get ready to move,” he mouthed.

Alyssa silently removed the black binoculars from around her neck and placed them beside her. Ryan was impressed. She must have realized they would only slow her down or hit something and make noise.

“Look, kid. Here’s the deal. All of us are ready to get out of here. If not for you, we’d be gone already. The gravity effect is set to wear off in three hours. No one wants Proact. We won’t hurt you and we’ll let you go when we’re through. We just want to know how the gravity wave missed you.”

Both men continued to advance, looking carefully in different directions. When neither was looking toward them, Ryan pulled himself to a silent crouch and whipped the rock as far as he could deeper into the woods. It didn’t hit a tree but made a thudding sound
when it landed on the ground. Just loud enough for the mercs to hear.

The two soldiers rushed right by them, racing toward the sound.

“Follow me,”
whispered Ryan as he jumped up and moved quickly and silently toward Proact. When the trio was far enough from the two mercenaries that they thought they wouldn’t be heard, they began running. They passed through the Proact gate five minutes later without seeing anyone else.

It had worked!

While they had been moving, Ryan realized that they needed to go to the Prometheus bunker. There they would be totally safe from the mercs. Ryan’s fingerprints and retina scans would get them inside and the mercs couldn’t follow. Nathaniel could get inside, but Ryan was certain he was long gone in one of the six SUVs. If not, he would have used the Enigma Cube in the woods to pin Ryan to the ground. And the soldiers didn’t have any idea who Ryan was. This was the best evidence of all that Nathaniel had left the grounds. The mercenaries probably didn’t want to contact Nathaniel to tell him about Ryan until after Ryan had been interrogated.

Ryan led the two girls into the decoy building that surrounded the concrete Prometheus bunker. There were only a few small windows in the lobby area, strategically placed so no one could see who was inside at any time. Hopefully, the soldiers wouldn’t think to look for them
here. The receptionist impersonator had gone home for the weekend before the gravity weapon had been used, so they were alone.

“You two were
amazing
,” said Ryan once they were inside, no longer feeling the need to whisper.

And they had been. It wasn’t just that they had conceived such a great plan. It was that they had been able to bring themselves to carry it out. It was obvious they had been paralyzed with fear. But
everyone
became paralyzed with fear when facing a killer who was pointing a gun at them. The difference was that some remained that way, while others somehow found a way to think and act despite their fear. Until it happened, no one knew which category they would be in. Even the strongest, seemingly bravest man couldn’t know how he would react to such a situation until he was faced with it. And Alyssa and Kelsey had come through with flying colors.

“Okay, Ryan,” said Alyssa, white as a ghost, ignoring his compliment. “Tell us what’s going on. Were those men going to
kill
you? Kill
us
?” she demanded.

Ryan took a deep breath. “Proact has been taken over. By professional soldiers.” As he spoke he continued leading them behind the reception desk. He positioned himself behind a bank of video monitors that showed every possible angle of approach to the building.

“They said they don’t want Proact,” said Kelsey.

Ryan frowned. “Maybe they don’t want it
anymore
. But they definitely have it right now.”

“My mom might still be here!” said Alyssa in horror, her eyes wide. “She was going to a convention for the weekend but I don’t know what time she was leaving.”

Ryan winced at the mention of Michelle Cooper. He had to tell Alyssa and Kelsey the truth about what had happened to their mother. But it would take far too long, and now wasn’t the time.

“Look, as far as I know no one has been killed,” said Ryan. “I can tell you a lot more about what’s going on—and I will. But right now I need to figure out how I can get a hold of someone.”

Kelsey glanced at a light pink watch strapped around her left wrist. “Alyssa, Grandma’s picking us up by the Proact gate in fifteen minutes. She’ll freak if we’re not there.”

“That’s
right
,” said Alyssa, having momentarily forgotten all about their grandmother. “We have to tell her what’s going on.”

Ryan considered. “Alyssa, let’s keep her out of this for now. Obviously you have to stop her from coming anywhere near this place. But don’t tell her what happened just yet. It’ll only make her worry and there’s nothing she can do. Trust me on this one.”

“Then what
do
I tell her?”

Ryan thought for a moment. “Tell her you ran into a friend and her mom and they invited you to dinner. Will that work?”

Alyssa tilted her head. “I think so,” she said as she
removed a sleek silver cell phone from her pocket and dialed her grandmother. After a brief conversation she ended the call. “Okay, it worked. She doesn’t expect us home until 9.00.” Alyssa turned to Ryan. “Now we have to call the police,” she insisted. “Right away.”

Ryan shook his head. “They’d be way out of their league. I know who to call. It’s just that he’s in Colorado and I don’t have his number.”

“You’re saying a guy in
Colorado
can help us more than the Brewster police?” said Alyssa doubtfully.

The corners of Ryan’s mouth turned up just slightly into a knowing smile. “No doubt about it,” he said with absolute conviction. “But I have to think of a way to reach him—and fast.”

After a few seconds Ryan asked to borrow Alyssa’s cell phone. Cell phones weren’t allowed at Ryan’s school and he had left his at home that morning. He took the phone she handed to him and considered what to do. Just to rule out the obvious he called information and tried to get Carl’s number. It wasn’t listed, just as he had expected.

Ryan concentrated for all he was worth until a desperate plan began to form in his mind. He flipped the phone open again with a frown. He would have liked to move to the absolute safety of the bunker or Prometheus, but cell phones couldn’t get reception in these places.

He took a breath and exhaled slowly. Then he called information yet again.

“What city and state, please?” said a woman at the other end.

“Washington, D.C.”

“What listing?”

“The White House,” said Ryan simply.

“Please hold for that number,” said the operator, unimpressed.

“Wait a minute,” said Ryan. “Do you have a listing for White House Security?”

“There are only two White House listings: information and switchboard.”

“Switchboard, please. Can you connect me?”

Alyssa and Kelsey looked on in dismay. Ryan turned away from them so that he wouldn’t be distracted. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Soon there would be no turning back. What he was about to do was totally insane, but he couldn’t think of anything else that could get Carl on the phone as quickly. He had considered asking to speak to President Quinn, telling the switchboard he knew him and that it was important—but he was certain this would get him nowhere. Ryan could only see one way to get the attention he needed.

Another women’s voice came over the phone. “White House switchboard. How may I help you?”

Ryan winced. Could he really do this? But even as this question entered his mind, he knew the stakes were too high to back down now. “Can I have White House Security please?” he said. His voice had deepened over
the past few years, but he tried to deepen it further. They would take him far less seriously if they thought he was a kid.

“We don’t give out that number. You’ll need to contact the Secret Service and—”

“Look, lady, here’s the deal,” barked Ryan, his pulse racing. “I’ve got a bomb set to blow the president off the planet! I have my finger on the detonator. Now how about putting me through to security!”

“What are you doing, Ryan?” shouted Alyssa from beside him. “You can’t threaten the president! It’s a crime to even
joke
about something like that.”