“Copy,” Atlantis said.
Each cage locked separately, requiring Porter’s handprint to open it. Gina went to the first cage and held up Porter’s hand. Someone inside the cage cried out and Gina jumped back.
Oh my God. It’s her. The woman Jeremy told me about. The one who looks like me.
“It’s okay, We’re setting you free.” She lifted the hand again to press it against the screen.
“No!” Gina’s lookalike shouted. “You don’t understand. If you open it, it’ll blow up. We’ll all die. He told us.”
“Oh sweet Jesus.” Gina looked at Walker for confirmation.
“Not sure,” he said, sounding totally focused. “Don’t risk it.”
“Fuck.”
Footsteps pounded down the stairs.
“All of you leave,” Walker said calmly. “Three minutes.”
“No. No,” Gina whispered.
“I’m calling my people back,” Atlantis said. The footsteps retreated. She couldn’t blame him. Gina was about to make the same call.
The people in the cages were all waking up and grabbing the bars, staring between them without a shred of hope.
“Get out,” Walker said again.
He can do it. Lachlan will fix this.
“Gina,” Malcolm said.
“Carry her out, Mal, that’s an order.” Walker continued to fiddle with wires.
Gina whipped her head around and gave Malcolm her best interrogator’s stare, stopping him in his tracks. “Go, Mal. Get the hell out. Don’t break Annalie’s heart.”
“One minute.”
“Not without you, Gina.”
“No. Not while Lachlan’s at the other end. Now go. Annalie.”
“Not playing fair,” he growled as he ran for the stairs.
Her calm came back, but it felt different. Not cold, but warm.
“We’ll meet you up there. Lach’s got this.”
Lach’s got this.
And with five seconds left, he and Walker defused the bombs.
* * *
“So,” Atlantis said back in the main house. “We have a decision to make.”
They had just helped the last of the prisoners into rescue helicopters. One helicopter remained to take them back to civilization. Kyla had flown in on that one to report on the story for the paper.
Now, they just needed to decide if Marcus Porter was coming with them. The man sat in a chair—a normal one not wired to anything—half-slumped onto the table in front of him, looking very pale and very interested in this conversation.
