Taylor said, “He’s still tripping.”
“What about you?”
“I’m settling down.” She looked at the bright lights of Camp Hayden up ahead, and the figure of Tom Greer in silhouette, walking unsteadily toward the camp. She said, “I feel like we’re crawling back into a viper’s nest, Scott. Why are we doing that?”
“Because it’s where the truth is.”
CHAPTER 37
AS THEY APPROACHED THE EASTERNedge of the camp, Brodie looked up at the dark guard tower, which appeared to still be deserted. They made their way to the crawl space beneath the fence and saw that no one had returned the oil drums to their place.
Greer stopped at the fence and looked down at the shallow tunnel.
Brodie said, “I’ll go first, then Greer, then Taylor.” He kept his eyes on Greer, trying to read the guy. “We doing okay, soldier?”
Greer said nothing, his eyes fixed on the tunnel beneath the fence. He was either psyching himself up or psyching himself out, or maybe staring into the gaping maw of a sand monster that was about to eat him. Hard to tell.
Brodie decided to lead by example. He got on his stomach and crawled beneath the fence, then rose to his feet and looked around. He was standing on the northeastern edge of the camp’s helipad. A Black Hawk sat on the southern end, and near it was a parked Humvee. In between the vehicles, a streetlamp threw a hard circle of white light. He did not see anyone around.
He looked through the fence at Greer. “Your turn, Private.”
Greer took a deep breath, then got on his stomach and crawled through. Taylor followed.
Greer looked around him at the bright lights that washed out the starry sky. He seemed like he might be regretting his decision.
Taylor took the private’s arm and said to Brodie, “We need to get to the lab and see if we can access a computer.”
“No one will be there at this hour, and it will be locked. We’re better off knocking on doors and waking someone up. Dixon or Spencer.”
“We don’t know who we can trust.”
“Flip a coin.”
“Lab first. Maybe there’s a way to break in.”
Brodie eyed PFC Greer, who was staring wide-eyed at the parked Black Hawk and Humvee. Brodie said to Taylor, “All right. Sounds fun.”
They moved quickly across the northern edge of the helipad and then down a dusty road with single-story concrete buildings on either side. They avoided the throws of the streetlamps and kept to the pockets of darkness.
Greer was looking increasingly disoriented, and Taylor had to pull him along to make sure he stuck with them. Whatever had brought him peace up on that mesa was long gone down here in Camp Hades.
Suddenly Greer slammed his back against a concrete wall and said, too loudly, “Someone’s there.”
“Quiet,” whispered Brodie.
Brodie signaled for them both to stay put, then crept forward. About twenty yards ahead on his right was a Quonset hut. A single bare bulb hanging from its exterior illuminated two MPs flanking the door. They were both armed with M4 rifles.
He went back to Taylor and Greer. “Is that the armory?”
Greer nodded.
“We’re going around it. Follow me.”
They crossed the road and headed down a narrow alley between two buildings. Through the darkened windows of the building on their right, Brodie saw rows of long tables and benches, and saloon doors that led to a kitchen. The mess hall.
Suddenly they heard a vehicle roar down the road and screech to a halt in front of the armory. Brodie doubled back and peered around the building in time to see a floodlight hit the two MPs, blinding them.Someone barked orders as silhouettes poured out of the vehicle and quickly overwhelmed the two guards, disarming them and slamming them against the outer wall of the hut.
Taylor and Greer were behind Brodie, watching, and Brodie could hear Greer hyperventilating. He looked at the man, whose eyes were wide open and unblinking as he stared at the dark shapes in the floodlight. The guy was still somewhere around Pluto.
