Shadow Tyrants

TWENTY-SEVEN

Fyodor Yudin pounded on the door on the second level when he heard someone on the other side coming down the south stairwell. With all of the doors now locking them in, he was panicked about his mistake in setting the self-destruct, which he could no longer deactivate.

“Hello out there!” the warden shouted. “We’re stuck in here! Open the door!”

The other men with him were shouting as well, and he had to wave his arms to get them to be quiet so he could hear the guard on the other side.

“I can’t open it,” the guard said through the steel door. “It looks like they’ve glued it shut.”

“Then get some grenades from the shed and blow it open, you idiot!”

“Right away.”

“Hurry!”

Yudin looked at his watch and could only stew as he saw it count down to under a minute.

Juan used his pry bar to open the door to the disabled elevator, which was stuck just below their level.

“I hope this elevator has an emergency hatch,” Raven said.

“Me, too,” Juan replied.

He knelt down and motioned for Raven to get on his shoulders. He lifted her up, and she pounded at ceiling sections until one of the squares gave way. She flipped it open and pulled herself up.

Juan jumped and caught the edge of the opening with his fingertips. Raven hauled on his vest and helped him up.

He looked at his watch. Thirty seconds to go. This was going to be close.

The elevator doors one level up to the shed were still open from when he’d sabotaged the cable.

An explosion somewhere below them shook the elevator. Thankfully, it wasn’t big enough to bring down the whole complex.

Raven looked at him as he boosted her up to the opening. “What was that?”

“The guards found a way out,” he said, pulling himself up behind her, as they heard feet pounding up the stairs next to the elevator.

“We’re here,” Juan said to Max while running out of the shed with Raven. “We’ve got ten seconds left. Where’s the HOB?”

“Look up,” Max said.

Juan did and saw a jumbo-sized six-propellered drone descending into the clearing sounding like the buzzing of a million angry hornets. Situated atop the crossbars in the middle of the drone were a large seat, handlebars, and stirrups.

“That’s the experiment?” Raven said in amazement.

The HOB was Max’s nickname for his newest creation. It stood for Hoverbike, the first passenger drone to be based on the Oregon.

“Get on,” Juan said, stepping onto the stirrups and grabbing the handlebars. He wasn’t sure how this would go. It was only the third time he’d ridden it.

“But there’s only one seat,” Raven protested.

“It can carry us both.” According to Max, it was rated for up to five hundred pounds, but they’d only tested it with one rider so far.

She sat on the seat amid the propellers, which were shielded by safety covers. She cinched the seat belt and wrapped her arms around Juan’s waist.

“Wait a minute,” she said, “where are the controls?”

“There aren’t any,” Juan said. “Saves weight. Max, tell Gomez were ready.” Gomez, who was still in the Gator, was controlling the Hoverbike remotely as he did all of their other drones.

“Roger that. He says, hold on.”

Then three things happened simultaneously: the gyro-stabilized HOB lifted off, the guards who had been locked inside the prison facility — led by a large man who had to be Warden Yudin — emerged from the darkness of the shed with weapons ready, but a series of massive explosions began shattering the ground below them before they could fire.

“Get us up!” Juan yelled into his comm mic.

The Hoverbike shot up. Raven gripped Juan even tighter and pressed herself against him to keep from falling off.

As the HOB cleared the trees, the guards below them were running in every direction to get away from the blast zone, but it was too late. The shed blew apart, sending shards of shrapnel hurtling into the air. The HOB wobbled from the blast wave, but Gomez’s skill kept them aloft. A large chunk of the shed that might have reached the HOB was blocked by the trunk of the nearest palm tree. A few small pieces hit Juan and Raven, but nothing big enough to hurt them.

At the same time, the ground rose several feet as the blast heaved it up. Then it collapsed back down as the shed caved in and what remained of the structure tumbled into the crater left by the blast before being lost in the cloud of dust. Trees surrounding the clearing started to fall into the gaping maw opening beneath them.

“You okay?” Juan shouted to Raven.

She was still clutching Juan with a death grip. “Yes, but I’ll be happier when we’re off this thing.”

“But doesn’t this give us a chance to get to know each other a little better, don’t you think?”

“I’m not enjoying this!” she yelled in his ear. “You better not be, either.”

“Not at all.” It was probably good that she couldn’t see his smile.

“You guys okay?” Max asked. “We didn’t think to install a camera facing the rider.”

“We’re hanging in here,” Juan said. “What about the others? Everyone make it out okay?”

“It was close, but no casualties. We’re just about to start bringing the former prisoners onto the ship.”

“Some of them might be in bad shape. Make sure Doc Huxley is ready for them.”

“She’s already got her team prepped. You want Gomez to set you down somewhere near where you are?”

“Yes!” Raven shouted. “Get me off this.”

“No,” Juan countermanded. “There’s nothing left here. Besides, I don’t think there are any other clearings big enough to land. The previous one is now a hole in the ground. Bring us back to the Oregon.”

“We’re already next to the pier. We’ll have you on board in a minute.”

The Hoverbike turned smartly and accelerated toward the Oregon, which Juan could now see over the trees.

While they cruised above the jungle, Raven said, “Lyla and the others were lucky we came along when we did. They were going to die on this rock. But why? What were they doing here?”

“Good questions,” Juan said. “I can’t wait to hear the answers.”