Tunnels 06 - Terminal

pavement beside the boy. Her rifle was to her shoulder, aimed directly at his temple.
    ‘I want you to lower your weapon,’ she ordered him. ‘Nice and easy.’
    The boy jerked as if he’d been stung, but he kept his head resolutely towards Will.
    ‘I said lower your weapon,’ Elliott tried again.
    The boy still showed no sign of complying, although his eyes were flicking back and forth between Will and Elliott.
    ‘Come on, kid, put it down,’ Will pleaded with him, then spoke to Elliott. ‘It’s useless. He doesn’t seem to understand anything.’
    ‘No, he doesn’t,’ Elliott agreed. ‘And if he doesn’t lower that weapon soon, I’m going to put a round into his wrist.’
    The boy clearly didn’t like it that Will and Elliott were talking. He began to jab the handgun in Will’s direction and shake his head, while his helmet steamed up a little on the inside.
    There was another click.
    ‘Ah, but we both understand you very well,’ a man’s voice said. ‘And you’re not going to shoot anyone, Fräulein.’ He was armed with another of the odd-looking pistols, and the end of the barrel was pressed against the back of Elliott’s head. She rolled her eyes upwards, furious that she’d allowed someone to sneak up on her.
    The man was also wearing a protective suit. ‘Might I suggest that you lower your weapon,’ he said in very formal English.
    ‘Not a chance,’ Elliott replied coolly. ‘If I do that, we lose our leverage. Right now, if you open fire I may die, but my finger will contract. At this range, the kid is certain to catch abullet. He’ll go down, no question. Do you want to take that risk?’
    There was a pause as the man thought this over. ‘And before he dies, the boy may also get a shot off at your friend too.’
    ‘Maybe, maybe not,’ Elliott said.
    Will took a breath. ‘If it’s okay with all of you, I’d really rather not find out.’ The heat on the pavement was oppressive, and the sweat was trickling down his back as his arms began to tire from holding the lemonade bottles above his head. ‘Tell you what,’ he said, forcing a smile, ‘how about if I go first and put these bottles down?’
    No one replied or seemed about to follow his suggestion, all gripping their weapons firmly. Without moving his head, Will slid his eyes over to try to see the man more clearly. ‘You’re wearing that suit because of the virus, aren’t you? But you don’t look like a soldier.’
    ‘No, I’m not a soldier,’ the man answered.
    Will frowned. ‘It’s a no-brainer that you’re New Germanian, but how did you survive the virus? And what are you doing here?’
    ‘I might ask you the same question,’ the man countered.
    ‘We came here from the surface to stop the Styx … to stop them breeding. It all went wrong and a deadly pathogen was released. It was an accident,’ Will said, realising how bad that sounded. ‘So who are you exactly?’ he asked again quickly.
    ‘I was a science officer at the Institut für Antiquitäten ,’ the man said. ‘You would call it the … er … Institute of Antiquities.’
    Will’s ears perked up at this. ‘Antiquities? So you know all about the pyramids and the ruins in the jungle?’ he ventured.
    ‘As much as we were allowed to, with the military breathing down our necks,’ the man replied.
    Elliott cleared her throat. ‘Can we please stick to the point? We’re in a situation here!’ she said through clenched teeth.
    Will ignored her comment, feeling a little light-headed from the heat of the sun. ‘My dad and I were studying the pyramids too,’ he said. ‘In fact, we ended up inside one of them, when we were running from the Styx. The bloody bushmen let us in, but then gave us up. My dad was killed as a result.’
    ‘So that was you,’ the man whispered. For a second he didn’t speak, clearly considering what he’d heard. ‘Then you can tell me something,’ he finally said. ‘What was the name of the army officer who took you by helicopter so th—’
    ‘Bismarck,’ Elliott jumped in before the man had a chance to finish. ‘The Colonel helped us to escape in his helicopter so we could take the route back to the outer world. That’s where we met up with him again – on the surface. He was our friend.’
    The man appeared perturbed by this. ‘ Was your friend?’
    Will nodded sadly. ‘He was killed by the Styx when they ambushed us. Just before the void was plugged by the explosion, and the virus