The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Chapter 23: Dueling with the Devil

Somehow Dee managed to stay conscious as she watched the two men step back through the airlock doors to disappear. As soon as they vanished, she painfully pushed herself onto her hands and knees, her body screaming at her to stop. But, knowing that if she didn't stop these guys, the last link they have to what had happened on 16th Avenue was gone, she pushed the pain into the farthest corners of her mind, triggering a flood of endorphins to dull the ache.

Sighing as the pain faded enough for her to move, she scrambled across the floor to retrieve her gun, thrown from her hand by the silver wall's impact. Picking it up, she again reached into her pocket to pull out the fresh magazine, ramming it home before she carefully stood.

A quick glance around her yielded that the RRT officers were completely down and out, unconscious or so incapacitated that they could only moan softly and writhe in place. Duffy too was out, haphazardly sprawled over two RRT officers. A visual check told her that he was still breathing and that his limbs appeared not to be broken.

"Hawkes," she husked, thumbing her radio back on. "My advance team has taken heavy casualties. I have multiple officers down. Requesting that you immediately advance into the building. Over." She sighed, leaning against the wall as she waited for the hiss of the radio connecting then Hawkes to speak through the static.

But, to her horror, the earpiece nestled deep in her ear remained dead. Stifling a curse on her lips, she reached back to pull the radio unit off her belt. Bringing it around, she groaned in disappointment when she saw that it was completely smashed, probably from her impact with the floor.

"Well, ain't this just great!" she hissed, letting the radio drop out of abruptly numb fingers onto the floor. She should have called in the cavalry when she had the chance. Now, the opportunity to save her final witness seemed to be slipping away from her.

Unless ... Kneeling beside Duffy, she pulled up his coat to reveal his radio unit. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it had survived his disorderly flight down the hallway. Unhooking it from his belt, Dee quickly detached all the leads and connected hers before she thumbed it on.

Almost instantly she got an earful of static and Hawkes screaming at the top of her lungs through it.

" ... hell is everybody? McMaster? Duffy? Vandermest? Is there anybody left alive in there?"

"Hawkes, it's McMaster," Dee rasped thickly, slowly climbing back to her feet as she dialed the radio's volume down to a tolerable level. Damn, Duffy must be nearly deaf if he needed volume like that!

"Thank God!" Hawkes hissed. "What's the situation, McMaster? Have you encountered the intruders?"

"Uh, yeah." Dee glanced around at the bodies lying thickly around her. "You could definitely say that."

"And??" Hawkes pressed, her voice taut with tension.

"And we took heavy casualties," Dee said tiredly. "The entire team is down, including Duffy. I'm the only one left standing. And that by the skin of my teeth."

"Shit," Hawkes snarled. "I'm moving in then. Stay where you are! We'll find you in five minutes and get you out of there!"

"Negative." Dee husked, groaning as she pushed herself away from the wall she had leaned against for a moment to rest her aching legs.

"Negative?? What the hell does that mean?" Hawkes fired back, open concern in her voice.

"I mean, send in your troops to secure the building. But I can't stay where I am; I have a witness I need to protect. Or our case is nothing but hot air. So I'm going to find him."