Evil Thirst (The Last Vampire #5)(18)
Author: Christopher Pike

"Control,we are in position. Over."

"He shouldn't be talking,"I say." She'll hear him. In fact,they should be ready for her to attack. Now. Tell them to get their weapons drawn. She could come at them any second."

James ignores me. He talks into his radio.

"Alpha Top, this is Control. You will go on my command.Stand ready. Over."

Separated by a corner of the building,neither group of three can see the other group. This is a major weakness in the plan. They should know to the split second what every one of them is doing.Their radios are not fast enough. James continues to bark instructions.

"Alpha Bottom, this is Control. Move toward Suite Eighteen Twenty-one. Alpha Top is in posi­tion on the balconies. Over."

"Control,this is Alpha Bottom. Understood. Over."

The ten people on the Alpha Bottom team will crowd one another as they move along the hallway. I point this out to James and suggest he hold back half of them by the elevators. He brushes aside my comment.

"They know what they're doing," he says. "They won't accidentally shoot each other."

"You don't understand how fast she can move," I say. "The more room they have,the more chance they have of getting off a cleans hot."

"I want Alpha Bottom to knock at the door first," Dr. Setersays."Shehastobetoldthatsheis surrounded and that escape is impossible."

"She doesn't think in terms of impossibilities,"Seymour mutters."I think it will be a mistake to knock."

James checks with me. "Do you agree?"

I think ofK alika riddled with bullets while she liesinbed.

"I agree." I turn to Dr. Seter." There is no point in talking to her. Honestly."

Dr. Seter trembles. "But this could be cold-blooded murder."

"I say we listen to Alisa,"James says.Before anyone can protest he clicks on his radio. "Alpha Top and Alpha Bottom,this is Control. We will move on the count of five. One...two...three..."

He does not reach five.

There is loud screaming.

We hear it over the radio and through the air.

We look down to see that the balcony farthest from us is empty—of Suzama people,that is.Kalika,alone, is out there,her hair hanging down the back of her white robe. Below her, three indi­viduals in black float down toward the large swim­ming pool. Float is perhaps too kind a word.They are falling to their deaths,and they know it. The few feet of pool water are not going to absorb their falls. Their horrified screams rend the air and I scream at myself for believing thatK alika would just lie down and die.

The three hit the water, landing on top of each other, crashing through to the bottom.Their limbs and skulls explode on contact. The pool is well lit. Within seconds a red wave expands across the blue water. The screams cease. I turn to James.

"Call off the attack!" I yell. "Get your people out of there! She may let them go if they pull back now!"

James stares down in horror as blood fills the pool.

"This is incredible," he mumbles.

I grab him. "I was wrong! She can't be stopped this way! Tell them to back off!"

He looks at me and frowns. "No. We have only started to fight." He touches his two sharpshooters on the shoulders,the two that crouch below us. "Open fire."

Their bullets begin to ricochet off the balcony. Kalika moves inside.

"Alpha Top!" James shouts into his radio. "She is coming."

No, she has come. Before James can finish speak­ing,Kalika attacks those on the second balcony. Only my eyes are fast enough to see exactly what she does. The person closest to the balcony door is a woman with long red hair. Kalika grabs her and twists her head allthe way around.Catching the dead woman's weapon as it falls, Kalika then shoots the otter two in the face. One, a handsome guy with no top skull,falls over the balcony and lands on the sidewalk seventeen floors below. The third one, a short dark guy, simply sits down and dies.Before our sharpshooters can readjust their aim to the nearer balcony, Kalika has retreated inside. And now she has an automatic weapon with her. James struggles to turn his radio back on.

"Alpha Bottom!" he yells. "You must attack!"

"What has happened to Alpha Top?" the guy wants to know.

"Those on the balcony have been taken out!" James says and forgets all the "Alpha" this and "over" that. There is no time for such formalities."She is still inside! Get her!"

"Tell them she has a gun!" I say.

"She has a gun!" James yells. "Alpha Top, you must get down to the balconies! Alpha Bottom is going in!"

The four still on the roof are peering over the edges. They see that the pool is full of bodies and so is one of the balconies. Why, there is even a body down on the sidewalk. They don't want to go anywhere. I wish they would go back the way they came. I know they are in extreme danger just by being on the roof.

"We have to stop!" Dr. Seter cries to his son, his face ashen." Alisa is right! Don't send any more people."

The radio is screaming.

Now Alpha Bottom is dying.

They have kicked in her door,violated her space. There are gunshots, sounds of tearing flesh, splat­tering blood,breaking bones. Andover it all I hear Kalika laughing.She is unstoppable and knows it. It is only then I realize that from the very beginning this has been a trap. Seymour was right. Kalika let me hear enoughto figure out where she lived.She knew I would try to get help, and since she obviously doesn't like the Suzama group, so much the better that they should come to her to die. I hear one womanbegging for mercy and then it sounds as if she is smashed against a wall. James trembles with the radio in his hand. "Alpha Top!" he shouts. "Help your partners!" The four still on the roof look at one another and shake their heads.They would be better off getting down from the roof, yet they must think they are safe up there because they hardly move while the screaming continues. But when it stops,and the firing stops, I finally grab the radio from James's hands.

"Alpha Top," I say calmly. "She knows you're up there. Try to go back down the way you came up. Don't wait for her to come to you. Please, listen to me. Swing down to the nineteenth floor and get in the elevator. There's still time."

But what time there is they squander. A precious minute elapses while they seem to argue among themselves. At the end of that time, Kalika,her white robe now soaked red, peeks over the edge of the roof. They see her, and those left of Alpha Top are too scared even to level their weapons. As Kalika climbs up onto the roof, they slowly back into the corner farthest from her. Even the sharp­shooters at our knees stare in awe. James slaps one on the head.