Chapter Ninety
< i I oly shit! Holy shit!' Jamilla said. The words exploded out of I 1 her mouth. Then she smiled. 'Jesus. I don't believe it.' She stared down at the huge, fierce animal that had tried to kill me, and was now laying at her feet. I pushed myself up, forced my legs to move. I took tenuous steps back to where she and Kyle were standing. The cat lay twisted across the width of the tunnel. It didn't move, and it wasn't going to. 'Are they down here in the tunnel? The Lost Boys?'Kyle asked in a whisper.'The Sire?' 'I haven't seen anybody. Just footprints, and the cat. Let's go,' I finally said. The tunnel was much longer than I would have thought. I wasn't even sure which direction we were headed. Toward the road? The foothills? The Pacific Ocean? 'I sent men toward the perimeters of the property, about five or six hundred yards out. It spreads us thin,' Kyle said. 'I don't like it.' I didn't answer him. I was still shaky, not quite over my moment of truth with the tiger. My heart was pumping like an engine pushed to its limit. I wondered if I might be going into shock. 'Alex?'Jamilla spoke.'You with us? You okay?' 'Just give me a minute. I'll be fine. Let's keep going.' Soon we could see the faintest glimmer of light up ahead. That was hopeful. But where were we coming out of the tunnel? 'Can't tell how far it is,'I said.'Or what's between us and the light.' My hip brushed against something. Then my shoulder. I jumped
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back and my whole body shuddered. But it was only a valve sticking out from the tunnel wall. Nothing. Scared the hell out of me, though. Then I could see part of the landscape outside - a couple of cypress pines leaning away from the wind, a streak of bright blue sky. It wasn't far, maybe thirty or forty yards. Usually, the most dangerous part of a raid was breaking in; now it was getting out of this dark tunnel. I shined the flashlight to my face, put a finger to my lips. I pointed to my chest with the same finger. I would go first. I knew I was better with a gun than Kyle, and I was physically stronger than Jamilla - at least I thought so. Besides, this was the way it had been the past few years: Gary Soneji, Casanova, Geoffrey Shafer, now the Alexander brothers and their Sire. I keep going in first. How long am I going to keep it up? Why am I doing this? 'Don't forget, they're human,'Jamilla said.'They bleed too.' I wanted to believe she was right. I moved forward quietly, quickly. I hesitated at the mouth of the tunnel. Took a breath. One, Mississippi, two ... then out into the big, bad world. I don't know why, but I yelled at the top of my voice as I burst out into the light. No words, just a loud scream! Actually, maybe I did know why -1 was afraid of these two killers, of their merciless cult, of the Sire. Maybe they bled, but they weren't human. Not like the rest of us. I was in a pocket chasm surrounded by low-lying hills. I saw no one out there. No sign that anyone had been here recently. They had to have come this way, though. The tiger must have been in the tunnel with somebody. Jamilla and Kyle came out of the tunnel behind me. The looks on their faces showed their disappointment, their fatigue and confusion. I heard it before I saw anything. A black pickup truck came roaring around the side of one of the hills. It was headed straight for me and I had a choice: dive back into the tunnel, or hold my ground in the face of the blond killers. They were inside the truck. I could see both of them. I held my ground.
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