Egress Point

Chapter 22 and a half

She moved back, away from the door, and looked for somewhere to hide. Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket as she ran to the end of one of the server racks. There was a gap that she could just about squeeze herself into. But she would be trapped. She looked at the phone. Another update said: Get out. Fire exit. Go now.

There was a green fire exit sign on the other side of the room, past the door. Another loud crack! and splinters flew from around the lock and door frame. She ran.

The fire exit sign pointed behind another row of servers. There was a larger space between this row and the wall. She sprinted along it, brushing past the tangle of blue and yellow wires connected to the backs of servers. At the end was another green sign above a solid grey door. There was no push bar and no handle. She pushed it as hard as she could and it didn't budge. What good was a fire exit that wouldn't open?

She took a step back and looked around. On the wall on the left hand side was a small green panel with a push-switch under a square pane of glass. She pushed the glass with her hand but it didn't break. She hit it with her elbow and heard a crunch. The glass had cracked but the switch hadn't moved. She tried again and still the glass held.

There were more angry shouts over the roar of the fans. Her heart was pounding and she yanked her bag round and felt for the screwdriver. She dug it out from under the hard drive, just as a man appeared at the far end of the row of servers. He had a gun in one hand and was shouting at her. She stabbed the screwdriver into the glass as hard as she could. It punched through and into the switch. The catch holding the door was released and it swung open. Patey was there, outside, waiting.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her through the open door. At the same time the man with the gun fired, there was a loud crack and the door frame next to her face exploded in a shower of splinters. She screamed and stumbled but Patey kept her from falling, dragging her out, away from the hotsite.

She was crying and the left side of her face was stinging madly from splinters. There was a black Audi with a door open ahead of them. Patey pushed her in and fell in on top of her. He screamed something, she couldn't tell what, but the car started to move jerkily and then fast. Em was behind the wheel. The windscreen was cracked. And red. It was covered in red.

Patey pulled himself up off her. She straightened up and felt blood trickle from a cut near her ear. Then she looked at the red windscreen and made the connection. It was thick with blood, more blood than she'd ever seen before. She screamed as Em drove on, engine roaring, faster and faster away from the hotsite and the Russians.