Fatalis

Chapter Seventy-Four

Hannah ran over and dropped beside Grand. She looked down at the mauled body of Malcolm Gearhart.

The sheriff was dead; there wasn't any doubt about that. But Grand knelt beside him anyway, one knee on the ground, feeling frantically for a heartbeat, then for a pulse, then for a sign of breath.

He finally gave up.

"It's not your fault," Hannah said. She had always hoped to write a farewell to Gearhart, but not this way.

"I told him not to go in."

"I know," Hannah said. "But the sheriff had to do things his way. You couldn't change that."

As they bent over Gearhart, Mclver sent two officers to collect the body. Then he called for medical teams to be waiting by on Curson. Meanwhile, Mindar's team moved in. The scratching sounds and long, low hisses rose from somewhere below. It sounded to Hannah like a door to hell had opened and unimaginable demons were crawling forth.

The Wall came over but he didn't take any pictures. He stood there with a shellshocked expression and made the sign of the cross as the two officers ran over with a canvas sheet from the back of the truck. They wrapped it tightly around Gearhart's body.

Grand put his arm around Hannah and stood. "Come on. We'd better get back."

Hannah looked out at the soldiers who were forming a skirmish line beside the truck, men squatting in front and others standing behind them.

"I'm sorry about this," Hannah said to Grand.

Grand nodded and hugged her close. Then they, the Wall, and the two police officers carrying Sheriff Gearhart's remains ran forward. There was blood on Grand's hand and forearm. As soon as they got behind the line, Hannah pulled him down and checked to make sure the blood wasn't his.

It wasn't. Grand had stuffed his handkerchief halfway into his pocket. Hannah pulled it out and began wiping the blood away.

The sounds were getting louder. Or maybe they only seemed louder because everything else was so silent.

Captain Mclver was standing between his team, which was on the truck, behind the barrels, and the soldier.

"Pick them off as they come out of the hole," Captain Mclver said softly. "We don't want to tag the first one and have him fall on the others."

Grand looked anxiously toward the soldiers' backs. He tried to rise but Hannah was still holding his hand. She pulled him down and gently turned his face toward hers.

"Don't watch," she said.

"Hannah, how can I just let this happen?"

"You did everything you could," she said. "It all happened too fast and people are dying."

There was a sound behind her. Hannah turned. It was coming from the drainage grate. It had been too small and indirect for the men to go through. But tigers were not men.

"Jim?"

He looked back.

"When we were on the truck Gearhart said something about tributaries," Hannah said.

"He was right."

"Do you think this room drains into the underground water system?"

"We'd have to check the building plans-"

Just then the heavy iron grate flew from the opening. It spun through the air like a tossed coin and crashed just feet away from them. A golden-furred head appeared in the bright lights. A moment later saber-tooths began leaping into the garage.