The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series by Andrew C. Broderick Page B

deliberately let go with his right hand and moved it to the boy’s throat, gripping his neck firmly, with his thumb pressed against the windpipe below the Adam’s apple. David’s glare bored into his prisoner’s frantic face. David then brought his left hand, in cold, deliberate moves, and interlocked it with his right. Antonio looked on in terror. “Slow strangulation, or a quick broken neck?” David asked the boy.
    “Ugchhk…”
    David released the pressure slightly. The boy inhaled deeply. “This is not a game,” David said. “I have a child who’s going to be dead before long. If it comes down to her life or yours, it won’t be her that perishes. Are we clear about that?” The captive nodded vigorously. David released his hold slightly more. “So this is how it’s going to work. You’re going to take me to supplies. Don’t bother trying anything.”
    The boy exhaled. “Okay.”
    “Get up.” David released him and got up. The boy was halfway to his feet, his clothes still shimmering in the strange pattern, when David put a hand on his shoulder from behind and forced his right arm up behind his back. “You go in front of him, Tony.”
    “Okay.”
    David frog-marched the boy slowly back the way he had come, turning right at the T intersection. They were soon at the large hatch-like metal door. The boy punched in a code. “Five-four-six-two,” Antonio muttered, watching the boy’s fingers. Antonio pushed the door inwards. It opened onto an almost unbelievable scene: a metal grate, half the size of a tennis court, at the inner wall of a vast concrete silo, maybe 250 meters across. The drop below extended farther than they could see. Rising up from the depths was another gray silo, in the center of that one, whose outer wall was perhaps fifty meters away.
    “Holy crap!” David said, wide-eyed. A walkway extended straight, across the void, towards the inner silo. There was another platform that encircled its girth like a ring, with halogen lights shining down on it. David still had the boy’s right arm up behind his back, and his left hand on his shoulder.
    “There are others like this,” Antonio said, pointing across the silo. He had now gone through the hatch, and was standing on the platform. Spaced at intervals around the wall were other similar platforms, also sporting catwalks to the inner silo. Each was lit from above. This pattern was repeated both above and below where they stood, at roughly twenty meter intervals. Stairs at a roughly forty-five degree angle connected them. On some of the suspended levels were people, especially on the inner ring. Many laid down, while others sat. The air smelled bad.
    A figure darted out from behind the open door. At once, a knife was at Antonio’s throat. Holding it was a man with dark skin, wearing a pair of dirty blue jeans and a worn leather jacket. “Who comes here?” he said, in an African accent. The man then spun around behind Antonio and restrained him with his left arm, while keeping the blade in place.
    “Uhh…”
    “Outsiders!” the man said.
    “I swear! They forced me!” the boy spat.
    “It’s true,” David said calmly. “We caught him. He had no part in it.”
    “Josiah, go to your unit. You will be dealt with severely,” the man said.
    “He’s not going anywhere,” David said, tightening his grip on the boy. His eyes narrowed. “Not until you release my friend, and provide some food and water for my family. Then, we’ll go away and forget this ever happened.”
    “ You’re not going anywhere,” the man said. “Not now you know we’re here. Intruders!” He turned and yelled behind him. “Backup!” Two other men came running along the catwalk, from the inner ring. As they approached, one unsheathed a knife, and the other a pistol. As soon as they reached the platform, the right one aimed his pistol at David’s head, and they advanced slowly.
    “There’s not much a desperate man won’t do,” David said, shakily,