Those huge green eyes of hers melted me.

"We're going to be okay," I said.

She nodded, and I moved out on foot. The other two riders were going slow now, practically walking their bikes through the cars, looking for us. I crouched down below the top of the cars and jogged into position. When the rider I was targeting got close enough, I stood up and fired both Glocks into his chest, knocking him backwards off the bike.

The other rider tried to react, but he was stuck between two pickups. I threw a lot of ammunition at him with both guns and managed to catch a lucky shot. He spun around, hit in the shoulder, and went down.

I ran over to where he fell and saw him rolling on the pavement, wounded. He pushed off his helmet and let it tumble away. He looked up at me, his eyes pleading with me. Most of the time my moral compa.s.s swings closer to the good than the bad, but some people just aren't worth the effort.

I shot him in the head.

When I got back to Heather, she was holding that portable radio in her hands and crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Daddy was right about Nessel," she said. "The b.a.s.t.a.r.d used me as a decoy."

"What do you mean?"

"Daddy sent a squad of his best men to the safe house where we were supposed to go." She looked up at me and choked back tears. "Nessel was waiting for them. They're all dead. Now he's attacking the compound."

"Oh Jesus."

"He said for us to stay away." She looked deep into my eyes. "But my G.o.d, Andrew. It sounded so bad. I heard explosions. And Daddy was screaming at people while he was talking with me."

I had no idea what to say. She told me while we were dancing that she had begged her father for a week to let her go out on a date with me, and now his empire was in serious risk of crumbling and it was all because of our date.

I was feeling lousy, because I knew the role I played in wrecking her family, but then she surprised me.

"Andrew," she said. "You were telling me the truth about my mom, weren't you? You really did read her my letter?"

I nodded.

"You worked a miracle bringing her back into my life."

I shook my head.

"You did," she said. "I believe that. And I believe you can do it again. I believe you can give me my father back."

I felt confused. "What are you asking me to do?"

"Help me save my father, Andrew. Please."

She turned those big green eyes up at me, a tear welling up and running down her face, and in that moment, I knew I was powerless to refuse. I'd have handed her my soul for the asking.

"Let's go get your dad," I said.

I started toward the main gate because that was the only way into Ashcroft's compound that I knew of, but when Heather saw where I was going she pointed me in a different direction.

She had me go to the west side of the compound and drive into a crumbling building that looked like it had been a bakery before the outbreak. It was the corner shop in a block-long strip mall. She told me to stop, got off the bike, opened a door that had been made to look like it was rusted shut, and ushered me into a freshly painted white corridor.

"This leads right into the compound," she said.

I nodded, impressed. Concealed doors and hidden tunnels were the kind of thing you'd expect from a powerful boss like Ashcroft, but it was still weird to actually see it in real life. That kind of engineering was way beyond what most bosses were capable of.

We took the motorcycle all the way to the end of the corridor, where we were met by guards who took us to see Ashcroft.

Ashcroft and Naylor were watching the battle from the third floor of the Fairmount. Nessel had focused his troops around the main gate, but they were hitting the wall of flattened cars in a couple of different places, forcing Ashcroft's troops to divide up their strength.

Heather and I stood back a little, listening, as Naylor relayed updates of the battle he was receiving over the radio to Ashcroft.

The outer perimeter of Ashcroft's compound was made up of smashed and stacked cars. Nessel's men had used rocket-propelled grenades against that wall and it had partially collapsed in two places. A large group of Ashcroft's men were boxed in near the gate, fighting a close-quarters battle in the rubble left from the explosions, and Nessel's superior numbers were starting to wear them down.

Ashcroft surveyed the scene with night-vision goggles. "Pull them back, Naylor," he said. "Tell them to regroup around the courtyard."

Ashcroft's troops began falling back. Heather reached over and touched my hand as the soldiers ran back toward the hotel. I looked over at her and saw she was holding her breath.

Just then another blast from a rocket grenade lit up the night, and when the smoke settled, we saw there was a huge hole in the wall.

Naylor was watching the s.p.a.ce beyond the wall. "Something's happening," he said. "They're bringing up buses."

"Buses?" Ashcroft said. He focused his binoculars on the hole. "My G.o.d," he gasped.

Two yellow school buses broke through the burning debris that had once been the wall of flattened cars and rolled to a stop not far from Ashcroft's retreating troops. Some of the men stopped to fire at the bodies getting off the buses, but took off running again when they realized they were the infected.

"That is f.u.c.king brilliant," Ashcroft said, impressed despite himself. "Using the infected like that. I didn't think Nessel had it in him."

"Problem, sir," Naylor said.

Ashcroft smirked. "What now?"

"There, sir. To the right of the main gate. See him?"

I followed Naylor's finger to a high point on the wall. There was a man crawling to the top of it, but he was too far away for me to see what he was doing.

"Sniper," Ashcroft said. And then, one at a time, Ashcroft's retreating troops started to fall, the only clue as to why were the bright muzzle flashes of the sniper's rifle.

In the confusion, Ashcroft's men didn't know which way to run.

"They're getting slaughtered out there," Ashcroft said. "Get some of your men back up to the front and take that sniper out."

Naylor said, "I don't have anybody, sir. Prescott is the only officer I have left, and he's coordinating the retreat."

Ashcroft said nothing. He gripped the railing and stared down at the battlefield.

"Mr. Ashcroft," I said.

"What?" he growled.

"I can get him, sir."

"Just stand still and shut up," he said.

For the second time that night I met his gaze and didn't look away.

It looked like his first instinct was to throw me over the railing, but then he stopped himself. "Okay," he said. "You want to do it, go ahead."

I turned to go.

Heather followed me.

"Andrew, wait." She said, "You're not serious? You can't go."

I nodded in her father's direction. "Heather, do you really think he'd ever let us be together if I don't do this? He'll always have it in the back of his mind that this happened because of me. But I can change that if I do this."

"Don't be stupid, Andrew. He's got people to deal with this."

"I'll be all right," I said. "I promise."

"G.o.d, I hope you're right," she said.

"Yeah, me too."

The battle had reached the courtyard right in front of the hotel. Ashcroft's men had taken up defensive positions behind the fountain and the rows of small garden walls leading up to the front doors. Nessel's men were still moving into position, using the infected as a moving barrier.

That sniper was the key to the battle. From his position he was picking off Ashcroft's men no matter how well-hidden they were, and it was only a matter of time before he got so many of them that there wouldn't be enough of them left to put up a fight.

I moved out across the right flank of the battle and headed for a ditch that ran through the cow pasture. I figured as long as I stayed inside it I'd be able to make it all the way to the wall of cars. I had no idea what I was going to do from there, though.

I got most of the way across the yard before I saw a small group of the infected wandering on the fringes of the battle. I was so intent on reaching the wall that I didn't even notice them until I was right on top of them, and by then it was too late. I jumped out of the ditch and ran for it.

The infected followed me.

I veered right and ran along the inside of the wall until I got to a section where rocket grenades had blown it apart. I jumped over the debris and landed outside the wall-right in front of a military-style Humvee where Nessel and two of his lieutenants were watching the battle unfold.

I wasn't wearing one of Ashcroft's uniforms, so they didn't know what to make of me for a second. I might have been a civilian, or even one of their own hired goons. That hesitation saved me. With the infected hot on my heels, I drew both Glocks and ran straight for Nessel, firing the whole way.

I wasn't aiming, just spraying and praying, but I got one lucky shot and hit Nessel's driver in the head. He went down onto the hood of the Humvee. The other lieutenant tried to break and run, but he got caught by the infected and went down screaming.

That left Nessel.

He fell over the back of the Humvee and landed face first in the gra.s.s. Before he had a chance to get up I shot him three times, once in the neck and twice in the chest. With Nessel dead, I turned to face the infected. There were eight of them, and using the Humvee for cover, I used up the last of my ammunition on them. That left me with nothing but my machete to fight the sniper.

I started to climb up the wall of flattened cars as quietly as I could. I heard him up there, popping off shots every few seconds with a bolt-action rifle. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I thought, he'd be so into his shooting rhythm that he wouldn't hear me coming.

But that was just wishful thinking. I made it most of the way to the top when I heard something moving below me. It was one of the infected, and he was coming up after me. He made a gurgling, moaning sound as he b.u.mped and clanged his way up the side, and I knew he was making enough noise that the sniper would be able to hear him even over the sound of his rifle.

I was stuck.

I couldn't go up, because I would lose the element of surprise and probably get killed, and I couldn't go down, either. But there was a little gap between two of the cars on the top row, and I ducked into that, facing outwards. I waited to see who would get to me first, the sniper or the zombie.

It was the sniper. He poked his head over the side, his face barely a foot above my waiting hands. I reached up, grabbed him by the back of the head, and yanked down as hard as I could. He came down the side of the wall like a s...o...b..ll going downhill, picking up lose car parts as he hit the sides, trying to hold on, only to keep tumbling downward, right into the waiting arms of the zombie below us. The two of them hit hard, and both ended up on the ground.

I didn't waste any time. I jumped over the top and picked up the sniper's rifle. The sniper was fighting the zombie barehanded, and doing pretty well, until I shot them both.

Then I took up the sniper's post. I looked through the scope and watched the battle taking place around the fountain. Ashcroft's men, who had a reputation as the best private army in the Zone, were earning their stripes. I saw at least fifty of Nessel's soldiers dead in the courtyard, and it looked like their advance was starting to break apart. Despite their numerical superiority, they just weren't as well-disciplined, or as well-trained, as Ashcroft's troops.

Ashcroft himself was leading the fight now. I saw him waving a machine gun over his head, yelling at his men to hold their positions.

I went to work on Nessel's men, and as I started putting them down, one by one, I swept the scope across Ashcroft's position. He stopped yelling long enough to look my way. All at once he realized it was me doing the firing now, and he gave me an exaggerated overhand salute.

The tide of the battle turned, and soon Nessel's men broke ranks and ran. Ashcroft followed up their retreat, and his men carved the retreating enemy up into pockets, showing no mercy.

Gradually, the steady, thunderous roll of the battle faded, and all that was left was the occasional sporadic popping of small arms fire. Ashcroft's men were still dealing with the infected, but those too were getting mopped up.

I could see the mood among Ashcroft's men changing. They had won big, and now they knew it.

With nothing left to shoot at, I got down from the wall and went over to where I'd left Nessel to die. I tossed his body onto the hood of the Humvee and drove straight through the gates to the hotel.

I parked in front of the fountain.

Ashcroft's men stopped their celebrations to watch me, and Ashcroft himself came over to see what was going on. He took one look at Nessel's body and whistled. Then he looked at me and smiled.

Behind him, coming out of the hotel at a run, was Heather. She ran right past her father and straight into my arms.

Ashcroft came over to us. "You did real good," he said, and offered me his hand.

"Thank you, sir."

"I owe you big, Andrew."

I shrugged.

In the background I heard Naylor giving orders to the men to start damage control. After he got the men moving, he came back to Ashcroft and gave a report. Ashcroft listened in silence, nodding his head, and when Naylor was finished, he gave him some more orders to relay to the troops.

Then he turned to me and said, "Andrew, it looks like we've got a lot of rebuilding to do." He glanced down at Nessel. "And I seem to have inherited several new businesses. I'm going to need some good men to help me run them. You interested in a job?"