Artemis Fowl_ The Opal Deception - Eoin Colfer [26]
“Stop lecturing and tell us what you want,” snarled Root.
“Now, now, Commander, patience. Your worries will be over soon enough. In fact they are already over, so why don’t you just wait quietly while your final seconds tick away.”
Holly circled the commander, keeping the beep constant, until her back was to the chute. “There’s a way out of this, Commander,” she said. “I just need to think. I need a minute to sort things out.”
“Let me help you to sort things out,” said Koboi mockingly, her childlike features ugly with malice. “Your LEP comrades are currently trying to laser their way in here. Of course they will never make it in time. But you can bet that my old school chum, Foaly, is glued to his video screen. So what does he see? He sees his good friend Holly Short apparently holding a gun on her commander. Now why would she want to do that?”
“Foaly will figure it out,” said Root. “He beat you before.”
Opal remote-tightened the octo-bonds, forcing the commander to his knees. “Maybe he would figure it out at that. If he had time. But unfortunately for you, time is almost up.”
On Root’s chest, a digital readout flickered to life. There were two numbers on the readout. A six and a zero. Sixty seconds.
“One minute to live, Commander. How does that feel?”
The numbers began ticking down.
The ticking and the beeping and Opal’s snide sniggers drilled into Holly’s brain. “Shut it down, Koboi. Shut it down, or I swear I’ll . . .”
Opal’s laughter was unrestrained. It echoed through the access tunnel like the attack screech of a harpy.
“You will what? Exactly. Die beside your commander?”
More cracks. More ribs broken. The blue sparks of magic circled Root’s torso like stars caught in a whirlwind.
“Go now,” he grunted. “Holly. I am ordering you to leave.”
“With respect, Commander. No. This isn’t over yet.”
“Forty-eight,” said Opal in a happy singsong voice. “Forty-seven.”
“Holly! Go!”
“I’d listen if I were you,” said Koboi. “There are other lives at stake. Root is already dead; why not save someone who can be saved?”
Holly moaned. Another element in an already overloaded equation.
“Who can I save? Who’s in danger?”
“Oh, no one important. Just a couple of Mud Men.”
Of course, thought Holly: Artemis and Butler. Two others who had put a stop to Koboi’s plan.
“What have you done, Opal?” said Holly, shouting above the proximity trigger and core wind.
Koboi’s lip drooped, mimicking a guilty child. “I’m afraid I may have put your human friends in danger. At this very moment they are stealing a package from the International Bank in Munich. A little package I prepared for them. If Master Fowl is as clever as he is supposed to be, he won’t open the package until he reaches the Kronski Hotel and can check for booby traps. Then a biobomb will be activated, and bye-bye obnoxious humans. You can stay here and explain all this; I’m sure it won’t take more than a few hours to sort out with Internal Affairs. Or you can try to rescue your friends.”
Holly’s head reeled. The commander, Artemis, Butler. All about to die. How could she save them? There was no way to win.
“I will hunt you down, Koboi. For you, there won’t be a safe inch on the planet.”
“Such venom. What if I gave you a way out? One chance to win.”
Root was on his knees now, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. The blue sparks were gone; he was out of magic.
“It’s a trap,” he gasped, every syllable making him wince. “Don’t be fooled again.”
“Thirty,” said Koboi. “Twenty-nine.”
Holly felt her forehead throb against the helmet pads. “Okay. Okay, Koboi. Tell me quickly. How do I save the commander?”
Opal took a deep theatrical breath. “On the device. There’s a sweet spot. One inch diameter. The red dot below the screen. If you hit that spot from outside the trigger area, then you overload the circuit. If you miss, even by a hair, you