The Slip

by Tom C Willoughby

Li understood now why the demon was here. The President had surprisingly not dismissed him from his post to be locked up forever after he finished the unbelievable description of the demon and its capabilities. Instead the President shared the highly confidential and sensitive nature of not just the data center but of the Dragonfly operation center connected to it. The President had not indicated what the operation center controlled or anything about the Dragonfly program. But he did indicate that it was one of only two such installations in the country and was of the utmost importance to the President, the Party and the country and to do whatever, whatever, was required to safeguard this location first and destroy the enemy second.

  Bolstered by being brought further into the President’s confidence, Li was fully back in control.

  59

  THE TIME FOR STEALTH WAS over, so Sam looked blankly at the yelling soldiers as he let the grenade roll out of his hand and down the aisle from behind his back.

  “Grenade!” Sam yelled as he ran toward his colleagues who began to scatter back around the corner. The explosion launched Sam briefly through the air, before face planting hard on the concrete floor. Bolts of pain flashed through his body and motes of blackness swirled in his vision.

  He could hear someone yelling to him from what sounded like far away and he felt a sense of pressure on his body. Slowly coming back to his senses, Sam realized the pressure was one of the soldier’s hands assessing his status. Feeling a pressure on his neck he sensed a pathway open and he transitioned; they were probably feeling for his pulse. Like a switch that was flipped Sam became completely alert, even hyper alert as this soldier’s adrenaline was coursing. Looking down he could see the motionless soldier he had just departed on the floor and to the left the smoke and sputtering flames from where the grenade had exploded. What felt like minutes must have been seconds. As he watched, the flames strangely went out, almost as if he was watching a video in reverse. What the hell is that? Pieces of equipment littered the ground and holes had opened up in the racks of computer equipment from the grenade. This was a more conclusive confirmation that damage was being done and he grabbed the second grenade from his previous host’s belt as he stood up.

  Without hesitation, Sam pulled the pin and threw the second grenade down the aisle in the other direction, this time farther away. From close behind him he heard what must be another soldier he had not seen yelling at him. Turning he saw the muzzle of a rifle pointed at his face. Sam tried to move quickly around the aisle corner but found he was feeling sluggish and his mind was a little foggy. A second later there was a large muffled bang from the grenade he threw, which sounded like an explosion underneath a giant pillow. Sam was again thrown off his feet and his right ear felt like it exploded. He landed on top of the soldier who had been pointing the rifle at his face and realized the explosion had knocked them off balance such that a potentially lethal rifle shot had gone off track grazing the side of his face and likely blowing out his ear drum.

  Although the explosion was farther away this time, Sam still felt dizzy and his assailant looked to be in better shape as Sam had shielded him from the direct force of the shock wave. The assailant was already trying to regain position to finish the job and take him out, but he was too close to aim his rifle.

  Sam rolled off and ran around the corner down the middle aisle. The damage to his ear was messing with his equilibrium and he stumbled, smashing into the end of the racks of equipment one aisle over, bringing him to the floor on a knee and hand. Another soldier rounded the corner, and Sam reached out a hand for help and the unsuspecting colleague obliged. Transferring he regained full hearing but was surprised to still feel sluggish both mentally and physically.

  The man responsible for the hearing damage rounded the corner, rifle in position and quickly put two slugs into the doubled over soldier that Sam had just departed who crumpled to the floor.

  60

  LI AND THE TWO SECURITY officers watched what appeared to be the special forces unit losing their minds turning on themselves. If it wasn’t for the fire suppression system that had been activated by the first grenade the entire data center would be engulfed in flames by now.

  Many of the Chinese data centers had dated suppression systems, however, the Tsinghua facility had recently been upgraded to an Inergen system which used a mixture of inert gases to flood the data center to reduce the oxygen levels from the normal atmospheric 21% to less than 15%, below which combustion and fire cannot occur. Normal atmosphere also contains 0.03% CO2 which the Inergen system increases to 4%. Asphyxiation occurs at CO2 concentrations of 5-6% and unconsciousness and potentially death at 8-9%. So the beauty of Inergen as a fire suppressant is its ability to smother fires in spaces with sensitive equipment which cannot tolerate water from a typical sprinkler system. Additionally, it is non-toxic and allows people to be present during the discharge and make their way safely to the exits. However, the decreased oxygen and increased CO2, while not fatal, at these levels causes fatigue, drowsiness and confusion after extended periods of time.

  They watched a soldier on his knees crumple to the floor, as one of his own shot him in the back. A third soldier instantly abandoned the now dead kneeling man he had extended a hand to, and raised his sidearm putting a bullet in the first shooter’s face. It was an absurd chain reaction of violence, and the racks of equipment were splattered by the sinister mixed-media artwork of blood and gore. The video feed was silent, but their minds filled in the wet smacking sounds of brains hitting the equipment.

  61

  SAM GRABBED THE GRENADES FROM both of the downed men which, combined with the two on his own belt, gave him a total of six.

  He still needed to find the Dragonfly operations room which he assumed was at the end of the original hallway leading away from the elevator. That direction was to his left currently, and so he pulled the pins on two grenades and threw them down different aisles to his right as he started down the aisle to his left.

  The sequential percussive sounds again seemed strange to Sam, like underwater explosions and there were a couple screams mixed in, which were hopefully not Peng or the Professor.

  Sam felt like he was moving quickly but couldn’t be sure. He felt as if he had too much to drink and was in control but not quite 100%. He could see the far wall now and parceled out two more grenades down aisles as he moved towards the wall.

  A soldier came out of one of the aisles and stopped in front of him. He looked confused, and Sam alleviated him of that situation by cold cocking him with the butt of his rifle, dropping him instantly. That’s two more grenades, thank you very much. No sooner had he pilfered them than Sam sent one down another aisle as he approached the far wall, keeping the last three for the final task.

  He reached the end of the aisle just after the last explosion, and looking to his right, could see a door which he hoped led to the hallway and operations center.

  Sam passed through the door and saw the hallway to the elevator taking off to his right and a short corridor straight ahead of him. Along the left wall of the shorter corridor was a mirrored window he couldn’t see through. He must be getting close; this felt like a security measure to observe who was coming down the corridor.

  No sign of Peng or the Professor, which Sam didn’t take as a good or bad sign but hoped they had found a safe place to hole up. He had meant to hold on to Kung’s radio so he could stay in touch with Peng if necessary, but with all the transitioning he had forgotten about it until now. He would look for him before leaving this floor.

  Stepping back, he leveled his rifle at the window and sent a quick burst into its center. It was armored glass and did not shatter but a small hole surrounded by a spiderweb of cracks had been created by the repeated impacts.

  Encouraged by this minor success, Sam continued to fire around the center of the spider web until a hole as big as a Coke can had opened up. Shouldering the rifle he pulled the pin from one of his remaining three grenades and slid it through the opening. Special deliv
ery.

  Sam hurried down the short corridor which turned to the left. The explosion shook the wall, this time sounding like what he would have expected. He had come to a dead end with three doors to choose from, two on opposing sides and the third straight ahead where the corridor terminated.

  Anticipating that soldiers were still in pursuit, Sam quickly picked the smoking door to his left. This must be the room behind the mirrored window he had just put a grenade through. Finding it locked, he used three bullets as a key, kicked it open and ducked to the left on the corridor side to await any response from inside. When none came, he rushed into the still smokey room and found two men permanently asleep at their desks. The grenade had made a nasty mess of things and Sam tried not to look at the viscera as he surveyed the damage. This was a small room used for security as Sam had guessed. Because the room was so small and somewhat airtight, the grenade had done extensive damage. Sam was running low on ammunition and grenades. Quickly checking the men for either, he came up empty handed. They did have sidearms which he relieved from one of the men.

  Moving back to the corridor, he had two remaining doors to choose from. After a quick check back down the corridor to confirm he was still clear, he rushed to the door opposite. There was no door knob and Sam pushed it open revealing a locker room. Not what he was looking for, so he backed out into the corridor and turned towards door number three.

  This door had a knob which he found locked. It also had a small metal circle riveted into it just above waist level which he had not noticed until now. Sam gave two sharp raps on the door which sounded like it was made of metal. Knock knock. An armored door, this MUST be the Dragonfly operations room.

  Sam heard a click echo from the other side of the door, followed by a huge explosion and felt himself fly backwards, landing hard on the floor. There was an intense pain in his side and he looked down where a fist sized chunk of flesh was missing from the side of his midsection. Blood was pouring out of the wound.

  He could see a barrel poking out of the riveted hole in the door. Must be a shotgun aperture similar to those in armored money truck transports with a security guard aiming right at him from the other side of the door. Luckily these soldiers were wearing body armor which partially protected him but he would probably bleed out in a matter of minutes anyway at this rate.

  He had been thrown halfway past where the corridor turned, and looking to his left, he could see the data center door he had recently come through. Sam scrambled to get around the corner away from the shotgun when another blast reverberated and he felt his right leg explode with pain. Pulling himself all the way around the corner he looked down to see his foot was still a couple feet away, being dragged by a few tendrils of stretching muscle and tendons.

  “Holy shit!” he said out loud and starting to feel woozy, not sure if it was from the grisly sight or the loss of blood. He quickly took off his belt and put a tourniquet on the leg. Knowing he might pass out at any moment and have his mission, and maybe his existence, cut short, he worked quickly to pull a pin on one of the two remaining grenades and tossed it around the corner. He heard a solid thunk which sounded like metal on metal followed by an enormous deafening explosion.

  Peeking around the corner, Sam saw the door was dented but impossibly still intact. He had intended to just peek and pull back, but he wasn’t quick enough. Sam felt a huge impact to the right side of his face and a muffled explosion as he was slammed backward, luckily back around the corner.

  What the fuck is going on? I’m getting my ass blown apart! Touching the right side of his face, bolts of lightning went down his spine and he almost passed out. Pulling his hand back, he saw it was covered in blood and he could no longer see out of his right eye.

  Surprised he was still alive much less conscious, he realized he needed to do something and quick. A new body would be perfect right about now, but there were not any soldiers appearing from within the data center.

  Then a crazy idea struck him.

  62

  LI UNCONTROLLABLY CHEERED OUT LOUD and pumped a fist into the air as he watched the silent shotgun blast almost take off the demon’s face from a camera feed over the armored door three stories below.

  Li yelled at the two men to find another camera where he could see the demon after he disappeared around the corner.

  One of the men pulled up a feed looking towards the same corner but from a vantage over the data center door this time.

  The demon was a mess and Li couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face as he relished the sight of Sam’s nearly separated foot, bloody face and side wound. The demon was leaning against the wall apparently still alive and still conscious.

  Li shifted his attention from the screen in front of him to the corridor window as a large group of local security forces ran past toward the elevator and stairs to access the lower levels. He scoffed at the length of time it had taken for them to react; if this had been his facility, the reaction time would have been much quicker or heads would have rolled, literally.

  Although late, the reinforcements would pin the demon against the armored door. But to ensure defeat of the quarry, Li had to get them to not take him alive. He had to get them to shoot on sight. These forces were in the Central Security Bureau the same as Li and he outranked their local commander. With a quick call, he had his directive in place.

  63

  SAM SUDDENLY HEARD THE SOUND of boots jogging in his direction down the corridor toward the mirrored window above him. He was just out of sight around the corner but pinned nonetheless and now had no choice but to try his crazy idea.

  He started fumbling with the velcro straps to take off the bullet proof armored vest he had on. The pain from his various injuries was so severe he was worried about passing out and becoming incapacitated. He reduced the depth of his integration which helped slightly to mute the pain but he couldn’t remove himself from the pain completely and retain enough control to do what needed to be done. Being extra careful around his side wound, Sam managed to get the vest off. The footsteps were very close now; it was time to go.

  Holding the vest in front of his face, he used his one good foot to propel him forward on the ground around the corner like a seal on ice. His forearms were hammered by an immediate shotgun blast against the vest. With the front and back layers of the vest both in front of him, the impact was not as severe as it would have been with a single layer but it still hurt like hell. It was slow and extremely painful progress with the almost severed foot dragging behind. He would have severed it off completely if he had time and the tools.

  His prone position allowed him to keep the length of his body behind the vest but he took another blast to the forearms, stopping his progress again.

  It sounded like the reinforcements were just around the corner. Maybe another foot to the door. He wasn’t going to make it.

  64

  LI’S FACE WAS GETTING CLOSER and closer to the monitor as he watched the slow progress of the demon inching along the floor, taking repeated shotgun blasts.

  When he saw the first security officer round the corner just feet from the demon, Li raised both his arms in the air silently anticipating the cavalcade of gunfire that would shortly put an end to the demon and this whole affair.

  65

  WITH HIS HEAD DUCKED DOWN behind the vest, Sam saw the first of the reinforcements round the corner.

  With the shotgunner now unable to shoot without hitting his own men, Sam dropped the vest and extended his arms out in front of him as far as he could.

  Time slowed. He saw the guns from the men in the corridor recoiling as they unleashed their artillery…the vest had barely hit the floor as he reached forward…outstretching his hand to the door he felt the pressure of slugs entering his body…

  66

  LI RELEASED THE CHEER HE had been holding in with his arms still raised, as he saw the demon’s body receive the impacts of multiple gunshots from the security forces.

  67

&n
bsp; SAM FELT DARKNESS OVERTAKE HIM as he fell back toward the floor…his outstretched hand made contact with the metal door and he saw a pinprick of energy far off in the darkness. Summoning all that was left of his mental energy, Sam hurtled towards the pinprick…reaching, reaching.

  Making a minute connection to the pinprick of energy, he felt everything accelerate as if fast forwarded. In one instant he was in the darknesses and the next he was holding a shotgun, looking at the video feed of the corridor.

  Sam could see the limp body laying in the corridor through the video feed, and he was fairly sure there was not any life remaining there. Apparently the security forces did not want to leave anything to chance, and put another round of bullets into the prone man’s head, exploding it against the floor and door behind which Sam now stood.

  Pulling the shotgun from the porthole in the door, Sam turned to survey his surroundings. The lighting was dim in the 20 foot square room. A metal table was fixed into the floor in the middle of the room and there was an array of equipment and monitors set into a continuous desk around the perimeter of the room. Sam had never been on a submarine, but this is what he guessed it would feel like, everything metal and very efficiently arranged in a small space, illuminated by dim lighting.

  One of the four men in the room looked up from his task as Sam pulled back from the door and asked if it was done to which Sam replied in the affirmative. This was enough for the man who then went silently back to his task.