Hellfire

by Richard Turner

  “I guess you don’t smell all that attractive to the little fellow,” whispered Jackson.

  “I’d rather not tangle with a boar. Their tusks can be very sharp.”

  Jackson looked down the darkened path. “How much farther?”

  “Not far,” replied Grace. “Perhaps two hundred meters.”

  Through the trees, Jackson could see the tall metal tower they were aiming for. Occasionally, a searchlight would shine into the forest, forcing them to take cover. To Jackson, it looked like a World War Two prisoner-of-war camp with all of the barbed-wire fences, towers and searchlights.

  A few minutes later, they came out at the bottom of the mountain. Less than fifty meters away stood the tower. Like a tall steel sentinel, it silently kept watch.

  Midori removed the pack from her bag and handed around three small devices that looked like robust cellphones.

  “Turn it on and put it in your pocket,” said Grace.

  Jackson looked at the device in the dark until he found the on-off switch. “What is this?” he asked Grace.

  “It’s a jammer. It’ll scramble any surveillance equipment, from a motion sensor all the way up to a camera.”

  “I’ve never seen one of these before,” said Jackson as he slipped the device into his pocket. “What’s the range on them?”

  “About twenty meters. Any camera we pass will momentarily lose its signal. When we’re out of range, the camera will function normally again. Anyone watching will think it’s a minor technical glitch.”

  “I think my boss should invest in some of these. Where did you get them?”

  “They’re property of the U.S. Army,” explained Grace. “We liberated some from a warehouse in Germany a few months back.”

  Midori handed Jackson a 9mm Glock pistol with three fully loaded magazines. He quickly loaded a magazine and then pulled back on the slide, chambering a round.

  Jackson said, “Okay, what’s our next move?”

  “After Midori blinds the tower, we’re going to cut our way inside and then make for the nearest cover,” explained Grace as she pointed at a row of small wooden buildings. “We need to find some uniforms to wear, or we’re really going to stand out.”

  Jackson placed a hand on Grace’s shoulder. “Before we go anywhere, I want to discuss what happens when we get inside.”

  “While you free your friends, Midori and I are going to destroy the anthrax and then get the hell out of there.”

  “Think about it. We’d be better off freeing Ryan and the rest of my team before going after the anthrax. If you run into trouble, you’re going to need all the help you can get. Trust me; I don’t want the anthrax getting out of there either.”

  Grace looked over at Midori, who quickly nodded.

  “Okay then, your people first,” said Grace. A second later, she leaned over and whispered in Midori’s ear.

  From her pack, Midori pulled out a device that looked like a futuristic pistol with a laser sight on top and aimed it at the tower.

  Jackson grinned. He had read about electromagnetic pulse guns but had never seen one in action. Originally designed to stall a car’s engine, it was now about to be used to turn off all of the lights and cameras on the nearby tower.

  “Get ready,” announced Grace, as she dug out an aerosol can from Midori’s pack.

  Midori pulled the pulse gun’s trigger. The tower instantly shut down. Darkness descended.

  “Now,” said Grace, taking off at a sprint.

  Within seconds, she was at the fence. While Jackson and Midori covered her, Grace sprayed the can of liquid nitrogen in a wide arc, instantaneously freezing the metal. When she was done, Grace kicked the fence. The frozen portion snapped and fell to the ground. Right away, Grace dashed through the opening, quickly followed by Jackson and Midori. Ahead was the row of wooden buildings. With Grace in the lead, they ran as fast as they could for the buildings. Behind them, the tower came back to life, its searchlight scanning the wood line where they had been less than a minute ago.

  “Hold on a second,” called out Jackson, gasping for air.

  Grace didn’t stop running until they were safely behind one of the buildings. “Jackson, you really need to get in better shape,” admonished Grace.

  “You sound like Ryan,” he replied as he took in several deep breaths to fill his aching lungs.

  Midori moved past Jackson and tried to open the door on the building. It was locked. Like a cat, she crept between the buildings until she found a door that opened. After a quick look inside, she closed the door and moved onto the next one. After a few frustrating minutes looking, they found what they were looking for.

  “I need to lose some weight,” said Jackson as he slipped out of his clothes and tried a set of workman’s coveralls. They were a snug fit, but they would have to do. The two women had the opposite problem: all of the coveralls were too large for them. They were going to look like an odd crew when they finally made their way inside the mountain base.

  Grace did up her coveralls, edged over to the door and peeked outside. Almost immediately, she pulled her head back in. “Patrol,” mouthed Grace.

  Jackson could hear some men moving around outside. They were talking to one another in German.

  Inside the darkened building, no one moved. No one made a sound.

  For a couple of agonizingly long minutes, the guards stood around between the buildings, smoking cigarettes. Jackson thought he heard them say that they had best get back to work, when another man joined them and lit up a cigarette. Jackson silently cursed their luck.

  For now, they were going nowhere.

  With a Motorola in one hand and a clipboard in the other, McMasters moved between the small convoy of vehicles, ensuring that nothing was going to be left behind. A dozen guards and technicians carefully loaded the sealed boxes of anthrax and all of the lab equipment into the back of the eighteen-wheeler. The aerosol containers with the weaponized anthrax were secured inside a hardened suitcase and then placed in the back of the armored truck. Twenty of McMasters’ handpicked men were busy preparing the rest of the convoy to depart.

  The Motorola beeped. Bringing it up to his ear, McMasters said, “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “We have Mister Houston’s nephew,” responded one of the control room technicians. “He’s being escorted to Mister Houston as we speak.”

  “Excellent news,” replied McMasters. “Is it all quiet on the perimeter?”

  “Sir, a couple of minutes ago, tower nine went down for a minute, but came right back up.”

  The hair on the back of McMasters’ neck went up. “What do you mean, it went down?”

  “For about sixty seconds the tower was offline.”

  McMasters ground his teeth and clenched the radio tight in his hand. “Send a team out to the tower immediately to ensure that it hasn’t been tampered with. Someone’s inside the perimeter.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m damn well sure!” snarled McMasters. “Also, sound the alarm and dispatch as many men as you can to search the grounds. I want whoever got in here found and found fast.”

  A second later, a klaxon alarm rang out. Guards not on duty hurried to their workstations. All across the base, lights came to life, chasing away the night.

  Handing off his clipboard to one of his men, McMasters began to run. He had no doubt whatsoever as to who was here. When he murdered Maria Vega, he had pissed off the one man in the world he shouldn’t have. It was now a race to find Jackson before he found him.

  “I think we’ve been discovered,” said Jackson to Grace as the alarm blared from a nearby speaker on top of one of the buildings.

  “Sounds that way, doesn’t it?” replied Grace. “No point hiding in here anymore. We might as well try to blend in with everyone else and hide in plain sight.”

  “Agreed,” said Jackson as he stood up and reached for the door. However, before he could open it, Midori drew a knife from her belt, reached over, pulled the doo
r open, and bolted outside.

  Before any of the guards could pull their rifles from their shoulders, Midori was among them. With lightning-fast reflexes, she slashed and cut at the stunned men with her razor-sharp blade. It seconds it was over; all three men lay on the ground, dead.

  “Jesus,” muttered Jackson as he watched Midori wipe her victims’ blood on her sleeve. He had never seen anyone kill with such clinical efficiency. Jackson walked over and dragged the bodies into the shadows, hoping that they wouldn’t be noticed for at least a few minutes. He bent down, picked up one of the dead men’s assault rifles, and nonchalantly slung it over his shoulder. Grace and Midori did the same. To complete their disguise, they put the guards’ black plastic safety hats on their heads.

  “This way,” said Jackson, pointing to an open door near the underground base’s massive blast doors.

  Deep inside the complex, Mitchell heard the alarm spring to life. He turned his head and looked over at his friends, all of whom were smiling.

  “Game on,” announced Mitchell, knowing that Jackson was about to tear a path of destruction to free his friends.

  41

  The Bunker

  With a flick of a switch in the control room, the annoying alarm blaring throughout the installation went silent.

  Houston was relieved that the infernal racket had ceased. He put a pen he had been absentmindedly toying with down on his desk and looked up at his nephew. Two men stood guard over Owen. “I take it you spoke with Mitchell and then went to find what you were looking for?”

  Barely able to control his temper, Owen said, “You’re damned straight I did. How could you do this to me? You’re the godfather to my children. Do you have one ounce of decency left in you?”

  “Owen, please believe me, I always meant for your children to receive the vaccine before anyone else.”

  “My God, listen to yourself. You’ve thought about my children, but killing me along with billions of other people means absolutely nothing to you. It’s just a number to help you stay richer than anyone has the right to be. I thought you were a good man, a kind man who cared about his family. However, it’s not true, none of it. You’ve been playing us all for fools. You’re nothing more than a cold-blooded, mass murderer.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way,” said Houston. “But everything I’ve done is for the good of the planet.”

  “Bullshit! Perhaps at one time this was about saving humanity. However, the instant you schemed to place the blame on me and steal half of your fellow conspirators’ companies, this became about greed and nothing more. You can delude yourself into believing that you’re doing this for the world, but I know you’re doing this for you and you alone. ”

  “Owen, it didn’t have to end this way,” replied Houston, looking into the enraged eyes of his nephew. “Take him and place him with the others in the briefing room,” said Houston to one of the two guards in his room.

  “Come on,” said the guard to Owen.

  As he stood, Owen looked one last time into his uncle’s eyes. If there had once been feelings there, they were long gone. The man’s heart was as cold as ice.

  A phone rang. Houston picked it up. Instantly, his face contorted in anger and rage. “Why the hell wasn’t I told earlier?” he yelled into the phone. “Goddammit, don’t you realize that this changes everything?”

  Houston slammed the phone down hard and shouted angrily at the guard to remove Owen from his office. After ordering the other guard to leave the room as well, Houston picked up a Motorola from a side desk and spoke into it.

  A second later, McMasters answered the call.

  Houston said, “Whatever you’re doing, drop it. My contact in the Pentagon has just informed me that two UAVs have already crossed into Albanian airspace and are on their way here. I want you back over by the vehicles ASAP. I want to leave before those UAVs get here.”

  “Sir, we’ve got possible intruders inside the base,” replied McMasters.

  “I don’t care. Hand over the search for the trespassers to one of your subordinates,” said Houston testily. “If we’re not out of here in thirty minutes, we’re all going to die.”

  “Right sir, I’m on my way to the vehicles.”

  With their heads down, Jackson, Grace, and Midori stepped through the open side door and onto the main hangar floor. A camera above the door began to flash as if it were experiencing some kind of technical problem. A second later, several armed men ran past them and out into the dark. The entire installation seemed to be alive with activity.

  Thankfully, they think we’re still outside, thought Jackson as he looked over at a line of brand-new, up-armored Hummers and trucks lined up, facing away from the blast doors. A small cordon of well-armed guards stood watch over the vehicles. Jackson figured that his friends were most likely being held in a cell below ground. He was about to try and find a stairwell when a man from behind bumped into him hard, making him stagger on his feet.

  Jackson’s heart skipped a beat when he saw it was McMasters.

  “Out of my way,” McMasters said to Jackson as he pushed past him.

  Jackson fought the urge to reach out and snap the man’s neck with his bare hands. It may have been satisfying, but it would have ended his mission and his life right then and there. Instead, he kept his head down and continued walking towards the nearest stairs leading below ground. He forced himself to avoid making eye contact with the people scurrying about the installation as he headed straight for the stairs. He was more than a little surprised when he saw Owen being escorted at gunpoint, out of the corner of his eye.

  An idea flashed into his mind. “Stay close,” said Jackson over his shoulder to Grace and Midori.

  Striding towards Owen and his guard, Jackson stepped into the man with his shoulder, bowling him over.

  “I’m sorry,” said Jackson as he reached down and helped the stunned guard to his feet. Deftly, he pulled his pistol from a pocket and jammed it hard into the man’s ribs.

  “Do as I say and I won’t kill you,” whispered Jackson. “Now hand your rifle to the young woman behind me.”

  Midori smiled, reached over, and took the stunned guard’s weapon.

  “Mister Jackson, is that you?” said Owen with an incredulous look on his face.

  “Shh!” said Grace as she took Owen by the arm to make it look as if he were still under escort.

  “Do you know where Ryan and the others are being held?” Jackson asked Owen.

  “Yes, a couple of floors below this one,” replied Owen. “I can take you there.”

  “Good, lead on,” said Jackson.

  With his pistol barrel, Jackson prodded his prisoner. “Remember, if you so much as look the wrong way, you’re a dead man.”

  The guard, a scared-looking redheaded man, nodded his head and followed Grace and Owen as they walked towards the stairs. In the back, Midori slipped her rifle off her shoulder and made sure that the safety was off.

  “At least I can hear myself think again,” proclaimed Jen as she paced the cell.

  “Jen, please take a seat, you’re wearing me out with all of your pacing,” said Mitchell.

  “You’re as bad as your friends,” responded Jen. “I don’t know how you can all stay so calm.”

  “Pacing won’t change a thing.”

  Yuri’s stomach growled loudly. “I wonder if they’re going to feed us breakfast before they kill us.”

  “Yeah, I could also use a bite to eat,” added Cardinal.

  Jen shook her head. “Who can think of food at a time like this?”

  “Gord’s always thinking with his stomach,” said Sam.

  Mitchell stood and took Jen’s hands in his. “Jen, there’s nothing we can do right now. We have to wait until Nate gets here.”

  “Do you really think he’s here?”

  “They didn’t set off the alarm for nothing.”

  A moment later, they heard footsteps, a brief struggle, and then a loud smack. The unconscious body of
a guard fell in front of the cell.

  Jen and Mitchell stepped back.

  “Did anyone order room service?” asked Jackson as he turned the corner with a guard holding a set of keys in his hand.

  “You’re late,” said Mitchell, grinning at his friend.

  “Sorry, I got a little waylaid,” replied Jackson. With a sharp jab in the guard’s back, Jackson said, “Open the door.”

  The guard, his hands shaking, fumbled with the keys.

  “Give me those,” snapped Sam as she jumped out of her seat. Snatching the keys from the man’s hands, she inserted one into the lock. A moment later, the door swung open.

  “Nighty-night,” said Jackson to his prisoner as he smashed the man’s head into the bars, knocking him out cold.

  Sam, Cardinal, and Yuri rushed out to thank Jackson while Mitchell took Jen by the hand and led her out of the cell.

  Mitchell stepped over the body of the guard and saw Grace, Midori, and Owen standing in the hallway. “I see you brought the cavalry with you.”

  “Yeah, it’s the best I could do on short notice,” replied Jackson, as he dragged the body of the unconscious guard into the cell.

  Cardinal grabbed the other man, did the same, and then closed the door behind him, locking the guards in.

  Mitchell glanced down at his watch and said, “According to my calculations, we still have a couple of hours to stop Houston.”

  “Plenty of time to stop him from leaving with the anthrax,” added Cardinal.

  “I’m sorry, but you may only have about twenty minutes,” corrected Owen.

  “What?” blurted out Grace.

  “McMasters has been overseeing the loading of some vehicles for the past couple of hours. I saw boxes containing the anthrax loaded into the back of an armored truck and a semi-trailer. When I was escorted out of my uncle’s office, I overheard him telling McMasters to be ready to leave in under thirty minutes, and that was nearly ten minutes ago.”