The Never Army

by Hodges, T. Ellery

  Jonathan chuckled, shaking his head as though she missed some huge irony in her own words. “Yeah, because I could forget.”

  Olivia didn’t have time to discern the meaning of his reaction. A barrage of machine gun fire erupted in the nearby corridors and stole her attention. This was coming from within their wing—and everyone in the command center knew it. Whatever was going on in the rest of the facility, it was about to be right outside their door.

  “Weapons out and ready to fire. We’re moving.” Olivia said, addressing the entire room. “Let me make this very clear, under no circumstances will we be surrendering any of the prisoners.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  BEO HAD NEVER been the most graceful or gentle of creatures. He towered over most men with a thick muscled frame that cast a daunting shadow. His hands were what so often reminded him of his own size. They were enormous meaty things that were dangerous even when his implant wasn’t activated.

  When possible, he opted out of delicate tasks like restraining another human being or carefully putting them to sleep with a tiny needle. The flip side was that he made an excellent wall. Slowly walking forward, the guards emptied magazine after magazine into him until they ran out of bullets.

  Now, Beo didn’t like getting shot any more than the next guy. But, when they had tried this with alien steel armor, bullets ricocheted wildly. So, while Beo’s gear made it appear that he was wearing some fancy bulletproof armor, the truth was that he was just letting bullets hit his alien enhanced skin.

  The guards were intimidated just short of outright panic as he slowly moved forward. When their bullets ran dry, Beo kept his pace slow. They came at him with batons, and so he let them beat on him uselessly. Meanwhile, Mito incapacitated each in an orderly fashion. Most of the guards were so distracted by the hulking monstrosity out front that the nimbler threat reducing their conscious numbers didn’t get as much attention until it was too late.

  He plucked a badge from an unconscious guard just before reaching the reinforced metal door that stood between him and the prisoner containment shell. By the time Mito dropped the last guard to the floor unconscious, Beo had torn the small transparent locking panel off the front of the card reader and swiped the badge.

  He heard the lock disengaging just as three sets of footsteps could be heard coming up the tunnel behind them.

  “Rivers ‘n company are right on schedule,” Beo said, not actually turning to look. Olivia always sent her number two to fetch her some leverage—insurance policies really—after they saw how poorly things were playing out.

  Beo and Mito were there to make sure they were never delivered to her.

  “Freeze,” yelled Agent Rivers.

  Beo shook his head—Rivers always yelled freeze. As though, despite having to step over a dozen or so unconscious guards just to get his weapon aimed at them, he still had some hope they’d promptly surrender. He didn’t look back, Beo had already seen every iteration of what happened when, shockingly, Mito didn’t freeze.

  The guns started firing, at first a lot, then less, then none. By the time Beo was standing inside the shell, all he heard from outside was the muffled struggle of River’s last effort to take Mito down in hand to hand.

  Inside the shell he found Grant, Collin, and Hayden. Each watching him with varying degrees of uncertainty from behind the walls of their transparent cells. Leah was there as well, but locked behind the white door at the back. He strode past Grant, stopping between Collin’s and Hayden’s cells, then pulled each door off its hinges like he was ripping a poster free of thumbtacks.

  After observing this, neither of Jonathan’s roommates showed any particular hurry to leave their cells. They stared at him with dumbfounded expressions. Beo didn’t hold it against them. From their perspective, there was nothing about his entrance that sent a clear signal as to whether their situation had dramatically improved or deteriorated.

  A second or two later, Mito pushed Rivers into the shell’s corridor. He’d been relieved of his sidearm, his hands were zip tied behind his back, and he had a cloth gag shoved in his mouth.

  Beo turned back to Hayden and Collin.

  “Name’s Beo,” he lifted his mask up just enough to show a grin, then did his best impression of a particularly famous Austrian accent.

  “Come with me if you want to live.”

  Looking up at the giant man, who’d just ripped his prison door off its hinges—Hayden’s instincts were to do whatever the man asked. It was disarmingly strange when the man opened his mouth and a Terminator reference came out.

  “Uhhh . . .” He drew out the sound, as he leaned sideways to look past the giant’s shoulder to see how Collin was reacting. Mouth hanging open, Collin managed a somewhat terrified shrug.

  “Please don’t be offended, sir,” Hayden said. “It’s just that, I think we’ll be in a lot of trouble if we leave our cells.”

  Dropping his Arnold impression, the giant spoke with what must have been his natural Cajun drawl. “Thing is, I’m not actually askin’ if ya want rescue. Got orders, and ya’ll not ta be lef’ behind.”

  Hayden’s next words came out as timid as he was capable. “Mr. Beo, I have zero—and I mean zero—desire to make you angry. It’s just, I’m pretty certain the Government really wants us to stay where we are.”

  Beo nodded. “Ya got it figured right, boy. Ya gonna be fugitives. Course, da only reason ya here, is to make ya friend talk. Agent Rivers ova’ dere was jus comin ta fetch ya. Dey thinkin’ Jonathan might orda’ a retreat if dey put a muzzle to ya head.”

  Beo grimaced over his next thought. “Conundrum fo ya, Hayden, even if I’m wrong—dey ain’t neva gonna let ya walk outta here. You’d be wha’ dey call a loose end.”

  Hayden paled, shivering a bit as he looked to his friend again. Collin looked resigned. “We’ve both been thinking it. We’re screwed either way. On the run with these guys . . . might be the better option.”

  Hayden looked back to Beo. “But . . . who? Who ordered you to rescue us? We’re no one.”

  Beo’s answer was interrupted by Agent Rivers stumbling forward, pushed by the second man further into the shell. He was far smaller, but most people were when they stood beside Beo. He was also wearing the same black tactical gear from head to toe.

  Beo turned back to Hayden. “I apologize, my colleague, Mr. Mito dare, will be assisting with yo’ rescuing accommodations dis evening.”

  Mito said something in reply, but Hayden didn’t understand a word. He thought the language sounded Japanese.

  Beo nodded. “We’ on schedule. Dem’ two can wait a hot minute. Ma boys here are aboutta’ see reason.”

  Beo turned to Hayden again. “Anyhow, Jonathan gave da order. I understand dat’, due to da nature of ya’ relationship thus far, dat don’t make any sense, but . . .”

  Beo lifted his giant palms up as though reminding them of where they were. “I’m assuming you’ve figured out dat a lot of things about ya roommate ain’t wha dey—”

  Every time Beo glanced at Mito, the man was pointing to an imaginary watch. Beo finally sighed, impatient with Mito’s impatience. “Fine.”

  Beo strolled up to Grant’s cell and yanked the door off.

  “Mr. Morgan, Jonathan said you’ll be joinin’ us. Now, he did specify alive,” Beo said. “But he wasn’t much mo’ specific on what condition you need ta’ be in on delivery. So, if ya care to be resistin’, be my guest.”

  Grant stared back at the man twice his size.

  Hayden could see he was afraid, just short of enough to be cooperative. Normally, Hayden would have thought the man too stupid for his own good. But that wasn’t it.

  Grant had been drugged and tortured for days. He’d hardly spoken a word since Hayden mentioned the blond man might be dead. Now, Grant just looked like he didn’t give a damn. He eyed Beo up and down as though, maybe, he liked his odds. “You think you’re gonna make me g—”

  Beo had turned and walked toward the other end of th
e shell before Grant finished whatever he’d intended to say. Grant was left blinking at the giant’s back in surprise, until Mito, who stood half a foot shorter than Grant, stepped into the space Beo had vacated.

  They looked at one another for a moment.

  Mito moved.

  At least Hayden thought he did. It was all so quick that Grant barely flinched.

  There was a change though. A needle in Grant’s neck, and a tiny cartridge that dropped to the floor from Mito’s wrist. First Grant looked confused. Then as though he was about to get mean. Then very drowsy. He started to reach for the tiny tranq needle, but his eyes fluttered shut and his legs buckled. Artfully, Mito leaned forward and Grant rolled neatly onto his shoulder.

  Collin and Hayden swapped a final, far more decisive, look.

  “I say we give these guys the benefit of the doubt,” Collin said.

  “Yep,” Hayden replied.

  With a loud clap, Beo looked back to Mito. “Hear dat, our new friends have wisely selected da fully conscious rescue package.”

  Mito shrugged as though he couldn’t care less, then waved for Hayden and Collin to follow him. From his knees, Rivers eyed them angrily, and despite his being gagged and restrained, Collin and Hayden each gave him a wide berth as they passed.

  “Seriously, when is someone going to explain why everyone seems to think our roommate is Jason Bourne?” Collin mumbled as he passed.

  They were both a bit surprised when Mito stopped about twelve steps out of the shell. He pointed at Grant’s unconscious body then back at the two of them. Hayden was slow to realize that Mito didn’t speak English. He’d seemed to have understood when Beo was speaking but Collin and Hayden weren’t having any luck communicating.

  So, after some charades, the roommates realized Mito wanted them to take over carrying Grant. Meanwhile, Hayden heard the white door at the back of the shell being torn off its hinges. He’d turned to get a look at how Leah was doing, but Mito started snapping his fingers to keep his attention.

  Still, he heard Beo talking to Leah. He was too far away, and to preoccupied with getting Grant’s weight distributed between him and Collin to make out what was said.

  Once they had Grant in a manageable position Mito took a step back. He looked them over as though he were checking that all seemed in order. Adjusting an arm a bit and pushing them closer together, until he was satisfied.

  “Hold. On. Tight,” Mito said, with a thumbs up. The words were distinguishable, but it seemed that Mito had just memorized a series of sounds to say specifically for this moment.

  Regardless, Collin and Hayden returned the thumbs up and nodded that they understood.

  Then Mito put a hand on each of their shoulders. The moment dragged on awkwardly as Mito glanced back and forth between Collin and him. With the mask, his face was unreadable, but the whole act felt like Mito was trying to share some moment of brotherly affection despite their being near complete strangers. Hayden smiled politely, but after this went on for a few seconds too long, he looked to Collin to see if he was missing something. To his surprise, that was also the same moment that the world went black and everything he thought he’d understood about gravity was drastically altered.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  AS THEY RETREATED, Olivia gathered any remaining enforcers and security staff they came across. She intended to pull back to the lowest corner of the facility and turn the folks she had left into a stop gap between their attackers and the alien’s containment shell.

  Of course, she and Jonathan knew that wasn’t the whole truth. He wasn’t gagged, he could have told her people about the trigger at any moment, just screamed it out, but he hadn’t. The weight of that tiny device had grown heavier in her pocket as the evening wore on. While she could not allow fear or conscience to stop her from using it, she still had to wait until there were no other options with this many lives at stake.

  She didn’t want to accept it, but there was a growing certainty that Jonathan was driving her to that moment. Slowly cutting off all options until she wouldn’t have any other choice.

  As they had retreated, Jonathan made no efforts to delay them. Blindfolded, barefoot, and hands cuffed behind his back he was led down the hallways by Harrison and her guards. His face an unshakable calm. Each time The Cell fell further back into the facility, she heard something he’d said echo in her thoughts.

  Everything that is about to happen . . . you helped me plan.

  Control . . . you’re going to lose control . . . lose any certainty that you ever had it.

  I could have disabled that trigger . . . I’m not going to.

  The very idea that there was no way to win was an affront to her identity. The fact that she was asking herself these questions, after deciding so many times not to entertain them, enraged her.

  What if . . . ? She wondered. What if I just put a bullet in his head right now? Nothing would stop her. She could have pulled out her firearm and shot without so much as telling her guards to move aside. Would he see that coming? Would that prove him a liar once and for all?

  Her fingers inched toward the clasp on her pistol’s holster. Even as she did so, Jonathan strangely seemed to choose that moment to look at her. He was blindfolded. Why that moment?

  But . . . what if I try and somehow failed . . . what would it mean?

  Finally, they reached the lowest room in the facility. Behind the bulky steel security doors was a large space where The Mark’s containment shell was housed.

  “Ah, we’re finally in the big black room with the big black egg,” Jonathan said. “Let’s all stay calm, no reason to get itchy trigger fingers.”

  Olivia drew in a long breath; He can’t read my mind.

  Still, her hand pulled away from the gun and she tore her eyes away from him. She had a situation to manage.

  “Harrison, do we have confirmation that any of their numbers have been taken down? It has to be firsthand, nothing anyone saw on a security monitor.”

  Harrison shook her head saying, “No one who has gotten close enough to make that report has made it back.”

  “This is a good place to dig in. We had far too many agents above, there is no way they got all of them. One of ours must have contacted the surrounding base by now. Even if I’m wrong, someone on the outside must have noticed our communications are down. We just need to hold on. Reinforcements will come. Surround the hangar. Force his guys to fight us on two fronts.”

  “Ohhh,” Jonathan said, grimacing doubtfully as he listened. “Sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing. It’s just, well . . . do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

  Olivia exchanged a look with Harrison. Neither spoke, but Olivia got the sense that Harrison was just as afraid of what Jonathan might say as she was. After all, so far everything he’d said had come true.

  Jonathan took their silence as permission to continue. “Sorry. Bad news first. Who am I kidding right? The bad news is always first.

  “Harrison isn’t wrong, the rest of the base is preparing a counterattack. The problem is that this secret underground lair, well . . . it’s a big damn secret. Now, I’m no expert, but I don’t think fire safety codes were considered when this place was built. I mean, two staircases, three unmarked maintenance ladders, one freight elevator, and one emergency hatch over the Panic room. Not many points of entry.

  “I mean, it’s like this place was built to keep people out long before my people destroyed the elevator . . . and collapsed the staircases . . . and destroyed the ladders.”

  His words were infuriating. Each claim making sense of the various shudders and explosions they had heard throughout the facility tonight. She was about to order Jonathan gagged. Certainly, would have been good for everyone’s morale. A mental inventory stopped her—a discrepancy he’d slipped in—stopped her.

  Emergency hatch over the Panic room?

  If this existed outside Jonathan’s imagination, then her commanding officer had seen fit to keep her in the dark ab
out it. Thing was, Jonathan had yet to be wrong. She was almost ready to believe that everything that had happened tonight was as he’d said, in the service of proving that very point to her.

  “But hey, don’t forget there was good news,” Jonathan said. “Agent Rivers and Leah will be here any second, and they’ll have that firsthand intel you wanted. Course, that depends on your people staying calm. Not just firing the moment those doors open. You’ll want to let them in, you’ll be glad to hear what they have to say. I mean, you won’t be, but you should be.”

  “Harrison, Mr. Tibbs will be given exactly one chance to explain what he means, if he doesn’t give you a crystal clear answer, put a bullet through his knee cap,” Olivia enunciated this such that the entire room heard her.

  Harrison looked at Olivia, seeming hesitant for a moment before giving a grim nod. Hobbling a man for life was not something Harrison would willingly permit herself or her guards to normally do, but the woman wouldn’t disobey a direct order.

  Harrison stepped forward, making sure Jonathan heard the gun being cocked—that he felt the barrel press down on his knee.

  Olivia saw Harrison lean in and whisper to Jonathan. She couldn’t hope to hear what was said, because the hum within the room was growing far louder than usual. At first, she assumed the shell was simply reaching the brink of its discharge. But, unless she was imagining things, the room seemed far more turbulent than it normally did when this took place.

  The scientists who built the egg had warned her that with a containment field as large as this, the shell’s mounting had to remain sufficiently anchored, or the discharge might become unsafe. It wasn’t something that she’d given much thought. Tonight in particular, she’d had no time to worry about it. But as the room vibrated, she wondered if all the shock waves from the many explosions that rocked the facility this evening might have damaged the foundations—which the egg was currently anchored to.

  While there was nothing to be done about this concern now, if they made it through the night, the anchor securing the alien’s prison would need to be inspected.