Nightmare Army

by Don Pendleton

  When the gun ran dry, Grimaldi tossed it aside and picked up his HK again. After the furious firefight, the hallway was now eerily silent. Even the alarm had stopped. The smoke and tear gas were dispersing, revealing a charnel house of dead bodies strewed along the back length of the hallway. A flicking fluorescent light popped and went dark.

  The pilot got to his feet and carefully stepped down the hall, checking and confirming that each body was in fact dead as he went. No sense in getting plugged in the back because he wasn’t careful enough.

  At the intersection, he checked left and right, consulted the layout schematic he’d memorized, then turned left. “Heading to the security section,” he transmitted to Mott as he penetrated deeper into the complex.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  When the intruder alert sounded, everyone in the laboratory, Briggs included, looked around in momentary confusion. As soon as the two guards glanced toward the door, she snagged the hypo gun and a black ampoule, holding both behind her back. Twisting to one side, she tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as the four silver-suited men returned from the testing chamber and filed out of the observation room.

  Richter pointed at the two guards. “Take her back to her cell.”

  The doctor grabbed the PA mike. “All personnel, secure the data and computers, then report to your assigned stations.” He ran out of the room.

  Briggs fumbled with the little container and the sleek, silver pistol, trying to remember how Richter had loaded it. The operation was made more difficult by doing it blind. Finally she got the little cartridge inserted correctly and felt it slide into place as one of the guards walked over. “Let’s go.”

  She smiled at him as she stabbed the hypo gun into the back of her leg and squeezed the trigger. “Okay, just a moment.”

  “Come on, quit stalling. What the hell are you—? Oh, shit!”

  Those were the last words he said as Briggs brought the hypo gun around and smashed the barrel into his temple. Her eyes dilating with sudden, animalistic fury, she wrenched the submachine gun out of the man’s hands as he fell.

  “Virus subject in the lab! Everybody evacuate now!” The second guard pointed his weapon at Briggs and fired as she dived over a lab table, scattering papers and knocking over a computer as she hit the floor on the far side. The submachine gun’s bullets chewed into the cabinet, punching through the wood and raining splinters around and on her.

  The drug kicked in full-force now and Briggs saw everything around her as if it was happening in slow motion, from the frantically fleeing lab staff, one of whom caught two bullets in the chest and skidded to a lifeless heap a few yards away, to the pattern the guard’s fusillade made as he destroyed the lab table and cabinet. From the angle of the exit holes, he was walking his shots up the table dead center, leaving her two ways to go.

  Making sure her weapon was charged and ready, Briggs pushed off and slid across the floor to her left. Rounding the corner, she shot out from behind it, her submachine gun tracking the guard, who was a half second behind her—just enough time for three bullets from her gun to enter his chest, pulping it as they tumbled through.

  Briggs scrambled to the guy, grabbed his weapon, his extra magazines and ID card, then scanned the rest of the room for other targets. Other than her, the lab was empty. Although everything in her wanted to go chase all those bastards down and kill them, instead she forced herself to go to the nearest active computer, take a small flash drive from her pocket and insert it into a USB slot. Hitting a few keys, she let the machine work while she headed for the observation room door. There was a slot at the side, and she shoved the guard’s card in, waiting for what seemed like agonizing seconds before the door cycled open.

  It was hot and muggy inside, but Briggs ignored the discomfort and headed for where she had last seen Cooper. She found him lying unconscious beside the tree, next to the obviously dead black man she had watched him kill. Briggs had to concentrate to control her quivering hands from closing around his throat as she pulled him into a sitting position.

  “Cooper? Come on, wake up.” Shaking him, then slapping, lightly at first, then harder, had no effect. She pondered how to wake him up. Then, squatting, she hoisted him in a fireman’s carry on her shoulders, lifting his two-hundred-odd pounds with ease. Carrying him to the laboratory, she set him on the nearest table, sweeping away the computers and assorted lab paraphernalia with her hand. Checking her flash drive, the green light indicated it had finished working. She pulled it out and jammed it in her pocket.

  Casting around for the hypo gun, she remembered where she’d left it and ran back to the first dead guard to pull it out of his fractured skull. Finding several uncrushed ampoules on the floor, she grabbed a few, stuffing them into her pockets and then inserting one into the gun. Wiping the nozzle on her sleeve to clean off the blood and bone matter, she jammed it into the motionless man’s arm and pulled the trigger.

  Bolan awoke with a jerk, sitting upright as if someone had administered an electric shock to his genitals. Instinctively his balled fist lashed out at Briggs, who deflected it with the stock of her submachine gun. His gaze narrowed as he recognized her, his chest rising and falling rapidly with every breath.

  “Sorry about that,” Bolan said, “but I have to tell you I’m trying hard not to kill you.” He looked around, his head moving in quick, nervous jerks. “What happened?” he shouted over the alarm.

  Briggs found the offending speaker and fired a burst, silencing it in a shower of sparks. “I think the cavalry’s here.” She held out the second subgun. “It’s time to go, but first we have to take care of something.”

  Bolan stared at her, taking in her half-crazed appearance, then grabbed the weapon from her, as if afraid she might change her mind and suddenly attack him with it. Once his hand closed on the grip, he relaxed a fraction. “What are you talking about?”

  She led him to the holding cells. Bolan frowned as he realized her intent. “You’re not serious.”

  Briggs’s only reply was to point her weapon at the glass. “Turn away and cover your ears.”

  He did so as she shot a short burst into the top of the window, ejecting the magazine and inserting a fresh one. The glass was tough, but not bulletproof, and burst into thousands of tiny fragments, held in place by the layers of safety laminate. Briggs grabbed a nearby overturned chair and battered the safety glass, breaking it out of its frame in one big piece. She scanned the long room, keeping her weapon leveled. “I know there’re at least two people in here. Come out with your hands up right now.”

  For a moment no one moved, then a young man and woman, both in stained lab coats, stepped out from behind the cages. “What are you going to do with them?” the woman asked, her gaze leveled at Briggs.

  “I’m going to free them. Keep your hands up as you come over here and give me your ID badges. Then get out.”

  Puzzled frowns on their faces, the two scientists followed her orders. The male, a young man barely in his twenties, said, “Please don’t hurt them,” as he passed.

  “I won’t. Now get out of here before you both get killed.”

  The two scientists scrambled for the door, which Bolan kept an eye on as she approached the cages. “How do you think you’re going to get these apes and gorillas out of here alive?”

  “I have an idea,” Briggs replied, not bothering to tell him that it was based on the flimsiest of hypotheses. “Do you still know the way out of here?”

  “Yeah, right at the corridor, then left, a second right, and we’re at the main airlock. Why?”

  Slinging her subgun over her shoulder, Briggs took an ampoule out of her pocket and held it in her left hand while holding one of the ID cards in her right. “When I say run, you run. In fact, you might want to stand by the door and be ready to open it when I tear out of here.”

  Briggs wal
ked by the row of cages, swiping the ID card through each electromagnetic key lock. At the far end of the row, she turned, dropped the card, then crushed the ampoule and smeared it across her chest.

  “I hope this works.” She walked slowly in front of the open cages, pausing just long enough to leave her scent in the air. When she reached the far end, she half turned to see the reaction.

  Long, black fingers curled around the side of one of the cages in the middle of the row. They were followed by a simian face, its nose sniffing the air. The gorilla turned toward Briggs and, upon seeing her, cocked its head in curiosity.

  “That’s it...come on...”

  As if hearing her entreaty, the other gorillas and apes began emerging from their cages, as well, all sniffing the air. Briggs took a big step toward the window, then another one into the laboratory. All of the animals watched her move, their heads tracking her in perfect synchronicity.

  She took another step toward the door.

  The lips of the largest gorilla curled back in a silent snarl. The rest of the group tensed, leaning forward in anticipation.

  Briggs took off, running as fast as she could toward the door. “Open it!”

  With screeches of rage, the creatures erupted from the room into the laboratory, swarming over the tables and equipment, all of them coming straight for her. Bolan stood on the other side of the door, holding it open with one arm and waving her on with the other. When she was a yard away, he reached out his hand. Briggs grabbed it and he pulled her through the door and whipped her around so that they were both running down the hallway.

  Two security guards approaching from the hallway on the other side of the door spotted them and gave chase. “Stop right there!” was all they said before being buried in a running avalanche of fur and fangs. Briggs glanced back to see the limp forms of the two guards lying on the floor as the horde of crazed apes rushed toward her.

  “This way!” Still holding her arm, Bolan pulled her into another corridor on his left. Scrabbling and screeching, the troop pursued them, bowling over or cowing anyone who got in their way.

  “Great trick, but how are you going to stop them from chasing you?” Bolan asked as they tore down the corridors.

  “I haven’t quite figured that out yet!” Only the sudden turns in the corridors had prevented the apes and gorillas from catching up so far, but once they got into a straightway, Briggs figured they were both probably as good as dead. “Any ideas?”

  “We need to find a secure place where they can’t get at you, a vehicle, or something protected.” Bolan yanked her right, straight into a pair of scientists running the other way. The four bounced off one another, Briggs somehow managing to stay on her feet as he half dragged her down the hall.

  “Hey, wait—” The man’s startled query was cut off by the unstoppable tide of furious, furry simians slamming into them. There was a muffled scream, then nothing.

  “The truck—where is it?” Briggs asked.

  “The outer room, where we came in—I hope. Run faster, damn it!” Bolan pulled her along as they pounded down the hallway toward the airlock where they first came in. They were joined by other scientists and scattered security personnel, all of whom had only to look back once to flee the imminent danger coming at them. The small group, knitted together by pure fear, bolted to the airlock, where Bolan jammed his card into the doors.

  “Come on, come on!”

  The cacophony of howls and screeches grew louder and Bolan unslung his subgun and whirled. “Get down!”

  “No, the door’s opening!” Briggs pulled him through, along with a crowd of others that stumbled into the small airlock. “Clear it, clear it now!”

  The last person shoved through and the doors slowly started to close. “Not fast enough— Hold on!” Bolan leveled his subgun and was about to blow out the other side when a security guard grabbed his weapon and pushed it up.

  “No, that’s bulletproof glass, you’ll kill us all!”

  “Jack must have knocked down the front door,” Bolan said. “Is there an override on this side?”

  A tall blond woman pressed her card into Bolan’s hands. “Here—use my card and enter 4-5-5 on the keypad.”

  “The rest of you, hold that door shut!” Men and women sprang to obey just as the first wave of gorillas hit the doors, making them shudder under the impacts.

  On the other side, Bolan oriented the card and inserted it into the slot, then pressed the keys. Nothing happened. He took the card out and tried again, with the same result. “It isn’t working!”

  “You’d better do something fast!” a security guard shouted from the far side. “They’re pulling the doors open!”

  A gray-haired scientist came over and looked at the dark security lock. She ran the card through, then punched the buttons again. “The keypad’s broken. We’re trapped in here.”

  Bolan examined the lock. “There has to be a manual override somewhere if the power fails.”

  The entire airlock shook from the determined assault outside. “Shoot a couple of them. That’ll scare the rest off!” someone shouted.

  “No, don’t!” Briggs held her hands out. “They just want to be free.”

  “Anyone who can open this door get over here and work on the override!” Bolan pushed his way through the crowd to Briggs. “It’s either them or us. Stand back! Everyone cover your ears and open your mouths!”

  She reluctantly moved aside and Bolan aimed his gun at the space between the slowly opening doors and pulled the trigger. The burst impacting the ceiling made the troop scatter, howling in terror as they fled.

  “That worked, but probably not for long,” a skinny scientist, whom Briggs recognized as the young guy monitoring the chimps and gorillas, said. “They’ll be back, and probably even more pissed off.”

  “All the more reason to get out right now,” Bolan said. “You guys got the door figured out yet?”

  Two of the security guards fiddled with the lock mechanism, popping the bottom off and freeing a small handle. One began moving it back and forth as fast as possible. “This is it, but it’s going to take time to lever the door open.”

  “Then you better pump faster.” Bolan kept an eye on the gorillas at the far end of the hall. Most of the troop had retreated out of sight, but the large males had walked back into the corridor, sniffing the air. “Once they catch the scent of that stuff again, they’re going to go crazy.”

  With a hiss, the outer doors cracked open. One of the male gorillas, a giant silverback almost as tall as Bolan, even with its hands on the ground, stalked forward, a snarl on its lips.

  “They’re coming!”

  “Almost...there!” The airlock doors widened another inch, then another. As soon as there was enough room to squeeze through, Bolan shoved personnel out one at a time while the sec men continued widening the portal.

  The apes had recovered their bravado and were only a few yards away from the door now, hooting and snarling. Bolan hustled the older, gray-haired scientist through, then the skinny kid. “Cheryl, come on!”

  The loudspeakers crackled, and the female voice spoke again. “Evacuation of laboratory commencing. All personnel report to designated areas and await further instructions. This is not a drill. All personnel evacuate the compound immediately and report to designated areas.”

  “Now they tell us,” someone muttered.

  One of the gorillas smacked at the glass doors with its hand. Another one trotted up and sniffed at the seal between the two doors. “All right, we’re out of here.” Bolan grabbed Briggs’s hand and waved the two security guards through the gap.

  “Hold on.”

  “Cheryl, come on!”

  “Just a minute. I’m not going to leave them here.” She walked back to the inner doors and swiped her card through the slot, then turned and r
an for the other doors. “Come on!”

  Needing no urging, Bolan was already on the other side. Together they ran into the bigger room, which looked as though a massive battle had taken place. Through the ruined rock wall at the entrance, Briggs saw a sleek, black helicopter, bristling with weapons, hovering outside. Upon seeing it, the rest of the personnel ran past the row of remaining trucks and headed for an archway in the far left wall.

  Bolan divided his attention between the men and women leaving the lab and the airlock with the dark, looming shapes scurrying around inside.

  “Damn it, Richter’s not here!” he shouted over the helicopter’s roar. “Cheryl, we have to go.” He pointed at the chopper. “Our ride’s here!”

  They both ran for the main entrance, reaching it just as the first gorilla came through the airlock door. At the same time, bright lights came on from one of the trucks on their right. Briggs looked back to see one of the two-and-one-half-ton trucks gunning straight for them, scattering the gorillas out of the way as it came.

  Shoving her aside, Bolan whirled, bringing his up gun as the vehicle accelerated at him. He got off one burst that went high, starring the windshield, before he had to dive out of the way. The truck roared past, aiming straight for the helicopter, which barely got out of its way. It turned left so hard the driver’s-side wheels almost left the ground, and shot off into the jungle.

  “Come on,” Bolan shouted, pulling Briggs to her feet and running for the helicopter, which had descended low enough for them to jump into the open side door. Briggs scrambled to the nearest open seat in back as Bolan sat in another one.