They burst through the doors to the stairs and kept running.
“Why wouldn’t they just get her out via the rooftop?”
“If you needed to get a VIP out, and you had limited resources, what would you do? Fly in plain sight, or go under the radar with a few civi vehicles on the road?”
They made it two floors down when another explosion rang out, and that only encouraged Taylor to pick up the pace. He wouldn’t lose another like he did the President. He was still furious that he had not been able to save Isaacs, and even more furious that the attempt to do so cost so many lives.
“We have contact on the first floor,” said Jones through the comms.
“Keep advancing. We’re on the fifth and closing in,” replied Taylor.
Even as he spoke, another explosion rang out, but it was much closer this time. They felt the floor beneath their feet shake, and Taylor looked over the edge. The stairs beneath them were collapsing.
“Run!” he yelled, pointing to the doors leading out onto the fifth floor. He watched as the squad ushered them through before leaping himself. As he did so, the floor beneath him gave way. Babacan reached to catch him, but it was too late. The floor collapsed, and he fell. He slid down one block of stairs and was thrown in through the doors on the level below. He tumbled in with no grace at all, finally coming to a stop flat on his back.
“Taylor? Are you okay?”
The voice was echoing through the open stairway.
“I…I’m okay!” he shouted and reached down to check himself over.
He stood up and found children huddled in corners on the ward around him. Many were still in their beds and unable to move, the staff with them just as terrified.
“It’s okay. I’m here to help,” he said.
They looked unconvinced. He turned back and looked down the stairway. It was now an open shaft where the stairways had fallen.
“Taylor,” a voice called.
He looked up. Bailey was looking down at him.
“I’m fine. I’m carrying on. Find another stairs and reach me as soon as you can.”
“Wait for us, Colonel. You can’t go alone,” she insisted.
“Negative, there is no time. You’ll just have to catch up.”
He turned and left at a jogging pace.
“Taylor!” But he didn’t stop.
“Damn it,” he heard her say as she turned back to the others. The wards were full with children and staff, and he really felt sorry as he passed by, but there was nothing more he could do for them than he already was doing. As he reached halfway down the corridor, he noticed a hole in the floor ahead and scorch marks in the ceiling where an explosion had blown through from below.
He slowed a little to look through, but jumped without showing as much caution as he should have. As he landed, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. A Juggernaut was barrelling towards him. He leapt to one side and crashed through a frosted glass wall as it thundered on past. He heard it rush on by, and as he turned over, two Morohtan drones were approaching. He lifted his rifle while still on his back and quickly fired. One got a shot off which narrowly missed his head before they were struck down.
He hurried back into the corridor. The Juggernaut was thrashing against a reinforced door that led into next ward. It was throwing all its weight in, and on the third strike the locks were smashed, and the doors flung open. Taylor fired a few shots at its back, but it carried on as if on a mission that it would not be distracted from.
Taylor lowered his rifle and ran on after it. Gunfire rang out, and he could see flashes up ahead. He fired up his shield so as to not be hit by oncoming fire. The Juggernaut crashed into a makeshift line of defences. It crushed two of the men defending it and knocked another two unconscious, as it barrelled over and landed back on its feet. Gunfire rang out as it engaged others in the room it had broken in to. Taylor arrived in time to see the creature closing in slowly against a middle-aged woman in a well-cut suit.
He lifted his rifle and took aim, already knowing it would do no good as the creature paced slowly towards the woman. She look disgusted by it, but stood her ground and tried not to show any fear. Taylor drew out his Assegai and leapt into action. He landed on the back of the Juggernaut and thrust the Assegai deep into the back of its neck.
A deafening shriek rang out as the creature reeled in pain. It tossed and turned to try and get him off. He held on with everything he could, but a blade thrust out from one of its arms, and as it reached for him, he was forced to let go. He was flung across the room and crashed into a table and sofa. He jumped back up to his feet, but the Juggernaut had both of its guns trained on him. He was empty handed, and blade was still embedded in its neck. He wasn’t just going to stand there and be shot, so he jumped to the side and ran with all his strength to get around the creature.
He had caught it by surprise with his sudden turn of speed. Its guns roared and ripped into the walls as he ran a circle around it. He reached the cover of a large line of cabinets and stopped dead, dropping to the floor. Shots punched through and went over his head. The fire continued to track past. The Juggernaut had assumed he was still moving. He stood up, turned back to the way he had come, and charged out, taking a run at the creature while it had its flank to him.
As he reached halfway, he was spotted, and the Juggernaut turned to face him but couldn’t do it quick enough. Once again he was on its back as it flailed around and fired in every direction. He drew out the Assegai and thrust it in again and again. Finally, as he tried to make his fifth thrust, it backed against a solid wall and crushed him with its weight.
He felt the wind go out from him and his strength with it. He lost his grip and fell down against the wall. The creature backed off with both of its guns trained on him as he sat against the wall without a hope of dodging another shot.
“Do your worst,” he said as he spat out blood.
A volley of fire rang out, and the Juggernaut was hit by overwhelming fire. Babacan entered the room with his Hydra spitting out shot after shot. The rest of the squad was with him. The Juggernaut was knocked back a few paces, and as it turned to fire, two limbs were blown off. It dropped to the floor and collapsed.
“Great timing.”
He leaned over and used his hands to help himself back onto his feet. He was still a little stunned, but he knelt down by the Juggernaut and drove his Assegai into its head all the way up to the hilt. He drew the blade back out, finally happy that it was dead. When he looked over, there was no sign of the woman in the suit, but neither was there a sign of any blood.
“Lisa Caron!” he called.
A cabinet rustled, and she stepped out into full view.
“Are you Lisa Caron?” Taylor demanded.
She nodded.
“Have you been hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Ma’am, we have come to get you out.”
She squinted as if recognising him, but it wasn’t clear what she was most shocked about.
“You’re Mitch Taylor, aren’t you?” she asked quietly.
“Guilty.”
“What the hell are you doing here? Haven’t you got bigger things to worry about?”
“Nope, Ma’am, the security and life of the next President of the Alliance is my primary concern.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The job is yours, and don’t argue with me. We didn’t risk it all for you to say no. This country, this world, and this Alliance needs you, right now!”
She didn’t know what to say.
“Surely, I…”
“It’s a shock. I get that, but it is the shocking reality of what we are facing. We have to get you out of here, Ma’am.”
“That’s our job.”
Taylor turned to see one of the men who had been protecting her was on his feet and helping the other woman who worked with him. They wore the same equipment as Taylor and his people, but it was new and with no insignia or markings o
f any kind.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Secret Service, and she will be coming with us.”
“No, no, I won’t,” she intervened.
They couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
“Colonel, you have no authority to come in here and start giving orders,” pleaded the man.
“The hell I do. If it weren’t for us, you’d all be dead right about now. So you’d better either stand with us, or leave us the hell alone, do I make myself clear?”
They looked to Caron for confirmation.
“It’s okay. Stand down.”
“It’s a long story,” added Taylor, “but all you need to know is that you are next in line to the Presidency. Isaacs is dead, and it is vital that we get you to a safe location. Will you come with us?”
“Yes, Colonel Taylor, I will.”
“All right, let’s get out while we still can.”
Chapter 8
“Welcome, Madam President,” said Alita as they climbed aboard. Taylor ushered her to the front where Jones would normally sit. Her two Secret Service agents stayed close throughout.
“Thank you,” she replied hesitatingly.
“So what happened?” Taylor asked the two agents.
“We were sent to retrieve our target, Miss Caron. Twelve agents, running as quietly and covertly as possible.”
“I guess that didn’t work out so well,” said Jones, as he stepped aboard with the other two squads and took their seats.
The engines fired up as they began to lift off.
“No,” replied the female agent, “Our lead vehicle was involved in a road accident which escalated rapidly. There are a lot of terrified people out there trying to flee the city.”
“I don’t blame them.”
“But you could have gone wheels up and got off the roads anytime you liked.”
“We had strict orders not to. We were to stay grounded throughout so as to not draw any unnecessary attention.”
“And then?”
The woman continued the story. “We were to…”
“Yes,” insisted Taylor.
“Get Miss Caron to a secret destination, a fallout shelter.”
“Yeah, well, it ain’t there anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“We heard it from General Greer. It was destroyed outright.”
Their faces turned to shock and terror, and it became clear that what was lost in that fallout shelter was more than they realised. Taylor didn’t even want to ask, as it no longer mattered.
“And after that?”
“We went on foot the rest of the way. We arrived at the hospital just before the enemy did, and they came at us hard. We fought them as best we could, but…
“It’s okay. We are well aware of what they are. It’s no walk in the park to face the Morohtans.”
“Where to, Mitch?” Alita asked.
The agents looked surprised by her casual approach to authority but knew it wasn’t their place to say, and they didn’t even have an answer now that their mission had been scuppered beyond recognition.
“Miss Caron needs to be taken to safety, but I promised General Greer that we would go back to help at the soonest opportunity. Get us back in the fight, and then return to the Indy,” he ordered as he looked to Caron.
“You will be safe there, Ma’am.”
She was still too stunned for words, so he turned his attention to the two agents.
“I am Taylor,” he said, offering his hand in friendship.
They took it in turn.
“Johnson, and this is Wells,” said the man.
“Okay, you are to stay with her right the way through. She is now the most important individual on Earth as far as we are concerned. You will not leave her sight.”
They both nodded in agreement as if they had accepted him as their new boss. It wasn’t surprising; they had just lost everything they cared and stood for. He leaned in towards the cockpit.
“You make sure they get to the Indy, you hear me?”
“Sure.”
“I mean it. Don’t let all this be for nothing.”
“You can trust me, Mitch, you know that.”
“I know.”
He looked up as he noticed a flash of light and movement on the screens ahead. They were nearing the epicentre of the fighting they had left.
“Put us down here. There’s no need to get any closer to the combat than you have to. We can manage on foot.”
She brought them down over the exact same crossroads as they had been picked up from. As the ramp lowered, the distant sound of the battle invaded the cabin.
“They’re playing your tune,” said Alita.
He reached forward and kissed her. As he did so, he leaned on her shoulder and pressed on her neck where she had been injured. She winced and recoiled in pain.
“When you get up there, you stay put. Rest and recover.”
“But you…”
‘But nothing, you have done more than enough already. At least take a day to rest as a bare minimum. That’s an order.”
She begrudgingly agreed, and he turned back to Caron.
“I wish you every luck. You are about to have a whole ton of responsibility thrown down upon you. I know you can handle it.”
“How?”
“You have General Greer’s backing. She was the one who told us where to find you. She said she’d have voted for you. You are the best hope we have of leadership. Go with this. We all need you.”
The President was pale and gaunt. She looked mortified by the whole experience. Taylor looked back at Alita one last time before stepping out the door with the rest of the platoon. The craft lifted off, and they watched it ascend at a rapid pace towards the atmosphere.
Taylor didn’t need to say a word to his platoon, as they got moving towards the sound of the fighting. They had made ten metres when Jones piped up, “It’s hell of a position to put that woman in.”
Taylor sighed. “She’ll get over it. Plenty of people are having to go through far worse.”
“I know, but that pressure, none of us know that.”
“We all fight our battles differently.”
“You can be pretty cold sometimes, you know that?”
“So I’ve heard. There are worse things to be criticised for,” he said with a yawn.
The fatigue was really setting in now, but they soon reached the lines of wounded and dead. The lines had grown far longer than when they had left, but Taylor was relieved to see they were still holding strong. He passed the restaurant that had become the main med station and saw Greer in the distance. She was standing at a display board. It had a map of the area, and all known movements were being updated in real time. As he approached, she turned around to try and clear her head, wiping the sweat from her brow. She looked down as if exhausted both physically and mentally, but as she looked back up, she smiled when she saw Taylor approaching.
“I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again, Colonel.”
“I said I would come back, General.”
“What people say and intend are often not what they do or are capable of.”
“Maybe for some suit wearing slackers, but not for me, or anyone who fights with me.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“So where are we up to?”
“Actually, Colonel, it’s not looking half bad. The troops you brought have crushed the enemy in the west and have moved north of our position. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we may just secure this area with another few days’ work.”
“And elsewhere? Any news?”
“Little scraps of information here and there, that’s all we are getting. It’s still chaos in most places you can name. The west coast is holding out a little better than here. South of Mexico is in free fall. Texas is awash with refugees. They’re asking for militia recruits from any men and women between sixteen and sixty.”
“Sounds bad.”
“Yes, it is. Quite frankly, I never expected we would ever be hit with these kinds of numbers all at once. It’s unprecedented.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s happened before in my time. There is plenty of precedence for it, and the fact that this nation and this world wasn’t ready is your own fault.”
“I get that, I really do. I pushed for improvements all the way through my career, but there’s only so much one person can do. You have no idea how much resistance I had to the reforms I wanted to make. If I’d had my way, our armed forces would have been three times the size they are today, and far more advanced.”
“We need to increase firepower and fast. The last few days we have faced things far beyond what we are capable of dealing with. That thing in the stadium, did you see it?”
“No.”
“Well, count yourself lucky. Now, what are my orders?”
“At present, Colonel, we are doing just fine.”
“Okay, but what do you want me to do?”
“Rest.”
“I…”
“No, Colonel, I can see you and your people are exhausted.”
“Maybe, but there is a lot more work to do.”
“But even you can’t go on forever. How long have you been operating under stims for now? When was the last time you had a night’s sleep?”
He shrugged, as he didn’t even know anymore.
“It’s catching you up fast now, Colonel. If you and your people don’t get some real rest in soon, you’re going to crash and burn. You are no good to us in that state.”
Taylor expected Jones to back him up, but he was in agreement with Greer.
“There is a hotel down the street. I have seen to it that one floor has been kept empty for your platoon. I am sure the rest of your Regiment could do with it, too, but you lot more than most. You push your people pretty hard, Colonel.”
“No more than is necessary. I am grateful that you were thinking of us, but I’d just as soon get back onto the front line.”
“Come on, Colonel. Don’t be a fool. I know you’ll do whatever the hell you want if you see fit. Your ability to flaunt authority is almost as legendary as your skill in combat. So screw this being an order. I am asking you, as a friend. Please, do what is best for all of us. One night.”
Battle Beyond Earth Box Set Page 92