Broken Arrow: Navigator Book Four

by SD Tanner

  While critters were tumbling through the hole they’d just left, they repeated their stamping tactic, hunting for the next exit. Shuffling his feet, seeking the gap in the floor, he fired his laser gun at the critters falling from the ceiling of the tunnel. They came apart as the gun sliced through them as cleanly as a scalpel would a body. Andrea found the next hole and she slipped through it, squealing in surprise. Dean followed her and continuing to fire, he moved to where they’d both been. Sliding through the hole, he lost his footing, landing heavily on his butt. Getting up again in the slime was difficult and he skidded and slipped, trying to gain traction under his heavy boots.

  Dean found the next hole, and barely on his feet, he half crawled and crabbed towards it until he felt himself falling again. This time he landed inside of a large chamber with lumps in the wall and he knew they were people. Unwilling to leave them alive and in hell, he used the gun strapped to his arm to pump bullets into them. Dean also fired at the bodies, and through their combined efforts, no one was left alive to be used as food by the critters. Andrea was ignoring them and stamping around the chamber, hunting for the next exit. With the chamber being large, it was harder to find a hole in the floor, but critters were coming through the hidden gaps in the walls. Already firing at the bodies, he switched to his laser and began to cut the critters down as they clawed their way through the walls of goo.

  “Dean, help her!”

  Now Dean and Andrea were stamping at the gooey ground, but they weren’t coordinating their efforts, covering territory the other had already done. “Split up and move towards the center.”

  Dean and Andrea went in opposite directions, starting at a wall of the chamber, intending to circle their way to the middle. One minute Andrea was standing next to the wall and the next she was gone, sucked through a hole they couldn’t see. The only hint that a critter had taken her was the flash of green that quickly disappeared with her.

  “Andrea!” Dean shouted, immediately running towards the wall that had already resealed itself with goo.

  “No, Dean, don’t!”

  He wanted to believe Dean hadn’t heard him, but suspected he had. Instead of stopping, Dean had thrown himself into the wall, disappearing through the sheath of goo. Without warning, he found himself standing alone inside of a chamber with bleeding walls from dead bodies.

  “Dean!”

  Receiving no answer, every instinct told him to run through the thin layer of goo to find his son. Instead, he stood still, waiting to hear his voice. Finally realizing Dean wouldn’t or couldn’t answer, he slowly moved to where they’d both disappeared. Putting out his hand as if he could move it aside like a curtain, he slipped through the hole in the wall. Another tunnel greeted him and he still couldn’t see any signs of human life. Switching his visor to reality viewing, the screen went blank and he was looking down a brightly lit corridor. Sprays of blood tainted the purity of the lit goo, and the stained floor showed someone had been dragged until they’d disappeared into what he was assumed was another hole.

  There was no sign of Dean or Andrea and he wondered whose blood he was looking at. Whoever it was, they’d stained the next exit he needed with their life and he trudged towards it, feeling a heaviness settle inside of him. Sliding down the hole, he found himself inside of another tunnel. The blood smears were already fading into the goo and there was still no sign of the owner. Whatever the critters had done, they’d taken the bodies with them, and he could spend the rest of his power packs looking for his son or finish the mission.

  Remembering of the hundreds of survivors who’d gladly died to get him this far, he couldn’t let his heart break and holding back his tears, he muttered sadly, “I’m sorry, Bella.”

  The critter suit offered him the protection that was promised, and although he saw more critters, they didn’t appear to see him. One tunnel after another, he fell through the floor over and again. He didn’t notice the lumps in the walls of the chambers, and he ignored the critters as they brushed past him, hurriedly scurrying somewhere. The tunnels were mesmerizing and he lost track of time, moving like a robot from one level to the next. His mind was gone and he finally understood what had happened to the Knight. He’d never thought the man was crazy and he still didn’t. True shock hit the brain in a silent way, overwhelming it with so much emotion that none could be felt. The Knight had tried to tell him that he didn’t want his life anymore and for the first time he understood why. He was supposed to protect his family and he’d failed, making him nothing more than a fraud.

  When he reached the last chamber, it was with dull eyes that he stared at the enormous critter inside of it. He’d expected to see the faces of captured and absorbed prisoners, but its surface was a smooth, black rubbery texture like all of the other critters. Larger than a normal critter, it was maybe five times their size, meaning it could easily scuttle around the chamber. The C4 in the pack strapped to his chest only needed a sharp tug of the pull-ring to detonate it and his hand was already on the igniter.

  Seeing him standing at the far end of the chamber, where the smaller ones had ignored him, this one understood what he was and why he was there. Screeching loudly, it launched itself towards him, and he waited just a few heartbeats until it was close enough, before detonating his bomb.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Dead men talk (Dunk)

  “She called me Colonel.”

  Raising his eyebrows in surprise, he doubted Cassie knew who Bill was to know he’d been a Colonel in the army. “She’s never even met you.”

  “That’s what I said,” Jo replied, nodding her head in agreement.

  The U.S. military had supplied half of the funding for CaliTech, so he was familiar with their senior officer’s often self-centric view of the world and Bill was no exception. Although he knew Cassie didn’t know him, Bill was convinced she’d called him by a rank that he no longer had. There would be a more rational explanation other than Cassie had suddenly developed the ability to read minds.

  After glancing into Cassie’s dimly lit room, he then looked around the small reception area in the hospital. He’d never liked the medical team, forcing them to meet in his office rather than joining them in theirs. Now they’d developed a collective social conscience, most of them were flying around the country in his helicopters, supposedly providing medical support. Although his medical team were outstanding scientists, he believed they were the worst doctors he’d ever met, and he pitied anyone relying on their less than comforting care.

  Walking into the room, he boomed, “Cassie! Wakey, wakey!”

  Jo grabbed his arm, whispering hoarsely, “Stop it. Shouting at her won’t wake her up. She’s being controlled.”

  Seeing women as a necessarily evil of being a man, his experience with them was poor. If Bill had been the one to ask him to be quiet then he would have ignored him, but he liked Jo. She was a sturdily built woman with a clear mind and a sound attitude. Unlike her military counterparts, being a senior police officer had worn away the edges of any rigid thinking and ego needs she might have ever had.

  Cassie began to stir. “Jarhead. Jarhead.”

  Spinning to face Bill, he asked, “Did she say that earlier?”

  “Yeah, and after she said that she looked me in the eye and called me Colonel.”

  Bill had all of the facts and still leapt to the wrong conclusion, but he was used to the military brass misunderstanding things that seemed obvious to him. Much of his funding had come from private investors expecting to get a considerable payback for something they didn’t have the security clearance to know anything about. Only half of his money had come from the U.S. government and he’d been close to not needing them anymore. Spending billions of dollars trying one technology path after another, he’d always been using borrowed money and he could have bankrupted banks with his debts. With his inventions finally taking physical form, he’d been able to convince the largest weapons manufacturers in the world to take his work seriously. Always travelling on a knife
’s edge of funding, the end of the world had saved him a lot of explaining and possibly a jail sentence.

  Mentally shrugging at his narrow escape, he said dourly, “You’re not a Jarhead, Bill.”

  Joining him to stare at the slender body on the bed, Bill replied, “I know that.”

  “And she’s never met you.”

  “So, what?”

  Realizing he would have to connect the dots for him, he spoke slowly and distinctly. “We know Boris Meecham has his face plastered on the side of the creature in the nest at Pueblo Pintado. We know a Jarhead is a Marine…”

  “Oooh…” Jo drawled. “And he was a Colonel.” Forgetting that she’d told him to speak quietly she clapped her hands together in delight. “She’s talking about Boris.”

  Still looking confused and now slightly put out, Bill asked, “What does that mean?”

  Jo replied excitedly, “It means she’s talking to Boris as well as the creature.”

  At some point, the creature had managed to capture Boris and absorb him in such a way that his face remained on the side of its body. If Cassie could communicate with Boris, it meant they were all connected in some way. He couldn’t imagine that the creature had taken Boris for no reason. Boris wasn’t a good-looking man and he certainly hadn’t improved the overall appeal of the creature in any way. Since he’d been taken, the critters had mounted a significant assault on NORAD, only to leave for no reason they’d understood. Stepping closer to Cassie’s bed, he wondered if Boris had been in play all along. It would explain the second assault on NORAD and the critter’s abrupt departure during what had been an aggressive attack.

  Leaning over the bed, he whispered, “Boris?”

  Cassie’s eyes opened, vacantly wandering until she locked onto his. “Colonel.”

  “It’s good to see you’re still with us.”

  Beaming him a warm smile, Cassie’s attention seemed to slip again and she gazed blankly at the ceiling. Touching her critter arm, he said, “Colonel, we need your help.” Her attention flicked back to him and he thought he could see awareness behind her dark brown eyes. “We need the critters to leave the nests.”

  “Kill.”

  Nodding, he replied, “We will, but we need the critters to leave the nests. You need to lie to the creature. Tell it the real threat is somewhere else.”

  “Doomsday Machine.”

  “Exactly. I built it. It’s in Alaska. It’ll destroy everything.” Her attention wandered again and he pulled her by the chin to face him, looking directly into her eyes. “It’s designed to boil the core of the earth. Big bang.”

  Cassie’s eyes widened and the heart monitor began to beep rapidly. “Ben?”

  Whispering softly, Jo said, “That’s her brother. She’s very worried about him.”

  Leaning closer to Cassie so that his mouth almost touched her ear, he whispered, “I made Ben a special suit. He’s safe. Tell Boris he needs to warn the creature about the Doomsday Machine.”

  The tension left her body and her heart rate paced down. Clearly, she could hear and understand everything he was saying, even if it was complete nonsense. Leaning close to her ear again, he said softly, “I see you, Boris. Save my navs.”

  Straightening, he spun to look at Bill. “Message received.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Patting Bill on the shoulder as he walked past him, he said, “In survival of the fittest, smart is always fitter than dumb.”

  “Do you think he’ll succeed?” Jo asked as she left the room with him.

  “I think he already has.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Battle rattle (Ark)

  Just as they’d agreed, Jonesy was topped and tailed by their surviving Navigators. Tank and Leon were in lead and he was behind him with Lexie. Tuck and Trigger had never reappeared and he assumed the explosion had killed them. Whatever they’d done had given them time to tumble into the first chamber inside of the pyramid. Now they were skidding around the glowing room looking for the holes in the floor he knew were there. He’d watched the footage from the baby bots more than once, hoping to gain some clue as to where the holes were, but now he was inside of the chamber he was disoriented.

  With five Navigators in such a tight space, no one was prepared to use their weapons for fear of shooting one another. Wearing the camouflage suit, only Jonesy was able move without a critter leaping at him. It was Lexie who found the hole by falling into it and they all lurched towards her, batting at the critters around them. Sliding down the hole, he crashed against her, shoving her into the ground. Critters were running down the tunnel towards them and he opened fire with his laser, slicing them into pieces. Realizing he needed to get out of the way, he didn’t move fast enough and Tank hammered down against him, roughly pushing him towards the critters.

  “Shit, Tank, watch it.”

  “Get outta the damned way.”

  After roundly cursing him while he fired at the other end of the corridor, Tank failed to follow his own advice and Jonesy landed on him, dumping him onto his knees.

  “Move outta the way!”

  Slipping and sliding in the goo, Leon only added to the tangle of armored limbs by landing on top of all of them. “Thanks, guys. Teamwork like you care.”

  “Get off me, you idiot,” he grumbled.

  Just as they’d managed to disentangle themselves, Lexie slipped down another hole and he scrambled across the floor to follow her. Being fairly useless with any sort of gun, he didn’t want her inside of the tunnels alone. It was unfortunate that she was faster at finding the holes in the floor than they were, but he suspected they were being clumsy and she wasn’t.

  Landing heavily onto the floor below, Lexie was already using her auto targeting to fire at the critters sprinting along the corridor on the ceiling and the floor. More were headed towards them from the other end and he began firing his laser. Stepping out of the way just in time, Tank appeared by his side, opening fire in Lexie’s direction with his automatic. While Tank aimed his weapon at the ceiling and the floor, his wall of bullets cut the critters apart.

  Jonesy and Leon followed them and Lexie fell down another hole. Cursing, he skidded across to the position she’d been in and landed inside of a tunnel. Inside of this one, critters weren’t just running along the corridor, some were also emerging from the walls. Just as he landed, one snatched Lexie and she disappeared behind a wall of goo.

  “Not on my watch,” he shouted as he launched himself into the wall, slipping as he did.

  Lexie was tearing at the clawed arms encasing her, ripping them off one at a time. Pushing her helmet aside, he placed his gun against its orange-sized head and pulled the trigger. It dropped to the floor, letting go of Lexie as it did. Not bothering to speak, he grabbed her by the shoulder and hauled her back through the screen of goo where the others were still firing at the critters.

  “A little heads up, Ark,” Leon called as he adjusted his aim to avoid shooting them.

  Combat was always organized chaos, but this was worse than usual. They had no idea of the distance they had to travel or how they would get there other than to keep finding holes. Worse than that, they didn’t know how many critters there were inside of the nest. Lexie slipped through another hole in the corridor and he launched himself behind her, while Tank and Leon covered Jonesy as he made his way to the spot. This time he landed inside of a chamber and he knew the bumps in the walls were people. Critters were already emerging from the walls between the lumpy shapes and he opened fire. He couldn’t cover the entire chamber alone and he hoped the others were on their way. His reckless firing hit both critters and the people buried inside of the walls. When they were hit, they bled and the glossy walls began to run with bright red blood that merged with the goo, creating a slimy puddle on the floor.

  Jonesy appeared behind him. “What the fuck…?”

  With no break in his firing, he replied, “They’re people.”

  Sounding dismayed, Lexie cried, “Stop it! Stop it!
You’re killing them.”

  Tank arrived using his automatic to cut down the critters appearing between the lumps and the walls began to explode with showers of blood. “Believe me, Lex, this is a kindness.”

  “Look for the next exit, hon. Stay focused.”

  Clearly hearing him, she began sliding her feet across the floor, but he thought he heard her hiccup as if she were holding back a sob. He couldn’t blame her for being upset. If by some freak of nature they survived the mission, he would marry her and spend the rest of his life making sure she never had to face this again. Her head wasn’t built to deal with this kind of violence.

  Lexie didn’t find the next hole in the floor, but she slipped through a curtain of goo in the wall. “Leon, take my position.”

  As soon as Leon began firing, he turned and slid as quickly as he could towards the spot where Lexie had disappeared. Jonesy, Leon and Tuck were steadily stepping backwards, covering his six and also making their way towards the hole in the wall. Reaching the wall, he prepared to plunge through the curtain of goo he assumed was there, only he hit something solid. Running his glove along the wall, he realized he was disoriented and he frantically slid his hands further out.

  A gloved hand reached through the goo, grabbing his wrist and fiercely yanking him through the gap in the wall. “Hurry, Ark!”

  Now he was on the other side of the wall, he could see why Lexie was screaming at him. The far end of the corridor was a blur of black movement as critters were heading towards the chamber. Scuttling fast along the ceiling, floor and walls, they were coming in force.

  Sticking his head through the hole so he could see into the chamber, Tank was unleashing his flamethrower, incinerating everything at the far end. It wasn’t a tactic he could afford to use inside of a tunnel, but the chamber was large enough not to create a fireball that would kill them all. Lexie slipped from his grasp and she was powering towards the wall of critters.