So that's what I am. I am a hacker. I am a salesman of information and a broker of infiltration. But what I really am, is Archer's inside woman in the black market. I am, in essence, a spy, and a freaking good one.
When Cray first approached me, I was shocked. I knew the superficial story Archer had fed to the news feeds, but I also knew the truth. Archer had me on lookout for Cray or Mira in case they used the market. And Cray walked right into my world. As soon as possible, I contacted Archer to let him know that Cray had surfaced.
After learning that Damian Harbin was alive, the plan was simple. It was also one of the most dangerous missions I had ever undertaken. I would go along with whatever Cray was up to, pose as his friend, and do whatever it took to get the cure and any other important information I could. That meant keeping Cray alive and getting him to take me to Damian’s lair. But in order to make it look real, and to keep my cover as the Raven intact, no one but me and Archer would know about it, including the soldiers we killed escaping from the bunker.
Archer was required to send a group to track us down to keep from raising suspicion – the ones that found us at the hospital. He had to have faith that in the event they did find us, we would be survive. We did.
Chapter 28
Cray
The explosion jars me awake, and I sit bolt upright on the bed, momentarily struggling to clear the fog from my head. I remember Mira telling me I had been in a metagenic chamber and that it would take a while for the weakness and grogginess to subside. I don’t know how long I slept, but now that I’m awake, my mind is growing sharper by the second. And when I stand, I’m definitely not feeling week. In fact, I feel better than I have in months. But these are fleeting thoughts. Right now, my only concern is the reason I was awakened.
Springing from the bed, I move towards the open balcony door where the source of the explosion originated. I half-expect that something in the fortress has gone wrong, some terrible accident or some experiment gone awry. But the sight that meets me nearly stops me in my steps.
Above, a huge portion of the ceiling of the dome is gone, the structure that supported the glass mangled and gaping open. Snow pours in like an icy hurricane and I can just make out the forms of two people fighting in the center of it all, but only for a moment before the blanket of white gets too heavy for me to see through. I couldn't see clearly enough to be sure, but I think one of the people was Mira.
I make a move to the edge of the balcony and consider for a heartbeat jumping over. I quickly realize that would be a bad decision. The jump is too high, and whatever is going on down there, I can't help with broken legs.
Turning, I grab my gun from the nightstand and sprint from the room into the hallway which is now filling with people.
“Move, move, move,” I yell. They struggle to get out of the way in the midst of the confusion, and I ignore the elevator and sprint down the stairs, dodging all the while.
I storm through the archway that leads from the living area out into the dome, the blast of arctic air coming from the ragged hole high above ripping through me like the cold, clutching fingers of death. In the distance, I catch glimpses of the two fighting figures again, and now I have no doubt. One of them is definitely Mira, and even from this distance, I can see she's covered in blood.
I press myself for every ounce of speed I can muster, only halfway registering the crunch under my feet. It takes me a distracted moment to realize it is glass, and not the snow that is crunching underneath me.
I'm getting steadily closer, and the other figure now comes into view. I swear violently at the recognition. Ming! All too sickeningly, I realize the truth. She sold us out. Maybe she was even planning it the entire time. That would explain how easily she escaped from the guards in the bunker.
I bring my gun up to bear. I don't know all the back story, but Ming is pitted against Mira, and that makes her my enemy regardless, but I don't even have the chance to fire.
What happens next is in such rapid succession, the events almost seem to be simultaneous. From my right, I catch sight of Graelin and Beth sprinting towards the fighting women. Most everyone else I suppose is hiding or taking cover, but Graelin is a warrior, and he is obviously moving in to defend his territory.
At the same time, there is a deafening roar from overhead, and we all look up to see huge portions of the steel latticework of the dome begin to crumble inward and fall towards us. Immediately, everyone is diving in all directions, dodging massive pieces of shrapnel as they careen to the ground. I ignore the glass that digs into my prone body as I land on my back, mere inches from a steel girder that lands at my feet.
I hear shouts, and look over to see a particularly massive, rectangular piece of metal and concrete slam into the ground, kicking up snow and glass from the impact. For an unending moment, it stands there on end, teetering like a monolith ready to fall at any second. Then, as if no longer able to stand under its own weight, it begins to tip, and starts to fall. I realize in horror that Beth is lying right beneath it, out cold from being hit in the head with something from above. Blood pools around her hair turning the snow crimson.
In an instant, Graelin is there. Screaming with the effort, he throws his massive hands up against the monolith, and for a moment, its topple stops. But the weight is too great, even for his superhuman strength, and it begins pushing slowly down on him, inch by inch, farther and farther, threatening to crush them both.
I'm on my feet in an instant, and I instinctively move towards them, but Mira has beaten me to the punch, and like a flash of lightning, she's there beside Graelin, pushing against the gargantuan slab of steel. She's several times smaller than him, but their combined strength is enough, and gradually, its downward momentum stops and begins to move in the opposite direction, both of their arms and legs trembling from the enormous strain.
But I know they're going to be okay, and I also know what I have to do. With Mira otherwise occupied, Ming is now my primary objective. Whatever is going on here, she's going down. I squint to try to find her among the blizzard pouring in on us, and I think I catch a blur of movement. I raise my gun but instantly think better of it. In this mess, there's no way to know for sure that I'm not accidentally targeting someone else who could be caught in the same mess we are. I take off again, my boots crunching, my gun still extended.
From Mira's direction, I hear the continued screams and grunts of Mira and Graelin in their battle against the monolith, but in front of me, something black snakes down from the sky, and a figure appears beneath it. Ming!
“Stop!” I scream, and she pauses. I'm close enough now that I can see her eyes through the snow and ice. She starts to say something, but the air is split with gunfire, kicking up puffs of snow and glass all around me. A lucky shot pings off of my gun, throwing it violently from my hand, and for the second time in less than a minute, I'm diving for my life.
My mind works like a machine, and without effort, a grid starts to form, a mental image, created by the sound of the gunfire and the dull thuds and powder kicks created when they hit the ground. I realize whoever is shooting is above us creating a perimeter around Ming, and though I can’t see it through the storm, I can hear the thrumming of helicopter blades. That means what fell from the sky is a rope.
Anger and annoyance ripple through me. She is not going to get away! I dive back into the fray, throwing caution to the wind and praying none of the bullets connect with my flesh. In a moment, I'm through the perimeter and charging to the last place I saw her. She's there, but now she's several feet off the ground and rising quickly. She's not climbing, so they have to be reeling her in. I have a sudden memory flash of the rooftop of the parking deck at the preacher's hideaway and throw myself at the rope, barely latching onto the last two feet as it rises into the air.
But this is Ming, and she's seen this parlor trick before. Glancing down at me, she swings her arm down and underneath her feet. A long blade of glass she is holding cuts through the rope cleanly, and
suddenly I'm falling, the rope slack in my hands. We went up fast, and I'm a good fifteen feet off the ground. Slamming into it, glass digs into my back through my clothes, and I wheeze, winded. Above me, Ming disappears into the blizzard of snow and night sky and I struggle onto my elbows. I clench my fists in frustration and curse.
One thing I'm sure of, Ming got whatever she came for, and now it's a good bet Archer's got it too. Heaven only knows what will happen now that he has what he wants.
Behind me, I hear a loud, clanking thud, and before I can turn, Mira is leaning over me. With one hand she grabs my shirt front and yanks me up.
Graelin emerges from the blizzard, an unconscious Beth slung over his shoulder. Blood drips from a long gash above and behind her right ear.
“This way,” Graelin shouts just as a fresh barrage of explosions rock the wall seventy yards away. The same thing begins happening all around us.
Whoever pulled Ming up wasn't alone. It seems they have a squadron, and they fully intend to level this place.
The lights flicker twice then die, and now the only visibility is provided by the sporadic fires and explosions. But at least we've reached the edge of the snowstorm pouring in, and I can make out the shapes of the trees as we dodge and weave between them.
The fortress is really taking a beating. Far overhead, the dome lets out a terrible screech, then begins to sag. It's not going to be long before the whole thing collapses.
Even with them zigzagging through the trees, I can barely keep up with Graelin and Mira as they move like rockets, but just when I'm starting to wear down, we emerge into a small clearing.
Ahead, Damian is standing by a doorway waving us forward frantically. Beyond him, a woman and two small children move into the doorway and disappear into the blackness beyond.
“Is everyone accounted for?” Graelin shouts above the explosions.
Damian shakes his head gravely. “We have to go now!”
I yell. “Does this place have any defenses?”
“Its defense was its solidarity,” Damian says.
“What about the jets?” Graelin looks hopeful.
“No good,” I say. “Ming knows about them. They'll have turned the entrance into rubble by now.”
Graelin swears and shifts Beth to his other shoulder.
We're out of options.
“Where does this go?” I ask about the door.
“To the lower levels,” Damian says.
“We'll be trapped,” Mira says.
“If we stay here, we'll be crushed,” I say. “For now, we survive.”
We'll worry about digging out later.
A section of the wall nearby explodes inward. The heat rolls over us like a sauna.
That's our cue, and without another word, we leap through the door and begin descending a long spiral staircase. We move by feel because there's no light, and we bump and jostle each other as the muffled booms continue overhead.
“Why aren't the emergency lights coming on?” Graelin says.
Damian doesn't answer. I'm sure he doesn't know either. We continue down, the explosions fading into the distance. We descend for maybe five minutes, our progress slow due to the darkness. I can feel doors on some of the landings we come to, but Damian herds us forward. When we’re far deeper than I would have imagined this place being, he finally exits through a door.
Chapter 29
Whatever was causing the blackout in the stairwell is not affecting this floor because light immediately stabs through the darkness, and I throw up my hand to block it. My eyes sting and I blink rapidly trying to adjust to it.
We enter the room beyond, a cavernous space with a ceiling at least forty feet high, and everyone continues moving forward but me. I come to an immediate halt, in shock at what I see all around me.
The place is easily as long as three football fields, and in every direction are cages containing all kinds of animals, but not just regular animals – hybrids, genetic crosses. The place is a madhouse of noise, and Mira beckons me on as I try to take it all in.
I stare in amazement as we keep walking down a wide pathway between the cages; the acrid smells of manure and cleaning chemicals flood my nostrils along with an earthy smell. I notice that although the pathways are all concrete, the habitats are natural with dirt, plants, and other foliage. Some even contain large boulders, and here and there I see brackish pools of water.
I knew from some of the small creatures I saw in the dome that Damian was doing further experimentation with animals here like what we saw on the island, but the magnitude of what I see now is overwhelming. Something remotely resembling an ape, but at least ten feet tall, roars as we pass, and I feel as if my ears are going to bleed.
“Stop gawking and move!” Mira yells behind her from up ahead.
I keep going until we reach the far side of the expanse. We enter another expanse off of the larger one, connected by a towering archway. Beyond are banks of computers, microscopes, and enough lab equipment to choke a whale. I see Graelin peel off to the right and run down a narrow corridor, Beth still hanging limply over his shoulder.
“There’s a medical room down there,” Mira says from beside me answering my unasked question.
“You’ve been here before?”
“Yes. The night before I went into a coma.”
I start to say something else, but she’s already gone, sweeping across the room to where the mother and her two children are huddling together. The mom’s eyes are filled with tears, the young boy and girl look stunned, and I wonder if someone – a husband or another child – has been left behind, or worse.
Feeling completely at a loss and out of place, I move to where Damian is sitting behind a computer console flanked by ten rectangular screens against the wall. He’s typing and pushing buttons frantically and one by one, the screens click on. Most show only static. The ones not filled with static show images that are indecipherable and dark.
“What are we looking at?” I say, taking the seat next to his.
He continues working as he talks. “I’m scrolling through the exterior camera feeds and the ones from the housing levels. So far nothing. I’d like to make sure our attackers have retreated. I don’t want them to know we’ve survived.”
“The way they laid down the artillery, I don’t think they expected us too.”
“Yes, but I need to make an announcement, and if by chance there are ground troops combing the wreckage, I don’t want to risk them overhearing.”
I watch Damian as he works, continuing to cycle through different feeds. From time to time a grainy image of destruction appears, but most are obscured if they show anything other than static at all. Damian’s face is drawn, his expression pained. Whatever I’ve thought about him, any fool could see that he’s distraught by what has happened. He knows many of his people have died tonight, and he’s fighting to keep it together.
Finally he stops and flips a switch to his left, mumbling to himself all the while. Unless he’s seen something I haven’t, we don’t have any idea if there’s anybody up there or not.
He looks at me briefly. “We’re just going to have to risk it.”
At the same time, there’s a squelching feedback sound as the intercom system comes to life.
He speaks with measured tones, his voice echoing throughout the structure. “This is Damian Harbin. No doubt any of you that have survived can tell we have been under a devastating attack. The upper levels of the fortress have been decimated. If you can reach us, we are relocating to the research area adjacent to the holding pens. If you are trapped, or physically unable to reach us on your own, but can operate the intercom, please notify us of your location. We will send help…” His voice trails off as if he wants to say more but can’t find the words.
He rises suddenly, casting a sidelong glance at Mira with the mom and her children. Emma. That’s what I overheard Mira call her.
“It was the girl wasn’t it?” he says without looking at me.
“Yes. I didn’t know…”
“I don’t blame you, son. You were played just like the rest of us. It’s what Archer does best.” His voice is full of bitterness and hatred. “I’m going to check on Graelin and Beth.” He moves off without waiting for a response, and I sit, feeling completely helpless.
The next twelve hours are a madhouse of rescue calls, searching for survivors, and tending to the wounded. The lab and extending areas in this part of the fortress look like a battlefield hospital. There were close to two-hundred people including staff in the fortress. Thus far, we’ve been able to locate and rescue twenty-seven including ourselves.
If it had been any other time of day, the casualty list would have been greatly diminished. As it was, Archer’s forces hit at night. Apart from minimal staffing in some of the more critical stations in the lower levels, everyone was in the housing areas, all above ground, ground zero for Archer’s attack.
Fortunately, we still have access to several of the metagenic chambers for the more critically wounded, mostly guards who don’t heal rapidly and clones with more severe injuries. Those with minor wounds are making do with the best medical care Damian and Mira can provide with the limited supplies they have available. They’ve both worked frenziedly on the injured as Graelin and I have scoured the remaining levels for survivors. The pretty vet who treated my concussion didn’t survive.
Thankfully, Beth is doing okay. Apart from a concussion and laceration, she’s made a remarkably quick recovery.
Mira has refused treatment for her feet, only stopping to pull the larger shards of glass from them. I tried to talk her out of leaving them that way, but she was insistent that she wouldn’t accept treatment until we’d found and helped everyone else we could.
Whatever Damian did to her, her healing is working faster than ever. The last time I checked in on her, the skin had already grown over the remaining imbedded glass. It will have to be cut out later.
The Night Sweeper: Assassin: A Zombie Conspiracy Novel (The Sweeper Chronicles Book 2) Page 18