“Eureka!” Ron blurted a few seconds later. There was a grinding sound as the fireplace swung open. “Where does this thing lead, anyway?”
Tina was the first to enter the dark tunnel. “I don’t know, but it won’t be to wherever the adults are. Come on, let’s go.” She pulled her tablet out and activated the torch function before taking the first step down the narrow twisting staircase its light revealed.
The others followed, starting on their own torch apps. The passage wound on and on, sometimes level, sometimes stairs, but always descending. There was a short landing between each flight of stairs, and they noted the levels of the facility as they went. They passed locked doors, and the occasional bench carved into the wall. There were boxes on the walls above the benches.
“They’re peepholes,” Ron remarked when they passed the second one and his torch caught it. “Should we look?”
“No!” Halli scoffed. “What if it goes into a bathroom or something? Gross!”
Maxim didn’t find any of it funny. “Come on, we need to find an exit. We’ve got to be getting close to the bottom of the castle by now.”
They came to a halt as the stairs ended suddenly, culminating in a dark, dank room carved out of the rock. There was no exit and no windows, just five crates of varying large sizes lined up against the back wall. The light from the tablets sent shadows skittering across their faces, revealing everyone’s wide eyes and drawn expressions.
Maxim was the first to say it. “We are not in the castle anymore.”
“No crap.” Tina laughed. She shone her light onto the crates. “Holy…” She stopped in her tracks. “You have to see this!”
“What is it?” Ron asked, taking a closer look. “Oh, please don’t let me be dreaming! Is that…” He slapped himself across the face, the sudden sharp noise startling the others.
“What did you do that for?” Mischa fumed. “You scared the life out of us!”
Ron blinked to clear his head. “I had to make sure I was awake. Look at the stamp! They’re Project Gauntlet prototypes. They shouldn’t even be here!”
“What is Project Gauntlet?” Masha asked, reading the small stamp on the side of the nearest crate.
“Yeah, and why does Fanboy here look like all his Christmases have come at once?” Craig snickered, waving a hand in front of Ron’s face.
Aleksi knelt by the crates, placing a reverent hand on the side of the largest one. “Get one of these crates open and you’ll see,” he said in an awed voice. “I’m with Ron…this is an amazing discovery.”
Craig did as he was bid, ripping the lid off the smallest crate like he was pulling off the top of a yogurt carton. He began dancing wildly in his excitement, throwing shadows everywhere. “Oh. My. God. Look at this!”
He dropped the lid so they could all see the gleaming suit of armor within. They all gasped at the array of weaponry attached to the solid carapace.
“That is some heavy ordnance,” Maxim said with a low whistle. “I see lasers, mini-missiles… Oh, wow, are those Jean Dukes guns?”
Ron moved closer to examine them. “No, just standard projectile guns.”
“Those are big guns,” Masha said in an awestruck voice. “Hey, do you think we’ll get these when we graduate and go into the Guardians?”
“I’ve never seen anything as cool as this armor,” Craig breathed. “I want to try one on!”
“NO!” everyone shouted at once.
“We need to tell Jean,” Tina insisted. “They could use this armor right now. It could be a gamechanger.”
The others agreed, and she called Jean on her tablet.
Jean was not impressed when she saw the cave in the background of the video call. “Why are you kids out of the dorm? I told you to stay put. I was very clear!”
Tina spoke quickly before Jean lost her temper completely. “We’re not defenseless kids, Jean! We heard you talking to Guardian James. We couldn’t just sit there while we’re about to be attacked, not after Mongolia. You have to understand!”
Jean was silent for a long moment.
When she spoke, it was a different Jean Dukes who addressed them. “Fine. You want to be treated like adults, you get to work like adults. We need to build a defense to repel these assholes. Get yourselves up to the Pod and start stripping the guns.” Gone was the teacher, and in her place was the fearsome warrior ready to do battle to protect her own.
Tina smirked. “We won't need to strip the Pod. We found something you’re going to be happy to see.” She spun her tablet around so Jean could see the open crate.
Jean was flabbergasted. “What the… How did you get that armor? I haven’t even built it yet! Where are you, Tina? Please tell me you’re still inside the castle.”
She turned the tablet back around so Jean could see her again. “Kind of. There’s a secret passage leading down from the tower. It goes from the fireplace in the hall, all the way down under the castle. We’re in a cave at the bottom.”
Tina saw the glint in Jean’s eye as she spoke. “Get those crates unpacked. I’ll be there soon.”
United Kingdom, North Wales, Llandudno, Passenger Pod Over the Great Orme
John looked down at the mine entrance as he fastened his armor. “Are you sure this is the right place? It doesn’t look like an MI5 black site. Look at all the civilians.”
“I am certain that this is the location to which the Llewellyn family were taken,” the Pod’s EI replied. “This is the Great Orme, and beneath it is a Bronze Age copper mine which is open to tourists—like every other location of mild interest in Wales. Scans indicate an area that is not shown on the available maps.”
“That’ll be where the stupid eel-eating shart detectors are keeping Laura’s family,” he growled.
“The evidence certainly points that way,” the EI concurred. “I am picking up three distinct heat signatures in one of the rear caves, surrounded by approximately a hundred more in the surrounding area.”
John gripped the console. “Spineless cowards. One hundred guards for one man and two small children?” When he heard a crunch he looked down; the front panel of the console had crumpled in his hands like a piece of paper.
“Your blood pressure is rising. Perhaps instead of damaging the Pod you would prefer to take your anger out on the guards below? Just a suggestion.”
John laughed, letting go of the crushed metal. “A suggestion, HA! What is it with you EIs? You’re all way too quirky to be programs.” He zoomed in on the viewscreen, seeing a few families clustered around their cars in the floodlit parking lot. “It looks like it’s been busy down there today. Gott Verdammt, that means I’ll have to be careful. Can you do something to get the staff out of there?”
“Already done. I have sent a bomb threat to the local police station, and they are contacting the tour operators to tell them to evacuate as we speak.”
“Ok, good. Gives me time to prepare.” He went over to the weapons locker and stood there musing over what to take with him. “Huh. This isn’t as fun without the guys around.” He looked regretfully at the drawer with the grenades nestled in protective foam. “Not today.”
“It is well documented that humorous exchanges between operatives before engagement lowers blood pressure and anxiety levels,” the EI put in. “Perhaps I could tell you a joke? I am programmed to provide levity in a tense situation.”
“I’ll bite. Go ahead,” John replied skeptically, shrugging a back harness on. “Might not be able to shoot,” he muttered to himself, strapping on the holsters for his Jean Dukes Specials.
“What has four legs and one arm?”
He pulled on the harness to make sure the straps were in place and slid a matched pair of short swords into its sheaths. “I don’t know, what has four legs and one arm?”
“A happy attack dog.”
“Woof, woof.” John chortled. “Not the manly banter I’m used to, but not a bad effort for a computer program.”
“I am slightly offended by that.”
“That is exactly what I was talking about.” He ran his fingers over the smooth grain of the wood on his pistols’ handgrips reverently before placing them in the holsters. “Maybe I’ll get an arm or two along the way, maybe I won’t. But I’ll tell you this: if those children have been harmed in any way, I won’t stop until I have the heads of everyone responsible.”
“A reasonable reaction, sir,” the EI replied.
He scowled. “I’m not happy with how long the tourists are taking to leave. Is there another entrance I can use?”
A pause, then the EI spoke. “There is a small tunnel on the cliff which leads to the rear of the cave system, away from the public areas, but it will be a tight squeeze. Many of the tunnels in the cave system are too small for anybody bigger than a child.”
John went over to the console. “Show me.” He scrutinized the image of the narrow aperture in the rock. “There’s no way I’m getting through that tiny crack. Looks like the front way is the only option.” He made a face, opening the grenade drawer again and taking two. “Better to have them and not need them than need them and not have any.” He added a couple of teargas canisters and a smoke-bomb to be on the safe side. “Call Jean so I can let her know I’ve found the Llewellyns.”
Jean’s face appeared on the screen. “Hey, have you found Laura’s family?”
John breathed deeply at the sound of her voice. “Yeah, they’re being held in an old copper mine up the coast from the castle.”
Jean grinned. She had a familiar light in her eyes, one that usually meant Saint Payback was about to visit someone in need of a lesson. “Go get them, then! What are you waiting for? If you don’t get back here soon you’ll miss the party.”
“Party?” He saw the kids in the background, pulling what looked like a set of Pricolici-sized armor to pieces. “What’s going on? Are you and the kids in danger?”
Jean shook her head to reassure him. “MI5 has brought in the army, but we’ll be fine until you get back.” She moved the camera to show him the action in the room. The kids were deeply absorbed in building something dangerous-looking from pieces of the armor and a big lens. “They’re safe, and getting some practical experience to boot. I’ll talk to Bethany Anne and get her to okay the plan. Hey, check this out!”
The camera wobbled while she passed it to Halli. When it steadied, he saw his love in the most badass armor he’d ever seen outside Bethany Anne’s collection. When she pressed something, the guns on her shoulders did a little dance and the lights of the targeting lasers bounced around as she posed. “What do you think?”
John let out a low whistle. “Whoa, are those… Is that the Gauntlet armor? I didn’t think it had reached this stage yet.”
Jean winked. “It hadn’t, but MI5 shot themselves in the ass when they forced Laura to make it for them. She was hiding it underneath the castle.” An alarm went off in the background. “Got to go. They’re starting the approach, and we still need to get this laser cannon mounted.”
“If you’re sure,” John told her, pulling a jacket on to hide his weapons. The armor was very distracting.
Jean waved at him. “I can read your mind, John Grimes! Go rescue those poor people. I can manage here.” She blew him a kiss and the screen went blank.
He took the Pod down, landing behind a rocky outcropping for cover. As he left the Pod, he gave his instructions to the EI via the earpiece he’d picked up on his way out. “As soon as I leave, take the Pod back up. Don’t let anyone see it. Stay in contact, and be ready when I call. The Llewellyns might be injured.”
“Of course,” the EI replied. “You should hurry. The police are on their way to deal with our imaginary bomb.”
“I don’t think you thought that one through properly.” He walked toward the mine entrance, avoiding eye contact with the remaining tourists in the parking lot. One man looked like he was going to approach, but John changed his mind with a little push of fear.
It had the intended effect; the last few people were quick to leave. He stalked to the empty lobby where a nervous young woman was pulling a metal concertina gate closed across the entrance to the mine.
She looked up at him as he reached the gate. “Tours are over for the day, sir,” she said in a lilting accent. “You’ll have to come back tomorrow, you will.”
“The police are approaching the mine,” the EI said in his ear.
“I’m not here for a tour,” he said gruffly, taking the gate out of her hand. “I’m here about the bomb.”
The young woman was shaking. Her eyes bulged with fear both at the mention of a bomb and his proximity to her. John could hear her heart racing.
“Don’t worry,” he looked at her name badge, “Kaylie. I’m here to take care of it,” he said. Her relief was palpable. He gently but firmly deposited her on the outside of the gate and pulled it shut behind himself. “Keys?”
She handed them over wordlessly.
He smiled as he locked the gate. “Good girl. Now you get out of here, do you hear me?”
He turned and started down the tunnel at a jog. “You’d better be able to keep me from getting lost in here,” he said to the EI as he came to a signpost at an intersection in the tunnels.
“Follow the arrows. There is a tunnel off the main tour route which leads to the target location.”
It wasn’t long before he found the main cave and the door marked ‘Personnel Only’. The tunnel beyond was dark, but that didn’t bother him. He didn’t need light to see by, but the enemy would not know that.
He came to another door, not needing the EI to guide him anymore. He could sense the men waiting behind it.
“How close are the Llewellyns?” he asked the EI. “Is it safe to use a grenade down here?”
“The tone of your voice suggests you already know the answer to that.”
He sighed theatrically, selecting a less lethal alternative instead. “You’re taking all the fun out of this.”
“Go ahead and use the grenades if you like. I’m sure you can survive a mountain falling on your head. I’m not sure what the Queen will make of it, though.”
“Just you wait until we get back, Snarky McSnarkerson. I’m going to have ADAM make it so you can only speak French.”
The EI had no comeback.
Satisfied with the silence, John lifted his heavy boot and slammed the door off its hinges, pushing fear ahead of him in a thick wave.
It’s going to suck to be them in about thirty seconds, John thought, one side of his mouth lifting mischievously as he threw the activated teargas and smoke-bombs into the room.
The enemy was woefully underprepared for dealing with a Queen’s Bitch, and even less prepared for the righteous anger of John Grimes.
He marched in with his JD Specials drawn and fingers already stroking the triggers, and took out the coughing and spluttering soldiers before they knew what had hit them.
“Where are the Llewellyns?” he asked the EI as the sound of the enemy dying faded.
“Two rooms ahead,” the EI replied.
“How many of these asshats are left?”
“You have cleaned this room up nicely. I estimate there are another sixty between you and the Llewellyns.”
“Rinse and repeat until desired results are attained,” he quipped. The EI was conspicuously silent. “Nope, definitely not the same without the guys to laugh at my one-liners,” he muttered.
He was saved the bother of kicking the next door in when it opened outwards and spilled a bunch of pale-faced soldiers out into the room. They huddled together with their rifles at the ready, backlit by the soft yellow glow from the door behind them.
“You all look appropriately scared,” he told them. “If you leave now, I’ll say nothing more.”
“Screw you!” one of them shouted, firing wildly into the darkness.
John grinned, raising his guns and pushing the fear ahead of him again. “I think you meant to say, ‘screw you, sir,’” he told them, stepping forward.
/> CHAPTER SIXTEEN
United Kingdom, North Wales, Inside Conwy Castle
“This bit here,” Tina demanded. “No, it has to be aligned correctly!” She huffed with frustration as the rig slipped again. “Where is Maxim?”
She turned to find him on the other side of the lab by Guardian James, watching Halli assist the older Wechselbalg into one of the armor suits. “Maxim! Get over here and help!”
Maxim reluctantly dragged himself over to where Tina, Ron and Aleksi were working. “Tell me again why we are doing this to perfectly good armor?” he asked skeptically.
Tina’s mouth pursed. “Because we don’t need Pricolici armor, unless there’s something you’re not telling us? Now hold this Gott Verdammt lens in place while I align the lasers!”
Maxim did as he was told, mumbling under his breath, “You’re mean when you’re working.”
“Complain all you like, Maxim,” she chided. “Just hold the freaking lens!”
Jean came by, all fastened into the smaller suit of armor. “How’s it going?”
Ron looked up from where he was micro-soldering the bunch of wires he’d pulled out of the laser guns to a circuit board. “All good, Ms. Dukes. Aleksi has almost finished programming the settings for the laser canon and the projectile guns, and missile launchers are already fixed to the battlements.”
“We just need to get this rig secure, or the cannon will blow us up instead of the enemy.” Tina wrinkled her nose.
Jean’s face softened. “You kids don’t have to go out there. I’ll understand if you want to leave with Doctor Llewellyn and the rest of the evacuees.”
Maxim frowned and protested, “I will not stand by while evil remains.”
“Lift that lens!” Tina screeched.
“Sorry,” he said, bracing his arms again. “Ms. Dukes?” he asked tentatively. “What does it feel like, to know you have taken a life?”
“That’s a very personal question, Maxim.” She took a deep breath. “Stop what you’re doing for a minute, all of you, and gather round.”
“But…” Tina spluttered. “The lens!”
Alpha Class - Discovery Page 13