The Ark Series (Book 3): The Ark of Alliance

by Kotrous, Scott

  He lowers his binoculars and swallows hard, his parched mouth and throat dry as bones just as Agent Smith walks up.

  His mouth gapes for a second, but then he clears his throat. “The second round of reinforcements should arrive any day now.”

  The Major looks at Agent Smith with a confused look on his face. “Second round of reinforcements? Why didn’t you inform me of this earlier?” The Major turns back to the window with his palms up.

  “Ah—guess it slipped my mind.”

  “So what’re we talkin’ here? More Strykers or something?”

  “More Strykers, along with tanks and other armored vehicles as well.”

  He sharply turns toward him. “Tanks! Now we’re talkin’! What did you say, any day now?” He turns back to the window. “We can last a few days.” He surveys the situation for another minute and then turns and walks past Agent Smith, patting him on the shoulder when he passes. “Now, let’s go get inside this mountain.”

  They move downstairs and meet up with one of his men, informing him of their plan to try and flank their hostiles by using different tunnels. He dispatches the soldier to gather a team for their incursion.

  The soldier confirms his commands and then races off and is soon out of sight.

  The Major then turns to Agent Smith. “Let’s take a looks at your schematics of the tunnel system.”

  Agent Smith pulls out the tablet and looks at it for a few minutes while pinching the screen with his two fingers and moving the images around on the touchscreen. He then hands him the tablet and points at the screen. “There’s our access point that will lead to what you’re lookin’ for, a flanking position.”

  The Major looks over the tablet, then smiles. “Perfect. Let’s move out.”

  They walk into the room holding their armory and equip themselves with rifles and ordinance. Five soldiers enter the room and all proceed to gear up while going over the plan of attack as each team member reviews the tablet.

  Once everyone knows the plan, they move out and go back into the tunnels.

  The team jogs through the tunnels, only stopping when they get to an intersection of branching off tunnels, while cracking light sticks and tossing them at every turn. They follow Agent Smith’s verbal instructions as he guides them through the maze of corridors that seem to lead in every direction. They finally get to the tunnel that leads to the access point which they will be using as their flanking position, and they stop once they hear the muffled gunfire in the distance.

  The Major turns to one of his soldiers. “Follow the light sticks back to where we initially branched off, and then make your way back to Alpha team. We will be commencing our assault in fifteen minutes. Grenades before rifles. Do you copy?”

  “Copy that, sir.” The soldier salutes before running off.

  They slowly continue on to their destination that gets lighter, and the gunfire gets louder, the closer they get. They quietly move into position just outside the unloading area and can see the sides of a few heads peeking over a sandbag wall while firing their weapons.

  The Major turns to his team while quietly checking his rifle and whispers, “Prepare to attack on my count. Smoke grenades before we move into the main area and watch your backdrop, because we don’t want to hit our objective. Lock and load, boys.”

  Chapter 19

  John tries to hear Adam on the other end of the phone, but the gunfire is almost making it impossible. Adam continues to refuse entry because of Peter, and he’s not budging. John can tell Adam is arguing with someone on the other end, but he can’t tell who or what they’re arguing about, but can only assume it’s about him not letting them in.

  His frustration level is rising higher and higher with every passing minute and with every bullet that flies overhead, and the exploding concrete raining chunks down on them is making him grip the phone tighter and tighter.

  “Adam . . . Adam, can you hear me? We are under attack. Do you copy? We are under attack.” He waits for a response, but only hears Adam yelling at someone. “Open the doors, Adam, or our blood is going to be on your hands. Do you copy? We are under attack, and—”

  Suddenly, an explosion detonates on the other side of the tunnel and no more than twenty feet away from John that forces him flying backwards.

  Another explosion goes off, and then another.

  John opens his eyes to a cloud of dust and a ringing in his ears that’s disorienting. He tries to move, but is met with a searing pain radiating from his leg the moment he moves. He screams out in pain, but no one comes to his aid. As the cloud of dust starts to dissipate, he looks around at only a few people still standing and fighting surrounded by blood and body parts scattered around in front of him.

  He tries to shake off the haze while his hearing slowly comes back, and the gunfire and screams instantly replace the ringing. He doesn’t even bother to check his leg, and only frantically looks around at the pile of bodies for anyone moving who’s not still fighting. He crawls toward the screams and comes upon a group of bodies not moving. He sees Maggie covered in blood and with dead bodies all around her, screaming her lungs out. He looks up to see a few of his men still standing, along with what looks like Peter fighting as well.

  One man falls . . . and then another . . . and then another.

  The relentless pounding of nonstop bullets that seem to come from every direction proves too much for his men, and not many are left standing.

  He crawls closer to Maggie, who’s still screaming . . . still in shock. As soon as he gets closer, she seems to recognize his face, but takes a second to respond. She stops screaming and attempts to slow her breathing as she tries to pull body parts off of her and move out from underneath a pile of corpses. She almost gets free and crawls closer to John with tears streaming down her cheeks that leave streaks on her blood covered face, and he’s able grab ahold of her hand and pull her out of the carnage.

  She’s shaking uncontrollably and doesn’t seem coherent.

  “Maggie. Maggie. Are you hit? Are you hit?”

  She doesn’t respond as she looks around at the horror that surrounds them.

  “Maggie, talk to me. Are you hurt?”

  Suddenly, a hand grabs her and John and starts to pull them backward. He looks up to see Peter dragging them backward with Dusty standing right in front of them barking at their attackers, but then he takes off toward them. Peter yells for him to come back, but shortly after he’s out of sight a yelp is heard and he doesn’t come back.

  Peter lets go of their vests and pulls his rifle off his back. “No, no, no . . . not Dusty, not my dog!” He begins firing again as he moves closer to the action.

  Nate comes running up, but before he says something, his shoulder explodes as a bullet rips through it and his body falls to the ground.

  John looks at Nate’s lifeless looking body lying on the ground and then he looks at Maggie. She gasps for air, but sounds like she’s suffocating. She looks at John with mouth gaped open.

  “Maggie, we need to see who’s still alive.”

  Her gasps for air slow enough for her to speak. “They’re all dead.” Her eyes roll up in her head and she passes out.

  “Maggie. Maggie. Stay with me. Stay with me!” John shakes her, but she doesn’t respond. He reaches for her neck and feels for a pulse, but can’t find anything. He repositions his two fingers on her neck and is relieved to feel a pulse. He drags her back toward the blast doors and looks over to see the two young girls hysterically crying while draped over Kristie, who’s awake and looking in his direction. All three appear to be alive.

  He pulls himself closer to the phone and reaches up for the receiver dangling down with the sound of Adam yelling on the other end. He pulls himself up to the handset. “Please, Adam, open the blast doors . . . we have multiple casualties.”

  He lets go of the handset just as Peter runs up. “We need—” A slug hits his back, knocking him forward, followed by another bullet hitting his back and sending him to the groun
d.

  “Peter, Peter!” John reaches for a rifle and fires aimlessly into the blind.

  Chapter 20

  Adam waits in the silence of the room for a response, but nothing else comes. “John . . . John are you there? Do you copy?” He waits again for an answer, but he can only hear gunfire on the other end.

  The silent room slowly starts to get rowdy once the protesting starts up again. Almost everyone has been yelling at Adam to let them in the entire time, and they are starting to lose their patience.

  Adam puts down the phone and looks around the room. “Alright, people, just stay calm. No need to get all riled up again.”

  People around the room continue to shout and start getting very aggressive. Chris steps forward and yells over everyone else, “Just open the fucking blast doors, Adam! They’re all going to die out there!”

  Everyone else yells out in agreement and people start to move toward Adam.

  Adam exhales loudly and then looks over at two men standing in the corner dressed all in black and armed with assault rifles. He looks at the ground and shakes his head as he extends his arm up and waves two fingers for them to come over. They walk over while pulling their rifles around from their back and stand behind Adam. Adam looks up from the ground still shaking his head.

  Chris stops moving toward him. “What the hell is this, Adam? What are these men doing here?”

  Sasha moves closer to Chris. “Yeah, what the hell, Adam?”

  Adam just continues to shake his head, but then looks back at his men. “Is the package secure?”

  One of his men speaks. “Yes, sir. Ready to roll on your command.”

  “Rifle.” He reaches out his hand and again waves with his fingers, and his man hands him a rifle and then pulls out his handgun. Adam nods to his men and then looks back at everyone. “Ya know, I warned you people what would happen if we opened the gates just to save one fucking life, but you just wouldn’t listen. So now you’re gonna reap the rewards of ignoring my words and truly suffer the consequences of your actions. Because you’re gonna get what you want. Oh, you’re gonna get it, alright. That, and then some.”

  He walks over to the small control panel in the middle of the room and flips open the plexiglass cover.

  Chris uncrosses his arms. “Adam, what are you doing?”

  “What you asked for, Chris. A chance to save lives.” He hits the emergency evacuation button and alarms start sounding.

  “Why did you just do that?!” Sasha yells.

  Almost everyone in the room starts moving toward Adam and his men in protest.

  Adam raises his rifle and points it at them. “Ah, ah, ah. Best back the fuck up right now, before we have to open up on you.”

  “Oh my God, Adam. What are you doing? Why would you say that?” Sasha looks horrified and stunned at the same time.

  “Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” He swings the rifle around and smashes the control panel with the butt of his rifle a few times as sparks and computer parts fly in the air, showering the floor and forcing people to flinch backwards. The shocked faces from around the room ignite a tiny smile to form in the corner of his mouth.

  No one says a word as Adam and his men back out of the room, still pointing weapons at everyone when they exit. They get into the hallway with alarms blaring overhead. “Are they waiting at the rally point?”

  “Yes, sir. Jones has package in hand at rally.”

  They move through the hallways and eventually get to the rally point where Jones is waiting with Kate and the kids.

  They stop to confirm plans with Jones while Kate asks what’s going on, but he just ignores her and continues talking to his men. They all quickly confirm their somewhat cryptic sounding plan that seems to befuddle Kate. Each man grabs a kid’s hand and leads them off after Kate tells them it’s okay to go with them.

  Adam holds Kate back by her arm and exhales loudly. “Here’s the deal, Kate. John’s dead, and you’re coming with me.”

  Chapter 21

  John continues to pull the trigger until he hears the dreaded click of an empty clip. Seconds later, he hears someone yelling for a ceasefire, and shortly after, the gunfire stops. He looks back at an open blast door looking like it’s a mile away and next to impossible to get to. As the smoke clears, he’s able to see the full devastation and only the two young girls moving.

  His rush of adrenaline is quickly dissipating; the severe pain emanating from his calf starts to get to be almost too much to bear; and he feels himself wanting to pass out. He looks over at the young girls and Kristie, when one of the girls, he thinks it’s Mia, stands up and walks over to a rifle and picks it up while crying. Her sister tells her to stop, but she doesn’t listen.

  John tries to yell out, but nothing comes out of his mouth. He tries to move toward her, but as soon as he moves his leg, he almost passes out.

  She raises the rifle as high as she can and points in the direction of their attackers.

  Suddenly, Peter’s body jerks and the sound of air shooting into his lungs can be heard. He coughs a few times and then lifts his head in the direction of Mia. Once he realizes what she’s about to do, he lunges from a lying position and is able to grab the rifle from her all in one motion.

  She cries harder with a lowered head while looking ashamed.

  He spins around with rifle in hand and stands up pointing it, but he doesn’t pull the trigger. He moves in front of Mia and, with his free hand, gently moves her behind him.

  He crouches down while still aiming his rifle. “Mia, I need you and your sister to try and drag Kristie into those doors that are open behind us. Do you think you can do that?” He glances at her for a second and only sees a sobbing little girl just shaking her head. “Listen, sweetheart, Kristie needs your help again. You’re her little protector and right now she needs you to help her. Now, I need both you and your sister to grab one end of the stretcher and drag her into those doors, okay?”

  She tries to stop crying, but she just can’t seem to do it. She finally calms herself down enough to respond with a nod, followed by her going over to Kristie and then telling her sister what they need to do. They both try and pick up one side of the stretcher, but drop it almost instantly. Kristie moans for a second, but then passes out again. They look at each other and then pick up the stretcher with both hands; this time they’re able to lift her enough to start dragging her backward with every ounce of strength that lies within them.

  John opens his eyes and sees Peter moving toward him and Maggie still aiming his rifle with one arm. He gets close to Maggie and feels for a pulse, then reaches for John, who grabs his hand when it gets close.

  “Thank God you’re alive, Pete. Get Maggie in the doors and then come back for me if you can.”

  “Copy that, John. Hang in there, buddy. I’ll be back for you in a second.” Peter grabs Maggie by her hand and starts gently pulling her back toward the doors, but then drops her when he sees soldiers appear around the sandbag wall. He fires his rifle and hits one of them, followed by another soldier pulling the injured soldier back and out of sight.

  John frantically looks around for a weapon and eventually finds one nearby. He aims the rifle, but doesn’t see anyone else. He then twists his neck just enough to look behind him and sees the two girls struggling to pull Kristie to safety. And he thinks to himself, if they can do it, so can I. He takes short breaths in such a way that it gets his adrenals going again, and he’s able to move his leg after letting out a sound of grimacing pain. He’s able to drag himself toward the door, all the while continuing to keep an eye out for his attackers, but no one else comes.

  He continues to drag himself, leaving a trail of blood in his wake along with a pain that’s so severe that it’s now fueling his effort. He drops the rifle and then flips onto his belly and pulls himself along using his forearms . . . inch by inch.

  Right when he starts to tire, he sees Peter running toward him, still aiming his rifle with one arm. He grabs John by his bu
lletproof vest and pulls him with so much strength that it surprises him.

  Peter drags him past the threshold of the blast doors and lets go of his vest. He again races off toward their attackers, but comes back a few minutes later only dragging Nate and a backpack. “John, how do we close these doors? Everyone else is dead.”

  John points at the wall. “Break the glass and hit the button.”

  Peter darts over to the wall, smashes the plexiglass cover, and hits the button with his fist. The alarm sound and the lights flash. Moments later, the doors start to close and they can hear shouting coming from their attackers.

  The doors get about halfway closed when a soldier turns the corner and locks eyes with Peter while they both aim rifles at each other. Peter doesn’t flinch as he stares down the soldier with one eye locked on his target, ready to end his life. Neither he nor the soldier fire as the doors fully close, allowing Peter to lower his rifle.

  He sets the weapon down and rushes over to Maggie to check on her before going to Nate’s side and removing his vest to inspect the wound. He then grabs the backpack, pulls out a medical kit, and starts working on him.

  Peter finishes up taking care of Nate before going to John’s aid. He bends down to look at his leg, but can’t see much because of the amount of blood covering his calf. “I can’t tell for sure, but I think you severed your calf. But there’s just so much blood that I don’t know for sure.” He pulls off his belt and wraps it around John’s leg just above his knee and pulls tight.

  John grits his teeth trying to hold in the scream, but it somehow manages to burst through his teeth and let loose. “Motherfucker, you fucking cocksucking . . . ahh, fuck, that fucking hurts you sonovabitch!” He drops onto his back and shakes his head, trying desperately not to pass out. He lies there for a second as the ‘emergency response’ body alert reflex slowly start to let up, and he begins to think clearly again. “Just take care of everyone else. I’ll be fine.”