The four dogs moved fast. Growls rose from their throats. The leader barked several times, her voice echoing in the hall strong enough to make Jenny’s eyes widen.
Jenny recalled her mother telling her never to run if dogs chased her. She faced the four canines bent on eating her soft skin. With a surprising reflex she flung the coffee pot. Black coffee splashed out dousing the first dog.
Lead dog yelped high. The coffee slickened the linoleum, sending the animal sliding towards Jenny who lifted the glass pot. She broke the pot onto the dog’s skull.
Glass shattered with the crash of a tambourine. She kicked the animal in the head, the beast slid, yelping into the hallway wall. The other three didn’t slow. The wet floor sent them skittering into their downed leader.
Jenny returned to the break room for more weapons. Her eyes skimmed over a trio of round tables, chairs, and a magazine stand. Next she searched the countertop and spotted a knife block jammed with cheap knives. She ran to the counter, jerked two knives from the green block and confronted her attackers.
The scalded dog remained out in the hall whimpering, the fight knocked from her for the moment. Her partners regained their footing, ready to battle.
Jenny held up both knives akin to a Filipino fighter. She couldn’t escape unless she killed the dogs blocking her exit.
The dogs, hounds, taller breeds and not cuddly, entered the break room to complete their work.
Jenny’s palms became sweaty on the plastic knife handles. The first dog to attack lunged at her. She stabbed forward, sinking the knife’s dull blade into the fur at the dog’s throat. Its weight slammed against her, driving her backwards. Saliva wetted her face. A nail grazed the shoulder on her lab coat ripping a gash to the flesh.
Jenny screamed as the dog fell to the floor, its once threatening growl dissolving into frustrated gurgles. Blood pulsed from the neck wound. The other two smelled blood and exploded into a barking frenzy.
The pair sprinted the short distance and leaped. A loud pop erupted from the doorway, followed by another. The dog on the left soared passed her, missing its intended target. The canine landed on the counter, plowing into the plate rack in a bloody heap.
She shifted to her right, driving her knife into the second dog’s abdomen. The dog’s barking filled her right ear, and the enraged canine bit her earlobe.
Jenny screamed from the hot pain. Her instincts to fight kicked in stronger. With both knives she stabbed in fury. She plowed the blades into the dog even as the beast lay dead on the floor, its mouth open with eyes gazing into nothing.
Rough hands seized Jenny’s wrists. She struggled, her eyes locked on the bloodied animal at her feet.
“Jenny, it's dead. It’s dead.” A familiar voice shouted at her. “Drop the knives.”
Moraine held Jenny’s wrists. “Lower your hands. The dogs are dead. It’s ok now.”
Jenny pried her fingers open, dropping the knives to the floor. Moraine’s face appeared bright and large. She noticed Moraine’s twisted nose, the hard brown eyes. “It’s not ok, Moraine.”
“For now, Jenny. It is.”
31
Moraine secured the Lab’s doors. She paused at a hall bay window, watching a distant city burn. Bright flames leaped, kissing the blue sky. The parking lot remained empty. Not even the cooks came to work.
She entered the tremendous cafeteria. Robert stood near a grill cooking breakfast. Jenny sat at a table sipping coffee, her face drawn and pale.
“Stand and drop them.”
Jenny stood and slid down her jeans just below her rump.
Moraine gave Jenny a Tetanus shot in her right cheek. Her anger towards Jenny evaporated. She didn’t forgive her. Maybe later forgiveness might worm its way into her heart. But for now she treated Jenny with a detachment reserved for criminals suspected of a heinous crime.
Jenny pulled up her pants and sat without a word spoken.
Moraine savored the salty aroma of frying bacon along with cooked pancakes and eggs. Fresh coffee brewed in the background.
The scent gave Moraine a Sunday morning achiness. Her family worried her mind, and she hoped they ate and prayed they survived wherever the dogs took them.
Moraine rested her rifle on the tabletop and sat across from Jenny Chow, the woman who sent out a team to die to correct her terrible creations.
“Are you going to sulk all day?”
Jenny kept her eyes downcast. At short intervals she brought her coffee cup to her lips and sipped.
Moraine got up and approached the drinks section. She grabbed a mug of hot chocolate and sauntered back to her spot. Robert whistled at the burners. Within minutes he arrived with two platters loaded with food.
Robert set the platters before the pair and left to grab plates and utensils. He returned and placed the items, clapped his hands. “Dig in folks.”
Moraine piled her plate with bacon, two slices of toast, three pancakes and a few dollops of honey. Robert filled his plate and ate. Jenny worked on her coffee.
“The government asked me to alter the Damascus Chips.” Jenny’s voice cracked the calm, rising above the clinking utensils.
Moraine continued eating and listened to the doctor. She didn’t want her to stop, and rather she spilled her secrets uninterrupted.
“I refused at first until they offered me grant money. The money set me for my entire career.” She hunched her shoulders. “So I took the job.”
Jenny reached for the platter and scooped up eggs and six bacon slices. She stared at the food, her eyes intense and tearless. “We picked Belgian collies for their high intelligence.”
Moraine sipped her drink, slid Robert a glance. Robert dined as if the conversation didn’t take place.
Jenny munched on the crunchy bacon. She chewed so slow her jaw muscles flexed. “We bred Black and White. I hate chimpanzees. Every scientist on the planet uses those monkeys. I wanted to set a higher bar by using herding animals.
“I admire the Belgian collie's leadership traits. They are herders. And what better breed for leading an army and causing anarchy? These dogs are hungry, busy, energetic. They slip between temperamental or dangerous, whatever they decide. The slower breeds follow these guys akin to two Messiahs.”
Robert lifted his head. “That’s blasphemy.”
“Shut up,” Moraine said. “Keep talking, Jenny.”
Jenny took a breath, gathered her thoughts. “Robert created the chips. What you don’t know, and neither does Robert. We trained the dogs to destroy a human army, take captives, and retrain them to serve as slaves.”
Robert stopped eating and gazed at Jenny. He frowned at her, his fist squeezed on the knife in his hand.
“Black and White became rock stars in the Combat Canine world. They became a disease, infecting other dogs with knowledge basic enough for them to communicate with each other and thus the smartest dog rules the world after Black and White dies.”
“Headed for China,” Robert said.
Jenny peered up from her food. “That’s false information, Robert. North Korea is or was the real target.”
Moraine studied Jenny for a few seconds. “Those dogs, your dogs took my husband and daughter.”
Jenny’s eyes flicked, averting Moraine's hard stare.
Moraine shook her head. “How can we kill them?”
Jenny shifted in her seat.
Moraine leaned forward. “During their last attack I ended up three feet from them. Three feet, Jenny, and the dogs could have killed me. They didn’t, I don’t know why.”
“You should have stopped them when Robert told you.”
“I didn’t expect this. I considered those dogs mutts.”
Jenny's lips twitched as if to smile. “More than mutts.”
“How do I kill them? You guys must have implanted a fail-safe device.”
“We added a self-destruct code. But the delay timer is long.”
“How long?”
“Clocked by three days,” Jenny said.<
br />
Robert looked up from his plate. He wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Why didn’t you tell me, Jenny? I thought those chips flamed out after their mission, with no time delay.”
“You were not in the inner circle. Once we altered the chips and implanted the devices within Black and White, you became general maintenance.”
“You smart people are assholes,” Moraine said. “Create dangerous ideas and don’t have the guts to stop them.”
Jenny’s face reddened. “Well, I do. We have to get to Black and White before they reach Los Angeles.”
Robert rolled his eyes and said, “What’s in Los Angeles? Is that a secret too?”
Jenny ignored Robert and set her gaze on Moraine. “Once in Los Angeles the dogs will find Regional. They think it’s their mother. The chips will upgrade through satellite to a more deadly version of the Damascus Chips programming.”
Moraine’s stomach churned. “It can’t get any nuttier than this, Jenny.”
Jenny looked up at the bright high definition lights on the ceiling. “Regional is a virus program. Once the dogs got to North Korea, and after raising hell, a programmer in Los Angeles uploads the virus via satellite into the dog’s chips and bounce it off into North Korea computers. The hack can destroy several North Korean nuclear facilities.”
Robert let his fork fall onto his plate with a metallic clatter. “Nuclear meltdown.”
Jenny nodded, nursed her coffee and frowned. “It’s set up to make it appear an accident. We upload the virus through the dogs internal chips causing the meltdown.”
“A retransmission,” Moraine said. “You got to be kidding me, Jenny.”
Jenny lifted her hand. “Since the dogs are not in North Korea, they are following a faulty mission program. Headed to Regional to do it themselves.”
"How can they," Robert said.
Jenny ate more bacon and licked the grease from her fingers. “The dogs became operable once released from containment. The Damascus Chips sent out a high frequency resonance, attracting other canines through their civilian chips. Thus forming an army. It's all automated technology. Uploaded without the help of a single human hand.”
“So the meltdowns will occur in North Korea?”
“No, here. If they succeed, we have lost.”
Robert poked a fork into his eggs. “Who’s tracking the dogs?”
“General Grisby.”
“Where do we find him?”
“We don’t,” Jenny said. “Grisby might look for us and kill us to keep the dogs alive.”
Moraine poured honey onto her pancakes, despite the recent stress she still needed to eat. “That won't happen, Jenny.”
Jenny laughed. “You were in the military, Moraine. If the government wants the dogs, they will find them.”
Moraine sat the honey container aside. She couldn’t recall a General Grisby. The military officers who passed through the Livermore Labs never wore name tags. “Why don’t they fly in soldiers and scoop up the dogs.”
Jenny finished her coffee. “The Damascus Chips enable the dogs to hack into computers. They know, Moraine. I told you, the dogs are weapons. These are not Westminster pups bred for show. These guys are generals, warriors, dangerous canines.”
“You’re telling me the military fear these dogs?”
“Yes, and they better.”
Moraine found Jenny’s information bothersome. “We need a sniper rifle and more ammo, Jenny. Is your toy store open?”
“Yes, twenty-four seven.”
32
General Grisby faced two sixty-inch screens in a control room near California’s central coast. A pair of white dots pulsed on the left screen. He stood behind the computer operator monitoring the GPS tracking devices lodged inside Black and White’s brains.
The other screen belonged to a drone. The small craft hovered at fifteen hundred feet, sweeping along the green hills and woods following the path Black and White traveled.
General Fred Grisby gave both the screens his undivided attention. Jenny’s crew washed out in capturing the dogs. Black and White surprised him with the attack against the National Guard camp. He expected them to steer around and continue their travels south to Los Angeles.
General Grisby sauntered to a chair thick with padding, levers, and a few buttons on the armrests. He sat, loosened his tie and stared at the screens. The dogs stopped for the night underneath an oak grove heavy with cover, shading them from the eyes in the sky.
The general used the Damascus Chips as a tool to promote. Once he discovered the Damascus Chips, his advancement quickened. Going from a two-star general to three within months. He worked with the dogs on their physical design from DNA to their creation in test tubes.
He bought Black and White’s DNA from Westminster champions. Bred to be perfect, intelligent, and as near to human comprehension as possible.
Doctor Robert Carver invented the first Damascus Chips, hoping to help wounded soldiers. Grisby stole the idea. Then reprogrammed the chips for combat and national defense.
When he first received news concerning the Combat Canine’s escape, he demanded the people responsible eliminated. The Damascus Chips remained at a level far above top secret. The dogs didn’t exist. For public knowledge, the deaths at the subdivision, and the battle in Milpitas, became victims who died from an earthquake related illness. He scrambled to keep the events hidden from the world outside California.
But, once the dogs created a canine army, and subjugated a few humans, security problems arose. Emergency calls to 911 ballooned from the 9.1 earthquake and its horrible results, to dogs gone wild.
The President of the United States called Grisby, placing California under quarantine.
Grisby, satisfied how Black and White operated, wanted more success from the dogs. He recorded their moves, picked out their tactics and strategies, and how they led the growing army.
One problem bothered him though. With the fingers on his right hand he manipulated the controls on the armrest, flipping out a small keypad. The right screen whitened. He punched more buttons, and the screen changed to a spot he found curious.
He concentrated on the Milpitas fight. The control room packed with soldiers fell silent as the assault played out in 4K definition color with no sound added. He panned the screen until Black and White emerged from the woods.
Grisby leaned forward. The part he thought interesting flashed by him too fast earlier. Too many calls came in, dividing his focus. Now he locked on the screen.
Black and White entered the battlefield strewn with the dead and defeated. Black and White appeared to give orders. At one point the soldier dogs dragged corpses from the huge parking lot and into tremendous olive hued army tents. Soon a child troupe marched into the site, collecting things. The children scene unnerved him.
The general licked his drying lips. Black and White ambled to an overturned truck where a woman stayed on her hands and knees. He froze the shot, zoomed in and focused on the woman. He stilled the clip and magnified the picture.
“Master Sergeant Baxter. First woman ever invited into Delta Force. She did four tours in Afghanistan and fucked up on her last mission.”
Grisby studied Moraine’s face, held high, defiant, and staring at the Boxer to her front. He pressed the button and ran the film at regular speed. The Boxer slammed its head into Moraine’s nose. She crumpled to the ground.
Grisby ended the video. He knew what occurred next. The gruesome victory feast.
He tapped his chin with a forefinger. Moraine Baxter. He wondered how Moraine arrived at the National Guard camp, and worse, why the dogs refused to kill her or take her prisoner? Black and White left Moraine alive for a reason. He desired to understand why they violated protocol.
Grisby set the screen on the left back to the drone’s real time camera. He concluded Jenny Chow lied to him. Something else happened at the Labs and he surmised the mysterious event involved Moraine Baxter. Moraine might become a pain in the ass for the dogs, mayb
e hunt them if they rubbed her wrong.
Grisby stood from his command chair, walked to a counter lined with food and drinks. He poured coffee into a Styrofoam cup and sipped the hot bitter liquid. He needed the dogs alive, and their mission unhampered.
As for Moraine, he didn’t know if she lived or died. But he swore to protect both dogs. And Black and White’s protection remained paramount. Even if it meant killing those wanting to destroy his two weapons. The dogs placed his name on the map and granted him honor and prestige before his colleagues.
The general downed his coffee and tossed the empty cup into a trash receptacle. He couldn’t recall the last time he conducted an actual mission. He ached to get out the building, jump into a field mission with a good team and insure Black and White reached Regional. First, he decided to retrieve the Damascus Chips blue prints, and then kill Jenny Chow.
33
Moraine ordered Robert to guard the staircase into the lower level. She moved fast in the arms room, her eyes picking out familiar weapons, and others not so familiar. Rifles sat in racks against the walls akin to soldiers ready for battle.
Moraine grabbed a box of five-five-six ammunition for her and Jenny’s M4 rifles and twenty millimeter grenades for Robert’s OICW.
Jenny worked next to Moraine, loading a flat with rollers for what they could carry. “I’m sorry for your family, Moraine.”
Moraine jammed her last ammo box into a backpack. She hauled the load onto the wheeled flat. “Don’t, I brought them with me. I expected to eliminate the dogs within an hour.”
Jenny wiped sweat from her forehead, the arms room air conditioner broke from the quake. “I’ll destroy the Labs before we leave.”
Moraine journeyed deeper into the arms room. She slid her fingers over more racked rifles, handguns, and grenades. Gun oil hung sweet in the air, urging old memories from her mind. “Can you protect this equipment before blowing the Labs?”
Baxter’s War Page 12