Anvil

by Dirk Patton

  “Out of time!” I shouted to TJ as the infected flowed through the cubicles like water around rocks.

  Chico and I had already switched to leg and pelvis shots, hoping to slow the advance. It worked to a degree, but the push was unstoppable with just rifles.

  “TJ!” I screamed to be heard over the infected.

  “Got it,” he shouted back.

  Chico and I began moving backwards as the throng of females surged. With only feet of open space remaining between us and them, Drago grabbed the backs of our vests and yanked us through the open door. TJ was ready, pulling it shut the instant we were clear.

  Drago released us and leapt forward, jamming the iron pry bar through the interior handles and gripping it tightly in both hands as he leaned his body weight back to hold the door shut. Chico jumped in, adding his hands and weight as both doors shook under the assault of the females.

  TJ had shoved the office chair through ahead of him and I held it steady as he climbed up and broke open the wall above the door. Once he was through it only took him seconds to reach in, find the wires and reconnect them. When the second one went into place there was a loud click from the top of the door as the electromagnetic lock reengaged.

  With a sigh, Drago and Chico carefully released the pry bar which went back into the sheath on Drago’s back. The doors shook, bouncing in their frame, but were held tight by the big magnet.

  “How long until they get through?” Chico asked, fingering his rifle.

  “They’ll last until the generators run out of fuel.”

  I was remembering the locks failing in Los Alamos when the power went out. I didn’t bother telling them the story. It was a long one, and if the same thing happened here there wouldn’t be a happy ending.

  Remembering why we were here in the first place, I turned to see if we’d gotten lucky. I was happy to see row after row of ceiling high metal racks, stuffed full of servers. Then I realized I didn’t have a clue what the hell to do with them.

  46

  We spent a few minutes clearing the room, making sure we were alone. The pounding on the doors was incessant, the screams thankfully muted somewhat by the heavy wood. It was still nerve racking to have so many infected this close.

  “Don’t suppose anyone knows what the hell to do,” I said, glancing around at the small team.

  “TJ’s kind of a geek,” Chico spoke up.

  All of us turned to look at him.

  “I’m a gamer,” he explained, shrugging. “I’ve set up a few tournaments and had to network everything together and set up servers and routers.”

  I shook my head, understanding little of what he’d just said. I knew the terms, but didn’t know what they meant.

  “OK, you’re the guy. Do we need to get you on the phone with someone, or do you know what to do?”

  “I don’t have the first idea where to start,” he said, shaking his head.

  We had planned for Edwards to need to talk to Pearl Harbor as he brought stuff online. On the roof, a battery powered, encrypted satellite communications unit was already sync’d up and connected to an orbiting bird. In the dead Lieutenant’s pack was a small headset that would wirelessly connect to the comm unit.

  I dug it out, turned it on and slipped it over my head, initiating a call to the only preset. Lieutenant Hunt answered immediately and I identified myself.

  “We’re in the server room, but we lost our tech specialist,” I told him. “One of the Rangers has some familiarity with computer equipment, but you’re going to have to talk him through it.”

  “That’s not good. This isn’t like calling the help desk because your email isn’t working.”

  “No other option, Lieutenant,” I growled, irritated with his response.

  I knew it wasn’t optimal. But it was all we had.

  “Sorry, sir. Was thinking out loud as much as anything. Let me transfer you to Petty Officer Simmons. She’s leading the effort on our end and is the best person to guide you through the process.”

  There was silence for a moment, then a series of clicks as he rerouted the call.

  “Sir?”

  I immediately recognized the voice.

  “Jessica. What the hell did you do?”

  There wasn’t really time for this, but the words just came out when I heard her voice. She was quiet for a long pause, then took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh.

  “Sorry, sir. I fucked up. It was my fault the Russians kept finding you. I let things slip to my boyfriend and… and…” her voice broke as she tried to control her emotions.

  “Jessica, we can’t undo what’s been done. All we can do is move forward. You made a mistake, and fortunately that mistake didn’t cost anyone their life. You have saved me more times than I can count, and in my book that far outweighs your error in judgment. I trust you, and I need you focused. OK?”

  “Yes, sir,” she sniffed. “Sorry, sir. Put me on with your tech and we’ll get started.”

  “Well, we’ve got a small problem on our end. Our tech was killed by infected. You’re going to be working with one of my Rangers.”

  “Oh shit,” she breathed. “Does he know what he’s doing?”

  “He knows what he’s doing and he will make this work,” I said firmly, meeting TJ’s eyes and nodding.

  TJ looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. I didn’t blame him.

  “OK, sir. Oh, before you go, I have something for you. Your friend in Australia came through. I’ve got the codes for your wife’s beacon. I was just starting to work on locating her when you called.”

  Lucas had done it! I wasn’t surprised, but at the same time it was a relief.

  “Thank you, Jessica. As soon as you find her, be sure to pass the data to Colonel Blanchard in Idaho. He’s waiting for your call.”

  “Not you, sir?” She sounded surprised.

  “No, probably not me,” I said. “It’s a long story we don’t have time for. Hold on, I’m passing you to TJ.”

  I pulled the headset off and handed it over. TJ slipped it on, adjusted it to fit his smaller head and said, “Hello?”

  Watching and listening for a few moments, I heard him give Jessica a brief rundown of what he knew. It didn’t take long. Soon he wandered off down one of the aisles of equipment, looking for something. I left him to it and turned to where Drago and Chico were standing, keeping a close eye on the door.

  “Think he can do it?” I asked, tilting my head in TJ’s direction.

  “He’s got the best shot of any of us,” Chico said. “You should see some of the shit he’s set up. Had the whole fucking barracks looking like a mad scientist’s lab. How that relates to what he’s got to do here, I can’t say, but at least there’s a chance.”

  I nodded, watching as TJ pressed a button on one of the pieces of equipment. A keyboard folded down and locked in place in front of him, revealing a monitor. I shook my head, glad someone else was doing this.

  “What about getting out of here when he’s done? Any bright ideas?” I asked.

  “I think we’re about to be FUBAR, sir.”

  Drago answered me, meaning Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. Chico looked at him for a moment then nodded in agreement. I didn’t disagree, but wasn’t ready to give up yet. I knew they weren’t either. They were just being realistic and not trying to sugar coat things.

  “Well, we’d better come up with something,” I said. “Don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to be the main course for all those needy bitches out there.”

  I nodded at the door which was shaking in its frame from the constant assault of the infected females. If it opened in, or wasn’t braced by the steel frame, they would probably have already smashed their way through.

  “Maybe they don’t like Cuban,” Chico grinned.

  “You’re safe. Those Cuban sausages are too small. They’ll run right past you for a Viking sized meal,” Drago said with a perfectly straight face.

  I snorted a laugh as Chico flipped him o
ff, moving away to begin a methodical survey of the large room. We had cleared it already, making sure there weren’t any infected in residence. Now I wanted a closer look in hopes of finding something that would get us out when the time came.

  47

  The room was large and well lit. And cold. Computer equipment puts off a lot of heat and server rooms are normally kept well air conditioned. This was the case here as well. The first thing I saw as I began looking around was a large thermostat, secured behind a heavy plastic cover. It was on the wall, just to the right of the doors. Peering at it I could see it was set to keep the room at a constant sixty-five degrees.

  Continuing on, moving in a clockwise direction, I didn’t find much. Two large touchscreen panels were built into the wall. Beyond them, a couple of desks with computers, cables snaking behind to jacks located on the wall. A bulletin board with the usual notices that are required by federal law. A white board with a series of schematics that were Greek to me. And a vintage poster from my all time favorite TV series, the X Files.

  It was the one that hung in FBI Agent Fox Mulder’s office. A grainy photo of a flying saucer, the words “I WANT TO BELIEVE” printed across the bottom. I paused for a moment, staring at the poster and remembering a better time. After a bit I shook my head and kept circling.

  The wall at the end of the room was blank and I quickly walked to the rear. Space was tight here as the server racks came to within two feet of the wall. Looking down its length I could see there was nothing but more smooth drywall. I reversed course, not wanting to squeeze through and risk bumping into something and causing a problem.

  Back by the doors I looked for TJ, finally spotting him two-thirds of the way down one of the aisles. He was sitting on the floor, another keyboard folded out in front of him. He was typing away at a furious pace, repeating the commands he was entering back to Jessica. He didn’t need my help and sure as hell didn’t need me interrupting.

  Returning to my survey, I noted Chico and Drago doing the same thing. There were also several ceiling tiles out of place where one of them had climbed up for a look.

  “What’s above us?” I asked them.

  “Two feet of space that’s full of cabling, then a solid ceiling,” Drago answered. “We might get out that way with a breaching charge, but I don’t know what’s up there. Besides, we blow a hole in the ceiling and all that debris is going to crash down on the computers.”

  I nodded and slowly started moving counter-clockwise from the doors. Even though they had already checked, I wanted to look for myself. To the left of the doors I stopped to inspect the wall. A large, metal plate painted bright red and emblazoned with the word “FIRE” covered most of the surface. An emergency button the size of my fist stuck out from the middle of the plate, a large cardboard tag hanging from it.

  I glanced at the tag, noting it was a maintenance log for the fire suppression system. Next to the button was a sign with bold lettering that read “USE BREATHING EQUIPMENT AND VACATE WHEN ALARM SOUNDS. HALON 1301 BEING RELEASED”. Beneath this was a glass fronted door to a compartment built into the wall that held six emergency breathing systems with full face masks.

  Pulling the door open I picked up one of the breathers and looked it over. A small aluminum cylinder was attached to the side, a short hose leading from it to a port on the clear plastic face mask. Oxygen supply, and judging from the size of the cylinder, about five minutes’ worth. Enough to get clear of the area in the event the halon system was activated.

  “Got an idea?”

  I looked around to see Chico, standing slightly behind and watching me. Shrugging, I returned the mask to the cabinet and closed the door.

  “Wish I did,” I said, walking away to check the rest of the room.

  I didn’t find anything else other than blank walls. No secret doors. No Sci-Fi weapons we could use to kill all the infected who were trapping us. Nothing. Returning to the front of the room, I paused to check on TJ, moving on to take a seat at one of the desks when it was obvious he was hard at work.

  “How long you think this will take?” Drago asked.

  He had walked up and hooked the leg of the other chair with his foot, pulling it out and dropping his bulk into it.

  “Edwards said it would take him half an hour if he didn’t run into any problems. Now? Who knows. The woman that TJ is talking to is sharp, and he seems more than capable of carrying out her instructions, so…”

  I held my hands out, palms up. Drago nodded and leaned back in his seat, stretching his long legs out. I wasn’t in the mood to talk, wanting to let my mind work on the problem of how to escape. Fortunately, he picked up on that and remained quiet. A few moments later I heard him start snoring.

  Sitting there, I kept running different scenarios through my head. We couldn’t fight our way out. The moment we opened those doors an unstoppable flood of females would rush into the room and tear us to ribbons. Probably just as well. We were all dangerously low on ammo.

  Neither was anyone going to be able to fight their way in and rescue us. There were way too many infected in and around the building for that. Would they grow bored and leave? I snorted a sardonic laugh when I had that thought. The infected didn’t get bored or tired or give up. They might get distracted, but once they were zeroed in on prey, they didn’t stop.

  I looked up at the ceiling, remembering Drago’s comment about a breaching charge. Chico had some in his pack in case we’d needed to blast to get through doors. But, the big Ranger had nailed the problem with that idea. If we blew a hole in the ceiling, the debris had to go somewhere, and gravity would pull it down on the cabling and server racks.

  One of the side walls? What was behind the drywall? Standing, I kicked Drago’s foot, waking him from his nap. Chico was sitting close by, his ass on the hard floor and back leaned against the wall.

  “The walls,” I said, greeted by blank looks. “What’s on the other side? We can’t blast through the ceiling and risk damaging the equipment, but what about through a wall into an adjacent room?”

  “You don’t think they’ll all be full of infected?” Chico asked, not terribly enthusiastic about my idea.

  “Don’t know, but let’s see what’s behind the drywall.”

  I headed for the wall beyond the X Files poster, drawing my Kukri as I approached. Several swings with the heavy blade cut an opening that I could then reach through and begin pulling chunks of the drywall out of my way. Drago was attacking the other end wall and Chico was busily opening up the rear.

  When I had a two-foot diameter space cleared, I clicked on a flashlight and played the beam around the void. Metal studs, which are commonly used for interior walls in commercial buildings, gleamed in the light. Beyond that was a smooth concrete surface. Maybe we could blast through, maybe not. I had no idea how thick it was.

  Sheathing the Kukri, I went to check on the other two. Drago was also looking at a concrete wall. But Chico had found a layer of sound insulation, then the back side of more drywall. The walls Drago and I had checked were either interior load bearing, or exterior. Chico’s wall would open to another interior space.

  “Only one problem with going that way, sir,” Chico said softly as he moved the sound barrier back in place. “I can hear infected on the other side.”

  Shit! Oh well. At least we now knew that going through a wall wasn’t an option. And that was the last idea I could come up with. We were trapped and there wasn’t any way out.

  48

  “I’m in!”

  Jessica smiled as the screen in front of her refreshed to display a command prompt. She was now logged into the system’s server in the building in Utah, the signal from her terminal being uplinked to a satellite and bounced back down to a large dish on the roof above the server room.

  “You’re in? You’ve got control?”

  TJ’s voice over her headset was every bit as excited as hers.

  “Yes. Don’t touch a thing. Hold on.”

  Jessica’s finge
rs flew across the keyboard. She quickly moved through the system, identifying the settings she would need to change and the files that needed to be copied. Behind her, Lieutenant Hunt stared intently at her screen. As he watched he was reminded just how talented the young woman was. How she somehow intuitively knew how to make the system do what she wanted.

  “How long?” He asked when she paused to watch a file load.

  Jessica jumped and glanced over her shoulder. She had been so engrossed in what she was doing that she hadn’t realized he was standing behind her. Turning back to her station she opened a new window that showed the progress of multiple, simultaneous file transfers.

  “Probably seven or eight hours,” she answered. “These are damn big files. And once I’ve got them I have to decrypt, unzip, then load them onto our servers. Then mount the virtual discs and install them. Likely seven hours if there’s no hiccups and everything works like it’s supposed to. Say nine to be safe.”

  Jessica had continued working as she spoke, her fingers typing one thing while her mouth communicated in a totally different language.

  “Are you through with the tech on that end?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jessica said in a distracted voice.

  “OK, I’m going to take control of the comms. I need to speak with Major Chase.”

  Jessica nodded and continued working without pause. The smallest of the files had completed transferring to Hawaii and she had already made a copy of it and stored it on a back up server.

  Hunt returned to his station and donned a headset. He rerouted the comm circuit and a few moments later could hear the background noise in the server room in Utah. There was the normal low roar of all the cooling fans maintaining the individual servers’ internal temperatures. He could also clearly hear pounding of fists on a door and a near constant cacophony of screams from the infected.