Shadows of Ash (The Nameless Book 2)

by Adrian J. Smith

  The response to her taunt was rounds hitting the vehicle, thunking into the metal panels.

  “We can’t let you stop wave two,” Torres called back. “We listened in on your transmission. Our orders are clear: stop anyone who discovers our plans.”

  Reid frowned at her, shrugging. “What?”

  She waved the question away and signaled for him to lay down covering fire while she lifted the back door and snatched the bag with the explosives in it. She shot at the bushes for a few moments, then reached in and started the SUV. The next move was the hardest: getting herself and Reid to the drainage ditch behind them, using the vehicle as cover. She fired another burst and wrenched the wheel as Torres returned fire. Neat round holes stitched across the windshield. She dropped the food bag on top of the accelerator. Sharp, sudden pain erupted up her leg. She twisted away and fired the remainder of her magazine. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she pulled the pin on a grenade and pulled the gear lever into drive.

  “Reid!” Lisa yelled. The sergeant understood what was happening and rolled away as the SUV lurched forward, groaned for a second, then took off toward the hidden Torres. Reid and Lisa spun and peppered the building, hitting the partly exposed Clough. He crumpled to the ground.

  It took a few seconds before the vehicle plowed into the bushes and exploded in a fireball. They couldn’t tell if Torres was dead or alive, and Lisa didn’t want to hang around to find out. Black Skulls would have seen and heard the fight and fire. Everyone would have. She stooped and removed Clough’s ammo but left his weapons. She didn’t need more weight.

  They jogged toward the cell tower and away from the carnage. Lisa didn’t look back; she was still trying to figure out how she had missed Torres and Clough being sleeper agents. Getting sloppy.

  She ran up to the cell tower and stared at the main mast. A large access panel, securely locked, was a couple of meters off the ground. “Know much about these babies?” Lisa said to Reid.

  “Sure. It was part of my training. Why?”

  “I’ll fill you in as soon as I can. I need to destroy it.” She pulled out the C4.

  “That’ll work. Place it a little inside. You’ll fry the whole system.”

  “No way for it to broadcast?”

  “No way.”

  Lisa threw him the C4. “Hurry up. Do it.”

  She liked Reid. Respected the sergeant. He followed orders. Was exceptional at what he did, and from his actions a few minutes ago, loyal. He showed it again now. Using his Ka-Bar, he pried opened the door and stuck the explosive as far back as he could reach. He fiddled around for a second, getting the timer attached. “How many minutes?”

  “Two should do it,” Lisa said.

  Lisa and Reid sprinted for the tree line and ducked into its shadows. Branches slapped against their arms and legs as they weaved deeper into the woods. The boom of the explosion reverberated through the trees.

  The ground started to slope downward, the trees thinning. Lisa and Reid found themselves in someone’s yard. Trampolines and kids’ toys were scattered everywhere; a slide with a neat child-sized form of ash. Lisa choked back a sob. No matter how many times she saw the remains of those lives snuffed out, it never got easier. There were so many. Fathers and sons. Mothers and daughters. Friends and lovers. Co-workers. The driver someone had flipped off that morning. The parking warden someone had cursed. Gone, all of them. Like the innocent child on the slide. As much as seeing the remains of the victims pained her, it also gave her strength. The strength to do what was right. Fight OPIS until either they were defeated, or she was dead, whichever came first.

  Lisa gripped her MP5 tighter and charged around a house after Reid. Smoke from their burning SUV clouded the skyline, obscuring their view. It wouldn’t take long before Black Skulls found their tracks and gave pursuit.

  Reid stopped as the hill sloped away. “Up or down?”

  “Up. There’s more cell phone towers on this hill. We’re going to take them all down.”

  “They’ll catch up soon. A car?”

  “Too noisy. Those.” Lisa gestured at two mountain bikes leaning against the back verandah.

  “Bikes?”

  “Yup. Hurry up, soldier.”

  Reid grumbled but followed orders. Lisa stole a quick look at the wound on her calf. The pain had subsided considerably. Instead of blood and muck, it was red and angry, the skin healing over. Frowning, she checked her old wounds. Those too were all but healed. Nanites?

  Putting the mystery of her accelerated healing out of her mind, she hurried on.

  Twenty-Seven

  Makushin Bay, Aleutian Islands

  Ryan bolted right and shot two of the Siphons in quick succession. His aim was to one side, but he still scored direct hits in the throat and jaw respectively. He adjusted and finished the creatures off with shots to the head. Dudek and his soldiers put the rest down in a matter of seconds and squatted to examine the Siphons.

  “What the hell?” Dudek said. “I thought these were just someone’s crazy story.”

  “We came across them in Japan. We call them Siphons.”

  “Because?”

  “If they get a hold of you, they suck out your spinal fluid.”

  “Gross,” one of the soldiers said. He stepped away from the creature that had once been an NSA agent.

  “I heard reports of it, but thought it was an exaggeration. Why would they do that? It makes no sense.” Dudek rolled an agent over. His red tie still hung around his neck. “Fan out. Even numbers. We’re going to sweep this place. Move!”

  The base was divided into four rooms with a communal central living area with kitchen and dining as well as a TV and armchairs. The biggest room at the end of a corridor had a slight kink like a dog leg and held all the computer equipment. In front of a multitude of screens was seating for two agents. The Nameless cleared the rooms on the left while Dudek’s men went right. Ryan signaled for Booth and Allie to cover their backs. But before they could begin a sweep of their own, shouting and gunfire from the soldiers erupted, answered by the pop of handguns. Ryan knew that sound as intimately as his own breathing from the hours he’d spent on the firing range, practicing his skills.

  “Connors. We need you,” Dudek shouted. The gunfire ceased as quickly as it began. Dudek had pulled back two injured soldiers. A bright blue-eyed kid gasped as blood gurgled out of a wound in his neck. It would only be a matter of time before he and the other soldier bled out.

  “We got live ones. Agents. They were hiding in the bathroom. Savage took the brunt of the attack.” His explanation was met with more nine-millimeter fire. The bullets took out chunks of concrete, throwing shards into Dudek’s face. “Cease fire!” he yelled. “We’re US Marines from the USS Nimitz, sent here under the orders of General Munroe.”

  Pop! “This is Agent Larsen. We have our own orders, Marine. Kill anyone who enters the base.” Pop!

  “Who gave that order? Let’s get the general on the horn and see what he says.”

  “Secretary Ward. Sent specific orders days ago. If it weren’t for those damn things, we’d be doing our jobs.”

  “Agent Larsen. My name is Colonel Dudek. I have no wish to harm a fellow American, even one trying to kill me for no good reason. Come out calmly and we can work this out. From what I’ve seen outside, there’s been enough death.”

  “Tell me, colonel, why are you here? Why did you come storming into our base?”

  Dudek gestured at Ryan. He had never specified what they were doing here exactly, and Dudek had never asked.

  Ryan cleared his throat. “Agent Larsen. My name is Connors. My team and I were sent here to use your equipment to stop a second wave of attacks. At zero-six-hundred hours, we’re going to go through the same pain. More will die. Perhaps billions. We have no way of knowing numbers. We need to use that room.”

  Cal glanced up at him. The second soldier that had been shot had stopped breathing. She grimaced. Her steely gaze told Ryan all he needed to know. T
he NSA agents in that room were not going to back down. They didn’t care if they were on the same side. Americans, like them.

  Muttering sounded from the bathroom, the acoustics of the tiles making it echo.

  Dudek rolled his eyes and said, “Larsen. I’ll give you one minute. Then we’re coming in…”

  The bathroom door smashed open as two men burst through. Ryan spun, ducking around one of Dudek’s soldiers. He completed his spin, dropped to one knee, and sighted his target. The NSA agent was disheveled, eyes red and puffy. Black stubble covered his face, his hair wild. Both agents fired their pistols as they charged from the bathroom. The soldier Ryan had spun around grunted as he took a bullet to the thigh and upper chest. In seconds, the agents crashed into Dudek and his men like a tight end crashing through the defense. Dudek and the rogue agent collapsed in a heap, arms and legs twisting together as they fought. Ryan tried to get a bead on the agent, but the intensity of the fight made it impossible.

  Booth shot the second one. His bullet entered the agent’s jaw and exploded out the back of his ear. A piece of skull the size of a golf ball hit the wall, coated in brain and tissue. He was dead before he hit the ground. Allie kicked his gun away and trained her weapon on the rolling mass that was Dudek and his attacker.

  Dudek grunted as he received a blow to the stomach. He brought his knee up into the man’s groin and pulled the gasping agent to his feet. He grabbed the gun and twisted, snapping the NSA man’s hand. He howled and lashed out, earning himself another vicious kick to the groin. He doubled over, tears streaming down his face. He fought no more. Dudek bent his hands behind his back and cuffed them. He was down to one soldier now, with two left up above. He grabbed the agent’s throat. “Are there any more surprises?” he said through clenched teeth.

  “Screw you.”

  “Screw me? You were the ones shooting at us.”

  Dudek lashed out again, this time striking the man’s face. Once, then two more times. Each savage blow seemed to knock the agent’s head back farther.

  Ryan had seen enough. He signaled to The Nameless to leave Dudek to it. He hated seeing someone suffer at the hands of a tormentor, but they had bigger concerns. Sofia shut the door behind her and took one of the seats at the desk. She had the computers up and running in no time. She smiled as she typed in passwords Avondale had provided and brought up screens with satellite trajectories and maps of their current locations. There were hundreds.

  “Cal, I need you with me.” Sofia pointed at a screen. “These are NSA satellites. Keep an eye on them while I find LK3’s. Also, this screen is for communication, and this joystick controls the position of the dishes. They can be moved to point to where you want.”

  Ryan moved to the bank of radio gear. It was all here – new technology and analogue. He switched it all on, sat down and waited for it to warm up. Sofia passed him a scrap of paper.

  “Avondale’s frequency.”

  “Thanks.”

  “We might have to put it through some relays due to the distance. Bounce it from one tower to the other. Enter the frequency on that keyboard and press that big yellow button. I can control the rest from my console.”

  Ryan followed her instructions and stood to stretch his back. The hours he had spent unconscious on the concrete floor back in the nuclear power plant were coming back to haunt him. Getting old sucked. One discovers new muscles as they twinge and knot, revealing themselves in weird and painful ways. Nowadays he had to be careful not to sneeze with his neck forward. The nanites may repair damaged cells and tissue from wounds, but they did nothing for aches and pains.

  “Is there anything else I can help with, Sofia?” Ryan said.

  “Nothing in here. Cal and I can take care of it. We may need you guys to check outside. I’m having trouble sending radio signals. It’s like something is disconnected. Check the radio mast. It’ll be the tallest aerial.”

  “I’m on it.”

  He waved to Booth and Allie. “Booth, stay here. Keep your eyes open. Allie, we’re going back up. Comms are down.”

  “Can you do something about the TV signal? There’s a Vikings game on soon,” Booth said.

  “What? You want to watch them lose again?”

  “Like your Seahawks?”

  “We have a Superbowl ring. Where’s yours?”

  Allie dug her elbow into Booth’s ribs and rolled her eyes. “Men. It’s all football and beer.”

  “Beer?” Booth said. “I’m an educated man. I drink whiskey.”

  Allie rolled her eyes once more and looked at Cal and Sofia.

  “Just ignore them. They’re idiots,” Cal said.

  “I’m beginning to realize that. For a moment I thought they were going to start the whole ‘all songs are about sex’ discussion again.”

  Allie was learning fast. Ryan chuckled. “Don’t start him on that again.”

  “What?” Booth was off. “You guys know I’m right. Take the song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ It’s about a guy who feels guilty for having sex with this other dude’s wife, and he shoots him out of jealousy for being with the woman he loved.”

  Sofia sighed. She clapped her hands. “Let’s move. We don’t have long. I need those comms.”

  Nothing more was said. Since that stormy night in Tokyo, Ryan’s life of solitude had ended. His period of mourning terminated. He never would have imagined the events of Wednesday when the people of Koyasan dissolved into piles of ash around him.

  Dudek had taken the NSA agent into the communal area and bound him to a chair. The agent’s eyes were swollen shut.

  “We need to go topside. Comms are down,” Ryan said.

  Dudek lifted his head. “Take my two men if you need them.”

  As the elevator ascended, Ryan slammed a fresh magazine into his Glock. He wanted to tell Allie what he suspected: that Dudek’s men had taken out the comms. Instead, he said, “Stay frosty.”

  The soldiers were waiting for them when the doors opened. “The colonel said to assist you, sir.”

  They led the way past the weather-monitoring computers and the ash forms of people once alive and doing their jobs.

  The icy cold wind bit through Ryan’s fatigues. He paused at the open door and grabbed one of the coats. He offered one to the two soldiers. They shook their heads.

  “North Dakota born and bred, sir. This is nothing.”

  “North Dakota. How are those Fighting Sioux doing this year?”

  “Top of the division last I checked.”

  Ryan shrugged into the coat and braced against the gale-force winds whipping around the base. He immediately spotted the radio mast. It was like Sofia had said: the tallest reached up at least sixty meters. It was secured with thick wire ropes that stretched out in all directions and was designed to be climbed. Ryan clicked on his flashlight and searched the top. A light covering of snow lay on the ladder rungs. Maybe it hadn’t been sabotaged. He frowned. He had tested the soldier who claimed to be from North Dakota, asking him about the football. The team now known as the Fighting Hawks was still a sore point with some of the alumni. Any fan would surely correct him. Maybe the soldier didn’t care? Maybe he’d decided to let it slide?

  Ryan kept his hand close to his Glock, just in case. The soldiers looked bored and uninterested, but he knew that ruse. Allie walked up to the shed-like structure nestled under the mast and reached out to open the door. In that instant, the soldiers’ body language changed. They stiffened and glanced at each other. Ryan kept his eyes on their gun hands.

  Was he being paranoid? He didn’t know anymore. In times like these, it was difficult to trust anyone. Who was friend and who was foe? He would have liked to think that in times of an apocalyptic crisis everyone would band together to survive. Unfortunately, it was the opposite.

  “Anything?” Ryan said.

  “Everything’s green, so there’s power going to the mast,” Allie said.

  “Let’s check the rest, and quickly. It’s cold as brass monkeys out here,” Ryan m
uttered. “You boys know anything about radio signals?”

  The soldier from North Dakota shrugged. “As if. Technology’s moved on, old man.”

  The second escort turned. “I know a little bit. Could be something inside – a switch or something.”

  “Spread out. Check all the dishes and masts. Make sure nothing has come loose. They get bad storms up here.”

  They separated. Ryan jogged to keep warm, going from dish to dish. They were grouped together with a panel of lights inside a metal box. Nothing was out of place, and everything was on.

  Entering the weather station, Ryan shook off the jacket. He cast his eyes over the array of equipment. A screen showed a live feed of a low-pressure system sweeping down from the Arctic, and another from the Pacific. He scanned the data, reading the Estimated Time of Arrival. Dutch Harbor was going to be hit on two fronts.

  “Over here,” Allie called from across the room. She had pushed the rolling chair aside, careful not to disturb the ash pile too much. A bank of servers was above the desk, and one had been pulled out as though the now-deceased agent had been running diagnostics or repairs. In his death throes, he had spilt coffee all over the circuit boards.

  “Shit,” Ryan said. “How do we even repair that?”

  Allie shrugged. “Maybe they have spare parts for everything. Would make sense, being stuck in the middle of nowhere.”

  Ryan glanced around and spotted what he was looking for, an old landline phone. The agents up here had to have some way of communicating with those below. Conveniently, the buttons on the phone were labeled.

  “Sofia, we found the problem. Server board’s been fried. Maybe you can reroute it or tell us how to do it?”

  The tell-tale noise of safeties being clicked off sounded. “We have a new problem,” Sofia murmured.

  “Get down here now, Connors,” Dudek spat.

  Ryan spun as he drew his Glock. The two soldiers were grinning, rifles raised.

  “Now, now. Don’t do anything stupid. Colonel wants you alive.”