“Colonel, come on through,” said Greer as she saw him reach the front of the bar she had set up as her command post. A sole marine guarded the entrance.
“Good morning, Sir,” he said.
“Get some good rest, Colonel?”
“As good as can be expected. Sir, you need to up your protective detail and find somewhere a little more secure.”
“Nonsense,” she replied and pointed towards the map projected on the table.
“In the north we have progressed well. Civilians are being evacuated where possible. Casualties are not as bad as it might look. We are holding out.”
“Good, how can we help?”
“I am sure you would like to get right back onto the front line, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Well, that would be a waste of your talents and those of the men and women under your command.”
“You have something a little more exciting for us?”
She nodded. “Your rescue of Lisa Caron was nothing short of a miracle. That may hold together the fragile Alliance, and I thank you for that.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s my job.”
“I disagree, Colonel. You go above and beyond your job on a regular basis. It’s what makes you such a good fighter.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, Sir, I don’t need to be buttered up. What have you got for us?”
“Another extraction, and this one could be equally as important as your last.”
“What is the target?”
“General Ben Phillips, the highest ranking military officer in the United States, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
“You said it was confirmed that all of the Chiefs of Staff had been killed?”
“Those were the reports I had received, but they can be wrong. Things are such a mess right now that nobody could say much for certain, without seeing it with their own eyes. If he is still alive, he would be a major asset to us.”
“And the fact that he’s your boss has nothing to do with it?”
“Damn right it does, Colonel,” she snapped but leaned in closer to whisper to him, “I am the youngest General currently in the service of this country, and as far as we knew yesterday, I was left in charge of the nation. You know how daunting that is?”
“Yep, I do, I really do.”
She knew he did, so she did not press the matter.
“Who else knows that he might have survived?”
“Only us. The man who delivered the news died moments after arriving here.”
“That’s convenient,” added Jones.
“Not for him, it isn’t,” replied Greer, “Now Phillips, if he is still alive, is vital to the future of this campaign. However, if the enemy knows he is alive, we will never get to him.”
“Why, where is he?”
“That’s the problem. He is in a top secret fallout shelter north of New York.”
“North?”
“Yes, I know, Colonel, now behind enemy lines,” she said, bringing up a map of the vicinity.
“There it is, The Newman Building.”
“It looks like an office block,” said Jones.
“Above ground, yes it is, but below the surface it is a complex and well protected facility.”
“If it is such a great place, let him stay there until we can retake the surface,” complained Taylor.
“I wish it were that simple, but the facility has been compromised.”
“How so?”
“In the fighting and bombardment, they lost their life support systems, and damage above the surface has made it impossible to repair with the enemy ever present.”
“So how long do they have?”
“Fifteen hours, maybe, if they’re lucky.”
“Then we can’t wait for nightfall.”
“No, Captain, but I can give you the next best thing.”
“I’m listening.”
Greer brought up a new map of tunnels.
“The old underground. Most of it has been out of use for more than a hundred years, but a lot remains intact, and will take you almost all the way. With a small covert unit, you might just have a chance.”
“A lot remains intact? How much?”
“I can’t say for certain, Colonel, but it’s the only way you are going to cover that distance in the short time we have.”
“Then we don’t go quiet. Let me take my Regiment north. We will retake that ground in fifteen hours.”
“Negative. Cleveland has fallen,” she stated.
That news silenced them.
“Fallen? How many troops were there?”
“The whole Seventh Army. It has been scattered. Elements continue to fight on the withdrawal to the south, but whatever hit them is coming our way.”
“You’re sure?”
She didn’t need to say a word; the certainty and despair was all over her face.
“So when do we set off?” Taylor asked calmly.
“Colonel, we are going behind enemy lines in small numbers, based on vague information and using dangerous tunnels in an unknown condition?” Jones turned to Greer. “Tell me there is another way, Sir.”
“I’m sorry Captain, but there isn’t.”
“We’ll take the mission, General. Send all the underground maps to me. If Phillips is alive, we will get him out,” said Taylor.
She looked relieved and hit a few keys on her Mappad. The information was delivered to him instantly.
“I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think it wasn’t of the utmost importance. I send the best when they are needed.”
Taylor smiled and walked out. As he stepped out, he sighed.
“Are we really doing this?” Jones asked.
“Yep.”
“You know it’s crazy, right?”
“Yep, but that’s just the business we’re in, and you can’t deny that if he is alive, he will be valuable.”
“Sure he will,” replied Jones wearily.
“Form up!” Taylor shouted.
Fifteen minutes later they found themselves in the sports hall of a school. Taylor was poring over maps.
“According to this, there is a station right beneath our feet. X marks the spot,” he said, pointing to the cross of lines on the polished floor.
“All right, set the charges. Let’s get this done.”
“You know blasting your way into an old and fragile tunnel that you want to actually be able to use, might just not be the best solution?”
“I get that, Jones, but every access point has been long covered over and lost. This is the closest we can get to the tunnels.”
He gestured for them to go on. They stepped back as one placed the shaped charge on the floor, and they skirted the room in readiness. The charges blew and ripped a hole in the floor.
“You see, that wasn’t so bad,” added Taylor, but even before he had finished speaking, the ground beneath them began to shake. Parts of it collapsed into the tunnel, taking Jones and two others with it. Taylor rushed to the edge.
“Jones!”
He got to the edge and found they had fallen barely five metres into the floor of the tunnel. Jones was lying flat on his back as if not wanting to get up.
“Thanks, really,” he said sarcastically.
Taylor laughed. He jumped into the hole, and put the flashlights on his armour and his gun on. He stepped up to the Captain and helped him brush off the dust and debris. He coughed from the dust that coated his face and nostrils. They looked around. They had come down on the platform of a station. Taylor was surprised to see that the station was clearly hundreds of years old.
“Does it take you back, Sir?” Bailey asked.
“It’s still a long time past mine, but it’s a whole lot closer to what passes for architecture today,” he joked.
“It’s still intact!” someone called out.
They turned to head north through one of the tunnels. It was surprisingly dry inside and had been well sealed. The
y made a hundred metres when Jones finally spoke up to complain once more. He was certainly not a fan of the plan.
“What are the chances of this being intact for what, forty klicks?”
“Pretty good, I’d say,” replied Taylor.
“Ever the optimist, aren’t you?”
“What is your problem with this fucking mission? You’ve been a grouchy son of a bitch since we first took it.”
Taylor could tell from the way Jones peered around with such fear and suspicion, and it made him smile.
“You’re afraid of tight spaces? Of tunnels?”
“It makes no sense to go into a deep, dark hole,” snarled Jones.
Taylor laughed out loud so that it echoed down into the darkness beyond.
“It’s not funny.”
“Damn right it is. Captain Jones of the Parachute Regiment. Fearless warrior. Happy to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft and free fall, but stick him in a hole, and he shits his pants.”
Jones still didn’t see the funny side.
“Laugh all you like, but the idea of being buried alive is not one I ever want to imagine as a possibility.”
“We aren’t gonna be buried alive. Relax.”
“Really? We’re in tunnels that are antique at best. They aren’t maintained, and above surface there are repeated ground bombardments that send shockwaves through these structures. Tell me that you still think there is no risk?”
Taylor had to concede the point, but he still thought Jones was overreacting.
“Okay, so there is, but there is a risk every time we do anything. Of all the dangerous shit we do in the line of our work, this seems positively pedestrian in comparison.”
“Here it is!” a voice yelled up ahead of them.
“Just don’t let me die down here? You promise me,” added Jones.
“Okay, you’re not gonna die down here…I promise.”
He had never seen Jones so rattled.
They reached an open top repair car that the rest of the platoon was climbing aboard. One took out a power pack he had been carrying on his pack and plugged it into the car.
“What are the chances this works after all these years?”
Jones certainly wasn’t going to get over his fear until they were back above ground.
“Pretty good, I’d say. These things are built to go on forever.”
“Colonel, we’ve got a problem,” said the man who had put in the pack.
“You were saying?”
Taylor stepped over to the pack.
“The systems won’t start up, Sir.”
Taylor lifted up his right foot, smashed it down on the battery, and the lights immediately lit up.
“You see, it just needed a little encouragement,” he said, smiling at Jones and sat back down beside him. Bailey took command of the controls and got them moving. The almost silent electric motors made a low whining noise that would soon grow to be irritating.
“You see. Greer said we’d find a repair car here, and we did. She said we’d find the access point beneath the school gym. Maybe her intel about Phillips is right, too?”
Jones only grumbled in response.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be out in the fresh air before long, where the enemy can see and shoot at us,” said Taylor cynically.
They trundled along at a slow but steady pace for an hour when they were shaken violently, and sparks began to fly as the front wheels came off the line. Bailey reached for the brake and pulled it on. The metal on metal squeal was painful, as they held on tight.
“Oh, no,” said Bailey.
Taylor stood up to see the problem. They were sliding towards a pile of fallen rocks and debris where the roof had given way.
“Hold on!” he yelled.
The brakes had taken most of the momentum out of the car when they smashed into the debris and crashed to a halt. Most of them were thrown off the open car and landed amongst the rubble. A dust cloud kicked up which made it hard to breathe.
“Is everyone okay?”
Taylor could see lights piercing the dust, and many of them getting up and helping others. Jones was beside him, clutching on for dear life to a handle on the car. He offered out his hand and made no attempt to shame his friend any further.
“We’re okay,” he said.
Jones was trembling, but he took Taylor’s hand and was hauled to his feet.
“Still feel confident we’re going to make it out of here alive?”
“Damn right I am. We didn’t make it this far in life to die in a goddamn abandoned subway.”
“Some people do. We can’t control our fate. We never know when we will die, but we can certainly increase the chances by coming into stupid places like this.”
His voice was still shaky. Taylor had never seen him so scared of anything in his life, not even the most terrifying enemy.
“Honestly, what is it with you and being underground?”
Jones didn’t answer.
“Come on, you can tell me.”
“Why? So you can ridicule me over it for the remaining time we have left in this life?”
Taylor didn’t even laugh at that. He was dead serious.
“You have my word. I just want to know what makes my closest friend so terrified.”
“All right, then. When I was about eleven years old, I got trapped in a storm drain, and I was there overnight in rising water. I thought I would die down there, and then in training for the Regiment, an old escape tunnel that we were to use during an exercise came down on me. Nobody could find me for two days. I was running out of air. It was the most horrible experience of my life,” he said quietly.
“Then I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Come on, let’s just get the hell out of this thing as quickly as we can. It gives me the creeps.”
Taylor began to navigate their way over the rubble and back into the open tunnel. He was relieved to see it was still clear and looked down at his Mappad.
“Five clicks out, it could be a lot worse.”
“Except we’ll have to get back out on foot,” replied Bailey.
“That’s not so bad,” Jones said quietly. It took them almost an hour of walking through the lonely tunnel before they were drawing near to their target, “Let’s just hope it’s as Greer said it would be.”
The tunnel opened out into another station, and they soon found a flight of stairs. They rushed up and found a set of doors. They were well sealed with chains and locks from the inside. Taylor drew out his Assegai and cut them off cleanly and quietly. He drew the chains back and lifted his rifle.
“You all ready?”
He knew they would be and prised the door forward, putting some weight into it. The hinges creaked, but it swung open and crashed back into the wall of the building. The loud echo made them all cringe at the prospect it could be heard from a distance away. Jones looked very relieved to see the light of day. He pushed past Taylor into the open and looked instantly more comfortable and his old self, looking around to survey the area. It was eerily quiet, and that only made them more suspicious.
“Where is everyone, Colonel?”
“They probably evacuated north if they could, to get as far away from New York as possible, Bailey.”
They found themselves in a narrow and filthy old pathway between two buildings, a wire fence at one end, a dead end at the other. The wire fence had been cut with a hole large enough for a person to get through, but it looked like nobody had been there in years, perhaps even decades.
“What is this place?”
“Some of the fire escape routes built amongst these old buildings are long out of use. They just get blocked off and forgotten about,” said Nile.
“How do people get out in case of fire now?” Taylor asked.
“What, are you kidding, Sir?”
He looked deadly serious.
“They have all kinds of methods now,” added Jones.
Taylor didn’t care enough to ask any more and wa
s just glad they had found an entry point to the street. His Mappad showed they were almost in eyeshot of their target. He went to move forward when Jones’ hand stopped him.
“What is it?”
“This stinks. You know it does, don’t you? It’s been too easy.”
“Not that easy,” he replied as he thought of their crash.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yep, but we still have to give it a shot. Finding Phillips alive would be a major boon to the war effort.”
“Yeah, and that’s what worries me,” replied Jones.
“Come on, we are wasting time.” Taylor led the way forward.
He drew his Assegai once again and cut the hole in the fence to be three times the size it was. The narrow path soon turned to the left and led to the open street. The entrance from the street had been bricked up at some time, but had been smashed half open fairly recently. Taylor didn’t like that fact at all, but there was nothing they could do but press on. He peered out from the opening onto the street. They had come out right opposite the Newman Building. The streets were abandoned. There was no cover between them and their target.
“There she is,” Taylor muttered to himself.
“How are we gonna play this?” Jones took up position beside Taylor.
“There’re not a lot of options.”
Taylor surveyed the scene once more. The Newman Building stood alone with perfectly kept gardens all around it. Almost a hundred metres of ground without cover lay between them and the entrance.
“There’s no one in sight, so I say we make a break for it.”
“We’ve got no idea who or what is watching this area.”
“Nope, and we aren’t going to until they start shooting at us.”
“Well, hell, that’s reassuring.”
“No time like the now,” said Taylor.
He leapt out into the open and ran across the open space.
“Oh, hell,” said Jones and dashed on after him.
Taylor could hear Jones cursing him as he ran, and that made him smile. He was pleased his friend was out of the insular and terrified state he had been in when they were in the tunnels. Taylor kept low, looking back and forth and all around for any sign of danger, but it was still clear. They reached slightly over halfway when engines roared in in the skies.
Battle Beyond Earth: Revenge Page 14