by Shawn Davis
“Frederick has a laser cutter,” Connor said.
“Who’s Frederick?” Campion asked. She knew many of her men by name, but not all of them.
“That’s me,” a muscular black man with a Caribbean accent said, stepping forward. He took a device resembling an old-fashioned blowtorch from his belt.
“Can you get through that door?” Jane asked.
“No problem,” the soldier replied with a distinctive Caribbean accent.
He walked up to the door and pressed the device against the edge. A thin beam of red light bit into the metal, melting it like butter. The soldier traced the laser cutter carefully around the entire edge of the steel door. When he reached the end of the operation, Campion pushed the door in. It hit the floor with a loud metallic clang like a gunshot. She stepped into a plain metal room containing a single elevator. She approached the elevator and checked the security panel.
“I don’t have the code for the elevator. Hey, Frederick, I think we may need your expertise again,” Campion said to the soldier with the laser cutter.
“No problem,” the soldier said, carrying the gun-shaped device and approaching the elevator.
He reached down to his belt and unclipped a gray steel cylinder with an orange nuclear symbol painted on it. He plugged the laser cutter into the cylinder, flicked a switch, and listened to it hum for several seconds. Pressing the switch again, he unplugged the cutter and clipped the steel cylinder back onto his belt. He did it with an ease that made Jane think he had done this many times before. The soldier went to work on the door.
A few minutes later, Campion kicked it in. It clanged heavily against the interior walls.
“Now for the floor,” Campion said to Frederick.
“Piece of cake,” Frederick said, re-plugging the cutter into the cylinder.
When the laser cutter was charged, he leaned down to cut the floor. He started at the far edge and worked his way around. He squatted by the side of the elevator while he cut the final section. Eventually, he reached the edge where he stood and the elevator floor plunged into darkness. They heard a loud clanging far below.
“Who has rappelling ropes?” Campion asked the group.
“Johnson does, sir,” another soldier said.
“Where’s Johnson?”
“I saw him down the hall earlier.”
Jane adjusted her headset and spoke into it on channel one.
“L-1 to Johnson. You out there?”
“This is Johnson. Go ahead L-1.”
“I need you to meet up with me. Converge on my signal.”
“Received,” Johnson acknowledged.
Campion stared down into the elevator shaft. It looked like a bottomless abyss. When she looked up, a young brown-haired soldier had entered the room.
“They tell me you have rappelling ropes,” Jane said.
“Yes, sir,” the soldier said, unsnapping the straps on his backpack.
The soldier placed the backpack on the floor and opened it. He took out several long lengths of rope.
“I’ll go first,” Campion said, gazing down into the abyss.
********
Rayne moved alongside Brennon, sweeping the area ahead of him with his rifle. They almost bumped into a white-coated technician walking toward them. The technician jumped back, startled, when he saw them step into the corridor. He put his hands in the air.
“Don’t move,” Brennon said, pointing her rifle in his face. “How many people are down here in the Underworld?”
“I don’t know. About five hundred maybe?” the technician stammered, looking down the barrel of the rifle hovering a few inches from his face.
Brennon glared at Rayne as if to chastise him that his count had been way off.
“Where’s the closest security station?” she asked.
“Not too far down the hall on the right,” the tech replied, nervously.
“Okay. Get down on the ground and don’t move,” Brennon said, gesturing to the floor with her rifle.
The tech scrambled to his knees and lay face-down on the floor, covering his head with his hands.
Rayne and Brennon took the lead. They approached a transport platform on their right as an empty transport pulled up.
“Where do these transports go?” Karyn asked.
“The transports going this way,” Peter said, pointing ahead down the corridor, “lead to an immense underground terrarium. The transports going the other way,” he gestured back over his shoulder, “lead to the National Defense Center.”
“That doesn’t help me. We’re better off going room-to-room, taking out any resistance systematically rather than riding transports,” Brennon advised. “We don’t know what kind of trap we might run into if we use them.”
“I agree,” Rayne said.
Rayne thought about the size of the massive underground complex.
It will take hours to search through the entire place.
Peter turned around when he heard metallic thunder exploding in the distance behind him. Brennon turned with him. One of their people was firing farther down the corridor.
“That ought to bring them out of the woodwork. Get ready,” Karyn said, turning and focusing her weapon in front of her.
An armored Trooper stepped into the corridor from a doorway ahead on the right. Brennon’s weapon thundered and he went down before he could take a single step. She kept her weapon trained on the doorway and waited. Another Trooper poked his head out briefly, saw them, and ducked back in the room.
Brennon opened fire but the bullets exploded on the doorframe. Peter saw Karyn reach down to her belt and unclip a laser grenade. She pulled out the pin, tossed it through the doorway, and they saw a flash of red light. Karyn paused, sweeping her rifle barrel across the open doorway to see if it would draw fire. Peter saw that her instincts served her well because gunshots erupted from the room, exploding off the floor and the opposite wall.
“Do you have any more grenades?” she asked Peter.
Rayne checked his belt and grabbed his last grenade. He handed it to Brennon. Brennon tried to estimate where the shots were coming from, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the room. She ducked back around the corner and waited. Rayne saw another flash of red light emanate from the doorway.
Brennon didn’t wait another second, plunging through the doorway firing her rifle. She swept her rifle across the spacious security room, destroying everything in her path. Control panels, filing cabinets, desks, and chairs exploded into shrapnel.
Rayne turned the corner and followed her example, sweeping the room with his rifle. He ripped a desk to shreds on the right side of the room, hitting the Trooper who was ducking behind it. Another Trooper hiding behind a control panel fired a quick shot over his head before Rayne took aim and mowed him down. Brennon’s weapon thundered beside him.
Rayne didn’t see any remaining objects in the room large enough to conceal a human being, so he ceased firing. He waited for Brennon to do the same. She eventually stopped firing and surveyed the room. Every item in the room, including human beings, had been reduced to fragments. Karyn dropped her spent magazine and replaced it with a fresh one. Peter followed her example.
They heard automatic gunfire in the main corridor. Rayne saw several rebel soldiers ducking into a doorway across the hall. One of them reappeared, firing around the corner at an unknown assailant. Brennon took a half step out the door, firing several rounds in the same direction. She ducked back into the destroyed security room.
“There’s a squad of Shock Troopers ahead,” Karyn said. “They have us pinned down. Do you have any more grenades?”
“No.”
“That’s not good.”
“I agree,” Peter said, preparing for a moment before turning the corner and firing. He ducked back into the room as a bullet exploded against the wall near his head.
Peter saw two rebel soldiers cut down in their tracks, as another ducked into the room across from them. It was Lorick Thompson. She looked at them anxiousl
y from the other doorway.
“I’m going to see if they have any grenades over there,” Brennon said, gesturing to the opposite control room with her rifle butt. She signaled to Thompson across the hall. “You guys have any grenades?” Brennon asked.
“I only have one grenade left!” Lorick shouted as she competed with the noise of automatic gunfire.
“Then use it!” Karyn shouted back.
Rayne watched the young soldier take the grenade from her belt, wind up like a pitcher, and throw it down the hall. She ducked back into the room as bullets exploded on the walls and floor. Peter counted five seconds before he saw the bright red flash.
Karyn immediately went back into the hallway and charged, firing as she went. Peter and the other soldier followed her example. They cut down a pair of Troopers standing at the edge of a wide black crater in the floor. The rest of the Troopers had been wiped out.
“I hope those reinforcements show up soon,” Brennon said. “That was our last grenade.”
Chapter 39
Under Pressure
Campion’s equilibrium felt completely thrown off as they lowered her upside-down the elevator shift. They had combined two rappelling ropes to rig up an innovation that was secured to her waist and her ankles. She could feel all the blood rushing to her head as they lowered her steadily down the shaft.
Craning her neck, she looked down and saw a faint light below. She hoped the laser grenade had scared away any stragglers because she was a sitting duck up here. The one thing she knew for sure was there would be a sizable hole where the elevator door used to be.
When the rebels first contemplated descending the shaft using ropes, they were assaulted by automatic gunfire from below. Apparently, some troopers heard the sound of the sliced elevator floor striking the bottom of the shaft and forced open the door to fire up at them. Luckily, the distance was too formidable for them to get an accurate shot.
However, the distance didn’t factor into the accuracy of a grenade throw. In fact, it probably helped. Campion dropped a grenade down the shaft. She saw a bright flash of light at the bottom, which made her squint even from a distance of five hundred feet, and all signs of resistance ceased.
To prove her theory that it was safe to enter the shaft, Jane had her people lower her down several feet. The devastation caused by the laser grenade dissuaded any of the remaining Troopers from a foolhardy attempt to repel the invasion by shooting up the elevator shaft again.
Campion figured they had probably retreated to a safe distance and trained their weapons on the blown-out bottom of the shaft. That’s when she concocted her plan of being lowered down the shaft upside-down.
Campion figured that if she and her soldiers dropped down the shaft the normal way, they would have their legs blown off before they reached the bottom and tossed a grenade. Being lowered upside-down offered her a chance to give a good throw through the opening before they could even see her. She just hoped her men didn’t slip. If she dropped down a few inches below the opening, she would be blown to pieces.
“All right. Slow down,” Jane whispered into her headset receiver.
“Received,” a female voice replied.
Jane felt a jerk on the rope as they reduced the speed of her descent.
“I have about another twenty feet and I’m there,” she said. “Bring me to a crawl. I’ll let you know when to stop.”
“Received.”
Jane couldn’t tell how dizzy she was in her upside-down position. All she knew was she was feeling confused and disoriented. She had to time the rest of the trip down perfectly. She figured it was better to be conservative in her estimate.
“Okay, stop,” she said, giving herself a few spare feet. As she suspected, she dropped another foot before her request was heeded. It left her in the perfect position for throwing a grenade through the opening at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
If I drop this grenade straight down, I’m all done.
The floor of the shaft was only ten feet below her. The blast radius of the grenade was twenty feet. She reached for a grenade on her belt. Unclipping it carefully, she held it tightly in her right hand. She practiced throwing it through the opening in her upside-down position.
I think I can do this, but there’s only one way to find out for sure.
Campion tossed the grenade with all her strength. Five seconds later, she saw the familiar flash of red light emanating from the corridor outside. She saw this as her cue to unclip another grenade from her belt and throw it. Another flash of bright light followed. Campion carefully took her pistol out of its holster.
“Okay, bring me down another couple feet,” she said.
They dropped her low enough so she could see into the blasted tunnel. The floor looked like the ceiling to her. All she saw was a large black crater in her version of the ceiling. She fired a few rounds down the corridor from her upside-down position, pretending she was right-side-up and using the real floor and ceiling as marking points.
After emptying an entire magazine, Campion reached up and unfastened two straps restraining her legs. The ropes had been constructed in such a way, that when these straps were unfastened, her body swung down rapidly. She found herself suddenly right-side-up. Her head was spinning as she looked down the hallway. A long black blast crater had gouged out some of the floor and walls. She didn’t see any body parts.
I think I got them all.
Jane dropped down to the blasted floor and unfastened the rope around her waist. She moved quickly across the crater, sweeping it with her pistol. Traveling down the length of the crater, about twenty feet, she stopped at normal floor level. She scanned the corridor ahead for any movement. The hallway was empty and silent. Balancing her pistol on the floor level, she covered the corridor while she spoke into her headset.
“It’s safe. Start sending people down.”
********
Rayne had hardly taken another step when more metallic thunder exploded from farther down the corridor.
“Take cover,” Brennon said as she shoved Rayne into a side room. She fired several shots and ducked into the room with him. They found themselves in a large wood-paneled office. “Nice place,” Brennon commented, observing the fake plants and plush office furniture.
“Yeah, right.” Rayne said, listening to the sound of bullets ricocheting in the hallway. “Do you think Thompson made it?” he asked, concerned.
“She’s all right. She has fast reflexes. I’ve known her since boot camp,” Karyn said.
“Campion runs a boot camp?” Peter asked.
“No, I was in the Marines before I joined Campion’s crew,” Karyn said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, right,” Peter said, feeling dumb.
I should have known that. Campion told me many of the rebel fighters were former police officers and soldiers.
“I joined up with the rebels after fighting in the Columbian War,” Brennon said. “That is, if you could actually call it fighting,” she added, rolling her eyes. “My squad was in charge of helping the Columbian troops round up and eliminate suspected rebels. Most of the people we executed were poor peasant farmers. Some of them gave shelter or food to the rebels because they were threatened. Most had never touched a gun in their life. That whole campaign left a bad taste in my mouth. I was ready for Campion’s ideas after that.”
Brennon approached the door and waited for a few tense moments before turning the corner and firing down the hall. She ducked back into the room.
“Lorick made it. I just saw her,” Karyn said.
“Thompson?” Peter asked.
“I saw her in a room down the hall. She must have known we were here because she timed her assault with mine.”
“Good, at least we’re not alone,” Rayne said, relieved.
“I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do us,” Brennon said. “I saw a lot of Troopers down the hall. They’re moving closer. The only way we’re going to dissuade them from running right on top of us
is to fire down the hall whenever we can.”
Rayne turned the corner and only had time to let off a few rounds. The Shock Troopers were moving toward them, skipping from room to room using their own fire as cover.
“You’re right. They’re getting closer. And they know where we are,” Peter said as bullets exploded around the doorframe. He winced as a piece of shrapnel whizzed by his head.
“Okay. My turn,” Karyn said, dropping unexpectedly on her stomach.
She got into a sniper’s position on the floor and aimed around the corner, firing. This time, she stayed where she was and emptied an entire magazine at their opponents. She ducked back into the room as the hallway floor was ripped to shreds by bullets. As she rolled away, Rayne heard pieces of floor ricocheting off her armored back.
“Unfortunately, that’s a trick that’s only going to work once,” Brennon said, getting to her feet.
She was right. The floor outside the door was being relentlessly blown apart, forming small craters.
“Still, I think I got a few of them,” she added, smirking. “They weren’t ready for a sustained barrage.”
“Good. Maybe that will slow them down,” Rayne said, trying unsuccessfully to wipe the sweat from his forehead with an armored glove.
The gunfire in the hallway intensified.
“This is getting bad,” Peter said.
“I know,” Karyn said, placing her rifle on the floor and taking her pistol out of its holster.
She approached the doorway carefully and stuck her hand around the corner, firing down the hall. Her armored gloves saved her hand from being torn apart by shrapnel as explosive bullets struck the outside wall.
“They must be right on top of us,” she said.
“I like your idea,” Rayne said, following her example.
Taking his pistol from its holster, he held it around the corner, firing. He brought his hand back in as bullets exploded on the doorframe.
“I doubt we hit anything, but like you said, it might intimidate them a bit,” Peter said.
“I hope you’re right. We’re just lucky they don’t have any grenades,” Karyn said.