Last Man Out (Poor Man's Fight Book 5)

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Last Man Out (Poor Man's Fight Book 5) Page 26

by Elliott Kay


  Frankie swept in, his sidearm out but his security uniform unmarred. He hadn’t been hurt, which was Jack’s first concern. The grave urgency in his eyes was another.

  “Where are they?” Jack asked. “How many are there?”

  “I don’t know,” said Frankie. “They’re all over the place. Lots of them.”

  “All over?” asked Bao.

  Jack bit back another curse as he saw their eyes meet. Frankie was a good kid, especially for a security guard, but it looked like he’d been in on this, too—only his next words upended all of that. “They aren’t hitting the front end. It’s not the insurgents. This is somebody else.”

  “Holy shit,” murmured Cecily.

  “Frankie. Listen to me,” said Jack. “We can’t trust the emergency plan. That stuff isn’t about keeping us safe. If you really don’t know what’s going on, we all gotta get out of here. Now.”

  * * *

  Cloud cover on Minos made for dark nights. Technology easily mitigated that, of course. Nightvision glasses weren’t uncommon. Lights were never in short supply, even out here on the outskirts of Anchorside. The area surrounding the chip processing plant had enough lamps and floodlights to make it a beacon all across the horizon.

  Tonight the clouds hung low in the sky, creating greater complications than simple darkness. Dust particles from the last storm clung to the clouds. In addition to blotting out the moons and stars, the clouds hindered transmissions and satellite surveillance.

  Chen took in the effectiveness of the cloud cover with readings on his binoculars. Ironically, the less informative his readings were, the more assurance they provided. He knelt in the sands, covered by a blanket seeded with Minoan ash. Popping up for this reading was a risk, but so was everything about tonight.

  “Overhead cover is still holding up,” he murmured. “As long as we knock out the point-to-point communications relay in the first seconds, we should be fine.”

  “We’re fucked if we don’t,” grumbled one of the hooded men beside him.

  “So let’s make sure we do it right,” Chen replied. He came down to his elbows again, turning his head to give out a low, soft whistle. From the darkness, other whistles answered from lumps along the sandy landscape. He counted nine to his left, then repeated the call to his right and heard eight more. They had everyone ready.

  Rifle barrels poked out of those bumps in the sand. Everyone had their targets picked out from earlier scouting runs on the facility. Some would take down lights. Others would hit turrets. A handful would focus on the live guards walking the perimeter. The team had practiced nearly to death for their difficulties and knew what to do when someone missed.

  Only the thought of crossing the remaining distance to the plant left Chen with doubts. He’d signed off on the plan, even agreed to lead it, because he felt it was solid. Yet he couldn’t dismiss the notion that the plant’s security still had some surprises in store for any attackers. He couldn’t account for the unknown.

  He chose to bet on the company’s habit of cutting costs. Surprise defenses cost money. Besides, it wasn’t as if any of their chip processing plants had suffered a raid before. Why go to the expense of covering for an imaginary danger?

  That would change after tonight, of course. His team had to make this one count.

  He repeated his whistled readiness calls. Responses came back as planned. Time to do this.

  “Whoa, whoa, hold up,” hissed the man on his right. Chen felt Matt’s hand against his shoulder. “Look to one o’clock. Still in the dunes. What is that?”

  Chen turned to look. Along the final rise before the plant’s walls, the sands seemed to move in the darkness. He brought his binoculars to his face and hit the nightvision enhancements.

  Three holes appeared in the dune as if the bottom had fallen out. Nothing made a sound.

  Human shapes emerged, several to each hole, climbing with grace and speed to lay atop the ridge. They wore black armor over black cloth, reminding him of old Earth knights on horseback with more dramatic angles and flourishes at the wearer’s joints. It all looked more like a costumer’s creation than anything designed for combat. Hoods and helmets obscured every head. Each figure turned to fling dust over the next as if splashing one another with water, only Chen saw no playfulness to the gesture. It struck him as entirely practical.

  “Who the hell is that?” asked Chen’s second.

  “I don’t know, but they aren’t with us.” Chen turned right and left, hissing a wordless warning to hold fire.

  The strangers spread out along the sandy ridge, keeping low and showing slightly fewer numbers than Chen’s team. He saw no weapons, but the armor continued to fascinate. It wasn’t bulky like powered armor. The size of these strangers seemed entirely natural. From here, their size seemed almost uniform, too. As they assembled, some dug both arms deep into the sands. Others held to a crouch as if waiting.

  One black-clad stranger at the center of the line waved his arms. Those in a crouch rose up to half their height and reached out for the plant, some with their arms high and others low.

  Blasts of yellow light flew from their wrists, demolishing many of the same targets Chen had assigned to his people. Floodlights and cameras burst. Sentries fell with smoking holes through their bodies.

  No more than the blink of an eye passed before the sands around the strangers erupted in a sudden rush. Chen thought he saw more yellow light flash across the top of the dune under the strangers with their arms in the sands. Dust rose up like a sudden wave before them, blowing toward the plant while the remaining sentries shot back.

  The strangers vaulted up from their lines to chase after the wave of dust. More blasts of yellow light followed, cutting down resistance and blowing holes in the wall. Return fire from the guards seemed to hit nothing at all.

  Though the strangers kept running, they didn’t ignore the threat of the lasers. Every attacker reached over their back to remove one of those odd slabs of black metal, expanding it into a large rectangular shield. Once again, Chen thought back to medieval arms and armor, but these black shields seemed able to absorb laser fire as the guards’ aim improved.

  Loud, mechanical roars from above revealed pop-up turrets along the plant’s roof that blasted away at the intruders with rapid, solid projectile fire. Unlike the lasers of the guards, bullets landed to clear effect. Shields and armor struck with such force couldn’t keep their wearers on their feet. Black-clad strangers fell under a torrent of machinegun fire. Others knelt behind their shields for protection. Sparks flew, creating a frantic strobe light effect and leaving Chen to wonder if the shields could fully stop bullets.

  New figures emerged, one from each of the large holes in the sands. These were as tall as the rest, but misshapen to the point of being clearly inhuman. Their proportions were all wrong, with the outlines of their bodies more like rough-hewn rock than the cloth-and-armor of the other attackers. Chen noted long legs that bent entirely backward at the knee.

  He also noted a red glow about the heads. The four stone men stood tall at the ridges, quickly coming under fire from the plant’s defenses. Though they appeared staggered by torrents of bullets, they held their ground—until red beams of light streamed from their faces.

  The blasts reminded Chen immediately of the Nyuyinaro, who could sustain laser blasts from their eyes for several seconds at a time. He’d seen video of such power, but never anything like it in person. None of these blasts continued for more than two seconds, but that was more than enough to correct for a missed mark. Turrets and gunners along the wall quickly fell under the assault.

  The stone men provided relief to the first wave of attackers. Yellow beams from their wrist-mounted weapons picked up once more. Some rallied to their feet and advanced under the protection of their shields—but not all. A few of their compatriots never rose from the sands. One of the stone men staggered under continued machinegun fire. An arm fell off, sparking and cracking, while bullets across the torso and h
ead eventually sent them collapsing into the sands.

  Despite losses among the attackers, no one could doubt the momentum of the battle. Portions of the wall fell under concentrated fire from those yellow beams. Black-clad invaders rushed in. Their remaining back-up followed.

  “Who the fuck are these guys?” hissed one of Chen’s comrades. “Where did they get that tech?”

  “Are those robots?” asked another. “Nobody arms robots. Too vulnerable to hacking.”

  All the same questions occupied the team leader. He had no answers. Like the others, Chen could only watch.

  An explosion tore through the front of the building at its main gates. Others followed along the doors to the plant itself. Much of the façade caved in, releasing another cloud of dust even as lights went out along the walls and gates.

  The attackers quickly accomplished much of what Chen’s team had set out to do. They looked likely to accomplish more—but not all. He couldn’t be sure of the rest. Rather than elation at the destruction of his target, Chen felt a growing pit in his stomach.

  None of the armored raiders lingered at the breaches in the walls. Two of the remaining stone men followed them into the compound while the last held back. Though their image gave the impression of density and weight, the stone men advanced with a bounding, springing stride.

  “We’ve gotta get our people out,” said Chen. “We have to get in there. Boqu, Peng, you guys get back to base and tell them what happened. Show ‘em everything you recorded on your scopes. No back-talk, we need to let the others know. Go now. Haul ass.”

  Boqu and Peng rushed off into the night. Chen turned to the team on his left. “Arturo, Leanne, you and the others cover us from here. Don’t shoot unless they open up on us first. And don’t count on your lasers. They don’t seem to work too well. Use whatever solid stuff you’ve got.” He turned back to the rest. “Everyone else, we hook around to the right and move in.”

  “Chen, look,” warned one of his guys. In the ground between Chen’s team and the walls, the last of the stone men stopped to lift up two of the fallen strangers. With a body over each shoulder, the strange figure sprinted back to one of the holes in the desert sand. It unceremoniously pitched both bodies into the hole before turning back to retrieve more.

  “Well, that’s something,” said Chen. “The distraction might buy us some time to cover ground if we time it right.”

  “What about the plant?” asked another of his men.

  Chen shook his head. “The plant’s only machinery and walls. They were gonna rebuild it no matter what. We can’t rebuild dead people. Listen, defend yourselves but try not to engage. We save the workers. Screw the rest. Everybody on me.” The stone man started back for a second pick-up run of the dead. Its back would be turned for a moment, at least. “Go!”

  They ran. Chen wondered how much time he’d lost in giving out new orders. He wondered how much damage had already been done. Fighting still raged in the compound. Hopefully, it would clear out resistance in his path.

  Flames rose up from behind the wall, adding to the light created by the energy weapons. Chen’s team swept around in an arc to avoid the fallen strangers and the open pits from which they’d come. They made it a third of the way before the robot rose up once more with the last of the fallen. It turned their way to repeat its path and halted instantly at the sight of the team.

  The red tau that split its face glowed brighter.

  “Down,” warned Chen. “Everybody down!”

  Red light blasted from its face, tracing up a line in the sands toward his team in a flash. It lasted for only one second. In the next heartbeat, the beam was interrupted by another sudden flash of light—this one orange, accompanied by a loud boom and a concussive wave. The cover team did their job well. Leanne’s missile flew from the launcher on her shoulder too fast for Chen to track, but he saw it explode at the stone man’s feet. The thing disappeared in a ball of fire and smoke.

  “Move! Move!” Chen ordered, hauling the nearest man up to run with him. He abandoned the arcing path to the gap in the wall in favor of a straight path. Enough fucking around now. The strangers were officially hostile.

  He held little hope of grabbing some of the strangers’ gear to examine. The lives of the plant workers took priority. He’d had a plan to keep them safe during the raid. Now that was shot to hell.

  Insurgencies always put civilians at risk. Chen understood that. Until now, he’d accepted it, but he’d also done what he could to mitigate the danger. The appearance of this new force pushed those concerns to the forefront. If someone else wanted to take on the fight against Minos Enterprises and Precision Solutions, that was fine by Chen…but someone had to look out for the people caught in the crossfire.

  No one fired at his team as they closed the distance. Remains of the stone man lay up against the perimeter wall, blasted to pieces and no longer glowing. Chen breathed out a small prayer of thanks for that as they reached the wall.

  He looked back to make sure everyone was with him. Their training came mostly from books and videos, all used to create haphazard practice exercises. The insurgency included precious few veterans. Everything else was a matter of courage, improvisation, and hope that it would all be enough.

  Chen stepped over blood-stained rubble to sweep around the breach in the wall. Most of the light came from the flickering reflection of numerous fires. Bodies lay in the space between the compound walls and the main building. All but two wore security uniforms. The others, clad in black armor, drew Chen’s attention for a second look.

  They were well-built, whoever they were. At first glance, Chen took both for male, but he couldn’t be sure under the armor. He forgot about that concern entirely when he noticed the helmet fallen beside one armored raider. The corpse lay face-down on the pavement with a hole at the back of the skull. He’d only seen a few people shot by bullets, but he couldn’t imagine a bullet that could make a hole like this. The helmet looked entirely clean, too, as if shed before the bullet hit. At a glance, he realized the other corpse was missing its helmet, too, but he couldn’t see the head.

  Movement shook Chen from his revulsion. His comrades pushed into the compound. Shouts and laser fire continued at the front. Chen continued on, thankfully moving away from the fight rather than toward it. Another ear-splitting explosion on the other side of the compound punctuated his feelings on the situation.

  “Sally,” said Chen. “Which way? Direct path is fine. We’re done being subtle.”

  Their guide pointed the way. She’d worked at the plant for years and had helped devise the entire operation. “We’re headed for the closest door now. That staircase over there. It’s an emergency exit from the top floor. That’s where everybody’s supposed to be hiding.”

  Chen frowned. Everyone would be bottlenecked and exposed on that stairway. It wasn’t their original extraction path for that very reason, and it only looked worse now. “And the bottom floor here?”

  “We should be along the processing floor now. It’s mostly machinery and transfer stations. The manager’s office overlooks the floor from there. But the closest doors are off that way, like the big loading bay doors at the back end.”

  “Fuck doors,” grunted Chen. He tugged a satchel off his back and tucked it against the base of the wall. “Breaching charges. Everyone dump ‘em right here. Juan, keep yours in case we need it inside. Everyone else, pile ‘em up.”

  “We’re doing this?” Sally asked, already complying.

  “We’re doing it. Back to the breach in the wall. Find cover. Go.” Chen withdrew from the pile of improvised explosives once everyone else was behind him, dialing up the detonator program on his holocom. Seconds later, with fighting still shaking the rest of the compound, Chen hit the trigger.

  The blast engulfed everything between the building and the compound’s main wall with smoke and debris. Rushing in seconds later, Chen found a hole big enough to accommodate two people moving abreast. Taller people might have
to duck. He could live with it. The team plunged inside.

  Main power seemed like an early casualty of the raid. Emergency lights and flashing alarms provided the only remaining illumination. A haze of smoke permeated the air well beyond the team’s improvised entrance, warning of further problems. Chen and his people carried filters for the desert dust, but not oxygen tanks.

  “Move, god damn it!” barked a voice from beyond the machinery. “Get to the doors! Go!”

  “Jack?” Sally called out. “Jack! Frankie!”

  “Who’s that?”

  “This way,” Sally led Chen and the rest around a bank of tall machines. “Jack, it’s Sally!”

  “The hell?” grunted a voice.

  Chen rounded the corner with her, finding a small crowd of men and women in plant worker jumpsuits and a single armed guard. The latter brought up his pistol as they arrived. “Frankie, it’s us,” said Chen. “It’s okay. We’re here to get you out.”

  “The fuck is going on here?” demanded an older man amid the crowd. By voice and posture alone, Chen pegged him as the shift manager. “Are you guys more fucking insurgents?”

  “It’s an attack by someone we can’t identify,” said Chen. “We’re here to get you out.”

  “If the guards see us following you guys, they could mow us down right along with you. Tell me why we ought to go with you instead of taking our chances on our own.”

  Another boom shook the entire building, forcing everyone down to the deck. Light and air broke through from above as roof tiles caved in not far away.

  The burning shape of a Vanguard poked through the gap in the roof. The supports didn’t hold. Within seconds, more of the roof collapsed, allowing the aircraft to teeter over the edge and fall to the main floor with another terrifying, ear-splitting crash.

 

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