Meredith waited by the door, cracking it open slightly. “All clear.”
She held it open for them, and they took the man through the hall to the storage room. There they stuffed him between lengths of cord, ductwork, and coils of chains. Dom moved a few toolboxes in front of the unconscious man’s form.
“As soon as someone finds him, we’re toast,” Meredith said.
The dull chatter of weapons and the roars of Skulls filtered through the halls as they moved on. The thick layers of earth and concrete and metal muffled the noise, making it sound like someone was watching an action movie behind a closed door. They made it to the T-intersection as another patrol of guards stomped down the hall. The trio ducked into one of the recessed doors. Four soldiers jogged by. Each carried a rifle over their back and wore full battle regalia as if they were going to war. Given the sounds still raging outside, they probably were.
Dom paused at the intersection with Meredith and Alizia. He had expected to see another hall running parallel to this. Instead, the intersection opened up into a circular chamber. It must have been five or six stories deep, wrapping around another inner chamber. The inner chamber was walled off with only a select few panes of glass along catwalks several stories below where Dom stood. All along the catwalks, soldiers ran. They seemed to be heading toward the southern side of the facility, no doubt on their way to reinforce those fighting the Skulls. Men and women in white coats or gray uniforms jogged to various stations. Two men rushed along one catwalk with a stretcher between them. The soldier on it writhed in pain, holding his side. Even from his distant vantage point, Dom could see the glistening of blood as the man desperately tried to cover his wound.
Dom searched the nearest catwalk and spied a sign that read Microscopy Laboratory.
Dom pointed; Alizia and Meredith nodded. They tiptoed along the catwalk, pressing themselves to the wall. Dom prayed they were invisible to those below them. The constant clatter of footsteps made it hard to gauge whether anyone was closing in on their position.
Only a few monitors served as lighting in the lab, filling the room with an eerie blue radiance. Several microscopes were set up on the lab benches. A few larger pieces of equipment stood like silent statues in the corners. Dom recognized them as a scanning electron microscope and a transmission electron microscope. Thankfully, no one was working with any of the instruments.
Dom walked to a monitor hooked to a workstation. He moved the mouse to kick the computer out of hibernation and plugged in one of the transmitters Chao and Samantha had developed.
“Huntress, Alpha,” Dom said. “We’re in.”
“Copy, Alpha. We’re getting a network read,” Samantha called back. “Yep, it’s a hit. Let’s see what we can dig into. You guys hang tight. Don’t go anywhere, all right? This is going to be kind of slow since we’re limited to data transfer rates through USB.”
Alizia drummed her fingers on her rifle, shifting her weight from foot to foot. The only radios she and her team had were big handheld squawking things that didn’t perform well in covert ops, so she’d been relegated to operating solely by listening to Dom and Meredith.
After several agonizing minutes, Chao’s voice crackled over the comm link. “Alpha, we might have something for you guys.”
***
“Don’t leave us hanging,” Meredith said. “What is it?”
“First off,” Chao said, “we got a blueprint of the facility from the data we’ve recovered so far. I’m sending it to your smartwatches so you have some idea of where you’re headed.”
Meredith eagerly watched the progress bar on her smartwatch. It slowly filled until a tiny map popped up. If she flicked the screen, she could scroll between each floor.
“Great work,” Dom said. “What else?”
“There are a couple labs near you that might be good targets. I’ve marked them on your map. Even more interesting, we have one room that’s cordoned off,” Chao said. “Lots of security. The door locks and fingerprint scanners and iris checks leading into the room make me think this is a high-value asset.”
Meredith scrolled to the highlighted room. It was two floors below them, down a hall branching from the main concourse. A smaller chamber led off the main space. Judging by the blueprints, they were looking at a bedroom with an attached bathroom.
“Why would they secure a bedroom like that?”
“It’s not just a bedroom, though,” Chao said. “There are all kinds of network lines piped into that place.”
Their main goal had been to steal as much data as possible. But an asset like this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Leaving it behind would be like leaving the largest present under the Christmas tree wrapped.
“We need to go down there,” she said.
“Fill me in,” Alizia said. “I hate this silent treatment.”
Dom quickly summarized what they had found. Alizia quickly agreed with Meredith.
Dom took a deep breath. For a second, Meredith figured he would refuse. “Chao, Samantha—think you can get us in undetected?”
“You kidding, Captain?” Samantha said. “Consider it done. We’ll start rerouting security now.”
“Copy,” Dom said. “How long do you need?”
“This is some tricky shit,” Samantha said. “Like two cans of Red Bull tricky. So give me twenty. And don’t come back and say, ‘You have ten.’ That routine’s old.”
“That’s not up to me. Alpha, what’s going on outside?”
“Skulls pouring in, soldiers pouring out. Titan looking confused as fuck. It’s just kind of standing there, blocking the doors. The soldiers are yelling at it, and the Skulls are climbing all over it. It’s some weird fucking shit, Chief. Weird fucking shit.”
“So does this mess look like it’ll be cleaned up any time soon?”
“Maybe when a Skull learns to fly.”
“Careful what you wish for. We’re looking for twenty more minutes at least of a distraction,” Dom said. “Will the Skulls provide that?”
“Yeah, yeah, I think so. They’re like a bunch of drunk frat bros on spring break.”
“Copy,” Dom said. “And Miguel?”
“Yeah?”
“I know you like to party, but stay out of this one, okay?”
Dom left the data transmission device plugged into the computer; Samantha and Chao could trigger it to fry remotely if someone else tampered with it. The thing would look like a worthless USB drive should someone retrieve it before they did. Meredith pushed the lab door open. The group sped down the catwalk, keeping their footsteps light. A low explosion roared somewhere deep within the base, followed by more rattling gunfire. A howl echoed up the catwalks.
Maybe a Skull had gotten in. Or worse, something inside had gotten loose. Either way, she couldn’t expend their focus on what might be. She concentrated on what they needed to do now.
A scientist burst up a set of stairs behind them. Dom wasted no time in clocking the man in the face. He fell into Meredith’s waiting arms, and she dragged him away from the stairs.
Dom grabbed one of the man’s arms, and Alizia clutched the other. They carried him toward the next laboratory. According to Meredith’s smartwatch map, this one was many times larger than the last. She covered Dom and Alizia as they crept toward it with the unconscious scientist’s shoes slapping against the catwalk. She winced with each clang, praying that everyone else was too focused on the battle raging outside to notice the strangers in their midst.
Meredith nudged the lab door open. The sterile scent and the hum of the fans pushing air through HEPA filters reminded her of the labs back at Langley. With one hand, she pushed the door open the rest of the way. Dom and Alizia dragged the knocked-out scientist inside and then scanned the room with their rifles. White coats hung on the wall beside them, and stacks of gloves and shoe covers in boxes rested on a nearby shelf. A line on the floor marked the beginning of the designated clean area.
The trio ignored the sterile procedur
es and barged through the glass doors leading to the adjoining lab. Again, no one was working at the lab benches, computers, or biosafety cabinets. The dull-red glow of emergency lights reflected off metal shelves and refrigerators.
There was a smell that Meredith couldn’t quite recognize. As she scrunched her nose, trying to recall where she’d smelled the odor before, she helped Dom and Alizia secure their hostage’s wrists and place a gag. Meredith took out three more data transmitters and plugged them into the nearest computers.
“Huntress, Alpha two,” Meredith said. “Transmitters in place. Got a connection?”
“Connection secured,” Samantha’s voice chimed back. “Picking up some interesting data. We’re finding loads of encrypted lab journals, so keep it up.”
“Actually, can you guys sit tight for a few minutes?” Chao asked. “We’re running into some security issues. We might need you to reposition the transmitters.”
“Copy,” Dom said.
From one corner of the cavernous lab, a bright blue glimmer shone on the ceiling. It undulated like the reflection of the moon on the ocean. Meredith prowled toward the source of the light. Behind a lab bench, she discovered a row of glass cylinders. Each was over ten feet long. Her nerves tingled as she drew closer and made out the shapes suspended within the blue liquid. Bodies, roughly the size and shape of humans.
But the things in those chambers were definitely not human. She recognized the growths jutting from the cheekbones and shoulders. Stubby claws protruded from the hands, and their muscles were hideously overdeveloped. The size and ape-like features of them made Meredith wonder if these were some sort of chimeras. The creatures were curled in fetal positions with umbilical cords stretching to the tops of the chambers.
“A Skull,” Alizia said, drawing close to Meredith.
“No,” Meredith said. “It’s a Titan. An embryonic Titan.”
Her pulse thundered in her ears, wondering at the years of genetic engineering and Frankenstein-like work that must have been required to create these creatures.
“Good lord,” she said. “What in God’s name possessed these people to do this?”
“Don’t know,” Dom said. “But I’m itching to find out. Chao, Samantha, any updates on the security issues?”
“Think so,” Samantha said.
“Clear to proceed to our target?” Dom asked.
“Clear on our end,” Chao said. “But according to our feeds, there are four people guarding the room. A command was just issued over the base’s intranet asking for another six. Maybe some kind of escort.”
“Damn,” Dom said. “Think they’re on to us?”
“Hard to say,” Chao said. “Our connections haven’t been interrupted. Maybe they’re just reacting to the Skull breaches.”
“Maybe,” Dom said, but Meredith could tell he wasn’t convinced.
“Should we forgo the target?” she asked.
“We cannot let them get away,” Alizia said. Her words came out in a growl, and she slapped one of the glass chambers. “This whole place is the devil’s work. We’ve got to destroy it—and everyone in it.”
Meredith wasn’t sure that destroying the facility would be necessary or even advisable. Leaving it operational might mean they could scrounge more evidence on the real enemies in this war. Even if they tried to destroy the entire facility, she didn’t know if they had the firepower.
“For now, let’s get what we came for,” Dom said.
Alizia narrowed her eyes. She didn’t nod or show any other sign of agreement as she followed Dom back to the entrance of the laboratory. Meredith made a mental note to keep an eye on her as they positioned themselves near the exit to the hall once more.
“Alpha, Huntress,” Chao’s voice came over the comm link. “More reinforcements are on route. That makes a total of sixteen people if you don’t hurry.”
“Understood,” Dom replied. “Meredith, take point.”
Meredith crept to the door and inched it open, listening for any telltale signs of incoming troops. “All cl—”
An enormous boom shook the facility. Dust fell from the ceiling, and the explosion echoed down the corridor. The sounds of screeching metal and crackling fire hit Meredith with an almost palpable force.
“Alpha,” Miguel said over the comm link. “We got a problem.”
-45-
Dom stuck his fingers under his helmet to reposition his comm link. He choked down the dread threatening to strangle his voice. “Copy. What’s the issue?”
“A group of Goliaths got worked up by the gunfire,” Miguel said. “Some of the soldiers came out with RPGs. They missed, and now the goddamn Goliaths are trying to bash down the interior doors. Oh, and there’s a fire in the Titan pit.”
“What’s the Titan doing?” Dom asked.
“He’s going nuts. Swiping at Skulls and soldiers alike. It ain’t pretty.”
“Christ,” Dom said. “Anything else?”
“That not enough for you, Chief?” Miguel asked. “Just Skulls as far as the eye can see.”
To Meredith and Alizia, Dom said, “We’ve got to hurry.”
Meredith nodded and leaned out the door into the corridor. “Clear.”
Dom gave them the signal to move. Meredith flitted out, followed by Alizia. Dom went last, covering the group from behind. Clattering footsteps rang all around them. Alarms blared, and the distant thump of gunfire continued. The smell of burned plastic and smoke drifted through the air. When a cadre of men and women in what looked like firefighting gear sped past, Dom, Meredith, and Alizia ducked down a side corridor until the coast was clear again. Another explosion sounded, ensuring that the base’s personnel stayed distracted.
At least the Titan and the Skulls are doing their job, Dom thought.
Their team rushed down two flights of stairs and along a network of catwalks and hallways, following the path illuminated on his smartwatch’s minimap. They paused just out of range of the security cameras. Four guards flanked the door.
“Huntress, Alpha One here,” Dom said in a whisper. “We’re outside the target location. What’s the status on security?”
“Video cameras are looping,” Samantha replied. “It will be real obvious if someone is paying attention, but it’s the best we could do. Door locks are still up, but we can disable ’em when you give word. It’ll be noisy when we do, though, so you might want to eliminate any witnesses before then.”
“Copy,” Dom said. He turned to Alizia and Meredith. “Got any bright ideas on how to remove those guards from their station?”
“Shoot them,” Alizia said with no hint of sarcasm.
“This is supposed to be a covert operation,” Meredith said. “I was hoping for more furtive tactics.”
“We don’t have time for furtive,” Alizia said. She gestured toward the end of the catwalk. The six guards Chao had promised were running at their position.
“Shit,” Dom said. They didn’t have access to knockout gas or other non-lethals that could take out the guards. There wasn’t time to brainstorm alternatives. Dom didn’t relish taking human lives, even if he was certain they were accomplices to the wrong side of history. But he knew what he needed to do to succeed today, to ensure they came away from this mission with the tools and information necessary to save the hapless victims around the world who’d had no say in becoming a part of this shadow war.
They’d have to kill the guards.
He wheeled around the corner, swinging his suppressed rifle to bear on the first guard. A burst of gunfire caught the man in the chest. The rounds knocked him backward, and Meredith took out the second guard. The third went down under an attack from Alizia. The fourth guard adjusted his aim and fired. But his fire went wide, flinging into the wall as Dom’s rounds lit up his side. The man dropped, and his submachine gun clattered to the floor.
“Get those locks open now!” Dom barked into the comm link. As Chao had warned, the heavy locking mechanisms on the door ground and whined. The footsteps
from the approaching guards grew louder as the pneumatic locks began to move. Finally, the door swung open.
They charged inside, and Dom closed the door behind them. The locks automatically engaged. Yells sounded outside, along with pounding fists.
“Keep ’em out,” Dom said to the techies.
“We’ll do our best,” Samantha replied.
“Meredith and Alizia, guard that door. If it so much as opens a crack, you know what to do.”
“Damn right we do,” Meredith said.
Once Dom was satisfied the door would hold for now, he surveyed the room. The place perplexed him immediately. A computer desk sat at one corner with speakers playing soft classical music. He thumbed a transmitter and plugged it into the computer. His nerves still sparked with electricity as he waited for someone to jump from the closet or the half-opened bathroom at the other end of the chamber. A hospital bed complete with rails and an IV rack stood in the center of the room. Lush green potted plants were dotted around the room, and a kitchenette held a mix of cooking instruments and dozens of orange pill bottles. An empty wheelchair rested in another corner next to a pair of oxygen tanks.
The place looked like a nursing home.
“Who the hell lives in here?” Meredith asked, glancing sideways as she guarded the door.
Alizia kept the muzzle of her gun steady and her eyes firmly set on the door as she asked, “And where are they now?”
Dom’s heart pounded faster. “Huntress, you getting a read on the latest transmitter?”
“Yeah,” Chao said. “This is real strange, Captain. Most of the communications so far have been a mix of English, Russian, and Farsi.”
“Makes sense, given our theory about the people behind this mess.”
“But that computer you just linked up isn’t connected to the intranet, and half the files are in Japanese.”
“Japanese?” Dom asked. His mind raced back to the first time they had encountered the Oni Agent on the IBSL platform. The research they’d uncovered there had been a relic of Unit 731’s bioweapons program in Tokyo from World War II. The project had been co-opted by the United States, before being abandoned after the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 in Geneva. He had a hard time believing the Japanese government was still involved. Their intelligence agencies and defense forces were compromised just like everyone else’s.
The Tide (Book 5): Iron Wind Page 29