‘And that will help how?’
‘People will be disorientated and preoccupied. Also, all our vehicles are equipped with Blackout Systems, enabling us to drive without any lights. We’ll go dark. Add to that the sudden lack of real-time satellite imagery that militaries the world over rely heavily on to monitor ground movements, and we have a fair chance of getting through.’
‘Undetected?’
‘Unlikely. Resign yourself to the fact that we will encounter resistance to our relocation from either U.S. or Mexican forces at some point. If things go our way casualties should be minimal on both sides.’
‘It sounds like you’ve thought of everything, Commander,’ Goodwin said, trying to ignore the fact that further bloodshed might be unavoidable. ‘Good job.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
Goodwin sat back. ‘I have to say, I’m impressed by this base and its equipment. I didn’t realise Darklight had such resources available to it.’
Hilt smiled. ‘You should see our North American headquarters up in Washington State.’
‘Big?’ Goodwin said.
‘Perhaps ten times the size of this one.’
Goodwin whistled. ‘I bet the Government doesn’t like that on their soil.’
‘You’d think, but security is big business. Besides, we’re contracted out to many of America’s largest companies on a regular basis. The government itself also uses us for covert black ops unable to be carried out by their own forces.’
Goodwin didn’t like to ask what kind of operations they were hired for; in fact, he felt he’d rather not know. Private security was a highly secretive business and one didn’t pry into it too deeply. He believed Darklight operated mostly under the GMRC remit, which meant they weren’t sent into controversial secret wars – as far as he knew, anyway.
‘Sir, may I ask you some questions?’ the commander said.
‘Of course.’
‘As you told me, we’re heading to U.S.S.B. Sanctuary, and the coordinates you gave me are as Professor Steiner indicated.’
Goodwin nodded.
‘The location is approximately two hundred miles north of Mexico’s capital city,’ Hilt continued. ‘The area we will pass into is in the south of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range and the exact location is about five thousand feet above sea level.’
‘Will this prove a problem for the vehicles?’ Goodwin asked.
‘It shouldn’t as they’re designed for all terrains and such an elevation is well within their capability.’
‘Regardless of the type of access roads to the site?’ Goodwin said.
‘The roads may prove a problem, but we have the necessary equipment and skill sets to negotiate any tricky passes we may encounter.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
‘When we get to this back door that will take us into the base, will it be under surveillance? I would guess almost certainly. Will it be guarded? Perhaps; but most importantly, will it be locked? Most assuredly. How then are we going to get in? You told me we would discuss this matter at a later date and it is now a later date. I need to know your plan.’
‘I’m sorry, Commander, I should have brought this up first.’
‘Not a problem, sir. I just think that we are going into the unknown. I need to know all there is to know to make the most informed decision to ensure the safety of those under my command. We are heading into the lion’s den, so to speak. We are looking to evade the U.S. military, although we may perhaps engage them further, and yet we are heading towards one of their strongholds, a place of which we know very little. If I may be blunt, it seems a little insane.’
‘All valid points, Commander, and your fears are ones that I share. The professor was very clear, however; we must get to Sanctuary, even though it seems counterintuitive to do so. I trust the man with my life and with the lives of those under my care. The entrance we’re to exploit is rarely used, according to the professor, and he should know as he helped design all U.S. subterranean bases, including Sanctuary. If anyone knows the best way in, it will be him. The professor also supplied me with a piece of software, more like code actually, that will ensure we can get at least part way inside.’
‘Part way?’
‘The code itself looks very similar to that used at Steadfast’s entrances,’ Goodwin said. ‘Once we breach Sanctuary’s surface facility I will then get in touch with a contact on the inside who will help gain us full access to the elevator shafts.’
‘The contact is a reliable one?’
‘I hope so. It’s a General Ellwood. Have you heard of him?’
The commander shook his head.
‘Neither have I. Well, by the sound of it, he owes Professor Steiner some kind of favour.’
‘A favour?’ Hilt said with concern. ‘I hope it’s a big one.’
‘So do I, but that’s all we’ve got.’
‘And this general will let thousands of refugees and heavily armed contractors into his base?’
‘I didn’t get the impression Ellwood was in charge of the base, but he’s high enough up to be able to help us. The professor did say that we wouldn’t be able to let the general know how many of us there are, otherwise he would baulk. I’ll tell him it’s twenty or so people and we’ll have to hope our approach is unseen.’
‘Is that going to possible?’ Hilt asked. ‘Our convoy will be extensive.’
‘You said it yourself, satellite imagery will be down, cloud cover will be overhead and your vehicles can operate with stealth. Besides, if Sanctuary is operating on the same protocols as Steadfast, then it will be sealed tight so there will be no need for the base to be looking groundward.’
Hilt seemed satisfied with Goodwin’s answers. He’ll have to be, Goodwin thought, it’s all I’ve got. ‘Moving on to transportation,’ Goodwin continued, ‘will there be enough room for everyone? It took scores of trips to get us this far, and that’s just twenty kilometres, with some people walking part of the way. Surely even this base isn’t prepared to relocate the mass of people we’ve brought with us?’
‘You forget,’ Hilt said, ‘Darklight has helped relocate millions of people from the African states. We’re geared up for large scale evacuations, it’s what we do.’ The Darklight leader walked to the nearest wall and pressed a button, which sent one side of the room’s Grand Canyon frieze rolling up into the ceiling.
Goodwin joined the commander at the newly revealed window and looked down into another section of the compound, previously hidden from view. This second hangar, albeit two-thirds empty, contained another two dozen enormous multi-tiered personnel carriers, machines with a capacity ten times that of civilian coaches. Alongside these, other types of smaller transporters had been assembled, all of which were being prepped for departure.
‘Impressive,’ Goodwin said, ‘but it still doesn’t look enough, not by half.’
‘If we were at full capacity then it wouldn’t be an issue,’ Hilt said, ‘but no, you’re right; at the moment we aren’t geared for such large scale movement of personnel. Twenty-five thousand civilians plus five thousand Darklight contractors, that’s a lot of bodies.’
‘Enough to fill a small sports stadium,’ Goodwin agreed.
‘We’re going to have to overload the troop carriers,’ Hilt said, ‘and every other vehicle for that matter, perhaps by over seventy-five per cent.’
‘That sounds excessive.’
‘It’s the only option we have. It’ll be tight and uncomfortable, but it’ll do.’
‘I suppose comfortable travel is not really our highest concern at the moment,’ Goodwin said, with little humour.
‘No,’ Hilt agreed. ‘What is our concern is the DEFCON level; it was already high due to the meteorite, but since China’s nuclear attack on our allies SAC is at DEFCON 1 and the pistol is cocked.’
‘SAC?’
‘Strategic Air Command. The rest of the armed forces are at DEFCON 2.’
‘DEFCON 1? That’s unprecedented,
isn’t it?’
Hilt nodded, his expression solemn. ‘Even during the Cuban missile crisis, the highest level reached was two.’
‘And I take it that’s bad for us?’
‘It will mean all U.S. military divisions will have their fingers on or near the trigger. Tensions will be running high. Add to this fact the dust cloud and satellite blindness and you’ve got a powder keg. We do have some good news, however. I’ve called in a Darklight aircraft carrier, the Phoenix, to assist us. It has full air support capability, although high altitude missions are off limits due to the cloud’s particulates.’
‘Won’t it take some time to get here?’ Goodwin said, knowing that ships moved relatively slowly.
‘Ordinarily yes, but Professor Steiner told me to activate our top assets when he called Darklight into Steadfast, so the ship is already positioned in the Gulf of Mexico.’
Thank you, Professor, Goodwin thought, your foresight is helping even now. ‘Have you got anything else up your sleeve?’ Goodwin asked Hilt hopefully.
The commander smiled. ‘That’s pretty much it, although we do have helicopter gunships at this base. We won’t make them airborne to avoid attracting attention, but they can be deployed from their transporters while on the move.’
‘Nice,’ said Goodwin. ‘We obviously want to avoid any kind of battles though; the people we’re going to come up against aren’t our enemy.’
‘Tell that to Malcolm Joiner,’ Hilt said. ‘We’re trying to save lives and anyone in our way will try to prevent us with deadly force; that makes them an enemy in my book. Every soldier knows the risks of their duty. Sometimes they will find themselves on the wrong side, depending on perspective, that’s just part of the job. It’s what we sign up for.’
Goodwin still felt concerned and it must have shown.
‘We will obviously try to avoid engaging anyone, be they American or Mexican,’ Hilt told him, ‘but, as I said before, it will be a miracle if we get to the co-ordinates without any casualties. I think the question you must ask yourself is, do you believe what we are doing is the right option?’
‘The professor does and that’s good enough for me.’
‘Then we must stay the course.’
Goodwin nodded, more confident now. ‘They are wise words, Commander, and I thank you for them. It won’t stop me from praying for that miracle, though.’
‘Amen to that, sir,’ Hilt said. ‘Amen to that.’
♦
Goodwin was resting in his temporary quarters at the compound when a sharp knock came on the door. ‘Come in,’ he said, sitting up on the edge of his bed.
The door opened to reveal a civilian aide. ‘It’s happening, sir.’
‘Right.’ Goodwin got to his feet, donned his coat and followed the man into the corridor, where many others also hurried towards the exit.
Outside, the stars shone brightly in the crisp, cold night air, while a full moon cast subtle shadows on the ground, its silken light gleaming in the dark. Thousands of people gathered en masse, Darklight contractors and civilians alike, all eyes turned upwards to the heavens.
Some people pointed off to the east and a low chatter rippled through the crowd as expectations grew. And then Goodwin saw it, or rather its effects. Stars in the distance disappeared one by one as though snuffed out by a great hand, like a flame on a candle. The sky behind it appeared as black as death’s cold void. The stars directly above them were reached as the dust cloud continued its unstoppable advance, their eternal light extinguished in the blink of an eye. The Moon came next, allowing the cloud to be glimpsed directly as it moved ominously past.
After what seemed like only seconds the night sky had turned pitch-black.
Eternal night was finally upon them.
♦
A few hours later Hilt informed Goodwin that the forces Joiner must have sent to block their escape had been taken care of. According to the commander, they had been overcome with relative ease since they consisted of regulars and were short on numbers. They would be detained and then released at a later date.
Dawn broke with an empty promise when they moved out an hour or so later. No sunrise greeted them, only more of the dense, pervading darkness. The mood of the civilians mirrored that of the sky above and the soldiers were grim-faced and melancholy. To top off the darkness outside all vehicles operated under low interior lighting and zero external lights due to the order to utilise Blackout Systems. To any external witness the convoy, despite its size, would meld into the background of the New Mexico scrubland, the only clue as to its location the roar of the large personnel carriers moving at the core of the procession.
Heading towards Santa Fe, they were quickly on to one of the main trunk roads. The curfew, still in effect, ensured easy passage although they did go by two National Guard units which must have noticed the two hundred plus vehicles as they shot past them at a rate of knots. They were not pursued, however, and why would they be? Such a large armed contingent must be government-run – at least that’s what Goodwin hoped any onlookers would assume.
Goodwin rode in the lead personnel carrier, seated on the edge of an aisle seat next to Kara Vandervoort. Conditions were predictably cramped and the air was thick with warmth, the results of a few hundred people confined in the space meant for nearly half their number. The blacked out windows provided no view of the outside and even if they had, the darkness would have shown them little on the open roads.
The door to the driver’s cab opened in front of Goodwin and a soldier poked his head out. ‘Can you come up front, sir, the commander is on the com.’
Goodwin nodded, gave Kara a comforting smile and followed the man into the vehicle’s cockpit. Three men sat up front with an array of screens, buttons and dials surrounding them, the ice-blue lights of the consoles glowing against the low-lit red illumination the soldiers operated under. A head-up display on the main arching window portrayed a green image of the road ahead. From the personnel carrier’s elevated vantage point they could see nearly to the front of the mechanised caravan, where Goodwin knew Hilt was located in the lead vehicle.
‘Put this on, Director.’ A soldier passed him a small, one-sided headset.
Goodwin held the device up to his ear. ‘Commander?’
‘Sir, we’re coming up to a police checkpoint in the centre of the city,’ Hilt said. ‘We’re going to be stopping while I secure us passage. I’ll keep you apprised.’
‘We’re in Santa Fe, I didn’t realise?’
‘Yes, sir.’
Goodwin looked at the edges of the display, now able to make out the street lighting and buildings around them, each a varying shade of green. ‘Do you need any help?’
‘No, it should be fine. If you stay on the radio I’ll open the mic up so you can hear the exchange.’
‘Very good, Commander.’
‘We’re stopping now,’ Hilt said. ‘Stand by.’
The military trucks ahead slowed, then pulled up, and Goodwin’s personnel carrier lurched as it came to a halt behind them.
‘Sorry, sir,’ the soldier driving said, in apology for the jerky stop. ‘The vehicle’s not designed to carry this kind of load.’
‘No need to apologise,’ Goodwin told him as he listened in on the radio to Hilt ordering two of his men to accompany him.
A muffled rustling sound indicated the Darklight officer had exited from his transport.
‘Safeties off,’ Goodwin heard the commander say as he made his way to the police ahead of him.
‘I’m patching through the feed from the commander’s head camera,’ the driver told Goodwin, tapping away on some keys.
A full colour screen powered up just above the windscreen displaying an image of a large, permanent checkpoint installation around which a few police officers loitered. With the floodlights blazing down, an officer advanced to meet the Darklight commander as he approached. Goodwin heard the footfalls of the men cease as they stopped in front of each other.
�
��I don’t recognise your unit, soldier,’ the policeman said in a confrontational tone.
‘We’re covert ops,’ Hilt said with authority. ‘Lower your barriers so we can pass through. We’re on a tight schedule.’
‘We can’t do that, I’m afraid, sir,’ a second police officer told him. ‘We have an itinerary of all military movements in this area and you’re not on the list.’
Goodwin cursed, but Hilt remained as calm as ever.
‘I understand your predicament,’ Hilt said, ‘but in light of recent events the schedule has changed. We’re on DEFCON 1; do you know what that means?’
‘That we’re on high alert?’ the first officer said.
His colleague shook his head. ‘No, five is the highest alert, idiot.’
‘DEFCON 1 is the highest,’ Hilt said, correcting him. ‘And that means I can pretty much do what I want, so if you don’t get that barrier down, I’ll tear it down.’
The police officers looked at Hilt for a moment, then at each other, before moving away a few paces where they entered into a heated discussion. A few seconds later the first man walked off, while the second turned back to Hilt.
‘We’ll just get confirmation from Fort Bliss; it won’t take long.’
The view from Hilt’s camera swung ninety degrees. ‘Jam communications, Lieutenant,’ Hilt said under his breath, apparently to a Darklight officer who was also listening in. ‘Prepare to pacify. Wound only, no kill shots.’
Goodwin suddenly had a thought. ‘Commander, can you hear me?’
‘Go ahead, sir.’
‘There is an emergency command code that gives me the authority in extreme circumstances to override civilian authorities, including the police.’
‘Belay my last,’ Hilt told his men. ‘Do you have the code, sir?’ he asked Goodwin.
‘I have it on my phone, hang on.’ Goodwin took out his computer phone and unfolded its larger display. He navigated to his Steadfast control file and bored into subfolders until he found what he was searching for. ‘I have it, Commander, civilian override GMRC protocol nine five sigma. Code five eight nine seven six dash X-ray X-ray Quebec eight Kilo. They will need to confirm by contacting GMRC dispatch, but it should work.’
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