Darkest Night

by James Cherry

  The doctor made it to an elevator and paused. He knew that the first place the soldiers would look would be the elevators and staircases so he continued walking down a hallway until he spied a silvery door mounted flush into the wall marked ‘Laundry’. He glanced up and down the hall and smiled as he realized that he was alone.

  He opened the laundry chute and crawled inside, his portly body barely fitting into the cramped quarters. He took one last glance in each direction of the hall and let go of the door. The door slammed shut and engulfed him in complete darkness as he began to slide.

  He only slid for a few seconds before his stomach suddenly lurched as the bottom dropped out from underneath him. He flailed his arms and legs against the sides of the chute in a futile attempt to slow his rapid descent, but he only succeeded in battering his arms as he fell.

  The darkness gave way to light as he fell out of the chute and into a room. He only got a momentary glance of the room before he impacted into a large cart full of clothing.

  Doctor Burch lay stunned for a moment. He attempted to get up but the bulky and awkward bags of clothing hampered him. Flailing about, he finally managed to roll out of the laundry cart and fell heavily to the floor. Beaten, bruised and battered, the doctor sucked in a ragged breath as he attempted to regain his composure.

  He slowly stood and looked about the dimly lit room. It appeared that he was inside some basement laundry room. Carts of various shapes and sizes were scattered about in disarray and piles of towels, sheets, and gowns littered the floor.

  He looked for an exit and saw two doors. A door on the left side of the room was marked ‘Wash Room’ and the door on the right side was marked ‘Emergency Exit’.

  He bent over the closest laundry cart and dug for a uniform. He opened several bags with no luck, all he found were dirty gowns, stained sheets, and soiled towels. He moved to the wash room door and slowly opened it as he peeked inside.

  The wash room contained double row of washing machines and dryers. Lining the walls were tables piled high with enormous quantities of sheets and towels. Several workers were busy folding clothes, sheets, and towels but did not seem to notice the doctor as he entered the room.

  He gathered his resolve and strode boldly into the room. He approached a young woman and demanded, “You, where is my lab coat?”

  The young woman looked up with a start and said, “I have no idea what you are talking about, sir.”

  The doctor replied, “I sent my lab coat down to be cleaned a week ago and I have yet to get it back. Now, I need my coat.”

  The young woman turned and waved to an older woman, who was standing next to a wall having an animated phone conversation with someone. The woman hung up the phone and approached with a broad smile upon her face.

  “Yes, sir, what seems to be the problem?”

  “You people have lost my lab coat, and I need one now," the doctor huffed in anger.

  The smile faded from the woman’s face and she said, “I am sorry, I will get you another one. What is your name sir?”

  With a stern face, the doctor said, “Doctor William Brock from radiology. I have only been at this hospital for two weeks and you are already losing my stuff.”

  The flustered old woman waved her hands in apology and said, “Sir, please calm down. I will get a replacement lab coat for you right now. I apologize for the loss of your lab coat, but it’s not really that big of a deal. You can come down here and go into the storage closet at any time and get a new one.”

  She hurried out the front door and across the hall into a storeroom. After only a few moments she returned carrying a new white lab coat, still in a package.

  She said, “Sir, this one does not have an embroidered name on it but we will be happy to embroider it any time at no charge. Just bring it back when you would like us to do it." She handed over the lab coat and backed away.

  The doctor smiled and said, “I apologize. I have been having a very bad day. Thank you for the coat.”

  He turned and walked towards the front door. As he neared the door he stopped to rip the package from the coat and stuffed the wadded plastic into a garbage can. After donning the coat he opened the door and stepped through to the other side.

  He entered into a long deserted hallway and at one end he could clearly see an exit, while at the other end was several offices. He looked around and spotted a storage closet directly across from the laundry room exit. He stepped across the hallway and turned the knob. The door opened and he slid into the closet.

  The doctor gasped in surprise. The closet was huge, it was more of a room than a closet. The room was full of medical clothing, towels, linen, and other items that had been washed by the hospital. In one corner a stack of new items caught his attention.

  He approached the stack and thumbed through them until he found a surgical mask and hat. He pulled out one of each and tied them to his head, covering the acid burns and balding head. He then removed his glasses and placed them securely in the front pocket of his lab coat.

  As he turned to leave the closet, he spotted a box labeled ‘Bibles’. Ripping open the box he grabbed a Bible and placed it in the front pocket of his lab coat alongside his glasses. He then left the room and walked down the hallway towards the exit.

  As he opened the door, a young soldier standing guard just outside of the doors eyed him intently.

  The doctor said in mock astonishment, “Soldier, what the hell is going on here?”

  The soldier replied, “We had a prisoner escape. Please remove your mask, sir.”

  The doctor ignored the request and said, “What did this prisoner look like?”

  The soldier pointed his rifle at the doctor and ordered, “He has acid burns on his face. Now please remove the mask sir.”

  The doctor held his hands up in resignation as he realized that he had been caught. He reached up and grasped the mask with his right hand and began to pull it downward.

  Suddenly an apparent urgent call distracted the soldier and he pressed the side of his helmet with one free hand as he listened to the conversation.

  The soldier moved his rifle away from the doctor and said, “I apologize sir, but it seems that we have caught the prisoner. You may pass.”

  The soldier stepped back from the door and allowed the doctor to pass unhindered. The doctor, not believing his luck, hurried outside and ran to the edge of the road. Waving down a taxi, it squealed to a stop and he swiftly jumped into the back seat. Unbuttoning his lab coat he reached inside his rumpled suit jacket and retrieved several twenty dollar bills from his wallet and handed it to the taxi driver.

  “Take me to the airport, quickly,” he demanded.

  As the taxi driver complied and sped away, the doctor looked out of the window and wondered what had happened to allow his escape. As the taxi rounded the corner and drove along the back side of the hospital, he saw three soldiers escorting a portly man with a bandaged face to a waiting Humvee.

  The doctor wondered aloud, “Why did the soldiers grab that man?”

  The taxi driver answered, “I don’t know why but I seen everything. When that man came out of the building the soldiers tried to stop him and the man ran. They jumped on him and tied him up. I guess he is an escaped prisoner or something. Who knows." The driver shrugged and whistled an unfamiliar tune.

  The doctor began to sweat and realized that he still had the mask and cap on. He removed the mask and cap and dropped them on the floor. He next removed the lab coat and dropped it on the floor in front of him as well. The lab coat made a thump as it landed, reminding the doctor of his glasses and bible. He hastily picked it back up and removed his glasses from the coat and put them on his face. He then retrieved the Bible and let the lab coat fall back to the floor.

  Opening the Bible he turned to Job chapter forty-one and began to read. One particular verse caught his eye, and he read softly to himself, “Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as ou
t of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.”

  As he read on he found another verse that chilled him to the bone. He read aloud again, “Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.”

  The doctor slowly closed the Bible and stared out of the window lost in thought.

  The taxi arrived at the airport without incident and the doctor jumped out of the taxi, not bothering to wait for change.

  As he rushed into the lobby, he suddenly realized that he didn’t have quite enough cash on his person to buy a plane ticket to Peru, so he pondered using a credit card. After a moment’s thought, he decided that the use of a credit card would allow someone to track his movements so he looked around for an ATM and soon located one. Inserting his card he withdrew four hundred dollars and then he rushed to a ticket counter. Thankfully the line to the counter was short and within a few minutes he had purchased a one way ticked to Lima, Peru.

  The flight was scheduled to leave in two hours so he lounged about in the gate area, paranoid that the soldiers would stop him before he was able to get on the plane. He hoped and prayed that the soldiers wouldn’t think to check any international flights, but rather would be concentrating on checking domestic flights. His gamble paid off as a crackling voice suddenly called over the intercom directing first class to begin boarding.

  He finally boarded the plane, made his way to his seat, and sat down. He buckled his seat belt and nervously watched as the remaining passengers boarded, not relaxing until the plane had finally left the ground.

  Chapter 18

  Bo grabbed Marty by the scruff of the neck and effortlessly threw him against the wall. The impact was such that it forced the air from Marty’s lungs. Gasping for breath, he slowly slid down the wall and held up a hand in submission.

  Undeterred, Bo picked Marty up by the front of his shirt, pulled him close until his face was only inches from Marty’s, and yelled, “How could you help him escape without us? Why didn’t you tell us what he was up to? How could you?” Bo’s hot breath was flecked with spittle, and Marty turned his head to one side to avoid the angry shower.

  Ayako grabbed Bo’s arm and said sternly, “Marty was just doing what David asked of him. What’s done is done. And now need to get out of here ourselves and find David.”

  She turned to Marty and asked softly, “Where did David say he was going?”

  Marty shook his head and replied, “I honestly don’t know. He just said he needed to escape so that he could try and save the dragons from extinction. He did tell me that he was first going to Nashville to visit his mother in the hospital. If I knew where he was going from there I would tell you, honest.”

  Ayako nodded in understanding and roughly pushed herself between Marty and the belligerent Bo. Bo reluctantly released Marty and moved to stand next to Carter. Both men stood rock still with their arms crossed as they glared in anger at the beaten and bruised Marty.

  Marty stood up, wiped the sweat from his brow, and said, “I just remembered something. The doctor had said something about some computer file that he found, labeled Operation Eraser. He said it was in the main directory, and he stumbled over it by accident.”

  Bo’s glare turned to a look of alarm and he said, “Marty, did the doctor hack into the file?”

  Marty replied, “No, he said the file was not encrypted, just sitting there for him to find.”

  Carter shook his head in dismay and said, “It appears that the doctor has been set up again.”

  Marty furrowed his brow in confusion and asked, “How do you know that?”

  Bo replied, “Do you honestly think that the military will leave some top secret file unencrypted and in the main directory so that just anyone can access it?”

  Marty’s eyes widened with sudden understanding and he said, “So the military wanted the Doc to find the file and then leave here? Why go through so much crap, why not just hand him the file and open the front door?”

  Bo replied, “Covert Ops. They have something much more sinister planned for the doctor, and for us as well. We are all in danger. The doctor told us earlier that General Crowell mentioned the need for secrecy, and that they didn’t want any other government knowing of this plan. The fact is that Ayako is a Japanese national and Doctor Chin is Chinese. The military will never let you two leave here alive." Bo pointed to Ayako and Doctor Chin in emphasis.

  “So why did they bring us into this to begin with if they only plan on killing us?” asked Ayako.

  Carter answered, “They used you. They needed your talents to gather information on the creatures, and once they had that information, you were no longer any use to them. We are all dead because we know too much already.”

  Doctor Chin appeared upset to the point of tears. He stated, “I am ready to get out of here and away from your military. I will go and gather all the data that I had collected on the young dragon. I need to get the data out so that we can share it with the whole world. That may be the only way to keep us alive. Let me know when you plan on leaving here.” He bowed his head and quickly left the room.

  Bo turned to Ayako and asked, “Can we trust him?”

  Ayako answered, “Yes, he has been a good friend for many years. We can trust him.”

  Carter nodded and said, “Good enough for me, so what’s the plan Bo?”

  “Simple. I noticed that supplies arrive by helicopter at seventeen hundred hours every day. It is now fifteen thirty. At sixteen fifty-five Carter and I will approach the two guards at the front door. We will incapacitate them and take their uniforms. All of us will then exit the facility together and go to the helipad. We will jump on the helicopter and force the pilot to carry us to a civilian airstrip. From there Carter can fly a small plane to Nashville,” said Bo.

  Marty was becoming excited at the anticipation of the danger and thrill of escape. He added, “I will go to the lab and retrieve the information on Operation Eraser from the hard drive. It might tell what the doctor is after and where he might be going. I will meet you near the front door at sixteen fifty-five." He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Um, what does sixteen fifty-five mean anyway?”

  Ayako replied, “Four fifty-five P.M.”

  Bo clapped his hands together and said, “Let’s do this. Store room first for some rope and tape.”

  Bo slapped Carter on the back and the two men walked out of the room.

  Ayako called out at the backs of the two men, “I will just stay here until you two get back.”

  Marty waited until the men were out of sight, and safely out of their reach, before he hurried from the room.

  ***

  Bo and Carter arrived at the door to the supply room and glanced around. Satisfied that they were alone in the corridor, Carter stepped close to the door and wiggled the handle gently. The door was locked so he backed up three steps and quickly lashed his leg forward, kicking the door. The door burst open with a loud crack as the latch broke through the frame of the door, showering the inside of the supply room with jagged splinters and flecks of paint. As Bo stood at lookout in the hallway, Carter rushed in and searched for rope and a roll of duct tape.

  Finding the items he was looking for, Carter quickly retreated back into the hallway and shut the damaged door behind him. But the broken door refused to latch and popped back open. Bo snickered as Carter unrolled a bit of duct tape and wedged it between the door and the frame. He slowly closed the door again, this time the door stayed shut.

  Carter looked at Bo with a smug smile.

  Bo merely shook his head in amusement.

  The two men turned and rushed back to Marty’s quarters, entered the room, and shut the door behind them.

  As Bo glanced about the room, he noticed that Ayako and Doctor Chin were sitting patiently on Marty’s bed.

  “Doctor Chin, I thought that you were going to collect the data on the dragon?” Bo asked.

 
; Doctor Chin grinned and replied, “I did. I was already prepared for a quick escape and had put all the data on one compact disc. It should be more than enough to prove our case and expose to the world that dragons do exist. Hopefully, this CD will save our lives. I also made copies for everyone.”

  Doctor Chin reached into his backpack and retrieved four more CD’s, each nestled within a hard plastic case. He passed them out to the team and said, “I wanted everyone to have a copy just in case I was killed or captured. At least one of us should make it out alive with the information.”

  Bo nodded in agreement as he accepted the CD. He placed it down the front of his pants and frowned as the cold plastic came into contact with his bare skin. He would have to find a safer place to hide the item.

  Bending down, Bo reached under Marty’s bed, pulled out a small duffel bag, and dumped the contents of the bag onto the bed. He gave the pile a cursory glance and it appeared that most of the junk was personal items and clothing. Making a mental note that nothing was useful or needed, he only placed the CD, rope, and duct tape into the bag and drew the strings closed.

  A sudden voice from the doorway caused Bo to jump with surprise.

  “Hey, what are you doing to my stuff?” shouted Marty.

  Bo turned to face Marty and said, “We need the bag, we don’t need your personal hygiene crap. Now, get in here and shut that door.”

  Marty stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He said, “The information was there and was not encrypted. I didn’t have time to read much, but I did find a map which shows a major concentration of dragons in the Andes Mountains area.”

  Bo stated smugly, “He went to the Andes.”

  “The Andes Mountain range is a very large area, how will we find the doctor once we get there?” asked Marty.