Amanda had to smile at this.
‘You in off the street or did you serve?’ Amanda asked, standing up and brushing herself down.
‘1st Marine. Caught the tail end of Sri Lanka. We were in New York trying to evacuate civilians. Under Colonel Barclay.’
‘He’s good people,’ Mikey assured her.
‘Miss Cross,’ Asher began irritably. ‘My time is very valuable and you have work to do.’
‘Okay, I’m through playing detective. Standard operating procedure is you pull everyone out of here and you call in spec ops. They hunt and kill this thing and then you can go back to work.’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Dr Asher said.
‘It’s the SOP,’ Amanda said, feeling her heart drop. Asher wouldn’t want to shut down the operation and call in spec ops because it would mean a loss of productivity and a loss of control. In short, it wouldn’t help him crawl back up to the corporate trough.
‘There’s ten of you and one of these things . . .’
‘And we have to keep the dig secure and hunt this thing and possibly sleep as well. There are hundreds of miles of tunnel down here, not to mention that this could be the tip of the iceberg. My experience is that if there’s one, there’s probably more.’
‘I’ve read your record. Military police Special Response Team and then you transferred to the Defence Criminal Investigation Service. You have the skills to deal with this situation. In fact, you were a very promising young CELL officer until you disgraced yourself by disobeying direct orders and abandoning your post in New York.’
Amanda clenched her jaw but did not rise to the provocation.
‘Fine. Shut down sites B through E . . .’
‘No. In fact, as soon as we’re finished here have the body cleared away, because I’m bringing another team in. The fact that it killed here suggests that this site may be more important than we initially thought. Just find this thing and kill it.’
‘We can’t protect everyone at all five sites. People are going to die.’ Amanda said through gritted teeth.
‘And with the death of Walters and your presence here, we have proof that dead people can be replaced. Are there any other simple concepts that you would like explained to you before you get on with your job?’ Asher asked.
Asher turned to leave. Safiya and Hank stayed put. Asher turned back to them, clearly furious.
‘You two with me, now!’ he snapped.
‘You’re going to keep two of my detail with you?!’ Amanda said, incredulously. Asher just looked at her as if she was a moron. ‘Doctor, I need at least one of them with me.’
‘Already your incompetence is annoying me. It only takes a phone call . . .’ He left the rest of the threat about her cousin and their family in the upstate New York refugee camp unsaid.
‘You need to be careful that you don’t push so hard that the other person feels that they’ve got nothing left to lose,’ Amanda told him. Asher started going red again, furious.
‘You, inbreed,’ he finally said to Hank. ‘Stay with her.’
‘Yes sir,’ Hank said mildly.
Amanda would have preferred Safiya, and she didn’t like the way that Asher was looking at the attractive French/Algerian contractor. She did, however, have perfect confidence in Safiya’s ability to look after herself.
Asher left.
‘So, he seems nice,’ Amanda muttered. Mikey laughed, Alan and Hank smiled.
She had gathered them all in site A. They were sat just behind one of the light rigs, in a circle. Okobe, Daniels and Schmidt had all greeted her warmly. Genuinely pleased that she was with them again.
‘You’re supposed to be like plod, aye?’ Kearney asked. He was a wiry, thuggish-looking kid from somewhere called Wolverhampton in Britain. Apparently he’d ended up in CELL due to the UK’s Penal Conscription Act. Amanda found this a little strange. She had thought that conscripts under the act were supposed to end up in Britain’s actual military, not as corporate military contractors.
Amanda narrowed her eyes at Kearney and just shook her head in bewilderment. His accent was almost impossible to understand.
She’d secured her body armour and was wearing a holstered Hammer II automatic pistol on her hip. She was in the process of reassembling and checking her Alpha Jackal combat shotgun. She had just attached the fore grip to the mounting rails under the barrel and was in the process of attaching a flashlight to the mounting rails on the side of the weapon.
‘He wants to know if you’re police,’ Daniels translated for her. He was another Brit, who’d served with the Royal Engineers. He was a middle-aged man going to seed. If CELL had any sense he would have been working for them servicing vehicles and weapons, but in a very military show of logic he’d ended up carrying a Grendel in a security detail.
‘I used to be an MP,’ Amanda told Kearney.
‘So you gonna’ investigate this?’
‘It’s not an investigation, it’s a hunt. It doesn’t matter who or what did this or why, we just need to find it and kill it. And I’ve got some bad news for you, kid.’ Kearney narrowed his eyes. ‘Go and relieve Safiya and send her back here.’
The young British kid opened his mouth to protest but Daniels looked over at him and just shook his head. The kid remained quiet and headed over to where the doctor was looking over some findings.
‘We going into the caves?’ Coyle asked, sounding worried. Coyle was another of the new guys. An American who had served in a tank regiment. He had the look of a soldier who’d stopped caring about himself, or anything else for that matter.
‘We’d just get lost unless we’ve got solid intel as to its whereabouts.’
‘Do you know what this place is?’ Alan asked Amanda. Amanda laughed.
‘I got put on a transport flight from Lagos. I wasn’t even told I was going to St. Petersburg.’ There was some laughter from around the circle.
‘Asher talks openly in front of us. He thinks anyone carrying a gun is a mental sub-normal who wouldn’t understand what he’s talking about.’
‘Yeah, he’s a charmer alright,’ Amanda said. ‘So?’
‘He thinks this is part of a birthing chamber. Somewhere below here are Ceph, or things that will become Ceph, or at the very least some of their tech, just like New York.’
‘Nice. So if one of them is awake . . .’ Amanda asked as she slid the extended magazine into the Jackal.
‘Then they’re probably trying to find a way to wake the others.’
‘And we end up with another New York right here in St. Petersburg.’
‘Which won’t matter to us,’ Daniels said. ‘Because we’ll be overwhelmed immediately.’ He had been with them in New York. He’d seen what the Ceph could do.
‘I just want some payback for Sam,’ Okobe muttered. There were nods from Mikey and Schmidt as well. Okobe was ex-Nigerian army. He was tall, rake thin but somehow still powerful looking. Normally quiet but he had been close to Sam and it looked like her death had hit him hard. Amanda reached out and grabbed the Nigerian’s arm. She had liked Sam as well.
A harried-looking Safiya joined them.
‘I’ve only got a little while, he’s less than pleased at the swap,’ she told them. There were some angry mutterings.
‘Okay, ideas?’ Amanda said.
‘Claymores?’ Daniels suggested.
‘Do you have any?’ Amanda asked. Daniels shook his head. ‘Probably for the best. We can’t have some junior xeno-archaeologist spread themselves all over the local area.’
‘It might catch Asher,’ Schmidt suggested. There was more laughter. Schmidt had been a tank gunner in the German army. The German looked after himself. His flattop blonde hair and blue eyes made him look like the Aryan ideal. His appearance was at odds with his apparently generous and friendly nature.
‘We’ve got five caverns to cover, not to mention intervening tunnels, and Asher wants all the sites up and running. Even one person per cavern, we’re going to struggle if we want to sleep and som
eone’s going to have to stay with Asher and hold his hand,’ Mikey pointed out. Amanda was already shaking her head.
‘We rotate whomever’s on that fat fuck so Safiya’s skin doesn’t crawl off on its own.’ There were a few more chuckles. Safiya’s laughter seemed forced. ‘Six on, three off, staggered sixteen hour shifts,’ Now there were groans. ‘The three off sleep here in the main cavern. The other six work in two patrols of three, working round all five sites. None of us go anywhere unless we have two others with us, clear?’ There were nods from the others.
‘That’s still pretty thin,’ Alan pointed out.
‘Give me an option. I’m guessing that Sam and Walters were both on their own?’ There were nods from around the circle. ‘What are comms like?’
‘They’ve got transceivers attached to the walls of the tunnels. Basically you’ve got good coverage at the five sites and the tunnels directly between, but get off the beaten track and it’s for shit,’ Hank told her.
‘You thinking cameras?’ Daniels asked. Amanda nodded.
‘And I want the cameras streaming to phones carried by each patrol. Can you do that?’
Daniels was nodding.
‘I should be able to sort something, though I can’t promise total coverage.’
Amanda knew it was busy work. She was just giving them something to do. They were glad that someone was here making decisions, and that that person could do a good impression of competence.
The cameras might help but she was of the opinion that it would be the Stalker, or whatever Ceph monstrosity that was down there with them, that would set the tempo of their hunt. Unless they could divine a purpose and work out its whereabouts, or when it was going to strike, they were just going to be reacting.
Amanda was of the opinion that she might be able to do something if Asher would pull everyone back into Site A in the main cavern. With them spread out like this, people were going to die.
The light started to shake. Everyone looked up. Amanda realised that it was the ground shaking. The lights toppled over and smashed. Around the cavern similar things were happening as the dig personnel staggered around. Some of them were grabbing lights and other pieces of equipment trying to steady them.
There were explosions of rock all around the cavern. There were cries of pain as sharp fragments of flying rock hit people. It looked like the seams of metal in the stone had come to life. The organic, almost bone-like metal was pushing through the stone like the tips of claws. It was glowing with some kind of internal light.
This is it, Amanda thought, they’re waking up. We’re dead. She felt the same terror she’d felt in New York grab her. Then, as quickly as it had started, the shaking stopped. Amanda could hear the moaning and whimpering of frightened and, in some cases, wounded people in the main cave.
They were all looking to her now. She was desperately trying to hide her fear.
‘Mikey, Schmidt, stay here with Coyle. You do not help these people, even the wounded, you stick together and work the perimeter. Alan, you take Okobe and Safiya, check sites B and C. Daniels, you and Hank are with me.’
She ignored cries for help. She ignored Asher shouting at her as she headed for the tunnel, the Jackal held tight into her shoulder. As Amanda scanned left and right she noticed that the internal light from the metal was going out. It was as if it had become inert.
‘Where’s Kearney?’ she asked. Nobody had an answer.
Amanda swallowed hard. This wasn’t what she had expected. The lights had gone out in site E. Like site D it was a much smaller, irregularly shaped cavern worked smooth by water over its millennia of existence. The floor of the cavern was a series of rough, narrow trenches chipped out of the stone. As in the main cavern, it looked as though the segmented, bone-like Ceph tech had momentarily come to life and fused together, breaking through the rock. Also like the main cavern, the process seemed to have been interrupted. Unlike the main cavern there looked like there was something wrong with the visible protrusions of the Ceph tech. It looked sick somehow, or perhaps even dead.
Kearney’s corpse lay on the floor but she didn’t have time to check it yet. First they had to secure the site as best they could.
The beam from the flashlight attached to the barrel of her combat shotgun shook as she searched for the alien killer in the pitch darkness of the cavern, over a mile beneath the surface of the Earth.
They had found nothing. After the chaos and the panic things had calmed down enough for them to get light back on in Site E. After significant reassurances that it was as safe as it was going to get, a very angry Dr Asher had joined them. He assured Amanda that she would be held responsible for her incompetence in allowing the site to get damaged. He didn’t say anything about the corpse lying on the floor. Amanda had to stop Daniels from tearing into Asher.
‘So what do you think happened here, doctor?’ Amanda asked once Asher had finished admonishing her.
‘Isn’t it obvious? A Ceph bioform, probably a Stalker, came in and killed your man.’
‘Weird damn way to kill him,’ Hank said.
‘You do know what the word alien means, don’t you?’ Asher asked scathingly.
‘He was killed with what looks like a bladed weapon through the base of the skull and up into the brain . . .’
‘A Stalker bone spur . . .’
‘Maybe, but with a full investigative team here I might be able to find out more . . .’
‘What more do you need to know? You have a Stalker . . .’
‘Stalkers don’t kill like that,’ Daniels told him from his position, where he was watching one of the dark tunnels. Asher looked like he’d been slapped.
‘Keep your men under control!’ he spat, genuinely offended.
One day we need to examine the basis for your apparent superiority, Amanda thought.
‘He’s right, they slash, like with a sword,’ she told him.
‘You need to stop thinking so narrowly. This species isn’t like us, they adapt reactively between generations. Given time, and they don’t need that much, they develop the tools they need.’
‘So we could be dealing with something new here?’ Amanda asked.
‘Perhaps.’
‘Does it have anything to do with the Ceph-tech initiating?’ Hank asked. Asher looked angry that the bucktoothed southerner had dared speak to him.
‘Perhaps, or perhaps it was just reacting to the presence of a Ceph-bioform. Now as much fun as trying to teach monkeys algebra is, I have work to do.’ Asher turned to leave, motioning Safiya to join him.
‘What’s wrong with the Ceph tech in here, Asher?’ Amanda asked. She watched him swallow hard.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he finally said.
And that’s a fucking lie, Amanda thought, but that’s all I’m going to get out of you, isn’t it?
‘Okay doc, thank you, we’ll call if we think you can help any more,’ Amanda told the piggy-looking scientist. Asher opened his mouth to protest being dismissed by a subordinate, but Amanda had already moved on. ‘Mikey, get your people’s heads down, try and get as much sleep as you can because you’re on again at 1600 zulu,’ she said over the tac radio, pausing for an affirmative. ‘Alan, I want your people doing sweeps, leave the main cavern, it’s going to hit us where we’re lightest. Concentrate on sites B through D, I think it’s finished with E.’ Amanda glanced up at Asher, looking for a reaction. He looked angry at his dismissal but he turned and left Site E. Safiya followed him.
‘Poor kid,’ Daniels said looking down at Kearney. ‘He was a little shit but you could see something worthwhile in him trying to get out.’
I didn’t even get a chance to know him, Amanda thought. She couldn’t muster up much feeling. She’d seen young lives wasted before. It was clear that Daniels had liked the kid, however.
‘What do you think?’ Daniels asked looking away from Kearney’s body.
‘I don’t think it’s a Stalker,’ Amanda said. The British engineer
was nodding in agreement.
‘You even think it’s Ceph?’ he asked.
‘Has to be,’ she said sounding not entirely sure.
‘The tech’s initiating for a reason.’ She pointed at the trenches full of inert Ceph tech fused with the rock. ‘No reason to do that unless it’s Ceph. If it isn’t because of this killer then we’ve got bigger problems.’
‘What, then?’ Hank asked.
‘I think it’s something higher up the squiddies’ evolutionary chain and that makes me nervous,’ she told the Georgian. He nodded and then looked troubled. ‘Spit it out.’
‘I don’t mean to offend you none . . .’
‘Something that’s almost always said before someone offends me.’
‘I’ve come to terms with how CELL left us in the shit in New York. That wasn’t you people’s call but I heard stories about you. Abandoning your post, deserting your people.’
Amanda glanced over at Daniels. He shrugged.
‘We told him to talk to you about it,’ the Brit told her.
‘Look, you seem cool and everything, but I just want to know who I’m working with.’
‘Fair enough. That’s exactly what I did in New York,’ she told him evenly. Hank just watched her, saying nothing. ‘I had family in New York. The whole place was crawling with Ceph, there was the virus and there were CELL units brutalising and executing refugees and people suffering from the virus. I left my people to go and try and get my family out. Same thing was to happen, I’d do it all over again.’
Hank nodded.
‘We would have gone with her,’ Daniels told him. ‘We were all going to desert but Amanda knew it’d sink our careers, such as they are. She slipped away when we weren’t paying attention.’
Hank was nodding.
‘If it’s kin I guess I can understand.’
‘If I’d still been in the army it might have been difficult but frankly, fuck CELL . All they are to me is a rapidly shrinking monthly pay packet. In fact if you were in New York under Barclay I’m surprised you joined up with CELL .’
Hank shrugged.
‘Times is tough. I got kin as well.’
Daniels and Amanda nodded in agreement.
Crysis: Escalation Page 9