The Chimera Vector tfc-1

by Nathan M. Farrugia

Now was the time to move.

  Sophia rolled towards Renée, who was recovering from what must’ve been a couple of flashbangs. Lying on her back, Sophia raised her legs from the floor, ensnared Renée’s firing arm in her boots, one on the inside of the forearm, the other on the back of the upper arm. She clamped her legs together like a pair of scissors; the ringing in her ears drowned out the sound of snapping bone. Renée reeled back and her P90 dropped onto Sophia’s stomach.

  Sophia instantly seized it and rolled onto one knee, the stock pressed between her shoulder and chest. She should’ve dropped Renée first, but keeping Cecilia safe was more important.

  She found Cecilia crawling for cover on her hands and knees. One of the Berets was leveling his barrel at her. Sophia exhaled, snapped her holographic weapons sight up, the circle covering the Beret’s face. The dot in the center of the circle came to rest under the Beret’s helmet. She squeezed the trigger halfway. A single round tore the Beret’s head apart.

  Sophia shifted her aim back to Renée.

  Renée was missing.

  Keeping low, Sophia made for Cecilia. Rounds buzzed around her. She took Cecilia by the arm and pulled her behind a node cabinet. From the edge of the cabinet, she took aim at the cluster of Berets. Circle and dot over the blur of movement. She exhaled. Then stopped. Damien was right in the middle of them.

  She cursed, took her finger from the trigger and peered over her sights to watch the Berets — too close to Damien to open fire — draw stun batons instead. Damien darted swiftly into the right flank, using their numbers to his advantage.

  She scanned for another target. Left flank. Lucia and Nasira were hauling Benito out of harm’s way. They needed covering fire. She was about to take aim, but someone was already putting rounds down there.

  Jay. He dropped into a crouch at the adjacent cabinet and winked at her.

  She ignored him, lined up a Beret and depressed her trigger.

  * * *

  Damien gripped the stolen MP5 by its scope. A Beret lunged towards him, a stun baton going for his neck. Sidestepping, Damien held the MP5’s shoulder strap taut. The baton bounced off the strap, almost striking the soldier back in his own face. Damien stepped in beside him and pulled the strap around the man’s neck, quick and tight, cutting off the blood flow to his brain.

  Two other Berets thrust their batons into him, at the same time. Damien disengaged the scope from the top rail of the MP5 and used it to deflect the first baton, sending it into the chest of the second baton holder, who shuddered from the voltage. Using the MP5 scope as a staff, Damien drove it end-first into the first baton holder’s neck, then, with a flick of the wrist, thrust the other end down low, deep into his stomach.

  With his right hand, he released the shoulder strap from around the neck of the first Beret. His helmet came off and he slumped to the floor. Damien snagged the helmet with three fingers and used it to knock away a fourth baton, his movements efficient and soft. You didn’t learn that in Karate or Kung Fu.

  Scope in left hand, helmet in right, Damien dug the scope behind the fourth Beret’s neck, pulled him forward while tripping him. The man fell onto the other bodies.

  Damien dropped the helmet and drew his own pistol on the highest threat adversary. Two rounds into the fourth Beret. Then two into the third, two into the second. Two into the first. He snapped his aim to the Berets on his left flank. They should just about be within striking range. But they weren’t. In fact, the left flank was extinct. Jay and Sophia had seen to that.

  * * *

  Before Sophia had a chance to ask, Lucia said, ‘We planned it outside with Damien and Jay. They were never on Denton’s side.’

  Sophia checked Benito for injuries. He was unscathed.

  ‘You had me convinced,’ she said. ‘Nice work. Where’s Cassandra?’

  Lucia looked away. ‘Dead. Shocktroopers took her out before we could pull back.’

  Sophia closed her eyes. ‘Fuck.’

  Cecilia brushed down her trench coat. ‘And where’s Renée?’

  Sophia turned quickly to where she’d last seen her. ‘No one got her?’

  Jay checked the chamber on his stolen MP5. ‘Nope.’

  Cecilia said to Jay, ‘I suppose this makes you and Damien quadruple agents.’

  ‘Something like that,’ Jay said.

  ‘Thank you,’ Sophia said. She meant it.

  Jay squinted. ‘We had to wait until the shocktroopers were gone. With those guys still here, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.’

  ‘Which also meant allowing Denton to escape.’ Sophia put her hands on her hips, did her trained breathing through bruised ribs.

  ‘Oh, I don’t think he escaped at all,’ Cecilia said, head down, com in gloved hands. ‘He’s destroyed all of the sequencing equipment in this facility. All except the equipment in the Vector labs. I know Denton. He’ll have sealed himself inside the Vector labs so no one can get to him while he prepares the Chimera vector codes on the sequencing equipment and gets them ready to inject.’

  ‘Into who?’ Jay asked.

  ‘Himself.’

  Damien cleared his throat. ‘We’re running out of time.’

  ‘I’d give him ten minutes before they’re ready to inject,’ Cecilia said.

  ‘No, I don’t mean the codes,’ Damien said. His expression was dark, granite-like. ‘The Fifth Column launched a bunker-buster missile to take out the facility.’

  ‘In case Denton couldn’t clean up his own shit,’ Jay said.

  ‘That being us,’ Damien said.

  ‘And you shit for brains didn’t think to inform us earlier?’ Nasira said.

  Jay turned to her. ‘Hey! Should I remind you who just saved your ass, sister?’

  ‘Sister?’ Nasira’s hands were on her hips. ‘Are you on crack?’

  ‘Look,’ Damien said, ‘we only found out ten minutes ago.’

  ‘How long do we have?’ Sophia asked.

  Jay read from his watch. ‘Twenty-four minutes, sixteen seconds. We synchronized our countdown with Denton. It’s accurate to the—’ Jay sneezed extraordinarily loudly. ‘Second.’

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Nasira said, stepping away from his blast radius.

  ‘Eight on the Richter scale,’ Damien said.

  ‘Do you still have your com?’ Cecilia asked Sophia, her calm unyielding.

  Sophia pulled it from her webbing belt and tossed it to her. ‘What difference does it make?’

  ‘Quite a lot, actually.’ Cecilia angled the com so Sophia could see the screen.

  It was filled with code.

  The Chimera vector codes.

  She couldn’t believe it. ‘How did you do that?’

  Cecilia smiled. ‘Denton wasn’t the only one who thought of slipping a virus into the mix.’

  Sophia laughed, but the sound was sapped of energy. ‘Look, if you’re captured, we put the entire Akhana resistance at risk. Not to mention lose our only copy of the Chimera vector codes. The first thing we need to do is get you the hell out of here.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary,’ Cecilia said.

  Sophia followed her gaze to the lab entrance. All eighteen of her Elohim walked inside, armed and unscathed. Their red visors glinted under the fluorescent light.

  ‘I didn’t simply order them to report,’ Cecilia said, ‘I ordered them to report back. A subtlety in language Denton managed to overlook.’

  Sophia turned to Benito. ‘You can go with her.’

  He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. ‘I’m staying.’

  ‘That’s not negotiable,’ Sophia said.

  ‘Which is why I’m not negotiating.’

  She shook her head. ‘It’s too dangerous for you to stay.’

  ‘It’s too dangerous for me to leave.’

  Cecilia buried her com in her coat pocket. ‘How many explosives do you have?’

  ‘Three grenades,’ Sophia said. ‘Why?’

  Cecilia shook her head. ‘That won’t be enoug
h.’

  Nasira started rifling through the dead Berets’ pouches. ‘Don’t they have plastic explosives?’

  ‘’Fraid not.’ Jay crossed his arms over his shoulder-slung MP5. ‘Facility regulations. No explosives. Just stun and smoke.’

  Sophia turned to Cecilia. ‘You need to go. Now.’

  ‘First, listen to me,’ Cecilia said. ‘This facility has a nuclear reactor and an auxiliary power station. You need to knock out both to get inside the Vector labs. Once inside the labs, there’s an uninterruptable power supply you’ll also need to take offline. If you don’t, Denton will still have enough power to continue.’

  She walked towards the BlueGene lab’s entrance, her Elohim arranging themselves in a diamond formation around her, allowing only just enough room for Sophia to fit inside.

  Cecilia paused at the entrance and placed a gloved hand on Sophia’s shoulder. ‘If Denton gives the Chimera vector codes to the Fifth Column, it’s over.’

  ‘We’ll stop him,’ Sophia said. ‘We have to.’

  Cecilia smiled. ‘I’ll see you soon then.’

  * * *

  Sophia turned to face what remained of her team: Damien, Jay, Benito, Nasira and Lucia. Her attention sharpened on the two men who’d just saved them. This wasn’t the time for pride.

  ‘We need your help,’ she said.

  ‘Is there something you’re not telling us?’ Damien asked.

  ‘About what?’

  ‘Do we look stupid to you?’ Jay said. ‘An anti-psychopath Chimera vector is about as useful to Denton as a third armpit. And the Axel Salamander whatever-it’s-called is not something you’d go to the trouble of encrypting, yeah?’ He held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘I tell you what, you fill us in on the blanks and then we’ll think about helping your ass.’

  Nasira crossed her arms. ‘So you don’t call her sister?’

  Sophia knew she’d have to tell them the full story if they were going to help her, and quickly. ‘If you’ve already been injected with the Axolotl Chimera vector and then you decide you want to inject yourself with the anti-psychopath Chimera vector as well, there’s a side effect. It switches on different pseudogenes that enhance DNA repair and boost hormones, antioxidant protection, a whole range of functions normally switched off in humans. It’s called the Methuselah effect.’

  Jay rolled his eyes. ‘And in English that means what?’

  ‘It means indefinite lifespan. And if the Fifth Column get that, our anti-psychopath vector means shit.’

  Jay shook his head. ‘I don’t get it.’

  ‘No point stopping psychopaths from reproducing if they live forever,’ Nasira said. ‘Now are you in or out?’

  Jay turned to Damien. ‘This is all kinds of crazy.’

  ‘It is,’ Damien said. He turned to Sophia. ‘And we’re in.’

  ‘That wasn’t what I meant,’ Jay said.

  ‘Anyone who has grenades,’ Sophia said, ‘give them to Lucia. Damien and Lucia, you’ll disable the reactor with the grenades.’

  ‘With grenades?’ Damien said.

  ‘Yes.’ Sophia turned her attention to Nasira. ‘I need you and Jay to disable the auxiliary power station before Damien and Lucia have done their bit.’

  The boys were the only ones with usable coms. She had to split them up.

  ‘Damien, Jay, we need you to communicate for the team. The shocktroopers and Denton can still hear what you say, so only use the coms when you’re finished. Use a code, something only you’d understand. And Jay, you need to disable the auxiliary power first.’

  ‘Why?’ he said.

  Nasira sighed. ‘Are you going to question everything she says? She knows what she’s doing.’

  ‘Yeah, and I know this facility like the back of my hand,’ Jay said.

  ‘That’s nice, Jay, but I’ve spent more time studying the facility’s power grid than you’ve spent taking topless photos of yourself in a mirror,’ Sophia said. ‘If the auxiliary power’s disabled first, it creates a hiccup in the power flow. The blast doors reset. They’ll open and then close again. That’s my chance to get inside, take down the uninterruptable power supply and stop Denton from injecting. Then I can distract him.’ She wet her cracked lips, thinking through her plan as she told it. ‘Once the nuclear reactor goes offline, I can open the blast doors from the inside, overriding Denton’s command.’

  ‘Why are you the one to stop Denton?’ Jay said. ‘Shouldn’t you send a more capable person?’

  She glared at him. ‘Like who? You?’

  ‘He has a point,’ Lucia said. ‘We injected them with the Axolotl vector. They have more chance of stopping Denton than we do.’

  Sophia cleared her throat. ‘Fine. I’ll gain access, keep any shocktroopers out and let you in. And then it’s up to you to stop Denton. If I need to, I’ll stall him. Whatever it takes to stop him from preparing the vector and injecting himself.’

  ‘And then what?’ Damien said.

  ‘Kill him?’ Jay said.

  Sophia eyed Jay carefully. ‘I’d prefer the honor, but if I can’t then don’t wait for my permission. Blow his goddamn brains out. Now, we have twenty-one minutes until this facility is vaporized. And seven minutes to stop Denton. Set your watches for seven minutes.’

  ‘Seven minutes?’ Jay laughed. ‘You know how far the reactor is from here?’

  Sophia glared at him. ‘Do you have a better plan?’

  He shook his head. ‘There isn’t a chance in hell we can pull this off.’

  ‘You’re such an optimist.’

  ‘I’m a ray of fucking sunshine.’

  ‘Then use your sunshine to tell Damien when you’ve disabled the auxiliary power. And try to keep it cryptic. Our comms are open. We don’t want to invite the whole facility to our little tea party.’

  ‘And then what?’ Jay said.

  ‘Then you meet me at Ground Zero. The Vector labs.’

  ‘Assuming we succeed,’ Jay said.

  Sophia cocked her P90 and put it to safe. ‘We have to.’

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Damien ran through the claustrophobic corridors of the facility’s sub-levels. Lucia was two paces behind him, boots striking grated metal. His lungs were burning for oxygen, but she hadn’t stopped to catch her breath once. He increased his pace until he was sprinting as fast as the narrow corridor’s sparse, weak lighting would allow. Every second or third fluorescent tube buzzed angrily as he ran beneath it.

  His replacement vest from the aircraft hangar was making his armpits and neck itch. It was only when he tried to swallow and his mouth was void of all saliva that he realized how tired and hungry he was. He considered asking Lucia if she had any water in her webbing pouches, but then he reached the entrance to the nuclear reaction chamber and forgot all about it. The last time he was down here had been about a month ago. The door wasn’t as he remembered it. It was too thick for one grenade to breach.

  ‘This isn’t right,’ he said.

  He could hear Lucia slowing her breathing. ‘Denton?’

  Damien rubbed his nose. ‘He’s sealed it remotely.’

  ‘Oh good,’ she said. ‘So if we use our grenades to blow the door, how are we meant to take the reactor offline?’

  Damien thought for a moment. He reached out and took the grenade from the pouch on her waist. Conscious of her watching his every move, he kneeled and placed both grenades on the floor by the reinforced door.

  ‘I’ll have to overheat the reactor,’ he said. ‘My ability. Thermogenesis.’

  ‘What about radiation poisoning?’

  ‘I have the Axolotl Chimera vector, you don’t. If anyone gets irradiated it should be me.’

  ‘You don’t have to do this,’ Lucia said.

  Damien paused. ‘I do.’

  ‘Smells like a swamp down here,’ Lucia said. ‘I don’t like smells.’

  Damien rested his stolen MP5 on top of the grenades. ‘I’ll be sure to wear deodorant next time.’ He carefully removed th
e pins from the grenades while the MP5 kept the spoons in place.

  Lucia wrinkled her nose. ‘That would be worse actually. I was diagnosed with hyperosmia. It’s why Denton recruited me — my vomeronasal organ.’ She tapped the bridge of her nose. ‘It actually works. Yours doesn’t.’

  Damien sniffed his armpit. ‘You should keep your distance then.’

  ‘You don’t smell that bad. There are good smells too. Pheromones.’

  Damien felt his cheeks flush red as he removed the pin on the last grenade. ‘I thought they didn’t exist.’

  She smiled. ‘Oh, they exist alright.’

  Damien rose to his feet, satisfied the MP5 was keeping the grenade spoons firmly in place. ‘You should go help Sophia,’ he said. ‘I can do the rest.’

  His lips were so dry they peeled from each other like sticky tape whenever he spoke.

  ‘And the radiation?’ Her raised eyebrow disappeared under the edge of her black bangs.

  ‘I guess I’ll be careful.’

  He knew that was hardly going to convince her.

  ‘Not careful enough.’ She removed a blister pack from a pouch and popped two capsules. She took his hand and squeezed, forcing it open, then slipped the capsules into his palm. ‘Potassium iodate.’ She closed his fingers over them. ‘For radiation poisoning.’

  ‘If I’m quick enough,’ he said, ‘I won’t need them.’

  She forced a smile and released his hand. ‘Smell ya later.’

  * * *

  The elevator was the quickest way down. Jay hit the button and waited. The feeling of having something meaningful to accomplish was pleasant and familiar. He had focus. And he needed focus or else he just ended up restless. It was damn good to do something worthwhile. Especially when he was doing it with Damien. And chicks.

  ‘Drop your weapon,’ Nasira said.

  On second thoughts, he preferred it just with Damien.

  Exhaling slowly, he said, ‘Bullets don’t exactly scare me as much as they used to.’

  ‘They will if they’re about to blow your brains out,’ she said, pistol aimed.

  ‘Look, if it’s about the sister thing, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Three rounds to the head,’ she said. ‘Not even a motherfucking salamander can regenerate that.’