Scott said, “Yeah, that’s the closet that leads to the tunnel.”
“Let’s hope we don’t lose com once you boys go underground.”
“If so, see you on the other side,” Scott said.
“Roger that.”
The door was reinforced and locked. Boardman pulled a slim leather case from one of his pockets and unzipped it. He chose a couple of slim metal tools, and in a cool two minutes picked the lock.
“You gotta teach me how to do that when this is over,” Scott said.
Boardman turned the handle and opened his mouth to reply, but as soon as he cracked the door, an ear-splitting alarm began blaring.
“Damn it, I thought the building had no power!” Scott shouted so the techs would hear him over the noise.
“It must be battery operated,” one of them responded, his voice perfectly clear in Scott’s ear despite the din.
Scott reached around the edge of the door and pushed it open. It was pitch black inside the building, but his optics made it seem bright as day. A car battery sat on the ground just inside the door. He located the trip wire that had set off the alarm and yanked hard on it. The earsplitting sound abruptly stopped. Padme hadn’t said anything about the building being booby-trapped, which meant one of two things: she didn’t know, or this was a set-up. He could only hope for the former and trust his instincts that it wasn’t the latter.
In his ear, a tech asked, “Are we aborting?”
Scott’s eyes shifted to the corner of his optics, where the building schematic was still displayed.
“Negative on the abort.”
He tapped Boardman on the arm and gestured that he should follow. He went left down the corridor with the idea in mind that they circle around and catch Lupus from behind - assuming he was the one who came to investigate the alarm. As soon as they rounded the first corner, however, Scott spotted another car battery and threw his arm out to stop Boardman. With his optics, he zoomed in on the battery posts. Another wire was hooked up to them, but Scott doubted this one had an alarm at the other end. He visually traced the wire along the baseboard, up the wall, and onto the ceiling, where a camera dome was mounted. If it was the same type of camera Fournier had used in his facility, it would be transmitting a sharp night image to whoever was on the receiving end, presumably Lupus.
“We’re made,” he said. If the alarm hadn’t changed this from a stealth operation to an all-out offensive, the camera sure did.
“What now, boss?” Boardman asked.
Scott held up a hand and made a pinching motion with his fingers to indicate they should split up and come at Lupus from front and back. Boardman nodded and went back the way they’d come. Scott continued on, keeping his head down so the camera didn’t pick up his face.
According to Padme, she’d kept his secret - Lupus and Fournier still had no idea Scott was an XIA agent. She said she’d been persona non grata these last four months, but she was privy to the fact that, like the savant, Scott was considered to be missing in action. Which was a good thing as far as Scott was concerned, since the last time he’d seen Lupus, the wolf-faced man had caught Padme caressing Scott’s cheek and had gone all savagely possessive on him.
In his ear, he heard Boardman say, “Another camera down this way.” Then one of the techs said, “Heat sig coming from the tunnel!”
Scott reached the reception area where he, Bryn and Carla had been confronted by Nosferatu’s men. He pulled his gun and double-checked that the ammo clip he’d loaded was the one with plastic bullets. Shasta had requested, very politely, that they please bring Lupus in alive, something that wouldn’t be easy if the op continued to deviate from the plan.
He rested his shoulder against the wall before poking his head around to look down the final corridor, catching a glimpse of Lupus standing in front of the closet that led to the tunnel, an assault rifle gripped in his meaty hands. He wasn’t wearing optics, so he’d be blind inside the unlit building, unaware that Boardman and Scott could see him just fine.
Quietly, Scott said, “I’ve got visual. Target is heavily armed.”
He’d barely finished speaking when, without bothering to lift the gun sight to his eye, Lupus rotated his torso in Boardman’s direction and let loose with a burst of gunfire that ripped right through the wall.
In his ear, he heard Boardman gasp and say, “I’m hit! He’s got AP shells!”
As the nose of the rifle began to swing Scott’s way, he turned and dove for the ground, covering his head with his arms. Bullets tore through the wall all around him. In his ear, Boardman said grimly, “Flash bang, baby,” so Scott knew to close his eyes and brace himself. A second later, Boardman’s stun grenade detonated with a booming concussion and a light so bright it penetrated Scott’s closed eyelids.
When he opened his eyes, he could see through his optics, but his ears were ringing. Lupus, who’d been closer to the blast and wouldn’t have known to close his eyes, would be temporarily blind, and the bang would have disrupted the inner workings of his ears. At the very least they’d be ringing like Scott’s; probably though, he was temporarily deaf and unbalanced with vertigo.
Scott scrambled on all fours back towards the corridor, noting the bullet holes in the wall. Lupus had aimed low, possibly anticipating that his target would take cover. It was a miracle Scott hadn’t been hit, but he didn’t stop to contemplate his luck. He knew he might only have seconds to take advantage of Lupus’ disorientation.
Lupus, however, may have been blind, deaf and dizzy, but there was nothing wrong with his trigger finger. He’d had military training same as Scott - he’d know that standard procedure following a flash bang grenade was to rush the target. Before Scott could even look around the corner at him, he started shooting again. The assault rifle was equipped with a thirty-round magazine, and Lupus emptied it into the walls, ceiling and floor all around him. All Scott could do was duck and cover again, and hope that if he got hit his body armor held up better than Boardman’s. As soon as the shooting stopped, he gritted his teeth and got to his feet to take another quick look, gun ready.
To his shock, Lupus was only about three feet away from him, holding the spent rifle up to his left shoulder to take advantage of the night scope and freeing his right arm for an attack. Scott didn’t even have time to recoil before his former XBestia superior came at him with a knife, probably his favorite hunting knife, a wickedly serrated 14-inch blade that had the blood of dozens of people on it. The knife ripped through Scott’s leather jacket, but was stopped by his shirt and vest. Lupus yanked it free for another stab attempt, but he’d had to lower the rifle to get close enough for the first hit and was now effectively blind again.
Scott was too close to fire his weapon - even plastic bullets could be lethal at close range. His first instinct was to disable Lupus with a throat strike, but that could also kill him, so he struck the underside of his chin with the heel of his hand. Instead of attempting to fight the much larger man hand-to-hand, Scott skated backward to put some space between them before shooting at his legs with the plastic bullets.
Lupus flailed around in the dark, swishing the knife through the air before his knees buckled and he fell like a colossal tree toppling in the forest. It was impossible for Scott to make out any expression on Lupus’ wolf face, but he did see his black lips move as if he was saying something.
Scott’s ears might still be ringing, but they worked, because one of the techs said, “Multiple heat sigs approaching the building, but your entrance point is still uncompromised. Shasta says abort and get out now.”
“Understood,” Scott replied quietly.
Scott wouldn’t dream of going against a direct order, but he had to actively stifle his resentment. He looked down at Lupus, who had grabbed his shins and was rolling around in pain. At least at this point, Scott could get away clean, with Lupus none the wiser as to who had broken into the building.
In the lower left corner of his optics, the time was displayed. It was
still sixteen minutes until Padme was scheduled to activate Lupus’ nanoneurons and flood him with fear. But since the mission hadn’t exactly gone according to plan, her sacrifice would be in vain and Lupus would know what she’d done.
He didn’t have time to contemplate the price she would pay for her duplicity. Part of him really wanted to end Lupus here and now, but even if he was the sort of person to do such a thing, it wasn’t something he could get away with - not with the com team privy to his every move.
He jogged past Lupus, keeping his head down again after spotting another camera on the ceiling. He was focused on getting to Boardman and getting out, but Lupus’ hand suddenly shot out and grasped his ankle. Scott hadn’t built up enough momentum to lose his balance entirely, but he staggered and hopped on his remaining foot. Lupus brought the rifle around and smashed it into the back of his knee, though, which did bring him down. Faster than he would have given the big man credit for, he was on him, wrapping his arms around him from behind in a full nelson.
Scott still had his gun and no longer had compunctions about possibly killing Lupus. He bent his wrist down and fired in the direction of Lupus’ lower body. His hearing must have been nearly restored, because not only was the gunshot report loud, he had no trouble making out Lupus’ profane response. Still, it took a second shot to get the big man to release him.
He tried to get to his feet, but to his astonishment, Lupus lunged for him again, this time catching him around the chest from behind in a bear hug that pinned his arms down. The constriction across his chest was so powerful he felt as if his ribs were about to crack. This encounter was the first time Scott had been on the receiving end of Lupus’ fighting skills; he now had first-hand knowledge that Lupus’ reputation as a formidable opponent was deserved.
Instead of attempting to wrestle him, which would clearly be tantamount to wrestling a bear, Scott fumbled under his shirt for the pull on his bulletproof aqua vest. When he yanked the cord, the vest inflated instantly, adding several inches to his girth and effectively loosening Lupus’ grip. Scott threw his head back and connected with something solid. Lupus grunted and released him.
He rolled away, but had a feeling Lupus would only keep coming. He had one chance and that was to bluff his way out of this. The plastic bullets were useful as a temporary distraction, but Lupus had been conditioned to endure pain and fear. It was a serious flaw in the plan; one that Scott hoped didn’t get him killed. Swiftly, before he lost his advantage, he lifted the gun and placed the barrel against the fur on Lupus’ forehead.
“Even a plastic bullet will scramble your brains from this distance,” he said.
“Cougar?” Lupus asked in his deep, rusty voice. Scott cursed inwardly, wishing he’d thought to disguise his own voice.
Lupus bared his teeth, but not in his customary snarl. It was something Scott had rarely seen before on the wolf-faced man: the approximation of a smile. In a voice that held actual welcome, Lupus asked, “Where you been all this time, boy?”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Hours before first light, Dillo had picked Maddy, Jason and Bryn up near the main entrance of Edgemere’s underground mall in an all-black Hummer E8 with tinted windows. Maddy didn’t get in right away, preferring instead to stand watch until the last of the small boats was launched and her vengeful and well-armed people were on their way to Coney Island.
While Bryn had stood shivering next to her in the frigid early-morning air, Jason excused himself to make a quick trip to his truck. He’d come back with the narrow bag that contained the rifle he’d used to kill the FBI agent; the man Maddy had said was named Antonovich.
The drive to the marina on the bay side of Rockaway Peninsula had been short, and they were met at the dock by four of Maddy’s soldiers. The captain of the yacht had the 58-foot vessel ready to go. After seeing the barely seaworthy ‘fleet,’ Bryn had wondered whether the yacht would even be safe, but once on board, she’d quickly realized she needn’t have worried. The vessel may have been considered small as yachts go, but it was sleek, powerful, and state-of-the-art.
In the stern cockpit, Bryn had sat next to Jason and Dillo on comfortable and spacious leather seating out under the stars, while Maddy took the chair next to the captain at the helm under the roof. The soldiers stood halfway between, two on each side of the yacht, holding their semi-automatic weapons out over the water like dogs hanging their heads out of a car.
The captain had run without navigation lights, but they passed no one else on the water. If anyone on shore had seen them, it would have been as a ghostly silhouette. The pace Maddy set had been excruciatingly slow; they’d barely moved fast enough create a wake, or even a breeze strong enough to stir the coarse hair at the base of Bryn’s quills. Still, Coney Island had come into sight well before any of the smaller craft arrived. The captain had made anchor some distance from shore as Maddy anxiously studied the radar holo. Communication between the yacht and the fleet had been nonexistent. Maddy had declared ‘radio silence’ in order to avoid attracting the harbor police - or alerting the XBestia to their arrival.
The yacht was anchored east of the fleet’s expected landing point, and Bryn had been relieved to discover Maddy had no intention of joining the fight. She’d given her people the location of bungalow number nine and a very good incentive to be the one who brought the occupant to her alive: a large quantity of cash.
Now Bryn looked out over the water to shore, trying to get her bearings. She’d navigated these waters just once before, but the experience was indelibly imprinted on her memory. That ‘adventure’ had occurred in broad daylight, though. This late at night, the shoreline had a very different profile. Some areas of Coney Island were still legitimately occupied and had basic city services like water and electricity, but lights were few and far between. If it weren’t for the faint orange haze in the sky from the city lights of Brooklyn, it would be hard to distinguish between the water and the shore and the sky.
Bluto’s was the most obvious establishment along the boardwalk, and she thought she could pinpoint it by what appeared to be the remains of a garbage fire out front. She knew from Carla, who used to date the owner and work there as a waitress, that the bar closed late, often staying open until three or four a.m. It was likely closed by now, as dawn began to lighten the eastern sky.
From her vantage point standing over the radar holo in the cockpit, Maddy rubbed her hands together gleefully and said, “Here they come! Should be making shore soon.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
When Lupus asked him where he’d been all this time, it threw Scott off so badly he answered without thinking, “Avoiding you.”
Lupus laughed and swatted Scott’s gun away. “Yeah, that was probably a good move. I wasn’t very happy when I saw you with Padme.”
“There was nothing going on,” Scott said, feeling like he was always denying being involved with someone.
“Maybe not, but she told me she wished there was.”
Scott got to his feet and deflated his aqua vest. “Well, I don’t care what she wanted, I didn’t encourage her - I’m not suicidal.”
Lupus stood too, and reached into his jacket pocket. Scott tensed up until light appeared from a holophone. Lupus muttered, “Knew I should have brought a flashlight.”
There was a noise from the front of the building and a light swept across the entrance to the corridor from the front lobby. Lupus called, “Over here!”
Scott wasn’t sure what to expect when six of Lupus’ armed goons crowded into the lobby and stood waiting for their orders. He didn’t for a minute think he was ‘forgiven’ for the sin of having attracted Lupus’ woman, but he also knew he’d be dead already if that was Lupus’ intention.
Lupus pointed to two of the xenos and said, “You and you - go get the other one.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the end of the corridor where Scott assumed Boardman was laid out, hopefully still alive.
Lupus snatched the flashlight out of anoth
er xeno’s hand and shined it in Scott’s face. The optics instantly adjusted to the brightness as Lupus asked, “Night vision specs?”
“Yeah.”
Lupus grunted and put his holophone back in his pocket. “What’s with the plastic bullets? And what the hell are you doing here anyway?”
In his ear, Shasta’s voice said, “Tell him you came to warn him that the Mad Eye gang is going to attack the Bungalows - tonight.”
Scott’s blood went cold, but he didn’t have time to wonder how Shasta had gotten that intel, or to worry about Bryn.
To Lupus, he said, “I heard the Mad Eyes were planning on opening a can of whoop-ass on the Bungholes tonight. Thought that info might get me back in your good graces.”
“You don’t say. And how are they fixing on doing that?”
Shasta said, “By boat. ETA ten minutes. Get out of there.”
“Same way I got here,” Scott said. “By boat. They should be making landfall any time now.”
Lupus stared at him for a moment, then waved a hand at his remaining men and told them, “Don’t just stand there, go greet our guests when they arrive.”
The xenos filed out and Lupus turned back to Scott. “I got eyes and ears out at Edgemere and didn’t hear nothin’ about any invasion.”
Scott was spared having to come up with a good story when the two xeno’s Lupus had sent to get Boardman returned, hauling the limping agent between them. Scott hadn’t heard Boardman’s voice in his ear since he’d tossed the flash bang grenade, so it was a relief to see him alive, even though his pinched face looked anything but well.
Even though he was injured, Boardman made an effort. He nodded politely at Lupus and said, “Hey.”
Without a word, Lupus stripped the optics from Boardman’s face, made a fist around the flashlight he was still holding and punched him in the face. The two supporting xenos let go of Boardman’s arms and he fell to the ground.
Xenofreak Nation, Book Two: Mad Eye Page 14