by Michael Todd
I wonder if any of it works anymore. Hell, I’m wondering if we’re even breathing clean air. Pandora coughed dramatically.
Katie ran her hand over a small, broken screen on the outside of one of the rooms. It’s kind of like a ghost town. It’s weird.
Pandora grumped. Yeah, well, all I know is the general better come through with his promise of donut delivery every three days or Momma is going to be so pissed off. If it wasn’t a ghost town already, it would be when I got through with it. I’ll work from fucking New York City. It’s a civilized place. There are comfortable living arrangements, donuts down the street, and it doesn’t look like a sunken ghost ship.
“Here’s your room, but feel free to explore. The general left instructions that you had free reign. Please let us know if you need anything.” The soldier offered her a smile as she handed her a key.
“Thank you,” Katie replied, and the soldier left them alone.
She turned and stared at the door, almost too afraid to go inside. How about we explore first, and then maybe our room won’t seem so terrifying?
Pandora sighed. Yeah, probably a good idea. I don’t smell donuts in there anyway.
They took a tour back through the hallways. The hallways led to rooms mostly filled with empty bunks and abandoned equipment. They traveled back to the top of the base. Katie took in a lungful of fresh air.
No donuts up here, but no ghosts, either.
Katie froze a moment, startled. Ghosts? Can you really smell ghosts?
Not yet.
But if they were here?
They’d probably pay us to exorcise them from the spooky old base. This place sucks.
Katie snorted laughter and walked to the other hangar bay. Inside, there were people everywhere wearing welding helmets. They were working on creating steel walls for more protection against anything that might follow them out of hell.
Pandora looked around the room, impressed by the work they’d done so quickly. Guess this is the transfer room. We’ll work from here.
Katie scoffed, staring at the high ceilings and expansive space around her. More like the transfer hall.
“Katie.” The deep voice came from a tall man with a bushy mustache and perfectly pressed uniform as he walked over.
Katie smiled and shook his hand. “That’s me.”
“I’m Commander Ellison. I’m one of the men in charge here. I’m sorry I didn’t greet you as you got off the plane. As you can see, we’re working around the clock to prepare everything for you and your team.”
Katie looked around with him. “I see that. It looks like it’s really coming along.”
The commander looked proud. “It’s an old place, but it’s perfect for the cause. Have you been to your quarters yet?”
“Yes. Well, kind of. We decided to do some exploring first.”
He smiled. “Of course. I hope you find everything comfortable. We didn’t have a lot to work with. It’s not quite up to par with the base you just moved from, but it’s getting there.”
“I’m sure it will be fine.”
Commander Ellison put his hands behind his back. “I can make sure we get you whatever you need. You will tell me if anything’s missing?”
Do it. Do it. Do it.
Katie bit the inside of her lip and shrugged. “Donuts?”
Yesssss.
Timothy smiled at Stephanie and tapped her on the butt as he walked by. She was putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls of the new barracks.
“Lookin’ good, sister.”
Stephanie gave him a huge smile. “Thanks, girl, just trying to make it feel less Top Gun and more Vogue Homes.”
Timothy’s room was on the third floor, and the comms room was in the basement. He’d spent several hours down there already, testing equipment, getting everything moved around, and getting caught up on what he’d missed.
“Mm-hmm, I know that’s right. Hey, where’s Calvin?”
Stephanie pointed down the hall. “Third door on your right.”
“Thank you,” he replied, blowing her a kiss.
Timothy sauntered down to the room and peeked his head inside. “Yoo-hoo, Calvin.”
Calvin groaned as he finished hanging a shelf and climbed down off a ladder. “Is that straight?”
Timothy tilted his head to the side. “Straight enough.”
Calvin lifted an eyebrow at him. “That’s not really what I was hoping for, but all right. What’s up? Did you get everything set up? It’s been on my mind, but I didn’t really want to come down there and harass you about it.”
Timothy nodded. “That’s appreciated. I don’t work well with big black men standing over my shoulder.”
“It’s a race thing?”
“It’s a concentration thing. I need my private time. Trust me, whatever anxiety you’ve been feeling about the new digs, triple that, and you have me. I went right down to my home away from home and set up the system first. We’re working for people, here. Then I got down to the real work. I added all my antivirus stuff, encrypted a bunch of text, and made sure all the cables were neatly stowed. The last thing I need is for you or Korbin to come stumbling in there like the oafs you are and trip over some crucial wiring. It could crash the whole damned system.”
Calvin sighed with relief. “Good, and we’re not oafs. I was really worried about the security and IT stuff. I know it’s the basis of almost everything we do. I was afraid we would be shut off from the world out here. The move was risky. We don’t know who could have been watching. It would have been the perfect time for an attack. Do you need anything extra out here since we’re even farther from the main strip?”
“Nope. I have all the computers running, and everything is humming along perfectly. I even got to see the different sectors. There were small portals but nothing too big. The backup system I placed at the station in New York kept everything going for them while we were down. I have to say, I’m pretty proud of it.” Timothy lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Between you and me, I didn’t have a chance to test that thing after installing it.” Timothy put his hands behind his back and followed Calvin around the room.
Calvin stopped, and Timothy nearly ran into him. Calvin stared at him a moment. “Is there something else?”
Timothy wrinkled his nose. “Actually, yeah. Do you have a minute?”
“Sure. What’s going on?”
Timothy had already sat downstairs for over an hour, trying to decide whether to tell Calvin about what he’d heard. He felt like a spy in the midst of his own people. It wasn’t a good feeling. However, after giving it a lot of thought, he realized Calvin would be pissed if he weren’t told what Katie may or may not be up to.
“Well, I was doing some system tests and running a few different search programs, and I came across some chatter.”
Calvin raised an eyebrow. “Is chatter a euphemism for shit you aren’t supposed to know?”
“If you haven’t noticed, while you’re up here punching and hammering and being a big manly man, I’m down there keeping my little ears to the ground. If it comes through my system, then I’m supposed to know it. Just like I told you with the radio thing, if you don’t want people to know, you better not be broadcasting that shit on open channels.”
“And this chatter was on an open channel?”
Timothy grinned sheepishly. “Well, not exactly. I mean, it wasn’t hard to get to, if that’s what you’re asking. Anyone with a smidgen of talent would have been able to tap right into the chatter. They weren’t going by their little military book protocol, so it’s not my fault that I heard it.”
Calvin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can we move through this and get to what you heard? I’ve got about six more shelves to hang, furniture to move in, and then we need to have a comfortable place to sleep.”
Timothy put up his hands. “Right. Right, sorry. So there’s a rumor that a strike team is going down into hell. And by rumor, I mean the military personnel at the staging area were talkin
g about it on a very lightly secured channel.”
Calvin turned quickly to Timothy. “Katie?”
Timothy pursed his lips. “Please, like they’re admitting that. They may have been dumb with their security measures, but they aren’t that ridiculous. However, if you really think about what’s about to go down, can you think of anyone else who might be involved? Storming the gates of hell does not sound like something anyone of sound mind would do. Which leaves Katie and her wild child demon queen.”
“I don’t think…” Calvin pointed his finger at Timothy but didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he dropped his hand and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll make a call.”
Timothy gave him a sassy look and tapped him on the shoulder. “You do that.”
Calvin tapped the phone against his lips. He knew full well that this had to be one of Katie’s plans. She was the only one on Earth who could open a portal and get through to hell. Things must be as bad as he’d feared, or worse. He knew she wouldn’t attempt something this dangerous unless there were no other way. Things must have gone beyond some breaking point.
He sat down on the foldout chair in the middle of the floor. He chose his words carefully, figuring out exactly what it was he wanted to say to her. If invading hell was in the cards, he was damn sure going to be a part of it. He had fought too hard and too long to back down now. He was going to kick some demon ass right there on the steps of hell.
If this was the only way he could get the revenge he sought for the lives of the friends and family he had lost, then so be it.
Brock and the team buckled their seat belts as the large military plane began to make its descent to the base in Colorado. The cargo area didn’t have any windows and it damn sure didn’t have luxury seating. They had no idea what they were flying into. Brock looked around at his team. “You guys ready for this?”
“Hell, yeah,” several of them screamed out.
Turner laughed, tilting his head against the seat and shutting his eyes. “Send me to hell, but fuck, don’t make me ride in one of these tin cans again.”
The turbulence hit them, rattling their teeth. Everyone laughed as they gripped the bottoms of their seats and tried to settle themselves. The landing gear folded down, and the plane hit the runway, bouncing for a second before slowing down to a stop. The guys unbuckled their harnesses and began gathering their stuff as the back hatch opened.
“All right, let’s unload, and then we’ll go from there. Just don’t get too comfortable,” Brock shouted as they headed off the plane.
They unloaded onto the runway and stopped as a group, looking around them at the old base. Turner lifted his eyebrows. “Uh. Don’t think I could get too comfortable here even if I tried.”
One of the other guys chuckled. “This shit is mothballed as fuck.”
Brock pointed a finger at him. “Hey, we’re only here for a little while. Make the best of it. I’m sure they’re putting all of this together at the last minute. If it’s good enough for Katie, it’s good enough for us. Now, put your rucks down, and let’s unload. Weapons and ammo check.”
The guys piled their sacks against a wall and started carrying crates off the plane. One of the guys lifted a huge crate of weapons, his muscles bulging under a dense network of tattoos. He side-glanced at the other soldiers walking around without shirts. He set the crate of weapons down and elbowed Turner. “So shirts are optional in this military?”
Turner’s head flew up. “Does that mean for the women too? I’m all about that rule if that’s what that means.”
Brock slammed a crate down in front of him. “I’m sure you’ll have time to figure out that you’re completely ridiculous, but for now, can you stay focused? The plane has a schedule to keep, and we need to get these crates off.”
Turner wrinkled his nose. “Sure, act like it didn’t cross your mind.”
The tattooed soldier laughed and walked back toward the plane. Brock was about to follow him when a hand landed on his shoulder. He stopped and turned. A staff sergeant stood in front of him. “Yes, staff sergeant?”
“I’ve come to take you and your men to your quarters.”
Brock nodded. “We have these last five boxes, then we’ll grab our rucksacks. Are we meeting with anyone tonight?”
The staff sergeant stood perfectly tall and straight, and Brock held back a smile, realizing he was new to the unit. “No. Your orientation is at eighteen hundred. You and your men are to come in desert BDUs, and everything else will be explained from there. We’ll also be handing out gear and specialty uniforms for the action.”
Brock slapped him on the shoulder. “Perfect. And where can we get some chow? We’re starving.”
The staff sergeant nodded. “Of course. I’ll wait and escort you from your rooms to the chow hall. It starts in thirty minutes.”
Brock turned to the guys and cupped his mouth. “If you boys want chow tonight, then you have exactly five seconds to get those crates over here so they can shut that plane up.”
The guys looked at each other and scrambled to grab more crates. Turner jostled his tattooed teammate. “I got this one. I got it.”
“You’re slow. I haven’t eaten in a week.”
“More like six hours.”
Tattoos groaned and leaped up the plane to grab another crate. He slammed the last crate down, and Brock laughed as he grabbed rucksacks and started tossing them to their respective owners. “Dummy One, Dummy Two, Dummy Turner, get your gear. Come on, get your shit together, we’re having steak tonight.”
The staff sergeant muttered, “I don’t think chow is steak tonight.”
Brock glanced at the sergeant. “You’re in for a treat tonight, sergeant. These boys are a mess.”
Calvin put the phone to his ear and waited for Katie to answer. It rang several times, then he heard loud noises in the background. “Katie?”
“Yeah, hold on. Let me get somewhere a little quieter,” she yelled over the noise.
She made her way to the other side of the hangar bay and put her finger in her other ear. “Calvin, you there?”
“I’m here. Where are you? A construction zone?”
Pandora scoffed. He has no idea.
Katie ignored her. She knew if he was calling, he probably had some idea of what was going on. “Kind of. It’s quieter now. How’s everything going over there? Is Timothy up and running?”
Calvin smirked. “We’re getting there. Timothy has everything set up and is monitoring everything as we speak. Stephanie is making the place pretty, and Korbin is working on defensive measures. I just got done hanging some shelves and getting everything unpacked. It’s a lot, and it’s a mess, but nowhere near what the other base was when we moved in.”
Katie sighed with relief. “Good. I know the general is worried about you guys. He wants to know the armory is up and running as soon as possible.”
“It’s all headed in that direction,” he replied.
“So, what’s up?”
“Well, I heard a rumor. It’s a pretty good one too. The rumor has it you’re going to hell.”
Katie laughed. “Wow, but Daddy, I didn’t diddle that guy.”
Calvin chuckled. “Not for sex before marriage or I already have a reservation. I’m talking about a real operation.”
Katie shook her head. “Oh, I wonder what birdy told you that?”
Calvin tried not to snort, but he couldn’t hold back. “I bet you can figure that one out pretty quickly.”
“Hmm, was it one that really likes clothes and refers to everyone as ‘girlfriend?’”
“No comment, so the guilty can remain blameless.”
Katie tilted her head toward the ceiling. “There is definitely truth in that rumor. We decided to do a low-risk R&D operation. We’re going to gather a bunch of information on hell. The climate, the terrain, mineral information—that sort of thing. In and out very quickly. Ultimately, sure, it will be used to storm hell, but right now it’s just reconnaissance. We
’re trying to make sure we can sustain human life down there, or out there, wherever it is. The place almost killed me, and we know what kind of tolerance I have. I can’t send humans or lightly infected in just to have them melt into the lava pits. We need a test run so when I do decide to take the war to them, we know exactly what we’re facing.”
Calvin listened. He understood the need for the mission, but he felt like he was being left out. “Here’s the thing. You’re missing a very important part of this project.”
Katie smiled. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“Me. I should be there.”
Katie sighed. “Look, Calvin, I understand you want to be part of this, but it’s really unnecessary at this point. It’s not worth the risk right now. You need to be at that base. They need you, and we need it up and running.”
Calvin tried to keep his emotions in check. “If I stay here much longer, Korbin is going to have me filling sandbags and digging embankments myself.”
Katie grinned. “Oh, I see how this is going to go. This is a sympathy play, is it?”
“Hell, yes. Whatever it takes, so I’m not digging dirt out in the desert. It’s hot out here, Katie. Hell would be a relief.”
Pandora cackled loudly. Dude has a point.
Katie grumped. I don’t want to take the chance of losing him. He’s too important to me right now.
Oh, get off it. Let him come. I can have fun with all twelve inches of him.
Calvin bit the inside of his lip, waiting for her to say something. “What does Pandora think?”
Here, let me drive. I’ll describe my thoughts in great detail. First, he’s dressed up like a Roman Centurion, and I’m me.
Katie rubbed her face. “It’s too complicated to go into right now. She says something about letting all twelve inches of you come. And I mean come here, not the dirty version.”
Calvin chuckled. “You know she means the dirty one.”
Pandora scoffed. Damn right. When do I ever not mean the dirty version?