by B.V. Bayly
Chapter Forty-Two
Nate barked out orders to the priests as he marched back and forth across the main room of the building in the woods. His face was smeared with black paint and he looked ready for war – a sub machine gun dangled across his overloaded vest of tricks. A pistol was strapped to his leg. He wore the same black and grey camo as Gabriel.
“Once you’re finished, you leave nothing behind. There must be no trace of us left in this building … take everything with you.” Nate pointed to all the electronic equipment in the room.
The priests nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Nate looked up at the clock, then at Gabriel. He roughly grabbed at Gabriel’s vest, checking out his gear.
Gabriel smiled and allowed the inspection. “Nice makeup.” He grinned.
“Funny!” Nate smacked Gabriel in the stomach then smeared four sticky lines of paint across his face. “No traces left!” He hollered as he pushed Gabriel towards the doorway.
Gabriel stepped aside, letting Nate take the lead. He followed Nate’s back in the dim light as they entered a small staircase that wound deep into the ground. Nate clicked on a light, illuminating the space in blue. The tunnel they entered smelled of rot and the splash of small puddles under Gabriel’s boots. After a couple hundred yards, they stepped out into the fresh night air. It was cool as they ran up into the woods, where an unmarked jeep waited for them. No one said anything as they got in. The ride was short, only a couple of miles under the thick cover of the woods.
The jeep stopped in a large clearing where a small helicopter waited for them. They jogged towards it as the jeep disappeared back into the wooded darkness.
Gabriel climbed into the small cabin which was barely big enough for the two of them. Nate hit the pilot on the shoulder, signaling him to take off. The pilot powered up the machine – the blades started spinning overhead. Gabriel pulled on a headset and made sure that he was buckled in as they began to lift. The small craft rose high into the air, leaving his stomach back on the ground. As they crested the tree line, the small open craft surged forward at an alarming speed. The pilot stayed low, skillfully cutting between some of the taller trees. Gabriel focused on keeping his stomach calm.
“Sir!” The pilot’s voice came through their headsets. “Teams Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie have engaged the base at the southwest corner of the structure.” He pointed at the flashes of small explosions and streaming bright lines of bullets several miles away.
“Good.” Nate leaned forward. “Resistance?”
“Light so far. The enemy has barricaded themselves inside the walls of the facility, returning fire like we expected. Standard ammunition, nothing heavy and no signs of ore being used.”
“What about Delta?” Nate held onto a bar over their heads as they began to bank towards the fight zone.
“They are on the north side, completely undetected, awaiting you and Mr. Roberts.”
“Get us there!” Nate commanded. He turned to Gabriel and attached a small carabineer and rope to the back of his vest.
“What’s that?” Gabriel hollered into the mic.
“It’s for when you jump out of this thing!” Nate smiled devilishly at him.
“What!” Gabriel swallowed. Hard.
The helicopter swung low into a small opening above the tree line, just outside of the fighting. It came to a smooth hover. The pilot gave them a signal. Nate motioned for Gabriel to take off the headset and handed him a helmet. As he was putting it on, Nate unclipped their seatbelts, leaving him very unsteady in the hovering chopper.
"Out you go!” Nate pushed him out of the open cabin.
Gabriel’s heart jumped high into his throat as he began to free fall from the chopper. His chest tightened, caught by the rope. Steadily, he descended into the darkness below. Nate came zipping down to him and passed by with a huge grin on his face in the weak light. An uneasy minute passed until his feet finally met Nate’s hands as he neared the ground. Nate unhooked him with a quick jerk. He fell to the ground, waiting for his stomach to catch up. Nate patted him on the back. The chopper’s stutter faded away, replaced by the popping noises of distant gunfire. Gabriel stood up as Nate adjusted his radio. He heard Nate breathing in his ear.
“Little much.” Gabriel pointed to his ear. “It’s kinda loud.”
Nate put a finger over his lips and said to him in a whisper that boomed in his ear. “You’ll need to hear me over the gunfire. Now, keep up.”
Nate turned on a device attached to his arm and positioned a thin green lens over one of his eyes. He looked around at the darkness, then turned Gabriel and pushed him to march forward into the unknown. Gabriel stumbled towards a nearby bush, his eyes not fully adjusted to the lack of light. The bush he was heading towards twisted around and stared at him. He froze.
A new voice echoed in his ear. “Keep going, Gabriel.” He recognized Father Clarence’s voice.
Nate moved from behind him, quickly pushing him towards the Father and whispering, “Everyone move … together.”
The three began to creep through the woods towards the flashes of light now only several hundred yards away. They made a distinct turn away from the fire fight, using the dark woods to mask their movements. Nate soon signaled to slow their pace as they turned back in their original direction. They continued to creep through the small bushes and raised roots of the old trees around them. Nate drew his sidearm and took point. Gabriel followed the dark silhouette of Nate’s back. As they continued to move ahead, a soldier flanked in behind Nate, coming from out of nowhere in the darkness. Another joined in line, then another, eventually filling the space all around Gabriel, not missing a step towards the northern end of the structure.
As they neared the tree line, Gabriel could make out a solid wall of blackened steel. They came to a sudden halt. Tall lights burned brightly on top of the wall, illuminating the ground below.
Nate knelt down as he surveyed the area. “No guards in the area … what’s our status?”
Father Clarence kept his voice at a whisper as well. “Alpha, Bravo and Charlie have them tied up, holding their approach at the gates of the facility.”
“How’s the other side of the pond?” Nate stayed still.
“All marks have begun their operations, no problems yet. We took them completely by surprise.” Father Clarence chuckled.
“ETA on any enemy reinforcements to our position?” Nate crawled forward.
Gabriel stared along the top of the armor plated walls of the facility, looking for any movement.
“Intercept teams are in place, but the owners of this facility aren’t showing their faces.”
“Look alive gentlemen, we hold this exit position … I want kills all around, we do not want to draw any extra attention to ourselves,” Nate commanded the soldiers around him. “Alright everyone, let’s do this!” He stepped out of the safety of the woods.