by B.V. Bayly
Chapter Forty-Four
Nate pointed out two more places for Volmer to set up charges and looked at his watch. 5:28. He pulled out his map and opened it over a table, staring at it in the vacant dark lab. He flipped to the final floor, searching for something to help Gabriel.
A computerized voice announced over the speakers in the lab, “Decontamination complete”.
He dropped to a knee and slid behind a table, drawing his side arm. He cocked the hammer back with a click. A slow shuffling of boots echoed on the floor ahead of him. Thin red beams of laser sights rolled across the dark room.
He stayed hidden. Sharp bangs of gunfire rang out in his earpiece. Ing’s voice came over the radio. “Troops inside!”
Nate glanced at his watch again, keeping himself hidden from any of the unwelcome guests in the lab. 4:49. They know we’re here. His gut tightened.
A series of pops filled the air, followed by the loud collapse of bodies on the ground.
A low voice, in a thick Russian accent, came over the earpiece. “Room cleared, east lab cleared.”
He peaked out from behind his cover. Volmer was circling the room, checking the bodies for movement.
Nate sprinted to the lab’s computer and stuck a small optic stick into the port and powered the computer up. The light on the small stick flickered. The artificial intelligence took over and hacked the system.
“Optics setup in the east lab … how’s west?”
“We’re pinned!” Ing’s voice rang out over the background noise of gun fire.
He remained calm and motioned for Volmer to check the hallway. He switched his radio to an open frequency, not caring about who was listening. “Intercept, do you copy? I repeat do you copy?” Something in their plan had gone wrong, he could feel it.
A shaky voice answered the radio. “Hello? Sir, I copy”
“What’s going on out there?”
“They’ve broke our back, sir” The soldier’s voice fluctuated. Nate could hear the panic all around him. “We don’t know where they came from!”
Nate cursed under his breath and kept listening to the report.
“They have most of the front team surrounded. We are attempting to regroup but they are everyw –” The radio went dead.
3:37.
His heart pounded as he darted out of the lab at a run. “Heading to the west labs,” he informed the team.
At the end of the hall, he could see Volmer crouched low, signaling him to hold. He crept towards him, glancing around the corner – guards approached from down the hallway. Nate signaled to count down from five as they readied to engage them. Nodding, Volmer raised his hand opening it wide – with his fingers and thumb counting down. Five, four, three, two, one.
Nate erupted from his cover, skidding around the corner past Volmer, firing shots with his pistol at the team of defenders. His bullets found their targets, but failed to penetrate the armor. They were in full combat gear, their faces hidden behind the sheen of their visors. Red beams of light traced after him as he sprinted for cover. He smashed through a thin glass wall of an office and scrambled behind the desk. Rounds of light blasted into the room.
He crawled towards the corner of the room. He kept his back against the wall, grasping the sub machine gun hanging across his chest. Sweat dripped off his brow. Wiping it away with his arm, he gripped the weapon tightly, readying himself for a fight. As he was about to return fire, a small black metallic ball bounced along the shiny floors of the hallway towards the attackers. He covered his head. A spray of marbles ejected from it, pelting the area and armored enemies with small explosions.
His ears rang from the blast in the hallway. He passed his arm through the broken glass wall that remained. He held the grip tight and squeezed the trigger. The gun vibrated in his hand, as he blindly shot it down the hall. It sent what looked like a constant beam of light towards the armored attackers. Volmer joined in the fight, spraying more bolts of light at the guards. Nate leaned out to take better aim. The shells slammed through the weakened armor, exploding into burst of blood as the guards fell to the ground. The final casings clinked off the floor and he took a deep breath, reloading his weapon.
Volmer slid into the room on his knees. “Hallway clear.”
Nate patted him on the back. “Good thinking there.” His watch beeped as they ran out of time. “We need to move!”
They sprinted towards Ing and Grutz on the west side of the building. He called over the radio to try and get a response from them. “Ing … Grutz … do you copy?”
Robins spoke, “Exit is still good.”
A garbled response followed over more gunfire. Nate couldn’t make it out.
He knew they would reach them sooner by foot and gave up on the radio. They passed through the original hallway – two bodies lay on the floor. Two sleek black barrels poked out of the wall. Robins and Lawrence keeping their escape through the wall safe. He sprinted down the hall with Volmer, ignoring the two men.
He slowed his pace as they neared the west laboratories, his weapon ready as they moved towards the bursts of light coming from the next hallway. He tapped his trigger finger, sending several bolts of light into the backs of several armored guards blocking the entrance to the labs.
“Clear!” Grutz yelled over the radio.
Nate burst into the lab, keeping his weapon ready. Grutz stood up waiting for them from behind a tall raised laboratory bench. The reinforced base was covered in bullet holes. Nate smiled at Grutz, lowering his weapon and moved around behind the bench. Ing was furiously working on a laptop, completely ignoring their arrival.
“What the hell are you doing!” Nate scolded him. “We’re compromised. Let’s go!”
Ing hit the keyboard with another fury of characters then looked up at Nate. “We’re in more trouble than that … Take a look.”
Nate stared at the screen, searching for the answer. Ing had a program open on the screen. It was a remote uplink into TERA's mainframe and research department.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Why would these labs be connected to the TERA mainframe?
“It might not be TERA directly, but they are all over the research.” Ing jumped up on to his feet.
Nate didn’t have time to debate the topic. He had to focus on getting everyone out of there alive. “Pack it up. The fight outside is lost.”