He’d also brought a few different types of magazines, but he’d preloaded his TR-7 with armor-piercing rounds. They could be effective either with a headshot to a yaoguai or a core shot to a bot.
No one questioned his loadout. At this point, everyone expected the Obsidian Detective to be armed like he was raiding the Zitark homeworld.
Mobility wasn’t optimal, thanks to extra anti-radiological, biological, and chemical containment suit and boots each wore over their tactical suit. It was thin and transparent, but it still was an extra layer.
With the help of the breather helmet and sealed boots, they would be safe from contamination, assuming the suits weren’t breached by claws, teeth, or bullets. Despite their bulkier gear loadout compared to a typical raid, speed wasn’t a huge concern. They would be riding mini-flitters.
Jia stood beside Erik, using one of his tactical suit and goggle sets, along with a borrowed RBC suit from the militia. One of Erik’s assault rifles was slung over her shoulder, and several grenades hung from her belt. One advantage of fighting mindless monsters was that she didn’t have to worry about taking them alive.
Being in the Scar made this operation easier. Although the area wasn’t uninhabited, the chance of running into an innocent person in an area infested by yaoguai was effectively zero.
Captain Paula Phillips, the commanding officer of the Militia squad, finished some last-minute calls to her headquarters before walking over to Erik. Her features were obscured by her gear.
“Detective Blackwell,” she began, her stern voice transmitted directly to his ear via the comm in the helmet, “the 1-2-2 is heading toward Kerrigan now. It’s time for us to get moving. To be clear, this is a joint op, but I’m in command of my soldiers. Technically, I’m supposed to be in command of the whole thing, but you’ve got a lot of years and ops on me, so I’ll trust you to do what you need to while we do the same.”
“Fair enough, Captain,” Erik replied.
“We’ll be using the intel you provided on the primary path, but I’ve been informed by my superiors I’m not supposed to ask where it came from.”
Emma snickered in Erik’s ear. “Poor little uniform girl. She doesn’t like secrets. Don’t get killed when we’re out of communication, Detective Blackwell. If you die, I’m sneaking onto a transport and moving to the frontier.”
“I’d like to see that,” Erik muttered.
“What was that, Detective?” Captain Phillips asked.
“Nothing. Just thinking out loud.”
She pointed past him. “By the way, Command also informed me we have another tourist.”
Erik and Jia turned around. A tall woman stood behind them, but like Captain Phillips, her gear hid her appearance. Something about her single exposed feature, her eyes, seemed familiar. She carried a long silver pistol Erik didn’t recognize in a holster, but given the size of the UTC, it was hard to identify every firearm.
The woman walked over to him. “Hello, Detective Blackwell. It’s been a while.”
Erik understood why her eyes seemed familiar. “Agent Koval.”
She gestured at the darkened tunnel entrance. “You know how to show a girl a good time.”
Erik narrowed his eyes. “Why is a ghost here? Did you know what was going on the entire time?”
“I doubt you’ll believe me, but no, I didn’t. I became interested when the DD started getting nervous about unusual sightings and sensor readings. Incidentally, the Militia hasn’t been fully briefed on everything we previously discussed, other than the fact we could possibly encounter Tin Men, but I wanted to tag along just in case. I’ve got a few tricks I want to try should the opportunity present itself.”
He gestured to her gun. “What are you packing?”
“Oh.” She raised the gun. “This is my good luck charm. I don’t always use it, but this felt like an appropriate time.” Agent Koval ran her gloved finger over the grip. “It fires guidable flechettes. It seemed like a good choice against a bunch of fast monsters.”
“Yeah.” Erik thought back to the apartment. “These things seem nasty, but the ones we fought weren’t all well-armored.”
Agent Koval whistled. “Don’t you feel a little like Odysseus?”
“Huh? The guy in the Greek myths? What about him?” Erik looked at Jia. Greek mythology wasn’t his forte. “Took him a while to get home or something, right?”
“I presume in this case, she’s suggesting we’re like Odysseus going to face the Cyclops Polyphemus,” Jia explained.
He shrugged. “And how does that story end?”
Jia pointed to her eyes. “Odysseus blinds Polyphemus and escapes.”
Erik patted his rifle. “If he’d had one of these, he wouldn’t have had to stop at blinding the bastard. Put a few rounds through his eye, and they’d take his brain with it.”
Agent Koval laughed. “I like your attitude, Detective. Why flee from a monster when you could finish it off?”
“For all we know, they’ve got one-eyed monsters in there,” Erik replied. “Time to birth some legends.”
“Squad, ready up,” Captain Phillips barked and hopped onto her mini-flitter. “You heard Detective Blackwell. We’ve got monsters to kill.”
Lance Onassis fingered his jaw as he stared at himself in the mirror window he’d summoned. It was hard when a man was so damned handsome. People didn’t understand the work that went into maintaining his appearance, but as a journalist, he had a responsibility to the people who watched him. The net wouldn’t be the same if the reporters were ugly.
Two camera drones circled him. Others hovered above the parking platform. A few security guards had eyed him from a distance, but no one had come to question him.
“You sure about this?” he asked. “I don’t want to sit on a parking platform when I could have been interviewing a hot actress. Your tip better be right.”
“We already contacted her, Lance,” answered his director via a PNIU transmission. “We said something came up, and she agreed to reschedule.”
“Seriously, the tip we’re going off is that someone’s cousin overheard something at a police station?” Lance snorted. “Why don’t we ask my grandma in Arizona for leads? She’s convinced a Leem stole her cactus.”
The other man groaned. “It’s not just the police, Lance. It’s the 1-2-2. If they’re moving in a big way, that means something’s going down. They’ve been behind over two-thirds of the major arrests in the last year. Look around. Do you see anyone else there?”
Lance surveyed the platform. A colorful variety of flitters were parked in their spots, but there didn’t seem to be an unusual number of drones nearby.
Two security guards stood before the wide doors leading to the entrance, which were tinted so dark he couldn’t see through them. One of them gestured toward him as he chatted with the other man.
“Oh, this is it,” the director shouted. “Get ready. One of the wide-shot drones is picking up a lot of blue and red lights. We’re live in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. And go!”
Lance turned on his nuclear-strength smile as a camera drone settled in front of him. “This is Lance Onassis, live and in person for an important breaking story. We’ve received a tip that the famous Enforcement Zone 1-2-2, home to Detectives Erik Blackwell and Jia Lin, affectionately known as the Obsidian Detective and Lady Justice, are on their way to raid the headquarters of a small local biotech company, Kerrigan Systems.”
Red and blue lights flashed in the distance. A squadron of police flitters zoomed toward the platform.
“As you can see through our live and in-person dynamic action drone footage, the police are coming in force. Although we have no idea if Detectives Blackwell and Lin are involved in today’s incident, we can’t discount the possibility that a major terrorist battle might be about to unfold before our cameras.”
The two security guards shouted something unintelligible and ran inside.
The police flitters descended as a gr
oup and settled on the platform in a semi-circle around the entrance. Officers poured out of the vehicles carrying a mix of normal and stun rifles, all wearing tactical vests marked NSCPD.
A half-dozen security guards emerged from the building, holding their own stun rifles and glaring at the police.
“Drop your weapons!” The booming warning sounded like it came from all around. “This is the NSCPD. This is a raid, and we have a lawful warrant that is now being transmitted.”
The security guards hesitated before tossing their guns to the pavement and raising their hands.
Lance switched to his practiced mask of concern. “A tense situation is unfolding here at the headquarters of Kerrigan Systems. Several security guards just surrendered after what could have been a brutal shootout with the authorities.”
He turned toward the door, allowing the drones to get a shot of him and the front as the police rushed inside the building. Other officers slapped binding ties on the security guards and forced them to their knees.
“Blackwell and Lin aren’t there,” the director informed Lance. “We’ve run facial ID on all the cops already. Roll with that angle.”
Lance shifted from practiced concern to feigned astonishment. “I’ve just been informed that despite the massive police presence, Detectives Lin and Blackwell aren’t present. We don’t know yet what heinous crimes Kerrigan has committed, but today is proof that Enforcement Zone 1-2-2 has more than two detectives who can take down antisocial criminals.”
Suited men and women emerged from the building, their wrists bound, cops prodding them forward.
“We’re already seeing people being brought out from inside,” Lance commented. “Even without the use of TPST, the decisive actions of the famous 1-2-2 have taken Kerrigan completely off-guard. Although we don’t yet know what charges the company employees are facing, the 1-2-2’s record this last year suggests something serious and destabilizing. We can’t speculate as to the location of the two ace detectives, but if previous experience has taught us anything, they’re currently involved in something dangerous. For now, I will continue to report from Kerrigan Systems headquarters on this breaking news. This is Lance Onassis, live and in person.”
He ended by flashing his million-watt smile.
Chapter Fifty
“Switch to the heat overlays,” Captain Phillips ordered. “Everyone maintain formation.”
The squad continued cruising along at a modest speed. They hovered spread out in an inverted V formation with the captain at the vertex. Erik and Jia formed the vanguard of the left flank, and Agent Koval took the lead on the right.
Emma had been right. Yaoguai had left trails of blood of different colors, skin, scales, mucous, limbs, teeth, and even a few tentacles. They hadn’t found any human or yaoguai bodies yet, but they were obviously on the correct albeit disgusting path. They’d followed the mutated monster road to make turns at two intersections.
The path’s specificity was interesting. It implied the yaoguai knew how to navigate the tunnels.
Dr. Karton had used pheromones. Something similar might have been used to guide them to the Shadow Zone. Jia didn’t care that much about the particulars. If they did their job, they would find the breeding facility and wipe all the yaoguai.
How hard could it be with a pile of weapons, ten soldiers, Erik, and an Intelligence Directorate agent with them?
Jia adjusted her transmitter to target only Erik. “Does this feel familiar?”
Erik glanced her way. “Does what feel familiar?”
“Traveling toward a target with a heavily armed group of soldiers?”
“Assault infantry mostly uses exoskeletons,” Erik replied. He kept his eyes forward, looking for anything suspicious in the tunnel or unusual heat splotches. “And we used bigger, more heavily armored vehicles. We didn’t ride around on mini-flitters like a gang. It’s also been a long time since I last ran into a yaoguai. That’s probably why I didn’t think of the possibility at first.”
“I’ve got a something at the one o’clock junction,” Agent Koval announced.
Erik and Jia switched back to the general broadcast. The squad slowed to a stop, and everyone pointed their weapons.
A single faint but large heat signature in the intersection ahead grew brighter. Four more appeared, crawling on the tunnel walls. Jia deactivated the thermal overlay.
She’d expected more of the white-furred monsters from the apartment, but the latest additions to the nightmare catalog slithered along on a bed of spiked tentacles, their single yellow eyes glowing in Jia’s low-light vision. Their squat bodies flowed straight into their bulbous heads, with a large beak beneath their eye. Unlike the apartment monsters, the huge yaoguai would tower over most humans.
One of the soldiers muttered a few profanities. Another offered a quick prayer.
“Yeah, that’s about right,” Erik muttered.
“There you go, Agent Koval,” Jia announced. “It’s time to kill a cyclops or two.”
“Let’s send these things back to hell,” Erik suggested.
“You’re right, Detective,” Captain Phillips replied. “Squad, open fire!”
A hail of bullets and flechettes ripped into advancing tentacled cyclopes. Blue blood splattered all over the tunnel, but the advancing creatures weren’t slowing, despite missing large chunks of their bodies.
“Frag out!” Erik shouted. He hurled a grenade with practiced ease.
The small explosive tumbled toward the closest monster and exploded, lighting up the tunnel and blowing the face off the monster. It fell to the ground with a resounding thud.
“Throw them!” Captain Phillips ordered. “Finish these bastards!”
The militia squad lobbed their grenades. The tunnel became New Year’s at midnight, with the explosions going off in rapid succession. Keening cries ripped from the beaks of the dying yaoguai. A few seconds later, the smoke began to clear, leaving piles of charred rubbery flesh and tentacles.
Jia was grateful for her breather mask. She imagined the smell was somewhere between Hell’s backed-up toilet and the worst failed attempt at a century egg ever.
Erik pointed to the intersection ahead. “They all came from the right.”
“Is that it?” one of the soldiers asked. “Did we win?”
Erik leaned forward. “You don’t have your thermal overlay on, do you? Turn it back on.”
The soldier reactivated his, as did Jia.
Orange-red light suffused the tunnel from the right.
Jia switched to burst-fire mode. “With our luck, they probably have a dragon in there.”
Erik considered the possibility. “I’ve always wanted to kill a dragon.”
Chapter Fifty-One
The squad shifted position, bringing the mini-flitters into a line.
A dissonant symphony of monstrous noises echoed through the tunnels. Growls, screeches, and shrieks joined the beating of wings, scuttling, and splashing in the dark puddles spread throughout the tunnels.
“Back up a few meters,” Erik shouted. “Then stop and make sure you’ve got both your hands free for your weapon.”
Everyone complied without question, even Captain Phillips.
Her command speech earlier didn’t change the fact that Erik’s decades of experience granted him a natural aura of authority. When he barked an order, a person listened. Jia’s natural stubbornness offset that, but not all the time.
And certainly not this time.
She slapped a fresh magazine into her rifle. When she joined the police department, she’d had visions of heroic arrests and saving people’s lives. Weapons training was necessary, but it seemed like a quaint relic of a time she’d thought was long gone. Even when she worried about trouble, she’d never, ever imagined she would end up in a tunnel underneath the Scar, fighting off waves of genetically engineered monsters.
The nightmarish situation struck her more as absurd than frightening. She and Erik had faced off against numerous dangerous e
nemies, and often, they’d had to do it by themselves. At least this time, they both were heavily armed, and they had military backup that wasn’t going to get stuck behind locked doors, doing them no good.
Jia snickered. If she hadn’t broken up with Corbin before, it would have been inevitable after the fight. There was no way she could date a man who hadn’t experienced this kind of danger.
Huh, she thought. I’m presuming I’m going to survive. Am I turning into an optimist?
“Here they come,” Erik warned, his tone grave. He grabbed one of his explosive magazines from a pocket in his RBC suit and slammed it into his TR-7. “Let’s make sure they don’t get close.”
Jia gasped as the horde boiled out of the side tunnel. They weren’t just in the Scar fighting a few experiments. They might as well have been in the underworld fighting monsters. All their estimates were off. They’d fought a handful before, but now dozens if not hundreds of yaoguai flooded the tunnel like a rolling wave of death.
Well, damn. She sighed.
Among the more normal-looking monsters, a laughable idea in and of itself, groups of the furry crawlers and six-legged yaoguai from the apartment surged forward.
Other creative abominations joined them. Meter-long centipede-like monsters with three pairs of dripping mandibles led. Dark crablike yaoguai with eight legs, four arms, and segmented tails ending in spikes skittered along the roof. Tiger-sized white-furred red-eyed felines with teeth longer than Jia’s hand bounded between them, roaring.
Other yaoguai completed the nightmare collective, a writhing mass of fangs, teeth, tentacles, wings, and claws. Whoever Kerrigan had controlling the monsters must have released their entire twisted zoo.
“Throw them if you’ve got them,” Captain Phillips barked. “I didn’t join the Militia to get eaten.”
Grenade after grenade tumbled into the tunnel. The rippling explosions consumed the front of the advancing mass of creatures, leaving half-charred corpses and dying monsters. Screeching yaoguai dropped from the walls, but the monsters behind them didn’t stop. They charged through the smoke and their recently killed brethren.
Investigating Deceit Page 37