The woman of the three, was a brunette who styled her hair in a pixie cut. She was short and had a fit body like someone who was an avid gym rat. The other two were men. One had the look of an academia; his hair, or what he had of it was swept from the left side over his balding pate. Instead of wearing the white doctor’s coat, he wore a soft brown plaid suit along with a black tie. he even had the old-style brown leather patches on the elbows of his suit jacket. he took his wire framed glasses off and cleaned them with a hankie from his jacket as he stared openly at us. The last man was dressed in an older issued blue military combat uniform. He even had a black beret sitting on top of his bald head. I zeroed in on the Colt Government .45 acp pistol in his chest holster. I dropped my right hand to my drop holster on my thigh and rested it on the butt. I didn’t know the guy and had no idea what his intentions could be. I moved to my side slightly and found what looked like a SAINT AR-15 Springfield Armory rifle, propped against the desk next to him.
I walked in the direction of the desk keeping Katherine in between me and the armed guard. I know my team was prepared for any scenario that might happen. The guard was wary and careful where he put his hands, making sure to keep them away from his weapons. I moved my hand away from my pistol and extended it out to him.
“Did someone call the cavalry?” I asked with a smile plastered on my face.
The guard extended his hand and gave me a smile back. “Damn, sure is nice to have you guys show up,” he spoke in a deep southern accent.
“Alabama?” I asked.
“Yes sir, outside of Birmingham, in a town called Warrior.”
The professor looking man stepped forward and put himself in between the guard and me. “I am Doctor Matt Sporm, Director of National Resources of Continued Government or NaRCoG as we lovingly call it.” The man had a nasally voice who talked like he was above everyone.
I gave him a flat stare for bit. “I am Dan Welko, Team lead for Malleus. We heard your frantic call for help.”
“Oh, yes, of course. Thank you for all your help.”
“Not sure if I didn’t just forestall the inevitable. The Collectivus don’t give up easily.” I explained.
Sporm gave me a strange look like he had never heard the name Collectivus before. I knew they did know who that was though, due to the conversation my people had had with them.
The woman behind Sporm stepped around him and extended her hand to me. She had a sparkle in her eye. “I am Doctor Heather Bradley, I am the one who has been dealing with the communications with your people,” she turned to Sporm. “The Collectivus is the name of the things that have been attacking us. You were busy with your project while I was gathering that information.”
I took her hand and shook it lightly. “Is everyone here a Doctor? I feel a couple of degrees too low to be in your midst,” I joked.
The guard laughed and shook his head. “I am just a grunt, I have an AA, but that’s it. By the way my name is Anthony Fratto. Retired Air Force, now in the employ of Minot Security.”
“I feel a little better now. I don’t mind Air Force guys, not everyone can make it in the real services.” I joked.
“I was a PJ,” he explained to me.
I nodded my head in appreciation of his words. “Damn, a Para Jumper. At least you ain’t some damn flyboy, or worse a tech weenie. My buddy Johnson was Air Force too, but he was attached to my team for a tour in Afghanistan. His job was to call in bomb runs when we found caves full of Taliban.”
“I don’t even know how to use a computer, hell, I still use a flip phone,” Anthony laughed.
“So, does someone want to tell me what the hell NaRCoG means?” I asked looking around the room.
“We were a program put together by President Roosevelt. He believed that America would someday be invaded by a foreign country. So, he signed a secret order to create NaRCoG. It is our job to make sure the government and its people could continue to protect itself. We are one of a highly classified select group of facilities around the country, with the resources to help house, feed, arm, and provide intelligence so our people can fight back against the foreign insurgency.”
I scratched my chin as a plan hit me. “Why doesn’t this place have more personnel?”
“Because the Madam President currently in office is a pain in the ass and decided to chop our program. We lost our contingent of Marines six months ago. So now we have been left to dismantle the program, but now that all this has gone down...”
“Be glad you have this much. Now you get to do what you were made to do. I have a plan, that I think you can help me with.” I went ahead and poured out my hurried plan.
Day 6
My team and I sat in the oversized cafeteria of the NaRCoG shoveling hot food into our gullets. The scientists were in the main control room going through my plan and debating the facts and issues I had presented them with. I put the last fork full of instant mash potatoes into my mouth, sat back against my chair, and chewed. I had a billion thoughts running through my head, but I couldn’t snatch onto one to save my life. A hand landed on my shoulder and spun me around in my chair. Katherine smiled down at me.
“Dan, Doctor Sporm would like to meet with you.”
I stood from the table and motioned my team to their feet. “Okay, lead the way Doctor.”
Katherine’s smile broke into a grimace, “Doctor Sporm only wants to meet with you.” Mixed emotions surfaced on her face as she switched to embarrassment.
“You go back and tell Sporm, I hide nothing from my team, He takes us all or none at all,” I fell back into my chair and snagged my mug of hot coffee off the table. My team took my cue and sat down to finish their food.
Katherine switched her look to apprehension. I studied Katherine for a moment instantly feeling bad for her. I sighed heavily in frustration and stood up. “Okay, Katherine. Here is the deal. You will take me to see Sporm and then head back here and collect my team. You will then lead them to the are the meeting is being held in. That is the only option I am willing to give.”
Katherine wiped the sweat beading up on her forehead with the sleeve of her white lab coat. “Thank you, I don’t like that man. He expects everyone to follow his orders and can be a total ass when things don’t go his way,” she motioned me to follow her.
I followed her down a maze of corridors and through three hatches that looked like they could be snapped closed and pressurized, like you would see on a submarine or military vessel. I memorized our route just in case I had to find my way back again. We stopped in front of the biggest set of double metal doors that were inset with sturdy thick shiny metal rods that could be moved by hydraulics to make the doors almost impregnable. That is, unless you had men and women like I did on my team. They had the training and expertise to blow these doors wide open and kill everyone on the other side despite their numbers.
Katherine moved to a panel in the wall next to the doors and went through a security protocol using a password, voice recognition, and finally a scan of her eye. The security here was on the level of paranoia. The locks disengaged, and the door slowly opened outward toward us. I looked through the crack and saw a room that looked like a smaller version of the giant control room I had seen earlier. Katherine led me in and stopped at the other side of the doors. Sporm was sitting at a desk situated in the middle of the room. I turned to Katherine and spoke quietly.
“Bring my team here to the outside of that door. If they order you to open it do so, if you refuse, they will force their way in. Got me?”
Katherine nodded almost imperceptibly and retreated back through the door. I waited till the door started to close before I made my way over to Sporm. He ignored me as I stood next to him. He was trying to show me that he was in charge. It was a petty move that only self-important asses did. I had, had enough of the cold shoulder and reached out. I locked onto Sporm’s shoulder and gave him a little squeeze. He yelped and tried to pull away from me, but I held him in place.
“I don’t p
lay games Doctor. If you called for me then you have something to say, if you don’t, then I am outta here and you can deal with the Collectivus yourself.” I hissed.
“You are hurting me,” Sporm whined.
I let up the pressure and stepped back resting my hand on the butt of my pistol and waited for the ass speak.
“I spoke to the rest of the scientists and we have decided that your plan is too dangerous and puts this facility squarely in the crosshairs of the Collectivus. I am sorry, but this facility is too important to be wasted in the hands of mercenaries,” Sporm lectured me.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to tamp down on my anger, that was threatening to boil out of me. “Sporm…”
“Doctor Sporm,” he dared to interrupt and correct me.
That was it, my anger exploded. I took two steps and grabbed onto Sporm’s lapels of his white lab coat and lifted straight up. The man had a paunch even though he was on the thin side, but his measly one hundred and eighty pounds felt like nothing to me at that point. I pulled him out his chair until his toes were barely scratching the floor. I pulled him close almost nose to nose and used my most lethal voice I reserved for terrorist ass holes.
“Sporm, this facility is here to help the needy and provide a rally point for fighting back against a foreign force on American soil. The Collectivus is as foreign as we will ever get. Now if you and your brood of scientists won’t help, then I have no other recourse than to take over the facility and conduct raids on the enemy with my own people. Either way, you are no longer in control. I tossed him back into his chair and kicked it away from the station so he couldn’t touch any of the controls. I heard someone clear their throat and pivoted on the balls of my feet drawing my pistol and bringing it up lightning fast.
My sight picture rested on the security guard Anthony. He was careful to keep his hands away from his guns. “Same team Dan. I was monitoring this room and Sporm from my position in the upper office,” he pointed to a small office with tinted glass above him. “I heard everything that was said and came down to support you and point out that Sporm was lying. The rest of the staff voted and argued to help you and enact your plan. Sporm there is afraid to do his job and afraid he could lose control of the facility to a strong leader like you.”
“Well that shit just happened. Do you have a set of cells or anything we can stick his self-important ass in?”
Anthony smiled wide and nodded. “Hell yes, if you don’t mind, I will take care of him personally.”
“I am gonna go ahead and trust you Anthony but fuck me over once and I will rip your head off and shit down your neck. Got it!” I closed my fist, raised the thumb and extended my pointer finger in the shape of a gun and pointed it at him.
“No worries Dan. I made the same solemn oath to protect this country as you did. I’ll back your play.”
“First, open the doors so my men can come in and then take that piece of shit out of my sight.” I ordered.
Anthony turned and jogged to the controls of the door. He activated it and the door started to open. He then jogged over and gathered up Sporm. Sporm had a smile on his face and opened his mouth to speak.
“Computer enact security action Blue Sky, security code gamma, oscar, niner, alph…” his voice was choked off when Anthony tightened his hand around the man’s throat and squeezed. Anthony then shifted quickly sliding his arm around Sporm’s neck and flexed his biceps. In a flash Sporm was unconscious and hung limp in Anthony’s arms.
“Password not accepted, please repeat password,” a disembodied computer voice echoed from speakers in the four corners of the room.
“Security override remove Doctor Sporm completely from access to all systems. Password Aim High two-five.” Anthony spoke loudly.
“Affirmative, Doctor Sporm’s access had been removed from all systems, logged into daily communications Anthony Fratto.”
Anthony lifted Sporm’s slack form onto his shoulder and moved toward the double doors and pass my team. I turned and found Katherine beaming at me. “Katherine, if you could please round up the other staff and bring them here? Thanks.”
“Of course, be right back.” Katherine spun on her heel and was gone in a moment.
Chun approached me and thumped me in my chest with his fist. That guy hit hard, I felt it through my armor. “So, are we now in control of this place?”
I tried to ignore the need to rub my chest and smiled, “Start moving in, we also need to get a hold of the Malleus family and get everyone moved over here, I scratched under my beard and contemplated the need to shave it. Then a thought came to me. “Think we can fit our entire Apache air wing in the underground hangar here?”
Anthony had come back in the room and nodded. “Shit we can fit six helicopter squadrons down here.”
“how do you get them in here?” Butch asked.
Anthony moved over to a computer station and entered his commands. The screen in front blinked and then showed the hangar. He manipulated the controls on the camera and pointed to the screen. It showed another elevator four times the size we came down on, and pointed out a pair of doors in the high domed ceiling. “An opening in the apple orchard on the other side of the entrance you came in opens and allows rotary aircraft to descend into it. The doors open and close very quickly, they are never to be left open. That way no enemy aircraft can follow and enter.”
I nodded my head at the doors and elevator. “Do we have fuel and the necessary load outs for the Apache?”
Another voice answered this one a female. “Fuel? Yes. Ammunition load outs for the Apaches? No.” I turned and took in Doctor Bradley. She looked tired; her short hair stuck up as if she had been raking her fingers through it.
I walked over to her and put my arm around her shoulders. “Sounds like you have a good idea of all the supplies located her in the facility. Why don’t you sit down with my big friend Hashkeh and give him an info dump? That way we can draw up the necessary plans to re-supply us.”
Heather nodded her head, wide eyed when Hashkeh came around the bunch of hardened looking men of my team. They walked away together toward another station and got to work. The woman looked like a child next to the big Navajo. I turned my head looking for Apache and motioned her over when I found her. She shouldered her way past the rest of the team and stopped in front of me.
“What job do you have for me?”
“You are the best medic we have on the team. Find the medbay and report back with a general inventory of what we got.”
Apache rolled her eyes and sighed. “I never get to do anything fun like murder and mayhem,” she blew her bangs out of her face, showing me her puppy dog eyes.
“So, all that shooting and killing outside wasn’t enough for you?”
“Yeah but what have you done for me lately?” she smirked, pivoted and walked out of the room.
“Butch, go collect our men and bring them down here.”
“Even the Mutt?” Butch growled. He was meaning the pain in the ass ever present Hootie.
I thought about that for a moment and shrugged. “Yeah bring him down. I get nervous when he is on his own with no one to watch him. He has a habit of blowing shit up when he is left unsupervised.”
“That is for sure sir.”
Anthony stepped up and removed a radio from his belt. He turned it to a channel and handed it over to Butch. “I can direct you using this and initiate the elevator and doors from my station.” he pointed to the room behind him. Indicating the tinted window security booth.
“Sounds better than roaming around this fucking maze and getting lost, but why can’t I use my own radio?”
“Your radio isn’t designed to work off the inner communication systems.”
“Good enough answer for me. So which way do I turn from these sub doors?” he jerked his thumb to the double doors.
“Head left go to the end of the hallway and take the elevator to the third floor. Use this card to use it or open doors,” he handed a card k
ey to Butch.
Butch nodded his thanks and moved out to follow my orders. That surprised me, Butch didn’t always follow orders, he must’ve been in a good mood. I turned and found Heaven waiting silently for my orders, his hands resting in front of him with string of rosary beads he was fingering.
“Anthony, this is Heaven. Show him how to use the systems so he can get familiar with the security procedures in place. He is scary good at finding cracks in the system.”
Anthony gave Heaven a nod and offered his hand. Heaven used both of his hands to shake Anthony’s. “If you will come this way Heaven.”
Anthony took Heaven up to his security office. The rest of my team spread out around the room and waited for more orders. I found Katherine and pulled her aside. “You know how to use the communication systems?”
She nodded and guided me to a desk with pictures of her and two tween age girls. I picked up the picture that looked more recent and studied it. “You are way too young to have children of this age.”
Katherine spun in her chair and gave me a sad smile. “First thank you for the compliment, you are correct. They are my nieces, my sister’s kids. I haven’t seen them since taking this job.”
“Where are they?”
“Indiana, just outside Indianapolis,” she sighed.
I put a hand on her shoulder consoling her. “The good news is last I heard this shit hadn’t gone that far East yet.”
“Your news is old. Six more portals have opened. One on the East coast the others throughout Europe and Asia.” She dropped her head and sniffled.
I rolled my head around my neck trying to work out the pressure building from stress. “Okay I will file that info away. Are we in contact with any of the other facilities like this one?”
Katherine turned in her chair to face her computer and her fingers flew across the keyboard. A map appeared on her monitor with symbols throughout the country. “I am in contact with only two other facilities, the others have already been decommissioned.”
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