“Why do they keep coming back, sir?” asked Powell.
I shook my head. “I dunno, Lieutenant. About the only thing I can figure is that our buddy Beoshane is just trying to run us out of bullets. Maybe he thinks he can find enough people to completely overwhelm the defenses.”
“Will that work?”
“Not likely. Nearly half of Level Two’s military storage is ammunition. We’re not going to be running out for a
long
time. As to sheer numbers… well, anything is possible. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“All teams, be advised, targets approaching.” Kim’s voice through my earpiece always seemed to soothe me, keeping me calm and centered in a situation like this.
“Alpha in position,” I responded.
“Bravo in position.”
I could see the headlights as bright spears of light, and noted several pickup trucks as well as something… bigger… at the front of the line of cars. I couldn’t quite make it out, though—its outline wasn’t familiar to me.
“Gunny, do you have eyes on that vehicle at the front?”
“Yes, sir,” he answered. “It’s a bulldozer, sir. It looks like they armored the cab, too. We could punch through, but it would just be a guess as to whether we’d hit anyone. They have it locked down pretty tight. No shot at this time.”
Oh, shit
. A big bulldozer like that would make quick work even of our barriers, and the sentry guns weren’t currently armed with armor-piercing rounds. We’d swapped them out because we would run through them too quickly at the rate the guns fired, and we hadn’t needed them.
Regular rounds worked just fine against people.
“What about the tires, Gunny?”
“I thought of that, sir, but this is one of the ones with treads. Nothing to shoot out.”
“Well, shit. Ops, targets have—”
“Acknowledged, Alpha. Standby.” Kim was clearly trying to figure out a way to deal with this new development. Since I had no ideas, I decided to leave it up to her. The thing was moving slowly, anyway, and it was taking point, so they were all playing a waiting game.
Hell, they may not even know we’re out here, with all the lights off
. It wasn’t the first time they’d tried a night attack, but it
was
the first time we’d turned off all the lights.
Nah, no way Beoshane is
that
dumb
.
He knows we’re here. Probably just wants to see how well his new toy works, first
.
“Gaines, can you spot either Beoshane or the other one?” asked Kim.
“Negative, ma’am,” he responded.
“It’s likely they’re at the back of the column,” I said. “If they’re even here at all.”
“No,” said Kim. “They’re here. Beoshane’s not one to sit back and wait for the results. He’s out there, pulling the strings.”
“ETA one minute for the bulldozer to the barrier, ma’am,” said Barrents from the tower.
“Acknowledged.”
From our viewpoint, we could see the sentry guns come online from where they were elevated just outside the gates, their barrels beginning to rotate. Nothing in firing range yet, except the bulldozer, and I knew Kim would’ve ordered them not to bother targeting it. Without armor-piercing rounds, nothing those guns had would hurt that dozer.
Suddenly, I had an idea.
“Gaines, can you spot the fuel tank from where you are?”
“One second, sir, let me check.” There was a pause, and Gaines sighed. “I think I see it, sir, but it’s armored as well.” Another pause, and he came back more excited. “Sir, I believe they’re planning to blow it up!”
That would fit with Beoshane’s psychology and methods
, I thought.
Get as close as possible, and blow the doors off this place.
“How do you know?”
“Well, they’ve tried to cover it up with some sheeting and armor, but I can see what looks like sticks of dynamite and possibly some C4 on one side. Looks like the cover slipped a bit.”
“Can you confirm, Barrents?” asked Kim, breaking in.
“Checking now, ma’am. Yes, ma’am, I can confirm. That’s what it appears to be, anyway.”
“Do you have a shot?” I asked.
Both of them answered together. “Yes.”
“Then take it,” said Kim.
“Wait!” I yelled. “What about the sentry guns? Where that thing is now, you blow it and you blow them.”
I could tell Kim was thinking it over, and she took a second before she came back. “We’ll have to risk it. We can replace those easier than the barriers, and who knows how much damage that thing could do if it got close enough.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic, so I didn’t object when she again ordered the men to take their shots. I could save us all a nasty headache, though. “Duck and cover, men, and 86 your night-vision.” I saw each of the men reaching for their NVDs as I tilted mine up, and noticed it was nearly pitch black without the visual aids. Hardly any stars, and the moon was on the other side of the mountain. The only light was from the cars coming up the mountain.
I heard several shots crack through the early morning air, but no explosions. Then, one must’ve finally connected with the right target, and there was a massive explosion, then another, and another. All set off by the chain of explosives wrapped around the dozer. A horrible scream sounded, and as I looked over the concrete K-rail in front of me there was now plenty of light to see a man wrapped in fire leaping from the burning remains of the bulldozer’s cab. He fell to the ground, still screaming and thrashing, but there was another crack from the tower and his wail was cut off.
Probably the most merciful thing that has happened to him in a while
, I thought.
I glanced to either side of the dozer, seeing what I’d expected. Even somewhat sheltered and protected by the rocks around them, the sentry guns were a mess. One would clearly never operate again, and the other was going to need some major repairs, if it could even be fixed. We had a few spares, but not many, and if we went through them too quickly…
Still, the fire lit up the night quite well, showing us the stream of people who had, for the moment, faltered in their advance on the base. Clearly, Beoshane had been busy, since there were at least as many people in this assault as any of the others. They hadn’t decided to attack yet, either waiting for more orders or to see what we would do.
Or they’re in shock, wondering how we could’ve blown up their greatest weapon so easily
.
“Sir,” came Gaines’ voice over the radio. “It looks like some of the folks up front are none too happy with the situation, and are turning around. Course, the ones behind them appear to have a difference of…”
There was a shot from the mass of people, and then another, and another. The cracks of the shots were loud, even over the sound of the burning bulldozer.
“Yeah, they’re all coming back our way, now,” said Gaines. “Permission to engage?”
“Ops, Alpha. Request permission to engage targets.”
I could hear her sigh over the comms, as could all the others. All of us wished there was another way, but Beoshane had whipped these people into a religious fervor, and they were ready to kill anyone in their path.
Better them than us
, I thought, realizing how often that phrase had been used over the millennia of man’s existence. It seemed to fit nearly every part of our history.
“Permission granted, all teams. Engage at your discretion.”
I saw Montero briefly lower his night-vision, then raise it again. It was clearly still too bright to use it, so I didn’t bother, and set my assault rifle on the concrete rail, steadying it for the oncoming horde. Suddenly, shots began to ring out at a steady pace from above, and I knew that Gaines and Barrents were beginning to thin the crowd.
Then they began streaming around the wrecked dozer, pouring like ants around the wreckage and heading straight for us. Normally, the sentry guns would have turned them into chopped liver before ever reaching that point, but now…
“Enemy in range in five,” said Montero, at my side. “Four… three…”
I took a deep breath and sighted at the closest attacker, then moved my target when her head exploded from a sniper’s round.
It’s going to be a bloodbath
, I thought.
I’d never hated Beoshane more than in that moment, knowing that he was out there, not giving a damn about any of the people he was sending to their deaths.
Better them than us,
I thought once more, as we began firing.
The mood in Ops was somber as I walked in, covered in dirt and more than a little blood.
“Alpha and Bravo squads are squared away, ma’am,” I said formally.
Kim was bent over a monitor, talking to someone somewhere in the base. “OK, Charlie. Just get started as soon as you can.”
“Right away, ma’am.”
Kim straightened, hands on her lower back and a grimace on her face. It had been a long morning for all of us. She turned to the watch commander. “Marcus, I want spotters in the tower keeping an eye out for stragglers. Let me know right away if they spot anything.”
“You got it.”
She turned to me, finally. “How is everyone?”
I shrugged. “No major injuries, some cuts and scrapes. Jake took a punch to the head that rang his bell a bit, but other than that we’re fine.”
She shook her head. “I still can’t believe they made it all the way up there. How many of them were there?”
“Well, I can’t confirm the numbers, you’ll need to talk to the cleanup crew for that, but if I had to guess, over a hundred. Maybe close to two hundred. And we’re gonna need some more mines, too.”
“And Beoshane and his lackey got away again.”
I nodded, as pissed about it as she was. “Gaines said he thinks the guy holes up in a camper of some kind when he comes out here, now. He saw something that looked like a mobile home at the far end of the group, and a couple people standing on top of it. He took a shot, and they jumped, but it was too far, even for him.”
“Dammit!” she said, slamming her fist onto the desk. “Every time, he gets away!”
“I know, and I don’t like it any more than you do, but what else can we do? It’s not like we could go hunting him down, or som—” I broke off, seeing that glint in her eye I knew too well. She was about to have a bad idea, and it looked like I was to thank for it. “No, Kim. You can’t.”
She eyed me with one raised eyebrow. “I can’t? What was that, soldier?”
I shook my head again. “I’m not a soldier, Kim, and you’re going off the rails, and you know it. You can’t send anyone out there to look for him. They’d be flying blind. We have exactly zero intel on him, his lackey, or this group he’s leading, other than his name. Hell, we don’t even know where they’re coming from!”
She was clearly not happy with my analysis of the situation. “We need to find him. We need to stop this crap.”
“I know, and we will. But we have to be smart about this. Let me talk to some of the guys and see what I can put together. Maybe we can come up with some idea that won’t get everyone killed. OK?”
She nodded. “Fine, but do it soon. I’m tired of this asshole.”
“Me, too, babe. Me, too.”
The phone’s ring was shrill in her head as Kim groaned and rolled over, hitting the light switch mounted next to the bed. The soft glow of the lamp did nothing to disguise the clock’s accusatory notice of 5 a.m. She fumbled for her Bluetooth as the ringing continued and David began to stir beside her. Hitting the button on the device as she fitted it to her ear, she patted him on the back and he slipped once more into blissful unconsciousness.
“This is Barnes,” she said softly as she eased shut the door to their bedroom. Nearly paper-thin, it would do little to block the noise, but David was a light sleeper and she wanted him to get his rest. “Go ahead, Ops.”
“Ma’am, we have a call for you from Dr. Maxwell in Bunker Seven.”
It took a second for Kim to adjust.
I still think of her as Mary Adamsdöttir
, she thought. “Put her through, Ops.”
There was a click, and Mary’s voice came on the line. “Kim! Hello, so good to finally get in touch with you.”
“Hi, Mary. Look, I meant to call…”
“I know, George told me he told you. Don’t worry about it, I know you’re busy. Plus… Oh, no. I called too early, didn’t I?”
Kim laughed. Mary had always been an early riser. “No, no, it’s fine. I had to get up early today, anyway. Now I have no excuse to be late. So what’s up?” Kim moved over to start the coffee, stifling a yawn.
“It’s about David, Kim. About his blood.”
Kim went cold. Ever since their final confrontation with Henry Gardner, they’d both wondered whether David was actually infected by the ‘zombie’ prion, as Gardner had told him. Though Mary’s initial tests had been inconclusive, she had continued to work on it off and on to determine once and for all if it was true or if that snake Gardner had been lying. Kim wasn’t sure she wanted to know, because if David was infected, then so was she, and that… that would change
everything
.
“Kim, are you there?”
Kim realized she’d sat in silence, lost in her own little world while Mary hung on the line. “Sorry, Mary, I’m here. Do you want me to wake David?”
“I think that would be best.”
“OK, give me a minute.”
I swam up out of the depths of whatever fresh Hell I’d been dreaming of to see the blurry face of an angel in front of me. My brain took a second to finish booting up, and the face resolved into Kim, leaning over me with a grim look and her Bluetooth active in her ear.
“Get up, David,” she said, easing me into the morning.
I glanced at the clock and immediately regretted it.
“Mary’s on the phone,” Kim continued, moving out into the main room.
I coughed, the dry bunker air tickling the back of my throat and making me wish for a glass of water. I shook my head and sat up, scrubbing my hands over my face and hair. Feeling somewhat alive, I finally stood up, grabbed a shirt from the chair, and stumbled after Kim. She met me at the door with a large cup of hot coffee that smelled like heaven.
“I suddenly remembered why I love you,” I said, smiling at her. When she didn’t return the smile and merely motioned for me to sit on what we lovingly called a ‘couch,,’ I knew something was up, and dropped the joke. “Let’s have it.”