Sixty-Seven Salamanders

by Jeffary Joseph

  “Will we get to see the HAARP towers today?” Bianca asked on the right edge of our nine-person group.

  “No, unfortunately, they’re going through maintenance at the moment.” The lady turned to her.

  While they were engaged in conversation, I made my way back towards the guard.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” He asked when I reached him.

  “I really gotta use the bathroom.” I lied.

  “No. You will stay in this room with your group.” He crossed his arms.

  “Come on, man; I have a small bladder. It’s not going to be pretty if I go here on your nice floor.” I waved down at it.

  “It’s true, sir. I’ve seen him go before, very disturbing.” Vince unnecessarily added.

  “It’s okay, Jim.” The red-haired woman nodded at the man.

  “Follow me.” He let out a resigned sigh and led me out the door and passed the open space of the facility.

  After several seconds, I realized we went by the specific bathroom that held our mission equipment, so made an abrupt beeline for it. “Oh man, I can’t hold it anymore!”

  “Hey!” He called out after me.

  I dashed into the bathroom and looked around for the second to left stall, and spotted it to go lock myself in.

  A moment later, Jim, the security guard stormed in. “Hey! Where are you!?”

  “In here! I told you I couldn’t wait!” I leaned against the stall door and narrowed my eyes through the crack in it to check where he was.

  “You try anything like that again, and you’re gone.” He had a hand over his face by the sink.

  “Sorry about that.” The mission gear was supposed to be located somewhere in the wall behind the toilet, but I couldn’t find the hidden compartment. “It has to be here…” I placed my hands against the wall and felt a small indent in a black tile and excitedly tried to pry it open, but the tile fell on top of the toilet seat, creating an audible ‘clink.’ Dammit!

  “Hey… what was that? Come out right now.” The security guard walked to my stall and pounded on the door, causing it to shake violently. “I said come out!”

  “If you say so.” I faced forward and extended both arms to the stall walls to support myself as I reared back one leg and kicked the door with all the force I could muster.

  Immediately, there was a loud bang and heavy resistance against the door, but it gave away after only a second. Then, the stall slowly creaked open and stopped halfway. I leaned out to see the bearded guard on his back, breathing heavily with his eyes shut, then retreated into the stall to finish chipping away at the tile wall behind the toilet and retrieved a hefty duffel bag.

  Walking out of the stall and sidestepping the unconscious man on the floor, I placed the bag on the sink bar, making sure all the contents were inside, then made my way back to search him. I eventually found the key card to reach the sixth floor in his front pocket. “Now what to do with you…” I pulled both his arms to move him, but he barely budged an inch. “You should really lay off the donuts, Jimmy.”

  After some more effort, I was able to sit him down on the toilet seat in the stall and walked back over to the sink. All there was left now was to wait for one of the others to break off and pull the fire alarm as planned. I preoccupied myself with taking out the necessary gear in the meantime, checking the stock and ammunition of the various weapons. Then without warning, persistent ringing and flashing lights filled the bathroom, making me close the duffel bag as I took a deep breath. Let’s do this.

  Leaning out the bathroom cautiously and looking to my left and right showed there was no one in sight. So, I pressed my back against the wall and slid down the hallway on route to the elevator where the rest of the team would be. At the end of the hall, I took a slow step out but jumped back when I saw a tall guard milling about. Luckily his back had been turned, so he wasn’t aware of me.

  The other way wasn’t an option due to all the security that occupied the front of the building, so I made sure his back was still turned before creeping to him on my toes and seizing his neck from behind in a chokehold. He flailed wildly as I brought him down to the floor and held my arm around his throat until he went limp. I thought about dragging him back to the bathroom but decided, in the end, it didn’t matter since everyone would know what happened soon enough.

  From there, I swiftly made my way down the hallway and checked around the corner once more, then dashed to my left to reach the elevator where no one else had arrived yet. A symphony of footsteps sounded to the right, so I quickly raised my gun and waited for whoever it was to step out into the open.

  “Whoa! Slow down, it’s us, man.” Josh's hands shot up amongst the group.

  I lowered my nine-millimeter handgun. “Took you guys long enough.”

  “Well, a few people needed a lesson in manners not to touch a lady.” Bianca grinned.

  I smiled and tossed George the duffel bag. “You guys can gear up in the elevator.”

  Everyone equipped their gear while the elevator slowly rose to the sixth floor and a loud ding soon let us know that we’d reach our destination. The door slid open a second later, and we carefully exited, checking our surroundings. The flashing lights and ringing still reverberated throughout the floor, but it was good, the confusion would only help us; ahead was an intersection.

  I pointed at the small radio hidden under my suit, near the shoulder. “Radio if you guys run into any trouble.”

  As planned, Mina’s team which consisted of Hope, George, and Vince took the straight route while my team of Noir, Josh, and Bianca took the left. The stretch of hallway was filled with doors that lined both sides. We took them two at a time, kicking down the doors that were locked, but they contained either junk I didn’t know the use for or were pretty much empty. For some reason, the small rooms seemed familiar to me, but I didn’t know what that meant. I’d never been to Alaska before after all.

  Our team of four continued to stalk down the hall until we came on another door, but this time voices were coming from inside. I nodded at Josh, and we kicked it in together.

  “D-Don’t shoot!” A pale man with brown hair and goatee fell to the floor with his hands on his head, sobbing. “I knew this was going to happen!”

  I raised my gun to a group of four huddled in the corner. Like the groveling man, they also had white lab coats on.

  “Will you please shut up, Marcus?” A blonde woman with red lipstick emerged from them with her hands raised and looked directly into my eyes. “Sorry for my colleague… he’s easily frightened.”

  I glanced down at him to see he was trembling now. “I see.” Then back up at her. “Why are there so few people here? Even the rooms are mostly empty.”

  She shrugged. “Our operations ceased being funded months ago.”

  “You do realize you’re doing highly classified and illegal research here, don’t you?”

  “I know, but Ascension is necessary.”

  “Ascension?”

  Her lips curved up into a smile. “Yes.”

  The word didn’t mean anything to me, so I squinted at her. “What are you talking about?”

  She shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter; you’re all sheep anyway.” Then, she chuckled like there was an inside joke only she understood and rejoined her group.

  “She’s talking nonsense, man. Just ignore her.” Josh suggested behind me.

  I hesitantly nodded with my eyes still on her. “Yeah… You and Bianca keep an eye on them while Noir and I finish searching the rest of the hall.”

  We left the room after.

  “Adin.” Noir whispered to me while I was preparing to bust open another door.

  “Yeah?”

  “That door; it has an electronic lock on it.”

  I followed her outstretched finger and saw the keypad in the upper corner of it. There, I reached down into my utility belt and unhooked the watch-like device that Josh created to place it on the keypad, causing it to instantly fizzle as te
ndrils of smoke wafted into the air. Then nodded at Noir who skipped to the other side of the door so we could kick it open together, our combined force blasting the door open and making it bang against the wall behind with a smack, though it was mostly drowned out by the blaring fire alarm.

  In the middle of the room were two security guards arguing with each other but they jumped at our intrusion. One that had a scar on his cheek started to reach for his gun with fidgety hands.

  Noir sent a single bullet at his foot, making him do a funny dance. “That’s your only warning.”

  I glanced at her, thinking for sure that she would’ve shot him. “You.” I took the elastic handcuffs on my utility belt and tossed it to the other guy who was short with long, matted hair. “Tie your trigger-happy friend up.”

  He slowly nodded with big, shaky eyes and snapped the handcuffs behind the scarred security guard’s back. I handcuffed him too as soon as he finished and Noir placed them back to back, then kicked their legs out from under them, causing them both to crash to the floor.

  “Ah, what the hell, you crazy bitch!” The scarred guard growled.

  Noir squatted and smiled wide in his face. “I’ve been called worse.”

  He met her gaze with fire in his eyes but looked away after just a few seconds.

  After making sure the area was clear, I nudged the short guard with my foot. “Hey, what were you two arguing about just a second ago?”

  He cast his head down, unwilling to meet my gaze. “N-Nothing…"

  I raised my weapon at him. “You can tell me, or I can shoot you, pick one.”

  His head snapped up at me, and his pupils shook with unmistakable fear, just like before. “Wait, okay, I’ll tell you!”

  “Damien, don’t you dare-” The scarred man started but was cut off by a vicious slap that reached my ears.

  Noir shook her finger back and forth. “Mm-mm, don’t be rude.”

  He cursed silently under his breath but pressed his lips shut after.

  I looked at the short security guard again. “Thank you, Noir. Speak.”

  “I… I want to be a part of the Ascension, but not this way… I don’t want to hurt anyone!” He started crying and sniffing.

  There’s that word again. “What is this ‘Ascending?’ What does it mean?”

  “Think about your family, Damien! Do you really want to forfeit their claim!?” The scarred security spoke again, clearly not learning his lesson the first time.

  The one named Damien suddenly stared forward with empty eyes while Noir gave the mouthy guard another brutal slap; a trickle of blood formed on his bottom lip.

  “You should probably stop talking.” I advised him.

  He was panting heavily but didn’t say anything more, clenching his jaw.

  “Damien, what does Ascending mean?” I asked.

  He continued staring forward, not moving a muscle.

  I pressed my weapon against his forehead, forcing his head back a few inches. “You have two seconds to tell me what I want to know.”

  Tears formed in his open eyes. “Do what you want… I won’t give up my family’s claim.”

  I clicked the trigger, but he didn’t even flinch - he was completely serious. What the hell?

  “Adin, we don’t have time for this, so shoot him and be done with it or let us move on.” Noir clicked her tongue.

  She was right; we didn’t have the time to play twenty-one questions. I waved my gun at a door that was further in with a small, glass window at the top. “What’s behind that door?”

  “The main lab, but you’re too late. Max is deleting the data as we speak.” The scarred guard laughed.

  “Crap, let’s move!” I twirled to it.

  Chapter 31 – First Mission Pt. 2

  Noir and I stood with our backs against either side of the main lab door. I put three fingers up to start the countdown to bust it down.

  “Come in; it’s open.” A gravelly voice invited from inside.

  I looked at Noir with unsure eyes, but she just shrugged back. Placing my hand on the cold, metal knob, I turned it and pushed, and the door groaned open as promised, allowing us to step inside side-by-side, our weapons drawn.

  “Welcome.” A bald man with a shallow beard sat in front of a large display of monitors and computers typing away; the setup looked like very hi-tech.

  “Get up from the console very slow.” I instructed, my handgun still trained on him.

  “Just one minute.” He clicked one more button on a keyboard, then casually wheeled his chair around to face us. “I apologize, that took a little longer than I expected.”

  “I said get up.” I growled, more power in my voice this time.

  “Ah, yes, of course.” He took his time getting to his feet. “I’ve been expecting you… the recruits from Addison.”

  I tried not to look surprised. We were supposed to be an invisible organization, so how could he know about us? Wait. “You’re… you’re the one who was providing the classified HAARP info to the Organization agent.”

  “And they said the kids of this generation are idiots.” He chuckled.

  “Move away from the consoles.” I gestured with my weapon to the left. “Noir, check for any remaining data.”

  She immediately started for the console.

  “I’ve already destroyed all the relevant data; it’s gone.” He smiled evilly, walking to the left of the room.

  “Why go through the trouble of destroying the data at all? You owe them nothing.”

  The man rolled his shoulder. “I could tell you, but you won’t live long enough for any of it to matter.”

  I waved my gun. “Look around; you’re the only one left. If you knew we were coming, why the lack of security?”

  He gave a wicked smile. “We found your little friend. He was hesitant to talk at first, but after a few broken fingers, he opened right up. We had to let you think you had the upper hand.”

  My stomach dropped.

  “They’ll be here shortly... None of you are leaving here alive.” He finished, then in a flash pulled out a handgun from under his lab coat and pointed it at Noir who had her back turned as she typed away.

  My breathing literally stopped as I tried to squeeze the handgun’s trigger, but my finger wouldn’t budge. A series of images flashed through my mind of white lab coats and a small room occupied by a single chair. It had straps on the arms that looked like it was meant to hold someone down; a distorted memory - I’d been here before.

  Noir spun around. “What are you doing, Adin? Shoot him!” She urged with pleading eyes, but her voice was a shallow echo in my head.

  He grinned at me. “You’re just like your father. No balls.”

  The statement snapped me out of my vision, making me finally shoot, the momentum of the bullet that jetted out pushing him back to collide hard with the wall behind. His gun fell a moment later as he slid to the floor clutching his abdomen. However, he had managed to get his own shot off right before mine.

  I rushed over to Noir who lay unconscious on the floor and cradled her in my arms. “No, no, no… please, no.”

  She had a nasty gash above her right eyebrow that she probably got when banging her head against the console on the way down to the floor. Frantically searching her for any gunshot wounds, I breathed a major sigh of relief and started laughing to see there wasn’t one to be found. I didn’t know if I could have ever forgiven myself if she had gotten hurt solely because of me; why had the memory triggered in my brain at that exact moment?

  I pressed the button on my radio. “Josh, Bianca, converge on my location, stat.”

  Static emanated from my vest and Josh spoke a second later. “What about the scientists –“

  “Forget them, I need you now!” I half-screamed, still on edge.

  “R-Roger.”

  I clicked my radio on again, changing the broadcast channel. “Team B, change of plans. Get to the extraction point now, reinforcements on route.” Two helicopters were to lan
d on the HAARP facility roof and whisk us away.

  “Roger.” Mina’s voice crackled through.

  I gently laid Noir back down, walked over to stand above the bald scientist and kicked him hard in the leg. “I know you’re alive.”

  He startled awake. “You shot me.” He had his blood-covered hand over the bloodier wound on his gut. “Maybe you do have balls after all.” He was half coughing and laughing.

  “How did you know my father?” I knew time was running out, but I couldn’t let the out-of-place statement go.

  He looked up at me with lazy eyes and smiled. “We worked together, just like I worked with her parents.” He glanced past me and at Noir.

  I glanced back at her, too. “You worked with our parents? How is that possible?” I didn’t recall ever meeting him in my life.

  “The Cell should’ve sent Dragons, not you wet-behind-the-ear Salamanders if they wanted me gone… Or was it him? I always thought he was a snake.” The bald man sneered. “It doesn’t matter. In the end, only the true chosen will Ascend.” He rambled on, ignoring me as his eyelids got heavier and more blood oozed from the gunshot wound.

  None of what he was saying made an iota of sense. “Hey, answer me!” I kicked him again.

  “Adin, help me up.” Noir called out from behind.

  I turned my head to see her sitting up, her eyes unfocused and overall looking dazed. After a moment’s hesitation, I briskly walked over and helped her get to her feet, though she leaned heavily against me for support.

  “Take me to him.” She stared at the scientist.

  I glanced at her, not exactly sure what her motive was, but did as told anyway and helped her wobble to him.

  “You knew my parents?” She asked when we got to him.

  His eyes flashed at her. “Yes… you should’ve seen their faces when they realized they were going to die. It was glorious, the infamous Dragons, Jean and Claudette reduced to nothing but whimpering infants.” He tried to laugh again, but it came out as a hack.

  My mouth fell open, staring at the happy-faced man. Noir’s parents were dead? Worse than that, they had been murdered? A click sounded in my head, all her mood swings, and aggressiveness suddenly making sense. In a blur, she snatched the gun from my hand and shot him in the stomach, each thunderous shot forcing me to flinch as she emptied the entire clip.