The Secret Bunker Trilogy

by Paul Teague

  They successfully bundled Nat and Pierce into the Transporter.

  ‘Be careful when you exit,’ warned Simon. I’ll send a message over the Comms-Tab to let them know you’re coming!’

  With Nat and Doctor Pierce safely dispatched, they set about executing the final part of their plan: to lure the Troopers to the final battleground.

  This is where combat would take place, at a time and place of their choosing. This is where Simon and Kate would either win victory over the Troopers or lose their lives trying.

  Nuked

  A chill ran through Viktor’s body. He knew this scenario well, he’d been here before. The final move on the chessboard, the one which won the game or ended in defeat. This was why he’d held back those fifty nukes.

  A quick look at his E-Pad and he confirmed that Pierce had only got the first two hundred, his backup plan was still undetected. Fifty nukes at his fingertips – but where would he send them?

  Like everybody else in the four bunkers, he’d listened with great dismay to Henry Pierce’s announcements as they were broadcast throughout both levels of the bunker. Pierce was in space, what could he do? The fifty nukes were no use there.

  But Viktor now knew one thing for sure. The codes that Mike had sent him for The Global Defence Matrix were going to be used for real for the first time. By Viktor Gorbunov. And on that day.

  President Ronald Reagan would never have imagined when he set that project in motion that it would be used in a scenario such as this one.

  Within the next fifteen minutes, Viktor was going to have to learn how to use this matrix, target the nukes and blow them out of the skies before they started to hit their destinations. Fifteen minutes was the time that it would take the first of those deadly weapons to launch and land on his own bunker in Crimea. It was the short time that he had before his own people would start to perish under the rain of terror that was about to fall across the planet.

  Viktor steeled himself and calmed his mind. He’d need complete focus and concentration as he moved the final pieces of this chess game into position.

  Confusion

  When Amy stepped out onto the deck of The Nexus, she’d immediately been disorientated. The doors had opened and she’d almost stepped out into a corridor swarming with Troopers.

  They’d been moving backwards and forwards for some time, but she’d managed to sneak out of the Transporter and hide out of sight.

  She’d heard the announcement over the loudspeaker system and realized, like everybody else, that they were into the final minutes now. Whatever happened, whoever won, it would all be resolved very soon.

  Then the alarms began sounding, there was smoke drifting everywhere and the Troopers began to move in one direction. Something had happened to put this place on a full alert.

  She knew this was an opportunity. She’d come here to find Dan and Nat.

  She followed behind the Troopers. They weren’t aware of her – or bothered about her – whatever they were dealing with was taking precedence.

  They quickly arrived in what was obviously the central area of this spaceship – and something serious had either just happened here – or was happening right at that moment.

  The smoke was dense and debilitating, but every now and then it would waft and clear and she’d get a glimpse of what was going on. In the haze, she thought she saw Dan. She was sure that she caught sight of Simon too, but she couldn’t be sure.

  ‘Dan?’ she called and he looked up. It was him, he was trying to get some contraption working, but he seemed to be struggling. She rushed over towards him, relieved to see him alive, desperate to get him out of this place.

  As she grabbed his arm ready to embrace him, a stunning array of lights appeared around them and they were transported to a new destination. Location, unknown.

  Mistaken

  As the smoke began to clear in the Ops Area, the scene of carnage became clearer and clearer to those still there. There were several bodies on the floor, mostly Dae-Ho’s friends who’d been caught in the crossfire. A horrible end to their miserable lives as slaves of Henry Pierce, and so close to achieving their freedom.

  There were Troopers wounded and killed too, not many, but lives had been lost on both sides.

  Zadra Nurmeen was nowhere to be seen, he appeared to have played no part in this battle. Like the opportunist he was, he’d left the fighting to the Troopers, he had everything that he needed to take care of his own interests for now. He simply exited the area, dragging Pierce along with him as he did so, and taking refuge in the airlock area along the corridor.

  Within the past hour this had been a place of terror, fear and threat, but for him it was now a temporary place of safety and refuge.

  Only, when the commotion died down, and Zadra Nurmeen returned to the Ops Area with a dazed and bloodied Pierce, they were not walking as colleagues or equals might do, side by side.

  Zadra Nurmeen threw Doctor Pierce into the room, indicating to the Troopers to contain him should he try to escape.

  As Doctor Pierce recovered from the fall and turned round to face Zadra Nurmeen, he revealed an unusual tie. A tie that had once been a gift from a very good friend who’d been born on another planet.

  Glimmer

  Xiang felt as if she was all ready to go, but couldn’t even get started. She needed somebody, anybody, to help her start work.

  They’d set up a transfusion area in the MedLab. This is where Dan and Nat would be saved if they got their breakthrough. Or at least she could prolong their lives a little longer.

  But now she needed a hybrid, she couldn’t progress anything until she had a live subject to work on. She needed Dan or Nat – or one of the Pierce twins – a pair would be a huge help

  She’d modelled a solution on her E-Pad of course, but she was missing some essential data. There was some key genetic information that she hadn’t been able to piece together, a genetic code sequence which would enable her to deliver specially adapted nanotechnology via the spinal column.

  At the same time, she needed to carry out a blood transfusion and that would need to be with hybrid blood. Preferably uncontaminated blood.

  Her E-Pad simulations indicated that although the hybrids’ bodies contained an element of human DNA and blood, it was the alien blood type that was dominant.

  She hadn’t even been able to think about what might happen if the hybrids had different blood types as humans do – it would be ‘game over’ if that was the case. She was simply out of time.

  She needed Dan and Nat in that MedLab as soon as possible. She’d settle for one of the Pierces.

  There was even a glimmer of hope now that the twins’ real mother was accessible, but that seemed so unlikely.

  That one was a long shot.

  Her thoughts were disturbed by an alert on her Comms-Tab. It was Magnus. He’d had his teams analysing the Trooper helmet that Amy had retrieved. He wanted Xiang to run a test on the Trooper who was presently restrained in the MedLab. They’d got an ID on him.

  Mike had cross-referenced the data with The Global Consortium records that he’d been able to access so far.

  They needed Xiang to check his DNA against her own records.

  As far as they could tell, they’d found Dan and Nat’s natural father.

  Disappeared

  As Simon had pushed Nat and Pierce into the Transporter, Nat had slammed her hand on the unusual symbols and begun the transportation process.

  The coloured lights had begun to activate immediately and she knew that they were on their way to Quadrant 3. Relative safety at last. But without Dan. Damn it, they’d lost Dan in the confusion.

  She struggled to find connection with him, she got glimpses of him, but nothing certain or lasting. They were still getting used to this telepathy thing – whatever it was between them – so it was a bit erratic. She saw that he was okay, he had a plan. He’d conveyed to her that she needed to get back to Xiang, to try to solve whatever was going to kill them. If t
he nukes didn’t fall first.

  Yes, Dan had work to do. She wished she was with him, but she’d been set on a very different path by Simon and Kate’s rescue attempts. She’d have to leave it to Dan – to trust him.

  Something had been unsettling her as the lift transported back to Quadrant 3. She’d been looking at Doctor Pierce – distracted by her thoughts while she’d been thinking about Dan – but not particularly registering him.

  He was wounded and stunned, but there was something about him that wasn’t right. He didn’t have the head wounds that Harold Pierce had had. And he wasn’t wearing that tie.

  She was in the lift with Henry Pierce.

  There had been a switch somehow – or Simon had grabbed the wrong Pierce in all of the confusion. She was stuck in a space the size of a lift with the man who had tortured and tormented her for over three years.

  This was the opportunity for revenge that she’d stayed alive for.

  Chapter Four

  ISOCell (T minus 54 minutes)

  I catch a moment to breathe. I think it worked, I’ve never felt such a rush of adrenaline. I’m terrified but exhilarated at the same time – it’s a bizarre combination of wanting to run away and hide, yet not wanting to miss the action.

  I took a leap of faith when the smoke filled the Ops Area. It must have been Simon and Kate. It was about time too. I know they were probably trying to bust us out, but I have other plans. And this one I want to carry out on my own.

  There’s no way I’m leaving our real mum on that ISOCell to die alone. Who can you rely on if you can’t rely on your family? And I’m her family now.

  Simon and Kate were trying to bust me out. Well, I’m busting her out. Don’t ask me how yet, but if we’ve still got some time left before everything starts to go down in flames, well I’m not sitting there playing with my thumbs.

  I’ve been thinking back to when I was stuck alone in that bunker entrance, when the sirens first went off. I don’t recognize that Dan now. There’s no way I’d just sit there now, waiting for somebody to come and rescue me. The cavalry perhaps?

  If I’d taken things into my own hands a bit more in the first place I might have been able to stop some of these events happening. No more will I just sit there waiting for stuff to play out around me. This is the new Dan – the one who takes a crazy chance that a hunch might just pay off and he’ll be able to beam to some mystery spaceship deep in space and rescue his real life alien mum.

  Okay, it sounds mad to me when I say it to myself like that, but what other choice is there? I’m seeing this thing through to the end; I am not going to sit there scared and powerless as this situation will play out anyway, with or without me.

  There is just one problem though. I’d planned on doing this thing alone. Then Mum popped out of the smoke, just like that, and I’ve suddenly got a companion.

  I intentionally kept Nat out of this, her temper keeps landing us in deep trouble. I think she’s amazing but I need a level head for what I’m about to do.

  ‘Where did you come from?’ I ask Mum, giving her a hug. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated my family so much, I’m so glad to see her.

  ‘It’s a long story Dan,’ she says, ‘but we need to move fast, you haven’t got long left now.’

  I’d grabbed my Comms-Tab before running for the contraption at the back of the Ops Area. It’s in my pocket and I take it out. I wish I’d grabbed a weapon too.

  I knew I’d lost track of time, but I’m a bit shaken to see how long I have now before this genetic problem kills me. Fifty-four minutes. That number seems to have gone up and down every time I’ve looked at it, but it stares me in the face now. Less than one hour to save my own life and Nat’s too.

  And there’s the nukes as well – who knows how soon they will start to fall? It’s almost overwhelming, but I calm myself. One thing at a time. Each person does their job. Trust that process, Dan, do your bit, hope that everybody else hits their own deadline.

  I need to speak to Magnus. I’ve got a Comms-Tab now, so has Mum.

  Magnus responds straight away – he patches me into Dad, Simon, Viktor, Kate and Xiang.

  I think they call it a conference call in the business world, but I’ll bet no corporate ever had an agenda like ours. The reception is terrible, it’s hard to make out what is being said. Wherever we are, it must be very deep in space. I can’t even see the sun. I’m no expert on deep space exploration, but shouldn’t there be a sun here? Somewhere?

  We need to get this done fast, I’m not sure if this signal will hold.

  Magnus is good, he’s obviously watching the clock – just like everybody else – but he brings us all up to speed in less than five minutes.

  I explain quickly how I managed to transport to the ISOCell. Or at least that’s where I think I am.

  Pierce and his alien chum must have had a way to get to the ISOCell and it had to have been portable if nobody was supposed to ever find or visit Davran – Mum – once she’d been banished.

  I took a chance and I hope I was right. We’re still in space, I can see that through the windows, and we’re in a different place now. It has to be the ISOCell. My plan is to get Davran out of here. I’m not sure how we’re going to get all of us out without exploding this place. I’ll figure that out later – first thing: find Davran.

  Xiang is excited by this. She says that if we can rescue Davran, she can save me and Nat. It’s exactly what she needs, some uncontaminated alien blood which she can use for a transfusion. She’s not sure how she’ll do it yet, but that’s now going to be her priority.

  Simon and Kate are in a hurry, and they rush off before we’ve even finished talking. They’re luring the Troopers into a trap – they think they can distract them there. Then they’ll try to finish off Doctor Pierce and Zadra Nurmeen.

  They ask Magnus to check out Lake Karachay to see if it’s of any significance. Magnus is working on the Trooper helmet, he thinks he’s on to something.

  Viktor is tracking the nukes. He rushes off as he only has minutes left before the first one strikes.

  Dad and his team are trying to sort out a SD card that Nat had. They think there might be something useful on it.

  And that’s when we realize that someone crucial is missing from this meeting. Simon had told us that she was on her way with Doctor Pierce, but she hasn’t arrived yet. Where is Nat?

  It’s a good job Magnus was quick – we know where we’re all up to now, but me and Mum have a new problem. Our Comms-Tabs just died and we can’t hear anybody. We’re on our own.

  Access

  Mike returned to the SD card. He’d been distracted by Magnus’s request to crosscheck some data that he’d retrieved from the Trooper’s helmet.

  At first he’d cursed the interruption, then he’d become completely absorbed in finding the information that Magnus needed. He reckoned that if he was right, they might be able to save Dan and Nat with the help of this Trooper – this man.

  Magnus was right, it had taken Mike some time, but he’d referenced the records and confirmed the theory. This part-man, part-machine was the first Trooper. He was the original model. And his records had been altered. Clumsily as it turned out, which probably meant that there had been tampering.

  His records dated back to 2003. It seemed a bit hazy as to how he’d got involved. As far as Mike could see, the Troopers had been assembled from teams of mainly military personnel who’d successfully completed a series of special tests. From the little that Amy had managed to tell him about what she and James had been involved with before they married, it did occur to Mike that she might have narrowly escaped this same process.

  He was appalled to see that the Troopers had been issued false death certificates. As they’d passed the tests – whatever they were – they’d had faked military deaths and had, quite literally, been removed from their everyday lives, to become a living army, kept in stasis.

  All achieved using cyber technology procured and adapted from a c
ompany called Magnum Enterprises. Mike struggled with his anger, he’d stumbled across yet another atrocity connected with this project.

  Had these Troopers given their consent to this? Their families thought they were dead, yet all this time they’d been alive.

  Then he found it. The reference was JB BLP/0786. The ‘J’ stood for Jeff. The ‘B’ didn’t seem to be important to anybody. But he’d been part of a cover-up.

  Jeff wasn’t even supposed to be part of this project. He was supposed to have been Ostracized, whatever that meant – Mike didn’t know.

  Jeff had appeared from nowhere it seemed. He certainly hadn’t been a part of the selection tests. Neither did he have a death certificate: his removal from life on Earth didn’t appear to be a problem. For anybody.

  It was only when Mike cross-referenced the data with a seemingly unrelated incident that had occurred around the same time, that he made this particular sum add up. Dan and Nat’s mum was called Davran Saloor. She’d had a relationship with a man called Jeff, which had been forbidden. Davran Saloor had been banished somewhere, and that’s what was supposed to have happened to Jeff. Instead, he’d been spirited away. He’d been placed in stasis for several years. He’d been adapted for use as a Trooper using a new technology created by a mysterious company by the name of Magnum Enterprises. He’d been the first Trooper.

  None of that mattered of course, not now. There was only one thing that counted in that mass of information, in spite of the atrocities that had been inflicted on this man. He was Dan and Nat’s natural, human father. He could save their lives. And he was lying there in the MedLab right at that moment.