by Robert Boren
“I like that attitude,” Slash said, shooting her a wink.
“Hey, Slash, why you still using that M60?” Zev asked. “M240s are better.”
Slash shook his head. “Belgian FN crap. I’ll stick with the pig.”
“Don’t bug him, he can run with that frigging thing,” Tad said.
“Damn straight,” Slash said.
Jace got everybody’s attention. “All right, I’ll drive the first unit, with Eve taking the command seat. Load in like a bob sled, folks.”
“Who’s been in a bobsled before?” Laleh asked.
“Ever been to Disneyland?” Zev asked.
“Yeah, why?” Laleh asked.
“They seat like the Matterhorn bobsleds. Nice and cozy.”
Laleh laughed. “Oh, I get it.”
“Use the compartments in the side to hold your weapons and ammo,” Jace said to the newbies. “Anybody need help pairing their headsets to their phones?”
“Mind did it automatically,” Taylor said.
“Mine too,” Eve said.
Jace smiled. “Jared sent another upgrade, then. Figures. That guy is amazing.”
“He sent it to Cary, who upgraded the units,” Slash said. “We going or what?”
Jace looked at Eve, Taylor, Laleh, and Vasil. “Get in behind me, Eve in the second spot, the rest of you however you choose.” He climbed into the front, flipping a switch, lights coming on in the dash and the display tucked against the wall next to Eve’s seat. “Eve, that display will move out in front of you. Just pull on it after we’ve got the cockpit closed. When we open the cockpit it’ll automatically move back to the stowed position so you can get out.”
“Got it,” Eve said, getting into her seat, Taylor behind her, then Laleh, then Vasil.
Jace hit a button on the dash, the clear canopy moving into place over them. “Eve, pull over the display and hit the power button. Then select Albena’s name on the menu and request that she disable the cameras in the subway tunnels. She’s expecting it.”
Eve moved the screen in front of her on its arm and turned it on. It started up right away, the list of contacts there. She touched Albena’s name on the screen, her face showing up.
“Hi, Eve,” Albena said. “You’re ready for me to shut down the tunnel cameras?”
“Yes please,” she said. “This is so cool.”
“I’ll come check them out when you get back,” Albena said. “Done, you may proceed. I did a check for enemy operatives on your route. It’s clear, but there are two trains stopped which you’ll have to go around.”
“Roger that,” Jace said. “This thing gets a little noisy, but you can talk via the headsets. Cary, did you send somebody to deal with the vault door?”
“I did,” Cary said, his face showing on Eve’s screen. “Kent is down there. Ready?”
“I’ve got a headset on,” Kent said. “Now?”
“Yeah, let’s get this road on the show,” quipped Slash. “We got some UN punks to splatter all over Penn Station.”
“Now you’re talking,” Tad said.
The vault door opened, revealing a dark tunnel.
“All right, here we go,” Jace said, a loud rush of air coming from beneath them, the mole lifting off the ground and moving into the tunnel.
Eve looked out the window, seeing the next one lifting, an inflated curtain coming down as it lifted. “How does this thing move?” she asked.
“It’s got two modes,” Jace said over the headsets. “Hover mode, and track mode. We use track mode when we’re in the subway, and the electricity from the tracks charges the batteries. When we’re blocked by a train, we go to hover mode, get off the tracks, and ride alongside them on a cushion of air.”
“The tracks don’t have juice, do they?” Vasil asked.
“Nope, not at the moment due to the blackout, but we’re all charged up, and can make this round trip and still have charge left over.”
They floated up to a dead end, Jace hitting another button, the wall in front of them sliding to the left. Then the mole moved forward, making a merge into the tunnel, going onto the tracks. There was the sound of metal wheels contacting the rails, and then the rush of air stopped, electric motors below them retracting the curtains and powering the wheels, the mole shooting forward fast enough to push everybody back, Laleh leaning into Vasil.
“Sorry,” she said.
Vasil chuckled. “I like it.”
“Oh,” Laleh said. “That’s kinda naughty, Vasil.”
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” she said.
“Behave you two,” Taylor quipped.
“I’ve got a picture of the track ahead of us,” Eve said. “Do I need to warn you when we get close to the stopped trains?”
“No, I’ve got the same view, plus the sensors will warn me, and if I don’t do anything, the mole will get off the tracks automatically.”
“This feels like the same speed the subway trains travel,” Laleh said.
“It is, on purpose,” Jace said. “So we don’t trip any sensors when the system is up and running.”
“Got it,” Eve said. “Jared. That guy is amazing.”
“Known him long?”
“Twelve years,” Eve said. “His mind is always working. Makes him a little bit exhausting, but then we get stuff like this.”
There was chuckling over the headset. “You got that right, sister.”
“Slash?” Eve asked.
“The one and only. All four moles in the tunnel, Jace. The tunnel door is sealed, as is the vault.”
“Do we expect an attack or something?” Laleh asked.
“Never underestimate the enemy,” Zev said. “Look what they’ve been able to pull off so far. That took years of planning.”
“There’s the first subway train,” Eve said, putting her feet down in front of her, drawing a chuckle from Jace.
“Not to worry.” The fans started, the mole going into hover mode. They moved to the side, barely slowing down as they rushed past the subway car.
“Geez, there’s still people in that car,” Taylor said.
“They’re waiting for somebody to come get them,” Jace said. “There are people stuck all over this city, and the authorities are having to spend their time fighting the UN. This really pisses me off.”
“Seriously,” Taylor said.
The mole moved back over the tracks again, the wheels making contact, the sound of rushing air stopping.
“Impressive,” Vasil said. “Great way to travel.”
“Hell yes it is,” Slash said. “We just made it past the subway car. They noticed. Hope they don’t tip anybody off.”
“We’ll be in and out before they can do anything,” Jace said. “We should stop on the way home and tell them to walk out. They aren’t that far from the next station.”
“Here comes the next one,” Eve said.
“Yep, then it’s clear sailing,” Jace said, the mole lifting again, going around the train, then getting back on the tracks.
“That one was empty,” Taylor said.
“Close to the station,” Laleh said. “Look.”
They rushed past the opening, emergency lights shining into the tunnel.
“There were people there,” Vasil said. “They’ve seen us.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jace said.
“What kind of weapons do these things have?” Eve asked.
“Lasers and rail guns,” Jace said. “See the switch on the display?”
“Yeah,” Eve said.
“Press laser, but don’t hit the fire button.”
“Wow, crosshairs came up, and a touchpad on the screen. I aim with the touchpad?”
“Yes, but the laser won’t work unless we’re on the tracks with power. The railgun will be your only choice today.”
“The laser takes too much juice, I’ll bet,” Vasil said.
“Yep,” Jace said.
“You guys are getting close to your destina
tion,” Albena said over the headsets. Better keep an eye out. There are a lot of entries into that station. Good chance you’ll see some enemy commandos around.”
“Eve, if you see any blue helmets in the tunnel, shoot them with the rail gun,” Jace said.
“Yes sir,” Eve said.
“Why not just put machine guns on this thing?” Vasil asked.
“Railguns are quiet,” Slash said. “Machine guns are not.”
“Speak of the devil,” Eve said, hitting the button for the railgun, the target reticle coming up. “How fast does this fire?”
“Fast as you can punch the button on the screen,” Jace said. “I’ve got control of two of the four rail guns from up here. Open fire.”
Eve heard clicks as Jace fired, watching men fall in her sight. “Wow.”
“More coming down,” Jace said.
Eve moved her target reticle towards the targets and tapped the button, the men hit, falling down on the ledge, others running towards the opening of the station.
“Get them!” Jace said, firing, Eve joining in, knocking all of them down before they could escape.
“Where are we parking?” Vasil asked.
“We’ll stop past tracks 18 and 19,” Jace said. “The others will stop between 17 and 18, 15-16, and 13-14.”
Eve opened fire on more Peacekeepers, who were walking along the tunnel, none of them having anyplace to flee, their bodies dropping to the floor next to the tracks.
“Nice shooting,” Jace said. They passed by the opening for tracks 13 and 14, not seeing anybody, then tracks 15-16, two Peacekeepers walking, Eve taking them out. There were no more people walking the tunnels until they got past tracks 18 and 19, where there were dark figures walking along the side.
“Don’t hit them, that’s NYPD,” Jace said.
“Got it,” Eve said as Jace slowed the mole to a stop, popping the top. “Look, those officers are coming over. Think they’re on our side?”
“Jace?” asked one of the officers.
“Yeah,” Jace said, grinning. “You’ve been told.”
“Yeah, came through Chief Harvey,” he said. “Boy are we glad to see you. I’m Officer Murphy. What the hell is that contraption?”
“We call it the mole. There are three more behind us, each with five commandos inside. You know about the Peacekeepers setting up an ambush, right?”
“Yep, and they’ve got us outnumbered, even with you guys. At least we were able to warn the others about coming down here from the street. The enemy fighters are probably wondering what happened.”
“We wasted about twelve down here in the tunnel,” Eve said from her seat.
“We didn’t hear anything,” Murphy said.
“Railguns,” Vasil said as he got out. “They’re quiet.”
“We’re parked and getting out,” Slash said over the headsets. “Ready to unleash a little lead, brother.”
Jace smiled. “Second mole in place. The others will be right behind them.”
“Freeze,” said a man with a Italian accent from the platform. “Stupid Americans.” A group of five Peacekeepers showed themselves.
Suddenly the air was filled with gunfire, the Peacekeepers hitting the ground as Slash laughed. “Take that, Eurotrash.”
“Shit, that’s a frigging M60,” Murphy said.
Slash smiled. “Yeah, purty, ain’t she,” he said, moving quickly to the platform. “Come on, guys, you know they heard that. Let’s get these blue-helmeted twinkies before they can escape.”
“You all got M60s?” Murphy asked.
“Most of us have M4s or M240s,” Jace said as he watched Slash and the others from his mole walking to the platform. “Slash there is kinda old school.” He turned to Eve. “Bring down the canopy, and hit the multi-vehicle control button. That’ll give you access to the rail guns in all four moles. Anybody with a blue helmet that shows up, blast their butts, but watch out for NYPD.”
“And us,” Vasil quipped, checking his magazine. “Let’s get going.”
“You can move any of the vehicles forward or reverse as well, in case you need to get out of trouble,” Jace said. “Sorry we didn’t have enough time to train you completely.”
Eve nodded, looking nervous.
The commandos rushed into Penn Station with the police officers.
{ 4 }
Convergence
P enko sat at his PC, eyes glued to the screen, Albena doing the same, both wearing headsets.
“They just entered the station,” he said. “Glad we have this video.”
“This makes me nervous as hell,” Albena said. “Keep a screen dedicated to the overview. It’ll show our guys, and other humans.”
“We can’t tell if the other humans are NYPD or UN, can we?”
“Nope, afraid not,” Albena said. “Look, big group of human hits, around the corner from our first group.”
“Shoot, there’s some other humans next to them, see?”
“Jace, large group around the corner to the right. Can’t tell if they’re UN or NYPD.”
“They’re UN,” Jace said. “We’ve made contact with the NYPD already.”
“We see human hits alongside you,” Albena said. “Good to know they’re on your side. We should issue these headsets to the NYPD.”
“I think Jared plans to,” Jace said.
Suddenly machinegun fire sounded over the headsets.
“It’s starting,” Albena said.
Penko nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a grid of cameras up on the PC next to mine. That was Taylor, by the way. She just wasted five Peacekeepers. The rest ran down the hall.”
“Going someplace?” Slash shouted, opening up with the M60, mowing them down.
“Damn, I need to turn my sound level down,” Penko said. “What the hell is that thing?”
“Military weapon,” Albena said. “Stay sharp. They’re getting close to a large group.”
“We’ve got team members coming in from the other side. There’s gonna be some crossfire.”
Albena nodded. “Make sure that other team knows, we don’t want friendly fire incidents.”
“Team three and four, you’re nearing a big group, and teams one and two are going in from the other side. Be careful.”
“Roger that,” Tad said. “We know where our guys are, due to the headsets.”
“Good,” Penko said. “Sorry, still getting used to this.”
***
Eve sat in the mole, listening to the gunfire in the station, her heart beating quicker. “Be careful you guys,” she whispered to herself. A buzzer went off, a message flashing on her screen saying Proximity Alert Mole Unit 4.
“Oh crap,” she said, pulling up the target reticle for the last mole, the UN Peacekeepers visible, Eve moving her finger on the keypad, centering the railgun on a group of five who were approaching the vehicle. She tapped the trigger button, hitting all but one of the Peacekeepers, the last one scrambling onto the platform, Eve’s trembling hand moving the reticle in a panic and firing, hitting the man in the back, his body flying several feet. She kept the focus on that vehicle for a moment, waiting for more Peacekeepers to show up.
“That you, Eve?” Jace asked over the headset.
“Yes, a group of five were approaching the last mole. Got four in the tunnel, the last one on the platform. You see him?”
“Yeah, saw him get thrown. Be ready, Tad’s team is chasing a large group in that direction. We’ll try to take them all out from our position, but some might get into the tunnel.”
“Okay, I’ll watch.”
“Don’t fire towards the platform until I tell you it’s okay, or you might hit us.”
“Got it,” she said, her heart rate ramping up as she waited, gunfire erupting from the station. She split the screen, watching the headset indicators rushing towards the platform, more coming in from the side. There was another proximity alert, this time from mole three. She got on that mole’s sighting system, firing at a group of ten Peacekeepers
who were rushing the vehicle, hitting them all. “This is getting easier.”
“Might be some coming towards your position,” Jace said. “We wasted the ones by mole 4. There’s more here than we expected.”
“Oh crap, here they come, at a run.” One of them fired at her, the bullets hitting the canopy and bouncing off as she returned fire, killing half, the rest dropping to the ground, trying to crawl away, Slash and Zev rushing towards them with guns blazing, the Peacekeepers trying to get up and run, all of them hit with fire.
Albena’s voice came up. “Twelve more Peacekeepers rushing into the station from 34th Street. I’m seeing them on the MVS now.”
“Thanks, sister,” Slash said, his breath coming loud and raspy as he ran. There was the sound of his M60 and an M240. “Yaaahoooo!”
“Conserve ammo, man,” Zev said. “They’re all dead, and I see more warm bodies coming.”
“Those are NYPD, so hold your fire,” Penko said over the headsets.
Eve’s monitor buzzed again, proximity alert, mole 3. “You guys don’t learn well, do you?” She aimed and fired in an instant, the proximity alarm for mole 4 also going off, Eve splitting the screen, going back and forth between each, mowing down the Peacekeepers from both vehicle’s railguns, forcing them to run back onto the platform, right into the fire of Jace, Taylor, Laleh, and Vasil. Then the gunfire subsided and stopped.
“Eve, how many humans do you count?” Jace asked.
“Just a second, need to switch from the battle screen. Twenty two.”
“How many people do you have in here, Officer Murphy?”
Eve could hear a muffled twenty.
“Call the rest and tell them to stay out of the station, brother,” Slash said.
“Yeah, good idea, if you can monitor biologicals,” Murphy said.
“We’ll have to go room to room, folks,” Jace said. “Eve, watch for more humans entering the station. Same thing with mission control.”
“I’ll be watching,” Eve said.
“Us too,” Albena said.
Eve watched the movement on the screen, all but two of the bodies moving around. “Note, two of the twenty-two aren’t moving at all.
“Yeah, might be dead but still warm,” Slash said, following the comment with an evil chuckle.
