by David Archer
There were only a few minutes left before time for the plane to take off. Noah, Marco and Jenny used the time to say goodbye. Sarah held Noah close for a couple of minutes and whispered into his ear, but then it was time to board. He kissed her once more and walked to the aircraft while she stood and watched. Once it was in the air, Neil and Renée walked with her back to the car and they drove back to the ops center.
The flight took just a bit over three hours, and they landed at the FOB at just past five p.m. The sun was still a ways above the horizon, and Noah stepped off the plane to be greeted by Lieutenants Morton and Shaw.
“Agent Wolf?” Lieutenant Morton asked. “I’m Lieutenant Morton, this is Lieutenant Shaw. We will be the senior field commanders for the operation.”
“Very good,” Noah said. “Is everyone else ready to go?”
“They are all gathered at the command center, waiting for your briefing,” Shaw said. “If you will follow us, sir?”
Several soldiers were unloading the crates of weapon and equipment, so Noah and his team followed the two officers. It was a short distance to the command center, and they saw all seven squads seated on benches, with Colonel Berkshire standing at the podium in front of them.
“Agent Wolf, I’m Colonel Berkshire. I’ve got to say it’s about time we did something about the situation.” He turned and waved a hand toward the men and women who were gathered. “They are all yours, sir.”
“Thank you, Colonel,” Noah said. He stepped up to the podium and looked out over the soldiers. “First off, let me say that I have spent some time in Army green. It’s going to be good to be working with all of you again. Now, there are a couple of things I need you to understand.”
A satellite photograph of the compound appeared on the screen, and Noah took that as his cue.
“I know that you are all somewhat familiar with our target zone,” Noah said. “I know that there have been many rumors about what’s going on out there, but I can tell you that we have evidence suggesting that there is nothing extraterrestrial awaiting us. That does not mean, however, that there is not danger.” He nodded to a man sitting at a computer console, and the image was replaced with a picture of the creature that Noah and Swaggart had brought back.
“What you are looking at,” Noah said, “is some sort of hybrid human. As hard as it may be to believe from that picture, the creature you are looking at was once a man, and may even have been a soldier like yourselves. The people behind whatever is going on at that compound are performing some sort of experiments that actually turn human beings into—well, into those things. We can tell you that they are very strong, very fast, and extremely hard to kill. Being shot with normal small arms probably will not stop them, unless you hit them with full auto and from several directions. We learned that the most effective weapon we have available at the moment is the M32 multi-grenade launcher loaded with HEAT rounds. The shape charge does the job, and that’s how we took down the one you see on the screen.”
Noah stepped out from behind the podium and leaned his elbow on it. “The most important thing you need to understand about this mission,” he said, “is that this is not a recon. We are going there with the intention of destroying that entire operation, and that means terminating the people behind it. We are not going to take prisoners, but there may be people there who are already being held prisoner. Those we will rescue, but only if they have not yet been subjected to these experiments. As one of my people put it, I would not want to have to live like that. Putting them down is probably the most merciful thing we can do for them.”
There was a murmur through the crowd, and Colonel Berkshire called for attention.
“Who are the seven squad leaders?” Noah asked, and seven men, including Morton and Shaw, got to their feet. “I’m going to split you guys up. I have four people on my team, and each of us will be commanding one of the groups. Morton, Shaw, you’ll be coming with me. I need two more squads to go with Agent Turin,” he indicated Marco, “and two with Agent Lance.” He pointed at Jenny, who smiled and waved. “The remaining squad will be going with Captain Swaggart, who has a special detail on this mission. He will be searching for a particular scientist who may have been abducted and forced into performing these experiments. His mission is to find that scientist and bring him out, and you will support him in that effort. Lieutenant Morton, will you handle making the squad assignments?”
Morton barked orders, and the group broke up and centered on the people they would be working with.
“We’ve got just over three hours until sundown,” Noah said, “and that’s when I want to hit them. Everybody get your gear, and I want half of your people armed with the M32s. We brought a supply with us, so there’s plenty to go around. As soon as you are ready, we will head out.”
It took less than fifteen minutes for the soldiers to prepare. Morton knew the way, so Noah let him lead. Fortunately, there was a path that had been cut by previous patrols and they were able to follow it almost all the way. Not having to cut through the jungle saved a lot of time, and they reached the clearing just to the north of the compound in just barely under two hours. Noah suggested they settle down and wait for the sun to drop below the horizon, and then set off by himself for a moment.
“Activate all,” he said. “Jenny, Marco? Gather on me.”
Both of them appeared only a moment later and squatted down beside him. Noah reached into his pocket and took out the devices Neil had given him, passing one to each of them. He explained quickly what Neil had found, and told them to turn them on as soon as they started toward the compound.
“I like that kid more and more every day,” Marco said, slipping the device into his breast pocket.
“Just don’t expect it to protect you completely,” Noah said. “While you may not have to deal with the hybrids directly, I’m sure there will be other threats waiting for us.”
“Don’t worry, Noah,” Jenny said, patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll bring you back safe. Sarah made me promise, and you know I never break a promise.”
Noah just looked at her, then nodded solemnly.
An hour later, as the sun dipped down to the horizon, Noah gave the order to move out. They started toward the compound and had gone only a few hundred yards when they heard something rustling in the brush ahead of them.
There was a scream, and then one of the hybrids burst out of the brush and came running toward him. Several of the soldiers opened fire with their rifles, but the creature only seemed annoyed by the bullets.
Suddenly, there came the whomping sound of several M32s firing at once, and the creature was hit by four of them. The explosions came all together, and literally blew the thing apart.
“That was one,” Noah said. “Stay alert, because there may be others.”
They made their way onto the compound and paused just inside the jungle around it. Noah told Marco and Jenny to take the outer buildings, the four long buildings that formed a square around the center where the main building stood beside the concrete pad. He noticed that there were none of the flying saucer-like objects sitting there, but that didn’t concern him at the moment.
“Place looks deserted, sir,” Morton said.
“It does, but we don’t assume so,” Noah replied. “We’ll take the main building, with Swaggart and his people. He’ll go in search of Doctor Branigan, while the rest of us round up as many of the staff as possible. As far as the hybrids go, remember to kill all of them. If any escape, we’ll need to hunt them down.”
Morton gave the order, and they all moved out of the brush. Marco took his squads to the right while Jenny took hers to the left. Noah and his soldiers cut straight through toward the center and the main building.
The main doors on that side flew open as they approached, and a dozen men dressed in black burst out. They were carrying submachine guns and opened fire, but Morton and his people did their jobs. Each of the men dropped as small arms automatic fire took them down, and then they were
rushing into the building. They found themselves in what looked like a store room at first, and met only token resistance. The three guards who were left inside the building went down quickly, and then the assault force stopped to evaluate their position.
Swaggart appeared beside Noah. “I think we should split up,” he said. “I’ll take my people to the right, toward where the airships are. If there’s a lab, it’s probably over that direction.”
Noah nodded. “Good thinking,” he said. “Go for it. The rest of us will spread through the rest of the building and see what we find. If we come across Branigan or his daughter, we will let you know.”
Swaggart nodded, then led his team and Lieutenant Seaver’s squad into a hallway. Noah waited until they were gone, then turned to Morton.
“Let’s go,” he said. “I want to find the people running this operation.”
* * *
Swaggart and his team had been equipped with the headset radios that the infantry was using, which allowed him to keep in touch with his team and the squad. He took the point position, knowing that the repeller in his pocket would keep any of the hybrids from attacking him. Litchfield, Graves and Smith were staying close to him, their own repellers also active.
He had cautioned them, before they even got on the plane to fly out here, that they had to make it all look good. If that meant having to kill a few of the security personnel at the compound, so be it. Now, however, he was wondering what was going on. He had expected the hybrids to attack quickly, taking out the assault force before it would be necessary for him to actually do anything. Instead, they were completely absent, and he had no way of knowing what kind of plan Director Randall must have put into play.
A noise caught his attention in a room off the side of the hall, and he motioned for everyone to slow down but stay close. It was probably one of the lab assistants, maybe trying to hide, but circumstances meant the poor fellow was probably in the wrong place at the wrong moment.
Well, there was nothing else to do. Tapping his radio once again, Swaggart gave the order. "Fire team one, go!"
The fire team burst through the door Swaggart had pointed at, their guns at the ready and their voices raised to add to the confusion and effect. He had been right about a lab assistant, but it turned out there were two of them. Somewhere deeper in the building a woman screamed, but neither Swaggart nor his team allowed it to distract them. The assistants came out from behind where they were hiding, hands up, but Swaggart nodded to Sergeant Graves. She raised her weapon and squeezed the trigger, and both of them fell.
At that moment, two more men jumped out from behind a shelving unit toward the back of the room, their own assault rifles firing on full auto. Two of Seaver’s soldiers went down, and Swaggart dived out of the way, joined by Graves and two soldiers who hid with him behind a large crate. He knew two of his men had been hit, but he couldn't do much to help that right now.
He turned on his heels to face the gun fire and ducked over the crate to take a few shots. He didn't want to actually kill them, and so he aimed for legs and arms, but he also knew that he needed to make it look good for the soldiers with him. He knew that Noah had said they were not taking prisoners, but he still had hopes that Noah and the other soldiers would be eliminated before things got too bad, so he took down two of the guards with careful shots before ducking back down and waiting to see what happened.
There was no returning fire, so he knew that he had been successful. He carefully raised up to look over the crate again and saw that both of the guards were down and unarmed. One of the soldiers ran over and kicked their weapons away, then looked at Lieutenant Seaver. He apparently didn’t have what it took to commit cold-blooded murder, so there was a chance these men might actually survive.
Seaver, however, did not hesitate. He walked up to the two prone guards and drew his pistol, putting one bullet through each of their heads. As soon as he was done, he motioned for his men to start into the next room, and Swaggart hurried to keep up.
There were three men in the next room, and it was obvious the guards had simply been trying to buy them time to escape. Thinking quickly, Swaggart tapped his radio.
"Smith, you're on," he called, knowing the operative was waiting with the second fire team of soldiers just outside. Turning toward the three men ahead of him, he fired off three quick shots before Smith's arrival could be heard from the back. The fire team came in via the side, taking down a few more guards that were watching that direction, driving several more back toward Swaggart.
Swaggart took the opportunity, standing up straight and firing. Graves and the two soldiers with him did the same, and, under fire from two sides, the guards broke ranks and ran, bolting through yet another door into a different section of the building.
"Smith, follow them," Swaggart called out before pointing to a group of soldiers appearing from behind another stack of crates. "Two of you go with him, while you two help the wounded.”
The soldiers went after the escaping security guards as quickly as possible, giving chase and soon disappearing into the same room. The two he had pointed out went to aid their fellow soldiers while Swaggart turned to the ones who had been with him. "We're checking out the rest of this place. Graves, you go help Smith."
They moved towards the corridor which Smith had appeared through, guns at the ready, moving carefully. The place seemed deserted; Swaggart knew from keeping tabs on his radio that Smith and his soldiers had chased the security guards outside into the open.
Swaggart suspected they had extra men waiting out there somewhere, because that’s what he would do. Hopefully, some of the other soldiers had the place surrounded from outside and would make sure they didn't escape.
A sudden clatter made him turn to face a closed door, and he shared a look with the two soldiers who were with him. The noise came again, or another noise did at least, and Swaggart realized there was someone in there.
He tried the handle and found it locked. He shared another look with the soldiers, who held their weapons up, ready. He nodded, no words needed, and aimed his service pistol at the handle.
A single shot blew it off. Taking a deep breath, Swaggart kicked at the door, slamming it open just as something rushed out.
Faster than humanly possible, a man dressed only in a pair of shorts plowed into Swaggart, sending him crashing into the wall hard enough to wind him. The gun dropped from his hand and he slid to the ground as the rapid fire of weapons filled the corridor.
They didn't seem to do anything to the man though, if they hit at all. Swaggart's head cleared slowly, and he looked up to see it take down one of the soldiers with a single swing of a rippling hand. The other soldier didn't last much longer, and then the man was taking off down the corridor, back the way Swaggart had come.
Groaning slightly, Swaggart grabbed his gun, climbed to his feet and took off after it, not even stopping to check on the unconscious—again, he hoped—soldiers. Still, he didn't forget about them completely.
"Smith, I found what has to be another hybrid, only more advanced," he spoke over the radio. "I'm in pursuit down the corridor you came up. It took out the two soldiers I was with. I think somebody needs to check on them."
"I copy, Captain," came back Smith's reply. "We managed to get a few of the guards, but the rest escaped out into the forest."
"Some are better than none," he allowed as he banged through a door into the fading daylight. "Just get someone to watch them and follow me as soon as possible."
He could see the hybrid ahead. Unlike the one he and Noah had faced, this one was still human in appearance, but it was far stronger, faster, and much more agile.
For some reason, it had slowed to a walk, for which Swaggart was thankful. This one was either not fully changed or was an entirely different kind of hybrid altogether, but either way he didn’t want Noah to get a good look at it. His legs pounded after it as he ran right past the room Lieutenant Belcher had escaped from only a few nights before. He kept his
gun out, wondering how many shots he had left and how many it would take to kill this particular hybrid.
The creature leapt onto the concrete, and Swaggart was barely twenty feet behind it. If it would only run into the forest, it might be able to escape, but if it kept going the way it was, there would be no way to keep Noah from seeing.
He paused for a moment, then raised his gun and fired. The shot sounded loud in the hallway, and his bullet hit the thing in the back. It stumbled, slightly, but but then it shrugged it off and just kept on running.
Swaggart swore and gave chase once more, unable to get another shot off before it had disappeared through another doorway. He followed where he had last seen it, spotted it again as it turned left and disappeared into yet another room. How many rooms are in the stupid building, anyway? he asked himself. He wished he had been able to study the layout of the building, but Randall had insisted on so much secrecy that no one was allowed to know anything about the inside of the compound.
Swearing again, Swaggart followed, slowing as he reached the doors it had gone through. He wasn't about to rush blindly into a space he didn't know against a foe he probably could never defeat.
He eased the door open, wondering where his squad was, and wished he had a flashlight in the darkness that engulfed him.
There was a terrible odor that left something to be desired as well. He scrunched up his nose and looked around, his eyes quickly becoming used to the darkness. He checked the area close to the door, and, upon finding nothing, scanned the walls, making sure there was nowhere the thing could be hiding, but the hybrid was nowhere to be found.
He took a step forward, cautious and careful, eyes scanning every inch of the room. The room was almost completely empty, so there was no way the thing could be hiding. He should have been able to see it easily.
A small noise, almost a groaning sound, from the center of the room caught his attention, and he aimed at the lump on the floor that he suddenly realized was the hybrid he had been chasing. It rolled over as he began walking towards it, never once letting his aim waver in the slightest, but then it seemed to shiver and its eyes closed as it took one last, shuddering breath.
