“What is all this?” Ling said. “It’s like looking through God’s eyes.”
Knight found the comparison somewhat frightening, considering the amount of power the operators of this system held. “It’s some of type of urban video monitoring system. I’ve heard of several systems like this being implemented back in the United States. They’re used to monitor traffic patterns, track criminals for the police, monitor for crimes in progress. That kind of thing.”
“Is that where you’re from? America?”
“Yeah, I’m an American.”
“Really? You don’t seem like the way my Uncle described Americans.” He felt her eyes climb up and down his now-dirty cream-colored suit. “What’s it like there?”
He could just imagine the horror stories of the evil and immoral American capitalist regime that had been drilled into Ling’s head. “It’s a great place where people are free to live their lives the way they choose.”
The girl’s eyes sparkled at the thought. He knew that such a vision of a perfect America where freedom rang and everyone was treated equally wasn’t entirely accurate, but it was a sufficient one-sentence answer. Plus, he didn’t have time to give a politics lesson, and the ultra-idealized version of America was much closer than the lies he suspected she had been told her whole life.
As he scanned the monitors, his thoughts shifted to the scheduled rendezvous with the rest of the team from Delta. He had no idea where he was supposed to meet them. That information had been lost along with Mueller. For a moment, he considered how he could get in contact with them. He needed to warn them about the beast.
“Ling, have you seen any other people in the city? Other soldiers maybe?”
The girl’s eyes darted away, and she seemed to shrink.
“What’s wrong?”
She swallowed hard. “We were living in a building north of here when we heard men screaming and lots of shooting. We went to see what was happening.” She hesitated. “That’s when we first saw the monster.”
He closed his eyes and thought of all the soldiers he had seen die in combat, all of the families back home that would receive notices of their loved ones’ deaths but never know the classified details. They would never know that their family members died as heroes defending the world from forces beyond imagining.
He opened his eyes and looked to the bank of monitors. “Ling, can you show me the building where you heard the screams?”
9.
Ling examined the walkie-talkie that Knight had found on a shelf in the back of the bunker, twisting it over in her hand and studying each knob and button.
“Are you sure that you understand everything?” Knight said.
Ling nodded and repeated his instructions. “If Jiao or I see anything on the monitors, then we call you on the radio. And don’t touch any of the knobs because you’ve already dialed in the proper frequency.”
“That’s right. And whatever you do, don’t leave this bunker. You’ll be safe here. There’s food and drinks in the back.” He had already searched through the rest of the chamber and found that it apparently did pull double duty as a bomb shelter. There was a storeroom in the back that held enough supplies to sustain at least a dozen people for a week. He suspected that it was designed to hold the top city government officials and their families in case of an emergency. The kids would be safe here for a long time while he dealt with whatever enemy waited outside.
He moved to the first workstation and brought up the camera feed of the hallway outside the bunker. The beast was gone, but he had spent the past hour trying to locate it on any other camera and had come up with nothing. He suspected that it was out there somewhere waiting for him, but he couldn’t stay holed up inside the bunker forever. He had a job to do.
If the team from Delta had gone up against the creature, then the chances they were still alive was slim, but he had to know either way. And maybe he could at least gather some intel from the scene to shed light on what exactly he was up against.
“Once it’s safe, I’ll be back to get you both out of here.”
“Please,” Jiao said. “Don’t leave. Don’t go.” The boy struggled to keep his emotions in check. Tears welled in his eyes. His voice shook. But he stuck his chin out, doing his best to appear tough.
Knight knew the kid had been abandoned, first by his parents in death, and then by the betrayal of an abusive uncle, but there was no way he could stay with the kids. Nor could he take them along for the ride and keep them safe.
Knight crouched in front of the boy. “I have to go,” he said. “Not because I want to, but because I have to. It’s the only way any of us will get out of this mess. Understand?”
A furtive nod confirmed the boy’s understanding.
“You have Ling,” Knight said. “She’s never left you, right?”
Another nod.
“And she’s kept you safe? You trust her?”
“Yes.”
“Then trust her now. And me. I won’t leave you here. I promise.”
Ling and Jiao both reached out and hugged him tightly. His cheeks flushed at the unexpected display of affection. He patted them awkwardly on their backs and then said, “Okay, stand back and shut this door behind me.”
He raised the M4 and then pressed the red button next to the bunker’s entrance. Gears whirred and the seal of the door popped as the hatch slid open. He moved into the hallway and turned back to the kids. Fear and doubt were etched onto their faces. He gave them a thumbs up and a nod. Ling reached out and pressed the button. He stood there and watched until the door was completely closed. Then he set off toward the rendezvous point.
The staging area had been set up within some type of warehouse surrounded on all sides by a high chain-link fence. During the journey, he had tried to move invisibly from cover to cover, but there was no way to avoid being completely exposed as he made his way to the warehouse. The ability to easily see an attack coming was likely one of the reasons that the Delta team commander had chosen the spot.
He scanned the surrounding buildings for a few moments, but he didn’t see any signs of enemy activity. Slinging the M4 over one shoulder, he took three deep breaths and braced himself. Then he took off in a dead sprint toward the tall fence.
He hit the fence with a jump and began to gracefully scale the barrier. Within a second, he was at the top. One arm shot over the peak, and his fingers grasped the other side. In one fluid motion, he flipped over and dropped to the ground. He hit the pavement of the warehouse’s parking lot in a roll and came up with his sidearm at the ready. The weapon’s aim followed his eyes as he scanned his surroundings for danger. Seeing no threats, he moved toward the warehouse.
The structure was a large, white block building with a green metal roof fronted by loading docks and tall garage doors designed for semi-trucks. A red and white realtor sign adorned the front window along with a sign detailing the features of the property. He hit the building’s wall next to the window and cautiously scanned the interior. The door was unlocked, and he pushed inside. The office space was vacant of everything except a large reception desk built into the wall.
He holstered his Beretta and unslung the M4 rifle. Then he moved down a hallway past a string of empty offices and men and women restrooms. At the end of the hall, he pushed through a door into the main section of the warehouse.
The smell of rotting meat assaulted him immediately. The buzzing of flies filled the space with a constant hum like the pulsing of a large generator. The warehouse had become a charnel house. Bodies of the soldiers were strewn everywhere. Some had been torn apart. Others had apparently been tossed across the room like rag dolls, their limbs twisted at strange angles, their mouths bent open in silent screams. Empty shell casings coated the floor, stuck in the congealing blood.
The sights, sounds and smells attacked his senses and overwhelmed him. He lost his breath and stumbled back into the hallway. His emotions and gut instinct told him to flee from this place as quickly as po
ssible and never return, except maybe in his nightmares. But his training as an elite soldier told him to move forward and complete the mission. And without searching this room, he wouldn’t even know what the mission was.
He pushed back into the warehouse, trying to focus upon the task at hand and look at the scene objectively. He needed intel and equipment. The thought of any of these people still being alive was a near impossibility, but he decided to check each anyway. He moved through the room, checking each body first for a pulse and then for papers or gear.
One of the bodies, the remains of a woman, had long brown hair and a beautifully sculpted frame. He wondered if this was some type of civilian scientific or intelligence advisor. The lifeless form was lying face down against the pavement with the hair spread out concealing the woman’s features. If he had been forced to bet, this body would have been his pick as possessing useful intel.
He crouched over the woman, reached out, and grabbed hold of her right shoulder. Then he rolled her over onto her back.
As she turned over, her arm came up, and Knight found himself staring down the business end of a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol.
10.
With a speed born partially out of instinct and partially out of an intense training regiment, Knight slapped the gun away from his face just as it spit fire. A round shot past his head and clanged off the metal ceiling.
In one motion, he rolled away and pulled his own sidearm. His finger flew to the trigger, but he resisted the impulse to pull.
He recognized the face staring back at him.
The woman’s name was Anna Beck. She had been a member of the Gen-Y security force hired by Manifold Genetics, the company that had tried to harness the power of the Hydra. She had also been instrumental in the company’s downfall and had even earned herself the temporary callsign: Pawn, during the incident.
Beck raised her hands in surrender and allowed the Sig Sauer to slip from her grasp. It thudded to the concrete but remained within her reach.
He held his aim for a moment and then lowered his own weapon. “Every time we meet, you aim a gun at my face.”
She smiled. “Sorry about that. I heard someone coming and thought you might be whoever was responsible for…this.” She gestured to the carnage that surrounded them.
He regained his feet and held out a hand for her. She took it, and he pulled her from the ground. She stood at least five inches taller than he did, and she was still every bit as beautiful as he remembered. He hadn’t seen her since she’d fled the scene of Chess Team’s confrontation with Manifold Genetics at the Alpha facility in New Hampshire. She’d helped defeat her employer, but had probably feared prosecution. The team would have vouched for her, and Deep Blue would have likely pardoned her, but not even the team knew their handler was the U.S. President at the time. But Knight had thought of the tall woman with “girl next door” good looks on occasion, wondering what happened to her. He’d hoped to see her again, but envisioned the reunion a bit differently than this.
He looked her over. She wore black BDUs that reminded him of those he had seen the SAS, Britain’s Special Air Service, use. She pulled her brown hair back into a ponytail and secured it with a black band.
“So you don’t know what happened here?” he said.
“No, I only got here a few minutes ago.”
He wanted to trust her, but he kept his weapon ready at his side as a precautionary measure. “Why are you here, Beck? What the hell is going on?”
She stretched out her arms and rotated her neck. It issued an audible pop. “I was forcefully recruited by a team of British commandos for my knowledge of Manifold. We were supposed to meet up with an American team from Delta, but the Americans abruptly broke contact. So a group of three SAS commandos and I went on a little recon mission.”
“Where are the others from your group?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I was on point. Then, I turned back and they were gone. Vanished. No sound, no screams, no gunfire. Three men…just gone.”
He thought of how quickly Mueller had disappeared. But the pilot was at least able to get off a few shots. “Okay, that’s explains why you’re here, but not what the hell is going on. Why are any of us here in the first place?”
A strange expression filled her face. “You don’t know?” Then she looked him up and down, taking note of the expensive suit. “And what are you wearing?”
He sighed. “I’ll explain later. Right now, I need answers. Unfortunately, I only know what I’ve gathered for myself. I was basically shanghaied into this mess and was told that I’d receive a full briefing once I arrived here.” He held out his arms at his side. “As you can see, that’s not going to happen.”
She chuckled and shook her head, but there was no happiness or humor in the gesture. “I guess I’ll be the first to welcome you to hell, Knight. Why don’t we get away from this smell and head back into one of the offices. Then, I’ll explain what I know.”
He nodded his assent, and they headed back toward the door to the office area. He tried to keep his eyes from the mutilated bodies of the fallen soldiers as he went. He ignored the implications of the scene and what it meant for their chances of survival on this mission.
His hand reached out for the handle of the office door, but he jumped back as a frantic voice crackled to life on his radio. In a voice punctuated by fear, Ling said, “Knight, we saw it—the monster. It’s coming toward you.”
11.
Knight scrambled among the bodies, searching for anything that they could use against the behemoth headed their way. A tarp hid a large stack of wooden boxes in the center of the staging area. He pulled the tarp free and scanned the boxes for any labels. He smiled at a symbol etched into the side of one of them. The box carried no other markings or labels, but the small symbol gave him all the information he needed. The symbol was that of a chess piece. A knight.
He pulled a four inch folding knife from his pocket and snapped it open with a flick of his wrist. He used it to pop the top off the crate. Inside was a set of weapons and ammunition: a Barrett XM500 .50 caliber sniper rifle, a fully auto version of the FN FS2000 for close quarters combat and an AA12 fully automatic shotgun loaded with FRAG-12 high-explosive armor-piercing shells. He assumed that he had Deep Blue to thank for the specially selected equipment.
A line of three black Humvees sat untouched along the back wall of the warehouse. He directed Beck to grab an end of the crate, and they quickly loaded the ordnance into the first of the Humvees.
“You’re driving,” he said. Then he moved toward the first of garage doors and found the button to open it. He pressed it, and the massive door began to slide up.
When the bottom of the door reached eye level, a flash of movement from outside registered in his peripheral vision.
He rolled to the side just as a massive claw swung down and sparked against the concrete. It was at moments such as this that he was thankful for his small stature and graceful speed. A bigger man might have been torn in half.
The M4 barked to life as he unloaded upon the hulking figure, but the beast barely registered the attack and seemed to regard the bullet strikes as a minor annoyance. As it slowly looked him over, Knight had the distinct feeling that the creature was playing with him. But this allowed him, for the first time, to receive a clear view of his enemy. He didn’t like what he saw.
It stood at least nine feet tall and seemed almost as wide. Every limb of its enormous body bulged with sinewy muscle. It wore the shredded remains of black BDUs and moved like a man. But its arms hung low, and its skin was covered with greenish iridescent scales. Its ears were almost human but were deformed and pointed like those of an iguana. Sharp claws tipped the massive five fingered hands, and a bulbous, elongated and hairless head sat upon muscular shoulders and held a snouted face, yellow eyes and a mouth full of gleaming, curved fangs. It reminded Knight of some freakish coupling of a man and Hydra.
He had seen enough. He unleashed a barrage of
fire into the creature’s eyes. It stumbled back and Knight tried to move away, but within a few seconds, the damage to its face had repaired itself.
A low rumbling that seemed all-to-similar to laughter emanated from somewhere deep within the creature’s throat. The sound filled Knight with dread. The more he saw of this beast, the less it seemed like an animal. And the more it seemed almost human.
The thing made no more advances toward him, but as he inched toward the Humvee, it shadowed him. He knew that if he took off he’d never reach the transport before the beast tore him to shreds.
It croaked out another short laugh and then drew back a giant clawed arm.
He prepared to leap away and kept his eyes locked with the creature’s, hoping that its eyes would choreograph its movements.
The sound of screeching tires drew its reptilian gaze back into the warehouse just before the black Humvee slammed into the creature’s side. Beck accelerated with the beast clinging to the front grill of the vehicle and hissing in a way that no longer seemed human at all.
Knight watched as the Humvee barreled across the parking lot, burst through the fence and slammed into the concrete wall of a neighboring building. He ran after the damaged vehicle, and after a few seconds, the Humvee pulled back from the wall.
Beck screamed, “Grab on!”
He didn’t have to be told twice.
He leapt onto the running board and grabbed hold of the vehicle’s frame. “Go!”
Beck slammed her foot to the floor, and the Humvee sped away. Knight swung his legs up through the window and slid inside the vehicle. Then he moved to the hatch in the transport’s roof that was normally used by the gunner. The well-oiled hinges swung open easily, and he poked the upper half of his body into open air.
He looked back to where the beast should have been splattered against the wall, but instead of a bloody smear, he saw the thing stumble back into the street. The monstrous face turned in his direction. The impact had caved in half of its head, and one of its arms had been severed cleanly above the elbow.
Callsign: Knight - Book 1 (A Shin Dae-jung - Chess Team Novella) Page 3
