Everyone looked to Lt. North to see what his instructions were. ‘We can’t go back now, they’ve seen us and it’ll be too obvious if we turn round and head off. We’ll just have to hope our cloaks will disguise us until we get nearer. Then we’re going to need someone to create a diversion.’
Everyone knew that it was probably a suicide mission. ‘I’ll do it, sir,’ volunteered Barnes.
‘Good man, Barnes. I want you to go over to those stores and create some mayhem, enough to draw them away from the generator side of the staging area. With luck our disguises will get us through the crowds if they’re distracted enough.’
Sgt. Barnes nodded and stripped off his pack. He filled his pockets with grenades and extra rounds then said, ‘Good luck to you, sir.’
‘Good luck to all of us,’ replied North.
Barnes set off towards the stores.
‘Forbes,’ said Lt. North. ‘Give me the Sunburst Weapon, if we don’t make it, I’d better be the one responsible for setting it off, if necessary.’ Forbes and North switched packs and then the group moved off, straight towards the Elf warriors. As they approached the staging area, they slowed down to allow Barnes time to stir up some trouble.
He reached the supplies and going to the side away from where the workmen loaded the carts, he knocked the bungs out of a few barrels to check the contents. Fortuitously they contained oil. He left them to glug out their contents while he explored further. He saw many flammable bolts of material which he set fire to and then threw a burning match into the pool of oil. Looking further he found a bundle of staff weapons. He squeezed a grenade in between them and then pulled the pin. As he had hoped, the energy contained within the staff weapons amplified the explosion ten-fold.
Everyone in the staging area turned around, alarmed and approached the supplies until Barnes started firing at them both with his Winchester and the captured staff weapon. In between lobbing grenades into the already loaded carts, he panicked the horses and they broke out in all directions, including directly towards the troops.
Of course the troops returned fire but that only added to the confusion as where they hit the piles of stores tended to explode or catch fire.
Barnes was just removing the bungs on some more barrels of oil when a lucky blast from a staff weapon hit him in the legs and dropped him to the floor. The Elves had circled around behind the stores and a group of them approached him, determined to finish him off. Unable to stand and knowing that he would not make it out of there alive; he did the job for them. As they approached he drew the pin on a grenade and rolled over to the barrels, pumping out their contents. The large group of Elves surrounded him and were surprised to see him smiling. His grin spread across his face, a second later the Elves were spread across the field. The blast ignited the barrels which caused an even bigger explosion that ripped through the stores, splashing burning oil everywhere and igniting everything that had not already caught fire. Many Elves died in the blast and the others fell back, shocked and wounded.
While this was going on, Lt. North, Sgt. Forbes, Jim and Cobb made their way across the staging area, weaving in between the troops, whose frantic leaders were trying to bring under control.
A large open space had cleared between the crowd and the generator building and it became obvious to the Elves guarding the door that something was wrong as the four humans ran towards them, while everyone else was running about, over at the far side of the field.
Two of the guards went into the tunnel and slammed the door behind them while the others began firing at the assault team. Combined fire from all four of them brought the guards down but not without drawing the attention of some of the Elf warriors who came after them.
The door was a large, oak affair which guarded the entrance to a long, arched tunnel leading back into the igloo-like, domed building. North tried the door but the Elves had bolted it on the inside.
‘Okay, everyone get back and cover me,’ he told his team. They fell back twenty feet or so and formed a semi-circle around him, returning the fire that had started to come in their direction, as he primed his hand-grenades. ‘GRENADE!’ he shouted as he lobbed two hand-grenades directly at the door. Everyone hit the ground as they blew the door off its hinges.
After the blast had faded and the earth stopped falling, they picked themselves up, staff weapons blowing up dirt all around them, and made a dash for the tunnel.
Forbes took a glancing blast to the leg from a staff weapon and dropped to the ground but Cobb who was behind him, picked him up without breaking step and practically threw him into the tunnel.
Once in the tunnel, it was obvious that most of the Elves had been alerted to the threat and were approaching the generator building as the more important target to protect, rather than the supplies.
The tunnel doors hadn’t been destroyed by the blast, only dislodged. They had fallen in such a way that they blocked the lower half of the entrance and Cobb and the others hunkered down behind the heavy, oaken doors which gave them some protection. Cobb and Jim continued to return fire while North bandaged Forbes’ leg. Once he was done he helped him back to the entrance and Forbes took over firing at the Elves while North spoke to Cobb and Jim.
Cobb noticed that the two Elves who had bolted the door weren’t in the tunnel. ‘They must be waiting for us down there,’ Jim said, pointing down the tunnel. ‘We’ll have to watch out for them.’
North told the others, ‘We’re going to have to stay and defend the entrance. If we come with you we’ll be overrun in no time, Forbes and I will stop them here so you can do your bit. Drop your packs off and let me have your spare ammo and grenades.’
While they were doing this, North took the Sunburst Weapon off his back and slid it across the floor to Jim. ‘We can only hold this entrance for so long. I’ll hold them off for as long as I can and then blow the tunnel. When you hear that you’ll know we’re done. But you must look me in the eyes now and give me your oath as an ex-soldier that if you can’t recover the Dark Matter then you WILL explode the Sunburst bomb. Don’t let us all have died in vain. Will you do that?’
Jim looked him in the eyes as requested and solemnly told him, ‘I give you my word I will use it if there’s no other way.’ He strapped the weapon to his back.
Cobb looked at North and without a word, held out his hand. North shook it, also without saying anything. There are times when words just aren’t enough.
Jim and Cobb handed over their staff weapons and picked up their Winchesters. ‘Okay, Cobb, let’s go,’ said Jim and led off down the tunnel. With a last look at the marines Cobb followed him.
Lt. North and Sgt. Forbes kept up a continuous rate of fire, taking it in turns to reload but slowly the Elves made their way forwards. They had produced shields that were impervious to the plasma blasts, only the Winchester rifles were effective against them. The Elves had resorted to crawling along the ground towards them, making them very hard targets to hit.
Then tragedy struck, a plasma blast ricocheted off the wall of the tunnel and struck Sgt. Forbes, killing him instantly. North cursed the Elves and then picked up his comrade’s rifle and continued shooting back. As he worked he began to gather all the grenades together.
***
Cobb and Jim halted at the tunnel entrance to the circular inner chamber. The room looked empty so Cobb assumed that any portal engineers or whatever they were called had fled to other rooms in the building, to hide. It was certain though that the two guards were waiting for them somewhere.
Around the outside of the room were spaced consoles made out of carved, polished wood. Behind them there was room to walk around the circumference of the chamber. On the consoles Cobb could see, dials, levers and sliders. Presumably this was how the Elves controlled the Dark Matter’s energy output, frequency of the portal, etc.
Around the centre of the chamber there was a handrail that made a complete circle except for four equidistant gaps. From each of these gaps a walkway extended into the
centre of the room, where a plinth stood. Above this plinth, Cobb could see the Dark Matter suspended. At this distance he couldn’t tell if it was being held up by wire or whether it was supported by the four lasers shining on it.
Cobb had seen lasers before. They projected a spot of light strong enough to cut through steel. On an earlier case where he had first met Adele, her step-father, Marcus Quist, had used one to break through the energy barrier surrounding another piece of Dark Matter, that was how he recognised them.
The four, floor mounted lasers shone their beams of light directly onto the Dark Matter suspended above the plinth. Two of them shone a purplish beam into the centre and the same purplish light ran from the Dark Matter upwards to the ceiling, in what appeared to be glass cables, presumably to power the portal.
The other two lasers shone bluish beams of light, and a blue light ran from the Dark Matter downwards via glass cables, down into the basement of the building. Given that it was a blue light, Cobb assumed that it somehow stored up the energy to power the staff weapons and plasma cannons. They must be able to recharge them from this store of energy, he figured.
Jim tentatively poked his rifle out and a blast of plasma scorched the wall beside him. Cobb did likewise with the same result.
‘There’s one on each side. I’ll give you covering fire and you get behind one of those consoles. Then you do the same for me.’
Cobb did as requested and they made it safely to the cover of the consoles. Sporadic blasts from the plasma weapons peppered them and made them keep their heads down.
Jim muttered, ‘This getting us nowhere. Cobb, take your cloak off and throw it over the console when I tell you.’ They both took their cloaks off and Cobb waited for instructions. Jim counted down from three and on ‘one’ Cobb threw the cloak over the console and the Elf guard responded to the sudden movement by firing at it. Jim spotted his location and took him out with one shot.
That just left one guard. This one was cleverer though, he moved around after firing each time so when you fired back it was at an empty spot. He was going to be harder to deal with.
***
At the entrance to the tunnel, Lt. North’s time was running out. A lucky near hit from the Elves had damaged his shoulder and he only had one good arm left. He bravely kept up firing, single, aimed shots which took out an Elf each time, but he was unable to reload the rifles. He had used Forbes’s and his pistols but eventually they ran out too. On top of which, the Elves had almost reached the doorway; they were only about ten feet away.
He had dropped back to a sitting position and between his legs were all the grenades he had gathered. He threw his empty gun aside and picked up a grenade. Gripping it with one hand he pulled the pin out with his teeth. He had always been taught never to do that as it damages the teeth but he figured it didn’t matter anymore. Any second now he was really going to damage a lot of teeth.
The Elves noticed the firing had ceased and carefully approached the doorway. Lt. North dropped the live grenade into the pile before him and as the Elves cautiously entered the tunnel they were treated to the sight of an injured human, shouting a strange war-cry, ‘FIRE IN THE HOLE!’
***
‘Right,’ said Jim. ‘I’ll pin him down with some covering fire and you make a dash for the Dark Matter. Once you get going don’t stop for anything, no matter what happens back here. Got it?’
Cobb nodded and readied himself to run. Just then there was a faint warning cry of ‘FIRE IN THE HOLE!’ followed by a tremendous blast from the tunnel. A jet of fire, dust and debris exploded out of the mouth of the tunnel, like water out of a pipe. It filled the room with dust and the shockwave knocked Jim, Cobb and the Elf to the ground.
All was silent for a moment and then Jim and Cobb raised themselves up to their knees. Jim spat out the dust and then called to Cobb, ‘Go! Run! I’ll take care of this.’
Cobb did as he was bid and made a break for the centre of the room. The Elf, like the other two, was only stunned by the explosion, Jim saw him rise up from the floor and lift his staff weapon, taking aim at Cobb.
‘NO!’ Jim shouted and forcing himself to his feet he staggered into the line of fire. Raising his Winchester he pulled the trigger. CLICK. Nothing happened. CLICK, CLICK. Still nothing. The rifle must have been damaged in the blast. No time to sort it out now, Jim threw it aside and went for his pistol but it was too late. The Elf fired and blast of plasma hit Jim in the stomach. With a scream of pain he fell to the floor.
Jim was directly between the Elf and Cobb. As Jim dropped to the ground, the next thing the Elf saw – and the last thing he saw - was Cobb standing there, pointing his rifle at him. Cobb may not have been as good on the range as Jim had been, but this day his hand was steady and his aim was true. The Elf took two bullets to the chest and one to the head before he fell backwards.
Cobb was torn between going to help Jim or retrieving the Dark Matter. He turned to look at it again, he was only feet from it and it was the purpose of the mission after all. Jim would never forgive him if he failed to get it. It would only take seconds to grab it and then he would go to help Jim.
Cobb looked carefully at the Dark Matter suspended over the podium and centred between the laser beams. It seemed to be the lasers that were holding it in place. Up close he could see it was about the size of a large plum, it looked like a lump of coal. The lasers might burn his hand if he grabbed it but it was preferable to knocking it off the plinth with his rifle butt and then having to scrabble about for it on the floor.
Bracing himself, he swiped his right hand through the lasers and grabbed the Dark Matter. One of them scored a furrow across the back of his hand and he bent over in pain, still gripping the lump of Dark Matter.
Unknown to Cobb, the Dark Matter and the lasers had all been precisely positioned so that the lasers did not come into contact with each other. When Cobb removed it, all four lasers crossed their streams and there was an energy feedback which rebounded through the light streams and then along the glass cables, both up to the ceiling and down into the cellars where the energy for the plasma weapons was being stored. First it shot up to the dish on the roof, causing it to melt. Once the energy beam was cut the portal closed down.
Then there was a massive explosion from beneath the plinth as the stored energy ignited and Cobb was blown across the room, to collide with the wall, some twenty feet up in the air. He felt something break in his chest before he fell to the floor below, where he was knocked unconscious.
***
When Cobb came round, the first thing he did was check to see if he was still holding the Dark Matter. He opened his hand and along with the Dark Matter, he could see little semi-circles of blood where he had dug his nails into his palm, gripping it so tightly to make sure he didn’t drop it. He put it into his jacket pocket and reviewed his situation.
His head hurt like hell where he had been knocked unconscious. He tried to sit up but he had a sharp pain in his chest and he coughed up some blood. Forcing himself to ignore the pain, he sat upright. This didn’t look good, his left leg was twisted at a funny angle. Well there go my dancing days, he thought. He figured that it was probably best if he straightened his leg and the best way to do that was to crawl forward and let it slide into position behind him.
With much deliberation (and plenty of swearing) he rolled over onto his chest and used his arms to drag himself forwards. Several times he blacked out momentarily as he did so. As the leg slowly straightened, the pain seemed to lessen slightly as the jagged edges were no longer jutting into the muscles and nerves so much. Or maybe he was just losing feeling in the leg, he couldn’t be sure.
Inch by inch, yard by yard, he dragged himself across the chamber towards Jim. ‘Do me a favour, don’t be dead,’ he muttered repeatedly to himself and his prayers were rewarded. He saw Jim feebly struggling with the straps holding the canvas backpack.
As he reached him, Jim saw him and gasped weakly, ‘Ah, there you are. I thought you’d
left without me.’
‘No chance,’ Cobb replied. ‘You owe me money.’
‘Don’t worry, I’m good for it.’
Cobb helped him off with the backpack then rested Jim’s head on his leg, so he could lie more comfortably. ‘The bomb?’ Jim asked.
Cobb looked at the backpack, it was slightly scorched where Jim had been hit but apart from that it looked okay. ‘It’s fine and I’ve got the Dark Matter.’
‘Yay, we won. How am I looking?’
He looked over Jim’s wound. There was only one, half of his left chest and stomach area was missing. The plasma burst had just evaporated it. There was no blood though, as it destroyed his flesh it had also cauterised the wound, sealing all the veins and capillaries.
‘It doesn’t look too bad. But we should probably get out of here and get you some help.’
‘You’re not fooling me. I reckon I’ve at least lost a kidney but that’s okay, I’ve got another one. I just need to walk it off, I’ll be fine.’
Cobb felt his throat choking up with emotion. ‘Jim, I’m so sorry I brought you into this. I was just being selfish, I didn’t want to come alone. I should have left you out of it.’
‘That’s okay, Cobb, I don’t blame you.’ He stopped to get his breath, his voice was becoming weaker and it was a struggle for him to speak. ‘Sometimes you have to do the right thing no matter the cost. Coming here and stopping the Elves was the right thing, I’ve no regrets. Could you get me a cigarette?’
Cobb rooted through Jim’s pockets until he found his cigarettes and lighter. Lighting one for him he put it between Jim’s lips.
Jim drew on it gratefully. ‘You do owe me one last favour though,’ he told him.
The Londum Omnibus Volume Two (The Londum Series Book 12) Page 52
