by Utley, Todd
After they passed and were out of ear shod, DC called it in.
“Talon in Clean, I repeat, in clean.”
“Copy that Talon.” DC turned to Alan and JC.
“You guys’ ready to kick some ass?”
Alan chambered a round and smiled big revealing a rather large chaw of tobacco in his cheek, I was born ready son, let’s do this.”
JC nodded and chambered a round also.
“What he said man, let’s roll.”
DC followed suit by flicking off the safety as they moved out and started working their way up the corridor in true military style. They were ducking into cubby holes and waving each other ahead silently with hand signals. DC couldn’t help but think, “Where in the hell did Dad get chewing tobacco? Oh, well, it would be a good story later no doubt.”
As they worked their way up the hall a guard came around the corner rather unexpected and nearly ran right into DC His training kicked in and he quickly disarmed the guard and put him into an inescapable head lock and began choking him out. As he was letting him slide to the ground at his feet he looked up to see Alan and JC with both of their weapons pointed at another guard who had popped out of a restroom door behind them seconds after the first one rounded the corner.
Alan was just taking his finger away from his mouth where he had finished giving the man the “sshhh” gesture. It was a good thing the man was coming out of the men’s room instead of going in because he looked like he was about to wet himself. He had both of his hands up and was obviously very frightened. JC leaned in a little closer to the man.
“Do you want to live?” He asked in a low tone. He indicated “yes” with a vigorous nod.
“What’s your name son?” Alan asked.
“Kevin”
“Well Kevin, don’t worry your friend there is not dead, only taking a little nap. We aren’t here to kill people unless we have to, you understand that?” Kevin let out a long breath of relief but still had his hands raised.
“What took you guys so long? I’ve been in this shit hole for five years.” Dodge moved closer to him.
“We’re not who you probably think we are Kevin, we’re not military or police, we’re independent. Now if you want to live, you have to get to the second largest oven down on the foundry floor. That’s your only chance to survive. That thing in your head will go off once Cyrus or Glitch discover we’re in the compound.”
“I know where that is,” he said nervously, “I can get there and I can take others with me too if you want.”
“How do we know we can trust you son?” said Alan. The man gestured to his pocket as he still had his hands up.
“May I?”
“No, but I will,” JC reached into the guard’s jacket pocket and pulled out a key ring.
“Okay, it’s some keys, so what?” said JC.
“Not just any keys, those keys open nearly everything in this place and they’re all yours. Like I said guys, I’ve been here for five years. I am one of Cyrus’s most trusted guards. Like many though I hate his guts and I can’t wait to get this damned thing out of my head and get out of this wretched place. I haven’t seen the sun except through a small window or from a dirty alley in over a year.”
Alan was patting the man down now and removing several weapons that he had in various pockets and a knife from his left boot in addition to a rather large hand gun from his right side holster. DC pulled what looked like a marble from a pouch on his left hip.
“If you want to live you need to swallow this.” The man reached out and took the small round object from DC.
“What is it?”
“It’s a transponder. All of us have these viewers.” He motioned to a pair of what looked like binoculars hanging from a strap around his neck.
“When we view you though these you’ll have a blue glow around you generated by that little ball there. That will keep you from being shot. It identifies you as a friendly.”
“Okay I’m game,” he said. He motioned toward the water fountain on the wall a few feet away.
“Do you mind?”
“No of course not.” DC motioned for him to go ahead. The man went right over to it, popped the thing in his mouth and took a big drink washing it down. He stood back up straight.
“Now what?” Alan tossed his gun back to him.
“That’s not loaded Son, so . . .”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
“Just make your way to the oven and don’t be looking around or anything, just act natural. There will be a few people waiting there for you, go inside with the others.”
Just then the first man started coming around.
“Let’s see what this one does.” said Alan.
The guard jumped to his feet and reached for his now missing gun and then his radio.
“What are you doing?” Alan asked.
JC said. “Hey man, do you want to live?”
The man lunged toward the fire alarm on the other side of the corridor as Alan pulled the nine mil from his thigh holster very quickly and put three rounds into him in mid air. He dropped to the floor with his hand out toward the lever coming up about six inches short of hitting it. Alan was standing there frozen with his hand still extended for a second as a little puff of smoke wafted from the tip of the silencer on his Glock.
“Jeeze Alan way to smoke a guy man, you could have just tackled him or something.”
“Yeah I was thinking that myself just now. Sorry about that, just a reflex I guess.”
“Well okay, but don’t kill all of them!”
They all turned and looked at the other guard.
“Sorry about your friend, we didn’t intend to . . .”
“No, no, don’t apologize, I never liked him, he cheated at cards, a real douche bag, always kissing up to Cyrus.”
He started walking away toward the foundry floor.
“By the way,” Dodge said, that thing you swallowed it’s a little more than just a transponder, so don’t get any ideas of changing your mind on the way pal, you won’t make it.”
The man turned and walked backwards for a few steps.
“Great! Now I got one in my head and my gut, I’m not surprised, not even a little.” he continued to mutter as he turned back around and made his way down the corridor.
JC snickered at the man.
“Wow, that guy’s had a bad five years!”
DC radioed it in to command to track the man with the newly deployed transponder. Dodge acknowledged and brought up his tracker on the screen. The instructions were concise, if he goes to the oven he lives, anywhere else, detonate the capsule.
Toby, and the inside crew had all arrived at the oven now and were inside formulating some tactics on the fly. The four Seals had also arrived. Two of them took up strategic sniper positioning in the rafters thirty feet above the foundry floor while the other two entered the oven and were involved in the conversation inside.
“Look,” Toby said, “I think it would be fair to say that some of these people coming by here wouldn’t come in if invited and may even report us immediately for fear of not reporting. I personally think that anyone coming by should be grabbed and forced in here. Once in we can disarm them if armed. Once we explain what’s going on, I believe 95 percent of them are going to want what we’re offering. Todd said that he agreed, and that as soon as they get them in they should pat them down to insure they have no communications devices or weapons. If they are uncooperative, they can be bound and gagged or they can be shot, their choice.”
The two seals agreed to the strategy, they would be just inside the door ready for anyone coming in while Cheyenne and Todd stayed just outside the partially open doors to watch for people and motion them in. They needed witnesses and they wanted to save as many lives as they could, not to mention every person inside that oven would be one less person to stand and fight with Cyrus.
Halfway on the other side of the compound team Talon was carefully and methodically moving through eac
h area in military fashion. They had encountered six more guards, killed two of them, and convinced four of them to surrender, take the capsule, and go to the oven. Alan had a great idea with the last two guards they encountered. He gave them extra capsules and instructed them to go disarm their best friends that were guards at gun point if necessary, it would be a lot less likely their friends would die that way.
The two guards agreed to it and one even asked for another capsule for his lady friend that he had met while in the compound. He promised she would cooperate because she talked about escaping all the time, and they had even attempted it one time and almost got caught.
Up in the rafters above the foundry floor the two seals were watching people approach from the North end of the foundry. They were viewing them through their smart vision visors. They could see several of the people in the area approaching that had the blue ring around their mid-section, the tell tale sign that they had taken the capsule and were either friendly or had surrendered, either way they were not to shoot them.
“Tranquil to Inside, two friendly’s approaching from the North side, former guards, be advised.”
“Copy that Tranquil, we have eyes on them now.”
“Tranquil to command, are you seeing this?”
“Copy that Tranquil, Operation Black Ice, so far, so good.”
“Copy that!”
The two guards arrived at the oven and came inside willingly and relinquished their already empty guns and disabled com links. A few minutes later more people began arriving at the oven, some had taken capsules and some had not. It seemed that some of the guards that had decided to surrender and hoped for freedom had rounded up other people that also wanted out and they were beginning to arrive in droves. It was like an exodus.
Just then a guard came out of the shipping office near the docks and just stood there in confusion as he watched people going toward the oven. He was watching but had not pulled out his radio yet.
“Command to Tranquil, do you have eyes on the bogie at three o’clock?”
“Copy that command, we have a bead on him.”
Another guard that had already been convinced approached him and they started having a conversation.
The not so willing guard put his hand on his gun and just then one of the seals flipped his laser site over to visible spectrum. Both guards saw the red dot appear on his chest at the same time. He put his hands up and the other guard disarmed him, took his com link, and began walking him toward the oven. When they got there and came in, Todd realized it was Lance. He was relieved to see him safely in the oven. He went over to him and they talked for a minute and agreed to catch up when this mess was over with.
Suddenly three doors down at the smaller ovens, a door was flung open with a big bang as it hit the outside of the oven. A huge man stepped out, he was buckling his belt and tucking in his shirt tail. A second later a frightened disheveled looking woman ran out. She was crying and gathering her torn clothing up around herself. The man was Darius Rose, a hard man with a soft name that didn’t fit him at all. It was obvious that Darius had just raped her. Under normal circumstances it would have gone completely undiscovered. Everyone was terrified of Darius, he was a relic of a man but incredibly strong for his age and he was “junk yard dog mean.”
He carried an antique 357 magnum and took pride in his ability to use it. He dreamed of the day when he could use it on Cyrus Slade. He hated Slade more than anyone but not because Cyrus was evil and dastardly but much more because he wanted his job. With Cyrus out of his way he could have more fun doing his favorite things, raping, killing, stealing, and annoying every other living thing on the planet.
He was of course a complete idiot and could never fill Cyrus’s shoes, not even close, but still he wanted to be the alpha dog. The terrified woman was running right toward them all now and tried to pass by but Todd reached out and snatched her right into the oven. Darius saw it and assumed he would be reported. He pulled his gun and fired three shots while running toward them but they had already darted in behind the metal door for cover. Before he could get to the oven a burst of laser shot out from the rafters piercing his skull dead square between the eyes.
He stopped and stood up straight as if it hadn’t phased him, and while still aiming the gun in their general direction he looked around like he was thinking “where did that come from” then his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped dead by the oven door, smoke was coming out of both his ears and his feet were twitching like road kill that just wouldn’t give up. The Seal up top had taken him out quickly and with great precision but it was too late, the shots had been fired. The sound of the 357 magnum carried and echoed through the corridors of the compound like a civil war cannon.
It was the unmistakable sound of large caliber gunshots that would not be ignored. One of the Seals said . . .
“Oh shit!” Over the com link.
“Copy that Tranquil!” John replied.
Four more armed guards ran into the area as a result of the shots. Now all hell was about to break loose. The stealth mode of Operation Black Ice was over. Being quiet was no longer an option thanks to that clod Darius.
“Command to all teams, Launch full scale Black Ice, I repeat FULL SCALE!”
“Copy that command, Team Chaos moving in!”
The other team leaders sounded off as well and the full scale attack was on. Just outside the vehicle maintenance bay Team Chaos had been waiting in the back of the M-923 5 ton and now they were moving toward the entrance and gaining speed.
John came over the com link.
“Command to Chaos, what’s your ETA?”
“Ten seconds or less, 35 mph, entering bay number two door.”
“Copy that Chaos”
“Command to all teams, clear bay two area! Incoming! I repeat, Incoming bay two!”
Several team members crossing that area moving toward the ovens with captives were forced to run out of the area as fast as they could.
Seconds later the 5-ton truck came crashing through the door blasting it into a mess of twisted debris.
“Chaos to command, we’re in.”
“Copy that Chaos, we have eyes on you now, proceed with clean sweep.”
Two dozen guards were in a fire fight on the floor of the foundry with Team Chaos, but still, amidst the fight, one of them managed to call the security office on his com link. He reported the security breach on the foundry floor. “Negative 689, we have active surveillance on the foundry floor we see no hostile activity?”
The security office thought it was a hoax because they were viewing old video feed recorded several weeks earlier, everything appeared to be in order in the compound. There were just a few people were hanging out in and around the ovens talking. The security Captain sent three guards down to check out the bogus report.
John entered a launch code on his main PC and hit the enter key. Every PC and every cam feed in the compound suddenly went black, two seconds later they came back up with a message that surprised everyone including Glitch and Cyrus. Cyrus was typing a term into a powerful search tool that Glitch designed. He was looking for more information on Tim Stance when his screen suddenly went dark and came back only to greet him with a “happy birthday” jingle accompanied by a colorful banner and little cakes with legs that danced across the screen. It was the very same one that John had created for Dodge to use at ESS on Patti’s birthday.
Cyrus lifted both of his hands off the keyboard as if touching it would make it worse, he knew they were screwed. He knew there had been a security breach of some kind but what was it?
“What kind of a freak uses a happy birthday message for a hack attack?”
He knew it couldn’t be the CIA or FBI or even the military for that matter, it must be a private joke of some kind, maybe Glitch was screwing with him. He hit his intercom button to call Glitch but before he could speak into it Glitch burst into his office.
“We’ve been hacked!” He said.
�
��No shit Sherlock!” Cyrus screamed back at him.
Cyrus jumped up and pointed his finger at Glitch.
“Get back in your office and reverse this on whoever is doing it! Find them, I want them stripped of everything! I want them crushed, you hear me Glitch! Crush them!”
Glitch had only been gone from Slade’s office for a few seconds when the intercom buzzed, it was the security office.
“Mr. Slade Sir,” a nervous voice came through the intercom. Cyrus mashed it so violently that he nearly broke the old metal box.
“What!” He barked.
“There’s a huge fire fight down on the foundry floor. We believe it’s an internal skirmish between two groups of guards Sir.”
“Well, go get it under control you worthless idiots, I have bigger problems to deal with right now!”
As he turned away from the intercom, it dawned on him that this was almost certainly related to the computer hack. He went to his security monitor and started flipping through the cam feeds, but everything appeared normal. He raised Glitch on the intercom.
“Glitch what’s going on down on the foundry floor?”
“Sir, I just received notice of a disturbance, but my monitors are’nt showing anything, I dispatched a team of ten heavily armed security officers from the office to go down and check it out, and the Captain sent three men about five minutes ago himself. I’ll report shortly Sir.”
“All right, give me an update the second you find out what’s going on.”
Cyrus went to his bookcase and pulled out the fourth book from the right on the upper most shelf about half way. He stood back and the book case slid open. He went behind the shelf and it closed behind him. Cyrus had a lair within the lair. It was a safe room. Not even Glitch was privy to his hidden room behind the bookcase. He went to the table in the center of the room and turned on a small console where he typed in a 14-digit code. The monitor had four cam feeds, one of which was on the foundry floor.
Cyrus had his own hidden wireless cams in the compound for backup, he only had four of them but they were placed very well, one of which was at the far end of the foundry floor. There it was on the little screen in front of him, an all out fire fight. Guards running around and taking cover from what appeared to be elite forces but who could it be?
