A video he had once watched flashed through his mind. A wildebeest being eating alive by lions as it struggled to get up before collapsing in exhaustion as it was fed on, conscious of the violation for the several remaining minutes of its life.
Pulled this way and that as the things fought over his newly exposed flesh, Hicks did not have the strength to push the weight of dozens of creatures off him. His screams joined those of the four outfitters reverberating through the sub-basement and up the shafts. Like the herd of wildebeests watching one of their own feasted on, his team had to endure his outcries, transmitted by the helmet mic laying not far from the feast. It paralyzed all of them for the better part of a minute as their minds first raced for ideas in which they could save him or at least keep him from rising as a creature. Realizing that nothing could be done they all waited for it to stop while it went on for an agonizing minute or two more. The shrieking of the creatures had quieted down; they were feeding. The screams of Hicks initially drowned out the slurping and chewing sounds, but now that noise had to be endured as well over the team net.
“Anderson when the rope comes back down, clip in and go up. I need you to drop a flare into the shaft as you go by it. Turn on your rifle’s UV light to push back any DEVO’s that might be at the opening.”
“Roger that, Mr. Crawley. Are we gonna go back and search for Robert, make sure that he doesn’t turn?”
“Negative, Probie. No time and we can’t waste the flares. We’ll need them if we get trapped in our rigs and have to move out on foot later.”
“Yes, sir.” Anderson gulped, the thought of being taken by the creatures as Hicks just had sent a shudder through him.
Logan wrestled the bag into the hallway then unclipped it before lowering the rope back down. The newbie was a goner, and Logan wasn’t going to waste time worrying about him now.
“Winch up.”
Logan activated the winch and was surprised to see the form of Anderson coming up at him.
“Mr. Crawley sent me up so I could drop a flare down the shaft where Hicks was,” The Probie said, as he glanced at the shattered pieces of DEVO’s in the hallway and the bathroom door held half open by the incomplete torso of one of the creatures.
“Great, stay here and run the winch. I’m going to move to the windows and set up for a rappel down to the street.”
Logan paused, turning on his voice activated mic. “Andy, the FNG is going to control the winch I’m blowing the window so we can get out of here.”
“Roger, also raise Hatch and have him get over here. They can start loading the rigs.”
“10-4.”
Logan turned his CAR-50 towards the window and fired one round. It detonated on impact sending shards of glass to the street below. Logan walked over to the opening and used the edge of a chair to knock out the sharp pieces on the bottom that remained. As he did so, he radioed the rest of the infiltrators.
“Ricky, this is Logan.”
“Go for Ricky.”
“Move to the west side of the Heritage building; we’re on our way out.”
“Roger, moving. Are you still intact?”
“Negative, we lost Hicks. The Outfitters are gone as well.”
“Roger,” came the curt reply. Ricky didn’t care about the Outfitters, but it always sucked losing a team member.
Without saying a word to Graybeard, Ricky had his rigs move out. The Day Breaker’s scrambled to jump in their pickup truck as the two Humvees raced off. They were slowed trying to help their wounded friend up into the rig.
“Hurry the fuck up,” Graybeard bellowed.
“What about them?” One of his crew asked motioning toward the three Crewmen prisoners.
“Leave them here.”
Graybeard had decided they were more trouble than they were worth. He believed that his only way out now with the gold was to make it back to Day Breaker Turf and the bunkers there, safe where Haus couldn’t reach him.
Watching Graybeard and the remnants of the Day Breakers drive off, the three Crewmen waved goodbye with one finger. The three started off on foot staying in the middle of the street. Walking in the opposite direction that the rigs had gone. They were in no particular hurry. They knew of a safe place maybe a half mile away.
The noise of a vehicle made them turn to look, wondering if Graybeard had come back for them, or worse was going to shoot them down. The pickup truck driving towards them only had one occupant though. The three moved out of its path as it braked hard, throwing up some dust from the street.
“Where you blokes going? I didn’t say anything about it being Miller Time, as the Yanks like to say.”
“You’ll find some shotguns in the back. Jump in and let’s go get what’s ours.”
“Yes, Haus!” The three said in unison.
Chapter Fifty-Four
“What’s going on, Hatch? Where’s Crawley and my gold?”
“Your gold?”
Ricky studied the man in front of the remnants of his Outfit. Three crew, the fourth one sitting in the back of the truck cradling his primitively bandaged head. The .50 calibers of one of his rigs pointed at the ragtag group while the other kept guard in the other direction. Additionally, Ricky and his two dismounted troops trained their weapons on the Outfitters who wisely left their guns in their truck.
“Crawley and I have an understanding; he can explain it to you later.”
“Well then, you can have your gold when Andy says you can. Until then you are just rogue scum operating here without authority or permit, and I am going to treat you as such.”
“You infiltration punks think you own the city. Get on the fucking radio and ask him when he’s going to get back. The sun is getting lower in the sky every minute we stand here!”
“Not afraid of the dark are you, Graybeard?”
The older big man glared at Ricky. He expected the INFIL-rats to be more disciplined and not mouth off as much. He didn’t know what game Crawley was playing, but if he wanted to see his girlfriend alive again, he needed to show up and with the gold.
“Graybeard, this is Haus,” the speaker from the Humvee’s blared.
Ricky smiled. “I thought I’d help out in case you wanted to save your radio batteries.”
Graybeard felt the rage building; helplessly punked-out by this infiltration maggot who seemed to be making a sport of it.
“You should answer your boyfriend. I get the idea that he is probably the Dom in the relationship, probably wants to make sure you have dinner ready when he gets home.”
Graybeard snapped, but self-preservation kept him from doing little more than barking. “You little punk. You are going to pay for this; maybe I’ll have fun with Crawley’s girlfriend just because of that. Then you can explain to him how your mouth wrote checks that she had to cash.”
Girlfriend? What the hell was this crazy guy talking about? Mia’s not even in-world now, and besides, he thought she and Andy were on the outs. The radio blaring through the speaker interrupted Ricky’s thoughts.
“Graybeard, I know you can hear me. Hell, I can hear myself over that bloody speaker. If the DEVO’s around here were not already up, they are now.
Haus paused, shrieks from the nearby buildings confirming that the creatures were in fact aroused, only the late afternoon sun kept them at bay. The sounds reverberated up and down the concrete and steel canyons. They would soon emerge in droves.
The speaker blared back to life. “Tell the infiltration boss to put half that gold in your rig and then have one of your crew drive it out. Just the driver, me and my boys won’t harm him; we’ll send him back all in one piece. You and your infiltration chums work out what you want to do with the rest.”
His boys? It didn’t take long for the three Crewmen to find their leader. Graybeard instantly regretted not bringing them back with him or just killing them, Crawley’s orders be damned. Why the hell was Haus getting back involved now anyway? Graybeard seethed to himself, of course, he knew why, the gold.
“Tell him that’ll work, but he has to abide by our deal, or he’ll never leave the city with it,” Andy said over the radio.
He had heard Haus over the speaker system three stories up as he and the others rigged the winch system to lower themselves and the trophies from the third-floor window opening Logan had made with his Car-50.
“Andy says to tell him that he has a deal. If he keeps his end we’ll even let him leave the city with it. You want to give your boyfriend the good news, or should I?”
Graybeard had enough of the little punk’s insolence. Over and over again, this guy disrespected him not just to his face but in front of his crew. Overcome with rage, he moved before thinking it through.
Graybeard reached for his knife and took a couple of quick steps towards the smaller man. In a flash, Ricky drew both his handgun and a large knife. He leveled the .45 Glock at the Day Breaker’s head with his right hand while holding the blade out with his left, its razor’s edge glistening in the late afternoon sun.
“Which is it gonna be, slick?” Ricky used the term that he heard Graybeard use when he was trying to intimidate one of his underlings.
Graybeard froze. He had forgotten about the man’s skills despite his less than intimidating appearance. It took him a moment to get his temper under control. He did so by imagining how he would hunt down this guy in the real world like Christopher Harvey and remind him as he took his last breaths that no one fucks with Graybeard.
“Knives or guns?” Ricky said, clarifying his earlier question.
As before in their last stand-off, the loud report of a rifle round cut through the air followed by an explosion of bullet, bone, and flesh in a red mist. Graybeard spun as he saw his Lieutenant laying on the ground screaming. His left leg completely separated from the rest of his body at mid-thigh; the lower part, its booted-foot still twitching, lay a few feet away. Blood sprayed from the stump as the screaming man begged for help.
“I saw where the shot came from, should I engage?”
Ricky smiled as he looked at Graybeard’s shocked face. “Negative this isn’t our fight.”
“Roger, OOD.”
Even though Haus could not have heard the internal team communication from Ricky to one of the turret gunners, he nonetheless confirmed it in his next transmission.
“Graybeard, Haus.” A short pause and the radio broadcast continued. “That INFIL-man is not your enemy. I am. I never cared for your second in command and owed him one, shall we say. As for the rest of your crew, I have nothing against them, but I’m going to start killing them unless you get that gold to me. I need to hear your groveling voice confirming that on the radio mate or another one is going down.”
Andy watched from the window smiling. He had just finished a phone conversation with Agent Calum. Mia was safe, and the real Haus in the simulation had nothing to do with the actual kidnapping. The Crewmen leader at first inadvertently helped them and now was actively doing so. As far as Andy was concerned, he earned half the gold and would get it.
Graybeard peered up to the broken window three stories high. Andy leaned out the window, taking in the scene below. Graybeard tried to think. If Haus took off, that was one less complication. But he also had half the gold. Still, Graybeard thought it a decent haul nonetheless. He could build back up again and be back in business in short order. Haus only had himself and the three former Crewmen prisoners. Graybeard had the three crew who would stay loyal; their share just increased as the screaming man rolling on the pavement went quiet. He still had the four he sent to help Crawley and keep an eye on him. Plus, the two that were back at the main Day Breaker bunker, three times the manpower Haus possessed.
Graybeard turned on his radio.
“Haus, this is Graybeard. Gold is on its way.”
Deal? What deal did Andy have with Graybeard and now Haus? Ricky was growing ever more confused. Most of all he wanted to get out of there. It was too damn late to be this deep.
“Copy, but you’re still a dead man walking, if not today then tomorrow or the day after.”
Graybeard sneered. He didn’t care about Haus’s threats anymore, soon enough the playing field would be more than leveled and in Graybeard’s favor. His plan was coming together, not as he had hoped, but still, it was a victory of sorts. With a little more luck, Crawley might hunt down Haus and dispatch him, or with a lot more luck they would kill each other and Hatch would die as well. Oh, what he wouldn’t give to watch the DEVO’s feasting on Hatch.
Graybeard felt good about the odds. It had been a withering war between him and his former subordinate. They had each managed to destroy most of the other’s assets. But Graybeard was the one occupying Crewmen territory and had an advantage in numbers. Even the puzzled INFIL-scum, otherwise known as Hatch no longer bothered him. Despite Haus out there sniping at his Outfit, Graybeard felt confident that once Haus got the gold, he would disappear. He had to, they all did; it was nearly dusk.
Graybeard watched as the first of twelve bags lowered to the sidewalk. The sun had gone behind the building on the west side of the street casting a long shadow to where they stood and partially up the Heritage Square building. Shrieks and screeches from the DEVO’s grew louder; it spread, echoing through the streets. The clacking of teeth grew to a chorus from the closest ones.
It took another ten minutes for the rest of the bags to come down. Then one by one the three infiltration team members descended to the sidewalk.
“Where’s my crew?”
“They went their own way, the DEVO’s way. Personally, I think it’s an improvement.” Andy said.
Graybeard tried to hide his panic at being another four men down, trying to appear uninterested in their fate while sounding assertive. “Don’t forget who controls things in here, Crawley!” Graybeard was sick of all their insults. He fantasized how he might use his drone to kill Crawley regardless of the gold.
“So far that looks to me like Haus, at least so far as the Outfits are concerned.”
Graybeard’s seething deepened. He didn’t care so much about his crew as he did the insults. The rest of his Outfit just realized the size of their share had doubled. They, like everyone else, wanted to get out of the shaded and soon to be darkened streets and to shelter.
Andy turned to the Day Breakers. “Take six bags and put them in your rig. Then one of you head out to meet Haus. Those are my orders, and if you don’t follow them I will destroy your rig and leave you here for the DEVO’s,” Andy turned back to Graybeard. “You’ll get no gold, no anything.”
The Day Breakers looked to Graybeard. A piece of concrete landed nearby thrown from the shadows of the building across the street. The hum of a turret turning towards the growing silhouettes pacing in the shadows broke the silence on the street level while the creature’s calls echoed farther out. Their boss still visibly angry glared at the infiltration team, but like everyone else, he was in a hurry to get out of there.
“Do it, but open them first.”
One of them ran over and unzipped one of the bags then held up a solid gold bar and smiled.
“Check all the bags,”
“Yes, boss.”
One by one the man helped by a second member of his crew opened the bags.
“Solid gold, every one of them.”
“Load them, Carl you drive them.”
“What about Randal, can he stay in the rig? He’s hurt?”
“Think I care about his problems? Have him sit on the curb and get moving. DEVO’s gonna be crawling all over.”
“Yes, bo
ss.”
Graybeard pretended not to notice Andy’s team loading the other six bags, struggling with their weight as they divided them up into the two Humvees as Carl drove off with his truck. He looked to his crew. Graybeard’s face grew pale as the blood ran from it. The idiots had forgotten to get their shotguns out of the rig, his included! They were out here without any weapons other than his pistol with the non-exploding rounds. They would be at Haus’s mercy to send those back with the rig, something that would be unlikely.
Graybeard spun towards Andy who raised his rifle to Graybeard’s head.
“I’ll take one of your rigs and all the gold, get the three bags from the other rig and put it in the first,” Graybeard said, ignoring Andy’s weapon.
Andy just stood there, not moving.
“You heard me, Crawley. I’m letting you live. I could take both rigs.”
“You could?”
“Don’t test me, your girlfriend’s life is at stake.”
“That so? You don’t think Haus is going to keep his word and release her?”
“You fool. I can still get her if I want to. Daylight’s fading, so move the gold and let’s end this happily for you and her.”
Andy, keeping his gun trained on the angry large man turned to the OOD. “Ricky, when you talked with the XO earlier, did he say anything about allowing me to transfer Victor Sierra property to rogue scum?”
“No, Andy. He did not.”
Andy’s eyes flicked back to Graybeard over the barrel of his rifle. He threw one hand into the air; the other continued to keep the rifle leveled at the big man. “Sorry. I signed for that rig, have to bring it back.” Andy brought his outstretched hand to his helmet and raised his face mask so Graybeard could see his forced grin. “Tell you what how bout I let you live instead?”
“I’m gonna kill your girlfriend, Crawley. I’m not fucking around!”
METAVERSE GAMES: OMNIBUS Page 36
