by Alex Siegel
Ethel checked the navigation app on her phone. According to the map on the little display, the team had finally arrived at their destination. The mountain in front of her was hopefully where her lover was being held.
The term "mountain" was an exaggeration. She had climbed the Rocky Mountains, and those snowy peaks were vastly more impressive. This part of Virginia really had very big, steep hills. They were called mountains by people who lived on the East Coast and didn't know any better.
Like all the other big hills, this one was thickly forested. She recognized maple, pine, white-cedar, oak, and spruce trees. Despite it being the middle of winter, many trees still had leaves. It was a great place to hide from the authorities.
She looked up high and saw a tiny log cabin near the top. The walls were made from rough timbers. Trees nearly screened it completely.
"Let's proceed with great caution," Ethel said.
"Really, ma'am?" Atalanta said. "These are hillbillies. They aren't even proper soldiers. I think we should just move quickly."
The Japanese woman was carrying her katana with one hand. Her long, black hair was braided into a rope that went down the middle of her back. She was so tall, the top of Ethel's head only came up to Atalanta's chin. Her body armor and uniform were standard for a Marine, but her weapons were a little unusual. She carried an automatic shotgun loaded with micro-grenades for example.
"They successfully kidnapped the President," Ethel said.
"With a lot of help and guidance from the Pythagoreans. This time, we have the advantage of surprise. We're the aggressors."
"If you're so confident, lead the way."
"With pleasure, ma'am," Atalanta said.
She began to hike up the side of the steep hill. Ethel, Tawni, and Boreas hung back and stayed more in the shadows.
Ethel heard the boom of a big gun. It had the deep timber of a large caliber sniper rifle. The hypersonic passage of the bullet created a line of fine mist which terminated in Atalanta's stomach.
She stumbled backwards and turned around. Blood was trickling from a belly wound. Her tough hide hadn't been strong enough to stop that monster bullet.
She tightened her jaw and retreated to the shadows. Everybody else ducked down.
Ethel took another look at Atalanta's wound. It was bad.
Ethel didn't see the sniper. He could have been hiding behind any of a thousand trees. The team was in great danger.
"Let's get out of here," she said urgently. "Follow me."
They went back down the hill. Boreas supported Atalanta on one side, and Tawni supported her on the other. They maintained a quick pace.
Ethel used the navigation app on her phone again. She searched satellite images for a clearing or a road where a helicopter could land. Getting an ambulance here would take far too long. Atalanta was leaving a trail of blood.
She didn't complain though. She maintained the composure of a stoic warrior while her life trickled away. The wound probably hurt like hell.
"It looks like there might be a clearing on top of the next hill," Ethel said. "It's about a mile away. I'll call ahead for a rescue helicopter. We can use the Sea Stallion we came in." She grabbed the military radio clipped to her belt.
"No, ma'am!" Atalanta said. "The enemy will see it. They might panic and kill the President."
"You won't survive if we don't get you to a hospital fast!"
"I refuse to let my stupidity be responsible for the failure of this mission. Besides, the nearest hospital must be twenty miles away. I'll never make it. And regular doctors can't treat me. Their needles and scalpels will break on my skin."
Nobody spoke as the team hurried through the tall grass and brush. Ethel refused to just give up, but she didn't see any good options.
Atalanta stumbled, and Boreas caught her. She was visibly weakening. The flow of blood had slowed, probably because she was losing blood pressure.
"Stop," she said. "Let me find a place to die with dignity."
"No!" Ethel said.
"Ma'am, please. I've cheated death too many times in my life. My luck was bound to run out eventually."
Ethel sighed sadly. She spotted a rocky outcropping which had a little cave underneath. She led the team in that direction.
"Wesley warned me my arrogance would kill me someday," Atalanta said weakly. "I guess today is that day. I'll never join the new Society."
The team found a soft spot in the dirt under the outcropping. Boreas helped her lay down. She winced.
Tawni was staring at the fallen warrior with an expression of utter dismay.
"Any final words?" Ethel said softly.
"My accomplishments speak for themselves," Atalanta said. "I fought God's battles for twenty years. I die as a hero with honor, surrounded by friends. That's all I ever really wanted. It's the best a legionnaire can hope for."
"I'll make sure your accomplishments are recorded in the tabella."
"Bury me with my sword."
Atalanta closed her eyes. Tawni sniffled. Atalanta's breathing slowed to a gradual stop, and she died.
Nobody spoke for a while. Tawni stepped away and sobbed silently by herself.
Ethel looked up at the sun and shaded her eyes. It was late afternoon.
After a few minutes, Ethel walked over to Tawni and put a hand on her shoulder. Tears were running down Tawni's cheeks.
"This is what happens when we get sloppy," Ethel said. "Never forget."
Tawni nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she replied in a broken voice.
"We'll take a little time to bury our dead. I don't want to go up that mountain again until nightfall anyway. Darkness is our ally."
"I want revenge."
"You'll get it," Ethel said grimly.
* * *
Roy Haley heard a gunshot. It sounded like a very big gun.
Slade looked up from his comic book. He ran to the door of the cabin, opened it, and looked out.
After a few minutes, Haley heard the crunch of footsteps on hard dirt. Another man came to the cabin door. He was dressed in a white and tan hunting outfit like Slade.
"What happened?" Slade said.
"We saw a trespasser and took a shot at her," the other man said.
"Her?"
"A tall Asian woman. She had body armor and a sword."
Haley's eyes widened. The description sounded like Atalanta, one of Wesley's bodyguards. Haley didn't understand why she would participate in his rescue. She normally spent all her time with the boy. Regardless, the Gray Spear Society was finally in the area, and that was fabulous news.
"Did you hit her?" Slade said.
"I don't know. We can't see a body. She was all the way at the bottom of the mountain. Do you want us to run down there and check it out?"
Slade frowned and thought for a moment. "No. That would leave a gap in our defenses. Stay in your blinds and keep your eyes open."
"Yes, sir." The other man walked off.
Slade closed the door and faced Haley. "Do you know who that woman was?"
"No." Haley shrugged. "She certainly wasn't my girlfriend. You'll know her when you meet her. She'll be the one holding the machete against your throat."
"Well, if the trespasser had a sword, she wasn't Secret Service. They don't carry swords." Slade sat at his table again.
"That's true."
"You'd better hope she doesn't come back. If things get too exciting around here, I'm under orders to kill you." Slade patted the gun on his hip.
Haley kept his mouth closed.
* * *
General Walker stretched his neck. Stress was making him tense all over. The worst part about being a general was the inability to actually do anything. He wanted to pick up a gun and shoot at the enemy. Instead, he was forced to give orders and hope for the best. He could almost feel himself aging prematurely.
The command bunker was quiet. There wasn't much to do but watch the projection screens at the front, and even those weren't very interesting. For hours, the Arm
y had fought its way through the hotel, overcoming one deadly obstacle after another. It was truly a house of horrors. There was a steel barrier, a turret gun, or a nerve gas dispenser around every corner. A growing number of units had simply refused to enter. Officers were openly complaining about the assignment.
Fortunately, Walker still had men with a strong sense of honor and duty under his command. The Army Rangers in particular had shown uncommon valor. Of course, they had also suffered uncommon casualties as a result. This phase of the operation had added five hundred more to the already devastating losses.
It was almost over. The Lord of the Gray Spear Society was running out of places to hide in his hotel. The Army would soon control the entire building.
"Sir," an officer yelled, "we have another problem."
Walker frowned. He didn't need new problems. "What?"
"Our men can't find a way to get above the twentieth floor. There doesn't seem to be a stairway or an elevator."
"What are you talking about? The hotel only has twenty floors."
"No, sir," the officer said. "There is definitely more space above."
"Secret floors?" Walker raised his eyebrows.
"At least one, maybe two, according to the engineers."
Walker nodded. This discovery would explain how the Gray Spear Society had remained hidden inside a public hotel.
"Cut a hole in the ceiling," he said. "Make your own stairway."
"Yes, sir."
Walker looked at Erika. She had grown increasingly moody and withdrawn all day. She was lying on the brass bed in her broken enclosure and was staring at the steel ceiling.
He walked over and said, "Why aren't you happier? We're close to victory. We finally found the secret headquarters. It's just a matter of getting inside and looking around. Mission accomplished."
"I have a bad feeling." She continued to stare up.
"You're just not used to war. You have to remain objective."
"Objectively, I lost my powers. The Gray Spear Society knows my name. When the other Pythagoreans find out what happened, they'll want to silence me before I fall into enemy hands. It will be a race to see who can kill me first. How can you be so calm? You're in just as much danger as me."
Walker shrugged. "I'm used to danger, and a good soldier always stays focused on the mission. I'll worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes. Thinking about it now is just a distraction."
Erika frowned and sighed.
He left the enclosure and walked down the stairway to the lower part of the bunker. He watched the rows of officers and technicians at their stations. They were all ages. Each probably had an interesting story to tell about how they had come to be here. Walker didn't care. All that mattered was how they performed their jobs.
"How is the hole in the ceiling coming along?" Walker said.
"There is a barrier between the floors," an officer said. "It seems to be made of an unusually tough form of concrete."
Walker sagged. Another delay, he thought.
The communications officer said, "The Lord wants to talk to you again, sir."
The phone on Walker's desk began to ring. He jogged back up the stairs and grabbed it.
"Yes?" he said into the handset.
"I have to admire your persistence," his enemy said, "or rather, I admire the persistence of the Army. It makes me proud to be an American."
"We're knocking at your door."
"I see your people down there. We have cameras everywhere. They'll have some trouble getting through that special concrete. It's a foot thick and as tough as steel. It won't burn, either. Your engineers have a real challenge on their hands."
"It's just a matter of time," Walker said.
"That's true, and time is on my side. I'm curious. What was your specific objective? What did God's enemies order you to do?"
"Get inside your headquarters and discover the secret."
"That's what I thought," the Lord said. "I built this place to protect that same secret."
"It must be important."
"More than you can ever imagine."
"I'll find out soon enough," Walker said.
"That's right. After this is over, we'll get together, and I'll tell you. It won't matter anymore."
"You seem very confident for a man trapped inside a building surrounded by a large, hostile army."
"The question is, who is trapped?" the Lord said. "Me or the army?"
There was a click, and the conversation ended.
* * *
Norbert realized he was holding his breath. He forced himself to exhale.
The group in the basement of the Chinatown building was about to witness another attempt to activate the aperture. After many hasty repairs, the twins and the scientists had more confidence this time. Norbert desperately hoped they were right.
Bethany pressed a green button. He heard a now familiar low hum which resonated inside his abdomen. The red crystal lattice glowed, and this time, it stayed on. There was no sudden loss of power or smoke from a burning component.
An invisible force pulled Norbert towards the torus at the heart of the machine. The floor seemed to tilt, but he knew that was just his sense of balance becoming confused. The aperture was affecting gravity.
A block of tall glass tubes began to shine with a brilliant green light. It was beautiful.
"Are we finally ready to go?" Marina said. "Should I call Aaron and tell him to get over here?"
"Not yet, ma'am," Bethany said. "We have to perform final calibration before we go to full power."
"How long will that take?"
"A few hours."
Marina closed her eyes and lowered her head.
* * *
"I'm scared, sir," Perry said.
Aaron got up from his desk and walked over to Perry's workstation. The hacker was monitoring the progress of the soldiers on the twentieth floor. They were trying to cut upwards through the extremely tough material that protected headquarters. Nancy had cooked up the recipe herself.
"Relax," Aaron said. "We have plenty of time. The twenty-first floor is death."
"You've told me that before. What does it mean?"
Aaron smiled grimly. "You'll see. Get up. Come with me."
Perry got up from the reclined chair of his workstation. He followed Aaron out of the office.
The hotel staff was still throwing their party in the main room, but it was starting to run out of steam. Supplies of alcohol were getting low. They had cleaned out the kitchen, and there was no food left to serve. Some people were visibly anxious.
Aaron found Mr. Rosenblum, the manager of the hotel. Like a good leader, he projected confidence and relaxation.
"I need to show you something," Aaron said.
"Yes, sir," Rosenblum said.
Aaron led him and Perry to the costume closet. It was packed with hundreds of outfits. A lighted makeup table ran along one wall, and shelves above held fake mustaches, beards, hairpieces, and eyeglasses.
Aaron shoved the racks of clothes to one side. Space was tight, so he had to push hard. Finally, a hatch in the floor was revealed. He heaved open the heavy, metal plate.
A tube was below. It twisted around like a slide at a children's playground.
"That's an emergency escape chute," Aaron said. "It goes all the way down to secret shelters at the bottom level of the basement. If things get hot up here, I want everybody to go down. You, too, Perry."
"Is it safe, sir?" Perry said.
"It should be. It corkscrews through one of the big support pillars. You'll be protected by thick concrete all the way down."
"How long do we have to stay down there?"
"Until the fight is over," Aaron said. "If we win, I'll come down and tell you when it's safe to come out."
"And if we lose?"
"Then I'll be dead, and you'll be on your own."
Perry frowned.
Aaron patted him on the shoulder. "I have a good feeling. I think we'll be OK."
/> Jack's voice came down from above. "Commander, you should come back to the office."
Aaron and Perry hurried back to the office. Aaron checked the computer monitors to see what was happening. The soldiers had drilled holes in the ceiling of the twentieth floor and were packing the holes with plastic explosive.
"That's a mistake," Aaron muttered.
"Why, sir?" Perry said.
Aaron faced him. "Have you ever heard of Devil's venom?"
"No." Perry shook his head.
"An unpleasant mixture of hydrazine and pure nitric acid. The Soviets invented it during the Cold War for use as rocket fuel. It's hypergolic which means it burns on contact with air. No ignition source is needed. The effect on human flesh is truly horrifying. Of course, the vapors are highly toxic."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because the twenty-first floor is full of the stuff," Aaron said. "A hundred thousand gallons."
Perry swallowed.
Aaron watched the monitors. After a minute, the demolition charges detonated, and he felt the thump through his feet. The barrier between the twentieth and twenty-first floors broke open. The blast destroyed the camera closest to the action, but another camera took over.
Flaming liquid poured out of the hole. Hidden channels built into the hotel carried some of the Devil's venom to the lower floors. Aside from headquarters, every floor quickly became an inferno filled with toxic vapor. The walls and furniture ignited. The fire destroyed surveillance cameras, but enough survived to allow Aaron to see what was happening. The destruction was absolute.
"Can the fire get up here?" Perry said nervously.
"No," Aaron said. "This headquarters is air-tight and fireproof. It was designed to handle this situation."
"Good." Perry bit his lip as he watched the disaster below unfold.
Aaron's phone rang. According to the caller ID, Wendy was calling.
He answered, "Hello? Any progress finding Erika Navarro?"
"Yes, sir. We've been studying her business empire. It's a witch's brew of financial fraud, dirty deals, and collusion. We came across something very interesting. Two months ago, she purchased an abandoned coal mine. The Underhill Coal Mine, specifically. It was closed due to unsafe conditions. She used foreign subsidiaries to hide the transaction."
"Where is it?"
