by Bryan Tann
“We lost close to fifteen men on this op, Drake. There was to be a zero percent body count. Zero percent!” Matheson growled.
“Yes, sir.”
“Was my report sent directly to Dr. Tee and to the Defense Department?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Very good. How long until we land?”
“Five minutes. The transports are already on the ground ready to take us away.”
“Good job, Drake,” Matheson replied. He stood from his seat and exited the private quarters on the plane, followed closely by Drake. They took the small lift to the cargo area where John Baker’s body lay. Military grade zip ties secured his wrists and ankles to the gurney. Various probes injected into his body causing his body to twitch every ten seconds as the shocks were sent through his body.
“You piece of shit,” Matheson growled, throwing a short, vicious punch to John’s jaw. Then another to his nose until he was satisfied hearing the crunch of cartilage. “See that? Not healing fast now is he?” Matheson growled darkly.
“No sir, he isn’t,” Drake replied matching Matheson’s sinister grin, throwing a punch of his own just under John’s nose, knocking his two front teeth down his throat.
“Good shot. But enough is enough, Drake,” Matheson said sharply as he turned away from the prone figure.
“Beginning final descent to air strip. Strap in, boys!” the pilot called over the PA.
Matheson and Drake moved to the nearby seats and strapped in.
When they landed, the rear hatch opened and the gurney was wheeled out of the back by the remaining medical team followed by Matheson and Drake.
Dr. Tee stood next to the unmarked ambulance as the gurney was placed into the back, his eyes narrowed looking to Matheson and Drake.
“How much voltage are you using?”
“One hundred thousand volts, Doc,” Matheson replied.
“And the facial damage?”
“Bad fall, sir,” Drake replied.
“I see. Well let’s ensure that the subject doesn’t have any similar accidents shall we, gentlemen? We don’t want any of the security measures in place to be compromised.” Doctor Tee moved to the waiting car, looking to Matheson. “Commander, would you join me please?”
“Not a problem, Doc.” As he took a few steps toward the car, he looked over his shoulder. “Drake, debrief the men and take the next few days of liberty.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” Drake replied turning heel.
As the car pulled off to follow the ambulance, Matheson shook his head angrily.
“So what’s the plan with this damn botched science project you’ve got, Doc? Huh? I lost more than enough good men that I’m not going to give you the exact number of because any less than respect for those patriots’ lives on your part I’ll be in a real bad mood.”
“Commander, I regret the loss of your men. A few facts were discovered while you were away.”
“And what’s that, Doctor Tee?”
“I believe that the reason why he failed in the field is because he has a Queen.”
“A what?” Matheson chortled.
“A Queen. Did you not read your briefings on this project?”
“Yeah I did. There are genetic modifications done to ensure that no Queen exists in the Hive. Yet you forget that the whole ‘Queen’ thing has some black tape on it. So why don’t you just fucking enlighten me?”
“To put it simply; in our test studies, a Queen tends to influence the decision making abilities of the subjects. While I am unable to determine the extent, as the original subjects were rats, it is possible that this Queen circumvented the trigger.”
“And why in the hell didn’t anyone else figure this out?” Matheson asked.
“It was quite, subtle. Besides Doctor Newton has a special interest in this project. Perhaps his special interest compromised his ability to be able to detect abnormalities.”
“Great. So because that old fuck dropped the ball, I have to write condolences letters to fifteen goddamn families.”
“It is truly regrettable, Commander. However, there are some positives to this unfortunate incident,” Dr. Tee replied.
“And what are those?”
“We will now be able to develop a serum to not only detect a Queen, but also be able to perhaps eradicate it if it were to develop. Furthermore, thanks to your ingenuity, we know what type of voltage is necessary to control a Nanobot Hive infused soldier.”
“Yeah. Goody goody,” Matheson replied coldly.
“We cannot change the past, Commander, you know this. What we can do is alter the future by manipulating the present.”
“Alright, Doc. Now what about Baker?” Matheson asked coldly.
“He must be studied. We must learn everything that we can about what is happening with him.”
“Why?” Matheson growled angrily.
“So that we can understand the behavior of a Nano with a Queen. Learn the signs of a Queen’s influence. And then eradicate them.”
Karen walked into the secured room to see John laying on his back. His ankles and wrists secured to the metal frame of the bed by thick, plastic wire ties and shackles. His naked upper body twitching every few seconds as the four probes along his heart glowed blue every ten seconds. His boots were scuffed heavily, his pants torn in various places, but still serviceable. From what she knew of the tactical clothing, he had to have been in something serious to have such damage, and she was grateful that he could heal-otherwise, he would have a bag wrapped around him.
When she saw his shattered nose, broken mouth, and dried blood clinging to his face, a tear fell.
“John, what in God’s name did you do?” Karen asked shaking her head. With each twitch she felt her heart ache for him. She reached forward to one of the probes and began to pull it from his chest.
“Woah there, Doc!” one of the soldiers called out to her. “Do not remove that from him!” he shouted as she moved the probe ever so slightly.
“What are you…”
“He went fucking nuts and killed an entire squad of men!”
“Queen? Queen, can you hear me?”
“Yes John, I can hear you. Are you alright?”
“Yeah I’m fine. Are you alright?”
“I’ve felt better. The electric shocks…”
“They hurt.”
“Yes. I do not like it.”
“How are we talking?”
“I do not know. But we need to get out of here. They are going to kill us.”
“You just pump the blood. I’ll figure out something.”
“Oh my God.” Karen gasped, taking her hand from the probe.
“Yeah. It was a fucking massacre. He turned on us and he helped that bitch and the rebels escape!” the soldier moved toward her and stopped abruptly when he looked down to John’s prone body to see that his nose had straightened and his teeth had grown back.
“Oh shit…”
The sound of bones popping and breaking came from the table. Karen looked in amazement as John tugged on the zip ties and broke his wrists. Without skipping a beat broke his fingers by gripping them with his thumbs and pulled as hard as he could to free both hands.
He sat up almost instantly and plunged the protruding bone of his right wrist into the throat of the soldier.
Karen yelped, covering her mouth with her hand as the blood poured. Unable to contain herself, she vomited on the floor at the sight of the rich, red liquid as it poured from the man’s neck causing him to fall to the floor and lay still.
“Karen.” John gasped in pain as his bones popped back into place and healed. “Karen please, you have to help me. I don’t want to die,” he pleaded.
“You’re a…a murderer,” she gasped.
“Karen you do not understand!” he growled.
After the final bone popped back into place, he gripped the wire tie that held his left ankle and pulled as hard as he could, snapping the plastic. He then repeated the process with the right. He then tug
ged each leg as hard as he could to break the leg shackles from the bed.
“I have a Queen, Karen. That’s why they want to kill me. I have a Queen in my hive.” He looked to her, hoping that his revelation would mean something to her. When she took a step back from him, he glared at her. “Even if I had killed Mila and the members of the resistance the government would still kill me!”
He gripped her shoulders as he yelled, trying to shake sense into her.
“I’m an asset. An expendable asset! You know that and I know that! Will you help me? Please?” he begged her. “Please?” he softened his voice, his eyes begging her.
“I…” she began.
“Do not involve her any more than she already has been. She works for them. She cannot be trusted.”
“She just helped us. She’s scared that’s all.”
“John, we can only trust each other.”
“I know…”
“Get to my office. Room four twenty two, four flights up,” she said finally. “My car keys are in the top desk drawer. My parking space has my name on it. It’s parked in the south employee lot. You will face some resistance though. Be careful, even though this isn’t a full scale military building, there are security precautions in place.” She took a deep breath, her adrenalin burning through her veins.
“I don’t know the full scale, but it can’t be good if they are keeping you here. There has to be contingencies.”
“Thank you,” he replied.
She bent down and grabbed the fallen soldier’s gun.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Knock me out. They can’t know that I’m helping you. I have to stay here,” she said quickly.
“But I…”
“Dammit John, just do it! We’re lucky there are no cameras in this room, otherwise we would be completely screwed. Now just do it!” Karen hissed impatiently.
He looked to her, knowing that the risk she was taking was big enough. Following him would only make it worse. He took a deep breath and floored her with a left hook to the chin, careful not to break anything and was out of the room before she could hit the ground.
12
John made his way into the nearby stairwell and ran up the stairs, making it to Karen’s office floor in no time.
“We do not have much time, John.”
“I know, Queen. I know. As soon as they find that solider down, they will sound the alert.”
“When we get to her office, get to a computer. I have an idea.”
“What do you mean?”
He opened the stairwell door cautiously. Seeing no staff, he took a brief step to get out of the stairwell, but retreated when he caught a glimpse of the security camera.
“Damn camera is trained on the stairwell.”
“What are we going to do, John?”
“I’m going to wait until it sweeps and then we’re going to charge ass down the hallway.”
When the camera began its sweep, he exited the stairwell jogging down the hallway, ripping the camera from the wall as he went by. When he made it to the right office, he used the key Karen had given him and closed the door silently. Thumbing the doorknob lock, he reached for the nearby chair and wedged the top of the chair back under the doorknob.
“Okay we made it. I’ll grab the keys and get us the hell out of here.”
“Wait. We need to use that computer.”
“What? Why?”
“Information.”
“I’ve never been a computer whiz!”
“Leave that to me, John. Sit down and just trust me.”
John sat down at the desk and turned the computer on.
“Alright the computer is on. Now what? I don’t have her password!”
“Do not worry, John. I have an idea. Grab her letter opener and cut a finger and place it on one of the ports.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
“Just do it, John! We do not have time for you to be second guessing me! Just trust me please?”
He did as he was told. A drop of blood emerged from the small cut. Behind the drop, he could see something moving.
“Queen? What in the hell?”
“Pull on it and put it into the port. We’re going to interface with the computer. I’m going to download as much information as I can before we have to run.”
“How in the…”
“Evolution. Remember? Just hurry!”
He pulled on the tiny tendril; the growing stem shared his milk chocolate skin tone, tiny hairs growing from it with a leathery touch.
Doing as he was told, he pushed it to the port and shuddered lightly.
“Are you alright John?”
“That felt weird, Queen. What in the hell was that?”
“I’m sorry. It was the interface. You are locked in.”
“So how does this work?”
“I’m not completely sure, John. I’ve never done this before.”
“Queen?”
“Give me a break. I’m only a few months old!”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“How are you doing this?”
“The nanobytes are forming a…a bridge. Think of it like that. They interface with the computer and transfer the data. It goes through them all to get back to us.”
“Okay. How long is this going to take? What are you getting?”
“Shouldn’t take much longer. I’m getting everything I can on the ‘Invincible Heart Project’ and what they have on The Fallen Paradigm.”
“Who?”
“Mila Hunter’s group.”
“Oh. Okay. Well hurry up! I want out of here.”
“I’m almost finished. Oh. Oh my. Oh my!”
“What?”
“Oh. Nothing. Just about finished...and we are clear. Just pull on it!”
He gently tugged the tendril and it snapped back into his finger immediately, his finger tip healing over with a tiny tab the only evidence of the change. Snatching the keys from the desk drawer, he took a deep breath.
“Time to get the hell out of here.” Breathing a sigh of relief he stood up from the chair.
The lights abruptly went out and the backup flood lights sprang to life as a loud blaring alarm pumped through the facility audio.
“Attention please. We have a Code Yellow; Escaped Patient, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.”
John exhaled an exasperated breath.
“Oh shit.”
“Well Doc, let’s go and see if we can get anymore intel out of your science project before we have to put him down and start a new one. Where’s Newton?”
“He’s home. Ill,” Dr. Tee replied.
“So we can get this done without him then?” Matheson replied standing up moving toward the door.
“Of course. Why would you think otherwise?” Dr. Tee asked with a perked brow.
“Because this is government, Doc. Red tape is the stitching that holds it all together,” Matheson replied as they exited the room to walk down the hallway.
“Not this time around. Protocol must be followed,” Nobu Tee responded.
When they reached their destination, Matheson pulled out the keycard to the room and pressed it against the plate. When the door opened, Matheson’s eyes narrowed at the fallen bodies of his guard solider, and the body of Karen Denton. Dr. Tee instantly dropped to a crouch to check on the young woman in earnest.
“Goddammit!” he reached for the radio on his hip. “Central Control this is Matheson! Initiate security protocol alpha! Put in a call to Drake and the rest of my squad and get them here right away! Have security team on site cover all exits! Weapons hot! Now!”
“Roger that, Commander!”
The lights then went dark before the flood lights came on and the announcement was made over the loud speaker.
“Doc, how is she?”
“She is fine. Unconscious,” Dr. Tee replied checking Karen’s pulse. “He knocked her unconscious and escaped.”
“He’s probably got about five minutes on us. May as well be an hour. Goddammit!” Matheson roared. He released his sidearm from his hip and exited the room quickly to join the security force.
He opened the office door just a crack to check the hallway.
“I can hear their radio chatter. They’re down the hallway.
“If you engage them directly, John…”
“Yeah, I know. They will probably have their Tasers full and at the ready.”
He closed the door, activated the lock, then put the chair back in its place to bar the door.
“That will buy some time. Once they figure out that I took Karen’s keys they will be coming here,” John muttered to himself internally and externally.
“Worry about getting us out of here, John. I have an idea.”
“What are you…”
“Just shut up. I’ll let you know when I’m finished.”
“Goddammit.” He rolled his eyes looking around the room for something, anything that would be useful for him.
He went to the window, tapping it lightly.
“Shit. Double paned tempered glass.”
He began running his hands over the glass, searching for the point in the glass that wouldn’t be able to flex and absorb pressure. Moving his hands down to the corner at the reinforced sill, he groaned lightly, anticipating the outcome.
He pulled his fist back, taking the time to aim where he needed to hit when he heard a voice at the other end of the door.
“This is Ward. I’m on the sixth floor. Nothing so far. I’m just outside of Denton’s office. Stand by.”
“Copy that Agent. Call home ASAP,” replied the voice on the radio.
“You think he’s in there Ward?” a second voice next to Ward asked.
“I dunno, Hughes. The Commander thinks maybe. Apparently he took the good nurse’s keys,” Ward replied.
“Okay.”
“Fucking shit bag traitor. Asshole went fucking soft on that goddamn bitch. He’s going down,” Ward said in a dangerous tone. “Looks like we have another PMS story on our hands.” Ward chuckled.
“Yeah.” Hughes laughed. “Fucking whiny ass crimson wave tale.”
The men shared another laugh before the wood of the door exploded into them causing them to fall from the door way and into the rear wall.
