Dunston and his troops moved flawlessly together. Team Alpha led by Jones was tasked with the communication center in the east terminal building. They planned to install the software written by resistance programmers in the North. The software tricked the compound’s security systems into thinking all was ok, regardless of what the remote inputs sent to the controller. The false positives provided digital cover for Dunston and the teams. This cover was vital, since they did not have the manpower to sustain a firefight with the Guardsmen stationed here, much less the reinforcements that would arrive after an alarm sounded. Every alarm must be silenced.
The second team, Team Bravo would handle the Guardsmen in the destination terminal where they believed Bishop was held. Bravo would provide local cover, permitting Dunston and Team Delta to search the terminal quickly for Bishop. If all went as planned and coordination worked as they had drilled, the other terminals would not realize anything had happened until after their plane was at least 5,000 meters in the air. Dunston planned to take off from runway 9L-27R, which was the longest runway at the Old Airport - it was also the only runway still operable. Dunston wondered what Hunter would do to the runway after their mission, and he smiled.
Their current location had been converted into a warehouse of sorts, and the building was filled with long rows of goods of all kinds. The inventory was indexed by a computer and retrieved when needed with automated pickers. The pickers moved in two dimensions and were endlessly whizzing back and forth in front of their respective stacks of goods, producing the constant whine of metal through air.
Dunston and his men moved on the maintenance platforms built between the stacks of goods and their picker. The maintenance platforms were built about half a meter off the floor but had no handrails, which allowed the picker arms to freely articulate while retrieving the inventory. Dunston motioned for the Angriff to stay low and alert to the picker arms. If a picker hit one of his men, not only would he have a wounded soldier, the alarm would signal a problem to the Guardsmen and the mission would be blown up.
The group crawled on all fours or walked duck fashion most of the distance. They ran only when given the signal from Dunston, which for most of them was not often enough. Despite their physical training, their legs grew stiff and their emotions frayed with tension from the slow grind so early in their mission.
Suddenly Dunston motioned for all to stop, and all the Angriff complied except for one soldier called Morgan. Morgan was looking up and behind instead of forward as he should have been. He hit the backpack of the soldier in front of him and it slipped to one side. The small movement knocked the radio microphone from the soldier’s shoulder piece, and the cord swung wildly out from the platform just as a picker arm whirred toward the group. At the same time, Morgan lost his grip on his hand weapon and the gun hit the maintenance platform with a thud, then bounced to the floor below with the characteristic metal and concrete clang.
The picker caught the cord and momentum caused the microphone to wrap once around the arm. The picker arm stopped suddenly and jerked back and forth in place as if searching. Morgan reached up and quickly swung the microphone and cord free, then ducked down and grabbed his weapon off the floor. The picker arm jerked once then continued its travel as though nothing happened.
Morgan holstered his weapon, where it should have been to begin with. He looked up at Dunston and breathed a heavy, if inaudible, sigh of relief. All Angriff ears were now attentive to any sound or indication of alarm. For over twenty-seconds they listened but heard nothing. Convinced they had not been compromised, Dunston gave the order for the group to move on. He was grateful to reach the tunnels without further incident, but made a mental note to talk with Morgan.
Dunston led them down the stairs to the train level, and they ran into the old walkways. Jones and Team Alpha separated at the tunnel entrance from the main group and headed east. Dunston led the others west. Dunston pushed his men forward with urgency, knowing they needed to be in position once Jones gave the signal. Running when they could, Dunston’s men were forced to climb over debris and old sculptures that had been left in the tunnel. Dunston recognized some of the artwork and wondered if it was from a time when people were free. What did it mean to be free? Dunston wasn’t sure he was free, but he knew he was not under Company control.
They went through the first junction and made it to the second without incident. Dunston looked at his watch. Jones was not due to check-in for another seven minutes, and Dunston noted his team was making excellent time.
Dunston did a quick equipment check, then led his men up the stairs. Before moving out onto the landing, they checked the hallway using a flying GNAT, an acronym for Guided Nano Aerial Transmitter. The GNAT was a remotely controlled micro camera that had the ability to send a picture back to the team from distances of up to seventy-five meters. The unit itself was about the width of a human hair, and it was less than one half a millimeter long.
The GNAT revealed there were two Guardsmen walking patrol on the floor heading north and two patrolling south. All four would be handled by Beetle and Team Bravo. Dunston and Delta would move fifteen meters south on the landing and access a ladder to the ceiling cavity. The GNAT showed the ladder was installed as indicated on their advance planning map.
All fourteen men crouched waiting for the call from Jones. The check-in was two minutes away, and those two minutes crawled by. Patience, Dunston told himself.
At precisely the planned time, a short beep followed by two long beeps broadcast in all earpieces. The beeps were expected; Dunston ordered no voice communication until he declared all clear. No one expected to hear the all clear until they headed back for their exfiltration.
Everyone looked at Dunston. He checked the GNAT; it was clear and he nodded. Beetle moved up to the landing and painstakingly worked his way down the big hallway to set up the ambush for the Guardsmen.
Dunston led his men to the ladder and stood by as each one climbed up. Last of all he followed and once in the ceiling cavity, reoriented everyone to Hunter’s office. The GNAT followed them up the ladder and hovered overhead. Dunston, input the predetermined coordinates to the controller and watched on the controller screen as the GNAT zipped down the meter-high cavity much like a biological insect.
Dunston and his team moved with stealth to the position the GNAT took up forty-five meters away. Although they crawled over conduit and shimmied over and under air ducts, they reached their destination in minutes and crouched in position. Dunston signaled the others with a short beep and three long beeps. Beetle and Team Bravo went into action and took out the four Guardsmen with Nasyptalcoliese shots, making sure to soundlessly catch each Guardsman as he fell. The Guardsmen were stripped and four of Beetle’s men took up their rounds. Beetle signaled with a short beep and four long beeps.
Dunston checked his watch and noted everyone in position. Jones had false alarm signals being fed at the communication hub, and there were no Guardsmen in the immediate area. Everything was ready for Team Delta to go into action. The trick was getting into the room and preventing Hunter from sounding any alarms. They had to convince Bishop to come with them, but this was the least of Dunston’s concerns.
***
Emily was unnerved by the politeness of the Guardsmen. They were creepy, and she still had no idea why she was here. The behavior of the Guardsmen made her feel as though she was a prize, like a show horse or a special cake you only make at Christmas. She did not like what was happening, and she did not like feeling powerless. Emily had never looked at herself as a victim, even with all she had endured, but now an emptiness and a desire to give up slowly enveloped her like a creeping fog.
Her captors were tight-lipped and although comfortable, Emily still thought of her room as a cell. The walls of the room were a pale blue, almost an off white or grayish color. There were paintings and the bedding and sheets matched the color of the walls. If it had been her flat, she would have loved it, but this only added to the creepine
ss and weirdness of the place.
She waited and waited with nothing to do but stare at the blue walls. Finally, Mr. Husky Voice, entered the room, and said, “Ma’am, it’s time to see the Director."
“Is it far?” Emily asked.
“No, ma’am, but we will stop all discussion as soon as we leave this room.”
“Why?”
No answer.
The Guardsmen led her down a long hallway, and in what looked to be the center of the building, they turned and descended stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs, they boarded subterranean railcars and rode two minutes. When the train stopped, they exited onto a landing that looked exactly like the one where they boarded. They walked up stairs identical to the ones they left two minutes earlier.
“This looks like the same place we left,” Emily said.
Nothing from her escorts, not even so much as a look or nod.
“You know, this place is creepy,” she said. “You all are acting creepy.”
They turned left and headed down another long corridor. Creepy, she thought.
***
Beetle tensed when he saw three people heading down the hall. The lighting was poor, but he could tell there were two Guardsmen with a third person. The third person was female, but he could not be certain if she was a prisoner or accompanying the Guardsmen. He signaled his men posing as Guardsmen. As the Guardsmen walked their prisoner to an entry a few meters away, they acknowledged Beetle’s men on patrol, who saw she was a prisoner. The two Guardsmen escorted her into the room and shut the door.
Beetle’s men positioned themselves just outside, and Beetle signaled the others to move. Two were hidden, but the impersonators, stood on each side of the door frame. The two at the other end of the hallway continued to patrol, but worked their way back up the hall. In four minutes Beetle would be able to signal the other teams.
***
Dunston worked the GNAT through a small ceiling opening in the corner of the room. If Hunter - Cougar, Dunston reminded himself - had the control neural implant as their intelligence reported, they could not allow the GNAT to be spotted.
From the corner position high against the ceiling, the GNAT sent the room picture back to Team Delta. They were looking at the back of Cougar’s head, who was talking in an impassioned tone with a young man standing between Cougar and the door. What was in the kid’s hand?
They heard Cougar expounding on the virtues of the company, but the kid wasn’t buying it. Good boy, Dunston thought.
***
“Joniver, the world can be made right, but I need you - I want you, to be a part of it,” Hunter said. “You are more important than you realize.”
“Do you have Emily?” Joniver asked.
Hunter nodded. “Would you like to see her?”
“Here, do you have her here?” Joniver asked. He fought the urge to pull the sword and slice Hunter’s neck open. Did he really have Emily?
I have this kid rolling in the palm of my hand, Hunter thought. “Don’t you realize how quickly I could have a squad of Guardsmen in here?” Hunter turned toward the window. “You would have no chance and would ruin…”
Joniver didn’t hear anything he said. He was lost in his own thoughts. Where was Emily? He kicked himself for his stupidity earlier in her flat.
I want nothing but to have her safe.
***
Dunston intended to position the GNAT close enough to be sure to get a good Nasyptalcoliese shot at Cougar without raising suspension the GNAT was there. Once Hunter was down, they would lift a nearby ceiling tile, get Bishop and go.
Everything looked good to this point. He motioned with his hand on the controller and the GNAT approached Hunter. He had one shot, and he needed to land the GNAT on just the right spot to activate the injection before Hunter could react.
Hunter made an unanticipated and sudden turn toward the window. Dunston froze.
Hunter kept talking.
Although unexpected, the movement proved fortuitous. Hunter walked directly in front of the mechanical insect and continued talking. Dunston moved the GNAT in position and guided the machine to land just under Cougar’s left ear. Simultaneously he activated the Inject signal, and the bug worked its magic. Cougar hit the carpet with a thud, just missing his desk as he fell. Joniver’s eyes grew wide and he crouched frozen, looking around the room. “What just happened?” Joniver said out loud to no one.
A member of Team Delta pulled back a ceiling tile and jumped to the floor. He removed his goggles, dropped his knit face mask, staring at Joniver. He raised his hands in a surrender pose. “Don’t worry. We’re going to get you out of here.” He looked up at the ceiling opening. “All clear.”
Joniver heard other voices in the ceiling cavity. “All clear.”
“Who are you?” Joniver said as six more men emerged from the opening into the room.
“We’re friends, Joniver,” Dunston said. “You are the reason we are here, and we will get you to safety.”
“I…I…” Worry cut furrows in Joniver’s brow. This guy didn’t look any older than he was. None of these guys looked old enough to know what they were doing, much less old enough for him to trust his safety with them. He had always done ok by himself, and he was not sure he needed them. Never was this more true than now with Hunter lying motionless on the floor. “Did you kill him?” Joniver asked, as he watched an Angriff check Hunter’s pulse and vitals. The trooper looked up at Dunston and gave him the thumbs up.
Dunston turned to speak when he eyed what Joniver had been clutching. It was a sword! Could the Blueberry be any more full of surprises? “Look Joniver, we don’t have time. No, he is not dead. He has been drugged and will wake up soon. When he does he will be angry, and we have to be long gone. We have about twenty minutes to get to our exfil-“
“Our what?”
“Our exfiltration point. The place where we all get picked up and taken North.”
Joniver stood frozen in his tracks, unsure.
“Ok, drug him,” Dunston said.
“No, no, ok, I’ll go, but what about Nana?”
“She’s fine. We have someone watching her and watching out for her.”
“What about Olinar and Emily?”
“Olinar is fine. He is the one who alerted us you were here. I don’t know Emily,” Dunston said. “Look we have to go. Time is against us.”
“She’s here,” Joniver said, “I know it."
Just then, a radio voice, “We gotta go, boss. We got Guardsmen coming. We need to be moving.”
“We don’t know where she is, and even if we did, we don’t have time,” Dunston said. This was a command.
Joniver opened his mouth to protest. I know she’s here. Then he thought for a moment. “OK,” Joniver said. “I’ll go.”
They all moved toward the door with Joniver following close on Dunston’s heels.
Dunston stopped unexpectedly, and Joniver was so close he bumped into the leader. An annoyed Dunston set his jaw and his fair skin turned red. Drugging this kid is not a bad idea after all, he thought.
“I’m not going without Emily,” Joniver said, backing into the center of the room.
He was resolute. He was not nervous, but he was tall and skinny, which made it difficult for the Angriff to take him seriously. Joniver backed, “I AM NOT GOING WITHOUT EMILY!”
He put a gun to his head.
All Angriff weapons immediately trained on him.
Dunston looked down at his holster and his sidearm was missing, now being held by the Blueberry. He shook his head in disgust. “You are going!” he said. He then calmed. “Besides, the safety’s on.”
Joniver pointed the pistol at the couch and pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot echoed in the room and out into the hall.
“Shit!” Dunston exclaimed, “you little mother f-”
Beetle came over the radio, “What’s up boss? We gotta go!”
The interruption from Beetle brought Dunston back to the moment.
He looked with disgust at Joniver. Wasn’t it enough this asshole lifted his sidearm! Now he wants to make command decisions! This is beyond my patience, and even more so since it’s in front of the men.
“Bishop says there’s a girl he thinks is here.” Dunston said into his radio.
They were not to talk until they were at the exfil but Dunston saw no choice.
“There is,” said Beetle. “She’s thirty meters and two doors down from you. If it’s the same girl.”
“That’s Emily!” Joniver said.
He smelled lilacs.
***
Inside the holding room thirty meters away, Mr. Husky Voice and the other Guardsmen heard a shot fired and they jumped into position. Each pulled his weapon and tensed. One of the Guardsman aimed at the door, while the other pulled Emily up by her arm.
For the first time, they were rather rough, she thought. The Guardsman stood just behind her, holding her right arm with his left hand.
Mr. Husky Voice moved toward the door in slow, measured steps. He listened, but heard nothing. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned.
When the doorknob turned, the two Angriff troopers outside the door burst through kicking Mr. Husky Voice to the ground and putting a round in his forehead. He would never bother anyone else.
Emily, realizing what was happening, saw her opportunity. She spun, taking her left knee and bringing it up hard into the Guardsman’s groin. His gun was aimed at one of the Angriff, but Emily’s knee caused the Guardsman’s round to misfire, shattering in the floor. She pushed back from the Guardsman as he was doubled over, and the Angriff trooper double tapped him in the top of his head.
She jumped back in surprise, staring at her rescuers. “Who are you guys?"
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