“That was great,” she looked up at the slope, her legs shaking.
“Glad you enjoyed yourself,” Garrett replied, he was checking his compass against the map. “Yeah, we should be a short hike from the ventilation shaft. You ready?”
Mercy nodded, she looked up the mountainside, three hundred feet in a few minutes— not bad.
They set off, Garrett led the way. The ground was rocky in places and scrambling was required, the wind rustled through the trees. Mercy looked around, was there surveillance on the mountain? Were they walking into a trap? She tried to suppress her paranoia; the thought of descending into a deep subterranean world did not fill her with joy.
“There it is, exactly as Claire promised,” Garrett’s voice rang out, breaking Mercy’s train of thought.
Mercy looked over his shoulder and saw nothing, “Where?”
Garrett stopped and pointed at a towering Douglas fir, “See that tree there?”
Mercy nodded.
“Well follow it down to the trunk and just a bit to the left—”
Mercy stared at the forest to the left of the great tree. “Oh… yes, there is something there—”
“That’ll be the intake shaft, they’ve camouflaged it to blend with the surroundings,” Garrett said. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
Mercy looked at her watch, 7:18 pm. Light was fading, another hour and it would be dark, she shivered in the breeze and her skin broke out in goose bumps. They covered the distance in five minutes and Mercy saw what she was not meant to see. Standing amongst the trees a painted concrete shaft protruded six feet above ground, a steel ladder ran up one side.
Garrett looked around then climbed the ladder, he reached the top and grunted. “Two way access, we’re good to go. He pulled up a hinged metal grille. The shaft was dark, metal rungs protruded from its inner wall.
Mercy stood at the top of the ladder and waited as Garrett lowered himself into the shaft. She watched as he disappeared into the darkness. How far down was Claire? How far down were Flynn and the others? She had been separated from them for two days, it felt like two years. What had the NSA done to her friends in those two days? Her anger seethed below the surface. This had to stop, she had to get her friends out.
She took one last look at the mountain and the trees. The sun had disappeared over the western ridge, the forest had lost its warmth and colour, it no longer was a friendly place. She shuddered and lowered herself into the shaft following Garrett into the unknown.
Chapter 12 Disruptor
Mercy stopped counting after six hundred steps. Darkness was complete apart from the bobbing of Garrett’s head torch below. The air was stale and warmer than outside. The wall rungs were secure, the shaft was built to last. The semi darkness became a canvass, she imagined faces of people and places she had known; Vince, Leo, Crimson, Roberts, Rites, Jude, Laurient, Sam and others passed before her as she descended.
Snap out of it Dawes, you’ll give yourself the spooks, think of something good—
Mercy wracked her brain trying to dredge up something positive, a memory that filled her with joy. The darkness became a blank, its emptiness all consuming.
Come on, surely there is something, anything?
Flynn’s face came to her through the murk and pain.
There’s us, there will always be us, I am yours—
Mercy sighed with relief, she had almost drawn a total blank. She was struggling to remember things from before the Fall, it seemed an age away.
So long ago—
“We’re here,” Garrett said.
Mercy stopped, she had lost track of time. How long had they been descending? She looked at the luminous dial on her watch, 8:45 pm. They had been in the shaft for over an hour. Garrett’s head torch moved below her. She dropped a few more rungs and heard a grating noise, the head torch disappeared leaving her in complete darkness. She descended by touch, her right foot struck a concrete floor. She stepped off the rungs and crouched, a draft rose on her right, she felt her way.
Scraping and the smell of sweat. Garrett appeared in front of her, “Careful, there’s a lip there with a sharp drop, come this way there’s a gantry. We’re in a man-made cavern, there’s water below, looks like one of the reservoirs for the facility.”
Mercy followed Garrett’s instructions as he guided her onto the gantry. “That was some descent, thought my fingers were going to cramp out.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t like go back that way, but we may have to. We’ll need to see what Claire has up her sleeve.”
“Reservoirs? They’ve got reservoirs down here?” Mercy’s voice echoed across the cavern.
“Five of them, more like lakes,” Garrett responded.
“Jesus, how many people can this place support?”
“Enough,” Garrett said.
They walked along the gantry high above the water and came to a series of staircases which led to a rocky ledge beside the reservoir. The chamber was vast, Mercy’s eyes drifted to the high ceiling.
If the NSA have this type of facility, these resources, how can Constantine hope to compete?
Garrett pushed on, five minutes later they came to the end of the reservoir. A bridge stretched across the inky water to the other side. Garrett crouched and crossed over, Mercy followed. The place was deserted, they came to a series of pipes leading away from the reservoir, steps brought them to a door and a large window. Garrett pressed his ear to the door for a few seconds then opened it and entered the room beyond.
Mercy stepped into the room, Garrett searched a desk in the corner. He pulled out a walkie talkie, adjusted the dial and tapped the transmit button three times, he waited twenty seconds and repeated the signal. He put the walkie talkie onto the desk and went to the second door in the room and opened it a crack to peer outside. Satisfied they were alone he slumped down and closed his eyes.
Mercy sidled up to him, “What now?”
“We wait.”
Mercy raised her head, “I can wait.” She sat beside him and looked at her watch, 9 pm. She was dog tired, her knees and leg muscles ached, she wished she had some painkillers. She shut her eyes, focused on her breathing and fell asleep.
Mercy awoke with a jerk, disorientated in the dark. She froze and searched her memory, she heard breathing beside her. It came back; she was with Garrett in the reservoir control room deep in the mountain. Garrett must have turned off his head torch, she looked at the luminous dial on her watch, 3 am. Six hours sleep. Where was Claire? How would she get a signal to them? She stretched for a long moment ignoring the knots of pain shooting up her limbs.
She felt for Garrett’s pack and found his water bottle. She took a drink, water dribbled down her chin. Buzzing came from the table, a small LED blinked on the walkie talkie. Mercy froze and listened; two audible clicks followed by static then two more clicks.
“That’ll be our girl,” Garrett’s voice broke the silence.
“Claire’s on her way?”
“Hope so, I don’t know about you but I want to get out of here ASAP,” Garrett switched on his head torch.
Mercy saw the lines under Garrett’s eyes, he looked exhausted, she must look worse. She could not remember the last time she had seen a mirror, what was the point? “So what’s gonna happen?”
Garrett shifted his weight, “No idea, this is Claire’s turf, she calls the shots. We’ll have to wait and see what she’s got in mind.
Mercy listened at the door then opened it a crack.
Garrett went over to the walkie talkie on the table, “Claire doesn’t know you’re with me so keep back when she arrives, let me do the talking.”
Mercy looked out into the darkness beyond the control room. “Understood.”
As she was about to close the door a dim glow appeared in the distance. Mercy tensed, “I think we’ve got company.”
Garrett was at the door in a flash, Mercy moved aside. He covered his torch and watched as the glow approached. A few minutes later it stopped
and seemed to hang suspended by an invisible thread in the darkness. Garrett took off his head torch and pressed the switch three times then paused then gave three more flashes. A series of two flashes repeated twice answered him.
“It’s her,” he sighed with relief.
Mercy hung hack, her hand resting on the Beretta. She believed in what she could see and she could see nothing yet. Garrett stepped through the door and waited on the steps running a hand through his hair.
This ought to be good— Mercy heard footsteps, one person.
A woman’s voice broke the silence, “You made it Garrett. Are you OK?”
Garrett disappeared down the steps. Mercy moved forwards so she could see. He was embracing a woman, she was dressed in track shoes, jog pants and a sweat shirt. Her blonde hair was tied back from her face, she was mid-thirties and athletic. Garrett held her for a long time.
The woman opened her eyes and saw Mercy in the doorway, her eyes widened and she released Garrett. “Garrett who the hell is that?” the blonde asked.
Garrett turned to the doorway, “Sorry Claire, I forgot to say we’ve got company. This is Mercy, don’t worry she checks out. I’ll explain everything later but it’s all good. Constantine will be keen to meet her. She’s escaped from the NSA, she was one of their biotech subjects and before you ask, she’s not tagged. We think some of her friends were brought here in the last couple of days. Have you seen any new prisoners?”
Claire looked at Mercy, disbelief on her face, “You’re Mercy… Dawes? The Mercy Dawes?”
Mercy returned her stare and nodded, “Last time I checked, why?” Mercy’s tone was harsh. She was tired and touching though Garrett’s reunion was, she wanted to find Flynn and the others.
Claire looked over her shoulder, “But you shouldn’t be here, if they catch you—” she didn’t finish her sentence. “We’ve got to get you out of here—”
“I’m not leaving without my friends—” Mercy said, her voice firm.
“No, you don’t understand, you’ve, we’ve got to get out of here now, I’ve executed the disruption protocol. We’ve only got,” she looked at her watch, “fifty three minutes before this place goes viral.”
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Mercy asked, detecting the urgency in Claire’s voice.
Claire took a step forwards. “This place operates twenty four hours a day, I came off shift half an hour ago and went on my run as usual, there’s a circuit I do underground, it’s my routine, all the guards know this. I took a detour up here to meet Garrett for my extraction. I’ve got the information we’ve come for and I’ve set things in motion to render this facility inoperable—”
“What have you done?” Mercy asked, concern edging her voice.
Claire looked at Garrett, “The disruption protocol—”
Garrett shook his head and turned to Mercy, “The virus is going to own this facility in,” he looked at his watch, “fifty two minutes.”
Claire shifted uncomfortably, “The gloves are off Mercy, we’re fighting for our lives here, I’ve set up a timed release of the airborne virus via the aircon system. It’ll have an eighty eight percent infection rate. Those that catch it will turn and finish off the others in the bunker. We can’t be here when it’s released, we must leave now—”
Mercy sucked in her cheeks and stared at Claire then Garrett, she let out her breath. “You two go, I’ve got friends down here somewhere, I can’t leave without them.” She took a few steps then turned around, “Can I have a torch?”
Garrett moved forwards, “Mercy don’t do this, you won’t make it.”
Claire chimed in, “No wait Garrett, I haven’t seen them but new subjects are usually detained and interrogated in the holding cells before being moved to the labs. We were expecting new allocations yesterday evening in the lab. They may be there now,” she looked at her watch. “I could go back and check, we’ll still make it.”
“It’d be cutting it fine and I need to get you out of here,” Garrett looked at Mercy. “OK you win, we’ll give it a shot but if we’re discovered—” he didn’t finish his sentence, he didn’t need to, the risk hung heavy in the air.
“Good, let’s go then,” Mercy said.
Claire sighed, “Follow me, the place is covered with CCTV cameras and guards. I’ll get you to the outer perimeter. I’ll go in by myself and get to the labs. I’ll show you the aircon system, there are vents along the way. The floor is colour coded to different areas. Purple lines route you to the lab complex, keep away from the red lines they take you to the barracks. White is the hospital, green is the gardens, yellow is recreation and blue is administration. Remember purple takes you to the labs.”
“Got it,” Mercy said, “we need to go—”
They set off down the vast cavern, pipes led from the reservoir and ran along the ground. Claire set a brisk pace, they made it to a watertight door a few minutes later. She used her key card and they stepped through into a long tunnel with overhead lighting. Mercy was alarmed to see a camera positioned on the opposite wall. She flinched and jerked her head towards it.
Claire smiled, “Relax, I made sure that camera was off grid for my meeting with Garrett. They go on the blink from time to time, a crew will fix it in the morning. The next camera is where two tunnels join, the circuit I hacked knocked the lights out there too, there’s a sign you can hide behind. I’ll pretend I’m returning from my run, you can climb up the sign to access the aircon duct, that’ll get you into the complex.”
Mercy frowned considering Claire’s plan, “What if they’re not in the labs? What if they’re still in the interrogation cells?”
“You’ve still got that,” Claire pointed at the walkie talkie on Garrett’s belt. “I can call you but only if absolutely necessary, our conversation will be intercepted.”
“OK, so if we don’t hear from you it means they are in the lab, if we do hear from you they are in the interrogation area?” Garrett asked.
“Yes, it’s right beside the barracks, so let’s hope not—” Claire replied. “So, are we all clear?”
“Yeah, crystal clear—” Mercy said.
They reached the darkened section of tunnel and moved along the wall until a sign loomed out of the darkness.
Claire glanced ahead to the distant lit section. “Here goes nothing,” she turned and jogged towards the facility.
Garrett crouched behind the sign and clasped his hands to give Mercy a boost. She clambered up the sign to the air-conditioning duct. She reached up to the access panel and found a release catch, the panel swung down. Her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, she climbed higher gaining access to the duct. She put a hand into the duct and transferred her weight. Garrett’s dim outline lay below.
Now would not be a good time to fall—
Mercy transferred her other hand pulling her head, shoulders then elbows through the opening. With a gasp and a heave she wriggled into the duct, her heart thumping.
Surely someone heard me?
After a few breaths she crawled along the duct. A scuffing noise came from under the open panel and a few seconds later Garrett hauled himself in. He pulled the panel up behind him and turned his head torch on.
“Christ, it’s a bit tight in here—” he said.
Mercy looked at her watch.
Forty three minutes left, yeah, it’s a bit tight—
“Let’s go,” Mercy said returning her attention to the duct ahead.
Chapter 13 Lines
At least it’s cool—
Mercy crawled forwards using Garrett’s head torch, she went as quickly as she could trying to keep noise to a minimum. After a fifteen minutes the duct angled down.
Must be getting close to the occupied area—
Mercy was sweating despite the cool air, her hands slipped on the duct’s metal surface she rubbed them on her shirt. A voice reached her from below, she froze.
“Sector one, all quiet over—”
Silence followed by, “Af
firmative, understood sir.”
Mercy paused and hearing no further exchange started crawling again, light shone through a grille ahead. The distant hum of machinery pervaded the air, her fingers picked up a slight vibration. She made it to the grille and looked down onto a sleek corridor.
There are the lines on the floor, follow purple—
Mercy crawled along the duct, the grilles were more numerous, she was in the occupied section. The next grille confirmed they were on the right track, she continued on. The duct branched to the right. She followed her instinct, took the turn and looked through the first grille.
Purple. Good—
Mercy continued for another hundred feet, the duct swung left, she looked through the next grille, the purple line led to a door.
This has got to be it, the door will be locked, keep going—
Mercy crawled another twenty feet and looked through the next grille, a white floor and glass walled rooms lay below. She glanced at her watch then back at Garrett.
“Twenty three minutes left, we’ve gotta go now—”
Garrett clenched his jaw and nodded, “I’m right behind you.”
Mercy held the grille and pushed hard, it came away in her hands, she lifted it up through the opening and put it down carefully. She stuck her head through the opening and looked up and down the corridor. Seeing no one she lowered herself and dropped cat like to the floor. She pulled out her Beretta and moved to one side for Garrett. He dropped down and unslung his rifle.
Mercy’s eyes looked through the glass walls into the rooms beyond.
Nothing, go—
She crouched holding the Beretta with both hands and moved along the corridor to the next section.
Clear, keep going—
The rooms reminded her of her own incarceration by the NSA at the wall in Manhattan. She remembered the bright lights, the injections and the pain. Her hand went to her stomach scar. The NSA biotech in her liver protected her from tropes, or at least most tropes, but she knew it did not protect those around her. The next set of rooms came into view, a rush of adrenaline surged through her as she saw Claire at a row of computer screens.
The Survival Chronicles (Book 3): Mercy Fall Page 9
