by Shawn Davis
“As you know,” Campion continued, “the Underworld has its own tech personnel who live and work down there. For security considerations, they’re kept completely separate from the rest of the population in New Washington. That’s why our operatives knew so little about the Underworld. As you know, we were not able to infiltrate anyone into the bunker. You’re the first one.”
“Right,” Rayne said, rolling his eyes.
“It was too tough getting people down there. Even for us. We had to rely on our operatives in the city. Before you came along, we didn’t even know where the bunker elevators were located,” Jane said.
“Well, I know at least one of them is in the Bureau of Statistics.”
“So do we – thanks to you. Some of our undercover security operatives were monitoring your movement in the capitol city. They saw you go into the Bureau of Statistics and disappear. They figured you weren’t there to check the latest economic figures.”
They walked past rebel personnel traveling down the hallway, intent on their unknown tasks. Rayne saw that most of them were wearing full body armor. He observed that the rebels’ armor was identical to the Shock Trooper armor with one exception. Instead of being painted dark blue, the rebel armor was painted gray and black.
“You’re noticing the armor,” Jane observed.
“Yes,” Peter said.
“All our people are on high alert. We’re getting ready to move out and take the capitol city.”
“That’s what I figured.”
Campion halted in front of her office door. She punched a code into the side panel and stepped in. Rayne recognized the familiar living room-like atmosphere. Jane led him over to a table in the corner where an extensive meal had been prepared. Connelly was already seated, waiting impatiently for them.
“Have a seat, Peter,” Campion said, gesturing to an empty chair to the right of Connelly.
“Sure,” Rayne said, shaking Connelly’s hand and sitting down.
“Congratulations on your mission,” Connelly said.
“Thank you.”
A place had already been set for him. It was a delicious steak dinner similar to the one he ate after Campion’s interrogation several months before. Campion took the chair opposite him and leaned intently over the table.
“To go back to our previous conversation,” she continued. “We knew something big was going on when they started calling computer technicians down to the Underworld from all over New Washington. They even called in a number of so-called computer experts from the mainland. Some of our operatives, who were infiltrated as techs, were asked to help. They told us what had happened. Total system shutdown in the bunker. We couldn’t have hoped for anything better.”
“I just gave you what you wanted,” Peter said, grinning as he sliced off a piece of steak and gulped it down.
“Yeah, like it was that easy,” Jane commented, ignoring her own food.
“It was a piece of cake.”
“You’re a piece of work, Rayne,” she said, smiling back.
“How were you able to track me when I fled the island?” Peter asked between mouthfuls of steak.
“It wasn’t too difficult. Everything seemed to happen at once. A Bio-scan alarm sounded when the Underworld’s Security Director died. Obviously, all the Bio-scan equipment in the Underworld had been shut down with the rest of the system as a result of the virus. But they still had backup systems in the city,” Campion said.
“Wait a second. Does that mean they have backup systems for the city defenses?” Rayne asked.
“Negative. The city defenses were considered too important to allow New Washington technicians access to them. They figured it would be too easy for rebels to infiltrate the capitol city, and they were right. The Underworld was considered impenetrable, so they concentrated all defense systems there. As you probably remember from our previously failed mission to blow up the White House, the Bio-scan system is active all over the island. That’s how our previous operative was caught and the mission failed.”
“Right.”
So far, Connelly hadn’t joined the conversation. Rayne figured that he was too intent on his food. He appeared to be consuming his steak faster than he was. But somehow, he did it with more finesse. Campion seized the free moment to dig into her steak.
“We have to build up our energy for the assault,” she said between mouthfuls. “We don’t know how long it’s going to take to gain control of the island.”
“If we take the island,” Connelly added, somberly.
“Always the optimist, huh Rick?” Jane asked.
“Somebody has to be realistic,” Rick replied, raising a gray eyebrow.
“Like I said before, Peter, we don’t know how long it’s going to take to capture the island,” Campion said, rolling her eyes at Connelly.
“Okay. You still haven’t told me how you tracked me down,” Peter said.
“It was quite simple, actually. Once the Bio-scan alarm sounded, they sent a security detail to Tom Burke’s suite in the bunker. They found him and his companion, Ms. Brenton. Yes, Rayne, we know all about her. Probably not as much as you know,” Campion said, giving Rayne a sly wink. “Ms. Brenton was kind enough to inform the security detail about the identity and description of the person who had wreaked havoc on the computer system down there.”
“That was nice of her,” Peter said, grinning.
“Yeah, wasn’t it?” Jane agreed, cheerfully. “So, they made an island-wide security alert. Our undercover security operatives on the island were given the same information as everyone else; your description and your probable direction off the island. They figured you would leave by ferry and there were only two ferries leaving the island at that time. They sent everything they had after both.”
“I almost reached the mainland when some bikers showed up,” Rayne said, taking a sip of water.
“The bikers, as you refer to them, filled their radios with their chatter – not realizing that our agents were also monitoring them,” Jane said. “They basically gave us a play-by-play of the entire chase. Frankly, we were all pretty impressed with your fancy flying.”
“Thank you. That was my intention: to entertain you, Campion.” Rayne said, smirking.
“Cute, Rayne. By the time the ferry reached the mainland, we had over fifty teams sent out to the Warehouse District. Some of them went by car, some by air-bike, some by public transportation, and some via the sewers. When the chase moved to the Club District, our teams moved there with you.”
“I must admit, your team showed up at a very opportune moment,” Rayne said.
“It sounds that way. They estimated where they might find you and converged on that spot from multiple directions. The sewer team was lucky enough to find you first,” Jane said.
“Well, that explains it. Now, what’s next?” Peter asked, finishing off the last of his steak.
“Isn’t it obvious? We go into New Washington,” Rick said, impatiently.
“I know that. But what’s the plan?” Peter asked, frowning at Rick.
“Peter, I need you to know one thing before we go,” Campion explained as her expression turned serious. “After all you’ve done for us, you are not required to participate in the final mission. You have already done enough for the cause.”
“Are you kidding me? I want to be there when the city falls and our enemies go down,” Rayne said, feeling insulted that Campion would make such a suggestion.
“All right. No problem. That decides it. You’re just as crazy as we are,” Jane said, winking at him.
“You just figured that out?” Peter asked, raising his left eyebrow.
“Good point, Peter. We’ll assign you to Chopper Team Bravo. You’ll be the number two guy in charge.”
“Number two?”
“Rayne, how many chopper assaults have you participated in?”
Peter was taken aback for a moment.
“You’ll be number two to one of my top Lieutenants: Matt Pearlman.
I’m designating you as the squad Sergeant,” Campion said.
“That’s more like it,” Rayne said.
“I’m glad you’re satisfied with the arrangements, Rayne,” Campion said, rolling her eyes as she pushed her plate away from her.
“We’re leaving in less than an hour,” Connelly interjected. “We have to get going.”
“No problem, Rick,” Campion said, remaining seated and taking out a cigarette.
She lit it up and leaned back in her chair, an expression of satisfaction on her tanned face. She swept the dishes in front of her aside with her muscular arm and put her feet up on the table.
“Nice table manners,” Rick muttered, rising and shooting Jane a disdainful glance.
Rayne laughed. Only Campion would have a casual after-dinner smoke on the eve of a massive air assault on the nation’s capitol city.
“We’ll catch up with you, Rick. Take it easy,” Campion said, laughing.
Connelly shook his head and stormed away.
“Sometimes I just like to bust his balls,” she said, winking. She took a deep drag and blew a smoke ring across the table.
“Maybe I should have one too,” Rayne said.
“You want one?”
“No, on second thought, those things will kill ya.”
“You’re fucking hilarious, Rayne.”
“Campion, I just have one more question before we leave.”
“What’s that?”
“What’s going on in the rest of the country? I know you have operatives in every state across the nation. Are they moving out too?” Peter asked.
“Rayne, I need you to worry about our attack on the capitol city. But to answer your question, yes. Our attacks, nationwide, have been coordinated. They will be initiated simultaneously in precisely,” Campion paused to look at her watch, “forty two minutes.”
“What kind of targets are they hitting?” Rayne asked.
“Everything you can think of. Military bases, police stations, government buildings, you name it.” Campion paused for a moment to take a drag from her cigarette. “But, don’t forget,” she said, blowing out a stream of smoke. “Our assault on the capitol city takes precedence. You’ve seen the setup down in the Underworld. We need to take that bunker to communicate with the other military bases we seize all over the country.” Campion paused to inhale and blow a smoke ring over the table. “We can take command of all of our forces from there. After we capture it, we’ll be using the Underworld as our base of operations. It’s perfect. Secure. Impregnable. Of course, we’ll need to get that computer up and running again.”
“That won’t be a problem. I know how to counteract the virus,” Peter said.
“I’m sure you do. But, so do we. If anything happens to you, our technicians will be able to destroy the virus and bring the system back online,” Campion said.
“I’m glad you have a contingency plan in case I don’t make it,” Rayne commented.
“Like Connelly always says, Rayne, I’m just trying to be realistic,” she replied.
Campion finished her cigarette and they left her office. Rayne followed her to the main underground hangar. He had never been there before, so the hangar’s immense size astonished him.
“I didn’t know all this was here,” Peter said.
“We have choppers hidden in underground hangars all over the city. When the time is right, we open the top doors and fly out,” Jane said.
“It’s incredible,” Rayne said, surveying the long lines of the latest anti-grav assault choppers.
The choppers looked like a combination of a fighter jet and a heavily armored tank. Of course, with anti-grav technology, there was no need for any of the antiquated rotor-propelled choppers. Apparently, the new improved air vehicles kept the same name only for nostalgia.
The assault choppers had an anti-grav power base and massive jet thrusters in the back. They looked as if they could fly as fast as a jet plane. Sleek fins on the sides were substituted for wings. The flyer’s cockpit was a tinted Plexiglas canopy above the pointed front nose of the vehicle. Rayne noticed twin gatling guns and rocket tubes fixed under the chopper’s nose. The troop compartment was the longest section of the craft located directly behind the cockpit. Two swivel guns had been placed behind the main troop compartment next to the rear rocket engines. These particular guns were fixed in transparent circular bays where they were operated by human beings. All in all, it was a formidable looking craft.
“This is just squad B and one chopper from squad A. The other squads are scattered in underground hangars all over the city,” Campion said.
“How many choppers in a squad?” Rayne asked.
“Twenty. We have twenty-one choppers in this hangar. I’m going to rendezvous with the rest of my squad over the ocean.”
“Cool,” Rayne said.
“Let’s get you suited up,” Jane said, surveying Peter’s t-shirt and jeans.
Campion led him down one of the hangar’s side corridors to the armory. The man in charge got his armor from storage and helped to suit him up. Rayne had never worn bulletproof body armor before and hadn’t realized what an elaborate process it was putting it on. There seemed to be a hundred straps and buckles that needed to be fastened. Jane got dressed for combat in a matter of minutes. When she was done, she went over to help Peter.
“Rayne the war will be over by the time you’re suited up.”
“I’m just having a little trouble with the shoulder-”
“Here. Like this,” she said, intervening.
The man in charge of the armory was busy trying to fasten Peter’s forearm plate, but Peter kept moving it.
“I need you to stay still for a moment,” he instructed Rayne, frowning.
“Listen to the man,” Campion suggested, snapping on one of Peter’s lower leg plates.
Finally, they were finished.
“You’re looking pretty mean, Peter,” Jane observed.
“Thanks, Campion,” Rayne said, grinning.
“Now for your guns,” she said, moving towards one of the weapons racks.
“Here’s the standard automatic pistol and ammunition.” Campion handed Rayne a pistol, which looked a lot like the pistol he had stolen from the air-bike rider.
Rayne placed the pistol in his side holster and locked the extra magazines onto his belt.
“Here’s the standard assault rifle,” she said, reaching up to take down another weapon from a higher rack. Rayne took the weapon with both hands. It was also similar to the rifle he had stolen from the Shock Trooper on the ferry.
“Where do you get all these weapons?” Peter asked.
“Where do you think, Rayne? We steal them,” Campion said.
She handed Peter some additional magazines for his rifle and proceeded to arm herself.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Campion said, walking to a different area of the armory. Opening a metal cabinet, she reached into it. She walked back, holding a grenade in each hand.
“Put these on your belt,” she said.
“Sure, no problem,” Rayne agreed.
“Be very careful using these grenades, Rayne.” Campion said. “They’re not the shrapnel kind. These are the latest high-tech laser grenades. They will disintegrate everything in a forty-foot radius where they’re detonated. Nothing will be left. No bodies, no armor, no weapons. If it happens in a corridor, the walls, floor, ceiling, and everything surrounding them will be instantly vaporized. Everything will be gone in a forty-foot circle. Beyond forty feet, they do nothing. No shrapnel, no anything. Make sure you’re far away if you use them.”
“Okay,” Peter said, hoping he wouldn’t have to use them.
“Let’s get you to your squad,” Jane said.
“I don’t even know what the plan is,” Peter said.
“The lieutenant will appraise you on the way. It’s quite simple really. We have four chopper squads attacking four different areas of the city. Your squad is in charge of assaulting the northern s
ector. My squad is hitting the southern sector. We’ll be the first ones in and your squad will be the last. Let’s get out of here before they leave without us.”
“Campion, there’s one thing I forgot to tell you,” Peter said as he had a sudden flashback to the cryogenics chamber he discovered in the underground Body Bank.
“Is it vital to the mission?” Jane asked.
Rayne was taken aback by the question. The information was important, but he didn’t think it was vital to their attack on the city.
“If you have to think about it, then it must not be that important. Let’s go,” she said, grabbing his armored shoulder and pulling him.
Campion and Rayne jogged down the corridor, holding their rifles by their sides.
“Rayne, I’ve only told you about half your mission so far,” Jane said as they approached the noisy hangar.
“What are you talking about?” Peter asked.
“After your squad has assaulted the northern sector, you will be leading the assault on the Underworld.”
“Say what?”
“Listen to me carefully, Rayne,” Campion said, halting suddenly in the hallway and placing her armored-gloved hands on his shoulders. “You will be number two during the air assault on the city and number one when you enter the bunker. You’re the only one who’s been down there before, so you’re the only one who can lead that part of the mission. The Bureau of Statistics is in the northern sector. When your team has secured that sector, you will be in charge of leading the assault team into the Underworld.”
“All right, Campion. But why couldn’t you tell me that before?” Rayne asked.
“I didn’t want you to get a big head. I wanted you to get used to the idea of being number two before I let you know you were eventually going to be number one,” Jane said.
“I appreciate you looking out for my psychological well-being like that.”
“No problem, Rayne.”
When they returned to the hangar, more than half the assault choppers had powered up and were hovering several feet above the floor.
“You’re in number 18,” Campion said as she hurried down the back aisle behind the rearmost choppers.
