If the bunker buster had made a big enough hole, attacking soldiers could bypass the entrances straight to level one. They could be at the staircase in minutes.
“Aim every launcher at level one,” Avery replied. “Take the stairs down.”
She turned back to the screen. Drones hung in the air facing them. Another gunship appeared, dropping soldiers to run towards the bunker. Others were setting up a cordon.
“Prepare to repel boarders,” Avery shouted. “Daniels, any artillery left?”
“A case of grenades and five rocket launchers.”
“Keep them ready,” she said. “This is our Alamo moment. We fight them to our last man, do not surrender. I know none of you deserve this or to die here, but we are fighting for all those who were lost. All of the men, women and children sacrificed by our enemy. Let’s make them proud and these bastards pay.”
“You heard the Commander,” Daniels shouted. “Get your shit together. Check magazines and grenades, overlapping arcs. Fire aimed bursts, conserve ammunition. Last man standing gets to use all the left over grenades.”
“This is it,” she shouted.
She waited for explosives to blow out the door. Behind her, the bunker defenders were lined up on either side of the corridor. Covered by doorways or improvised defensive positions.
“Commander,” Sean shouted, his voice almost a scream.
He was still in the command centre, so she darted into the room, avoiding the staircase door.
“Look on the screen,” he said.
A gunship lay smoldering on the ground. Soldiers close to the camera were engaged in combat with grey cloaked figures.
“It can’t be,” Sean said.
Dark cloaked figures leapt and attacked at impossible speeds. Two sonic weapons on flat bed trucks were aimed towards falling drones.
“It’s the Ghosts.”
Chapter 34
If he could get his hands on Matos or at least have a loaded gun pointed at his back, then he would give that piece of shit what he deserved. He knew all their plans. He knew about the mine. An army of soldiers could be on their way there now.
Logan lay strapped to a gurney. He pulled uselessly on his arm and leg restraints. Rattling and clanking the metal chains on the bed frame.
Cain left him promising to return with questions. Matos never even said a word as he followed her out of the door. How could Avery have so much trust in that slimy bastard?
A nurse pushed open the door and walked in. Ignoring him, she picked up a chart from the base of the bed. Pulled up a page and studied the contents.
“Help me,” Logan whispered, rattling the restraints.
The nurse paused for a moment then continued as if she hadn’t heard him. She moved to the medical equipment by the side of the bed and started to pull out instruments and place them on a table.
“Help me,” Logan shouted.
She clicked her tongue and pulled out a syringe. Grabbing his right arm, she injected the contents and pulled out the needle.
Like a popped balloon, his body relaxed. Flopping back down onto the mattress and staring at the ceiling. Thoughts and feelings disconnected from each other, locked away in boxes for another time. He was content to find patterns in the ceiling tiles and drool.
An unfamiliar face loomed into view. He detected a bustle of activity in the room and other people watching him.
“Mr Quinn,” a voice said, hand slapping his cheeks.
Logan ignored it. Consciousness looked messy and painful. He tried to slip into a dark void and away from whatever was in the room.
“Mr Quinn,” the voice said again, accompanied by harder slapping.
Logan’s eyes began to focus. His tongue scrapped against dry flesh as he tried to generate saliva.
A paper cup was pushed towards his mouth and he drank, spilling liquid over his chin.
There were four people in the room with him. The same nurse stood by the instruments, waiting expectantly for instructions. Cain leant back against a wall with her arms folded. A doctor dressed in blue scrubs stood at the base of the gurney. His brown eyes flicked between Logan and a machine beside the bed.
A tall and bulky man stood in the centre of the room, emanating power like a light bulb. He wore a white shirt below a long white lab coat. His smooth, waxy features were perfectly symmetrical on a hairless head. Icy blue eyes stared without blinking. It was like looking at an angel. Something human shaped but of a different species.
Logan could only gape, his foggy brain desperately searching for something to say.
The man spoke without any accompanying movement or expression. “I know this may seem frightening but it is for your own protection.”
There was a trace of French or German in his accent. Logan stared hopefully around the room for help but found only dark looks.
“I understand you have communicated with Haarp.”
Logan ignored the statement and stared back at the ceiling. The connection with Haarp - why him?
“I need to understand what you think is happening. Your family and friends in the saltmine need you to tell me everything you know.”
Logan strangled a cry in his throat. “Please don’t hurt them.”
“No harm will come to them, if you answer my questions.”
Logan stiffened and tried to move his arms. The harsh wrap of chain on frame stopped the movement. “I’ll tell you anything. Just leave them out of it.”
The Doctor pulled back Logan’s sleeve to expose red flesh below the chain. He rubbed on a stinging ointment and then took a blood pressure reading.
Logan swallowed hard, straining to keep his voice from breaking. “What do you want to know?”
“What has Haarp communicated to you?”
Logan glanced at Cain then back to the man. “Promise me my people will be safe.”
“This is not a time for demands. I have already stated my intent.”
Whatever he meant it seemed to offer a lifeline. Logan squeezed his eyes shut to collect his memories and organize them. “It came into my mind at first. We fought then it apologized.”
“It said sorry?”
“It didn’t understand what happened the first time. I can’t explain it.”
“Are you conscious during these interactions?”
“I was in my stronghold,” Logan said. He looked at the man who remained statuesque, staring at him. “It’s a place in my mind that I used to escape from reality in the mine.”
Lehman moved for the first time and turned to Cain. She shook her head in reply, making a duck face. He turned back to Logan and gave a slight nod.
Logan’s neck tingled at the nod. “It pulled me out of my body and into the sky.”
“This is hogwash Mr Lehman. He’s not Kadigan-” Cain said.
She stopped talking when Lehman held up a hand. “Haarp asked you to come here?”
“It drew me here.”
Lehman’s hand dropped slowly back to his side. He continued staring at Logan though he could tell there was no question in the look. The man appeared to be calculating the information, or communicating outside the room. Logan risked another glance at Cain who was also staring at him, but her look contained a threat. If he was left alone with Cain, there wouldn’t be anyone to save him. That would be the end of him and probably everyone he knew. He looked back towards Lehman with an almost childish plea for salvation.
Lehman flicked a finger towards the doctor. Both the nurse and doctor moved at once. The nurse began cutting away his clothes. She pulled back the flaps of cloth to expose his chest and legs then pressed flattened probes to his skin. The doctor lifted Logan’s head and slipped on an elastic grey strap.
“What’s happening?” Logan shouted.
Ignoring his question Lehman turned to Cain. “Isolate the mine. Take everyone within fifty miles to camp twelve. Send Matos back out to bunker twenty two.”
Cain detached from the wall and made for the door.
“Kadiga
n is at the end of this trail,” Lehman said.
For a moment Cain paused by the door, her shoulders rolled and she nodded.
The nurse jammed a gum shield into Logan’s mouth. Her salty fingers brushed his tongue and a nail scratched the roof of his mouth.
“Your nanos are receiving Haarp data,” Lehman said. “These nanos have functioned for almost two years without this telemetry. During signal failure, your nanos have taken instructions from your mind. Haarp is not communicating with you, it is communicating with your nanos. You are also communicating with your nanos.”
Logan spat out the gum shield. “Give me a moment, please. Let me work it out, I’m an engineer. I can trace the connection and isolate the problem-”
There was a long pause in the room before Lehman spoke again. “We’ll work it out together.”
Chapter 35
“Up the stairs,” Avery shouted.
She ran towards the main entrance of the bunker, clattering boots of her team behind her. Through open blast doors and along tunnels, hopping over bodies and racing back towards the outside world. The outer door opened onto a cloudy wet morning.
A great scoop of earth had been lifted from the ground exposing the bunkers concrete structure. Broken trees and chunks of masonry surrounded the crater. Twisted remains of drones, gunships and soldiers were strewn across the surrounding land. Intermittent sounds of weapon fire petered out until there was silence.
A flatbed truck negotiated its way through the debris and parked twenty feet away. Black shaped Ghosts converged on the vehicle and stood with flapping cloaks opposite Avery.
“Thank you,” she shouted.
One Ghost detached from the group and walked towards her. Small and stocky, cloak scraping the ground, she recognised the shape as Tracker.
“Is the bunker secure?” he asked.
“It’s not in great shape but we have it under control.”
Tracker glanced around at the bunker entrance and soldiers spilling out around them. “Where’s Matos?”
“Gone to destroy Haarp. He’s with a man who can communicate with it.”
“Haarp doesn’t talk, it controls.”
“They’ve gone to Long Island.”
Tracker paused and Avery turned to follow his line of sight. He was watching Sean walk out of the bunker and approach them.
The Ghost took a step backwards and gestured across at his group converged on the truck. He started to walk away then paused, his shoulders rolling. “Who went with Matos?”
Avery looked at Sean then back to Tracker. “His name is Logan.”
Tracker slowly turned towards her. He pulled back his hood and lifted the balaclava. He had a round, almost plump brown face. His short black hair spotted with a white piebald patch.
“Holy shit,” Sean shouted. He ran towards Tracker, grabbing the Ghost in a bear hug.
“This is the guy we told you about,” Sean said. “Caspar set up our mine then disappeared before we locked the doors.”
He let Tracker go and stood shaking his head. “I knew you weren’t dead.”
“So you know Logan?” Avery asked.
His eyes bored into Avery’s then his hand slowly curled into a fist. Like Matos, danger drifted from him like steam.
“What’s wrong?” Sean asked.
#
Avery sat in the Command Centre with Caspar, Daniels, Sean, and Ortiz. The remaining Ghosts and soldiers spread out around the bunker.
“They headed to this point,” Avery said, highlighting a map location on the screen.
Caspar pulled across the map and scanned it. “That’s a known Haarp site.”
“Why couldn’t you take it down?” Daniels asked.
“Taking one down won’t disrupt the signal. We need to get to the mainframe and upload a virus.”
“If they destroy the Long Island site would it make a difference?” Avery asked.
Caspar brushed his hands through his hair and leant back. It could cause a gap in the network but they have redundancy. I honestly don’t know. This is Kadigan territory.”
“We’re exposed here,” Daniels said. “We can’t survive another strike.”
Ortiz coughed and rubbed his chin. “We need to get back to the mine. They’ll be sending another team out soon and we have to warn them.”
Before Avery could reply, Caspar stood and pushed back his chair. Ortiz copied the movement and the remaining mine soldiers began to rise.
“Commander, we should be concentrating on our resources,” Daniels said. “We need to be ready.”
Avery kept her eyes on the Ghost, floating away from the table. “Where are you going?”
“If Matos and Logan are on their own they’ll need our help.”
“I’m with you Caspar,” Sean said, rising to his feet.
“We have incoming comms,” Lucas shouted.
The main screen flashed blue and white.
Caspar, Sean and Ortiz began to walk away. Mine soldiers and Ghosts in the room also started for the door.
“It’s bunker twenty three,” Lucas said.
“Commander, we should delay contact until we know our full strength.” Daniels said.
Avery watched her new alliance began to fracture and split. Ortiz hobbled towards the mine soldiers. Caspar’s eyes flicked to hers as he walked around the table. Lucas waved frantically for an answer. Sean followed Caspar like a puppy and Daniels pulled at her sleeve.
“Everyone sit down,” she shouted. “Take your seats now.”
There was a sudden jagged silence in the room, punctuated by the warble of incoming comms. Caspar turned to look at her. Ortiz and Sean took their seats. Her eyes locked with Caspar’s and she kept her face neutral. For a moment she expected him to storm from the room. He blinked and folded his arms. They continued the stare down until he sauntered forward, dropped into a chair and pulled it forward.
“Thank you,” she said. We’re stronger together. I trust Logan and Matos to get the job done. If they’re hurt or taken, we repay it tenfold. But from this moment we need a coordinated plan.
She stared into each face around the table, scanned the weary soldier’s, hooded Ghosts and technicians behind the terminals. They all stared back, silent and waiting for her to speak.
“I’m calling the play.”
Chapter 36
A rhythmic thudding focused his mind to darkness around him. He had no lips to speak or body to move. There was nothing. His consciousness trapped in a black void.
He pushed outwards with his mind, concentrating on the construction of his stronghold, imagining the familiar world and breathing it to life. His body formed arms and legs, connecting with the environment as the world shaped around him. His feet touched grainy sand and wind ruffled his hair.
He opened his eyes.
The ocean rose and fell, sweeping onto the beach towards him. Swirling sand licked at his arms and face. Crashing thunder and snapping lightning exploded in a dark grey sky. He felt it in the trembling ground, rolling water and screaming wind.
Stronghold was under attack.
Waves of drilling pain bored through his mind until he collapsed to the sand. Twisting his head and frantically massaging his temples. Kicking and crawling for the safety of the ocean. He slapped into the water on hands and knees then thrust his head down. Holding his breath as the cold water soothed away the pain.
He pulled up his head to breathe and a dull pain squeezed his mind. Not the agony of lightning strikes, more like a slow crushing pain. He rolled into the ocean and laid on the surface, only his face above the water. In the sky, pregnant clouds boiled and oozed with flashes of white and red.
Logan floated back to the beach and pulled himself onto the sand. He threw up a hand to steady the sky and paint away the clouds. There was an answering crash of thunder and flashes of electricity illuminated the clouds with a pink glow. Then lighting sparked out of the sky and splintered down.
A sledge hammer like blow hit his shoulder. T
he impact hurled him backwards into the air, for a moment gravity didn’t exist. He flew upwards then dropped onto the sand. Rolling over and over until he lay on his back.
Stronghold shimmered and began to disappear as he coughed and spat out blood. Wiping his mouth with a translucent hand, he realized what Haarp wanted. It didn’t want to kill him. It wanted to dominate.
It had been trying to dominate since they first made contact. Trying to destroy his stronghold and leaving him defenseless against an altered state of consciousness. His mind forever trapped in a black void. Another drone for Eximus.
Logan dragged himself onto a knee. Gusts of wind flicked sand into his eyes and blew him sideways as he stood. Dark clouds formed around the roof of his mountain castle, swirling in a vortex around the spire.
“Stay out,” he shouted.
The shimmering air in front of him was ready to pop like a bubble. His body began to mist away, floating up towards the sky along with grains of sand and drops of water. The clouds flashed pink again with a buildup of lightning and thunder boomed in advance warning. Logan glanced around his stronghold and prepared for the end.
The ocean rolled out and left a red lump poking out of the sand. He reached for it and his fingers caught the edge of a figure carved from pink rocksalt. Behind it was a plastic lid.
He reached for them, forcing his hands to form and grasp. His fists closed about the objects and ocean rolled towards him. Covering his legs and splashing over his body.
He raised his arms and the water responded. It swelled and contracted then sent up great jets of water. Foaming white as it sprayed out in an enormous arc, blocking light from the sky. The water roared as it flew upwards and formed into a semi-circular force field.
Droplets rained down from the blockade and Logan spread his arms to support the barrier. He connected to the water in his mind and pushed against it for support. Lightning strikes and thunderbolts hissed and spat against its surface.
A frenzy of impacts hit the shield and Logan jerked in pain as each one exploded. He forced the water to knit together after each impact. Ferocious bolts hammered into the force field until one burst through and exploded in a shower of sparks as it hit the ground. The hole opened wider and spikes of lightning shot down towards Logan.
Eximus Page 31
