“How will you proceed, Commander?” Antol asked, his anger and irritation apparently somewhat soothed by Reese’s response.
“We have quantities of the elixir made by Idriz. We also have a confirmed report from Corporal Brosnev that the liquid did have a detrimental effect on the creatures when it was thrown at them. So we assume that the mixture can be used as a weapon against them.”
“Now, if any of this nightmare is true, you are gambling, Commander. What if something goes wrong? How will you control these creatures?” Antol asked.
“There is a backup plan that I shall also explain, sir.”
“Continue then.”
“First, as to the backup plan. If this all goes wrong and we are inundated by the creatures, we will blow the ruins up completely, entombing whatever it is that is there. Second, as to maintaining control, Major Barkley has developed a device that will be placed around the neck of each creature. The device contains the solution with an automated release mechanism that will inject the elixir into the creature if needed and kill it. The mechanism is controlled by a remote device which shall be held by a protected guard in the event that the creatures attack.”
“I don’t think that these creatures will place these devices on freely,” Johnson said.
“No. If they are aware of what we are trying to do, they will destroy us. That is why we must do this today, in the daylight. We would have no chance in the hours of darkness when they are awake. They sleep during the day and are susceptible to attack.”
“So,” Johnson said. “The plan is to sneak in on them today, slap the collars on them and move them out in darkness? It’s that simple?”
“That’s the plan,” Reese answered. “But I wouldn’t call it simple. One mistake and the whole team can be wiped out. No conventional weapons, with few exceptions, will harm the creatures. If anyone starts going crazy, the whole operation will be over in seconds.”
“How do we kill them if the collars don’t work?” Barkley asked.
“The men will be armed with backpack sprayers filled with the elixir. If for some reason the elixir fails and doesn’t work, we will fall back on the traditional methods of severing their heads from the bodies, wooden stakes through their hearts, or exposing them to direct sunlight.”
“This is absurd,” Antol said.
“I know it sounds that way, Colonel, but the evidence supports the possibility of the creatures being real. We have our orders. This is the plan that I have developed. If anyone has any better idea...now is the time to tell me.”
No one spoke.
“To summarize the plan,” Reese said. “At 1200 today, the first team of six SEALs goes in and attempts to place the collars on the creatures. A second team of the same complement follows but remains in a purely defensive posture prepared to spray the elixir, or hack off the heads. A third team is prepared to blow the place as a last resort. If all goes well, we will hold the creatures temporarily in their present location until transport is arranged.” Reese looked at Johnson. “It is imperative you choose men that are trustworthy. This is an operation that can never be acknowledged, no matter what happens.”
“All my men understand that any operation is classified and never to be discussed.” Johnson said matter-of-factly.
“Good,” Reese said. “I will be going with you on Team One. Major Barkley will remain with Team Three outside the ruins and control the remote devices. If anything goes wrong after the collars are on, we will communicate to him to inject the mixture. I think that about covers it. Any questions?”
“Commander, humor me a little,” Antol said. “Suppose that all of this comes true: the creatures exist and you capture them.”
“Yes, sir.” Reese said, noticing Antol’s tone of voice had changed. It was no longer sarcastic or questioning, unlike earlier, when he was quite blunt about not believing any of this. It was as if he was allowing himself to put away his disbelief and imagine what if all of this was in fact true.
“So you get your creatures and all that you think about them is true. Then what? What happens to them?”
“I don’t know, sir. I’m just following orders,” Reese said, but his voice did not even sound convincing to himself. He also did not offer anything else.
Antol rose. “Gentlemen, I wish you luck. I also hope, for all of our sakes, that all of this is just a mistake. I learned a long time ago that one atrocity can sometimes lead to another. I hope that it does not happen here.”
Chapter Twenty-one
The sun was directly overhead. Reese surveyed the teams of men as they made their final preparations for the mission. They were situated about 300 yards from the ruins on a hill that overlooked the area. He saw some looks of bewilderment in the men’s faces; not from the mission that they were undertaking, but with the unfamiliar actions of conducting an operation in broad daylight rather than under the cover of night. He imagined they felt naked in the sunlight. Once they were underground, and in the darkness, he hoped they would relax and be ready for whatever they encountered there.
But was it just the men he was worried about? Or was it he was concerned that maybe he didn’t have a clue in what he was really dealing with? He tried to narrow it down to pros and cons. In a way, one team of men was going against another team of...creatures. The military men were highly trained in the use of weapons and hand-to-hand combat. The creatures, on the other hand, had years of experience of avoiding traps and detection. They would not leave their sanctuary unprotected. Who would prevail? Had he made enough contingency plans? What contingency plans did the creatures have?
He was unsure if they were making the right decision, even though he felt the importance of the mission and the authority he had been given was a vote of confidence. But what was he going on? Myths he had read and studied from old books, old wives’ tales he had heard from local residents. The only solid evidence that supported his theories was the satellite surveillance, and the medical information of the two dead girls. What of his own personal plans for the chance to study the creatures? How far would he go to achieve that end? What would he do to ensure success?
What if these creatures were stronger than he imagined? If they had to enact the fatal last measure, he and the rest of these men would be buried under the rock as the old ruins were blown up. Or these creatures might escape and seek vengeance on the local populace.
Shut the hell up, John. It’s too late now; you’re committed and you need to concentrate on the next move.
He watched the SEALs as they prepared to go, admiring their calmness and focus. They wore their standard camouflage uniforms, but instead of standard issue military boots, they wore their mountain-climbing shoes because of the uncertainty of the terrain. Each member was wearing a lightweight voice-activated communications headset. At their waists, along with their 9mm pistols, they had been given razor-sharp machetes. Reese was surprised that they were able to get hold of them with such short notice; then again, from his experience at the teams, he knew SEALs were capable of obtaining whatever weapons were necessary.
Under normal circumstances, they would all wear night goggles. But this time, it would hinder their work once they reached the bodies. The creatures would not give off very much heat now that the blood they had ingested turned cold. Only two members of each team had goggles, just in case anything went wrong and they needed to escape in the darkness. Each member had a powerful red beam light that would be their primary light source once they entered the crypt. The red beam would not interfere with the night goggles’ effectiveness.
The SEALs had been divided up into three teams. Team Two carried the elixir in a modified canister that sprayed it in force. Team One carried the collars that would be placed around the necks of the creatures, if all went well. Team Three was assigned the ordinance and final line of defense if anything went wrong.
Team Three was the first to complete their preparations. They reported that their task to setup the explosives was complete. Their command post
had been set up west of the ruins, behind a natural mound of dirt that would offer protection from the blast. The detonators were all rigged and ready to go. In the event that these men had to change their mission and go on the offensive, they were armed to the hilt. Some of their toys included several small rocket launchers and enough hand grenades to fend off a small army. Their instructions were explicit: blow up the entire area if given the word or if the two teams did not return prior to the sun touching the horizon. If anyone other than the two teams emerged, kill everything that came from the ruins—everything.
“Are you ready?” Johnson asked.
Reese shook off his feelings of trepidation.
“Yes. As ready as I’m ever going to be.”
“Are you sure you want to go in there?” Johnson asked. “We can stay in communication with you the entire time.”
“No. I have to go with you. But make no mistake: you are in tactical command and I will advise you on what to do based upon what we find.”
“Understood,” Johnson answered and stared at Reese with an unnerving cold stare that reflected no emotion—the perfect military visage.
“What is it, Lieutenant?” Reese asked. “What’s wrong?”
“How did you ever get involved with this, sir?” Johnson asked, in a toneless manner that reflected no disrespect.
Reese smiled coldly. “I happen to have a hobby that someone just happened to have an urgent need for. I never would have imagined that this would ever get to this stage.”
“Well, here we are.” Johnson checked his watch. “It’s time to go. I think it would be best if you took position behind me when we go in.”
“Sounds good,” Reese said. He exhaled deeply and prepared to move.
“One more thing, Commander,” Johnson said, as he stepped abruptly in Reese’s path. “These men are my family. I will not allow undue harm to come to them. If things get crazy and there is no way the mission can be accomplished, we’ll wipe out the place.”
“It won’t get crazy if you follow my instructions,” Reese said, although he wasn’t really sure if that was correct. But he knew he had to keep Johnson in check as well. The last thing he needed was a shooting free-for-all. At times, the SEAL mindset could be a dangerous thing. What was their saying? Death is better then defeat—defeat you have to live with.
“It won’t come to that if we all remain focused. Let’s do it.”
Johnson didn’t respond to Reese. Instead he keyed his headset and gave the orders for the men to move in. “Team One in the lead and Team Two to follow.”
Reese willed his body forward, noticing how warm and comforting the sun’s rays felt and how he was leaving the light behind...hopefully for only a while.
Chapter Twenty-two
The darkness swallowed them as they proceeded down the stone stairs into the depths of the ruins. Within minutes, only their red lights illuminated the cavern. The cool smell of damp stone surrounded them. Moisture oozed from the walls in areas; the red lights reflecting off the droplets gave them the appearance of dripping blood.
“This is a communications check, call it off by the numbers,” Johnson’s voice came through on the tiny headsets they all wore. Members called out their assigned numbers; Reese waited until the end and responded himself.
“Proceed,” Johnson’s voice came through. “One and Two have the point.”
The point men moved their red beams from the stone walls to the ceiling. The eerie glow unsettled Reese, reinforcing the image that they were covered in blood. The rest of the men moved onward and into the darkness.
From what information they had been able to gather from local townspeople, they knew that the area under the ruins was expansive, but exactly how big they didn’t know. Locals had not gone under the ruins in a very long time. All official historical information recorded locally had been destroyed when the building that had held the historical records had been burned to the ground during one of the many battles that besieged the area. In essence, they were flying blind as they descended into the depths.
To prevent the teams from getting lost, the last man on Team Two placed tracking sensors on the ground as they proceeded in to ensure they could find their way out and to alert the monitoring team on the outside of their position. Reese found it amazing that something built so long ago could be so complex and had survived all the turmoil of this country.
Johnson stopped as communication came in from the point men.
“T intersection,” said a voice.
“Left side first,” Johnson answered. “Team Two, hold position at T.”
“Team Two. Understood,” came the response.
As they turned left, it became apparent how easy it would be to get lost down here. Everything looked the same as they followed the passages that wound through the caverns. They came across rooms where the wooden doors had decayed into piles of damp sawdust. Wood that still clung to the iron hinges fell apart at the touch of the disturbed air as they moved through the area.
The air thickened with age as they moved further into the darkness; a breathable but musty old smell permeated the air. Reese imagined that perhaps some of the archaic air system that fed the catacombs had failed long ago, probably by caving in somewhere at the surface. Simple as it was, when working it was an effective system that drew fresh air in and through the underground and vented somewhere at the surface. But now, the air hung like an old curtain in a movie theater that had never been cleaned and had absorbed the odors of thousands of people who had sat in its presence.
“Hold,” the voice came through the headset. “Tunnel ends.”
“Back track, One and Two, we’ll wait,” Johnson replied. “Proceed through other corridor.”
Within a few minutes, the two Navy SEALs came back and reversed direction down the corridor they had come. Everyone else turned and proceeded in the direction toward the intersection. As they passed Team Two at the intersection, glances of acknowledgement were exchanged, but no words.
They proceeded down the opposite tunnel, looking at walls and ceilings that looked the same, the repetitiveness offering its own specter of fear. They passed more of the same, doors of rotting wood that opened into small rooms.
“Hold,” the voice called. “Tunnel ends.”
“Commander Reese?” Johnson’s voice called. “Any suggestions?”
Reese was silent. The vampires had to be here. He had seen them last night on the satellite surveillance return to the tunnel that had just traversed down. They had to be here, but not in an obvious spot that would be easy to detect. That would be too simple for creatures that had evaded capture and death for hundreds of years. An entrance had to be here somewhere.
“The opening where they are must be concealed is some way to blend in with the walls,” Reese said. “There would be a change in the air pressure with that type of enclosure between the two spaces. If we could look at the air in here in some way to show changes in air pressure, we might be able to find it.”
“Got it,” Johnson answered and then spoke to the point men. “One and Two, reverse track and ignite a low light flare. Keep it close to the walls and watch the smoke for any variations in direction or flow.”
“Understood,” the response came.
Seconds later, the glowing light from the flare could be seen down the passageway as they proceeded toward where Team Two waited. Time seem to stand still as they slowly made their way, holding the flares close to the walls searching for any telltale signs of air escaping to indicate an opening.
Johnson came and sat next to Reese and covered his microphone from his headset as they waited. “What do you think?”
“The room has to be here somewhere,” Reese answered. “It’s just hidden.” He looked around at the cavernous walls. “Who knows how long they have been here, but one thing is for sure, they are very cautious when it comes to where they rest. They wouldn’t choose it without a lot of thought.”
“Do you think they know we are here?”
Johnson asked.
“That’s a tough call, but from what I understand, during the day when they sleep, they are in a semi-conscious state and somewhat oblivious to what is going on around them. It’s like a drunk who wakes up but hasn’t slept off the full effects of the alcohol. They’re awake, but only sort of.”
“Okay,” Johnson said. “But if we don’t find anything by the time we are to get out of here, then what?”
“I’d blow it up, seal it, and call it a day. That way if they come back here and they can’t get in, we can track them by satellite again and see if we can locate where it is they are hiding.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Johnson said. “Good call.”
“But I don’t think it will come to that. It’s here somewhere, I know it.”
“We’ll see.”
Johnson left Reese and went from man to man, checking their status. There was nothing to do but wait at this point. Then Reese heard the voice over the headset.
“Located,” the SEAL said. All the members on Team One looked in the direction of the flare. They saw smoke being pushed by an obvious air current coming through the wall.
“Let’s get it open,” Johnson said over the headset.
Reese felt his stomach tighten. “Look for a stone that looks out of place,” Reese added. “Discolored or worn more than the others. But don’t open it until you are...”
It was too late. The SEAL standing on the left side of the door outline grabbed at a stone; the door swung open with such force that the man standing next to him was hit and thrown like a rag doll against the wall. There was an audible cracking sound as all the bones in his body were shattered by the impact.
The Navy SEALs reacted like a swarm of angry bees as they secured the area around the door, watching for any form of attack.
Reese was still shocked at the death he had witnessed. He stared at the mangled body that lie on the ground. The way in which it was horribly twisted indicated the massive dislocation of bones from the force of the stone door. A pool of dark liquid was beginning to form next to the man.
Operation Page 11
