“Okay, hang on a moment,” Aika said. “Right, I can see them. The lead Bushmaster has opened its hatch and men are climbing out.”
“Can you stop them getting into the lab?”
“They’re using the Bushmaster as a shield. If they make a run for the door, I might get one or two, that’s it.” I could hear the frustration in Aika’s voice. “I can stop them for sure if I use a Javelin.”
“No, that’ll take out the lab’s windows, too, and you might accidently release the virus. You have any other way of knocking out the Bushmasters?”
“I can put armour piercing rounds through the turrets.”
“Armour-piercing rounds – are they like the missiles?”
“No.”
“Okay, do it.”
“Hang on, they’re making a run for the door.” Along with Aika’s controlled breathing, I heard her fire several shots.
“What’s happening?” Ryan asked.
I held up a hand, and he fell silent.
“Blast! Only got two of them – Cho, Anna, and a handful of Custodians made it,” Aika said.
“We’re out of time, then. Quickly, take out those turrets.”
“Hang on, swapping out ammunition now.”
I slipped my gun from my shoulder and looked up at Ryan. “This is it. Aika’s going to take out the turrets. As soon as she does, we have to hightail it over there and stop Cho before he gets to the fifth floor.”
Nodding, the Custodian Undercover Operative slammed a fresh clip into his assault rifle and came to stand beside me. To my surprise, Bhagya joined us.
“You’d better sit this one out, my friend,” I said to her.
“Not happening,” she said, fixing deadpan eyes on mine.
I was about to take her to task over the issue, but was distracted when I heard a loud bang as metal struck steel. Seconds later, the sound was repeated.
“Scratch two turret gunners,” Aika said.
Assault rifle at the ready, I stepped out from the cover afforded by the doorway and checked out the Bushmasters. I sang out as loudly as I could with flash sonar so that I could see more clearly. The vehicles looked just as menacing as before, except for a small bullet hole in the side of each turret. That the turret facing in my direct was not firing at me was proof the Custodian gunner was dead.
“Good work, Aika. Cover us, we’re going in,” I said.
“Wait! Five Custodians are hiding behind the Bushmasters. They’re keeping their heads down so I can’t take them out, but I saw them crouch there. They’ll blast you the moment you try to get past them.”
“Can’t you take them out with armour piercing rounds?”
“The rounds can penetrate the Bushmasters, not go right through them.”
“Understood – we’ll deal with them.” I motioned for Ryan and Bhagya to join me and ran outside. Continuing to sing out with echolocation, I located several Delta Company Custodians and three Undergrounders taking cover in doorways, behind fences and street lamps, or lying prone. Those who noticed us looked on with stunned amazement as we advanced with guns ready towards the now quiet Bushmasters, stopping only when we reached the edge of the road. They had heard Aika’s shots hit the vehicles, but had not realised what it meant.
Grasping the significance of our emergence, Captain Smithson stepped out from behind an electrical control box and hurried towards us, calling his men to join him. Only eleven did so, the rest dead, wounded, or out of sight.
“We have to hurry – General Cho went inside to release the virus,” I said.
“Let’s go, then!” the captain said.
“Wait – five Custodians are on the other side of the lead Bushmaster.”
“I’ll deal with them,” Ryan said, running onto the road. He knelt beside one of the slain Undergrounders, opened the man’s bag and pulled out two pipe bombs.
“Can you distract those Custodians, Aika?” I said, realising what Ryan was about to do.
“On it,” she replied. An armour-piercing bullet punched a hole in the side of the lead Bushmaster, followed seconds later by another.
Ryan lit the two pipe bombs and waited for the fuses to burn down.
“Be careful!” I hissed. If he got the timing wrong…
He turned, locked fearful eyes with mine, and then stood and sprinted towards the Bushmasters. He rolled the bombs under the closest vehicle before crouching down beside the vehicle’s large, mine-proof front wheel to use as cover.
The Custodians waiting in ambush behind the vehicle only had to time to shout in alarm before the bombs went off. Once again, explosions shattered the stillness of the early morning air. The men screamed and fell, their weapons clattering loudly on the asphalt road beside them.
“Into the lab – stop Cho!” Smithson ordered
Ryan, Bhagya, and I were the first through the gap between the Bushmasters. Debris and dirt were still raining down from the explosion, and smoke swirled in wisps about us. Thinking only to get into the lab, my steps faltered when I saw the horrifying condition of the Custodians who had been hiding behind the Bushmasters. Two were dead, one was unconscious, and two writhed about the ground in agony. The shrapnel from the pipe bombs had torn them apart, shredding cloths and exposed skin alike, especially their legs and arms. Looking at their fearsome injuries and the blood spattered everywhere, I was stricken with guilt – I lamented that we had been forced to do something like this.
Tearing my eyes from the disturbing scene, I ran past the fallen men and up to the lab’s reflective glass door. Signalling for Ryan and Bhagya to be ready, I pushed the door with one hand. To my relief, it swung slightly open – Cho’s party had been in such a rush to escape Aika that they didn’t lock it behind them.
As the lights were never turned off in the lab, the foyer was brilliantly lit. Assault rifle held at the ready, I kicked the door further open and darted inside, taking in the sight. The room was empty, so I signalled for the others to follow me and bolted towards the corridor that led for the elevator.
Reaching the corner, I strained my ears checking for any telltale sounds that could reveal the presence of hostile Custodians lying in wait for us. With Ryan and Bhagya behind me, and Smithson and his men filing into reception, I risked a quick look around the corner.
The corridor was empty except for the bodies of three Gama Company Custodians, which were sprawled before the elevator’s doors. I cocked my head, puzzled. If these men were part of Cho’s group, who shot them?
Stepping into the corridor, I advanced towards the bodies cautiously, just in case this was some kind of trap. I didn’t think it could be, though, since I could see blood spattered on their clothes, floor and wall. Looking further down the corridor, I jolted in surprise when I realised we weren’t alone. Her assault rifle pointed at the floor, a woman stepped into view and hurried towards us. The ceiling lights glinted off familiar dark, wavy hair.
“Romy!” I exclaimed with palpable relief. She was still alive!
“What took you so long? I tried to stop Cho getting into the elevator, but he had too many Custodians with him,” she said as her eyes darted over the members of our group.
“How long since they went up?” Ryan asked.
“Two, three minutes?” Romy said.
“We have to get up to the fifth floor!” I said.
“To the internal fire escape, then,” Ryan said. “The elevator can’t access the fifth floor without a key card.”
“That’ll take too long,” Bhagya said. “Surely it will only take them a few minutes to disable the security protocols and release the virus.”
“We have no choice then – we have to take the elevator,” Romy said. She held up a key card and tapped the button to call it down.
“Where did you get–”
“Don’t ask.”
“They’ll know we’re coming if we use the elevator. They’ll be waiting for us,” Ryan said.
“As Romy said, we don’t have a choice. If they release the virus i
t’s all over – for everyone.” I said.
The elevator announced its arrival with a ping and the doors swished open. Stepping inside, I ejected the magazine from my gun and slammed a fresh one home.
“Who’s with me?” I asked.
Romy didn’t hesitate to join me. Neither did Ryan and Bhagya, although she still needed his assistance. She was even paler than before, but I knew there was no way I could make her stay behind.
“Stuff it, who wants to live forever?” Smithson asked, stepping forward.
I held up my hand. “Not you, sir. We’re expendable, you’re not.”
“And how do you figure that?” he asked, bristling at my suggestion.
“You’re the only ranking Custodian who can bring law and order to the town once the fighting’s over.”
“Chelsea’s right, Captain,” Ryan said.
“Unacceptable!”
“Sir, someone has to go up the fire escape in case those using the elevator fail. Please, leave the elevator to us and take your men up the stairs,” I said.
The captain glowered at us and then turned to his men. “I need three volunteers for the elevator – Hawkins, Dukas, Chen – that’s you. And you three, give your vests to the girls. Everyone else, with me. We’re taking the stairs.”
Three Custodians with slight builds handed over their bulletproof vests and helped us into them. Bhagya staggered under its weight as soon as she put one on.
Ryan gripped her shoulders. “Come on, Bhagya, just sit here and rest until someone can take you to hospital, okay?”
“Just help me into the elevator.”
“Bhagya!”
“Don’t you know me by know, Ryan?” She didn’t raise her voice as she spoke, but her resolve was unmistakable. Ryan sighed and lent her his arm.
As the captain and his men sprinted down the corridor towards the fire escape, the rest of us, seven in number, piled into the elevator. Romy pushed the key card into the slot and tapped the button for the fifth floor. Entry would be through the doors at the back of the elevator, so Romy and I moved to the rear and readied our rifles. However, the three Custodians who ‘volunteered’ for the mission – all tall, well-built men – pushed us behind them and took up positions before the doors.
“Hey!” I protested.
“If you Specialists get gunned down the moment the doors open, Smithson’ll have our butts for breakfast,” Private Dukas said.
“But–”
“Stow it!” He turned his attention back to the doors.
I looked to Romy, hoping she’d back me up, but she shook her head. “Hey, stop fussing, I’m fine with this,” she whispered.
The elevator reached the fifth floor – the place where the geneticists had worked for decades developing the despicable virus to render all non-Korean males infertile.
“Look sharp!” Ryan ordered. Standing beside me with an arm around Bhagya to help her stand, he flashed a worried glance in my direction. Knowing my luck, we would probably be shot down in a hail of gunfire the moment the doors opened.
The elevator shuddered to a stop and the doors slid back. However, it was not bullets that met us but silence. Looking over the shoulders of Dukas and Chen, I searched frantically for signs of hostile Custodians or Anna. However, I couldn’t see anyone in the open office space before us, only rows of workstations with computers and scientific equipment.
Further back were the sealed-off glass-walled workspaces and laboratories. I knew from experience that the thick glass wall separating the two areas was resistant to bullets and grenades.
Then, to my horror, I realised that one of the sealed laboratories was occupied by Dr. Jeong and General Cho. The latter’s left arm was in a sling. His chest was probably swathed in bandages as well, hidden beneath his uniform. He looked on while the doctor tapped away at a control panel built into the top of a clearly marked biohazard containment unit.
A round, fist sized metal object was suddenly lobbed at the elevator from someone hiding behind one of the workstations.
“Grenade!” Dukas shouted.
Chen leaped forward and swung his assault rifle at the grenade in an attempt to send it back to where it came from.
“Get down!” Ryan bellowed. Grabbing me by the back of my bulletproof vest with his free hand, he swung me and Bhagya around and pushed us to the floor. Romy dropped down beside me at the same time.
Discarding my assault rifle, I just managed to press my hands against my ears when there was a frighteningly loud bang. An irresistible force slammed Ryan on top of me, driving the air from my lungs.
Burning hot metal fragments peppered us like hail stones in a raging storm. None penetrated my bulletproof vest, but pain beyond comprehension erupted on the side of my head as well as up and down the backs of my exposed right arm and leg. Those were the only parts of me not covered by Ryan’s body.
“R-Ryan?” I stammered between clenched teeth when I got my breath back, because he wasn’t moving. How badly had he been hit? Did he take the brunt of the explosion in order to save Bhagya and me? Was he…I couldn’t even finish the thought.
With my ears ringing, I tried to crawl out from beneath him so I could check on him and the others, but any attempt to use my right arm or leg sent crippling waves of pain through them. Clenching my jaw shut, I clawed the floor with my left hand and managed to extricate myself from beneath Ryan by squirming like a snake.
Checking out his wounds, I saw that although his arms hadn’t been hit too badly, his legs were a bloody mess of torn material and skin. Leaving streaks of blood behind me on the elevator floor, I rolled over to a sitting position and leaned back against the rear doors. From there I checked the pulse in Ryan’s neck, and was mightily relieved to find one.
Bhagya was still trapped under Ryan, but there was nothing I could do to free her. She was breathing, but she wasn’t moving. Hopefully she had only been knocked unconscious by the blast.
Sadly, our three Custodian companions had fared far worse. Chen, the one who tried to hit the grenade with his gun had been hit the worst. He lay on his side just outside the elevator, his face, arms, and legs torn apart. I’d never seen so much blood before. Hawkins was also lying deathly still. He had collapsed on top of Romy’s lower legs, pinning her to the floor. She was groaning in pain and feebly trying to free herself, but hampered by the wounds to her arms and thighs. The third Custodian, Dukas, was still alive, but wouldn’t be for long, with such fearsome injuries.
Remembering why I was here, I tore my gaze from Ryan and the others and lifted my head to search for General Cho and Doctor Jeong. I spotted them instantly, and my heart missed a beat when I saw that they had opened the biohazard containment unit. They were removing black canisters and unlocking them one by one.
We had failed – there was nothing we could do to stop them now. When they released those vials into the town’s water supply, it would be the end of the human race except for the Koreans. And if the genetically modified people could not reproduce with each other, the Koreans would perish too.
Frustration and rage suddenly erupted within me like an exploding volcano. There was no way I was going to let it end like this. Madison said the baton was mine now, so I had to live up to her belief in me. I would not give up!
Wracking my brain for anything I could do to stop Cho and Jeong, I remembered Ethan Jones talking about his reasons for coming here, and a piece of a puzzle that I hadn’t realised was missing clicked into place.
I pulled out my phone and made a video call to Ethan.
Chapter Twenty
~ Ethan Jones ~
The battle with the chancellor’s convoy was over pretty much before it began. Some Custodians emerged from the burning Bushmasters with guns blazing, but when we shot those, the rest came out with their hands raised. After that, I ordered the Armband Custodians and my unit to the street to get the Koreans and anyone else with them out of the trucks. We had to find the chancellor as soon as possible.
With N
anako watching my back, we made our way carefully past the burning Bushmasters, trying not to dwell on the bodies of slain Gamma Company Custodians. Further down the street and across the road, Armband Custodians exited factories and dilapidated houses, guns held at the ready. After approaching the trucks carefully, they wrenched open the vehicles’ doors, bellowing at the tops of their lungs in typical Custodian fashion for the drivers and passengers to disembark with their hands on their heads. As they got out, they checked each elderly man by torchlight to see if he was the chancellor.
Something in the vicinity of three hundred men, women and children got off the vehicles. They were predominantly Korean, but there were also a small number of men of differing nationalities. They were the specialists the Koreans would need help them establish their new colony – geneticists, scientists, doctors, farmers, and engineers.
My ears suddenly picked up when I heard children singing with echolocation. Some sang confidentially, while the voices of others wavered in fear. Moving down the line, I saw that they had gathered on the sidewalk beside the third truck from the front of the convoy. They all appeared to be of primary school age. The younger ones huddled together with older ones, looking about fearfully as they examined everything with flash sonar so they could see clearly in the dark.
Anger flashed through me when I recalled how these children came to receive their biological enhancements. Dr. Jeong and his team of doctors had dissected the other boys like me so he could reverse engineer the biological modifications created by the late Dr. Zhao and give it exclusively to the Korean children. Still, it wasn’t the children’s fault. Like my ‘sisters’ and me, they didn’t ask to be modified in this way. It had been thrust upon them without their permission.
Riding on a hunch, I hurried over to them and let rip with echolocation. Shocked to hear someone else use it when they believed that they alone had developed the ability through natural evolution, they instantly fell silent and examined me.
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