The VTAL’s came in with their ramps down, and the tactical teams moved quickly down them to their respective positions either at the loading dock or at the front of the building. The breachers were brought up, and a shaped explosive tape placed on the frames of the large loading docks and at the main entrance. Both went active and were synced into the primary fire control system held by Sgt. Keyton.
“Fire in the hole!”
A moment after he yelled that, Keyton pushed the detonate button. The frames around both the loading dock garage door and the main front doors disintegrated in the same millisecond blowing both doors in and to the ground. The team at the front maintained its position, assuming a breach and hold posture as the team at the dock began to file in.
“Shots fired! Shots Fired!”
Argosi felt his adrenaline spike as he heard those words from one of the primary assaulters. Followed by the stomach sickening sounds of “Man down! Man down! Medic up to primary!”
***
An automated alarm system jerked MD awake when all the perimeter bots broke their links to the security system. MD sat up as the dashboard came up in front of him superimposed over the layout of his small bedroom in his New Polis apartment. Dozens of armed men poured out the down ramp of at least two VTAL’s.
They’ve found me!
He thought quickly, stay and try to hide? Or do something to distract them and buy some time? Looking at the number of heavily armed officers moving from the aircraft to the back doors and other locations around the factory it did not look like they were here just to look at his books. They would find his pod and him in it if he stayed.
MD felt a strong vibration followed by a voice announcing, “intruder alert” over and over again. MD selected the security system and then activated a window showing the smoking openings at the front door and the loading dock as he brought up the security control screen. MD clicked on the “Weapons Free” button followed by the “Auto-Engage.” MD then hit the quick eject button and prepared to leave his pod as it opened.
The twelve bots inside the factory armed with semi-automatic rifles that would fire two well-aimed rifle rounds every time they identified a target. To the bot’s digital brain that was anything that moved that did not transmit a friendly beacon. The bots were already aware of the movement of the tactical teams and had been tracking them. When they received the weapons free command, they began to engage.
The first six officers moved through the loading dock opening, split with each alternating to the left and right. The first clearing the near corner and then moving up the wall as they cleared the immediate area to the center providing cover to the follow-up assaulters. A split second after those first assaulters made their entry, the bots opened up on the following team members, catching them in the kill zone of the blown garage door opening.
Two team members were hit and went down in the opening, as the officers behind them dove for either side of the opening to avoid the accurately placed rounds. Four of the bots continued to pour accurate fire out of the hole where the garage door had been. One shot hit one of the running turbo-shaft engines of a parked VTAL, causing it to catch fire.
The other eight bots divided up into two four bot elements and moved to the walls where the three entry team members had taken cover behind crates on each side. The bots plan was a simple fire and maneuver tactic. One overwatch element would keep the intruders out of the opening with accurate, lethal fire while each four-bot element hunted down the three invaders on each side.
It did not take the bots long to find their first target where two tactical team members had positioned themselves behind a crate, just a portion of one of their ballistic helmets visible.
For a bot with a rifle, that was enough.
***
“I’ve about had enough of this shit!” Twenty-eight-year-old sniper and former Army Special Operations soldier Terry Randal said, as he jumped up from his position on the roof of a storage building facility. Randal, with his observer in tow, sprinted the twenty-five meters to the other end of the building along the top of the roof. As he ran, he prayed he could get there fast enough.
***
Inside the loading dock area, the bots moved systematically, following a pre-programmed protocol of cover and maneuver developed for military bot applications. One bot would slowly“pie,” or angle off around an obstruction while the other one provided cover. Teams of four bots would work in groups of two in a pincer movement designed to converge on the tactical officers from their flanks. The first bot that angled around a crate identified a slight movement that did not transmit a friendly beacon and fired two rounds into it.
Sgt. Keyton saw the pieces of the helmet fly off even before he heard the shots. He saw the officer that had taken a crouched position behind him fall to the ground and bring his hands up to his head cradling it as he let out a string of obscenities. Keyton dove on top of the officer with his rifle pointed towards the direction of fire to provide cover for him while also wanting to get a hold of his tac vest to pull him back to cover as he lay exposed.
As Keyton dove towards him, he angled his weapon out and through his integrated face shield saw the six-foot tall white colored bot with a large rifle mounted onto its right arm which had been trained on the fallen officer but now began to swing towards Keyton.
Keyton had no intention on waiting for the perfect shot and let loose a full-auto barrage of rounds. The majority hit the bot in the lower tracks and it rolled on, spinning the thing around. Keyton’s spray and pray maneuverer bought him enough time to drag the fallen officer back to the cover of the crate.
Keyton looked down to see the officer who had torn off his helmet cradling a bleeding head wound. He was conscious and still able to fight. Good, since not only were they outnumbered, the bots were willing to expose themselves to fire to achieve their objective. All they cared about was eliminating the immediate threat. In this case, the six tactical officers pinned down in the warehouse. Keyton heard the whirring of the bot he had shot as it tried to turn itself back around. Keyton pied the corner of the crate and saw the bot’s torso through his weapons sight and let loose another barrage which tore the bot to pieces and disabled it completely.
The third officer with Keyton on that side of the shipping area took cover behind a different crate. Todd Foster found himself in an even more precarious situation as he was pinned down by two bots getting closer. The two overwatch bots covering the loading dock door would fire keeping him pinned down while the other two bots moved.
The two moving bots were maintaining separation to angle their fire and cover each other. Foster knew it was only a matter of time before they got to him, if he were lucky he would be able to take one out before either the overwatch bots got him or one of the other two did. A group of rounds hit tightly over his head from the two bots providing overwatch. He crunched up into as small a target as he could make himself. The two maneuvering bots used that opportunity to get closer and angle him off. The whirring of their tread motors grew near. Worse, every time he exposed his weapon, accurate fire either bounced off his rifle muzzle or very close to it. Foster decided that he wasn’t going to wait. He jumped up and put two rounds center mass into the bot nearest him shattering it as it rolled to a stop smoking and sparking. Foster spun towards the other bot but knew he would be too late as he saw the bots weapon coming up towards him, which made him all the more surprised to see the bot’s head explode.
***
“Take that, motherfucker,” Randal whispered as the bot’s head exploded in his scope.
Randal’s previous position afforded him an unobstructed view of one side of the building but only an angled view of the blown open loading dock garage door. When the shooting started, the bots were too far back in the building for him to see from that vantage point. Realizing he was useless unless he got to a better position, Randal ran all the way to the farthest end of the roof and hoped that would give him more of a direct line of sight into the loadin
g dock garage.
He went as far as he could, all the way to the roof end then dove on the rooftop, the upper third of his body hanging over the edge. Roland strained to draw a bead on the bots that he saw moving towards Keyton’s position.
After dispatching the first bot, he swung his rifle to the right and took down the last of the four bots on Keyton’s side. The two bots that had been pouring fire at anything that moved near the blown opening fell back farther into the factory. The two bots moved as far back as they could while still being able to cover the opening and the two walls with the three officers pinned down on each side. The two bots in reserve moved ahead of them and took up position in the open assembly area, inside a doorway just past the loading and warehouse portion.
Randal radioed in that he could not get enough of an angle to be able to assist the other three-man element similarly trapped on the other side. Randal’s heart sank as the sound of gunfire spilled from inside, followed by more “man down” calls.
***
Argosi listened to the radio calls. He knew that the breach and hold team with its four officers had moved in past the front offices to open a second assault route and to take the pressure off the primary assault team but were now dealing with accurate fire being poured at them from the work floor, taking one casualty.
Similarly, Keyton’s team was kept down by the two bots at the opening. It would be suicide to try and cross that line of fire and only worsen the situation, but the situation was already dire for the agents on the other side. Argosi wanted to land and assume command, but he knew that would only add to the chaos. What was needed and in a hurry, was for Lt. Stuart to step up and show some initiative. The armed bots were a surprise and their deadly accurate fire and effective tactics compromised the primary assault site. Stuart needed to move the team to one of the side exit doors and do an explosive entry there to try to flank the bots. The Breach and hold team, now down to three operational officers also needed reinforcement. So far there was only silence from the tactical commander who had replaced Argosi a year or so back. Stuart should have been ready for prime time but obviously was not.
Someone needs to un-fuck this situation, and fast. Argosi’s mind raced for an answer.
“Mr. Wu,” Argosi radioed on the MCT net to a lone shadow near the exit doors from the warehouse and adjacent to where the three-man team was pinned down.
“Here, Commander.”
“Wu, I need you to breach that door and do what you can to provide an escape route. You have my full authority to do whatever you deem necessary,” Argosi said, realizing now it had been a mistake not to let Wu be armed.
“Yes, Commander. Also for your information, there are non-MCT agents present.” Wu made sure that Argosi knew he might be exposing his capabilities to non-cleared individuals.
“I’m aware, Mr. Wu. I need you inside, ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.”
Wu growled at the field agent guarding the exit door. “I’m going inside. Stay here behind cover with Agent Callum.”
The stunned agent sputtered. “How? It’s a damn steel door...”
He only gaped as Wu ripped the frame from the door with his gloved hands. The frame buckled and the door warped out. In the next second, the deadbolt popped past the frame. Wu yanked the door from its hinges and carried it into the warehouse by the inside handlebar, using it as a shield. The gunfire from inside was louder now. Rounds directed towards Wu from the two bots covering the dock door impacted the heavy steel door. Wu held the door out in front of him which deflected the rounds. He made a note of the overwatch bot’s exact position and then moved quickly to a crate and took cover. Four bots rushed in towards the three tactical officers’ position, where at least one of them was down. Wu could see the two bots on his side, their backs to him with their weapons pointed in the other direction, towards the tactical officer’s positions.
Wu brought the steel door up in front of him and ran towards the nearest bot hitting it with the door and pinning it to a stack of crates. Wu dropped the door and grabbed the bot’s arm that held the rifle ripping the arm—weapon and all—from its body with his right hand while his left ripped the bot’s head off. The bot died in a shower of sparks. The nearest tactical officer gasped at the man’s strength, but he didn’t have time to process what he just saw. He swung his rifle up at a second bot that was coming around a forklift and towards Wu. He let loose a double three-round burst blowing the bot to pieces.
Wu dropped the arm and the bot’s head. The weapon could not operate independently. Wu moved to the tactical officer and crouched down next to him. A severely wounded tac officer sat upright leaning against a crate going in and out of consciousness a large amount of blood had flowed from him onto the floor before coagulation powder, and a pressure bandage was applied. On the other side of the wounded officer and one crate over was a third officer, also bleeding but still very much in the fight as he occasionally left cover to fire at the bots.
“May I use his rifle?” Wu asked politely, motioning to the wounded man’s weapon.
The tactical officer still didn’t know what Wu was doing here or why he had a ballistic helmet and vest but came in with no weapon. He remembered meeting the man at the briefing. How he got in here was a mystery to him, but he needed all the help he could get.
“Sure buddy, take some extra magazines too.” The tac officer handed him the wounded officer’s weapon.
“Extra magazines will not be necessary,” Wu answered as he took the rifle and synced with it. Wu could now see the weapons sight through his digital “mind’s eye.” Once he verified it was operational, he nodded to the nearest officer. Taking his left index and middle finger in sort of a peace sign, he signaled cover me by pointing to his eyes then to the other wounded officer. The officer nodded back. At a speed faster than either officer could have imagined possible, Wu moved. He mounted the top of a forklift to his right in a single step.
Wu only touched the top of the forklift momentarily. Putting his right foot down on the roof then pushed against it leaping five meters into the air above it, nearly to the ceiling. As Wu accelerated upward, he brought his rifle up and centered the integrated sight. First on one of the bots that pinned down the primary assault team at the loading dock door and then the other. Both bots disintegrated as they were each hit with accurate double three-round bursts to their torsos and heads.
Wu landed on the other side of the forklift where one of the bots pinning down the wounded lone tactical officer had begun to turn towards Wu himself. Wu closed the distance to the Bot in an instant and tore the bot’s weapon arm from its torso with his left hand. Wu held his gun with the right and pushed the barrel to the bot’s head. He blew it apart without pause. The wounded officer moved in on the last bot, dispatching him with a short burst of full auto fire.
With the loading dock and warehouse area cleared the primary assault force flowed through the blown door and quickly moved through it and into the large assembly bay where they along with the breach team dispatched the last two bots. Medics followed them through and moved to the wounded.
Wu stood motionless for a moment before pacing back and forth in increasing lengths ignoring the assault teams that flowed past him. When he landed from his eight-meter high jump, he had sensed something below him. Wu, leaving his weapon with the wounded tac officer then went back out the exit door he had entered and began to walk back and forth over the parking lot before stopping and looking at a smaller building just beyond the fence of the bot factory.
“Commander.” Wu radioed over the MCT net.
“Go for Argosi.”
“Sir, there is a hollowed-out area underneath the factory that extends towards a building off the property, directly south of my position.”
“Got it,” came the terse reply.
***
Argosi looked down at the building that Wu alerted him to in his last transmission. Argosi instructed one of the flight techs to paint the building with infrared and do
a heat signature analysis. Argosi watched from five hundred feet up in the circling VTAL as the building turned transparent and reflected primarily bluish-greenish colors on the MDT.Indicating that it was empty of anything warmer than seventy-five degrees or so.
Argosi continued to watch the MDT on the cockpit screen as he began to hear the casualty reports. One KIA, three critical and two walking wounded. The KIA had been from the front breach team and had occurred when they had tried to move into the assembly bay. The others were all on the loading dock and warehouse area. Twelve heavily armed bots designed for infantry missions lay destroyed.
Argosi wondered how accurate Wu’s sensors were when it came to this type of thing. With an attack a day over the last several days. Six people, now seven dead including an FBI Tactical Officer. Not to mention the two BMM employees nearly burned to death.
Maddox had become one very dangerous and elusive suspect. Not something one would expect from a five-foot-nothing militant vegan introvert who weighed only slightly more than a large wet dog. Argosi recalled some details from the brief that he read on Maddox.
Argosi lost himself in thought on where they would look next if this hole came up empty. No doubt there was a connection between Maddox and the bot factory. But if he wasn’t here where might he be? Was he on the run or still in-world? The “watercolor” virus Wu had given him would be a distraction, but for how long?
Argosi noticed a slight yellowish circle expanding outward inside a cooler bluish square from the MDT screen.
A flight tech reported over the comm. “Commander, we have movement.”
“Roger that. I see it,” Argosi responded as he saw the yellowish color bloom outward from what looked to be a square on the floor in a room adjacent to a hallway leading to the garage. In the center of the yellowish light the outline of a human head, bright orange in color now, emerged through the opening.
The Metaverse: Virtual Life-Real Death Page 40
