Dark Rising

FORTY-THREE

Adira whispered a brief prayer as the team waited for Alex’s sign. He nodded and the HAWCs entered the level one corridor. They made their way quickly and quietly around the curve, flat against the inside wall, guns drawn. Lagudi led, followed by O’Riordan and Adira, Zachariah, and then Sam. Alex was a few paces behind, guarding against anyone or anything that decided to follow.

In less than two minutes they all stood before a fortified steel door. Alex pushed the heavy silver slab with his hand; it wasn’t open like the rest. ‘Formidable, and solidly locked – for now.’ He kept his hand on the door for a moment and it seemed to Adira as if he was listening through it somehow. He removed his hand and turned to the group. ‘This is it, ladies and gentlemen – this is why we are here. When we go through that door, prepare to be given hell – and to release it in return.’

The HAWCs nodded their readiness. Adira was ready too; she could feel the adrenalin pumping through her.

Sam smiled. ‘Go in fast, come out smiling.’

‘Uncle, give me an entrance,’ Alex ordered. ‘Irish, Rocky, plant some spiders for any uninvited guests who may be following us.’

Sam headed to the code pad and pulled cords and wires from the pouches on the front of his suit. He pulled a box from his belt, licked a suction cap at the back and stuck it beside the number pad. In a few moments he had jacked the small system in and a red LED screen was displaying a rapid search of the keypad’s memory for the digital code that would open it.

While Zach watched Sam work the electronic combination, Adira walked up to Alex. She stood in very close to his chest and looked up into his face. ‘Thank you for saving me back there. This now makes us even, I think.’

‘You don’t have to -’

Alex never finished. With a grin, Adira reached forward to grab at his belt. ‘I’ll take this back now. I might need it,’ she said, removing the gun that Alex had taken from her on the lower level and deftly slotting it into its waiting holster. She half-turned and then paused, the smile coming back onto her lips. ‘If I’ve left anything down there, I’ll be back for it later.’

Alex laughed softly and shook his head. Adira liked the sound of his laugh, and had to keep her back to him as her face burned and butterflies danced in her belly. I think he’s interested too, she thought, then forced herself to clear her head for the coming assault.

Rocky and Irish had secreted spiders beside doorframes and fire extinguishers – anywhere that offered concealment of the lethal little boxes and their twenty-first-century claymore technology.

‘Hope these guys don’t have a tea lady,’ Rocky said as he armed the last of the little motion-sensitive explosives.

The two men planted themselves up some distance from the group as lookouts and sighted their guns along the corridor – they were ready.

Sam’s LED screen stopped and flashed. Alex and Adira immediately drew and aimed their weapons as the silver door hissed open to blast them with negative pressure air. It revealed a small, brilliant white corridor with yet another doorway at its end; just as imposing, but this time with a flat screen about waist height and angled upwards.

‘Damnit, a DNA scanner,’ Sam said. ‘Great. And look at the ceiling – they’re gas vents. Guess if you use the wrong finger you’re going to end up with the Ayatollah’s bad breath blowing down on you.’ Sam plucked at his bottom lip as he thought it through.

‘Can you open it?’ Alex asked over his shoulder as he looked up and down the corridor. ‘I can open it,’ Sam said, ‘but I’ll need a few minutes. I think I should go in by myself first.’

Alex’s head whipped around to stare in one direction and again Adira thought he looked as though he was listening to something no one else could hear. His expression changed and she didn’t like it. It seemed he’d picked up on whatever it was he was waiting for.

The creature entered the scientifics floor through the door left ajar by the HAWCs. The brightness of the corridor made it hesitate for a few seconds, but it could sense more of the fluid-filled creatures further inside. It dropped down onto all of its legs, flattened its low, wide body and sped down the corridor, a blur of mottled ochre and green carapace, drawn on by the tingling sensation of residual gamma particles in the air and the scent of the soft liquid sacks that had now become its food source.

It came at O’Riordan so fast that it outpaced the electronic senses of the spider explosive. Before O’Riordan had comprehended there was danger, the monster arthropod was rearing up before him. His finger wouldn’t work on the trigger and his mouth hung open as the leviathan loomed above him.

The spider bombs finally caught up and exploded and the blast shook O’Riordan from his inanimate state. ‘Not again, you fuckin’ big bug,’ he yelled, and leaped to the side. The creature had been knocked off its feet by the explosion and its legs made a loud clacking sound as they drummed momentarily on the hard floor.

O’Riordan ejected the magazine from his gun onto the ground and withdrew another from a pouch at his waist – this one with a red stripe banding the metal cartridge. It snapped in instantly, he swung the muzzle up and fired three times. The bullets struck the creature in the midsection where the greasy armour plates came together like mottled green tiles. It immediately clamped down to protect the weaker area.

O’Riordan got to his feet and took a step forward. ‘Yeah, felt those, didn’t ya? Flat-tipped tungsten – armour-piercing babies. Want some more?’

He fired another three rounds and was satisfied to see three more direct hits and a small piece of shell flick off to skid away down the corridor.

The creature slowly rose up to its full height and towered ten feet above O’Riordan; he saw its eyestalks craning down to look at him. It had planted itself in the centre of the corridor on its sharply-pointed, thick bristled legs and seemed to shiver slightly.

‘I’m not running this time, ugly, and you’re not getting past me to my guys.’ O’Riordan fired three again – another three hits. That leaves me three and then back to standard lead jackets, he thought.

The creature shivered again and the HAWC mistook the movement for the trembling of fear. He smiled and advanced. ‘That’s right – and you can go straight back to hell.’

He fired his last three armour-piercing bullets.

The explosion rang out from the direction Alex was facing. His face became a mixture of resignation and simmering anger.

He turned to Sam. ‘Uncle, get ’em all inside. Then shut the door and take it from here – you know your orders.’

Sam hesitated. The explosion meant Irish was going head to head with someone. If it was a bigger force than last time, Alex would be overwhelmed, even with his unique powers. He was about to try to negotiate with his superior officer when he heard a noise that chilled his blood – the mad clacking of giant arthropod legs on a hard surface.

‘Oh, shit, boss – I don’t think O’Riordan’s dancing with the locals back there.’

Rocky joined the group, drawn back by the explosion and gunfire. He must also have heard the scrabbling of the unearthly creature as his face was white, making the black stubble on his cheeks and chin more pronounced. He continued to point his gun down the corridor but Sam noticed the muzzle shook slightly.

‘Soldiers, this time you will follow orders,’ Alex said. He pointed over his shoulder towards the sounds of mortal combat down the corridor. ‘This is just a distraction. The main game is behind that door. You must be ready for extreme force. Believe me, it’s waiting for you. I cannot allow us to be decimated before we even commence to fight.’

Adira stepped forward with a deep scowl on her face, but Alex held up his hand before she could speak. ‘No. You must stand and fight here. You know what it will mean for your country if this facility fully develops the technology. You know what it could mean for all of us.’

For a brief moment Adira looked as though she was going to argue. Then her shoulders slumped and she simply nodded.

‘I’ll buy you some time and catch up when I’m through,’ Alex said, but he didn’t meet her eyes when he said it. Sam guessed he expected to be a while.

‘Don’t forget to duck and weave,’ Sam said, and winked.

Alex smiled and turned away down the corridor.

Sam took a last look as his captain disappeared around the corner. ‘Ah crap.’ He shook his head and turned to the team. ‘Let’s go, people. We’re probably all about to be gassed to death anyway.’

An image of his father jumped into his head as he remembered when things started to get really bad on their drought-affected farm. Sam had helped his father plough back in several fields of tinder-dry corn stalks so they could sow dry weather potatoes. Afterwards, while they shared cold drinks, his father had looked out at the fields and slapped him on the back. ‘Sammy, when the shit hits the fan, get outta the fan business.’ Sam smiled now and shook his head again: Too late, Pop.