The Ghost Ships of Arizona

CHAPTER SEVEN

Drake jumped out of the black SUV amidst a scene from hell. Darkness had fallen and the San Jose electrical substation stood like an alien outpost — a sparse car park led to a perfunctory wall and then what appeared to be a tangled mass of short pylons and large transformers, beyond which stood a series of small buildings. Sounds of gunfire and an explosion rocked the night even as the SPEAR team began to move, adding to the feeling that they had entered some kind of hostile extra-terrestrial movie set. Drake saw where the wall had been breached. Amassed around it were a bunch of dark-clothed figures, their camouflage completed by ski-masks. They had noticed the new team’s arrival and were now training weapons upon them.

Drake ducked behind their SUV as gunfire rang out, finding himself staring up at the stars all of a sudden.

“Covering crew,” Smyth said next to him.

Drake nodded. “The main gang are already inside.”

“But what are they targeting?” Dahl put in.

“Haven’t the foggiest,” Drake said thickly. “I’ll ask the first man who doesn’t try to kill me.”

Smyth nodded. “We ready?”

Drake shook his head at the man’s enthusiasm, surveying the scene from across the vehicle’s front end. Hayden and Kinimaka were out of sight and creeping around the far side of the car park. Drake waited.

Hayden rose and opened fire with her brand new Sig Sauer MPX gas-operated sub-machine gun. Drake knew from the recent round of emails that it housed the world’s first fully closed and rotating bolt system, designed to enhance the safety of its user. The SPEAR team — among other frontline teams — were the first to use it in the US.

Guinea pigs almost, Drake thought. Exactly what we need right now.

Hayden used the front and rear flip-up sights to hone in on her target and then sprayed the gaggle of mercenaries. Kinimaka moved fast at her side. Drake watched men collapse, falling back against the shattered wall and disappearing through. As the survivors turned their sights towards Hayden, Drake rose and opened fire. The Sig felt good in his hands, smooth and well-engineered, imparting increasing confidence with every bullet that left the chamber. It took only a few moments for him to require a mag change and then he was halfway across the car park. Now in line with their aggressors he could see beyond and into the substation itself. The tidings weren’t good.

Beyond the gravel path that bordered the interior he stared through the tangle of seemingly misshaped pylons. Some were listing, almost destroyed. Was this their goal then? Destroy the station’s capabilities, or at least one particular transformer or grid?

Maybe. This wasn’t the time.

Dahl squeezed past on the right. The Swede was totally focused, sprinting toward the next car and squeezing off bullets on semi-auto. Drake took a last look through the gap in the wall — the area was well lit. He was shocked to see the size of the mercenary contingent already converging on the main offices, a veritable swarm of unconscionable killers.

Beauregard’s information had been correct. Which posed the nasty little question — who the hell was that guy working for?

Drake would never trust a double-agent. If they’d turned once they could do so again. The real reason they turned the first time was all a prospective new handler needed to explore.

The Yorkshireman played backup to Dahl for a while, running and covering and pinning the enemy down. At last they cleared the breach in the wall and met up with Hayden.

“You see how many are inside?” she asked.

“Dozens,” Drake said. “I lost count.”

Dahl bashed the head in of a man who suddenly rose beside them.

“Fucking zombie,” Smyth growled.

Drake looked back to their transport. Inside, Karin, Lauren and Yorgi were monitoring the comms. “You guys hear anything?”

“You have major backup on the way,” Lauren said, probably talking for Karin who would be collating the information. “But it’s still fifteen minutes out. Maybe a few cops here in five, but that’s as good as it gets. The FBI are en route too.”

Drake shook his head. “These pricks will be vamoosed by then.”

“Contact from inside the substation suggests they are trying to defend.”

“No,” Hayden said. “Tell the staff and security men to stand down and hide as best they can. This ain’t worth their lives and the mercenaries are tooled up to the max. We’re gonna try to slow them down.”

“Understood.”

Drake climbed over what was left of the wall first, much to Dahl’s annoyance. The Swede quickly jumped across next and then the entire team were running carefully between pylons and junction boxes, exploring the starkly-lit alien world and trying to keep sight of the mercs ahead. Drake squinted, aware that such bright lights would leave an afterimage on his retina and impair his vision once they were clear. An explosion rang out. They saw an entire section of wall collapse and then the mercs were inside, scrambling over the rubble. Gunshots sounded, but Drake just hoped they were warning rounds and that the staff had heeded their warnings.

Another contingent of men had stayed behind, either to aid escape or deter the authorities. Drake and his team did not stop. They raced ahead, taking cover behind pylons and wincing as bullets chimed and reverberated around them, sometimes passing straight through.

To a man, they dropped to the ground.

Drake aimed for legs, taking three men down. He crawled to the next available cover. Dahl fired at his side and Smyth beside him. The ground was hard concrete, almost blinding in the artificial light. The entire place hummed as if possessed by a swarm of bees and, above, sparks flew as if neighboring pylons might be attracted to each other.

The SPEAR team fell among the remaining mercs, their speed stunning as they converged from three sides. Drake slammed the butt of his rifle into one man’s face, always wanting the death toll to be as low as possible, and fighting against elements of old training that urged him to never leave a live enemy behind.

The world was different now, and it was hard not to change with it.

Dahl rendered another merc comatose to the side, then Smyth disarmed a third. Hayden shot a fourth an instant before he fired on her, his loosed shot slamming into a nearby pylon. Kinimaka was down, struggling with another but using his considerable weight, twisting the man’s arm until he let go of his weapon.

Dahl surveyed the facility. It seemed an RPG had been brought to bear on the main door, blasting it right off its hinges. Hayden’s phone chirped, much to her annoyance.

“Fuck’s sake! Even in the middle of a battle they can’t leave me well alone!”

Drake hauled up one of the survivors and pulled off his ski-mask “So tell me, matey. What’s going on?”

The mercenary struggled. He was a battered-looking individual — face crisscrossed with old scars and an odd “broken” look to his jaw, as if had dislocated once and never properly reset. His eyes fired bullets as violently as any old Uzi.

“Go fu—”

Drake shook him, then realized how futile the gesture was. “Not even a cryptic clue?” he asked. “A tidbit?”

“Like I said, asshole—”

Smyth stepped in just as Hayden cursed. The entire team turned toward her as she stared in dumb disbelief at the facility all around them.

“It’s a ruse,” she whispered. “This entire attack. These men…” She gestured at the dead and wounded. “The poor bastards who work here… it’s all a fucking trick.”

“What?” Drake couldn’t stop his eyes practically bulging.

Dahl clucked, disbelieving. “Not a chance. This is a full scale assault, Hayden.”

“I know. And the mercs who blasted their way inside? They ran straight through, leaving by the rear even now, according to those stuck inside. While an even larger force is currently attacking the main San Jose substation.”

“I don’t… get it,” Lauren said through the comms.

“Neither do I. Clearly… our informant… either lied or was fed false information. This attack is all subterfuge whilst the Pythians hit their main target.”

“But we’re in San Jose,” Yorgi said. “How many substations are there?”

“Many thousands,” Hayden said. “Karin. Where’s the principal San Jose substation?”

“Not three miles from you,” Karin said. “And get this. That same substation was hit by a sniper attack, disabling it a few years ago, and then suffered another security breach a few years later. The Pythians appear to have targeted a facility that has a long history of breaches.”

“Three miles?” Dahl heard only what was currently relevant to him. “Then let’s get over there.”

Drake nodded and raised his weapon as sirens sounded close by. “What are we waiting for?”

Hayden was already stalking away. “Get the fucking transport ready. This time we’ll be going in hot.”