The Silent Army

“Who are you?” she asked.

The other revivors had started shaking their cages, trying to get out. The closest one had its face pushed into the chain-link, fingers straining through the holes as it ground its teeth.

“FBI.”

“You with Sean?” she asked.

“Slide the gun over.”

She did. I stopped it with my foot, then picked it up.

“Put your hands up.”

She nodded, cracking her back and wincing again as she lifted her hands up over her head.

Scanning her, I didn’t see any hidden weapons. She wasn’t wired and didn’t have any physical augmentations. Her face didn’t match anything in the databases.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Jan Holst. Can I put my hands down?”

“What is that?” I asked her, nodding at the briefcase. She frowned, but didn’t answer.

“Open it,” I said.

She turned and keyed in the combination to the case, then lifted it open and stepped away. I looked inside, and a warning appeared in the JZI.

Radiation detected.

The particles were coming from the case. I looked through one of the bricks and saw it contained a metal capsule. Inside the shell were wires and components, tightly packed around a radioactive core. There were eleven devices inside.

“What are those?”

She sighed, crossing her arms. I closed the case and contacted the SWAT leader.

I found the rest of the revivors. Six total. One is down.

Good.

I found something down here. I think it’s what we’re looking for.

We’ve secured the shipment, Wachalowski.

I don’t think so. I’m looking at eleven nuclear devices. The suspect who was just released, Takanawa, may have a twelfth. We need to lock down this area now.

There was a pause on the other end of the connection that went on longer than it should have. I opened an emergency channel back to Assistant Director Noakes, and sent down an alert.

Agent Wachalowski, what’s going on down there? he responded. I recorded the image and radiation signature of the case and transmitted it to him.

The buyers were here to pick up nuclear weapons. They’re handheld, and at least one of them is moving. We need this whole block contained right now.

A terrorist alert went out and began branching down to response teams.

Understood. They’re mobilizing now. Find that missing weapon.

“Are you the buyer?” I asked the woman. She didn’t answer.

Just then a revivor spoke connection opened. I looked around for the source but couldn’t find it. The signal hadn’t come from any of the revivors in the cages.

Someone just opened a connection to a revivor band down here. Any missing from upstairs?

Negative.

It was close. Too close to be from upstairs.

I’ve got a stray down here somewhere.

“How did you know—” the woman started to ask but I held up my hand. She frowned.

I tapped into the signal, listening. The source was close by, somewhere in the room. I did a slow sweep, looking into the dark. No revivor’s signature was showing up, but it had to be there.

I moved past the cages to the edge of the lit area and scanned into the shadows. There was nothing there.

…eral agent here.

The partial message came across the connection. It was a fragment of a text communication.

…should I abort?

No. Upgr …forget the target …the case.

…about the …

Kill her.

The revivors began shaking the cages harder. Something had them riled up. I couldn’t hear anything over the racket.

“Shut up!” the woman snapped. “Just shut—”

Her voice cut out. I looked back at her and she was clutching her throat. Her eyes were wide, and blood had started leaking from in between her fingers. The big revivor was still on its back. I didn’t see anyone near her.

Vesco, one of the prime suspects is down. I need an EMT here, now.

I ran to her as she took her hands away. Her palms were covered in blood. Her face turned white as blood poured from a gash in her throat, and she slid down the desk, onto the floor.

“Hold on,” I told her, easing her onto her back. “Help is coming.” Her eyes lost focus. Her mouth moved, but she couldn’t speak.

The revivor connection cut out. I heard the flutter of fabric next to me, and the case on the desk flickered, then disappeared.

Shit.

The nukes are moving. The target is cloaked. Coordinate with local authorities and initiate a lockdown in a three-block radius.

Leading with the gun, I scanned the room. There were no heat signatures, no heartbeat—nothing.

It’s a revivor…. There was no revivor signature either, though. It was keeping itself well hidden.

I scanned for radiation. It was faint, but I found a concentration of particles a few feet away. They were clustered around an object floating at chest height.

The case. The Light Warping field could bend visible light, but not radiation. The pattern swayed back and forth slightly. The revivor connection opened again.

…about the agent?

…ut don’t ki—

But—

Don’t kill him.

I reestablished the link with Sean.

Wachalowski, what the hell—

Sean, show me all the ways in and out of here.

The case appeared on the concrete floor and I heard something heavy shift its weight. I took a step toward it, and a cold hand clamped down on the back of my neck, hard. It pulled me back onto my heels as another hand grabbed my wrist, slamming my gun hand into a support column. I caught a glimpse of the woman’s face, flecked with blood, as I was dragged away from her.

Nico, what’s happening? Vesco said. I could hear footsteps pounding down the hall in my direction.

Something connected hard with my cheek and I was spun around. One leg went out from under me, and I went facedown on the concrete. When I tried to get up, a boot landed between my shoulder blades and my chest slammed into the floor under it, forcing the wind out of me.

I need backup down here, now. Where the hell was SWAT?

The boot lifted and I heaved myself onto my hands and knees, firing a back kick blindly into something solid. Heavy footsteps staggered back and I swung around, pointing my gun.

Before I could pull the trigger, a sharp pain stabbed into the side of my neck and the strength went out of me. My arms got heavy and fell to my sides. The gun slipped out of my hand and clunked onto the floor. Toxin warnings