Takedown

toward the ground.

“Did you get it?” I call to Robert over the intercom.

“I think so. I’m reviewing the footage now,” he replies.

I take us a distance away from the facility while Robert continues to review what we recorded.

“It looks like we have good recordings from all angles,” he reports a short time later.

“Roger that. We’re heading back,” I state.

I radio in the coordinates of the hospital to base as we make the quick trip back to McChord AFB. We land and shutdown in short order. Robert grabs the video from the equipment and we button up.

“Are we heading back to Cabela’s?” Bri asks as we stand ready to load into the Humvees.

“There’s one other thing we’ll need,” I state.

“Let me guess, building plans,” Robert says.

“Where are we going to get those?” Bri asks.

“From the front reception desk…I hope,” I answer.

We load up and I notify the compound of our intention to visit the hospital to get a better indication of what we may be up against. I don’t know that Lynn is still in there having had no new images but it’s the only thing I have to go on.

“Jack, are you planning to go in?” Drescoll radios a few minutes later.

“Um, not very far in,” I state.

“Frank just marked the location on the maps. I’ll meet you there,” Drescoll replies.

“Copy that.”

The drive takes longer on the ground than it did in the air but we eventually arrive. Drescoll’s Humvee is already parked in the eastern lot, the side facing the front entrance. He is standing with the rest of his team looking toward the immense structure. He glances at us arriving before turning back to the building.

The enormity of the complex becomes readily apparent as I step out and meet up with Drescoll and his team.

“You think she’s somewhere in there?” he asks.

“It’s where the image of her came from. Whether she’s actually in there is anyone’s guess,” I answer. “After all, it was only an image of her.”

“So, what’s the plan to get her? This place is huge,” he says.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll have to take a look at the video and the building plans first. I think we can eliminate most of the outside rooms though,” I say, looking at the dark plate glass windows filling a large part of the building walls. “That leaves her somewhere in the interior.”

“That’s a lot of area to cover.”

“You have that right. Now, let’s see what we can do about obtaining some plans,” I say.

We cross the parking lot to the main entrance, passing cars and trucks covered in grime. The tall grass in the medians between the rows of parking spots has turned brown but the trees dotting the area remain green. The shrubs lining the walkway to the entrance, which were once trimmed to perfection, now look like they have a serious case of morning hair.

The entrance itself has tinted windows, rising to the height of the entire first floor, on either side. The glass on the automatic doors of the entrance itself are broken out, a sure sign that night runners lie within. For the first time encountering this sign of a night runner lair, I’m a little relieved to see it. It’s another clue that Lynn may actually be within the hard walls and dark windows. Kneeling, I look into the entrance foyer. The shards of glass from the broken doors have been moved from the entrance itself and arrayed in a pile near one of the exterior walls.

That’s new, I think, looking on. I stare inside trying to get a feel for the place.

“Can you open up and see if you can sense any night runners?” Drescoll whispers at my side.

“I’d rather not right now. I mean, if they’re inside, I’m sure they know we’re here by our smell and we weren’t exactly stealthy with our approach. Just call it a gut feeling that I’d rather not right now,” I answer.

“You think they might try to stop us from entering?”

“They may. We need those plans, if they exist. Without them, our chances of getting Lynn out are drastically reduced.”

“So, how do you want to play this?” Drescoll quietly asks.

Looking farther inside the foyer, I see that the radiant light extends quite a distance in due to the full height of the windows. A reception desk is on the far side of the foyer, sitting at the edge of the fading grays of the sunlight. The tinted windows, however, reduces the brightness of any light and casts the interior in gloom.

Trails leading farther into the interior mar the dust-covered floor — more evidence that night runners have been using this place. Even if night runners happen to be inside, and judging by the body odor I can smell, they are, they won’t be able to get to us if we go no farther than the desk.

“Both teams in. You’re in first and on the left, Red goes in second and to the right. We set a perimeter no farther than the edge of the light. I’ll head to the desk and see if I can find anything that would have the hospital diagrams in it. I’m guessing they would have to have had something on hand in order to guide patients and visitors to the right place,” I state.

Green Team stacks at the entrance door followed by Red Team. On a nod from Drescoll, they enter quickly into the foyer, sweeping along the left wall, their boots plodding on the hard floor. Red Team follows on their heels fanning out to the right. Both teams quickly settle into position creating a semi-circle with the entrance door at their backs. I step into the foyer as a single, faint shriek sounds from within the depths of the hospital.

Every soldier tenses at the sound. The scream echoes down corridors and fades. Silence resumes. I halt in the middle of the teams, waiting for a chorus of shrieks to follow. Nothing. The coolness of the interior coats us as we wait for what we’ve become used to, an explosion of night runners heading our way. A deep quiet follows the single shriek.

I listen intently for the sound of running feet or some indication that a horde is on its way. We should be safe in the light, but anyone inside of a night runner lair, and hearing that sound, cannot feel anything but fear. Tension fills the foyer. Dark hallways extend out to the sides and back of the large room. Nothing comes out from their shadowy depths. There aren’t any flashes or glimmers of pale faces hovering on the edge of the light. The fact that night runners aren’t howling at the edge of the light is more than a little eerie.

Soldiers sneak glances my direction. I still don’t open up — perhaps afraid of what I might actually sense. Although I know it would be good to know how many we may be up against, now or when we come back, I just don’t feel it’s the right time to play our hand. Deep within me is the fear that I’ll spook the night runners and they’ll move Lynn — assuming she is even here.

The thought that she could be close by, in this very building, creates its own impatience within me. I want nothing more than to call out and hear her voice — and to move deeper into the shadows to find her. Sanity prevails though and I know that I…we have to do this carefully if we are going to get her out alive.

With my M-4 held at the ready, I walk over to the large reception desk. Rounding the corner, I’m startled to see skeletal remains on the floor amidst a couple of overturned chairs. Only pieces of rotting clothing remains attached to a mostly devoured corpse. The lower jaw hangs open as if still uttering the final scream. One of the arms is missing and the right leg lies some distance away from the carcass. One of the telephone systems has been knocked to the floor and lies next to the desiccated body. The phone handle and cord rests near the head of the body as if it were trying to make that last call. Shaking my head, not wanting to think of this person’s final dark moment of terror, I turn my attention to the desk.

The dark wooden desk has sheets of paper strewn about its surface and on the floor behind. Dust covers dried pieces of paper that are curled at the corners. Thick clouds of dust rise as I blow on the sheets, the particles settling slowly to the floor and casting dust motes in the light streaming in from outside. Nothing I see resembles building plans.

Most are memos directing patients to the right rooms. One departmental note specifies that the hospital is no longer taking patients and for the staff to direct any further incoming patients to their family physicians. I note with a kind of morbid fascination that several of the pieces of paper are covered in dark stains.

With only the sound of the teams shifting positions as they continue to scour the interior for signs of night