“Data connections are trashed,” she replied. “And it doesn’t look like anyone has even sat in this chair in six months. Whole place was probably just decorative.”
“Decorative or not, where are the rest of the Augments?” Bolivar asked. “The Augment Corps works in platoons of thirty-two, as you guys said. This place is…weird.”
“This place is a covert bioweapon lab, Captain,” Roslyn told him with a sigh. There was only so much she could hide from the Guardia officer now. “And everything you’re seeing down here is classified. Your Guardia report is going to be very, very short.”
Bolivar chuckled.
“I’d guessed,” he said. “Both parts, unfortunately. Three entrances deeper into the lab. Where do we go?”
“In the absence of a map, left-hand rule,” Mooren replied. “Do we want to make sure nobody gets out, sir?”
“Even foxhole grenades can be cut through without leaving guards, and we’re not splitting the team,” Roslyn said. “Leave exit security to Major Dickens.”
She paused.
“Speaking of, hold up here one moment. I’m going to check in.”
A few commands on her wrist-comp later, she stared at a red alert on her HUD and swallowed a curse.
NO CONNECTION.
“We’re blocked,” she told the others. “Not sure if it’s jamming or just the construction. Our enemy probably has boosters and a com network linked to an off-site relay.”
That kind of thing was her job, not the Marines.
“We’d need special equipment to transmit out, and we didn’t get that dropped,” she said aloud. “Should have anticipated it when we realized the treatment plant was shielded.”
Of course, it had already been too late at that point. The only option they had was to finish the job.
“We can’t risk anyone running, so load up, people,” Roslyn said grimly. “Left-hand rule it is, Sergeant Mooren. Let’s move.”
32
The left-hand option led them into a collection of boardrooms and offices, all empty. They were well set up with tables, desks, chairs…all of it covered in a faint coating of dust.
“Has anyone been in this area ever?” Killough asked.
“The corridor has been used,” Knight told him. “But these offices and boardrooms…”
A drone zipped through an ajar door into one of the boardrooms, then settled down on top of the long black table.
“Electronics aren’t even hooked up to a network,” the cyberwarfare Marine said. “Everything in this area is dead. If it ever was in use, they actively shut it down.”
“This doesn’t look much like a lab,” Roslyn said.
“You haven’t been in many corporate laboratories, have you?” Bolivar asked. “Most have an office section for the investors and accounting people. Even the researchers have offices, though they’re usually much messier than this.
“Maybe they decided to plan for expansion?”
Roslyn grimaced behind her helmet.
“I hope not,” she said. “These people are…not who I want expanding.”
“Lights are at least on,” Mooren replied. “Think they ever turn them off?”
“We are over two hundred meters below ground,” Roslyn pointed out. “I wouldn’t turn the damn lights off, and claustrophobia is contraindicated in Navy officers.”
The lead drones reached the end of the corridor, lights sweeping right and left as the Marines caught up.
“Left-hand rule?” Roslyn asked as she reached the T intersection. “Right looks like more offices, anyway.”
She had mapping software running in her HUD that suggested the right-hand path would link up with the middle of the three corridors from the foyer area. That implied, to her at least, that those two paths flanked a large area of offices and boardrooms.
Some of the offices might even be in use—but they weren’t looking for offices right now.
“I have power signatures suggesting an elevator to the left,” Knight reported. “Seems like a plan to me.”
“Keep the maps running,” Mooren said. “I have the sinking feeling this place isn’t going to be easy to find our way around.”
“Are there any networks that might have a map we can access?” Roslyn asked.
“There’s a network,” Knight confirmed. “I can tell the damn thing exists, but I can’t even get a wireless protocol off it. Military-style ghosting and encryption—and it’s not Republic or Sorprendidan codes.”
“Is it ours?” Roslyn said. “That would be a hell of a way to screw with everyone’s heads.”
“Checked that, too,” the Marine replied. “I’m guessing custom software, but it’s better than anything I’ve ever seen.”
“We’ll keep searching. There’s people down here somewhere, unless they’ve already run for it.”
And that felt…out of character. Everything about the facility so far suggested it was larger than Roslyn’s worst-case scenarios.
Whoever was in charge had to have known the Navy and Marines coming for them was a chance. That meant there was a plan, and Roslyn wished she didn’t have to find out what it was.
She was certain she wasn’t going to like it.
The silence and emptiness of the complex only grew creepier as the Marine squad traveled deeper into the facility. After leaving the offices, they ended up in a storage section that was clearly along the south wall of the complex.
Nothing in the storage flagged as worth further investigation as they went along. The storage units were at least clearly in use, marked as containing all kinds of laboratory chemicals and similar working material for a lab…but there was still no one around.
“I’m marking side routes as we go, but I think this place is a maze,” Roslyn concluded as they reached the end of the storage section and ran into a blank wall. “One dead end doesn’t a labyrinth make, but…this place is weird.”
“Agreed,” Killough said grimly. “Head back to the last branch and see where it leads?”
“Not much else we can do unless we can crack the system or find a map,” Mooren agreed. “Or find someone to interrogate.”
“I have all kinds of questions to ask,” Roslyn said. “Come on. Let’s keep moving. There are answers somewhere in this godforsaken pit, I hope.”
The branch off they headed back to was more of the same for a bit, then finally they hit a decontamination airlock. The system was entirely automated, to the point where it didn’t even ask them for
