Bunny produced a pair of long-necked nippers and began cutting the chain links. We repeated this at the second fence, then ran fast and low toward the cluster of utility sheds.
“There’s a stone path by the sheds,” SAM said, “but the guards always make sure not to step on it. I think it’s booby-trapped.”
Bunny flattened out by the flagstones and nodded up at me. “Pressure mines. Kid’s sharp.”
“We get through this,” Top said, “we can chip in and buy him a puppy.”
“Guards are coming,” SAM said in an urgent whisper. “To your right.”
We flattened out against the sheds. I had my rifle slung and held my Beretta 92F in both hands. It was fitted with a sound suppressor that you won’t find in a gun catalog. Unlike the models on the market, this had a special polymer baffling that made it absolutely silent. Not even the nifty little
Two guards came around the corner. They were dressed in lightweight tropical shirts over cargo pants. They each carried a Heckler & Koch 416 and they were moving quickly, eyes cutting left and right with professional precision. An exterior grounds check was probably standard procedure with any emergency, and the fire SAM started must have been big enough to inspire caution.
I shot them both in the head.
Top and Bunny rushed out and dragged their bodies behind the sheds.
“Holy Jeez!” the Kid said.
“What’s our next move…?”
“There’s a door right at the corner of the first building. All of the buildings are connected to that one by hallways. I cut the alarms on all the doors and blanked out the cameras inside the buildings.”
“You’re making me like you, Kid. What do we do once we’re inside?”
“Um… okay, there are colored lines painted on all the floors. The blue line will bring you to the communications room, but you’re going to have to go through the maintenance pod and then the common room. It’s like a big lobby, with chairs and soda machines and a coffee bar. If you go straight across that, you’ll see the colored lines start again. Keep following that.”
“Roger that, Kid.”
“Wait!” There was some rustling noise and then he came back, breathless. “I think they’re coming back!”
“Can you lock yourself in until we get there?”
“The door’s just wood. They’ll kick it in.”
“Is your radio portable?”
“Yes. I rigged a headset.”
“Then get your ass out of there. Find someplace to hide. We’re going to have to make some noise.”
“God…”
“Are there any civilians we need to worry about? Any good guys?”
“Yes!” he said immediately. “The New Men. You’ll be able to spot them… they’re all dressed the same. Cotton pants and shirts with numbers on them. Please,” he begged, “don’t hurt any of them.”
“We’ll do our best, but if they offer resistance…”
“Believe me… they can’t.”
He said “can’t” rather than “won’t.” Interesting.
“Anyone else?”
“No… everyone else here is involved.”
“Then get out of there.”
“Okay, but… Cowboy? Watch out for the dogs.”
“What breed and how many?” I asked.
But all I got from the radio was a hiss of static.
“Okay,” I said to Bunny and Top, “pick your targets and check your fire. If anyone surrenders, let them. Otherwise, it’s Bad Day at Black Rock.”
“Hooah,” they replied.
“Now let’s kick some doors.”
Chapter Seventy-Four
The Hive
Sunday, August 29, 3:08 P.M.
Time Remaining on the Extinction Clock: 68 hours, 52 minutes E.S.T.
The exterior door was steel, so I stepped back as Bunny put a C4 popper on the lock with one of Hu’s newer gizmos-a poloymer shroud that was flexible enough to fold into a pocket but strong enough to catch shrapnel. It was also dense enough to muffle the sound, so when Bunny triggered it the lock blew out with a sound no louder than a cough. The door blew open in a swirl of smoke.
No alarms. Kid’s still batting a thousand so far.
I led the way inside.
The hallway was bright with flourescent lights and stretched sixty feet before hitting a T-juncture. There were doors on both sides. Everything was conveniently marked, and it was clear that this corridor was used by groundskeepers and technicians. Most of the rooms were storage. The left-hand rooms had bags of chemical fertilizer, shovels and garden tools, racks of work clothes. The right-hand rooms included a small machine shop, a boiler room, and a changing room for support staff. There were plenty of clothes and I debated having my guys change into them, but I didn’t. My gut was telling me that we were fighting the clock here, so we tagged each doorway with a paper sensor pad set below the level where the eye would naturally fall. The sensors had an ultrathin wire and a tiny blip transmitter. We peeled off the adhesive backing and pressed them over the crack in the door opposite the hinge side. If anyone opened the door, the paper would tear and a signal would be sent to our scanners. Simple and useful.
We found one room in which a large piece of some unidentifiable equipment hung from a chain hoist. From the scattering of tools and the droplight that still burned it looked like a work in active progress. There was no one around. Everyone must have gone to investigate the fire the Kid had set and, like most employees would, was probably stalling before heading back to work.
I still had the Beretta in my hands and we moved through a building that was empty and silent.
That all changed in a heartbeat.
Two men rounded the right-hand side of the T-juncture while we were still twenty feet away. Both wore coveralls stained with grease, and I knew they had to be the mechanics working on the equipment. They were deep in conversation, speaking German with an Austrian accent, when they saw us. They froze, eyes bugging in their heads, mouths opened in identical “ohs” of surprise as they stared down the barrels of three guns. I put the laser sight of my Beretta on the forehead of the bigger of the two men and put my finger to my lips.
All he had to do was nothing. All he had to do was stay silent and not try to be a hero.
Some people just don’t get it.
He half-turned and drew a fast breath to scream and I put one through his temple. Top took the other with two side-by-side shots in the center of his chest. They hit the floor in a sprawl.
If Lady Luck would have cut us a single frigging break we’d have been past them and into the complex within a few seconds. But she was in a mood today. There were other people behind them, out of our line of sight, farther down the side corridors.
People started screaming.
Then people started firing guns.
A moment later the alarms sounded.
So much for stealth.
