2040 Revelations (31 page)

‘It seems, gentlemen,’ Joiner said, in his nasal voice, ‘that you will all be relocating to U.S.S.B. Sanctuary.’ He paused to let his words sink in. ‘With immediate effect.’

The generals were instantly up in arms. A couple stood up, unable to contain their anger, as they all voiced their outrage at such a move. Joiner merely sat and watched them with no sign of emotion or reaction. They fell silent one by one when it became apparent that Joiner wouldn’t respond until he had their full attention once again.

‘Finished?’ he asked them insolently. ‘Excellent. This command has come from the Joint Chiefs.’ He took a sheet of paper from the folder and passed it to his armed aide, who handed it to General Shultz. The general read it and then threw it in disgust to his colleague sitting next to him.

‘How did you swing this?’ Shultz said, incredulous. ‘You can’t leave the base without military leaders and the Joint Chiefs would not give this kind of order unless they had been forced into it.’

‘Sadly, the request was not from me in this instance,’ Joiner said. ‘I would rather let you all stay here to rot, but it seems you all have friends in higher places and in order to keep the peace I am ensuring the Joint Chiefs get what they want.’

‘Not dancing to your tune for once, eh?’ another general said with venom.

‘Oh, they’ll follow my direction, as well you all know, but even I must make the occasional concession and it turns out that you’re it. You will be travelling under my control and without any of your forces. You may pack the bare essentials and your families are being rounded up as we speak.’

‘You better treat my children with care, Joiner,’ another general said, standing up menacingly, ‘or I’ll throttle your scraggy little neck!’

The intelligence operative’s hand went to his sidearm, but Joiner gestured to his man to stand down. ‘Your
get
are being well looked after, General,’ Joiner said, his emotionless eyes boring into him.

The general held his gaze until Joiner, unfazed, looked around at the others in the room. He stood. ‘My agents will ensure you are ready to depart at twelve hundred hours. Good day, gentlemen.’ Joiner left without another word, his bodyguard opening the door for him and then swiftly following the Director out of the room. The doors to the room swung shut and the generals were left alone once more, the unusual sensation of impotency upon them.

♦

CIA Special Operations Agent Myers was waiting for Malcolm Joiner as he came out of his brief meeting with Steadfast’s generals.

‘Sir, reporting as ordered,’ Myers said, as he fell into step with his boss.

‘We’re leaving Steadfast at twelve hundred hours and the generals and their families will be joining us,’ Joiner told him.

‘We, sir?’

‘The whole intelligence division at this base.’

‘Everyone, sir?’

Joiner strode along the corridor of the Command Centre, which still bore the extensive scars inflicted by the firefight a few days before. ‘You heard me, Agent.’

‘Can I ask where we are relocating to, sir?’

‘Sanctuary,’ Joiner said in distraction. ‘I want you to gather together computer and structural engineers and welders from the civilian workforce and the army. I want them topside in an hour.’

‘Will they be coming to Sanctuary as well?’ Myers said.

‘Yes.’

‘And their families too?’

Joiner scowled. ‘If they must.’

‘Sir?’

‘Yes. Gather up their families and then we can get out of this godforsaken hole.’

‘Very good, sir.’

Joiner slowed his walk as his thoughts returned to the source of his disquiet. ‘What is the situation with Goodwin on the surface?’

‘As far as we’re aware he’s still at the Darklight base,’ Myers said. ‘The army’s monitoring the situation; do you want me to send in some agents to keep an eye on things?’

Joiner considered the question for a moment. ‘No,’ he said at last, ‘just keep me apprised of any developments.’

Myers nodded and turned to walk off to carry out his orders.

‘Oh, and Myers.’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘Get a couple of workers to take down the screen in Goodwin’s office, along with the tech that powers it. I want it boxed up and shipped with us.’

‘Certainly, sir,’ Myers said, as he withdrew his phone to make the necessary arrangements.

♦

A few hours later a group of black SUVs had assembled at the main surface entrance to U.S.S.B. Steadfast. Joiner had been waiting for Agent Myers, who was inside the topside complex overseeing the final preparations before their departure. Unfortunately he was failing to perform his designated tasks, as he’d called in Joiner to speak to one of the engineers who was apparently giving him grief.

‘What is the problem here, why isn’t work underway?’ Joiner said, approaching a man who was arguing fiercely with Myers.

‘This idiot expects me to cross weld the exits and disable the elevator mechanisms,’ the engineer told Joiner. ‘He’s lost his mind!’

Myers looked exasperated and he stepped to one side, enabling his Director to take the lead.

‘I want these exits sealed and the elevators permanently decommissioned,’ Joiner said, ‘it’s a matter of great importance.’

‘I won’t do it,’ the engineer said.

‘Then I’ll get someone who will.’

The man blinked a few times as he computed that information. ‘No one will do what you want,’ the engineer said, outraged at the suggestion he might be replaced.

Two other engineers who were present voiced their agreement.

‘I don’t understand why you would want to prevent anyone from Steadfast getting to the surface,’ the main engineer continued. ‘It doesn’t make any sense and it also condemns hundreds of thousands of people to virtual imprisonment.’

‘My reasons are none of your concern, and you are here to complete tasks as ordered, not to question them,’ Joiner told him, and then considered the man for a moment. ‘If you must know, there is an outbreak of a potentially deadly virus which has to be prevented from reaching the surface,’ he said, hoping his lie would be accepted. He was to be disappointed, however.

‘A virus, you expect me to believe that?’ the engineer scoffed. ‘There’s no virus down there, we’d have been issued with quarantine protocols if there was.’

Joiner’s agitation spiked and he moved in close to the man’s face. ‘I’ll give you one last chance to reconsider your position,’ he said with barely concealed anger. ‘Things will not go well for you if you don’t comply.’

‘Comply, what kind of talk is that? I don’t respond well to threats, so you can take your orders and stuff them where the sun don’t shine.’

Joiner had had enough. He turned to Myers, who stood close by. ‘Make an example of this man, Agent,’ Joiner said.

Agent Myers acknowledged Joiner’s order and understood its connotations. He moved past his superior, pulled out his silenced gun and shot the engineer once in the head. The man slumped to the ground, stone dead.

The remaining two senior engineers cried out in terror at what had just transpired. One leaned against a wall and retched while the other looked to be in shock as he stared wide-eyed at the body prone at his feet.

Joiner waited in calm disinterest until the two men had regained some of their senses. ‘Now, I want those exits and elevators sealed and disabled within the day. Agent Myers will oversee your work; make sure it meets his requirements otherwise you’ll be facing the same fate as your friend here.’ He indicated the body on the floor.

The two men stared at him, uncomprehending.

‘DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!’ Myers shouted at them, stepping forwards, his hand once more on the grip of his firearm.

The engineers nodded woodenly.

‘Do your job and keep quiet about this incident,’ Joiner told them, ‘and you and your families will be rewarded with top class accommodation at U.S.S.B. Sanctuary.’ He walked away, beckoning Myers alongside. ‘Get rid of that body.’

‘Yes, sir. What about his family?’

‘Drop them off in the nearest town.’

‘What should I tell them?’

‘I don’t know,’ Joiner said in annoyance. ‘Make something up. When the workmen have finished their jobs, round them up and dispose of them.’

‘Sir?’

‘You heard me. The elevator shaft would be an appropriate place for an accident, don’t you think?’

‘Yes, sir,’ Myers said, his face deadpan. ‘And
their
families?’

Joiner glared at him. ‘Do I have to think of everything? Drop them off with the others. Tell them they will be relocated and reunited with their loved ones in a few weeks’ time.’

‘Yes, sir, very good.’

Joiner strode off leaving Myers behind to clear up the mess. The two remaining engineers stood forlornly next to their dead colleague, unaware that their fate was already set in stone.

♦

Colonel Samson had been receiving phone calls from all over Steadfast. Since the evacuation of about five per cent of the civilian population – many of whom ran the command centre – and the battle between the army and Darklight forces, unrest and panic had spread throughout the base. This was to be expected, of course; however, he was now getting calls from military personnel who were unable to get in touch with any of the base’s generals. Word had reached him that a meeting had been seen taking place earlier in the day between Intelligence Director Joiner and the top brass. Since then there had been no sign of them and Samson had got that uneasy feeling that things were far from right.

Other colonels operated on the base, but due to his position on Special Forces he was looked upon as more of a leader than the rest. His phone bleeped again. Taking it out, he hit
reject call
. He’d had enough of this. Striding along a corridor and down a flight of stairs, he flung open some double doors and moved into a loading bay. Off to one side crouched a man working on the bodywork of a small, open-top military truck. Without breaking stride Samson hopped onto the back of the vehicle and jumped into the driver’s seat. Starting it up, he sped off, heading for the Command Centre and leaving a startled looking mechanic in his wake.

Ten minutes later Samson arrived at the large plaza, which was still littered with signs of the carnage that had taken place during the assault. He cut the engine and vaulted out onto the paving stones, his boots crunching down onto shattered glass that had been missed in the clear up. Stalking through the main entrance and up an escalator, he took a flight of stairs up to the next floor, where he found an elevator still in operation. A short time later he was barging open the doors to the main control room, where Nathan Bryant had been installed by Joiner to temporarily control the base.

‘Colonel, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?’ Bryant said, his tone scathing.

‘What are you playing at?’ Samson said. ‘This base is a complete mess. Systems are failing all over the place and some barracks are without any power.’

‘What do you expect to happen when most of the people who have the expertise to analyse and control this place are forced to evacuate by you and your cronies?’

Samson suppressed a snarl. ‘Joiner is no friend of mine.’

‘Then why are you carrying out his orders like some little errand boy?’

‘Careful, Bryant,’ Samson said, his expression darkening, ‘don’t push me.’

Nathan laughed at him. ‘What do I care what you do to me? I’ve betrayed my friend, resulting in his imprisonment and the deaths of innocent civilians. I’m past caring, so why don’t you just fuck off and leave me alone.’

Samson’s blood boiled over and his hand strayed to his rifle.

‘Go on, then!’ Bryant said, goading him. ‘You love to kill don’t you? Why not me? Add me to your ever growing list.’

Samson realised the man wasn’t in his right mind and his fury dissipated. Out of habit he removed one of his pills, which he chewed before swallowing.

‘If you’d care to let out the professor,’ Nathan continued, ‘then things may go our way a bit. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Joiner and your beloved generals have left you in the lurch.’

‘What do you mean?’ Samson said as his calm returned.

‘One of the systems indicated a malfunction with the elevator shafts; I had some computer specialists check it out. It seems they’ve been completely disabled from the surface.’

‘That doesn’t matter,’ Samson said, ‘we’re under lockdown anyway. The meteor hit, didn’t it?’

‘Of course it hit, but if we’re in lockdown why has Joiner left, along with the generals and his whole Intelligence team? Lockdown is lockdown, no ifs and buts, and yet he’s high-tailed it out of here, along with Goodwin and Darklight. Seems to me everyone’s leaving but us.’ Nathan’s eyes went distant and his voice grew quiet. ‘We’re up shit creek in more ways than you could know.’

‘What did you say?’ Samson said, but Bryant didn’t reply. Samson had to agree the man had a point.
Perhaps I should let the professor out
, he thought.
Fuck! I hate these damn people and their politics
. He gave a growl of frustration and left Bryant in the Control Centre, and headed back downstairs. A few floors down he emerged from a stairwell and met up with two of his Terra Force team outside Steiner’s makeshift cell.

‘Open it up,’ he said.

One of the men produced a key card and unlocked the door.

Samson entered to find Steiner sitting in his chair eating some food.

‘Ah, Colonel, joining me for a spot of lunch?’ the professor said, his manner far too jovial for Samson’s liking.

He gritted his teeth. ‘Get up and get out.’

‘I don’t think it’s time for my walk yet, that’s normally in a few hours’ time. If you’d care to wait awhile, I’d be happy for you to join me.’

‘Get up,’ Samson said, struggling to contain his irritation. ‘You’re free to go.’

Steiner looked at him for a moment, perhaps to see if he was being serious. If Steiner had known him at all, he would have known that Samson never joked. Not bothering to wait any longer in the man’s company, he walked back out of the room. ‘Men, on me,’ Samson said as he passed the soldiers, who followed him away from Steiner’s room, now open and unguarded.