Subject Nightingale 1: Birth and Death (4 page)

“So this is it, huh?” Tommy said, eyeing the multiple barrels he suddenly found himself looking down. “Kinda %$#@!^ up odds for a Mexican standoff, don't you think?”

“
I'll only tell you one more time, Tommy,” Jonny said, his tone firm and their gazes locked. “Stand down.”

“
Come on, man,” Theo said when Tommy didn't answer, “I didn't sign up to kill kids.”

“
If you pull that trigger, it will be the last thing you ever do.” Michaela affirmed the rest of the squad's feelings. Her pistol was aimed at Tommy with one hand; she stared at him down the sights, her other arm around the frightened Nightingale.

“
Well, I'm clearly outnumbered here...” Tommy uncocked his rifle and dropped it, letting it hang by its shoulder strap, and lifted his hands.

“
You've got two options,” Jonny began, “you can either help us extract this girl, or you can get the hell out of my squad.”

“
Fine,” Tommy said, and began to back away from all the unfriendly guns. The others kept their sights on him the entire time, forming a barrier between Tommy and the girl. “I'll see you around, California.” Once the stairwell door at the other end of the hall slid open, he grabbed his gun and cocked it again. “Maybe even around these halls.” With those final words, the door slammed shut, and Tommy was gone.

Jonny shook his head and lowered his gun. He turned to address the rest of his squad, looking between Michaela and Theo. “How about you two? Let's be clear—we're directly defying the Council, so no hard feelings if you wanna jump ship with Tommy.”

Theo shook his head. “The files didn't say anything about the experiments being people—let alone kids.”

Michaela holstered her sidearm and attached her medical kit to the back of her belt; it secured with a quiet mechanical
zip!
and then she stood, taking Nightingale by the hand and helping her to her feet. “I promised this child I would protect her,” she said as she retrieved her rifle from the floor, and slipped its strap back around her chest, “and I will keep my promise.” She looked down at Nightingale and smiled, and Nightingale couldn't help but smile back.

She felt safe with Michaela. The bird came out of hiding, perching itself on her shoulder again. “Thank you,” she said, looking between the three remaining members of Glitch squad.

“Don't thank us yet,” Jonny said. “Tommy's too clever to let himself get killed by building security. Once he meets up with another ECHO squad, we're gonna be fighting against security
and
ECHO.”

“
We'd better get moving,” Theo said. “We need to find another secure location so we can route our way out.”

“
Floor twenty-five should still be clear,” Jonny said as he started toward the stairwell they entered the floor through. “We'll be able to hunker down for a few minutes and regroup. Let's move out.”

Jonny took point and Theo nodded for Michaela and Nightingale to go next. Theo wasn't far behind, covering their rear as Jonny led them to the stairs.

Nightingale was thankful for the help, but was still pretty frightened. She still had little to no idea what was going on, but she needed to focus on getting out of this war zone first. As she walked right next to Michaela, she placed her hand on her neck where she could have sworn a bullet had pierced her. She didn't feel so much as a scratch, though; there was still some sticky blood, but no wound.

“
What is the matter, child?” Michaela asked when she noticed her troubled expression. “Aside from the obvious, of course.”

Nightingale just shook her head. “Nothing... I just wanna get out of here...”

Chapter 4
The Man with the (Pretty Crappy) Plan
 

Jonny led his squad and Nightingale to the east stairwell, where they had originally entered the floor. A three-foot black crowbar had been jammed between the automatic door and the threshold, low to the ground, to keep the malfunctioning door open. Jonny entered the stairwell first, aiming his rifle up and down the stairs, and then over the handrail to look down several flights.

“We're clear,” he confirmed, and then everyone else filed in.

Theo crouched down to grab his crowbar once everyone was through. It collapsed at his touch, shrinking down to a six-inch rod, and the thick steel door began to ease shut with a bit of effort. It spewed sparks and screeched as it painfully sealed itself. He slipped the collapsed crowbar back into the small pouch attached to his belt, and Jonny waved for everyone to follow him downstairs.

The three members of Glitch squad stuck close to the wall, and Nightingale stuck close to Michaela. She went so far as to only step where she stepped, but got so caught up in the precision of her own footing it took her a whole few seconds to realize that the entire stairwell had started to rumble. She bumped right into Michaela when the squad stopped to hunker down, and then followed suit once she realized what was going on.

“
Is the building falling down?” Nightingale asked the first question that crossed her frightened mind, and the bird on her shoulder chirped worriedly in response. She put one hand on Michaela's back and flattened herself against the wall, watching nervously as trails of cement dust fell from the upper levels.

“
No,” Jonny answered, “but it sounds like the fight's getting hotter the higher up ECHO goes.”

“
Sounds like good news for us,” Theo said. “If it gets bad enough, Command will begin redirecting squads topside. Should make for some smooth sailing for a couple of guys trying to sneak a kid outta this place.”

Once the rumbling settled down, Jonny waved his squad forward again. “Let's keep moving. Theo, get your bar ready.”

Theo retrieved the crowbar from its pouch as they neared the 25th floor. He clenched the short rod in his fist and gave it a quick and sudden shake, and it extended from either end with a quiet mechanical buzz. Jonny flattened against the wall to the door's left and pointed his gun down the stairs, while Michaela covered the stairs up and to the right. Nightingale stayed behind Michaela, while Theo grabbed his crowbar in both hands and heaved the flat end into the narrow space between the door and the threshold.

“
Why are we stopping here?” Nightingale whispered. “Why don't we just keep going down?”

Jonny shook his head, keeping his sights trained on the stairs. “There are a hundred different ECHO squads securing this building right now. We need to regroup and figure out where they are so we can avoid them.”

Theo clenched his teeth and strained as he pushed on the thick end of the crowbar, failing to force the door open. “It's jammed worse than before,” he said between attempts, panting for breath as he spent nearly all his energy trying to pry it open.

“
Give me room,” Jonny said as he dropped his rifle and stood beside Theo. Together they leaned their full body weight into the crowbar, but the door still didn't budge.

“
Did you try the emergency handle?” Nightingale asked as she watched the two struggle.

“
Thanks for the suggestion,” Theo said between breaths, “but yeah. The whole building's locked down, the doors have to be forced open.”

“
But it worked earlier,” Nightingale said.

Theo grabbed the emergency handle and gave it a few quick tugs to show Nightingale that it wasn't working. “What are we gonna do?” he asked Jonny.

Jonny let out a breath and rested his arms on the crowbar jammed horizontally in the door. “We've gotta find somewhere to sit for a minute. Do we know if any other floors are clear at the moment?”

Nightingale stepped away from Michaela and put herself between Theo and the door. She bumped into him when she reached for the emergency handle, and he looked down at her.

“I told you it's not gonna work, you just saw for yourself.”

“
I wanna try myself.” She grabbed the red handle and gave it a firm tug, and same as before, the large steel door began sputtering sparks and slowly opening. “See?” She stepped back over to Michaela and looked up at Theo and Jonny.

“
Well I'll be,” Theo said as he caught his crowbar when the door released it. He collapsed it and stowed it. “I guess you've got the magic touch, kid.”

“
Michaela, help us out,” Jonny ordered when the door stopped after about a foot.

He grabbed its edge and braced his foot against the threshold, and Theo and Michaela each grabbed the edge as well.

“Pull!”

The three of them pulled with all their strength, collectively holding their breath and straining as they managed to slowly force the door open a few more feet. When they let go, it didn't begin to close on its own like before—whatever internal security mechanism controlled it must have been broken after so many forced openings.

“It's not ideal, but it gets us in,” Jonny said as he slipped through first, aiming his rifle left and right before motioning for everyone else to follow. “If the others are on schedule, we've got less than ten minutes before the next ECHO squad sweeps this floor.”

Nightingale and Michaela went next, and then Theo behind them. As Jonny led them down the hallway, Nightingale reminded herself to keep her eyes up. The floor was littered with bodies, debris, and miscellaneous remnants from a hard-fought battle, and staring at it all upset her stomach.

“Why are there so many bodies?” she asked, if only to hear a noise other than footsteps.

“
Because there are many more members of building security than ECHO,” Michaela answered.

Nightingale let her gaze drift as she followed close behind. The walls that weren't crumbling and cratered were painted white, some bearing the Lab's slogan in tall, black block lettering. Nightingale caught glimpses of that room she woke up in as she read it:
Until man is indistinguishable from gods.
She saw herself sitting in that throne, hooked up to that machine, and she saw Doctor Metzger mumbling the phrase to himself.

Shattered windows looked into large laboratories, filled with wrecked equipment that Nightingale didn't recognize. It all looked very technical and scary, and suddenly she began wondering what that doctor had been doing to her.

“Theo, get us in,” Jonny said as he stopped in front of another steel door, this one labeled
Security
.

“
I'm getting real sick of prying these doors open for you, Jonny,” Theo said as he extended his crowbar and got to work.

Jonny covered the hallway to the right. “I hope it's teaching you a valuable lesson.”

“Yeah,” Theo muttered between grunts as he forced the door open, “don't play my queens when there's a king in the river.”

“
A king in the river?” Nightingale whispered, looking up at Michaela.

“
It is a card game,” Michaela responded, not taking her eyes off the left hallway.

“
Contact!” Theo shouted once the door was open, and Jonny and Michaela turned to train their guns on the lone member of building security.

The man had come at him with a fire ax, his ammo completely spent on previous encounters with ECHO. He hurled its blade for the top of Theo's head, but Theo blocked it with his crowbar held high in both hands. He brought his knee up and into his attacker's crotch, and the ax fell to the floor with a clatter. Next he brought the thick end of the crowbar down onto his attacker's face, and seamlessly turned the motion into a strong grapple.

Theo was now behind the man, but Jonny and Michaela held their fire for fear of the bullets going through. Nightingale remained huddled behind Michaela, keeping her eyes shut and away from the scene.

The man gagged, pinned to Theo's chest with the crowbar pulled across his throat, and he grasped uselessly at the thick steel as he felt its hold on him tightening. With a quick twist of his upper body, Theo brought the man's head to one side, and snapped his neck with a quiet
tchk!
He let out a breath as the body slumped to the floor, and panted out his sudden burst of adrenaline.

“
Confirmed kill,” he said as he put his crowbar away. “Rest of the room looks secure.”

Jonny and Michaela lowered their guns as they entered with Nightingale. The windowless room was mostly dark, bathed in the bright blue light of two large malfunctioning security monitors. Attached to the far wall, they only cast their light halfway across the room—it was barely even enough to illuminate the keyboards attached to the consoles beneath them.

“Why's it so dark in here?” Nightingale asked as she crept toward the light source, one hand on the wall to help find her way.

“
Michaela, look after the girl,” Jonny ordered as he and Theo moved to a table in the center of the room.

“
Be careful, child, there are bullet casings on the floor. Do not trip.” Michaela stuck close to Nightingale, leading her to the monitors. “This is one of the security hubs for the entire building. When they fell under siege, they shut down all of their security operations to prevent them from being overridden.”

Nightingale felt better under the light of the monitors. She looked at the door as it eased itself shut. “That's why all the doors are locked?”

“Yes... Like a turtle hiding in its shell, the entire building is in a high level of lockdown.”

On the other side of the room, Jonny pulled a tightly rolled map from one of his pockets and unfurled the large sheet across the table. Its glossy surface started to glow a gentle blue, and a white outline of the building appeared on its surface. The word
Locating
flashed several times, and then the blueprints for floor 25 appeared. A red dot blinked in one of the rooms to display their current location.

“
We've only got one chance to plot our course before we go off the grid,” Jonny said.

Theo leaned his palms on the edge of the table, arms stiff as he looked over the map. “Are there any service shafts we can take?”

Jonny shook his head. “The elevators are all down, and Tommy has the repelling gear.” He touched the edge of the map with his right hand and dragged two fingers vertically across its surface. The white outline of floor 25 rotated into a 3-dimensional image, and then when he dragged his fingers horizontally, several floors above and below 25 appeared. Several yellow dots populated the map. “These are the closest ECHO squads.”

“
It looks like Reverb got caught up.” Theo pointed at the yellow dot on floor 20, the word
Reverb
floating above it. “Buys us a little extra time to have that stairwell all to ourselves.”

“
Let's not waste it,” Jonny said. “It looks like Specter is on time,” he pointed to a dot on floor 30, “which means they'll be leap-frogging down to floor twenty-two in seven minutes. Reverb will be here in ten. That gives us seven minutes to figure out our route, and three minutes to get lower than floor twenty.” He looked up toward Michaela and Nightingale and called out, “We're heading out in seven. Be ready.”

“
Where do we go once we hit nineteen?” Theo asked.

“
Roger,” Michaela said, confirming Jonny's notice.

“
Which one is Roger?” Nightingale asked, confusion sweeping across her face as she looked between Jonny and Theo.

“
No, child,” Michaela chuckled lightly at the misunderstanding, “we say 'Roger' to show that we understand.”

“
Oh...” Nightingale thought about it for a moment, staring down at her feet as she leaned against the security console. “Well, roger.”

“
You are a quick learner,” Michaela said.

“
How come the guy who left was calling Jonny a different name?” she asked next.

Michaela let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the console beside Nightingale. Her visage looked a little troubled as she explained. “Every family has a black sheep, I suppose...” She looked down at Nightingale, but could tell she didn't understand.

“Is there a word for the opposite of 'Roger'?” Nightingale asked.

Michaela smiled and clarified. “It is custom for soldiers to be addressed by their last names. But when Jonny first formed Glitch squad, he insisted we call each other by our
first
names... He said it was more personal—that it would help build camaraderie, and friendship. We all thought he was just some sentimental fool, but over time, we learned that it actually worked. We became close, like family, so when we enter combat, we truly have each other's backs.”

“
Why wasn't he calling him Jonny, then?” she asked.

Michaela let out another sigh. “Tommy and Jonny never quite saw eye to eye... He was once in command of his own squad, but was demoted because of his own recklessness. Even after Jonny picked him up, all he wanted was to be in charge... But he lacks a certain quality that a good leader requires.”