The Last Revolution (32 page)

“No, of course not. You were sound asleep and I didn’t want to disturb you.” He pulled her close. “You mean so much to me.”

“Your nightmares, they’re getting worse, aren’t they?”

Alden put a hand on the cold steel of a rocket. “Not worse, just not better.”

“Are they the same every night?”

“The events switch around, but the result is always the same.”

“I want to help you, talk to me. What happened?”

“I appreciate it, but I’d prefer not to think about it at all.”

“That’s the problem though. The more you suppress it, the more obvious the effects become. Will you ever want to discuss it?”

“No. Besides, it’s only when I sleep that it comes out. I’ll be fine.”

“It doesn’t just affect your sleep. I can tell when certain comments or situations come up, you just go blank. You retreat to wherever that was. No one knows what we’ve been through. I want to help you.”

He found an empty bench near a tree and took a seat. He was supposed to be the one with all the answers, yet a simple memory had pulled at him for longer than he could remember. It was exhausting and terrifying at the same time.

Kira sat next to him. She grabbed his hand and set it on her lap. “Talk to me.”

“It’s been five years now. Every student on the Island was assigned to a four-member team. Daniel was the tech expert on ours. He could hack any database, build any program; he was always able to find a way to make computers bend to his will. It was really impressive to see him work.

“Mary was the weapons specialist. She could disassemble any weapon faster than an instructor or student. Her ability with a sniper rifle was unmatched. Gabriel had been our captain for a long time, until he snapped under the pressure. I didn’t hesitate to take over command. It was foolish and arrogant. Around the same time the Council brass had grown anxious with the program and they wanted to see what we were capable of. Our team was chosen because we were considered to be the best unit on the Island.” Alden shook his head. “We had no idea what we were getting into.

“Months earlier a Council spy within the SRF had tipped them off to a secret military facility in the middle of the Siberian wasteland. Our mission was to infiltrate the facility and find out what they were working on. Our entrance point was an obscure exhaust port. We arrived in the dead of night and cruised in low between the snow-capped peaks...”

The wind whipped at Alden’s helmet as he plummeted towards the surface. Adrenaline surged through his veins. Mesh wings had been sewn between his arms and jump gear. He stretched them out in order to slow his descent. Through the helmet’s heads-up display he gauged his distance to the ground. It also showed waypoints for Gabriel, Daniel, and Mary. With just a few hundred feet to go, he pulled the ripcord. His descent slowed as the parachute billow out behind him. There were several giant puffs of snow as they impacted the ground one at a time.

Alden fell into a quick summersault that slowed his inertia and trapped the parachute under his body. He grabbed all sides, stuffed it into the bag, and then buried it under the snow. He sprinted from the landing area and joined the rest of the team. They moved into a tight circle, loaded their rifles and then pushed forward into a low-density forest. There wasn’t an ounce of wind. The familiar sounds of forest animals were noticeably absent. It was eerily quiet.

Switching on the holographic projector in their visors, they were able to see a three-dimensional map of the surrounding area. Just beyond the tree line, in the middle of a small valley, stood a lone building. It looked like a cabin, but it was meant to disguise the external exhaust port.

Their visors picked up four heat signatures around the exterior of the building. That would be the security patrols. Each consisted of two machine gunners and a dog handler. Dogs—one unlucky push of wind and their scent would be picked up. It seemed like such an antiquated method for security, yet it was so effective. It was impossible to say how many other soldiers would flood the surface from below if they were discovered.

Alden instructed the team to go weapons hot. He handed out three clips of tranquilizer darts and then shoved the fourth into the hilt of his gun. Flipping the safety off, he clicked a round into the chamber and then motioned for them to move forward. The OLED fabric that had been stitched into their suits copied the pattern of snow that surrounded them. One by one they blended in to the environment and disappeared.

Using his heads-up display, Alden placed markers along the ridge. He pointed forward and instructed his team to take up attack positions around the building. The nearest group of guards rounded the corner. They were professionals. Even in the snow, their movements barely made a sound. They were accompanied by a large German shepherd on a tight leash.

Alden would have preferred that they neutralize the entire team, but he was sure they were required to report in regularly. After the guards missed their first check in, the whole place would go into security lockdown. Daniel set a small electro-magnetic device on the ground. It sent radio signals bouncing through the ground. Within moments they were each able to see a three-dimensional map of the entire complex. It was massive. The little building before them was just the tip of the iceberg.

They must have had serious disruption equipment to block satellite intrusion. Prior to the mission he’d never seen anything to indicate a facility of this size. There were thousands of people down there. Heat signatures for a dozen soldiers appeared just inside the building. They could sprint across the open space and Mary could chuck a flash bang inside. With a well-timed entrance they could probably neutralize the whole room, but it was very risky.

Gabriel indicated another smaller, barely visible exhaust port three meters from their position. It was perfect. Direct entrance and they could avoid all of the security guards. They jumped onto the side of the hill and slid down into the valley. They sprinted across the open space to hidden entrance. Once they reached the exhaust port, Alden slung his gun over his shoulder and dug through the snow. Mary and Daniel chipped in while Gabriel scanned the perimeter with his assault rifle. Finally, Alden’s hands gripped something cold and hard.

He brushed the snow from the outside, and was able to uncover the top of a manhole. Daniel pulled out a small package of explosive and tore a chunk off. He stuck it to the seal and inserted a small primer and then clicked the pin. They each covered their heads. A small puff of black smoke shot up into the air, indicating the lock had been blown open. Alden pulled his gun around, tapped Gabriel on the back, and then assumed his defensive position. Gabriel descended into the shaft first, followed by Mary and Daniel. When all three were safely out of sight, Alden stepped in and closed the cover.

Chapter 10

The descent was nearly fifteen stories. The tunnel was incredibly cold and smelled of thawed dirt. When his foot couldn’t find another rung he dropped the rest of the way to the floor. The team had already pulled off their gear. They were in the process of slipping into lab coats and static free pants.

They were in a storage room of sorts. Alden slipped out of his gear while the other three gathered around Mary. She flipped a switch on her wrist deck and a three-dimensional holographic map of the sub-structure popped up between them. It showed a honeycomb facility with a massive first level and then subsequently smaller ones below that. What appeared to be a train tunnel intersected with the second level and then headed off towards the east and what he assumed was a city.

“Their nuclear reactor must be located here.” Gabriel pointed at the bottom of the facility. It resembled a large box, with massive quantities of electricity flowing in and out.

“Agreed,” Mary responded. “We’re splitting into two teams. Gabriel and Alden will head down to the second level and make their way to this room.” Her finger indicated a small office towards the north end. “This should be the server room. You’ll need to manually bypass the security in order for Daniel to hack into their mainframe. Daniel and I will head here.” She pointed at a central hub on the first floor. “It looks like that’s the security center. We’ll let you know as soon as we have control.”

“Sounds good.” Alden responded. “Once you’re inside, start uploading as much data as you can to the Council satellites. If we fail, we need to make sure they have the information they need.”

Gabriel nudged Daniel. “You still got the communicators?”

He shifted off his leg and reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out three miniature communicators. “Take this.” He handed one to each member. “They’re encrypted on a rotating 10k bit frequency. We could talk our way through the ADN headquarters and no one would be able to decipher our communications.”

“When did you pick these up?” Mary asked.

“I didn’t, they’re my design. Made them last week, thought they might come in handy.”

Gabriel smiled and shook his head.

“Once you’ve secured the data, Daniel and I will double back to this storage room. We’ll secure our exit and wait for your arrival.”

“We’ll thoroughly wipe our tracks. No one will know we were here,” Daniel added. “That will give us enough time to make it back to the rendezvous point. At that point I’ll disable all security protocols and crash their system. We’ll have enough time to escape before they figure out what happened.”

Alden nodded in agreement. “Okay, let’s move.”

Mary flipped the switch on the holographic projector and the room fell back into darkness. Alden eased the door open and then stepped out of the way. Mary moved forward, followed by Daniel. Alden could barely make them out in the darkness but he caught a stolen glance between Mary and Gabriel. She squeezed his arm and then slipped out. A few moments later he and Gabriel left and headed in the opposite direction of the other two.

The hallways were bright white, with nothing out of the ordinary. They could have easily been inside any non-descript office building or hospital wing. Random doors dotted the walls. People walked around them, moving from one location to another.

Their headsets cracked to life. Mary said, “We’ve breached the communications relay room. It’s secure. Daniel’s already started to hack the system. I can see both of you on the internal security vids.”

Alden nodded at two security guards who stood at attention with assault rifles in hand—standing watch in the hallway. He hoped they couldn’t hear the muffled voices in his ear. Their bodies were massive; the non-descript black uniforms did little to conceal their size. Their eyes burrowed into him as they continued down the hallway.

“Take the stairs to your right down to the second level. Stay straight. Then take two lefts and a right.”

Left, right, left, Alden mumbled just loud enough for Gabriel to hear. It didn’t take them long to find their target. There was nothing to mark the importance of the room, just the Russian number 54.

“We’ll have the door opened for you in a second,” Mary whispered over the comm device.

Down the hall, two more security guards moved towards them. Their heavy boots thumped on the floor and their fingers hovered an inch away from the assault rifle triggers.

“Mary, please tell Daniel to hurry. We’re running out of time down here,” Gabriel said sarcastically.

“He’s working, he’s working. Okay! Door’s open. Go now,” Mary replied.

Alden jerked the handle but it didn’t budge. The guards focused more intently on them and sped up their pace.

“Daniel what’s going on?” Alden whispered. “You need to get this door open.”

“The system is fighting me, one more second…”

“Hey! Hey, you two!” one of the guards yelled. "What are you doing up here?”

Alden and Gabriel were about to head the other way when two guards from upstairs rounded the corner. They were also moving to intercept. This time their fingers were squarely planted on the triggers.

A green light flashed on above the door. Gabriel didn’t waste a second as he pushed it open. They disappeared inside and slammed the door shut behind them.

“They’re trying to put in a distress call,” Mary said. “We’re blocking it for now, but if anyone hears them we’re in trouble.”

“We’ve got this.” Alden nodded at Gabriel. “Daniel, kill the lights inside the room.” Moments later everything fell into darkness. They sank back into the corner of the room and disappeared from sight.

They couldn’t let the guards fire a shot, or it would trigger the alarm systems.

The door burst open and two guards entered with their guns up. They were closely followed by the other two. They swept the room. The door shut behind them and they were surprised to find that the light didn’t work.

The guards popped flares and slid them across the floor. Gabriel dropped down in the middle of the group and grabbed the rifle off the nearest guard. He used it to whip himself closer while pushing the muzzle out of the way. He kicked the guard in the kneecap, causing his leg to break. Spinning around, he landed a blow to the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. He swung at the second guard and connected with his temple. The guard dropped.

Alden didn’t want to risk gunfire. He pulled his sidearm out and fired two quick tranquilizer shots into the jugulars of the last two guards. The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds. The lights came back on and Alden was able to see the blood coming from the guard’s head.

“Why didn’t you use the dart gun?”

Gabriel shrugged.

Alden shook his head as he walked to the central computer terminal. He studied the graphical interface and then pressed a few buttons on his wrest deck. The screen pixilated, skewed, but then it snapped back into place.

“Daniel, I’m in.” Silence. “Daniel, did you hear me? You can start the upload now.”

“Oh God,” Mary said.

Gabriel piped up. “What is it, are you okay?”

Mary came back, “I know what they’re doing here.”