There was storm of ear-shattering noise now as the fleet of killer drones reached the RDC and unleashed their relentless assault on the facility. With no defense for the buildings, the enemy UAVs wasted no time sending small yet powerful missiles through windows and doors, resulting in catastrophic damage and crumbling structures. In less than three minutes, all six buildings in the complex were nothing more than smoldering piles of concrete, glass and steel.
By now, Xander and Simms knew the external satellite dishes and arrays were also gone, but the guts of the comm center remained intact four stories underground.
The deafening cacophony from above was diminishing; however, that didn’t mean the attack was over. Now the drones would find their way into the sub-levels.
Xander fell against a wall as one of the blasts from above rocked the building. He righted himself and found Simms bleeding from a head wound caused by a falling metal support beam from the ceiling.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll live.” Simms wiped the blood from his left eye. “They’ll be coming down here next.”
“Where are the Marines?”
“They should be directly ahead of us. C’mon.”
By now the corridor between the buildings was nearly deserted and littered with fallen debris from the overhead utilities runners. Water pipes had broken, with the concrete floor slick in places and pasty in others as the water mixed with the chalky remains of drywall and acoustic ceiling tiles.
“Colonel, over here!”
Through the dusty haze of the tunnel, Xander could make out the first contingent of Marines guarding the entrance to the critical communications equipment for the Center. As the pair ran up to the line of heavily armed men, Captain Steve Harkness took a quick look at the blood on Simms’ head.
“Medic!” he called out.
“I’m all right. Are your men in position?”
“Yes, sir. We’ve locked down the upper access points. The only way in should be through here.”
“Good,” Simms said, as a Navy corpsman placed a compress on the side of his face and wrapped a gauze bandage around his head to keep it in place. “Can you spare any w—”
The heat and concussion from the blast was incredible, and threw Xander and Simms — along with the entire Marine contingent — out into the connecting tunnel. Smoke filled the passageway and visibility dropped to zero.
“What the hell was that?” Xander yelled out between coughs.
A voice in the gloom answered him. “One hell of a powerful explosion, I would say.”
Xander could feel a stiff breeze passing through the tunnel running from the Admin building through to Communications. The access way above had been breached and air now flowed freely between the two buildings. The tunnel cleared of smoke and dust almost instantly.
“They’re coming in from above!” a Marine sergeant reported.
Once the haze had cleared, Xander assessed the damage caused by the huge explosion. His friend Jamie Simms was pressed up against the far wall of the access tunnel, his eyes open, yet his head bent at an odd angle. Xander rushed to his side and pulled the body away from the wall. His neck was broken. He was dead.
Xander went pale. In all his years of drone combat, this was the first time he’d seen a corpse in person — and it was one of his closest friends. All the sounds of battle around him faded away as he held the inert body of Jamie Simms in his arms, until a pair of strong hands took him by his arms and lifted him up. Two bloodied Marines were dragging him down the tunnel beyond the Communications building and further on toward Research and Development.
As he regained his senses, Xander was able to better navigate the passageway himself. He looked around at the scant number of Marines around him. “Where’s the captain?” he asked.
“He didn’t make it. It looks like those drones came equipped with a bunker buster to get into the Communications building. Took out most of our force with the blast. Our position became indefensible, so we’re falling back.”
Xander Moore had been around drones since he was eight, yet when he detected the telltale sound of angry bees coming up from behind, it struck terror in his gut. Drones were in the tunnel, and they were capable of traveling much faster than the men could run.
They were now at the R&D building, with three wide access portals leading off to the left. The Marines slid into the first portal and fell into defensive postures. Xander was literally thrown into the wide vestibule.
“Take cover!” one of the Marines yelled back at him.
Xander looked around. There was a series of utilitarian couches lining the room, and a circular reception desk where Audrey White and her reliefs would normally have been sitting. Now the granite desktop was covered with broken debris that had rained down from the ceiling.
Xander ran for the protection of the huge, permanent reception desk. He jumped and slid on the smooth stone surface until he fell off the other side.
He had been expecting to hit the hard ceramic tile floor behind the desk; instead he landed on something that was soft — and cursing.
Chapter 7
“What the hell!” a female voice cried out.
Xander was now face-down in the fabric of a blue pantsuit, and even without looking he knew from the scent of the perfume that he had landed on the Fox News reporter Tiffany Collins.
He rolled off the woman. Their shocked expressions mirrored one another. “What the hell are you doing here?” Xander asked.
The woman brushed white dust off her ripped and bloodied outfit. “Oh, except for a couple of cracked ribs, I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” she said.
Xander leaned back against the back wall behind the desk. “I wasn’t expecting to land on someone. So sue me.”
The swoosh of the missile came a split second later. Reacting instantly, Xander dove for the reporter and pressed her flat against the floor. She yelped, but was instantly overcome by the explosion that struck the stone edifice directly above them. A shower of debris fell down, including baseball-size pieces of granite. They were nearly buried in the aftermath of the explosion, which was soon followed by three more, just not in such close proximity to their hiding place.
Through the din of battle, Xander could hear the frantic bursts of automatic gunfire, along with the grunts and screams of Marines being cut to shreds by missiles and gunfire. The air filled with the gut-wrenching sound of whirling propellers seeming to whiz by from all directions.
Then the scene grew quiet as the buzzing moved further down the corridor, broken occasionally by sporadic bursts of gunfire or the release of small, solid-propellant missiles, followed by rumbling explosions.
Xander attempted to move, shedding a pile of rubble from his back. That’s when he noticed he was face to face with Tiffany Collins. Gone was the even complexion and perfect hair. The woman was now caked in white dust and her hair was a mass of mangled yellow, infused with a variety of objects which defied identification.
“I think they’ve moved on,” she whispered.
Xander blinked several times before comprehending her words. “Oh yeah, of course.” He pulled away, and more debris fell from his back.
Tiffany sat up and fluffed her hair, sending a cloud of dust into the air around her head, forming a halo effect. Xander had to smile at the vision.
“So we meet again,” he said. And then without waiting for comment, he continued, “What are you doing here? What happened to the sergeant?”
“Oh, him? He was taking me to some sort of safe room when the drones attacked. Next thing I knew, he’d pulled his gun and was running down the corridor yelling like a banshee, leaving me to fend for myself. After that everything started falling on me — literally — you included!”