“Drive?” Loeb said. “You saw those walls, right?”
“We’ve already scouted the gates,” Stuart said. “We’re going to take the vehicles parked outside, then drive straight through them.”
“I’ve already told the Rangers to expect us coming in hot,” Reynolds said. “The Russians might pursue us, but with the numbers they have here, they would have to abandon this outpost completely if they want to take us down. We have plenty of guys waiting back at the villa to help hold off any attack, and they’re already setting up ambushes for the Russians. All we got to do is put a little distance between ourselves and the port.”
O’Neil wasn’t sure he liked the idea of trying to break out of this base driving through an infested city. But they had already watched too many people die at the hands of the Russians tonight, and he could only imagine what terrifying things were done on that operating table.
Reynolds was right.
They could escape, they could get the intel back to the Rangers, and bring these people back home, both saving them and, as mortifying as it sounded, hand them off to the science team who definitely needed to know what the hell was going on in these labs.
“Okay,” O’Neil said. “Let’s do this. We got keys for the locks on these cages?”
“Negative,” Henderson said.
More gunfire outside. More howling Skulls.
“Van, Loeb, open these up,” O’Neil said, pointing to the cage.
Van took out the sledgehammer and slammed it against the locking mechanism. The first time, he nearly lost the hammer. Another hit broke the locking mechanism, and broken chunks of metal clattered across the floor. He tried to pry the first cage open to let out the prisoners, but there were two more smaller locks at the top and bottom of the door. Loeb sliced them off with the bolt cutters.
As soon as the locks came free, the Moroccans inside pushed out. A few started to push past the SEALs, running toward the door. Tate grabbed the collar of one of the men. Henderson and Stuart wrapped their arms around the other two.
The men started to yell and kick, struggling to break free.
O’Neil turned to the Moroccan man he’d seen speaking English back in the warehouse. “Hassan, right?”
“You know my name?” he asked.
O’Neil nodded. “Saw you in the warehouse. I’m sorry—we couldn’t help then, but we’re going to now. Tell them we are here to help. We’re Americans. But if they aren’t quiet, they’ll get us all killed.”
Hassan started shouting at the other three in Arabic. They yelled back at him, but he kept arguing, face growing red. Two of the man stopping fighting back against Stuart and Henderson. But the third guy wouldn’t listen. Just kept hitting Tate.
“I don’t want to hurt him, man,” Tate said.
Then the guy suddenly headbutted Tate in his chin. Tate’s teeth slammed together, and the chattering sound nearly made O’Neil cringe. The Moroccan man ran for the lab door, tearing open the lock, and slipped outside.
“Fuck,” Tate said, holding his jaw. “That guy’s fucking dead.”
O’Neil looked at the door. “Russians are going to know what we’re up to now.”
Reynolds nodded. “Let those other ones out, and we can move.” Then he looked at Stuart and Henderson. “Secure the exit!”
The two SEALs ran toward the back of the lab toward a broken window where O’Neil assumed the team had climbed into the facility.
O’Neil took Hassan’s shoulder. “Tell the others we’re rescuing them too. That they’ve got to cooperate if they want out of here.”
The man nodded, eyes still wide with fear, but he spoke to the prisoners in the second cage as Loeb and Van broke down door. The first few prisoners rushed out to join the others milling about O’Neil and Reynolds.
“Thank you,” one of them rasped. He scratched at the plates along his arms.
Another fell to his feet, wrapping his clawed hands around O’Neil’s ankles, sobbing and mumbling. O’Neil fought the urge to kick at him and dispatch him like he would with any normal Skull.
While the first few half-human monsters appeared as frightened and ready to leave this place as the human prisoners from the first cage, the last couple out of the cage did not react with gratitude or pleading or even fear.
Instead, they cranked their head backs and howled before pouncing at Loeb and Van.
-24-
O’Neil ran at the monster baring its fangs at Loeb. The beast was pressing Loeb against the floor, driving its head toward his teammate’s neck, teeth chomping. O’Neil slammed his boot into the beast’s side, knocking the creature over. The Skull crashed against the cage, then pulled itself upright, its muscles tensing.
“Stop!” Loeb said. “What the hell are you doing?”
The monster bared its fangs. Then it said something in a furious voice that sounded like mangled Arabic.
“We’re here to save you!” O’Neil yelled at the beast.
Hassan rushed to help, repeating what O’Neil said in Arabic. The creature ignored him and lunged right at O’Neil, claws outstretched. O’Neil dodged the attack, then bashed the stock of his rifle into the back of the creature’s skull, breaking the bone. The creature slid across the floor, scrambling to turn itself around for another attack, muttering and cursing, eyes filled with rage.
O’Neil swung his rifle back up and fired. The shots blasted straight through the bony armor along the beast’s shoulders and through its chest. It let out a long hiss. O’Neil thought he heard more raspy words escape the cracked lips of the crazed monster, but Tate fired straight into the creature’s back. The monster jerked and stumbled, blood weeping from its wounds.
As it finally collapsed to the floor, O’Neil spun. Loeb was already up, doing his best to yank the other creature off Van. The operator had his back on the ground and was using his boots to push the monster off.
Hassan was yelling at the beast. The creature seemed to keep repeating a word in Arabic, completely ignoring Hassan.
“He is saying ‘Eat. Eat. Eat,’” the Moroccan explained.
While O’Neil rushed to help Loeb, the voices of the other prisoners rose in a desperate clamor.
“They say some of the prisoners are more monster than man,” Hassan said. “These ones do not listen.”
“A little late for that now, man!” Tate yelled back.
O’Neil cranked the monster’s head back as Loeb pulled on the monster’s shoulders. Using all the strength he could muster, O’Neil twisted the creature’s head hard to the left. The monster’s neck snapped, and its body went slack.
O’Neil and Loeb pushed it off Van.
“You okay, brother?” Loeb said as he helped Van up.
“I’m good enough.”
Another shriek exploded outside of the building.
“Bravo, Alpha, we’re seeing Skulls in the base,” the drone operator said. “They appear to be coming from A-Two.”
“The fuck?” Tate asked. “They got loose? How?”
Van shook his head. “You think they got loose? These people probably let them out.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Reynolds said. “We need to move these prisoners. Roll out!”
Tate, Van, and Loeb guided the prisoners toward Henderson and Stuart at the broken window. Reynolds placed a handful of charges throughout the laboratory and operating room.
“We got ten minutes on the fuse,” he said. “That should give us enough time to clear this place.”
O’Neil looked back toward the window. The prisoners were being escorted out one-by-one. As slow as it was to move them all, O’Neil worried ten minutes might not be enough. But if the explosion didn’t get them, then the howling Skulls spreading through the base might.