“Good,” uttered Mason. “I’m certain that will be best for all concerned.”
Krisztina paused outside the control room, halting the team unexpectedly. “I need to let my superiors know I’m alive and warn soldiers coming here of imminent explosion. I might want to stop them from capturing alien, but I don’t want them killed.”
“Make it quick,” consented Colbert, anxious to get his men clear of the facility as soon as possible. “Remember, you have no idea reinforcements are coming.”
Krisztina entered the room. Glancing at the list of emergency numbers stuck to the wall, she dialed the facility’s contact at the Kremlin. Her call was answered quicker than she expected.
“Da!” said a man’s voice.
Krisztina answered in Russian. “This is Comrade Krisztina Sashura from The Kamera.”
“I was informed everyone there was dead,” replied the man on the other end.
Though the speaker failed to offer his name or title, Krisztina didn’t fail to recognize the voice of authority; whoever she was speaking to was used to being obeyed. “I barely survived when the alien creature overran Level 4. Our concern here was that it would make its way to the upper levels, which it might have already succeeded in doing, and escape from the facility.”
“That must not happen.”
“I agree, sir, as did my superior, Director Stanislav.”
“Is Director Stanislav with you?”
“No, sir. The last time I saw him he was going to activate the self-destruct protocols to ensure the alien didn’t escape.”
“Nyet! He doesn’t have permission for such a drastic measure. We need the alien alive to study.”
“I understand, sir, and I did try to talk him out of it, but he is my superior. We were chased by the creature and split up. That was the last I saw of him. I have tried reaching him over the internal intercom but have received no answer. He could be hiding from the creature or dead. I am also unaware if he has already set the self-destruct in motion, which is another reason why I am keen to leave.”
“I can’t hear a warning being broadcast through the facility, so it hasn’t been activated.”
“Correct, sir, there is no warning, yet,” confirmed Krisztina.
“Then not all is lost. Listen to me, Comrade Sashura, it’s imperative you keep trying to contact Stanislav over the intercom to set him away from his rash unauthorized course. If he is still alive and hiding, he might be able to hear you but not reply. Broadcast that he is forbidden to destroy the alien, or the facility, and a team will arrive shortly to take control of the situation. Do you understand, Comrade?”
“I understand, sir. I will remain here and broadcast your orders until help arrives. However, if Director Stanislav disobeys your request and activates the self-destruct, do I have permission to vacate the facility and move to a safe distance?”
The man replied after a short pause. “I suppose so, but only when you hear the alarm.”
“Thank you, sir.”
When the man abruptly ended the call, Krisztina replaced the handset.
“The way you lie, you should have been a politician,” said Colbert.
“No, thanks. Now I’ve covered my ass, let’s destroy this place before creatures come.”
Krisztina led them to Stanislav’s office and gazed around the room Luka had ransacked during his search for the alien pistols. She crossed to the splintered doors of a wall cupboard and pulled one door open wider. Inside were files, stacks of papers, books and the alien pistol Vadim had started dismantling. Aware her superiors would be—to put it mildly—disappointed by its loss, and that it might encourage them to look on her more favorably after the facility and alien were destroyed, she gathered up the pieces and slipped them into her pocket.
“Have you found it?” asked Richard, breaking away from the men gathered in the hall guarding the corridor and entering the office.
Krisztina glanced at the Englishman, who seemed out of place. Obviously not a soldier, she wondered why he was here. “I look still.”
As Krisztina returned to searching through the paperwork, Richard glanced around the room. Maybe there were some secrets he could steal and sell, but he soon realized as he couldn’t read Russian it was pointless taking anything that might turn out to be a shopping list or a boring memo.
“Got it!” exclaimed Krisztina a few moments later.
Richard watched Krisztina break the seal on the plastic sleeve and remove two strangely shaped keys, which she put in a pocket, and a thin A4 pamphlet that she immediately started flicking through. After a few moments, he asked, “Can you operate it?”
Krisztina nodded without glancing up. “I think so. Just follow steps outlined in instructions.”
Colbert glanced into the room. “Does it say where the self-destruct control is located?”
Krisztina looked at Colbert. “There’s one on level 4. If dangerous substance leaked free, scientists below could set it in motion, sacrificing themselves to prevent it getting out.”
“There’s no way we can go back down there with those creatures running around,” stated Dalton worriedly from the corridor. “We barely survived the last time.”
“We won’t have to. There is a secondary control to initiate self-destruct sequence by exit elevator on this level,” explained Krisztina. “We go there, activate it and leave. Alien dies. We safe.”
Dalton relaxed a little.
“Sounds like a plan,” agreed Colbert. “How much time do we have when it’s started?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
Colbert stepped into the corridor. “You all hear that?”
His men nodded.
“Let’s move,” ordered Colbert.
“On me,” said Sullivan, leading them along the corridor.
CHAPTER 24
dEV1Lment
When Boris arrived back at the elevator, he stared at the remains on the floor and then inside at the bones of the cow he had seen earlier. His search for his human friend or an exit to the outside had failed. He sensed something bad was happening and the strange, dark creature that had devoured the other animals and attacked one of the humans was responsible. Even more worrying was that it had grown and was now loose, roaming the corridors.
Noticing something on the floor sticking from beneath the bunched-up rug, Boris pulled it out. It was his human friend’s lighter. Remembering the tasty treats they had enjoyed together, he struck it to flame. His head turned to the elevator. Clacking, clicks and slithering sounds headed his way. Something he didn’t want to encounter was coming. His eyes focused on the elevator ceiling when it buckled slightly. A sniff of the air revealed the scent of the strange creature nearby, prompting him to flee along the corridor to look for somewhere to hide.
EV1L reached the bottom of the elevator and slithered past. Arriving at the top of the shaft above the moving box and finding no avenue of escape around the winch motor, she dropped onto the elevator roof devoid of any means of access. Her form changed to a squat creature with powerful legs bent beneath its rotund body capable of propelling it great distances, but that was not why this form was chosen. A tiny, pointed head, its size out of proportion to its plump torso, emerged and turned its many-eyed gaze upon the arms stretching out from bony shoulder blades. When the arms were fully formed, she flexed the powerful limbs tipped with curved, hook-like claws. When she struck them together, a loud clack echoed down the shaft.
The small creatures clinging to the walls around the top of the shaft, watched their queen raise her arms and slam them into the metal box. Powered by muscular limbs, a metallic clangor rang out when sharp claw tips pressed through the metal.