Crunching glass directed their gazes and Krisztina’s flashlight. Caught in the beam, the three small creatures halted and stared past the dazzling light at their prey.
Richard raised his rifle, aimed and fired. Bullets raked a line of destruction in front of the creatures, spraying them with chunks of tile gouged from the floor. They turned pliant, absorbing the impacts without damage.
Richard turned and shoved Krisztina into movement. “Run!”
They ran.
CHAPTER 27
Going Nuclear
Colbert frowned when an alarm and a Russian female voice erupted from a speaker attached to the side of the main building. Though he couldn’t understand Russian, the purpose of her message and the alarm was obvious. Krisztina’s translation for Richard over the open radio he listened in on confirmed his fears. The self-destruct was active. The facility would be obliterated in fifteen minutes. Not wanting to distract Richard and Krisztina from their harrowing plight, he kept radio silence and crossed to the helicopter. After discussing their options, Colbert radioed Mason. “Eagle 4, evac in process. Fifteen minutes countdown. We leave in twelve. Do you have means of transport to rendezvous with us here?”
Mason glanced through the window at the tanker that had arrived five minutes ago. The driver, puzzled why no soldiers had emerged from the hut to check his papers and open the barrier to let him pass, stared at the door. “Affirmative. See you in five.”
Mason turned to Sven. “Time to leave, and I advise you hurry. Is there room on the motorbike for you and the driver?”
Sven climbed from his seat. “Da, but we can leave in truck. Is warmer.”
“I’m not sure that antique will be fast enough to get you clear in time.”
“Oh! Then we take bike.”
Mason’s rifle followed Sven to the door. “Inform the driver something has gone wrong at the facility, and a huge explosion is about to obliterate it and everything in about a kilometer radius.”
Sven nodded. “I will tell him this but nothing else.”
“Also tell him to leave the keys in the truck. Good luck, Sven.”
“Good luck to you also, American.” Sven closed the door behind him.
Mason observed Sven cross to the truck and speak to the driver. After a few moments arguing, the driver climbed from the truck, and both men vanished from his view. A few moments later, Mason heard the roar of the motorcycle before it appeared with Sven driving and the truck driver’s large bulk balanced on the back. Skewing slightly when it turned onto the road, Sven steered around the barrier and roared away.
Mason exited the hut and climbed into the old truck. Wrinkling his nose at the lingering stench of body odor, he laid his rifle on the passenger seat and turned the key. The engine chugged a few times before it caught. Mason revved it, belching out dark fumes from the exhaust. He crunched it into gear and pulled forward, snapping the flimsy security barrier. Shifting through crunching gears, Mason drove to the facility.
As they fled side by side, Richard, worried the light would give away their position to the creatures, snatched the flashlight from Krisztina’s hand, threw it behind and flicked down hers and his own NVGs. He pressed his radio talk button. “Ramirez, we’re heading to Level 3.”
Rushing past the red LED lights of explosive charges stuck to the wall, which would be vaporized before they carried out their singular task, they soon reached the generator room. Richard shut the door and followed Krisztina across the room and through the hatch, which he closed and locked with a spin of the wheel. Confident the tight-fitting metal door would hold the creatures at bay if they breached the outside door, he turned to the ladder and climbed after Krisztina.
“Warning. Evacuation protocol in process. Thirteen minutes until detonation.”
“Ramirez, we’re heading to Level 3.”
Halfway to the security office door, Ramirez reluctantly returned to his seat at the monitors and ran his gaze over the Level 3 screens. Having completed their search of the rooms, many of the creatures had filtered into the corridors. Picking out the path Richard and Krisztina would need to take to reach the escape chute that would take them above ground, he saw it was an impossible task. It would take a miracle for them to survive the journey.
“Be advised your route is full of hostiles.”
Richard’s breathless reply was short and to the point. “Then do your job, and find us one that isn’t.”
Trying to block out the insistent, distracting alarm and the warning that counted down the minutes to detonation, Ramirez took a red marker pen from a pot on the console and crossed to the large blueprint of the facility. Placing his finger on the room Richard and Krisztina would exit after their climb up Escape Ladder 2, he traced a finger along the corridors and connecting rooms between it and the exit escape chute. With glances back at the screens, he backtracked his finger and directed it down alternative routes until he had found their safest option, which really wasn’t that safe at all with the creatures’ constant meanderings.
After highlighting the route with the marker, he returned to the screens and pressed the talk button. “Okay, I have the best route available. Inform me when you’re on Level 3.”
Breathless from her hurried climb, Krisztina paused at the top of the ladder and cautiously peered out. After checking her surroundings were clear, she climbed out and crossed to the door as Richard emerged from the chute.
Richard closed the hatch softly and spun the wheel before joining Krisztina. “We’re ready, Ramirez.”
“Route is clear, go now! Head left, turn right at first junction and enter first room on the left.”
Ignoring the shrieks, clacks and growls filtering through the level, Richard and Krisztina followed Ramirez’s instructions.
Occasionally glancing behind at the route penned on the blueprint, Ramirez flicked his eyes over the Level 3 camera feeds as he followed Richard’s and Krisztina’s hurried dash through the corridors. When they reached the first room he issued their next instructions. “Head straight on through two rooms and then enter the corridor.”
As they set off, Ramirez checked the corridor they were about to enter. His brow creased with worry when two creatures broke off from the pack that had, for some reason, gathered around the elevator, and headed along the corridor. His eyes flicked back to Richard and Krisztina. They were about to rush into the corridor and the creatures.
“Stop! Two creatures heading your way.”
Ramirez’s warning halted them.
Richard and Krisztina pressed themselves against the wall beside the door and listened to the clacking of claws on the floor, barely audible above the alarm, coming closer.
“Warning. Evacuation protocol in process. Twelve minutes until detonation.”
Constantly reminded their time was ticking down, Richard leaned towards Krisztina and whispered. “We don’t have time for this. How far away is the escape chute?”
“Not far if there were no aliens to worry about.”
“We have to risk it.”
Krisztina nodded. “You lead. Head along corridor, turn first right, second left, take door at the end, and we are there.”
With his weapon raised and his finger on the trigger, Richard stepped into the corridor and sprinted towards the surprised creatures. Bullets punched holes through their Black forms and sent them tumbling until they liquified to escape further injury. With Krisztina on his heels, he leapt over the black puddles and turned right.