Aftershock (25 page)

‘I want the search continued along that vector,’ he said, pointing into the trees. ‘We may have survivors in need of assistance.’

He pulled his communicator from his belt and thumbed the transmit button.

‘Go ahead, Colonel,’ Nero responded.

‘Max, I think Raven’s alive and even better, she may not be the only survivor.’

Shelby locked the massive doors from the inside and handed the improvised key to Otto.

‘There you go,’ she said with a smile. ‘Gee, I hope you can get the pin back in the grenade what with the pin being bent now and all.’

‘You know you really are hilarious,’ Otto replied, as he forced the safety pin back into the grenade. ‘Truly, side-splittingly funny. I hope that nothing bad happens to you because then who would make sure that I’m always in such a constant state of intense amusement?’

‘If you two are quite finished,’ Raven said, taking the grenade from Otto and reattaching it to her tactical harness, ‘I’m quite keen to find out what sort of facility we’ve actually locked ourselves inside.’

Raven walked down the darkened corridor ahead of the Alphas, the green light from her glowstick doing little to diminish the creepiness of the long dark corridor. Water dripped from the ceiling, pooling on the floor. They passed several doors that led to empty locker rooms and barracks with rows of rusty iron bunks.

‘Zombies,’ Penny said. ‘I mean, just look at this place. There’s definitely going to be zombies.’

‘I am thinking this but I am wishing that you are not saying it, yes?’ Franz said quietly.

‘Whatever this place is no one’s been here for a
loooong
time,’ Otto said.

‘Except the zombies,’ Shelby said.

‘Obviously, except the zombies.’

‘Please be stopping it,’ Franz said plaintively.

Soon they came to another heavy metal door but this one was not locked. As Raven pushed it open dim, grey light came from the other side. The room beyond was lined with control panels on three sides but the fourth was a panel of dirty glass that looked out on to a massive cavern. Set in the glass was a door that led out on to a gantry running round the walls of the cavern. Daylight streamed down from an opening somewhere overhead, but what was truly bizarre was spread across the cavern floor. As they all walked on to the gantry they looked down on to an impossible scene from the past. Laid out before them was a perfect recreation of a small American town from the early 1960s. There was a diner, a drugstore, a church and even what looked like a fire station in the town square. Surrounding the centre were acres of suburban homes and schools. It was exactly as if somebody had picked up an entire American town fifty years ago and then dropped it in a cavern in Siberia. The only slightly incongruous detail were the abandoned Russian military vehicles that were dotted around the town. Far overhead was a huge geodesic glass dome that allowed the daylight to shine through. Some of its triangular panels were missing but otherwise it was intact.

‘OK, you know what,’ Otto said, ‘I wasn’t expecting that.’

‘On the plus side, it isn’t zombies,’ Penny said, unable to take her eyes off the bizarre sight. ‘Although that might actually have been marginally less weird.’

‘Why on earth would anyone build this?’ Laura asked.

‘Training,’ Raven said. ‘I’d heard rumours about places like this but I’d always thought it was a myth. Back in the early sixties there were people in the Russian military who were convinced that a war with America was not just probable but inevitable. That being the case, they had to find a way to train their men for an invasion but they had no towns that bore any resemblance to small-town America so they built places like this. I suppose it’s not a myth any more.’

‘Well, it may not be a myth any more,’ Otto said with a smile, ‘but I’ll tell you what it is. A really, really good place to hide.’

The helicopter landed in the centre of the camp, the down draught from its rotor blades whipping clouds of snow into the air. A figure dressed in a long black hooded coat and a dark veil that covered her face stepped down from the side hatch and walked towards the commander. The commander swallowed nervously. The woman was Minerva and she had been the head of the Disciples ever since the disastrous events at the Advanced Weapons Project facility in Colorado that had resulted in Overlord’s destruction. He had good reason to be nervous – she had a reputation for ruthlessness and little tolerance for failure.

‘It is a pleasure to see you again, ma’am,’ the commander said with a smart nod as the woman approached.

‘Where are they?’ Minerva asked.

‘We’re . . . erm . . . not certain at the moment,’ the commander replied uncomfortably. ‘One of our teams spotted them an hour ago climbing a mountain nearby but they were unable to neutralise them.’

‘And you have not been able to locate them since?’

‘No, we have sent gunships to the area but were unable to find them. It looks like they’ve gone to ground somewhere.’

‘I am losing patience, commander,’ Minerva said. ‘You have had several chances to eliminate Raven and the last of Nero’s brats and yet you seem to be incapable of finishing the job. This operation needs to be a success. We have to prove to Joseph Wright and the rest of the deposed G.L.O.V.E. leaders that they were right to forge an alliance with us. Don’t make me regret putting you in charge of this operation – you should know that I am not in the habit of living with my regrets. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ the commander replied. ‘I have tracker teams on the ground at their last known location. We will find them.’

‘Let us hope so, commander, for your sake.’

Otto threw the switch and there was a slight vibration from somewhere beneath his feet as generators that had probably not been used for decades slowly rumbled into life.

‘Gotta love Russian engineering,’ he said to himself as the dusty control panels around the room began to light up. He moved to one of the panels nearer the window and threw another series of switches. Outside the control room, huge banks of floodlights on the walls lit up and flooded the cavern with light. Otto walked out on to the gantry and looked down on the fake town below. Now it was lit up it looked even more like some kind of impossibly elaborate movie set. He walked along the gantry and took the stairs down to the cavern floor where Raven and the rest of the Alphas were waiting.

‘I can’t believe that anything’s still working,’ Laura said as they walked through the town.

‘They built things to last back then,’ Raven said. ‘Everything now is digital and fragile – when this place was built things were less sophisticated but they did not break quite so easily. Fortunately for us.’

‘So what now?’ Tom asked. ‘Do we just activate the beacon and wait?’

‘No, first we need to find good defensive positions,’ Raven replied. ‘We have to assume that the Disciples will get here before anyone from H.I.V.E. does. We also have to assume that they might find a way in here somehow.’

‘There are plenty of places to hide here,’ Laura said, looking around.

‘I’m getting tired of hiding,’ Otto said. ‘I’ve got a better idea.’

‘And what might that be?’ Raven asked.

‘Well, they say that offence is the best form of defence, right?’ Otto said as they walked into the main town square.

‘Normally I would agree,’ Raven said, ‘but the Disciples have us outnumbered and outgunned.’

‘Not necessarily,’ Otto said with a grin, pointing across the town square. ‘It’s like you said, some things are built to last.’

‘I think I’ve got something,’ the radio operator in the Disciple command tent yelled.

‘What is it?’ the commander asked quickly.

‘It sounds like a distress beacon of some kind,’ the operator replied. ‘I’m not entirely sure what the source of the transmission is but it’s certainly not coming from any of our equipment.’

‘It has to be Raven,’ Minerva said. ‘She’s signalling for help. Can you determine the position of the transmitter?’

‘Yes, it will take a few minutes but it should be relatively straightforward.’

‘Good,’ the commander said with a nod. ‘Once you have a position relay the coordinates to the gunships and have them check the area.’ He turned to Minerva. ‘I’ll get airborne with the rest of our troops so we can be on site as soon as we have the location.’

‘I will accompany you,’ Minerva said. ‘I want to be there to personally ensure your success this time, commander.’

‘But, ma’am, it could be extremely dangerous,’ the commander protested.

‘If I were you, commander, I would be more worried for the safety of your own troops. Raven must know that you will be able to trace the location of that beacon. It is no accident that she is telling you exactly where she is. Do not underestimate her or Nero’s students. They are a dangerous combination, as Overlord discovered to his cost.’

‘I know how dangerous they are,’ the commander said, ‘but she is only one woman and they are just children. We will not fail.’