Lean on Me (19 page)

There were footsteps in the hallway.

“
Oh tobacco,” Ben said.
“Good Lord, I’ve missed you.”

“
Better finish up,” Alex
said. “We have visitors.”

Ben looked at Alex and she nodded. She was
ready. She glanced at Zack and he nodded that he was ready too.

“
Sir, Captain Mac Clenaghan
asked me to remind you that you’re not wearing body armor,”
Sergeant Dusty said.

Ben stood at the door. He raised three
fingers.

Three.

Two.

One.

He opened the door and stuck the cigarette
in his mouth.

“
We’re taking over” and a
rapping voice blasted over the loud speaker.

“
What the hell is that?”
Ben asked in a cloud of cigarette smoke.

“
D.J. Khaled,” Alex yelled
over the loud dance music. She nodded to Zack and stepped into the
hallway.

Five men with machine guns ran down the hall
toward them. Under the booming music, she heard a scratching,
almost scrambling sound. Master Sergeant Bailey ran along the edge
of the hallways toward her. Spinning in place, the dog got between
her and the approaching men.

And it was not pretty.

Even standing behind him, Alex was
terrified. The dog snarled, snapped and lunged at the men. The
young Army MPs skidded to a halt. One young man gave an
unintelligible screech of horror. Another man raised his machine
gun to shoot the dog.

“
I wouldn’t do that,” Alex
said.

When his finger moved to the trigger, Jesse
threw a ball of electricity at him. The man screeched with pain.
Jesse touched the machine gun and it became red hot. The MP dropped
the it.

“
Drop your weapons,” Alex
said.

“
Put yo hands up,” came
over the loud speaker followed by the beginning of a fast techno
beat. Master Sergeant Bailey snarled at them. Once the final weapon
was on the ground, the dog sat down as if to guard the
MPs.

“
Arrêt!
Arrêt
!” Yelling in French, Ben came out of
the room with his hands up. “Shut off the crappy
Syntho.”

“
Techno, monsieur,” the Y
voice said. “
Le patron a
dit
…”

The music stopped.

“
Sorry sir,” the X voice
said.

The team turned the corner to the hallway.
Sergeant Beetle gave one short whistle and Master Sergeant Bailey
trotted back to him. Raz sprinted to her side. He dropped
standard-issue body armor over her shoulders. She smiled her
thanks. Instead of hugging her, he patted the Velcro into place.
Leena brought Alex’s running shoes. Alex sat down to put on her
shoes. Joseph gave her a sacrum holder with the Glock 9mm her
father had bought for her when she was a child. When the handgun
slid into its holster, she felt more like herself.

“
Your attention is needed
in the computer center,” the X voice said.

“
I’m turned around,” Alex
said. “Where is it?”

“
I’ll guide you,” the X
voice said. He couldn’t resist adding in an echoing voice, “Follow…
the… light.”

Leaving Matthew and White Boy to deal with
the MPs, Alex and Raz led the team down the hallway. X turned off
all the lights except for those in the hallways they were to
follow. They ran down one lit hallway to the next. Turning left,
they saw a non-descript door in front of them. From the hallway,
they heard Craig David’s “Hands up in the Air” blasting from the
loud speakers.

“
Put them on,” Alex said at
the door.

Her team pulled their balaclavas down over
their faces. The music came to an abrupt halt and Alex pressed open
the door. The room had a five-foot-wide walkway over a sunken work
area filled with more than a hundred cubicles and employees. The
programmers were standing at the entrances of their cubicles with
their hands on their heads. Alex’s team ran along the walkway to
surround the programmers.

“
X?” Alex
yelled.

“
Number 78, 83,” the X
voice said.

“
7,” the Y voice
said.

“
112,” the X voice said.
“Desktops.”

“
You heard them,” Alex
yelled.

“
Programmers for computers
7, 78, 83 and 112, step forward,” Trece yelled.

Three young men moved toward the center
aisle. Matthew and White Boy ran into the room. Matthew stood next
to Alex and White Boy went into the work area.

“
We won’t ask you again!”
Joseph said.

“
You think you’re being
loyal,” Matthew yelled. “You think you’re being citizens. If you
don’t do what we ask to the letter, you will be on a plane to Gitmo
faster than you can sneeze.”

A young woman jogged to catch up with the
other three.

“
Jeez,” Zack whispered to
Alex. “They’re so young.”

“
And stupid,” Margaret said
as she passed by. She ran to frisk the programmers. She brought
them by gunpoint to the walkway.

“
Jesse?” Alex
asked.

Four computers sparked and caught fire.

“
What the hell!” the woman
said.

“
Be still,” MJ said.
“You’re in enough trouble as it is.”

Vince and Colin ran forward with fire
extinguishers.

“
Merde
,” the Y voice said.

“
This is the disconnect
order,” the X voice said.

“
Copy that,” Sergeant Dusty
said. “Alphabet soup has disconnected. You are
isolated.”

“
Is the General on the
line?” Alex asked.

“
Sir?” her father, General
turned Senator Patrick Hargreaves, asked from the
Pentagon.

“
Your team,” Alex
said.

“
Disconnecting,” Patrick
said over the intercom.

“
Step away from your
computers,” Trece yelled and ran into the work area. Vince, Colin,
Trece and White Boy shooed the programmers from their
cubicles.

The programmers shuffled toward the walk
area.

“
Vacate!” Leena yelled.
“NOW!”

“
Done,” Patrick said over
the intercom. “Awaiting your orders.”

“
Sir?” Sergeant Dusty
asked.

“
Jakker?” Alex turned to
him. “Get to the chopper. You know what to do.”

Zack ran out of the room. Raz nodded to Alex
and they ran out of the room. The programmers ran behind them with
Margaret and MJ’s machine guns to encourage them. They followed the
lit hallways to an interior meeting space. Alex and Raz stood on
one side of the door. Margaret and MJ escorted the programmers into
chairs in the meeting space. Leena arrived mid-pack to help. Joseph
and Colin arrived with the last of the programmers. Ben, Sergeant
Beetle and Master Sergeant Bailey stood in the hallway while Ben
smoked. They waited almost five minutes before White Boy and Trece
ran down the hall.

“
Done?” Alex
asked.

“
Set,” Trece said. “Okay
assholes, we want your IDs. Pass them to the north end of your
aisle.”

“
You might think it’s smart
to fail to produce your ID,” White Boy said.

“
Just think how sad your
momma is going to be when we tell her we had to KILL you because
you failed to tell us who the FUCK you were,” Trece said from the
north end of the room. “No, this north.”

White Boy went row-by-row collecting
IDs.

“
We want your phones, USB
drives, and any other gadget you have on you,” Joseph said. “If you
fail to produce them they will be destroyed.”

“
Pass them to the south end
of your row,” Leena said. “Yes that’s right. I’m standing at the
south end.”

Leena and Joseph began picking up cell
phones, pagers, iPods, flash drives, and other computerized
objects.

“
We are passing around ear
plugs,” MJ said. “They only protect your ears to 65 dB. Put them in
and cover your ears.”

“
If you fail to put them
in,” Margaret said. “You will become at least temporarily
deaf.”

“
And we cannot ensure you
that your hearing will return,” Colin said. “If you need
assistance, we will help you.”

“
If you decide not to use
the ear protection, we will post your picture on every Dungeons and
Dragons website in the world,” MJ said.

“
With the caption, ‘Deaf
due to dumbassness,’” Margaret said.

MJ, Colin and Margaret began passing out
soft foam earplugs. When Trece and White Boy had retrieved all the
identifications, they began working with their handheld computers
to identify each of the programmers. Margaret left MJ and Colin to
help Trece and White Boy fill in a seating chart. Leena and Joseph
were putting the gadgets into Ziplock bags and into a leaded
backpack.

Alex and Raz watched the activity from the
edge of the room, near the door. Trece and White Boy had completed
the room chart before Matthew and Vince arrived. They nodded to
Alex and ran into the room. Taking one last drag from a cigarette,
Ben scooted into the room with Sergeant Beetle and Master Sergeant
Bailey. MJ and Colin were moving from person to person to ensure
their ear protection was in place. Margaret demonstrated how to
cover their ears.

When the team was done, Alex moved to the
middle of the hallway.

“
I expect command in this
room in fifteen minutes,” Alex yanked off her wig and balaclava.
“You wanted me. You’ve got me.”

“
Sir?” Raz held out
earplugs to Alex. She jammed them into her ears.

“
NOW!” Alex
yelled.

F

CHAPTER TWELVE

Covering her ears with her hands, she ran
into the room. Raz yanked the door closed. He crouched down beside
her on the floor. Master Sergeant Bailey lay on his side while
Sergeant Beetle covered him with his body.

There was a muffled explosion followed by a
“whoop” sound. The force of the EMP grenade threw them to the
floor. The floor shifted an inch to the west. The programmers fell
out of their chairs. Trece and White Boy were the only team members
able to maintain their crouched position. As if on a sling shot,
the building swung back to the east. Food, dishes, and supplies
flew out of the break room cabinets. Everything fell out of the
refrigerator.

The lights flickered and crackled. Smoke
from burned electrical wires drifted down from the ceiling before
water burst from the fire sprinkler system. The jets sputtered and
shut off. A few jets near the edge of the room dripped water.

Before anyone could move, there was one last
jolt.

Then silence.

“
That’s it!” Vince yelled.
He stood and waved his hands over his head.

The Fey team helped each other up from the
floor. They took off their balaclavas and removed their ear plugs.
The partner teams – Trece and White Boy; Margaret and MJ; Vince and
Leena; Joseph and Colin; Sergeant Beetle and Master Sergeant
Bailey; Matthew joined Alex, Raz and Ben – checked each other for
injury.

“
Report!” Joseph
yelled.

“
Clear!” came one at a time
from the partner teams.

Seeing the team stand, the programmers began
to move around.

“
Remove your ear plugs!”
Standing in front of the programmers, Leena and Margaret pointed to
their ears.

“
If you are injured, see
either myself,” Colin said. He pointed to MJ, and added, “Or
Sergeant Scully. Otherwise, sit down.”

“
We want to see programmers
7, 78, 83 and 112!” Matthew yelled. “Over here!”

Just as the four programmers began to stand,
Master Sergeant Bailey gave a deep and dangerous growl. The hair on
the back of his neck stood on end. Sergeant Beetle signaled for him
to stand down but the dog refused. Sergeant Beetle grabbed his
collar.

Master Sergeant Bailey broke away. He took
off toward the southwest corner of the room. Barking and snarling,
he flew across the room to bark at air.

“
Jesse?” Raz
asked.

“
He’s standing next to me,”
Alex said. “Anyone see anything?”

Raz shook his head. Alex glanced from team
member to team member until her eyes rested on Colin. She raised
her eyebrows. Using American Sign Language, he signed, “Glimmer.”
She nodded. She’d seen a glimmer too. She raised an eyebrow to
Jesse.

“
I see it too,” Jesse said.
“But I don’t have a clue what it is.”

“
Animal, vegetable,
mineral,” Alex said.

Jesse went over to where the dog was
attacking the air.

“
It’s a drone,” Jesse
said.

Master Sergeant Bill Bailey continued
snarling and snapping.

“
Sir,” Sergeant Beetle
appeared at attention in front of her. “Master Sergeant Bailey,
Bill, he’s done this before. Twice. He’s gone crazy at… nothing.
He’s a decorated soldier… I mean you saw what he can do. And he can
do a lot more than that. But this… The vet says there’s nothing
wrong with him. He’s healthy and all of his senses are functioning
but…”

“
Is this why you were
assigned to us?” Matthew asked.

“
Yes sir,” Sergeant Beetle
said. “They want to retire Bill. I told them I would retire with
him. But the Admiral wanted us to intern with you before
we…”

Alex pointed to Colin and raised her hand.
Colin came over to her.