Ripper (48 page)

“I will need five minutes, thirty-seven seconds to regain sensory input from that section.”

“Hurry, please hurry,” Pete said as he pushed the microphone away from him and looked at Niles who was
looking up through the bulletproof wall upstairs. As Pete started to inform Niles of the delay in case he hadn’t heard, the lights flickered overhead and Golding breathed a sigh of relief. He waited, but the lights didn’t come back on. He grabbed for the microphone once more. “Europa, is that you getting the power grid back up? Is that the first protocol?” Pete asked as he tried his hardest to
remember the sequence of her reboot program.

“Dr. Golding, the power has been severed at the source. With my surveillance systems still down, that is my best estimation.”

Niles heard that. He turned and faced Pete who lost all the feeling in his legs and had to sit. Then he caught himself and sat back up.

“Europa, do you have a status report on nuclear reactors one and two?”

“I must source query by utilizing the programs that are currently
available, Doctor. Standby.”

“Pete, what are the odds that one of those soldiers could access the reactor area on eighty-four?” Niles asked, no longer concerned about the boogeymen in the darkness outside the walls.

Pete shook his head. “Niles, with her systems down, the area could have been unsecured to allow our reactor technicians to get to the evacuation point. God only knows, but if Europa
shut down her systems for a security breach, resecuring that area may have come too late.”

“Doctor, by accessing the main water systems and the sublevel systems such as distilled water storage, I have calculated that the hard-water levels in all four reactor pumping stations are down 46 percent,” Europa said.

“Is this an occurrence due to the emergency shutdown procedure?” Pete asked, doubting
his own question.

“Negative, Dr. Golding. The pumps have been shut down at the source and both reactors have scrammed.”

“They can’t be capable of that!” Niles said as he ran over to Pete’s desk. “Europa, we need you to bypass normal start-up procedures and go directly to your surveillance systems. Reboot now!”

Before she could react, the red flashing of her warning systems started back up with
the irritating buzz of the alarm.

“Doctor, we have a biohazard warning on level seventeen and a security breach on levels one, four, eight, eighteen, and eighty-four. Untagged persons are inside the complex.”

By
untagged
Europa meant that all Event Group members had a microscopic bug placed in their thigh area just under their skin that told Europa where every member of the Group was currently
located. Event guests like Gloria Bannister and Henri Farbeaux had been tagged on a temporary basis. The untagged people she was currently picking up on her security scan were obviously the intruder element inside the complex.

“God, they made it into the reactor section and shut down the cooling pumps and water,” Niles said as he reached for the phone on an empty desk. “Europa, I need communications
ASAP!”

“Estimate two minutes until program reboot on communications, Dr. Compton. I am now receiving security video from level eighty-four. Low-quality night vision has been achieved.”

As the two men watched, a hazy and greenish picture came on the main screen. At first they saw nothing out of the ordinary except for the flashing red and yellow lights indicating that the reactors, both one and
two, had scrammed automatically or had shut down as per fail-safe protocol when they started being starved of coolant.

“Location of Colonel Collins?” Pete said into the microphone.

“Colonel Collins is currently on level eight, south stairwell.”

Pete realized that they had to get people down to the very bottom level of the complex to restart the distilled water pumps and get the reactors to
start their cooldown. Without getting them up again, the reactors would blow, taking all of Nellis and Las Vegas along with the complex, and also leave a radioactive hole in the ground half the size of Lake Mead.

“Niles, you have to leave here, get to some radios, and pray that the colonel pops out someplace where he can receive.”

Compton didn’t hesitate as he knew where there were at least
a dozen radios—his own office. He ran up the stairs knowing that if they didn’t get this stopped, growing giants would be the least of the problems for his Group.

“Dr. Golding, security cameras on thirty-four have picked up nine members of Department 5656 that have not achieved egress from the complex.”

“What? We still have more people down there?”

“Correct, Doctor, they are trapped.”

“Can
you get any kind of emergency power to the main cargo lift and get them out of there?”

“It may be possible to reroute my battery power to the cargo lift.”

“How will that affect your backup power system?”

“Total drainage in seven minutes, ten seconds, Doctor,” Europa replied.

“And how long to get the lift to level one?”

“Five minutes, thirty-seven seconds.”

Pete felt the knot in his stomach
grow larger. If he ordered Europa to assist the trapped men and women in the gymnasium and sports complex, she wouldn’t have but one minute and thirty-three seconds of power to either get the men and women help or go up with the reactors.

“Europa, reroute your power to the cargo lift and get those people out!”

*   *   *

Jack placed his hand on the chest of Charlie Ellenshaw when he not only
felt something below them on level eight but smelled it. It was an odor he had smelled on every battlefield he had ever served on. It was the smell of blood—a lot of it.

“Stay here Doc,” he said just above a whisper, knowing that Crazy Charlie didn’t understand military hand signals.

“What is it?” Charlie asked gripping the M-14 as tightly as he could. He looked up at the weak lighting of the
floodlight and then cursed that he couldn’t see the landing on the next level down.

Jack took the steps one at a time without any weapon at all. He was only ten steps away from the sharp curve in the stairwell when he saw an arm stretched across the landing. Jack cursed as he took another step and then suddenly felt a presence behind him. He turned as fast as he could and almost gave Charlie
a coronary as well as himself.

“Damn it, Doc!” Jack hissed, “I told you to hang back and cover me.”

“Colonel, from that angle, the trajectory of any form of cover fire would not have accomplished what I was asked to do, if—” In the darkness Ellenshaw saw Collins and knew that he better not continue his geometry lesson at that time. “Sorry,” he said as a way of completing his sentence.

Jack
took another step, and another, and then was at the next level. His jaw set when he saw the six men sprawled on the large grate leading to level eight. They were torn to pieces. Jack had to grab the handrail as Charlie moaned behind him. The worst thing they saw was the head of Sergeant Sanchez placed directly on top of his own chest. Collins knew it was meant to frighten. That was the only statement
the killer of his reaction team could have meant, to send fear down the spines of anyone who saw the decapitation. Instead of shaking in his boots as the beast who did this foul act intended, Jack simply reached down and grabbed three of the assault packages that were scattered on the landing. As he passed his men, stepping over them with care, he stopped and waved Charlie over.

“Take two more
of these, Doc—we’re going to need them.”

“There is no sign of Captain Everett and his men, Colonel. The last we heard, he was off to find,” he hesitated as if saying the sergeant’s name would bring on more bad luck, “Sergeant Sanchez.”

“Remember that the captain is not only good, he’s the best at evasion, even from these assholes.”

“Yeah, the captain can be on my team any day,” Charlie said
with as much bravado as he could muster.

Collins came to the thick steel door and paused. He tilted his head and listened for anything coming from the far side. Then he placed a hand over the door and felt the cold steel. He looked back at Ellenshaw and shook his head.

“Pete and Niles should have had the power up by now. Where in the hell is Europa? That expensive bitch better not have bailed
out on us.”

Collins reached into one of the bags and brought out a small box. He felt better just seeing what was inside. Six hand grenades were packed in foam and looked like diamonds in the rough to him. He started filling his pockets.

Above Jack, Charlie’s eyes widened. “Can I have—”

“No,” Collins answered before the stupid question could be voiced. Jack turned and tossed Ellenshaw three
new magazines one at a time. Charlie fumbled but managed to catch them all. He then reached inside the canvas bag and brought out a sawed-off twelve-gauge shotgun. He quickly loaded it with the blue plastic-cased solid-shot shells, adjusting the strap and then placing the shotgun over his shoulder. Next came the Ingram submachine gun. He quickly taped two of the long clips together, both facing in
opposite directions, and then slammed the magazine home. “There, that feels better,” Jack said.

“I must admit it, you look better, Colonel,” Charlie said, happy that Collins was happy.

Collins brought the Ingram up and slowly reached out in the light of the floods above him and cracked the door open. He looked inside the dimly lit corridor and into the clinic. He saw that a bed had been pushed
up close to the heavily damaged elevator doors, which lay bent and crumpled on the tiled floor. The colonel then opened the stairwell door wide enough to get his head through.

Charlie Ellenshaw winced as Jack’s head disappeared through the opening, wanting to say that that’s how teenagers get killed in all the slasher movies—by sticking their heads into dark rooms. He managed not to warn Jack
of the danger.

Collins quickly saw that the clinic was empty. He let the door close and then turned to face Charlie.

“It looks like they managed to evacuate Colonel Farbeaux.”

“Oh, joy,” Ellenshaw said.

“Okay, we know the only ones above us are Pete and Niles in the computer center, so it looks like we’re headed down, Doc.”

Charlie had his throat catch in midswallow but managed to nod his
head.

“Don’t worry, Doc, it’s all downhill.”

10

The attack had come upon Everett and his nine men so suddenly that two of the men were dead before a shot was fired in their rushed defense. Just before the creature came through the plastic-lined wall, they had been up two levels and then back down three as the maze of trying to reach anyone still alive was quickly becoming fraught with pitfalls. The creatures had torn free steps in the
steel staircases, wrenched away handrails, and rolled large chunks of concrete down upon anyone who might be traversing the stairwells. Everett felt the intelligence of these creatures, even before they came upon several bodies of technicians he recognized as being a part of Virginia Pollock’s Nuclear Sciences division. Somehow they had missed the evacuation order, had been cut off, and then tried
to make their way in the dark down the stairwell, where they were ambushed and then busted to pieces. As they examined the bodies they could clearly see that every bone had been smashed.

They had hoped to be at level forty-two and the main armory far before this, but with the obstacles around them they were slowed to the point of crawling. Just a moment before the attack came, Carl had thought
he heard voices from the stairwell they were traveling in at least two levels below them. As one of the sergeants started to call out, Everett hushed him.

At that moment he heard a woman’s scream from down below and simultaneously the concrete wall beside the middle part of his remaining nine men crashed inward. Standing in front of them was one of the creatures, which had grown so much that
its remaining tattered clothing had been completely shed. The beast was standing on one of Everett’s men as the others, including the captain, opened fire at point-blank range. The beast ducked and covered its head with its massive forearm, and in the darkened stairwell they could not get a clear shot at its head. It quickly swung outward and caught Lance Corporal Jimmy Dolan across the chest, sending
him crashing into the hardened steel rail, snapping his back, and tumbling him over the edge. Then the monstrosity before them reached out with a backswing and grasped a young corporal by the neck. With its free arm guarding its most vulnerable area, the head, it pulled the young marine into the wall and then vanished into the honeycomb of the cave system that lined the entire complex.

Everett
shook his head and watched as army staff sergeant Frakes emptied his M-16 into the large hole. The return flash made Everett turn away. The captain was now down to seven men. Hanging his head, Everett took a moment to collect himself. Then he remembered the scream he had heard just before the ambush hit. He steeled himself and waved his men on. The blackness of the staircase loomed and Everett realized
for the first time that Smith’s men had smashed the remaining battery-powered light to bits.

“It didn’t take them long to discover the cave system,” Sergeant Frakes said as he came up on Everett’s rear.

“Yeah, well, we have a few surprises left also if we can just get to the damn armory,” Carl said as he looked back at Frakes. “And if I ever see you empty a weapon like that again, with the chance
that my man is still alive, I’ll toss your ass right off this stairwell.”

Frakes gave a nod, happy the captain still had the fire to chew on his ass.

They would all need that fire in the next hour.

ECHO FIVE THREE SEVEN—SIERRA
OPERATION NERDLINGER, TEN MILES NORTH OF NELLIS AFB, NEVADA

At thirty-five thousand feet the giant Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules opened her rear ramp as the
thirty-seven men operating under the auspices of Presidential Order 122213, designated Operation Nerdlinger, lined up as the high-altitude, freezing air blasted into the open ramp. As Major Garcia stepped forward, the U.S. Air Force Special Operations team waited for the red light to flash to green. “Grateful Dead” Garcia didn’t have to turn to check on his DELTA element as he knew they were ready.
Each man was self-sustained from radios to weapons. And their weapons were of the special kind. They each carried three of them and ammunition. Garcia felt the cold air coming from his oxygen system and knew it was just enough for the four-and-a-half-minute freefall to the desert below. He made sure his ambient-light goggles were secure on his helmet until he would need them as he neared the ground.