Desperate Measures Chapter 20

Chapter Eighteen

If Jia could travel back in time a couple of years and talk to her younger self, there was a surprising truth she would have loved to pass along:

explosions can be fun.

She smiled as a rocket sped from Alpha Six’s exoskeleton and blew a jagged, smoking hole in the back doors of the mansion. They had their way inside.

Her momentary entertainment was replaced by a somber truth. A weapon that could easily blow open a reinforced door with a single shot had only weakened one of the monsters they’d just fought.

Her hand trembled for a moment at the memory of the Hunter ship. That was the end of the road for the path the conspiracy now walked, hideous, twisted creation completely disconnected from nature with no other point than to kill.

Jia scoffed. Once humanity’d had to reach into dark myths of gods and demons when they thought of monsters, but modern people weren’t content to leave them in the shadows. It was almost as if humans couldn’t become gods, so they’d decided to make flesh-and-blood demons real, to become kings of the underworld.

Erik ran toward the door, jarring Jia out of her ruminations. She stayed in formation, heading in after him. He slowed as he arrived inside and whistled.

“Not what I thought,” he mumbled.

Jia understood why. She expected some sort of hallway or fancy room, not a vast cavernous chamber filled with data windows and large silver tanks. Tubing ran through the walls and into the tanks. One of them was open, blue fluid staining the floor around it. Bright, harsh light illuminated the whole space. Huge tunnel-like hallways extended from the chamber.

Small drones equipped with delicate arms and probes were parked in tall racks on either side of the room. They weren’t active, not that they would represent much threat. A child could probably bat the small machines out of the air with ease. It was a welcome relief after the last set of

yaoguai

.

“This isn’t a mansion.” Jia hissed. “It’s a damned lab.”

“That place we took down in the Scar might have been a prototype,” Erik suggested, walking toward the open tank but not lowering his rifle. “And this is the industrial-scale version, or maybe the opposite.”

“You mean they’ve got more than just those wolves and those other things?” asked one of the soldiers, his voice quiet.

“Probably.” Erik fired a burst at one of the drones, blasting it to pieces. “But if they jump us in here, they don’t have a lot of room to maneuver. No matter what, this is a big loss. Even if we can’t find the informant, they have to know we’ll bomb this place until it’s a crater.”

“I’m not seeing any IO ports,” Emma commented. “The jamming strength is stronger inside this building. Please continue to move around in case there’s one in this room.”

“That means the jammer is not a hidden array outside,” Erik concluded. “Good to know.”

“Somebody’s got to be sending the monsters at us,” one of the soldiers commented. “They wouldn’t program a security system to unleash all that every time somebody shows up.”

Erik nodded. “Yeah, you’d think. I doubt this entire facility is automated, and I’m guessing the people in charge are hiding underground. We need to find an IO port or take out the jammer so Emma can do her thing.” He headed toward one of the tunnels. “For now, we still have our informant to find.”

The squad fell in behind Erik. The large tunnels made it easy for the exoskeletons to proceed two abreast with space between them, and Jia assumed they were meant to accommodate equally large

yaoguai

. That didn’t bode well.

“Why bring him here?” Jia asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“This might have been one of the more secure facilities,” Erik suggested, but he didn’t sound confident. “You’re right, though. A

yaoguai

lab might be nice for some scares, but it doesn’t strike me as the best place to keep a prisoner, especially one they thought might be followed. They’re trading that prisoner potentially for this entire lab.”

“Unless we’ve hit them even harder than we realize,” Jia mused, her tone betraying her doubt. “You’re right, Erik. This whole thing feels off.”

A nearby soldier laughed. “What tipped you off, Lin? The giant wolves or whatever the hell those things were right outside? You waiting for a tap-dancing spider lady in a nice dress to show up and serenade us?”

“I’ve fought things far worse than

yaoguai

,” Jia replied, her voice even. “That’s not what is bothering me.”

The mirth left the soldier’s voice. “W-worse than

yaoguai

?”

Erik nodded grimly. He lifted his faceplate and wiped sweat off his brow. “I think he’s righter than you realize, though, Jia.”

“How?”

“We should never get too comfortable dealing with this kind of thing.” Erik slowed. “That’s when we’ll start making mistakes.”

The tunnel widened into a room even larger than their entrance point. Despite the sloping walls, it easily accounted for most of the mansion as seen from outside. Equipment and tanks similar to that in the previous room filled the room.

Disturbingly, the tanks were arranged in lines from small sizes that would barely accommodate something the size of the dog to much larger designs that would hold something almost the size of the dire wolves. About twenty tanks filled the room.

“Is this where they breed them?” asked a soldier.

“Probably,” Erik commented.

“Where do the big ones come from?” the soldier asked. “You couldn’t fit any of the last monsters we fought in those tanks.” He pointed his gun at the largest tank. “Those camo wolves wouldn’t fit in there.”

Jia stared at one of the large tanks and sighed. “You’re asking the wrong question.”

“Am I?”

Erik lowered his faceplate with a grunt. “Yeah, you are.”

“Ask yourself this: How big is a baby when they’re born?” Jia asked. “You couldn’t fit Erik comfortably in a crib.”

The soldier gulped. “You’re telling me a baby monster fits in those large tanks?”

“That’s what I would guess,” Jia replied with a frown.

“Then how big are they fully grown? Bigger than the things we just fought?”

“Let’s hope we don’t find out.”

“I’ve spotted an IO port,” Emma announced. She sounded excited. “It’s time for the heroine of this story to take center stage.”

Someone in the group chuckled.

A nav marker appeared in Jia’s and Erik’s HUDs. Jia zoomed in on the marker. The lone port lay across the vast chamber. That didn’t seem all that convenient, but presumably the conspiracy personnel who worked at the facility didn’t normally have to worry about the entire area being blanketed by jamming.

“We’ve got movement at twelve o’clock!” shouted a soldier.

Jia frowned. That was near the IO port. Not a good coincidence.

The exoskeletons spread out in a line, the tanks forming natural rows that disrupted their attempts at decent formations, but most of the equipment was at waist level for a normal human, leaving their weapons and primary line of sight clear. Something much smaller than their last enemies darted between two tanks.

“I think it’s a person.” Jia switched to thermal and nodded. “I’m getting a humanoid outline.”

“Just because it looks like a human, it doesn’t mean it is one,” Erik replied, his voice tight. “We learned that on Venus.”

The team pointed their weapons at the tank. A sustained barrage from twelve exoskeletons would be lethal to anything remotely human, if anyone who worked in the building could be called that. Jia had her doubts, regardless of how pure their DNA was. Being human was about more than having forty-six

Homo sapiens

chromosomes. She wasn’t so sure if the people creating the

yaoguai

weren’t more monstrous than their beasts.

“I’m going to give you one chance,” Erik announced. “Come out with your hands up. If you don’t do it, in ten seconds, we’re going to assume you’re hostile and send you to join all the

yaoguai

that tried to eat us outside.

“Don’t shoot!” screamed a distinctly human male voice. Two pale hands rose over the tank, followed by a thin, wizened man. He wore a white uniform with a design Jia didn’t recognize.

Jia didn’t normally think that anyone

had to

get rejuvenation, but the barely flesh-wrapped skeleton in front of them needed it. Her stomach tightened at the possibility he could be another half-Leem hybrid.

“Come out slowly,” Erik replied. “Or you’ll end up with a lot of new holes. What’s left of you, anyway. Trust me, after what we’ve gone through to get here, we’re not in a forgiving mood.”

The man stepped in front of the tank, his hands still up. “I surrender. My name is Doctor Vincke. You’ll want to take me alive. I can give you useful intelligence. That’s why you’re here, right?”

“Oh, can you now?” Erik chuckled. “Where’s that conspiracy loyalty? Those Ascended Brotherhood bastards fried themselves rather than let us get anything from them. That alien hybrid on Venus was willing to try to take us with him, and here you are, ready to surrender. Man, I guess they’re hiring the bottom of the barrel now.”

Vincke sighed, sounding more annoyed than upset. “I didn’t think you would survive the test subjects. You were more resourceful and adaptive than anticipated.”

“So, you’re the one who sent those monsters after us?” Erik chuckled. “You’ve got to understand that didn’t endear you to us, but we’re not here to take prisoners. Give me a reason not to waste you right now.”

“You’d kill me in cold blood?” Vincke sounded impressed.

“I don’t know if it counts as killing you in cold blood after you admitted to sending a horde of damned monsters after us,” growled Erik.

“It was nothing personal. I don’t even know who you are.” Vincke’s face contorted. “May I lower my arms? They’re starting to hurt.”

“Okay, fine,” Erik replied. “But if you try anything, I’ll add some new holes to your face. I’m still waiting to hear why we should waste our time with you.”

Vincke lowered his arms. He took a moment to rub his shoulders before responding. “I don’t know

who

you are, but obviously, you’re either with the ID or the DD. I know both of those little government agencies are interested in my employers. That alone should be enough.”

Erik nodded to Jia. They might not be police officers, but good cop, bad cop was always useful.

“He’s right,” Jia explained softly, faking a smile. “Our orders are to recover a kidnapped man. Nazeer Ahmed.”

There was no reason to explain the part where they were only supposed to take down people who resisted. She wasn’t sure Colonel Adeyemi would care if someone like Vincke was killed.

But the man was right. They needed intel, and this was one of the first times they’d encountered someone who might be able to willingly provide it without an autopsy or a post-death PNIU hack.

“Kidnapped man?” Vincke cocked his head. “Ah, yes. I vaguely remember something about that.” He laughed. “You have to understand operations isn’t my area, but if you let me live, I’ll be more than happy to help you.”

When he reached for his ear, Erik barked, “Hands back up, or you’re dead.”

Vincke’s arms shot toward the ceiling. “My ear itches.”

“Too damned bad,” Erik growled. “You should be happy we weren’t so trigger happy that we took you out the minute we got here.”

“Calm down already,” Vincke replied. “Your bloodthirst is quite unbecoming.”

For a man with six exoskeletons pointing weapons at him, he was remarkably calm. His smug sneer didn’t fit either his words or the mood of the room. Some people didn’t understand the situation they were in until it was too late.

“I am calm,” Erik offered, his voice cold. “Now tell us where he is.”

“I can’t do that. It’s too difficult to explain. I’ll have to show you.”

“No.” Erik scoffed. “Here’s how this is going to work. I’m going to put binding ties on you while the other five people with me point heavy exo rifles at you. If you try anything, first I’ll kick your ass. If it turns out you’re a mutant freak and manage to knock me away, they’ll shred you until you’re nothing but a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces. Understand?”

Vincke wrinkled his nose in disgust. “You’re a barbarian.”

“I’ve been called a lot worse.” Erik shot him a bright smile. “But you didn’t answer the question. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” Vincke replied haughtily. “It’s you who don’t understand. I’m the one jamming, so I took measures to make sure I could still do what I needed in that kind of environment.”

“You are ab—"

He snapped his fingers and dropped with mocking laughter. Something loud clanged, and his laughter stopped.

Jia moved to the side to get a better angle on where Vincke had been standing. She shifted to thermal mode. Slight temp differentials surrounded a large portion of the floor.

“Door in the floor,” she explained. “Must be a hidden elevator.”

“Bastard,” Erik ground out.

Emma’s hologram appeared, and she pointed toward the IO port. “He won’t be able to do much if I control the facility.”

“Let’s just blow a hole in the ground and go after him,” suggested one of the soldiers.

A harsh grinding noise sounded from above as portions of the ceiling retracted to reveal multiple large opaque tubes. A foreboding mixture of loud droning, buzzing, and skittering echoed from the tubes.

Erik raised his gun. “We should have just dropped a cruise missile on this damned place.”