Plagued: Book 1 Read online

  The choppers moved in even though the sun was still high in the sky. Command had decided against waiting for darkness. The goblins might already know their blood drop had been compromised. It had only been an hour since she and the others got the call at school. They were moving fast.

  Sky shaded her eyes with one hand, watching the choppers maneuver over the roof of the cinema complex. A tangle of ropes tumbled from the open doors and the Alphas slid down in textbook formation. A minute later, an explosion threw a column of black smoke into the air. Sky could feel the ground shake from where she stood. They'd blown the roof with C4.

  That was the signal. Sergeant McNeil waved them out.

  There were rapid bursts of gunfire from inside the building. The goblins were definitely in residence. The Alphas returned fire three-fold. Burst after burst echoed loudly from the buildings and across the parking lot. The movie theaters wouldn't be an easy place to fight. Small rooms, tight corners, narrow hallways and multiple exits. More blasts echoed from inside as the soldiers set off shock grenades.

  Sky took point with her group, quickly reaching the last building with no resistance. All the action was centered far from them on the opposite side.

  Weapon ready, Sky periscoped out and back, peering around the corner. Seeing nothing, she waved the others close behind as she crouched low and duck walked to the other side. There were palms and overgrown scrub in an old area of landscaping for cover. She and her team were at the back of the strip mall, far from the movie theaters in an L-shaped space of what had been five or six retail stores strung together. The sidewalk ended at the furthest structure, jutting out into the weed-choked parking lot.

  She'd taken her contact filters out for the operation. Scanning the parking lot, she didn't notice anything at first. The afternoon sun was sparkling in her eyes and Sky had to squint to see through the glare. Scanning left to right, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. A few rusted cars and an over-turned delivery truck. She checked those carefully for heat signatures but saw no evidence of anyone hiding. About fifteen yards away from her position, she noticed a flicker out of the corner of her eye. Looking directly at the spot, there seemed to be nothing there. When she looked away, she caught a shimmer as though reality had given a sort of shiver.

  After spotting one, the other two glitches were easier. Three objects. They were too still to be people. Not big enough for cars. Motorcycles, maybe.

  As Sky watched, a door opened in a big building at the far end. She flattened herself into the bushes and made a sharp downward motion for the two behind her to drop.

  Three figures emerged from the back of the building, moving quickly. One by one they blinked out of sight. No heat signatures. Nothing. She knew what to look for now and caught the tiny shiver of reflection in the sunlight as they moved. They were wearing stealth suits.

  The reflective material covering stealth gear acted like a mirror, becoming nothing more than background images to the mind. The technology used small electronic bursts from sensors inserted into the material to slightly shake and distort the reflected images. That way, the scenery appeared to flow smoothly over and around them, constantly readjusting for their position.

  As quietly as she could, she loaded a clip of tracking darts into the gun. Three people in stealth suits and three stealth bikes. The bikes would be electric, equipped with cooling units to further reduce any heat residue that 'bots or someone like her could spot. All she had to aim for was the shimmer of light.

  Switching the gun to manual, she shot all six darts in quick succession at the glitches as they slowly pulled away, praying one would hit its mark. The small darts she shot were covered in a sticky paste that would adhere to almost anything.

  She needed to break radio silence for this. “Christensen to operations, tagged at least one stealth bike leaving target area. Send Catz to track. Leaving the west end of the parking lot now. Do you copy?”

  “Copy that, Christensen.” Rickey's voice came over her com. “Deploying Catz in three, two, one. Target received. Marked and tracking.”

  The robot cats ran up to 40 miles per hour. The hybrid bikes could go much faster than that, but the tracker had a good range. As long as the Catz stayed within five miles or so, they might be able to find out a little more about the local Hemogoblin operations.

  She waved Daphne and Chase over.

  “What was all that about?” Chase adjusted his pistol in its thigh holster as he crouched next to her.

  “Three stealth bikes and riders. They came out of that door.” She pointed and the two of them looked.

  “Daphne, you stay here. Radio the sergeant and watch our backs. Chase, let's see where the door leads and make sure no more rats try to sneak out of the ship.”

  Together, she and Chase approached the door cautiously, keeping flat against the wall. Chase used their electronic scanner to look for explosives or booby traps. Some negatives with her type of visual enhancements were attuned to electromagnetic energy and could 'see' electronics. Not Sky. At least not so far.

  “Anything?”

  He shook his head. “Not that I can pick up. Just the metal door. Wanna' see if it's locked?”

  Flanking the door, Chase held the handle while Sky readied her gun. Pulling it open, she ducked in and out to draw fire as he quickly shut it again. Nothing. Doing the same thing again, this time Sky went through the door, ducking low and moving to the side. Chase followed her.

  A long corridor stretched in front of them. Dimly lit. Quiet. Clean. Very clean, which meant it was in regular use.

  Sky scanned ahead looking for telltale red and yellow blurs that indicated people or animals. There was nothing warm that she could see.

  Chase brought up his sensor unit. “I'm picking up a drop in temperature ahead. Big blob of cold. Maybe cold storage unit or something”

  “Blood has to be kept cold.” Sky pointed out.

  “We should call this in. It could be what they're looking for.”

  Sky tried her com. Nothing came through except an annoying hum of static that buzzed like wasps inside her ear. “I've got no reception. What about you?”

  He spoke into his mic, listened, then shook his head. “Down. Jammed, I'm guessing.”

  “Let's check out what's on the other side of this corridor. Then we'll come out, keep it covered and wait for the others.”

  Chase gave her a thumbs-up, and together they moved along the hallway. Their footsteps echoed far too loudly for Sky's liking. They could very well be under observation from whoever used this space. No cameras were visible and their scanner hadn't picked up any residual electronic residue from monitors. That didn't really mean anything. The goblins and Victims Army people were always working to counteract Tactical technology.

  Following the same procedure as before, they checked the doorway at the end before going through, quietly closing it behind them.

  The explosion ripped through the hallway they'd just cleared, throwing both of them forward with the door propelling them as if they'd been shot from a cannon.

  Chapter 6

  Cold Blooded

  For a time, there was nothing for Sky beyond dust, darkness and the deafening roar in her ears. When she could think again, she guessed the hallway must have been packed with explosives. Detonated either by remote or on a timer. Closing that door saved both their lives. If they hadn't had the door to absorb the shock and shrapnel at their backs, they would have certainly been torn to pieces.

  She shouted for Chase, shining the flash mounted next to her gunsight wildly. The explosion had blown out all the lights and the air was thick with dust. She finally saw him not more than five feet away. He waved one arm and Sky crawled over the debris to reach him. He looked like he was covered in blocks of concrete. After a moment of panicked pulling, Sky realized they were mostly cheap plasterboard and ceiling tiles from the old stores.

  He grabbed her hand. “I'm okay, okay, just...feel sick.”

  She checked him for injuries a
s she cleared away the rest of the debris. His ankle was twisted and right wrist probably broken. She looked back the way they'd come. Smoke and dust still filled the corridor. Nothing but static on the com.

  “Chase, I'm going forward. See if I can pick up a signal. Daphne knows we're here and she would have called for backup. We'll be okay.”

  He lay back and closed his eyes. “I'm going to throw up.”

  “I know, I was throwing up like crazy when I took that hit in the head yesterday.”

  “Be careful,” he said just before twisting on his side to gag.

  On shaky legs, Sky checked her weapon and walked ahead, using the headlamp on her gunsight to light the way. The hallway took a sharp turn to the left, then dead ended a few yards after that. Or maybe not. A dim glow spilled through a narrow opening at one corner. There was a space there.

  Sky dug in her fingers and pulled to the right. Prepared for resistance, the ease with which the hidden door slid smoothly aside took her by surprise and she scrambled to keep her balance.

  A secret door.

  She wasn't sure if this was a great discovery or a terrible one. Everything depended on who might be on the other side. Swallowing the fear burning in her throat, Sky whipped her head quickly in and out. When no shots followed, she eased through. A line of footlights barely illuminated the path at her feet. These were what had shown through the crack. The lights led up another long, sloped ramp. She advanced, doing her best to check for booby traps on the ramp. If it was a pressure plate, she might step on the trigger without even knowing it.

  The com link crackled and she jumped before trying to make contact. “Control, this is Christensen. We are trapped by the explosion. East entrance. Second building in. One man down. Do you copy?”

  A few disjointed words came snapping through the earpiece, nothing she could identify. She repeated her message for good measure as she moved forward. Sky thought the ramps were angling away from the cineplex, more towards the bay. Trying to figure out the direction she was heading underground wasn't easy. Even with the narrow beam of her light, it was obvious the smooth, finsihed tunnels were not that old. This was much more than just some Goblin body or blood garage.

  The ramp dead-ended after about twenty yards ahead. Just like the previous one. No crack of light here. Pushing on the wall one way with no success, she tried the other and was rewarded with a little movement. This was another door. It opened just enough to get her fingers through and pull. She had to put her back into it, but the door slid back far enough for her to squeeze inside.

  The air was much colder here, blowing against her face as though it was being circulated by strong fans. By narrowing her eyes and concentrating, she could make out a faint current of blue at the end of the corridor. Usually, she only registered cold on people, either hurt or dead. Unless there was a dying dinosaur in the next room, some machine must be displacing a lot of thermal energy if she could register it in this fashion.

  The flashlight showed yet another narrow corridor ending at an abrupt turn to the right. She hugged the wall; peering around the corner. There was an audible click and she thought with a sickening rush, 'I'm dead.'

  Instead of an explosion, a series of dim lights flicked on one after the other, far down into a vast, open space. There must be a motion sensor built into the wall or ceiling where she stood. Sky's heart was pounding so hard, she felt it in her bruised temple. The lights grew brighter and Sky had to squint against the illumination after the darkness behind. What she saw made her heart pound even harder.

  She should not be here.

  Moving away from the wall, Sky managed to take only a couple of steps before someone body slammed her, throwing her hard to the ground and knocking her helmet off. Someone big, in what felt like full body armor. The figure twisted the gun out of her hands and it skittered to the side. She elbowed him in the jaw, following with an uppercut. He blocked it one handed. She tried to scramble to reach her gun only a few feet away. He grabbed her by the waist and hauled her back as though she weighed nothing. They grappled, each one trying to lock the other down. She couldn't get a hand free to reach the sidearm strapped to her thigh. Though she kicked and punched as hard as she could, her blows seemed to have no effect. The armor glowed wherever she hit, absorbing the force and dissipating it over the surface. Sky slithered behind, twisting his arm and bringing it with her.

  Her attacker yelped in pain. Armor couldn't protect a twisted joint. She was hoping to pull him into a wrestling hold, get her other arm around his throat and her knee in his back. The armor was so smooth and slick, it was difficult to keep her grip. He slipped around and around like an eel, turning just that much faster, bigger and better at this than Sky

  The armor hummed and an electric shock crackled through her body, top to bottom. The force was enough to throw her off him entirely. She landed some feet away, gasping for breath. In a blur of motion, he had an arm around her throat in a chokehold and both her hands twisted painfully behind her back. He pressed her face-down into the floor. Try as hard as she could, she couldn't break away, twisting this way and that, her hair in her face.

  She noticed as you do at times like that, everything. The texture of the floor, the cold air in the room, and the smell. A spicy, almost hot smell that she couldn't place. She was blacking out when he finally released his hold. In seconds, she felt him tighten a zip-tie around her wrists. Her sidearm wrenched out of its holster.

  The figure in armor hauled her up and pushed her into a sitting position. A man, judging from the body shape. He looked at her through the opaque visor and she stared at him. His armor had the shine of plastic or metal, but the subtle weave and movement of fabric. A pale silver glow shimmered restlessly over the surface of the suit, forming complex geometric patterns. The matte-black helmet covered his face, giving nothing away of his features. He must be getting data readouts inside the helmet, yet no glow showed. He held two handguns. His own and hers.

  “What are you doing here? You should be outside.” His voice sounded synthetic. A voice changer inside the helmet.

  She didn't answer because she didn't entirely understand the question.

  “What have you seen?” He said.

  Struggling, she tried to stand.

  He pushed her back down roughly. “What-have-you-seen!” he shook her as he measured out each word.

  There didn't seem any reason not to answer, because it was like trying to ignore the proverbial elephant in the room. She gestured with her chin behind him. “That. “

  “What else?” he demanded.

  “The hallway exploded, there was a bomb.”

  He made a sharp hiss of sound. “That was you? You came in from the back parking lot?”

  There was no reason not to tell him. “Yes. Some of your goblin pals swere lipping away on their Stealth Bikes. They won't get far.”

  “They are not my pals and I'm not a goblin. Do I look like a goblin?”

  Sky couldn't help making a face.

  “All right, I do look very suspicious. This is not really a Hemogoblin drop. Not even close. God damn it, why are you here?”

  “Get rid of her.” Someone with a cultured British accent said from behind.

  She only knew one person with an English accent. That was impossible.

  A man in a dark suit moved into her field of vision. He wasn't Hugo and for some reason she felt terribly relieved. The man was, maybe, in his mid-twenties. Narrow features and high cheekbones, dressed like a corporate executive: short blond hair combed to the side, dark suit, white shirt, and tie. “She's seen too much.”

  “She's seen nothing.” The other countered.

  “If I'm not mistaken, she's seen me.”

  “That's your own damn fault. Why are you even here? I told...” he paused, looking briefly at Sky. “I said I would make sure the facility stayed secure. Everything has gone to hell because your agent couldn't keep her mouth shut during torture. Oh, and let us not forget the three idiots on your payrol
l who left the bloody back door unlocked so anyone could wander in and set off the booby traps. Besides, she's on our side.”

  The executive-type reached for a pack of cigarettes in his inside pocket. Languidly pulling one out, he took his time lighting it. He inhaled deeply and blew the smoke directly at Skylar. “No one is on our side except the people we know. And even some of them are not terribly trustworthy.”

  Letting the cigarette dangle from one corner of his mouth, he reached around to the back of his coat and took out a pistol. A Glock, Skylar noticed automatically.

  With a lazy smile, he aimed it at her head. “Sorry darling. Wrong place, wrong time and all that.”

  There was a burst of sound and a flash. Sky jerked instinctively. Several frantic heartbeats later, she realized she wasn't hit. The executive, looking very surprised, slumped to the floor, the cigarette still between his lips. The man in the body armor aimed carefully and put another bullet in him.

  She looked up, breathing fast, her heart pounding, not knowing what to think. Her mouth had gone very dry and she couldn't swallow. This wasn't the first time she'd seen someone killed. Battle casualties were one thing. Cold blooded murder, quite another, she realized.

  The man in armor started to pace back and forth, still keeping the gun on her.

  The com link in her ear bleeped static momentarily, then went silent again. Where was her back up?

  “Are you alone?” he asked.

  There was no way she was letting this man know Chase was close by. “Yes. I got separated from my squad by the blast.” She stared at the dead man's face. A thin tendril of white smoke rose up from the end of his cigarette. “Why did you shoot him?”

  “He was an ass. He was born to be shot by someone. Just happened to be me. Come on.” Shouldering one gun, he yanked her to her feet and pulled her with him to the thing that had so distracted her as she came up the ramp.

  A giant walk-in freezer. The biggest she'd ever seen. The whole thing resembled a bank vault, complete with thick swinging door and locking mechanism. White mist seeped out from inside to flow over the floor. This was where the cold signature was emanating from. Its frosty walls were lined with shelves and, from what she could tell, full of blood bags. There must be ten or twenty thousand pints here. She'd never seen so much blood. Sky was looking at nothing less than life for thousands of people.