Gathering Storm (30 page)

“Testing. Testing. Special
announcement. Repeat. We have a special announcement.” Elora looked
at her watch.
Good on you, Spaz. Right on
time.
“Elora Laiken would like to invite
all our uninvited guests to join her on Sublevel 3. For those of
you who are new to Jefferson Unit and unfamiliar with the layout of
the building, that would be the lowest level.”

Elora turned to her
self-proclaimed shadows. “Is he always this talkative?” Kris and
Wakey both shook their heads and said no. “Some people just can’t
handle a microphone. Goes to their heads.”

Spaz continued. “I repeat,
join Elora Laiken on the lowest level of the building, that’s
Sublevel 3. Once again, new arrivals, there’ll be a mixer in a few
on the lowest level.”

Spaz clicked off the mic
and looked around. He’d never been in that part of media before. It
was so well disguised, he hadn’t even known it was there. Kind of
looked like a broom closet from the outside.

On the inside though,
there was an entire wall of dormant monitors, six rows of seven
each, all black screens silently waiting like sentries. On a whim,
because fiddling with mechanical or technological things to see
what will happen was a universal gender trait, he flipped a few
control board switches marked as cameras.

Apparently surveillance
equipment had been installed in the public areas of the building,
probably as some sort of standard security procedure or precaution.
The cameras weren’t turned on and were obviously not monitored
because there was no need, but they came online right away when he
started flipping switches.

It was a spy’s wet dream.
He stood there grinning at the surveillance wall with eyes alight,
knowing how he could be helpful.

He started by dragging
everything he could fit into the room with him, then locked the
door and started building a barricade. He was thin, not filled out
yet by a long shot, but like all potential Black Swan hunters, he
worked out like a demon and was strong. The completely nondescript
look of the space from the other side of the door could be useful.
No one would guess there was a high tech security operation within,
but if they did, they’d have to work at getting inside.

When he was finished he
turned to sweep his gaze over the rows of monitors and grabbed the
microphone. “Kris. Wakey. E.T.’s around the next corner. Duck into
Havvy’s.”

Havvy’s was what J.U.
residents called the coffee stop at the Hub because a woman named
Havila had been running it for longer than anyone could remember.
If Spaz had said, “coffee”, he might have tipped the hostiles off,
but they would have no way of knowing what or where Havvy’s might
be.

The two boys had gotten a
little ahead of Elora, thinking they would protect her by drawing
fire first. Not needing to be told twice, they ducked behind the
coffee counter thinking Elora was right behind them. Clearly, they
didn’t know her very well.

She continued past coffee,
where the boys had wisely taken cover, to the next corner and
plastered herself against the wall to wait. One of the things about
searching with long barrel weapons was that it meant the bearer was
always preceded by the gun he was carrying. Elora quietly slipped
her own pistol into its holster and waited, hoping she could pick
off a couple without making a fuss that would bring
more.

When the end of the gun
came into view, she grabbed and jerked. Because of the element of
surprise, it loosened in his hand enough for her to send it back
into his nose with as much force as her equalized strength could
muster. Elora had never thought of herself as a bloodthirsty
person, quite the opposite. But hearing that crunch, seeing blood
spurt like a fountain, and hearing the large man mewl as he grabbed
for his face with both hands? It was satisfying.

She had no time to enjoy
that little piece of victory because his partner rushed her. She
was too close to the Ralengclan for his buddy to fire, so he used
the butt of his own gun and smashed her in the face. He missed her
nose, but hit her cheek bone. She hadn’t felt a jar like that since
she’d arrived in Loti Dimension. While she processed the pain, she
thought about the advantages of denser bones and promised herself
she’d count her blessings every day if she lived through the
night.

While she was getting her
bearings, broken nose stumbled backward a couple of steps which
allowed his partner to bring his weapon around to fire at her like
he was twirling a baton. She reached for her holster to pull the
pistol and counter, but knew she wasn’t going to be fast enough
with her slowed reaction time.

She heard two pops, but
was still too disoriented to know they were coming from behind her.
The Ralengclan who was aiming at her jerked his trigger finger and
fired uncontrollably when one shot hit him in the forehead and
another in the groin, almost simultaneously.

Elora yelled out as one of
the alien’s stray bullets tore past the fleshy part of her left
shoulder and knocked her back on her rear end. The jolt from the
pain when she hit the floor caused her to yell out. The good news
was that, when she went down, it gave Kris a shot at the alien who
had recovered from the initial shock of a broken nose and was then
picking up the weapon that had been taken from him.

As he started to swing toward Elora, Kris
put a bullet in his temple and dropped him on the spot.

Elora looked up at Kris
and said, “See. I told you practice makes perfect.”

And, with that, Wakey
began to retch loudly. She knew that teenage boys ate a lot, but as
she and Kris watched in horror, it looked like Wakey was vomiting
everything he’d eaten for the last three weeks onto the high polish
of the Hub floor.

Spaz’s voice came through
the intercom system loud and clear.

“E.T’s at the middle
ladder and the track gate. Watch out for a trio of civvies south of
med. AND! Major cleanup needed right away on Aisle
Three.”

Kris reached over like he
was going to take a look at Elora’s shoulder, but she stopped him.
“Get away from that. We don’t have time to play doctor.”

He dropped his hands. “Yes
ma’am.”

Wakey got off his knees
and half-staggered toward the coffee counter still looking three
shades past puke green.

He flopped down and
groaned. Kris nodded then turned to Wakey. “Gah, man. Do not
breathe in this direction. You reek.”

“Leave him alone,” Elora said. “He’s never
killed anybody before.”

“Neither have I,” countered Kris.

“Yeah, well, we’re all different. There’s a
place for heart in knighthood.”

Wakey looked at her with gratitude.

“I’m gathering that Spaz
has found cameras and is feeding us information.” She winced when
she moved her shoulder.

“When this is over, I’m
going to give that kid a medal. Trying to decipher his makeshift
code-on-the-go, I think he just said we’ve got aliens at the
central stairwell and the exit to the rugby field and three
non-combat personnel close to the clinic. If I’ve counted the
number of explosions correctly, S3 is sealed off, but we don’t know
how many aliens are unaccounted for. I need that count.

”Let’s get to a camera and
see if you can get that across to him.” They nodded. “Wakey, when
we clear cover, you look left toward the Courtpark exit. Kris, look
right toward center stairs. Moving toward Farnsworth’s office on
three.” She looked at Kris. “Count it down.”

He and Wakey pulled their
weapons and got ready. “One. Two. Three.”

From where they were it
looked clear to cut across the Hub to reach the short hall to
Farnsworth’s office, but they couldn’t be sure until they were out
in the open and then it might be too late. On Kris’s count of
three, they jumped out, adrenaline pumping.

There was no question in
Elora’s mind that her job was to insure those kids made it to the
other side. It was a toss-up as to whether that was going to be
accomplished best by going first or hanging back. She chose
bringing up the rear.

Her right eye was almost
swollen shut from the gun butting that crunched her cheek. That was
especially unfortunate because she was a one-eyed shooter and, as
luck would have it, her dominant eye was the right one. That luck
was balanced with a little victory when they made it to Operations
without engaging. Hearts were racing, lungs working like bellows,
but they were safe for the moment.

Once there, they located the camera, and
Wakey started miming the need to know how many assassins were still
out there.

Spaz’s voice was so strong
and upbeat that no one would ever guess he was announcing a life
and death battle with pithy commentary. Even though his attitude
might be disturbing, he was proving to be smart and
resourceful.

“Attention shoppers!
Special sale in the bakery department. One dozen to-die-for
doughnuts with cream fillings left and they’re going fast. Come and
get ‘em.

“Storm and Fennimore, dos
E.T’s coming your way from the throne room.”

Elora deduced that “throne room” could
either mean the toilet or The Chamber. If it was The Chamber, then
Fenn and Angel were on the same level she was. If it was the john,
it could be anywhere.

Three seconds later, Elora
and the two boys heard the sound of gunfire coming from the level
below.

“Cat Man and Borzy, hold
tight, keep low, ducks in a barrel when I say go.”

Elora was writing out a sign to hold up to
the camera, when Spaz said, “GO!”

She stopped dead still
when she again heard weapons firing toward the west part of the
building. She looked up at the camera anxiously for word. That
trainee was her only link to news. When all was quiet, Spaz came
back on the intercom.

“All quiet on the Western
end, nine, ten, a big fat hen. Repeat, nine,
ten
, big fat hen, and all is well in
the west thanks to our sponsor, Helmets by Mom. Now this for your
listening pleasure from the Spazmodoc…”

Elora’s eyes got wide when
the intercom started blasting Wang Chung “Dance Hall Days”. She
turned to Kris and Wakey showing clenched teeth, which hurt with a
broken cheek bone, but she couldn’t help herself. Elora’s Medusa
face was frightening and she looked like she was ready to kill
somebody, other than Ralengclan that is. She couldn’t get her jaw
to relax to ask a question.

“What. Is. That?”

Kris took a reflexive step
back, but spoke up. “Ah, Sir Caelian, ma’am. He didn’t like the
music we were playing in our rec room. So he gave us a mandatory
attendance lecture on disco every night when he was
here.”

“Unbelievable!” Elora closed her eyes for a
second

“A lot of the younger kids
think it’s cool. I think it’s stupid,” added Wakey.

She smirked. “You tell Kay
that?”

Wakey ducked his head and smiled boyishly.
“No ma’am.”

There was an interruption
in the music long enough for Spaz to say, “Link and Shay, patsies
on the way. Analog four and find two more.”

The song started again
with,
Take your baby by the
ears…

Elora glared up at the
camera before she went back to her sign, muttering, “After I give
him a medal, I’m going to beat him to death with it.” As an
afterthought, she added, “Then I’m gonna chain Kay to a chair and
psyops him with Screamo until tears run down his face.” Much as she
loved Kay, at that moment, the image of him crying and begging for
mercy made her smile, even though it hurt her face to do
it.

Link and Shay were in the
kitchen. They’d seen aliens in the hall outside the Mess, but more
importantly, the aliens saw them. The two boys ran through the Mess
and into the kitchen which was formed by a chain of food
preparation rooms.

The boys heard a few pings
as they ran, bullets making contact with the stainless steel
environment. Looking around, trying to decide whether to hide in
cabinets or shoot it out, Link spied the freezer and had an
idea.

He left Shay wondering
what he was doing while he set his intelliphone on a back shelf and
left it playing a wetube panel discussion on gaming. Communication
was jammed, but that was a recording so its operation didn’t depend
on anything external. Since Spaz was playing intercom music to die
by, Link had to turn the volume up to max so that it could be
heard. That turned out to be beneficial. Without the music, the
recording would have been recognized as exactly that, but mixed
with the intercom feed, there was some doubt as to whether the
voices on the recording were, well, recorded or live.

Link motioned to Shay to
leave the door standing open and hide underneath one of the long
cooking tables where they could see the freezer. The bottom shelf
on the cooking tables was so close to the ground that only a skinny
kid could get under. It was such a tight fit they had to squeeze in
and lay flat on their backs, but no one was likely to suspect it as
a hiding place.

Just seconds after they
were in place, the aliens came through the swing door, which was
kind of funny, but since Spaz was the only one to see it, he was
the only one to get a laugh out of it. The first guy pushed
through, but then couldn’t decide whether to let the door swing
back and hit the next guy or shift his heavy assault shooter to one
hand so he could hold the door.