Authors: Robert Storey
‘Ah, Director Goodwin, the commander has been expecting you,’ she said, giving him a broad smile. ‘Take elevator seven to the eighth level, then turn left down to the Canyon Suite.’
Thanking her, Goodwin made his way across a tiled floor which looked like some kind of exotic marble, his crisp footfalls clip-clopping across its unforgiving surface. Inlaid red and silver streaks wove their way sublimely across the expensive substrate, guiding him to the elevator where he pressed a button and waited. Soon after, the polished metal doors slid to one side. Goodwin stepped to his left in order to let out a soldier who was pushing a wheeled crate marked with various hazard symbols. The main one that caught his eye read:
THERMAL SWORD
HANDLE WITH EXTREME CAUTION
He hadn’t heard of such a weapon before and he peered at the label on the lid, which showed a technical diagram of the device.
The man noticed him looking. ‘They’re brand new stock. Came in a few months ago; I don’t think they’ve even been taken out of the crate yet.’
‘What are they for?’ Goodwin said, curious.
‘Apart from carving up the enemy in close quarter combat, they cut through metals; not the harder types, but steel, aluminium, stuff like that. Hot knife through butter,’ the man said with a grin on his face.
Goodwin gave him a nervous smile. Some people got very excited over weapons;
I suppose that’s why they joined an outfit like Darklight
, he thought.
‘Right, better get on. This little lot is getting dispersed to some lucky officers. They get all the cool stuff,’ the soldier said as he moved off, allowing Goodwin to get into the elevator and hit the number eight button.
The doors closed and a low hum sounded as the express elevator delivered him to his floor. Following the signs, Goodwin located the Canyon Suite, and as he entered he saw that it lived up to its name; it was decorated with a complete static surround image of the Grand Canyon, showing it off in all its majesty.
Hilt sat at one end of a jet black rectangular desk, poring over some maps that were laid out in front of him. His rifle hung on the back of his chair and his body armour on the rear of another.
He looked up as Goodwin approached.
‘Sir, take a seat,’ he said.
‘Commander,’ Goodwin replied. ‘Please feel free to call me Richard if you like.’ He was never one for too much formality.
Hilt didn’t seem to hear as he slid a map round to show him. ‘I’ve been plotting a course into Mexico. Unfortunately our location doesn’t afford us too many options.’
‘How so?’ Goodwin said.
‘The closest and quickest point to cross the border is here.’ Hilt pointed at a spot on the map.
‘El Paso,’ Goodwin read aloud. ‘Looks good to me.’
‘You would think. However, here,’ – Hilt pointed a short distance away – ‘is the U.S. Army’s second largest installation, Fort Bliss, home to 1AD, the 1st Armoured Division.’
‘Ah,’ Goodwin said, ‘not good.’
‘No,’ Hilt replied, his voice grave. ‘What’s worse, Fort Bliss is also home to various 1AD support regiments along with the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command.’
‘I’m not sure what that is,’ Goodwin said.
‘It’s a special one off asset that the Army utilises to accomplish all types of missions which require short notice deployment anywhere in the world. Over the last few years the Biggs Army Airfield at Bliss has been overhauled and they now operate highly classified aircraft and drones which police the skies over the Americas and beyond. If we want to get over the border, then passing Fort Bliss would be like running the gauntlet; we’d have to pray the national emergency ensured eyes were looking elsewhere rather than at local roads. Since federal intelligence also has a strong presence at Bliss, Joiner would have direct command channels in place, perhaps resulting in the whole base operating under his control, whether directly or through the Joint Chiefs, which he apparently has significant leverage over.’
‘What route do you suggest we take, then?’ Goodwin said.
‘This one.’ The commander ran his finger down the map.
‘It looks a lot slower.’
‘That’s because it is,’ Hilt said, ‘but not as suicidal as going past Bliss. It has its own share of risks, however. We’d be taking smaller roads, meaning we would be spread out further, making us more vulnerable to any attack; in such an instance having our force split into two or more groups would be a real possibility.’
‘How would we cross the border?’
‘We’d pass through Big Bend National Park and create a hole where we see fit. I imagine about here.’ He pointed at the map once more. ‘Satellite imagery will tell me more.’
‘Won’t the Mexican military or Border Control notice such a large breach into their territory? We’re not exactly going to be inconspicuous, looking at the size of some of the machinery you’ve got out there.’
‘They’ll hopefully have their hands full with their own population control to be looking at such a little used section of the border. We’ll also have one big advantage, regardless of where we cross.’
‘And that is?’ Goodwin said.
‘Cloud cover. According to reports, AG5’s dust cloud will be hitting the East Coast of the United States in,’ – he looked at his watch – ‘a few hours’ time.’
‘And that will help how?’
‘People will be disorientated and preoccupied. Also, all our vehicles are equipped with Blackout Systems, enabling us to drive without any lights. We’ll go dark. Add to that the sudden lack of real-time satellite imagery that militaries the world over rely heavily on to monitor ground movements, and we have a fair chance of getting through.’
‘Undetected?’
‘Unlikely. Resign yourself to the fact that we will encounter resistance to our relocation from either U.S. or Mexican forces at some point. If things go our way casualties should be minimal on both sides.’
‘It sounds like you’ve thought of everything, Commander,’ Goodwin said, trying to ignore the fact that further bloodshed might be unavoidable. ‘Good job.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
Goodwin sat back. ‘I have to say, I’m impressed by this base and its equipment. I didn’t realise Darklight had such resources available to it.’
Hilt smiled. ‘You should see our North American headquarters up in Washington State.’
‘Big?’ Goodwin said.
‘Perhaps ten times the size of this one.’
Goodwin whistled. ‘I bet the Government doesn’t like that on their soil.’
‘You’d think, but security is big business. Besides, we’re contracted out to many of America’s largest companies on a regular basis. The government itself also uses us for covert black ops unable to be carried out by their own forces.’
Goodwin didn’t like to ask what kind of operations they were hired for; in fact, he felt he’d rather not know. Private security was a highly secretive business and one didn’t pry into it too deeply. He believed Darklight operated mostly under the GMRC remit, which meant they weren’t sent into controversial secret wars – as far as he knew, anyway.
‘Sir, may I ask you some questions?’ the commander said.
‘Of course.’
‘As you told me, we’re heading to U.S.S.B. Sanctuary, and the coordinates you gave me are as Professor Steiner indicated.’
Goodwin nodded.
‘The location is approximately two hundred miles north of Mexico’s capital city,’ Hilt continued. ‘The area we will pass into is in the south of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range and the exact location is about five thousand feet above sea level.’
‘Will this prove a problem for the vehicles?’ Goodwin asked.
‘It shouldn’t as they’re designed for all terrains and such an elevation is well within their capability.’
‘Regardless of the type of access roads to the site?’ Goodwin said.
‘The roads may prove a problem, but we have the necessary equipment and skill sets to negotiate any tricky passes we may encounter.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
‘When we get to this
back door
that will take us into the base, will it be under surveillance? I would guess almost certainly. Will it be guarded? Perhaps; but most importantly, will it be locked? Most assuredly. How then are we going to get in? You told me we would discuss this matter at a later date and it is now a later date. I need to know your plan.’
‘I’m sorry, Commander, I should have brought this up first.’
‘Not a problem, sir. I just think that we are going into the unknown. I need to know all there is to know to make the most informed decision to ensure the safety of those under my command. We are heading into the lion’s den, so to speak. We are looking to evade the U.S. military, although we may perhaps engage them further, and yet we are heading towards one of their strongholds, a place of which we know very little. If I may be blunt, it seems a little insane.’
‘All valid points, Commander, and your fears are ones that I share. The professor was very clear, however; we must get to Sanctuary, even though it seems counterintuitive to do so. I trust the man with my life and with the lives of those under my care. The entrance we’re to exploit is rarely used, according to the professor, and he should know as he helped design all U.S. subterranean bases, including Sanctuary. If anyone knows the best way in, it will be him. The professor also supplied me with a piece of software, more like code actually, that will ensure we can get at least part way inside.’
‘Part way?’
‘The code itself looks very similar to that used at Steadfast’s entrances,’ Goodwin said. ‘Once we breach Sanctuary’s surface facility I will then get in touch with a contact on the inside who will help gain us full access to the elevator shafts.’
‘The contact is a reliable one?’
‘I hope so. It’s a General Ellwood. Have you heard of him?’
The commander shook his head.
‘Neither have I. Well, by the sound of it, he owes Professor Steiner some kind of favour.’
‘A favour?’ Hilt said with concern. ‘I hope it’s a big one.’
‘So do I, but that’s all we’ve got.’
‘And this general will let thousands of refugees and heavily armed contractors into his base?’
‘I didn’t get the impression Ellwood was in charge of the base, but he’s high enough up to be able to help us. The professor did say that we wouldn’t be able to let the general know how many of us there are, otherwise he would baulk. I’ll tell him it’s twenty or so people and we’ll have to hope our approach is unseen.’
‘Is that going to possible?’ Hilt asked. ‘Our convoy will be extensive.’
‘You said it yourself, satellite imagery will be down, cloud cover will be overhead and your vehicles can operate with stealth. Besides, if Sanctuary is operating on the same protocols as Steadfast, then it will be sealed tight so there will be no need for the base to be looking groundward.’
Hilt seemed satisfied with Goodwin’s answers.
He’ll have to be
, Goodwin thought,
it’s all I’ve got
. ‘Moving on to transportation,’ Goodwin continued, ‘will there be enough room for everyone? It took scores of trips to get us this far, and that’s just twenty kilometres, with some people walking part of the way. Surely even this base isn’t prepared to relocate the mass of people we’ve brought with us?’
‘You forget,’ Hilt said, ‘Darklight has helped relocate millions of people from the African states. We’re geared up for large scale evacuations, it’s what we do.’ The Darklight leader walked to the nearest wall and pressed a button, which sent one side of the room’s Grand Canyon frieze rolling up into the ceiling.
Goodwin joined the commander at the newly revealed window and looked down into another section of the compound, previously hidden from view. This second hangar, albeit two-thirds empty, contained another two dozen enormous multi-tiered personnel carriers, machines with a capacity ten times that of civilian coaches. Alongside these, other types of smaller transporters had been assembled, all of which were being prepped for departure.
‘Impressive,’ Goodwin said, ‘but it still doesn’t look enough, not by half.’
‘If we were at full capacity then it wouldn’t be an issue,’ Hilt said, ‘but no, you’re right; at the moment we aren’t geared for such large scale movement of personnel. Twenty-five thousand civilians plus five thousand Darklight contractors, that’s a lot of bodies.’
‘Enough to fill a small sports stadium,’ Goodwin agreed.
‘We’re going to have to overload the troop carriers,’ Hilt said, ‘and every other vehicle for that matter, perhaps by over seventy-five per cent.’
‘That sounds excessive.’
‘It’s the only option we have. It’ll be tight and uncomfortable, but it’ll do.’
‘I suppose comfortable travel is not really our highest concern at the moment,’ Goodwin said, with little humour.
‘No,’ Hilt agreed. ‘What is our concern is the DEFCON level; it was already high due to the meteorite, but since China’s nuclear attack on our allies SAC is at DEFCON 1 and the pistol is cocked.’
‘SAC?’
‘Strategic Air Command. The rest of the armed forces are at DEFCON 2.’
‘DEFCON 1? That’s unprecedented, isn’t it?’
Hilt nodded, his expression solemn. ‘Even during the Cuban missile crisis, the highest level reached was two.’
‘And I take it that’s bad for us?’
‘It will mean all U.S. military divisions will have their fingers on or near the trigger. Tensions will be running high. Add to this fact the dust cloud and satellite blindness and you’ve got a powder keg. We do have some good news, however. I’ve called in a Darklight aircraft carrier, the Phoenix, to assist us. It has full air support capability, although high altitude missions are off limits due to the cloud’s particulates.’
‘Won’t it take some time to get here?’ Goodwin said, knowing that ships moved relatively slowly.
‘Ordinarily yes, but Professor Steiner told me to activate our top assets when he called Darklight into Steadfast, so the ship is already positioned in the Gulf of Mexico.’
Thank you, Professor
, Goodwin thought,
your foresight is helping even now
. ‘Have you got anything else up your sleeve?’ Goodwin asked Hilt hopefully.