C8 Chapter Eight

Captain Mason suggested that they wait until morning to make the incursion, but Cade was adamant that they act as soon as possible. He had little doubt that some of the captain’s concerns stemmed from the fact that less than ten hours ago he was lying near-comatose in a hospital bed. Had he been in Mason’s place, he supposed he’d be a bit concerned as well. But the truth was other than a bit of soreness, he felt fine. Better than he had in a long time, in fact. There was no reason to delay the investigation on his account and plenty of reasons to move ahead quickly. They had no idea what kind of enemy they were facing or what their enemies’ ultimate objectives might be. For all they knew, tomorrow morning might bring a full-scale attack from the depths of the base and that was a chance Cade wasn’t willing to take. As soon as he heard that NOMAD was operational, he ordered the team into place. It was time to do the job they had come here to do.

The plan was to approach the base within the relative safety of a pair of HWMMVs. Their armored exterior and high mobility would provide significant protection should they come under attack during the initial entry and would also provide a means of exit should that prove necessary. The command squad would be in the lead vehicle with First Squad bringing up the rear. Once inside the base, they would set up position roughly 100 feet from the entrance to the building where Mason’s men had come under attack. From there they would deploy NOMAD, using the robot for the hard task of entry into the building. If things came back all clear, then and only then would Echo physically enter and investigate.

The men loaded the trucks quickly and then climbed inside. Both crews had been ordered to have a man standing half-in and half-out of the upper hatch, so that they could keep an eye on the storm overhead while watching the shadows around them in the afternoon sunlight. Cade didn’t want the team to be taken by surprise, buttoned up in their trucks like a bunch of turtles. He took the observation position in the lead vehicle, knowing he’d feel better being able to eyeball things himself rather than have them relayed over the radio. He gave the order and beneath him he felt the vehicle rumble to life.

It was only a short distance to the entrance of the facility and the team reached it without mishap. The wide gate had been secured in the open position by the ill-fated squad that had come before them and so Cade simply waived both vehicles through without stopping.

Fast and hard, he thought, that was the way to do it. Give the enemy as little time as possible to adapt to their presence. He tried not to think about the face he’d seen in the clouds or his gut feeling that the enemy knew all it needed to know about their little escapade. There was nothing Cade could do about it anyway.

The base had very few roads to begin with and only the main one that ran through the center of the base like a dividing line hadn’t been reclaimed by the shifting desert sands. Housing and recreational facilities were on the right side of the street, administration and support buildings on the left. The buildings they passed were in bad shape; paint peeling from tired walls, roofs slowly decaying into the interiors, empty windows staring at them as they slowly drove past. Jackson’s squad had been through them all, front to back, and Cade knew there was nothing there to either interest or concern them at this point. No, their destination was the larger building about another hundred yards ahead on their left. From the audio and video footage they’d salvaged from the previous attempt, it was clear that the facility had once served as the base motor pool. Its interior was divided into several garage bays complete with power lifts, old barrels of oil, and shelves of parts on every wall, while the central, common area could have held a good dozen half-ton trucks or similar vehicles. How Jackson’s team had even found the hatch that had gotten them into so much trouble was uncertain; the record of their excursion was spotty at best. From what they could see, it appeared to be in the middle of one of the aforementioned bays, but that was yet to be confirmed. They’d be relying on NOMAD to give them a better idea of what they were facing.

Cade kept a constant watch on the twisting column of darkness that rose over the buildings to the south, about four hundred yards away from them. While in the chopper he’d been close enough to see that the column was stationary, but that didn’t mean it would stay that way. He half expected it to suddenly start acting like the twister that it resembled and become mobile. Oddly there was no sound accompanying it and that made him more than a bit nervous. Something that big, something displacing that much air, should have growled with a life of its own the way a big tornado will. This one was silent and if he needed any proof that it was unnatural, this did the job nicely.

Riley took them to the designated location and then swung the HWMMV around so that it was facing back in the direction they had come. The position would make it easier for them to get out of there quickly should the need arise. The driver for First Squad, Chen, did the same, though he kept his vehicle half-a-dozen yards behind Riley’s, preventing the enemy from hitting them both with the same attack.

Cade lowered himself back inside the vehicle and moved up to the front passenger seat. He pulled the microphone from the dash and contacted the command center.

“Echo to TOC. We’ve reached the target and are starting Phase Two.”

“Roger that, Echo. Good luck.”

The transmission was full of interference, as expected, and Cade knew they wouldn’t have the option of using the broadband radio for much longer. Rather than wait until they’d lost touch with Mason, who was operating as tactical operations command for this mission, he ordered his men to make the switch to the tight beam tactical communications system integrated into their helmets. This would allow them to stay in touch with each other even if they lost contact with the TOC.

Once each man had reported in, he gave the order for them to form a perimeter in front of the motor pool. Riley, Duncan and Cade set up in defensive positions around the lead vehicle, being careful not to block Wilson’s line of fire from his position in the turret of the second vehicle. Once they were ready, it was time for Flynn to go to work.

After lowering a ramp from the rear compartment, he knelt in front of the command console and used the controls to power up the strange looking contraption sitting in the cargo space of the HWMMV. NOMAD’s engine rumbled to life and then settled down into a barely discernable hum. Because of the interference they’d already been experiencing with the radios, he opted to use the fiber-optic interface and so he gave the leads one last look to be certain they weren’t tangled. It wouldn’t do to lose connectivity with the machine because he’d been lax in his checklist.

Once he was satisfied, he drove the robot out of the cargo area and sent it on its way.

The vehicle was controlled through three different LCD screens, representing a forward, backward, and alternating side view from the vehicle’s onboard cameras, and a small joystick, much like a video game. The control box was just a bit too large to hold for any long period of time, a design flaw Flynn was still miffed about, and so he was obligated to kneel before the console to operate it comfortably. This prevented him from having a weapon in hand, but he trusted the others to watch his back and he did have NOMAD’s firepower at his disposal.

The huge rolling bay door that provided access to the interior had been jammed open during the previous incursion. Flynn took advantage of that fact, rolling NOMAD up within a few feet of it and then extended the robot’s telescoping arm beneath the door. When he triggered the camera that was mounted on the end of the arm he was able to see inside of the building.

Expecting to see the bodies of Jackson’s squad still lying where they had fallen several days ago, Flynn was surprised to see that the floor ahead was clear. He swiveled the camera, checking out as much of the interior as possible. Sunlight poured in from the windows high on each wall, banishing much of the darkness in the center of the room but creating deep shadows inside the various garage bays that prevented him from seeing what each might contain. Similarly, it was difficult to see what might be lying in wait on the catwalk high above, as the incoming light blinded the camera to some degree.

Flynn called Cade over and the two of them discussed the situation briefly. Neither man liked the idea of sending in the troops just yet; the fact that the bodies were missing disturbed them. It suggested that the shadow creatures possessed at least a rudimentary intelligence level, which made them more dangerous. For all they knew the shadow creatures could be lying in wait in the various work bays, waiting for more unsuspecting prey to wander into their den.

They decided to send NOMAD inside the building, to test the reaction of anything that might be waiting inside. If there was no response, Echo would then advance.