John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, handing it to Elias. As he unfolded it and read it, Leah looked over his shoulder, reading it at the same time.

The message was from Faulk and was directed to someone referred to only as Dragon:

You are absolutely correct. With the discovery of the anomalous winds at Aegis, we cannot guarantee effective dispersion of the infectious agent into this facility. I believe that I have utilized this as a means to resolve multiple issues. I have persuaded E.C. to enter the compound. He has orders to eradicate Aegis. My personal knowledge and experience with this operative is that he cannot be relied upon to carry out this assignment; in fact, I would be surprised if he did. However, we have supplied him with Incendergel ordnance, enhanced to accomplish the objective effectively. And to compensate for the predicable actions of E.C., we have altered the detonator mechanism. Should he place the charges, the entire string of incendiary devices will detonate upon arming of the final unit in the series, regardless of the programmed time. If he fails to place and set the charges, the timing device is programmed to self-activate and detonate the entire batch of charges autonomously, overriding the disarm mode. In the interim, we will attempt to utilize his captivity within Aegis for the purposes discussed previously.

Elias’ blood turned cold. He dropped the message and whirled around, taking off at a full run, followed by Leah. As he ran, he yelled over his shoulder, “Use Faulk’s phone! Call Sweezea!”

He did not bother to look back to confirm that she was doing it. Within minutes, he found what he was looking for…an atrium. Slamming the door open, he ran in, his eyes sweeping over the dirt for the telltale glint of the grate covering the storm drain, his adrenalin making him impervious to the bitter cold. He was able to spot the drain, which was almost obscured by silt, and angled his course to reach it, as Leah shouted from behind, “There’s no answer!”

“They must already be in the tunnel. I bet there’s no reception down there.”

He reached the grate and shoved his fingers roughly through the slots, in the process abrading one of his fingers badly. Heaving the cover upward, Elias lifted the heavy round disk and tossed it aside. The grate slammed into the dirt, raising a cloud of dust which whipped around them both, stinging their eyes.

Blindly, his feet thrashed about inside the riser until finding the embedded steel rungs. He descended quickly, Leah right behind. Taking only a second to get his bearings, Elias once again pulled out his flashlight and ran through the storm drain in the direction of the retention basin. He was not certain where this particular pipe would terminate in the circumference wall of the basin, in relationship to the overflow pipe that he and Tillie had traveled earlier, the outflow tunnel which was now Sweezea’s, Tillie’s, and Crabill’s destination.

He heard the steady treads of Leah, who had no flashlight of her own, following closely. As he ran, his mind independently calculated times: the time it would have taken Sweezea to get Crabill and the two bombs they had in the utility room; the time they would have needed to locate the devices which had been seized by Faulk’s team and pick them up; the time they would take to transport the charges through the storm system and through the overflow tunnel; the time needed to place the charges and then…flip the switch on the final device. Adding up the times, and subtracting the amount of time elapsed since Tillie and Sweezea left the meeting, gave Elias a sickening feeling. There was no time left.

Elias reached the basin and nearly ran off the end of the drainage pipe into the black abyss, scrabbling to stop at the last moment. Leah skidded to an awkward halt behind him. Seeing the abrupt termination of their path, she narrowly avoided bumping Elias, who was still wavering on the edge. He cupped his mouth and shouted, “SWEEZEA…TILLIE…CRABILL!”

“One more to go,” Sweezea grunted as he lifted the safety cover on the arming button and flipped the switch, illuminating the red light that indicated the bomb was armed. He stood and walked to Tillie, moving beyond Crabill, who was holding his rifle in ready mode and watching the dark tunnel for any of the outsiders who might have already found the entrance and come in past the snakes.

He was about to speak, when he paused, listening for a moment. “Did you hear something?”

Tillie cocked her head and listened. “No. What did it sound like?”

“I’m not sure, probably nothing. But I thought it was someone yelling.”

He shrugged, hefted the last device, and said over his shoulder, “Jay, let’s move back.”

Elias’ ears were only rewarded by the echoes of his own voice, but his eyes saw a dim, flickering light coming from his left at a point below the lip where he stood with Leah.

He pointed. “That’s the outflow tunnel. They’re in there.”

“That means they’ve already arrived with the charges and are setting them.”

“Afraid so.”

He stepped out onto the narrow ledge and walked briskly toward the light, shining the beam of his flashlight straight down at his feet so Leah could follow in the glow. In very little time they reached the rope tied to the eyebolt.

“You go ahead,” Leah stated firmly. “You have the only flashlight and it’s stupid to send me down first to wait for you or the other way around. Just go. I’ll come down in the dark and follow the light.”

He knew she was right, and said nothing, tucking the flashlight into his back pocket. He grabbed the rope and rappeled down.

Hitting the concrete running, Elias retrieved the flashlight from his back pocket. Holding it as he sprinted caused the beam to bounce and jitter crazily before him. He knew that they would place the devices from the farthest point first, working their way back toward Aegis. He also knew that the last device had to be well beyond the perimeter of the complex; otherwise, there was a chance that the collapsing tunnel would compromise the perimeter wall. He remembered, from his earlier trip on this route, that the basin was located fairly close to the edge of Aegis, more than likely to minimize the necessary length of the overflow tunnel. He concluded that he had to cover at least three hundred yards before there was a chance of encountering them.

At a full run, it was difficult to gauge distance but he guessed that he had traveled close to his estimate. The light from ahead of him, created by the multiple flashlights they would be carrying, was a dim, diffuse glow with no details. Dashing forward, the vague glow gradually gained definition until he was able to discern distinct lights and three figures. He began shouting, “SWEEZEA! STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING! DON’T ARM THE BOMBS!”

He saw one of the figures — he guessed it was Crabill — turn around to face him, holding a rifle. The other figure, whom he recognized as Tillie, was standing over the kneeling Sweezea. Crabill was now shining his light in Elias’ direction. Elias knew that his assault rifle would also be pointing at him.

“Here we go,” Sweezea said affectionately, as if he were putting a bottle into a baby’s mouth, when he heard the unintelligible shouts.

Crabill spun, pointing his rifle.

“What the…!” Tillie exclaimed, startled, turning suddenly to face the noise. She could only see the bouncing, bright light of a flashlight, obviously carried by someone running toward them from the direction of the basin.

“Don’t shoot!” Sweezea ordered. “They’re coming from our side!” He turned back to the last bomb and lifted the safety cover on the arming switch.