David Golemon - Ripper

Smith stepped forward and looked through the glass. He saw immediately what they had come to Nevada to retrieve. The old and weathered jar was sitting between three robotic arms. It looked as if it were still sealed.

“Don’t even think about it,” Gloria said as she stepped out from behind her father. “That thing can be airborne. We are dealing with an unknown element that we haven’t identified yet.”

Smith looked from person to person. “No,” he said as he gestured for two of his men to enter the sealed room. They tried the door, but it wouldn’t open. “The formula is called Perdition’s Fire; it can only be inhaled or digested to be effective. The unknown element you are referring to is a little something our esteemed professor Ambrose invented about a hundred years before its time. The unknown is called Lazarus Mist. It’s a compound that when added to liquid and exposed to air will fog or mist. My superiors weren’t sure on the result, but it was listed and described in the good professor’s journals. But we did see the results in Mexico with that stupid bastard Juan Guzman. The Lazarus Mist performed pretty well I would say in creating an airborne cloud of Perdition’s Fire. Anyway ladies and gentlemen, we may have just saved you from uncorking that bottle and releasing a genie you could not control. Now, have your safety systems unseal the clean room please.” He looked at his watch. “We are on a tight schedule.”

“No,” Colonel Bannister said.

“What is with you people?” He then aimed his weapon at the woman the large man was trying to protect.

“Europa, security override, Pollock, alpha 11-7.”

Without Europa answering Virginia’s request, the Black Team heard the click of the locks on the clean room door pop open.

“Damn, finally someone with a little sense,” Smith said as his men entered the clean room. Smith turned to the others and waved them inside the room as well. He stationed two men by the door and gave them the eye, meaning no one gets in. “Ladies and gentlemen, I assure you there is no danger as long as you cooperate.”

As they entered along with the four Men in Black and with Smith taking up the rear, the seven CDC men and women were confused as to what was happening. Only Colonel Bannister understood the gravity of the situation. Virginia was just buying time for Carl’s security to react to what was happening. She remained silent as they were herded into the clean room.

As Smith watched, his men tried lifting the jar from the claws of the Honda robotic arms. The first man turned and shook his head at the larger Smith. Smith shook his head, reached into his vest, and produced a small black object. He clicked a switch and a six-inch blade emerged from its handle. He walked over to the arms and then, seizing the hydraulic hoses in his free hand, swiped the knife through them, severing all three hoses to the first arm. Fluid shot out of the pressurized system as Smith merely pushed the large arm up and out of the way. He repeated the process with the arm holding the base of the jar.

As he started to reach for Perdition’s Fire, gunfire erupted out in the hallway. As he turned he saw the black man rise and once more tackle the man closest to the door, sending Mendenhall and Smith’s man into the exposed corridor. He gestured for his men to take cover, but it was too late. Colonel Bannister acted first. He raised his long arms up and pushed all of his people through the still-open doorway. Virginia saw this and dove herself. Bannister then quickly closed the door and locked it just as sixteen bullets struck him in his back, sending his head into the glass inside the door.

Gloria hit the floor, turned on her back, and looked up just in time to see her father’s face hit the glass in the upper half of the door. He looked in shock as he was shot in the back. Several rounds hit the safety glass, sending shards into the observation room and making the lone mercenary turn away from the action in the hallway. Virginia, with her football prowess still intact, sent her body in a headlong plunge at the man’s ankles. He stumbled and fell backward, and she was struck in the face with hot blood as one of the attacking security team members placed a bullet into his hooded head. Virginia rolled and was soon picked up by Will Mendenhall who pushed her into the arms of another man. Virginia looked up and saw Captain Everett.

Mendenhall frantically gestured for the others to crawl forward out of harm’s way. As they did, he reached down and pulled Gloria Bannister to her feet. She immediately wrapped her arms around Mendenhall as he threw both her and himself back against the wall as more bullets started flying out of the clean room.

“My father!” she screamed as Will held her in place.

Mendenhall just shook his head as he pulled the CDC doctor onto the floor.

“How many?” Everett shouted over the gunfire inside the clean room.

“There are four, plus their commander,” Virginia answered.

Everett nodded and turned to the twenty men he had lining the hallway. He gestured for them to take up station on either side of the open doorway. Then he turned to Will and tossed him his headset and radio. “Get on the horn and have Sergeant Sanchez bring up an assault package. We need flash bangs and gas.”

“Yes sir,” Will said as he placed the earphone into his ear and made the call. “Then get to the Europa terminal and order the rest of the staff out of the complex. Tell them not to wait for the buses; get into the desert and stay there.” Everett turned to Virginia and the CDC team. “Did you hear any names?” he asked them, covering his head as more gunfire erupted from inside.

“Smith,” said a voice from their right.

Everett turned and saw Sarah as she limped forward. She was literally covered in blood. He ran to her and eased her onto the carpeted hallway.

“Jesus,” he said as he used his large hand to wipe some of the blood from her head.

“I think he killed Jack and Alice,” she said as the words threatened to catch in her throat.

Everett acted as though he didn’t hear her as even more bullets came flying out of the clean room. Large holes stitched random patterns in the plastic wall behind them. Then he lifted Sarah’s bruised and battered face upward.

“He’s been dead before — he didn’t like it much.”

“Smith is the same man that rescued you in Mexico,” Sarah said as she started to regain her senses. She saw Everett go blank for a moment. Then anger set into his features as he placed her against the wall.

“Goddamn it,” Everett said as he crawled back toward the doorway. He looked up at Will and he nodded his head, letting Everett know that his orders had been successfully passed on. Carl then got as close to the doorway as he dared and placed his nine millimeter next to the frame. “Will, get these people to the gymnasium and then up through the cargo platform to level one.”

“Captain, I think—”

“That’s an order Lieutenant,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

“Yes sir,” Mendenhall answered with a sour look on his face. “But I’m coming back,” he said, daring the captain to say something to the contrary.

“Don’t worry; I’ll save pieces of these guys for you,” Everett said as twenty more rounds smashed through the remaining glass in the double-paned windows above. “Will, get to a phone and get Farbeaux out of here. Tell his guard to put one in his leg if he has to to make sure he doesn’t run.”

“I’ll perform that little task myself,” Will said as he started herding the civilians away at a crawl.

Everett turned and looked at Virginia. “You too, Doc, take Sarah and meet up with the director. He should be out of here by now.”

Virginia nodded her head and helped Sarah up as they both bent low and ran for the elevators.