David Golemon - Ripper

“Uh-oh,” Charlie said even as Niles started pulling them toward the double doors that led to the main hallway. The only other way was through the conference room, which was a dead end.

As they inched their way toward the doors, in the battery-powered and very weak light they saw a massive head poke through the widened gap of the twin doors. The creature actually saw them and smiled, showing elongated and crooked teeth with wide gaps between each. The eyes were overly large and it was Niles that noticed large patches of hair that had fallen out of its scalp. The remnants of a black military uniform hung around its neck and chest. The men were so shocked at the sight that Niles stumbled, taking all three men down to the floor. The creature that had once been a human being actually laughed, sending fear and chills down the men’s spines.

As they watched, trying to rise, crawl, crabwalk, anything to distance them from the Perdition’s Fire — created monstrosity before them, the beast reached through with both massive arms and started pulling the left-side door away from the frame with a sickening crunch of steel. As it did so blood was coursing out of the creature’s ears through the exertion it was placing on its body and brain. Little could Niles and the other two men know that the beast was dying but was too hopped-up and euphoric to realize it. The altered man finally managed to tear free the door, letting it fall eighty-seven levels down the elevator tube. Then with little effort it finally extricated itself from the shaft.

“Oh, shit!” Pete said as he leaned farther into Charlie and Niles.

The beast stood in the darkness and they could see the whiteness of its teeth. The massive arms hung like those of a giant ape as it leaned to the right and then to the left, taking the three men in. The smile was ever present as its long fingers closed and then opened, only to close again. They saw tatters of skin hanging from its hands that it had damaged on its climb up the shaft. The blood was flowing far more freely from its large ears even as it kept staring at them. Then its eyes enlarged and it took the first step toward Niles, Pete, and Charlie.

Suddenly a heavy stream of gunfire opened up from somewhere behind the cowering men. As they watched, a line of tracer fire stitched its way across the beast’s expanded chest. Then another line of bright phosphorescent bullets struck the creature and made it take three steps back toward the open shaft. They saw the M-14 carbine hit the carpet next to them and looked up in time to see Colonel Jack Collins dressed in civilian clothes as he advanced toward the beast with his nine millimeter drawn. Jack started firing into the head and neck of the creature, not giving it a chance to recover as the colonel advanced on it. Finally the creature was backed into the shaft where it grabbed the elevator doorframe and held on tight. Jack fired the Beretta until the clip was expended and then without missing a beat ejected it and resumed firing. He caught the beast three times in the head and it still hung on to the frame. Then he took careful aim, still walking toward the creature, and fired all of his remaining rounds, striking the altered man in the wrists and hands. Finally the rounds to the head and hands did the work Jack was hoping for, and the beast was forced to let go. It fell back into the darkness as Jack ran the short distance to peer into the dark shaft. He arrived just in time to see the beast falling. It struck the side of the tube and finally vanished. Collins turned and ejected the empty clip from the automatic. He looked at the three men with resolve.

“You three alright?” he asked as he finally reached down and started pulling them up from the floor one at a time.

“Thank God you came in. I don’t think that gentleman cared for us all that much,” Charlie joked as Niles placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder and lowered his head, thankful for his sudden appearance.

“Jack, is Alice alright?” Niles asked when he thought his heart could stand the exertion.

“She’s at home and the last I knew was trying to get you some help down here. Now where are Captain Everett and the rest of security?”

“Colonel, the entire security team is spread out inside the facility. As far as we know there are at least four more of those monstrosities around. We heard one hell of a lot of gunfire coming from the lower levels,” Niles said as he looked away from Jack. “I should never have allowed that formula into this complex.”

“Well, sometimes it takes a lot to get a policy changed. You know that Mr. Director.” Without waiting for comment from Niles, Jack turned and faced Pete. “Can you get the complex systems up again, especially Europa?”

“That’s what we came back to do, Colonel.”

“Then may I suggest you get to it Pete. Niles, you go with him; you know the system almost as well as he does. Charlie, you’re with me. You get to play John Wayne. We have to get below. Are you game?” Jack reached down and retrieved the M-14 carbine, inserted another magazine, and handed it to Ellenshaw.

Ellenshaw looked the lightweight weapon over and grinned, his white hair flying in all directions. “I’m always game Colonel.”

The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules had left McChord Air Force Base under tight security. There had been no witnesses to the rollout of the special-operations aircraft and even the normal air force personnel that manned the tower had been replaced by a unit of “special” technicians that always traveled with the unit that had loaded onto the massive transport plane. Under cover of darkness, the Hercules lifted free of Washington State and was in the air less than five minutes after her rollout from the giant hangar. Inside were men that had received more special-operations training than any unit in the United States military. They were so special that they knew their missions would be few and far between.

Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, also known as the Combat Applications Group (CAG), or simply DELTA, were the United States’ most elite tactical combat group.

Contrary to rumor, DELTA wasn’t an army Special Forces detachment. Delta Force was a unit unto itself, composed of members from all branches of the U.S. military. Its home base was considered to be Fort Bragg, North Carolina, but its training took place all around the world. The special men inside of the Hercules were not really soldiers at all but were called operators and were said to shun the traditional philosophies of military life. They most often wore civilian clothing and were rumored to work for everyone from the FBI to the CIA. The three groups on this mission were made up of twelve men to a section. All thirty six men, plus their commanding officer, Major Jerry “Grateful Dead” Garcia, were dressed for one of their most trained-for assignments — a high-altitude, low-opening jump, or HALO. The need to get to their target quickly without being seen by anyone at Nellis Air Force Base was of particular interest to the powers that be, but when the president of the United States said to get to Nevada, they were going hell bent for leather.

Each man had been briefed on the rescue. They were going into a scenario that few had ever trained for, the taking back of an underground complex that may be held by an opposing force that may or may not be genetically altered. Each man in the three teams took the mission parameters with a grain of salt. They understood that someone up the chain of command was either out of his mind or very near to it.

Major Garcia checked his watch one last time as the Hercules climbed to their jump altitude. They would jump at 32,000 feet and low open at 2,000 feet from the desert scrub, hopefully below the radar of the Nellis tower.