William Weber - System Failure

Amy winced, holding Emmitt close to her.

“Except for the pregnant lady, of course,” he said, as if to reassure them. “Because we may be many things, but monsters we are not.” He turned to the guard standing next to him. “Dimitri, take them―”

Just then, Dimitri’s radio came to life, babbling in a foreign language none but the mobsters understood. He turned to his boss. “Sergei, Lev is dead. They found his body on the tracks.”

“Perhaps that was the shot we heard?”

Dimitri shook his head. “No, they executed an old man who was trying to report them.”

Amy’s features clouded over with a look of surprise and disapproval.

Sergei took Lev’s rifle and pulled back the charging handle. He swiveled the weapon before the group, their faces wincing whenever the barrel crossed over them.

“Don’t do it,” Lauren said, her voice a tight ball of emotion.

Sergei swung and shot her once in the chest. Lauren fell. Amy, Holly and the others gasped, clinging to those around them. Sergei then spun and shot Liz and Carl. The kids burst into tears, grasping onto Lauren’s lifeless body. The shock and horror of the situation was too much.

“Enough,” Dakota shouted, not caring if she was next. “You’ve made your point.”

Sergei centered her in his crosshairs. She didn’t flinch.

“This one has attitude,” he said, bellowing laughter, his expression slowly turning dark and frightening. “I like that. A lot. Dimitri, make sure the girl’s locked up tight with the others. I’ll save her for later.” He turned to the other guards. “The rest of you, come with me. We have an appointment to keep at Washington Station.”

Nate and the members of the Citadel team had just arrived at Washington Station when Colt looked around. “Hey, where’s your dog? I thought he was right behind us?”

Shaking his head, Nate said, “First off, he’s a wolf. Second, he does his own thing. I’m just the guy who hopes he doesn’t get hurt.”

“I was the last man into the station,” Brooks said. “I called after him, but he wouldn’t come down. Took off running.”

But truth be told, Nate was far too busy checking his weapons and fretting over his family to let an idiosyncratic canine worry him.

That concern was only magnified when they heard the terrible echo of gunfire reverberating from the northbound tunnel. The series of sharp cracks that travelled through the passageway chilled the blood in Nate’s veins.

“Grand Station’s that way, isn’t it?” Colt wondered, clearly worried.

Nate didn’t bother answering. He bolted forward, the rest of the men following close behind. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go down.

Nate stomped through the dark tunnel with nothing but the light at the end of his rifle to guide him, Colt’s story of his family’s murder looping through his mind. He could only pray that Sergei hadn’t gone and done something stupid.

Bursting with adrenaline, Nate soon found himself far out front. A handful of bobbing lights in the distance signaled a group was approaching. He immediately went dark and waited.

Was this Amy, Dakota and the rest of his family approaching? Or was it someone else?

The lights were now a hundred meters away and Nate caught the muffled sound of a male voice.

Colt arrived then and dropped to one knee beside him.

“I’m guessing you don’t have any nightvision gear,” Nate said.

“It’s on our Christmas list,” Colt assured him. “We been too busy stockpiling beans and bullets.” He motioned to the earpieces they were all wearing. “I’m afraid this comm system was the most high-tech toy we had on hand.”

The others arrived a moment later, breathing hard.

“Man, Brooks, chew a mint or something, dude,” Walker said, grimacing. “Your mouth smells like a sewer.”

Brooks exhaled into the palm of his hand and brought it to his nose, wincing.

“Quiet down,” Colt said, ordering them to fan out to form a firing line.

If these happened to be the bad guys, Nate could see there wasn’t going to be much in the way of cover. The approaching group was now fifty yards out.

“We may not have NV gear,” Colt told him. “But we do have this.” He plucked a chunk of plastic off his belt that was shaped like a softball.

“The heck is that?”

“I call it ‘the disco ball’. Think of a flashbang, but with lots of flash and no bang.” He pressed a button with his thumb which turned red and started to blink.

Nate was still processing all this when Colt rose up and hurled the non-lethal device into the air at the oncoming group. If it was his family members, they would be startled and confused. No harm, no foul. But if it was anyone else…

The disco ball landed with a hollow plastic tink. It fell a few feet short but rolled the rest of the way in. At once the tiny thing exploded as powerful beams of light, ten million candles strong, pulsated in every direction, transforming the subway tunnel into the most intense rave Nate had ever seen. The only thing missing was the loud thump of techno music.

Ahead, the lights also illuminated eight men in black and white army fatigues, recoiling from the blinding rays. Nate quickly realized that Colt’s little gizmo was just as effective at distracting them as it was the enemy. Flashbulbs of iridescent light hampered his vision as both sides opened fire.

One of Sergei’s men kicked the disco ball back in their direction. Not that it mattered all that much since it wasn’t designed to incapacitate, but to neutralize an enemy’s numerical advantage.

The deafening sound of gunfire echoed off the arched walls of the subway tunnel as rounds split the air around them. Muzzle flashes from the rifles only added to the light show. It was by far the most chaotic gun battle Nate had ever seen.

Rolling to one side, he squeezed off a handful of rounds and watched as they impacted one of Sergei’s men, rippling the camo shirt he was wearing. The man hung in midair for a moment, his collapse reduced to a series of macabre snapshots by the pulsating light.

Rounds ricocheted off the walls and the ground around Nate. This was a knock-down drag-out fight and he was determined to prevail.

Quickly swapping magazines, Nate caught sight of a man who wasn’t dressed like the others. Instead of cammies, he was wearing a dark suit. The guy grabbed two of his men and ushered them through a side door. Two others tore off into the darkness, leaving three of their comrades dead.

Just then the disco ball shut off. Colt had a red filtered light he switched on to take a quick accounting of his men. “Anyone hit?”

“I think we’re good,” Walker said, blood running down the side of his face where a bullet had split his scalp.

“Ash, throw a quick bandage on that, will you? When you’re done, you, Brooks and Walker press down this tunnel. Nate and I will rendezvous with you at Grand Station.” Colt waved a finger. “Once there, if you encounter any more hostiles, watch your fire. That place is crawling with civilians.”

The men nodded.

By the time Colt was done addressing his men, Nate was already pulling open the side door, his pistol in hand. It looked like this was some sort of service corridor, normally a maze of narrow hallways providing repair teams access points to areas between subway stations.

With both hands on his SIG, Nate swiveled his tac light, slicing a path through the gloom as he weaved around one bend after another.

That they had encountered Sergei and not his family in the tunnel did not bode well for the execution of their escape plan. That sinking feeling only got worse when he recalled the shots they’d heard earlier.