Chapter 10
Richard woke shortly after sunset and quietly made his way over to the end of the utility tunnel. After removing the lock, he gently pushed on the large metal door. As he did so, the door creaked and an Aug started coming in his direction. Richard quickly powered up his pulse rifle and ever so slowly pulled the door closed. Then he held it shut as tightly as he could, hoping the Aug would not test it. A moment later he felt the handle jiggle and then the door started to open against his will. Richard let it go and the door swung open with so much force that it hit the Aug in the forehead and knocked him out. Richard immediately grabbed the Aug and dragged him inside so he would not be seen. Then with a swift thrusting motion, he snapped the Aug’s neck. After disposing of the body, he retuned to the doorway and peered out. On the right side, there were three rows of hangers housing military tanks and jets. Most of the hardware was dirty and showed signs of neglect, with the exception of a lone helicopter which was clean enough to reflect the base’s halogen lights. Richard knew that the Augs couldn’t use the aircraft, due to their sensitivity to altitude, so he knew Dr. Stone had to be at the facility.
After a few minutes of looking around, Richard pulled out his binoculars and selected NV mode to see into the areas that were not well lit. Then he made a note of the location and relative distance between each of the key buildings. Of particular interest was a large structure adjacent to the aircraft hangers that had several large vertical vents on the roof indicating it was designed to release insects into the air. Richard figured that was for the mosquitoes, and made a mental note to destroy it before leaving.
“What are you doing?” Mitch whispered as he quietly approached from behind.
“I was just checking out the facility,” Richard whispered back.
“I see you started without us,” Mitch remarked in reference to the dead Aug laying on his side just inside the doorway.
“Sorry about that, you can have the next one,” Richard joked.
“So what’s the plan?” Mitch asked.
“The facility is a lot bigger than I remember, but I think we might have found the source of the infectious mosquitoes,” he said while handing the binoculars to Mitch.
“Yeah, that’s an odd looking building,” Mitch remarked.
“My thoughts exactly. Did you also notice the helicopter?” Richard asked.
“I did, it’s an older Sikorsky… a UH-60M, if I’m not mistaken.”
“You’ve flown those, haven’t you?” Richard asked optimistically.
“I’m not a pilot anymore,” Mitch remarked in a coarse whisper.
“Come on Mitch, you were the best damn pilot around when I met you.”
“That may have been true before the accident, but please don’t ask me to fly. I won’t do it, not for you, not for anyone,” Mitch asserted.
“Alright, but if you change your mind, it would be a beautiful way to make our escape.” Mitch shrugged his shoulders and then continued to stare at the olive drab chopper for a moment. Richard wasn’t sure if he was reconsidering his request, or thinking about the tragic event that took his brother. It was a time when Mitch and his brother both drank to excess and ignored the rules. Their reckless behavior led to disaster, and after the crash, Mitch swore he would never drink or fly again.
“I’m done,” Mitch said as he handed the binoculars back to Richard.
“I am too,” he replied as he put the binoculars back into his pack.
“So you have a plan?” Mitch asked.
“Yes, the production facility containing the worms can only be accessed via the catwalks that connect to the outer labs. Therefore we’re going to have to bust in through the labs at the ground level and make our way through them and up the catwalks to the production facility,” Richard whispered in a low voice.
“Why don’t we just blast through the outer wall of the production building using a couple of the grenades?” Mitch asked.
“We need to locate Dr. Stone before he realizes the facility is under attack, otherwise he could escape. I’m confident he will be in one of the labs, and that’s where we’ll strike…” before Richard could finish his sentence, a floodlight unexpectedly came on outside of one of the labs. A moment later, a slender figure emerged and casually walked over to the helicopter. Richard quickly pulled out his binoculars, but he could not tell if the individual was Dr. Stone, or some random Aug prepping the chopper for him. As he looked on, the unidentified individual mulled around the outside of the chopper for a few moments, and then jumped into it. By the time Richard realized it was actually Dr. Stone, and got his pulse rifle powered up, the chopper had already disappeared into the night sky.
“Son of a bitch!” Richard cursed in an angry voice. “That was Dr. Stone!” His voice echoed into the distance and floodlights suddenly started coming on all over the base. Both men dropped to the ground as the Augs suddenly rushed out from their guard post near the central building. Then they looked on nervously as the Augs scurried about randomly, uncertain what direction the noise had originated from. For several minutes they circled around the main complex before going over to search the hangers. After inspecting that area, they finally returned to their posts and the floodlights went off.
“That was close,” Mitch said as they slipped back inside the tunnel and closed the door.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Richard said apologetically “I was disappointed that we missed our chance to get Dr. Stone. At least we know for certain that he is still working here and while we wait for his return we can plan out our attack.”
“Where were you guys?” Ethan asked seemingly relieved to see them.
“Mitch and I wanted to take a quick look at the base, but we need to do a little more detailed recon before we attack,” Richard explained as he illuminated the sketch he had drawn.
“Are those tanks?” Matt interrupted as he gazed down at the poorly drawn diagram.
“Yeah, do you know anything about them?” Richard asked.
“I had my share of practice driving them in the reserves,” Matt replied arrogantly.
“Are you willing to sneak over and take a look at them… maybe we can use one to make our escape?” Richard said in a hopeful tone.
“Sure,” Matt replied, seemingly surprised by his suggestion.
“Is that a helicopter?” Ethan asked.
“It is,” Richard replied as he glanced over at Mitch.
“I already told you I’m not flying the damn chopper,” Mitch replied.
“That’s fine, but maybe you could assist one of us, so we could fly it out of here if the tank idea doesn’t work out?” Richard suggested.
“It’s not like driving a car… you can’t just learn to fly in ten minutes.” Mitch replied while rolling his eyes. A gesture largely lost in the dim light of the warehouse.
“Does the helicopter have an auto pilot?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, it has a 4-axis fully-coupled autopilot, but it’s only meant to assist you once you’re in flight. It won’t take off or land for you, and you have to program in the altitude and heading as pilot-selected reference values before it will even engage. You’d crash long before I got the auto pilot programmed,” Mitch replied in an irritated tone.