Evenfall (165 page)

"Considering Vega is the only rank 10 field agent we have on the compound at the moment and that their unit is one of the most classified, I don't think writing them off as random agents is very wise," Carhart replied tiredly.

When Willis didn't reply immediately, Carhart looked over at Boyd finally. "We know for a fact that both Connors and your mother are on the compound, both of their cars have been in the parking lot since last night or very early this morning but contacting them is another story..." He crossed his arms over his muscular chest and shook his head in irritation.

"At some point around 0400 hours, the compound was attacked, but I'm sure you gathered that much already. Before anyone really knew what was happening, the electricity went down and the back-up generators were most likely tampered with or destroyed because it never came back up. The phone lines were found to be useless and whoever is attacking had the foresight to use some kind of frequency jammer because radios and cellular phone signals are not responding either."

"Great," Sin said aridly, looking unenthused by this information.

"Precisely." Carhart frowned. "There were a series of explosions powerful enough to damage a number of areas but not flashy enough to garner attention from the outside, which is actually helpful considering the mess that would be caused if civilians were to alert the authorities. Even though the police department knows we're out of their jurisdiction, we don't need civilians getting too involved. They can be misled about the sound of gunshots and the cause of it but not by something as obvious as a large fire," he said dryly.

"But with everyone scattered around the compound in the darkness and with an unknown amount of assailants and casualties, all we could do was gather as many of us as we could and come here to formulate some kind of plan before these guerrilla terrorists could pick us off one by one."

"No one's been up to the tower?" Sin queried, eyebrows drawing together.

"It's been barricaded," the General replied. "But with no way to contact those on the inside, we're not sure if that was a defensive move on the part our people or something that was done to keep our people out so that the assailants could have free run of the place. We were hoping that the amount of guards that are positioned there would be able to provide a somewhat decent defense though."

Boyd glanced around and recognized four of the people inside the room as field agents of ranging ranks; some of them were people he had seen in the training room before or sparred with. He didn't know most of them very well except a few by name, but they obviously must have lived on the compound to have been able to respond so quickly or make it to the bunker. He tried to think of the others he knew that lived there who would also be trained in combat. "What about Senior Agent Trovosky's team?"

It was unclear whether Stephen decided it was worthwhile to answer the question because it was related to his unit or if he just wanted the random side discussions to be finished already. "Agent Archer is currently set up as a sniper; the others have not checked in or live off the compound. Agent Torres from General Willis' unit is attempting recon as well. Both agents have been checking in periodically and should return shortly. There are no doubt many other field agents who are already engaging in combat but unless our communication starts working again we won't know their positions or status. And, of course, we have those who have already gathered here."

"So where are you at as of now?" Sin asked after a moment, seeming as impatient as Stephen was. "What's the plan to get this under control?"

Carhart looked at Stephen and Willis before he spoke. "Our first move was to get as much information as we can with the men we have out there now and once they return with some insight as to what the state of things is, we can go from there. But two things are certain; we need to get an idea of exactly what we're up against and we definitely need to get inside the tower."

A dark eyebrow rose as Sin eyed them doubtfully. "You don't have any ideas of what you're up against? Thirty seconds before we arrived we deduced a possible scenario."

Willis scowled at him, leaning forward with his hands flat against the table. "I think this situation would be a lot easier if we put him back in his cage where he belongs. All he's doing is exacerbating an already difficult situation and I will not have him disrespecting his superiors while you," he gave Carhart a disdainful look, "do nothing to control him."

Boyd's eyes narrowed at the words but he didn't have the chance to say anything.

"Exacerbating a difficult situation?" Sin asked incredulously. "Excuse the fuck out of me for wanting to know why you're sitting here with your thumb up your ass whining about why you can't go play savior to the whole world when you don't even know how many militants you have out there or who they are. Even Brian over there figured out that it's probably a small but well organized group of people who are trying to do their best to confuse you all with their explosions and darkness so that they can do whatever they planned to do while you're distracted. If they just wanted to kill us all, they'd have a much larger force with them and they'd have already fucking blown us to high hell with remote detonated bombs. And they most likely got in the same way we did-- with the goddamn tunnels that are sitting unblocked and unmonitored under the entire compound."

Willis continued to glower at him but after
a while
he looked away, not having a suitable answer and after a time it was Carhart who replied as his brow furrowed. "Those tunnels have been a security breach ever since Connors decided to keep them unguarded but I suspect he had his own reasons for that. I'd assumed they were sealed after the creation of these bunkers but obviously that is not the case."

"I was under that impression as well," Stephen said, seeming annoyed with the side arguments and the messiness of the situation. "If that's the case, then the fact is that they are unsecured and Agent Vega is correct at least that if they came from the outside then it's very possible they entered through them. We have to decide what to do about that now." His piercing gaze turned to Sin and Boyd. "You have just come from the tunnels? Did you note any enemy activity within them or at the entrance outside?"

Boyd answered before Sin could, mostly because Sin still looked annoyed and he didn't want the conversation to continue going down paths that resulted in General Willis and him at each other's throats.

"No enemy activity, sir," Boyd verified. None of the generals had sounded surprised about the idea of the tunnels so he had to assume they knew everything about them or at least their entrance and exit points. "However, the park appeared to have been disturbed sometime previous to our arrival so that could have been one of the entrances they used although it's a possibility that was a coincidence. We didn't encounter anyone until we made it to the bunker's entrance, however; that was the first time we were shot at. Otherwise it was clear from the lab to here."

Stephen stared at him a moment, his eyes sharpening on Boyd's face; it didn't appear as though he disbelieved him, rather that he was thinking harder about this. "It was clear? Were you alerted by someone to come to this specific bunker?"

"No, sir." Boyd met his gaze straight on despite the intensity of it. "We just guessed you would be here. We were looking specifically for General Carhart."

Stephen considered that, seeming somewhat dubious of the idea, but his mind was going down another path because he didn't bother to ask further questions about that. "That's unfortunate; we need more manpower available down here or accessible to communication; it would be best if someone was telling others to come down." He looked over at Willis and Carhart.

"Obviously in their case, leaving the tunnels unsecured resulted in additional backup we wouldn't have had with the tunnels sealed, but so few people know of the tunnels that it's not likely there will be more allies coming through. Regardless of the number of militants present on the compound now, we can't afford to have their numbers expand. Ideally, the outside entrances to the tunnels should be at the very least guarded right now but without some sort of communication our agents would be too far away to send messages to. We should post guards on the entrances within the compound and assign one of them to be a runner to alert us if additional enemies are approaching. That will address the issue of if they are outsiders."

Carhart nodded in agreement and started to turn to the small group of officers to their left but paused. "There's four internal entrances into the two tunnels; one of them leads directly into the basement of the tower. If we send a team in through the connecting tunnel, we'll be able to penetrate it and find out what's going on in there."

He looked over at the group finally. "Captain Darrell, I want three groups of three agents posted at the other entrances, the lowest ranked agent will serve as the runner. We need to organize a team of the most experienced agents we have here to penetrate the tower, Vega will serve as team leader."

Three sets of eyes snapped to Carhart incredulously and even Sin's mouth pulled down in a slight, dismayed frown. "You can't be serious."

"With all due respect General Carhart--" Darrell began but Willis cut him off.

"You're out of your mind and that is out of the question. We already have very little manpower and you want to send in an entire team with that psychopath? How do we know we can trust him? How do we know he won't turn on
them
?" The outraged general demanded.

Sin stared at the man coldly. "As long as you're not there, it shouldn't come to that."

Willis leaned across the table again, eyebrows drawn down. "Are you threatening a commanding officer?"

"Enough of this nonsense," Carhart snapped. "Willis--"

"No, it's bad enough that you and Stephen want to leave our allies unprotected and exposed but now you want to send the good men we do have out with a raving lunatic. The man is a freak, a monster, he enjoys killing--"

Sin's eyes narrowed dangerously, his entire body growing tense as his hands flexed.

"--and he is just as much of a threat as these cowardly intruders who bombed residential buildings at four in the damned morning. He should have never been released," Willis raged on.

Carhart looked over at Sin but before he could interrupt, the other man continued with his tirade. "He belongs in that box because he's nothing but an animal. Don't any of you remember what he did to poor Lydia Connors?"

Before anyone had time to react, Sin had one impossibly strong hand wrapped around Willis' throat, fingers tightening. Everyone froze and stared at the scene in shock; Thierry looked up from the medic with widened eyes at the sight before him and the same frightened expression that he'd had in the truck returned.

"Keep your fucking mouth shut about things you know nothing about," Sin said flatly.

Everyone watched in shock as Sin effortlessly held the general, who outweighed him by fifty pounds or more, nearly off the ground. Boyd watched the scene, his fingers twitching nervously as he struggled to decide whether he should intervene. But it didn't look like Sin was about to go into one of his berserk fits-- it just seemed like he was pissed. Even so, Boyd stepped forward and touched the back of his partner's shoulder.

"Ignore him," he said quietly, looking over at Willis briefly. "Calm down."

For a moment it didn't seem like Sin would heed the advice, and Captain Darrell fumbled for the small remote that all officers and guards carried, the remote that controlled Sin's collar. But then Sin's shoulders slowly relaxed and the unchecked anger dissipated. He released General Willis abruptly and stepped back, glancing at Boyd for a long moment and then at Carhart.

"Just keep him away from me," he muttered and stalked over to the door, looking anxious to be out of the bunker and away from everyone in it.

Stephen, however, was the first to respond. He looked between Willis and Sin with narrowed eyes, seeming very unimpressed with the entire situation.

"This is the last time I will say this; now is
not
the time for pissing matches. Agent Vega, if you can't control yourself, remove yourself from the situation until you can." Despite the words, it was calmly said.

"Willis." Stephen looked at his fellow General with a hard expression but didn't directly reprimand him; it would be a poor decision in a crisis situation to show disrespect to fellow commanding officers. "I trust Carhart will take appropriate measures with his men. We don't have time to waste squabbling in here. Our people are in danger as we speak and the longer we wait to execute our orders, the more likelihood for casualties there are."

Willis rubbed his neck and glared at Sin warily, seeming simultaneously furious at the assault and confused by the fact that he'd backed off. "I've given my opinion on every matter you put on the table and I've been subsequently ignored and disrespected each time. From this point on, I remove myself from the discussion."

Carhart stared at the man in incredulous exasperation and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Your concerns have been addressed Willis, and both General Stephen and myself are in agreement about everything that must be done. By getting on your soap box every time an issue is brought forth and ignoring common sense to perpetuate inappropriate behavior based on misinformed gossip and assumptions, you make yourself look ignorant and childish. And if you want to discuss the issue of disrespect, please do not forget that despite the fact that I am the youngest General here, I am still technically your superior and you have second guessed me and insulted me long before Agent Vega arrived."