Fast (10 page)

            Coleman knew his weapons, and only one breed of firearm could do so much damage so quickly. The hostile force carried submachine guns. More specifically, the FN P190 Mark 2’s. The ‘Mark 2’s’ represented the latest breed of personal defense weapons. Based on the success of the FN P90, the Mark 2 had a short effective range, less than 250 meters, a larger magazine capacity, and an astonishing 2000 rounds per minute rate of fire. The weapon’s designer, Fabrique National, had sacrificed everything for maximum firepower. The short, boxy weapon proved devastating in the close range of the pool room.

            Third Unit was seriously outgunned.

            Coleman searched for a way to save the situation.

            Their only exit from the room, the service corridor, stood in complete line of sight of the gunmen. It was right out in the open. Worse, King’s pinned position offered nowhere for him to move. He lay right between Coleman and Forest. The gunmen controlled the space all around him.

            Coleman had a big section of the pool between himself and the solid cover that Forest and Marlin had reached. But the twenty meter sprint around the pool, out in the open, only led to a dead-end with no exits.

            Bleakly, Coleman surveyed the damaged lockers. They wouldn’t take much more punishment.

            He touched his headset. ‘Marlin, tell me you’ve found a back door.’

            ‘I’ve got nothing,’ replied Marlin urgently. Coleman heard him kicking open cubicles and searching for a back exit.

            Forest called across the pool, ‘Captain, they’re taking position to storm in here. You need to move right now.’

            ‘I’m working on it,’ Coleman said. ‘Just keep their heads down. Don’t give them a chance to take the corners.’

            Forest nodded and fired at the gunmen.

            If the gunmen gained control of the far corners of the room they would have clear firing angles over the entire skirmish. Logically, part of their force would be circling around to the service corridor to hit Third Unit from behind. Either way, in a few moments the gunmen would outmaneuver Third Unit and it would be all over. Dirt naps all round.

            ‘King,’ Coleman said. ‘Watch the service corridor. Take down anything that moves.’

            King lay directly in line of sight with the corridor. He flipped onto his back and trained his rifle down the corridor. ‘On it.’

            ‘Okay, I’ve got something,’ came Marlin’s voice over Coleman’s headset. ‘There’s a plumbing access hatch in the back of the sixth shower cubicle.’

            A plumbing access hatch?

            Every structure contained spaces to house and service their essential infrastructure. FAST trained with architects to identify where terrorists could hide explosives, and hence where these places commonly existed. Marlin found that the shower cubicle contained just such a place.

            ‘Captain,’ warned King. ‘Something’s happening.’

            Coleman snapped his rifle around to cover the service corridor, assuming King meant more gunmen circling around from behind.

            King stared straight back at Coleman.

            He jerked his head towards the Pave Hawk. Lying down provided King a perfect view of the helicopter.

            Coleman followed King’s line of sight up to the fuselage.

            The weapons inspector jerked around in the tangled cable like a broken marionette.

           
He can’t be alive, can he?
Coleman looked higher, following the cable.

            At that moment, just as Coleman looked upwards, two creatures launched from the Pave Hawk. The first creature fell into the dangling loops of cable and became tangled midair.

            The second creature plunged straight down. It hit the pool with its limbs coiled tightly around its body in the mother of all bomb-dives. No sooner had it surfaced than its limbs began churning up white foam like a gigantic blender.

            Coleman had just one thought:
stay out of that water
!

            The gunmen didn’t react to the creatures. They held position just outside the doorway.

            Forest called across to Coleman. ‘Why aren’t they firing?’

            ‘I can’t see anything,’ King complained. ‘What’s going on?’

            ‘Hold your fire. Nobody fire.’ Coleman was forming a strong hunch about how the creatures sensed their prey. He had noticed a pattern in the creatures’ movements outside the admin hub. It seemed the gunmen already knew, and were willing to sit back and watch the show unfold.

           
Or
m
aybe
, Coleman rationalized,
they don’t have a choice
.

            Pieces of the weapons inspector started falling into the pool. Coleman saw the tangled creature tearing the inspector’s corpse apart. King looked up anxiously every time the now wildly swinging cable sent the creature and the weapons inspector careening towards him.

            But the creature already in the pool concerned Coleman more. Its wild thrashing had purpose. It headed towards the pool’s edge, straight towards King.

            If King tried to move, the gunmen would cut him down; if he stayed still, the creature would tear him apart.

            Lying flat on his back, King couldn’t see the creature approaching over the steel hump. He could certainly hear it though.

            King twisted awkwardly as the churning water started flecking his face. He struggled to peer around the steel lid. More water splashed down on him from the creature’s thrashing approach. He touched a wet spot on his cheek and then looked at his fingers. Realization dawned across his dark features.

            ‘Ah, Captain, where’s that second hostile?’

            Coleman decided not to tell King for the moment. ‘Sit tight, King. You’re okay.’

            Marlin crouched beside Forest in the change-room corridor’s arched entrance. He heard the lie and stared hard at Coleman. King was in deep trouble and everyone knew it. King looked back at Marlin for confirmation.

            Coleman shook his head slightly at Marlin.
Don’t do anything stupid, Marlin.

            ‘Don’t worry, big fellah,’ lied Marlin. ‘It’s a long way off.’

            King rested his head back. The churning water soaked him now. He lifted his rifle over his face to keep the splashing water from his eyes.

            Coleman stopped thinking of all the ways they were in trouble and scanned the room for options. He spotted something where the tiles had been blasted away near King’s boots. A cord ran under the floor, previously concealed by the tiles. Coleman followed the path of the cord in both directions.

            After a second he keyed his radio so he wouldn’t be heard by the gunmen. ‘Marlin, Forest, I want you to get out of here. Open that hatch and get moving.’

            ‘You want us to leave you in there?’ Forest cut in incredulously.

            ‘We’re not leaving you trapped in there,’ Marlin stated flatly. He was speaking to Coleman but staring at King.

            Coleman insisted. ‘I’m about to try something pretty wild. Get in that wall and start moving. Trust me.’

            Marlin pulled a fresh magazine of ammunition from his combat vest. He caught King’s eye, and then slid the ammunition along the tiles.

            King slapped his wet palm down on the sliding ammo. Water trickled from his elbow and wrist. He lifted his hand and pointed one thick finger steadily at Marlin. ‘See you soon, Romeo.’

            ‘It’s the sixth cubicle,’ Marlin said, pointing back at his best friend. ‘Don’t be late.’

            King awkwardly slipped the magazine into his fatigues. ‘Long live the King, baby. I’ll be there.’

            Marlin blinked once at King and then ran for the access hatch. Forest hesitated for a moment. He looked from King to Coleman and then lowered his gaze as though making a hard decision. He disappeared from the archway.

            King pivoted and squinted at Coleman through the water splashing all around his prone form. Looking into King’s intelligent face, Coleman realized King knew all along how close the creature was getting.

            King smirked back. ‘Pretty wild? Wilder than this?’

            Coleman nodded and started inching along the wall to his right. His goal was a small panel set about three meters further along into the wall.

            ‘Get ready to run, King.’

            ‘Run where? When?’

            ‘Trust me,’ urged Coleman. ‘You’ll know when.’

            The creature thrashed closer to the pool edge. Once its tentacles found traction it would be right on top of King.

            Coleman had about four seconds to act. He lunged to his right, in plain sight of the gunmen, and hoped his hunch about the wall panel proved correct. He yanked down on the single lever inside the panel and dove back for cover.

            The result was immediate.

            The machine beside King started unrolling the heavy plastic pool cover. The front of the pool cover, an aluminum rail, started pushing the creature away from the edge, away from King. The creature’s tentacles
smashed
into the pool cover, tearing away the aluminum rail in seconds, but it was already getting thrust back towards the gunmen’s end of the pool. Behind the aluminum rail, solid strips of interlocking plastic kept pushing the creature further and further away.

            The cover pushed the creature halfway down the pool before the gunmen understood Coleman’s action. As one they opened fire. The room filled with the thunder of multiple submachine guns, but most of the creature’s bulk remained concealed underwater from their firing line.

            Coleman jerked his head around the locker while the gunmen were distracted. King’s reprieve would last only a few seconds.

            It’s time to play the wild card.

            Coleman swung his CMAR-17 towards the ceiling and opened fire.

            He wasn’t shooting at the second creature. He aimed at the plexiglass around the Pave Hawk. The plexiglass the helicopter had
almost
smashed through when it crashed into the plug.

            The damaged plexiglass splintered and cracked. Huge chunks dropped away and smacked onto the rigid pool cover. His rifle ran dry. Coleman slapped home a fresh clip of ammunition.

            As he started firing again, three things happened. The weapons inspector’s corpse cartwheeled down and
whumped
onto the extending pool cover. Two gunmen surged from the doorway and charged up either side of the pool.

            And the helicopter started shifting.

            In an explosion of sparks and a horrendous screech of tearing metal, the US Marine Corps Pave Hawk helicopter fell out of ceiling.

#

Dr Vanessa Sharp stood frozen to the spot.

            Three
monsters
were trashing her laboratory.

            There was no other way to describe the spectacle.