The team arrived at their staging area less than a mile from the bunker. Russ knew most of Zack’s technology tricks, but the rest of the team was impressed, even Hal. Russ continued to call Edgar, the autonomous raven drone, a crow despite knowing no crow had a four-and-a-half-foot wingspan, plus it gave him a chance to yank Zack’s chain. Maintaining stealth was a little easier when they were cloaked and invisible, but that bonus would soon be the end of easy.
* * * * *
Chapter #19 – Stealth
The sun had barely touched the western mountain tops when the Humvee roared to a stop at the sign announcing their arrival at the Skyline Drive Entrance Station. The station was unoccupied, which was not uncommon this time of year. Swarms of visitors were not clogging the Drive with heads swiveling to gawk at fall-colored leaves. The leaves were mostly gone, and so were the Rangers who were required to direct traffic and answer hundreds of first-time visitor questions. An unattended entry to the Skyline is exactly what Russ had hoped for; after all, an armored Humvee with three Marines in full combat tactical gear and a slick-looking man-like being who appeared to glow would be hard to forget.
Russ said, “The GPS says we head south from here. Our initial target is Hogback Overlook at mile marker 20.7. The gate to the access road to the bunker is about 400 yards further south. Actual GPS coordinates show 20.8 miles from here, but none of the maps we’ve reviewed show how far off the Skyline the bunker is. We will have to find it, and driving down the access road is not an option. We’re humping this one, gentlemen, under utmost stealth since the place will likely be under heightened security inside and out.”
Hal said, “May I offer some insight?”
Russ gave a short laugh, “Hah! Insight? I want more from you than insight, Hal. I want you to take point and lead us in the right direction with your proximity indicators scanning every inch of our approach. You’ve already proven your abilities at the peach orchard, seeing attackers we could not. Given your knowledge of the layout, this bunker should be designed similarly to the bunker where we rescued you. Ventilation pipes should extend upward from the bunker to the forest floor, issuing a slight heat signature. How sensitive are your thermal receptors?”
“If there is a variation in the ambient temperature, I should be able to detect it,” said Hal, “yes, I would prefer to take the lead because security could be by organics, or electronics, and I can detect both before we walk into trouble.
“Zack, warm up Edgar the crow for a flyover before we approach.”
Zack rolled his eyes and responded, “Raven, Russ. Edgar is a raven.”
Officially, Edgar was an EAP drone, as in Edgar Allen Poe, evidence that Zackery Hightower had a twisted sense of humor. Edgar saved their bacon at Dan’s Farm by locating and eliminating attackers by delivering a charge of C-4 to a control vehicle used by the enemy to fly their drone. Russ shot the drone down, but the operator in the control vehicle disappeared with the SUV he was in when Edgar placed his payload on the roof.
“I’m going to park at the Overlook so that you can build a search grid for Edgar from our target’s GPS coordinates.”
Zack nodded, “Cool.”
The sun had been down behind the mountains for several hours, and the air in the Humvee was electric with pre-battle tension. They were all warriors, each in their own silent space, putting on the final touches to their faces with wide black stripes of face paint mixed with smears of medium brown and green. Marcus looked at Hal and his iridescent glow and shook his head, saying, “Don’t ya need to cover your face? Your glow is a little obvious, brother.”
“No need,” replied Hal, “No need for any of you either, but I sense this ritual to paint one’s face is never to be discounted as necessary preparation for battle. I do not want to trample traditional rituals, but the paint is unnecessary when we will all be cloaked.”
Marcus said, “I understand that asshole, but it keeps insects away too, and for your information the mosquitoes here in these woods are big enough to stand flat-footed and fuck a turkey.”
“I do not know asshole, but predict it is something derogatory, said Hal, not taking offense.
Zack said, “I hear it’s a term of endearment among Marines, so don’t get bent.”
Hal kept digging deeper in his inability to understand organic colloquialisms and asked, “What will become bent?”
Marcus said, “Never mind, asshole,” as he positioned his throat mic and inserted the ear buds.
Hal, still not offended, said, “When I cloak you, I will give each of you the ability to communicate telepathically, so your communications equipment is unnecessary. Once cloaked, whatever you ordinarily say through your devices must only be thought from your mind. We will all be able to hear what you think in our minds as though spoken aloud. Your stealth will be reinforced through complete silence of communications.”
Marcus said, “So, if I think you’re an asshole in my mind, you’ll read me, right?”
Slowly coming up to speed with warrior banter, Hal said, “No, but I will hear you.”
The tension level dropped a couple of notches as they all laughed, everyone except Hal, but he did elicit a grin, so it appeared he had some emotions in his humanoid body. Zack knew he did because the architecture of his ‘corrupted’ code included seeds for emotional growth in addition to the Do-No-Harm ethic. While it was true, Hal was a lethal weapon, the bulb for appreciating sarcasm and friendly insults did not burn very brightly.
Zack launched Edgar at 12:35 AM after establishing a search grid spanning a quarter mile around the GPS target for the bunker. Edgar disappeared almost immediately after taking flight; he was black on black. With the grid pattern uploaded, Edgar would fly within the boundaries but not in a set pattern. He would cover the entire grid, but like a bird in random flight, sending his signal back to Zack’s laptop wirelessly with his thermal infrared (IFR) search results. Hal also had IFR capabilities demonstrated at Dan’s Farm earlier, but Russ wanted a flyover from several hundred feet before they stepped into the thick woods. Most leaves were shed as Fall colors were well past their peak. IFR would penetrate leaves, but the absence of leaves left the light from stars and a half-moon to bathe the forest floor with a faint silver light. Not a problem, thought Russ, if they were cloaked, they could walk down the access road at high noon and remain unseen. Stealth had never felt so good.
Zack sat hunched over his laptop, studying the real-time results from Edgar. “Yikes, a bear,” whispered Zack under his breath.
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Marty, and as he said that, a rush of air and a whooshing sound exploded over their heads. Everyone ducked at the sudden sound, even Hal, as the twenty-six-inch bird of prey and four-and-a-half feet of wings buffeted the air as Edgar landed gracefully on the roof of the Humvee.
Marcus, having never seen Edgar in action, said, “Now that’s one big fuckin’ crow.”
“He’s a raven,” sang Zack, and after singing the correction, “He’s spotted eight hostiles positioned around the bunker, which is lit up like Times Square. To make it more inviting, the perimeter around the bunker is lined with high fencing topped with coils of concertina wire. I’ve marked GPS on each of them. No clue if they remain stationary or have a search pattern to follow.”
“How much battery is left on Edgar?” asked Russ.
“At least two hours,” said Zack, “want me to leave him in the air running a loop over the GPS coordinates and maintain overwatch?”
“Yeah, at least until there’s no one left to watch over,” said Russ. “Hal, your IFR can spot anything Edgar might’ve missed, but I don’t want you blasting away with your laser; we’ve got to remain stealthy.”
“Russell, I have other DEW options that produce no sound and are extremely accurate.”
As Russ’s spotter, Marty’s ear perked up, “DEW?”
Hal replied, “Directed Energy Weapons. They can be lasers, as you saw and heard at the Farm, microwaves, and particle beams. I have all three and are, as you say, Russell, stealthy. Eliminating an enemy at a range of up to five to seven hundred yards will be silent. You heard the lasers at the farm. I had the power on maximum because I wanted to make sure the enemy’s incoming weapons were eliminated, and to make a point for you organics.”
“Makin’ a point or just showin’ off?” said Marcus, “That’s kinda a dick thing to do.”
Hal cocked his head and said, “I do not know dick.”
“Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth,” agreed Marcus and guffawed before spitting a stream of tobacco juice on the ground at Hal’s feet.
Russ intervened, “Hey, c’mon, guys, we’re on the same team. Act like it. We know enough to eliminate eight hostiles, and I don’t care who handles the task. I’m using my MK13 Mod7 .300 Win Mag sniper rifle with a Nightforce Advanced Tactical scope, as he laid the weapon across his thighs to screw on seven more inches of Omega 300 silencer to suppress the noise of firing his weapon equivalent to a cough.
Hal, beginning to show signs of using sarcasm, looked directly at Marcus and said, “For those among us with a brain, listen to me. I’m cloaking you now. At the same time, you will be able to speak telepathically.”
Everyone disappeared, and Zack, now in his first cloaking experience, sat up straight and breathed, “Whoa, dude.”
Pretty cool, huh, came thoughts from Marty.
“So, you’re tellin’ me every random thought is gonna be heard by everyone else?” said Marty aloud.
No, said Hal, if you can hear me now, it’s because my thoughts were directed to everyone on the team. You would direct your thoughts to Marcus if you wanted to say something to him. Think about who you want to hear your thoughts. Russell, do you want to complete a comms check? Think your way through it.
Russ ran through a quick check to confirm they were all on the same telepathic network or page or whatever it was, and said to Zack, You sent Edgar’s GPS positions of the enemy to my tablet, correct?
I did, responded Zack, but not sure how to…
I have what I need, interrupted Hal. I have been monitoring your drone’s transmissions.
On the drive to the Skyline, role assignments had been established; Marty would be paired with Russ, and Marcus would team with Hal. Zack would remain with the Humvee and monitor Edgar’s overwatch. Zack had six more tricks up his sleeve and walked over to Russ to hand him a small canister about the size of a D-cell battery and twice as long. What’s in this? asked Russ.
Zack said, I think you can guess. Remember how we found Jeanine Broussard’s body when she was murdered, or when we listened in to Blane’s conspiracy during the Outer Banks adventure?
Russ grinned, Your nano flies.
You got it, boss, said Zack. His nano-technology creations included a half dozen flying insects that resembled a 3/8” long common blue bottle fly, approximately twice the size of an ordinary house fly. The flies could fly autonomously to an identified target and stream audio and video to Zack’s laptop of whatever was audible and visible proximate to their target.
Why do I need these guys when we can see inside and get a headcount of those in the bunker? asked Russ.
Maybe it’s just me, explained Zack, but I’d rather have a visual on my tablet that shows the bunker’s interior, not just the number of heads. Unless you know the floor plan, you’ll have to clear every room one at a time. How many rooms are there? Who is in each room? Let the flies do it.
“You’re right, said Russ, but one question…how can I get them into the facility before we make entry?
I’ve updated the data feed from Edgar, and he’s identified four ventilation stacks coming out of the forest floor. Drop this capsule into the ventilation shaft, and it will deploy automagically and can map the interior of the entire bunker before you are even close enough for entry. That’s risk-free recon.
Russ grinned, You should’ve been a Marine. I love the way you think, brother.
The team was finally ready and deployed without another word, swallowed by the forest around them.
Protocol, gentlemen, said Russ, call signs only and speak only if necessary; otherwise, stuff a sock in it.
Spiker, this is Polo. Roger that, said Marcus.
Spiker, Setter, Roger that, followed Marty.
Spiker, this is Zack, the man. Roger that.
Remember, ladies, Slow is Smooth – Smooth is Fast. Meet you at the bunker compound after we clean the forest of predators, said Russ. And that is exactly what they did. With Marty, his spotter, Russ took out five of the eight because their positions on Russ’s path offered the opportunity. Russ’s tablet marked the locations of the ventilation stacks that stood no more than a foot off the forest floor. They would have been virtually invisible in the dark without Edgar spotting the invisible thermal bloom slipping from the pipes. The capsule with the six nano flies disappeared into the pipe.
Hal and Marcus took out the other three sentries; to be honest, Hal did, and Marcus was miffed because he did not once get to pull the trigger on his silenced Bullpup. Hal saw the targets before he did and efficiently did what Mod-3 SAI Humanoids do. Leaving crumbs for Marcus to clean up was never considered.
They arrived at the main gate slightly over an hour later and reviewed the next steps after gaining entry. Russ’s tablet had a complete video of the interior rooms accessible by the flies. Some doors were closed and would require clearing the old-fashioned way. When Hal saw the video stream, he said, I never saw most of these rooms when I was here. Mr. Zackery has impressed me with his technology and tactical mind once again.
Hal, I’m guessing you have recorded what you just saw on the video, am I correct?
Got it, said Hal.
When they approached the heavy steel door, Hal said, The organic thermal images I see match the video; a total of twelve organics. If all six scientists and developers are still there, six remaining organics are armed and need to be neutralized. Five appear to be prone, probably sleeping. The rest seem to be either sitting or standing.
Russ agreed, Okay, good, that’s what I saw, too, and still think we need to confirm what the video showed, specifically who has a weapon, whether they’re standing or seated. I don’t want to make any assumptions that the rest are sleeping. The guards could have an on/off duty rotation, and maybe some scientists could not sleep, so every target needs to be confirmed. Several doors were closed on the video, and we’ll need to clear those rooms, but not until the known hostiles have been identified and eliminated. I’m not sold that the scientists and developers aren’t part of the conspiracy, so heads on a swivel, ladies. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until they give us doubt. If one of them shows a weapon, put them down.
“Let’s do this.”
* * * * *
Thanks for reading Chapter #19
Future chapters will be posted on Learningbyliving and my new Substack site.
If you’d like to delve into the storyline across the four books leading up to “Untethered,” go to my Amazon Author page or check out each book here:
Book #1 – “Dreamscape Conspiracy” & Video
Book #2 – “Beyond Dreamscape Conspiracy” & Video
Book #3 – “Fear the Jump” & Video
Book #4 – “Dead Thoughts” & Video
Stay tuned…