Bullets slammed into the row of metal lockers, creating a shower of sparks and a deafening symphony of PINGS. Kael pressed himself against the flimsy metal, feeling each round impact just centimeters from his head. The wound in his arm began to throb, hot blood seeping through his sleeve.
"He's pinned! Move in!" Hunnigan's voice rang out, cold and ruthless.
He heard the footsteps of the Delta squad closing in from both sides. They were boxing him in.
"Rook! You're alive!" Kael hissed, pressing his mouth to the crack in the concrete floor. "What happened?"
"No time!" Rook's voice echoed up, weak but urgent. "It was a trap! Oracle... she gave up our position! An MLF team ambushed us. I got Viper down here... an old service tunnel... the entrance is..."
A fresh burst of gunfire slammed into the lockers, cutting Rook off.
A service tunnel. Kael glanced around frantically, searching for a hatch, a door, anything.
From above, a soft THWIP sounded, followed by a shout and the clatter of metal on the floor. Wraith. She had taken out a Delta soldier from her sniper's perch in the rafters.
"A sniper! Find her!" Hunnigan roared, her anger beginning to overpower her cold demeanor.
That distraction was all Kael needed. He broke from cover, not running toward the Delta team, but sprinting for a large iron grate in the floor he had previously ignored. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, but he could see the rusted hinges. A basement entrance.
"Wraith! Cover!" he yelled.
He slid across the concrete floor, ramming the grate with his shoulder. It didn't budge. Rusted shut.
"Damn it!" He drew his pistol, firing two shots into the hinges. The metal groaned and shattered. With all his might, he pried the grate up.
A wave of cold, musty air billowed up from the darkness below. An escape.
The Delta team had regrouped. They started laying down fire in his direction.
Kael didn't hesitate. He jumped into the hole, falling about three meters and landing on a soft pile of trash, the impact sending a searing jolt of pain up his wounded arm.
Above, Wraith threw a smoke grenade, obscuring Hunnigan's view and creating a chaotic screen, before she too quickly vanished into the darkness of the rafters.
Kael switched on his flashlight, its beam cutting through the darkness of a narrow concrete corridor. The air here was thick with the smell of mildew and desperation.
"Rook?" he called out.
"Over here!"
Kael followed the voice and found Rook leaning against a wall in a small room that looked like an old security checkpoint. He looked terrible. His uniform was torn, one side of his face was swollen and bruised. But he was alive.
"Are you okay?" Kael asked, helping his teammate.
"I'm fine," Rook gasped, pointing deeper into the room. "But Viper... she's not doing well at all."
"What happened?" Kael repeated his question, his voice filled with urgency. "Why Oracle?"
Rook coughed, spitting out a glob of blood. "Right after you guys left... I tried to contact Oracle for a status report. She said the signal was weak. She told me to switch to a backup channel, one she said was more secure. I did. Like a fool."
The bitterness in Rook's voice was almost tangible. "Five minutes later, an MLF team, six of them, came straight to the waterfall. They knew our exact position. It wasn't a random patrol. They came to kill."
"How did you get away?"
"I heard them coming. I pulled Viper out of the alcove and found the entrance to this tunnel. We were down here when they arrived. I destroyed my comm... I was afraid Oracle could track it. I left the signs for you, hoping you'd be smart enough not to trust her evac order."
Kael was silent, processing the information. His suspicion was confirmed. Oracle, their commander, had betrayed them. She had tried to have them quietly eliminated. But why?
"What does she want?" Kael asked.
"I don't know," Rook shook his head. "But it's connected to Hunnigan. That MLF team... they weren't there to kill us. They were there to capture us. One of them yelled that 'the Major wants them alive'. Oracle and Hunnigan... they're working together."
A cold, terrifying truth. They weren't just fighting The Broker. They were in the middle of a shadow war between factions they didn't even know existed, and they were nothing but expendable pawns.
Kael followed Rook deeper into the room. Viper was lying on an old metal table, her breathing shallow and rapid. A fever had set in. The wound on her shoulder was swollen and an alarming dark red.
"Infection," Kael said immediately. "And it's spreading fast. Whatever hit her... its claws were toxic."
"I've used up all the antibiotics," Rook said, his voice full of helplessness. "She needs a doctor. And a surgical suite. Not this rat hole."
Kael looked around. The room was small, with only the single entrance he had just come through. The walls were thick reinforced concrete. A heavy steel door, though rusted, still looked solid.
"This rat hole just became our fortress," Kael declared. "It's more defensible than being out in the open. We'll make our stand here."
He took out his own medkit, searching for anything that could help Viper. He found a few doses of a strong painkiller and a broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory. It wasn't much, but it was something.
"Rook, block the door. Use whatever you can find. I'll take care of her."
While Rook dragged a heavy old filing cabinet to barricade the door, Kael carefully examined Viper's wound. It was worse than he thought. The tissue around the gash was starting to turn black. He knew what he had to do.
He took out his combat knife and heated the blade with his lighter.
"Sorry, Viper," he whispered, knowing she couldn't hear him.
He began to cut away the dead, necrotic flesh.
Above them, in the darkness of the rafters, Wraith had seen it all. She saw Kael jump into the hole, saw Hunnigan and her team begin to surround the entrance. She couldn't help Kael directly, but she could do something else.
She switched to Gryphon's channel.
"Gryphon, this is Wraith. Come in."
"Wraith! What's Spectre's status? I heard gunfire!" Gryphon's voice came through, full of worry.
"Spectre's safe. For now," she replied. "He found Rook and Viper. They're alive. But trapped in a basement under the machine depot. Viper's in bad shape."
A curse from the other end. "Alive... Thank God. What's your position?"
"We're pinned down by Hunnigan's team. Four of them, plus her. We need support. Immediately."
"We're on our way!" Gryphon said. "But it'll take a few minutes. Hold on!"
"There's no time, Commander!" Wraith said, her eyes scanning the Delta team setting up positions below. "They're going to blow that hatch. Listen, I have an idea. Can you get to the roof of this depot?"
"Maybe. There's a service ladder on the west side. Why?"
"Get there. When you're in position, I'll give you a target," Wraith said, her eyes looking at the huge, old industrial light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. "And get some ropes ready. Our exfil isn't going through the front door."
She cut the connection before Gryphon could ask any more questions. She didn't have time to explain. She only had time to act. She began moving like a spider on a web, heading for the support bolts of one of the massive light rigs.
Below, Kael had just finished dressing Viper's wound. Her fever seemed to have lessened slightly, but she was still very weak.
"Done," he said to Rook, who was leaning against the steel door, rifle pointed down the hall. "Now all we can do is wait."
Just then, they heard footsteps from outside. Multiple sets.
"They're here," Rook whispered.
They heard Hunnigan's voice, echoing down the corridor. "He's in there! There's no other way out. Breach the door!"
A heavy THUD shook the door. Then another. They were using something to ram it.
Kael and Rook stood side-by-side, aiming their weapons at the door. They knew it wouldn't hold for long.
"Been a pleasure fighting with you, Spectre," Rook said, a faint, tired smile on his bruised face.
"The party's not over yet," Kael replied.
CRASH! The door dented inward. Cracks appeared around the hinges.
But then, another sound intruded.
A sound that made their blood run cold.
SCRAAAPE... SHINK.
It was the sound of metal scraping on concrete. Heavy. Purposeful.
And it was getting closer.
The ramming from outside suddenly stopped. They heard the panicked shouts of the Delta soldiers.
"What was that?"
"Fall back! Fall back!"
Then rifle fire erupted, but it wasn't aimed at their door. They were firing at something else in the hallway.
A deafening roar echoed, drowning out the gunfire. It was Kante's roar.
CRUNCH!
This time it wasn't their door. It was a different sound. The sound of tearing metal, of crushed bone, followed by a choked-off scream.
Kael and Rook looked at each other, their eyes wide with horror.
They weren't trapped in here with Hunnigan's team.
Hunnigan's team was trapped out there with Kante.
And they were right in the middle. The scraping on the concrete was getting closer. It was right outside their door.