"Take 'im out!" Lennox brought up his M4 and fired. More rifles chattered around him. Sparks jumped off the robot's body. It just stared at them, ignoring the dozens of rounds clanging off its metallic skin.
Lennox swore he saw the thing narrow its eyes. It looked like it was glaring at him. What the hell kind of robot glared?
It stomped toward them, its footfalls sending mini tremors through the tarmac.
"Go! Go! Go!" Lennox hollered.
The Spec Ops team ran, closing in around Simmons. The agent looked over his shoulder, eyes bulging in shock.
Two Humvees charged past them. One launched a TOW anti-tank missile, the other fired its .50 caliber. The missile exploded against the robot's right shoulder, blotting it out in a cloud of orange and black. It staggered slightly.
"Grenades!" Lennox spun around raised his rifle. A dull thump came from the tubular M203 under the barrel. Fig, Donnelly and Hiatt also triggered their grenade launchers. "Top" Lieberthal stepped forward with his MGL. Grenades flew from its rotary barrel. Epps shouldered his AT4. The missile shot out of the tube with a sharp crack! Mini fireballs burst across the robot's body. The damn thing clenched its fists. Its scowl grew more pronounced.
"I think all we're doing is pissing it off." Lennox shoved another grenade into his M203.
The robot raised its arms. Two slender barrels popped out of each wrist.
"Geddown!"
The Spec Ops team threw themselves on the concrete. Blue tracers spat from the robot's guns. The Humvees blew apart in torrents of flame. A machine gunner on the roof of a nearby hangar raked the robot with bullets. It brought around its left arm and fired. The front half of the hangar exploded and collapsed.
The robot turned back to Lennox's men.
Two more Humvees rolled across the runway, a boxy Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle behind them. More high caliber rounds and missiles exploded and pinged off the metal giant.
"Is that what that thing's after?" General Sharpe pointed to Simmons's box.
"Most likely."
"Damn you!" Sharpe's face twisted in rage. He snorted and turned to Lennox. "Get this SOB out of here. Keep that box away from that . . . whatever. We'll cover you."
"Yes, sir."
Sharpe pushed himself to his feet, pulling out his Beretta pistol. He stood and fired. The Humvees and Bradley kept up their barrage, joined by USAF Security Forces troopers with rifles and machine guns. The noise made Lennox feel like he was in the middle of an enormous fireworks show.
"Let's go! Go!" He screamed over the gunfire and explosions.
Lieberthal shot off the remainder of his grenades as the others rose and sprinted away. Lennox took a quick glance back.
What the hell?
Two boxes grew out of the robot's shoulders. Missiles sprang from them. Contrails corkscrewed and streaked off in all directions. Geysers of fire tore through buildings. Fireballs ripped apart the Humvees and Bradley. The Osprey Lennox and the others had flown in also exploded. The stench of smoke, burning metal, fuel and flesh clung to the air. The flames mixed with the intense heat to turn the air blast furnace hot. Sweat poured out of Lennox in rivers. He just kept running.
"Aw, shit!" Epps blurted. "It's comin' after us!"
Lennox checked over his shoulder. The robot stomped toward them. It kicked one of the flaming Humvees. The wreckage soared over the runway like a comet. It crashed into another Osprey. The aircraft exploded.
Sharpe backed up, continuing to fire his pistol. Two USAF Security Forces men joined him, blazing away with their M4s.
The robot kept coming.
Move. Move! He urged Sharpe and the two troopers.
The robot brought its guns to bear. It fired a quick burst. Sharpe and the airmen vaporized.
Lennox's throat clenched. His mind tried to process what just happened. His CO hadn't had big holes blown in him. Sharpe just . . . ceased to exist. Turned to ash.
What the hell sort of gun did that?
"We gotta move! We gotta move!"
Lennox ran faster, leading his men toward the motor pool. The robot gained on them, its huge stride quickly closing the distance.
Lennox's gut trembled. They weren't going to –
He heard a loud, steady beat from above. Two slender Apache attack helicopters raced over the base. Hellfire missiles blasted off their wing stubs. Lennox watched the contrails streak by and strike the robot. They exploded in a mass of roiling black and orange. The robot stumbled.
What the hell does it take to put that thing down for good?
They ran past a couple of buildings. Behind them, Lennox heard the whoosh of missile and rocket fire and the chatter of chain guns. The Apaches were still holding off the robot. His team still had a chance.
They dashed into an open area with rows of Humvees, Growler light strike vehicles and Stryker APCs. Lennox led them toward one of the eight-wheeled armored Strykers, this one with a Mk 19 grenade launcher.
"Fig, you're driving! Donnelly, you've got weps!"
"Yes, sir," they both replied.
Lennox lowered the vehicle's rear hatch. Explosions and gunfire continued in the distance. He prayed his side was getting the upper hand on the robot.
A giant friggin' robot. It still seemed unbelievable.
They scrambled inside the Stryker. Fig snaked his way to the driver's compartment, while Donnelly sat at the remote weapons system. Everyone else collapsed onto the deck, sucking in deep breaths. Lennox took a long pull on his CamelBak's nozzle as Fig started the engine. The Stryker lurched forward and picked up speed.
"Holy shit." Yancy pressed a hand over his heart and inhaled. "Holy shit, did you see that thing? Holy shit."
"A giant robot." Lieberthal shook his head, drops of sweat falling from his cheeks and chin. "Who in the hell built a giant robot?"
"It's gotta be aliens, man," said Donnelly. "I friggin' knew it. All this need to know black ops secrecy crap, it had to be aliens."
Normally, Lennox would roll his eyes and make a backhanded comment about Donnelly's ET conspiracy talk. But seeing that robot, no country on Earth had the technology to build something like that.
He stared at Simmons, still gasping for breath and clutching the box under his left arm. Lennox's face hardened. He slid across the deck and grabbed the CIA agent's collar.
"What the hell was that thing?"
"I'm not . . . authorized -"
Lennox whipped out his pistol and shoved the barrel against Simmons's forehead. "No more classified bullshit. No more need to know. A giant robot just blew up half our base. A giant friggin' robot. As far as I'm concerned, we need to know."
Simmons swallowed, defiance still in his eyes. "And what are you going to do if I don't talk? Blow my brains out? Then you won't know jack."
Lennox moved his pistol to Simmons's left knee. "Then I won't kill you. I'll just blow off your kneecaps, and keep blowing off body parts until you finally tell me what I wanna know!"
Simmons licked his lips. His shoulders sagged. "All right. I guess after what happened I have no choice."
"You got that right. Now, what the hell are we dealing with?"
Simmons hesitated. "We call them NBEs."
"What the hell's that?" asked Epps.
"Non-Biological Extraterrestrial."
"I told you," said Donnelly. "Aliens."
"Where do they come from?" asked Lennox.
Simmons shook his head. "We don't know."
"Are there any more of them on Earth?"
"We don't know."
"How did find out about these things?"
Simmons paused. "We have one."
It took a couple of seconds for Lennox to digest that. "You actually captured one of them?"
"No. All we have are body parts. The NBE was dead when we found it. It also had something similar to this." Simmons patted the box.
"What's in there?"
"An artifact."
"What kind of artifact?"
"We don't know."
Lennox felt his blood boil.
"Calm down, Rambo," said Lennox. "I'm telling you the truth. We have the other one back at our base. We don't know what it does, and believe me, we've had some of the brightest minds in the world study this thing. I'm talking Einstein, Neils Bohr, Wernher von Braun, Carl Sagan."
"Einstein? Von Braun?" Epps tilted his head, looking stupefied. "How long have you had that thing?"
"Remember the Maine?"
"What, you found that thing in Maine?" asked Hiatt.
"No, I don't mean the state of Maine. I'm talking about the USS Maine."
Lennox's brow furrowed. "That's the battleship that blew up in Havana, the one that started the Spanish-American War."
"And the Captain goes to the head of the class," Simmons said with a half-grin.
"So what does a battleship from a hundred-plus years ago have to do with these NBEs?" asked Lennox.
"Because it wasn't a mine or a coal bunker fire that sank the Maine. The NBE's ship happened to crash into it."
"Did the Maine shoot it down?" asked Hiatt.
"No, there were no such things as anti-aircraft weapons back then. Einstein and Sagan theorized it might have encountered some cosmic anomaly. Whatever the case, after the war in 1899, US Navy divers recovered the remains of the ship, the NBE and the artifact, and stored them in a secure location."
"Where?" asked Lennox.
"Now that I am not authorized to tell you. And before you start yelling and breaking out your waterboarding kit, think about this. That NBE could have blasted us, but it didn't. It must want the artifact, and it wants it in one piece. If you get captured, the less you know, the better."
Much as Lennox hated to admit it, Simmons was right. Everyone, even a Green Beret, had their breaking point.
"So what made you think what the Marines found near Basra was another . . . artifact?"
"We were forwarded a description of it, along with the elevated Geiger counter readings. We always suspected there might be some other artifacts scattered around the world. Our scientists think these things are part of a larger object. We've had a few leads over the years, but none of them panned out, until now."
"Whatever that artifact is, it's gotta be damn important for these robots." Epps looked at Simmons. "How the hell can you have guys like Einstein look at it and not know what it does?"
"Let me put it to you this way. Imagine your cell phone flying off through time and landing in ancient Greece. How long do you think it would take them to get even a remote idea what a device like that does? That's what we're dealing with. Alien technology that makes our most advanced computers look like a Gutenberg printing press from the 15th Century."
That revelation sent a shiver down Lennox's spine. He then thought of all the missiles and grenades that hit the robot and how it wouldn't go down.
"Can these robots be destroyed?"
"I'm sure they can be, but you'll need a lot of firepower. A lot of firepower."
"And what was up with it looking like a Mirage?" asked Lennox.
Simmons looked to the deck for a moment. "All our examinations of the NBE's remains show that it's not really a robot. Its insides look more like a combination of veins and circuitry, a kind of organic metal. A substance that can apparently grow and reshape itself."
"So these things can look like planes, or maybe cars, ships, whatever." Epps's jaw stiffened for a moment. "They could be hiding all over the world and we wouldn't know it."
"Until they turn back into robots and start blasting everything," added Lieberthal.
Lennox moved away from Simmons, rubbing his forehead. He'd never felt so overwhelmed in his life. He'd been trained to deal with terrorists, insurgents, guerillas, other elite soldiers. But this? Giant robots that can transform into vehicles and absorb enough firepower to wipe out an armored battalion?
There can't be just one of them on Earth. If they operated under any sort of military doctrine, they'd have sent a LRRP – Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol – to try and locate these artifacts. Maybe a lot of LRRP teams. To cover an entire planet, that might take hundreds of NBEs.
And they did find an artifact.
That meant they'd inform their superiors. Then what? Would they secure the artifact and leave? Would they secure the artifact, level the planet and claim it in the name of the NBE Empire?
My God, we could be facing an alien invasion.
He thought about Sarah and Annabelle back in North Carolina. Could he really protect them from a threat like this?
Could anyone?
Well, you either fight or die, Will, so cowboy up and do your duty.
"All right, we need to contact CENTCOM." Lennox referred to US Central Command. "Let them know what's going on, and we need to take that thing to a secure location."
"There's a Qatari army base about fifteen klicks from here," Epps told him.
Lieberthal turned to the Air Force sergeant. "And if that robot, or whatever, finds us there, it'll do to that base what it did to ours."
"Right now it's our best bet." Lennox turned to the front of the Stryker. "Fig. Head for the Qatari base."
"You got it, sir."
"Yancy, get me a line to CENTCOM."
"Yes, sir. Um . . ."
"What?" asked Lennox.
"Well, do you think they'll believe us when we tell 'em a giant robot just trashed our base?"
Lennox exhaled slowly. The radioman had a damn good point.
"I'll make them believe us, even if I have to drag their asses out of their nice, air-conditioned bunker and back to our base . . . what's left of it."
XXXXX
Dirge unleashed a furious roar as he slammed the Humvee into the ground. The concrete around it cratered. He hollered again, sweeping out his arm. Laser pulses spat from his twin wrist cannons. Fireballs consumed buildings and vehicles. Waves of fire spread through his damaged circuitry, fueling his rage. He searched for more targets. A group of humans fled into the desert. Dirge activated his missile launchers and sent half-a-dozen projectiles through the air. They hit the sand, erupting in clouds of fire and sand.
The fleeing humans ran no more.
Dirge scanned around him. Flames swept through the base. The wreckage of vehicles, planes, buildings and fleshlings of various skin colors lay around him. He covered the gaping hole around his right shoulder. Sparks crackled beneath his hand. He couldn't believe the humans' primitive weapons had caused this much damage. How many more hits could he have sustained before he died? The thought gave him pause.
He rid himself of that fear, thinking instead of his mission. After all these years on this miserable mudspeck planet, he'd finally found it.
Then lost it! Had it not been for the cursed fleshlings, the shard would be in his hands right now.
It will be soon enough. It had better be. If Megatron learned he had a shard within his grasp only to lose it . . .
A heavy, dark feeling took hold of his circuitry. He had seen what happened to those who incurred Megatron's wrath. He did not want to experience that.
A compartment opened on Dirge's left leg. He pulled out a bluish-gray putty-like substance and pressed it over the hole beneath his shoulder. That would have to do until he got to a proper repair facility.
"Dirge to Soundwave."
"This is Soundwave. Report."
"I need the location of the humans who possess the shard." His fellow Decepticon had been monitoring his progress from orbit. Soundwave's scanners surely detected those humans.
"Tracking targets. Transmitting image and coordinates."
A window appeared to Dirge's right. The feed from Soundwave's scanners showed a squat armored vehicle driving through the desert. Judging by the coordinates, it was only a few miles from what remained of this human base.
"I see them." Dirge checked the putty as it undulated and spread over his wound. He estimated it would take another five minutes to harden. Of course, the adhesive could take five hours to harden and it wouldn't matter.
Between Soundwave's scanners and his speed, the fleshlings had no chance of escape.
TO BE CONTINUED