7
The ground was damp with dew and the whole place had an earthy musty smell that Max loved. She crawled across the ground as close to the fence as achievable so that the guards wouldn't see her. She wanted to be as quiet as possible, because despite all their planning and details she had a bad feeling about this.
Her team were planted in strategic positions around the perimeter and she had her distraction all lined up waiting to drive through the checkpoint. The plan was to let the truck containing the new recruits up to the checkpoint. Depending on whether the guards stopped to check out the whole truck or let it pass they'd decide if they needed to intervene. If they made it through the checkpoint, there was a SUV waiting around the corner to transport them and a hefty check for the driver. If the guards actually tried to do their job and check out the rear then Max and the rest would move in to take over. Simple? Hardly. Backup were waiting in the wings and she had cover fire laid out in case anything went wrong. They were soldiers they knew the importance of…
… from the corner of her eye she saw a glint of metal in the moonlight and she enlarged her pupil to check it out and her heart stopped in her throat. There in the tree was a soldier- not in her unit, dressed in regulation black and camouflage with night vision goggles and a pinpoint sniper gun. If this was a trap she would expect to see another about sixty metres back which would mean in that tree. Her feline features caught the barest glimpse of a shadow moving independently of the wind- another sniper.
Shit it was an ambush.
"Alpha 1 abort." She hissed into her mouth piece "It's an ambush, fallback."
She heard the truck holding the new transgenics coming up to the checkpoint.
"Dammit." She cursed, their timing couldn't have been worse. There was no way that they were going to get out of this without some sort of fight, even if the snipers didn't actively see them, there was no way that they could take the transgenics out of the truck and deliver them to where the Beta team were waiting with more vehicles to take them back to TC without alerting everyone of their presence, especially now she knew they were being watched. The best she could hope for was for the truck to make it through the checkpoint and they could retrieve it further down the road.
"Beta team fall back down the road, the truck will come through intercept further along. Repeat move back."
She began to edge her way backwards, back into the undergrowth but to her right she heard the snap of a dry twig crunching under someone's weight.
The sector police turned faster that she would have thought possible and swung the heavy duty light towards her right. Max could see the light glare off the eyes of Ally, another girl in her unit.
"There!" they pointed their guns and started to fire and Ally shot forward in a blur and scaled the chain link fence like an acrobat.
"Fallback." Max called into her head piece no longer worrying about being heard, their cover was blown anyway.
The sounds of firing began in the clearing as both police and transgenics started to fight.
"Beta team copy, ready to receive you." The crackle from the phone meant that the backup were standing by to bring them back.
"Gamma team, we have fire, repeat we are under fire."
The harsh sounds of a fire fight echoed all around her. Gamma team were bringing up the rear which meant that they were surrounded.
The truck was taking no chances and broke through the barrier sending the fence flying through the air in a shower of sparks. The snipers in the trees dropped to the ground and hurried forward, crouching low to avoid being targets themselves. Max counted at least thirty.
"Count?" she called.
"Sixty." came the reply from Gamma team leader.
That was close to a hundred soldiers and their gear and the heavy fire that they were laying down meant that they weren't just sector police or militia. These were either army or, she swallowed, White.
If they were White's familiars then they would be that much harder to kill and her guys would go in thinking that they were just ordinaries. They would get themselves outnumbered without even knowing it. She had to make them leave.
"Beta team, once you have them get out of here. Gamma do not engage, I repeat do not engage. Targets are not what they appear. Back to base."
"We have the command; repeat we have them and are falling back."
She could hear the sounds of the rest of her team falling back under their cover fire from Zeta team but as she turned to go she saw Ally struck by random fire. She leaped forward and scaled the fence jumping the last few feet and hauling Ally to her feet.
She ran past the guards, blurring so fast she knew they didn't see her and raced for the road.
SUV's that had bought the three teams were waiting down the road about two miles and she knew that she could get there; she also knew that her team could get there as long as they kept on moving.
"Ally, go." She pushed the young woman to her limits as they raced for the SUV's and safety.
She could see three of the trucks missing and felt a shock of relief as she knew her teams had made it out.
That relief was short lived as a reign of fire haled down on her from above.
She felt a sharp stab in her shoulder and she lurched forwards almost losing her grip on Ally. Dammit she hadn't seen the snipers take new positions. There was no doubt that these were familiars now, they moved too fast for normal soldiers and their aim was uncanny. That thought gave her the extra burst of speed she needed to move faster to the waiting vehicle where her team mates were waiting. A bolt of blur sped towards her and she recognised Biggs grabbing Ally off her.
He was strong and even with Ally's weight he sped ahead of Max and threw Ally in the waiting truck.
"C'mon!" he shouted.
Max could sense her blood loss and was relieved to be nearly home free when she ran head first into a block of solid muscle.
Training taking over she kicked out at the block who grunted and backhanded her right shoulder. Pain and bright lights exploded in her vision and she swept her legs around trying to knock her attacker off balance so she could get to safety.
She managed two steps before she was forcibly knocked off her feet by a taser bolt and when she looked up a ring of dark bodies surrounded her. She stood up and over their shoulder she saw Biggs' horrified face.
"Go." She screamed and got into fighting stance.
"That's an order."
She was kicking out at one and punching another. She saw the van rumble into life and they took off as another familiar struck out at her with his hammer like fists knocking her back.
Without realising it her body surrendered to the soldier within and the flurry of kicks and blocks that Manticore had drilled in at age 9 came out in a torrent taking the guards by surprise.
But no matter how fast she could snap out kicks and how hard her punches were she was no match for eight familiars and certainly no match for eight familiars and their tasers.
The electric charge ran through her body making it shudder and shake harder than when she had seizures and she felt her vision grow dim.
As her vision grew hazy a blurry face stepped in front of her and knelt down until his features faded.
"Hello 452."
And Ames White was the last thing she saw as she blacked out.
The ground was damp with dew and the whole place had an earthy musty smell that Max loved. She crawled across the ground as close to the fence as achievable so that the guards wouldn't see her. She wanted to be as quiet as possible, because despite all their planning and details she had a bad feeling about this.
Her team were planted in strategic positions around the perimeter and she had her distraction all lined up waiting to drive through the checkpoint. The plan was to let the truck containing the new recruits up to the checkpoint. Depending on whether the guards stopped to check out the whole truck or let it pass they'd decide if they needed to intervene. If they made it through the checkpoint, there was a SUV waiting around the corner to transport them and a hefty check for the driver. If the guards actually tried to do their job and check out the rear then Max and the rest would move in to take over. Simple? Hardly. Backup were waiting in the wings and she had cover fire laid out in case anything went wrong. They were soldiers they knew the importance of…
… from the corner of her eye she saw a glint of metal in the moonlight and she enlarged her pupil to check it out and her heart stopped in her throat. There in the tree was a soldier- not in her unit, dressed in regulation black and camouflage with night vision goggles and a pinpoint sniper gun. If this was a trap she would expect to see another about sixty metres back which would mean in that tree. Her feline features caught the barest glimpse of a shadow moving independently of the wind- another sniper.
Shit it was an ambush.
"Alpha 1 abort." She hissed into her mouth piece "It's an ambush, fallback."
She heard the truck holding the new transgenics coming up to the checkpoint.
"Dammit." She cursed, their timing couldn't have been worse. There was no way that they were going to get out of this without some sort of fight, even if the snipers didn't actively see them, there was no way that they could take the transgenics out of the truck and deliver them to where the Beta team were waiting with more vehicles to take them back to TC without alerting everyone of their presence, especially now she knew they were being watched. The best she could hope for was for the truck to make it through the checkpoint and they could retrieve it further down the road.
"Beta team fall back down the road, the truck will come through intercept further along. Repeat move back."
She began to edge her way backwards, back into the undergrowth but to her right she heard the snap of a dry twig crunching under someone's weight.
The sector police turned faster that she would have thought possible and swung the heavy duty light towards her right. Max could see the light glare off the eyes of Ally, another girl in her unit.
"There!" they pointed their guns and started to fire and Ally shot forward in a blur and scaled the chain link fence like an acrobat.
"Fallback." Max called into her head piece no longer worrying about being heard, their cover was blown anyway.
The sounds of firing began in the clearing as both police and transgenics started to fight.
"Beta team copy, ready to receive you." The crackle from the phone meant that the backup were standing by to bring them back.
"Gamma team, we have fire, repeat we are under fire."
The harsh sounds of a fire fight echoed all around her. Gamma team were bringing up the rear which meant that they were surrounded.
The truck was taking no chances and broke through the barrier sending the fence flying through the air in a shower of sparks. The snipers in the trees dropped to the ground and hurried forward, crouching low to avoid being targets themselves. Max counted at least thirty.
"Count?" she called.
"Sixty." came the reply from Gamma team leader.
That was close to a hundred soldiers and their gear and the heavy fire that they were laying down meant that they weren't just sector police or militia. These were either army or, she swallowed, White.
If they were White's familiars then they would be that much harder to kill and her guys would go in thinking that they were just ordinaries. They would get themselves outnumbered without even knowing it. She had to make them leave.
"Beta team, once you have them get out of here. Gamma do not engage, I repeat do not engage. Targets are not what they appear. Back to base."
"We have the command; repeat we have them and are falling back."
She could hear the sounds of the rest of her team falling back under their cover fire from Zeta team but as she turned to go she saw Ally struck by random fire. She leaped forward and scaled the fence jumping the last few feet and hauling Ally to her feet.
She ran past the guards, blurring so fast she knew they didn't see her and raced for the road.
SUV's that had bought the three teams were waiting down the road about two miles and she knew that she could get there; she also knew that her team could get there as long as they kept on moving.
"Ally, go." She pushed the young woman to her limits as they raced for the SUV's and safety.
She could see three of the trucks missing and felt a shock of relief as she knew her teams had made it out.
That relief was short lived as a reign of fire haled down on her from above.
She felt a sharp stab in her shoulder and she lurched forwards almost losing her grip on Ally. Dammit she hadn't seen the snipers take new positions. There was no doubt that these were familiars now, they moved too fast for normal soldiers and their aim was uncanny. That thought gave her the extra burst of speed she needed to move faster to the waiting vehicle where her team mates were waiting. A bolt of blur sped towards her and she recognised Biggs grabbing Ally off her.
He was strong and even with Ally's weight he sped ahead of Max and threw Ally in the waiting truck.
"C'mon!" he shouted.
Max could sense her blood loss and was relieved to be nearly home free when she ran head first into a block of solid muscle.
Training taking over she kicked out at the block who grunted and backhanded her right shoulder. Pain and bright lights exploded in her vision and she swept her legs around trying to knock her attacker off balance so she could get to safety.
She managed two steps before she was forcibly knocked off her feet by a taser bolt and when she looked up a ring of dark bodies surrounded her. She stood up and over their shoulder she saw Biggs' horrified face.
"Go." She screamed and got into fighting stance.
"That's an order."
She was kicking out at one and punching another. She saw the van rumble into life and they took off as another familiar struck out at her with his hammer like fists knocking her back.
Without realising it her body surrendered to the soldier within and the flurry of kicks and blocks that Manticore had drilled in at age 9 came out in a torrent taking the guards by surprise.
But no matter how fast she could snap out kicks and how hard her punches were she was no match for eight familiars and certainly no match for eight familiars and their tasers.
The electric charge ran through her body making it shudder and shake harder than when she had seizures and she felt her vision grow dim.
As her vision grew hazy a blurry face stepped in front of her and knelt down until his features faded.
"Hello 452."
And Ames White was the last thing she saw as she blacked out.