6
Down the Rat Hole
Saint John still had his nose out of joint that he had to stay topside while Nash involved himself with the action below. He was also uneasy about the possibility that their assumptions were wrong.
Was the gunfire even connected to the Lab? What would Nash be walking into? Would he see Nash and the others walk out again or would he be forced the get the hell off the hilltop alone?
There was one thing Saint John new for sure. If Nash thought he was going to sit there on his keister waiting quietly, the young gun had another thing coming.
Nash made his way down the long flight of uneven steps. The walls and floors were damp, and he could hear dripping water throughout the tunnel which flattened some at the bottom but continued to descend on a mild slope.
The passageway had been silent for a short period of time and Nash would be lying if he wasn't worried because it could mean one of two things.
He hoped that it was that the boys had the upper hand and were already on their way back with the doctor.
He hoped it but his gut told him otherwise.
In the distance, he finally saw a faint light and on approach he found himself behind the cover of a ventilation outlet.
Pocketing his torch, he steadied his breathing and squinted through the louvres to see what was happening on the other side.
There wasn't much to see, but there was one body down on the floor just within his field of vision and it wasn't one of his three Operators much to his relief.
A flashing strobe blinked from somewhere out of his direct line of sight.
The space beyond remained silent apart from an alarm sounding from afar and Nash decided to take a chance and remove the screen from the vent and have a better look.
He peeked hesitantly out from the opening. The place was void of any moving bodies, but there were a few sprawled out between himself and the main entrance at the other end of the wide, long hallway.
Gingerly emerging from the outlet and stepping onto the pristine white floor, his firearm was poised ready to shoot should he need it as he made his way further down the passage.
Nash noted that there were a couple of doors along the wall opposite the vent.
Stepping over the first body, Nash was impressed with the a perfectly placed kill shot between the man's eyebrows, before ducking under the observation window of the first door he passed.
Pressing on, the second body had taken a few shots to centre mass, a gun had been kicked away and now lay well out of reach against the wall.
Making his way to the top of the passage, the sliding security doors were ajar and opened up to reveal a vestibule that gave way to a contamination lock on one side and the entry doors to the other.
Laying near the entrance, another man had been shot in the back and was face down. It wasn't the first shot that his body took, because his bloodied hand had left smears of blood on the wall as he had made his way to a large emergency button which was also left bloodied.
He noticed something from the corner of his eye and whipped around catching sight of a fourth fallen figure.
Nash rushed up to the immobile body of the Delta Force Operator, his firearm still in hand, pointing at the man who had pressed the button.
Sam lay in a pool of blood that had flowed from his mouth and freely from the hole in his neck, where he'd taken the shot. His eyes were open, staring ahead lifelessly.
Nash didn't have time to pay his respects, he needed to keep his head in the game, and he wondered where the rest of the team could be.
Scanning the space around him, through the other side of the contamination lock was a long room set up like a laboratory.
It was sealed off and there didn't seem to be anyone in there.
Turning back down the hallway to the nearest door, Nash stole a quick glance into the room through the observation window in the door and saw nothing but rows upon rows of large Liquid Nitrogen cannisters that stretched out into a cavernous storage warehouse that was part of the age-old underground bunker structure.
Further down the hallway, he peeked through the pane of the last remaining door and his blood ran cold.
Trying the handle, the door was locked so he pulled a clearance tag off one of the bodies in the hallway and held it to the consol.
There was a beep, the door clicked, and Nash let himself in to better assess the area.
Another massive tunnel like bunker stretched out in front of him. A row of clear cubicles ran its entire length of the right side and were all accessed via the remaining space, creating a raceway on the left.
Nash noticed that each contained one person and whether it be in their bed, on the ground or slumped up against a wall, all were now at the very least unconscious.
With time being of the essence, there was no way to account for each and every soul.
In the nearest cubicle, the two remaining DFO's were acting very oddly. They were slumped on the floor, gasping for breath and behind them, crumpled in a heap, was the lady who appeared as lifeless as the other captives.
The cubical could have been an isolation room or it could have been a cell with imperviable clear barrier rather than bars. Either way, it was sparce and contained no comforts. There was a bed, and a simple bathroom with no privacy.
Taking a closer look, Nash noticed that the men had already tried to blast their way out of the glass room with their weapons and each and every bullet was imbedded in the thick transparent wall that had partially melted back over the rounds.
It clearly wasn't any old glass and the cubicle appeared to be completely sealed.
That left Nash with a conundrum. Even if he could gain entry, did he really want to? Were these people out of oxygen or was it something even more nefarious?
Focusing on the struggling men, Nick summoned the strength to motion the out of air signal with a slicing hand motion across his throat and gave Nash the answer he was looking for.
"Shit!. Hang in there guys!" Nash said, turning on his heel, and not having a clue if they could actually hear him but he had to move quickly, or it would be curtains for the men.
Scanning every inch of the wall, he found a locking system that had two keypads. Two codes were needed to unlock the cell and without being able to get a signal topside, there was no way Le would be able to help with his tech expertise.
Leaving the room, Nash headed back the Cryogenics room to grab one of the large Storage Flasks and some protective gear. The heavy canisters were all on casters which made them easy to move and he wheeled the container back to the other room and donned a mask, eyewear and some thick gloves. He opened the tap on the container and waited for the LN2 to run out of the hose at the other end.
Pouring it over the plastic surface, he waited for it freeze and the whole floor was blanketed in an eerie cloud. The wall made cracking sounds and warped slightly as the material contracted off the floor and broke the seal.
Turning the tap off, Nash removed the gloves and shot at the barrier, shattering it and leaving enough of a hole to climb through.
By the time he cleared away the broken material, the LN2 had already boiled off.
Entering the room, Nash picked up the unconscious woman first and carried her out. Laying her on the floor and far away from the cold.
He checked her vitals.
Her pulse was weak and her breathing shallow.
Nash rolled her into the recovery position before heading back to the cell.
Nick, who was nearest, was already looking brighter. Nash grasped him by the collar and dragged him out, sitting him upright against the wall on the other side to recover some more.
To Nash's surprise, that didn't take long and by the time Will was dragged out, Nick was talking.
"They pumped something into the room, I don't know maybe carbon dioxide," he said as he continued to regain his breath and his strength.
"Yeah maybe," Nash said before checking on the woman again, there was no change.
"Is this the Dr?" he asked.
Nick Nodded, "Yeah, we just managed to get into the cell before it the place was locked down and put on alert.
Down the hall, the strobe and alarm had continued all the while.
Nash nodded. "On that note, we need to go. She's not doing so good and I'm sure we'll have company soon." Nash said urgently
Nick was already standing and helped Will to his feet while Nash picked up the tiny Dr Zuan bridal style.
Making their way into the hall Nash felt unease overwhelm him only a moment before the main entrance burst open and a battalion of men rushed through with their guns blazing.
From the other side of the passageway, shots were also being returned, the boys taking down two of the opponents leaving a temporary opportunity for Nash to rush through.
"Go! Go! Go! We'll cover you!" Nick yelled over the racket while Nash ran leaving his trust in their hands and his back vulnerable.
Saint John let off shots that whizzed past a surprised Nash's ears as the younger man approached vent opening in the wall.
"What are you doing here?" Nash asked him, ducking for cover.
"Saving your ass," Saint John said, his tone revealing his dry humour while he exchanged a few more rounds.
"Besides. You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did ya?" He asked, giving Nash an impish grin while the gunfire continued to ring out.
Nash rolled his eyes at Saint John.
"You go up, I'll stay back to cover the fella's," Saint John said, retuning some more fire.
"We lost Sam." Nash called sadly over his shoulder.
Swearing under his breath, Saint John looked at the younger man. "We're not leaving anyone behind," he said emphatically.
Nash nodded before making his way up the ancient, narrow escape route and leaving the melee behind him.
He thought himself fortunate that the woman was so slight as he came to the intimidating flight of stairs that would take him topside.
On the way, the Doctor moaned as she started to wake up.
"Shhh it's ok Doc, we got ya, we're taking you home." Nash said gently.
Mei mumbled something that Nash couldn't understand while he continued to scale the wide treads of the gently rising stairs, his torch lighting the way up the narrow passage.
Gunfire persisted sporadically as Nash extended the distance between them and bowels of the facility deep beneath the earth.
The noises eventually subsided when he finally made it near the top of the stairs, the stale dank air giving way to the fresher but no less humid air of the wooded hilltop.
Mei mumbled again, fighting her grogginess while Nash carried her across the leaf littered woodland surface and towards the imposing dark silhouette of The Lady. He still couldn't make out what she was saying and was distracted by the sound of another helicopter in the distance.
Looking over his shoulder reflexively, he didn't see anything and pressed on until he came alongside The Lady. Jostling Mei awkwardly, he managed to slide the rear door open and as carefully as he could, he laid her across the rear seats. Applying the nasal cannulas from one of The Lady's oxygen systems, he buckled her in and covered her with a blanket.
More than one helicopter could be heard hovering over the Lab facility down the hill and on the other side of the major highway from where Airwolf was hidden. It likely wouldn't be long before the area would be crawling with troops, so Nash had initiated start sequence - all the while willing Saint John and the DFO's to hurry the heck up.
Airwolf's sensors were making their presence known and they needed to get their wheels up. Pronto.
Nash was right. Closer and closer the helicopters patrolled in ever increasing circles.
From the underground, the three men had neutralised their aggressors for the time being and collected Sam before making haste and retreating back along the antiquated tunnel towards their escape.
"Nash do you read me?" Nick repeated over and over while the group ascended the gently sloping channel.
Nearing the top Nick's earpiece crackled, finally making contact with Nash.
"Yeah, I read you." Nash said, "we have a few eggbeaters sniffing around up here, so make like a gator, we need to lift off before it gets prickly up here."
"Copy that" Nick said, both relieved that Nash was still topside and at the same time bracing himself for another challenge.
The others - also privy to the audio, hunkered down and were well aware that the tunnel might only be a short reprieve before they would likely be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
They came to the end of the incline that gave way to the shallow set of terraced steps and then finally the much steeper steps that led to the top of the passageway. Dim light entered the pitch black even though it was still night outside.
"We got company!" Nash's voice cut in through the noise from outside.
The sound of The Lady could be heard idling in the background and choppers flew overhead as the group emerged from their cover. They instinctively ducked when a beam of light streaked across the treetops from above.
Airwolf's heat sensors picked up the three warm figures as they emerged from the tunnel carrying Sam's cooling body.
Another spotlight beam swept over the hilltop, catching a shining glint off The Lady's black paintwork in the process.
Their cover was blown and they were sitting ducks.
The situation only took seconds to escalate, the chopper zeroing in in The Lady and firing from its nose mounted gun.
A trail of shells kicked up the dirt in the small clearing homing in towards their target.
The men the ground opened fire, surprising the Chinese helicopter, sparks coming off the airframe as the bullets hit and it retreated momentarily.
From there it was a race to get The Lady in the air. Nash increased the power to the rotors and she teetered, lifting slightly, taking the weight off her undercarriage.
Mei groaned, the rocking motion within the cabin rousing her and was becoming more lucid to her surroundings.
Nick, Will and Saint John traded fire into the dark sky in the direction of the spotlight illuminating Airwolf as they picked their way as best they could to keep under the cover of the tree canopy.
Coming to the clearing, the other chopper returned for a second go with additional units not far behind. and the group had no choice but to make a run for it and amidst the crossfire, they were all lucky enough to make it to The Lady, the men unceremoniously dropping Sam in the footwell between the seats as they clambered in and slid the rear door closed behind them.
"Let's git the hell outa' here!" Saint John yelled over the chaotic noise while he climbed over Sam's prone body and to his seat at the EDCC, leaving the two other men to sort themselves out.
Will sat in the backwards facing seat next to Saint John and Nick tried his best to be gentle with Mei and after removing some of his kit, he sat where her head had been resting, his thigh now serving as her pillow.
Headsets on, there was a collective feeling of relief among the crew, but it wasn't over yet.
Nash wasted no time, lowered his visor ordered FLIR and let Airwolf rise from the forest floor. "Hang on, we're not out of the woods yet!" He said over the intercom, the pun not missed by the others.
Saint John identified what they were up against There were three CAIC Z-10's floating around the Level Four Lab and they were armed to the teeth.
Even though the Airwolf crew had hidden themselves in a wooded area, the hilltop was completely surrounded by a bustling city that never sleeps, full of tall buildings – many of them apartments, so Nash hoped that they wouldn't have to pull out the heavy artillery
Surely, setting off air to airs in that environment wouldn't be something even the PLA wouldn't stoop to would they?
Mei had opened her eyes and said something that Nick couldn't make out over the noise of incoming fire as it pinged off The Lady's shell.
Nash's plan was to fly clear with minimum fuss and turbo the hell outa dodge. But that didn't mean he wouldn't defend himself or his crew if he needed to.
And it looked like he was going to need to.
They had left their exit too late and they were now surrounded by the three heavily armed Z-10's who all had their spotlights on them and threatened to hold them below the tree line and unable to fire any of their own weapons to any effect.
"They've got us boxed Wings." Saint John said with concern.
"Yeah," Nash agreed, thinking how he could get out of the predicament as he turned under his blades to assess his surroundings more closely.
"What-say we burn the box down?" Nash asked himself, not really expecting an answer from the others, "Shield your eyes folks and give me flares Saint John."
Saint John cottoned onto the idea and dropped his visor before pressing the button to release the flares from either side of The Lady's fuselage.
The area around them lit the night like a flash from a welder's arc as the flares were sprayed out into the surrounding greenery.
Not expecting The Lady to have any sort of defensive countermeasures, the three choppers above veered off, it wouldn't have been a smart move to try any low-level manoeuvres if the pilots were momentarily flash blinded.
Nash wasn't about to stick around and used the opportunity to get out of the restricted space as the heavy fuel load on the ground and in the trees ignited around them.
"Combat mode Saint John and watch our six." Nash ordered before they'd even cleared the tops of the trees.
"Rodger that," Saint John said. He didn't have to be asked twice, his fingers had already been poised and ready to deploy the guns and the ADF pod in anticipation.
Saint John rolled out the rear gun and by the time they reached some decent air the other choppers were on their tail.
Nash traded a few shots as they continued to rise above the city, showing the Z-10's that the intruding black helicopter was well armed.
Mei was starting to feel stronger now and the helicopter ride was feeling like a rollercoaster.
"You must destroy the facility," she said to Nick for a second time, but still too softly for him to hear her.
"Shhh, save your strength Doc," Nick said awkwardly. Soothing ailing passengers was not his strong point.
"No!" Mei said in frustration while she struggled to sit up. "You must destroy the facility!"
Nick heard her this time, "Our priority is to get you out of here Doctor." He said to her pressing on her shoulder, encouraging her to stay in position.
"No!" she said pushing weakly at his arm. "Your priority is to stop the Biohazard from getting out and destroying the world!"
Nick was paying attention now and thought for a moment, Airwolf made a sudden move, jostling everyone to the right.
"Doc says we have to nuke the containment." Nick said through the intercom.
Airwolf was speeding away from the facility. The Z-10's had regrouped and were in hot pursuit. Nash had been about to order turbo's, but Mei's information made him hesitate.
She sat up and her breath hitched when she laid eyes on Sam.
She recovered quickly, the nasal cannulas were annoying her, so she took them off and replaced them with a headset that Nick handed to her.
She positioned the mic and took a breath. "There is a hundred thousand tons of VHFs21 ready to be shipped out at a moment's notice. We can't afford to leave it!" She said, more confidently now.
"Where's the store?" Nick asked the secret agent before Airwolf interrupted by sounding an alarm.
"Nash, they've got a lock on us!" Saint John called out.
"Engage jammers and release chaff." Nash countered seconds before another alarm sounded indicting that a missile had been fired.
Nash made an evasive move leaving the chaff to confuse the radar guided missile and it exploded well away from its intended target.
Saint John had a fix behind them on one of the attack craft and couldn't help but feel the jolt of excitement as his finger rested over the trigger on the rotating gun for the first time on a live target.
The Z10 was effectively armoured. Especially from the front, so Saint John's best bet was to target the rotor hub.
Squeezing the trigger, the highspeed humming of the rear autocannon dispatched a cavalcade of rounds to the top half of the hapless aircraft and the whole rotor sheared from the top of the chopper, the two segments each spiralling to the ground behind them.
The sky lit up momentarily with the explosion below.
Mei had been white knuckling the edge of her seat, supressing a girly scream before announcing that it was of the greatest importance that they must destroy the biological weapon that was stored in another facility only twenty or so miles south near the Yangtze River in a rural industrial area.
"So, what's been stored in the warehouse under this Lab?" Nick asked the petite lady as Airwolf again jerked them to the side, delaying her answer when Nash made another evasive manoeuvre away from the two remaining gunships on their tail.
"Give me turbo's!" Nash called out milli seconds before they shot away, leaving their assailants to wallow in their jet wash.
Mei gave Saint John the location and he punched the information into Airwolf's computers.
On the way, Mie answered Nick's question. The Lab where she had been held, stored the vaccine that she'd been working on. She also gave further information that there was a large block of flats filled with facility staff and students, built over another immense underground basement bunker where the pathogen was stored.
Only minutes later they were hovering over what looked like an industrial area that was surrounded by terraced farmland and wooded hillsides.
"We're not carrying anything that can penetrate a bunker," Nash said as they approached the facility and deactivated turbos, before slowing down to rotor speed.
Scanning the area with FLIR to get familiar with the layout he asked Saint John to bring up the image on one of Airwolf's screens for the benefit of those in the back. The older man also brought up a topography scan of the landscape for more detail
"The facility has an Achilles heel," Mei informed, leaning forward and squinting to see the screen more closely.
"There's an incinerator chimney right alongside the western side of the buildings. If you could just drop something down there..." she said, pointing to the tall, narrow stack.
Nash interrupted, "We don't have bombs on board," he said dismissively, "we're gonna have to do better than that."
The Lady's alarms sounded, "Incoming, a pair of bogies heading in from zero eight zero, thirty miles." Saint John called out, spotting the two blips on the radar.
"Just the tip of the ice burg," Nash said knowingly. It wouldn't be long before they'd likely be surrounded by some of China's extensive military and then Nash would have to make a choice whether to fight or to flee, leaving the biological weapon intact and opening up the huge can of worms they'd been sent here to keep a lid on.
