"Where's it coming from?!" Newkirk cried as he and Colonel Hogan burst onto the main floor. The scream was everywhere and nowhere. It filled every nook and cranny and echoed through every hall.
Hogan whirled around, trying to pinpoint the sound. Some awful instinct inside him said it was coming from one of his men. With no clear source, he raced into the hall and began kicking down doors. This was no time to be subtle. He needed to find his men and get them out of here.
The first room was empty, but in the second, he found three men in lab coats sitting at a table apparently in the midst of a coffee klatch. His sudden entrance caused them to jump in surprise and look at him quizzically.
"Where is that noise coming from?" Hogan demanded.
The men shared a look and one snorted in amusement. "New here?"
Their flippant nature made his blood turn cold. He didn't understand how anyone could get use to that scream which, even now, was still as intense and tortured as it had been when it started. These men, however, seemed content to have their little tête-à-tête as if nothing were happening. Thinking back to the thick stack of files they had rifled through, Hogan guessed that after the first hundred victims, it must have just become white noise to them. It sickened and infuriated him.
Newkirk felt the same way. The corporal growled and took a step forward, levelling his gun at the Germans. But Hogan held out his arm and stopped him from getting any closer. As satisfying as it might have been, they didn't have time to deal with these monsters. They needed to find Carter and get out of there.
Finally, the screamed started to wane. And then a gunshot rang out. Hogan's heart stopped. The shot filled him with dread but at the same time, it gave him much needed direction. It very clearly came from upstairs.
"What was that?" one of the scientists asked, looking up at the ceiling.
"Let's go," Hogan ordered Newkirk leaving the bewildered scientists to assume that they were on the case. Together they raced through the hall to the stairs. They flew up the steps two at a time and burst onto the top floor.
"Gotta be there, Colonel," Newkirk said, pointing to a lone door at the end of the hall.
"All right, look," Hogan said, bringing Newkirk to a momentary halt, "I don't know what we're going to find in there, but our objective is to get Carter and the others out and bring them home." Whether they were alive or not. Hogan honestly didn't think anyone could have survived whatever torture had produced that sound- that scream he knew would haunt his memory forever.
Newkirk nodded, his jaw tight with determination. Then, just as before, the lights flickered and dimmed and the floor started to shake.
Without a moment to lose, Hogan and Newkirk sprinted to the door and kicked it down.
"What is-"
Doctor Pfeiffer didn't have a chance to finish his sentence before Hogan shot him. Through the dim light, they picked out their targets and dropped them with practiced precision. Soon all the guards were down, leaving only Doctor Lehmann standing.
"Wait," Lehmann said, throwing up his hands and looking confused. "Wait, don't shoot."
Hogan lowered his weapon slightly and Lehmann let out a sigh of relief. He was lucky- very lucky that they needed him alive to send off to London.
But then, without ceremony or any trace of sympathy, Newkirk fired off a shot, hitting the doctor in the head.
"Newkirk! What-"
"Hang London," Newkirk said coldly.
Hogan frowned, but couldn't exactly disagree with the sentiment. London had wanted a scientist, but with their photos and the vials he had swiped, they had more than enough information on Stone Breaker. No need to let monsters like Pfeiffer and Lehmann draw even one more breath.
Hogan turned his attention to Klein and Wagner who were seated nearby looking stunned. Klein was holding his shoulder as blood dripped between his fingers. Hogan was about to ask where Hoffmann and Carter were when, without a word, Wagner jumped to his feet. He hurried to a panel of blinking buttons on the wall, hesitated, then flipped off a large switch.
"Sarge! Sarge!" he cried as he turned the lock on a big metal door.
Instantly Hogan joined him. As soon as it opened he rushed inside and opened the second door behind it. Behind that, in a tiny room, he found Carter huddled on the floor, shaking and gasping. Carter looked up and looked relieved before going limp.
Hogan swore and knelt down beside him, checking for a pulse. Relief flooded over him when he found it without trouble. He quickly gathered Carter into his arms and hurried out of the chamber.
"Colonel, over here," Newkirk called from behind a cloth partition on the other side of the room. Hogan went as fast as he could to meet him. Behind the divider, he found Newkirk and Wagner hovering over Hoffmann who was curled up on a bed, trembling uncontrollably.
"He's burning up," Wagner said as he laid a hand on Hoffmann's arm to try to stop the shaking.
"All right, take him and-"
A burst of rapid gunfire from somewhere below cut him off.
"What was that?" Wagner asked.
"Don't know," Hogan said. Of course, he knew it was gunfire, but who was causing it and why? With a grunt, he moved Carter over his shoulder and brought his gun up, steadying it against his hip. "Wagner, you hurt?" Wagner shook his head. "Good, grab Hoffmann. We're getting out of here. Newkirk, take point."
Newkirk nodded and led them back into the main room. Sergeant Klein was already armed and waiting by the door, ignoring his injured shoulder even as blood stained his sleeve. He looked ready for revenge. Newkirk motioned for him to follow him into the hall. "Clear!"
Wagner and Hogan, weighed down by the loads, joined them. More gunfire chattered from the stairwell and Newkirk waved them back into the relative safety of the lab. A moment later, the door to the stairs burst open. Newkirk raised his gun but quickly lowered it.
"Olsen!" he exclaimed in relief. He gestured for Wagner and Hogan to join them again. "What's going on?"
"A few goons wanted to investigate the gunfire. I persuaded them otherwise," Olsen explained quickly. "Now come on- LeBeau's waiting with the truck."
The group hustled down the stairs, picking their way past a slew of bodies that littered the steps, with Olsen and Newkirk leading the way while Klein covered their rear. Out in the compound, LeBeau was indeed waiting with the truck.
"Newkirk, drive," Hogan ordered. Newkirk nodded and sprinted to the cab. The others piled into the back while LeBeau covered them. Once they were in, Hogan banged on the cab and a moment later the truck pulled forward. Hogan, Olsen and Klein crowded near the back, ready to ward off any resistance. Wagner hovered over Carter and Hoffmann, babbling reassurances to their prone figures.
Hogan checked his watch. At least something was going right; their timing was impeccable. In five minutes, this place would blow sky high, putting a permanent end to the twisted experiment it facilitated.
Olsen, always quickest on the draw, suddenly fired off a volley of bullets at a group of Germans who were scrambling into the compound. From up front in the cab was another burst of gunfire then, a moment later, the truck crashed through the front gates.
The truck sped down the gravel road, kicking up dust behind it. It wasn't long before they heard a terrific explosion. Through the trees and dust, they saw a fireball shoot up into the sky.
They weren't out of the woods yet, but at least they had- mostly- accomplished their mission. The Nazis wouldn't be making super men any time soon; Stone Breaker had been reduced to rubble.
But at what cost?