Chapter FOUR
Present
"She's like thirteen." Michaels breathed.
"You're right Smith, she not dead. It's cryogenic sleep," Sewell replied. He had moved close to the chamber and was examining it. "Albeit, an older version of it. If I had to guess, probably from World War II."
"Doesn't explain the child inside-,"
"Rookie, go see if you can get any info from the computers and shit," The commander ordered. He was already getting a headache. So much for that simple mission, he thought. As if they ever were.
"Well, are we getting her out or should we radio this in?" One of the other agents asked him.
"This is for people higher up, way way higher up. Is the radio working yet?" As Sewell continued, Smith used this as an opportunity to explore some more. Maybe if he could find something else. He found his solution in on one of the lab tables, under what seemed like an inch of dust. A thick manila folder. It quickly found it's was into Smith's jacket.
"No, but-"
"Uh, Sir, I think we have a really big problem…" Michaels's face was unnaturally pale, as if all the blood had been drained from his body. His body was still hunched over the ancient computer.
"For the love of god, what else?"
"It seems like there was a fail safe. From over seventy years ago."
"What kind of fail safe?"
"The self destruct kind. The entire complex is wired to explode," The countdown reflected in his dark eyes. "We have seven minutes."
"Shit." One agent muttered.
"Smith, go with Cochran and do a quick sweep of this floor. Michaels, continue working on the tech. The rest of you, we have to get her," Sewells said calmly, pointing to the girl. "Out of here."
As the agents hurries to obey, Sewell and his two remaining men rushed to the cryo chamber. Running his hands along the top seam of the container, his fingers hit a notch and press, releasing the top. An audible pop echoed through the room from the pressure and even through their gear, a chill traveled through the men.
As soon as Sewell pushed open the top, the two other agents climbed to the top and dipped their arms in, having to reach up to their shoulders to grasp the girl's stick-like wrists. It took them less than a second to wretch the girl free of her prison. They gently set her limp body of the floor and one began checking for a pulse and breathing.
"There's a pulse, it's faint. No breathing-,"
Just then the girl instinctively coughed a weak, sickly sound. Her lungs sucked in ragged mouthfuls of air, starving for true oxygen. Soon after her frail looking frame was racked with violent shivers, the thin clothing wet and plastered to her pale skin.
"Four minutes. I got everything on a flash drive." Michael's called out.
"Good. Go outside and get a signal to call for the transport. We'll be right behind you after we pick up Smith and Cochran."
"Yes sir," He said before taking off for the exit.
"Can we move now?" He asked impatiently.
"Considering the situation, yes sir." The man picked her up, cradling her head against his shoulder. Nothing could distract from how light and corpse like she looked. Sewell gestured for them to go after Michaels before talking on last look around the room and following suit.
He almost jumped out of his skin as he collided with the two team members he'd sent off to search. Both were walking hurriedly toward the stairwell and Sewell joined them. They began to climb at a run, the door shutting loudly, finally, behind them.
"Less than two minutes!" Michaels shouted down, the encroaching time pumping a fresh surge of adrenaline into each man's limbs.
As the group reached the main level, Sewell heard the telltale crackle of a radio. The signal was back. "This is Agent Sewell, requesting immediate retrieval." He shouted into the receiver. A few seconds later and everyone was outside, breathing heavily. Almost instantly, the loud chopping noise of helicopter rotors was above them.
"Time?"
"A minute."
The copter touched down in the narrow clearing and the team, plus one, was on board.
"Up, now!" Of of the men shouted to the pilot.
"Ti-," Another began to ask.
"Four, three, two, one…." Michaels said, hypnotized by his wristwatch.
Everyone looked down at the rapidly vanishing clearing expectantly. All was quiet for watch seemed like an eternity, and a deep, collective breath was let out.
"Well, I guess it was a dud, it-," Cochran was cut off by a low rumble, and the ground seemed to shake down below them. A red fireball consumed the forest in a rough outline of the complex.
As the smoke created a mini mushroom cloud and the pilot shifted the aircraft to avoid flying debris, a thick folder slipped out of Smith's jacket and onto the floor, scattering papers everywhere. Cochran picked up one sheet in particular, the image showing a blonde, five year old girl. She was wearing a ragged old fashioned dress, and photo was black and white, correlating with the date printed along the bottom: 1936. What really caught his eye about it was the wide-eyed, haunted look on her dirty, scraped up face, the torment in her delicate features. He had another realization as he saw another picture out of the corner of his vision, The girl in this one was much older, but it was undoubtedly the same one. By now, all attention was on him as he slowly moved the sheet of paper parallel to the gold haired girl they had just taken from the base. The two faces matched perfectly.
Thank you!