CH 12
Looking into the screens of the model airplane controls she was working, Cameron saw they were approaching the Newtech plant. "John, we are ten minutes early," she said tonelessly.
Looking into his own control screen as he flew following the three tiny orange lights in front of him, he replied, "Too late to worry about that now. That's Newtech down there. Mom, you see it?"
"I do," Sarah said following the four orange lights through the might sky. "That's the warehouse, upper left section."
"Right, follow me in. I'll bear right, you bear left."
"Initiating attack run," Cameron droned. "Hold your height a little longer so you don't get caught in the blasts."
John watched the three orange dots begin their descent. He stayed up until the Newtech plant was about to drop below his screen, then said, "I'm beginning my dive."
Following," Sarah said.
Dropping down until he could see the plant again, John watched the three orange dots grow smaller and split up.
A few large outside lights were on, Cameron's planes looked like black, big-bellied birds. John saw one dive right onto a trestle. The trestle came apart in an orange ball of fire, flinging bits of debris in all directions. The second hit a roof, enveloping a few antennas. Cameron's third plane flew on to impact the warehouse doors.
John's screen bounced around with the blast waves. He aimed for the warehouse that now had one of the doors blown off, then other bent and tipped inward.
"John, I'm loosing control!" Sarah said in an alarmed voice.
"Mom, if you can't make the warehouse, try to drop it down the smokestack of the powerhouse," John said quickly as he managed to keep the warehouse in view. Coming close to the ground, John leveled and flew inside the warehouse. He moved the controls to jog left and his screen went to snow.
"I can only fly down, going for the smokestack. You hit something John, BIG explosion," Sarah said through her teeth. "Here … it's …. IN!" she cried.
Cameron already had started one of the five remaining planes. John dropped his controllers and ran to help Cameron spin props and get the engines going. Soon they had all the planes running. They picked up their controllers. John grabbed the ropes to the boards holding the planes in place and yanked them out. "We're ready!" he announced and looked through his screen.
The planes wound up and one after another, they climbed into the sky and headed for RKB.
.
Catherine Weaver sat in her X-scout a half mile from the front gate and waited for One AM. In a depression of the road, only the very top of the vehicle and it's cameras peeked out at gate. The only activity she saw was the bored looking guards. Three men were on duty. One stayed in the guardhouse, two others took turns coming out to look around,then head back in. Her course though the base was plotted.
At One AM, she pushed the throttle up and climbed out of the depression. She drove to the road and used the infrared instead of the headlights. Timing her approach, she waited until two guards were in, and the third was entering. She punched it to full acceleration. Fifty yards from the gate, she turned the lights on. All three looked up. Their faces widened with fear as she turned to come right at the gatehouse. One moved to run.
Before the man was able to get out the door, the X-scout smashed into the fence and gatehouse at 67 MPH. Chain link fencing and pieces of wood flew with the sound of the crash. Bits of wood and body fell on the X-scout and bounced off again as Catherine charged on, bypassing the road for the airfield and heading straight for the warehouse.
Catherine raised the turret as she ran along the dirt road and switched to Turret view. The warehouse came into view as she topped a rise. The doors were opening, A pair of H/K's were waiting to be let out.
Catherine opened up on them. One figure opening the doors flew apart in a spray of blood. She hit one H/K, then the other. Both turned into balls of fire. She kept firing and ripped holes into the front of the warehouse. Sowing, but not stopping,she panned the gun back across the front, stitching more holes into the structure. Inside several more fireballs went off. The shells were driving through anything they met in there, and many flew out the back.
Turning to the left, she went around the building. A figure came out, showing lots of metal, the skin and clothes still burning. A few shots dropped it and set the power supply off. The terminator blew up, shaking her X-scout. Pieces pinged again the outside.
Steering was becoming difficult. A look around showed her right hand track was now in behind her in pieces. She completed her circuit of the building and saw lights on in front of the hangers at the air base. She stopped and opened up on them.
Another H/K went up in a ball of fire in the ground. Another rose, Catherine got a bead on it and shot it down. She got a third that tried to rise up and fly behind the hanger. It crashed into the hangar, setting the structure ablaze, burning fuel running down the sides.
Return fire came in, machinegun bullets. Catherine saw men in a Humvee, the one in the back was shooting. She plastered them with a burst, ripping the vehicle apart and silencing the gunner. She sped up and charged the air field.
A rocket came flying at her. Turning to angle the vehicle to force the rocket to bounce, she got a few rounds before the rocket hit the turret. The explosion blew out the wall behind her. The engine died. Instead of reforming into a human, Catherine opened the hatch and flowed out onto the ground. Pulling herself together as her burning wreck rolled on a ways, she lowed into a ditch and sensed her surroundings.
An H/K was airborne, and twelve more men, and a terminator armed with an RPG came forward to inspect the wreckage. The wreck of her X-scout blew up into a raging fire as the fuel tank ruptured.
.
Danny Dyson was at work in the warehouse, reprogramming T-1 units when an explosion rocked the factory. Snapping his head up, he saw another fireball rise up, then the doors blew in with a wash of fire. His world became bright orange, then went out.
.
Cameron had hit her targets. Again John dove into the warehouse. Briefly seeing T-1 terminators, he aimed right for one. Behind him, Sarah turned right into one.
"Turn all the controllers off, then we bury them" John announced when his screen went to snow.
Cameron had already started switching off controllers. John helped gather them, Sarah went for the shovel. Thankfully with the screen closed, the controllers weren't very big. Sarah dug down three feet. They put the controllers in, smashed them down, and covered the hole.
Cameron paused and looked up at the sky. "H/K's are coming."
They ran for guns.
.
Catherine stayed low and got behind the men coming to view the burning X-scout. She listened as she sneaked around behind them.
"What is that? It's not a tank."
"Doesn't matter, we stopped it," a flat toned voice said.
"Damn, how did that thing get in here?"
"I thought the alert was a drill."
"Me too. Whoever was in that is barbequed. Anyone see someone try to get out? A hatch is open in the front there."
"Possible. Check the area," the flat voice said.
Catherine had destroyed one terminator, and here was a second. The men had strange looking grenades hanging off their chest harnesses. She followed one man as they spread out to search. He stopped to look around. She came close behind him, then stood, pulled a pin on a grenade, then pushed him down, dropping down herself to slither away in snake form.
The man fell with a yelp, dropping his gun to catch himself.
All the men stopped and swung to look at him. Seeing him stumble up and look behind him, one called, "Jake, did you trip?"
"No, I ..." he said then blew up in a harsh white light. Burning pieces of him flew away as the body fell. The other grenades he went off, consuming his body in a bright white flare.
"Holy fuck!" one man cried.
"He set off his own grenades!" another man yelled. "Everyone, watch your step!"
Catherine's distraction had worked, partially. The men were watching their comrade burn down to nothing but knees and lower legs. The terminator was scanning the area, his RPG up and ready. Besides looking around where the man had fallen, he was doing a slow scan of the whole area. Y the way her X-scout burned up so fast, not only did they have thermite grenades, but the ones in that grenade launcher was thermite also. She had to dispose of that terminator before she left.
"That's one hell of a way to die."
"Keep your footing, or you might be next!"
"He didn't trip," the terminator stated. "There were no remains inside that vehicle. There is a liquid metal close by. Find it."
"Are you shitting me? What the hell is liquid metal?"
"A type of terminator. It can take any shape. Be very vigilant and scan the area," the terminator intoned.
"Man, I didn't sign up for this shit!"
"Neither did I. I'm outta here!"
"Hold your positions," the terminator stated.
"Fuck you,buddy ..."
A shot rang out. The terminator had drawn a pistol and executed the man. "Hold your positions," it said again.
While the terminator was focused on the men, and them on him, Catherine slithered over to the dropped gun. Aiming at the rocket RPG, she shot the round. The round went off, burning brightly and spewing white sparks. The terminator dropped the blazing weapon. All the men turned their guns on hm and fired. The terminator fired back dropping one by one as bits of thermite burned into him. Catherine shifted into a dull black human form and raced over to one of the dead men and pulled his grenades off. She pulled the pins and tossed them at the terminator's feet. It turned and shot at her, making small silver craters where the bullets hit.
The grenades went off, burning the terminator's legs. It stepped back and fell, the softened leg collapsing.
Ignoring the gunfire, Catherine raced over and decapitated the terminator. She ripped off the now exposed chip cover and pulled the chip,which flared up as it came out.
"Don't fuckin move!" one of the three men left alive yelled.
Catherine eyed them and asked, "Why are you yelling at me? I'm not the one who was killing you."
"Look, we just want to get out of here," the man said evenly.
"Then go. Before you go, who do you work for?" Catherine said.
"That … thing we thought was a guy" another man said.
"Thank you. I suggest you leave in a hurry," Catherine told them, then sprinted for the hangers. The men ran the other way.
.
Hunched down under cover, John, Cameron and Sarah watched the H/K fly over them and keep going.
"It was following the radio signals, looking for a point of origin, Cameron explained.
"So we should go now," John concluded.
"Not yet, it will be looking for any sign of movement along the path of the signal. We wait until it returns to head back to base."
A few moments later, the H/K did come back, slowly flying along. It passed over them as John and Sarah held their breaths. They didn't breathe until it was out of sight.
"That was close," John said in an exhale.
"There is another base we haven't found yet," Cameron told him.
John nodded. "Makes sense. Let's assume it took off when our planes hit," he said in a musing tone. "The direction it came from and how long it took to get here should give us a good idea of where to look."
"Yes. I noted the initial speed. We should go now."
Getting back onto the vehicles, they drove back home. Sitting on the passenger side, John thought aloud. "We didn't do much more tonight than slow them down. Did we."
"Correct," Cameron agreed. "What we did was known as a spoiler attack. Damage them back enough to delay the possibility of them attacking us." Glancing over at him, Cameron clasped his hand. "Don't be sad, John. We did substantial damage. We also found out there is another base that has H/K's."
John held her hand and cast her a brief grin. "Yeah, it went almost perfectly, and we did get a little more info. I hope Mrs. Weaver had some good luck too."
.
Mrs. Weaver started at one end of the row of buildings and inspected each. The fuel shed was devoid of life. She bent the pipes coming out of the ground inside to make them useless. Inside the burning hangar was a burning H/K and a couple dead men. In the control tower she found power was on, and the now empty security office. Going up into the tower, she found it vacant. She searched every room and found only a couple computers she destroyed. Working her way back down, she found an electrical vault and tossed a thermite grenade in on her way out.
The office building also had nothing unusual in it. Searching that, she heard jet engines approaching. Going over to a window, she saw a flight of six H/K's coming for the base. She thought they were just coming back to base until they got close enough to see they had large loads suspended underneath.
Catherine ran for the closest door. Going outside, she took on the form of a cheetah and ran away at top speed.
The H/K's dropped their loads down on every building of the base. The large incendiary bombs enveloped the buildings, burning the away. Scanning an animal that was running away, the H/K's concluded it was a non threat. Once they dropped their bombs, they headed back to base.
.
"Meyer, Hanson! In my office," the Captain bellowed.
"That sounds like an "I'm frustrated call," detective Hanson said as he got up.
"Yup. Let's go see what it's about," Peter Meyer agreed.
They went in to find the Captain sitting behind his desk, wearing a frown. "Shut the door and have a seat," he grumbled.
They did, waiting to hear what this was about.
"Last night, two factories were hit with bombs, as was an abandoned airfield," the Captain told them, "LAPD called in the feds. One, they figured was a terrorist attack. This was three places all at once around One AM. Bodies were found, one being made of metal. Kind of like these terminators we were told about. The feds think the Connors are at work again." He eyed detective Meyer and said, "You will find them."
"Captain? LA is not in our jurisdiction," Hanson reminded him.
"It is now," the Captain stated. He slapped two badge wallets on the desk. "The FBI has given the two of you 'special agent' certifications. Meyer, you know the Connors by sight. You've spoken to them. You only job now is to find them and find out what they know about last night. LAPD is looking for them also. If they sight the Connors, they are to report the sighting to you. They are under strict orders to spot and observe only."
"Captain?" Meyer asked, "You DO know that Cameron is one of these terminators. Approaching them will be dangerous."
"I know," the Captain agreed. "So does the FBI and Homeland Security. Everyone who is involved knows that a possible firefight may happen in the city if an arrest attempt is made." Reaching in a drawer, he puled out a manila folder and slapped it on the desk in front of Meyer. "These are some pictures taken at that air base. Military sources have confirmed that malevolent AI's are real. It's up to you to find out what the Connors now about them."
"Sir, if they have gone dark, just how do I do that?" Meyer asked.
"Start with Catherine Weaver. She reported a stolen prototype tank this morning. The burned out hulk of one fitting the same description was found on that airbase," the Captain said heavily.
The men picked up their badges. Hanson looked at his and asked,"Ready to go, Special Agent Meyer?"
"Why not?"Meyer said and got up. "Captain,one question. Why isn't the FBI sending anyone?"
"After what happened with Roth, they are searching records and backgrounds to see if they have any other sleeper agents. Until the feds know all their men are clean, they aren't even taking about this case. Now, get out there."
.
Heading for LA, Meyer scanned the photos as Hanson drove. "Damn," he said, "Whoever hit this place burned it to the ground. There's nothing left but debris. It looks like it was a full blown war out there."
"And we have to go talk to the people who did it," Hanson said with a grumble.
"Yeah. Hopefully Weaver will steer us in the right direction," Meyer said as he looked at the picture of the destroyed terminator. "Just remember, we're not looking for your average perp. They are not even perps, from everything I know, they are on our side. Just vigilante soldiers."
"Don't we arrest them too?" Hanson asked.
"In this case, no. You don't try to arrest someone who is Hulk strong and bullet proof. You talk to them and get their side of the story. We'll head to Mrs. Weaver's office building first and try to see her."
"If we can't?"
"Then we start pounding the pavement."
.
The insurance company was not happy that Catherine had sent all her employes off on vacation to leave her test facility all but unguarded. They did have to concede that the stolen vehicle was behind a standard security fence and locked inside a barn and armed with an alarm system. She had taken reasonable anti-theft precautions, they had to pay up.
After that meeting, she got a call from Mr. Ellison. More police were here to see her. Already in the second floor conference room, she had them come up.
Mr. Ellison showed the men in. "Mrs. Weaver, Special Agent Meyer and Special Agent Hanson are here to see you," he said, indicating the men.
Catherine got up and raised an eyebrow. "Special Agents?" she asked.
"Yes,Mrs. Wever," Meyer said and showed her his new badge. "Apparently, the FBI doesn't trust their own agents after our last meeting."
Catherine shook heach man's hand. "Please, have a seat, gentlemen. What can I do for you?"
They all sat. Meyer pulled out the photo of her destroyed X-scout. "We found your missing vehicle," he said with a smirk.
Catherine looked at it and said, "A total loss, I see. Surely you didn't come all this way to show me that."
"No, that was my icebreaker," Meyer admitted. "Ms. Weaver, I have to talk to the Connors. Anywhere is fine, but I must speak with them."
"Any particular reason?" she asked.
"A few, actually. John has a list of Kaliba, I believe is what he calls the company, locations. I am fairly confident Kaliba has three less as of this morning. If I can get that list, then we can have these places investigated, get warrants and wire taps and take these places down legally. That will also take a strain off of you and the Connors, will it not?" Meyer explained.
"Do you know about the drug raid on Newtech, Agent Meyer?" Catherine asked.
"No, That was not part of my jurisdiction at the time," he said, but perked up.
'That was our attempt to to get authorities involved. What we got was a few people arrested, and Newtech searched. The police that went in searched for drugs. That was the warrant they had. They passed by everything else. Once they had found a few drugs and arrested a few people, Newtech went on with what they were doing, no questions asked," Catherine explained. "So tell me, Special Agent Meyer, what can you possible put on a warrant that would allow you to say, search for terminators, AI's , computers or devices that were being made to attack humanity with? Unless you can answer that, There is not much you can do."
Meyer's face fell. "You have a point," he conceded.
Hanson sat in thought, then said, "A sweep for illegal guns. LA has some of the strictest gun laws, we can get a sweep done searching for guns. Metal detectors will pick up terminators, won't they? If you can tell us where to look, we can try and capture them."
Meyer frowned at him and said, "And get killed when you find one."
"Agent Meyer is correct," Mrs. Weaver said.
"At least I'm thinking about how we can uncover them," Hanson replied.
"As do I, every day," Catherine told him. "I have a proposal, gentlemen. I will talk to John and see if he will meet with you. Do not expect a personal meeting with him. Most likely, he will send Cameron. He is not what you would call a trusting person."
Meyer nodded. "I can understand that. Meeting with Cameron is fine, I've done it before. May I ask what you know about those raids?"
"My X-scout was stolen and used to attack that airbase that was abandoned, or so everyone thought. It was destroyed there," Catherine stated.
"That's apparent," Meyers said.
"You asked what I know," Catherine replied. "The rest I can only speculate on."
"Fair enough," Meyer said with a sigh.
