CHAPTER 3

In the hangar, gull-wing sides of the matte-gray W900's box trailer were already humming downwards back into place over it's fully loaded interior. SS-19 turned where she stood near it's rear bumper to see that all four of their Land Rovers were now lined up side by side about 7 to 8 feet from each other, beginning from the left as one faced the giant hangar doors, the black one with Drapikowski behind the wheel followed by the pale gray vehicle driven by Quittner, then the dark green one manned by Lacza while Barton drove the matt brown one. The engines of the Land Rover were all running and their front bumpers were less than 10 feet from the huge hangar door.

Walking in the direction of the south wall, SS-19 saw that Lorenc, Marold and Rilski had finished parking their forklifts haphazardly along with the others in the 100 feet of space between the tractor units' front bumpers and the first revetments' blast walls so the W900s would be clear to back out towards the hangar doors.

"Schnell! You can all get eento zer lund rovers!" SS-19 ordered.

Immediately, the KAOS agents left milling around the W900s turned and ran towards the hangar doors, rubber overshoe boots screeching on the hangar floors, joined by Lorence, Marold and Rilski who ran out past the semi's.

In the corridor outside Archer's office, the varnished wooden door whooshed aside causing green fog to roil at the threshold momentarily. Max's big-eared head poked out first looking left down the long green fog covered corridor to the door of the C&C before looking to the right at the elevator. He then emerged, holding the F1 submachine gun, followed quietly by the Chief with Specchi's M12 and 99 with Hayler's MP 40 and loose fitting utility belt with the spare submachine gun clips.

Max paused looking at the unconscious air police on the floor and slumped against the wall and his beady eyes widened as he turned to the Chief pointing at their fallen weapons.

The Chief immediately nodded in agreement as he slung the Beretta M12 behind his back and they all crouched to remove some of the Air Police's weapons. Max crouched next to the Air Police named Mitchell and laid his F1 on the floor while he unfastened the Airman's utility belt holster to get the S&W Model 15 while the Chief and 99 undid the sling buckles of two other airman's M16s.

In the hangar, the W900s engines roared to life and even in the vast space, SS-19 standing just 20 feet behind them could feel the vibration moving up her calves through her boots. She looked towards the Land Rovers and saw the last of the KAOS agents climbing in. Lifting her walkie-talkie to her veil, SS-19 spoke gain.

"Wilde Jagd Leedar to Jäger Scout Leedar. Vee are just about veady. Open zer hangar doors, disable zer guns und get down here."

"Jawohl Wilde Jagd Leedar."

"Wilde Jagd Leedar to Jäger Scout Vun. Vee are veady to leave. Are—?"

"—zer prizoners dead?"

Max, the Chief and 99, whirled in alarm towards the open door of Archer's office at the voice that they realized was issuing from Kerstin's walkie-talkie which was somewhere on the floor inside.

Inside the command centre, Gerd stopped at the control panels at the right side wall and began flicking switches. Outside the mountain, the 20 yard high slab of the mountain between the valley walls began rumbling as it tilted upwards on the hidden giant hinges across it's top edge while snow rained off lower edges in the dark. As the lower edge swung slowly higher and higher, the valley floor shook all the way to the other end with the hidden technological power that drove the rock wall.

"Klehr, Mach unser Fahrzeug bereit." Gerd ordered as he took hold of the T-shaped handle. "Vilson. Disable zer guns."

Klehr nodded getting up from the chair at the communications console with it's exposed circuitry and mess of multi-coloured cables leading to the interface device he had patched in. As he headed towards the door and Wilson pulled out a tool kit from inside his flak jacket to begin his work at Appleby's console, Gerd pushed the T-shaped lever all the way up.

In the hangar, the massive boom of the hangar door's invisible pistons engaging drowned out the engines of the W900s and Land Rovers combined. The giant door hummed rancorously as it began sliding up, the square tooth like protrusions emerging from their corresponding square indentations across the threshold of the hangar.

Behind the wheel of the black Land Rover, Drapikowski's eyes behind his GP-5's glass eye pieces watched the battle commenced between nature and technology as the icy mountain air clashed again with the warmer climate-controlled temperature of the hangar. This time, the clouds of fog that formed were joined by the Super Sleep agent to mark the struggle in a roiling emerald glow.

"What I'd give da steal something from the Bahamas next round." Drapikowski griped through his gas mask to the KAOS agents in the passenger seat and in the back of the Land Rover.

"Chief! Ninety-Nine!" Max hissed as SS-19's voice repeated over Kerstin's walkie-talkie somewhere inside Archer's office hidden in the shin high blanket of green fog over he floor. "Go! Go now!"

"Max! Look out!" 99 yelled getting to her feet, holding an M16 by its handguard in her right hand while her left holding a flak jacket they removed from the Air Policeman, Hale, thrusted with a clatter of the equipment in it over Max's shoulder.

Max whirled in the direction of her arm to see at the end of the corridor, the gray steel door of the command centre sliding up to reveal a man with a light brown buzz cut and long face standing there dressed in the uniform of an Air Policeman sans head gear.

The man's predatory hazel eyes blazed down the 25 feet of the corridor's length to lock onto Max before he reached behind his back and swung to the front a suppressor mounted M3A1 as he yelled to someone.

"Vollmar! Die Gefangenen sind entkommen!"

"Go! Go!" Max yelled as well launching himself out of his crouch directly into a break neck dash down the corridor, no time to get his F1 submachine gun, leaving him with Mitchell's 4 inch barrelled S&W

Model 15 in his right hand while his left hand reached to his belt and yanked out Specchi's Beretta M1951.

"Go Ninety-Nine! Go!" the Chief yelled leaping to his feet and pushing 99 along as they ran in the opposite direction towards the elevator, flak jackets and M16s in hand and submachine guns clattering against their backs by their slings while the latter still looking over her shoulder at the charging Max's back.

Even as Klehr yelled to Gerd, the suppressor of his M3A1 flashed and the weapon's bolt rattled away like a typewriter while behind him at Appleby's console, Wilson jack-knifed to his boots his right arm, a blur as he snatched his suppressed S&W Model 15 from his holster.

A line of 9mm Parabellums sliced over the floor in a line of flying concrete dust and bullet holes, directly towards the charging Max, their passage way marked by the parting of the green fog on the floor in a gaseous groove lined with leaping concrete, surging directly towards him. At the same time, Max pointed both his weapons and the corridor was filled with the roar of his un-suppressed handguns.

"Hölle! Scheiße!" Gerd at the right side wall cursed as he reached behind his back to draw his suppressor mounted Walther P1 as Klehr staggered and shook as bullets shattered his upper body and exploded out the back of his flak jacket in fountains of crimson.

Now halfway down the corridor, Max could see the light blink out in the hazel eyes of the KAOS agent as he fell back causing the green vapours on the floor of the command centre to surge aside—only to reveal behind him a much taller, lean, similarly dressed, dark haired man behind him with glittering black eyes and statue hard cheekbones and square jaw standing at a semi-circular console. 86 barely had the time to note the strange way this KAOS agent held his weapon, at hip level in a black leather gloved hand while his bare left hand slammed down again and again on the hammer.

Max realized this hard faced KAOS agent's revolver was also suppressed as he could hear nothing but felt the scorched passage of bullets perforating the edges of his Davy's gray sport's jacket, inches from his shirt and skin as he continued triggering away on the S&W Model 15 and M1951, their different toned roars alternating with each other.

Wilson left arm flew wide as a .38 Special round ripped through his bicep in a welter of blood before staggering as 2 9mm Parabellums from the M1951 struck his ribs. Within 5 feet from the command centre door, the S&W Model 15 in Max's right hand spat twice more and Wilson reeled back as the .38 Special round nosed bullets mashed through his chest and exploded out the back of his flak jackets in 2 small cones of blood. As Wilson crashed back into the semi-circular console, his right arm stretched fully at shoulder level, his gloved index finger squeezing his own S&W Model 15's trigger one last time only to hit the top edge of the doorway as Max tossed aside his empty revolver just before he charged into the command centre only to have Gerd, waiting at the right side wall's control panel with his P1 aimed at the door pull the trigger.

"Uggghh!" Max cried out but not because he was hit but because the green cloud over the floor had already regathered hiding Klehr from view and his charge caused him to kick into one of the fallen KAOS agent's boot soles pointed towards the door.

Max fell face forward the Beretta M1951 flying out of his hands just as 9mm projectiles from Gerd's P1 arrowed through the space where his upright upper body was a split second ago. The green mists surged outwards in a low tidal wave and Gerd rushed forward his P1's slide clacking back and forth as he fired into them at the floor.

"Glücks-dummkopft!" Gerd swore his P1 continuing to clack repeatedly as he fired into the swirling green cloud over the floor which had hid all the bodies from sight again.

As the emerald fog swirled round his knees reinforced by their formless companion from the corridor outside, the P1's side locked back as the last round whipped through the swirling green miasma. Maintaining his aim, Gerd's left hand already with a new magazine thumbed the release at the bottom of the weapon's grip to extract the empty clip and smoothly slapped home the new one and thumbed the slide release to chamber a round.

He moved forward through the roiling green mist, P1 aimed low until his dress shoe struck something and he fired once into the gas on the floor. When there was no reaction after a second, Gerd bent his knees and whipped his hand back and forth to sweep the gas aside. Finally, the fog parted, only to reveal Klehr lying there, dead hazel eyes staring at the ceiling. Gerd immediately swept his P1 towards the dead KAOS agent's feet, only to see nothing but empty floor which was quickly hidden again by the relentless returning vapours as behind him, the roiling green fog parted and domed slightly before a dark haired, big-eared head with beady black eyes rose from it.

Gerd's ears picked up the rustling of fabric behind him and he spun clockwise with the speed of a striking serpent, green gas fuming away from the blurring blue of his Air Force dress uniform. Max barely managed to grab his whipping gun wrist and locked an arm around his throat. Gerd's left hand clamped onto Max's forearm at his throat as they both struggled.

Gerd's dress shoes drove into the green mist hidden floor in a ferocious back pedal, his back shoving against Max's chest. 86 found himself forced into an out of control backwards run towards the right side wall. Gerd's left elbow came down slamming at least 2 to 3 times into his ribs, knocking the air out of him just before Max's back crashed into the control panel and his butt rode up onto a console causing his feet to fly off the floor out of the green fog.

The momentum caused the KAOS agent's weight to slam onto him as well forcing Max to release his choke hold on Gerd and swing his left arm out to the left to fine something to steady himself. His hand swept down only to grab the upward angled T-shaped handle and yanked it all the way down again as he bore his weight on it.

In the hangar, as the drivers of the Land Rovers stepped on their clutch pedals with the box like teeth of the hangar doors at a height of 4 feet, the rhythmic booming of the pistons stopped for a second before resuming and the teeth began to sink down again as the massive rectangle of titanium-steel began sliding down again.

Lacza behind the wheel of the dark green Land Rover squinted behind the round eye pieces of his gas mask with the muffled exclamation as he tossed up a gloved hand.

"Mi történik?!"

"Is…is there a change of plans?" Drapikowski asked turning in his seat to look at his companions in the back of hisLand Rover and they were in turn looking out the rear of the vehicle towards the W900s for some signal from SS-19.

SS-19 paused as she spoke on the walkie-talkie to turn towards the hangar doors and her eyes narrowed behind her veil at the changing direction of the hangar door while Drapikowski stuck his cowl shrouded head out the window of his land rover and as his "long nose" and cylinder filter hung sideways, gave a muffled shout.

"Boss! You want us to wait?! Or get down?!"

Gerd swore as he slammed another his left elbow again back into Max's ribs knocking the air out of the CONTROL agent's lungs with an oof before turning clockwise to move his back away from Max's chest and grab hold of the CONTROL agent's hand that was holding onto his gun wrist. This gave 86 the opportunity to slide off the console, his buttocks dragging over switches and buttons that set lights flashing and alarms blaring as his left hand grabbed hold of Gerd's right forearm.

Max saw the flare of pitiless malice in Gerd's light blue eyes beneath his forehead and Ivy League cut blond hair as they wrestled for control of the P1. Gerd moved forward, shoving Max back several steps as he tried to straighten his arm, bringing his P1's suppressor muzzle to aim at Max's beady eyes.

Max just managed to twist out of the way so that they struggled shoulder to shoulder as he pushed the weapon down, both of them, straightened arms locked in a tangle. As both men grunted, their muscles locked and straining against each other's restraint, they heard the wintry gale of a voice issuing from Gerd's walkie-talkie clipped to his belt under his dress uniform jacket.

"Wilde Jagd Leedar to Jäger Scout Leedar, come in... Jäger Scout Leedar come in...Gerd! Ist etwas falsch?!"

No sooner had SS-19 finished her query, Max felt the lean muscles under Gerd's Air Force service jacket flex as the KAOS agent forced his arms up against his opposing grip. The slide of the P1 slammed upward against the T-shaped lever again shoving it all the way up to the full limit.

The pistons in the hangar stopped again for a split second before booming again and the toothy protrusions at the leading edge of the hangar began rising again in the green mist which roiled more fiercely again with the inrush of mountain air renewing it's assault on it's technological opposite inside the hangar. Drapikowski with his cowled head out his Land Rover's window turned to watch the ascending door again, causing his GP-5's snout to swing over his cheek while his eyes blinked at a loss behind the glass lenses.

"So we're going?" Barton behind the wheel of the matt-brown Land Rover stated gesturing with a gloved hand at the rising hangar door.

"Wilde Jagd Leedar to Jäger Scout Vun. Come een!" SS-19 spoke into her walkie-talkie as she looked up at the angled glass windows of the command centre at the east wall. "Kerstin! Wo bist du?!"

As Gerd and Max gritted their teeth as they kept struggling, their arms entangled, pointing upwards, Max brought up his left knee, slamming it into Gerd's ribs. The KAOS agent barely grunted and Max kneed him again and felt his footing give for a moment. Twisting to his right, Max wrenched Gerd's arm back down and the heel of the P1 struck the T-shaped lever again, slamming it back down.

In the hangar, the door was about 5 feet off the floor before the pistons reversed again and the door began descending and all the men inside the Land Rovers threw their arms up, cursing and swearing while Mikhail, Yuri, Leoni and Ireson also leaned out the windows of their tractor units with the same actions and reactions.

The rear door of Quittner's pale gray Land Rover dropped down and Lorenc jumped off, his weight causing the vehicle to bounce on it's suspension momentarily while Drapikowski, Quittner, Barton and Lacza also jumped out of their vehicles from their vehicles all gesticulating with gloved fists and arms at the forward angled black windows of the command centre.

"Vollmar! Would you make up your MIND?!" Drapikowski hollered, arms stretched to the distant ceiling of the hangar.

"Get your act straight or I'm coming up there and HANGING you by your ass from that damn SWITCH!" Lorenc roared behind his gas mask shaking his large gloved fist at the internal building.

"Vollmar! We wanna get this DONE before TEN!" Barton yelled. "The KAOS Annual Dance is just TWO weeks away!"

"We not get TUXEDOS yet!" Lacza added tossing a gloved hand in the same direction as the others.

"We get to shop late, all NICE tuxedos GONE!" Mikhail hollered leaning out the driver's window of his W900.

SS-19 came to the inevitable conclusion with the inexplicable actions of the hangar door and the silence over the walkie-talkie, prompting her to whirl towards the Land Rovers and yell out.

"Zer CONTROL agents have escaped!"