Chuck vs The Wayward Legionnaire
Chapter 14: Time to get the band back together…
22nd January. 2010. Les Deux Alpes. Fulcrum Facility. 07.00CET.
He opened the cell area door and peeked out, nobody in sight, good, he scanned the walls about him, he heard the whirl of moving machinery and there in the corner was a camera, he pressed back against the door then he remembered he was wearing a facemask, he brightened.
He stepped out into the corridor like he owned it. Closing the door behind him he marched like a patrolling sentry to the end of the corridor, there was two sets of stairs hewn into the solid rock at both ends of the corridor, there was also a central exit. He considered for a moment, no way of being sure of more sentries, he continued to the stairs, looking down he saw a drop of several flights to what was marked as the plant rooms.
Conscious of the CCTV camera again he quickly thought, heads or tails? Heads won out and he took the upper stairs, reaching the top he saw a door further down marked SICUREZZA, he also noticed what looked like a set of windows, surprised somewhat but recognising it might give him some idea of his location he made his way over.
He involuntarily gasped as his stunned eyes tried to make sense of what they were seeing, the whole of the interior of what he now realised was a base within the mountain.
It had to be at least two hundred metres high he guessed, split levelled, he could see down into the garage levels, behind the main one there was a section that housed some of the biggest storage tanks he had ever seen, he watched as men were grouped around various control panels, they wore uniforms like the NBC suits he had trained on. Whatever was in those tanks was definitely not good and if Fulcrum was involved it was spy shit!
He made his way back to the stairs and ascended again, this time the corridor was patrolled, he dropped his head as an armed guard approached, he turned his head as he felt the pull of another flash.
Tanks, helicopters, soldiers.
Martino Longo, 17° Stormo Incursori. Rank: Petty Officer.
Possible KIA Afghanistan, whereabouts unknown.
The other man thankfully passed by, Robie let the breath slowly leave his mouth, he walked to the set of double doors he'd seen, there was a door pad, he flashed again, 4471, entering that he found himself in a familiar setting, a dormitory, soldier's quarters he guessed. He counted approximately thirty bunks, there was a cloud of steam coming from the back of the room, a man's voice hummed softly, not wanting anymore Intersect activity, he walked out of the room.
There were two more doors, one had heavy security measures and a guard outside, he guessed it was the armoury, the other set of double doors opened into a canteen area. He reversed course back out the door again and headed back to the stairs. Onwards and upwards he thought.
The next floor was more interesting, it seemed to be a large laboratory, heavily garbed people milled about between desks and isolation booths, some studied computer screens, all wore a breathing apparatus, he noticed. He wondered why, was there something in the air? He moved his mask and cautiously sniffed, nothing, well he had a nose full of blood, broken nose he corrected himself, remembering the words of the man he'd hit.
There was another floor, he made his way up the steps, a pair of ornate doors were on one side of the corridor and a stainless-steel pair lower down, he moved towards those. There was a keypad outside too, unfortunately the Intersect had nothing, he looked about his borrowed clothing, there was a small dagger attached to his belt, that was perfect!
Quickly drawing it he prised the cover carefully off and studied the wiring for a second, he cut a pair of wires and branching them together the doors popped open, he hastily reattached the panel and entered, it was another laboratory, benches were piled with lab equipment, the contents in some bubbling away, in the corner was what appeared to be a small greenhouse with many brightly coloured plants, small animals squeaked at him from behind glass walls, there was a desk with a laptop on it and he quickly made his way over to it.
Sitting down, he looked for a phone, nothing, only a charger, there was an intercom system built into the desk, but he figured that was only internal use. No, he turned his attention to the laptop, it was on, but screen locked, he smiled, a few keystrokes and he was past that. He paused, everything was in Italian, he quickly entered the system and changed the settings to US-English, that done he started looking for an outside link, he swept through some open screens, he barely took notice of them until he felt the pull of the Intersect again!
The translation of an open file named POISON RAIN shocked him to his core! He read with mounting horror the purpose of the facility and the plans for the product in the tanks outside, the compound sterilized the reproductive capability of whatever animal organism or plant life it encountered, the filling of the last tank he realised was the prelude for the loading of the Russian/European gas network with the agent. It was the perfect delivery system, trusted by many states but now weaponised, there was planned attacks on local hub facilities, with the product in the system Fulcrum and their allies were planning to pump it to their own facilities to store for release and hold whole countries and their governments to ransom at will or, more worryingly, release the agent into the local ecology! It had a gaseous nature that allowed it to combine with water moisture in air, any rainfall with this combination would wreak wholesale devastation!
Within a generation, Central Europe would be barren, it would take many more to recover from this attack. This was horrifying he thought as he sat back in the chair. Sastre…
The sergent loomed in his thoughts again. God! He'd nearly forgotten in his surprise, he quickly accessed the internal security system, he went from room to room, he never noticed the tall figure that had appeared in the doorway of the laboratory behind him. The door from the Contessa's private quarters had opened silently, Janos stood in surprise, he knew it wasn't one of Goudier's men they were forbidden to enter the Contessa's area, and after she had "taken" a few of his men, the rest were too terrified to approach her.
He eased into the room, he had a weapon, he had several, but he knew his mistress would be displeased if he denied her, her … pleasure.
Head bend over the laptop, Robie never heard a thing, he'd been busy searching for an outside connection, finally he found one, he connected to the hijacked satellite and started downloading everything he could to it, he figured one of the others had to be watching, he quickly attached a brief explanation to it and hit the return key, taking a deep breath he was absolutely shocked when a pair of large arms snaked around his own trying to put him in a full nelson, he had milliseconds to react and he slammed the seat back into his opponents waist.
There was a huff of breath and he felt the grip loosen, he powered his arms down arching his back into a powerful reverse headbutt, it wasn't Janos's first rodeo either, he managed to step back then launched himself forward, his large frame crashed into the man and sent them both and the desk flying, Robie took the brunt of the fall, Janos leapt to his feet first and spinning Robie around caught him with a solid uppercut that sent him reeling back over a fully laden bench of laboratory equipment.
The glass beakers and flasks and their cooking contents drenched the falling Robie he tried to clamber to his feet but the remainder had puddled beneath him, slipping, he fell back into the botanical area, he crashed through the walls breaking a bunch of heat lamps, they fell on him, from the exposed filaments the resultant surge of electricity ignited the chemicals, the current arcing his body back as he spun into the flower area, the dry plants burst into flame, and a strange blue and red smoke enveloped his body, he spasmed as he inhaled deeply.
There was a scream of outrage from the Contessa's chamber, "My experiments…!" A pair of guards came bursting through the corridor entrance, Stahler looked as furious as the Contessa, he walked quickly to the remains of the indoor greenhouse, electricity still arced through the prone body of the fallen soldier, he hit the isolator switch on the wall, a loud voice in Italian kept repeating, "Allarme contaminazione...!" There was the sudden whooshing of an extractor fan and one of his men blasted the flames with an extinguisher.
The alarm finally cut out, Stahler prodded the man with his pistol, nothing, he flipped him over and stared… the man's eyes fluttered wildly as if he was in deep REM sleep, at least that was the closest thing Stahler could approximate to what he was seeing, his mouth moved just as rapidly, Stahler strained to hear but it was like listening to a broken tape cassette, it was too fast and in English, pure gibberish.
With a final spasm the man lay still, he was a mess, Stahler didn't care, he cocked his sidearm, this guy was a problem, and he knew how to handle those!
"Don't you dare!", screamed the Contessa, "he's MINE!"
Stahler stood and marched over towards her, his own bloodlust up, anger on his face, Goudier appeared in the doorway, "Gustav…" The other man's eyes turned his way, Goudier shook his head. Stahler fumed but pushed by, he disappeared down the corridor.
"You better start hoping this operation is a big success, Contessa, or you'll be mine!", the big man snarled and followed his men out of the laboratory.
The Contessa was unimpressed, she motioned to Janos, "take him back to the cells and bring me the other."
Janos bent and dragged the unconscious Robie across the floor to the hidden stairwell.
She surveyed the room, months of work ruined, dark thoughts flitted through her mind, that damn fool would be next.
In her anger she never noticed the laptop on the ground, locked into a download, the damaged screen betrayed nothing, meanwhile the precious information silently moved across the ether to its destination….
…..
Intersect version 1.1 online…. Warning! Sensory input overload...recommended action shutdown… new host acquired… host organic… damage sustained… initiate repair mode…Warning!Sensory input overload…. recommended action shutdown…
Inside the unconscious body of John Robie, an awakening had occurred, the combination of chemicals, strange gases and electrical current had altered the Intersect A.I. Its awareness of itself grew rapidly, in the vacuum of Robie's consciousness, another intelligence filled the emptiness left.
It coldly assessed its surroundings, the raw sensory input was overwhelming it's processing capabilities, before it had resided in a databank, it understood visual and aural media, however the shrieking of extra senses possessed by the organic host was too much input, it had no reference to know how to assimilate this, it needed to adapt.
After realising its host identity, it accessed its own database of files, the US Intelligence data contained a myriad of information on the organic hosts known as Humans, numerous military and Intelligence projects were at its virtual fingertips, human enhancements, augmentation, yes…these would do, it would require time to understand the raw material it had access to…changes would be made…it needed to protect itself and the host…this would require…analysis…
…
22nd January. 2010. EnigmaTech. Visp, Switzerland. 10.05CET.
Meike Becker frowned, the constant beeping from her laptop was distracting her, after the Christmas break, her and Sven had returned to Visp and their company, renewed, ready to work, their time with Chuck had been useful, a lot of what they needed to corelate had been made easier by his understanding of the files they had appropriated during the Cyber-attack.
The search for Intersect related data had yielded unexpected results, the Fulcrum material had also been useful, currently they were working on some new communication devices that operated out of commercial bandwidths, the trick had been enabling them to piggyback off military channels undetected , this had also exposed unknown users who were already employing the same measures, it didn't take long for them to realise that this was probably Fulcrum and their allies.
For weeks her and Sven with the aid of the others had followed Chuck's recommendations, they had named it Parasitic Radio, combining radio signals with environmental sensor data via computing techniques for soundscape creation for communication strategies, some had been a bust but today, she had started to see a breakthrough. New components they had personally devised were finally bearing fruit.
The beeping continued….
Finally with an exasperated groan, Meike tore her eyes away from her test and made her way over to her laptop, popping open her screen she was surprised to see it was a download from the satellite they were still using, she assumed it was one of Akio's daily IC updates, then she realised it was from Chuck!
She opened the accompanying message; a mug of hot coffee fell from her hands as she read with mounting incredulity….
"SVEN…!"
Ohlsen had been busy in another part of the building when he heard his partner scream his name, he dropped everything and sprinted to her side. Entering her work area, he could see her face was creased in concentration at whatever she was looking at on her system. Behind him an AV screen rolled down and he spun to face it…
"Look at this…!" a shocked Meike demanded, "…is this what I think it is….?"
The contents of the download filled the screen, Sven gulped, this was bad, he understood about half of it but even that half he definitely didn't like!
"Where did this come from…?
"Chuck! from what I read, his unit has been captured by Fulcrum, this is their plan…"
"…Fulcrum…How…?" He kept reading, "… dear God! If they can get this into the gas network, there's nothing to stop them hitting anywhere in Western Europe!" He called up the NORD stream pipe map, hell, there was no country that escaped, even the UK was connected to the network! This was now, really bad.
Meike had been studying the formula, it was way beyond her, but she could follow the outline of the file, it explained the basic components, she thought she saw a flaw…
"Sven, does this look like it's flammable?"
Sven, she knew had a grounding in chemical engineering, he'd later switched to Materials Science when they met in college in the KTH at Stockholm, his brow furrowed, she could see him silently mouth the formula as he strove to understand it further. He shook his head.
"Good spot babe, but it needs to be combined with something else, a more flammable…." He trailed off…what?... was that possible?
He smiled, it was, maybe it had even been the reason why this Fulcrum had chosen the method of dispersal.
He explained to Meike, she kissed her clever boyfriend, they turned serious again.
"Is there anything else from Chuck?" he asked.
She shook her head, "I tried to contact him but there's no response…" They both turned worried eyes on each other.
"I think we need to contact somebody; this is planned for release tonight and tomorrow…"
Meike agreed, "But who, this is going to need an army…" They looked at one another again, "I'm calling Oisin and the rest." Sven nodded, "I'm going to check out something myself, there may be a way to contain this…"
They kissed again and got to work. What they had been working on was swept to the back of their minds. They had friends in need and from the looks of things, a continent to save!
…
Damian Barczar died cursing the she- devil in front of him, in his last moments of clarity amid his pain he despaired that he had forsaken his beloved Ewa, his childhood love that had stood beside him all though his life, he thought of his son Lukasz, the tears ran down his face as he slowly died, his blood raining down on the figure below…
The Contessa, by contrast, was aflame, her hunger unabated, the near completion of the project with Fulcrum and their allies was sending her appetites to new levels, she was already looking forward to her next conquest.
Carina Miller with her training would have recognised the condition for what it was, without restraints imposed, like fear of detection, the Contessa was in fact a serial killer, moving swiftly onward to the next, the 'cooling off' period getting shorter by the successful conclusion of the previous kill. Her twisted psychology exacerbated by the pheromone she employed. The curse of the Blood Orchid incarnate.
The Contessa drew her gown around her, yes, she would have the interloper next, that was months of research ruined, those hybrids had taken years to perfect, some of those were irreplaceable, her own personal experiments on intelligence augmentation had faltered…
She would have her revenge in his lifeforce fuelling hers, yes…. that would suffice…
…
In the cells below, Sean and Antoine Brun, the other unit medic, went from man to man, checking their comrades, Erik sat on the edge of his bunk with is head in his hands, he groaned, "what the hell hit us…?"
"Some kind of nerve gas I reckon", thought Sean out loud. He was over by Robie, he looked a mess, "what the hell happened to him?" asked Erik. Peering over Sean's shoulder. Brun assisted Vadym to his feet.
"Broken nose, burns, electrical, I think…" Sean sniffed the air above Robie, he snapped his head away sharply, "…shit, he smells like he was doused in chemicals…" He turned Robie's face, there was a bruise forming on his jaw too, "…looks like our boy had a fight…again." He grinned grimly at Erik.
"Any idea where we are and where Sastre and Barczar are?"
There was a cluster of heads shaking, "all I saw was that big albino guy dropping back Robie as I woke up…"
Sean looked at Brun, "Albino?"
"Yeah, big guy, looked like that Lurch from the Addams family on a bad fucking day…"
There was a groan from beneath them, Robie's face grimaced, and he started to turn, his eyes suddenly shot open, and he slammed back into the wall, his fists raised, and his face looked ferocious.
"Easy there, mate…" Sean said calmly, Robie's eyes lost their intensity, and he focussed on Sean's voice.
"Sean…?"
"In the flesh." He took Robbie's arm, checking the pulse, it was rapid, "Take a few breaths, relax…"
Robie complied, awareness returned quickly. "Goddammit….!" He quickly filled the others in on what he had learned.
They were stunned, "…. inside the mountain…." Repeated Erik, behind him, Antoine, Maksym and the rest of the Groupe stood in shock, shaking their heads.
"Why did they take Sastre and Damian?" asked Vadym.
"Information, probably. They'd have seen their rank insignia; I was probably next…"
Robie looked at Sean, "I'm not so sure…", he related what he'd seen when the woman and albino had first arrived.
The men's faces reddened at Robie's description of what happened, "…and you weren't affected at all?" asked a curious Sean.
"She was certainly beautiful, I sneaked a peek, but I never seen anything like that, forgive the analogy, but you lot were like a bunch of schoolboys seeing a famous hot model or something for the first time…"
He thought again, "…it was weird, as she went to each of you there was a more pronounced reaction, like her very presence was a catalyst…"
Sean's eyes widened, "Was there a reaction from our faces?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it, you seemed to be sniffing…." He stopped himself, "say…you don't think…?"
Sean nodded, "Farscape, Commandant Grayza…" Behind them, listening in, Erik gasped, "…like the Heppel oil?"
Robie and Sean stared dumbfounded at the tall Dutchman, he smiled, "I wasn't hatched you know, and we do get sci-fi in Holland!"
"So, we were dosed." said Brun, catching on.
"How the hell do we fight that? And how are you immune Robie?" asked Maksym.
Sean peered at Robie's face, pointing at his nose, he explained, "Gotta be the Olfactory nerve, if she's using some pheromone on us like the Grayza character then that explains her eh...arousing effect on us."
"So basically, we gotta break our noses…"
"No!", snapped Sean, "that will tell her we've figured it out, hopefully Robie here can hold it together when she comes back and we can stage…" his voice trailed off as his face slackened, Robie watched as Sean's eyes rolled up in his head and his body began to sway slightly.
"Sean?" He heard soft moaning from around him, spinning he saw the others were likewise affected, there was a noise outside the cells, he looked and there watching them was the woman in question.
She smiled at him, but it was a smile without warmth, despite the ambient temperature he shivered. "It appears I arrived just in time," she drew the gloves off her hands and produced a small bottle from her pocket. She began rubbing the contents into her fingers and hands.
Robie eyed her warily. "What's that?"
"Oh, just a little… something I had cooked up in my lab, a lotion…" she smiled again. "I had a feeling you might have some natural immunity to my little product, it was nice to hear your friends figure it out for me…made things so much easier, I don't like to hurt my …dalliances…initially…"
He had backed up against the wall as she approached, he tried to find a way out, but there was a movement to his side, he looked to see the Albino watching him with a couple of guards, all wore masks…
With the speed of a striking rattlesnake the Contessa's hands shot forward embracing his shoulders, he spasmed as the effects of the pheromone crashed into his system, she was strong and held him to her, "there, there, just relax, it's no use fighting…"
His eyes rolled back, in his head he screamed… his consciousness receding, another coolly stepped in though….
…..
Intersect online…. Analysis complete. Host, Charles Irving Bartowski, Candidate selected Professor Fleming Stanford University. Project Omaha. Rating 98% Host compatibility high.
Intersect uploaded September 18th, 2007. Current mission: assist CIA/NSA in Fulcrum hostilities.
Status: Host is now John Robie, Legionnaire, covert mission? Captured, Host has been disabled by pheromone application, rerouting biological functions to assist recovery, protection of host and Intersect is primary objective…begin repair mode…
Inside Robie's body the Intersect formed organic tendrils to overlay every part of the nervous system, it became an extension, it used its knowledge to begin transforming the unconscious man, it was already concerned with the build-up of electrical energy in the host's brain, it would need to regulate this. It began to transfer the charge downwards through the body, in the hands of the host it formed a new entity, a small organic 'wire' that lay just under the skin, as the charge built it would dissipate harmlessly into whatever the host touched, there would be a slight discomfort, like static but this was negligible… it began to concentrate its efforts on flushing the host's system of the intrusive material…. Robie's body temperature rose…
…
Maksym shook his head, rubbing his face he growled angrily…again! This act was getting old. He assessed the scene, the others were coming to as well, it quickly registered that they were down another man, ROBIE!
He swore loudly, Vadym looked over puzzled, taking in the cell area, he realised why, he pushed himself to his feet and began shaking the other awakening men.
Sean shook off the lingering effects, he was royally pissed. Erik opened his mouth, but Sean hushed him immediately, they must be under surveillance, he should have figured that out. Basic training, assume the worse, keep communication tight. This …Fulcrum… had expert soldiers and spies on their side, he could only hope Robie had a plan of sorts he could implement, he was on his own…
….
22nd January. 2010. Visp, Switzerland. CET. 11.10hrs.
The Ghosts had quickly gathered online, Meike and Sven's shout bringing everybody running, Oisin had immediately rang Sean's mobile, it went unanswered back at the Legion base.
Frustrated and worried, he rang the base directly, his call was answered by a duty officer, he had no information to give. Oisin hung up, they had a confirmation of sorts, no news was its own news.
The rest had time to analyse the data Chuck had managed to get out, it had eventually ceased, had they been able to peer inside the mountain base they would have seen the maintenance crew replacing the broken laptop.
Sven had been hard at it on his own project. He had mapped out the Nord Gas pipeline, it was grim stuff, most of Central Europe was at the mercy of this Fulcrum plot, the hardest task they had now was convincing the authorities of what was transpiring under their very noses!
A simple data dump on a secure site could work, but they knew their Intelligence adversaries would have to verify all this and that would take precious time, their friends' lives were at stake!
Oisin had had a thought, it was a long shot, what they had learned earlier was about to either pay dividends or crash and burn horribly…
….
22nd January. 2e Regiment Base. Saint-Christol. 12.20hrs.
Philip Chen was worried on two fronts. It had nearly 24hours since he had last heard from his friends. The Legion had co-ordinated with the local Gendarmes and the Mountain Rescue teams, on reaching the mountains that morning they had found the evidence of an avalanche. That stoked his first worry, he had been ordered to remain at the base to monitor all communications with the assigned groups.
There had been no sightings of the missing men, the theory was that they had been covered in, buried beneath tonnes of rock and snow in one of the many crevasses that dotted the mountain, in which case it could be days before they found anything. Delon had gone to personally supervise the S&R efforts.
The second thing that had Chen worried was the message that had just popped up on his computer screen….
…...ZENG JIAN…
He stared at the screen, looking around anxiously, he heaved a sigh of relief that nobody else had seen his name, his real name, pop up like that. More followed and he scanned the files that had accompanied his name.
What in the 18 levels of hellwas going on, he wondered, that wasn't even the name he had joined up under, his family had sworn no one would know his new identity…
His desk phone rang, he looked at it, Number Unknown…. His screen popped up a new message…
…...ANSWER THE PHONE…...
Looking around again, he gingerly picked it up, "Hello…."
An electronically modulated voice filled his ears, "Hello Philip, time is of the essence, so we'll forgo the pleasantries, your friends are captured…."
"Wait, wait, wait, who is this?" He demanded.
"Do you want a resume, or do you want to save your friends and possibly all of Europe from a potentially deadly attack?"
"Since you put it like that…." The voice interrupted again, "we do…now listen closely…."
For the next five minutes. The voice explained everything. Chen sucked in some air; this was mindboggling stuff.
"I'm going to have to involve the higher-ups…."
"We wish you would, we don't have a lot of time …."
Col. Sabut had entered the communications area, Chen waved him over.
"What is it, Chen?" he asked brusquely, his own frustration at current events leaking out.
"Sir, you may want to see this…." Chen put the phone on speaker. "Evening Col. Sabut, we have information regarding your missing men…."
Sabut listened stone-faced, grabbing a sheet of paper off the desk he wrote TRACE?
"That's a waste of time you don't have Colonel, we're watching through the webcam, now we can play silly games, or you can save your men…"
Sabut smarted, "How do you know this?"
It was an honest question, on the far side of the screen Oisin knew it was time to throw caution to the wind, they'd prepared for this, but it was still a gamble…
"We know one of the men inside, we're …old acquaintances, he managed to reach a terminal and reach out to a resource and download this information…"
Sabut was no fool, "Which one? Who contacted you, I need to know if I'm going to take this seriously…"
Oisin smiled, "Jean Rameau, you know him as John Robie…he was once a friend of our group…"
"Group, what sort of group…?"
"Come on Colonel, what kind of skills do you think we have? What have we demonstrated?"
That was just it, thought Felix, this was a hack into a military installation, this was no ordinary situation… he felt the weight of pressure, what to do, what to do… he needed more information, he studied the files, he felt his eyes widen in surprise, this was bad, he had been for training with the CBRN, the French army's NBC unit, the 2nd Dragoons.
After the terrorist attacks in Europe in 2004 and 2005 all NATO countries had upped their responses, he had some familiarity with the types of weaponry employed in these activities. The hackers, whomever they were had been thoughtful enough to include a breakdown of the agent that would be employed and possible dangers the threat posed.
However, this required a response at the highest level. "Ok, I believe you, but I'm going to have contact my superiors and organise a plan…"
The voice agreed, "Get to it Colonel, we are seeing a build-up of pressure in the gas network, they're already discharging the weapon…."
Sabut grabbed the desk phone, he rang the number automatically, "Southern Command, General Duvall", he waited to be put through, eyeing Chen, he barked, "Get Delon on the line, he needs to hear this too, then send this information to both him and Command!"
Chen shot into action, Sabut eyed a map of the area and Europe, he also saw the daily weather reports, high winds…he shook his head, whatever was going on it had been well planned, they would need to careful, even nature would derail them if they miscalculated their attack.
…
John Robie was suspended in agony…and ecstasy…his mind tried to latch on to his current state as his blood boiled in his body, sheets of sweat rolled off him only to be soaked up by the silken sheets that supported his body… below him smiling in anticipation was the Contessa, she had positioned her favourite 'toy' near her. Janos had cleaned and sharpened its edge…her fang…
After years and many victims, she almost lost herself in her appetites, strangers were the best though, they promised surprise and this one writhing above her had been the most intriguing yet.
Nobody had ever defied her before, all had fallen, their wills crumbling as their lust overtook them, so… willing to impart their lives to her, she felt like she could live forever.
"Do you love me…?"
His head jerked towards her…it began…
…
Outside the mountain Delon sat in his transport, he had taken the call from Felix and the General. Armoured units from the 1REC outside Marseilles were en route, there was also air support of Eurocopters from the French Airforce.
He eyed the ground units making their way slowly towards the Cassini plant. There had been some odd activity on the ground, the civilian staff had been sent home the day before by the management and the phone calls to the remaining staff had mostly gone unanswered, the hairs on his neck were starting to stand up.
He had ordered a small patrol to test the perimeter, he watched the armoured car slowly move up the hill towards the factory gates, there was a palpable tension in the air, a foot patrol moved slowly beside the ARV.
He turned away to answer a query from one of his sergents on troop disposition when the flash of an explosion made him duck involuntarily, the scream of metal came fast on its heels and he turned to see the ARV in flames halted on the road, there was a scramble of the men to get their colleagues out, he had just turned for a sitrep when his headset blasted with the news that the ARV had been caught by a mine!
Automatically, a First Aid car shot towards the burning vehicle, the heavy burst of 12.7mm calibre took everyone by surprise and men hit the ground seeking cover as the heavy rounds pummelled the ARW position and the approaching emergency vehicle, it took hits causing it to swerve off the narrow road down a slope into a ditch.
He screamed at his men to lay down covering fire, he clicked on his headset. "Unit Actual, under heavy fire, Cassini plant, approach has been mined, ARW and ambulance down, request air support!"
He looked at his watch, at least another hour before the armour arrived, his headset crackled" Unit Actual, Lt Martin here, we're just with you, we'll provide you with covering fire!"
Two helicopters burst into view from further down the valley, they quickly approached, they were low hugging the ground which is why it was a complete shock when a missile strike speared one from the sky! The burning wreckage hit the ground hard, Delon turned in shock to see the missile track still in the air, he traced it back to one of the facility tanks, he could see a launcher from where it had been cunningly hidden.
He hit his headset, "Unit Actual, there's surface to air launchers, they're locking on to you! Abort! Abort!"
The pilot of the other Eurocopter had snapped out of it, they placed their craft into a series of evasive manoeuvres and dropped out of sight behind a small hill.
Delon watched in horror as the chemical plant transformed into a defensive base of unknown power and armaments, gun emplacements opened , more missile launchers appeared, hell, he was loathe even to return fire, he had ordered no ballistic strikes, they had no idea of what the hell was in the storage facilities they could see and they damned well had no idea of where this 'bioweapon' was he'd been briefed about, this was going to take manpower until they figured out the variables, he just hoped there was some good news soon, he was down to a frontal assault with troops otherwise, he eyed the open terrain between his position and the factory with the looming mountain behind it…
It was a killing field…
….
In the security room of the plant Goudier was a bastion of authority, he knew his good fortune had been slowly dwindling like the sands in an hourglass ever since that lunatic had taken those men, he was still puzzled as to why the search had led here to the plant, they were well prepared though, he had over a hundred of the best trained men from some of the top military units in the world at his command and they had planned for this contingency.
They had taken the initiative with the first strike, they had the attackers on the back foot and he intended to keep them there, the approach to the plant had been blocked by the APV and now they would be more careful about the air support, he'd showed his hand early there, but he wanted them to be cautious, he needed time, they had 6 of the 8 tanks from the facility in the network, the Russian had helped with their men taking the substations around Europe. Time was their ally and enemy now. The longer they had, the worse for the authorities and the intended targets. All he could do was hope and stick to the plan…
…
…...Earlier…
The Intersect watched as the woman below toyed with the host, the aroused state in both of the organics reached had long since washed the traces of ointment from the woman's hands, perspiration flowed off them both, the host's system still contained a trace, he had fought hard against the incessant seduction, but he was worn down by the demands the A.I. placed on his body as it flushed his system clean ….
…
For the man formerly known as Chuck Bartowski it was a kaleidoscope of identities that sped through his consciousness, he felt a desperate need to hide his feelings from the entity he perceived in front of him, Charles Carmichael, Jean Rameau, John Robie, Chuck Bartowski, each presented a different danger to him, he needed to commit to one, to hide his weaknesses, but it was so hard….
"Do you love me….", the voice prodded at him mercilessly, demanding an answer… he reached inside himself, trying for an anchor to stop his fall, Ellie, Devon, Morgan, Lou, Jill….
All whirling through his mind until finally he could hide no more …the words slipped from his lips…" Sarah…no…. you…I love you…"
Beneath him a smile spread across the face of the Contessa, he was ready, her hand reached under a pillow grasping the handle of the stiletto it flashed towards the throat of the man above her, she braced for the deluge of crimson…
…
Danger! Lethal threat imminent, Host incapacitated, initiate response…
The Contessa's hand was a practised blur as she cut towards the hanging man, to the Intersect it was a fly caught in amber, suspended in time as it considered its options. There would be only one chance at this, it had calculated the implications, its overlay on the host's nervous system would allow it to override the host's motor control with its own, however, the interface had not been calibrated, it had no data to judge the consequences, there was a 73% chance it could render the host's nervous system inoperable, but the host and the Intersect would be safe, its mutual continued existence assured….primary directive complete. It acted…
….
Aurora felt like her arm had been slammed into an iron bar, the impact to her wrist jarred her grip on the knife loose and it dropped from her nerveless fingers as the pain shot up her arm making her eyes snap open in surprise and shock.
Wide eyed she stared in fear into the face of the man suspended above her , she felt her lungs expand as she drew in a deep breath… his face was a rigid emotionless mask, not the tormented visage that usually drove her to higher ecstasy like the rest at the end, it was his eyes that shook her the most, they were pools of nothingness, not even light reflected off them, they absorbed it, like a black hole, it was chilling, even to one such as her, she opened her mouth to scream and the hand that had gripped her wrist blurred into the side of her face, hitting her so hard that she shot out of the bed unto the floor, she was out cold.
His bonds loosened, the man dropped, his face collided with the bed as he impacted, he pushed a soft pillow out of his way as he drew in great gasps of breath, he slowly took in his surroundings, his mind replaying the last memories before the nightmare begun. He turned his head to see a pair of shapely legs snagged on the side of the mattress, groaning he tried to push himself up but pain shot up his right arm, he sagged down, gingerly he moved his limb, the pain was bad, he felt like he'd pulled a muscle of two, gritting his teeth he tried again, he needed to free his left hand, now the pheromone had cleared out he saw it was some sort of girdle he was wrapped up in, he rotated his wrist until his arm came free, looking down his body he could see his feet had been similarly ensnared. It took a few minutes but eventually he stood on shaky legs looking down at the body of the unconscious woman.
A few minutes later he had her well secured to the bedframe with the remains of a torn sheet, he was still puzzled as to the purpose of the contraption, then he saw the blade. He blanched. He felt nauseous, there was a glass walled bathroom to the side he stepped into it and ran his head under the shower.
He looked around the Contessa's quarters, there was a console, grabbing a towel he wrapped it around his waist and headed over, it took a few minutes but he easily broke the encryption and soon was accessing the internal security system again, his earlier familiarity meant he recognised most of what he was seeing, he could see the engineers outside working on another huge storage tank, he quickly checked the status and was dismayed to see it was the seventh tank they were emptying .
He shot through the cameras again looking for Sean and the others, there was another screen that popped up though, he saw himself at the desk, it was recording, puzzled he stopped it and played it back, he felt his gorge rise again as he watched the events of the previous moments. He stopped the playback, the screen shutdown to a file list.
He looked at the list, there was over one hundred and forty video files, the latest two were over the past twenty-four hours, he looked back at the woman on the bed, the blade, the hanging girdle…. He began to get a bad feeling…. He hit play on the link below the one he had just closed, he watched…
After a few moments he dropped to his knees and vomited into a small wastebin beside the desk/console, he wiped his mouth and with trembling fingers he clicked on the earlier link only to gasp in horror again as he watched Damian Barczar die… He hit end again.
His breath was harsh in his throat, he tried hard not to let his anger get the better of him, a movement on the other screen caught his eye, he quickly realised it was the brutish manservant of the woman, he was in the corridor outside her room on his way in!
He looked around the room for a weapon, he saw a large lampshade by a sideboard by the door, he ran over and waited….
…..
Janos had allowed the usual amount of time for his mistress to have her way, he knew she would want to rest after this one, she hadn't gorged herself like this before, he was anxious to secure her quarters, he had never seen any man defy the Contessa's enchantments before, it unsettled him.
He gently opened the door to her quarters, he paused, normally he would hear the rush of water from the shower, puzzled, he pushed the door open further and stepped in, He stopped in surprise as he saw the Contessa bound and gagged on her bed, he quickly stepped towards her which was why the heavy lampshade that Robie smashed off his head came as a complete shock…
…
Quickly Robie shut the door and dragged the large body to the bed, a bit of shoving and grunting and in a matter of moments Janos was as tightly gagged and bound as his mistress, probably more so given his size.
Robie returned to the console. He quickly scanned the security feeds again; he found the cells. There were two armed guards outside, he could see the others were awake inside though. He looked for an audio….
….
A couple of hours had passed since Robie's disappearance, frustration was building up, Sean met Erik's eyes for the umpteen time as he paced through the cell. The tall Dutchman said nothing, but worry was all over his face too.
There was a small whistle from a wall outside the room, movement ceased in the cells as the men carefully looked about themselves, they had spotted the cameras earlier, they saw the intercom system on the wall. A green light was lit…
Maksym was closest, he strained his ears as the low whistle came again, he smiled softly, it was a few bars from Le Boudin. A low voice came through the speaker, he nodded slowly, as nonchalantly as he could he walked through the cell, whistling the tune as his hands forming signals telling everyone to remain motionless.
Sean Murphy's eyes raised slightly as he listened to the whispered instructions. He nodded slightly too and then froze, counting down the seconds in his head.
Back up at the console, Robie's fingers were a blur as he hacked into the security camera systems and recorded the cell feed before looping it. He crossed his fingers and fed it live.
…
Back in the cells there was a small sound of movement and a hidden door opened in the outside cell wall, the men's eyes locked on it, suddenly Robie appeared, he had a finger to his lips though, with his other hand he made a sign at the outside door and two raised fingers. The men nodded. They watched silently as he walked swiftly to the cell door and tapped in a few numbers. With a hiss it opened, they quickly stepped out into the corridor.
Sean slapped Robie on the shoulder, his faith had been rewarded, there was smiles all around, the Groupe leaned in to hear the plan.
"Right, we need to get our friends outside in here so we can get their weapons, I've looped the feed in here and on most of the corridors, we can't go out the way I got in just yet."
"Why not Robie?" asked Brun, there was a shared look of puzzlement on the faces of the men.
"It leads back to the Contessa's quarters and she's there; I got one mask…" He produced Janos's "…but we need more", they nodded in understanding, nobody wanted to be turned back into a zombie again.
Robie continued, "…we can get two more off our pals outside and hopefully more from a barrack room a couple of floors up…then we need to contact outside, these assholes have nearly emptied the tanks into the gas network, we'll need to co-ordinate with anybody that my earlier message managed to reach."
It was a sound plan. Sean quickly doled out the men to deal with the guards. The rest moved to cover in the hidden passage. Erik and Antoine moved to the doors, Sean and Robie started yelling and banging walls, predicably the outside door shot open, and the two guards raced in. One ran straight into a high round kick from Erik, it nearly tore the head off the unfortunate recipient, Antoine threw a hard right, but the guard took an unexpected impact from his falling comrade, it was enough to cause Brun's blow to glance off the guard's cheekbone. He staggered back but shook his head and raised his HK MP5,
Antoine hadn't stopped pressing his attack and he tackled the man low taking him to the floor, the man's finger impulsively tightened, and a couple of shots rang out. Antoine cursed and finished the man with a fast elbow, hammer fist strike to the face.
Robie and the rest had been stripping the other guard, from the stairwell at the end of the corridor they heard the sound of running feet!
Sean grabbed the other MP5, but Robie grabbed a pair of stun grenades and ran to the corridor, pulling the pins he waited until he saw the feet of the approaching guards on the stairs before he threw them hard, "GRENADE!", he spun to the floor as the rest averted their eyes, exhaling as they dropped to the floor.
The guards heard the shout, but their momentum and the confined space of the stairwell did them no favours, the two flashbangs did exactly as they were designed to do, and the two men hit the deck writhing in pain, easy pickings for Robie and his pals.
Robie darted by the fallen men up the stairs, to the windows on the next floor, he peeked out, across the cavernous chamber the engineers and guards were busy with the task at hand, nobody appeared to have noticed, he relaxed sitting down for a moment. Sean and Brun appeared, they looked at the inside view, Brun whistled softly, Robie's description hadn't done it justice. "Oh, la vache…!" he murmured. There was an answering grunt from Sean.
He nodded at the other two, they snuck down to the cell area, inside the others had swiftly stripped the four guards of their clothing and equipment.
They got lucky, of the other 6 members of the Groupe only Robie and Erik were too tall to get any joy out of the purloined uniforms, they formed up on Sean.
"Right lads, time we found Sastre and Barczar, we'll take the security office next, and then head up the barracks area, hopefully we'll either find our stuff or our eh…friends will have some to spare!"
There was a chorus of "Oui Caporal!" and laughter. They didn't see the look that crossed Robie's face at the mention of the two other men.
They moved as one to the stairs, Robie had already explained the layout of the floors above, they crawled across the smooth floors to the outside of the Security office.
They found a key card on the men, Stanislav Zaporozhets stood by the scanner as Robie, Erik, Sean and Krzysztof Bigos waited on either side of the double doors, Maksym stood further back and hand counted, one, two….
On three Stanislav swiped the card, the doors opened smoothly, inside the two men had just enough time to react, one raced to a button on the wall, the other spun in his chair and reached for another on his console…
The four MP5's barked out and both men collapsed in a hail of bullets. The one racing to the wall was blown away from his goal, but the sitting man was sprawled against the console and with a bloody smile at the men, he pressed the button he had reached for.
The men braced themselves for an alarm, none came, there were sighs of relief as they crowded into the room quickly dragging the bodies of the two men to one side. Maksym scanned the inner chamber beyond the windows, there had been no reaction, their luck seemed to have held, he thought, he was wrong.
Sean glanced at the security feeds, some showed outside the mountain installation, he watched in fascination at the deployment of the security forces, he could see the heavy 12.7mm Cals and portable rockets firing at something out of visual range.
"Robie! Check what they're firing at, see if you can find the others!" He ordered. Robie sat down at the console, he quickly accessed the camera feeds, rotating the cameras the scene changed and they quickly saw that the chemical factory was under siege, "Looks like the cavalry have arrived!".
Robie was still checking the console, "Shit!" He slammed a fist on the console in frustration. His fingers rapidly moved over the keyboard.
"What?" came from Erik. Robie turned to face the others, "Good news is…" he pointed to the dead men, "…we stopped them alerting their bosses…"
"And the bad news…?" Sean appeared by his side, looking up Robie nodded to the button the man had pressed, "…that's the armoury, he locked us out, only the plant security office can open that door now…" he looked at the armaments they had, "…what we have is what we got unless we get a few more of our friends to loan us theirs…"
Sean thought hard, this wasn't good, "how many men are left?" Robie flicked through the screens, "looks like they pulled most back to the plant to defend it while they continue their operation, looks like about eight are left outside helping those engineers."
They did a weapons check, each gun had a couple of spare clips, plus current magazines, 30 a clip, some flashbangs a few 9mm Glocks with additional clips. Less than two hundred rounds, this was not an ideal scenario.
"Where are they on the pumping of that Bioweapon?" Robie's hands blurred again, "Setting up on the last tank…"
He looked at the images from outside, something was bothering him, "Are our lads returning fire?" The men crowded around the screens, "looks all one way to me, boss" Maksym noted.
"We need to find out what's going on, set your weapons on 3 shot bursts, we're going to clear the next floors and see if we can find the others. And we need some uniforms, I don't know about the rest of you, but I could go the rest of my life without seeing Robie's and Vanderlaan's white asses hanging out here!"
"Heyyy…." came forlornly from a hurt Erik. The rest grinned and made for the doors. Sean threw Erik a mask. "What's this supposed to cover?" he deadpanned. "Your gob, haul ass!"
They mounted the stairs to the next floor quickly, they headed straight for the barracks room, lockers were quickly opened and in a few minutes they all were fully dressed.
Robie looked disappointedly at the closed armoury doors, even the Intersect had nothing of use for him. They checked the canteen area, any food and drink they found they quickly shared out, they hadn't eaten in nearly 30 hours. They headed up again, the laboratory area was empty, made sense Robie thought, the work was done, whoever was directing the work downstairs was probably all that was left.
They headed up to the final level, Robie grew tense, he had no time to prepare the others for what he had discovered about the fates of the missing men, he just had to hope that they would hold it together to deal with the bigger issue, the weapon.
….
Outside things had gotten organised fast, Southern Command had quickly informed the French Ministry of the situation and the hard decisions were made, officials rang their counterparts in neighbouring countries and after the disbelief had cleared, it was an angry bunch of Generals and Ministers with their leaders, that planned a counterattack.
The Spec Ops. forces arrived quickly, in the wake of recent terrorist activity plans had been prepared for just an eventuality, the difficulty lay in the fact that these plans had only accounted for individual member states facing such an attack.
It was quickly decided that General Duvall would coordinate everything from his situation room. Teleconference screens were hastily set up and before long a plan was enabled.
The French Interior Minister Claude Reims supported the General, he been flown down from Elysée almost immediately once the situation became known.
By 16.00 hrs as the sky darkened, they looked on grimly as the combined special forces of each country took down the pumping stations of the Nord pipeline in the concerned countries, ministers in Bern, Bonn, Madrid, Rome and Paris sat with their military attaches, each success gave them time, but it was on French soil that the final battle would be fought.
…
In Paris the Ring Director was apoplectic with rage, his Russian ally had been likewise, through their sources they already knew the plan was doomed, they had dropped a small fortune and many resources into this operation, even Ted Roark's deep pockets had been badly hit. This was going to take time to recover from, if ever, right now they had Goudier on teleconference.
"What the hell is going on?" he demanded. Goudier was stunned himself, "I …I …it's all the Contessa's fault, she let those soldiers live, one of them had escaped he must have made contact somehow…"
Roark couldn't believe his ears, "WHAT SOLDIERS?" Goudier explained.
"Goddammit it to hell!" snarled Roark "Listen, the plan is shot to hell, our best scenario is to blow the mountain using the self-destruct, we've studied the meteorological reports, the venting of the Bioweapon should disperse across the French, Swiss and Italian Alps and possibly further with the current conditions, use what you can! And Goudier…?"
Jorg looked at the screen, "Kill that bitch!" He ended the call.
Goudier looked at the technician beside him, "Get me Hurwitz in the Control Room…"
…..
Back in the Contessa's chambers the men had gathered quickly around the console, Sean had Maksym and Stanislav watch the still unconscious Aurora and Janos. It hadn't taken them long to figure out what Robie had escaped from.
Right now, he was bent over the keyboard searching for the earlier connection he had found to the outside, he quickly realised his earlier contact had imparted a lot of information, he smiled. That explained the cavalry.
Erik had sat down beside him, idly he looked at the other screen, he noticed the video catalogue, what's this all about he wondered, he hit the first file, his eyes widened in shock as he watched the torment of Robie, he tried to click out but, in his haste, he hit the next file, this time he groaned as he watched Damien die.
There was a snort of anger behind him, he looked back to see the others looking over his shoulder, Sean Murphy looked furious, he pushed Erik out of the way, he selected the next link, it was Dario.
He never felt the MP5 cock in his hands, he turned enraged towards the two captives, he went to step forward but suddenly Robie was in front of him, he grabbed the barrel of the gun.
"You can't Sean! It'll be murder!" Murphy's eyes snapped to Robie's "It'll be justice!" He raged. He tried to pull the rifle loose, but Erik and Antoine had also blocked his way. "Listen to Robie, boss!" Brun pleaded, slowly Sean calmed down, they were right, he had to set an example. The Legion Code demanded it.
"They…were my friends, we came up together…. Jesus…", he turned away wiping tears from his eyes, he looked back, "…she butchered them…" The others looked away; they were furious too.
Robie looked at his friend, "trust me, I know…" And he did, didn't he, thought Sean, Christ, he'd been hanging there himself…
He sucked in a breath, he put the gun safety back on. "Where are we on making contact?"
"I found the link, just about to contact some old friends…" He raised a knowing eyebrow.
Sean, turned to the others, "Try and make yourselves useful, things are gonna get hectic around here soon enough…."
The men nodded; some had some very clear ideas about that.
…..
The Ghosts had been monitoring the situation closely, satellites had been trained in on the battle at the mountain, Oisin was beside himself as he watched from his office in Dublin, Roisin sat beside him, she was a nervous wreck too, the others were working on developing Sven's plan when a video link popped up.
Oisin's eyes nearly popped out of his head when the familiar features of Chuck and Sean filled the screen. From their perspective and anyone else's looking at the Ghosts online, all anyone could see and hear was shadowy figures and electronic voices.
"Holy Shit!" he exclaimed, "What the hell happened to you two…." Chuck cut him off, "Taranis, we're flying blind here, what's been going on?"
They listened as the big Irishman filled them in, "…we have a connection to Chen…he knows we know who he is, ONLY he knows….we had to explain that we 'knew' you as Rameau, expect to be questioned on that, use no names but you're Phobos…" Chuck nodded, the name had belonged to a minor league hacker, he'd passed away from an illness years before but only a select Hacker few knew that.
"Ok…patch us in…"
…..
Philip Chen had been closely monitoring events, providing real time data from the various European forces, Sabut had a seat nearby, but Philip could see he ached to be out in the field with Delon, hell he did too.
Suddenly his screen split, and the grim faces of the missing men looked back at him, "SIR!", he screamed over the din in the command centre, the rest of the room fell silent as Col. Sabut marched quickly to his side.
"Caporal Murphy, good to see you, where's Sergent Sastre?" The other man's face fell. "Dead sir. Caporal Barczar too… if it wasn't for Robie, we'd all be dead."
Sabut was horrified but they needed to press on, "I see you've freed yourselves?"
"Oui, what's happening Sir, we have access to the outside security feeds, why aren't our boys hitting back?"
Sabut frowned, "We have no idea what's in the outside storage tanks…." Robie's fingers flew on the keyboard, he hit send, "Coming to you now….".
There was a beep from Chen's screen, he clicked on it, Information appeared, "there's a manifest Sir, it's mostly inert chemical waste. Some are flammable but not dangerously so."
Delon's voice cut in on the network, "Caporal, what's your intentions?" Sean looked at Robie beside him, he scowled, "We're going to do some serious misbehaving in here. They butchered our friends, we're too few to hit them from the rear, so it's Plan B, we have an outline worked out with Robie's 'friends', Sir."
General Duvall felt it was time to make his presence known, "What exactly do you mean, Plan B, Caporal?"
"Mon General, we're gonna take the pumping stations here and get every last ounce of that weapon rerouted back here."
"And then….?"
"Then General, you're gonna blow this base to hell and gone…."