Prologue
____Indian-Pacific Ocean Border, 20:00, Mission Briefing
____Commander Grimm stepped into the briefing room, eyeing a map of the northern coastline on one end of the room and a group of men on the other. He managed a half smile with a tint of grimness befitting of his name before speaking, “Y’know, I always say there’s enough bullets to kill every man, woman, and child in the goddamned world. Isn’t that right, Sgt. Header? Don’t I say that all the time?”
____One of the older men in the group, a wrinkled but muscular fellow, nodded, “That’s correct sir.”
____Grimm continued, “But we don’t live in the age of guns ‘n’ bullets anymore. I’m talking the nuclear age. To be fair, it’s been that way for a better part of the century, and we haven’t seen a whole lot of nuclears in our age, thank God. I intend to keep it that way.”
____He tapped the map, or rather the screen the map was projected on. Instantly the image changed to a picture of a large cylindrical building on the water as well as an image of a man and a large missile.
____“This is Dr. Albrecht Ruxus.” Grimm introduced, “Scientist. Former member of both NASA and DARPA. Not a good guy to fall off the grid. He resurfaced around the same time certain nuclear ingredients went missing around two months ago. Y'all remember that fiasco. Our intelligence has confirmed his presence in this area.”
____One of the younger men, Corporal Thorn, spoke up, “You’re talking about a dirty bomb?”
____“I wish we were talking an RDD here, blondie.” Grimm answered the Corporal, “We have reason to believe this man has access to a Fission Weapon and may very well use it.”
____“I don’t see why not.” Another man said jokingly, “We’re all dead men walking, right? Lumis’ Comets and all.”
____Several people laughed but Grimm wasn’t amused, “I don’t give a sh*t about no comets. This is here and now. We’ve been working our asses off tracking these materials and this man. Now we’ve found them both at this research plant. Oceanic Observatory, Collis Corporation. We received a report that they went dark about four hours ago. You pukes are the best we could assemble in the short notice. Both General Tandom and I will be overseeing the mission.”
____He tapped the screen again, pointing to the building, “Intel has confirmed that both Ruxus and that bomb are here. Find them and stop them. Now that bomb could be remotely activated, so we go quiet. We need confirmation that the device isn’t active before we can blow it to hell. Two teams from the water, two sniper drones from the air. No one finds out. And take Dr. Ruxus alive. He has a lot of explaining to do. Any questions?”
____“No sir.” In unison.
____“Good. Ain’t got time for questions. Now as I always say to the Mrs. ‘suit up and get wet’. Move!”
____“Sir yes sir.” Dismissed.
____Thirty five minutes later.
____Thorn crept silently out of the water, gun pointed up at the man standing on the grate above him. Others followed him out of the murky depths, Lt. Moore to his left and Sgt. Header to the far right. The Sergeant quietly placed two charges of semtex on the grate above and nodded to Moore, the others doing the same.
____“We’re good. On yours.” The Lieutenant whispered.
____Commander Grimm reaffirmed the command before turning to two tech guys at the nearby computers, “Roger that. Are the drones in position?”
____One of the two nodded, “Mini-Me 1 and 2 are good. Fire on your command.”
____“Confirmed. Fire.” Grimm answered, “Weapons free, Moore.”
____“Weapons free.” Moore relayed.
____Thorn nodded and loaded his weapon, a silenced M4A1 with a hybrid sight attached to the rail. The black carbine was compact and to-the-point; he’d always admired its simple efficiency. The floor above them housed around a dozen or so armed combatants. None of them knew.
____A faint buzzing could be heard above them, followed by the sound of silenced gunshots and shattering glass. Two then four of the hostiles fell dead, blood dripping down onto Thorn’s head from above.
____“Now!” Moore commanded. The entire group dipped down into the water and the semtex exploded, shattering the floor above them. Thorn and Moore crept back up, lifted up to the floor above by those below them.
____Now every second counted. Thorn took half a deep breath as he did before every breach. What followed would only take as long as that missing half breath. And this was no mission to mess up on.
____The remaining eight hostiles were either confused or facing the broken windows, looking in the wrong place for their attackers. The drones had already moved on. Thorn leveled his rifle at the closest one to not have his back turned and fired. Single shot. He dropped the combatant and moved on to the next one, the silenced shots coming one after another. Smoke drifted up from the weapon’s barrel and water dripped down off its body. They all had waterproof variants of their weapons, soaked and unhindered as they fired.
____“Heads up, Header!” Moore shouted now that the cover was blown, reaching down and yanking an AA12 shotgun out of the water below. He lobbed the weapon over to Header, who caught it and opened fire on the remaining foes without a second thought. The fully-automatic bursts of fire leapt out of the black shotgun’s dripping barrel and tore through whoever was still standing. Despite also being silenced, a shotgun was still a shotgun, the loud bursts of fire sounding like a pounding piston.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
____Thorn ignored the commotion as enemies fell all around him, keeping his weapon trained on the only staircase leading up. After a few seconds another hostile came down the steps, glancing around to see what the racket was and confusedly holding a radio to his masked lips. Thorn squeezed the trigger the second he turned the corner. The man’s head kicked back, spewing blood onto the wall just before he collapsed.
____“Clear.” Thorn called out, slowly advancing to the staircase. Header took the lead just in front of him, reloading his AA12 and crouching down low. Behind them Moore stooped down and began helping the rest of the squad out of the water and onto the observatory.
____“Good.” Comm. Grimm’s voice replied in his earpiece, “Sweep the next floors. Quickly. They realize something’s up and we’re through.”
____“Affirmative. Sweeps. No survivors.” Moore replied, “Give us eyes, Mini-Me’s.”
____“Take point with me, kid.” Header told Thorn, beginning to ascend the stairs.
____“As long as you leave some for me I’m game.” Thorn replied, staying right behind him, “Moore: Header and I are spearheading. Follow up.”
____“Gotcha. Teams of two.” The Lieutenant replied.
____Thorn and Header moved onto the next floor, swiftly moving down a long hall with a slight curve to it. Giant windows were on the left, the faint image of the tiny flying drones barely visible as they watched. On the right were doors. Thorn took point, Header peeking into the open ones and leaving the closed ones for the rest of the squad. Anyone he saw he promptly killed with his AA12, leaving blood and clusters of bullet holes on the metal walls. The drones spotted anyone ahead of Thorn and called them out or shot them dead for him. The sounds of muffled cries and silenced gunshots quietly filled the air as they did their bloody work.
____“Tangos down. Floor cleared.” Moore repeated as Thorn and Header neared the next stairwell, “Keep moving.”
____“Roger.” Thorn whispered into his radio as he peeked around the corner, “Clear. Moving on up.”
____The next floor was very much like the first, the two moving forward and clearing room after room with cold efficiency. Each hostile was the first to discover their presence there, the next one always none the wiser.
____The staticy loud narration of a television set greeted them at the last room of the floor, its noise having helped mask their approach. Thorn peeked as far around the corner as he dared and listened for the voices of the hostiles inside. One, two, four, six different guys in here at least.
____The television was on the news, speaking English with three sets of subtitles. Ugh. Thorn hated the news. They were still talking about Lumis’ Comets.
____“See, these meteors are unlike anything we’ve ever encountered before. Most asteroid bodies will move at speeds ranging from anything between twenty-five thousand miles per hour to a hundred and sixty thousand miles per hour.”
____“That’s pretty speedy, wow!”
____“To us, perhaps, but it’s only average to many asteroids. Lumis’ Comets are distinctly fast compared even to those measures. Imagine the difference between a child lobbing a baseball to a professional pitcher.”
____“Any idea what made them that way?”
____“We don’t know the origin for sure but we’ve theorized that they must’ve somehow been caught between two very strong gravitational pulls. That sped them up to the point where they broke free of the pull and went slingshotting on their way.”
____“And is there anything you can do about these? People are concerned.”
____“We’ve been consistent in assuring everyone that we are doing everything we can, working around the clock, to find ways to ensure that Earth is not the final destination. I can tell you that there’s nothing to worry about.”
____“Thank you for your time. In similar news, unrest around the globe has continued to mount as many take to the streets to protest the Comets and demand governments take action.”
____Thorn smirked as he listened. They had no idea about the nuke.
One panic at a time, I suppose, he reasoned. But enough of that. He nodded to Header, took out a flashbang and twitched his hand six times. Header nodded and readied his shotgun.
____Thorn threw the grenade into the room, the flashbang bouncing off the TV screen and casting the entire area in a blinding white light. Header turned the corner and opened fire. In a second the TV was the only voice in the room anymore, the Sergeant stepping back out and glancing over his shoulder back at Thorn.
____“Seven.” He said.
____ “Quiet guy, then.” Thorn shrugged and stepped into the bloody room, “These muppets are clueless.”
____“Cheap PMC, most likely. Local.” Header grunted, “Betcha they don’t even know what cargo they’re protecting.”
____“Maybe they think we’re all doomed already.” Thorn joked, tapping the staticy television with his rifle, “Perhaps the mad doctor is desperate to see us go out on our own terms. With a bang.”
____Lt. Moore caught up, peeking into the room and frowning, “Less talk, you two. We’re on the clock. Move it.”
____“Yessir.” Thorn and Header replied with such immediacy they spoke in unison.
____“Moore, speed it up.” Commander Grimm radioed in, “We’ve got several incoming aircraft. Getaway craft, more likely than not. I’ve got gunships on standby so we can take them down if necessary, but we
need Ruxus alive. He does not get off this observatory in any helicopter but our own. Got it?”
____“Yes, yes sir.” Moore answered, snapping his fingers at Thorn and Header, “We’re short on time. Ass, gear, now.”
____The next few floors came fast and efficient. Thorn moved with a brisk pace, not stopping when shooting and making his way to the next staircase. With a quick flick of his weapon Thorn switched his hybrid sight to the scope. Swiftly pulling the trigger twice he dropped two hostiles down the hall. They collapsed to the ground, limp trigger fingers still gripping their Uzis.
____“Clear.” He said, lowering his weapon.
____“Clear.” Moore reaffirmed from the back, “Last floor, move it!”
____Thorn and Header quickly ascended the stairs, weapons at the ready. The last room opened up in front of them, the entire floor a single open space. As one would expect from an observatory, it was a dome-shaped roof with a single rectangular opening on one end. Any telescope had since been dismantled, a large missile in its place at the far end of the room. There the bomb sat, active or not Thorn didn’t know. Not that it mattered. If it went off who knew what would happen next in the panic.
____By the missile stood a single person. Even from here it was clear: they had found their man. Thorn and Header raised their guns and advanced quickly as the rest of their squad entered the room as well.
____“Dr. Albrecht Ruxus!” Header called out, training his M16 on the man and quickly starting to move in on him, “Don’t move a muscle. We’re here to bring you in.”
____The Dr. turned and faced the squad as they fanned out. He was a late middle-aged man with wild blonde hair. A matching crazed look shone in his aging eyes. He held a small detonator tightly in one hand, thumb alarmingly close to the trigger. One wrong move, one bad flick of the wrist…
____“Don’t you try to stop me!” Ruxus shouted, backing toward the control panel by his missile, “This has to happen! You short-sighted fools don’t have a damn clue what you’re doing!”
____“Don’t do it, Doctor!” Thorn yelled, circling around the opposite end as Header, “Let’s just talk things over.”
____Ruxus looked from one soldier to the next, “It’s worth it. It’s worth it!”
____The sound of helicopter blades began to fill the air. Thorn quickened his pace, Header closing in from the other side. Moore stayed in the back while the rest of the squad closed in on the Doctor, M16 aimed directly at his wrist.
____Ruxus pointed to Thorn, “Not a step closer! Listen, you don’t understand. The world is ending! And few survivors are better than none!”
____“Talk to me, Ruxus.” Thorn said, eyeing Header nearing the hysterical Doctor from behind, “Tell us what’s up. Just talk to us.”
____Ruxus’ eyes darted back and forth between all the advancing soldiers, “D-Don’t try to con me. Not a step closer, goddamn it! You’re clueless goddamned pawns!”
____“Shaking hands’re slipping, Thorn!” Commander Grimm’s voice shouted in Thorn’s ear like a drill sergeant conscious, “Subdue the bastard before it’s too late!”
____“Okay, okay, I’ve stopped.” Thorn lowered his weapon and held his hands up, backing away from the Doctor, “Just talk to me.”
____“Lower all your weapons and I’ll talk.” Ruxus replied, “All of you…”
____“Do not lower your weapons.” Grimm shouted, “Drones do not have clear sight of you. Do not chance it on this madman!”
____Thorn glanced at the observatory ceiling. It was a dome of thin triangular panels. No good line of sight into the opening with the missile in the way. The drones’ snipers were useless here.
____“I…” Thorn said, glancing from the ceiling to the detonator to the others.
____“None of you knows what needs to be done.” Dr. Ruxus condemned, “You’ll all thank me, one day, from here or from heaven.”
____He raised his arm. The second his limb moved Thorn raised his M4 with equal speed. Neither of them were fast enough to outmaneuver what happened next.
____BZZZTZZZTZZT!!! Heavy-duty machinegun fire tore through the roof of the observatory, high-caliber bullets piercing Ruxus’ torso and tearing him apart.
____“Aagh!” The Doctor fell to the ground in shock, the detonator rolling out of his severed hand. In an instant he was gone, torn asunder by the rain of lead.
____“Get down!” Header shouted, the squad scattering from the bullets like cockroaches from the light. Thorn hit the dirt and looked skyward as more gunfire tore the roof apart. From the gaping holes in the destroyed ceiling he saw armed helicopters flying around. Men equipped with military-grade weaponry sat on the sides of the aircraft, their legs dangling in the air. He didn’t recognize them, so they weren’t backup, but they did just stop Ruxus so he was nonetheless confused.
____The helicopter swerved in the air, allowing one of the men on the side to face them. He held up a megaphone and shouted over the roar of the blades, “You’re a touch slow!”
____This man Thorn recognized. Pale and skinny, with long messy black hair and an equally unkempt goatee. Alex Silvin. One of the most wanted terrorists in the world. He had a complicated history with Thorn. Yet he seemed so minor compared to this nuclear dilemma. His being here seemed unreal, but Thorn collected himself and got back to his feet. He had to be connected, and perhaps he could explain what Dr. Ruxus refused to.
____“Why are you here!?” He screamed at Silvin, the helicopter flying down low as he called out.
____“What?!”
____“Why are you here!?” Thorn repeated.
____“Ah, Private Christian Thorn! Or is it Corporal yet?” Silvin replied remarkably casually, grinning from behind the megaphone.
____Thorn kept his rifle at the ready, eyeing his comrades doing the same. Unfortunately their infantry arms would do little against these helicopters. They needed backup. Stall. He looked back to Silvin, “Why’d you stop Ruxus?!”
____“I wanted a medal. Where is it?” He answered with slimy sarcasm.
____“Why would a terrorist like you want to stop a nuclear launch?”
____“I need the bodies!” Silvin laughed, “’Sides, given our current state of overpopulation you could still count stopping a nuclear holocaust as terrorism, right?”
____“Gunships are on the way.” Commander Grimm relayed in Thorn’s earpiece, “Get out of there now!”
____Silvin continued, “Speaking of which, I’d like to keep this encounter off the books. Whaddaya say?”
____He dropped the loudspeaker and leaned back, one of the men beside him replacing the discarded mike with a P90 submachine gun.
____“Go!” Thorn shouted, everyone in the squad turning and bolting for the stairs. Immediately the helicopters opened fire, bullets piercing the roof and pelting the floor all around them.
____“Get to the water—it’s the safest place here!” Moore instructed, waiting for everyone in the squad to get past him before continuing further down the observatory. The helicopters swerved around the building, firing through the windows. Others hovered near the roof, the soldiers aboard rappelling down.
____“Contact!” Four kicked their way through the windows, raising their AK47 rifles and opening fire as Thorn and the others came down the hall.
____“Incoming!” Thorn ducked into one of the rooms along the hall, bullets peppering the door as he narrowly evaded the gunfire. Header barreled in after him, switching to his AA12 shotgun and breathing heavily.
____“You hit?” Thorn shouted over the deafening unsilenced gunfire.
____“Ol’ Faithful bites another bullet.” Header tapped his vest, morbidly grinning, “You have to engage in a dialogue with the guy?”
____“Ruxus or Silvin?”
____“Either or.”
____“I was stalling.”
____“Is that what you call it? You got another flashbang?”
____“Yup.” Thorn took out his last grenade, throwing it out into the hall. With another burst of light Header jumped out of the room, making short work of all four enemy combatants with his full-auto shotgun.
____“Clear! Move!” The Sergeant shouted, ducking down and rushing further down the hall. Two more helicopters flew along the side of the building as they ran, lighting up the corridor with gunfire. Silvin leaned out from the side of one of them, smiling gleefully as he emptied the magazine of his submachine gun into the observatory with careless abandon.
____“Damn!” Thorn fired back, his assault rifle doing little against the aircraft.
____BZZZT!! Another wave of gunfire punished him for standing still for a second, bullets tearing through the wall and running right up one of his legs.
____“Aargh!” Thorn screamed, collapsing. Moore was quick to rush to his side, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him away from the windows. The Lieutenant aimed his M16 carefully and fired the grenade launcher under its barrel. The small explosive flew right out and struck one of the helicopters head on, quite a shot. It burst into flame and fell from the sky.
____“Can you walk, Corporal!?” Moore shouted at Thorn, reloading.
____“I’m just grazed…” He tried to get back up but collapsed, biting his lip in pain, “One legged hop, maybe. Get me out of here.”
____“Hostiles!” Another soldier shouted over the gunfire, Moore grimacing and helping Thorn up. They slowly limped out of the hall and down the stairs. Thorn dropped his weapon and pulled his pistol out, aiming down the corridor as they moved. He shot two combatants as they rounded the corner. It was chaos in here, but manageable chaos. It was the helicopters he couldn’t do anything about.
____Another of the aircraft drifted around in the air, tearing the whole floor apart with gunfire. Moore muttered sh*t and various other things under his breath, struggling to aim his M16 while supporting Thorn. The helicopter faced the two of them.
____BANG!!! A missile flew out and struck the chopper, destroying it instantly. From the darkness flew in two gunships, attack helicopters, opening fire upon the enemy aircraft with little discretion.
____“SuperCobras” Comm. Grimm ordered, “Tear these little sh*ts apart.”
____The enemy choppers flew back away from the observatory, spraying the gunships with bullets. What it did to the infantry it didn’t to the attack helicopters, however. The gunships punished the smaller helicopters commitment to battle with more missiles.
____“Hot damn! Now let’s go!” Header shouted as he reentered the hallway, rushing to Moore’s side and helping him get Thorn down to the bottom floor.
____“Thanks.” Thorn muttered to his comrades, gritting his teeth as pain swelled in his leg. He was fortunate it was still attached after that encounter, but it made up in discomfort what it lacked in severity.
____“You’re lucky, kid.” Header said, “You live another day.”
____Another helicopter fell to the gunships, men leaping from the vessel as the pilots were torn apart by gunfire. Silvin watched from his helicopter, frowning, throwing his P90 overboard and turning to the pilots, “Well, sh*t. There goes all the fun. Okay, get us out of here. Elias will want a report.”
____The last few helicopters turned and flew back toward the coast, leaving the ones still fighting with the SuperCobras to their fate.
____Commander Grimm removed his headset and sighed, rubbing his face.
____“Last of the hostiles are down, sir. We’ve got four men KIA and three injured. Should we pursue the retreating aircraft?”
____“No, no.” Grimm answered, “Can’t blow our cover. Cover the observatory and send a team to secure the bomb. Nobody knows this happened at all. Got it?”
____“Yes sir.”
____Grimm sat down and leaned as far back as the stiff chair would let him, “Get General Tandom on the line. Tell him Ruxus didn’t make it. And that the crisis has been averted. God forbid we can go another day without fear of nuclear annihilation.”
____“Yes sir.”
____The radio sputtered back to life, Grimm picking the headset back up and listening.
____“Sir, this is Lieutenant Moore. We’re clear. Mission accomplished.”
____“Good.” Grimm said, “Get back to base. You boys need a break.”
____Header’s radio chimed in, “And you, sir?”
____Grimm smirked, “No sir. There ain’t never a break at the top. No rest for the wicked, I guess.”
____He glanced at the control panel in front of him, wishing here was a glass of liquor sitting there just waiting for him.
No sir, he thought,
No nuclear war today, but our work here is far from over. I’ve got a feeling.