Chapter 115: In the Depths

Rachel had barely set foot on the ground that she removed on the spot the rope around her waist. The whole climb down had been an experience she didn’t want a repeat of.

Rick's final plan had been different from what he originally wanted to go with. He had carried Rachel on his back while the crates were hanging low, attached to his own midsection by the rope. More than climbing down, he had simply slid down against the thick power cable against the wall. They must have gone a hundred feet down within ten minutes. To say it was unsafe was an understatement.

“Unless we have to.” Rick was also untying himself down.

Ignoring her protesting glare because they both knew she would do it again in that case and as such it had no effect, Rachel kicked open the crate with their clothes for their clandestine operation.

Midnight pants and long sleeve tops with turtle necks was what she pulled out first. The urge to throw Rick's own clothes to his face had been tempting but there was no time for this. Not like he would have reacted, she knew. Her partner was already with his head on what they were about to do and there was no place for fun or relaxing. A mindset she immediately got into, like usual.

Boots on their feet and laced, next came the tactical vest. Once those were on, the real fun began for both of them.

The weapons crates were opened and it didn’t feel like Christmas. For Rick at least. Rachel was very happy with what Teresa had packed.

“Ohhhh. Ferfrans Soar,” Her hand went to grab a magazine. “30 round mags! Damn, the Major totally spoiled us on this one.”

Rick picked a second for himself and loaded it. “Speak for yourself. I’ll pay for a shotgun even if it’s a Winchester 1400.”

“No, you won’t.” Instead of filling her pockets with magazines, Rachel picked a roll of tape in the other case and began taping two mags together. “That shotgun is the worst ever made.”

Rick conceded the point about the 1400 but not the rest of his words. “Maybe but a .12gauge slug is a .12gauge slug. It would do more damage than whatever this rifle can do.”

While Rachel was occupied with the tape, Rick set aside the carbine and checked the rest of the weaponry. “We got silencers for them and for the guns—” He stopped talking when he saw something he wouldn’t have expected to see in normal times. As it was an undercover and infiltrating operation, silent weapons were preferable over loud ones. Yet right under his eyes was perhaps the loudest ‘small’ caliber ever.

“What is it?” Rachel finally spoke up when it was clear that Rick was really speechless.

Rick plunged his hand inside the crate and pulled out a huge metallic silver revolver. “The most beautiful gun I have ever seen, Rach.” He spoke with emotion. A rare occurrence on a mission.

“Holy… is that S&W500?! Why did the Major put that of all things in the crate?”

“In case we encounter something our pea shooters can deal with. If we’re ever confronted with that kind of thing then our cover is blown either way.”

Not thinking twice, he tucked the most powerful gun in the world inside the empty holster on the left of his chest after making sure it was fully loaded. Not for the first time he was impressed by Teresa’s preparedness. There were not less than five half-moon speedloaders for it, already full of bullets. They all ended inside a back pouch.

While Rachel was choosing a sidearm between a Five seveN and a MK23, Rick busied himself with the tape. When he was down he picked a MK23 without even sparing a glance to anything else. Never again will he go back to 9mm. A decision he made years ago and never thought about changing. Once the sound suppressors were added it was time to grab some knives.

Rachel desabused him of it. “There aren’t any.”

“... You’re kidding, right?” Rick gave her a flat tone. It was inconceivable for him to not have bladed weapons in the whole package.

“No.”

Her tone was utterly serious. Resisting the urge to sigh his frustration away, he put back up the lid of both crates and put them to the side against the wall.

“Any soldier in here is working for Wilson?” He checked his rifle. “Kill first, questions never?”

Rachel’s answer was a simple nod of agreement. It might not be true. They may be soldiers who simply obeyed orders and didn’t know any better but it was too big a risk to not deal with them that way. It was a harsh and cold decision, perhaps even cruel, but when a possible war with China was at stake, it was worth it.

Besides, with all of what Wilson did so far it was doubtful they were not somehow involved. It was unlikely the Secretary of Defense would have trusted the security of the site to people he couldn’t control in some way.

Ready to go, they move forward. Rick taking the lead and Rachel behind him, slightly to the side to offer support if needed, walked towards the door at the other end of the corridor. From the simple look of concrete the wall had, odds were security wasn’t very sophisticated. Not when the underground complex was under a US Air Force base. Somehow bio-terrorist could be surprisingly cheap sometimes.

The door didn’t have any lock. Standing in front simply opened it, like the double door of a supermarket. Passing through, weapons raised and aimed, the pair cautiously advanced. There was no guard in sight to secure the entrance which was puzzling but didn’t stop them to think long about it. It was only when they crossed a third corridor and a third door revealed nothing different that they decided to communicate.

Rick was frowning. “What the fuck is this underground base?”

“One long corridor separated by unprotected doors. No guards… I’m starting to think we’re either not in the right place or—”

“We’re walking into a trap.” He finished Rachel’s line of thoughts. “Either way… If we don’t find even a lick of evidence here, not only us but everyone will be screwed.”

“Or President Graham decides to trust our guts and doesn’t go through with his scratching speech?” Rachel finished as they went through a fourth door. This time something was new. There was an intersection leading right and left. At the end of each path, was a door.

“Yeah, but let’s hope but hoping is not enough. Now… Which way?”

“We went forward so far and got nothing, so left?”

Not able to argue against her logic, Rick turned left. The way this underground facility had been built puzzled him greatly. It was nothing like the ones they had raided before. Of course, not all of them had been exactly identical in appearance and organization but they all had the same thing in common. The living quarters, the testing areas and the labs were all separated in three different sectors.

The pair was less than five feet away when the heavy door opened. Weapons already aimed and fingers on the triggers, Rick and Rachel didn’t shoot immediately. With how their progression had been so far, they couldn’t allow themselves to shoot a guard without getting information about this place first. It was something they both understood and why they didn’t fire as expected and thus without conversing with each other in any way. It may have cost them as the door revealed to people, guns in hands aiming at them.

The stand off could have been delicate if not for Rick and Rachel recognizing who were in front of them.

“Leon?”

The agent of the DSO frowned, his eyes already narrowed from the sudden encounter. To be fair, it wasn’t in his best interest to open fire. He was only wearing a shirt and a jacket for protection while Rick and Rachel were wearing tactical vests which could take a few shots. On top of that they had the advantage in fire power with their assault rifles against simple pistols.

“I’m really popular these days if everyone knows my name.”

Rick removed his off hand from the bottom of his carbine’s barrel to lower his hood and reveal his face. Surprise crossed Leon's face.

“Ri—”

“Roach. I’m on the job, so it’s Roach.” Rick quickly interjected.

“Right. On the job. I thought you were… retired?” Leon chose his words carefully. If Rick and whoever was with him were hiding their identity then it wouldn’t do to expose then or at least Rick.

“Considering the shit our country is in, President Graham thought you could use some help in your investigation. Someone from outside the secret service and the White House he could trust since, you know, it’s full of moles and traitors.” Rick aimed his weapons at the woman with his old friend. For good reason, it was none other than Shen Mei.

Leon immediately understood the underlying talk. “She’s with us.”

“Oh, she’s with you, alright.” Rachel finally spoke up. “But she’s also with Wilson.”

Shen Mei protested on the spot, scowling. “I am not!”

“Uh-huh.”

Leon confirmed it. “She’s not. Wilson is responsible for her brother’s turning into a zombie.”

“Penamstan, we know.” Rick replied. “We also know that she and Tyler had been working for Wilson—”

“We're here for them.” Leon quickly explained. “Wilson because he’s a traitor, Tyler because he wants not only to expose the US as using BOW but to make everyone in the world feel the terror he felt in Penamstan. He’s going to kill everyone at the peace talks. Shen Mei just wants to expose Wilson and his activities.”

Shen Mei chimed in. “We need to stop them both.”

“Exposing them is not going to happen.” Rick denied it on the spot. “That’s up to Graham to decide that. As for stopping them, we need Wilson alive.”

He lowered his gun and Leon did the same but both women did not. Rachel didn’t trust Shen Mei as far as she could throw her and was seriously considering just shooting her down right here and there.

“She was part of the outbreak at the White House.” She argued.

“And the destruction of an US submarine and the murder of its whole crew,” Leon piling crimes on the woman he was with surprised both Rachel and Rick. “but she has evidence to take Wilson down.”

“Give it.” Rachel ordered.

It wasn’t something Shen Mei was about to do. “Not until we stop them.”

Rick reached for Rachel’s rifle with his hand and lowered it down. She didn’t appreciate it. “You do remember that I’m a higher rank than you are, right?”

“We don’t have the time.”

Sighing, Rachel side stepped to open the way. “Lead the way. You first,” she said looking at the other woman.

Shen Mei didn’t need to be told twice and walk forward without a second thought. Rachel followed her closely. There won’t be any trust between the two anytime soon that’s for sure.

“Your friend?” Leon asked, wondering about Rachel's identity.

An assumption that Rick immediately corrected. “Partner.”

“So that’s liquid. Huh, didn't expect a woman from the reports I read.”

Making no comment about it, Rick focused on the matter at hand. When the group arrived at the intersection from earlier, Shen Mei immediately went left as if she knew where they needed to go. Mentally, Rick cursed. They barely went through the door when an alarm rang.

“Viral agent detected. Disposal and purge of all pods. Viral agent detected. Disposal and purge of all pods.”

Accelerating its pace, the group went through another and final door. They arrived in a vast circular area with multiple levels. All around were pods containing a human being. They were not only hooked against the wall but also around a pillar situated at the epicenter of the room. There must have been hundreds of soldiers experimented on by Wilson.

The purge the digitized voice talked about was liters upon liters of green liquid falling from many places like waterfalls into below where it pooled to make a small lake. From the way the pods, clearly made of reinforced glass and metal, were melting once plunged into the liquid it couldn’t be anything else but a very potent acid. Rick inwardly bet on Fluoroantimonic acid.

That was a dangerous room to be in.

‘At least the pods are being disposed of. The soldier could have been released and it would have been a nightmare.’ Rick thought as he and the rest of the group crossed a bridge.

That’s when they encountered the real danger.

Captain Jason Tyler was unrecognizable. He looked nothing like the man he used to be in appearance. Now, he looked more like a Tyrant-variant. He stood nearly eight feet tall, his massive frame filling the dim industrial space of the platform they were all standing in. The body was a grotesque patchwork of swollen, greenish-black flesh that looked perpetually wet and decaying yet as strong as still . Thick, cord-like veins bulged across its chest and arms, pulsing faintly beneath the surface, and a raw, fist-sized heart throbbed visibly in the center of its torso, glowing dull red. Just like any Tyrant without their limiter, making sure they kept a human look.

Before Shen Mei could say a thing, Rick and Rachel opened fire at once, aiming for the one weak spot in the middle of the chest.

“No!” Shen Mei tried to interpose, protecting Tyler but it was a grave mistake. The bioterrorist impaled her from behind through the chest and used her as a shield to protect his heart.

“Damnit!” shooting with his gun along Rachel and Rick, Leon didn’t restrain his anger at the stupidity and death of the woman.

When the trio was out of bullets and needed to reload, Tyler decided to retreat. He jumped onto the metal rail next to him, his heavy weight bending it down, and jumped to the uppermost level. A flick of his arm and Shen Mei’s body was flung away against an exterior wall. It fell down like a rag doll onto the metal of a platform.

“Opening of the pods. Release of subject 13 to 127.”

All the pods who were not yet dropped into the ascending acid down below, had a noticeable change. The red lights at the top of it turned to green and as if they had a hive mind, the modified soldiers inside opened their eyes.

The trio knew, without the need to speak, that things went from really bad to absolute worse.