Beck raised her hands in surrender and allowed the Sig Sauer to slip from her grasp. It thudded to the concrete but remained within her reach.
He held his aim for a moment and then lowered his own weapon. “Every time we meet, you aim a gun at my face.”
She smiled. “Sorry about that. I heard someone coming and thought you might be whoever was responsible for…this.” She gestured to the carnage that surrounded them.
He regained his feet and held out a hand for her. She took it, and he pulled her from the ground. She stood at least five inches taller than he did, and she was still every bit as beautiful as he remembered. He hadn’t seen her since she’d fled the scene of Chess Team’s confrontation with Manifold Genetics at the Alpha facility in New Hampshire. She’d helped defeat her employer, but had probably feared prosecution. The team would have vouched for her, and Deep Blue would have likely pardoned her, but not even the team knew their handler was the U.S. President at the time. But Knight had thought of the tall woman with “girl next door” good looks on occasion, wondering what happened to her. He’d hoped to see her again, but envisioned the reunion a bit differently than this.
He looked her over. She wore black BDUs that reminded him of those he had seen the SAS, Britain’s Special Air Service, use. She pulled her brown hair back into a ponytail and secured it with a black band.
“So you don’t know what happened here?” he said.
“No, I only got here a few minutes ago.”
He wanted to trust her, but he kept his weapon ready at his side as a precautionary measure. “Why are you here, Beck? What the hell is going on?”
She stretched out her arms and rotated her neck. It issued an audible pop. “I was forcefully recruited by a team of British commandos for my knowledge of Manifold. We were supposed to meet up with an American team from Delta, but the Americans abruptly broke contact. So a group of three SAS commandos and I went on a little recon mission.”
“Where are the others from your group?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I was on point. Then, I turned back and they were gone. Vanished. No sound, no screams, no gunfire. Three men…just gone.”
He thought of how quickly Mueller had disappeared. But the pilot was at least able to get off a few shots. “Okay, that’s explains why you’re here, but not what the hell is going on. Why are any of us here in the first place?”
A strange expression filled her face. “You don’t know?” Then she looked him up and down, taking note of the expensive suit. “And what are you wearing?”
He sighed. “I’ll explain later. Right now, I need answers. Unfortunately, I only know what I’ve gathered for myself. I was basically shanghaied into this mess and was told that I’d receive a full briefing once I arrived here.” He held out his arms at his side. “As you can see, that’s not going to happen.”
She chuckled and shook her head, but there was no happiness or humor in the gesture. “I guess I’ll be the first to welcome you to hell, Knight. Why don’t we get away from this smell and head back into one of the offices. Then, I’ll explain what I know.”
He nodded his assent, and they headed back toward the door to the office area. He tried to keep his eyes from the mutilated bodies of the fallen soldiers as he went. He ignored the implications of the scene and what it meant for their chances of survival on this mission.
His hand reached out for the handle of the office door, but he jumped back as a frantic voice crackled to life on his radio. In a voice punctuated by fear, Ling said, “Knight, we saw it—the monster. It’s coming toward you.”
11.
Knight scrambled among the bodies, searching for anything that they could use against the behemoth headed their way. A tarp hid a large stack of wooden boxes in the center of the staging area. He pulled the tarp free and scanned the boxes for any labels. He smiled at a symbol etched into the side of one of them. The box carried no other markings or labels, but the small symbol gave him all the information he needed. The symbol was that of a chess piece. A knight.
He pulled a four inch folding knife from his pocket and snapped it open with a flick of his wrist. He used it to pop the top off the crate. Inside was a set of weapons and ammunition: a Barrett XM500 .50 caliber sniper rifle, a fully auto version of the FN FS2000 for close quarters combat and an AA12 fully automatic shotgun loaded with FRAG-12 high-explosive armor-piercing shells. He assumed that he had Deep Blue to thank for the specially selected equipment.
A line of three black Humvees sat untouched along the back wall of the warehouse. He directed Beck to grab an end of the crate, and they quickly loaded the ordnance into the first of the Humvees.
“You’re driving,” he said. Then he moved toward the first of garage doors and found the button to open it. He pressed it, and the massive door began to slide up.