Incursion

Chapter 14: Preliminaries

I grabbed a stack of boxes containing bottles of morphine from the back of the first truck holding the medical supplies to take down to the recreation centre’s basement. As I lifted it off the floor of the trunk, the weight of my load and the effort I was exerting sent a quick, stabbing pain coming from my barely recovering ribs. The sudden sensation caused me to stumble sideways and rapidly lose my balance.

Bracing myself to either fall over completely or simply damage the supplies I was carrying, I gasped minutely when a pair of hands caught my shoulders to steady me. The boxes in my arms teetered but ultimately stopped short of falling out of my arms.

Catching my breath, I felt the hands leave my shoulders and right after the weight in my arms lessened. The top two boxes I was carrying left my arms.

“Thought I told you to take it easy,” Knight said, his tone subtly taking on a mildly scolding turn. He peered at me from atop the boxes of morphine he had just taken off me.

I fought the urge to give him a sour look. “Am I supposed to just supervise you all while you bring the supplies down?”

Knight didn’t blink or flinch at my response. He bored his eyes into mine, masterfully doing so without exhibiting any emotions.

“Yes.”

“I can help, Knight,” I told him stubbornly, frowning. “I’m hurt, not useless.”

His eyebrows drew closer together. I prepared myself for the obvious dismissal coming.

“You’re right. That’s not what I meant to say.”

I blinked in surprise. Knight looked away for a moment, then glanced back at me. For just a fleeting second, his gaze seemed to lose some of its hardness.

“How about you grab those boxes of sterile gloves or the packs of paper napkins instead?” he asked me in a low voice.

Then without asking, he bent down so that the top of the stack of boxes in his arms was within my reach.

“Come on, give me that,” he said, “Just… stick to the light supplies.”

I stared at him dumbfoundedly for a few seconds, finding his subtle shift in tone toward me a bit disarming. Part of me wanted to dismiss this behaviour as condescension, but there was no hint of contempt or malice in his voice or expression. The look on his face – bland as it was – appeared sincere enough.

When I didn’t move for about four seconds, Knight gave a quiet sigh.

“Christina,” he said a bit impatiently, “These boxes aren’t getting any lighter.”

I came back to reality. Feeling a slight flush of embarrassment, I carefully perched the last box in my arms on top of the two he was already carrying. He then straightened up and began to turn toward the front door of the Copperfield | Mahogany Community Association Centre.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, not sure if he’d even heard me. I watched him walk up to the door and disappear inside the building.

Clearing my throat absently, I turned back to the trunk of the truck and instead grabbed some boxes of sterile medical gloves.

Shadow Team, with the help of two of the Canadian Army reservists, unloaded two trucks’ worth of medical supplies, weapons, and ammunition. We stacked the medical supplies against the wall with the reservists’ meager food supplies, then stacked the weapons and ammo on the opposite wall. When we were done, the first sublevel of the rec centre that served as the Army reservists’ living quarters slash infirmary slash makeshift comms centre looked rather packed and crowded, though Sergeant Damon Burke didn’t seem to care. The man looked borderline ready to give each of us Shadows a hug.

“Damn,” he said in awe, putting his hands on his hips as he gave the haul a cursory glance. “You guys weren’t kidding. This is a lot of help.”

“Have a look-see through what we brought,” Knight told Burke, gesturing toward the medicine and ammo. “If there’s anything you need more of, or if there’s anything that’s not here, let us know.”

“This is just half of what we said we’d bring you, Damon,” Genel said to the sergeant. “Doesn’t look like you have much room for more on this level, though.”

Burke nodded. “Yeah. We should be good for a week at least. When we need more, I’ll contact you guys. Seriously, thank you for all this.”

Knight gave a nod. “Sergeant, my team and I have something we want to discuss with you… preferably in private.”

I glanced at Knight, who kept his gaze on Sergeant Burke.

The sergeant raised his eyebrows, glancing at the rest of us before nodding to Knight. “Okay… I don’t think the five of us can fit in my small office. We can talk in the basement level below.”

“That will do.”

I glanced at Genel and Josh, who looked as clueless as I was. Nonetheless, we all followed Knight and Burke a couple of flights of stairs until we made it to the multi-purpose hall right below the one the reservists were using as a base. As Sergeant Burke had promised, he’d cleared this space for any prisoners we’d eventually liberate from camps.

I sighed. When will we make a move to actually rescue them? I wanted to ask Knight for a timeline, because thus far he seemed to be stalling on sabotage and rescue ops.

Once we were all gathered in the empty room, Sergeant Burke glanced around at us again. “So… what did you want to talk about?”

Knight crossed his arms over his chest. “Good news first before I ask for favours. We heard back from our superiors today. They had news regarding reinforcements.”

“Really?” The sergeant’s eyes widened in surprise and interest. “Your bosses are Army?”

“No. But they are in talks with yours.”

“All right. What’s the word?”

“A detachment of about one-hundred thirty Army personnel are slated to arrive in the city on the thirteenth. Barring complications.”

I glanced at Genel and Joshua. The team’s sniper was nodding slightly, but the weapons specialist looked a bit lost; was there something he and I had missed?

As if catching our looks of confusion, Knight glanced at me and Josh. “Sorry. Angel and Goliath, our line to HQ was restored around noon today. Archer and I spoke with a chairman who told us about the news.”

Josh nodded slowly.

“I see,” I said tentatively.

Knight turned back to Burke, “It’s going to be too difficult to hide one hundred or so friendlies, so we’ll have to see if we can make the last push to free Calgary by that time.”

Sergeant Burke nodded, looking contemplative. “Okay. Regardless, this is good news. We really need those numbers.”

“There’s more, Sergeant.”

“More good news? Please.”

Knight nodded again. “A three-man team of CSOR operatives are on their way here now. We don’t have an ETA yet, but once we get one, we’ll pass along info to you. Can you accommodate them here?”

“Special Forces? Well, I wouldn’t say no to help from those guys. Sure, if they don’t mind bunking with us, send them our way.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Knight said, then took an audible breath. “Now, I’m going to ask you for a favour. I hope you’ll be receptive to it.”

I glanced at Josh and Genel again. This time, the both of them looked to be in the dark with regards to what Knight was about to say.

The sergeant crossed his arms as well, staring intently at Knight. “Let’s hear it first, Knight.”

“Fair enough. All right: with the reinforcements coming in less than two weeks, I was thinking we’d need to act now to soften the opposition.”

This piqued my interest. It wasn’t something Knight had run by me, and from the looks on their faces neither had he told Josh or Genel. But if we were finally going to really start hurting the occupying forces, I wanted to know the details.

I kept my eyes on Knight as he talked to the sergeant, eager to learn more of what he had in mind.

“That seems logical,” Sergeant Burke agreed, “What do you need from me?”

“Are you aware that there is a detachment of US Army soldiers based in the South Health Campus nearby?”

“Yes. They’re our biggest worry right now, actually. They’re a bit close to this place for comfort. It’s no stretch to think they might encounter us on one of our supply runs to the nearby stores.”

“Well,” Knight said, “What if we give you, your men, and some prisoners some breathing room by taking out the detachment based in the hospital?”

Genel’s eyes widened noticeably. Josh visibly reared his head upon hearing this. I had to grudgingly admit that his proposition was larger than my expectation.

“Knight—” Genel began, looking concerned. Knight held up a hand to ask her to let him finish.

Sergeant Burke looked similarly skeptical of Knight’s idea. He didn’t seem opposed to it, though. “That would be… ideal. If it was doable, of course.”

“What I’m asking for is your assistance in ascertaining if it is doable.”

“What are you proposing, specifically?”

“Recon of troop strength within the SHC, locating the prisoners being held on site, and prepping the location for a possible assault,” Knight answered briskly. “I managed to infiltrate the hospital several days ago in search of intel, although I didn’t manage to learn much the first time. I’m unfortunately the only person in my team whose size doesn’t draw attention—”

Knight gestured toward me and Genel, who were more on the shorter side, then at Josh who was quite large and imposing. Sergeant Burke gave the three of us a passing glance, nodding silently to show he was following Knight’s line of thought so far.

“—so I’m going to ask if one of your soldiers could assist with our next operation,” Knight finished.

The sergeant considered it for a moment, then sighed. “I’ll do it.”

I sensed Genel stirring a little beside me though she didn’t say a word.

“Are you sure, Sergeant?” Knight asked, sounding subtly surprised as well. “I understand you’re in charge here, but if anything goes wrong—”

“I’m aware.” The sergeant sighed and nodded in resignation. “But right now I’m the most able-bodied of those of us here.”

Knight appeared to study the soldier’s face for a few seconds, then nodded slightly. “I understand. All right, what I’m proposing is a thorough recon of the South Health Campus, in addition to prepping for an assault and prisoner rescue.”

I glanced at Genel and Josh again, who both appeared rapt and keen to listen to what seemed to be a plan Knight cooked up without consulting any of us.

Knight held up a fist. “This next operation will have three objectives.”

He lifted his index finger. “The first is to effectively conduct a precise covert assessment of the troop strength of the US Army detachment stationed at the hospital.”

“Second,” he continued, lifting his middle finger up too, “Locate the prisoners on site.”

Knight lifted his ring finger next. “Lastly, prepare for a possible assault of the stronghold with the goal of rescuing any prisoners on site.”

He paused for a moment to glance at all of us gathered with him.

“The first objective is the most critical. We need to ascertain how much opposition we’ll be facing if or when we decide to go ahead with assaulting the hospital.”

Knight looked to Sergeant Burke. “Sergeant, I’ll need your help with reconning the South Health Campus. You and I are both built such that we won’t raise much suspicion when we don some disguises.”

The sergeant frowned thoughtfully, appearing to consider the idea, the nodded once. “I see what you’re saying. We’ll disguise ourselves and scope the site without the enemy being any the wiser to the intrusion.”

“That’s the idea. With regards to the second goal, we will need to locate vital equipment on site and prep to sabotage them. That means the main and backup power generators, plus the enemy’s long-range communications console or relay. Take out their power source and ability to call for help from their downtown bulk, then we can capitalize on their confusion to hopefully gain enough of an advantage to take out hostiles on site and secure the prisoners for evac.”

“Just like with the Stampede,” Josh commented aloud.

“Exactly. Except now we’re going to rescue not just one prisoner, but as many as we can.”

With this, I caught his eyes finding mine. He paused again, holding his gaze until I nodded with grim approval.

Finally.

The sergeant cleared his throat. “You guys wouldn’t happen to know how many prisoners to expect there, would you? We don’t have transport to bring more than a handful of prisoners back here. All we have here are a couple of Humvees.”

“The soldiers on site might have some of those troop or cargo trucks parked somewhere on the premises,” Genel chimed in, looking from Knight to the sergeant. “We’ll need to secure them, too.”

“Right,” I said, “And we need people who can drive however many we need to get everyone out.”

“Sergeant Burke, I know your men already have a lot on their hands here, but my team and I can’t do this by ourselves,” Knight told the soldier patiently and carefully, “Estimates of opposition strength aside, we’d be spread too thin trying to facilitate an evac of possibly dozens of prisoners.”

Sergeant Burke gave another resigned shrug and a light sigh. “I would assume so. How much support do you need?”

“Two or three of your best men would be enough, tentatively. My team and I can handle ourselves, but we can’t comfortably safeguard however many civilians on top of keeping ourselves alive.”

“All right, I’ll inform my men. See who’s the most fit for this op of yours. When do you plan on assaulting SHC?”

“If our initial recon proves an assault viable, then we can proceed with the attack in two days. Recon will be tomorrow night. Does that work for you?”

The reservist nodded. “I’m fine with that. So I’ll be working with you tomorrow, then?”

“Correct. We’ll divide sabotage prep and prisoner search between us,” Knight answered immediately. “Naturally my team will provide the explosive charges that we’ll plant in key points.”

“All right.”

Knight lifted his right sleeve to look at his TACPAD, then glanced back up at the sergeant.

“I’ll meet you here at 2200 tomorrow, Sergeant. We’ll head to the hospital after.”

“Okay, I’ll be ready to go.”





The evening after Shadow Team delivered the first batch of supplies to the 41 Canadian Brigade Group, the three other members of my team hovered close to me at the hangar as I was loading a couple of stock M4 carbines and half a dozen pocket-sized charges of C4 into the trunk of one of our armoured trucks.

Shutting the trunk, I turned to Christina, Genel, and Josh, who were all watching me as I was getting ready to leave.

“All right there, Ian?” Josh asked. Out of the four of us in the hangar, I was the only one dressed to leave Haven. Since this recon op accounted for only me and Sergeant Burke being in it, the rest of Shadow didn’t have a reason to come along. sported the same uniform that I held on to from the first reconnaissance operation several nights ago but kept the balaclava and helmet off for now.

“I’m good,” I replied, patting my Kevlar vest for extra M4 magazines. This was going to be a strictly recon op, so I wasn’t expecting to get into any long, protracted gunfights. Still, in the event things do get messy for whatever reason, I saw no reason to get killed while helpless.

“Feels like we’re sending you to the wolves again,” Christina said a little ruefully, giving me a beady and apologetic stare. “Are you sure about this?”

“Sure,” I said curtly. “Besides, I won’t be going alone. Sergeant Burke will be, too.”

I looked at Genel, who was cradling her elbows in her hands and giving me that ever-familiar look with her lips pursed tightly and her eyes looking intensely at me. Suppressing a sigh, I closed my eyes for a second before addressing her.

“I’ll watch out for the sergeant as much as I can. We’ll be splitting up to cover more ground, but he’s a soldier. He’ll be able to handle a bit of cloak and dagger.”

Genel’s lips twitched. “He’s not the only one I’m worried about.”

“Relax. Last time there were no complications.”

“Yeah, but… Ah, never mind. Sorry.”

Genel bowed her head, still looking as worried as usual whenever she couldn’t keep an eye on me. I’d already told her countless time throughout history not to worry so much about me but telling her one more time wouldn’t do anything to ease her.

Choosing not to pursue this conversation, I strode over to the driver’s side door of the truck I had chosen. I piled behind the steering wheel and gave my team one last look.

“You guys are free to be on your radios if you want to act like moral support,” I said a bit exasperatedly, particularly to Christina and Genel, who both looked a bit glum.

Josh smirked at me and thumped the hood of my truck gently. “Don’t worry, boss. I’ll keep the ladies occupied. We can play Spin-The-Bottle, Truth-or-Dare while we wait for you to get back.”

I had a mind to ask what sort of high school antics he was planning to use to distract the two women from my practically solo op, but instead of asking for details I chose not to comment on his remark.

“I’ll be back in a few hours if all goes well,” I told the three of them. “If the opposition is manageable and we complete our objectives tonight, we’ll all go tomorrow. Just relax for tonight.”

“Sure, Knight.” Christina shrugged.

I realized relaxing may be beyond Genel, so I slightly regretted my choice of a word. Still, when it comes down to it being neurotic was something only she could sort for herself.

Without another word, I started the truck’s engine and shut the door. The three Shadows stood aside to let my vehicle pass. I caught Josh waving me goodbye in the rearview mirror while the other two simply stared after me as I drove the truck up the ramp and into the January evening,





After picking up Sergeant Burke from the rec centre, I drove the truck into the grassy fields directly east of the hospital, parking it a good distance away from the floodlights along 45th Street.

Killing the engine, I glanced at the sergeant sitting beside me. He thumbed the safety of the M4 rifle in his hands.

“Sergeant,” I began, “I’ll head out first and secure you one of these uniforms.”

I tugged on the collar of the US Army fatigues I was wearing. Burke glanced at my clothes and asked, “How’d you get that in advance, by the way?”

“I infiltrated this place several days ago and took this from a guard.”

“Oh. Don’t you think I should come along with you? You might need some help.”

“I will, but not with this. Sit tight. I’ll be right back.”

I stepped out of the vehicle and made my way to the edge of the grassy field, then same as last time maneuvered over to the fields in front of the hospital’s southern side where there were significantly fewer floodlights. Just like last time, I took advantage of the gap between the lights and waited for another two-man patrol to pass by in the shadowed portion of Front Street.

As two soldiers passed the vehicle I was crouched behind, I poked a bit out from cover and aimed my suppressed HK45 pistol at the guard closer to my position. I fired a shot at the man’s head, careful to aim for the unprotected side of his face instead of the top of his head which was protected by a helmet.

As soon as the round felled the soldier’s skull, I burst out from cover. As the first soldier was falling to the ground, the second whirled in my direction.

Quickly stepping to the soldier’s left side to avoid being in the line of fire of his rising M4 carbine, I swiftly jabbed the tip of my pistol’s suppressor hard against his eye, successfully stunning him long enough for me to slip my free left hand between his outstretched arms to grab at the lower half of his face. At the same time, I slid the calf of my left leg against the back of his left leg. Using my calf as a fulcrum to sweep the man’s leg forward, I put part of my weight into shoving his head back and downwards, managing to send him tipping over backwards with force. After his back slammed into the pavement, I quickly pointed my pistol’s muzzle dead center at the soldier’s face and pulled the trigger once.

I hastily dragged both bodies into the same field that Christina and I used to hide our kills the last time, then proceeded to strip the second soldier of all his uniform and gear.

Five minutes later, I returned to the truck and handed Burke the fatigues, vest, balaclava, and helmet I took from the soldier I took down.

“Here, change into these.” I held out the uniform and gear to him through the front passenger door.

“That was fast,” he said, taking the clothes from me and giving me a slightly wary look.

“Just a couple of soldiers. Things won’t be as easy to pull off inside. Best if we can avoid engaging any more of them for now.”

Burke looked down at the equipment I looted, the back at me, his look of astonishment not abating. Nonetheless, he stepped out of the truck and changed out of his digital green fatigues and into the navy blue ones I provided.

We donned our respective face masks and helmets, then popped the trunk to retrieve our mini charges of C4. Since we were planning to leave them planted in enemy territory for at least a day before detonating them, I had Josh modify some existing charges in our inventory to be easier to hide and carry. The result of the modification was a few lower yield explosives, but I wasn’t concerned about the power of the blast. Placed close enough to its targets, these smaller charges were still enough to destroy generators and other equipment.

I took half of the C4 charges with me while Burke pocketed the rest.

“Sergeant, the generators that provide power to the building will most likely be in the underground parking levels,” I told Burke as I checked my M4. “I’ll leave them to you. I’ll look for the central comms equipment.”

The sergeant nodded. He shut the trunk and patted his vest for extra mags. “Roger that. Any idea where the prisoners will be?”

“None yet. I’ve been to the lobby and top floor of the hospital before, but the prisoners weren’t there at the time. I’ll give the other floors a pass.”

“All right. Leave the parking garage to me. Let’s go.”

He and I retraced my steps back to the front of the hospital, then we used the darkened portions of Front Street to approach the lobby entrance, pretending we were the duo I just took down. This time the guards out front let us through without a word, sparing me from the small talk I needed to engage in last time.

The lobby was more or less the same as it was as the last time: about twenty plus soldiers, including some hanging out by the Goodearth café. I knew that there would be more enemy personnel in the upper floors, though.

Burke and I walked a bit to the right of the receptionist’s desk, where there was a staircase leading down to levels P1 and P2.

He glanced at me surreptitiously. His tired eyes visible through the eye slits of his balaclava shot me a determined look.

“Good luck,” I murmured just loudly enough for him to hear. “Radio me if you find anything.”

“Roger, Knight. You watch yourself too.”

I nodded. We split up: Burke descended the staircase to the underground parking levels while I proceeded to the elevators by the radiology department. I pressed the ‘up’ button and waited for a car to arrive.

As I was making my way up to the seventh floor, my earpiece crackled and Burke’s low voice came through.

“Knight?”

“Go ahead.”

“I found the prisoners.”

“Where?”

“P1. The Forest Parking Section. There are about… fifty prisoners. Give or take. About a dozen guards keeping an eye on them.”

“Copy. See if there are more elsewhere down there. You find the generators yet?”

“Not yet. I’ll give P1 a sweep, then check P2. They have to be down here somewhere.”

“Keep at it, Sergeant. I’m on my way up to the seventh floor. I’ll have to check each individual floor and unit for the comms equipment. Knight out.”

I spent the next twenty minutes sweeping floors seven to two for the enemy’s central communications console, also keeping track of the enemy’s numbers on each floor. Each floor had roughly fifteen hostiles from what I could see, save for floors three and four which were empty. The second floor was nearly empty except for two guards standing outside the department set aside for hospital volunteers.

Knowing I probably wouldn’t be able to talk my way past the guards, I gave the two a wide berth and decided to try finding a different route into the volunteers’ department. If soldiers were guarding it, there had to be something important in there. I hoped it would be their comms centre.

As I retreated back to the middle of the second floor in search of an alternative to get into the restricted areas of the floor, Burke radioed me again.

“I’ve found the generators. They’re in P2. Only a handful of guards here. Five of them, servicing a couple of cargo trucks.”

Cargo trucks. Could be useful in transporting the prisoners out of here.

“Copy, Sergeant,” I replied, stopping in front of the door with the card reader. “Can you plant a C4 charge on the main and backup? Somewhere it won’t be easily noticed?”

“I’ll take care of them, Did you find their comms centre yet?”

“I’m on the second floor. I didn’t find anything related to long range communications in any of the upper floors. If they have one, it’ll be on this floor.”

“All right. Give me a few minutes to plant the charges.”

“Take care not to be seen doing so, Sergeant.”

“Got you, Knight.”

I located a floor map posted on the wall right outside the pre-admission clinic. Looking it over, I quickly identified that to the left of the clinic was a door to Outpatient Collections, which led to a somewhat central hallway that linked it to Pre-Admission, Parking and Protective Services, the Business Office, and finally Volunteer Resources.

I proceeded to the double doors marked ‘Outpatient Collections’, which had a keycard reader beside it. I reached into one of the pockets of the Kevlar vest I was wearing, pulling out the employee ID card I swiped the last time I was here. I held it up to the card reader.

Bip-Bip-BEEEEP.

The doors swung open inward. I stepped into the outpatient collections area, which was silent and deserted. From there, I took a right at the nearest opportunity and made my way east.

Not five minutes later, I made it to another double door locked by a card reader. The plaque hanging above it read ‘Volunteer Resources’. I used my card to open the door, then stepped into the room.

It was a rather large room with three rectangular desks and several straight-back plastic chairs around each. To one corner of the room was a bookshelf filled with folders and binders, and beside it along the north wall was a lowered projector screen. Immediately to my right was a small counter with a dock holding several pagers for volunteers’ use. On the opposite side of the room from the projector screen was a booth of sorts, separated from the rest of the room by a clear glass window. Through the window I saw that the desk had been repurposed – a military radio the size of a small mallet bag sat on top of it, connected via a wire to a portable radio antenna sitting beside the actual console.

I strode over to the booth, entering its side door. I put my M4 down and examined the radio. It appeared to be functional judging by the various blue and yellow lights blinking on its surface. The fact that it was attached to a portable antenna meant this was used for standard long-range communications.

I dug out one spherical charge of C4 from my pocket. After a quick assessment of where best to plant the charge without anyone noticing it, I used the explosive’s installed adhesive to plant the charge on the roof of the first drawer of a steel file cabinet next to the desk.

I tapped my earpiece as I carefully slid the drawer shut. “Sergeant Burke. Located the comms console. I’ve set a charge next to it. How are things on your end?”

“Two charges planted,” Burke replied at once. “One on the main generator. The other on the backup. I’m on my way up to—”

He cut off suddenly.

“Sergeant? Sergeant Burke, are you there?” I said urgently.

When he didn’t respond after a few seconds, I picked my M4 up and left the booth, making sure to close the door to preserve the illusion that no one had been in the room at this time.

As I made my way to the door I opened to get into Volunteer Resources, the sergeant’s voice returned.

“Sorry about that. I had to shut up for a sec. I passed a couple of odd characters as I was heading up the stairs to the first floor.”

I let out a silent sigh of relief. “Odd characters?”

“Yeah. They were heading down to the parking levels. They didn’t look like US military.”

I left the Volunteer Resources area and briskly made my way back the way I came to get inside this restricted section.

“What did they look like, Sergeant?” I asked, this new piece of information snagging my attention.

Burke took a couple of seconds to elaborate. “One of them was wearing some… black trench coat. I can’t be sure, since they had a hood on, but I think they were male. The other was dressed in olive drab fatigues. A woman.”

Black coat with a hood?

“Hornet,” I muttered, gritting my teeth unconsciously.

“Sorry, what was that, Knight?”

“Nothing. Sergeant, you’ve done your part. Exfiltrate and head back to our truck. Wait for me there.”

“Sure thing. Will you be following me there?”

“Shortly.”

“What? Aren’t we done here for tonight?”

“You are. I’m heading down to check out those two you mentioned meeting at the stairs.”

Burke paused for a second before asking, “Is this something I need to know about?”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “When we make it back, I’ll fill you in on something. You should know who else we’re up against.”

“All right. I appreciate that. Fine, I’ll head back to the truck. Stay sharp, Knight. There are a number of guards in the sublevels.”

“Noted, Sergeant. See you soon.”

I hastened my pace but kept my eyes and ears open as I traversed the halls back to the outpatient collections door. From there, I descended a staircase that brought me back to the relatively livelier lobby with the twenty or so soldiers milling about the area. I slowed my pace here so as not to attract any attention, then made my way down to the right of the receptionist’s desk.

I found the staircase that Burke descended. As I made my way down it, I quickly launched a team channel on my TACPAD and tapped my earpiece.

“Any Shadows, respond,” I murmured.

After a couple of seconds, the unmistakeable voice of Josh came through. “Copy. Goliath here.”

A second voice chimed in right after his: “Archer too. Knight? How’s it going over there?”

I hesitated, continuing to descend the stairs. At the bottom of the second flight was a single door marked P1.

“Is Angel on comms?” I asked, feeling a bit tentative all of a sudden.

“She isn’t. She headed to her quarters a little while ago,” Josh answered, sounding curious. “Why do you ask?”

For some reason, I felt hesitant to even mention Hornet on the comms. I wasn’t there with her when she infiltrated CFB Calgary, but I got the feeling something about the place or Hornet had traumatized Christina to some degree.

There was also how she reacted when I proposed securing Hornet for interrogation. For some reason, Christina seemed adamant to take out Hornet at the first chance we got, calling the man insane and beyond reason. Normally I wouldn’t think twice about eliminating a key enemy, but something about the way my XO acted while suggesting Hornet’s immediate neutralization felt off to me. She seemed rather insistent about it.

“Sergeant Burke reported a possible ID on Hornet on site,” I said eventually, approaching the door to P1.

Josh gave a humming noise before asking, “Did you find the generators and the base’s long-range comms?”

“The sergeant rigged the generators while I rigged the comms equipment.”

“What about the size of the opposition?”

I did some quick math.

“Over a hundred hostiles, not counting the handful outside,” I conceded, “We might need to rethink attacking this place. Either that, or we need to find some way to thin them out before we evac the prisoners.”

“All right,” Josh said, “Are you on your way out?”

“Not yet. I need to look into this Hornet.”

“Knight,” came Genel’s concerned voice, “Maybe you should let this go for now. If Hornet was the one who nearly got Angel back at CFB, he must really be dangerous.”

I thought about it. Was Hornet the one who nearly overpowered Angel? How dangerous are these mercs? Northstar Security Solutions was the most prominent private military company for a reason, but I didn’t know how elite its employees were.

Christina’s bruises popped into mind.

“Don’t worry,” I told Genel calmly, “He won’t get the drop on me.”

“Knight,” Genel protested, “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Neither was the possibility of a mercenary being on site. Look, I’m not planning to burn the place down yet. I just want to see if there’s any intel I can grab while I’m here.”

That was the rational part of me talking, at least.

Genel sighed loudly over the line, but thankfully said nothing else.

I pulled open the door to P1, stepping into a well-lit, spacious parking lot. The air here was a bit dry and chilly, and tasted quite recycled. The area immediately outside the door I stepped through had plenty of parked cars and other vehicles around, but the part of the parking lot toward the west end of it was a different story.

About a hundred metres to my left, in a portion of the parking lot that was clear of parked vehicles, was what Sergeant Burke had reported to me: a group of civilians huddled against the southern wall of P1. Even from a distance I could tell they were all underfed and haggard, not having bathed from two weeks’ worth of being held here by the enemy military. As I casually approached where they were being kept under guard by several stationary and patrolling soldiers, I could tell that there used to be more prisoners being held down here. Scraps of bread, some packets of dry snacks, and tins of canned food littered the space around where the huddled prisoners were. Compared to the prisoners I saw in the Stampede, these ones were at least not exposed to the harsh elements outside and didn’t look as mistreated as the ones I saw in the cages. Still, none of the prisoners here looked any happier to be under the watchful eye of the guards. Some of the younger ones looked like they’d cried every day they’d spent down here, probably constantly wondering where they’d be taken next each time more of their number were transported elsewhere. The elders of the group looked the most exhausted, a number of them looking sickly and pale from fatigue and stress. All in all, I could see prisoners as young as six or seven years old, as well as some old as sixty.

I approached the prisoners and the accompanying guards at a leisurely pace to avoid standing out too much. As I did, I caught sight of three people standing closely together just past where the prisoners were, closer to the end of the parking lot.

One of them was Lieutenant Evans. I easily recognized his slicked back dark hair, his rolled-up sleeves, and that visible cross tattoo on his left forearm. He looked mildly grim as he conversed with the two close to him.

The second person was a woman roughly as tall as I was. She was wearing an olive drab combat dress uniform. She looked quite distinct from the US Army soldiers I’d been seeing lately because of her clothes and gear; she wasn’t wearing a balaclava or helmet, showing me her short blonde hair styled in a pixie cut. Instead of a standard Kevlar vest like I was sporting, she was wearing a combat harness not unlike the ones some of the 41 CBGs were wearing. Instead of an M4, the woman was holding what looked like a modernized version of the Galil assault rifle. She had a severe, tough-as-nails look on her face that reminded me of the look on my mentor’s face whenever she was on mission.

The last person was the one who demanded most of my attention. He had clearly lowered his hood since coming down here, because his face was visible now. Wearing a charcoal black overcoat and dark combat pants, the man appeared to be a cross between the general facial and hair features of Severus Snape with the general bothered demeanour of Gollum. He had long, slightly wavy hair that nearly reached down to his shoulders. His eyes seemed to resemble that of a beetle’s: black and seemingly bottomless. His skin was unnaturally pale like a sheet of paper by contrast, making the man resemble a bloodless corpse that appeared to forget to lay still. I couldn’t be sure from this distance and because of his somewhat baggy attire, but he seemed to be on the thinner side.

I carefully maneuvered just closely enough to the group so that I could catch their conversation. Once I was within six or so metres away from them, I stood still and faced the prisoners, pretending to watch the civilians closely while I trained my ear at the lieutenant and his companions.

“…know anything about where the major is?” Evans was saying.

“Unfortunately, we don’t,” came the voice of the other man. His voice sounded a bit on the higher end of the pitch spectrum, making him sound a little unpleasant and sinister to me. “How long has it been since you last heard from him?”

“I haven’t heard from him since December thirty-first. Apparently he was after those who attacked the convoy that was on its way here that evening.”

“Hmm.”

“I know we’re not part of the same camp, but I heard there was an incident at CFB Calgary where someone attacked your site. Is there anything about the attackers you can tell us about?”

The long-haired man appeared to hesitate before replying. “If you’re asking about who the person was who attacked the base was working for, I’m afraid I don’t know yet.”

Evans crossed his arms over his chest. “There was also that commotion up in the northeast. I heard you requested backup from us to assist in neutralizing some insurgents. What was that about?”

“There were some civilians hiding in the school and four unknown operatives that got into a last stand scenario against some of your kind. They were trying to defend the civilians from what I could tell, but they’re no longer a problem. I took care of them.”

The four agents. Three that I found in Father Scollen High School, and the last one Christina found in CFB Calgary.

So that C.O.S. team got overrun trying to keep some civilians safe from Northstar and the US Army. It was a grim reminder of what could happen to us if we weren’t careful about picking our battles.

“These four operatives,” Evans said slowly, seeming to try getting his head around this information, “We don’t know who they are or where they come from?”

“Not yet. They weren’t dressed like standard Canadian military, but they were just as armed, if not more. Some of their gear were rather specialized… advanced.”

Evans’ shoulders rose and fell in a slightly exaggerated manner as if he was sighing. After a momentary silence, he spoke again. “I would appreciate if you could let us know if you find out more about these… operatives. It might give us a clue as to where the major is.”

Bit late for that, Lieutenant.

Evans went on, “We’ll send you these last few dozen civilians the next few days. Did you want to see anything else within the premises?”

The long-haired man shook his head a little, his long hair swaying slightly. “No. Thank you for your time, Lieutenant Evans. We’ll see ourselves out.”

“You’re welcome. Excuse me.”

Evans turned around and walked past me, heading in the direction of the stairs I had come down to get to this sublevel.

Once the lieutenant was far enough away from them, the woman in the olive drab fatigues spoke up.

“So, what’s our move?” Her tone sounded austere and no-nonsense. She certainly looked and sounded like someone who could never give or take a joke.

The pallid man glanced at her. He wasn’t holding a weapon, but something about his appearance told me he was a cut above the US Army grunts I’ve taken down so far. As unconventional as he appeared, somehow I got the feeling he was more dangerous than any of the US military personnel I’d encountered lately. Bradley Steele was a high-ranking officer who commanded a significant number of Army personnel but compared to this man in the overcoat he seemed to pale in comparison.

“We’ll wait for these mystery operatives to act again,” he answered lightly, “They were bold enough to come to the defunct base. We know they’re not military. From recent attacks and incidents, they seem to be drawn to the prisoners and civilians within the city. We’ll use the civilians. They’re bound to make a mistake one of these days.”

“Can we afford to wait? Hornet, you remember what Lancer said.”

Hornet gave a rather dramatic sigh, shrugging his shoulders. “I want to say we can’t, but we really have no other choice but to wait to catch these operatives in the act. Trying to look for them when they’re keeping quiet will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

The woman grunted, clearly dissatisfied with this answer. “I suppose you’re right. But what’s happening here doesn’t seem unique.”

Hornet turned slightly to face her fully. “You mean what happened in Vancouver a few days ago?”

“That, but also other cities. Surrey, Toronto, Winnipeg… We’re getting reports of some US Army being attacked by some unidentified contacts that seem to come out of nowhere and vanish like smoke before anyone can get a hold of them. Can’t help wondering if all these incidents are connected to what’s going on here too.”

“Maybe.” Hornet sighed again. For some reason it sounded as if he wasn’t too concerned about what his companion said. “But we’re here. We can’t get hung up on what happens elsewhere. Calgary is our jurisdiction.”

“I know,” the blonde woman replied, “But if this keeps up it’ll only be a matter of time before Hayden takes notice and releases those latchkey subjects of his.”

Hornet gave a carefree scoff. “There aren’t enough of those to cover every place in this country. Besides, those freaks can’t pacify whole cities by themselves.”

Freaks? Latchkey subjects?

I surreptitiously turned my head just enough to more closely watch the woman and Hornet. They were turned slightly away from me although I could hear them fairly well still.

“I wouldn’t be too sure,” the woman said with a rather resigned tone. “You know how Hayden is. Always looking to prove to whoever will listen how good his ‘products’ are. Besides, I hear one of them could take out a group of rebels all by themselves.”

Hornet shook his head. “Not unheard of for any soldier with exceptional skill. No need to elevate those above us normal mercs.”

The woman shrugged back at him, clearly not convinced. “Whatever you say, Rhodes. Anyway, another couple of trips and this site will be done giving us meat.”

She glanced my way all of a sudden. I looked away quickly, pretending to inspect my rifle.

“Make that one trip,” the woman corrected herself. “Half these civs are over thirty. We can take the younger ones and the rest can go to the Stampede.”

“Yes, we’re almost halfway our quota for this city,” Hornet said in agreement. “We’ll be done here soon enough.”

“Yeah.” The woman glanced at something past me and looked back at Hornet. “Which site are we heading to next?”

“Max Bell Stadium. We’re done here. Come on, just one more location before we can get some sleep.”

“Amen to that.”

I kept still as the two mercenaries walked past me and got into a Humvee near the far end of the P1 parking lot. I watched the Humvee accelerate out of its parking slot and climb the ramp up to vanish out of the garage.

My earpiece crackled again as I stood there thinking about what I had just heard. What were they talking about? Some kind of weapon? What did they mean by ‘latchkey’?

“Knight? It’s Burke.” The voice of the sergeant sounded mildly concerned in my ear. “Still with me?”

I pretended to scratch at the side of my head to tap at my earpiece, deflecting any suspicion that I might garner from the gesture from the soldiers standing nearby.

“Exfiltrating now,” I muttered as quietly as I could.