Corinne turned at looked at the other woman. The expression on her face wasn’t openly hostile, but definitely wasn’t friendly, and Corinne felt her stomach turn uneasily again. She couldn’t afford to forget that these people could shoot her dead at any moment. The tension of the moment was broken by the ring of her cell phone. She jumped, blushing, and pulled her phone from her pocket. The caller ID read Mike Ashburner. Nervously Corinne glanced at the intruders, then quickly flipped the phone open. “Mike?”
Corinne paled, turning her dark eyes on the intruders. There seemed to be a hole where her stomach had been, and her heart was drumming loudly against her ribs. If something had happened to Mike, then she really was all alone with these people. Unless this British person wasn’t one of them. “C-Corinne Knights,” she replied, “Who is this? What have you done to Mike?”
“C-Corinne Knights" "Okay, Corinne, tell me, is there anyone with you, or are you on your own?" "Who is this? What have you done to Mike?” The corner of Clarke's mouth twitched. Corinne heard a long pause as Clarke weighed the situation. "My name is... Steinitz. I'm one of the other project leaders, called in to investigate the cause of the evac. Mike and I have had a little... disagreement. I assure you, he's fine, he just stormed out of the room and left his phone behind. You know how temperamental he is." Clarke glanced at his hand. It was still slick with shiny crimson. "Anyway, I think we should meet. Something weird is going on. Round up anyone you can find and we'll figure it all out together. Hopefully Mike will come around, too." Mike's corpse was slumped in the corner with a huge hole in his chest. Regrettable. The man was a bastard, no doubt -- the death was perhaps even fitting -- but he knew a lot more than he'd let on. Now Clarke would have to do even more guesswork. Maybe this 'Corinne' knew something useful.
Zain, grabbed the phone from her and spoke into it. "Sorry, but Corinne is busy at the moment," as he hung up the phone. Looking down, without any change in his emotionless facade, he asked "Who was it and what did their voice sound like?"
Corinne frowned as she listened to the man, Steinitz, who had Mike’s phone. She was so absorbed in the conversation she almost forgot about the intruders holding her hostage, and almost jumped out of her skin when Zain snatched her phone away. “Who was it and what did their voice sound like?” he demanded. Corinne felt the stirrings of anger and resentment towards these people, and tried to hold back a scowl. It was probably not a good idea to lose her temper with the people who had the guns. “Not that it’s any of your business, but it was a man named Steinitz. He’s one of the project leaders,” she retorted, another frown fleetingly crossing her face. She hadn’t recognised the name, but then she didn’t know everyone on the compound and certainly didn’t know all of the higher-ups. “He was British, and a lot politer than you,” she answered the other question. “Though I can’t see why it matters.”
Thomas looked at the rest of them. "It matters," he said, "because there is a man named Clarke out there, who is British, and who will probably kill us if he finds us." He made eye contact with Zain. "Next time, confirm the voice, the hang up. I don't like guessing, especialy when it comes to Clarke." He turned to Corinne. "Ms. Knights, would you be so kind to call him back? If it is this, what was it, Steitz, guy again, hand the phone to me." It was an instruction, not a question.
Samuri boy earned himself a glare as he snatched the phone from boss ladt two. I let it slide because he did have a point. Though Rambow had an even better one. Still, I just hoped we got out of here soon. I glanced around as we walked, hand on my knife in my pocket giving me a slight safe feeling. Though I half expected a zombie to pop up. My mind kept telling me to go for the head.
“He was British, and a lot politer than you. Though I can’t see why it matters.” Thomas ordered the woman to call back but for Jackie she was sure it was Clarke. He always had a plan or failing that he had plans. He was always prepared. She remembered all the times he'd come to visit her in Johannesburg. She would wait at the airport for hours before his flight was due to come in to make sure that she didn't miss it. She remembered the anticipation being blown in the moment when she saw him. The memory was brief but enough to make her eyes glaze over. She looked to the side while they walked hoping no one would see her as she tried to suppress her tears.
Corinne looked round at the intruders, alarmed. If the person on the phone was lying about who he was, then something had happened to Mike. Her superior was an ass, but still … It occurred to her that if this British man was a killer, then these intruders, who had previously threatened her life, might now be her best chance of surviving whatever it was that going on in the compound. Slowly she held out her hand for the phone. When the redhead gave it back to her she pressed the redial button, then held it to her ear as the tone sounded.
Hearing no reply Raj repeated, "I cannot tolerate such ignorance. I repeat the Hummer H1 is very very operational." The Humvee was one of the brilliant armored vehicles deployed by the army. Some slight inconvineince in it could fail the operation.
Striker knew the battle plan and he knew the importance of following it. Drive through Gamma sector and get to Alpha sector to intercept the terrorists but no contingency plan had entailed the possibility that all the personal would be charred. Sure they'd stated that some may have been shot by Clarke's group casualties in war were to be expected. But this wasn't the work of Clarke, and if it was they clearly weren't prepared for what was up ahead. He checked the mirror Anadyr's Humvee was still some distance behind it was safe to stray from the plan. He didn't come to a complete stop instead he performed an abrupt U-Turn and slowed down taking in the surroundings. He was relatively confident that Clarke didn't have a group large enough to post sentries in this area however negligence cost lives so first a quick reccie was needed, besides if there were other forces at work he had to assume that their original intelligence was lacking...
I waited rather impatiently, tapping my foot on the ground wondering why we cared if it was Clarke who called, we should be concentrating on getting the heck out of here. I decided to calm myself and entertain myself by pulling my knife from my pocket and playing with it while I kept careful watch around. The whole place gave me the creaps, we should really just get going.
Clarke looked down at the now smashed phone pieces. "That's enough interuptions, lets get back to work shall we?" He said as Corinna got a, "We're sorry the phone you are calling is currently out of the service area, please try your call again later." In an overly polite female voice.
Anadyr looked her at the distruction the terrorists had some how managed to raise. "This changes nothing, capture if you can or else kill the bastards." She said into the radio. She drove on a little ways into the commpound before stopping. She stepped out of the vehicle and adjusted her gear. "Ok boy, we might be in for some fun soon so look sharp."
"Aye, ma'am." Mac said into the radio. As they drove about, he surveyed the paradox around him. All about were bodies; burned into blackened husks. And yet, there was little if any sign of fire damage or explosions on any of the buildings. Mac fingered his rifle. Something was definitely wrong with this place. As always, the waiting, the anticipation was the worst. Knowing that at any second, the street could go right to hell. Once there, he'd be ready to charge it with a bucket of water...it was waiting in line that was nerve-wracking.
The phone ran for a few seconds that seemed to drag on forever, and then a robotic female monotone sounded politely in her ear. “We are sorry, the phone you are calling is currently out of the service area. Please try your call again later.” Corinne lowered the phone and looked up at the intruders. “He’s not answering. It says it’s out of area.”
Striker brought the vehicle to a stop having established that the visible vantage points were clear despite this he parked the vehicle in a posistion where he felt any potential enemies firing arc and range would be limited. Precuations never hurt. He approached Anadyr, the engine still running incase they needed to make a quick exit. "I think a bit of an investigation is needed before we head in to the battle zone Ma'am." He walked straight past her and knelt beside one of the corpses leaning in to look at them. The smell was foul. He buried his mouth into the collar of his combat jacket as he took the sight in.
I felt myself ringing my hands as I waited for the damned phone call. Finally she hung up. It seemed that the phone had lost its signal. "Good, who cares lets get out of here, now." I said and motioned for boss two, to lead the way. A quick movement caught my attention. It had seemed to be something the size of a dog, but with rough looking black skin. Other than that I couldn't tell, it had moved to fast. I wanted to ignore it but looking around it was obvious the others saw it to. It had darted around a corner out of sight.
Anadyr looked down at Striker. "Are you crazy, what if that's some kind of toxic?" She scowlded him. "You want to investigate? Lead the way, you're on point. Shoot first ask questions later." She said motioning for him to lead the way. They didn't even have time to reacted when the winds shifted forcing a foul, chemical smell, strong enough to make there eyes water. "What the hell was that?" She asked covering her mouth with her sleave.
Striker turned round to face the woman he stood up so he squared up against the woman while she was in charge they were still of equal rank. "There are civilians on this base. We're here to stop the terrorists not join their ranks. Hasty actions cost lives." his respect for this woman had dissipated in an instant. This was the first think he drilled in to his recruits and to hear such a gun ho attitude from such a high rank annoyed him. Having made his point he reverted back to her original statement. "If it was a toxin that was still in effect my proximity to the corpse would mean little. We're out here in the open if it’s airborne, without protection we're already screwed. On his webbing was a gas mask it was a bulky thing but he'd decided to bring it after listening to the review of the place. He began to wonder why he hadn't put it on. The signs had been there after all their guide had one. Well the damage was done if it was here now he'd breathed it in. Still that said maybe some precaution wouldn't hurt. He opened the pouch and pulled out the mask it was in urban camouflage like the rest of his kit. He put it on and adjusted it. His voice came through more distorted now. "Well if it’s chemical I hope you all brought protection if inhalation hasn't already got to us." There was another good reason for wearing a gas mask. It covered your face and masked your facial expressions making it harder for people to read your reactions. Good when you made contact with the enemy and good when you didn't want your allies to know when reality of the situation had dawned on you.
"Hmm," grunted Zain at the site of the monster. Turning back to Corrine, he took her phone again. "Well, that settles it. It was Clark which means your boss is likely dead. I'll keep a hold of this to keep it safe."
