July 2076
Council Headquarters
Location Unknown

“You’re supposed to be dead.” Alex stared up at his father, who was anything but dead.

“I’m sorry I let you think that, Alex,” Michael Samuelson said as he stepped forward and pulled his son into a close embrace. Alex had grown in the months since the attack on their house, but he felt like a small child again as he held tightly to his father. It felt good. Michael pushed his son back to arms length and smiled briefly, before his face took on a more serious set. “We don’t have much time, the alarms are probably going to start up any minute and we need to get the rest of your team out.”

“What are you doing here? Why are you helping Cassie? She betrayed us, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Alex asked with an even mix of open curiosity and hostile accusation. Alex felt his father pull him out into the hallway where he began guiding Alex away from the room. They passed four fallen guards, dressed in black and grey camouflage, Pride Security emblems sewn to the arms of their jackets in place of the United States flag. A fifth man, wearing an expensive looking business suit, lay on the ground with the soldiers. 

“As to your first question,” Michael said in a hushed voice just loud enough for Alex to hear, “I joined the Council somewhat against my will.”

“They don’t seem too keen on people knowing who they are, if your shadowy voice acting is any indication of standard procedure,” Alex replied. “They all said you died. Even the Sheriff said he saw you die.”

“They saw what I wanted them to see,” Michael responded. They turned left down another corridor that led up two sets of stairs. “The attack on the house, by Forrest and the other two. That wasn’t just a casual home invasion. They were there to kill me and make it look like a home invasion gone wrong.”

Alex thought back to the conversation he had overheard in Mr. Rourke’s cornfield. It seemed like a lifetime ago and yet he remembered it as if he had been their only a day before. 

You take care of Papa Samuelson, Forrest had said to his two friends. Alex had just thought they wanted to neutralize his father for the sake of raping his sister. The memory left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he quickly pushed the thoughts aside.

“Why did they want you dead?” Alex asked, his anger at the situation now slowly fading, turning to a desire to find out what the bigger picture was.

“I told you once that I was in the military, back during the Northern Wars,” Michael said as they reached the top of the stairs and entered another hallway which sloped up. Alex nodded with a grunt of confirmation. “I wasn’t lying but I wasn’t entirely telling the truth, either. Randy Rourke, Darren Blake, and myself, we three were part of a special division, a subset of the Central Intelligence Agency. We were sent to track a sleeper cell of Canadian sympathizers located in the Chicago area. Leadership suspected they might try and help the Canadians enter and occupy northern US cities.

“What we found was far more disconcerting, at least to us. The Council back then was a small group of political activists intent on bringing down the US government. But they weren’t sympathizers with the Canadians. We found solid evidence they were planning something serious, an attack at an undetermined time in the future. But with the war raging across thousands of miles of border, we were told to shelve anything we found and get to the front.”

“Was that when you were part of Operation Angelfire?” Alex asked. He still didn’t understand what the mysterious project had been, but it had involved his father and Blake, not to mention Rourke and maybe others.

“It was Alex, though we didn’t understand the ramifications of what Angelfire would be,” Michael said over his shoulder. “At least we didn’t understand them until now.”

“What ramifications?” Alex asked. His father’s answer led to more questions, as everything seemed to do lately.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you with that, Alex. Operation Angelfire was above top secret and while it was officially run out of the Pentagon, the only people we ever met with were with the CIA,” Michael replied. “You’ll have to ask Randy about it. He knew more than any of us about what Angelfire was and would become. I have a feeling it is going to become very important in the months ahead. 

“But enough of that, you need to hear the rest of the story. After the war, Darren moved to Monterey, to get his company started, and to keep an eye on one of the three founding members of the Council. That member was Richard Malwood, who began building an elite fighting force for the sole purpose of one day carrying out the Council’s missions, under the guise of a Private Military Corporation taking contracts from the US government. Ironic, that the government hired and paid a company expressly built to destroy it.”

He paused in his tale as they reached another intersection, this time taking a hallway leading down to the right. The labyrinthine nature of the bunker convinced Alex that only a person familiar with the layout of the halls would have any hope of successfully navigating them, let alone finding the exit.

“The two other leaders of the movement entered the government, seeking to establish pockets of influence within the ranks of the standing leadership for when the time came to rise up. One of those was the man who until recently served as a member of the Foreign Relations committee in the US senate, Senator Warren Rockwell. He was conveniently kept from the convention due to a heavily publicized bout with cancer. Randy and I agreed that we couldn’t easily track him in D.C. without getting sniffed out by his people, and that his time in the limelight of the government would keep most of his movements public. We both decided to keep an eye on the final member, Jordan Hawthorne.”

The revelation hit Alex like a punch in the gut. Everything started to come together as he sorted through the once disjointed information. The pieces of the puzzle finally fit. Jordan Hawthorne was the key to everything and Alex noticed his father’s worried gaze back at him indicated he understood that his son had made the connections.

“Jordan eventually found out about us, though there was little she could do and at the time it wouldn’t have been prudent anyway. So she bided her time until she needed to act. I had put some automated viruses on her computer, viruses that would bypass normal searches and were designed by some of the most brilliant hackers alive to ferret out information as it was brought up from cold storage. Eventually word of the new Constitutional Convention got out and my trackers went wild. I was going into town to contact a friend at the Agency to let him know we had a new hit on the Council, when the attack on the house happened.”

“She sent her own son out on a mission to kill us,” Alex said incredulously as they arrived at a steel door that seemed to mesh seamlessly with the concrete walls on either side of it. Alex glanced around nervously, aware that unless the door opened, anyone coming up from behind would have them cornered.

“I had the house wired, but since it was a nice day, the doors were left open for the air,” Michael said, his features darkening. “The sensors I had placed at each door of the house went off while I was in town. I saw the video feed, saw them kill your mother with my own eyes.” He paused for a moment, trying to regain his composure while he simultaneously punched a code into the panel next to the door. Something clicked quietly behind the wall and the door slid open. “Then I saw you and Randy arrive. I saw you save your sister, Alex, and you don’t know how proud and grateful I am that you did.”

Alex saw his father’s eyes brim with tears for a moment. As they entered the next room, he asked, “Why didn’t you come back for us, then?” Again, his father’s features visibly darkened.

“I wanted to, but I knew there was only one way to protect you and your sister, and still have a chance to take down the Council. I faked my own death and surrendered myself to the Council. I agreed to work with them and arrange for Lionheart Security to take the fall. I was the one who contacted Cassie on your graduation day, though she didn’t know my true identity at the time. I convinced the Council that I was working in their best interest to protect you and Rachel, but I was always two steps ahead of them, I’m pleased to say.”

“So it was your letter that Commander Blake received at graduation,” Alex half asked, half stated.

“It was a small warning that I sent him, that he needed to make sure you and Cassie were on his team,” Michael replied. “I mentioned Angelfire, knowing that would get him to do what I needed him to do. I only hope he didn’t have to pay with his life for all of this.”

Michael flipped the lights on in the room they had entered and Alex suddenly realized where they were. To either side of them, along the walls of the long room, were twenty glass tubes, ten against each wall. They were large enough for a person to stand in comfortably, two tightly.

“Are those -” Alex began.

“Cell entrances,” Michael finished. “And inside them, the rest of your team, who we need to get down here quickly.” 

He moved to a control panel and rapidly entered several commands into the terminal.  Alex heard a series of beeps, then silence. After a moment, lights above each of the tubes that had previously been red began flickering to green. Alex was watched unmoving as the ceilings of the tubes began to descend. Figures lay on the platforms, some standing under their own power. Alex rushed over to the first on his left immediately.

“Shawn!” he gasped as he caught his friend, who sagged against the glass of the tube. The door opened and Shawn began to fall forward. Alex sprinted over to his friend and barely caught the larger youth before he hit the floor. Shawn was conscious, but struggled to stay awake as he looked up at Alex.

“Hey, Scope. How’d you get out of your cell?” Shawn said, smiling up at Alex. “And who’s the old guy?” 

Michael grunted at the remark and drew a small syringe out of one of his pockets. He popped off the top and flicked the needle before plunging it into Shawn’s arm. Shawn barely seemed to notice the syringe. Then his eyes went wide and he struggle out of Alex’s support, jumping to his feet.

“What the hell was that?” he said, taking a fighting stance, but Michael ignored him, moving to the next prisoner, Sergeant Dempsey as it turned out. “Here you go, Church. Good to see you again, old friend.” Then he looked back at Shawn, quickly explaining, “It’s a modified version of synthetic adrenaline. It was developed by the CIA and later improved by the Council. It’ll give you the boost of energy you need to get out of here, without the horrible side effects usually associated with naturally occurring adrenaline. Now stop asking questions and help me revive the rest of them, we’re behind schedule as it is.” He tossed two small bags of syringes to Alex and Shawn.

“Who the hell are the Council?” Shawn asked, but Alex just waved him away.

“I’ll explain later, right now, all you need to know is that we are in enemy hands and my dad is helping us break out. Cassie is securing transport,” Alex replied with a slight smile on his face.

“Your dad? Cassie’s helping us? What the hell?” Shawn almost shouted. Then he saw Alex was ignoring him, moving furtively between prisoners and injecting the synthetic stimulant. “I’ll trust you on this one, Alex, but you have a lot of explaining to do when we get out of this mess.” As he set about administering his own set of doses, he suddenly looked around in alarm. “Uh, you guys happen to have any firepower? We may be in trouble if it’s twenty of us in pajamas against pretty much anyone armed with so much as knife.”

“I’ve got that one covered, Mr. Woods,” Michael replied as he finished off his task with the adrenaline. 

Without missing a beat, he moved to a panel that appeared flush with the wall. He tapped in a code on another keypad, one Alex would have assumed helped access the prison cell given its proximity to the cell tubes. Instead, he heard a slight hiss as the panel popped out of the wall, and rotated 45 degrees. Alex finished off the last of his administration and ran to his father’s side.

“How’d you know my name, sir?” Shawn asked, confused at a stranger knowing him by name and face.

“Your father and I served together briefly,” Michael said without pausing in his tasks. “Dennis Woods was as good a man as any to have at your back and you’re his spitting image. He still carry around that ridiculous pocket watch?”

“Every day, sir,” Shawn said with a broad grin. “He always says it’s a good luck charm.”

“Hell yes it is,” Michael replied as he pulled out the rack from the wall. “That thing stopped a sniper’s bullet from blowing your dad’s heart out of his back. Now, as much as I like telling old war stories, we need to get these loaded and get the hell out of here.”

“This enough firepower for you, Shawn?” Alex grinned. 

He tossed one of the Army M17S1 battle assault rifles to his friend. The weapons were the same variant Alex and Michael had gotten off the soldiers outside the interrogation room. Shawn barely caught the weapon as he finished the last of his own syringes, but he expertly checked the magazine, action, and sights.

“If this is what I think it is, these haven’t been released to any companies outside of the Army,” Shawn said, no small wonder in his voice. “My brother Roy was part of the test brigade that used these for border skirmishes down in Santa Barbara, said they were the best guns he’d ever had the pleasure of shooting.”

“They’re exactly what you think they are, only better,” Michael said as he handed out more of the weapons, along with extra magazines and detachable laser guides. “The standard model comes with no scope, and a 3-round burst to full auto switch. These have varying range scopes with side mounted cameras on the grip for urban warfare. We’ve also outfitted them to be able to drop down to a single-round fire setting. Oh, and that big drum magazine -” he pointed to the one Shawn was busy slinging over his shoulder “- is filled with anti-armor hollow points. They penetrate, but instead of fragmenting like standard hollow points, they have a small charge that detonates. Those little guys can get through all but the strongest body armor.”

“I think we’re going to have to invest in these when this is all over,” Dempsey said under his breath as he checked the weapon himself. He slid back the action, knocking the first round into the chamber. He looked up at Alex. “So what’s the plan?”

“Plan?” Alex said, uncomfortable with being looked at for leadership. Did they really want him to lead them out?

“The plan, Samuelson. You lasted the longest out there, you have the most experience evading these people,” Dempsey replied. 

The rest of the team, some younger than Alex, others older than Dempsey, gathered behind the Sergeant to regard Alex and his father, who stood in front of the doors leading out towards their freedom.

“Where are Semtex and Yari, Dad?” Alex asked, realizing none of the senior commanders had been in the cells for the first time.

“Not here, I’ll explain later,” Michael replied quickly. “As for the plan, the plan is to get you all up to the garage and get you out before anyone notices you’re gone.”

Chambering his own weapon and sliding the now empty weapons rack back into the wall. He keyed in another code on the main terminal and all of the cell elevators quickly climbed back up to seal the cells. 

“Any more questions?” 

When he didn’t see anyone raise a hand, he nodded headed out the doors, Alex and the others fast on his heels. The group of newly-liberated prisoners wove their way back through the subterranean tunnels. Alex realized that that was part of the genius of the facility’s design. Confusing, monotone corridors would insure that even if there was a prisoner-led breakout, they wouldn’t know where to go. There we no signs, no labels, no exit lights. In order to navigate the Council’s base of operations, you needed to already know your way around. The observation was reinforced as they headed toward a staircase leading deeper into the earth. Several of the prisoners slowed as they realized the group was headed further down.

“Yo, shouldn’t be headed upstairs, not downstairs?” one of them asked, a man about Dempsey’s age, who went by the name Rock. He was built more like a boulder, so Alex understood the callsign without needing any further explanation.

“We need to head down this flight, then over and up two more flights in order to get out,” Michael said just loud enough for his voice to carry to the back of the group. He wasn’t stopping. They were on a schedule.

“Hey, man, I don’t know, we need to go up. I’m not going down there. I’ll find my own way out,” Rock said, a few of those around him nodding agreement. He had barely taken two steps back when Dempsey whirled around from his place just ahead of them and thundered a blow to Rock’s midsection. The bigger mercenary staggered as the breath exploded from his lungs. Dempsey moved close to the man’s ear, glaring at those around them, as if daring one of them to intervene. No one moved.

“You’re pretty stupid, Rock, I always thought so. But I never thought you were this stupid,” Dempsey seethed. Alex could tell he was putting on a bit of a show, but Rock didn’t seem to pick up on that. “This man, who is leading us out of here, infiltrated the only group to ever successfully topple the government of the United States of America. He has broken us out of our cells, and he has armed us with weapons stolen from enemy hands. His own son is part of our team. Now if you think he did all this so he could lead us into a firefight or a gas chamber, you go ahead and think that. But I’ll kill you before I let you jeopardize this breakout.” Dempsey leveled his weapon with his right hand at the small cluster of men around rock. His left hand he left outstretched, palm up. “So you have a choice. Follow us and then go your separate ways, or I can wake this whole place up.” He bobbed the barrel of his weapon to reinforce the last part.

Rock looked suspiciously at him, eyes narrow as he considered what Dempsey said. Then he smiled and took the sergeant’s hand. 

“I always did like you, Sergeant. Not afraid to put fool in his place, even if he is bigger and stronger than you,” Rock said as Dempsey hauled the big man to his feet. 

“If you ladies are done cuddling, let’s get a move on,” Michael said from the front. Then he paused and turned to face them. “Actually, I should amend that to ‘little boys’. Ms. Hawthorne is the only reason any of you are alive and if we don’t get moving, her work will have been for nothing.” With that, he moved down the corridor, Alex, Shawn, and the rest shuffling behind.

“I like him, too,” Rock said as he followed Dempsey. Dempsey just laughed quietly to himself, jogging to catch up with the rest of the group as they hit the bottom of the stairs.

The group moved through the doors at the end of the hall and emerged in a large, cavernous garage. Michael motioned for the prisoners to crouch low as they moved from the hallway to a large stack of crates. Alex caught a glimpse of armed guards across the garage near what he assumed was the exit. Rather than being a ramp up to the surface, it seemed to be a giant lift, an elevator that could raise and lower from within. Michael looked at the watch on his sleeve and nodded to himself.

“Right on time. Alright, listen up,” he said quietly, turning to face the group. Eyes and ears were attentive. Every member of the group knew this was important and that it could mean the difference between life and death, freedom and recapture. “Cassie and Justin should have everything in place and ready to go. When the alarms sound, the doors allowing access to this room will lock. It was never assumed prisoners would make it all the way here before being captured. Who’s your best shot?” All eyes focused on Alex, not a word spoken. Michael simply nodded. “Alex, you need to take out three of those four guards and incapacitate the last one without killing him. If the controls lock me or the others out, we need a living member of the security team to press that button. Can you do that, son?”

Alex nodded in turn. He could do it, he’d done it before, during the final exam. But those were masked gunmen running along rooftops, shooting at his friends. Killing men who had no clue there was even a threat was another story. 

If you don’t do this, you die and so does Shawn and Cassie and Jimmy and everyone else, the voice inside his head reminded him. It wasn’t a condescending thought, like his usual self-criticisms, just a cold reminder of what was at stake. Alex swallowed and nodded again, as much to affirm he knew the plan as to convince himself he could follow through with it.

“Good. When Alex takes the guards down, the rest of us run for the elevator. Watch out for the last guard, even injured or maimed he can kill you with one well aimed shot,” Michael said, addressing the rest of the group. “I’ve also got a few tricks planned to cover your retreat and the delay viruses I put in place in the security system have already bought us time. Cassie has the rendezvous information where you will meet up with the VAULT to catch a ride to a location known only to the pilot and a few others, none of whom are in any danger of being captured by the Council. Alright. The alarms should be going off just about now.”

Warning alarms blasted through the corridors behind them and red strobe lights flashed all across the garage. Alex was still puzzling out what his father had meant when he mentioned covering their retreat. Their retreat, not our retreat. He didn’t have long to ponder what he meant. The alarms were his signal to take out the guards. He nodded to the group and slowly rose, supporting the grip of his weapon on the crates the rest of the team hid behind. The glimpsed down the sight, slowing his breathing, focusing for the shot. He knew more than one shot per target would be unacceptable; they needed to be taken down fast and hard. The first guard had his back turned to Alex. He slowly squeezed the trigger. Then the man turned and looked right at Alex, or at least in his directions. Alex felt his trigger finger freeze. The guard some rugged veteran. He was a fresh-face young man. It was like looking into an experiential mirror. And Alex recognized him as one of those who had come into bootcamp with Cassie and Sebastian months ago.

You can do this, Alex, you have to, he pleaded to his conscience, but Alex knew in his heart he couldn’t take this shot. This wasn’t some masked gunman in the dark. This was a young man no older than himself, doing what he thought was right, what he thought was noble. 

How do you know you’re on the right side, anyways? 

CRACK! 

The bullet blasted a chunk out of the crate next to Alex as the guard he gazed at down his scope finally saw Alex amid the flashing alarms. The shot had been off-target, but Alex knew the next one wouldn’t miss.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The weapon barely moved, the recoil catching on some mechanism in the stock of the rifle as four perfectly aimed shots ate up the distance between Alex and his targets. The young man who had missed Alex by inches fell, shouting in pain as he gripped his shoulder where the round from Alex’s weapon and punched a clean hole through-and-through. The other three guards dropped like sacks of flour, small blood spurts the only indication of his accuracy as the rounds sliced through their necks. Alex felt and saw the rest of the group surge forward, running towards the elevator as Cassie and Justin drove two APCs from the bays where they had been hiding. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his father looking down at him, with a certain look in his eye.

Pride, Alex reminded himself silently.

“It’s never easy, son,” Michael said, looking on as Rock hoisted the injured guard up and dragged him towards the lift’s control panel. 

“What’s never easy, Dad?” Alex asked.

“Taking a life,” his father said, a note of sadness in his voice. “They travel with you, the lives you take. They stay with you, visit you at night or in a passing moment as you go about your life.” 

His face took on a far off look for a moment, before he focused back on the milling men and women at the lift. 

“Let’s go.” 

He moved purposefully towards the lift, not looking back to see if Alex was following. After a moment of thought, Alex jogged after his father, up onto the lift platform. He was careful not to look at the faces of the dead guards, whose bodies had been dragged off out of sight.

“Going up,” Rock said with a laugh as he pressed the thumb of the now unconscious guard to the pad. The interfaces beeped several times before turning green. Rock rolled the young man away from the lift, where he would be found and, hopefully, treated when others came to investigate.

Alex stood in silence as the lift jarred upwards, the red lights still flashing as the alarms droned. As the lift approached the halfway point to the ceiling, massive doors above them separated, opening to allow the lift to rise further upwards. Rather than the blinding glare of daylight he had expected, stars filled the sky. The elevator ground to a halt after the excruciating minutes-long ascent out of the bowels of the complex. The chill of the night air struck Alex, but the sweet smell of the nature was the first thing he noticed. He shivered slightly and noticed several of the others looked chilled as well. Chilled, but free of the oppressive concrete below. Michael waved over Cassie, Justin, Rock, and Dempsey. Alex stood by his father, waiting for hear the plan.

“We’ve secured these transports, which will get you to the Council’s private airfield. Your VAULT should be meeting you there. I used a personal encryption to relay your position to Captain Sorenson,” Michael said quickly. “This has to be a fast operation, they’ll catch on to the fact that we got up the lift as soon as they find the bodies down there. I’ve disabled most of the sensors around the building, but it won’t hold them off for long. Once you get to the airfield, line up the APCs to block access to the runway and make the rest of the approach on foot. When you’re all in the aircraft, you should be home free. I’ve got a couple surprises lined up here for them and recapturing me will be enough of a hassle to delay them some.” 

He looked around at the faces for confirmation they understood him. Each had a serious, but slightly somber look. They understood perfectly well what was likely going to happen. 

“Good luck, everyone. I don’t know if we’ll meet again, but understand that you all represent the only hope for bringing down this new regime. You know their secrets and some of their membership. This dossier contains everything I managed to get from their networks without tripping any big alarms.” 

He handed a small memory card to Cassie, who slipped it into a pocket on her vest. Then he shook each of their hands before they moved back towards the APCs.

“Alex,” he said, finally turning to address his son. “I’m sorry I can’t go with you, but you have to keep these people alive, understand?”

“Why can’t you come? Rachel still thinks you’re dead, if she’s even alive,” Alex said, wondering for the first time as to the fate of his sister. “If you stay here...”

“The Council didn’t trust me so much that they gave me complete free reign,” his father said, tapping his chest lightly. “They put a tiny explosive implant in here. It’ll detonate if I leave the perimeter of the complex and no amount of hacking or tampering will change that. But I can do more damage here than I ever could out there. You, Cassie, Justin, you’re the new generation that has to fight this, not me.” He put his hand on Alex’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “You’ve grown to be a good man, Alex, and I’m more proud of you than I can put in words. Stay on this path, stay a good man.”

Alex wanted to find another way, to think of some trick to free his father, but he knew it was a fleeting hope. Michael Samuelson had known he wouldn’t escape, at the end of the day. He’d done all this for them, to insure their escape. Alex nodded, tears brimming in his eyes. “I love you, Dad. Don’t give up. Don’t give them anything they ask for. We’ll be back for you, I promise.”

“I know you will, Alex. I know you will,” Michael said, pulling his son into an embrace. The two stood together for a moment, content in the moment as father and son. Then, as one, they stepped back. Alex saw tears in his father’s eyes, flowing freely down his cheeks.

“Go, son,” he said, barely more than a whisper. “Find your sister, protect her, and give my love. Live and fight and never forget that I love you both.” 

“I love you too, Dad,” Alex said quietly. “Hold on as long as you can, we’ll be back for you.” With that, he turned and hurried over to the forward APC. Cassie gave him a concerned look, but he only smiled as he climbed into the passenger’s seat of the armored vehicle.

“Let’s move,” he said as he watched his father’s retreating figure through the rear view mirror, already moving off towards the airfield. “Good luck, Dad.”

Next Chapter: Ch. 17 - Extraction