Camilla stepped back, watching us. Mina and Jacopo covered the stairway as we secured the thralls with military shackles and gags and pulled them into an office. But I knew the three saw the speed, the precision of our movements. That might come back to haunt us later.
Much later, I hoped.
At the next landing, Mina pushed me aside again and took point. Jacopo was at our rear, Camilla beside him. I found myself in a staggered position near Jagger and felt his eyes touch on me and away, as he monitored our progress on the shield screens and ahead, and yet kept track of me too—the hyper-alert focus of an Outlaw Militia Warrior. Or a thrall. Hard to tell the difference.
Over comms, Jolene said, “Don’t open the door to this level y’all. The cams are active, and there’s fifty million rats out there. That was hyperbole, but there’s so many I can’t estimate. The security team on shift just saw the rats, and they are clearly not happy people.”
We came to a stop. Overhead, a red light began blinking. The red light on a camera at the next landing went dark.
Jolene said, “A general alarm has gone out. A team of Warhammer’s thralls has been awakened and called to respond, but they have no idea about the numbers of attacking rats. They are entering the corridor just beyond the stairwell where you are positioned.”
“I need to see this,” Mina said. She eased open the door a crack and dropped a cam with a mic. Over comms came the sound of a door opening. The scream of humans. Answering screams as the mega-sized rodents encountered Warhammer’s panicked thralls. Gunfire rang through the air as the rats attacked anything that smelled of meat.
Jolene put Mina’s cam on our face shields. I saw rats in a mound, quivering as they ate something that was still alive, shaking, and screaming.
I could boil the rodents with my blaster and save the humans. My hand closed on the blaster’s grip before I released it. The humans had stopped firing. Stopped screaming.
Mina cursed, removed the cam, and closed the door, shaking her head as if to shake off the memories of what she had seen. Seems the psychopath had never seen critters eat humans. Except for the flailing it was pretty much like the way the cats attacked dead humans. Soft tissue first.
Camilla edged closer to Jacopo, the two covering our six, moving carefully up the stairs.
I checked Spy’s cam and saw she was close to the stockade. There were no rats there yet. She was ready to create the next distraction we needed to get in and retrieve Evelyn. The plan was for her to push open the door to the bakery, let out a few of the rats she had seen inside that room, and run like her tail was on fire. On the schematic, I saw that all the teams were inside the bunker, moving slowly toward their assigned goals. Jolene was updating everyone about where the rats were, to keep them all safe. Good thing she could multitask. We should have been at the stockade with Evelyn in hand by now. The numbers of rats had been a surprise, and we were falling further and further behind.
We ran up the stairs to the stockade level. Mina checked the hallway and said, “Clear.”
“Jolene,” I said. “Are there cameras in the bakery?”
“The lights are off, and the cameras there are not multi-spectrum. The lights will turn on when Spy opens the door.”
“Shields, helmets, faceplates, and suit hardening,” I ordered. “Combat mode.” With my left hand, I activated my armor. “Jolene, update.”
“Cameras on replay loop with video collected for the last hour,” Jolene said, “and Warhammer’s security is currently occupied killing thousands of rats. Spy is positioned to create the diversion. I am inside the security node for this level and Evelyn Raymond’s cell door is ready to open.”
“Spy,” I said. “Open the door.”
One by one, we exited into the corridor and approached the stockade passage to the right.
“Two humans approaching from the corridor ahead of you.”
“Camilla. With me. We’ve got it,” Jagger said. “You three get Evelyn.”
On the faceplate screen, I saw the bakery door swing open, the light coming on inside. “Go,” I said. We scuttled forward.
On my screen and in my mind, eyes met Spy’s. Dozens and dozens of beady black eyes. Fear shot through Spy, lifting her hair on end. She turned and ran.
The bakery door started to swing closed. But there were too many rats racing through. The crush of their bodies held the door open. I saw ten-kilo rats the size of dogs pour across the floor.
The two guards shouted and began to fire.
Shock and fear bled through Spy’s connection. Her mind sharpened and focused. She darted the way she had run on the recce. Only to be met by more rats. She whipped her body around. Faced the rats behind her. She was trapped.
“Guards,” I said. “Now.”
Mina took down the two guards. Gunfire echoing. The guards falling. Attracting the attention of the rats behind Spy. They bounded into the passageway and leaped onto the warm, bleeding flesh. Spy sped five long steps and leaped high. Continuing the run up the wall at an angle, her speed and momentum carrying her halfway up and past the fallen guards.
Evelyn’s cell door opened. Spy raced inside. Rats chased her.
“Shut the bakery door,” I ordered my team.
