Part 16 (1/2)

Fred opened the bags with die new rifles and handed them out to his team. ”Will, you mule the extra parts and ammo.” ”Roger,” Will replied and slung them over his shoulders. ”Those satchels, over there,” Dr. Halsey said and waved to four duffel bags. ”Medical supplies. Food and water. We'll need them, too.”

Will grabbed them as well.

”Just a few more things,” Dr. Halsey whispered. ”We can't let them get into ONI's records.” She tapped her pad once and then said to Kalmiya, ”Begin Operation White Glove. Irradiate all computer memory crystal. Code file access Beta-Foxtrot-99874.” Dr. Halsey closed her eyes as if she were concentrating, and she whispered, ”Not all AIs have the fail-safe option, my dear Kalmiya... just the ones that matter.”

”I understand, Doctor.” There was a pause, and the AI spoke again, her voice sad. ”Voice and fingerprint accepted and verified. Fail-safe code verified. It has been . . . a pleasure working with you, Doctor Halsey.”

”The pleasure has been mine, Kalmiya.” She stood straighter and said, ”Fail-safe override access: 'Ragnarok.' Give us a three-minute countdown.”

A three-minute counter appeared in the corner of Fred's heads-up display.

Dr. Halsey turned to him. ”I've activated the explosives cache under this base, which will level the complex. We have to get below, to the original t.i.tanium mine tunnels.”

Fred wished she had consulted with him before she had given them only three minutes. Then again, Dr. Halsey knew what was at stake, what secrets were hidden in this base, and what damage could occur if the Covenant got their hands on those secrets.

Five minutes might be too much too much time considering what was at risk. time considering what was at risk.

”Understood,” Fred replied. ”Isaac, you're rear guard. Vinh, stick close to Kelly. I'll take Doctor Halsey.” Fred picked up the doctor with great care. She couldn't have weighed more than fifty kilos-light as a stick.

136.

”I've lost targets on motion sensors,” Vinh whispered over the COM. ”They were close, too.”

”Kelly, watch for camouflaged Elites.”

”Affirmative,” she said. She scanned the room, moved to a cabinet, and grabbed a tin can marked TALC. ”Let's move,” Fred ordered. ”Kalmiya, kill the lights in the base. Hand signals only-I want radio silence.” TALC. ”Let's move,” Fred ordered. ”Kalmiya, kill the lights in the base. Hand signals only-I want radio silence.”

Four blue acknowledgment lights winked on.

The faint light filtering in from the outer hall died.

Kelly slid into the hallway and melted into the shadows. Vinh followed, then Fred and Isaac. Will trailed behind, moving slower because of the care he took to remain quiet with the gear.

Dr. Halsey tapped her data pad, and a map uploaded onto Fred's heads-up display, a path traced through corridors and a NAV marker designated an elevator shaft. That was their objective.

The Spartans winked on their acknowledgment lights, confirming the route.

They crept forward, smooth and silent-oil sliding over oil- until Kelly halted ten meters before a five-way intersection. The Spartans froze and waited. She crouched, set the can of talc on the floor, and then stood with her knees bent.

She waited another heartbeat, then gave a slight shake of her head from side to side-their signal for trouble ahead.

Vinh moved next to Fred's flank, and Fred set Dr. Halsey down and stood in front of her. Will crouched next to the doctor to provide cover with his own body if needed.

Isaac remained on their six.

Kelly kicked the can. It tumbled end over end through the air, and as it entered the intersection Kelly squeezed off a single shot. The flash of light from the muzzle illuminated the pa.s.sage just long enough for them to see the can explode and a cloud of white dust mushroom into the hallways.

Their motion detectors flickered, and four targets resolved on their displays. Image enhancement showed the wavering outlines of four Covenant Elites-their light-bending camouflage fluttering and overloading as the talc powder coated them.

Kelly open fire with both pistols. The Elite closest dropped as three slugs pounded through its s.h.i.+elds, and a round caught it in the center of its elongated forehead. Purple blood blossomed across the wall.

The remaining Elites returned fire, and Kelly bounded forward, plasma flaring at the edge of her s.h.i.+eld. She ducked into the side pa.s.sage.

The instant Kelly was out of the line of fire, Fred shouldered his rifle and squeezed the trigger. A three-round burst caught the next Elite, and its s.h.i.+eld sparkled and failed. It twisted away, clutching at the single round that had penetrated its chest.

Vinh fired two single shots, but the Elite's s.h.i.+eld held. In unison, Vinh and Fred fired another set of three-round bursts. The Elite dropped to the steel floor in a twisted heap.

The last Elite had vanished. No return fire. No sensor contact.

The Spartans held position for a moment longer, then regrouped. With hand signals, each member of the team reported no contact.

Fred spied tracks in the white dust scattered on the floor. The Elite had bugged out, and it was most likely gathering reinforcements.

That wasn't what Covenant Elites usually did. Their pride demanded that they fight, and die fighting, if need be. They would hurl themselves headlong into battle, no matter the odds, and die by the hundreds if necessary. They never never ran away. Nothing about this engagement had been ”usual.” ran away. Nothing about this engagement had been ”usual.”

Fred glanced at Will and Dr. Halsey. Will gave him a thumbs-up, indicating that the doctor hadn't been wounded in the exchange.

After the exchange of gunfire, there was no need for secrecy. ”One of them got away,” Fred told them. ”We need to move, too... and forget quiet.”

The Spartans ran down the corridor. They heard and felt another explosion directly over their heads.

Kelly skidded to a halt in front of the locked elevator doors. She gripped one of the panels; Fred and Vinh gripped the seam of the other side, and the Spartans pried them apart as if the five-centimeter steel alloy were no tougher than the rind of an orange.

Kelly grabbed the elevator cables and slid down. Vinh followed, then Fred plummeted more than five hundred meters into the darkness. The three of them ripped open the doors at the bottom of the shaft. Will slid down next with Dr. Halsey holding on to his neck. Isaac followed.

”There should be an air vent,” Dr. Halsey whispered. ”There.”

Kelly ripped off the vent cover and peered down.

”It leads to the old mine tunnels,” Dr. Halsey told them, ”and more, I hope.” ”Go,” Fred ordered. Kelly dived in, headfirst. They waited ten seconds, and her ac knowledgment light winked on.

Fred entered next, sliding through the vent duct. It twisted and turned and finally dumped him into a long tunnel of roughly hewn granite. The ceiling was ten meters high and-judging from the three-meter-wide tire tracks in the dust-big enough for heavy equipment to have rolled through.

Will slid out of the duct with Dr. Halsey riding on his chest. Vinh and Isaac came after them.

”There's more to this place,” Dr. Halsey told them, standing up and brus.h.i.+ng the dust from her lab coat. ”This is only the beginning. We have to-”

A thunderous detonation cut her off. The mountain exploded, and ONI's base collapsed over their heads.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

0002 hours, September 7,2552 (Military Calendar) ONIunderground facility, planet Reach.

Fred followed the trail of odd symbols along the left-hand stone wall until they twisted into a spiral mosaic and vanished into ever-smaller curls. The symbols were part of the rock, composed of glittering mica inclusions in the granite matrix. There were a series of squares, triangles, bars, and dots, similar to Covenant calligraphy he had seen-but at the same time it was simpler, cleaner, and when Fred focused on them, the characters seemed to blur around their edges and fade from his stare.

He blinked, and the symbols were there again.