Chapter 176 - The cache - II (2/2)

”Get moving,” said Lucius and Balthazar quickly plugged in the key card into the console to make the required configurations to it. Since, he had worked as an assassin in his past life, he had a very good grasp over the various security mechanisms that are currently used and also for the next two years. Even after he left his job as an assassin, he had been involved in the security of Rudra's workshop and due to that he kept his knowledge up to date on various security protocols and improvements through the dark net.

With a properly configured key card which was configured with maintenance capabilities of the security systems, he had the ability to reset the sensors in various places. Security systems would also need to be frequently tested and the protocols that would be put by organizations for this purpose was being used by Balthazar currently to circ.u.mvent those security protocols.

As the got out of the security station, they had to go through the next door that led to the actual interior of the cache. This door was also slightly ajar and opened. Balthazar had already expected this. He had observed a lot of bodies in the screen at the security station and it looked like a number of the dead men realized their situation as they were about to die and started to panic and run. So, there was a high chance of several doors being open and a few traps already being sprung.

They found another dead body as soon as they opened the door. They moved through the tunnel which was well lit. There was a large dining hall at the end of the tunnel. There were other doors that diverged from it. Balthazar held up a hand after he opened the door preventing them from entering the tunnel.

”What happened?” asked Robert.

”Look at the bodies,” said Balthazar pointing at them in the tunnel. ”Everyone has an gun or some arm. So, careful where you step. The tunnel is 30 meters. You got half-a-minute to cross. So, run. I am going to swipe the card here and enter a code, that would start a timer,” explained Balthazar pointing to a panel by the door.

”OK,” said Robert.

Balthazar looked at Lucius and Richard who nodded in confirmation before swiping the card at the panel and typing in a reset code. They quickly made their way through the cl.u.s.ter of dead bodies and reached the other end where Balthazar used another code at the security panel there to get in.

They were in a large dining hall with a number of tables and chairs thrown all over. It was like a tavern frequented by unruly people with a lot of stains and a number of tables were broken. The only difference was that such taverns tend to be lively while this one had dead men in it.

”Blergh!” came a sound from the side as Robert felt like vomiting. He saw the scene from the monitor before, but a closer look had caused his digestive system to fail.

”You're kidding?!” said Richard

”That might be a mark against you,” joked Balthazar.

Robert decided to take a chair and sit down to rest.

”Don't stray too far from the door. There are some sensors in this place too and looking at the scene it is clear that some of them were already activated by the bodies. I already have the information and marked a few safe areas. We just need to use that to get to the security room. Stay in those areas only,” said Balthazar as he saw his cousin reaching for a chair.

Robert didn't respond and was still a bit out of it. Balthazar called for him a couple more times, but his cousin was still stuck in the same state. So, Balthazar quickly took a chair and pulled his cousin into it.

”You all right?” he asked shaking his cousin who nodded in response.

”Stay here. I will take care of the rest,” said Balthazar. It was clear that his cousin is having problems with the dead men all over the place. It was probably his first time looking at so many dead men at a time killed like that. He knew that Robert would have seen a dead body or two as a surgeon, but those bodies were usually in hospital or mortuary where everything was kept clean. It was quite different from the site of an extermination like this one where the dead could be seen in positions where they are still trying to escape and had expressions of fear all over their faces.

”I can,” said Robert in a feeble tone.

”No, you're not,” sighed Balthazar as he heard his cousin respond in a feeble tone. ”The first time is hard. People could find it a lot harder to be at peace after watching such a thing. And that is common even among the military, even when they see other human and apes who have tried to kill them just moments before their death.”

”Leave this to me. Stay here with Richard. I won't take long,” said Balthazar to his cousin and then looked at Richard. ”He might need some help. Let me go ahead with Lucius. If he doesn't mind take him back to the ship, else let him remain. Don't force anything. It is best if he comes to the decision on his own,” he told Richard alone after muting the others.

Richard nodded before asking Balthazar, ”Are you all right?”

”I am fine. I have seen worse happen to my own men. This really doesn't bother me much,” he said while he moved on ahead. Balthazar considered this to be the best option currently. It would be easier for him if he didn't need to explain things to his cousin at each point. He had better confidence in Lucius and knew that Lucius will be able to evade all sensors even without his own help. The fact that Lucius is guarding them implied that he had already had enough tech on him to do that without any issue.

The security centre was the farthest located room from the rest of the cache as it was required for it to be isolated so that no one would be able to infiltrate it. They had to go through three more tunnels after resetting the security measures temporarily from the panels, before they finally reached the sensor cl.u.s.ter which was considered hard. This one couldn't be reset completely in the same way as the others as this led directly to the door of the security centre.