The Chimera Vector (The Fifth Column #1)

Chapter 48: I Can Smell Blood

Benito looked out the window of the Speedhawk at the ledge extending from the sheer jagged cliff where the helicopter was to land. Lucia kept them hovering for a moment, then carefully settled the helicopter down on what looked like an aluminum platform.

There was a cave opening before them, large enough to squeeze a light aircraft through. Benito watched as the cave doors parted on hinges, turning inwards. The doors themselves were covered in mountain rock, decorated with moss and fernery to conceal the true material beneath it: reinforced steel. The Speedhawk jolted as the aluminum platform began to withdraw through the cave doors.

Once inside, Sophia leaped off the platform, nearly losing her balance with only one good arm. Lucia followed suit. Benito contemplated staying in the helicopter by himself, but decided it was safer with them. He made sure he kept no more than three paces away from them, aware that they still had their pistol and rifle ready. They didn’t bother to close the fake-rock doors behind them, which he found rather odd.

As he stepped off the platform, he saw that it had wheels that ran on a pair of rails, powered by an on-board motor. The rails themselves were retractable.

‘We can’t stay long,’ Sophia said quietly. ‘The Fifth Column might know about this base by now.’

‘I can smell blood,’ Lucia said.

‘Whose?’ Sophia asked.

‘Not sure. Our people are here. Cecilia. Everyone.’ She shook her head. ‘No soldiers though.’

‘Damn,’ Sophia said. ‘We’re too late.’

Benito remained behind them as they surveyed the chamber. The walls and ceiling were fabricated, and seemed to be molded upon the existing shape of the cave. He knew Cecilia had chosen the location for this place, and financed the discreet conversion of the natural limestone cave system into a cleverly retrofitted forward-operating base. The fact that the base was carefully concealed in an archeologically protected region of Belize meant it was unlikely to be stumbled upon even by the most persistent treasure hunter.

‘Where is ev—’ Benito stopped mid-sentence as Sophia brought a finger to her lips.

He watched her move lightly into the next chamber. Crates and boxes of various sizes were stacked around them. At the other end was a pair of tubular passages. Sophia led them down the left one. As they walked, he noticed the passage descending. Lucia walked behind him, her attention focused on their rear. Something wasn’t right. But he didn’t want to say anything, preferring to wait and hope for the best.

A thicket of cables sagged along the limestone walls, marked every thirty feet by light bulbs that bled onto the limestone with fingers of black iron. Benito tried and failed to suppress a chill that shook his body. He was careful not to slip on anything as the passage twisted to the right and then to the left again, before expanding out into a large galley kitchen.

Two Elohim stood there, flanked by rudimentary furniture cut from Belizean mahogany. They aimed their rifles, then lowered them again as they recognized Sophia and Lucia. One of the Elohim spoke into his throat mike.

Benito halted mid-stride when he realized what was covering the galley kitchen floor. Torn flesh. Bullet wounds shredding faces, chests and torsos. He couldn’t move, yet he was unable to look away.

‘Oh my god,’ Lucia said from behind him.

Sophia’s voice sounded strained. ‘What happened?’

The Elohim on the right, a young male with grim, pencil-thin lips, answered. ‘The Fifth Column found the base. Blue Berets cut off everyone’s escape. They didn’t stand a chance.’