PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 43

"Oh my God... Ezra."

Xander nodded as she connected the dots. He pulled Axle's handgun from his waistband and pocketed a few magazines he had found on him.

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Let's go." He cocked the gun and they jogged out of the Infirmary, Xander's gun raised to eye level, ready for anything.

They crossed the Compound floor with no problem until they reached halfway. An alarm went off. The image of the sky on the dome turned to a flashing light and a horn blared over the intercom in addition to Anni's simulated voice.

"Alert. Alert. Code Black. Code Black. Security, man your posts immediately. Alert. Alert. Code Black..." Anni repeated the message over the alarm.

Xander and Fiona picked up the pace despite the added difficulty of seeing where they were going due to the flashing lights. They arrived at the Barracks and turned down the lane. They burst through Xander's door and entered his house. He approached the bookshelf and swiped Axle's keycard in the slot. The bookshelf swung off the wall, revealing a dark stairwell that descended into the tunnels below the Compound.

"Are you ready?" Xander looked over to Fiona as they stood shoulder to shoulder. She nodded gravely, probably scared of what would come next if they managed to survive the night.

"Let's go!" Fiona answered.

They started down the stairwell.

The tunnel was illuminated in red due to the flashing alarms. Xander smelled the stale, musty air trapped in the aged basement. The corridors were lined with cement foundations and archways. Different passages branched off at different points, but Xander remained on the main passage, gun readied, covering Fiona who followed closely behind.

As they progressed through the passage, a distant sign became visible in the distance. The sign hung above the door at the end of the hall and read EXIT.

"There's our ticket," Xander yelled. But he knew it wouldn't be that easy, because, thanks to Anni's announcement, security had been dispatched. What kind of security, Xander did not know but he expected the worst as he continued to move through the tunnel. As they crossed an intersection, something caught the corner of his eye.

He turned.

But it was gone.

They continued again until Fiona's grip tightened on Xander's shoulder, pulling him back.

"Xander, look out!" Xander turned to meet a man dressed in full SWAT tactical gear. Without even processing it, Xander fired off a round into the man's chest. The man locked eyes with Xander momentarily and then succumbed to the wound and dropped dead.

Xander froze in disbelief. He looked down at his steady hand, holding the gun. Fiona stopped and brought a hand up to his shoulder.

"What?" she asked, still on edge from their escape.

"That's the first man I've ever killed." Although mentally he had to digest it, he was surprised that he was emotionally okay. He felt no remorse or regret. He had a job to do—he was going to save Fiona's life, and whoever stood in his way was endangering her life.

"Are you okay?" Fiona asked, clutching his arm.

"Yeah," Xander responded, still staring down at the body on the floor. "Let's go."

He turned and they continued down a different corridor, taking a side passage to travel more discretely through the tunnels. Two SWAT team members turned from a wall ahead and fired off rounds toward them. They spun and took cover behind an archway, which opened up into a chamber. Xander remembered his training, breathed, and prepared for attack. After letting the oncoming fire dwindle, he turned and fired well-aimed shots at the men.

One of them men squatted as he reloaded a magazine in his assault rifle, leaving his knee exposed. Xander caught the knee with a bullet and the man dropped. Xander fired another round into his chest and then rolled to the angle necessary to take out the second man.

At that moment, the alarm changed tone and Anni's voice shifted.

"Alert. Alert. The Compound is now in Lockdown."

Xander saw a metal door lowering through one of the brick archways ahead. At that sight, Xander yanked Fiona and together they sprinted toward it. They closed in thirty feet from it, while it was only three feet from the ground and still lowering. They sprinted with a new burst of speed and then slid feet first, clearing the metal door by an inch before it closed behind them. After a few moments, the alarm stopped altogether. The red lights stopped flashing, the horns stopped blaring. They were now in a dusty basement corridor illuminated by a few dim fluorescents hanging from the ceiling. Some of the lights hanging from the tunnel ceilings flickered, casting an eerie glow over them.

Xander heard a shuffle to his nine o'clock and instinctually spun to fire. One solo shot soared through the chamber into a SWAT member's chest. He dropped immediately. Xander heard another man farther down the tunnels and snapped a new magazine in his handgun. He crept to his left, taking the long away around to meet the man from behind. His footsteps light, his pace quick, Xander saw the SWAT member turn from his cover and pursue Fiona. The man fired off multiple rounds toward Fiona.

"No!" Xander popped out quick and fired three shots into the man's back. The man dropped and Xander sprinted to Fiona, who had fallen to the ground. A wave of relief came over Xander as she did not appear to be hit.

"He missed. Something's not right. He missed on purpose. He had me, and he shot four rounds into that wall." She got to her feet.

"Maybe he's a bad shot."

"No. Something is not right," she said with certainty. With an eerie feeling in their footsteps, they continued toward the EXIT sign. After a hundred feet of swift jogging, they had arrived. Outside the door, a series of crates and barrels lined the wall. Atop the crate was a lantern, a wad of clothes, and a scribbled-on crossword. Xander scanned them, as they were the only items in the tunnels, and then lifted his hand to the doorknob and turned it.

The door swung open.

Before them was a large surveillance room with hundreds of small screens and a large control panel. A flight of stairs ascended to the Compound floor. The interior of the room was nicer than the tunnels they had just emerged from. It resembled a small NASA launch control center. Xander could see the surveillance feeds monitored the Compound floor, each recruit's house, and each classroom. Every inch of the Compound was being watched. Fiona and Xander's eyes quickly dropped from the surveillance feeds to the one person in the room, casually waiting for them.

It was Jackson Hardy.

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