128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Signal | Part 1

Megan laid her finger on the elevator call button to press it. However, she stopped when an elevator chime came about. She stepped back, expecting someone to appear in the elevator. And there was indeed someone in it.

As the doors slid open, a recognisable figure appeared in front of them in the carriage. A figure that they thought they wouldn't encounter at such a location. A person that was armed with a baton, although outnumbered by the two armed detectives.

Megan's eyes widened as she gasped in shock for a split second while Matthew brought up a pistol that belonged to the chairwoman. It didn't take Megan long enough to follow along. She grabbed out her mini revolver, taking aim.

"Drop the baton and keep your hands in the air!" Matthew bellowed as he glared at the person, fury painted on his face.

The person thus lowered his baton, knowing it was no match against two guns. However, it remained in his hand, and he was hesitant to let go. Eventually, he was forced to release his grip on the weapon either way, and so he dropped it to the group with a clank.

Megan stepped forward and pulled out a plastic wire, coiling it around the man's hands. She then turned him around, pushing him back towards the elevator. "Get back inside, Daniel!" she said as she forcefully shoved him towards the walls of the elevator.

Matthew dragged the chairwoman in before entering the elevator shortly afterwards. He then dumped her at a corner of the carriage, her hands also restrained with the same type of wire used for Daniel. After settling her down, he proceeded to press the button for the roof, which signalled to the elevator to close the doors and move up.

Daniel tried making the restraints on him more comfortable by attempting to loosen the wires. Unfortunately, it didn't work very well. Just wiggling his wrists within the coiled wiring was hard enough, which made loosening it seemingly impossible.

And before he knew it, Megan had already noticed his conspicuous actions. She brought her revolver back up to the side of his forehead. She then moved her mouth towards his ears before speaking discreetly. "Move your hands one more time, and I'll move a bullet into your skull," she whispered, warning of the consequences, before stepping back.

Daniel, however, didn't seem too contented. He gave a murderous glare as he kept his gaze on Megan. He was convinced that he would get out of the complicated situation, although the detectives were doing all they could to ensure that wouldn't happen.

After the seemingly eternal and intense wait for their arrival at the roof, the elevator finally stopped. The doors slid open to reveal the open space of the building's rooftop. The trio could already feel the powerful gusts of wind blowing against them, but they kept moving.

Megan kept her gun on Daniel as she pulled him out of the elevator. Meanwhile, Matthew began dragging the chairwoman out to the rooftop too. The howling gales that overwhelmed the atmosphere blew against her face mercilessly, causing her to slowly regain consciousness. Matthew, however, didn't change how he was moving her around despite noticing that she was coming round. He just found no purpose in treating her with respect if she couldn't do that with others.

He looked around, his grip still on the chairwoman. The radio antenna of the tower was visible from his spot, and it was enormous. It towered over him, its oversized shadow adding to that of the building, which fell on the rest of the city during the evening sun. And below the antenna was a broadcasting room, which was largely empty.

"Help me tie both of them up with more of the wiring, will you?" he requested Megan. She nodded before grabbing out more plastic wire from a small pouch that Matthew laid down.

As she coiled the wiring around the chairwoman's and Daniel's torsos, Matthew moved towards the room located below the antenna. He assumed it to be a radio transmitter room rather than a broadcasting one, seeing how the lack of equipment gave away the fact that it couldn't possibly be suitable for broadcasting news. After all, Yael was secretive enough to keep all the floors above the 12th isolated from the public.

He pulled open the door to the room as soon as he arrived in front of it, which was surprisingly lightweight. He had expected a heavier door to withstand the strong winds that were present at the elevation of two thousand feet. Whatever the case was, he still entered the room to get a better look at the few items present in it.

At the very front of the rather small room was a large radio transmitter machine that seemed highly advanced. At least a hundred buttons and sliders were present on the complex machinery, although Matthew could identify some key features that would be vital in operating the radio antenna. The rest of the functions were practically purposeless, leading him to ignore them.

Above the machine was a computer monitor and a central processing unit accompanying it. Both compartments were connected to the device by some complicated wiring, which indicated that the computer likely operated with the transmitter. Finally, there was a mini sound system consisting of twin stereo speakers on the left of the computer monitor and the right of the central processing unit.

Matthew proceeded to turn the radio transmitter, sound system and computer on by connecting the power to the whole room. The machinery of the transmitter could be heard whirring while an unreadable string of letters began running on the computer monitor. Meanwhile, the lighting in the room flashed on as power ran through the entire room.

After a minute of waiting, the transmitter and computer fully started up. A graphical user interface appeared on the computer monitor in front of Matthew. As he began making some changes to the controls on the transmitter board, the screen changed with it, identifying the changes being made and adjusting other statistics.

It was then that he realised that the monitor was displaying everything being outputted by the radio transmitter. He turned to face the central processing unit, which seemed to be running since it was making some noises. However, the software installed in the radio transmitter enabled it to work as a CPU itself, rendering the other one obsolete.

Matthew proceeded to turn the radio antenna on by supplying power to it. The process was silent, unlike that of switching on the transmitter. Within a couple of seconds, the antenna was fully operational, and Matthew could begin inputting some controls.

He then adjusted the radio signal to 10 kilohertz—a frequency fatal to subjects infected by the BMEV-2 virus. The creatures could easily fall prey to short-wave radio frequency, which severely harmed their ears and brains, as documented in the reports Megan had found in one of the laboratories.

Despite this, he didn't transmit the signals yet. He knew it was better to get more clarity and confidence on the situation before making any bold moves. However, even before he had begun the operation, a popup appeared on the computer monitor.