Scott’s bodyguard handed out a couple helmets similar to one he was wearing. It seemed to be a combination of a gas mask and infrared goggles. They had one for Scott and Dr. Chaikhot, but the personal trainer Gabriel was left without.
“You should hide in your office and lock the door.” Scott’s bodyguard Brad told the trainer. “This area is probably not a high priority target for them, so you should be OK.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking about taking this job, “Gabriel complained.
“Looks like you can walk now. Can you handle stairs or ladders, Scott?” Brad asked.
“I think so.” Walking still felt uncomfortable, but Scott thought he could manage.
Their group headed away from the elevator towards a door further down the hall. There was a loud creaking noise as the elevator doors were manually pried apart behind them. They picked up the pace as a flashbang was tossed into the hall. Fortunately, their helmets protected them from the noise and bright light. As they sprinted through the door, Scott’s bodyguard started firing back towards the elevator.
He was carrying a weapon that had a large stock and a long thin barrel. The weapon was somewhere between a machine pistol and a rifle in length. When he fired it made a high pitch buzzing which was probably filtered heavily by the noise cancellation in their helmets. Scott was too busy trying not to trip down the stairs to pay attention to see whatever damage the weapon was doing. Brad passed him and took a position looking up the stairs, still in sight of the door.
“Keep going, Scott. It’s only a matter of time before someone punctures through one of the ceiling plates and this level starts flooding.” Brad said. The bodyguard was very pleased with the flechette rifles. The needle-like rounds were osmium tipped and had an insane rate of fire. They went through a steel plate like it was cardboard. Equipping guards in an underwater facility with something like that seemed borderline insane, but right now he enjoyed having the firepower.
Scott stumbled down another set of stairs. The door to the next floor had a red light on it and wouldn’t open. Dr. Chaikhot had already gone further down.
The buzzing sound of the flechette rifle sounded off upstairs, followed by some cursing. Brad was suddenly sprinting down the stairs and Scott heard the sound of rushing water. He hurried up but stumbled and fell down the next flight. Fortunately, the helmet protected him from what would have likely been a concussion when he hit the ground.
“That’s one way to do it.” Brad laughed. He grabbed Scott and dragged him through a door as water started rushing past them down the stairs. They sealed up the hatch.
Looking around, Scott realized they were in a robotics lab. Matt and a few other technicians were sitting at consoles or hovering while offering suggestions. His other friends were all here too, but Barry was lying down and looked injured. Melinda was stitching up what looked like a large gash on his leg, while Dr. Chaikhot looked on.
“Levels 2 and 3 are flooded. We’re trapped down here.” One of the bodyguards updated Scott and his group. “Jansen was able to set up the antennae outside.”
“The Dark Siren is nearly in range.” Melinda’s voice came out of the intercom.
“The robots outside are in range, but there is a group of Mexican military outside the compound.” Matt reported. “The robots we had inside the compound have been destroyed. I think they have some divers inside stealing our computers and equipment.”
“What tech can they recover if they escape?” Melinda asked.
“Biotech chip configuration and testing data. They will struggle with this without the chip design data from the lab in India. They can also get most of the data from the materials lab including the schematic for the newer fusion devices and studies on protein guided crystal growth. We cleared out a lot of the genetics work and weapons tech. The robotics tech is in this room, but if they breach here, we have bigger problems.” Terrance, the leader of the security forces replied.
“How likely are they to breach this level?” Melinda asked.
“About half their forces were killed between our defenses and the upper levels flooding. Most of the rest are in a fire fight with the Mexican army unit outside the compound. I think they have less than a dozen guys equipped for diving, so they will prioritize grabbing computers and gadgets on the levels they can access. I think they will try to breach this level with explosives soon.”
“What options do we have?”
“We can seal ourselves in the warehouse area. I would recommend we do this now.”
“Almost done here.” Matt said. “If you could stall them for another two minutes, we can get this robot out into the water.” Their robot factory and huge 3D printers had been working non-stop since Scott had arrived. A variation of the spider-like robots Phillip favored was almost assembled. This version had a flechette rifle mounted on one arm.
“The tunneling robots are connecting the mining tunnel with the elevator shaft. They are breaking through now, but we don’t have visibility up the elevator shaft yet.”
“OK, everyone not in the security group or robotics move to the warehouse space.” Terrance ordered.
Scott was heading through the door when the floor rumbled.
“The mining robot ran into one of their divers. He set off a charge and destroyed it, but the plates we sealed over the elevator door are holding.” Terrance announced.
They all waited for a few tense minutes to see if there would be further attacks on this level.
“The robot is done,” Matt said. The ball of sharp, pointed arms scuttled quickly into the pool at the edge of the room which connected to the mine. Several of the other techs had stopped what they were doing to watch his screen.
“I’m climbing up the elevator shaft.” Matt announced, guiding the robot.
“Go up to the second floor. Materials and fusion research are the top priority.” Melinda said.
They waited as the robot climbed up through the dark elevator shaft. After a minute, a few of the technicians watching the screen cheered.
“A guy swam into the elevator shaft from the top floor, and I tagged him with the flechette. A lot of blood and air bubbles. I don’t think he’s moving.” Matt seemed unfazed that he had just killed someone. Scott supposed it wasn’t the first time today for Matt.
“Floor 2.” Matt continued his narration. “Two guys were moving one of the fusion prototypes. Got them both. Checking the materials lab. Looks empty.”
“They probably already pulled the computers. Head back to the elevator and go up to the top level.” Melinda ordered.
“Back at the elevator. Whoa, a guy is swimming up from level 3, no scuba gear!” Matt said.
“Don’t shoot! That’s Gabriel the personal trainer.” Terrance said.
“OK, I’m going up to the top. Moving past the corpse.” Matt said.
“Taking fire!” Matt announced. “Two more down on the first floor. Gabriel made it up.”
“He looks injured. That guy is tough to swim all the way up with half an arm missing.”
“He’s going to bleed out. Can you help him?” Melinda asked.
“I don’t think I can do anything.” Matt said, starting to panic a bit.
“All right, I’m swimming up.” Terrance announced, grabbing a medical kit and a tie down cord before heading towards the pool. He put a rebreather over his face before jumping in.
“Matt, can you send the robot down and help pull Terrance up to the top?”
“On my way. I’ll pick him up at the mining tunnel.”
About 30 seconds later.
“Got him, he missed the exit and was heading down the wrong tunnel.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Roughly a minute later.
“He’s up. The Russians have cleared out of here. Terrance is working on Gabriel. No idea if he’s going to survive. I’m heading outside of the bunker now. Oh crap, there are bombs in the first room.”
“Pull Gabriel out if you can.” Melinda ordered. “Terrance got the message and he’s making a run for it.”
By now everyone had exited the warehouse and were watching Matt’s screen. Matt's robot had picked up the unmoving personal trainer and was dragging him up a slope of fallen rocks where the bunker had been breached. They saw daylight for a few seconds before the feed cut off. A loud rumbling was felt by everyone, and some dust and small rocks fell from the ceiling.
“That is not good.” Scott said.
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Alexey Lukina had ordered the retreat when one of the commandos announced that robots had broken into the elevator shaft. The man had managed to destroy the first one with the explosives intended to breach the final level of the bunker.
The arrival of a unit from the Mexican army had already made it clear he had a limited timeframe. His men were able to hold them off easily using the base’s heavily fortified walls which gave them a strong defensive position. They had bloodied the army unit and even shot down a helicopter gunship. Alexey had no illusions that they could hold out long once the army mobilized a stronger response.
In the bunker they had met stiff resistance from soldiers with powerful weapons that pierced through his troops body armor. He had also lost a couple men to some powerful mining robots that had been moved up to the lower floors. Even with the challenges, he had grabbed computers and equipment from some very interesting labs and loaded it onto the boats. His superiors would accept the losses once they saw what he had retrieved. Alexey had planned on making copies of all the tech before handing it over, but a couple of the commandos who survived were on high alert and not letting the materials out of their sight.
They were heading down the coast planning to load the goods onto a waiting submarine when one of his boats blew up. The remaining boats started to move in evasive patterns and his boat started a sprint towards the coast.
“Dark Siren spotted North-Northwest two nautical miles away,” their look-out announced. “It is approaching at 25 knots.”
The Dark Siren had fired from long range. It was approaching them at nearly the speed of a frigate.
“Fire the missile and torpedoes,” Alexey ordered.
Two of his remaining boats had anti-ship weapons and quickly fired. A surface-to-surface missile streaked towards the distant ship accelerating in a blur.
A couple torpedoes were dropped in the water and started moving away rapidly. Another of his boats blew up right before the missile hit the Dark Siren. There was a bright flash and a cloud of smoke. Alexey thought they must have taken out the gun and likely damaged the bridge.
The torpedoes cut through the clear water until a large dome of water and bubbles appeared, indicating one of the torpedoes had somehow been intercepted. Seconds later, a bright flash of light appeared on the distant ship, followed by a loud rumbling sound. The second torpedo had hit and more smoke was hindering his view of the enemy ship. From what he could see, the ship had gone off course and was leaning to one side. He had seen the specs and it was not compartmentalized like a true warship. Alexey expected it would not survive. With only two boats left, Alexey’s group returned to their escape path. The submarine was still several miles away, but he would be grateful to put this difficult mission behind him.
“An F-5 fighter is approaching. The Mexicans are taking this attack seriously.” His radar technician announced. Alexey made a call to the submarine.
“Split up, the submarine is retreating. Proceed to secondary exfil locations,” Alexey ordered.
Alexey’s boat raced towards the coast. He would use the alternate escape plan along with 6 commandos and the stolen materials. The remaining boats would continue on as decoys, but the submarine would be leaving without him. He had multiple contingencies in place, so it was not worth risking the submarine with a hostile air force flying overhead. The submarine had been the easiest escape plan, but he was not surprised that it had been chased off after firing a cruise missile at another country’s territory. Alexey thought their response had been unimpressive - the Mexican military was not expecting something like this in such a remote area, and their lack of preparation showed.
Once they reached the shore, Alexey and his men disappeared into the jungle. It had been a while since he had participated in any kind of field work like this, but he found himself looking forward to the next challenge.
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It had taken a few hours, but everyone in the bunker was able to exit through the underwater tunnels with the use of a few rebreathers they had on hand. Their resident scuba diver had returned after setting up their communications antennae and helped guide them out in small groups. Terrance and Gabriel had made it out before the explosion collapsed the top two levels of the bunker. They were both seriously injured and were rushed to a hospital in Merida.
Scott had never done scuba diving before, and they were fairly deep, so they needed to make a safety stop about 20 feet from the surface to allow nitrogen in their blood to dissipate safely. They had all been given a crash course on what to expect and he was sure he had not understood all the details. While he was waiting in sight of the surface, he admired some fish swimming around. They seemed unconcerned about the battle that had recently taken place nearby. Their guide Jansen had warned them that a fair number of sharks had been in the area earlier attracted by blood in the water, but they had mostly cleared out by now. “Mostly cleared out” and “sharks” was not that comforting to Scott who kept looking around for any signs of some monster coming back for the next course.
He was in one of the first groups to exit. Matt and a few other technicians were in the last group. They had a plan to package up and hide some of the robotics equipment before leaving. They also sealed up the mine and set the mining robots to a dormant state. They weren’t sure what the government response would be to all this, but it was likely some divers would be sent to investigate what they had been up to. No one saw the need to have even more of their technology stolen.
When it was safe to surface, his group handed Jansen their dive equipment which he put in a mesh sack and headed back down. The guy had to be tired - he had been swimming around for hours now, but he seemed to be in a good mood despite the life and death situation.
On the shore, Scott and the others in his group were greeted by some military people pointing guns at him. Scott’s group made it clear they were surrendering and were brought to a van. They had agreed in advance on what they would talk about and what they should try to keep hidden. In short, they were admitting to mining operations which they had relevant permits for. No mention of their human resources software or biotech was considered necessary for the Mexican authorities. After some painful discussion, they had agreed that the fusion tech was no longer a secret they could keep. They would not share all the technical details but would admit they had this to the authorities. Melinda claimed she would file some related patents as soon as possible. They assumed the Russians would be able to reproduce their initial success within a year based on what they had stolen. The patents would provide some protection from Western companies trying to steal from them, but chances were good that others would duplicate their work soon.
Scott was questioned for a couple hours. The authorities seemed very skeptical about his claims that they had started an undersea mining operation using robots, but they had found the robots Matt’s group had used to attack the convoy, so they couldn’t completely dismiss his claims. He had asked for a lawyer or if he could contact the US embassy, but they had refused and locked him in a room with a small cot.
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It was 3 days before Scott was released. His passport had been destroyed during the attack, but regardless they told him he wasn’t allowed to leave the country until they finished their investigation. Scott was finally allowed to contact the U.S. embassy and start the process of getting new identification documents. An official from the embassy asked more questions. Scott thought they must have already had a file on their Mexico base, but a lot of questions indicated they had been flagged as some kind of drug operation. The U.S. was so obsessed with drugs they seemed to have totally missed that it was a Russian attack.
Sergio Guerra, the head of their security, had returned from the U.S. accompanied by Adriana and Carl. Solomon Rhodes had turned himself in to the police and was returned to prison to finish out his sentence. He had hired several expensive lawyers. They were suing the prison system for not protecting him from the Russian attack and the torture he had suffered. Melinda thought there was a good chance they would release him soon in exchange for dropping the lawsuits.
Scott was very excited to see Adriana. Unlike Solomon, she had not been physically harmed.
“Uh, you look different,” Adriana mumbled when she saw Scott.
“Yeah, Melinda did some experiments on me. It was awful.” Scott complained. “I have to do all these exercises every day now or my muscles will break down and poison my kidneys.”
“Well, it’s great to see everyone. I heard you helped a lot finding where they were keeping me, so I guess I owe you one.”
“No need, we were all so worried,” Scott was surprised he wasn’t even stumbling over his words. He was so happy she was safe he wasn’t really thinking about how amazing she looked. “Yeah, um we missed you, but our base blew up so I guess you were better off, um stupid!”
So much for not getting flustered. Better off with the kidnappers? Scott was once again talking like an idiot.
“Heh, don’t worry,” Adriana said. “We’ve all had a rough time. I can’t believe the Russians shot our house with a cruise missile! And they sank my ship. Oh crap! Is your dad OK?”
“Um, sort of.” Scott said. “He’s in pretty bad condition with some broken bones and burns. A couple other guys on the ship didn’t make it.”
“Oh no! I hope you aren’t blaming yourself for this” Adriana said. She knew him pretty well.
“Last I talked to him was before the fight. He was so happy. He got a $42,000 bonus for that first delivery and he said he loved being on a ship again. Now he’s in the hospital and almost died. Several of our people died in the attack.”
“Hey, take it easy Scott,” Adriana said. “Everyone here made their choice to work here. We’re not babies you need to protect from making bad decisions. I can’t speak for everyone, but I never once blamed you when I was kidnapped. Actually, um I kind of missed you while I was there.” Adriana confessed before continuing, “We are going to rebuild our ship and make an even better base. I had a lot of time to think while I was captured, and I can’t wait to get started building our underwater habitat. I also want to build some submarines and launch some missiles at the stupid Russians.”
“Are you sure you want to just jump back into work after all that’s happened? Maybe we should just go back to being students, so people won’t keep attacking us.” Scott said.
Adrian continued, “You might look like some hero now, but you are still acting like the same whiny person I first met. You need to toughen up and stop worrying so much about what people might steal from us or do to stop us. We need to push back hard so they will think twice. You can’t defend against everything. The people who attacked us are going to keep pushing everyone around until someone stops them.”
Well, so much for Adriana being grateful about his help rescuing her. Scott didn’t disagree with her - he needed to toughen up. He would ask some of the security guys if they could add some training as part of his workout. Melinda had rented them a car with a driver. For now, Scott was just glad to put this place behind him.