----------------------------------------
Lammb
----------------------------------------
“Hold up! This facility is off-limits — authorised military personnel only!” The security guard shifted the sub-machine gun from his side to emphasise his point. The guard’s eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, but the self-assurance in his stance was enough to make the three men come to an abrupt halt.
The lead figure, a small, bald-headed man in his mid-sixties with sunken cheeks and piercing bright blue eyes, pursed his thin lips with a barely perceptible show of impatience. When he spoke, it was with a clipped British accent:
“My name is —” he began but was cut off mid-sentence as the laconic guard cleared his throat and spat at the man’s feet.
“Don’t care who you are,” he drawled. “We’re locked down to civilians. We’re on high alert. Military or nobody — and you don’t look like military.” He gave the man a lazy grin.
“Oh, you will care,” cursed the man, reaching inside his jacket pocket.
“Stop right there!” commanded the security guard, stepping back in alarm and raising his weapon. The two dark-suited figures behind the small man, each tall and well-built, stepped forwards, moving between the guard and his target.
“Don’t move!” yelled the guard. “Hands where I can see them! Now!”
The bald-headed man gave an imperceptible shake of the head, and the two men stepped back, slowly raising their hands.
“My ID card is in my left inside pocket. Please, take a look.”
His words were calm, and he gave the guard a reassuring smile, but his pale eyes smouldered.
“Okay, you two, back up,” ordered the guard, edging forward, his gun still at the ready. He reached inside the man’s jacket and took out his wallet.
“I think you will find it all in order,” said the man quietly. The guard stepped back, glancing down at the wallet as he opened it up.
There was a moment’s pause, then a sudden change came over the guard’s demeanour, and his body slumped as though he had been instantly deflated. He lowered his weapon, a comical expression of nervousness spreading over his features.
“Mr. Lammb? Er, I’m so sorry, sir — they didn’t tell me you were coming — just, I’m new here, and with the attacks and the danger, sir — I had my orders.”
“That’s no problem, Officer,” replied the small man, taking back his wallet. He glanced up at his companions as they lowered their hands. “My visit is off-the-record for security purposes. It’s heartening to see that all my employees are on high alert, though. We value efficient men on our team, don’t we?” Lammb’s companions made no reply; they stared at the security guard with undisguised contempt. Lammb’s smile remained unbroken. “Now, I was supposed to be meeting Professor Rossitsky here, but she seems to be — oh, speak of the devil, here she is now.”
The security guard nodded nervously and glanced back over his shoulder. A small group of soldiers dressed in full environment suits were marching hurriedly down the long concrete tunnel that led back into the facility. At their head strode a woman dressed in a white lab coat that billowed out behind her as she approached.
“Mr. Lammb, Victor, I’m so sorry we weren’t here to meet you. We have only just now received notification of your arrival.” The woman was out of breath, but she held herself with a natural elegance. She was tall, slender, and pale-skinned, with an attractive, intelligent face and vivid green eyes which shone out, intense and unblinking. Her long dark hair was tied back but unkempt, a few loose strands falling across her face. Her clothes were dishevelled and dust-covered, and Lammb noticed a dark stain on one sleeve of her lab coat that could have been dried blood. She scowled down at Lammb with a look of disapproval. “But you should not have endangered yourself,” she continued, glancing back at the group of soldiers that had accompanied her. Their faces were hidden behind the mirrored visors of their helmets; their bulky environment suits also showed signs of dust and damage. They shifted uneasily with a nervous alertness. “We’re handling the situation.”
“Ah, Professor Rossitsky, I’m sure you are, I’m sure you are. And please, there’s no need to apologise for being late, your colleague here was looking after us in your absence.” Rossitsky shot a derisive glance at the security guard who waited nervously and self-consciously between them.
“It is not safe for you to be here, Victor,” snapped the professor, ignoring the guard and confronting Lammb once more. She spoke with a thick East European accent, looking down upon the small man who stood several inches shorter. “The base is still in lockdown, there could be more attacks, especially if your presence here is discovered. We don’t know if there are any secondary explosive devices remaining. We have casualties, structural damage — we need to try and salvage the data from the main —”
“Anya, Anya,” interjected the small man. He took her by the arm with a reassuring smile, leading her back down the tunnel. “May we?” he asked with a wink, turning to the security guard as they passed.
“Of course, yes, sir, Mr. Lammb,” stuttered the guard nervously. “I was just doing my job — orders, sir,” he continued as the group turned and headed back down into the facility; Lammb smiled and nodded.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Don’t worry, Anya,” he continued as they walked briskly down the concrete tunnel, the sound of their footsteps echoing off the stark walls. “I’m not here to get in your way. I’m here to protect my investments.” His tone was easy going, but his features looked even more gaunt now, bathed in the eerie red glow of the emergency lighting.
“I did not mean — it’s just; it’s just we’re still in danger,” sighed Anya. “We don’t know if they will attack again, or when, or where... It’s like chasing ghosts.”
“So, what the hell do we know about them?” snapped Lammb, suddenly overcome with frustration. They came to a halt as they reached an imposing blast door. “I’m sorry, Anya, that came out too harsh.”
Professor Rossitsky held up an ID card to the scanner, and the door swung inwards with a hiss. She stumbled a little as they passed through the opening, the strain and exhaustion momentarily visible before she pulled herself erect once again.
“All we know,” she replied, turning back to Lammb, “is that they knew exactly when, where, and how to hit us. And they did it with a ruthless precision.”
As she spoke, another blast door yawned open, and they were struck by a sudden barrage of noise. Fire alarms blared out over the sounds of shouting and venting of steam. As they walked through the doorway, a distant rumble of explosions shook the ground. The bare concrete tunnel had given way to white laboratory walls that opened out into a cavernous hall. Smoke and dust hung in the air, and at the far end of the hall, an observation window had been blown out, leaving glass and debris scattered across the floor.
Lammb cursed quietly to himself, striding out into the hall towards the shattered window, followed closely by his two bodyguards.
“Sir! Please, it is not safe!” called Professor Rossitsky, but the small man didn’t seem to hear her. She turned back to her security team, raising a questioning eyebrow. One of the suited soldiers gave a shake of his head, and Anya sighed, following Lammb across the hall, standing beside him at the empty observation window. He didn’t acknowledge her arrival, seemingly lost in thought as he gazed out across the scene of destruction below. Stretching away into the distance was a monolithic hall, a vast production plant filled with endless rows of machinery. Ranks of fieldships in various states of completion made up the nearest section, then rows of armoured vehicles beyond.
All was in chaos. Black smoke belched from burning machinery as fire-fighters attempted to contain the blaze, while elsewhere, teams of soldiers picked through piles of fallen rubble, searching for the trapped and the dead. Others were setting up defensive positions in the event of another attack.
Lammb gazed upon the scene with a vacant look of disbelief. Anya glanced down and saw that his hands rested upon the edge of the broken window frame. Blood oozed between his fingers as he tightened his grip, apparently unaware of the pain.
“How did this happen?” he whispered at last, forcing out the words, barely able to contain his fury. “How the hell did this happen?”
“We had no warning,” replied Anya solemnly. “The explosions went off in the production plants. We thought at first that it was an accident, but then the attackers appeared. They went through the labs, killing as they went. They were — they were methodical.” She fell silent, gazing out over the destruction. They both jumped as another explosion went off at the far end of the hall.
“What are our losses?” asked Lammb in a detached voice, his eyes still staring out over the chaos.
Anya sighed.
“It’s too early to tell,” she said forlornly. “A lot of the senior lab personnel were at a briefing in the —”
“I mean the work!” snapped Lammb, turning angrily upon her. His pale eyes had a wild look of mania. “What about the shipping halls? And the armoury plants? The data-stores — are they intact? The production plants we can deal with, but if those data-stores are out of action, well that could cripple us. And what about the prototype labs? Jesus! They should’ve been locked down, Anya! As a matter of course! I don’t care who these bastards are, nothing should be allowed to compromise the data-stores!” He was ranting now, shouting in frustration over the noise of the alarms. “I hold you personally responsible, Anya — if there were gaps in security, then your tactical leaders should’ve known — you should’ve anticipated this, made contingencies.”
“They came out of nowhere, Victor!” Anya protested indignantly. “And security was never my responsibility — my research here —”
“You’re the head of this damn facility!” bellowed Lammb. “The buck stops with you! If your security chiefs aren’t up to the job, then that’s your problem! I’ve got to face the damn board of directors next week! Is that what I’m supposed to tell my investors? They just came out of nowhere? The director of one of the biggest defence contractors on the planet gets hit by a bunch of terrorists and has nothing but a few lame excuses? Hell, Anya, this was our last operational plant — we knew it would be a target!” Lammb turned away in fury, gazing back out over the destruction. He held out his hands, noticing for the first time the cuts across his palms. He sighed, speaking quietly again. “We should have been ready for them.”
“I’m sorry, Victor,” said Anya sombrely. “You will of course have my resignation on your desk in the morning.”
“I don’t want your resignation,” he cursed without looking around. “I hired you because you have proven yourself to be the best standing-point theoretician on the planet. It was my fault for allowing you to lose focus from your strengths. I’m going to send some of my own people to oversee security from now on —”
“But, Victor, there is no need,” protested Rossitsky. “You know I was in charge of the entire facility at my previous post — any heavy-handed security procedures would simply get in the way of —”
“It’s not up for discussion, Anya,” cut in Lammb. “My men will be in charge of security and tactical. I’m freeing you up to get those prototypes into production before our investors realise the shit we’re in. I think you’ll thank me in the long run, Professor.”
“Is that everything?” asked Anya, barely able to conceal her anger. “We are somewhat busy here.”
Lammb gave a slight hint of a half-smile but said nothing. Anya turned to leave.
“Oh, there was one more thing you could do before my people take over,” he added, calling after her. She paused, but didn’t look around. “That security guard that stopped me on the way in — have him fired immediately. Damn trigger-happy fool almost shot me. He’s a liability, Anya, and I have no space for people who risk me or my investments. If anybody threatens me, well, they don’t last long.”
Professor Rossitsky strode off without looking round.
Lammb watched her leave; he still had that half-smile upon his face, but his pale eyes belied the anger within.