Dominatus (33 page)

Again Keith nodded.

“Ok – you got it.”

I followed Mac out of the defense room and walked with him the short distance to the medical room.  Inside I saw Dublin seated next to her grandfather who remained in the hospital bed.  Those two were the only ones in the room.  The Old Man’s eyes were closed and I could hear the soft wheezing of his labored breathing even though his mouth was behind the oxygen mask.  He was now hooked up to an IV.

Dublin rose from her seat to hug me, her eyes still wet from recently cried tears.

“Oh, Reese…Grandfather heard every word.  He was smiling and nodding his head and squeezing my hand the whole time.  It was…wonderful.  Just…wonderful. 

“Both of you please, have a seat.  There’s a bench over there.  Dr. Miller is taking a break, getting something to eat.  He’s been in here all day.”

Mac and I sat down next to each other on a small bench that ran along a wall of the medical room.  We both watched the Old Man’s chest rising slowly up and down as he continued to labor with his breathing.  After a few minutes of silence, the door opened and Dr. Miller walked through, his face revealing his own fatigue following hours of work trying to stave off the pneumonia that was threatening to take Alexander Meyer’s life.  When he saw me, like Keith had done, he extended his hand to shake my own.

“Mr. Neeson, thank you for your words today, your program.  I found a whole lot to agree with you there, and I know Mr. Meyer did too.  It was the most animated I have seen him be in the last few days.”

Mac rose from the bench and pointed to the Old Man.

“How’s he doing, Doc?  That breathing…he don’t sound too good.”

“He’s actually a bit more stable than he was earlier today, Mac.  The fluid is returning to his lungs a bit, but his temperature has dropped to under 100 which means his body is fighting off the infection.  I didn’t think that was going to happen.  So, it’s a matter of time.  He may turn a corner the right way…or fall back.  I just don’t know.  He’s fighting hard and that’s —”

The doctor’s words were cut off by another series of drone bombs – three explosions.  The force of the explosions were enough to make both Mac and the doctor lean against a wall as Mac’s expression indicated there was something different about this latest attack.

“That didn’t sound right – something happened.”

Mac quickly left the room as I hesitated, uncertain whether to follow or stay before Mac turned back into the room and motioned for me to join him.  He quickly made his way back to the defense room where Keith was frantically inputting data into the system.

“Fucking hell Mac – they blew the goddamn blast door!  The second one!  Three direct hits.  How the fuck can those things be that accurate?  And look, they’re sending a bunch of men up this way.  Seventy, maybe a hundred – can’t make out all the signatures.”

Mac’s eyes looked over the screen, doing his own count of how many special operations officers were making their way slowly toward the cave’s entrance.  Mac’s lips were tightly drawn as he hissed a single word.

“Hess.”

I could sense Mac reviewing in his head the appropriate counter measures as both Keith and I waited for his response.

“Ok Keith, stay here and try to calculate exactly how many and what kind of equipment they are bringing with them…and their likely ETA.  Right now they appear to be about two thousand yards away.  They’ll likely stage at the other end of the valley before proceeding across.  That’ll take them twenty, maybe thirty minutes.  No need to panic yet.  Hess thinks we don’t have any ammunition for the M2 left.  We didn’t fire on that last batch of drones.  That’s our big advantage right now.  We’re gonna use it.  I’m going to go check on the blast door…it may have held up more than you think.  Give me…give me five and I’ll be back here and we’ll decide how to proceed.  Reese, you stay here with Keith.  Five minutes.  Back in five.”

Mac left as Keith attempted to adjust the camera settings to better determine exactly how many New United Nations officers were part of the group assembling across the narrow valley in front of the cave’s entrance.

“There’s at least a hundred of them, and I don’t see any kind of heavy equipment, just men.  They’re going to keep blasting away with the drones and then walk in here and finish us off.”

A loud buzzing sounded from the left side of the panel.  Keith’s eyes widened.

“Ah c’mon…they’re trying to get in through the mine shaft again.  And there’s…eight…nine…ten of them.”

Keith now followed the progress of the ten special operations officers working their way up the mine shaft and toward the staging area where Mac and Bear had fought and killed four of them hours earlier.

‘They’re running.  They could be blasting into the cave from the back within the hour.”

The door opened behind me, announcing Mac’s return.

“Blast door is holding – barely.  They knocked the shit out of it…but it’s still there.  You’re right Keith…three direct hits.  They got the coordinates locked in for that door so you’re gonna have to fire on the drones again.  I don’t want them getting near the entrance.”

Keith was already putting the automatic gun sight for the M2 back online as he also informed Mac of the second group of N.U.N. officers making their way toward them inside the mine shaft.

“They at the staging area yet?”

Keith shook his head.

“No, but will be in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes.  They are hauling ass this way.”

“Ok then, keep the visual on the staging area. I want to know when they get there.  Gonna have to blast the escape route.  Close it up, but I want to bury every one of those ten inside there when we do it.”

I noted that the more intense and dangerous the situation became, the calmer and more deliberate was Mac’s demeanor.  He was fully transforming back into the trained killer he once was.

The M2 began firing again.

Keith pointed to the screen.

“Another three drones headed this way Mac.  About five thousand yards out - one down already.”

The visual showed the New United Nations officers scrambling to find cover in the trees.  Mac smiled at the image.

“They didn’t think we still had the big gun.”

A second drone signature disappeared from the screen, leaving just one left heading directly for the cave entrance.

“Five hundred yards Mac.  The drone has fired - two missiles incoming.”

Two more blasts shook the cave as the M2 continued to fire at the last remaining drone.

“Cut off the M2 Keith.  Hold our fire and give me an ammo report.

Keith took the automated sight system back offline – the M2 was again silent.

“We have twenty four rounds left Mac.”

“Pull up the mine shaft visual Keith - staging area.”

The three of us silently watched the murky image of the mine shaft indicating no sign yet of the ten N.U.N. officers.  Mac had removed a small six inch by six inch metallic box that he then sat atop the panel.

It was no more than a minute longer before the mine passage began to light up.  The ten special operations officers were nearing the staging area.  Again Mac smiled.

“Here they come.”

As the ten approached the bodies of the four slain officers strewn about the floor of the mine shaft they simply walked past without pausing. 

Mac placed his hand on Keith’s right shoulder.

“Keith, as soon as the last of them goes out of camera range I want you to give me a ten count.”

A moment later, Keith began counting.

“Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…”

Mac pressed the small button on the detonation control unit.  I held my breath anticipating the explosion.  When none came, I opened my mouth to ask if it wasn’t working, but Mac held up a hand to cut off my words.

“Wait for it…”

The initial explosion both felt and sounded much closer, followed by a second that was more muffled – likely farther down the mine shaft.

The camera image on the screen went dark.

Mac appeared satisfied.

“Those poor bastards…getting sent in there like that.  Ok then, off to check on that blast door again.  Reese, you come with me.  Keith, any sign of trouble, you have the other two-way, right?”

Keith nodded, removing a small handheld transmitter from inside his jacket. 

“Got it.”

“Ok – you see any movement from those officers across the valley, you let me know.”

I followed Mac out to the hallway and toward the main room where a large group of people had gathered.  Bear was telling everyone to sit down and be quiet – that they would be given more information about what was going on soon.  I sensed the growing tension – these people were afraid.

So was I.

Mac motioned for Bear to follow us to the smaller room adjacent to the main room and then to the enclosed hallway leading to the blast door.  The path to the blast door was littered with remnants from the ceiling and walls.  In some places large cracks had broken through, running from the ceiling to the floor.  The blast door loomed in front of us…its frame clearly bent and leaning, with a small gap exposing an opening to the outside.  Mac ran his hands along the frame, and then peered through the opening.

“Not much left holding this thing together…but that gap is too small to let a man through, so for now, it’s better than nothing.  We just have to keep the drones away with what little ammo we got left.”

Bear stared at Mac, his eyes attempting to gauge how serious the former Navy SEAL really believed the situation to be.

“Mac, I got a wife and kids inside this place.  And I know you’re probably feeling the burden of trying to keep all of us safe, but I want to know where we really stand here.  How bad is it?”

Mac paused, looked back to the opening in the blast door before his eyes returned back to Bear.

“We got weapons and people willing to fight.  So…there’s hope.”

“That blast door ain’t going to hold, Mac, and then what?  We just shoot down at them until we run out of bullets?  That the extent of our hope?”

“Shit, Bear – what do you want me to say?  That we’ll be all right?  That we’re gonna come out of this just fine?  That ain’t reality, son.  Deal with it.   As best you can, deal with it and prepare for it.  That’s all any of us can do.  Lock and load, and see what happens.”

Bear wasn’t satisfied with Mac’s response.

“My kids, Mac, Clancy…I have to get them out of this place.  I can’t…they’re going to die in here.  And soon.  That’s the truth you’re trying to tell me, but I’m not accepting it.  Won’t accept it.”

Mac looked to the floor of the passageway, his shoulders slumping from the burden I knew he felt.

“I promise you, Bear, I’m going to do whatever I can to keep them safe.  And they got you to protect them too and, in all honesty, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be the one on the receiving end of your paternal instincts. I can’t tell you no harm will come to them…wish I could.  Goddamn do I wish I could, but we’re gonna try.  All of us together, we’re gonna try.”

Bear rose to his full height, his head nearly touching the ceiling.

“I want more guns, Mac.”

Mac’s smile broke across his weathered face.

“That I can promise you, Bear – more guns we got.”

XXV.

For two days there were no drone attacks upon the cave.  Mac had stationed two men just inside the blast door opening at all times, each armed with an assault rifle.  Despite the always under the surface apprehension of the next bombing, life inside the cave returned to some semblance of normalcy.  People helped with the meals, spoke with each other, went to bed, and awoke the next day.

Alexander Meyer remained in the medical room, though his condition had stabilized somewhat.  He was more alert, awake for longer periods of time, and felt strong enough to demand he be allowed to smoke just one cigar a day.  Dr. Miller refused the request.

Dublin quietly began telling people they could visit her grandfather if they wished, and within an hour of her doing so, a line of people were waiting in the hallway outside the medical room door.  They would enter the room, and one after the other, simply tell the Old Man thank you for all he had done to provide them some semblance of freedom and security during their time in Dominatus.

By the fourth visit, Alexander Meyer’s eyes were moist with tears, but he remained quietly listening to each guest, each word of thanks.  For nearly three hours he remained awake and listening.  Sometimes the visitors would ask to hold his hand, other times they would gently hug him before leaving – and always they communicated their gratitude to him.

I sat with Dublin as each of them came into the medical room, and like Alexander Meyer, listened intently to their words.  These people of Dominatus, who had come from all walks of life, who had simply desired to live removed from the daily tyranny of the New United Nations’ mandates.  To live as Americans had once lived – free.

On day three there was a message from Special Operations Officer August Hess.