Chapter 127

“Where the hell are the babies?” Adam asked, spinning around to look at all of the containers in the room where they were standing. There were hundreds of containers sitting on the tables. The amber fluid within them was still, the cords and tubes that were hooked up to each of them not making a noise or moving in anyway.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Rain said, walking slowly down the row where they’d all landed after exiting the air vent. “They couldn’t have possibly taken all of the babies over the Bridge, and without these incubators, they’d die.”
“Is it possible that all of the fetuses grew large enough to be taken out of their incubators while you were on the road or training?” Crichton asked, adjusting her helmet.
Rain shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. We haven’t been gone for nine months, and there were plenty of babies that were so small when I left that they would’ve had to stay in the incubators longer than the amount of months we’ve been gone.”
“Could they have moved them to another facility?” Sullivan asked Rain.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I don’t know.”
Seth had his rifle at the ready and was looking around anxiously. Adam couldn’t blame him. They had wasted a lot of precious seconds standing there, not moving. “Which way to the records room?” Seth asked again. It clearly didn’t matter to him where the babies were, at least not at the moment.
“I would guess it’s that way, based on the blueprints,” Rain said, pointing at a door across the room from them. It was a large room with at least a hundred tables, maybe more. Doors on three sides of the room meant that the threat could come from anywhere. If they managed to make it through the door that Rain had just pointed out, there was a good chance that the Mothers would swarm them quickly.
“Commander Green, report your status.” Josie’s voice crackled over Seth’s comm. Adam wasn’t expecting it and was a little startled. He’d been so focused on what they were doing, he’d forgotten about the rest of their team.
Seth pressed the button on his shoulder. “We’re in a room with a bunch of empty incubators, trying to work our way to the records room, Commander. Where are you?”
“Pinned down in a hallway near where we split up. We haven’t been able to advance. I’ve called for backup, and more troops are coming, but they are having to fight their way through a line of Mothers at the entry point now.”
“Son of a bitch,” Seth muttered under his breath. “Be careful.”
That was a personal message, not part of the official exchange between two squad commanders. Josie only responded with, “Copy,” and then the comm went silent.
Seth took a deep breath and then said, “All right. Let’s go.” He headed toward the metal door that Rain had indicated was the correct way to go, but his face showed the worry he was obviously feeling.
At the door, Rain punched in the number she’d used the first time, but it still didn’t work. She tried a few other combinations, the frustration showing on her face. “Should I try something else?” Seth asked. “Shooting it? Prying it open?”
“No,” Rain said. “That won’t work. Let me try….” She punched in another four-digit code, another Michaelanburg holiday, and the door opened.
The satisfaction of opening the barrier was short-lived. Before they could even take a step through the door, a barrage of gunfire came their way. All of them ducked aside, leaning around the doors and trying to shoot back, but it was difficult considering they couldn’t see what they were shooting at.
Rain remembered what she’d done last time, throwing what she thought was a smoke bomb that turned out to be a grenade. She had another one in her pocket and was about to toss it when she saw that Seth had beaten her to it. He pulled the pin out of the weapon and shouted, “Fire in the hole!”
Around her, Rain watched her teammates hit the ground. She stayed standing, though, watching. Peering around the corner at what was happening on the other side of the door. This explosion was much more violent than the one she’d set off. She had to assume that Seth’s firepower was stronger than anything she’d been given.
Screams and the sound of debris hitting the walls echoed through the hall on the other side of the door. Rain watched as the Mothers in the front of the line exploded. Through the smoke and flame, she saw the pieces of the women scattered all over the place. Behind them, Mothers were on fire or missing limbs, large pieces of flesh hanging from their faces.
There was no time to humanize what she was looking at. These Mothers had pledged their lives for Michaelanburg, and many of them had just lost those lives protecting it. Rain, on the other hand, would give whatever it took to make sure that no more little girls were indoctrinated into their cruel ways of thinking.
Rain opened fire, aiming for the other Mothers who were standing in the hall on the other side of the doorway. Many of them turned and fled after the explosion, but others continued to stand there in shock. Rain took aim at those who hadn’t run off, aiming for the soft places in their uniforms. Their faces, the area between their chest and arm where there was a seam. If their bullets hit in just the right place, they could pierce their uniforms anywhere, but many of these Mothers were wearing the tactical uniforms that were built of the same sort of material as the ones Rain and her colleagues were wearing, which made them difficult to simply blast through.
The Mothers on the other side broke. Seth was the first one through the doorway, following them while shooting. Rain and the others fell into line, following behind. As she crossed through the opening, the blood on the floor made her boots slide. The smell of burned flesh hit her nose, and she started to gag. She had to push it out of her mind and run. They needed to get to the records room. They needed to find the information the Nation of Quebec required in order to prove that the Mothers were using fossil fuels.
And Rain needed to find out where she’d come from.
Why the Mothers hadn’t tossed any grenades at them yet, she couldn’t say, but as they ran down the hallway, searching for the elusive records room, Rain had to assume there was a reason why the Mothers hadn’t tossed an explosive their way. Perhaps they didn’t have any that wouldn’t take out half the building or also take them out as well.
Seth rounded a corner before the rest of them. A barrage of gunfire rocketed him backward. “Seth!” Rain shouted as Adam grabbed him and pulled him back around the corner, assessing his injuries.
“I’m fine! I’m fine!” Seth shouted, insisting that Adam let him go. “Bitches didn’t hit me any place that could hurt me.”
“How many of them were there?” Sullivan shouted.
“A butt ton,” Seth replied.” And they’re coming this way.”
“Do you have another grenade?” Rain asked Seth.
“They have shields up,” Seth explained.
“Shit.” Rain looked around, trying to figure out how to escape. There had to be someplace that they could go.
Rain didn’t see any doors, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any exits. She had heard that there were some passages in the center of the building that were hidden. Frantically, she began feeling around on the walls for a crease.
In front of her, she heard gunfire and knew that the Mothers had reached the corner. Her hands traced over the smooth gray material. It was separated into six feet sections with red stripes. So far, none of the stripes were significant in any way.
“What are you doing, Rain?” Adam shouted.