The Portal Effect

Chapter 3

Once people began to settle down for the briefing, Karen pulled Cody aside as my group and I went to find a spot to stand. She looked completely unhappy, but not at him.

"What do you think is going on? We've never been summoned to a meeting before." Nick looked at the conference room with interest, as if he were seeing it for the very first time. I shrugged.

"My guess is as good as yours." Jessie replied.

"I am sure we will find out soon enough." I told them, but I was just as much curious to know why we were here as they were. After five minutes, we were all called to attention by Karen's demanding presence by the communications hub.

"Just over an hour ago, Communications received a mayday transmission from a declared obsolete factory. That transmission was on repeat for forty-two minutes until it cut out and the line was lost." Karen explained. She looked at Cody, who nodded.

The man sitting at the communications desk hit a few buttons, and then an audio file appeared on the hologram table in front of us. A second later, the transmission played.

"Mayday! Send.... we...need evacua.... mayday....ma.... under...atta..." the message said before starting again. I listened to it again, frowning. Something was playing underneath the plea for help.

Karen signaled for the man to stop the transmission and looked at my group. She started talking, but I wasn't paying attention. The sound kept playing in my head. There was definitely something embedded into the transmission.

"Harley! Are you paying attention?" Karen's harsh voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked at her, somewhat embarrassed.

"Sorry. Please, continue." I said, composing myself. Karen gave me a disapproving look.

"As I was saying, your group has been tasked with going to the location this transmission was sent from and finding any survivors. We had drones sent out ten minutes after the first transmission, and pictures indicate massive destruction. There is very little chance anyone survived it, but we need to make sure." Karen looked around the room, seeing if there was any argument from other agents.

"Why us?" I asked. Karen turned her brown eyes on me and sighed.

"You told me a few weeks ago that you and your team are looking for a good first mission. I believe a recon and possible rescue mission might be a good start." she told me. She was correct in pointing out I though my team was ready for our first mission, but I was not expecting it to be this big of a mission.

"Are you sure you want us to go to a shut down classified location that really isn't classified?" I retorted. I knew that she was confident in our ability, and so was I, but I was also wary of the fact that this area was likely well-guarded in it's prime, as well as the fact that the area we were in still had lots of war time presents under the dirt and in trees.

"I wouldn't be asking if otherwise." Karen said firmly. I looked at Cody, and he nodded in agreement, but I also saw apprehension in his eyes.

"If you are sure, we will go." James spoke. Jessie and the others nodded before looking at me.

"When do we leave?" I asked, leaning against the railing.

Karen smiled lightly before responding. "In two days. The drones have yet to come back from their scope of where you will be dropped off. They should arrive by midnight tonight. Tomorrow we will go over the images and determine the best spot for drop off."

We all nodded and listened as Karen started explaining what else would be going on while we were gone. Thirty minutes later we were dismissed and for the next two days we trained like normal.