The Nephilim Protocol

Escape Plan

It takes me a few hours, but I manage to make it to Doc's museum. Smashing in the door (I wonder how many doors this place has gone through), I go inside and grab the WWII uniform in the display case. It fits surprisingly well, and I have to wonder what sort of giant guy wore this back in the day.

The generator and the space heater are still there, so I haul those over next to the WWII-era cot and move some of the display cases around to make a bit of a shelter. I pull the half-shattered door back into place, too, keeping it in place with an empty bookcase. It's more to cut off the wind than anything else. Then I lay down on the cot.

I'm not sure how much longer it is before I wake up to someone banging on the door. I sit up, knocking over the space heater, which falls to the floor with a clatter. Damnit! I look at the door.

Someone's pushing very hard. The bookcase has almost fallen over already. They've probably got the place surrounded already. I pick up the WWII-era gun, realize it's a model, and grab the samurai sword.

The bookcase falls over, the door swings open, and Heather nearly falls into the room.

Her mouth drops open. The toolbox in her hand clatters to the floor.

I spread my hands. "Heather," I whisper. "I can explain ..."

"Square!" she whispers, placing her hands on her mouth. "They said you were dead!"

"What?"

"The guys. They said you went to the Tower and tried to escape or something and got shot all to pieces!"

Oh. Well, that's not too far off. "That was Dolphin. He's dead. They took me ... look, it's a long story." I'm starting to understand the potential here. "Can you go back to camp and get the guys?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do that." She hesitates, then runs full at me (narrowly missing the sword) and gives me a giant hug. "Square, I thought you were dead!"

It feels good to have someone who actually cares about that. "I'm fine. We're all going to be fine. Can you get the guys now?"

#

"Damn, man! What were you and Dolphin not thinking?" Ball Buster slaps me on the head. "How the hell were we supposed to get up to you before that helicopter exploded?"

I ignored the question. "Is Wolfe back on base yet?"

"Not so far as we can tell," Sidewinder says.

Apparently, Side's part of the group now. Heather came back, too, but she's just huddled in the corner, picking at the sleeve of her parka. I wonder if she knows about Red Spruce, yet. It's been a day or two.

"She left yesterday,' Sidewinder continues, "but they called in a special gunship for her. Haven't seen it back since."

"They're still clearing off the landing pad," Mouse says. "There are all sorts of construction up there. Some major repairs going on. Wolfe won't be able to land."

"Well, she's going to bring all sorts of fury when she gets back," I say. "If we're going to make a move, it needs to be now."

"Especially since they can't launch air power very well right now," Ball Buster says.

Sue casts a quick look at Sidewinder. "You sure you wanna talk about this now?"

"Forget it," I say. "They were hinting at putting that De-Escalation Protocol into effect." I'm starting to realize what those DEP boxes in Eddie's garage were. "There were a lot of those surgery suites down there; I don't want to find what they're supposed to be used for."