The Decay

Chapter 59 - Briefing

59

Two hours later Mike, Richard and Ray were back in Artemis' room together with a man and a woman both wearing black skin-tight suits. Artemis was sitting down at his desk, with the man and woman on his left hand side near the window. As they entered, Mike walked up to the front of the desk. Richard and Ray both went to the right of Artemis. No one questioned their placements.

The man looked older and took a step forward before reporting his findings. 'We tracked a small force from the USGA from the center of Boston heading northeast via the old memorial bridge. They went through Chelsea, but we lost their tracks near Revere,' he said. 'We went through the whole area, most of which consists of ruins and traces of radiation. Apparently there was a nuclear explosion directly on the town.' The woman took a small step forward as well.'The good news, however, is that the Revere High School was surrounded by a new fence and we spotted at least three armed men in the vicinity. We therefore have reason the believe that this is where Alexia is being kept,' added the woman.

'So what's the plan?' asked Mike. The man and woman both took a step back. This was no longer their domain. They had reported their findings and their job ended there. 'The High School does not have the same architecture of when it was a whole building. The ruins forced the enemy to change a lot of things to make it into a secure prison.' He stood up behind his desk and leaned into it with his fists. 'There are two entrances. The main one at the front of the building and a side entrance which is little more than a hole in the wall. Based on other reports, the bulk of the place is underground.We don't know how large it is however. If Alexia is there, it's logical that it's one of their most secure, if not the most secure prison that they have available, so expect resistance,' said Artemis.'How many hostiles are we talking about?' asked Mike, frowning. Artemis shrugged. 'It could be anything from five to three dozen I guess, we simply don't have that information available.' 'And for the actual plan?' asked Mike. This time it was Ray who spoke. 'I talked to Artemis about this earlier and we agreed on some points. We will need a distraction out front. It is unlikely that they will rush out since that would leave the prisoners exposed, but it should be enough to startle them for a minute or two. I am well versed in explosives so I will take care of that.' 'Meanwhile,'Artemis continued, 'You and Richard enter through the side entrance and make your way as fast as possible down to the cells. As I said, there is sure to be resistance but once you get there, you use of these to break the lock and extract her.' He proceeded to pull out a small device made of steel. It had a blue tint to it and was no larger than a coin. 'What is this?' asked Mike, frowning at the small device. 'It's a concentrated explosion device. It will knock out any lock without causing much damage or making much noise.' Mike looked at and smirked. 'Cool, that will come in handy.' He placed the device in his pocket. 'Once you get her out of there, we will fly in with the NFAD and extract you. Then it's back to base.' Mike nodded. 'That should work. Sure, it could end up in us getting killed, but what the hell right? Breaking someone out of a high-security prison is never easy.' Ray smiled at the comment, but the rest remained in silence,worry on their face. 'There's no time to waste,' said Ray. 'You have your equipment and the NFAD is up and running.' 'Yes,' agreed Richard. 'Time to get Alexia back.'