A Dangerous Mind Series, Book One: A Game of Try Not to Die

Chapter II: Monster

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Chapter II 

Monster 

Clovis de Marek stepped away from the central command computers as he finished breaking through the security system of the facility. Turning his head to the left, he watched as the automated steel padlock fell to the floor with a loud clang, the sound bouncing off the walls of the deserted hallway. Following it was an almost inaudible hiss, the double doors sliding open to reveal the chamber that occupied almost the entire East Wing. 

Clovis looked into the room from where he stood, unsurprised by the darkness that greeted him. The sudden attack that they had launched on the site proved more destructive than anyone could have predicted, the rate at which the fire destroyed the buildings almost too absurd. Even the young man could barely keep himself from shaking his head at the travesty that this particular operation had turned out to be. Korenthine would be very disappointed if they found out that the only thing they accomplished this evening was losing half of their men in exchange for nothing but a few pieces of weaponry.

Upon Clovis’ suggestion, the objective of tonight’s mission was to seize the site and for Korenthine to use it against the government itself.  During the briefing, the young man had been insistent on reminding everyone to keep the damage to this site to a minimum. If he accomplished this, it would give him an opportunity to give the place a more thorough examination and perhaps even let the Underground adapt the technology that it was equipped with.

The fact that Clovis wasn’t the leader of this operation proved to be a very big disadvantage, however. Even with his candid disapproval, Maxwell Francis had to ruin everything when he decided to simply annihilate the site in the flawed belief that this would curtail their losses.

The man had been aghast to know that they were quickly losing their people barely half an hour into the operation. Maxwell had been so sure that the rumors about the government’s newest technology and weaponry were nothing but a ruse to deter Korenthine from proceeding with tonight’s plans. Maxwell’s logic had been painfully simple: Regardless of whether the weapons were dangerous or not, they were nothing but a waste of space without equally proficient individuals who could use them to the best of their potential.

Clovis hadn’t been convinced in the slightest. That particular reasoning seemed too easy, and even the government had to be given more credit than that. After all, the weapons that they were keeping in this facility were rumored to have cost ridiculous sums of money, even disregarding the corruption involved. It didn’t make sense for them to put that all on a waste just because they didn’t have the right people to wield it in battle.

No, there was something more to the armaments that they were keeping from the Underground, and Clovis intended to find out what it was. He might not have the authority to issue commands during tonight’s operation, but nothing kept him from disobeying Maxwell’s orders all by himself, especially if it served the purposes of Korenthine. In the last eleven years, never once had he gone back to the Underground empty-handed, and he wasn’t about to start now.

The young man studied his surroundings, letting his gaze take in the broken pillars and the shattered pieces of glasses on the marble floor. His only source of light were the flames from the burning building not too far off, but the fact that the computer had still responded made it clear that there was still electricity. It seemed like this was one place that no one could risk losing power so quickly.

Why?  he thought as he treaded into the room carefully, stopping when he realized that the wall facing what used to be the beautiful landscape outside was a two-way mirror. From where he stood, he could clearly see the vicious storm that had been raging ever since they started their attack. The explosions earlier that evening caused some cracks on the glass, a considerable amount of rainwater from outside leaking into the room and leaving the floor drenched and slippery.