Extensis Vitae - By Gregory Mattix Page 0,11

The team carried Bio-Rad suits in case they were needed. A couple of the officers even carried immobilizers—right, Officer Cole?”

The larger of the two guards spoke up. “Correct, sir.”

“What’s an immobilizer?” Reznik asked.

Swanson gestured to Cole, and the guard answered. “It’s an aluminum tube approximately one meter in length that fires a projectile net that ensnares the target.”

“And that’s it? They went into a potentially hazardous situation without any type of lethal weapons?”

“Mr. Reznik, we don’t deal with violence on anything even approaching the level that you are familiar with. My men aren’t trained for that. And besides, these are hardened facilities we are talking about. It would take an organized army to breach one of the Colonies, and I assure you, there is no such force around with that capability or intent. Or so we thought, anyway. So you can probably see why we were a bit unprepared for what happened.”

“And what happened? What makes you believe that someone with my skills is needed? Maybe they had an accident and their way back got cut off. Like you said, there could have been a disease outbreak or something.”

“Because of this,” Swanson replied. He pushed a tablet computer across the desk and tapped the side of the unit. A video began to play.

Reznik watched what looked like the feed from a helmet camera on one of the guards. The group was walking down a long underground tunnel with intermittently spaced lights. When the guard turned his head, Reznik could see how large the tunnel was. You could probably even drive a Humvee through there, he thought.

A couple of the guards were speculating as to what they thought they would find ahead. An older man with graying hair and a beard walked behind them, carrying a satchel over his shoulder. That would be the doctor, then, he thought. All of them appeared to be oblivious to any possible danger ahead.

After a couple of uneventful minutes, there was a high-pitched beep from somewhere. The guards stopped in confusion, and then there was an explosion. Anti-personnel mine of some type, Reznik knew. The image turned to static for a minute or so.

When the video feed cleared again, he could see bodies on the ground amidst the smoke. The guard wearing the camera was down, and his camera was tilted sideways at ground level. He could hear groans and cries of pain, but it was unclear how many were still alive.

After a few moments, he could hear voices approaching. Footsteps became audible.

“What have we here?” asked a guttural voice. “Ah, looks like the cavalry has finally come!”

A booted foot entered the frame, and then the tip of what appeared to be a machete. “No, no! Oh my God! Stop! Who the hell are you?” a voice cried in terror. The foot stepped out of the frame, and Reznik heard the wet thump of a blade chopping into meat. A few beads of blood spattered onto the lens, and he could hear sounds of a struggle off camera.

Now he could see other figures in the picture as the ambushers moved amongst the party, quickly finishing them off with knives and cudgels. One attacker kicked at the head of a downed guard until his helmet came loose. He then swung an ugly cudgel like a golf club and split the man’s skull open. He knelt down by his victim, and Reznik was able to see the wiry man, who was covered in tattoos and wearing a leather vest. He had spikes through his earlobes and a shaved head. The man started going through the guard’s pockets and pack.

“Hey, this one looks like a doctor or somethin’,” a different voice said. “There’s a bunch of medical shit in his bag. Haze, what you think about this one?”

“Interesting. He might be of use to us. You didn’t kill him, did you?” the guttural voice asked.

“Not yet. I was about to, but saw this nifty bag he had. Want me to?” There was eagerness in the voice.

“No. We’ll hold on to this one. We can question him, and if I like his answers, maybe we’ll keep him alive and put him to work.”

The man with the cudgel had found the camera. He squinted at it. An ugly scar ran from the corner of his mouth back to his ear. “Haze, look at this!” he shouted, spinning the camera around.

The one that was apparently Haze came toward the camera. He looked like a coked-out rock star. He wore a mohawk