“Sgt Marcus?” Neville asked from the back seat.

“What’s up Neville?”

“Should I send some drones in to scout the area around the EP?”

“Do we have any left?”

“The original batch is either destroyed or out of notional power, but I can key up a few extras.”

“How many can you make?” Marcus asked, looking at the map display.

“Safely, I know I can do the same four as last time. Why, what are you thinking?”

“I want you to sent three of them to this EP. Loud and noticeable.” He pointed to a spot on her display. “Then keep one back and offline until we see what sort of response the pack gets.”

“So we’re going to use them as decoys again? Get the system to think we’re heading for that EP while we quietly sneak over this way?”

“You’re catching on to tactics quickly Neville. Maybe we’ll make an Operator out of you one day.”

She laughed, “Maybe a Tech Op, but I doubt I’ll be replacing any of you any time soon.”

“Fair enough Neville, fair enough. I guess we stick to what we’re good at.”

***

“It looks like those mobs are following the drones to the other EP.” Neville said, holding up her display. “I wonder how much of this is AI, and how much is directed?”

“At this point, I don’t care much.” Marcus answered. “I’m just happy it’s working and they’re over there instead of giving us grief.”

“Sure enough.”

“Alright folks, it looks like we’re clear to take a run at that EP across the way.” Marcus addressed the entire team. “Primary Mission is to get Sgt Sully’s team extracted so they can have a shower and a cold beer.”

Chuckles and smirks belied their nervousness that this might not be as smooth as everyone was hoping for.

“Then, assuming all of them ex-fil safely, the rest of use will allow suit. Once everyone is out, we’ll set up a return trip with what we know know to find and ex-fil Gant and Cockburn.

“There it is! Extraction Point on the left!” Abbott hollered from the lead truck, waving his off-hand to the left.

The tower loomed over the square, doing it’s usual impression of a cell-tower. The Team’s displays told a different story, showing a glowing sign over it.

[Extraction Point Four]

“Hold up at the edge of the square and we’ll take a look.”

On their way in, the last of Neville’s drones had shown the square to be clear of sim-surgents, but the mobs were closing on the location at a steady, tireless pace.

One downside to VR was all their Special Forces fitness training didn’t count for as much as it did in the real world.

Once they carved out a position at the rear of a building facing the square, Marcus sent Douglas and Costello to clear the upper floor and set up cameras. With eyes all around them, Marcus laid out the plan.

“The primary goal right now is to get Sully’s team to the EP and get their asses out of here. The rest of us can use a different EP if needed, but they’ve been in for three days and could probably do with a beer or six. If we get everyone out, I’ll bring the rest of you back in to find Gant and Cockburn as fast as we can. The Colonel is going to want a debrief, but we’ll keep it short and sweet.”

“What if it doesn’t work?” Sully spoke up. “Is this ‘Leadership by example.’, or ‘Troops eat first.’?”

“Good question.” Marcus turned to Neville

“Is there any way to gauge risk before actually trying it? Can we tell how many people the system can take before fritzing out?”

“I’ll know more when we get there, but it should be ‘All or nothing’. If it works safely at all, it should work safely for everyone. On the other hand, disappearing in here won’t tell us anything about what’s happening on the other side.”

“Okay, if it doesn’t work, then we drive around avoiding these mooks until Neville finds a way to communicate with the brains on the outside. On the way in, we’ll stick with the trucks we’ve been in. We’ll use the trucks to establish a barricade in front of the door, noses out. If we can’t get the EP working before the sim-surgents get to the edge of the square, we bail and head to another one. I do ‘not’ want to risk any of you in this amusement park from hell. We are not letting them get close enough to get their hands on us, let alone drag anyone from the trucks. Clear?”

Mutters and nods told Marcus that everyone got the message.

“Neville, can you tell from here if that thing is working? Are their any indications one way or the other?”

“I can tell it’s powered up and the EP side of things appear to be functional. If it was down, the sign at the top should have gone out to prevent people from trying to use it.”

“Fair enough. Let’s mount up and see what goes wrong this time.” Marcus said sardonically.

***

“Any movement on the cams?” Marcus asked Neville.

“They’re definitely headed our way from the south and east. The further west you go, the more it clears out. I estimate we have five minutes at their current rate.”

“Okay folks let’s see if this works… Sully, it’s your call.”

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends…” Sully intoned as he dropped his fist on the large button on the panel labelled Emergency Extraction.

…And vanished.

“Shit! Marcus, we have company!” Neville called out from the doorway.

“Jones, Martins, Josephs…get the hell out of here.” Marcus barked.

One after another the remaining soldiers slammed down on the emergency button as it reset. Marcus could only hope they made it out safely to the real world as he made his way to Neville.

“What’s going on?”

Before she could answer, the ground shook and the lights flickered.

“Evac! Now!” Marcus shouted.

Douglas and Costello were the closest to the panel and hammered the button, disappearing. Mackenzie and Abbott looked torn between following, and heading for the door.

Loud hammering echoed through the room as Anderson and Nobel opened fire with the truck mounted machine guns.

“Everyone, get moving. No one gets stuck in here.”

“Someone out there has rockets. If they take down the tower, we lose the EP.” Neville blurted out.

“Move!” Marcus pointed at the panel as he headed for the door to cover Anderson and Nobel.

Mackenzie and Abbott winked out as Mathers pulled Neville towards the panel.

“Wait! I need to…”, Neville struggled to type more inputs into her display as Mathers shoved her up against the panel.

“No time! Gotta go!” Mathers slammed Neville’s hand down on the button and followed a second later.