The maintenance tunnel was dark as the two men made their way down the hall, their heads on a swivel as they scanned for their target. Dressed in black tactical gear – boots, cargo pants, Kevlar vest and a stereotypical ski mask – it was obvious that these two individuals did not belong in this restricted maintenance hatch. They crept further through the passage before one with a waist pack turned to the other, who carried a blue schematic with written directions and markings.

“Where’s this box at? The lab-nerd said it’d be around here! I swear if this whole operation ends up being a bust…” Waist-Pack trailed off as his guide held up a hand, indicating for silence.

“Should be just around – here!” The guide’s eyes wandered over the walls before they fell on a spot about halfway up, and he stepped toward it. Embedded in the wall was a plain-white panel that almost perfectly blended with the paint that coated the concrete it was housed in. If not for the hairline-space that was visible around the service door, the panel would have been nearly invisible in the dim light.

Guide tapped his knuckles against the service door, popping the panel open with ease. He briefly illuminated the interior of the panel with a shoulder-light, revealing a semi-organized mess of wires and cables. Reviewing the contents, Guide folded up his map and said “this is it, prep the charge and wire the detonator. The explosive is small, so we just have to be at the end of the hall to avoid the blast.” It only took a moment for Waist-Pack to attach a small, metallic, square and wireless receiver to the panel, before the pair retreated down the hall.

When they made it into position, Waist-Pack looked over at his partner and said “alright, this is our last chance to back out, once we blow that panel somebody will have to open an investigation”

Guide was undeterred with his response as he said “and miss our big payday? No way. Besides, they’ll already have to launch an investigation when they realize their lab-tech fled the country. We need funds to escape before they can figure out that he sold us information.”

“Yah I know, it just calms my nerves thinking there’s a way to back out. But oh well, here goes.” Waist-Pack replied before pulling out his cell phone and speaking into the receiver: “Team One, this is Team Two, detonating charge in 3. 2. 1.”

His thumb squeezed down, and there was no turning back.

****

Grant and Derek were winded by the time their mad dash came to an end. The two had found their way to a single door in an otherwise empty hallway on the second floor of the building. Derek stepped up to the door and hammered on it until it opened to reveal an annoyed-looking guard.

“Janitors? What the hell are you guys doing here?” The guard said after a silent moment of appraisal.

Grant had caught his breath at that point and was the one to answer. “The alarm sounded while we were clearing out for the day. Policy states that we’re supposed to wait here until the situation is controlled.” There was a security office in every restricted building on this base, and since the custodial crew doesn’t have their own locking office, they have to report to the security office during emergencies.

“Yah, I know what the policy says. I meant more along the lines of ‘why would you come in to work on raid day’, but whatever. Come on in and get comfortable, I doubt this situation will deescalate anytime soon.” Was the guard’s response as he waved the pair into the office. The two stepped inside and were able to get their first view of the room. It was a small, plain, office that consisted of a few chairs against the wall, an open closet with a couple cabinets, and an entire wall of monitors that showed various angles in and around the building, with a rolling chair and desk in position to view it.

“What do you mean? there can’t be that many people who are crazy enough to show up for this raid, right?” Grant said as stopped to peer at the monitors. Derek responded by giving him a quick nudge and pointing out a specific monitor on the wall. This monitor was setup to view a portion of the perimeter fence that surrounded the base. The picture quality wasn’t great, with a grainy black and white display, but Grant could make out that the fence was shaking like crazy and it looked like the ground outside the fence was rippling and moving uncontrollably.

“Is there an earthquake going on outside? Did it accidently set off the alarm or something?” Grant said, confused by the events he was witnessing.

“Look closer, that isn’t no earthquake out there; and you’ll figure out the answer to your first question as well.” The guard said, in leu of an actual explanation. Grant looked closer, trying to make sense of the grey and white pixels covering the screen. When a person began scaling the fence and fell over the top, he realized that the “ground” outside the fence was actually an ocean of people, shaking the fence in an attempt to force their way inside.

As Grant started to make out more and more details, he noticed several vehicles mixed in with the crowd, most of which were pressed against the fence poles as well. Standing on the roofs of these vehicles were people sporting rifles and other assorted firearms. Then as the lone fence-scaler pulled himself to his feet, the rest of the monitor flooded with activity and several military vehicles and soldiers emerged on the scene, surrounding the lone man and the section of fence, before one soldier started shouting through a megaphone.

The monitor did not provide any audio, but shortly after the soldier began his verbal assault the fence jerked, and Grant realized the fence could no longer hold up against the crowd. The concrete-reinforced poles ripped from the ground and the whole section of fencing fell inward as the crowd surged forward. The last thing Grant saw was the soldiers raising their weapons, then every monitor on the wall flashed and cut to static.

It took Grant a second to realize that all the cameras were dead, and what that must mean for the base. “Ah fuck, and this day just gets worse. You two stay here while I go manually sweep the building for intruders and the like. Don’t open the door for anybody.” The guard said as he stepped past Grant and Derek. He pulled the door open and standing in the hallway were two dark-clad men with handguns.

Barrels pointed directly at the security guard.