Chapter 9

We drove near the Knox property. It was different now. I could detect the minds that had searched for us but they were not currently in search mode. We didn't dare probe their minds because they would detect us. The best we could do was watch from a distance with a pair of binoculars. Herb was here, both Kim and I were sure of it, but he had his block up. We could also feel fear and it had to emanate from him. It was possible we weren't detected because they were studying him.

The house and grounds inside the wall looked no different than it had when we were here before. Outside had one small change.

To attack the house, a great many other targets had to be secured first. Our preliminary objective was an escape tunnel that ran from the security building, under the wall and to a small garage type structure used to store the equipment to rough cut the outer foliage. Knox bought land around her property as it became available to improve her security and privacy.

This tunnel had been of fairly recent construction. We knew that Knox' paranoia would have it built. One of the people that attacked us had a partial memory that they had picked up from security, otherwise we wouldn't have this information.

It was also a sure bet that it was bugged at the two ends and probably along its short length.

Two and a half kilometres from the house was the cell site for this area. This would have to be taken or we could have some unwelcome intruders.

Another objective was a transformer that fed the property. It wasn't on public property but Knox had not moved it inside her walls. The heavy cables all went underground from there. Seventy two hundred volts fed the transformer and three feeds of one ten came out.

We had made up many scenarios but none worked that well until I found out about the escape tunnel.

There was some construction on a road to the west and three homes were being constructed a few kilometres away. I looked to see if we could steal some construction equipment. This was a possibility because the sky was overcast and it looked like a storm was coming.

Little else was happening. The area had been rural but was now luxury residential. The homes were far apart and many had walls around them. To the west was a gated community but that was over four kilometres away. They had their own security.

Ellen drove back to Unionville and we parked at the larger of the malls. Raindrops started to fall on the windshield when an expensive motorhome pulled in. We had parked far from the rest of the cars and the large vehicle parked beside us.

Even before it stopped Bobby and Joy came charging out and I ran to meet them. We had been talking for the last few minutes and everybody was crying. Rather than get wet, I moved everybody to the motorhome leaving Baron in the pickup.

Everybody wanted to hear again how Jess died. This time I pushed my thoughts so Ellen could understand. Tiffany was one of the most affected because Jess had been her best friend. Somehow or other I introduced Ellen and tried to console the rest. I think I needed a lot of sympathy myself.

I channelled loss into anger and aimed it at Knox. She had our husband and he needed to be rescued.

The dogs knew of our loss and mourned in their way. Now that Ellen had met the pack I took the terriers our to meet Baron. They smelt each other in the way of dogs and there was no overt hostility. I had to explain in pictures that Baron was now part of the pack. After a few more sniffs this seemed to be accepted.

Back inside the motorhome, Dina said, "I see that we're going in hard."

Dina was not a pacifist but she hated to hurt people. I said, "We have to. If we try to save the enemy it means more of us will be hurt or killed."

She hung her head, "Alright, Piper. I'll do what I must."

The plans we had drawn up from memory and maps we had bought were brought out. I told them about the tunnel and this cheered them up. The other parts of the plan wouldn't change.

We brought all we needed with us. An investigation later would bring the authorities back to us if we weren't careful. The motorhome had brought three lengths of one and a half metre polyvinyl rigid drainage pipe. We carried the same length in four aught wire. Three pair of locking pliers, gloves, soft nylon rope and welding shields that darkened instantly when exposed to an arc.

I was concerned about the rain and hoped our umbrella would be enough to keep some of us dry.

We had planned the transformer scenario with the aid of an electrical engineer we found online. There were many what-ifs but we were still going to do it.

Dina was driven down the main road by Tiffany. There was little traffic here and the girls tried to hide what they were doing. The bundle of overhead phone lines were easy to see. A light rope with a weight on it flew over the cable and this was used to pull a heavier rope over. This was attached to the hitch on the truck. With a shout, they raced off and yanked the wire out of the connector. The truck shook because the copper wire was not that easy to sever.

The rope was disconnected from the truck and they raced off and turned around to go to the cell phone site for this area. The large tower was easy to spot as was the precast concrete cube below the antenna. There were homes around but none that were right beside the unit. These structures were subject to vandalism so they were strong. The padlock on the door was reached by putting an arm up a section of pipe with the key. Our lock picking skills weren't the best but we came prepared with 'B' sized tanks of acetylene and oxygen. Tiffany helped carry the heavy apparatus to the door. The pipe was cut away with a lot of liquid metal falling and splashing on the ground. A few moments later the padlock was cut. We could have used other methods but this was much quieter.

Brandon, Nicolas, and Anthony walked across the nicely cut wet grass to the garage that was ten metres from Knox's wall. Anthony could see the cameras that rotated all the time. They were not really random though. The boys ran fast, following Anthony until they were under the cameras and invisible to those in the house. They carried the tools to get in as well as our weapons. On their backs were some large packs with the armour we had taken from this property almost a year ago.

At the same time William, Tatum, Kim, and I approached the transformer vault that serviced the compound. Kim had to be assisted but she tried to use her crutches as much as she could. The vault was a hundred metres away from the garage and behind some shrubbery. The corner edge of a long coarse file was used to cut the shackle of the lock. We made little noise though there were no people around. The shrubbery protected us from view. It was our thoughts that could betray us. Our shields were as high as we could get them.

A specialised wrench fit in a cavity and onto an odd shaped head of a bolt. We twisted hard to remove the bolts to the top of the vault and the covers opened wide. One ten was dangerous if you touched ground or one of the other leads. We had to work on this live and under an umbrella. A plastic cap came off where each heavy wire led to the property. A one metre length of four aught cable was placed on the live conductor and secured with the locking pliers. This made a fair connection. The other end of the cable was wrapped with the nylon rope and the rope slid through the plastic pipe. This secured the end of the jumper to the plastic pipe.

When all three were done, I used a silenced pistol to nick the heavy insulation over the heavy lugs that connected to three high voltage cables coming into the vault. The plastic pipes were placed near the primary. The rain came down on this but didn't do anything yet.

I used the cell phone and called Dina. She answered, "I'm ready." She was already inside the building studying what to do.

"Shut it down now."

Dina just pushed a button and the power that fed the unit stopped. She pulled a disconnect and put a heavy lock on the handle. In seconds she had the door closed and hurried to the pickup. The land line disruption would not immediately be noticed but the cell phone might.

I said verbally to the three with me, "Are you ready?"

I got three nods of their heads. They wore the helmets so didn't have to look anyway. On the verbal count of three the wires from the secondaries of the transformer touched the primary side of the transformer. Seventy two hundred volts flew down the wires feeding the property when only one ten was supposed to be. Anything connected to these wires would be fried.

There were three explosions in the vault. We knew this could happen but it was still a shock. All that copper was instantly vaporised. All the breakers carrying a load would fuse and the emergency generator couldn't do anything. They would be hooked up to a destroyed system or destroyed themselves.

There were no fingerprints so we left everything behind and raced to the garage. Kim and I were last because she couldn't move quickly. Ellen was kilometres away in the motorhome taking care of Megan. Both were out of range of the espers in the house. We had our shields up high and hoped it was enough.

The cameras didn't move as we approached which was a good sign. We searched for the opening to the tunnel and found it in a small room with a wood floor. It was Sparky that did the finding with his sense of smell. We couldn't budge the covering.

I called, "Brandon. Pick this up."

I got his smile and he focussed his powers and his fingertips. The top groaned and then we heard the crackling of concrete. Brandon was using all his muscles and more of his power than ever before. Metal rods snapped out and Brandon pulled even harder. Sweat was coming from his brow and I was worried he was going to do hurt himself.

The cement slab pulled free and Brandon took it into the garage proper. The dogs were eager to go down the tunnel and they had to be forced back with the concrete.

We raced down the steps but the dogs were there ahead of us. Kim and I were last but we didn't mind. We went down a hallway with weapons in our hands and powerful flashlights. The next door was also cement and Brandon had to try to shift it away from him. The sound of breaking concrete was loud in the hall. We could have used explosive charges but we had no time to find or make them.

The concrete panel finally gave way. I opened my mind enough to know that four people were waiting on the other side with guns.

"Brandon, when you break it free, keep it the way it is and run forward. Four people. The ones you miss are the ones we take."

He was very worried now just like the rest of us. "I got it."

The way he said it helped the rest of us draw some additional courage. When it came free, Brandon pushed it into the room and picked it up. We fired to both sides and the floor under the slab. We hit people and seconds later Brandon connected with the concrete wall. Two people had been caught behind it. The dogs almost got hurt too but wisely stayed back.

With our presence known we used our minds to locate people. Those that had ideas of shooting us were shot instead. One woman in a drugged daze was struck and tie-wraps put on her wrists.

We pushed up into the security building while Bobby and Joy monitored the tunnels to the house and the lab. The dogs came with us because they wanted to hunt. Our bright flashlights blinded our adversaries and gave us a decided advantage. Some people who were just wounded were tied up.

With just two more in the security building, Kim and I started our slow way down to the basement and toward the lab. This is where the experiments were carried on and where the survivors were separated from the dead.

Bobby raced behind us. He was an extra set of eyes and fair with a small calibre pistol. The door with the hand print was closed and I used mine. Surprisingly, it opened. My identification had not been removed from the system. We didn't go in, though. Bullets came our way and I took one of our grenades and pulled the pin. When the lever popped free, I counted two seconds and tossed the grenade in.

We plugged our ears but heard the scream. They couldn't see but must have guessed what we had. As soon as the explosion went off we raced in and shot any survivors. Baron took out one and as did Turbo. Two more grenades were used to clean out the rest of the rooms but we had to keep the dogs back. The noise hurt them more than us.

Brandon caught up just in time to open the door leading upward to the garage and the lab.