Read Carlie Simmons (Book 1): Until Morning Comes for Free Online Page B

Phillip as they prepared to
do a dynamic room entry, something that she had performed hundreds of times in
their bi-monthly training events. Carlie flung the door open and entered to her
right while Phillip inserted himself to the left.
    “There in the corner,” he said,
motioning past a table to a cabinet. “The other agents are all down.”
    “Shit,” Carlie said, moving up to look at
her fallen colleagues until she stood over the body of the last man. “Daniels
here must have killed the attackers before dying from his wounds.”
    “But where the hell’s the girl?” Phillip
said, scanning the room. “She must be dead too. We should get out of here,
Carlie—before it’s too late.”
    “We’re not going until we have located
Gemini. Get any extra mags off the bodies,” Carlie said.
    Phillip was staring at the mangled
figure beneath him, his eyes unblinking.
    “Phillip—did you hear me?”
    “Copy that,” he stuttered.
    “Remember your previous training and we
will get through this,” Carlie said, as if Gerald were right behind her saying
those same words to her. “Right now, we’ve got to locate the girl. The helo
will be here any time.”
    As Carlie stood up, she heard movement
coming from behind a cabinet near the corner. They both rushed forward, sliding
the ceiling-high unit aside. Behind it was a large wall vent. Carlie knelt down
while lowering one of her weapons and removing a flashlight from her vest.
    “Gemini, are you there?”
    “Carlie—is that you? What’s happening?”
said a young woman’s voice from the dark confines of the ventilation shaft.
    Carlie yanked the mesh screen off and
shone her light down the square galvanized shaft.
    “There’ll be time to figure that out
later. Right now, we need to get you to the roof. There’s a helicopter on the
way.”
    She extended her hand and saw slender,
tan fingers reach out for hers as a terrified woman emerged. Eliza’s black corkscrew
hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her lab coat bore red splotches.
    “Eliza, are you OK—are you injured?”
    “I think I’m alright,” she whispered
through trembling lips.
    As Carlie looked the young woman over for
any signs of trauma, she saw the shadow of another figure emerging from the
ventilation shaft. An older man with a slender gray beard and bent wire-rimmed
glasses was struggling to climb out of the narrow passage.
    Phillip had his weapon trained on the
figure as Eliza moved to help the man out. “It’s alright. This is Professor
Alan Beauchard. I’m his lab assistant and was working here with him when we
heard all the screaming outside.”
    “Anyone else jammed in there we should
know about?” said Phillip.
    “That’s it. We were the only ones to
make it. The other agents were all bitten but killed the attackers in the
hallway. After Daniels shoved us in the ventilation shaft we heard more gunfire
and then it was silent until you arrived. Where are the other agents now?”
    Carlie stepped aside, letting Eliza see
the dead figures splayed on the floor behind her. “We’re it and we need to get
to the roof now.”
    “Oh my God—how can they all be dead? Dear
Lord, this can’t be happening,” she said, clasping her hands over her mouth and
hunching over.
    Carlie grabbed Eliza’s arm, yanking the
sobbing woman and pulling her towards the entrance.
    “Move, before more of those things come
this way.”
    Carlie tapped her ear-mic. “Alpha One,
this is Team Two, we are headed to the extraction point, over.” As they moved
past the bodies and over broken glass, she heard the pilot screaming in pain
and then static ensued. She repeated the call but got no reply.
    She repeated the message two more times
but to no avail. “The helo must have been comprised. Time for Plan B.”
    “What is Plan B, young lady?” said the
nervous professor, whose hands were shaking.
    “Plan B is head to the roof and wait for
another airborne assault team, as going down below is not an