Ch.209Your Time Is Gonna Come! (2)

#209

Dexter, like the vast majority of OSA personnel, commutes by taking the elevator on the ground level that connects to the underground headquarters.

But now, he couldn’t use the elevator.

‘Looks like they’re already in the middle of something down there.’

Dexter, who had entered the City Hall, noticed that the ground beneath his feet was occasionally rumbling with thuds.

If the Abomination that Dexter remembered was in the OSA headquarters underground, even the most sturdily built elevator would be at high risk of breaking down.

Thinking it would be better to use another means in this situation rather than the elevator, Dexter headed toward the emergency staircase of the empty City Hall where no one was present.

‘I was told it should be around here.’

The place Dexter entered after going down the emergency stairs was a storage room where discarded or unused items from the City Hall were collected.

Approaching a metal shelf full of junk, Dexter pulled on it directly.

The metal shelf attached to the wall pulled away along with part of the wall, creating an entrance large enough for Dexter to enter.

Seeing the spiral staircase that extended endlessly under bright lighting, Dexter sighed.

‘Of all things, they had to build it this deep.’

Since going down step by step would take too much time, Dexter jumped to the landing points in the middle of the staircase, descending with heavy thuds.

As Dexter continued jumping down, his knees aching with each landing, he felt increasingly strong impacts spreading throughout the OSA facility, strong enough to make even the stairs vibrate.

People’s screams could be heard, along with gunfire mixed with sounds of things breaking or exploding.

And the voice that rang out the loudest:

“Everyone get away! Hurry! Head to the stairs!”

It was Himena’s voice.

The moment he heard that voice, Dexter, regardless of his aching knees, grabbed his service rifle, switched the selector, and rushed straight to the exit.

The first thing he saw was the OSA headquarters, normally austere, now looking as if a massive tornado had swept through it, with almost nothing left intact.

Staff members who had collapsed after being hit by large fragments of wall.

Others were performing emergency first aid, roughly tearing their own clothes to bind wounds—a stark contrast to the usual orderly state of the OSA.

“Mr. Chastain’s team, run to the cargo entrance over there, quickly!”

“But what about Agent Libero?”

“We have to do what we can for now! There’s no time!”

When Himena’s voice was heard from the science and technology section, Dexter ran in that direction.

‘This is…’

A situation where a group of agents was confronting a flesh monster large enough for its head to touch the ceiling.

And at the forefront of that group was Himena, with a scratch on her cheek.

“Fire before it notices Mr. Chastain’s team, now!”

With Himena’s order, the agents behind her attacked the flesh monster’s head with their respective weapons.

With sounds like bullets embedding in fabric, the flesh monster let out a horrific scream.

-Aaarrgh… Paaaah…!

“Agent Libero, all the magazines are…”

“That monster understands what we’re saying! Shh!”

Himena and the other agents were carrying service rifles and pistols, but their firepower was too limited to defeat the flesh monster.

That’s when Dexter stepped in.

As the flesh monster, still writhing in pain, opened its mouth, Dexter threw a grenade directly into it.

“It’s about to explode, get down!”

Dexter’s shouted warning.

Himena and the agents ducked their heads before even questioning who had spoken.

The flesh monster, not even realizing something had entered its mouth, continued screaming until the grenade exploded, silencing it.

-KWANG!

More precisely, it couldn’t scream anymore because its head was gone.

As the flesh monster collapsed with a heavy thud, the group of agents got up, confirmed the monster’s death, and soon erupted in cheers.

“Damn monster bastard!”

“I really thought we were going to die!”

When the agents identified the person who had suddenly appeared and rescued them, they cheered even louder upon seeing the familiar bulky man.

Himena, who had been crouching with her eyes tightly shut, opened her eyes at the sound of cheering.

When she saw Dexter catching his breath in an awkward posture, she immediately ran toward him.

“Dexter!”

Himena, with tears welling in her eyes, threw her arms around Dexter.

Dexter patted her shoulder and asked:

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, of course I’m okay…”

Though she wanted to kiss him deeply, there were too many eyes watching, so Himena reluctantly held back and stepped away from Dexter.

“I came to work early today because I had something to do, but suddenly that Abomination escaped from the level connected to the sewers…”

“Wait, just because of one Abomination?”

Himena nodded and continued:

“Actually, something happened before that too. You must have seen them on your way here, the agents in hazmat suits.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I did see them.”

“During the night shift, a thick envelope was delivered despite the late hour.”

Himena drew a rectangle about the size of a brick with her two fingers as she explained.

“It came in a mail envelope, so one of the OSA staff opened it without suspicion, and white powder spilled out.”

“You don’t mean…”

“That’s right. It was suspected to be anthrax spores.”

The infamous white powder.

Since the 9/11 incident, mail and packages containing white powder have been almost pathologically scrutinized.

However, since the OSA is an agency unknown to the public, it had never been targeted by terrorist suspects before.

Moreover, more than ten years had passed since anthrax terrorism was in vogue, so everyone assumed it was just regular mail.

“Naturally, the Disease Control and Management team rushed in, and during that time, the agents working inside the OSA all evacuated…”

Dexter didn’t need to hear the rest to understand.

‘This was clearly intentional.’

After getting people to evacuate, they took advantage of the security vulnerability to bring in the Abomination.

“But that’s not the only Abomination; there’s a high possibility that more are in other areas.”

“The Rapid Response Team 2 said they’re coming soon, so let’s leave that to them. The firepower these people have seems too insufficient to deal with it.”

Dexter said, looking at the people behind Himena.

There were some uninjured people who had helped Himena by firing at the Abomination, but there were far more injured with wounds to their heads, arms, or legs.

“What about the elevator?”

“The Abomination destroyed it.”

Himena explained that the first thing the Abomination did upon arrival was to destroy the elevator connected to the main entrance.

‘If I had taken the elevator, I would have been in big trouble.’

Dexter sent the remaining injured and surviving agents toward the stairs and cargo entrance while attempting radio contact with the outside.

“This is Dexter. Can you hear me? I’m currently bringing up all OSA headquarters personnel.”

[…Good work. Let’s meet in a little while.]

‘Director Makoa?’

Surprised to suddenly hear Director Makoa’s voice on the radio, Dexter stared blankly at the radio in his hand.

By the time Dexter reached the surface while supporting the injured, more OSA agents than before were setting up temporary shelters around the City Hall.

Judy, Jesse, and Emily from Dexter’s team immediately rushed to Himena when they saw her injured cheek, practically carrying her to the infirmary.

Unintentionally left alone, Dexter headed elsewhere to meet Director Makoa first.

Entering the largest shelter, he found Director Makoa and administrative staff discussing with serious expressions.

“This is the first time since our founding. How could this happen?”

“As the Deputy Director knows, this was a deliberate terrorist attack. It happened because an insider leaked information about the OSA’s situation. Even if we have to accept casualties…”

“Accept? Our staff and agents were attacked, and you call that accepting?”

One of the department heads squirmed uncomfortably as the Deputy Director raged.

“We can’t overlook something like this!”

“Of course, but how do we take revenge on someone we can’t even locate? Are you planning to create another Bin Laden situation?”

“You, watch your tone!”

It was childishly petty.

Director Makoa, who had been listening quietly, frowned in disgust before noticing Dexter standing at the entrance of the shelter.

“Ah, you’re here!”

Dexter and Director Makoa shook hands in greeting before getting straight to the point.

“How was the situation inside?”

“When I first heard about it, I thought they had just released an Abomination inside, but the reality was a bit different.”

Having seen the situation firsthand, Dexter had noticed something strange.

“There were almost no casualties.”

“You thought so too?”

Since Director Makoa’s reaction suggested he had already anticipated this, Dexter thought of the Rapid Response Team 2 that had entered after he left and said:

“I suppose the Rapid Response Team had similar thoughts?”

“Indeed.”

The explanation from Rapid Response Team 2, who had eliminated the remaining Abominations in the OSA headquarters, was as follows:

The Abominations had focused on destroying facilities rather than killing unarmed non-combat personnel and staff.

Most of the injured had been hit by debris from facilities the Abominations were destroying, or had been hurt while attempting to fight back inadequately.

“You and Agent Libero were the ones who saw the Abomination up close, weren’t you?”

“What about that Indian agent?”

“He’s currently active in another branch. Didn’t the Abomination behave differently from its usual habits?”

“Abominations are driven by primal urges. To be more specific, they’re life forms without any real thought.”

“So if they see something, they destroy it—that kind of feeling?”

“Yes, more or less.”

But if they specifically targeted facilities, that was problematic.

“As if they were trying to make the OSA headquarters unusable…”

“Director, we have an emergency!”

A middle-aged agent with white hair rushed into the shelter, gasping for breath as he spoke.

“Items from the fallout shelter storage have been stolen!”

“…The fallout shelter storage?”

Dexter looked at the middle-aged agent with a hardened expression.

“You don’t mean Howard Hughes’ fallout shelter? The one in the sewers?”

“Yes, yes! That’s right. The items stored in that fallout shelter…”

Dexter moved closer to the middle-aged agent and spoke in a low voice.

“Tell me exactly. What’s missing?”

“…The tactical orbital bombardment vessel, Jupiter, is gone.”

Dexter’s brow furrowed.

It was the most important item that should never have disappeared.

“How exactly was it stolen?”

“Originally, we had a security detail composed of Rapid Response Team members and operational agents, but when news came that the OSA headquarters was in danger, we pulled the Rapid Response Team personnel.”

“…So you’re saying that the General’s people took advantage of the reduced personnel to eliminate the remaining agents and steal Jupiter?”

The middle-aged agent didn’t answer but simply nodded.

It was the General’s strategy all along.

‘I wondered why they would risk targeting the OSA headquarters. In the end, what they wanted wasn’t the OSA headquarters but Jupiter?’

It was a meticulously designed attack.

“However, there is some good news.”

“Good news?”

“NORAD has detected the stolen Jupiter. An unidentified object presumed to be Jupiter was spotted at an abandoned airport in Nevada.”

“Is that true?”

If the middle-aged agent’s words were true, they needed to bring all available personnel to that location.

“Agent Hughes, it seems you’ll have to lead this mission.”

Given the state of the OSA headquarters, they couldn’t freely allocate personnel, and Dexter understood this well.

“Don’t worry.”

Dexter said confidently.