by Aman Gupta
“How do you feel about that?” asked Vik.
“Satisfied,” said Emma, after a pause.
“I did just blow up a town. Again,” said Vik.
“Not the entire town. Only the part which deserved it. I’m good with that,” said Emma.
They nodded at each other. Emma walked backwards and smiled before going back inside. Vik stood against his car, looking at the sky, trying to soak in the chaos that had ensued due to his actions.
Chapter 32: Attack
Emily woke up the next morning and asked to see Vik. The nurse told her that he had been waiting outside since yesterday night. Vik had asked Emma and Bill to go home around midnight.
“Hey,” said Vik as he entered her room.
“Hey,” said Emily. “What did I miss?”
“You dropped a few pounds,” said Vik.
“Too soon, Vik,” said Emily as she chuckled.
Vik was surprised and happy that Emily hadn’t gone into a mental and emotional trauma after she lost her left leg.
“So, how did the deal go?” asked Emily.
“As well as it could,” said Vik. “Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened. I shouldn’t have left you alone last evening.”
“It’s not your fault,” said Emily.
She had a lump in her throat. She recalled the horror that happened last night.
“He showed up out of nowhere,” said Emily. “I had already sent the girls on leave, so I was alone. He and his men cornered me in my room before breaking in.”
“You lost your home because of me,” said Vik. “I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Nah, I got too ambitious. I thought I could get them to kill each other over state tax while we stole the real treasure from under their nose. That would have been the perfect way to go, but I guess they’re loyal to a fault,” said Emily.
“Were,” corrected Vik.
Emily smiled. “Is Emma around? I want to thank her and Bill for showing up last night. They pulled me out of the wreckage. The last thing I remember was lying on the floor while the entire office was on fire.”
“I sent them home. They’ll be here soon,” said Vik.
“I was heavily sedated last night. Did you really blow up the entire 23rd street?” asked Emily.
“Yeah, and four and a half blocks around it,” said Vik.
“Why?” asked Emily.
“They started it,” said Vik as he held her hand.
“Didn’t know you were such a softie,” said Emily.
Vik laughed.
“What do you want to do next?” asked Vik. “We could always rebuild Emily’s. I got 2000 belts with your name on it.”
“I don’t know. Of late, I had lost my passion for cooking. Maybe I could use this time to think about the future,” said Emily. “I thought we got around 20,000 belts.”
“We did. I used about 13,000 of those. I’ll keep 2000 as your share. Rest will be used to fix the town,” said Vik.
“5000 belts to fix the town?” asked Emily.
Vik smiled. “You should see the size of the crater. Plus, the weapons that were inside the trucks amplified the damage. Flying debris caused a lot of injuries as well. Yeah, I owe them 5000.”
“Who gets the blame?” asked Emily.
“That’s up to the sheriff. People are sentimental to their belongings that they lost, but apart from that, they can’t do much,” said Vik.
“What’s the official story?” asked Emily.
“Gang war,” said Vik.
Emily chuckled. She clenched Vik’s hand, and he reciprocated.
“Now, I’ll leave you with the girls. They’re dying to meet you.”
Vik kissed her on her forehead. He got up and opened the door. Sandy and the rest of Emily’s staff were waiting outside, anxiously.
“See you soon,” said Vik.
Emily smiled.
Vik walked outside as Sandy and the rest came inside. Emily was ecstatic when she saw them. Vik left the hospital. He knew he had earned himself a new enemy in Sera Crime Family in a split second. A lethal, dangerous enemy who didn’t have the same ethical standards when it came to war as him. But he didn’t care.
****************************************************
Kate and Joey hadn’t gone home since last night. They were staying at the precinct, listening to people screaming and shouting. The people blamed the police department for the catastrophic damage to the town. Some damages to property were real, while others faked their damages to get a share of ‘free money’ that they were owed. New Frontier ranked higher in socialism scale than its counterparts in the region, something that it was going to regret now.
Bill and his team had gone to West Gate, after procuring some advanced weapons from Kate. Later in the afternoon, the crowd left after Eric promised them rehabilitation. Local builders, as well as construction workers from neighboring counties, had already started to arrive. On Vik’s advise, Joey had used some of the fuel belts to pay off the hotels and landlords with spare rooms all over town to temporary relocate the ones who had lost their property.
Nearly 76 families had lost their homes, while another 200 were relocated due to poor breathing conditions around their homes, due to ashes and smoke in the air. The mushroom cloud could still be seen in the sky, though it was a little faint.
The mayor had assured prompt recovery. He was coerced by Bill and his team, as he didn’t want his involvement with the Sera Crime Family made public. But the overall sentiment had improved tremendously in the past 12 hours. Most people were willing to help each other without expecting a reward. The entire town had come together once again in the times of another loss. Furthermore, no one was upset about Sera Crime Family.
The 3 block area about 23rd street was cordoned off, and local dealers had already created a list of people who were interested in buying a property there. The construction companies had approached the sheriff regarding auctioning the land that once belonged to the Sera Crime Family, who had redirected them to the mayor.
In the evening, Vik arrived at the precinct, where everyone was present, taking a breather from their hectic schedule in the past two days.
As he entered the precinct, Eric got up and so did everyone else. Vik saw questions in their eyes. He felt it was better to face the questions than correct their answers.
“Is this an intervention?” asked Vik as he entered the precinct.
“How’s Emily?” asked Eric.
“She’ll live. But maybe we should postpone the marathon,” joked Vik.
Everyone smiled.
“So, are you going to tell us about the trucks?” asked Eric.
“Oh yeah, I’ll take the keys now,” said Vik.
He looked at Kate and Joey. They tossed the keys to Vik.
Vik walked past Eric and the rest, and went to the lab, though he knew they wanted him to stay in the hall and answer their questions. A minute later, they came in the lab to meet him.
“Why do you need the trucks, Vik?” asked Eric. “Everything that has happened the last few days, has led to this moment. It must be important.”
“I thought you knew. I’m getting my daughter back,” said Vik.
“You know where Katie is?” asked Emma.
“Yeah. A place called Sierra. Almost 400 miles from here. Just past TS – 51,” said Vik.
“What are the trucks for?” asked Eric.
“The trucks that are standing in the lot outside, have weapons and firepower to pose a threat to any army,” said Vik. “I needed 5 of these. Now, I got 2, but if I can’t take out Sierra in 2, I won’t be able to do it in 10.”
“You got 3,” said Joey.
“No, one is for Morrow. You can build the fortress as strong as you want, but you still need your army to be holding a sword when the enemy is at the gate. You can create a new weapons stash for the future,” said Vik. “I hope it’s a fair deal.”
“More than fair,” said Emma.
“Sierra?”
asked Joey.
“Yeah, something tells me it’s similar to Atlantis,” said Vik. “But I won’t know for sure till next week.”
“What are you planning to do?” asked Emma.
“I’ll create long distance drones to get me some aerial shots and see what we’re dealing with,” said Vik.
“Once you get that?” asked Eric.
“Then Kate and I will go there and get my daughter,” said Vik. “Assuming she still wants to go?”
“Yeah, I do,” said Kate.
“I’m going too,” said Joey.
“Me too,” said Emma.
“You need me to keep these idiots in check. So I’ll have to go too,” said Eric.
“You do remember what happened last time you all volunteered to go on a mission?” said Vik. “And how you reacted to my decisions?”
“Yeah, but keep the surprises to a minimum this time,” said Emma.
“Okay,” said Vik.
They all started to leave.
“Thank you,” said Vik.
“For what?” asked Emma.
“Everything,” said Vik.
“Of course. We’re a sucker for a happy ending,” smiled Emma.
After meeting Emily the next morning, Vik left Morrow to track down Natasha. He needed someone like Adreno to help him in his mission. Adreno was a genius when it came to tactical knowledge. He taught Vik everything before Vik got word about Anthony’s whereabouts and came to Morrow. Adreno did mention that Vik’s training wasn’t complete, and he couldn’t just drop out of the program. After a minor scuffle between the master and the pupil, they parted ways. Vik hoped that Adreno would’ve forgiven him, but upon hearing news of his death, Vik was upset. They knew each other for only a month, yet Adreno had a huge role in turning Jay into Vik.
As he drove through the hills, he remembered the last thing Adreno said to him as Vik was walking out the door.
‘Fight who you can’t defeat. Defeat who you can’t fight.’
Vik knew he needed someone on the outside that could control the entire plan, like a grandmaster moving the pawns on the chessboard. He hoped to find Natasha and convince her to help him. It was a three day ride down south, and only Xavi’s word to go on. He knew about Mortova Assassins’ reputation. Adreno often cited their example while training Vik to conquer his fears. Vik suspected Adreno was either a former member of the clan or deeply connected to one. He spoke highly of one particular woman named Natalia. He claimed the young leader was the one who taught Adreno the most important lesson many years ago – A pawn is stronger than the queen if used wisely. It appears harmless, so it has the perfect opportunity to inflict the most damage. It can transform itself into any warrior you need it to, to win. It is fearless, unlike the cowards who hide behind it before the game has even gotten started. The person who uses his pawn wisely, always wins the game.
Vik had created a team of pawns. He just needed a grandmaster to see him through. The stakes were much different this time.
*******************************************************
Four days had passed since Anton had left for Atlantis with a team of 10. It was a fool’s errand, and Victor knew that too, but he didn’t have anything else to go on. Pacing up and down in his black suit in his office, he was waiting to hear from Sylvia regarding Anton. Sylvia had lost contact with Anton yesterday. The last thing, Anton told her that they were still searching under the debris, having covered about 2% of the area.
It was a rare sight to see Victor sweat. As he touched his forehead and looked at the drops of sweat on his fingers, he felt weak. He looked around in the dark room, almost as if he saw someone looking right at him. He wiped off the sweat using his jacket’s cuff and sat on his chair. He turned around and saw the city that he had built. Sierra looked beautiful and fear some, as the moonlight reflected off the buildings around midnight. It wasn’t real, though. The reflectors on the dome were always turned on. However, the people inside Sierra didn’t feel any difference. To them, the dome felt like a transparent structure. In reality, the dome painted an identical sky via the dual particle structure of the semi-transparent nanotech fabric used to create the reflectors. Victor hadn’t invented the technology. He paid a fortune as a license fee to a third party vendor to use it for five years.
There was a knock on the door. Victor turned around.
“Come in.”
It was Sylvia, sweating more than usual. Victor couldn’t help but notice that her lipstick was a bit smudged.
“Did you hear back from Anton?” asked Victor.
“No,” said Sylvia.
“I thought I said I didn’t want to see your face till you get me news about my men,” said Victor.
“I’m afraid this can’t wait,” said Sylvia.
“What is it?” asked Victor as he laid his head on the chair and closed his eyes. Sylvia always had a thing for exaggeration.
“We’re under attack,” said Sylvia.
Victor opened his eyes in a split second.
“What do you mean?” asked Victor as he stared at the woman, wanting her to speak all her next words at once.
“The...The...The..” said Sylvia
“What?” yelled Victor as he slammed his hands on the table, and stood up.
“The network is down. The whole facility has been infected,” blurted out Sylvia.
“Get me, Jason,” said Victor.
“I think maybe you should see for yourself,” said Sylvia. “They’re waiting for you.”
Victor rummaged in his pocket for his phone as it was pinging incessantly. He looked at the screen. There were hundreds of notifications on his phone reporting various system failures, popping up out of order simultaneously. He scrolled through the notifications that were multiplying like a virus.
‘Cryogenics 1 down.’
‘Cryogenics 2 down.’
‘Neuroscience 17 down.’
‘Gate shield inactive.’
‘Mainframe 1 strength 90%’
‘Mainframe 1 strength 80%’
‘Mainframe 1 strength 70%’
He couldn’t convince himself to scroll any further. He threw his phone at the wall next to Sylvia, who exhaled in fear.
He immediately walked out of the room, grabbing his cane that he kept around as a weapon rather than a limb outside his body. Severe stress did cause him to limp from time to time. He rushed past Sylvia, who was still standing frozen. She rubbed her arm where the shrapnel hit when the phone broke into pieces. She immediately ran after Victor and got inside the elevator just in time. They went to the 59th floor while the alarms in the entire building had started to go off.
As the elevator opened on the 59th floor, Victor saw chaos everywhere. Some engineers were on the phone having animated discussions, while the others were running around in despair. Victor walked through the torrent of people. No one acknowledged his presence, probably for the first time in his life. Sylvia struggled to keep up with Victor, who pushed people away.
Jason was working on seven terminals simultaneously, trying to fight the foreign entity that had invaded Sierra’s systems.
“What the fuck is happening?” asked Victor.
Jason stood up as he heard Victor’s voice amid the noise on the floor.
“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Everything’s going down at once. All essential servers have been attacked with Distributed Denial-of-Service, while the main firewalls have been breached,” said Jason, still concentrated on the screens. His hands were moving faster than his mouth.
“Shut it down!” said Victor after a pause.
“I’m trying. The mainframe isn’t responding,” said Jason.
“Not the mainframe. Shut down everything!” yelled Victor. “Turn off the power.”
“Are you sure? The impact would be catastrophic. We have thousands of personnel stuck in various buildings,” said Jason. “Not to mention the basement.”
“I don’t care. Shut the fucking city down,” said Vic
tor.
“I’ll make the calls,” said Sylvia as she stumbled for her phone.
Sylvia tried calling the numbers, but there was no communication network.
“Someone turned on the jammers,” said Sylvia.
“Landlines are dead, too,” said Jason as he put down the phone after hearing nothing but silence.
Victor’s face swelled in a fury. The noise was getting to him.
“SILENCE!” shouted Victor, at the top of his lungs.
The entire floor stood still. They all looked at the front and saw Victor standing at the foot of the giant screen at the end of the floor.
“Go to every floor in every building. Tell them to shut down all systems,” yelled Victor. “Talk to the maintenance guys. Turn off the power grid and the backup generators. Immediately.”
There was silence on the floor. No one moved an inch.
“What are you waiting for? Go now!” shouted Victor.
“Sir?” said Sylvia, trying to sound polite.
“What?” yelled Victor.
She pointed at the screen behind him. Victor turned around slowly and faced the giant screen. He walked backwards one step at a time to contemplate the words written on it. There weren’t many words, but the context added immeasurable weight to each letter.
The screen was black, and the letters were written in bold, flickering white.
‘IS THIS JAY? WE’RE COMING.’
A couple of seconds later, the entire floor lost its power. The primary Electric and Power grid servers that powered the entire town were connected to an independent, closed network. It couldn’t be accessed through the IT department network.
“Looks like maintenance shut down the power,” said Jason.
Sylvia nodded.
The room was dark, with no source of light when the last monitor was turned off. There weren’t any windows on the 59th floor either, which made the atmosphere a bit more terrifying. People randomly started bumping into each other, as they moved a little. No one was allowed to have a phone either.
They stood idle for a couple of minutes before a team of security guards arrived with flashlights and guns. They located Victor standing in the middle of the floor and escorted him outside.
