by J. N. Chaney
He grinned at me. “You’ll see, Alphonse. This will be the best decision you ever made.”
I smiled again. “I have no doubt about that.”
That evening, the call came through the earpiece. For a moment, I thought I was thinking in Evelyn’s voice.
“The shipment is on the way. We have barely over seventy-two hours to pull this off. Get off campus, and meet Remi in the shopping area downtown. You two need to sabotage the food truck tonight. Remi will have the contaminants. Now move.”
I swapped out my disguise clothing for my heist wear and made my way off campus in a hurry.
Remi was already waiting in the parking area when I entered the shopping center. He popped out from behind a column as I entered the structure. “This way. I’ve got us a different kind of vehicle this time.”
I followed him to the roof of the garage and saw that he had taken an ice cream truck from somewhere. “Isn’t this conspicuous?”
He waved me inside. “The best way to hide is in plain sight. We’re headed to a food packaging and catering company. This will let us slip right in.”
We drove west to the southern end of the industrial area. As opposed to the heavy rumble of the central fabrication areas, the air here was filled with the not always appetizing smells of industrial food processing and production.
We pulled up to an entryway and stopped at the gate, then Remi leaned out the window to talk to the guy. “Hey, you were looking for a lost truck?”
The guard stared at the truck in confusion and then went through his records. “How did you know? Pull inside and get out of the truck. Don’t make any sudden movements. I’ve got a team coming in to talk to you.”
Remi pulled the truck in and then followed a pathway of lights to a loading dock. A group of four security guards was waiting there. He looked over to me. “How you feeling today, son?”
I grinned. “I’m good to back your play.”
Remi nodded. “You’re going to like this one. It’s a classic from ancient literature.”
Remi stopped the truck in the designated place. As soon as the engine powered down, our doors were pulled open and I was yanked out by a guard. We were brought around to the side and restrained. One guard stood by each of us while the other two started asking questions. “Where did you find this truck?”
“Me and my son saw it idling by a building downtown,” Remi answered. “There was a drunk man inside. I’ve got him in the back.”
The guards nodded to each other and made a series of hand gestures. They opened the back doors and found an unconscious man inside.
Remi interrupted before they could ask any other questions. “He looked like shit, so I put him in the back. I figured you’d miss the truck and could find out what was wrong with this guy.”
The guards looked skeptical. “You did this out of kindness? Really?”
Remi balked at that. “No. I was kind of hoping you’d give us a tour of the place. Maybe some samples? Me and the kid don’t have a lot between us and I thought this would be a way we could see some decent eats.”
Two guards pulled out the unconscious man and put him on a gurney that had been brought out. Another spoke into a commlink. “You two wait here.” They walked away, leaving one guard with us.
We didn’t have to wait long before a woman in a suit came out to greet us. “I apologize for the security staff. Missing vehicles don’t just show up every day.”
Remi laughed and shook hands with the woman after the guard lifted his restraints. “It is definitely weird. I understand.”
The woman smiled. “You and your son wanted a tour?”
Remi nodded. “I thought I would show the boy how to act proper. Help out the companies and they’ll help you, I told him.”
I nodded. “Dad’s always telling me that companies are good for us. It’s just hard to believe since he’s been out of work because they keep reducing—”
Remi cut me off. “Now, son. That’s no talk for this lady. We’re just happy to return the truck. If you are offering a tour, we’ll take it; otherwise, we’ll be on our way. We have to get to the shops if we want to scrounge up some dinner.”
The woman was all smiles and apologies. “Think nothing of it. I’ll give you a tour personally. If you will just follow me.” She excused the guards.
Remi gave me a look. “Hey, son, make sure you grab our packs from the truck.” I looked in the back and there were two hiking backpacks. Lots of small pockets all around, they were well worn but fairly clean.
“I got ‘em, Dad,” I said, doing my best to dumb down my speech.
The tour lasted just over two hours. We managed to distract the woman back and forth and dumped a sample of contaminants in everything we could throughout the factory. There was going to be a lot of sick people in the future, but there was no way they would notice the problem at the complex as being out of the ordinary.
20
We waited for the appropriate time window to enter the disused sewer, then took our position that night. Even with the excitement of the big job underway, I couldn’t forget my other duties back at the academy. To avoid class, I listed myself as ill, making for a reasonable excuse. This was easily accepted, since I’d yet to fall sick even a single day. I could now focus on the job at hand.
Remi and I stalked through the dark tunnels of the disused sewer system following the map provided by the decades-old plans. This proved difficult going as many places had shifted in geologic activity. We had to make our way around numerous collapsed areas. The route was tight, but we were able to squeeze through them all with our portable containment box. The trip gave me some time to practice with the control handles, though I was told during exfiltration that job would fall to Winston.
When we arrived at the work area, Remi stopped me. “Winston? It’s time. Let us in. It’s Remington.”
There was a silence in the dusty dark and then a small slash of light came out of a wall, followed by a soft beam. Winston, dirty and unwashed, waved to us from the other side of the baffle. He was as cheery as ever.
We entered the tunneling work space and I saw how Winston had been living for the past month. There was a waste bucket and spray in one corner. The rest of the space was occupied by a small cot and a mostly exhausted supply of water bottles and food ration boxes. Fuel cells littered the next chamber and the digging equipment proper.
Evelyn was right, Winston really didn’t care where he lived. Prisons for captured soldiers offered more amenities and room. Remi set down his own gear bag and cleared out a space to sit. I powered down the containment unit and sat on the bed. It smelled of Winston in a way that I was not happy about.
Remi got everyone up to speed. “Winston, we make our move in fifteen hours. You have the tunnel complete?”
Winston continued to smile his innocent, broad grin. “I’ve been working really hard when the clock strikes like Evelyn said. There is less than an hour of drilling to go. I left that so we could enter and not be seen.”
Remi nodded. “Alright. We wait until the window. From there, we punch through the wall and enter the facility. I’m on point. Alphonse, I need you sharp and ready to hand me gear as we work our way through. You have the patrols mapped out?”
I nodded.
“Good,” said Remi. “You tell us when to start and stop. Winston, your job is to guide the containment box. You need to stay near us but don’t crowd.” He stretched and settled in for a nap on the floor. “If anything goes wrong before we get the box, we retreat to here and split. If anything goes wrong after we snag the goods, we make sure Alphonse gets out with it. No matter what that means.”
I swallowed. Even with Remi’s words hanging in the air, I figured that planning for success beat worrying about failure. Still, planning for all scenarios was wise, and Remi knew that.
Winston offered me the bed, but I declined and made myself semi comfortable on the remains of ration boxes on the floor. They were somewhat springy and smelled a lot less like three weeks w
ithout a wash.
We slept in small bursts whiling away the time. At one point, we played some cards to occupy ourselves in the dim light of a few lamps. We stayed quiet, partially out of the taciturn nature of the group but also in anticipation of the job.
Finally, the clock on Winston’s nightstand beeped and we were ready. We dressed in our infiltration gear: combat-padded dark-colored clothing complete with face masks. Communication was through subvocal earpieces and there was even a several-minute air supply built into the face mask. It was uncomfortable but offered some protection for the worst scenarios.
I took a last-minute itemization of the gear while Winston and Remi powered through the last of the wall separating us from the basement of the complex.
The wall gave way and we slipped in. Winston had done well. The tunnel took us into an electrical room in the basement. I handed Remi a remote shorted interchange and he attached it to the panel. Even as we installed the pinch, the power fluctuated. The internal power was already having issues. The pinch gave us the ability to manually trigger a rolling blackout to cover our movements, and the stressed engineering created an excuse to keep our actions from alarming the personnel.
With the pinch in place, I took a look at the time and counted out the patrols in my head. This was the biggest random factor with the plan. If the guards were less than professional, their patrol times could be compromised. I was counting on sick guards to maintain protocol but be bad at what they did. It was a contradiction that I felt strongly wouldn’t be an issue. Dedication was a powerful motivator over time, but a poor motivator in the moment.
“Go.”
Remi pushed through the door and I followed a second behind. Winston came up last and we threaded our way through a corridor to our first elevator. No alarms rang out as we entered and made our way to the second floor above ground.
As it arrived, I hit the remote for the pinch. The power went out and we sat in the elevator in the sallow yellow emergency lights. I counted out two minutes and it hit again. As soon as the power was back, Remi sent the elevator down to the first floor.
We exited to the left and ran to the end of the corridor, then we watched a patrol of guards head through a set of doors in front of us. The moment they were clear, we approached the door. It was a common Chrysalis door. I worked a sniffer on the panel to locate the code while Remi used a portable chromatograph to analyze the isotope. He then inserted a pack of quick-set resin into the hole.
The sniffer found the basic algorithm for the door and I waited to signal Remi. He gave me a thumbs-up that the resin was set.
“Now!” He turned the key in the window. The door’s electronics allowed it to open and the makeshift key tripped the tumblers. The door opened, and we ran through and around another corner in time to see a new patrol entering from the end of the hallway.
From there, we entered the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor. Two more doors and we’d reached the next elevator. As we waited for a lift, an alarm sounded. I triggered the pinch and we held our breath as the power died and the backups tried to switch on. I hit the pinch again as they did, and the system reset a second time.
In theory, we were in the elevator and gone before anyone could figure out if we were real or a glitch.
That took us to the third floor and our target.
“Steady everyone,” Remi said over the earpieces.
My heart was pounding and the rush of blood in my ears made the sound distant. For all my complaints about how the thrill of the prep mission was insufficient, this was almost too much.
We exited the elevator as a natural blackout struck. Remi and I were already out of the elevator, but the doors slammed shut automatically behind us. Winston shoved the containment unit through the door and dove forward. His foot got caught in the door. He turned red, containing a scream as the military-grade doors started to crush his foot.
Remi jumped at the door and fought for a tool on his harness. “Did you hit the pinch?” He jammed a strip of a red gummy substance on the upper section of the door. “Get back! Winston, pull!”
An explosion shoved the doors slightly apart and Winston freed his foot. The ceramic plating in the armor had cracked and splinters of it fell to the floor. He got to his feet and hobbled along.
Things were starting to go wrong. The sound also alerted a patrol. We could hear the pounding feet coming toward us. With no way to reenter the elevator and several bulkheads on standby, we were exposed.
“Any ideas?” Remi said.
I scoured through my mental map of the area. “Monitoring room, that door.”
Remi had a clicker out before we got to the door and it was open a moment later. We shoved the containment unit through and shut it behind us. Remi had his gun drawn in his other hand. The monitoring room could contain up to three technicians at any time but always had a minimum of one staff. Nobody was inside. We watched a warning light flick on the panel and a repeating video of us at the elevator. Remi cleared the footage and disabled the alert.
A voice echoed through a restroom door. “Hey, Carmichael? Did you find out what that alert was?” The voice was pained and stopped halfway through the sentence to deal with an evacuation out of one side or the other.
“It’s fine,” I called out. “Just more resets from the power.”
“You okay? You sound muffled.”
“I’m picking up something.” I coughed. “I hope nobody else is getting it.”
We watched through the monitor as a team of guards hit the elevator and inspected the area. One pointed to the scorched section of the door and another noticed the shards on the floor. A light blinked on the panel for an incoming message.
“Can you deal with that, Carmichael? I’m . . . ugh . . . going to need another minute.”
I approached the console. “You got it.” I hit the receiver. “What do you need?”
“This is patrol unit 7-Delta, you see what happened here?”
“Maintenance was working on the door when the power came offline. Slammed shut and broke a tool. Nearly tore his hand off. I’ve got him in here for basic care.”
“Does he need an escort out?”
“Negative. He’s fine, just spooked. Soon as the power is back on, we’ll get the hall cleared.”
“Sounds good. 7-Delta out.”
We waited for the group to clear the hallway and continued along our way. The power kicked back on as we approached the final hallway to our destination.
One more Chrysalis door and we were in the antechamber. From here, we had no way of knowing what the vault door to the actual box would be like. No amount of digging revealed what that was made of or how it was accessed.
Remi lined the edges with more of the red gummy substance he had. “Everyone back. We’re blowing this and then finding the fastest way out. Alphonse, the moment I hit it, we need to knock out the power. Got it?”
“Copy. Ready when you are.”
He stepped back to the edge of the room and pushed us behind him. “Mark.”
The vault door fizzled for a brief moment as I hit the pinch. The lights went off, but it remained bright in the room as the explosive seared the edges of the vault door. It burned white hot and I shut my eyes for a few long seconds. When I opened them again, my vision was still splotchy.
The door fell inward, smashing into a staging table. A leg of the table slammed me in the side of the head. I went down tasting copper and feeling dizzy. Remi moved to help me, but I waved him off. “Nothing broken,” I managed to say. “Get the stuff.”
Winston navigated the containment unit into the vault and moved it into position. He and Remi pulled on protective gloves and together the two pulled several containers out of the larger vault storage unit and fitted them into the portable one. The power came on again and an alarm was ringing. I hit the pinch and nothing happened.
“Remi, I’m getting nothing from the pinch.”
“Don’t worry yet. The interference in the vault and the e
xplosion could have scrambled it. Proceed as normal. Let’s move!”
They came out of the vault and we formed up again, this time with Remi at point and me taking up a position behind Winston and the containment unit.
As we entered the hallway, I saw that we were in trouble. The lights were all on and alarms were blaring. I hit the pinch a few times and got no response. Worse, the bulkheads had come down in front of us.
Remi paced in front of the door. It seemed like we had come so far only to be trapped. We had only three options. Try to get through the doors back the way we came, which was slow and we were limited on the materials for defeating the isotope locks. We could go back to the vault, which was pointless. Or we could divert our route further into the complex.
I explained the options to Remi.
“Is there any route out if we go further in?” he asked.
“It goes into some of the third-wave upgrades,” I said. “So I don’t know what we’ll face, but there is a route that gets us back to the basement.”
Remi nodded. “Let’s move.”
We continued down the hallway and accessed an elevator, which took us up to the fifth floor. The elevator opened and we found ourselves in a dark hallway. The power outages seemed to be contained to this floor only as the elevator was still working on a redundancy.
We moved to the next intersection and found a closed bulkhead door. Remi swore and dropped into a combat firing stance. “This is where we start into the at-all-costs plan. No other way.”
I noticed that the door blocking our way was one of the new Chrysalis prototypes. “I think we’re okay. I can get us through this.”
Remi frowned as I pulled out the device. “I told you to get rid of that thing. No telling what tracers or backdoors are in it. Dammit, kid.”
The power came back on and I pressed my thumb and pinky on the pad. The door opened. “You can yell at me later. Right now, this is our way out.”
We broke into a run then, staying just in front of another patrol. We worked our way to the elevator and back down to the second floor. From there, we only had to work through one more hallway to the first elevator. Alarms rang out again and an all-units was called on the vault. We only had to wait for the halls to clear before I opened the last door between us and the elevator. We were down and out into the tunnel in under five minutes.
