Soldiers of Fame and Fortune Full Series Omnibus: Nobody’s Fool, Nobody Lives Forever, Nobody Drinks That Much, Nobody Remembers But Us, Ghost Walking, 12 Book series...

by Michael Todd

  They were the ones who would know exactly what Billie needed to find out.

  When the van reached its destination, Billie dropped out of the back and strolled up to the corner where there was the least security. She put down her duffel and changed clothes, putting on her suit and HUD. It had the maps and information she needed to maneuver through the building. The only difference was that this time, her guy wouldn’t be in her ear.

  She programmed her HUD and focused on the cameras along the path leading to the back door. In a deep tone to mimic her operations guy, she clicked her aimed EMP button. “One click and the signal will be cut for approximately forty-two seconds. And...go.”

  Billie took off, making sure to keep low but move quickly up the path to the back door. She looked back and forth and pulled a card key out of her pocket, sliding it through the lock. The buttons glowed, and she looked up at the dim light on the camera. Finally, the door clicked and she snuck inside, closing it firmly but quietly as the green light clicked back on. Staying low, she moved down the hall, taking out any camera her HUD found before she got to it.

  She came up to a corner and straightened, pressing her back to the wall. “This would be a fucking lot easier if my partner hadn’t been such a pussy and was here to fucking help. But nooo, here I am all by my fucking self.”

  Billie pulled up the spy drone screen in her HUD and began programming the devices to detach from her gear. “Okay, what the hell is around this corner?”

  She lowered her voice, pretending to be Operations. “I’m probably eating a pizza right now, watching tech porn with the latest server chip. It’s going down to infinitesimally small lines that increased the computational effort a full 2.1% over last year. I’m going to…to...Ohhhh GOOODDD…”

  Billie snickered, imaging her operations guy blowing his load over a technology show on his screen. “He’s sitting all alone with his fucking gadgets while I’m in enemy territory trying to steal shit. I swear I picked the wrong job. I should have been a stripper or something.”

  The screen showed her the images from the spy drones. They moved precisely, staying just above the cameras’ line of sight. She narrowed her eyes, finding the cameras pointing to the same exact locations they had the last time she had come here. That was a good thing, since she knew the moves to get through without anyone noticing. She couldn’t use her EMPs on those; if the screens went down for even a few seconds, an alarm would sound. She was in an area of the building that was pretty tight on security. Luckily there weren’t any workers milling about. In about an hour, though, there would be, so she needed to get a move on.

  Billie clicked a button on her watch and set a timer for the exact moment the camera swiveled. At eight seconds she got down low, and at eleven she rolled across the hall and pressed her back to the wall. She waited three more seconds and duckwalked in a zigzag through the corridor, and at twenty-two seconds she rolled forward, hitting the end of the hall right below the cameras.

  She smiled to herself and clicked off the timer, then slid her card key through the lock. She waited several agonizing seconds before it unlocked and carefully opened the door behind her. She cracked the door open and crouched, going inside. There were no cameras in the room, and something told her that the workers were doing things in there they wanted no record of.

  She chuckled in pride as she walked over to the desk. “I don’t need no help. I did it all on my own.”

  As she sauntered, her shoulder hit one of the screens and nearly knocked it off the table. She turned quickly and caught it, closing her eyes and breathing heavily. “Okay, maybe I should calm the fuck down with my big ego before I wreck myself.”

  She carefully pushed the screen back onto the desk. As she was about to move on, the light from her headlamp caught a series of numbers written on a Post-it beneath a large tabletop calendar that had been shifted in her stupid move. She went around the desk and narrowed her eyes, looking at the screen. Shrugging, she put her fingers on the keyboard and began entering the information into the login screen. “It’s worth a try, I guess.”

  The screen clicked open and she chuckled. “Good sleuthing skills, Hickok.” That was Operations Guy.

  She changed to her own voice. “Why, thank you. It’s nice to be recognized for my brilliance once in a while. Now, what to put the information on.”

  She patted her suit, realizing she hadn’t brought anything to save what she found. She rolled her eyes and looked around the room, finding labeled drawers at the back. She went over and scanned the writing. “Printer paper, pens, staples…no, not what I need.”

  Billie ran her finger down to the bottom drawer and stopped, opening it. “Aha, just what I was looking for.”

  Piled neatly in the drawer was a shit-ton of blank flash drives. She grabbed the one with the most memory and ripped open the package, tossing the trash in the can. She closed the drawer and headed back to the desk, settling herself in the chair, then rolled her shoulders and furrowed her brow, looking at the chair. “Fucking ergonomically designed bullshit. Not comfortable in the least.”

  She went straight to the files she needed, finding them relatively easily considering they were supposed to be top secret. Inside the system, everything seemed to be labeled exactly what it was, only in Chinese and not American. She pushed the flash drive into the computer and began the download. “Good thing I know Mandarin, suckers.”

  As she waited for the download, she leaned the chair back and looked around the desk. She picked up a flyer talking about a big tech convention in town, rolled her eyes, and tossed it back down. “Fucking tech nerds. They probably went to the convention and fondled every one of the forty-eight-inch high-level displays or something. God, what’s it take to turn one of their heads? Give me a good guy who loves sports. Easy to get their attention.”

  She picked up a picture on the desk, looking at the guy. He was wearing a Shou Industries polo and hugging some pretty girl. “Well, apparently not all of them are incapable of relationships...unless that’s his sister.”

  She looked at the picture again, refusing to believe that her operations guy was the only one with the weird fetish. “Yeah, it’s probably his sister. His girlfriend is probably virtual.”

  Billie put the picture back down and looked around the office, waiting for the download to finish. There was a steady beeping and she sat up straight, then slowly put one knee on the floor and crawled between the cubicles until she reached the source of the sound. On the counter was a coffee maker set to a specific time to begin the brew. She rolled her eyes and got back up, looking at the time on her HUD.

  It was getting too close for comfort. She liked to be in and out of places long before anyone else had a chance to decide coming in early would be a good idea. She hurried back over to the computer and flicked the mouse, looking at the download time. “Come on, move faster. For a tech company, they sure haven’t mastered download speed. I could download on my Mac tablet faster than this. Unfortunately hacking it wasn’t an option because SOMEONE couldn’t help me out in this scenario.”

  Billie tapped her fingers on the desk, looking down at the Post-it with the username and password on it. She shook her head and chuckled. “Seriously, what moron would really leave their password written under their calendar pad? Someone is going to get fired today, and his name is…”

  She picked up a memo from his inbox. “Shozan Chin. Sorry, buddy, but don’t worry—your virtual girlfriend probably has a setting to make you feel better.”

  At the bottom of the Post-it, Shozan had written DO NOT STEAL! Billie chuckled, shaking her head. “Well, shit, at least this guy seems to have a sense of humor. That’s more than I can say for my guy.”

  She pushed the calendar back up and fixed his desk. The longer she could keep the company from noticing that someone had downloaded the information, the more time she had to make it back to the others. With her ability to sneak in and out, it might take them more than a day, which was ample time. They would hav
e no idea that it had been her.

  She plopped back down in the chair and flipped through the screens on her HUD. There were old messages archived from her guy, usually yelling at her for turning her HUD sensors off during an operation. Sometimes she just needed the silence of the moment to think things through. It didn’t always go smoothly. When she had to improvise, having him yelling in her ear was a major distraction.

  She sighed, thinking about it. If she hadn’t sworn to herself that she would eventually get her operations guy to at least ask her out on a date, her mind would be more in tune with what was going on around her. She spent too much time daydreaming about the idiot and not enough focusing on the job at hand. She was a warrior, after all. She shouldn’t be stuck in ditzy teenager mode. She absolutely loathed the fact that she had to fight for attention versus an object that was upgraded every year. Meanwhile, she had to struggle to be as good this year as last. Aging couldn’t be turned back like it could be for the systems he worked with, or at least not yet.

  She looked at the download and wondered if the information it contained would have clues to the goop properties being able to improve or enhance performance. She could be like a real-life robot, getting a dose of goop and suddenly becoming the next-generation spy. She shook her head, realizing she was allowing her brain to go through a complete wormhole of technobabble.

  She groaned and watched the download count down the seconds. “I’m starting to sound like him. Not a good look for me.”

  Finally, the download was complete, and she pulled out the drive. She held it up to her mask and smiled before slipping it into a secret armored compartment on her suit. Even if they took her down, they would never find the information she had stolen. Her suit was impressive, despite the fact that the HUD still flickered from time to time. She had thought that with the new upgrades it would stop, but years later she was still slapping her helmet in the middle of a black ops mission.

  Billie took a deep breath and headed out of the room, careful not to leave anything behind. She cracked open the door and peeked out. No one had come in yet, but she knew they would soon. She moved carefully through the crack in the door and let it quietly shut behind her. She pressed her back to the door and set the timer in her watch again. In reverse order, she moved down the hall, rolling, duckwalking, and then rolling again. As she made her last roll, she sent out an EMP charge to the camera around the corner.

  As she swerved around the corner, the camera went off and she took off down the hallway. She had to move fast and get back outside the building and out into the desert. She’d paid the van to pick her up somewhere out there. She would walk until they came by.

  Moving through the maze of hallways, she paused at the edge of each one, peering with her spy drones for any sign of movement or life. The halls were clear, and the EMP was taking care of any other technological threat without affecting the company as a whole. It was brilliant. It would only show a momentary issue with the cameras, not the technology in the building. No one would ever figure it had been an electrical pulse. The technology was top secret.

  Billie reached the last hall and took off down it, getting to the door. She slightly opened the door and paused, hearing voices outside. Two guys were smoking cigarettes. “Yeah, there is a video card. It’s pretty pricey, but you can watch porn in 3D.”

  The other guy scoffed. “Please. There is a whole virtual reality set up now. You can buy the doll, which is connected to the computer to move like whoever is in the VR simulation you have. It’s like fucking a real chick, only you don’t have to drop any lame pickup lines. It’s pretty much tits, bro.”

  Billie lifted an eyebrow and looked behind her. Come on, you morons. Finish up and get the hell out of here.

  One of the guys blew a smoke ring over his head. “Are you going to the technology convention in town? I heard they are pulling out all the stops for this bitch, like something we would find back home.”

  The other guy scoffed, dropping his cig and stomping on it. “Fuck yeah, I am. I heard from one of the HR girls that they are going to have forty-eight-inch high-level displays on everything. And you will be able to try out the newest VR that allows you to work from home with whoever in the office is connected through the same system.”

  The first guy put out his smoke. “That would be the shit. I could make my avatar wear clothes but personally be in my living room butt-ass naked.”

  The guys started to walk away. “That’s gross, dude. Remind me not to shake your virtual hand.”

  Billie tapped her foot, waiting for them to disappear around the corner of the building. She slid through the door and out to the path leading to the edge of town. She moved carefully, shoving her HUD into her duffel. She didn’t take the time to change again, so she just slipped on her boots and headed into the desert, wanting to get as far away as she could.

  Chapter Seven

  “Did you get the list of stuff I left on the desk?” Hickok said as Holly came out of her bathroom drying her hair.

  Holly gasped and closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Seriously, you need to stop doing that.”

  Billie shrugged. “And you need to learn to lock your doors.”

  Holly’s mouth flew open, and she stumbled through some inaudible words before pouting and throwing her towel on the bed. “At least I put clothes on before I came out here. You would have gotten a real show.”

  Billie snickered. “Please, like I haven’t seen a naked woman a million times in my life.”

  Holly lifted an eyebrow. “Hey, I’m not judging. To each his own.”

  Billie rolled her eyes. “Did you get the stuff?”

  Holly sighed. “What, you mean the air-gapped computer and the weird shady-ass program from the guy who was waiting on the corner for me with a brown paper sack? Yeah, I got all that. Plus, as an added bonus for my efforts, I got a real good whiff of body odor I was not prepared for. Your people need to learn about hygiene.”

  Billie took the computer out of the box. “Not my people. Just contacts along the way.”

  She put the flash drive from the guy on the corner in and ran the program. Holly looked over her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  Billie typed in a code and pressed Enter. “These computers try to pick up wi-fi even if you turn it off, then anyone can hack your system and see what you are doing stroke for stroke. That is not what we need to happen. Most likely when the company finds out information was stolen, they will have professional hackers in every town scanning for anyone who might be looking at this info. This program puts up an invisible cement wall. They won’t be able to look through it, and they also won’t even know it’s there. That way they don’t get suspicious.”

  Holly lifted her eyebrows. “Wow, that’s pretty fucking intense.”

  The computer dinged and Billie pulled the first drive out and dropped it on the floor, smashing it under her boot. Holly cringed. “Careful with the floors, man. My landlord will shit herself if I fuck this place up.”

  Billie ignored her and picked up the pieces, pouring them into Holly’s hand. “Throw that in the trash.”

  Holly sneered and walked over, pressing the foot pedal on the trash can and tossing the little metal and plastic pieces into the bin. Billie put the other drive into the computer and put in the password she remembered from the desk. The files opened, and she moved to the side.

  Holly walked up with wide eyes, taking a seat and pulling the computer in front of her. “Is this the information?”

  Billie laughed. “I sure as fuck hope so. Everything is labeled in Chinese, but when you click the folders, the titles are also in English. This should start you in the right direction.”

  Holly nodded and started clicking. She glanced back at Billie, who was wandering in the small kitchenette area. “I have some food in the fridge and cabinets. There is a coffee maker there, and the coffee is in the freezer. You are more than welcome to anything you find.”

  Billie waved. “Thanks. Appreciate it
.”

  The time went by with Billie pacing the floor behind Holly, eating oatmeal and waiting for her to find what she needed. Holly kept her attention on the screen, reading through the information as fast as she could. The company knew how to create certain goop salves to help with various ailments, but their big project was something that would continue the existence of humanity for a very long time. They weren’t there yet, though, and couldn’t figure out the last bit of information to get there.

  As much as Holly wanted to read more about it, she focused on the reason she was in possession of stolen information. She turned her chair around and looked at Billie. “I can make a simple salve to help him temporarily while we figure out the cure, but I will need Pita petals to create it. As many as can be collected, and they need to be fresh.”

  Billie nodded and dropped her bag on the floor. “I guess I’m going in, then. First, though, I need to rest. Nobody gets out when they go in as beat as I am.”

  Hickok stood at the entrance to the Zoo; there was no one else around. It was dark out, the time it was easiest for her to sneak in and out without anyone seeing her. She snapped her HUD on and took a deep breath, then scanned through the downloaded programs and found the Zoo. It looked like her ops guy had updated it for her behind the scenes.

  Billie smiled. “Thanks, dude.”

  Of course, he wasn’t there to answer her, but she had to give props where they were due. When she got her screen up, she put in the coordinates from her intel of where she could easily find a Pita patch not too far off the beaten path. Apparently some had been picked, but of course not all of it. It was useless to the mercs looking for a payday, but it would provide just what she needed.