Omnibus Volume 1

by C. M. Carney

  “You’re going to be okay,” Finn said.

  “Liar,” Dalton said with a bitter chuckle that spit up blood. “Did we get them, at least?”

  “We did,” Finn said, sadness staining his voice. “Who were they, Dalton?”

  “Mercs. Contractors hired by Sacrosanct.”

  “Sacrosanct? That’s where Brynn works.” Panic ate at Finn. “What is going on? Where is Brynn?”

  “I don’t know. Nobody has seen her, or the rest of the Pantheon in months.”

  “Pantheon?”

  A bitter laugh rumbled from Dalton. “Yeah, that’s what they call themselves. Alistair Bechard and his cronies who run Sacrosanct. Pretentious assholes if you ask me. It’s as if they think they’re gods.”

  “Dalton, you’re not making any sense.”

  “I’m dying, kid, so shut up and listen. Do you know what the Realms is?”

  “Some kinda game or something. What does this have to do with Brynn? Or this,” Finn said, waving his hand around the bar turned war zone.

  “Brynn suspected something was off with the Realms and brought me in to help.”

  “How do you two even know each other?” Finn’s mind raced to find any source of contact. He could conceive of none. Finn had made sure not to mix his two lives.

  Dalton laughed at Finn’s puzzled expression. “Man, you’re a naïve dullard. Did you think you were the only one your father recruited?”

  Shock pummeled Finn. “Brynn worked for Dad? I don’t believe it. I won’t believe it.”

  “Your father had tendrils everywhere, kid. I’m one scary dude, and your old man terrified the shit out of me.”

  Finn’s mind pushed aside the shock and refocused. “Where is Brynn?”

  “I told you, nobody knows. Last I knew she was going into the Realms. She told me to find you and give you the pulse drive. Took me six months. Guess I trained you too well.”

  Mention of the pulse drive brought Doc rushing back into Finn’s awareness. “Doc,” Finn yelled. “Doc, I need your help.”

  “It’s too late. You need to find Brynn.” Dalton said, his eyes glazing. “Did you know I’m her godfather? I don’t think even she knows that.” Dalton’s eyes went blank, and he was gone.

  Shock pummeled Finn’s mind. None of this made sense. Doc shoved him aside and performed CPR on Dalton. After a few minutes, Doc gave up. Doc spoke to him, but Finn did not hear. His world was a swirling vortex of muddled confusion.

  Doc slapped Finn hard across the face, and Finn was back. He looked from Doc to Dalton as reality came rushing back. “Doc?”

  “I’m sorry, he’s dead.” A look of sympathy crossed his face.

  Finn looked down upon his old mentor, a man he both loved and loathed. “I don’t understand any of this,” Finn mumbled.

  “That makes two of us Finn,” Doc said with a stare.

  Doc had used his real name. Finn looked up. "That’s a long story, Doc. One you're better off not knowing."

  Doc looked around the bar. “I believe you. This has the look of one of those I’d have to kill you if I told you situations.”

  “Something like that. I wouldn’t know where to start, anyway.”

  “Let’s start with an introduction. I’m Percy Winkelvoss.” Doc extended his hand.

  Finn gave Doc a sideways glance and reached out and shook his hand. The man had the firm and steady grip of a surgeon, despite the alcoholism that had destroyed his life.

  “Finn, Finn Caldwell.”

  “Nice to meet you, Finn.”

  “Same.” A few seconds passed in silence as Finn looked down on Dalton. “Now I know why you go by Doc.”

  Doc harrumphed. “Yeah, thanks Ma and Pa Winkelvoss. Lean back and let me have a look at those wounds.”

  At the mention of his wounds, the pain rushed back. Finn’s adrenaline surge had worn off and the pain had arrived. He eased back against a beer cooler with a grimace. Doc tended to the wound in Finn’s shoulder first.

  “Through and through on the shoulder. That's good. I’ll stitch it up, but your range of motion will suck for a few weeks.”

  He removed a suture wand from the med kit and closed the wound with polymer staples. They leaked anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs into his body. In a few days, when they had done their job, they would melt away.

  Next, Doc examined his hand. Again, the damage was muscular not structural. His hand would also be useless for a few weeks.

  His ministrations finished Doc pulled the pulse drive from his pocket and handed it to Finn. “I hope it’s worth all this death,” Doc said with a sigh.

  “It never is, Doc.”

  “I’m gonna hit the head. Too much excitement is no bueno for my old bladder.”

  Finn nodded. “Thank you, Doc.”

  “You’re welcome, kid.” Doc grabbed a bottle of whiskey off the bar and took a big swig. “Consider this payment.” Doc headed towards the bathroom, carrying the bottle under his arm the way other men hit the bathroom with a magazine.

  Finn smiled at the old drunk and looked down at the pulse drive. His face turned grim. What did you die for, Dalton? Finn thought. And what have you gotten yourself into, Brynn?

  Finn walked into the small office behind the bar and sat. The desk held a computer that had been obsolete before Finn was born. It was slow. However, it had no built-in access to the lattice, making it untraceable. Finn inserted the pulse drive into an external port, a shiny bit of malplast that looked so out of place with the rest of the rig.

  The ancient monitor powered up and the only file on the drive pulsed to life. It brought up a blinking password prompt. Finn stared for a few moments.

  "Shit," Finn said aloud. Brynn was smart, which meant only Finn would be able to decipher the code. Which meant he already knew it. He racked his brain, trying to remember everything he knew about his sister.

  Finn had always been the silent loner, while Brynn was always joyous, even as a child. Her mere presence lit up a room. It was no wonder she had thrived in life. He’d been so proud of her when she’d earned VP at Sacrosanct Integrative Networks. Sure, they were ‘just a game company,’ Brynn had said. But they were cutting edge and even had contracts with the US military.

  Finn cursed himself for failing out of her life, both before and after his disgrace. His work had made real connections difficult, even with Brynn. He thought back to the last time he’d been happy.

  He’d come to the family summer home after graduating from boot camp. It was Brynn’s favorite place in the entire world. A wondrous and magical oasis nestled on Bow Lake in New Hampshire near where their Mom had grown up. Brynn, all of thirteen years old, dragged her big brother into an adventure around the lake. There they fought goblins and orcs and dragons and even saved a gryphon. A live action adventure based upon the role-playing games Brynn forced Finn the play.

  Finn asked her why they saved the gryphon after slaying so many other monsters. Brynn got her intense look. That look that would someday shame everyone from big brothers to local police chiefs to the heads of Senate committees.

  “Because the gryphon is noble and strong and always fights for what is right,” Brynn said with the intensity only a thirteen-year-old could muster. “Just like you, Finn.”

  Brynn had always hated that their names rhymed, so from then on, when it was just the two of them, she had called him Gryph. Finn’s heart seized at the memory. He’d been her hero, but unlike the gryphon he had done many a thing that was not noble or right.

  His amazing and strong sister, the best of the Caldwells, was in trouble. She needed him, and if he had any chance for redemption, he needed to become who she always thought he was. He needed to become the gryphon.

  “G-R-Y-P-H,” Finn realized. “The passcode is Gryph.”

  Finn’s fingers sped across the keyboard typing the code. Then a video began to play. A video of Brynn.

  4

  Finn’s heart thudded in his chest at the look of fear on Brynn’s face. S
everal moments passed before his training took over. Finn watched every detail with detachment and precision. Brynn was in her office. It was night and the San Francisco skyline glinted through a window behind her. The room was dimly lit as if she was trying not to draw attention to herself.

  She’s at Sacrosanct, Finn realized.

  “Hello, Finn,” Brynn said, sneaking a glance past the camera as if fearing interruption. “I’m in trouble. We’re all in trouble.” Her small smile seemed forced

  She’s terrified.

  “I don’t have the time to explain everything, and to be honest, I don’t think you’d believe me if I did,” Brynn said. She glanced around again.

  She’s afraid somebody will interrupt her, catch her.

  “I’m about to go into the Realms, and I don’t think I’ll be coming back out. I don’t have a choice. None of us do. He’s become paranoid, suspicious. He may be onto us already. By the time you get this, I’ll either be in the Realms or…” Brynn bit her lip and Finn saw the fear bubble to the surface as she tried to keep herself together.

  What could scare her this badly? By the time I get this? Finn’s eyes snapped down to the time code buried in the info feed at the bottom of the video. April the 4th. Six months ago? His mind reeled. Six months? Dalton had been right. Finn cursed himself. Why was I so damn stubborn? He should have known she was missing. He should have been searching for her all this time.

  “The Realms are not what we thought they were. Alistair is not who he claims to be. My God, Finn, it’s bad. I need you to come find me. Not here, but in the Realms. Finding my body in this world won’t do me any good if you cannot rescue my mind.”

  Brynn held up a pulse drive, a small data storage device that used pulses of light to encode information. They were popular not just for their massive storage capacity but also for being nearly impervious to hacking. It was the same pulse drive Finn had docked in his computer.

  “This drive has a map to a safe house Dad made me memorize its location in case I ever got into any boy trouble. As if any boy would ever date me with the colonel lurking.” A small smile curled her lips. “There you’ll find a cutting-edge neural immersion rig that will get you into the Realms. Your banner already has the codes necessary to override Alistair’s security protocols.”

  She grinned and, for a moment, she was the Brynn he remembered. Then as she leaned closer to the camera, that Brynn was gone. Stress lines had aged her face. She was scared and tired and on the edge of a breakdown.

  “When this video is over, you’ll have two minutes to port the map and safe house access code onto your banner before the pulse drive self-destructs.”

  “I love you, big brother. Come get me. Come save me. Everything depends…” Brynn stopped cold and glanced up. Behind her, reflected in the window, was the silhouette of a man. “Shit, you scared me,” Brynn said, and the video ended.

  The screen went blank, and Finn tapped at the keyboard desperate to bring it back. There had to be more clues. The screen didn’t respond but, a moment later, a countdown appeared.

  2:00…1:59…1:58 ...

  Finn tugged the pulse drive from the dock and placed it onto his injured left palm. The organic circuitry tattooed into his palm activated and flares of sub-dermal light moved in intricate circular patterns as his banner attempted to connect to the pulse drive. The banner interface lit up and cycled but flared out.

  “Shit,” he said aloud, lifting and replacing the pulse drive in an attempt to connect. Once again, the cycle began, but it collapsed. The knife must have damaged the circuits.

  Lex? Finn begged.

  My interface is damaged, Lex responded in a calm voice.

  No shit. What do I do?

  Find another banner, Lex said smugly. I’m okay by the way. In case you were concerned.

  Shut up.

  So that’s a no, I guess. Well, at least now I know where I stand.

  “Doc?” he yelled as he emerged behind the bar and sprinted towards the back of the room. He slammed open the ratty door to the men’s room.

  “Doc?”

  The disgraced surgeon stood in front of the urinal doing his business. The noise made him jump and piss sprayed everywhere.

  “Dammit, Finn. Can’t a man take a whizz in peace?”

  Finn ignored the anger and grabbed Doc’s hand.

  “What the hell?” Doc sputtered pulling his hand from Finn’s grasp. “I know I’m a casual kinda guy, man, but even I have boundaries.”

  “I need you to access this pulse drive,” Finn said and grabbed Doc around the wrist

  Finn slapped the pulse drive onto Doc’s left palm. Doc opened his mouth to protest, but the desperate look on Finn’s face must have convinced him. Doc closed his eyes and the interface of the older man’s banner surged to life as a connection synced.

  Finn folded Doc’s fingers over the pulse drive, securing it. Time crawled as the file in the pulse drive merged with neural interface of Doc’s banner. Finn’s heart thundered away the seconds.

  Doc’s eyes opened, and he swayed, knees failing him. Finn caught him before he could fall to the floor.

  “Jesus, Finn, what was that?” Doc reached up to rub his temples.

  “Sorry, Doc, but I needed a banner, and I needed it quickly.”

  “Because yours is all cut up,” Doc said, nodding his head.

  “Did the file download?” Finn asked.

  Doc nodded, regaining some of his equilibrium. “It’s a map and some kinda passcode.”

  “Good. We need to go there. Now.”

  “What is going…” Doc began, before his eyes widened and his mouth erupted in a scream of pain. Finn felt the heat a moment before he smelled the burning skin. He still held Doc’s palm closed, but now a fierce heat surged through their fingers.

  “My hand is burning. Fuck Finn, I’m on fire.”

  “The self-destruct,” Finn said.

  “The what?”

  “This is going to hurt.”

  Finn wrenched Doc’s fingers back and charred flesh tore. Doc screamed in agony and his eyes widened at the burning shard of malplast melted into his hand.

  Finn did the only thing he could think of. He dragged Doc into the stall and shoved his hand into the toilet. The heat died amidst a surge of steam. Finn pulled Doc’s hand out of the toilet and wrenched the melted pulse drive from Doc’s palm, tossing it to the ground.

  Doc pulled back his undamaged hand and punched Finn in the face. It was a good punch. It hurt.

  “Dammit,” Finn said.

  Doc remembered who he was dealing with and his natural calm returned.

  “Sorry, just reacted.”

  “Understandable,” Finn said rubbing his jaw. “That’s some punch you have there, Doc.”

  “Harvard boxing champ, 2021.” Pride beamed through the pain on Doc’s face. “You’re a dick by the way, and I really need that med kit.”

  I’m detecting tons of encrypted lattice traffic, Lex said.

  Can you tell what are they saying?

  You do know what the word encrypted means, right?

  Finn felt the need to deliver serious violence to Lex. He knew it was stupid. Finn decided that he’d have to have words with his sister, once he found her.

  “We have to go, Doc.”

  “More bad guys?”

  “More bad guys.”

  5

  It would take them a few minutes to get out of the building. Ever mistrustful, Finn had long ago scouted an emergency exit from the bar. Despite numerous attempts to kill his past life, old training died hard. The colonel had begun grooming Finn very early for a life he’d never wanted. It had caused a rift between father and son, and as soon as he was able Finn had rushed to join the Army to get away from the old man. How ironic, that as an adult, Finn had unknowingly worked for the colonel. Now, it seemed, even Brynn had been unable to escape the colonel’s web.

  Finn forced the anger at his father down. He had no time to dwell on the past. He led Do
c to an old ladder at the back of the kitchen, and they climbed to the roof. There, Finn placed a few planks he’d set aside ahead of time across the gap between buildings.

  “You’re nuts if you think I’m crossing that,” Doc said, then noticed more armed men entering the bar below. Doc found his courage and eased himself across the makeshift bridge.

  A terrifying jump from one rooftop to another and a few more ladders and they were back on the ground. Finn led them to a small door in the alley. He grimaced as he placed his left hand against the scanner pad hanging next to the door. The pad made an angry noise, blared red, and refused to open.

  Finn scowled and pulled a small device from his sweatshirt pocket and inserted it into the keypad’s data port. He’d grabbed the device, and the gun in his waistband, from a stash he kept under the floorboards of the storeroom.

  “Pretty sure that’s not legal tech,” Doc said as the door chirped and clicked open. “But I guess that’s the smallest felony I’ve been a party to this afternoon.”

  Finn gave him a glance that said, ‘you sure you're up for this?’ A calm look crossed Doc’s face, and he nodded. Finn pulled the door open and motioned for Doc to enter the small garage. Doc eased inside. A large mass covered in a tarp dominated the room. Finn pulled tarp off to reveal a late model sedan.

  Finn got behind the wheel, and Doc sat in the passenger seat.

  Lex open the door.

  The squeal of a long unused motor broke the silence and a garage door lifted into the ceiling. Finn started the car, rammed it into drive, and surged into the alley.

  Half an hour later, sure nobody had tailed them, Finn pulled onto a service road. Dozens of identical buildings lined the street. They were near the port where hundreds of the structures created a maze. Finn killed the engine.

  “This is it,” Doc said, pointing to a squat two story.

  Finn scanned the area, but they were alone. He pulled the pistol from his waistband, checked the safety and the cartridge and looked at Doc.

  “Under normal circumstances, I'm not a fan of guns,” Doc said, “but today has proven the exception.”