by Chris Wright
“I'm sorry we couldn't get you here in more comfort, but once we heard that the Elite were about to strike, we had to use what means we could at short notice” Sheryl explained, “My sources originally said we had another week, but they were kept in the dark slightly. So, we weren't as prepared as we hoped”.
Jarrah was still not prepared and was only just picking himself up off the floor.
“Nice to see you again Ms. Roberts” He said.
“Please, call me Sheryl, there's no need for anything other than first names between us all”
She gestured over to her guards to remove the craft while she showed Jarrah and Emma the compound they would be working and living in for the foreseeable future.
“We need more than two of us to lift it, it's not got any wheels” Said guard number two.
“Of course it hasn't, do you think there are roads in space? Just do it” Sheryl asked him.
Guard number two didn't reply, he just walked around the back of the truck chuntering to himself. Sheryl showed them around the complex, an underground installation consisting of a series of chambers, each kitted out with all the tools they needed to finish their research and engineering. Down a series of tunnels, they had a separate relaxation area with a kitchen and couches, as well as their own private bedrooms. It was a property acquired by Sheryl a long time ago, its original use was unknown, but it was at least fifty years old. All she had to do was modernise it, bring it up to date and she knew it would be perfect. She had the money to throw at it. She knew they would be living underground for a while and there was no point in them all slumming it.
“When are you getting the others?” Emma asked.
“My teams are extracting them today” Sheryl replied.
She took them to their own bedrooms and told them to settle themselves in, have some coffee, tea, lunch, whatever they wished, and she'd keep them updated on the extraction of the rest of the team members. Sheryl left them each alone and made her way to one of the chambers that was set up like a nerve centre, rows of screens adorning the middle of the wall horizontally, a different image on each one. Rashid was sat at a desk facing the screens and on hearing Sheryl appear behind him, he swung his chair round.
“We're all in place and ready to go” He said, “As soon as you give the instruction we'll start”
Sheryl had been building up to this moment for a long time, carefully, methodically. She was hoping that everything she had done was going to work, she had accounted for everything she could think of. She knew that it was a possibility that not all of them would make it, but was confident that ninety percent would. She had employed the best guards she could find, the most capable, the most experienced. Okay, some may be a little dim about some things, like thinking they had roads in space, but she knew each of them was loyal and skilled when it came to the art of combat and protection. She was positive about it, she had been positive about everything in life, that's how she earned her money and her reputation. But she knew her reputation would mean nothing any more if she didn't pull this off. She poured herself a gin and sat next to Rashid. She was going to be glued to these screens for the rest of the discernible day. The enormity of the task was immense, she needed something to quickly calm her nerves. She told Rashid to give her a few minutes while she knocked the contents of the glass back and poured herself another. She took a long slow deep breath before finally turning to Rashid.
“Okay, let’s do it”.
Gina’s Lab
Gina's phone rang and she hurriedly picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Hi Gina, it's time. A team is ready to escort you and your research to where it's safe. They will be with you in five minutes” Sheryl said on the other end of the line.
“Okay” Gina replied nervously. She flicked the self-destruct switch and watched the phone puff away in smoke. Everything was all now very real.
She gathered what she needed, carefully placing everything in a series of metal containers and pulled them to the door to her lab, ready for them and her to be whisked away, hopefully to safety. She was full of trepidation, this was all a huge unknown, and anything could happen from this moment on. The last week had been difficult to comprehend. Only eight days ago, everything and everyone was normal and going about their daily business, but not anymore. She knew she was taking a huge gamble, but she felt she had no choice. She couldn't live under a regime that was suppressing the whole of society and she knew she had to help find a way out. Her robotics expertise was part of the hopeful solution, along with her prototype machine, that was carefully encased in the containers sat by her side.
The main reason she had such a huge lump in her throat was that she was having to leave Tom behind. They had been together for what seemed like forever, and they both adored each other, despite them being completely opposite. She was sworn to secrecy and hadn't been able to tell him anything about what was going on, which tore at her insides, creating knots in her gut, an aching sadness. She went back and forth in her mind about whether to ring him and say goodbye or not. She shouldn't, but felt the need to, she didn't want to just go, him never knowing what had happened. She had been wrestling with this for the last few days, and now it was coming to a head, the conflicting thoughts were becoming unbearable. No, she had to say goodbye, if she didn't, she knew she would regret it for the rest of her life.
“Hi Hon” She said as Tom answered.
“Hey beautiful, what's up?”
This was going to be hard for her, so hard, she didn't really know what to say, so just kept it vague and simple. She was hoping that when they had all done whatever they had to do that they could come back and salvage what was left, re-unite with their loved ones. She had convinced herself this wouldn't be forever.
“I have to go away for a while” She said holding back the tears, “But I will be coming back”
Tom was stunned to silence, this was completely out of the blue.
“Away? Where?” He said, finally regaining the use of his vocal chords.
“I can't say, I wish I could. I'll come back for you, trust me on that please” She said, unable to fight back the tears any longer.
Tom didn't understand and started objecting to what she was saying, she must have been joking. The last week had been tough on everyone, and they had got through it without being surrendered to the Elite, there was no need for her to go anywhere. He continued objecting, Gina's tears gaining strength, all the while her saying 'sorry' over and over again.
There were five solid spaced out knocks at the door, and she knew what that meant. She apologised once more, told him she loved him and to wait for him, his objections turning to anger on the other side of the phone. She disconnected the call and walked towards the front door. Her phone began ringing, it was Tom frantically trying to get through. She had already said more than she should have done and couldn't say any more, so with a heavy heart turned her phone off and swung the door open. Three guards greeted her, the tallest one checking her identification and informing her to follow him. The other two guards went inside to quickly collect the containers and they all made their way to a silver armoured vehicle, the back door already open.
“You'll need to sit in the back where you can't be detected” The first guard said to Gina as he rudely shoved her in, closely followed by the containers.
“Well thank you for your assistance” Gina snapped at the guard.
“You're welcome” He replied, completely oblivious to the concept of sarcasm.
Uttering no more words the doors were then closed on her, and she sat there semi-illuminated and sitting on a bench on the right-hand side. The engine roared to life with a rocking motion that almost threw Gina back out the door, and the vehicle started its journey. Gina grabbed the seatbelt that was next to her and wrapped it around her tightly.
It was a wise decision.
It was ten minutes in when the ride got even bumpier and the vehicle seemed to be racing faster and faster, round sharp be
nds and on what felt like just two wheels. They really should slow down she thought, who taught these guys to drive? They were ten minutes into the journey when Victor said he saw something odd.
“I swear we're being followed” He said.
“What can you see?” asked Lukas as he concentrated on the road ahead.
“There's a black car, it's been with us for the last five minutes. Every turn we make, they do the same. It could be nothing but my gut is telling me something is off” Victor replied.
Lukas glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw the black car.
“Keep an eye on it guys” Lukas instructed.
“Shit” cried Evrim grabbing his rifle, “I think I can see some kind of weapon”.
The sleek black car behind accelerated closer to them, and what looked like two barrels of a gun seemed to be protruding from the bottom of it.
“What the hell kind of car is that?” Lukas asked, “You'd better step on it Vic”
They hadn't seen a car quite like this before. It was so sleek that it made your eyes glide off the surface, making it almost seem invisible. The guns mounted at the front seemed hi-tech, not something you normally saw. It must have been some secret black-ops Technology that the Elite now had control of.
“I'd like to know how they knew to follow us” Victor said, putting his foot down on the accelerator.
He took a swift turn to try and lose them but to no avail. The sleek machine was still closing in on them, the barrels of it’s' guns seeming to get larger and larger with every closing metre. He turned again, then another turn straight after, quickly trying to shake it off, but it continued to give chase. There was now no doubt in their minds, it was definitely following them. They knew when they were recruited that something like this could have been a possibility, but deep down hoped it wouldn't happen. They were prepared to do whatever it took to get their cargo to safety, that was their mission. They were all war veterans, they had served together before, and then after leaving the army they had all taken private security work. That's what led them to this job, and they were thankful it did, because if they were in any other job they would have been forcefully dragged into the Elite's grip by now.
They took another swift right turn, clipping the pavement as they did. The car behind was taken a bit by surprise and didn't have chance to make the full manoeuvre.
“Yes” shouted Evrim, still with his hand gripping his weapon.
The victory was short-lived as the car seemed to split in two, the left-hand side giving the right-hand side freedom to continue the chase.
“You got to be kidding me” shouted Lukas, as he started leaning out of the window, getting his rifle ready.
Lukas and Evrim started shooting, precise shots at the windscreen where the driver should be. The bullets didn't even graze the glass, just bouncing off like they were made of rubber. When they looked closely, they saw there was no driver.
“This fucker’s being controlled remotely” screamed Evrim as he took further shots at it, all completely pointless.
Victor continued to try and outmanoeuvre it as Evrim pulled open a box of other rifles that was behind them. He pulled out a large square weapon, with barrels the size of dinner plates and leant back out the window. As he did so he heard a sudden rush of air, what sounded like a sonic boom, and he saw that the other half of the car had raced towards them at an impossible speed. Was this thing using sound to propel itself? They had never seen anything like it before. Lukas quickly followed Evrim's lead and appeared from another window, ready to make a full-scale assault on the sleek dual car. They both took aim and fired repeatedly, large spinning rockets surfacing from the barrels. The sonic-boom half of the car was caught by Lukas's second shot, it ripped a hole through the centre and caused the bottom half to crumble away to the road below it. It quickly lost all momentum, spluttering along aimlessly. Evrim had completely missed the other half of the car with his first two shots, his third perfectly locked on. Within a split second his rocket hit a resistance, as an audible boom caught it in mid-air and tore it apart, the explosive inside scattering around in the air like a firework. It looked like this thing could not only propel itself with sound, but use it as a weapon too.
Lukas and Evrim both watched fascinated by this, if only they could get hold of this technology. Getting themselves away from it was the only goal for now though, and they both aimed at it and started taking continual shots. Just as they did this, it gave off another sonic boom, louder than before. The boom caused a rush of air to push back in their direction, enveloping the rockets, tearing them sideways and then throwing them back to them. The rockets flew back, hitting the armoured vehicle at the same time as the sonic bomb lifted the vehicle into the air, dumping it twenty feet away. They scraped along the road, the metal grinding to a halt just as another sonic bomb hit them and pushed them back further.
They knew they had to get out of there straight away, Evrim frantically kicked at the doors, Lukas doing the same. They screamed over to Victor but received no answer. They finally managed to kick the door open and climbed out quickly, grabbing their weapons. They just made it out when another sonic bomb unleashed its fury towards them, throwing the van back further, causing it to crash against a building, crushing the front end.
Lukas turned towards their assailant, glimmering incandescently in the sunlight, a teasing twinkle. It didn't seem to notice that Lukas and Evrim had escaped from one side, its attention was on the back of the vehicle. Lukas raised his weapon in its direction, hoping to catch it off-guard, and pulled the trigger. Within a split second his rocket was engaged, locked on to its target, and seconds later it succeeded. There was a loud thundering blast as it smashed right through it and split the metal into shards, as if the car was made of paper. Evrim ran towards their armoured vehicle, shouting out for Victor as Lukas ran to the back of it to check on Gina. This hadn't quite gone as planned. Evrim reached Victor to find him bloodied and lifeless. He had sustained a head wound when the vehicle crashed, his forehead penetrated by glass and metallic fragments. He checked his pulse but there was nothing. Evrim knew there was nothing he could do, he had been in these situations before, it was never easy to deal with. Lukas smashed open the back of the door to find Gina tossed to one side looking towards him.
“Come on, we need to go” He shouted to her, as he dragged her containers towards him.
“Yes, I'm fine, thanks” She said sarcastically.
“You're welcome” He said, still oblivious.
Seriously? She thought, shaking her head and stumbling to her feet. She followed him as Evrim ran back past her to pick up the other container. He heard him say to the other guard about Victor being gone. She assumed Victor was the guy who had been driving and that he hadn't made it.
“What happened here?” She asked Evrim.
“We were being followed, they knew what we were doing” he replied, “Which means we have to get out of here straight away”.
They were in a part of the city that wasn't too busy that time of day. They had only passed a few cars during the chase and others were only passing sporadically, but they all went slow as if processing what was going on. Normally they would have put it down to people's morbid curiosity, but they knew that each of these people were feeding this information back up through their brains to the Elite. They had to get to safety quickly.
“Wait here” Lukas said as he ran around to another street, shooting three surveillance cameras on his way.
Gina heard a screech of tyres, shouting, and then gun shots. She gasped in shock, this wasn't the sort of thing she was used to, she was in a life or death situation and she wasn't convinced that she would get out of it. There was another screech of tyres and Lukas came hurtling around the corner in a blue car and pulled over, nearly ploughing them both down and also nearly hitting a lamp post in the process. They loaded the containers into the back and Gina climbed in with them.
“Did you shoot someone?” She asked Lukas.
“Yes Ma'am” He replied, “They were resisting”.
He said it like it justified his actions. Whether that person was being subtly controlled or not, they were still innocent.
“They'll be ok though” He said, “Just a flesh wound”.
Evrim checked all-round the car to make sure there were no hidden transmitters.
“There will be more coming” He said as him and Lukas jumped into the front seats.
“Can you actually drive?” Evrim asked Lukas, to which he shook his head, “I thought not, you nearly killed us then. Okay, can you drive?” He asked again, this time turning to Gina.
Were they kidding? Neither of them could drive?
“Yes of course” She said as they changed places. She was now basically extracting herself with two armed guards tagging along, “Just tell me where we're going”.
They took off as quick as they could, Gina carefully following their directions. Evrim contacted Sheryl and informed her of the complication they had had. She knew that it meant they would be being tracked already and that someone had known and had tipped off the Elite. She quickly checked her contacts and told them she would get back in touch in a few minutes, with as safe a passage as she could find.
Sheryl still had friends on the inside, they all had their uses. If they had already been spotted in this car it was going to be very difficult to get away, so she contacted the only person she thought could help. Ahmed was an old acquaintance, another influential billionaire, also a sympathiser against the Elite, but he kept that quiet. He helped when he could, but it always had to be covert. He ran a successful shipping and haulage company and he could get them away to a safer area where they wouldn't be able to be followed.
Gina listened to the instructions carefully. She was to drive to an avenue on the East side of the city, one of the only areas that had very little surveillance and a truck would be waiting for them there that they would be smuggled on to. Inside the truck would be another vehicle that they would drive off in once they got to the outskirts of the city, somewhere discreet and safe. Then they could get to Sheryl and the rest of the team. It was easy she was told. Of course it was.
