“Because you’re fug ugly and nobody likes you,” replies Spenser, sharpening and cleaning his knife for the fourth time. Almost everyone laughs in both crafts, including Decker, who already knew the answer. Silent Joe remains silent as always, his own weapons already cleaned, loaded, and ready.
Bennett starts to do more squats, as any inaction for more than ten minutes makes him feel a bit antsy. Lewis continues to read his second romance novel, which everyone knows to ignore and not ask any questions about. The last time a new member of the team (now an ex-member) asked why, the mission had to be cancelled due to the injuries he sustained; Lewis was allowed to remain only due to his father’s position within the military and the fact that he’s very good at his job.
Cobb continues to work on his gear, attaching a new patch and improving his weapon load out, ensuring that everything is ready and in its right place. Lastly, Coops and Spanner work on their breaching gear and explosives, talking from time to time as they check off the various items.
Specs and Fingers, as always, continue to monitor the comms and data frequencies in the area, making sure nothing suspicious is missed and ensuring every scrap of data is recorded.
“Break, break.” Immediately the comms chatter stops for the priority message.
“A white limo with restricted registration has pulled up outside, front entrance. Two males exited the vehicle and entered the club. Running identification. Identification blocked. Okay, guys, we have a pair of spooks in play. I repeat, spooks in play,” Fingers says, sounding unnerved as he reports the last of his information.
Spooks on the ground would normally signify government or military, as even the superrich can’t have blocked identification—force or fake but never blocked.
“What the hell are spooks doing here? What is this shit?” says Decker. “Check the official lines. See if there are any red flags up for this area.”
“Checking now,” replies Specs.
Both Abs and Brim notice the two well-dressed men walk into the club. The first, around six foot, wears a smart white suit and has short hair with a scar down his left ear. He scans the main dance floor, staring at the female dancers and smiling broadly. The second man, just behind him, is around five foot five, has a light build, wears a gray suit and round-rim specs, and carries a small silver briefcase. These two are met by a third, known by the PEA as Muna—an unusual choice as a bodyguard to Galpoli, the club’s owner and manager. She also helps run the club and takes care of VIPs, along with other delicate issues. Her stunning athletic beauty and perfect brunette hair allow her to seduce hey prey; not many are able to withstand her charms for long. After greeting the two, she turns and leads them both toward the private part of the club.
“I’m not certain, but the guy in the white suit looks familiar,” says Abs, talking into her drink as she plays happy couple with Brim, his strong, muscular arms around her. Her ocular implant starts a scan.
“Can’t say I recognize him, but it looks like he’s brought his accountant with him,” Brim says, giving Muna an appraising look. “Nice butterfly tattoo,” he adds, grinning, as Abs gives him a sharp poke in the ribs.
“Keep your mind on the job, not her tight arse, no matter how nice it looks, and besides, that’s how most of her victims end up as victims.” Her ocular implant finishes its scan. “Yep, a pair of spooks. Identification blocked. Maybe dirty or some kind of sting. Best we observe for now.” Activating her outward comms, she says, “Hey, Fingers, any news on our visitors or flags yet?”
“Nothing yet, Abs. I’ll keep you posted,” replies Fingers.
“Roger that. Going back to receive only.” She turns to Brim. “Let’s go dance. We can get a better view of the meeting from the floor.” Brim nods in agreement and stands up, leading the way to the dance floor.
Abs and Brim arrive on the floor just as the two spooks and Muna enter the roped-off, private section of the club. For a moment as they pass the curtain, they have a view inside, where two other men can be seen. One of them is Galpoli, the club owner, and the other is a street punk with red spiky hair named Mici. The view is then blocked as the curtain falls back into place. Abs takes out her lipstick and activates a microdrone with it before applying color to her lips and putting it back in her purse.
The microdrone flies through a gap in the curtain and hides itself in a corner with a good view of the private area. Although it’s hard to spot, the drone has no stealth capabilities and has a very short range of control; this reduces any electronic transmissions, thereby reducing the chance of being detected via other means.
Galpoli stands as Muna enters, leading the two men closely behind her. He’s always nervous when he’s visited by high-ranking members of the Horizon Syndicate, especially these two.
“Come in, Mr. Simms. It’s always a pleasure to have such important guests, although I don’t believe I’ve met your companion before. Muna, please send in one of our girls. I’m sure our friends here would like a drink after their long journey,” Galpoli says, inviting his guests to sit.
“We would, but first things first. We need to discuss why we’re here,” the man in the white suit says, moving over to Galpoli. He glances at Mici as he passes his companion at his side, and as they both arrive at the table, the man carrying the case places it down, turns it around to face Galpoli, and then steps back beside his companion.
“Now to the reason why we are here. It has come to my attention that someone in your organization has been very silly.” Simms pauses as he looks around the room. His silent companion looks around also and then walks across the room to stand with Muna. Both Mici and Muna are watching, their expressions slowly changing from interest to confusion to concern.
“Now I have it on good authority that the PEA has obtained some rather damning evidence on your little operation. Well, when I say ‘yours,’ I actually mean mine. This concerns me, and if I hadn’t already pulled a few strings to get this place red flagged as a place of interest, you would most likely have already been raided by the PEA.”
Simms pauses again, and again his silent partner moves, this time stopping next to Mici. Galpoli is now starting to look concerned, and Muna appears visibly tense.
“Now my information comes with a photo of the issue at hand.” Simms nods toward the case and says, “You may open it now.” Galpoli leans closer and clicks open the case. Staring down in shock, he recognizes the picture immediately. Both Muna and Mici are distracted and crane their necks to see, but the case lid blocks their view.
Galpoli looks across to Mici just as the silent companion taps two rings upon his forefingers together and a burning, white-hot wire appears between his hands. With deft speed the companion sidesteps behind Mici and flips the white-hot wire over his head. He then leans back, stepping again past Mici, and with the merest hiss, the hot wire slices through flesh and bone, and Mici’s head slides off and hits the floor with a wet thud, followed shortly after by his lifeless body.
Both Galpoli and Muna look at each other, aghast at what has just happened. Then they look toward the silent companion, who taps his forefinger rings together again, making the hot wire vanish. “Oh, and my companion here is called Edge. You may call me Ray. I really could do with a drink now.” Ray smiles at the shock Edge has inflicted on the others. A good start to the meeting, he thinks to himself.
Comms chatter stops as “Break, break” is heard over the open comms, normally referring to important information forthcoming. “Flag red. I repeat, flag red. This location has a keep-clear flag by the Federal Investigation Unit. We are officially out of bounds. All teams abort,” Fingers says over the comms.
“No shucking way, red flag or not. Brim and I have just witnessed a murder. I’m proceeding to arrest. Will require backup,” Abs replies.
“We can’t interfere. We no longer have jurisdiction. Besides, Mici was just a dirtbag,” replies Brim.
“We have both witnessed a murder by an unknown federal officer. Regardless of jurisdiction or
how low the scumbag was, it’s still a murder,” replies Abs, sounding more and more angry.
Abs opens her purse and brings out a small pistol. “Make up your minds, guys. Entering in five, four, three, two, one.”
Abs pushes in through the curtain. Muna looks startled as she sees Jessica and Brim enter holding guns and wearing official PEA badges. “Planetary Enforcement Agency! Nobody move. By my authority you are all under arrest for the various crimes of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking, extortion, and blackmail.”
Muna backs off toward Galpoli, but Edge takes a step toward Abs and Brim. “Well, I admire your nerve, but I think you’re rather out of your depth, not to mention without backup,” Ray says, looking at the two officers with an arrogant expression. Then a boom is heard from the front of the club, followed by the sound of smashing glass and more shouts of “PEA.”
The room suddenly bursts into motion as the sounds of screams and shouts come from the main club. Edge rushes toward Abs. Ray, Galpoli, and Muna run for the back of the room.
Brim moves to intercept Edge. “Get after them,” Brim says as he faces Edge. Abs, not pausing any longer than she needs, rushes past them in pursuit of Ray, Galpoli, and Muna.
Edge, unable to get to his original target, settles for Brim. Brim raises his pistol, but before he can get off a shot, Edge flicks one end of his wire toward him. The wire detaches and flicks out fast, wrapping around Brim’s gun, and with a sharp backward tug on the wire, the gun drops in two.
Brim is already tossing it to one side as he charges into Edge. Edge, not expecting a straight-out charge, is momentarily winded but recovers quickly and twists away from the blow, flicking the wire again, this time wrapping around Brim’s wrist and pulling hard to take his hand. Brim screams out in pain as the wire burns into his flesh but only as deep as his subdermal skin, which protects him from the worst of the wire.
Brim twists his wrist around to grab hold of the wire, his flesh making a dreadful hissing sound as his skin is scraped away. This surprises Edge enough to take full advantage by pulling him off balance toward Brim’s other fist, which slams perfectly into Edge’s face, shattering his nose and causing Edge to stagger backward with blood pouring down his face as Decker and Spenser rush in shouting, “PEA!”
Abs runs to the back of the room, where a small exit previously covered with a curtain is now open. The sound of running echoes down the narrow passageway. Entering the passage and running a short distance, Abs reaches a T junction. Looking left, she can see the outline of Galpoli and Muna running into the distance. To the right she only hears the sound of running. Taking this right path, she runs down the passageway hoping that this is where the spook known as Ray chose to flee.
After a short sprint, Abs reenters the club. The sound of music now covering the noise of running, Abs is only able to track her prey by the path of mayhem that Ray leaves behind: half-kicked-in doors, shoved or knocked-down patrons left shouting their anger. Ray’s route now heads upward, finally reaching the doorway to the roof. Up here, the music from the club is much quieter, replaced by the sound of the wind.
Being cautious now, Abs slows down to a crawl, sensing that her prey is close. Then she hears shouting upon the wind: “I need an emergency evac at my location now, and I mean now!”
Abs continues to make her way along the side of the wall. Reaching the edge, she peers around the corner, only to have a chunk of wall shatter in her face, and she dives back away from the sudden shot.
“You are one hell of a persistent bitch. I’ll enjoy destroying your career,” Ray shouts. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Ray realizes all he needs to do is stall her long enough for his ride to arrive.
Abs sends her remote camera drone up and over the roof as Ray continues to shout. She pinpoints his position near the corner of the roof. He’s holding some kind of high-velocity pistol.
Picking up a piece of wall, Abs throws it as far as she can diagonally away from her across the roof. As she throws, she begins her move, diving into a roll. The wall fragment lands and shatters into several pieces as a segment of roof evaporates from Ray’s gun. Ray, realizing just a little too late, sweeps his aim back.
Abs is already halfway out of her roll toward Ray and comes up short just as Ray opens fire again. The first shot, with more luck than skill, hits her in the left shoulder, taking her off her feet. It makes a neat hole at the front but removes most of her shoulder blade as she falls backward. The nanoimplants reduce the pain to the point of allowing the user to continue when any other normal person would be out for the count. The second shot misses her narrowly, and Abs brings her own gun up and fires once as the force of Ray’s shot is already spinning her backward. Controlling her fall, she manages to land on her upper back, leaving a wet patch of blood upon the floor.
Then performing a body flip to bring herself back to her feet again, she springs forward and away, crouching low with her gun and aiming for another shot. Her first shot misses but causes Ray to duck and move toward the roof edge. Ray returns fire back to where Abs was just moments ago, removing a segment of the roof. Abs’s second shot hits him in the right upper leg, causing him to fall to one knee just as the sound of a hover vehicle comes into view, its lights blazing down on the roof.
The force of the wind increases as the vehicle gets closer. “You are not going anywhere, Ray. We have a lot of questions for you,” Abs shouts out, still trying to get closer but knowing she hasn’t got long as she feels her life’s blood running down her back.
“Stupid dumb bitch, you don’t know what you have gotten yourself into. If you had a clue who my father was, you would have left me well alone,” Ray shouts out with fury in his eyes, and he fires another shot, this one hitting Abs in the stomach, staggering her backward and dropping to her knees.
The sound of the hover gets closer. “Well, it looks like my ride is here. Too bad I don’t have much time, or I could have made this much more painful.”
Ray, already back on his feet, limps his way to where Abs has fallen and raises his gun for one final shot, aiming it at her head. “Too bad,” he says.
Suddenly an assault craft drops down below the hover vehicle, blocking its landing vector. It decelerates hard, the thrust causing the roof’s dust and loose debris to fly up in a furious gust, making Ray look as he’s already staggering backward from the force of the downdraft.
Abs lifts her gun as Ray is distracted, and with the last of her fast-dwindling strength, she squeezes off one last shot, hitting Ray squarely in the chest and sending him the rest of the way over the edge of the roof and out of sight.
Regional Commander Simms walks into the central area of the Planetary Enforcement Agency’s medical facility with a long line of doctors, military aides, and security personnel following closely behind. “So, where’s my hero?” the Commander booms out in a manner that would suggest this is his normal tone, making half the medical staff stop and look around. One of the senior nurses points down the corridor, and the Commander moves off in pursuit of his hero.
Arriving like his very own miniature tornado, the Commander looks over the assembled team standing at attention against the walls as he rushes past. “So where is my hero?” he repeats again.
“Good morning, Commander. It’s wonderful to see you visit this facility. If it’s Jessica you are referring to, she has only come out of surgery,” a doctor says, emerging from a side room.
“Well, Doctor, I’m here to help. Only the best for our hero. I have a special medical transport coming to pick her up and give her the best treatment at my disposal, and once she is better again, I have a special mission of utmost importance for her,” the Commander replies enthusiastically.
“Although she is recovering well, we had to do a lot of reconstructive surgeries on that young lady. I can’t possibly release her so soon,” the doctor tries to protest.
With that, the Commander dismisses the doctor and pushes past, his security preventing the docto
r from following him into the room.
Inside the room, Simms walks over to the bed as the doctors with him start prepping for Jessica’s immediate removal. Jessica opens her eyes to the sudden activity inside her room. “Hello, Jessica, or should I call you Abs? Or maybe your rank, Lieutenant, or maybe just stupid bitch that killed my son.”
Jessica blinks, stunned and unable to fully understand. Then she feels the drugs take effect, and her world slowly melts away. She hears just the last of the Commander’s words before she slips into unconsciousness: “Your team thinks I’m taking you to a top-notch facility. Well, in a way I am, but not the kind they are hoping for. It’s a shame I can’t remove your tech, but sadly, time is limited. We won’t meet again.”
In dreamtime Jessica is fed days of verbal and psychological abuse, hammering home the fate that is in store for her, how the facility is within the gravity field of a black hole, how she won’t see her family or team ever again and no one will ever know what happened to her. As far as anyone else will know, she’ll be lost on a black ops gone wrong, all files destroyed and her records of service changed to reflect nothing of her deeds.
The pod docks with a clunk, and the door hisses open. Standing up from her chair, she takes a tentative step into the facility and stops, seeing a middle-age man standing there.
“Welcome to Facility Zero. My name is Alistair Brookes. We have a lot to discuss, Jessica.”
5
Lost and Found
Facility Zero, 181 days online: federation year 2424
Frank continues to talk about his encounter with the leader of the freakers until he loses consciousness due to blood loss. Leaving Frank’s side, I return to the others to discuss his condition. His chances of survival now seem low. Seeing this in the others’ faces makes it all the harder to take.
Prototype: The Lost and Forgotten Series Page 6
