by Bob Blink
"Good enough," Ray agreed, starting the vehicle on its way. He smiled inwardly. He liked predictable people.
Inside, Jake was helping Dr. Ho back to one of the recovery rooms where she could rest until the effects of the drug wore off and until Walker could arrange for a ride home for her.
"I assume I should get the rest of the team in here," Luke asked.
Walker nodded. "But not here. Have them gather at my place. We have some planning to do. It's time for a little lesson in payback. While Mark is making sure our Security friend is doing his job, we're going to take care of business."
Chapter 37
Saturday
New York City-Team One
The small, two-bedroom corner brownstone showed signs of meticulous care, much the like owner. They had watched for over half an hour, spotting the woman as she stepped out briefly to get something from her car. Now they knew for certain this was the right place. Zack had done good. They could have charged right in, but this was one assault that he wanted time to savor, and didn't want to risk a neighbor reacting to events and calling in the police who would cut things short.
"Do you see anyone?" Walker asked.
"Nah, it's quiet," Kurt said. "I don't think anyone is home next door."
Kurt, had joined Walker's team for today's effort.
"Bill, Are you certain you can handle the locks and any alarms?"
"The locks won't be a problem. Actually, it's really unlikely she locked everything up again after coming out. People generally don't do that. At most she would have thrown the dead bolt, and from here I can see it's an old-fashioned variety with an external keyhole. Very poor security wise. Alarms are a different matter. There are all manner of them, and I can't say I can disable all of the types, but once again, she had to disable it when she went out to the car, so it's probably still disabled. People don't keep turning them on and off."
Walker considered the situation. They'd have to risk it. If it turned sour, they could simply vanish. It would cut short his fun, but the major goal could easily be accomplished before they left.
"Let's do it," he directed.
Confidently, they walked across the street to the brownstone, walking up the stairs to the door. Bill listened carefully for any sounds coming from inside as he checked the locks.
"Just the deadbolt," he said with a smile. "I told you." Quickly he inserted the burglary tools, and had the bolt slid back in a matter of seconds.
"Be ready in case there is an alarm," he cautioned.
Kurt and Bill both had their guns out and ready. Walker didn't need a gun. He had his, but this time he planned to deal with the situation using his bare hands. Every blow would be personal payback for the betrayal he'd been forced to endure.
As Bill had guessed, there was no alarm. Kurt closed the door softly behind them once they were all inside. A wide staircase headed upwards to the second level. To the right was the living room, and one supposed a kitchen and dining room toward the rear of the apartment. Walker looked intently in that direction, listening for any sound that would disclose the location of their victim. A sound from the upper level answered the unasked question.
Walker pointed and led the way up the stairs, the two others following closely behind. Silently they made their way to the upper level, and hearing more noises in the bedroom off to the right, they converged on that space. A glance inside showed the woman digging around in the large closet on the wall opposite the entrance. Moving swiftly, Walker hurried in, grabbed the woman forcefully, and yanked her away from the closet. He spun her around, smacked her hard across the face, and flung her onto the bed against the far wall.
Frightened eyes look at the three of them from the bed. Jessica's face was already swelling from the blow.
"Who are you?" she wailed. "What do you want?"
Walker could see the kinds of thoughts running through her mind. Three men, violent with guns. Men she'd never seen before. He'd known just what the effect would be when he planned this.
"Check the other rooms just to be certain," Walker ordered. Bill left to comply with Walker's directive.
Walker stared at the frightened woman lying on the bed. There was no doubt this was Jessica. Over more than a lifetime in the Facility, he'd seen her over a range of ages. He guessed that this woman was in her mid forties, considerably older than her current counterpart in the caverns. It was something even he failed to take into account. For centuries there had been little contact with the beings inside the Simulation. Only recently with the backdoor created by Rao and his friend had they been able to actually visit. Now it came home to him that this was the age that she'd been when scanned for creation of her kernel. In the Facility's Cloning Clinic, that kernel was placed into a twenty-two year old body, and then allowed to age. Sometime he'd have to ask Ho why twenty-two was the age chosen for the clones. The Jessica he was mad at was far younger than this woman. Somehow, that changed things.
He wasn't mad at this woman. This person didn't even know who he was. She wouldn't appreciate why he was beating on her, or was so angry with her. It would be a wasted effort. What he wanted his hands around was the throat of that bitch back in the real world. Just like that, all of his angry intentions died away. He took another look at her, and then turned away heading for the stairs.
"Shoot her," he ordered Kurt. Her death would still have an impact on the Jessica he wished to hurt. She'd be stung and afraid when she realized her only life at this point was however long she could avoid capture. She no longer had any hope of being re-cloned when the world became habitable again. There was satisfaction in that.
The shot wasn't that loud. A second was fired a moment later, Kurt making absolutely certain their victim was dead.
Scratch one resident of New York, Walker thought.
"Let's go find Greg Harper," he said. "He's somewhere here in New York as well."
Moments later, Walker woke as the lid of the travel couch opened. He could see the lids on Kurt's and Bill's units were opening as well. Through the open doorway he could see that Luke and Steve were still under, away in Miami seeing to their assigned target. They'd been fortunate that the adjacent room was temporarily unused. It allowed Zack to operate all five couches more readily.
"We need to go back to New York," he informed the technician. "This time to the second target on the other side of town."
They could have taken the Tube across town, but this was faster, and there was no issue with their weapons being spotted. Besides, he wanted to know if Zack had learned anything about the whereabouts of Rao and Nesbitt. Neither had been where they were supposed to be.
"Not yet," Zack replied to Walkers query. "I've been kind of busy."
"Find them," Walker directed, as he lay back and watched the lid come down, ready to send him to the new location.
Miami - Team Two
Luke and Steve had been assigned the task of chasing down and eliminating Sam Duncan. The task should be relatively simple since their target had no way of knowing someone was coming for him. They had arrived in Miami a short time earlier, and were now across the street from the medical center where the Sim version of the man was employed. Even here, he was engaged in cloning. The practice hadn't fully taken hold in the world before the Facility, but in Florida, home to numerous very rich, and very old retirees, the discovery had caught the attention of those who could afford the process. Sam had been one of those working on the development of the process with people like Dr. Ho, and was cashing in on his skills.
"That's the place," Steve said, checking the name against the information that Zack had given them before sending them off.
"Remember, he's old," Luke reminded his partner. "He was sixty-one when he'd been scanned for the Simulation, and didn't look much like the Sam Duncan they'd seen at the center numerous times. Zack had provided them pictures of the man, and Luke took another long look at the image on his communicator to ensure he'd recognize the dark-skinned, gray-haired gent they were here t
o kill.
"How do we do this?" Steve asked.
"Walker said finesse was not required. He simply wants the man eliminated. So we walk right in and ask to see him. When he shows, we nail him and check out."
"This isn't going to help catch the Sam that helped with the theft," Steve reminded Morales. He was a little uncomfortable at what they were doing, realizing his own kernel could just as easily be eliminated if Walker or someone else so decided.
"Walker wants to send a message to these people," Luke replied simply. "Whatever else happens, once they learn that they have been targeted here in the Sim, they'll know their days are strictly numbered. Without their kernel, they can't be cloned."
"They can if Walker wanted to scan the minds of their real-world version," Steve countered.
"We don't think they know we have that capability. We were all led to believe none of the scanners existed, and only because Walker recently found a couple can he do that. That's something we have that no one else in the Facility knows about."
Luke signaled they should begin, and led the way to the door of the medical center. It was immediately apparent this place catered to those with money. The expansive lobby was richly decorated, with murals that advertised the process prospective customers could expect.
"May I help you?" a voice asked.
Luke turned toward the tall blond who had walked over to greet them. She was examining him carefully, as he wasn't the age of the kind of people that normally came for consultation.
"We're here to see Sam Duncan," he said. "Is he available?"
"He's with someone at the moment. Do you have an appointment?"
Luke shook his head, smiling at the attractive woman. "My uncle is scheduled to have the procedure next month, and since I was going to be in the area, he asked me to see if Sam could answer a couple of questions."
"I see," the woman replied, very much aware of the interest she'd generated in the dark haired man. He was a little rough for her tastes, but not unattractive, she decided.
"Why don't you have a seat and I'll page him. I'm certain he can find a couple of minutes between clients."
Steve had already taken a seat, so Luke walked over and sat beside him.
"You seem to have found something you like," Steve said with a grin.
Luke grinned. "I wonder if Walker could be persuaded to import her into the Facility?"
The wait was longer than Luke had expected, and he was about to go and query the status, when he spotted the older man headed their way. The picture wasn't a good likeness, but he was certain this was their man.
"I'm Sam Duncan," he said, holding out a hand. "And you are?"
Both Luke and Steve had stood as Duncan approached.
"It doesn't matter," Luke said, fully satisfied now that the man had identified himself.
Steve was actually faster to react, and had his gun out as Luke spoke. Sam Duncan had time to see it, his eyes widening at the sight, when Steve triggered a pair of shots into Duncan's chest. His eyes rolled up and he dropped without a word.
The blond had seen what happened, and screamed loudly. It probably wouldn't matter, but she was the only person who had seen them close up, and why leave witnesses? Luke turned and shot her eliminating any loose ends.
"We're done here," he said to Steve, and they both winked out of existence, regaining consciousness back at the Resort.
New York City - Team One
Walker's image solidified into existence with Kurt and Bill appearing almost immediately beside him. They were on the campus of New York University. Greg Harper taught an extension course here on Saturdays and also Thursday nights. The course wasn't for normal students, but outsiders who spent a couple hours a week learning new skills for fun, or sometimes to further their career development. He should be finishing up his class this morning in a few minutes, and they planned on walking in on him as the students left.
Recalling the layout of the campus, Walker pointed toward a dark stone building a hundred yards off to their right.
"There," he said. "Second floor lecture hall."
Moving easily, enjoying the bright sunshine, something that was always a pleasant surprise when they entered the Sim after the years of subdued lighting of the caverns, they headed toward their destination. Only a few others were moving around the campus this morning, mostly older types who must be heading off to their own extension course.
Their steps echoed on the marble floor of the hallway as they sought out the stairs, and then climbed to the upper level. A small crowd pushed past them heading the opposite direction, suggesting the classes were finishing up.
They waited by the east doorway to the lecture hall until the last of the students had left the room, then walked inside. Greg Harper looked almost exactly the same as he had back at the Facility. By sheer chance, Greg's Simself was nearly the identical age to the version Walker had come to know. He looked up as the three men walked over to the podium where he was cleaning up.
"We just finished," Greg said. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Greg Harper?" Walker asked unnecessarily.
"That's right," Harper replied. "Were you interested in signing up for the class? We've already been going three weeks, but I guess it would be alright."
"Sorry, class is over," Walker said, and quickly raised the gun he'd been holding in his right hand out of view. He shot Harper six times, far more than required.
Kurt checked the body and nodded. They heard footsteps in the hallway outside.
"Let's go," Walker said.
When the runners who'd come at the sound of the shots arrived, the room was empty save for Harper's body.
Sequoia Facility
Walker sat up as the lid rolled back a second time. He was pleased how easily this was going. He looked across the room and saw that Luke and Steve were standing there, apparently having returned ahead of them and were waiting for his return. Luke gave him a nod, indicating their mission had gone well also. Now if they could just find Rao and his buddy.
"Have you found them?" Walker asked, when Zack stepped away from Bill's chamber.
Zack nodded.
"They are both in Washington, DC. They are staying together in a nice suite at one of the larger Marriotts there."
Walker wasn't often surprised, but he hadn't expected this.
"I didn't think they knew each other before being brought together here in the caverns. We grabbed them from different nodes."
"They know each other now," Zack said. "I believe they have been moved to the capital to hide them from us in case we went looking. Of course, knowing their IDs from the previous extraction, that simply won't work. It took some searching, but now we know where they are."
"Are they being watched?" Walker asked.
"They are pretty much on their own," Zack said. "There's a single cop outside their room. I can show you video of where they are."
This was disturbing news, and verified what he feared about Rao somehow being able to link into the Simulation. He didn't like that they were in DC where his first hit was conducted, as that suggested the police there might know more than he wished, and if they did, it had to be because Rao and his friend had somehow revealed what was happening. He was a little uncomfortable charging straight in, but now he wanted the two more than ever, and he wanted them before word of the other killings could be passed. He suspected that might happen by people he was going to have to identify. If something went wrong, they wouldn't really be hurt, and they might learn something from the encounter.
"Okay, once more," he told his men. "All of us are going this time. Just in case there is a surprise waiting for us. Zack, set us up."
Chapter 38
Sequoia Facility
Jessica and Greg had brought Sam a late breakfast, or early lunch depending on how one wanted to think about it. The bowl of spiced meat mixed with wild rice and a few meager vegetables was probably more typically something one would have for the noonday or evening
meal, but both of them had had it for their morning meal. The two of them had spent most of the time since arriving in the southern part of the caverns in the bunker with Rao, who was busy with computer tasks he wasn't willing to take the time to explain just yet. As a result, they had time on their hands, and had talked for hours, finding significant common ground, from their computer-based professions, to their former lives in New York City. Neither had realized the other was from there. Both single, both on the run from Walker, fate seemed intent on pushing them together.
Sam had spent his time in about as opposite a manner as possible. To start with, he'd been alone, unless one considered the Cyborg, except for a couple of meals he took in the bunker with the others. He'd spent the night in the cave, feeling it important he be close to the Cyborg during the settling in phase, although if he was honest, he didn't know what he would do if there were complications. He knew that Walker and some of his friends had done this twice before, but that didn't provide a large sample of what to expect, and at that, he didn't even have access to what they noted during the implant. But he'd risked everything to help obtain this unit and to help implant the memories that Rao said might help them against Walker. He wanted to be absolutely certain he did everything possible to make it a success.
He'd run a number of simple tests on the Cyborg, still operating at minimum voltage which kept it from moving around. Everything looked good, but the real test would come soon, when Sam increased the voltage to nominal levels, and ran memory diagnostics to see if the unit was going to be properly functional. That would wait until Rao came from the bunker to join them.
"It's an ugly thing," Jessica said, as she and Greg watched Sam make a series of checks via the chest panel of the Cyborg. "Some of the parts are the wrong proportion."
"It's an engineering marvel," Greg disagreed. "It was designed to be strong, flexible, and to accommodate humans by striving to be roughly human shape. The odd arms give it far greater leverage and reach, and as for the head, can you see your own head? I'd guess the designers didn't think it needed to be any more than the sensor suite. Sam says the brain is located in the protected chest cavity."
