Dead Planet Book 1 Exodus

by Drew Avera

  I strolled into Whelming's office unannounced and I could see him seated at his large desk. He looked up to me and the fear in his eyes showed me that single characteristic which was shared by all of the distinguished guests on the my hit list; regret.

  "Serus," he said as his face whitened. Fear mustered into a stench that I could smell from ten feet away.

  "Mr. Whelming, I believe you know why I'm here," I said. This was after all not a social call and he knew that better than most. Whelming had been responsible for many assignments that I’ve completed during my time in the Agency. For him, that time was coming to an end.

  "I swear, Serus, I can explain everything. Believe me when I tell you that it's a matter of global security!" He was trying to buy me. It was a common way that people in the Syndicate tried to prevent their demise. They either paid you a ransom or they fed you enough lies to guilt you into buying them time to escape. Neither method ever worked with me, I retained enough pre-prospect memories to understand the process.

  "Save it," I said. "You know that once a hit has been placed on you that it must be carried out unless it’s canceled by the person who ordered it."

  "I understand that, but I have an explanation for what's going on. All I'm asking for is twenty four hours to sort this thing out!" He pleaded with me like a child.

  I stood there and watched this man all but get down on his knees and beg for mercy. I was certain that he was stalling and that charade didn't make my job any easier. I contemplated which route I wanted to take. Kill him now and be done with it, or give him enough time to run and hide? I’ll admit that I don’t usually give it a second thought, luckily the right decision presented itself as a call came over the intercom in his office.

  "Mr. Whelming, this is dispatching at the Agency. I just wanted to confirm your order for Dr. Kara Blackwell."

  Our eyes met at that moment when the dispatcher said my sister’s name in conjunction with a hit that had been originated by this coward! Knowing that his time was up Whelming pressed the confirm icon on the holographic display that illuminated from the base of the intercom onto his desk. As soon as his finger touched the icon the call ended and I was once again alone with my assignment, the man who had just assigned another policeman to kill my sister!

  Rage is an emotion that had been processed out of my mind during my training as a prospect. That long lost emotion splintered within my psyche as I jumped across Whelming's desk and wrapped my hands around his throat. There was something primal in my attack that defied logic. This was the reason why emotions were dissolved during our training, you never knew when an assignment might become personal. My resolve to choke the life out of him with my bare hands began wrestling with my programming, I could feel the tension of my hands ease around his neck. Whelming lay limply on his back, sucking at the air that had been deprived from his lungs moments earlier. I stood and walked away trying to gather my thoughts and calm myself down. It was very uncharacteristic of me to lose control of my emotions like that, but given the circumstances it should have been expected. I dare any man not to take the killing of his sister personally. Even those agents with a one hundred percent mind wipe learn to re associate their memories over time, especially when the death of a family member triggered their memories.

  I paced in a circle around Whelming as he sat up coughing and rubbing his purplish throat. I could see the indentations from where my fingers had been. My adrenaline lowered with my heart rate as the seconds passed. I touched the silver gauntlet on my right wrist which gleamed against the black leather of my jacket and set the laser to the highest setting, the laser’s diffuser illuminated in a bright blue beam. I stood over Whelming and set the sight into the center of his forehead. He sat there and whimpered like a beaten animal cowering before its abuser. Regret showed on his face, but I did not give a moments thought about mercy for this man.

  "Please, Serus," he choked while looking up to me through red, teary eyes. "Just twenty four hours. Please!"

  "I may have relented and given you a chance at escaping, but putting the hit on my sister negated any chance I was willing to give you." I lied to him of course, but the emotional turmoil of knowing that he had a chance to live, satisfied the seed of hate that was growing in my heart for him.

  "I didn't know that Kara was your sister! I'll do anything. I'll cancel the hit, I swear! Please!" He was crying out for me to save him. It was in my power, but it was not my desire to do so.

  "It's too late," I said as I fired the blue beam through his skull. The heat from the laser charred the black glove on my right hand and cauterized the hole left in his head, a clean kill for the Agency’s recovery team.

  I powered down my gauntlet before taking a seat at Whelming's desk and I activated his computer system. I scrolled through the files until I came across the paperwork associated with the hit he had placed on Kara. The personal information confirmed that it was indeed my sister, but the reason for the hit had been left blank. That was unusual, I thought to myself. If it had nothing to do with money then maybe it had to do with the global crisis Whelming had alluded to earlier. I looked at the clock and noted that Kara would be home within the hour, based on that information I knew that her home would be the most likely place for the hit to be conducted.

  I rose from the chair and walked out of Whelming's office leaving his body sprawled on the floor with smoke still rising from the hole that I had put in his head. A look of terror had been etched onto his face the moment before I had killed him. It would remain there permanently. The two retired policemen who were his bodyguards still stood outside of the office. The taller one acknowledged me as I stepped out into the hallway.

  "Serus," he said in a deep gravelly voice. It was at that moment that my memory jolted back to why I recognized him. I placed the voice with his face. He had been the policeman who had initially trained me when I first became a prospect, but even more than that, he was the one who pulled the hit on my father. It's crazy how human memory worked. Without the programming I would probably have wanted to kill him, but now all I felt was pity. I nodded my head in his direction and carried on quietly.

  I left the Whelming building and began walking towards my sister’s home which was about two miles away. My mind was racing as I questioned why a hit had been placed on her. She was a scientist, what could she be a part of that would cause such an interference within the political climate? Did it even have anything to do with politics, or did Whelming put the hit on her for personal reasons? A mind full of questions and doubts occupied my thoughts as I walked in a half daze, barely noticing the expression of fear on the faces of pedestrians who walked around me.

  Most of the world would never need to face a policeman pointing his gauntlet towards them, but the fear was still there. I was used to these looks now. The horrific look on the face of my sister and my fiancee when I was recruited into the Agency was enough to shatter any thoughts of going through life unnoticed. Now fear and dread were the only emotions that connected me to another human life.

  I had been immediately separated from my fiancee and my relationship with my sister had dissolved a few years ago because of my career. Now the only communication between us came in the form of a birthday card every year. I had no idea how to fix our relationship which was another byproduct of my failure to adapt after my training. The mental trauma of what I had endured caused me to shut down emotionally which had driven us further apart, that caused a deeper scar to be cut into my psyche, so I dove deeper into my work. That tunnel visioned work ethic took my mind off of it most days, unlike today.

  I traveled the two miles in just under an hour and I situated myself in a suitable position to watch her house. I felt that there was no need for me to alert her unless a policeman arrived to conduct the hit. I may not have been the greatest brother in the world, but I could at least spare her any unnecessary drama if I could take out the policeman without her knowing about it. I sat between two trash dispensers and hid in the shadows as the
sun fell behind the horizon in front of me. From this vantage point I would be able to watch the house undetected, but still be close enough to be an effective barrier between any policeman and Kara. I looked down at my watch and saw that she would be home soon. With a clear idea of what was coming I sat and waited.

  Chapter 2

  As I sat in the darkness between the two trash dispensers I could see Kara as she walked up the sidewalk towards her house. She was dressed in a fashionable business suit that was a double breasted design, much like my uniform. It was a dark color that was hard to discern in the darkness, maybe burgundy or dark blue and I noticed that she was wearing her hair up in a bun. I also noticed that she was alone, but I felt a nervous sensation pass through me as she got closer to the sidewalk leading to her front door.

  Like clockwork, three policemen emerged from behind various cover points down the street from where she had just walked. I was surprised that three policemen would be assigned to this hit, I was more shocked by the thought of what she might be involved in to warrant that kind of detail. Outnumbered three to one I did the only logical thing that I could do. I leapt out from the shadows and ran across Kara's lawn as she opened her door. A split second later three blue beams of light engulfed the door frame. I kicked the door shut behind us to act as a barrier. My instinct to do so was misguided as a blue laser cut through the door like it was paper just above my head.

  Kara rose frantically and gasped from the dual surprise of seeing me and having her home attacked by a group of unknown assailants.

  "Serus, what the hell is going on?" She shouted.

  "You've been assigned as a hit, Kara," I said as I reached for her hand. We ducked into the small kitchen area as the door was kicked open. I quickly adjusted my gauntlet to a high enough beam to kill the intruding policemen and fired at the first one I saw, hitting him in the chest, a kill shot. Kara screamed behind me as a second policeman targeted her through the kitchen window. I pushed her out of the way as the beam shattered the glass and burnt the flooring where Kara once stood. I fired quickly and hit him in the arm. He recoiled from the pain and redirected his aim back to me. I spun around quickly and ducked behind a wall as a blue beam cut through the dry wall above me. I aimed at the policeman using the trajectory of his own beam as a reference and scorched the wall of Kara’s home as I fired. His beam faded out of sight and I worked under the assumption that he was now dead.

  "Kara!" I called out to her to see where she was.

  "Serus! I'm in the pantry," she called out.

  "Stay there, and don’t move!" I said as I scanned the perimeter. There were three policemen initially and now there should be just one. I moved through Kara's small house and surveyed the area, trying to identify which hiding places I would have used if I were to perform the hit. Sometimes knowing how your enemy thinks can help you come up with a better offensive strategy. I heard a rustling sound in the bushes outside Kara's bedroom so I went to peer out of the window. The second policeman was still alive and laid on his back shaking the bushes outside the window. I realized why he was rustling the bushes almost a moment too late as a beam singed passed my head. It came from around the side of the neighbors house where the third policeman was hiding. He must have assumed that I would roll left because the beam cut through the wall in a low sweeping maneuver.

  I avoided the beam by rolling to the right and fired through the wall in a circling pattern. It caused a lot of damage but it was effective when you lost your opponents precise location. I stopped to listen to see if I had wounded the third policeman. All I could hear was the heavy breathing of the second one I had wounded before. I took a moment to fire upon him to alleviate the threat of him potentially getting the best of me.

  All I heard for several seconds was the ambient noise of the air conditioner unit outside. No breathing or crawling sounds coming from outside. I sneaked into the next room and gazed out the window. Once there I could see the lifeless body of the third policeman laying next to some broken bits of the exterior wall of the neighbor’s house.

  I wasn't convinced that all threats were alleviated until I patrolled the house and the outside perimeter several times. Once I was satisfied of the relative safety of our situation I returned inside to collect Kara from her hiding spot in the pantry. I opened the door and saw that she was crying as she sat on the floor.

  "Kara," I said. "I'm here now and you're safe." She looked up to me with her moist green eyes that showed the fear that she had of dying, the same kind of fear that she had of me. She looked at me like I was a monster.

  "Serus, what's going on? Why were those policemen targeting me?" She asked me those questions in a way that made me think that she might already know the answer.

  "I was going to ask you the same question," I said as I took her hand and helped her up. I looked over her to make sure that she was not injured in any way. She looked fine.

  "Oh my! Serus? You've been wounded!" She said alarmingly. I looked down at my left arm and could see burnt flesh behind the charred sleeve of my left arm, just above the elbow." Are you in pain?" She asked as the expression of fear she had of me turned into an expression of concern.

  "No, it must be from the adrenaline." I reached into my pocket and produced a bottle of Serum. It was a drug issued to policemen to dull our pain sensitivity without affecting our cognitive thinking. It also worked well with sleep deprivation and to dull hunger.

  Kara was unbuttoning by jacket to get a better look at the wound. I groaned as the material scratched against my torn flesh a little more roughly than I think she intended. It was a nasty looking wound but there was no bleeding. I could move my arm fairly well so I doubted that there would be any serious permanent injury to my arm. Kara threw open some cabinets looking for a way to clean the wound and found some alcohol and bandages.

  . "I'm sorry, but this will burn," she said. I winced slightly as she poured the contents of the bottle onto the open wound.

  "Kara," I said. "We need to talk."

  "So talk," she replied while pouring more alcohol on the open wound.

  "I don't know why you've been targeted, but you're a fool if you think I believe you're ignorant to that knowledge," I said through gritted teeth as the alcohol burned inside my wounded flesh.

  "Way to beat around the bush about it," she said with an irritated tone.

  "I'm here to save your life, Kara. This isn't some stupid game that children play where you can start over if you lose. This is life and death. The same organization that killed dad is now targeting you. All I know if that Whelming assigned the hit. He said it had something to do about global security. I thought he was bluffing to try and prolong his life..."

  She cut me off, "Whelming is dead?"

  "Yes. Has been for a couple of hours."

  "Good," she said. "That maniac has been messing around with my research for months. I'm not surprised at all that he put a hit on me." Her words hit the air with a stoic matter of fact attitude.

  "Look, tell me what's going on so that I can help you. The hit isn't over until the assignment is complete. The only person who could call it off is dead. Our only other choice is to hide you until I can cancel it on my end. That could take several days."

  She finished cleaning my wound and took a hard look into my face. I knew that my face was not the one she once recognized as her brother. I was someone or something else entirely now. She bit her lip and looked around the room nervously.

  "Where can we go?" She asked.

  "I have a friend named Thom who is a policeman. I trained him two years ago and I can trust him."

  "Alright," she said. "I'll follow your lead on this, but I have to tell you what I know first."

  "First, do you still have one of my uniforms here?"

  "Yes," she said as she went to retrieve it from a chest at the foot of her bed. She unfolded it and shook the wrinkles out before handing it to me. "Here."

  I took the jacket and gingerly put it on, careful not to snag the sleeve
against my wounded arm. It was a little loose from the years of long hours and lack of proper nourishment typical of my line of work. Policemen typically only eat to survive, there wasn’t much in our lives that gave us purpose beyond our daily assignments. Just another perk of being in the Agency.

  "Let's leave now and go to Thom's," I instructed. She gathered her things and we left her home behind. I could see a tear streaking her makeup down her face as we walked silently. She kept wiping at her eyes so I maintained a watchful eye as we walked the five miles to Thom's apartment.

  Policemen are not permitted to own possessions but we are given the luxury of having a choice in where we live. Thom picked an apartment by the water. His father had been a fisherman and Thom liked to sit by the water and think about his dad. To the best of my knowledge I believe his dad was still alive, but like most families they were fragmented because of Thom's recruitment into the Agency and the only memory Thom had was a vision of his father on a fishing boat. Thom had preferred to suffer in silence on the matter, a usual method we policemen used to deal with our internal torment. A torment that no amount of programming can ever cover up.

  We approached Thom who was sitting by the water watching as the moonlight reflected off the surface. I purposefully made a sound as we walked to alert him of our presence. It was never a good idea to sneak up behind a policeman, even if you are one yourself. He looked back at us when we were about thirty yards away.

  "Serus," he said in his usual one word greeting.

  "Thom," I returned. "This is my sister Kara and we are seeking refuge." I said getting straight to the point.

  Thom looked around before answering, "of course, lets go inside." He led the way into his apartment and offered his sofa for us to sit. "What's going on, Serus?"