by Karl Weber
“The elevator is blocked off, and the stairs will be too. Alright, are you at least through with the bad news.”
“For now, but hang on. Help might be on the way.”
“Might?” Anna countered with a raised voice. “Some certainty would be nice right now, Price.”
“Give me a break, I’m doing everything I can. Are you finished with the transfer yet?”
Anna looked back down at her SCU. Ninety percent of the transfer was complete. “Almost,” she answered.
“Then I’ll go quiet to let you concentrate. Price out.” As soon as Price went off comms, the data transfer was completed. Anna double-checked that all data was deleted off the massive server, seeing no reason to leave it for her enemies to continue to utilize. Happy with what she saw, Anna unplugged her SCU from it.
She turned her back to the now empty hardware and headed toward the exit from the giant dome of metal. Blake along with the three directors stood together and watched as she exited the vault.
Lee declared, “We’ve given you what you wanted. You don’t need us anymore. Release us and our families.” Anna approached the Asian-Canadian and glared at him with a look of non-forgiveness. He was about to speak up again until Anna brought the tip of her combat knife up to Lee’s chin. It made him immediately tense up along with the other directors. They were all staring at the knife except for Blake.
Anna slowly said, “Your families have already been released. And please take this as a message to all your pals for what happens to anyone who thinks they can fuck with me and get away with it.”
Blake chuckled at what the three directors failed to catch. Anna lowered her blade and placed it back into the holster on her boot. She gestured at the opening of the entrance tunnel. “Stand there and do your best impression of a statue. Move before I tell you only if you care to get shot in the back.” The three directors nodded and did what they were told.
Blake approached Anna and whispered into her left ear, “Nice hands.”
“Shut up,” she quietly snapped.
The three directors stood side to side at the edge of the entry tunnel looking directly toward the stairs that led above ground to the bank lobby. Anna took position off to the side and out of the line of sight of anyone coming down the stairs. Blake did the same only on the opposite side. Anna pivoted her LMR14 sixty degrees to the right to have a view of the stairs on her rifle’s LCD screen. The sound of heavy boots and weighed down soldiers could be heard in the distance.
A moment later a squad of heavily armed hostiles came down each staircase one by one, almost in unison. They had their X-AS18 rifles raised ready to fire like a properly trained strike team. It appeared to be a dozen total men. With half coming down one staircase and the other half down the other. They approached the bullet-proof glass wall and used it for cover.
“Release the directors. Now,” one of the soldiers yelled, his voice digitized through his Phantom helmet.
“Alright,” Anna casually responded. The three directors looked at her, awestruck that she would give up such leverage so easily. She gave them the head gesture to get moving. The three of them turned toward their saviors and started jogging that way.
As soon as they made it past the glass wall, Anna looked down from her rifle and tapped on her SCU. Lee exploded. He took the other directors with him as they all exploded into nothing but chunks of flesh and blood. The explosion shook the basement, shattered the wall of glass, and was large enough that it engulfed several of the heavily armed soldiers in it as well.
Anna looked back on her rifle’s LCD screen and saw the pile of flesh and blood splattered on the marble walls and floor. It was thanks to the Blast Marble she’d placed in Lee’s front pants pocket. The thing about holding someone at gunpoint or knifepoint was that the victim was always focused on the weapon being held against him and nothing else. A great way to slip something by him, or on him.
The soldiers that weren’t dead on the floor straightened up after being staggered from the explosion and opened fire at the vault entrance. Suppressed gun fire could be heard followed by the sound of bullets hitting the metal tunnel non-stop.
“You’re a crazy bitch, you know that?” Blake yelled over the sound of bullets peppering the metal tunnel.
Anna paid no mind to Blake’s comment. She was more worried about just staying alive at this point. Her idea had worked decently enough to even the odds to some degree, but she was still very outgunned and in a terrible position. She placed the reticle on her rifle’s LCD onto the visor of the nearest target, pulled the trigger, and he fell to the floor. His comrades took notice and pulled back for better cover.
Three of them used the lockbox area with the other two using the office spaces. They were too far away from Anna to use a Blast Marble.
She waited until one of the soldiers using the office spaces popped his head up from up from cover and fired. She returned fire but missed. Her shot was about two inches too far to the right. Her target ducked his head back down and blind-fired around the office corner with his rifle to provide cover fire. Then Anna saw an opportunity when one of the soldiers using the lockbox area threw a couple of smoke grenades out in the hallway. Big mistake, she thought. They probably didn’t know that she had access to thermal vision. The whole area quickly became engulfed in white smoke.
Anna activated the thermal vision on her rifle’s camera. A couple of soldiers exited the lockbox area and entered the hallway with thermal vision activated on their Phantom helmets. Anna took aim at the head of the nearest heat signature in the open and fired. The silhouette fell to the floor. Anna quickly adjusted her aim to the next closest silhouette and fired again, hitting him in his right shoulder. Anna looked back left to check on the soldiers that were using the office space and saw that they were moving up on her.
They were nearly to the tunnel entrance. Shit. Quickly, Anna fired off one shot at each of the engagers. Both shots landed at the top of the chest and knocked both soldiers to the ground. Anna lined up a follow-up shot but pulled the trigger and only heard a click. The rifle’s magazine was empty. Damn six round mags.
She turned her attention toward Blake. “Move back,” Anna yelled. Blake complied, and they moved out of their current cover further back into the entry tunnel. Anna pulled her Brigham 2031 off her chest holster and fired it non-stop for cover fire. She and Blake were back inside the room full of gold bars and behind new cover.
Anna ejected the small magazine from her rifle and replaced it with a fresh one she had stored on her thigh. The non-stop sound of bullets peppering the metal walls continued. After checking her rifle’s LCD screen again, all remaining tangos appeared to be solidly behind cover. It didn’t appear that they were leaving anytime soon, having learned their lesson. They could simply wait Anna and Blake out if needed. She and Blake were basically trapped.
Anna was thinking as hard as she could over the gunfire and sounds of bullets bouncing off titanium surfaces. Then she heard an unexpected sound. Unsuppressed assault rifles. Could that be?
Jack and his team had stormed out of the service elevator and had opened fire into the backs of Anna’s attackers. The closest man fell to the ground not even knowing how he was hit before Jack fired a single round into the back of his helmet as an execution shot. Those who were left stood no chance against Jack’s squad. The gunfire then suddenly stopped.
“Clear,” Jack yelled to his men as they stood at the opening of the entry tunnel.
“Jack?” Anna yelled from inside the vault, recognizing the voice despite it being muffled by the helmet he was wearing.
“It’s me, Anna. Are you and Blake alright?” Anna and Blake slowly emerged from their respective cover.
“Neither of us were hit.” She looked at Blake. “Not that it would’ve mattered if he’d gotten hit.”
“Fuck you,” Blake retorted.
“Did you get it?” Jack asked the important question. Anna raised her left arm up displaying her SCU as a sign that she
had.
“Awesome.”
“Thanks for the save,” she said as she and Blake approached Jack.
“I thought you never needed anyone one else’s help?” Jack teased. Anna playfully punched him in the shoulder as her response.
Their reunion was disturbed when they both heard Price speak up in comms. “Everybody needs to get out of the bank, now. Our drone has spotted city police headed toward the bank now. They must’ve finally been tipped off that something had happened there.”
“Let’s go,” Jack said, gesturing toward the service elevator. Everyone ran toward it, stepping over the countless number of bullet casings along with dead bodies that had been left on the marble floor. What they left behind was nothing short of a massacre. Everyone piled into the elevator.
Immediately after Jack hit the button to go to the garage, Anna asked, “What did you do with the directors’ families?”
“We tipped off the police the moment we left the warehouse. They’re all fine.”
Anna sighed in guilt. “I’m sorry I asked you to do that. I know you hate getting innocents involved.”
Jack tapped Anna on the shoulder as a friendly gesture. “It’s alright. I know you wouldn’t have asked that if there was another way.”
“Would you actually have shot that girl if I hadn’t stopped you?”
“I’m not sure. I guess now we’ll never know.” He turned his gaze toward Anna. “What about you? Would you still have stopped me even if you knew there was no other option?”
“I don’t think I want to know that answer. Maybe some questions are best left unanswered.”
“Agreed.”
The elevator came to a halt followed by the door sliding open to reveal two dead soldiers on the ground. Anna looked at Jack, who shrugged. “They didn’t put up much of a fight.” He then gestured to the two black vans backed up near the elevator with their back doors open. “Let’s move.”
The squad split into two groups and piled into the vans. Once everybody was in and the back doors were shut, they were on the road. The city was still in a blackout. The only lights that could be seen were those of vehicle headlights, which would make it easy to slip out of the city undetected.
Anna pulled off her balaclava while Jack pulled off his helmet, both feeling a rush of relief. The operation hadn’t gone as clean as it could’ve, but there shouldn’t have been anything left behind that could be traced back to them. They might’ve just gotten away with it.
Jack looked at Anna and casually asked, “Was it as much as we expected it to be?” He was referring to the intel that Anna pulled from the server.
“Way more. More than anything of us could’ve ever imagined. I don’t even want to guess how long it’ll take to thoroughly go through it all.”
Jack smiled with satisfaction before he turned serious. “You do realize what this means for us and Vigilance as a whole. If what we’ve extracted really is as great as you’re making it out to be, then we’ll have the power to …”
“Change the world.”
Chapter 22
Todd Hellmuth, the chief of staff at Homeland Security, was at his large desk going through digital files when his secretary, Cheryl, rang him.
“What is it, Cheryl?”
“Sir, Mr. Shepard is here to see you.” Hellmuth had no idea why Jack wanted to see him, but he also didn’t have a reason to reject him.
“Send him in.” A few moments later Jack entered the office, dressed in his usual sharp black suit. “Please take a seat,” Hellmuth said, gesturing at the chair across from him.
“Thank you,” Jack said as he accepted the seat.
“What do you want, Shepard?” Jack said nothing but pulled a tablet out of his inner suit pocket and dropped it on the table in front of Hellmuth. “What is this, Shepard?” Hellmuth asked as he picked up the tablet and started scrolling through its contents. He was visibly astonished at what he saw.
Jack leaned back in his seat. “It appears the past doesn’t always escape us, doesn’t it? Homeland’s chief of staff collaborating with the CIA to get known Dominion terrorists into the country? Terrorists that were spotted at the scene of the presidential assassination attempt in Florida?” Jack slowly shook his index finger in disapproval. “Not a good look, is it, sir?”
Hellmuth sat in his armchair awestruck. Enough so that he dropped the tablet on the table as if he had just become paralyzed. “Where did you get this?” Hellmuth asked with dread in his voice.
Jack reached over and scooped up the tablet, placing it back in his jacket. “Where and how I obtained this sensitive information is irrelevant.” It took him awhile, but Price eventually broke through the security protocols on Snyder’s SCU. It contained no shortage of evidence giving Jack all the leverage he needed.
“I beg to differ,” Hellmuth retorted. Jack chuckled at the comment. Hellmuth raised his voice. “You think this is funny, boy? You think you can do this to me? You might have been Huckleberry’s favorite little boy scout, but you’re still nothing in the big picture. Coleman will see to that.”
Jack kept his grin, looking completely unfazed. “I’m glad you brought up the president-elect.” Jack grinned slightly more. “You should be expecting a call from him any moment now.”
Hellmuth looked at Jack like he was insane. “What’re you talking about? Why would Coleman call me …” Hellmuth was cut off when his desk phone rang.
Jack gestured at the phone with his eyes. “I’d answer that.”
Hellmuth hesitantly waved his hand in front of the phone to bring up its blue holographic console and tapped the button to answer it. His secretary, Cheryl, spoke on speaker. “Mr. Hellmuth, I have President-Elect Coleman on the line.”
Once again Hellmuth appeared awestruck. “Uh, patch him through?”
“Will do,” Cheryl quickly replied. Jack flashed Hellmuth the gesture that said, I told you so.
After a pause President-Elect Coleman spoke up. “Hellmuth, how are you doing?” Coleman spoke as if under slight distress.
“I’ve been better, sir. How can I help you?”
“I wanted to inform you that I’ve changed my mind on Huckleberry’s intelligence cell, Vigilance. I now plan to keep it.”
“Um, are you sure about that, sir?”
“One hundred percent. I had someone step into my office today and brought me a better perspective on the situation that made the decision obvious.”
Hellmuth looked toward Jack, who still had a grin on his face. With a defeated voice, Hellmuth replied, “I understand, sir.”
“Also, in the same meeting I was persuaded to go ahead with Huckleberry’s plan to disband the CIA. Vigilance will be this country’s new central resource for gathering foreign intelligence. And they will also be overseeing Homeland to improve communication between the two agencies. The transition is to begin immediately following my inauguration.”
Hellmuth sighed. “Alright. You’re the boss, sir. I’ll begin informing my staff what is going on so everything goes smoothly.”
“Excellent. I’ll inform you if anything changes. Have a good night.” Coleman hung up.
Jack rose while straightening his jacket. He looked down at Hellmuth, who was staring at the floor like a man who didn’t understand his place in the world anymore. “Don’t worry, Todd. As your new boss, I’ll be very humble in my new position overseeing this fine agency of yours.”
Hellmuth slowly raised his head to look up at Jack. “Do you understand what you’ve done? The scale of the people whose toes you just stepped on? There’ll be war over this.”
Jack paced up and down Hellmuth’s office as if he owned the place. “You see, Todd, my partner and I have learned that to defeat those that have corrupted something you once loved to the point where corruption is the only thing you see, you need to burn it all down. Even if it means getting yourself dirty in the process.” Jack looked Hellmuth straight in the eyes and in the coldest of tones said, “And my partner and I are far past cle
an. Play ball with us or we’ll make sure every citizen in this country knows exactly the type of person you are.” Jack turned to leave the room. “Be seeing you, Todd.” Hellmuth watched him leave and said nothing in response.
President-Elect Coleman had just hung up the phone on Todd Hellmuth. He looked up at Anna, who sat across the desk from him. They were in his home office.
“Now that wasn’t hard, was it?” Anna said condescendingly to the president-elect. She picked up the tablet she had put on his desk. It contained a list of his many backdoor deals that she had, courtesy of her heist in Chicago. More than enough evidence to spell impeachment.
Coleman looked at her with absolute disdain. “You little bitch. Do you actually think my people will let you get away with this?”
Anna chuckled. “Oh, Mr. Coleman, I’m well aware of whose feet I’ve stepped on, and I’m enjoying every bit of it. But don’t worry. You still get to be someone’s puppet leader. The only difference is someone else will be pulling your strings.”
Coleman had nothing to say. He just looked at Anna with absolute hatred. She passed him a sheet of paper with a list of names. Presidential cabinet positions were written next to the names. Anna stood to leave the room. “I’ll see myself out. Enjoy the White House. I look forward to hear who your cabinet members will be,” she said, laughing.
Coleman stared at her back as she walked out of the room and stated, “This fight is long from over, Ms. Perkins.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”
Epilogue
Jack was glad to be back at his apartment inside Vigilance HQ. He pulled off his dark suit jacket and hung it over a kitchen chair before opening a cabinet and pulling out a bottle containing his favorite brand of Kentucky bourbon. His doorbell rang. Jack walked over to his front door and checked to see who was on the other side. It was Anna.
