The Osiris Contingency

by Virginia Soenksen

  He nodded at the screen, wondering aloud, “You sure it’s smart to linger in their system?”

  “Not ‘smart’, perhaps, but it feels damn good to watch them for a change,” Liane retorted. “This is the first tangible effort I’ve been able to manage against the Agency since the last fight; it isn’t much, but at least it’s something.”

  Seth smiled. “See if there’s anything about what Chayse said, foreign powers threatening the country because of your video…”

  She typed on the keyboard for several minutes. The door chimed as customers left and new ones entered; Liane’s jaw clenched in irritation, but her blue and green eyes never wavered from the screen. Leaning an elbow on the desk, she frowned and said aloud, “Looks like Chayse was telling the truth. Agents have been dispatched to cities across Europe, spies are being caught all over the country…don’t get me wrong, we killed plenty when I was with the Agency, but never as much as this. This is a nightmare of a security breach.”

  Seth made a noise of approval. “Well, good on us for keeping the Agency busy.”

  Liane frowned, murmuring, “I keep seeing these words...Black Sun and Ragnarok...they keep appearing in reports from the continent, but I don’t know what they mean.”

  Seth grimaced. “Whatever they are, they don’t sound good.”

  The door chimed again, and Liane glanced up in annoyance. In an instant, the irritation on her face transmuted into stomach-churning recognition and fear. Seth followed her line of sight to the man and woman had just walked in the door. They were dressed casually in dark clothes waiting to be seated like any other customers. But Seth caught the way their eyes scanned the café and the telling stance that would let them easily draw their weapons.

  Liane rigidly turned back to her monitor, whispering to Seth, “Don’t move and don’t look, but two Agents just walked in.”

  “I see them,” Seth said, fighting to keep his voice even and his eyes on her as he asked, “Are there more?”

  Liane risked another glance around the café; when her gaze

  returned to her screen, she whispered, “One by the door, one by the counter.”

  Seth couldn’t keep his eyes from darting up to look, and when he did, he realized just how careless and stupid they’d been. There was an Agent seated near the door, sipping coffee and leaning back in his chair. Another stood by the café counter, eyes on the newspaper in his hand even as he glanced in their direction. Seth looked to the street beyond the glass walls and reflected in the shops across from them was the image of a black van parked around a corner. His pulse was hammering, because not only was the Agency here, between them and freedom, but the place was full of civilians; innocent bystanders who had no realization of the danger they were in.

  An attendant approached the two Agents near them, and as they passed by, Seth muttered, “The other two are being seated.” A note of fear entered his voice as he asked, “What do we do?”

  “I keep them busy, and we get away from here.” Liane reached into her jacket pocket, drawing out a small portable drive and plugging it into the computer. She opened a program on the drive, then clicked for it to run. Under the table, she drew out one of her guns, locking eyes with Seth as she ordered, “When I say the word, you head towards the kitchen shooting. Understand? I’ll be right behind you.”

  Seth nodded, and though he wanted to be sick, he still quipped, “Watch my back, okay? I don’t want to die here today.”

  Liane’s face was still and emotionless as she nodded. “And you won’t if I can help it. Ready?”

  He nodded, using a stretch to cover him drawing his own weapon.

  Liane gave him a tiny smile, and he prayed to whatever would listen that she’d be able to keep that promise.

  || | || | | || |

  Within the tech room, Maddox’s screen wavered, the code

  blurring slightly. Horror lodged in his throat, and he whispered, “Oh God...no, no, no!”

  The screen dissolved into a gibberish of black and green pixels, and Maddox let out a stream of shouted profanities as he pounded his fists into his temple. Damian’s face went slack with bewildered shock as he demanded, “What’s happening? What is that?”

  “She’s uploaded a corruptor!” Maddox said, in a full-blown panic as he hurried to shut down the machine. “A program to

  degrade system files—if it uploads to the mainframe it will spread like a virus!”

  Rage replaced confusion, and Damian shoved the tech towards the unit, shouting, “Stop her—disconnect it before all our files are destroyed!”

  Maddox tried, but then the screen next to them blurred, then the next one, and the next. Shouts of confusion arose from the other tech Supporters, some of them bolting up to help

  Maddox as the tech scrambled towards the central power unit.

  Turning away from the chaos, Damian went for his phone again, slipping a com in his ear as he ordered in a fury, “Move in now—she’s compromising our systems! Get in there and stop her!”

  CHAPTER 9

  In the café, Liane pulled a small grey sphere out of her pocket and announced, “Time to go.”

  With the flick of her wrist, she hurled the sphere towards the middle of the room. It

  exploded midair, sending a blinding shower of dust and smoke across the entirety of the shop. People bolted up from their seats in a panic, screaming and coughing as smoke

  obscured everything but the overhead lights and glowing monitors. Liane stood, firing across the room at the power unit on the wall. Her bullets struck home, and instantly the room plunged into darkness as the lights and computer screens went black. Liane and Seth fell to the floor, masks in place and night-vision turned on as they ran at a crouch towards the door that led to the kitchens.

  They had only gotten a few feet when an Agent emerged out of the smoke, eyes blazing as he leveled his gun at them. Liane aimed a spinning kick at his wrist, snapping the bone and sending his gun flying. He doubled over, shouting in pain, and she drove her knee into his face. He fell to the floor, blood spurting from his ruined nose, and Liane shoved Seth towards the kitchens just as a burst of gunfire came from the cloud of smoke behind them. The civilians were screaming now, making Liane’s head ring as she threw her shoulder into the swinging door.

  The kitchens were brightly lit and gleaming, and both ripped off their masks and struggled to adjust their eyes. Seth careened into a workstation, sending pots and pans flying and stumbling as Liane led the way down the center aisle. The kitchen staff was cowering on the ground by the stoves, well out of the way, as one of them shouted into a phone for the police.

  Liane snatched it out of his hand, crushing the device in her gloved hand as she demanded, “How do we get out?”

  Trembling, the man pointed to a door on the other side of the room, whispering, “Alleyway.”

  Before they had time to take a single step, two Agents burst through the swinging doors from the café. Liane turned and crouched, seizing a heavy skillet and throwing it hard at one Agent while she emptied her gun at the other. The male Agent dove behind a rack of supplies and Liane’s bullets caused bags of flour and canned fruit to explode. She glanced back to see Seth take aim at the other Agent, getting off several shots that struck the woman in her armored chest plate. She went down, stunned, but not dead.

  “Aim for the head!” Liane shouted. Across the kitchen, the

  female Agent was already jumping up, her eyes ablaze until the moment Seth brought a frying pan crashing down on her temple.

  Liane returned her eyes to her own target. The male Agent was lurking behind the racks still, his black coat just visible through the cracks. Liane followed him along the sight of her gun barrel, eyes narrowed. She had one bullet left, and she had to make it count. Then he glanced out between the gaps in the cans; the last thing he ever saw was Liane’s eyes looking down the barrel of her gun.

  The bullet struck right between the Agent’s eyes, and he fell to the ground, dead.


  Liane had just turned to pull Seth onward in their escape when she felt it. A slow, aching burn in her muscles as they began to cramp involuntarily. No, not now, she thought desperately, forcing herself to move against the pain. Seizing Seth’s hand, she pulled him to the back of the room, barreling through the service entrance just as the remaining Agents entered the kitchens.

  The alleyway beyond the service door was dark, the only light coming from the distant streets. Liane and Seth ran as fast as possible, feet pounding against the damp, trash-strewn

  pavement. Liane forced herself not to slow up, teeth biting into her lip to stifle cries of pain. The bright lights of the main street loomed ahead, a sign they could still make it, that they could still get away…

  A black van screeched to a halt in front of them, blocking their escape. Liane and Seth both froze, their hands still tightly clasped together and faces naked with fear. The door slid open, revealing a half dozen Agents that spilled out and leveled guns at them. Liane turned, her hopes for escape sinking when she saw that the surviving Agents from the café were approaching them, guns up and ready to shoot.

  Liane moved closer to Seth as a Handler stepped around the group of Agents from the van, her cold eyes without pity as she ordered, “Throw down your weapons and step away from one

  another.”

  Liane shook her head, lips pressed together, while Seth’s hand tightened around hers.

  The Handler motioned to one of the Agents, who stepped forward with a tranquilizer gun in one hand. Liane’s eyes widened as the Agent aimed at her, pain and fear rooting her to the spot. Then she heard Seth breathe out, “Oh, to hell with this…”

  He turned, releasing her hand and firing wildly at the Agents behind them. Liane used the split second of confusion to lunge forward, grasping the wrist of the nearest Agent and throwing him at another. The alley erupted into confusion, Agents firing at Seth and shouting with abandon as Liane threw herself onto them. She punched one in the throat, then kicked another aside just as he took aim at Seth. The Agents were struggling with stopping her without shooting her dead, and one leaped onto her back to tackle her to the ground. Liane just twisted, tossing him over her shoulder. She looked back, eyes racking the chaos and heart lurching when she saw that Seth was down on the ground. An Agent was kicking at him over and over. She had time to take a step towards them before a sharp, hot sensation shot through her thigh as the muscle cramped. With a cry, Liane landed hard on one knee, immobile with pain.

  Two Agents leaped at her, one striking her several times in the face and the other twisting her arms behind her back. Gasping for breath, Liane looked up to see the Handler closing in on her with a tranquilizer pen. The woman’s face was alight with excitement as she grasped a fistful of Liane’s hair and yanked her head to one side, exposing her neck and readying to plunge the needle into her vein…

  A guttural snarl came from above, and then a dark, masked shape dropped into the alley from the rooftop above. The figure slammed into the Handler, knocking the woman down before lunging at the ones holding Liane. The Agents were ripped away, and Liane collapsed onto the damp pavement, her muscles still burning as she scrambled towards her lost gun. Looking up, she saw more dark figures dropping into the alley, moving with

  preternatural speed towards the Agents and tossing them aside as if they were ragdolls. Further up the alley, the driver of the van panicked, screeching away as the dozen masked figures snapped necks and shot at the Agents until every single one of them was lying dead on the pavement.

  Liane crawled on her belly to where Seth lay, her heart in her throat as she checked for vital signs. She found bruises blossoming along the side of his face, but he was alive and breathing. Liane wanted to run, to get away from both the Agents and whoever was attacking them. But she couldn’t carry Seth, not with her muscles aching and clenching. Instead, she reloaded her gun, and when one of the masked figures approached her, she aimed at them and warned, “Come near us and I’ll blow your head off your shoulders.”

  To her shock, the lean figure laughed, then pushed the mask up to reveal a thin, handsome man with a partially shaved head of black hair. The pupils of his eyes were black slits against irises of a luminous shade of green, and when he smiled his teeth had the vaguely fang-like appearance that typified reptile modding. “I am far, far, too pretty to shoot.”

  “Put the gun down,” ordered another figure, this one female. She too pushed up her mask, shaking long, glossy brown hair free. Her teeth were elongated as well, though more feline; a

  leopard mod. “We’re on the same side.”

  Liane didn’t waver, gripping the gun tighter as she demanded, “Who are you?”

  One of the other figures, this one a mountain of a man, dropped the body of an Agent out of a headlock and walked over to look down at Liane as he said, “You remember me, I hope.” He raised his mask, showing an older, bald man with brutish

  features softened only slightly by his smile.

  Liane finally lowered her gun, breathing out, “Ox...of course I remember you.”

  The wolf mod let out a rumbling laugh, reaching out a hand and pulling her up into a rib-cracking embrace. Liane was too shocked to see her old acquaintance to do much of anything, standing still and stunned as he pulled away to grip her shoulders and say, “God, it’s good to see you alive. You never came back to the ruins after the riots in the Docklands. I thought maybe you’d gotten yourself arrested and were rotting in a cell somewhere.”

  “Not arrested; just trying to hide,” she said, shaking her head. She looked from Ox to the others, “You’re all mods, aren’t you?”

  The woman rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

  Still bewildered, Liane looked from one mod to another,

  stammering, “I don’t understand...what is this? Why did you help us?”

  “I told you,” said the female mod, tilting her head, “We’re on the same side. Anyone being hunted by the Agency is an ally to us.” She paused, then added, “A ‘thank you’ would be appropriate.”

  “I... Thank you,” Liane said, no less perplexed. At least the cramping in her muscles had faded, the absence of pain helping her to focus her thoughts. She looked back at Seth, “My friend is hurt…”

  The reptile mod knelt next to Seth, pressing thin fingers into the hollow of his neck and then pulling up an eyelid. Finally, the man said, “He took a hard blow to the head. A couple of rounds in a tissue regenerator will fix it.”

  Her voice muted, Liane admitted, “I don’t have one.”

  “Funny, that,” smiled the reptile mod. “We do. Guess you’d

  better come with us, then.”

  “Let’s hurry,” Ox said, looking at the bodies strewn around them. “Those bastards are like wasps; kill a dozen and twice as more arrive to take their place.”

  When Liane made no move to stir, the reptile mod effortlessly lifted Seth up over his shoulder and fixed her with a hard look as he said, “You can’t heal him on your own, and if the Agency is hunting you, then you’re in need of a safe house. So, let’s go to one.”

  “Go where?” Liane said, beginning to let some of her frustration seep into her voice. “Who are you people?”

  Ox grinned, pulling his mask back down as he said, “We’re Black Sun, of course, and our leader will be very interested to meet a mod like you.”

  Liane heard a creak of metal behind her and turned to see the leopard mod pulling up a nearby sewer grate. The woman

  gestured to the others, saying, “We’ll use the tunnels.”

  She dropped into the darkness, and the rest followed.

  Liane held back, wavering on whether she stood a chance of

  escape were she to grab Seth and run. Then the reptile mod looked at her, “Come on. People like us have to stick together in this world.”

  Liane looked at him, and for a moment she felt the same

  kinship she’d felt with the mods before. Not true understanding, but something better than the l
oneliness of being on her own. She looked at Seth’s unconscious, bloodied face once more, then stowed her gun and nodded. “Lead the way.”

  By the time the reinforcements for the Agency arrived, vans

  filling the street outside, the alley was emptied of all but bodies. After the cleaning team was done, piling the dead into bags and hosing away the blood from the pavement, there wasn’t a trace that anything had ever happened there at all.

  CHAPTER 10

  The journey through the sewers was quiet, for the first leg at least. They kept to the small ledge running along the wide, round tunnels, which allowed them to avoid the river of raw sewage and the worst of the rank smells.

  Liane stayed next to the reptile mod as they walked, watching Seth for any signs of life. When he began to stir, moaning, Liane ordered, “Put him down for a minute.”

  The mod lowered Seth to a seated position, his back up against the rounded wall. He let out a groan, bringing up a hand and rubbing at his closed eyes as Liane knelt next to him. After a few seconds, he muttered, “We dead yet?”

  Liane smiled, relief flooding through her. “No. Not yet.”

  He opened his eyes then, taking in both the tunnels and the dozen stranger standing around them. In a smaller voice, he said, “You lot are mods, right? Where are we?”

  “Under the city,” said the reptile mod.

  Seth’s voice hardened as he asked, “Did we have a choice in

  being brought down here?”

  “It’s alright, Seth,” Liane said, wanting to reassure him even though she wasn’t entirely certain herself. “You need medical

  attention and they’ve offered to help us.”

  He didn’t seem convinced, and announced, “We need to retrieve our supplies from Chinatown. Otherwise, you can forget it.”

  The leopard mod let out an aggravated noise but gestured down another tunnel. “We’re close to Chinatown now. Since you’re in no condition to climb, how’s about your girlfriend does the honors?”