Unwilling to Back Down (Survival of the Fittest Book 2)

by Shawn Keys

  Ten seconds later, Dazz appeared, waving him toward her. “Come on. I can’t roll him off the trail myself.”

  Kyle followed her, whispering, “That won’t fool anyone for long!”

  “Every second they think he’s wandered off with Mindy, the better.”

  Kyle jogged with her, finding the other guard with his throat ripped apart by Dazz’s knife. It was a little messier and a little more vicious, but she had gotten the job done with minimal noise. Not dwelling on it by asking if she was OK, Kyle simply got to work helping the petite woman shuffling the large guard into the light underbrush. It didn’t conceal him well, but a replacement guard might walk right past him in the dark. Come sunrise, he’d be seen for sure.

  They returned to porch, then rolled that guy off into the nearby woods. The smell was already building, one more reason that it wouldn’t take long for a replacement to find him. Kyle wiped his hands, then shrugged. “We need to be gone before his buddies show up. That won’t fool anyone.”

  Dazz snorted. “Maybe a coyote will drag him off. Not sure they can get through the fence, but we might get lucky.”

  Kyle rolled his eyes. Yeah. No. I am definitely not that lucky. Together, they turned their eyes to the front door. He shuffled up to it and tested the door. Despite what Rebecca had said, it wasn’t left unlocked. But it wasn’t much more secure than a typical house door. No massive locks. No advanced key codes. Just a deadbolt that demanded a key. Kyle stepped off the porch and searched the dead guard, finding what he needed on a lanyard looped around his neck. He returned, eased the key into the lock as soundlessly as possible, then tested it. It felt like it would turn.

  He glanced at Dazz, a question in his eye.

  She nodded, indicating she was ready.

  Keeping it quiet, he turned the key slowly. Mercifully, it was built with smooth tumblers. There wasn’t even a soft clunk as the deadbolt was retracted into its housing. The hinges were well-oiled, and the door also opened without anything louder than a soft creak. Kyle went in first, with Dazz right on his heels.

  She paused to close the door, while Kyle took stock of the interior. The décor was simple; he got the immediate impression of a man who didn’t need luxury because he was too busy getting on with his job. There wasn’t even a television. Utilitarian furniture, probably used for meetings rather than entertaining. The kitchenette was positioned right off the sitting area, consisting of small appliances that were perfect for cooking for one. No dining area. He probably ate standing over the sink.

  There were two doors leading into the rooms that took up the back of the cottage. One was ajar, leading into what was clearly a bedroom. The other was closed, and Kyle made the immediate assumption it was the computer space they needed.

  He gestured at the closed one, whispering, “See if it’s unlocked. I’ll take care of him.” Kyle eased through the bedroom door, edging his way across the small room and to the equally small bed. It was a full-sized, barely comfortable for the tall, broad-shouldered man with a slightly rounded gut who was sleeping there. He looked like an old warhorse put out to pasture. Once the picture of health when his intensive exercise would balance his voracious food intake. Unable to quit the food habit now that he was spending so much time behind a desk, he had lost his fighting trim.

  Kyle debated what to do with him, then realized what he wanted to do. Every time they had encountered these ‘Soldiers of Dawn’, it had been a crisis. Shooting. Running around. No time at all to feel anything about it until long after. Even in the fight with Niles outside the safe house, it had been more about stopping her from running off.

  But this guy… this was a Director inside their organization. This was one of their thinkers. This was the guy who had fucking trained Niles and Lawson and the rest of them to do their jobs. He was the one who had trained them to use parents, friends and loved ones as pawns. He was the one who had taught them to jab needles into the arms of people who didn’t make the cut and, without ceremony, slice them out of the gene pool.

  Reaching down, Kyle grabbed a sock out of the laundry hamper. He strode over to the bed, gave the man a dark scowl, then jammed the sock into the man’s mouth. The fabric stifled any cries as he bore down, clamping his hand over the man’s mouth. Even as ‘Director Reigns’ woke up, the first signs of panicked struggle about to explode through him, Kyle rammed his left hand into the guy’s face with a rapid battery of open-palm strikes. He closed his fist twice, just to feel make sure the guy felt the added punishment of the knuckles hitting his cheek. With a vicious satisfaction he might be ashamed to admit to in public, Kyle hammered the Director right back into unconsciousness that he wouldn’t wake up from so quickly.

  Breathing hard, Kyle stood back and let Reigns flop onto the ground. Kyle snarled down at him, “You probably deserve a hundred times worse, asshole.” He spat onto the guy’s back contemptuously, then grabbed hold of his floppy arms. Finding a robe belt, he tied the Director’s wrists together. Then, with a couple leather belts, he cinched his ankles and knees together as well. Then, as a final coup de grace of sorts, he found a longer sock and wrapped it in place around the guy’s head, securing the dirty one inside his mouth. The guy would probably live. Kyle could hear him sucking ragged breaths through a probably broken nose. Yeah, probably. Chance I’m willing to take.

  Leaving the guy there, he walked back out into the main room. He found Dazz standing outside the computer room, an eyebrow arched his way. “Feel better?”

  Kyle shrugged. “One of them had it coming. Figure the guy in charge of all this deserved it more than anyone.”

  She gave a bemused, “Huh. Yeah. I’d be lying if I didn’t feel the same when I dug my way through that guy’s neck out there.” She shook her head. “Probably means we’re going to need professional help after all this.”

  “If we live long enough to worry about seeing a shrink, I promise I’ll go with you like a good boy and talk about all this for as long as they want. But I’m betting that I’ll have to clobber a few more of them before this is over.” There wasn’t any real humor in his voice, only grim certainty. This is a long way from being over, I fucking guarantee it.

  “But you didn’t kill him?”

  Kyle shrugged. “Not sure I’d call it mercy. We might need to ask him questions.” He wasn’t sure he had it in him to beat the man to death, either. Not without making a real fight of it. That would be some real satisfaction.

  “Doubtful he’d give us any. Fanatics like that don’t give in. Plus, not sure I’d have it in me to torture him like that.”

  Kyle nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. There was a line to be drawn somewhere, and that sounded like something that was on the other side. Question him? Sure. Torture him hard enough to break through the fucked-up part of him that made him loyal to this Dawn outfit? Nah, no way. And if I tried and failed, then that would be even worse.

  Leaving that dark thought behind, Kyle pointed at the door. “You get in?”

  “I can, once I have his fingerprint. Simple thumb scan for the door lock.”

  Kyle gave a mocking laugh. “Couldn’t tell me that before I kicked the snot out of him?”

  Dazz shrugged. “We could cut his thumb off.” She said it off-hand, not really meaning it.

  And Kyle didn’t really consider it, especially after their previous conversation about tormenting people to get what they wanted. He rewarded her dark humor with another chuckle, taking it for the joke it was meant to be. “By the time we’re done, I might be considering it.”

  Neither of them had to get to the level of torture. It took all their strength, but they got the big man over to the door and wrestled his big right hand up high enough to activate the door lock. It snapped open, and they got in. Kyle left the Director wedged in like a door stop, not wanting to risk getting trapped inside by any kind of electronic security lock.

  The computer space was set up as a private office. It was also utilitarian, without any sort of real creature comforts
. There was a personal computer, but also a separate camera/screen combination that could function as a video-teleconferencing set-up. There was a tidy filing cabinet, a desk with a few drawers full of stationary, and a map of the camp up on the wall. Kyle ripped that down immediately. They might need it, either for directions or proof.

  Dazz pointed, “See if you can get into the filing cabinet. I’ll work on the computer.”

  Nodding, he gave the steel chest of drawers a look that promised destruction. Of course, the contraption didn’t seem impressed. That wasn’t going to deter Kyle. He gave the locking bar a considering look, figuring that it was made to resist people doing exactly what he intended to do.

  Instead, he used the small tool bag they had brought along, expecting something like this would be necessary. He didn’t have anything to pick open the lock. He didn’t have Chloe’s talent for it. Instead, he punched a hole in the front of the thin metal drawer, then used tin snips to cut it open the hard way. Eventually, there was a flap of metal large enough that he could peel it away and get at the contents inside.

  While he worked, Dazz punched a number into her phone, waited for it to connect, then put it on speaker. “Tabby-Tech?”

  “Dazzle!” A squeaky, chipper voice that sounded about fifteen came back at her. The voice was so warbly and high, it could either be a girl or boy, depending on the age. Kyle was surprised at first. Then again, considering the way technology was these days, a kid that age might know a hundred times what he did. “Did you bring me something cool?”

  “Abso-freaking-lutely. Coming at you live from the den of the shadow org I was telling you about. I’m on a high-level computer with a dongle attached, ready to let you unleash some sick script all over it. Hooking you in now.”

  “Let’s dance, Dazzle.”

  Dazz fiddled with some wires, plugging in the remote transmitter and doing exactly what no-one should ever do if they want to keep their secrets: deliberately connect an outside terminal into a port while a professional hacker was standing by to tear into the computer’s guts.

  Kyle listened to their progress as he tugged the first folder from inside. He was screwing up the filing system as he pried it out, but he didn’t care much. He flipped it open and looked at the face. “Hey, this is Rebecca.” He reached in again, careful not to get sliced open on the sharp edges. “Chastity. And here’s Sanya. Huh. It’s all in Aeolic. The girls are going to have to translate this. But I’d bet this is all the background they have on them. Research. Maybe even the affidavits from people who recommended them.”

  Dazz glanced over her shoulder, then whistled approvingly. “Strange that they did all those interviews if they knew them that well.”

  “Wonder if it wasn’t all for show. Do all that to see how much the students were going to lie. Whatever they lie about, that’s what they are embarrassed about, right? They’d know how to control them that much better.”

  Dazz’s eyebrows rose. “That’s sort of diabolical, Kyle. Where’d you learn to think like that?”

  “Product of a misspent youth watching bad guys in movies.” He banged a fist against the second drawer. “So, if the top drawer are the students they have now, I wonder what this one holds?” He snip snip snipped the tin cutter in the air, chuckled, and got to work opening the next treasure trove.

  He hadn’t quite gotten started when Jackie came across the radio. “Kyle?”

  “I’m here, Jackie.” He punched the knife through to open the hole he could widen.

  Sounding frustrated, the DOJ agent grumbled, “I’ve looked at this from every angle. The door is glass, so I can see into the interior. They have lights on. There is a vestibule with hardened glass protecting the interior. You have to speak through speakers to talk to security. There’s no way to get the drop on them unless I do something loud.”

  Kyle scowled. “If we do that, getting out of the camp is going to be a nightmare. You need to be sure we need it.”

  “Nothing sells like video, Kyle. We can show them emails and documents and paper trails, but if we can show them a video of instructors perverting these kids into eugenicists, that’ll put a nail in their coffin.”

  “And maybe in ours.” Kyle paused, thinking hard. Then, he said, “Find an SUV. See if they have keys nearby. If we’re going to do this, we need to prep our way out of the camp. Once we’re done here, we’ll come to you. If we got into the email server, we’ll hit hard, then run. If not, then we’ll need to figure out how to leave quietly.”

  “Will do.”

  “Dazz, how’s it going? We only have about an hour before those guards might show up to replace their friends. We need to be long gone.” Part of him almost wished she would fail. A quiet ending might not be enough to sink these bastards, but shooting our way out of here is going to suck.

  His friend answered, “Don’t bug me for ten more minutes. If we aren’t in by then, we never will be.” She was flickering through command prompts and Java-Script windows while whispering to Tabby-Tech in a rapid-fire exchange of ideas, trying to punch through the website security.

  Giving her the space to work, Kyle attacked his metal foe once more. Prying open the second drawer, he soon had the answers he wanted. Sliding files out, he tried to recognize any of the people he was looking at. He was about to give up when he ran across one that was actually familiar. “Hey, I know this guy!”

  Dazz pried her nose out of her work, shifting around to look. “You do? I don’t think he was at school.”

  Kyle would never forget this face. This was the agent he had shot outside the safe house with his sniper rifle. The first round he had ever fired from it. The first man he had ever killed. He had come to terms with that. Especially knowing that he was one of the Dawn. That didn’t mean he would ever forget him. “I don’t know his name, but this was the guy I shot in the parking area of the safe house. All the details are in Aeolic, but this is him.”

  Dazz hummed thoughtfully. “He had to have come through this camp. Maybe they kept records on where their old students ended up.” He got a little excited. “This could be a way to decipher where they went and how deep all the moles are buried!”

  “Could they have kept records from that far back?”

  Kyle shrugged, “I have no idea. But we’re gonna find out.” He started snapping pictures with his phone as fast as he could. He didn’t stop to look at anything else. It would all have to be sorted out later.

  Dazz suddenly cried in victory. “We’re in! Hot damn, we have access.”

  “Don’t waste any time! Get the download started!”

  “No need to tell me twice.” Dazz was already starting the data capture. She gawked as she saw the amount that her scouring program was trying to haul onto her data stick. “Holy shit, Kyle. This is insane! There is a hidden sharing server on here with terabytes of information. There’s no way I’m going to be able to take it all.”

  “Grab the emails first. It’ll show us who he’s talking to, and he’s much more central than Lawson ever was to this organization. Then, whatever you can cram onto that drive, get as much as you can.”

  Dazz tossed him an ironic salute, then got to work.

  Kyle upped his pace, knowing that as soon as she was done, they were getting out of there. He wanted as many pages saved as possible. He keyed open his link to Jackie while he worked. “We’re only a few minutes back from being done here. How’s it going?”

  Jackie answered, “We have keys, and we’ve moved the SUV over to the door. We’re parked now, keeping it out of sight. But if anyone stumbles on it, they’re going to know it’s out of place.”

  Kyle cursed under his breath. “Nothing is ever easy. OK, fine. I’ll meet you there in ten minutes. I was being stupid. We’re not going to get out of this quietly, anyway. Someone is going to stumble on the ones we killed soon enough. The whole camp is going to go nuts. We might as well set it off on our time-table instead of theirs. We’ll do what needs to be done, get that footage, pile into the SUV, pun
ch through the fence and get the fuck out of here.”

  Ten minutes later, Kyle said to Dazz. “We’re done!”

  “Hold on!” She unmuted her phone. “Tabby-Tech, listen to me. We need to bolt. I’ll contact you when I get the chance. Whatever you do, don’t go public until I say something. This shit is hard to understand, and written in a dead language. You’ll be branded crazy and they’ll hunt you down for your trouble. You hear me?”

  “Sure, Dazzle. I’ll slow roll this until I talk to you. But if I see your obit come up, and these fuckers killed you, I’m going to smear this all over the internet no matter what you say.”

  She smirked. “Then I’ll see you in hell." She cut the circuit and got ready to run.

  Kyle gave the unconscious Reigns a final jab as they left. “Should kill you, you elitist asshole. But I figure they might do even worse to you when they find out what you lost.” Wishing it so, he ran from the cottage, Dazz on his heels.

  Retracing their steps across the grass, they found their way to the administration building, then circled around until they found Jackie and Rebecca. Jackie was crouched beside the SUV, while Rebecca was behind the wheel, clearly intending to be their getaway driver.

  Kyle gestured at the door into the security area. “So? You said there was hardened glass. Which means bullet proof. We don’t exactly have any explosives, do we?”

  Jackie shrugged. “Not sure where to get out hands on any, though they probably have some.” She pointed at the door. “It’s bullet resistant, not bullet proof. Meant to stop robbers from sticking a pistol in a bank teller’s face and demanding a bag of money.”

  “But?”

  “But not going to stop an insane guy with an automatic weapon from ripping right through it.” Jackie smirked at him.

  Rebecca’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously? That’s going to wake up the whole camp!” She tapped the wheel of the SUV. “Why not ram the door in?”

  Jackie shook her head. “We have no idea how reinforced that vestibule is. The impact could wreck the engine if there is more stone than wood in the construction. We need the vehicle to get out of here.”