One Last Con

by Rael Wissdorf

  Rael Wissdorf · Nicholas Hede · Frank J. Williams III

  Hawks Effect

  Volume 1 “Emergence” · Episode 1

  One Last Con

  Trivocum Verlag

  TRIVOCUM PRESS

  Copyright © 2017 by Rael Wissdorf, Nicholas Hede, Frank Williams III

  All Rights Reserved

  EBook Edition: May 2017

  Edited by Chris Naumann & Nehemiah Inverse

  Cover Art by Sarah Richter

  The author's website:

  hawks-effect.com

  Dedicated to Harry Evers.

  May angels guide you to your rest.

  Prologue

  Something wasn’t right. Of course, Galicia couldn’t tell what exactly, just a feeling that she had missed something. She had been working for six hours now, and the loud whirring of the seemingly ancient computer system that filled the entire room made it difficult to concentrate. The machinery had been in place since the 1950’s and the keyboard and monitor that she was using had given her a headache hours ago. The antiquated keyboard in particular, with its full weighted keys with little room between them, was most problematic. Each keystroke took effort and she hadn’t stopped typing since she sat down. After two hours she developed blisters. Now they were slick with spots of blood mixed with serum. The oppressive heat of the desert air, even in the middle of the night, combined with the heat generated from the dusty computer system to create a furnace in the office. So she couldn’t be sure if she had indeed missed something or if her mind was playing tricks on her. Still, the feeling persisted. But she had come too far now to stop, and she knew she was running out of time.

  Galicia wiped sweat from her brow to keep it from dripping into her eyes. To her side she heard a familiar shuffling and an audible sigh come from her partner. “You’re doing it again,” she said plainly.

  “Sorry, sorry,” came the response from Sinza Flanagan. She walked over to Galicia’s shoulder and looked intently at the computer screen. It was filled with a blur of text that she couldn’t hope to understand. “It’s just that it’s been six hours. I didn’t expect it to take this long. And the heat here! God!”

  Galicia looked up at Sinza and rolled her eyes, never missing a keystroke. “We are in the desert, love. What did you expect?”

  “Not six hours! She never told us it would take this long. And she also didn’t tell us the goddamn computer was from the Space Race.” Sinza looked to Galicia, who was wiping sweat from her brow once again. “I’m sorry Gal. I’ve been standing here complaining this whole time and you’re the one doing all the work.” She placed her hands on Galicia’s shoulders and gave them a quick rub. Galicia rolled her neck and closed her eyes. The bloody keys brought a frown to Sinza’s face. “Can’t you take a break for just a little bit?”

  “I’m almost there Sinz. You know we don’t have the time. Someone could have detected us hours ago and sent teams after us. She said they were monitoring this place.” Galicia paused her typing for a brief second and reached up to squeeze Sinza’s hand. They both gave a halfhearted smile before Galicia continued her work. Sinza moved over to a barred window and stared out into the desert night. The silhouette of the mesas broke through the starlight in the distance, and the town below, if it could be called a town, was silent as a tomb. An old, abandoned Sinclair gas station with its iconic green dinosaur sat across from their warehouse, and for a brief second, Sinza thought she saw a light coming from inside. She instinctively reached for her sidearm, but as her eyes refocused, the light was gone. Had she imagined it? Both women had been at this for six hours now, and they were exhausted. Perhaps she was losing her edge.

  Galicia glanced over when she saw Sinza tense and reach for the weapon. In her skin-tight black incursion suit, Galicia thought that Sinza looked like a panther, ready to strike. Her body was toned and athletic, even muscular by female standards, and the snug suit formed to the curves of her body like a second skin. Her years in the Army had formed her body into a perfect machine for many types of work, but usually not the silent type. It took a lot of convincing to get Sinza to sneak into the warehouse instead of kicking down the door, pistols drawn. So far there had been no resistance, but Galicia feared for anyone who crossed paths with her partner. The suit matched her shortly cropped black hair, which, in a certain light, had a sheen to it that appeared like raven’s feathers; a deep black that Galicia was envious of. Her own golden hair was usually cut short, just below the chin, but in the past few months she had let it grow out. In this heat, she was now regretting that decision. Her hair was a tangled sweaty mop that she tried not to think about.

  “See anything?” Galicia asked.

  “I thought I did, but I don’t know. This place is weird.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  “I didn’t expect it to look so, familiar,” Sinza said. “I mean, there is a Sinclair gas station over there. How is that possible?”

  “She told us this had been created purposefully. But I didn’t expect this.”

  Sinza walked the office again. It was a glass enclosed structure that overlooked the warehouse floor. Wooden crates were stacked haphazardly and a row of enclosed offices lined the south wall. This manager’s office oversaw everything, and from this vantage Sinza could see each part of the warehouse.

  “Sinz, I’ve almost got it,” Galicia said with a sigh. Sinza rushed to the desk and stared hopefully at the confusing monitor.

  “How can you tell?”

  “I just can.”

  A sharp crackling noise brought their attention to the north window. Sinza ran to it and Galicia peered over her monitor. “Get out of the way,” Galicia shouted to Sinza over the din of the crackling. Sinza scooted to the side. Hovering about three meters off the floor, a white ball of energy had emerged from thin air. The crackling emanated from bolts of electricity shooting out from its center and striking another pile of wooden crates on the warehouse floor. Dust from the floor swirled as it was lifted from the ground below the energy ball until it was finally drawn inside the phenomenon.

  “Is that supposed to happen?” Sinza asked, never looking away.

  “I hope so,” Galicia said. Her fingers had never left the keyboard. She focused now on the monitor and with a heavy sigh, she pressed the final key. “Done.”

  The white ball of energy below grew to five feet in diameter in the blink of an eye before transforming into a column of blinding white energy that erupted into the night sky. The glass windows shattered and crates below were blown to splinters. The column flowed with power melting a hole in the roof of the warehouse in the process. There was no telling how high up it went. Sinza had rushed to shield Galicia behind the desk and both women peeked over the top. The column roared with power and the noise was deafening. It grew even louder, as the winds picked up speed, and both women crouched low while covering their ears. And in an instant, it was gone. Falling glass, wood, and metal were left in its wake. The computer monitor went blank, save for a blinking green cursor. The partners stood from behind the desk and surveyed the damage.

  “What the hell was that?” Sinza asked. “She never said it would do that.”

  Galicia peered from the office windows, now simply holes in the walls. The shop floor had been scorched black to match the radius of the energy column. She looked up. The roof had a perfect circle melted out, with the edges still glowing orange. But the column itself hadn’t radiated heat. She moved back to the desk and began typing.

  “Was that it? Did we do it?” Sinza asked. Neither seemed entirely sure of what to expect, but Sinza had begun to hope.

  “No,” Galicia said. “No no no no.” Her face was painted with worry as she t
yped. “It’s still active,” she said, lifting her face to Sinza.

  “What? How can that be? What was that thing we just saw?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “But that had to do it! That had to shut it down,” Sinza said, pointing to the wreckage.

  “I don’t know,” came the response again. “I don’t know, okay!” she shouted. Her shoulders sagged and she began to sob. The hours of work had drained Galicia and this ambiguous conclusion left her emotionally distraught.

  “Hey, Gal, listen,” Sinza said, rushing to her partner. She placed her hands on her shoulders. “You did good, you know that right?” Galicia shrugged. “It’s got to be this machinery. The sensors must have fried. There is no way it’s still open.” Galicia looked up at Sinza. Tears streaked the sweat on her face. Sinza wiped them away. “None of that now. We just go back to see her. She’ll confirm it for us, you’ll see.”

  “Okay Sinz,” Galicia replied weakly. She sniffed and wiped the last tear away and stood tall. “Okay,” she repeated smiling. Sinza always brought out the best in her.

  A beeping at the commando’s belt instantly soured the mood. Sinza’s smile disappeared, as she deftly removed the monitor from her waist, and scanned the display.

  “We’ve got movement outside. Closing fast.”

  Galicia turned back to the computer and began typing. “How long do I have?”

  “Less than a minute,” Sinza replied, issuing an apologetic look.

  “A minute! Bloody hell, I need twenty to extract the program.”

  “You’ve got a minute. Think of something fast. I’ll give you as much time as I can.”

  “Who is it?” Galicia asked.

  “I can’t tell. Approaching from all sides, but their focus is on the north wall,” she said, gesturing towards the rubble and scorched circular floor. “They're smart though - SpecOps whoever it is.”

  “It’s not enough time,” Galicia said. She closed her eyes for a brief second. “I can’t extract the program, and you can’t carry all this machinery. I’ll wipe our tracks. We’ll have to start all over though.”

  “No we won’t! It worked Gal, I believe in you. Just cover us so they can’t trace the program back to her,” Sinza said. Pistols in hand, she was ready for battle.

  “It’ll take time.”

  “I said I’d give you as much as I can, but when we go, we go,” Sinza barked in a strict authoritative tone. Galicia nodded. Sinza trusted her, and she trusted Sinza. This was what she was best at. She got to work on the computer as Sinza leaped through the broken window to the shop floor below, taking cover behind a shattered crate. A second glance at the sensor showed the forces huddled around the wall beyond. The attack would come any second now. “Get ready!” she shouted to Galicia.

  An explosion rocked the building as the soldiers breached the wall. Galicia instinctively ducked but rose again just enough to work on the computer while not exposing herself to gunfire. Smoke and debris filled the air below and a metallic hockey puck skidded across the floor to Sinza’s feet. “Goddamnit!” she said, staring at the device. She quickly dropped her guns and unbuckled her belt just before the device emitted a blue light and her weapons and ammunition were drawn instantly to the device’s magnetic gravity well. She could tell from the footfalls that the soldiers had moved to surround her, but none had made it to the southern side of the building yet. Expertly, she rolled back to find new cover and moved to one side. Better to take them on one at a time than to have to fight the group in the center.

  She moved quickly and quietly to the first soldier, grabbing his gun and lifting it as she issued a knife hand thrust to his throat before smashing his face against a nearby crate. He collapsed to the floor hard, landing face first against the concrete. Upon impact, a bloody tooth flew from his open mouth, skittering along the flat surface before coming to rest several meters away.

  The noise brought the attention of the other soldiers, but she was already on the move. Gunfire exploded into the crates, and Sinza noticed the small barbed projectiles peppering the wood were not bullets but incapacitating bolts. With precision, she slid from soldier to soldier, disarming and rendering them unconscious one after the other.

  Galicia heard the commotion below and worked as fast as she could. Her vision was now illuminated red, and she paused at the ancient keyboard to view a virtual keyboard floating in the space in front of her. She quickly made gestures at certain odd symbols located on the hexagonal virtual keys before shaking her head to clear the image and getting back to the real keys in front of her. Her fingers now moved with an inhuman speed while the machinery on the wall behind her began to spark and smoke. She was focused, and the gunfire below did not stun her or break her concentration. Even with her bolstered speed, she still needed time to finish.

  The guards against the western wall were dispatched, and half a dozen stood on the east, all weapons trained on her crate. Sinza couldn’t move out without being riddled by the small electric barbs. That left her with only one option. “Gal!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Iron Hide!” Galicia paused her keystrokes with her right hand, continuing with her left. The red keyboard floated in front of her once again, and with her right hand, she tapped the necessary symbols. The walls turned to a wireframe view and she saw a skeletal image of Sinza trapped behind the crate with the guards closing in. A few more taps and Galicia had a ball of golden yellow energy in her palm. She threw it through the walls to Sinza. With her task completed, the wireframe image receded, the red keyboard disappeared, and both her hands went back to the ancient input device.

  Sinza felt the energy strike her frame, and looked at her arms. A golden sheen coated every inch of her body, causing her to smile. “Now we can have some fun,” she said, grinning devilishly. She emerged confidently from behind the safety of the crate into a hail of gunfire. The barbs struck her form and fell harmlessly to the floor, with each impact creating tiny golden ripples along the shield. Emboldened, Sinza charged the soldiers and engaged them all at once. A swift knee to the helmet shattered the visor of one and sent him flailing back into a crate. She blocked a palm strike from another and ducked under his follow up punch, twisting arms and countering with her own spinning heels. Two more down. Knives appeared in the hands of the three remaining soldiers. One rushed her while the others kept two paces back. She sprung backwards, avoiding his slashes while blocking a sudden thrust to her abdomen with a sweep of her arm. Clasping the soldier's forearm, she twisted the wrist until the knife fell to the ground, and kicked the soldier in the ribs so hard that he flew backwards, landing in a heap against a box of rusted machinery. Sinza picked up the knife and prepared to address her remaining opponents, a man and a woman. The duo rushed her simultaneously from the right and left. Rolling out of the way, she slashed at her closest opponent. He deftly blocked her strike while the second soldier slashed her exposed right side. The golden body shield flashed brightly upon contact, easily turning away the blade, while the force of the attack reverberated just above her torso. It had saved her, but wouldn’t last more than one more direct strike. Grabbing the arm of her first assailant, she flipped him over her head, landing him between her and the female soldier. A swift strike with the pommel of her knife against his temple stunned him, giving her a moment to twist his body around and bring her knee up to his chin, knocking him unconscious. She shoved the crumpling form aside as the final soldier attacked.

  This one was fast! An expert at knife combat herself, Sinza was hard pressed to match this woman's speed. Both fighters were ablur with motion, as metal flashed and raised sparks as the two blades made repeated contact. Seizing the tiniest of openings, the soldier sliced at Sinza's torso, and her golden shield flickered weakly before winking out of existence. As her assailant moved in for the kill, Sinza slipped aside and slashed her forearm, causing the weapon to fall. Seeing her chance, she lunged forward and stabbed toward the woman's throat. An inch from her target, Sinza's knife was suddenly flung fr
om her hand with the force of a bullet and buried itself deep into the metal wall behind her. Undaunted, she fired a quick elbow instead, catching the woman with a hard blow to the jaw, instantly dropping her to the floor.

  The knife flying from her hand was no accident. They had an Initiator. A long slow scraping noise came from the breach in the wall. This was no knife being drawn from a sheathe, but a sword. Through the dust and smoke, she recognized the image of stark white hair and a red illuminated face to its side.

  “Gal! Move now!” Sinza knew who these two were and she knew she stood no chance, especially not here. Galicia had finished her Hack, obtaining what info she could while covering her tracks. With a final keystroke, the office went dark, followed by several pops and flashes as the ancient computer's hard drive and CPU melted into slag. The shout from Sinza was perfectly timed as the blonde hacker stepped onto the catwalk and leaped over the railing landing easily on the warehouse floor. She heard Sinza’s feet running towards her, and together the two sprinted toward the hallway.

  “Who is it?” Galicia asked as they ran.

  “It’s Aeternus, Gavrael and Hanzoh. I know the sound of that sword being drawn anywhere.”

  “Bloody hell,” Galicia swore. “Well, we can’t fight them, but I can slow them down.”

  “Good idea. We’ll use this smaller corridor. Once you're done we’ll head to the end of the main hallway, and slip through the exit door.”

  Galicia nodded and they approached the short office hall. Galicia’s vision glowed red and as they passed the first door, she tapped her red keys and the walls of the passage illuminated for ten meters before fading after they passed. She did this twice more before the duo emerged into the center of the main office corridor. The passage to the left ended abruptly at a large file cabinet resting against the wall, while the opening to the right led past a collection of office doors toward Sinza's predetermined exit. Quickly, the pair sprinted to the far door and turned the knob, only to find it locked. A faint red glow emanated from around the doorframe, causing Galicia to swear in frustration.