by Ryan Lohner
Jim butted in with, “How much longer? Not that I’m impatient, just … yeah, actually that sounds about right. I’m impatient, and also kind of hot.” They were all again wearing the clothes they’d had on when they were brought to this world, now well laundered, since returning home wearing the rebels’ clothes would arouse even more questions they would be hard-pressed to give believable answers to. And while those clothes had been well suited to prowling through the woods late at night, the weather here was far warmer, even at this moment shortly before dawn. On their way to the resistance headquarters Matt had been too preoccupied with the weirdness of the whole situation to really notice, but after a few days to let it sink in, he now found it hard to focus on anything else. It didn’t help that the buildings around them were clearly trapping the heat between them. Though he did take some pride in not being the first to complain; he imagined some people in the group would see that as real progress on his part.
Bram sighed, carrying quite a bit of weight in that sound. Matt could sympathize. “It shouldn’t be too long now. Of course, considering the first distraction is one of the groups who are left without communication, it’s really entirely in their hands, isn’t it?”
That would be Mike and CJ, who were currently at the edge of town preparing some incident that would get the police’s attention, and get at least some of them as far away as possible. Charlie had left it up to them exactly what to do, and upon hearing this they had simply grinned at each other, a malevolent gleam in their eyes. None of the others seemed inclined to press further, and Matt and his friends had elected to follow their example. Gift horses, and all that.
“Hold on,” whispered Bram, as a set of cars pulled out from around the back of the building. Matt was surprised to see how similar they looked to vehicles from his world; they would certainly never be mistaken as such, with their sleeker aerodynamic design and smaller headlights, but they still showed the same basic shape. He supposed that once streamlining got put into the model there wasn’t much else to really do to improve it. Although of course …
Jim finished the thought for him. “I kind of figured there would be flying cars.”
Bram said, “Oh, there are. But like I said, the police here aren’t expected to really do much, so they don’t get any dibs on their equipment. Sometimes I feel a little bad for them. Then I remember how they beat me up when I was a kid.”
Jane said, “What, the same guys who are there now?”
“Oh, I’m sure there have been staff changes. But it’s the kind of thing that sticks with you. You know, traumatic.”
“Oh, trust me, I know,” said Matt. Now wasn’t the time to get into it, but he’d had a couple run-ins with the police as well, sure that he was guilty of whatever they were investigating. Now that he thought of it, if they pulled this off it might actually be pretty cathartic for him.
“Okay, it looks like everyone’s out who’s going out,” said Bram. “Now let’s see if this works.” He pulled out Matt’s phone and called Jim’s, which was now in the hands of a group in a building next door to the station. He frowned. “I can hear you, but the sound quality is terrible.”
“You may want to speak up,” said Matt.
Bram repeated himself a bit louder, and said to Matt, “That’s as loud as I’m willing to get. We don’t want people investigating the crazy man yelling in the street, do we?”
But it was apparently enough, since a few more seconds passed and then he said, “Oh, great. So you can hear me. Well, Mike and CJ did their bit. Now it’s your turn.”
The building next to the police station was a high rise that towered above it. The people Bram had been speaking to were on the fourth floor, just above the station’s roof, and now Matt could barely make out one of them in the window. He hefted what looked like a rifle, but only fired a set of suction cups (not actually what they were, but the description was close enough for Matt) attached to a high strength wire. Bram and Lilah had shown them the device last night, which had been built by a man named Sam.
“Though call me Sammy, because we already have Sam the cook,” he’d said.
As he’d got to work, Lilah explained, “He was a pretty famous gun manufacturer, so he can’t exactly go outside much, but give him a new toy to tinker with and he’s happy.”
“And now we wait some more,” said Bram.
* * *
The night before had been an emotional one for everyone. Matt could barely get through his dinner, despite Sam outdoing himself by hauling in some quality beefsteak.
“It’s a bigger risk than usual, but I figure we could all use the treat right now.”
Jane and Jim seemed to have the same issue, only rarely putting something in their mouth, despite the savory smell and the juices running thick and making his stomach growl in anticipation.
Sam was just as friendly to them as always, something that could not be said for many of the others. Lilah, Mike, and CJ were still on their side, but everywhere else he looked, Matt saw nothing but disapproval and resentment. He supposed it may have partially been his and his friends’ fault. He didn’t know the name of a single one of the people giving him those looks, and maybe if he had taken the time to befriend more of them, they would be inclined to see him as more than a millstone around their necks. For the past few days it had seemed more important to just prepare as much as possible, but hindsight was taking its toll now.
But he was far from accepting the blame completely. The bulk of it he still reserved for Charlie, who had deliberately turned the group against them. Matt was absolutely sure of it, though why exactly he was doing it remained elusive. Matt couldn’t think of anything they had done that would give him cause to hate them so much. So what else could it be? Everyone spoke of him with such high regard, there had to be some reason for doing it.
Well, whatever it was, Matt wasn’t going to figure it out now. So he just ignored all the glares as best he could and concentrated on enjoying the food. After that, the three friends went to get an early sleep, since they would be waking up very early the next morning, and one more round of working out really wasn’t going to help them much more than they’d already achieved. Though before that, he still had some things he needed to say.
“Guys, whatever happens tomorrow, I’m sorry for this. I know you’ve both said you’re responsible too, but really, if it wasn’t for my crazy idea, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened. So please, just let me say it, this once.”
Jim and Jane paused for a couple seconds, and then Jim said, “I keep thinking about how I got involved in this.” Upon glancing at Matt’s face, he hurriedly added, “Oh, I’m not blaming you, just thinking about how much I suddenly wanted to get involved once I heard about it. What was up with that?”
Jane said, “Yeah, I was pretty surprised by that one, too. But as surprised as I am to say it, I’m grateful you came along. That guy Reeves would have done who knows what if you hadn’t been there to help me.”
Jim chuckled. “You might have been able to handle him yourself. Those were some pretty sweet moves you had today.”
Matt smiled. “I’ve got to agree with him on that one. And meanwhile, you’re both going to be carrying me the whole way.”
Jane replied, “Hey, don’t sell yourself short. You got us all back together with that cell phone trick, and then you came up with a way that this whole plan might actually work.”
Jim said, “I’ll accept your apology, but I do have to insist it be limited to that.”
Matt was quite surprised by the responses and his smile widened. “Thanks, guys. Now, how about we get some sleep? I think we’re going to need it.”
* * *
A light flashed twice in the window next to the police station’s front door. Bram grinned. “Okay, now it’s our turn.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Bram pulled on a grey leather mask before they set out, like everyone else going inside the building was wearing. The exceptions were Matt, Jim, and Jane, since regardless
of the operation’s success or failure, they wouldn’t be around long enough to worry about getting caught. Matt still thought that should make him more worried than he was, but somehow all he could think about was the next step in front of him. He hadn’t had any idea his brain would work like this in a crisis, and he was very grateful for it.
They went across the street and right in the front door. Inside was the lobby, where two sullen men sat behind the large front desk with their arms crossed, three of the rebels covering them with those strange guns the three were so familiar with now. ‘Pulsers,’ Matt now knew they were called, so named because they created a microscopic pulse of force that bounced back and forth to build up its speed before being sent out the front end, all in far less time than it seemed such a process should reasonably take. It required no ammunition, with the only limitation being the recharge time, indicated by the cylinder of the chosen setting rising back out. The police uniforms were similar to the armor worn by Chapman’s men but colored dark red. And unfortunately, their being in this different branch of security meant a different system for the fingerprints that would activate the armor. And since there weren’t any police uniforms in the rebels’ hands, they would have to do without that protection, at least until they got back to the corridor building.
One of the policemen said flatly, “Like I told these guys, just do what you came for and get out. Any more trouble really isn’t worth what they pay us.”
Bram replied, “Considering what they pay you comes straight from people like us until we can hardly make a living, I’d say we’re even.”
The other man laughed sardonically. “Oh, and you’re the innocent party in all this? Maybe if you didn’t pull stuff like this, we wouldn’t even have to be here.”
The first man sighed. “Henry, stop wasting time. Just let them go do their thing.”
Bram nodded at him. “Smart man.” He pointed at one of the rebels. “You should be enough to keep both of them covered.” Then he turned to the other two. “Both of you, with us. Oh, and give him the phone. No sense having two of them together.”
Despite what he was saying, these deployments had been carefully planned beforehand. Lines like this had been Bram’s own idea, giving the impression that the attack was being far more improvised than it really was. Getting the enemy to underestimate you was always useful. Charlie had been sure to fawn all over it, of course. Anything to make one of his people look better at the expense of Matt and his friends. Matt still ground his teeth at the memory.
They went to the right of the desk and through a door directly ahead. Behind it was a hall with several doors lining the left side. “Feels almost like home, doesn’t it?” said Bram.
One of the other rebels said, “Enough that I just wish I was there right now.” Matt resolutely faced forward; the mask would make it impossible to actually see the scorn he was sure the man was looking at them with, but he knew he would still see it. He just kept repeating to himself in his head that engaging would only make things worse, and this would all be over soon anyway. It didn’t help much.
Jim got the phone out again. “Phase two is complete. You’re up.” This call was going to one of a few teams in other places in the building and now was the time when the setup to pass around the phones would take full effect. The station would be relatively unoccupied thanks to Mike and CJ, but there would still be quite a few cops between them and the room where the programs were being stored. So those other groups would now be at work clearing a path for Bram as best they could, by luring the cops into other areas. The tricky part was that they occasionally had to meet to pass the remaining phone around and make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be. Everyone had drilled the whole previous day about where they should be and when, and their final pass had been flawless but they still didn’t want to take any chances they didn’t need to. And meanwhile, the man guarding the front desk would also be on the lookout for the return of any of the cops who had left, which was why he got a phone of his own. Of course, this meant it had a slim chance of getting returned to them in time for the trip back, and ultimately Jim had volunteered his phone for this position, saying simply, “I’ve got a good insurance plan anyway.” Matt had no idea how serious that statement had been.
They had more luck than anyone had dared to hope for at first, moving through several halls and up to the second level, with the cops being redirected everywhere except where the group was. But of course it couldn’t last all the way and they eventually turned a corner to come face to face with three men in uniform. Before Matt had even processed the sight, Bram had leaped into action, throwing his arms out to the sides to take on two of them, clotheslining them both. Jim and Jane headed toward the third, leaving Matt a choice of who to help. And in that brief moment, all that could enter his head was the people he was physically closer to, which happened to be Jim and Jane, so he went toward them. Only to see Jane reach the man first and duck under his swinging punch, placing her behind him where she got a shot at his kidney with her elbow. While he was reeling from that, Jim delivered two hard punches to the man’s left side and he went down.
“A little help, please!” came Bram’s voice and Matt turned to see one of the cops holding him from behind, while the other cracked his knuckles and grinned. Matt did the only thing that came to mind and barreled into the latter, in what he was sure was a quite amateurish-looking version of one of the tackles Jim was so good at. It didn’t push the man very far, but it was enough of a distraction for Bram to stomp on the foot of the man who held him, then slide his leg behind the knee and push, sending them both falling back until the cop took the brunt of their hitting the wall. The remaining man now shook off Matt, but Jim made a beautiful tackle, his shoulder hitting just the right spot to leave the man insensate on the floor, before standing up and kicking him in the face. They all ran further down the hall before any of their adversaries could get up.
Bram pointed them toward a room and they went inside. It was an archive, with shelves full of boxes. “Thanks for all your help back there, Matt,” he said sarcastically. “Go help the two people teaming up on one guy instead of the one getting teamed up on by two. That wasn’t very good planning.”
Matt understood the frustration, as now that it was over he fully realized himself how bad his decision had been, but after dealing with these people’s suspicions for days, he was not in the mood. “Look, I’m sorry. It was just instinct.”
Bram chuckled harshly. “Well, it could have got me killed. And then all of you. You got lucky there. We surprised them. Odds are that won’t happen again.”
Matt could only think of one thing to say. “All right, I’ll try to do better next time.”
Jim butted in with, “And there might not be one. Wishful thinking, sue me. Is this the place?”
Bram nodded. “All their reports, their cases, their programs, it all gets put in here.”
Jane frowned. “I thought all that kind of stuff would just be online once we were advanced enough.”
Bram said, “Oh, it’s there too. But no matter how much they fortify it, there’s always a risk that some enterprising person could find a way into the system and mess with it. We’ve had some fun with that, too bad there’s no time to tell stories. Anyway, physical copies are still kept around.” He walked down one row and said, “And we want the most advanced combat training we can get, which should be right … here.” He waved them over.
Bram opened one of the crates on the shelf to reveal labeled stacks of cartridges, an inch square. “Huh,” said Jim. “Looks kind of retro, actually. Like something you’d put in an Atari.”
By now Bram didn’t flinch at the reference he had no context for. “They could be much smaller. Trouble is, they’d be hard to handle. So this is now the standard size for them. Now to select the best ones … ah, who cares, it’s not like we’ll be coming back here.” He reached in and scooped out several cartridges. Then gestured to his jumpsuit. “I’ve got no pockets in thi
s thing. So those coats would be pretty handy. What do you say?”
They all stuffed their coat pockets with the devices and then Matt said, “So where do we go to play these things?”
Bram smiled. “That would be the gym, right next door. Convenient, huh?”
Then came a buzzing from the phone. Bram answered and frowned as he listened, simply said, “Understood. Now tell the others,” and hung up. He looked at the group. “Mike and CJ bought us all the time they could. The rest are starting to come back.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Come on, this way!” said Bram, and ran past the group to the door. “Try to keep up, we really can’t afford to lose any time here!”
They quickly went back through the hall and through the next door down. Inside was a room that looked much like the gym in the resistance base, except before that part of the room actually started, there were several feet of the same slick tile as the rest of the building’s floors, with a row of screens lining the right wall. Bram led them to one and rubbed his finger along the top. The screen lit up and a keyboard was projected into the air in front of it. By now, Matt had pretty much given up being surprised by this sort of thing, which was coming in handy as he really couldn’t afford to dwell on it right now.
“Someone give me a program for some kind of fighting, especially if it says ‘advanced’ on it,” said Bram.
Matt, Jim, and Jane rummaged through their pockets and all quickly came up with one. Bram took Matt’s and rubbed down the right side of the screen, causing a hole to open up in that area. He plugged the cartridge in and typed on the keys in the air, a complex pattern that none of them could follow. “Usually the first one of these anyone gets is the code to open all the others. A little extra security measure. But I can’t think of any reason why you’d need that past today, so I’ll just get each of you started.”
Matt turned to his friends. “Who should go first?”