by Jamie Davis
“I don’t see why not. If we can transport a person in there and have them physically show up in this world, I don’t see why we can’t send something tangible with them and have a signal come back to use. I’ll have to tweak it a little, I’m sure, but it should work, in theory. I’m surprised the VirSync folks didn’t think it up, too. That would have really jacked up your ability to evade them, though, so I’m glad they didn’t.”
Quinn said, “Philip and Velma were always talking about planned upgrades. It could have been something on their list for all we know.”
“True,” Taylor said. “I guess if we ever run into any of them again and they’re wearing body cams, we’ll know.”
Clark put the two baby monitors back in the box. “How long will it take you to do what you need to do?”
Taylor looked over the assembled gear and looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds. “I think I can have it done by tomorrow if everything works the way I think it will.”
Clark nodded. “Good, get on it. I want to continue Quinn’s training using the VR gear as soon as possible.”
“You know, once we get the stuff from VirSync, I’ll need several days or even weeks to put together a usable system.”
Miranda nodded to agree with Taylor. “Plus, we don’t know how long it will take us to get the spells exactly right to meld with the technology. We can’t rush this, Clark.”
He pressed his lips together in a grim line. “I don’t think we’ll have a choice. Once we break back into their perimeter, they’ll know we’re still out here gunning for them. I’m sure they’ll redouble their efforts to track us down. We’ll need to be ready to fight fire with fire of our own. That means we need a way to get Quinn and maybe even me into the VR system as soon as possible.”
Taylor nodded. “I’ll do the best I can. Beyond that, it’ll take more than a little luck.”
“Understood,” Clark said. “First things first. Get the video transmission gear together so we can get what you need from inside. Quinn and I will put our heads together based on what we know about the facility and try to come up with a plan to break in without getting caught. It’s time to see if our young huntress is up to facing down some of her demons again.”
“Don’t worry about me, Clark. I’ll be ready.” Quinn met his gaze, keeping her eyes steady to show her resolve.
Clark smiled and shook his head. “You’re assuming they won’t have beefed things up to make it harder for us. They’ve met us once. They won’t take us for granted again. Now that they know there are real hunters out there looking for them, they can’t afford to let their guard down. They’ll be ready for us, and that means we have to be ready for anything they can throw at us. Come on, let’s get some more reps in tonight before dinner.”
Quinn stifled a groan. She’d just showered.
Clark stared at her from the top of the basement steps until she started to his way. As soon as she did, he started back down to the training area in the basement. There was no break for her while the others tried to assemble the gear. He was going to run her through her paces again and again until she dropped or got it right.
Chapter Four
The following night, after another full day in the basement, training, Quinn stood in the kitchen while Taylor rigged the power cable to the battery in the fanny pack at her waist. She taped it around her arm so the cord remained in place when she moved. It ran up over her shoulder and down her back to the black nylon pack. It held the batteries and electronic guts for the live video rig the tech witch devised over the last day and a half.
“Shrug your shoulders up and down a few times so I can see if it stays in place. I don’t want it coming loose if you get in a fight.” Taylor took a step back to watch as Quinn did as she was told.
After a few training moves with her arms and legs, Quinn stopped and said, “It seems like everything is staying put.”
“Good, I think that’s got it, then. How’s the set up on Clark looking, Miranda?”
Over in the opposite side of the kitchen, Miranda crouched behind the hunter, settling the fanny pack in place after attaching the cable harness that ran to the camera mounted on Clark’s chest. “I think I’ve almost got it worked out...”
The witch stood and looked over the collection of wires and nylon straps that made up the camera rig and harness. “I think we’re good here, Taylor. Not too bad if I say so myself.”
“I’ll echo that,” Quinn said. She twisted at the waist to test the harness holding the camera and cables settled on her shoulders and around her chest. “It was a great idea to use the nylon tow straps you found in the barn to create the harness.”
“That was all Miranda,” Taylor said. “She cut and stitched them together, so they fit both of you just right.”
“You could’ve done it, too,” Miranda said.
Taylor laughed. “Yeah, but I would’ve totally used duct tape instead of taking the time to stitch it with upholstery thread to make sure it stayed in place.”
Clark growled low in his throat. “Enough self-congratulations. We’ve got a lot to do tonight, and it’s going to be dangerous enough without you all giggling about it all night.”
“We’re not giggling, Clark,” Quinn corrected him. “Besides, we’re ready to go when you are.”
“Then let’s load up. It’s late enough that no one should be still around from the normal day shift workers. That should leave just the night guards and janitors for us to avoid.”
“As long as there aren’t any demon-possessed people wandering around,” Taylor cautioned. She looked at Clark. “You did say they no longer slept like normal people once they took over a body.”
“They don’t,” Clark said. “The demons only see them as vessels to be used up. They’ll run their human bodies into the ground if it suits them. Also, they don’t suffer from the same physical and psychological issues as humans who undergo sleep deprivation.” He turned and pushed open the farmhouse’s back door and walked out onto the porch with the others following right behind him.
Quinn glanced up at the bright moon lighting up the night sky above them. It was somewhere around three-quarters full. Only a few dark clouds floated around it. She climbed into the back seat of Clark’s old sedan with Taylor. Clark and Miranda sat in the front. Clark drove.
“You all set?” Quinn asked Taylor.
The hacker smiled and patted the large duffel bag on the seat next to her. “The wireless monitors from the baby cameras are in here so we can watch each of you on your own separate camera feeds. I’ll see what you see. Miranda and I tested them all the way out to the end of the lane, and the feed was crystal clear. That’s almost a quarter-mile. I figure we should be fine if we’re able to park just outside the perimeter wall near the VirSync compound.”
“Good. Hopefully, we can get that close.” Quinn said. She held up crossed fingers and Taylor smiled, matching the gesture.
Clark drove down the lane and headed for the interstate, taking them back to the city.
Everyone fell silent as they continued to drive toward the company compound, each of them lost in their own private thoughts about their chances of success.
Excitement gripped Quinn. She wasn’t apprehensive at all. This was her first opportunity to get out of the farmhouse and do something constructive in over a month. They’d all been virtual prisoners since their escape. Part of her wanted a chance to face off against demon-possessed Cindy or even Myles Hickman again. She needed to get back at them for all the lives they’d affected with their evil plan. Besides the people they’d had their slayers kill while inside the VR system, who knew how many of the remaining candidates had been brought down to that cavern for demonic conversion?
She looked out the window, surprised to see they were already on the road that ran past the VirSync headquarters. It hadn’t taken them long to get to where they were going. She had no idea where the farmhouse was, but apparently, it wasn’t that far from their enemies.
There
was little to no traffic this time of night, and they made good time. They approached the VirSync compound as the only car on the darkened road.
“Something’s wrong,” Miranda said when they were nearing the last intersection before the company’s walled enclosure started.
“What is it?” Clark asked.
“The magic emanating from the area ahead of us feels weaker, not stronger. That makes no sense.”
Clark nodded as he remained stopped at the intersection. He leaned forward, peering over the steering wheel at the darkness ahead of them. “Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be. Unless they’ve come up with a way to mask things better than anything I’ve seen, there would be a much stronger presence from the wards than I’m feeling.”
“Everyone, keep your eyes open,” Clark said. “I don’t know what this means, but if you see anything unusual, call out. I’ll start down past the main entrance. We can just drive by and see what’s up without stopping. Once we get a look past the gate, we can turn around and come back so we can find the best place to try to breach the wall.”
Quinn turned to look out her window as Clark drove them down the road to her former employer’s company headquarters. The tall concrete and wrought iron wall surrounding the compound began on their left as soon as Clark passed through the intersection.
Miranda spoke in a quiet, steady voice as they drove along. “The wards are definitely weaker than they were. In some places, they’ve faded completely. These things need to be reinforced periodically in order for them to be effective. Left alone, the magic quickly dissipates.”
Quinn nodded as they got closer because the witch was correct. Something was different. Quinn used to come here at night to work with the other candidates. What she saw now wasn’t right. It took her a few seconds to figure out what it was.
Taylor beat her to it. “The lights are out. It should be brighter.”
Quinn nodded. “Yeah, she’s right. The parking lot for employees is behind this part of the wall. The lot’s streetlamps in that part of the facility should be lit up this time of night. They’re not. We’d see the glow over the wall if they were.”
“We’re almost to the entrance,” Clark said. “Try to catch a look past the gate with a camera and see if you can spot the main building from the road.”
Taylor slid over to see past Quinn out her window as the two of them watched from the seat behind Clark.
This time Quinn spotted the changes first. “There’s no guard, and the shack by the gate is empty. And look! The gate is open.”
Clark kept driving by as they all tried to see what was up with the company compound. Quinn couldn’t see much past the entrance even with the gate open. The main building sat back away from the road far enough that she could only see the upper floors. The windows there were dark, but that was to be expected this time of night.
After they passed by, Clark looked at Miranda. “Anything?”
The witch shook her head. “It’s the same as I said before. The wards have faded. I can’t sense any increased magical presence at all. It’s like it’s deserted.”
“That can’t be the case. Why would they do something like that?” Clark asked. “They ran us off and still had every advantage over us.”
A thought occurred to Quinn. “Yeah, but do they know that? We managed to escape and defeated or even killed several of them on the way out. They thought all the hunters were dead until we showed up. Maybe that spooked them to the point that they shut down operations completely.”
“Unlikely,” Clark replied. “Still, you might be partly right. My guess is they just moved to a new location.”
“Turn around and go back to the main entrance,” Quinn said. “If they’re gone, we’ll be able to enter and drive all the way out to the main building without anyone stopping us.”
“That’s pretty bold, Quinn,” Clark said, then without warning, turned the wheel, executing a U-turn that took them back the way they came. “But, as they say, fortune favors the bold.”
Soon they were back at the main gate. “Here goes,” Clark said as he goosed the accelerator and pulled the beat-up sedan up the sloped driveway past the main entrance and into the VirSync compound.
As they drove up to the front of the darkened structure of the main office building, Quinn shook her head. “They’re completely gone. There’s no one here at all.”
“Don’t assume that,” Clark warned. “It could be a trap.”
“A trap they left like this every night for a month in hopes we’d come back?” Quinn replied. “That doesn’t make sense. It looks like they’ve pulled out and left this place vacant.”
Clark looked at Miranda.
She nodded. “I don’t sense anything. When we were here last, there was a strong presence of magic. It’s just not here anymore. There’s barely a trickle of magic around anymore.”
Quinn pointed to the circle driveway that pulled up to the main entrance doors. “Pull up there. I’ll get out and try the doors.”
Clark shrugged and drove up to the doors. Quinn and Taylor both hopped out and walked to the building’s entrance. Quinn checked the doors as she peered past the glass door into the darkened entryway. If the building was occupied, there should be a security guard seated at the desk midway across the broad open lobby. The tall desk sat empty. Quinn pulled the door handles with both hands.
“They’re locked, but the building looks deserted.”
Behind her, the car’s engine stopped. As she continued to peer into the dark, deserted lobby, Clark and Miranda came over and joined the two teens by the entrance.
“You’re right. It looks like they bugged out,” Clark said. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t still some danger here. This was a place of evil power, and there could be residual magic or even physical traps around. Everyone should stay on their toes.”
Quinn and Taylor nodded. Clark looked at the door and waved a hand past the locks at the top and bottom of the doors, his fingers forming a sort of symbol. An audible click sounded each time.
“How’d you do that?” Quinn asked.
“You should be able to learn to do it. Maybe you will if I can figure out a way to train you. That’s why we’re here, remember?”
Taylor leaned against the glass, staring in at the darkened lobby. “Do you think they left anything behind for us to grab?”
Clark shrugged. “No way to know until we get in there and look around. I’ll go first, then Miranda. You two come behind us. The two of us will try to detect any trouble before we stumble upon anything. You two keep your eyes open anyway. Say something if you see anything that doesn’t look right.”
Quinn and Taylor nodded and came forward to follow the other two inside as Clark pulled open the door and stepped into the building. The two girls walked in behind the others, letting the heavy glass door shut behind them.
Chapter Five
The farther Quinn and the others went into the facility, the surer they were the company headquarters had been vacated in a hurry.
“Look,” Taylor said as they passed the hallway with the VR training rooms. “Most of the computer equipment was left behind in the outer control rooms. They cleaned out the VR gear and specialized electronics, but they left the basic computers. It makes sense. They can buy those anywhere.”
Clark nodded. “That means they moved the operation to send out the slayers. They only took the stuff they needed to set up again in a new location. Is there anything here you can use?”
Taylor shrugged, “This is good stuff, but nothing here is unique. If we have time, I could grab a few monitors, but that’s it.”
“Okay,” Clark said. “We’ll keep looking. Where were those storerooms you mentioned?”
Taylor pointed down the hall.
Quinn nodded. She knew the ones Taylor meant from the description she gave. “They’re down there past the locker rooms. I can show you. Taylor, grab what you need here with Miranda while Clark and I go and get the s
torerooms unlocked. We’ll wait for you there.”
Taylor nodded, and Miranda held back to remain with Taylor.
Quinn followed Clark down the hall as he led the way. “It’s not far. Just before the end of the hall.”
“Stay behind me, just in case they left some sort of magical trap behind,” Clark cautioned.
“I’m fine. I’ve got my amulet.”
“Don’t count on that too much, Quinn. It’s a crutch. Your brain is your best defense. It’s better to use the amulet like an emergency backup parachute. You don’t want to use it because it means things are super messed up and out of your control at that point.”
Quinn nodded, but her hand drifted up to brush the amulet hanging around her neck. It had protected her and warned her ever since she could remember. She didn’t like to think she relied on it too much. It had been such a constant in her life. She followed Clark’s instructions to stay behind him, though.
There were no traps, and the two of them reached the storeroom without incident. Clark unlocked it using his spell or ability to do so. She was unsure which it was.
Quinn pulled the door open and saw a ten-foot square room full of random electronics and gear. The stuff was stacked on shelves and filled most of the floor, too.
“Do you know what Taylor needs?” Clark asked.
“No, she’s the techie. She should be here soon.”
“I’m here, I’m here,” Taylor said.
Taylor and Miranda pushed a small wheeled cart down the hall. A pair of computer monitors and a tower computer system sat on the lower of the cart’s two shelves.
“Did you get enough?” Quinn asked with a grin. This must be like Christmas in July for her friend.
“When Miranda found the cart and knowing we have the car pulled right up out front, I figured there wasn’t any reason not to grab anything that might be helpful to us.”
Clark pointed to the dark storage room. “What about in here? Is this the stuff you needed?”