That part of her ritual completed, she stood, stomped around to ensure her heels were set in the footwear, and added her heavy fabric top. It was also an unadorned black and somewhat blade resistant. She lowered her vest over her shoulders and pulled the straps tight before she twisted left and right to make sure it was seated properly.
The utility belt wrapped around the bottom of her tunic and held it in place. She slipped her Ruger into the holster beside her spine and touched the grip of the Bowie knife that hung in the center. A cylinder was attached on the left of the pistol, appropriately sized for captured wands. Zip ties and a medpack completed the items on her belt. She holstered the Glock on her right hip and slotted two additional mags for it in the pouch on her vest. The rifle came next, and its replacement magazines went into her chest pouches as well. She stowed an extra spare for the carbine in a pouch on her left thigh-guard. She smiled as she stashed the tiny canister of pepper spray that Kayleigh had given her a long time before into the matching container on the other leg.
She stood and slung her rifle over it all and checked to make sure the strap positioned it exactly where she wanted it. There were two locations for grenades on a short line that dangled where her holster would have been if she were left-handed. She slotted in a sonic and a flash-bang. They’d all agreed incendiaries were a bad choice to use in their own facility.
Diana rolled her neck and glanced around surreptitiously. Bryant was pulling his vest on. Tony sat fully equipped and stared at the lockers. Cara tested the draw of her revolver. Rath twirled his batons in circles and lazy figure-eights in the space between the equipping area and the core. She reviewed her placements to be sure her hands knew where the two anti-magic magazines for her rifle and pistol were and where the spare standard carbine mag was, so she could find them by touch.
Rath had two grenade holders on the bandoliers across his chest. Pepper grenades occupied both slots. The rest of the team had selected their additional devices and ammunition according to their own preferences.
She drew the shock gloves on and flexed her hands to adjust the fit before she plugged the cables in. With deft movements, she twisted the connectors to lock them in place. She threaded them back along her arms to the vest’s connection points under her armpits. They had tested the new toys and found the cable distracting, so she wound a Velcro loop around each arm above the elbow to keep the line from moving.
Bodysuits really aren’t a bad idea.
Now that she’d finished suiting up, she turned to check on her team. They stood in a small circle with her at the center and waited for their glorious leader to direct them. She spoke quietly, since she was fearful of breaking the thick layer of confidence, real or projected, that they displayed. “Let’s go.”
The agents and the troll filed out in a line to a pair of SUVs in the garage. They locked their carbines in the holders in the rear. Diana slid behind the wheel and Bryant took shotgun. Rath rode in the back and gripped the seatbelt where it cut across his chest.
Booster seat. Right. I need to make it standard.
She took the lead and led the other car from the parking garage to navigate the streets toward the north side and the Cube’s secret access. It was located along the river as part of a securely locked former manufacturing complex. The gate swung wide at a signal from Bryant’s watch and closed itself after they passed through.
There was a total of five buildings, and they drove to the one nearest the water. The huge double door in the front was already in motion, and they pulled in without stopping. The cars swung in opposite curves to park facing the exit before the motors cut out.
They piled out and retrieved their weapons from the rear of the vehicles, then crossed to the guard who stood nearby. He wore the Cube’s standard uniform with riot gear over it, minus the shield and helmet, and had a stun rifle strapped across his chest.
If they get past us, you will all need a lot more than stunners.
Diana didn’t speak. She only followed as he led them silently into the tunnel.
The corridor was secured by heavy metal doors every ten yards or so and ran for almost a mile, according to the display on Diana’s glasses. The warden hadn’t been kidding when she’d told them during their tour that the exit was secured and could only be accessed as an entry if their route was enabled by someone from within the Cube.
Finally, they entered on level three, which they hadn’t yet seen. The Warden had been truthful, as it was a carbon copy of the level above and the emergency exit was the only variation. The final barrier clanged shut behind them, as had each previous one as they passed it. A green light appeared above the door, and the guard raised the walkie-talkie attached to his vest. “Exit three, secure.”
“Exit three secure, confirmed,” squawked the comm almost immediately.
He led them to the elevators, and they rose to the ground level of the facility. Murphy waited at the top to wish them luck, and they exchanged a few words. The team crossed into the office building through the same security gauntlet they’d experienced during the tour, only in the opposite direction, and peered out the glass doors. There was nothing to see. Yet. Diana checked her watch.
Three hours to go.
She toggled the switch to temporarily isolate their comms from the channel they shared with the personnel in the Cube. She could still listen to them, but they wouldn’t hear her or her team. “Kayleigh, what’s your status?”
The blonde’s energetic voice answered a moment later. “All good here, boss. I’m set up in the core. I have taps on the Pittsburgh Police surveillance grid, plus their comms and drones, which are ancient.”
Diana shook her head and smiled. The tech took the use of non-cutting-edge technology as a personal affront.
Kayleigh continued. “We’re in on the Cube’s sources, too. Drones and area cameras both, but nothing on the inside.” The Warden had only been willing to share so much, and Diana couldn’t blame her. The wider the bandwidth, the more likely the enemy would notice it. She made a mental note to have a hardwire established between the two facilities. “I have feeds from each of your glasses, and also our own drones.”
Tony blinked in surprise. “We have drones?”
Her voice was tinged with scorn. “Of course we do. I brought them with me. It’s stupid not to have them in the first place.”
Diana shook her head again. “Well, I guess you’d better plan to stay awhile and get things set up right for us, then, right?”
Kayleigh ignored the comment. “One of my drones is circling at a two-block radius. The other is holding position over you. They're each good for hours of flight time, and I have a spare ready to go up if it’s needed.”
Cara asked, “Are they armed?”
“Nope. Too dangerous.”
“What if we put stun guns on them?”
The tech sighed. “We’re not really into the whole urban pacification thing at ARES.”
Tony weighed in with an audible grin. “What’s a little stun between friends?”
She didn’t reply directly and instead, said, “Boss?”
“Yes?”
“You’d better add getting a lawyer to your to-do list with these folks around.”
They all chuckled, and Bryant added, “No lawyer. Too expensive. You all need to behave.”
Diana killed her mic. “It seems our original plan is still a good one. Bryant, Rath, and I will blunt the initial attack on the ground floor. If we’re lucky, they’ll split their force and try to get into the underground levels of the Cube, which won't work out so well for them. If we’re pressed, we'll fall back to the stairwell and hold them on it for as long as we can. When forced to retreat, we’ll head up to C.”
She pointed two fingers at the remaining team members. “Tony and Cara, you be ready to ambush them if they make it to B. Otherwise, we can nail them from two sides between the levels. If they do engage and you feel the need to retreat, throw the grenades and get up to D. We’ll pop in and try to b
lock them after you leave. And if they ignore levels B and C and go directly to D for some ungodly reason, we’ll attack from the rear.”
They nodded, and she gave them a confident smile. “Ideally, we’ll kick their asses and saunter out the front door in an abundance of glory. Worst case, we go out the windows.” She toggled her mic. “Kayleigh, status of the helicopter?”
“Standing by for liftoff at the air reserve base. It’ll take off the moment you say go and will be ready to evacuate you if needed.”
Diana nodded and muted her comm. “Questions, anyone?”
Tony raised a hand, and she gave him a withering look. “Yes, Detective Ryan.”
“Ma’am? I was wondering what these assholes are actually after here, ma’am.”
She laughed. “We’re simply taking our best guess here, Tony. It stands to reason that if their goal is to make a statement, which it seems to be, their best choice is to get into the Cube itself. But we know that won’t happen, barring something incredibly unexpected that we’ll have to find a way to deal with if it happens. That leaves them the option to cause trouble in here. They don’t know it contains nothing useful, so we’ll turn that to our advantage and eliminate those we can. If we can manage prisoners, that would be nice, but not at the cost of harm to the team.”
Everyone nodded, and she checked her watch again. “Two and a half hours. Let’s get into position, just in case, and then we do the hardest part of the job—wait for the action to start.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
As they waited for the evening’s adventure to begin, Diana, Rath, and Bryant sat in a circle, talking easily over the comm with Cara and Tony. After the fear of the unknown had faded into the exhaustion of waiting, Diana made up an excuse and sent Rath up to check on the other two, which left her and Bryant alone.
He wasn’t fooled. As soon as the troll was out of earshot, he gave her a searching look. “What’s up? Are you okay?”
She nodded.
Except for the incredible awkwardness of this moment, I’m great. Thanks.
A part of her wished there would be a sneak attack to forestall the next few minutes, but it didn’t come. “So, I know.”
He frowned. “What do you know?”
“What you are.”
“Handsome? Charming? Smarter than average? A real prize, like my mom always said?”
Classic. Humor to deflect pain.
“A wizard.”
He blinked, seemed about to speak, then blinked some more. Finally, he said, “Samuels.” She nodded. “Did he tell you all about it?”
Diana shook her head. “Nope. He only said that you had chosen a different path than most.”
“Well, that’s true enough.” He laughed. “Although technically, I’m descended from wizards, not an actual wizard.”
She waved her hand. “Semantics. Is the different path the whole no-wand thing?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“Well, I’ve been collecting these when I can in case they’re useful.” She extended the canister she’d used to store the wands she’d taken.
He opened it and grinned. “There may be one in here that would fit the bill. But, generally, I prefer guns.”
“Why?”
His grin stretched wider. “Any fool can throw people around with telekinesis. Bullets take skill.”
She flicked the container with a bolt of power, tumbled its contents into his lap, and stood. “Now you have something to entertain you, skill-boy,” she snarked and stalked off in a dramatic huff.
Rath chose that moment to return, stared at them both, and shook his head in the same manner as a despairing parent would. Humans would never, ever, make total sense to him.
The crowds began to gather a half hour before the listed protest time. Kayleigh fed images from their own sources and local news to the team’s glasses. They showed a diverse number of people carrying a wide variety of signs. As the group had managed to put a name—Stuart Young—to the lawyer’s face behind the fearmongering, it was merely a matter of weeding out the Remembrance plants from the concerned citizens.
The next twenty minutes were more of the same, albeit with larger crowds as the people closed on the Cube from all directions. A street-level shot from the facility’s cameras showed the office building illuminated by decorative floodlights, the epitome of corporate America. Unfortunately, it hadn’t managed to hide the prison beneath for nearly as long as they’d intended.
Kayleigh’s voice was energized, and Diana pictured her striding around the core, reviewing data sources, and interacting with several computers at a time. The thought brought a smile to her face despite the gravity of the situation. “All right. I see patterns in the crowd’s movement. Most notable are two suspicious groups incoming from north and west. I can’t get close enough for facial recognition for fear of spooking the crowd, but they seem to be traveling together and in larger numbers than any other group on my scans.”
“Got it,” Diana replied.
Bryant added, “Essentially what we expected.” She looked at him and had to admit it was strange having him along. There was a certain out of sight, out of mind advantage at work. Switching back and forth between regional SAC and BAM field agent didn’t seem to be a problem for him, though. His fingers drummed on the trigger guard of his carbine as he waited and scanned the data in his lenses.
Kayleigh’s voice took on a note of concern. “The bigger worry looks like it’s coming from the east.” The feed shifted to a drone in motion, presumably under the tech’s control. It rocketed forward, then paused and hovered with its camera centered on a pack of Kilomea moving from rooftop to rooftop. Diana counted eight in total as they crossed hand-over-hand on a line strung from one tall building to the next.
“You know, if that drone had a gun, you could probably shoot that rope right out from under them,” Tony said matter-of-factly.
“I wasn’t lying when I said they weren’t armed, detective.”
Cara added, “Maybe the warden’s drones?”
“I don’t have control over them, and her people made it clear that they were needed for their own protection.” Another window opened, and they could see the scene from the Cube’s hardware, which hovered high above the main routes. The feed homed in on three smaller drones that flew lower and seemed to prefer stealth rather than overt action.
“Okay, so they belong to either the Remembrance or the protestors,” Dianna said. “What are they doing with them?”
“My best guess is data collection for possible prosecutions if things go bad. Since they’re located on the way in, rather than around the facility itself, they can fly a little lower.”
Diana barked a laugh. “So, what, it’s okay to get the crowd riled up before they’re all gathered together, but not when they are?”
“Apparently,” Bryant replied.
She refocused on the feed. One of the Kilomea had noticed the drone and held a knife in his hand. Her mind corrected—huge knife—when she remembered that although they looked normal size in the drone’s view, they were far from it. The image the feed caught before it went black was that of the blade spinning toward the drone with wicked accuracy.
Kayleigh was irate. “Shit. I do not have an endless supply of drones. You make sure to smack that guy at least once for me.”
They laughed, and the overhead drone camera replaced the lost one. Diana asked, “What’s the timing?”
“The big guys will arrive immediately before the others. My estimation is less than a minute’s difference.”
Diana shook her head. “No coincidences. Alert SWAT and the PD about the ones to the north and west. They’ll want to be ready in case they do something crazy like threaten the crowd. They should try to funnel them toward the office building where we can deal with them.” She looked at Bryant and saw her own worries on his face. “In fact, Kayleigh, tell them they should consider pushing the protestors back while they can. That’s a lot of potential firepower comin
g in.”
Diana, Bryant, and Rath moved into position. The floor was essentially a wide central area with five offices along each side. Diana had chosen an office on the left as she faced the lobby, and Bryant had chosen the same office on the right. Rath had stationed himself one room back from her in a good position for a surprise attack if she were forced to retreat. She lowered to one knee and aimed her rifle at the entrance. Bryant would do the same on the other side. She triggered her mic. “Floor B, what’s your status?”
Tony replied immediately. “We’re hiding out in cubicle land, with overwatch on the stairwell.”
“Waiting is boring,” Cara whined dramatically.
Diana laughed. “It’s too late to switch, I’m afraid. If it’s any consolation, if they do make it to you, they’ll be fired up.”
The data feeds in her glasses disappeared to avoid distraction. Kayleigh had promised eventual upgrades that would let them see heat signatures, but for now, a clear view was a better view. A single loud crash was rapidly followed by several more in the lobby, and she tensed. The doors banged wide, but no one came through. She whispered, “Contact,” and received a click from Bryant followed by a quiet, “Acknowledged,” from Cara and Tony.
A single Kilomea entered. She ducked into the office as he checked the first one on her side. She delayed, hoping to hear another enter before she revealed herself. Another click sounded over the comms that she took as Bryant’s signal that the intruder was about to step out of the second office. She waited a moment longer, then leaned around the corner at knee height. Diana pulled the trigger in two sets of three and allowed the recoil to lift the barrel, and the hulking brute fell as blood spurted from his wounds. His dying shriek shattered the stillness, and more creatures burst through the doorway.
Rifle fire roared from her right as she rose to add her carbine to the assault. In a sight that had to be seen to be believed, the Kilomea intercepted the bullets with improvised shields. It looked like they had broken the heavy guard desk apart and carried large sections of it in front of them. Most of the agents’ barrage was deflected, and what did manage to penetrate didn’t stop the enemy’s progress. The ones with the barriers angled toward the BAM team. Both humans backpedaled ahead of the advance.
Federal Agents of Magic Boxed Set Page 41