“…tonight. Just give her another bag of fluids and we’ll escort her to G8 for her lighting ceremony.”
Like hell they would.
“Have her ready for consciousness at seventeen hundred hours.”
“Yes, sir. Do you want to see her?”
“No. I need to get to the operations room to prepare for Ms. Terry’s journey. It is almost time.”
Talon heard one set of footprints growing fainter as the door slid open. A man sauntered in, too distracted by his tablet to notice his very high profile subject was missing. She grabbed his arm and swung him against the wall just inside the room. His immediate reaction was to swing, which she easily evaded. Talon put the butt of her hand into his nose with a sharp jab.
“Argh,” he fell back in pain.
His tablet collided with the floor as the door slid closed. The man wore a lab coat over a military green uniform and a set of glasses now sat catawampus on the bridge of his nose. Talon classified him quickly as a non-threat…physically at least, but that didn’t mean he was innocent.
“How in the world did you wake up?” he pinched his nose to keep the blood from rushing out.
“I killed myself.”
He looked at her as best he could with his chin tilted high. “How did you figure it out?”
“You need to fire your programmer.”
“Shit. They are going to kill me.”
“I’m guessing that is you then. Here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to tell me everything and then you’re going to take me to Kierra, and then,” she took a step forward, “you are going to get me out of here or I will kill you.”
He scoffed, sending a stream of red liquid trickling off his jawline. “You have it all wrong. I’m not one of them.”
She had to admit he didn’t ooze evil like the others, but he was still a coward and a nerd who worked for terrorists. “You drove me crazy in there,” she pointed to the gurney. “You strapped me to that chair and tortured my mind. That makes you a willing accomplice, and that means you have to die.”
The man stood there looking conflicted…but people were selfish. Talon took a dramatic breath and pretended to prepare herself for delivery of a heinous beat-down. Her right arm flew forward.
“No, please!” he shouted, covering his face with his elbow.
“Start talking or I won’t give you another chance.”
“That was all your simulation,” he waved his free limb in giant circles. “Your final exam...in the black floor program.”
“What?”
“You didn’t just wake up from the prison room with Kierra. No. It’s all been your final exam. Everything. All of it. You didn’t come out of the simulation when Levi asked you to marry him. All of it was a test. None of your experiences from then until now have been real. We are in the DOLO right now.”
“Where’s Juv? Why am I in this room?”
“He had a family member pass away and I was assigned to you. I’m Franklin.”
Talon was completely torn from reality. “What? How is that possible? I don’t understand.”
“We’ve known for a long time reality as we know it is a simulation.”
“Why?” How could her committee have permission to do such a thing? She would probably have to seek therapy now.
“The black floor knows who your father is. Every potential agent and their entire family is screened with scrutinizing detail. They wanted to see how far you would go to find Kravis. They wanted to see what you knew…if you could lead them to him. They wanted to know if you could stay on the right team and on the right mission. You failed, my darling.”
“I…I…,” she stuttered. Talon was overwhelmed and confused. She looked to her feet as her mind raced. All of the events and interactions and feelings she had over the past weeks fast-forwarded in her mind. None of it was real? How was that level of authenticity programmed? She didn’t understand. Then, the unmistakable metallic click of a safety being turned off snapped her out of her reverie. The business end of a gun was pointed at her heart.
“Now that would have been a crazy story, huh?”
She had been duped.
The programmer laughed. “Tell me, were you relieved or disappointed just then when all the carnage and mistakes were erased like that?” he snapped his fingers.
Talon could barely think. She blamed it on post-simulation fogginess. “I don’t know.”
“I was watching you,” he flicked his chin in the direction of the computer, “contemplating all of your life choices. Thinking you could do it differently. Well, you can’t. You are who you are. Your choices have been made, and there is no going back. I must say, I’m a little disappointed,” he said, looking her up and down. “I’ve heard so many stories about how special you are.”
“Kravis would be pretty upset to hear you hurt his daughter.”
“Must I prove to you that no matter what happens right now, you will end up with the same fate? I, however, would like to live right now.”
“What?” They were all crazy, she decided, every single one of them.
“What do you want to do right now? I will say yes to…almost anything.”
It was a good thing he added the disclaimer. “Let me go.”
“Go on then,” he flicked his firearm towards the door. “I won’t tell anybody. Take your chances out there.” The programmer gave her a crooked smile that sent a shiver down her spine.
“Where is Kierra?”
“Room 201.”
Talon didn’t hesitate in case the loon changed his mind. She slipped through the sliding door and sprinted down the hall as fast as her feet would carry her. She knew right away, just from experience, that she wasn’t on a spaceship. The fact was a relief. There was nowhere to run on a ship. Suddenly, a door up ahead swished open and three uniformed men slipped out in deep conversation. She tried to grind to a halt but went sliding instead, slamming straight into one of them.
Everyone’s instincts kicked in. In a flurry of grunts and jabs, Talon sent two of the men to the floor in a groaning heap. The last one, who was wickedly handsome, hadn’t tried to fight her. Instead he remained poised, waiting for her to make a move. They both stood with their hands up, ready to defend first and finish last. The man had the gall to give her a dimpled side-grin that was entirely too patronizing for her liking.
She made a pass for his face, which he successfully blocked with an arching motion and countered with his own jab. She ducked just in time and went for a kick to his ribs. The stranger caught her foot and she spun to plant the other one on the side of his temple. He fell to the ground, partly from the pain and partly from the force of her body weight, but he never let her go. As soon as Talon hit the ground, his arms were around her.
The scoundrel grabbed her around the shoulders and rolled her back on top of him, squeezing the air from her lungs. She sent a leg flying over her head and surprised him with a swift kick to the nose. The man growled, but didn’t loosen his grip. Talon was getting desperate for air and this man was too overpowering in this position. She lifted her knee and swung her calf backwards, jamming her heel straight into his groin.
Her combater groaned and, like all men, went to cup his precious cargo with both hands. She untangled herself from his body hold and stood over him. His eyes met hers, and Talon saw something – other than pain – in his green reflections that frightened her. She didn’t hate him. The thought made her turn and run as fast as she could the other way. When she reached the end of the hallway, she took a moment to throw her socks off so they would not betray her again. Talon couldn’t help it. She turned. The dangerously good-looking stranger was staring at her in confusion, perhaps because he didn’t know who she was or maybe because he had just been owned by a girl. In any case, she slipped around the corner and tried to erase him from her mind.
Talon opted for the stairwell rather than the elevator as she ascended towards the surface. Assuming the floors were numbered in descending order, Kierra
was on the way. The simulation room had been on the fifth level down, which made her wonder just how deep the compound was. The Sinupecs were far more advanced than anyone knew, she realized as she swung a U-turn to take another flight. Wiping them out would take a war.
Talon could hear organized chaos growing louder and louder with every step – the bellows of orders, the murmurs of teamwork, the banging of their work. Machines droned and clicked and hissed their own sweat, adding to the bunker’s heated energy. Everyone had their niche as they prepared for something big. Why had they chosen to show her the simulation of Earth being destroyed by such means? Was that in their future playbook of evil, or were they just trying to break her? She didn’t know how nuclear warheads were assembled, but that’s what she pictured them all doing.
Two men were working together to carry a piece of equipment down that was too big for the elevator. They were adroitly positioned so that the larger of the two held the brunt of the weight, his face red with concentration, while the lanky one talked his ear off. They saw Talon, and she tensed for combat.
“Exciting isn’t it?” the skinny one said to her.
Talon realized the stains on her shirt fit right in with their greased attire. “Yeah.”
“You better put your uniform back on.”
“Ripped,” she shrugged.
Just as she passed, he studied her more closely. “Wait,”
The lad squinted incredulously and stared a little too long for her liking. Talon turned to the side and put weight on her back leg in case she needed to kick the crap out of him. “What?”
“You’re…You’re!—” he bellowed, sending echoes bouncing through the stairwell.
Luckily, with such a large object in his hands, she was able to chop him unconscious on the back of the neck. He fell forward and the machine tumbled on top of the other man, crushing him at the bottom of the stairs. She neither cared nor bothered to check on either of their conditions. Talon quickly undressed the smaller one, and slid his uniform on. A sharp, pungent odor invaded her nose, a mixture of body odor and motor oil. Talon snatched the otto-style hat from his scalp, and wiggled her mounds of hair into it. More voices carried from somewhere else on the stairwell.
Talon cracked her neck from side to side, and allowed her adrenals to pump adrenaline into her blood vessels. This was the good kind that would give her strength. This is what she had trained hard for over the last five years. Talon took the last flight of stairs three at a time and peered through the little access window on the second floor. There were dozens of Sinupecs walking the halls on the other side…but now she looked like them. Talon opened the door and sauntered out with her fingers interlaced behind her back. The first door read 2978. She had a feeling there was a long walk ahead. She kept her back straight but the brim of her hat low.
Most of the Sinupecs were male, but there were plenty of woman amongst them. Talon could only hear soundbites of their conversations as she passed by. She couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. In her mind, in her fantasies, the Sinupecs were large and fierce and crazy…of course it usually took a conversation to bring out the insanity in them. Even still, she heard the words ‘cheese’ and ‘birthday’ come out of their mouths. Maybe they weren’t all evil, she conceded, but if they weren’t that, then they were sheep. Perhaps they were people who were fed up, lied to, and now gullibly following the wolves who would take advantage of their fear and man power. If it came down to it, she had no problems destroying them all.
Talon noticed their conversations becoming a little less natural as she walked, and only looked up entirely when feet began shuffling out of her way. They were all looking at her now. She forced her legs to continue carrying her down the hall one stride at a time. A uniformed Sinupec saluted her. Then another. Talon was entirely confused. They had mistaken her for someone else, she assumed.
“Ms. Terry,” a man scuffled from behind and began keeping pace with her. “You must have just arrived. I’m sorry to hear about your people. May I help you?”
Talon began to reassess what the wacked-out programmer had seeded in her mind – that this was all a simulation. Either that or she was losing her damn mind. Her enemies not only seemed familiar with her, but they were treating her with respect – reverence even! She assumed they were paying homage to the man next to her. Either way, she wouldn’t dare acknowledge their salutes with one of her own. She turned to the guy next to her. Might as well take a chance and play along.
“Take me to Kierra Wharran,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am. She is in wing C.”
A laugh almost escaped her lips. These people were daft to think she would cooperate if they treated her like terrorist royalty after everything they’d done. Nonetheless, she could tell by the descending numbers that he was leading her in the right direction. She found it curious their underground world was so organized in the first place. As they passed through a security entrance, the number of people drastically decreased. This must be wing C.
“How have you treated her?” Talon asked.
“We know how fond you are of her. She has been taken care of by the staff, but,” Talon could see him shaking his head in her periphery, “she has been very difficult since her second extraction.”
“Second extraction?”
“So we could better mimic the changes in her biochemistry in the simulation. We had not known of her…er…condition, and well, you are very cunning. Her screaming is piercing,” he held his ear in memory.
Her biochemistry? That was a nice way of putting it. It was true that without Kierra screaming Levi’s name, she may have never figured it out. Admittedly, the number of questions had quadrupled and none were answered.
“Are you sure it is wise to see her? It may be confusing.”
“Uh…I’m sure.”
“Very well. Anything else?”
“I want all audio and visual turned off. This must be a private conversation.”
“As you know, we do not use any such equipment anywhere on base per Rapiq’ani law.”
“Of course.” Whatever that was.
“Oh, here you go,” he shoved a Vance360 handgun into her palm.
“Err, thanks.” These were the best enemies she could have ever asked for. “I want to be alone with her now. Thank you.”
“Very well.” He straightened and lifted his hand, stiff and angled in a salute.
Talon reluctantly saluted back and the man flashed a smile. “I will see you at the lighting.”
Talon forced the muscles in her face to move into what she hoped looked like a smile, but it took all her willpower not to punch him in the face. “Thank you.”
“Talon!” Kierra ran across the room and threw her arms around her neck. “How did you get out of there? They had you all strapped to a chair and I tried to talk to you but you weren’t moving! I’ve been so worried about you.”
“I’m fine. Are you okay? This room is actually pretty nice.” Much better than the fake prison cell, anyways. There was a full-body, multi-jet shower in the corner. She pulled Kierra off and walked over to turn it on, along with the sink.
“They must have a water generating system in here,” Kierra said. “These people, Talon, they are so weird. I want to go home. Can you get us out of here? And…why are you dressed like them?”
All legitimate questions. With plenty of white noise to drown their conversation, Talon escorted Kierra between the two sources of running water. She knew they didn’t have much time, but Kierra was the only one she trusted enough to have an open conversation with. She would risk a delayed escape if it meant trying to unravel all of the confusion.
Unfortunately, Kierra didn’t have much to say other than what she already had in the simulation. Her experience had been extracted. Since then, she had been locked in this room with little interactions. Talon told Kierra everything in as much detail as time would allow. She began by explaining how she had walked straight into a cloaked enemy building, followed by a recap o
f her time in the simulation, and finally Talon gave a short play by play of the strange journey she embarked on since leaving the simulation room. Kierra’s mouth was hanging open and she began rubbing her head with a pained expression.
“So they’re all just…like…being nice to you?”
Talon shrugged her shared confusion. “They’re being nice to you too it looks like,” Talon pointed out. Kierra’s down comforter looked extremely enticing.
“What is a lighting ceremony?”
“I don’t care to find out.”
“Maybe something was going to happen while you were under in the simulation, but you escaped before they could do it. Oh my God, they were going to mind control you! What if everyone is mind-controlled around here and they think you’re one of them now?”
It would be a science fiction nightmare, Talon supposed. “We need to get out of here.”
“We’ll never survive out there,” she glanced upwards to the glacier surface.
Talon scoffed. She was sick of the cold. “I know how to fly.” And though she didn’t know the layout of the compound, flight decks were always just below the surface.
“So, you think they are just going to let us leave?”
“Not exactly,” she replied, taking a moment to study her new firearm. “Let’s go.”
“Wait!”
“What?”
“So you haven’t heard from Levi? Shit, I’m sorry, Talon. I can’t help it.”
“No, I haven’t heard from him…or Marco. Let’s get back to our men, Kierra.” Talon fixed a serious gaze, took Kierra’s elbow and opened the door. “Remember to act like a prisoner…but don’t make any noise.”
“Um, okay.” The concept seemed foreign to her.
Talon took a sharp turn in a new direction in Wing C. There had to be an elevator around here somewhere, she figured. The floor began to incline and a dead end blocked their way. She doubled back and took another empty passage only to reach the same obstacle. She was wasting time. She had to lead them through the hallway she hoped to avoid – the one with a lot of terrorists in it.
An Eagle's Revenge (Across the Infinite Void Book 2) Page 25