The Sound of Wind

by Raegan Millhollin

  **

  Hugo stood across the street from a supposedly abandoned warehouse, staring up at it. CJ was taping her hands against her cargo pants, swaying a little.

  “Are you sure?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “Yeah, I’m very sure. I can see where all the infrared sensors and cameras are, they’ll never know you were here.”

  Hugo chewed on his nail, “CJ, I’m not a spy, I’ll get caught.”

  “Hugo! They’ve got one computer in there! There is a remote security system in an abandoned warehouse; you know whatever is on that computer has got to be awesome. I would have looked myself, since I can’t be caught, but it's password protected and I’d probably break it if I touched it.

  “But-”

  “Oh, you know you want to!” She was practically jumping up and down now, and she was right.

  He wanted to see who this stuff belonged to. He had a feeling it belonged to the obviously military-trained, privately funded group that had gone after Sarah, but he wouldn’t know for sure unless he went in there himself, “Ok, but you have to tell me what to do.”

  “No problem at all!” CJ gave him a thumbs up and immediately ran across the road. Hugo followed, thankful there weren't many cars around. She took him around the side of the warehouse and pulled out the monofilament blade she’d pilfered from the inventory of what was taken from the assault on Mr. Gideon’s place. The other was in the labs getting tested.

  She used the blade to cut through the glass of a window on the ground floor, and then she wiggled through. Hugo glanced around nervously. A hand popped out of the hole, beckoning him, and like an idiot he crawled in after her. She pointed down a hallway to the left and started walking. Several paces later she stopped, a grin on her face. She pointed at the ground and took an exaggerated step forward. Then she put her hand at ankle level and motioned him forward. Hugo stepped over what was probably a sensor, and then they continued on their way.

  CJ climbed on a box along the wall of the walkway and pulled herself up through a hole in the ceiling. He started to follow her up, but she stopped him with a hand on his head. She pushed him towards the edge of the hole and tapped the ledge against the wall, and then moved out of the way. He followed her instructions, pulling himself up slowly and hugging the wall as he did. He followed along the edge until he was next to CJ again. They were in a small room with a large observation window and a single computer and monitor. She held up a finger, so he stopped moving. Then she crackled into lightning and jumped back into the wall. She popped back out in the opposite corner, grinning as she got up on her tiptoes and pointed her arm up to nudge the small security camera swiveling slowly in the ceiling. Then she motioned to the computer, waving her other hand downward. Hugo hunched over, looking to CJ to see if he was low enough and feeling completely ridiculous. She gave him a thumbs up, so he walked across the room to the computer. He pushed the monitor so that the screen was tilted down slightly and then pulled the keyboard from its tray, settling on the ground between the chair and the long desk.

  A moment later CJ was grinning at him from under the counter. She pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled on it, ‘I’m going to look around while you do the boring stuff. You remember how to get back out, right?’ Hugo nodded and she gave him a little wave and then turned into electricity and jumped into the wall.

  There wasn’t much on the computer itself, but it was connected up to a protected network. Well, not nearly as protected as they’d probably hoped. He couldn’t tell who else touched the network, but he didn’t care, it was a database of people with abilities. Subject 132 was a girl who could turn into lightning. Her first appearance was at the Project Burnout facility. The file immediately preceding hers, 131, was for Hugo Meyers. His first appearance was also at Project Burnout and he could create vacuums. There was satellite footage of the vacuum in New Zealand, everything flattening and dying for a mile around, and then it all came rushing back towards Mr. Gideon’s estate. He was a threat level two, CJ was a three. He wasn’t sure of the scale, but it was probably not flattering.

  A search through the Russians with abilities revealed a man who could duplicate himself. He worked for Boris, but was more of a mercenary that, according to the database, Boris was blackmailing in exchange for work. What he was being blackmailed for was unknown. He was incredibly analytical and impersonal and had been described as almost robotic. The only crime he seemed to commit was murder, and was quite skilled at it. It was the man who had tried to kill Madeline. His name was Edvard Petrovich. Now Maggie could find him.

  Hugo went back to the most recently created file and worked his way backwards. He wasn’t really reading, just staring at each file so that he could review them later.

  He was over halfway through the database when a white note fluttered out of the floor. ‘Leave now.’ Hugo tensed up, glancing around. Another note appeared. ‘NOW, now’.

  Hugo disconnected from the network and immediately started running, hunched over, to the hole, almost falling off the box in his haste. It seemed to take too long to get to the broken window, but eventually he made it, squeezing through the opening. CJ was waiting for him, grinning widely, a finger against her lips. She rushed to the corner of the building and poked her head around. A moment later she was ducking back, and then she sprinted across the road. Hugo followed. They got into the company car and drove off.

  “Yes! That was awesome!” CJ squealed, “What did you find?”

  His heart was racing and his hands on the wheel were white, but he was smiling as well, “A database of people with abilities. A lot of people. You were in there, but they don’t know your name. You are a threat level three.”

  “Is that good? Because I can be a huge threat.”

  “Well, I don’t know for sure, but the scale seems to be 1 to 5 with 5 being harmless and 1 being a mass-murdering psychopath.”

  “What? And I’m only a 3? I could totally be a mass-murdering psychopath!” CJ folded her arms across her chest.

  He was a two. One step away from being one, according to this agency. He thought it would be a bad idea to mention to CJ that he’d beat her in the threat level department.

  “Give it time CJ,” Hugo laughed a little, “They don’t even know your name yet.”

  “Really? Geez. They could have just asked me. Did you fix it in my profile? How awesome did they say I was?”

  “They think you’re very impressive, you just don’t…” kill people.

  CJ tilted her head, “Don’t what?”

  “They just don’t know your name,” Hugo said quietly. CJ huffed. “Do you think I’ll be able to go back?”

  CJ stared out the window for a second, processing the question, “Not for a little while, but we can do it again if you want sometime. Did I tell you I found my secret hideout? It’s awesome. I’d take you there but you’d have to walk through miles of sewers. Gross.”

  “Uh, yeah, I think I’ll pass for now. But thanks.”

  CJ grinned, absently slapping her hands against her knees, “My fridge fits down there just fine.”

  “You got the fridge down there?”

  “Yeah, I can totally take things with me when I turn into lightning now. Not huge things like people, but mini-fridge size works,” CJ beamed.

  Hugo felt a knot in his stomach, “You couldn’t do that before, right?”

  “Nope, I’m just getting even more awesome, I guess,” CJ leaned back in the chair, folding her arms, a satisfied smile on her lips.

  Hugo lost his smile, “Do you just eat the stuff in the cafeteria, CJ? Does Mr. Gideon ever give you dinner?”

  “Oh, a few times. We play Rock Band, which he kinda sucks at, and we have dinner, I think we had pizza last time. It was really good, I think it was actually from Italy. Other than that the bagels in the cafeteria are really good.”

  Hugo nodded slowly, “Ok.” He needed to talk to Dr. McFadden.