The Prometheus Trap (The New Prometheus Book 3)

by Andrew Dobell

  ‘Awesome, thanks. I’ll catch you later. Keep them in line for me won’t you,’ she said to Cole.

  ‘Will do,’ he said as she left the armoury and started to make her way through the sub-basement, following Spider’s directions through the dusky corridors until she turned into a medium sized room with large elevator doors on either side. The one on the left had the number one stencilled upon it, while the one on the right had the number two on it, painted in faded yellow.

  Frankie walked over towards door number two and called the elevator. The door opened up right away, causing Frankie a moment of panic as she lifted her rifle and pointed it into the lift. It was empty, though, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The lift was big and no doubt used to ferry larger items up and down the building. Frankie stepped into it and pressed the button marked ten. A few seconds later, the doors closed and she was rising through the building. Facing the door, Frankie tucked into the left side of the elevator car, the stock of her gun tucked into her shoulder as she stood ready. The lift was slower than a regular passenger car, but it was still only about fifteen seconds ride time before it slowed and came to a stop. Frankie aimed forward and braced herself as the doors pulled apart.

  The room outside the lift was quiet, as she hoped it would be, so she moved forward and placed her foot by the door, to stop it from closing as she scanned the outside area.

  She was in a service room that was lined with shelves carrying cleaning equipment and tools. There were mop buckets and sweeping brushes and several of those cleaners’ carts in here, too, mixed in with boxes containing further mystery objects.

  Satisfied that she was alone, Frankie hurried to one of the two doors in here and eased it open. The corridor outside was clear, but in the usual state of disrepair like the rest of the building. Frankie referred back to the directions Spider had given her and moved to her right and over to another corridor on her left. She turned down it and kept going.

  Part way along the hallway, she heard a trio of gunshots from somewhere up ahead. She paused and checked behind her. She was alone.

  The conference room was close, so she continued forward and came to a T-Junction. Looking both ways, she saw a group of three black-clad operators crouched in the corridor, facing away from her down the right-hand passageway, which led to the conference room. Frankie crept forward, stepping out and moving up towards them. Two of the men were on the right-hand side of the hallway, the other was on the left. The one closest to her was probably meant to be watching their rear, judging from the position of his body, but his attention was focused the other way. With another burst of muffled gunfire coming from that direction, she understood why.

  She walked right up to him and pointed her gun at his head.

  Apparently sensing something, the operator turned his head and looked right along the barrel of Frankie’s rifle, his eyes wide with shock.

  ‘Hi,’ Frankie said.

  The man let out a squeak in reply before she noticed the other two turning to look behind them. Frankie fired, putting a hole through the operator’s head.

  His two teammates started to stand and bring their own guns to bear. Frankie stepped forward, spinning as she moved and smashed the gun in the second man’s hand - who was just behind the guy she had just killed – knocking it wide while her foot lashed out in a back kick on the third guy, knocking him off his feet. Coming back round to face the second operator, she fired two shots into his chest and then one into his head before sweeping back to the third man and putting two further rounds into his skull.

  Frankie checked the corridor in either direction but saw no one. She was close now and could still hear the occasional gunshot from up ahead. She opened her link to Gibson and Veronica as she jogged up the hallway

  ‘Guys, are you there?’ she asked.

  ‘Frankie? Shit, it’s good to hear your voice,’ Gibson said. ‘Was that you shooting?’

  ‘Frankie! Oh, thank god for that,’ Veronica said.

  Frankie saw a set of double doors up ahead labelled “Conference Room” and stepped up to them. ‘Yeah, that was me. I hear you’re in a spot of bother,’ she said.

  ‘Something like that,’ Gibson said. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Just outside the door,’ Frankie answered.

  ‘Careful, we’re pinned down, the sniper’s to your right as you come in,’ Veronica said.

  ‘Good to know,’ Frankie said, and stepped forward, giving the doors an almighty kick that sent one of them flying off its hinges. Frankie stepped in facing right and sprayed the far side of the room with her rifle. She could see a balcony over there and concentrated her shots on it, guessing the sniper would be up there. Return fire echoed out from the balcony. Frankie ducked for cover behind an overturned table close to the door. She guessed the sniper was firing off some covering fire, shooting anywhere to get Frankie to duck. Suddenly, though, a shot smashed a hole into the table top just beside where she had ducked down.

  ‘Crap,’ she mumbled to herself. They’re good.

  3.11

  ‘Yeah, watch it. They’re a crack shot,’ Gibson said, smiling at her from across the room where he crouched with Veronica, hiding from the shooter.

  Frankie looked at the hole in the table. It had come a little too close for comfort. ‘I can see that, whoever it was shot that blind and nearly hit me. Do you know who it is?’ she asked, wondering if this was the Wildkat that Frak had mentioned.

  ‘No idea. I think it’s just one person, though,’ Gibson said.

  ‘We have their attention split now,’ Veronica said. ‘We should use that to our advantage.’

  Frankie nodded. She was at one side of the room, close to the door she entered through while her teammates were across the other side of the room, maybe fifteen meters away or more. No matter how good they were, the sniper would find it much harder to cover both of them.

  ‘Right, let’s do this,’ Frankie said. ‘If you can provide a distraction; something to focus their attention on you guys, I’ll make a run for the far end of the room. When I do that, Vi, take your shot and make it count. Sound good?’

  ‘It sounds dangerous is what it sounds like,’ Gibson answered her. ‘But anything’s better than sitting here waiting to be shot at.’

  ‘What Gibson means to say is, Yeah, that’s great,’ Veronica said.

  ‘Hey, Frankie knows that,’ he said.

  ‘Is that right, Mr. Grumpy,’ Veronica said.

  ‘We all know that he likes to portray that grizzled hard-boiled detective persona,’ Frankie commented with a smile.

  ‘True, but we know he’s just a big softy at heart,’ Veronica said smiling at her and pinched his cheek.

  ‘Get off,’ Gibson said, swatting her hand away. ‘It’s not fair when you girls gang up on me.’

  ‘Give over, you like it, really,’ Veronica said.

  ‘No comment,’ Gibson answered. ‘Look, let’s focus on not dying here, shall we?’ he said.

  Frankie smiled. She enjoyed seeing her team be friendly and having fun, and seeing these two and the close friendship they had only warmed her heart. Maybe Veronica was the right person for him. Maybe she should just get out of the way of them and let them have each other. Who was she to be getting in the way of that? Also, she needed the team to work together; they needed to be strong and not be nurturing grudges.

  She was beginning to think she needed to look outside of the A.C.T. for love now for those very reasons. Why jeopardise everything they had built these past few months when they were getting along just fine as it was?

  ‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Veronica said to Gibson, answering his question.

  ‘Gibson, can you attract the sniper’s attention? Veronica, get ready. You need to nail this,’ Frankie said.

  She watched Veronica get her sniper rifle ready, and Gibson check his gun. They were about as ready as they could be. Frankie shifted her position and crouched, facing the direction she would be running.

  ‘Okay, wheneve
r you’re ready,’ Frankie said.

  ‘All right,’ Gibson said, and took a breath. He waited for a second, his gun up but still behind their cover. He popped up suddenly and fired over at the balcony. The bullets slammed into the walls over there, showering plaster and concrete around the place. The room, like the rest of the building, was in a major state of disrepair. The barrier on the balcony was missing whole sections, the walls were a mess with mold growing up them in many places, and there were bits of furniture scattered about the room, much of it broken.

  Frankie didn’t wait. The moment the first shot was fired, she moved, darting from cover and sprinting through the room. She did her best to avoid heading in a straight and predictable line. Instead, she ducked and dodged around and over furniture, using the debris scattered about the room to her advantage. Barely two seconds after she had moved, the sniper started to fire on her. The single shots rang out loud and clear, and each time something close by, either just in front or just behind her exploded from a bullet hit.

  Come on Veronica, Frankie thought, mentally urging her on, hoping Veronica would take her shot to neutralise the shooter as two, and then three more seconds ticked by.

  Another second later and a shot rang out behind her.

  Frankie heard a yelp from the balcony, and it sounded distinctly female. She looked up as she ran in time to see a shadow fall back and out of sight.

  Gotcha,’ Frankie thought.

  At the far side of the room, Frankie could see another door. She wondered if she could cut this sniper off before she got away and weaken Hellion’s forces again.

  ‘I’m going to cut her off,’ Frankie said through the neural link as she sprinted hard for the door.

  Leaping over the last of the destroyed furniture, she smashed into the door with her shoulder, slamming it back into the wall as she rolled across the ground and came up into a crouched position, aiming left towards where the sniper would likely be.

  She found herself in a wide corridor or access space between rooms, and in the direction she was facing was a set of stairs leading up, probably to the balcony. Standing at the bottom of those stairs was a single figure dressed from head to toe in close fitting personal cyber armour that hugged the body of the person beneath it while also hiding them. Their entire head was encased in the armour with a single glowing blue line in a shallow V-shape cutting horizontally across the face plate where their eyes should be. They held a single long, keen looking sword in their right hand and looked like they had been about to climb the stairs, but had stopped with just their first foot up on the bottom step.

  Frankie didn’t like not being able to see this person’s face. She couldn’t really tell anything about them, including their gender, which frankly, could easily be either male or female.

  They looked like some kind of cyber ninja.

  The figure turned to face Frankie more fully and whipped their sword around in a way that said they knew what they were doing before the ninja pointed it at Frankie.

  ‘Death comes for you this day,’ the ninja said. The voice was heavily digitised and distorted, coming out as a deep robotic growl.

  ‘Is that right?’ Frankie said and fired on the figure. The figure moved like lightening, the ninja’s sword twisting and swiping in the air before it, swatting Frankie’s bullet away.

  ‘Well crap,’ Frankie muttered. Maybe this one had been teaching Hellion, or perhaps it was the other way around. Either way, she did not like this at all.

  ‘Hmm,’ the ninja grunted, before dropping into a fighting stance, their sword ready.

  Frankie rose up from her crouch, feeling sure she was about to be rushed by the ninja. She kept a firm grip on the gun, but held it ready to use as a melee weapon and didn’t tuck it into her shoulder, keeping her arms loose.

  ‘Defend yourself,’ the ninja said, and suddenly was on her, having leapt forward swinging its sword. Frankie parried with her gun; the two weapons striking each other with a metallic bang.

  The ninja was quick, really quick, but also controlled and measured with every move planned and considered, designed to press the attack and to seem overwhelming in their ferocity.

  Frankie was no slouch, though, her enhanced cybernetic body was fast, maybe as fast as the ninjas. She moved to defend herself while her cyberbrain tracked and anticipated the swings of the sword, but she was playing catch up with this opponent. The ninja had the edge on her and drove her back. Frankie had all on just trying to keep it at bay and defend herself. If she managed to avoid being slashed by that shimmering sword blade, she would consider the fight a win, but if something didn’t change quick, she wasn’t sure she would manage even that feat.

  ‘Spectre,’ said a feminine voice from not too far away.

  The ninja stopped, its sword pressed against Frankie’s gun which was looking battered and cut up from the fight. The ninja leant in, its glowing blue visor flaring in the shadows. ‘Impressive,’ it said to her.

  Suddenly it backed off with a spin and flicked its sword, standing tall.

  ‘You fought well today; you have my respect,’ it said.

  Frankie could hear movement coming from the conference room to her left, and the ninja, or Spectre as it had been called, clearly heard it, too, cocking its head to one side to listen.

  Spectre pointed its sword at Frankie, who considered shooting again, but knew it was likely pointless. The ninja was ready for her and would simply deflect her shots again.

  ‘I will see you soon,’ it said, before running up the stairs towards a woman with a large rifle who stood up the top, nursing a wound on her thigh that was bleeding badly.

  The sniper from the other room, Frankie thought as she stepped back and propped herself up against the wall. Was that the Wildkat that Frak spoke of? She was feeling slightly overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the attack by this Spectre.

  Gibson ran into the room followed by Veronica, their guns up and ready.

  ‘Frankie, are you okay? We saw you being attacked,’ he said as he ran over to her while she sank slowly to the floor.

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine. It was another of Hellion’s goons. A nasty one, a ninja or something, maybe?’

  ‘A ninja?’ Gibson said incredulously.

  ‘I don’t know, they were completely encased in armour and attacking me with a sword like some martial arts ninja master or something. They were fast, too, nearly had me there for a moment,’ Frankie said.

  ‘Faster than you? Wow, that’s impressive,’ Gibson said.

  ‘So, who’s Hellion?’ Veronica asked.

  ‘Of course, you don’t know, do you?’ Frankie said. ‘She’s the one running this ambush. She’s a private contractor that Psytech brought in to take us down. This whole thing: this ambush and these attacks are all her doing. I think she has a team of augmented mercenaries with her along with the C-SWAT operatives from Psytech, and they’re here to kill us,’ Frankie explained.

  ‘Oh, well, I do feel loved,’ Gibson said.

  ‘And they have Dion,’ Frankie added.

  ‘God damn it,’ Gibson said.

  ‘Shit,’ Veronica exclaimed.

  ‘So, what can we do? Have you found Cole yet?’ Gibson asked.

  Frankie smiled. ‘Actually, yes, I have, and he’s waiting with our reinforcements now,’ she said.

  Gibson frowned for a moment and then smiled. ‘Reinforcements? You mean, you got out? The A.C.T. are here?’

  ‘I’m afraid not, no. Sorry. I ended up in the basement and ran into a Jacker gang down there. Turns out I know one of them and I was able to convince the gang leader that we have a mutual enemy in the Corporation forces that are in their building. They have agreed to help,’ she said.

  ‘Jackers? You mean the same kind of people whose actions put you into that body in the first place?’ Gibson said.

  ‘The very same, actually, yes,’ she said.

  ‘I’m sure I don’t need to explain the risks involved in trusting a Jacker gang,’ he stated.

>   ‘Of course, not. I don’t trust them in the slightest, but these are not normal circumstances, and we need some help,’ she said.

  ‘Okay, as long as you’re aware what you’re getting yourself into,’ Gibson said.

  ‘I think so. Speaking of which, we need to get back down there,’ she said.

  ‘And Cole is with them?’

  ‘He is. They’re in their armoury in the sub-basement,’ Frankie said as she pulled herself up to her feet. ‘We can take the service lift I used to get up here… Hopefully,’ she said.

  ‘Lead the way,’ Gibson answered her.

  ‘We’re not going after the sniper and this ninja guy?’ Veronica asked, looking up the stairs.

  ‘No, not yet, at least. We need to regroup and figure out what we’re doing, exactly. We need to end this,’ Frankie said.

  ‘Okay. Shame, I think we had them on the ropes, there,’ Veronica commented.

  ‘Maybe, but I think we’ll be seeing them again soon,’ Frankie said as she moved towards the door with Gibson and Veronica close behind her. They walked out into the corridor and back past the three bodies Frankie had fought with.

  ‘Your doing, I presume,’ Gibson asked.

  ‘Afraid so,’ Frankie said, not really looking at them and continuing forward, turning down corridors that would lead them back to the service elevators.

  As they walked, Gibson opened up a private link between Frankie and himself and pinged her through it.

  She knew what he wanted to talk about, and although she didn’t really want to discuss it, it was clearly on his mind, so she opened the channel.

  ‘Look, Gibson, I know what you want to talk to me about,’ she said.

  ‘I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry you walked in at just that moment. I’m not sure what she was thinking, but it was Veronica who kissed me. I was as shocked as you were, I think. She’s already apologised to me about it, says she isn’t sure why she did it. I certainly didn’t invite it, and I’m most certainly not ready for any kind of new relationship just yet,’ he explained.