by Jack Parker
She would mess up the mission.
But she couldn't mess up the mission. She wouldn't mess up the mission. It was all up to her. She held the cards, the deck, and it was up to her how she played them, how she presented them to her opponent. One wrong move could mean destruction. One wrong move could tip the scales, scatter the deck throw the winnings over the edge and watch them seep into the hands of her opponent, like water spilling over a smooth surface. A lot rested on this one mission, as simple as it was, and she couldn't risk not taking it seriously. Not when she had gotten this far.
Lia sighed with relief. The rays weren't moving, which meant that her job would be easier. If they had been moving it would have involved a lot of dodging and she wasn't prepared for something that risky.
She tugged on the chord. Carmon lowered her, slowly, until she was a few meters above the ground. She then tugged on the rope once again, signalling for him to stop.
She swung back, wrapping her legs around the rope above her so that she was upside down. There were rays directly beneath her, so she had to be careful not to touch them. She brought down one of her hands and rested it within a gap, her fingers pressed against the floor, then stretched her legs, undoing the belt around her waist. She rested both of her hands on the floor, then flipped around so that she was in a standing position.
She looked around, searching for the door. There were two, one on either side. But she knew which one to take. It was another reason why her job was the hardest –they had made her memorize the layout of the entire building.
She felt a buzzing sound in her pocket. She slipped her hand into it and pulled out the radio, then turned it on to be met with a thick line of static followed by Jude's voice.
"We've activated the video. You have exactly one hour in which you won't show up on the cameras. Emilie's 'round the front; she's taken two of the three guards off of your hands. The third will be patrolling the building, so be alert."
"Okay."
She turned off the radio and slid it into her pocket, her eyes running over the room as she attempted to figure out the quickest way to get to the door. It would take approximately ten minutes to get to the door and a further ten minutes to find the store room. It would take five minutes to find the documents and five more to make copies, then half an hour to get back, which meant that she had to be as quick as possible.
She placed her hands and her head onto the floor, keeping them in a triangular shape. She kicked up her legs and flipped over the next ray, then slowly slid beneath the one after that.
It only took her a few more minutes to reach the door, and she sighed with relief upon doing so. That was the hardest bit, and she was glad that she had gotten it done and over with.
She opened the door, slowly, then slid into the narrow corridor before her. It was dark, pitch black, the only light a few beams of moonlight cascading from a window upon the ceiling, crisscrossing over the heavily polished tiles. They reminded her of the rays, the way that they cut across each other and one wrong step could expose her, reveal her beneath their wavering light.
Lia backed against the wall, keeping herself in the shadows and moving quietly but swiftly. All she had to do was find the room, then enter and make copies of the documents before returning through the room she had just came from. It sounded simple, but it had to be done quickly.
She ran her eyes over each door upon passing, mentally recalling the layout that she had been given to memorize.
After a few minutes, she reached a turning point which stemmed out to two or three more corridors. She stepped forward, then stopped abruptly, backing against the cold wall.
Shallow footsteps echoed through one of the corridors, accompanied by a narrow beam of amber light. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart beating against her ribcage, its every pump echoing through her ears and pounding them with a fresh jolt of blood.
The torchlight danced over the floor, once, twice, from side to side, then up towards the wall and back again. It was like an animal, a snake, weaving its way across the surface, its thin eyes scouring for its prey, fangs bared, ready to pounce.
The footsteps were slowly getting louder, the light wavering for a moment then approaching at a rapid speed. Her eyes widened. Only a little longer and he would see her. And then what would happen?
Lia was suddenly consumed with an onslaught of panic, her thoughts blurring into each other in one jumbled mess. She couldn't panic. She had to figure something out, anything. She took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself.
She dug her hand into her pocket, slowly, careful not to make a sound. Damp fingers closed over a steely metal exterior. Her hands clasped over the gun's cool handle. Only a little longer now…
One…her grip tightened over the handle of the gun, her sweaty palms slipping over the cold metal as it rubbed against her flesh.
Two…She began to pull it out, slowly, quietly. It brushed against the side of her trousers, sending a cool chill through her leg. Why did it feel so cold?
Three… her fingers clasped over the trigger, ready to pull, but before she could do anything else, a heavy, static sound filtered throughout the corridor. The guard stopped and she could just about make out his silhouette as he pulled a radio out of his pocket.
"Yeah…uh huh… You can't even handle a nineteen year old girl?... I don't give a shit if she's drunk…Wait, I'm coming."
He switched off the radio, then groaned and turned around, making his way back through the corridor he had came from.
She wanted to sigh with relief, but knew that if she did it would give her position away. She placed the gun back into her pocket and patted the material lightly. That had been far too close for comfort. She had to be more careful from now on.
She waited until his footsteps could no longer be heard, until their soft echoes had diminished and the corridor had once again filled with a vacuum of silence. She slipped into the corridor on her right, her footsteps silent, her breaths escaping at a slower rate than before.
She could see a few dim outlines engraved upon the hard, plaster walls: the doors. When she found the one she was looking for, she stopped, gently easing open the handle. It slipped open, smoothly, not a single creak to be heard. It wasn't locked, and for that she was grateful. If there had been a lock she would have had to unpick it and risk setting off an alarm.
Her eyes strayed over her watch. Thirty-five minutes left. She was five minutes behind schedule. Lia frowned. She had to hurry.
She stepped into the room and ran her hands along the wall, desperately searching for some sort of light switch. Upon finding one she pressed it, causing the small room to be flooded by a wavering yellow light.
She squinted as her eyes began to adjust to the onslaught of light, then scoured the room and took in her surroundings. A single table lay in the center, cluttered with piles of papers haphazardly strewn over its surface. Against the far wall was a tall filing cabinet painted a sickly beige. The walls were clad in a thick, chipped layer of white plaster, which appeared a dull cream beneath the wavering light.
Lia shuffled into the room and made her way to the filing cabinet, hastily pulling open the first drawer and flicking through the various folders. Upon finding nothing, she closed it, gently, then slid open the next one. It didn't take her that long to find the folder she was searching for and, upon doing so, she cleared away some of the papers on the desk and quickly emptied out its contents. She slid her hand across her belt, pulling off her camera and adjusting it so that she could see everything through the lenses.
She laid each document on the table, then zoomed in and took a photograph of it before replacing it within the folder. Once done, she hastily replaced the folder into the drawer and closed it firmly. She ran her eyes over the room, once, twice, until she was satisfied that everything was as she had first found it. Lia replaced the camera on her belt, securing it firmly, then made her way to the door and switched off the light.
She let out a sigh of relief.
It hadn't been that hard. All she had to do now was get back to the main room and allow Carmon to pull her up. Then she could go home and sleep. Lia grinned. Sleep was good.
She stepped out of the room, stifling a yawn, then turned to be met with a blinding light. Her eyes widened as she darted to the side, backing against the wall, her breathing constricted.
Footsteps echoed throughout the corridor as the light danced over its surface, scouring over the walls, unmasking the darkness and exposing all of the details beneath its harsh brutality.
"Who's there…?"
Lia would have rolled her eyes if it were not for the seriousness of the situation. He sounded…scared? This was why they had decided to execute the plan on New Years Day. Most of the main guards would be out with their families or partying with their friends, and only the amateurs who were desperate for some extra money would be working. It was perfect. And there were not many guards here, either. According to Jude there were only two outside, and one inside. At least, that's what the plan had said.
If she were lucky he would not notice her, and if she wasn't…
The light shone upon her face, blinding her for a moment. She ducked and made a run for the opposite direction. The guard hesitated before taking after her, the torchlight following her back as she retreated.
Lia dived to the side as the sound of a gunshot pierced the air. The bullet bounced against the wall, missing her by a few inches. Lia got to her feet. She dug her hand into her pocket, still running, and pulled out her gun. She pivoted, shooting the guard squarely upon his arm, twice.
The guard moaned with pain, then fell back, the torch crashing to the ground, the light diminishing as its face was shattered, splaying a shower of glass over the floor. The bullets were not made to kill; they would serve in making him drowsy and rendering him unconscious temporarily. Until then, though, she had to get out as soon as possible. The other guards would have heard the commotion and they would be making their way inside.
She watched the guard for a moment as he lost consciousness, an overwhelming feeling of guilt working its way through her stomach. But he would have shot her if she hadn't shot him, she reasoned. Anyway, it was his own fault that he was in this situation. No one made him work for LAFFAT.
Stupid Elonsican.
Lia turned and ran back in the opposite direction, her breaths escaping in sharp pants. Throughout all of the car problems, they hadn't gotten around to getting something to eat, had they? Lia's stomach groaned with pain, her legs aching from the exhaustion. Only a little while longer and she would be out of here.
She reached the door, wrenching it open, then ran towards the center where the rope lay, hanging from the ceiling. The shrill beeping of an alarm filtered throughout the room, echoing against the wall and screeching through her ear canal, pounding against her eardrums and causing her head and ears to sear in pain.
She had just run through the infra-red beams. There was no time to go through properly and, anyway, they already knew she was here.
She tied the rope around her waist, then tugged on the chord harshly. Carmon seemed to get the message as he heaved her up. The rope dug into her flesh, her stomach, causing her to become further aware of how famished she was. She groaned, her feet escalating from the ground as all force of gravity was lost; she became a single figure, battling against the laws of physics, dangling in the air –and she was so vulnerable.
The sudden thought struck her as she ascended. She was so vulnerable, so much more vulnerable than she had been throughout the whole mission. She was dangling from a chord, dangling metres, feet, above the ground.
If the chord snapped, she would die.
If someone shot her right now, they would most likely hit their target.
Until now, she had not even vaguely considered that the mission was even remotely dangerous –that it even held the slightest trace of risk. She had partially considered it, but not properly, not thoroughly. It had been simple, risk free. It was simple. It was risk free. Then why did she get the feeling that she was balancing on the jaws of death? The fangs moving beneath her, rising, ascending, descending, swaying from side to side and waiting for her to fall into the cavernous pit below, never to return and to forever fall into their hollow depths –a single figure, surrounded, encompassed, by a never-ending darkness, the solidity remaining unreachable, unreal.
She had never thought about it in such detail –such depth.
It wasn't child's play. What she was doing was serious, dangerous, and one mess up could mean the end of her. But as well as affecting her, if she messed up, everyone would get caught, everyone would lose out. And she was responsible.
It was all her responsibility.
It all rested on her shoulders and it was up to her how she dealt with it.
She was all alone, and there was nothing she could do about it.
The sound of a gunshot knocked her back into reality. Lia kicked up, just in time, the bullet narrowly missing her legs. The second door was flung open as another guard entered his gun poised, ready to shoot. The first guard shot once again. Lia swung to the side, once again missing the bullet.
She was lucky that they were amateurs. Otherwise, they would have shot her long ago. She wasn't that hard a target, after all. But she knew she couldn't underestimate them. Even though they were amateurs, they must have had some training. Therefore, she had to be careful.
Lia could feel the breath being knocked out of her as Carmon pulled harder. He must have heard the shooting. Her head and ears were still throbbing painfully, the screeching noise still echoing through the air. It felt as if she could no longer hear anything, only the harsh screeching of the alarm as it seared against her eardrums and ripped at her canal.
They were firing simultaneously now, which meant that she had to dodge both at a time. She began to sway side to side. If she stayed still she would be far too easy a target. It would be harder for them if she were moving.
She could feel the tugging of the chord slow as she swung to the side. Of course, the downside to swinging was that Carmon could not pull her up as quickly. A few inches separated her from the gap in the roof. A bullet was once again shot, catching the tip of her hat and sending it hurtling off and into the wall where it rebounded before tumbling to the ground.
Lia kicked up her legs and flung herself through the gap, then undid the chord and wrapped it over her belt. Before she could make another move, Carmon had already grabbed her hand and darted across the roof, dragging her along with him. Lia could just barely make out his foggy outline, the only light a few flickering lampposts situated in the distance.
They reached the tree, slipping into its branches and making their way down. The splintered wood rubbed into her back, cutting into her top, causing her back to sear with pain. They reached the ground, their feet resting on the soft grass beneath. Carmon flung her to the side as the sound of a bullet pierced the air, shooting past her ear, followed by a shower of bark as it ripped through its rough exterior.
They ran forward, Lia's body numbed with fear as the constant sound of bullets filled the air, followed by hurried shouts and fast-paced footsteps. Her vision was blurring, her head still pounding from the screeching of the alarm which could be heard faintly in the distance.
Her stomach continued to sear with pain, her body succumbed in fear, a harsh pain reverberating through her head, her ears, as she dragged her legs across the grass with as much difficulty as one has when carrying mounds of lead towards the peak of a mountain. Her head was swept with a sudden dizziness, and she could feel the sweat as it drenched her forehead, washing over her hands which were damp within Carmon's grip.
The night sky stretched above her, a dark canvas blemished by the occasional firework. The once calm night was littered with shouts and rapid gunfire. Everything suddenly seemed magnified to her, echoed. The numb wind lashed at her cheeks, the gunfire distant, resounding only in the furthest chasms of her mind.
Her vision was blurring sl
ightly, the night sky blending with the fireworks, blurring and spilling into each other like wet paint over a dry surface. She was barely aware of the searing pain in her legs, in her stomach, all she could feel was a constant throbbing against her forehead, beating from the inside and ripping at her temple.
The sky looked dotted now, dotted with small specks of colors which seemed so detached from the picture before her: pinks and yellows, slowly multiplying before slowly darkening and slipping into a harsh black. Her vision swirled, twisted and coiled like ripples in a lake, intermingling, the blue becoming tainted with a darker, harsher, hollower color –black.