Crossing the Line

by Meghan Rogers

  It was dusk when I dropped over the outside of the city, and landed on top of a building. I hurried to the street and moved between the crowd and buildings, keeping my head down. Speed and agility had always been my greatest strengths, and even though I was out of shape, it wasn’t all lost. I pulled a hat out of the backpack and tugged it down to my eyebrows. Walter was supposed to be disabling the cameras as I went, but I wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

  I stopped across the street from the science and technology skyscraper and pulled out the miniature tablet I’d been given on the plane. “Command, I need the blueprints to the building.”

  The comm in my ear was quiet, but after a second the screen on the tablet blinked and the blueprints appeared. According to the mission file, the intel Scorpion needed was on the twenty-sixth floor. Since the information in the building was highly sensitive, I had no doubt security was going to be pretty tight. My best chance to get to the twenty-sixth floor undetected was through the elevator shaft.

  I pushed my comm in. “Command, can you take the security system and cameras offline for four minutes?”

  “Just tell me when, Viper,” Walter said, his voice gruff and annoyed.

  “What’s the weakest point of entry?” I asked.

  “The back service entrance.” Every answer he gave me was short, to the point, and laced with irritation.

  I moved to the side of the building and peered around the corner at the door. It had a camera on it. I set the timer on my watch for four minutes. “Cut the cameras now.”

  “Clear,” he said. I started the timer and hurried to the door. It took me seven seconds to pick, and if it weren’t such a complex lock I would have been in quicker.

  The service elevator was twenty feet away. But first I had to take out the burly security guard who was staring at me. He moved toward his radio, but I was next to him in seconds, twisting his arm behind his back and pinning him to the wall. He started cursing in Cantonese, but I didn’t waste time retaliating. He was stronger than I was, and if I gave him a chance to think, I’d never make it out. I took my free hand and drove it into a nerve in the back of his neck. He dropped hard.

  I didn’t waste another second looking for anyone else. I sprinted down the hall to the service elevator, which got me as far as the third floor. From there I jumped on the regular elevator, and pushed the Chinese figure for twenty-five. I popped the roof hatch and pulled myself up and out onto the top of the car. When it came to a stop, I pried the doors above me open and climbed to the twenty-sixth floor. This way when the system went live again the floor below me would be searched first, buying me some extra time.

  I hurried down the hall to the room and pressed on the door handle, but it was locked. “Command, I need lab 2685 unlocked. It’s a key fob entry.”

  The voice in my ear stayed quiet but the red light flashed green. I threw the door open and ended up in a lab. I glanced at my watch. I had thirty seconds before the system turned back on. The lights in the lab were off, but I stood quietly in the doorway, listening to be sure I was alone.

  “Where are the cameras in here?” I asked Walter.

  There was a brief pause, and when he spoke I could hear the exasperation in his voice. “To the right of the door. In the corner.”

  I scanned the room and grabbed a towel, then jumped up on the counter and covered the camera. I needed to be gone before security came to investigate.

  I turned on the light. It was a risk, but it also meant I’d get out of the building faster. I took in the situation. Tables were overturned, computer screens cracked, and broken glass sprinkled the floor. Based on the struggle, it looked like Scorpion had made it at least this far, but I had no way of knowing whether he’d managed to get the intel or not. I gave the room another pass. There wasn’t any trace of blood, which meant he was either taken or killed off-site. It was strange that the room had been left this way.

  “Viper, you’ve got security on your floor.”

  I pushed my comm in. “Copy.” I hurried to the window, ready to break it, but before I could I noticed a small flashdrive lying on the ground right behind a shelf.

  “They’re at your door,” Walter said.

  I crammed the drive into my pocket, hoping Scorpion had transferred the data, then threw a chair out the window to break it. The glass hadn’t even hit the ground when I pulled my rappelling rope out of my backpack and locked it into place. I jumped out the window and slid down the building, tugging the rope just as a swarm of security guards surrounded the window.

  I booked it away from the building, maneuvering through the busy streets. “Command, the Hong Kong police are going to get an emergency call. If you could make sure it doesn’t make it to them, that would be great.”

  “Goddamn it, Viper!” Walter yelled in my ear.

  “Can you do it or not?” I asked as I dove into an alley and behind a Dumpster.

  The sound on my comm went quiet for a moment, then Walter tapped back in. “It’s taken care of.”

  I let myself relax against the wall for a moment to get my thoughts together. I didn’t get more than ten seconds before Walter interrupted me. “Viper, what did you find?”

  I recapped the new intel for him.

  “So, you failed the mission,” he said.

  “I didn’t fail,” I said, hissing into the comm. “There’s more to this.”

  “Then what’s your plan?” He had been brisk and impatient this whole mission, but now it was at its peak. I would have punched him if he were within reach.

  I thought for a moment. “Can you send me security footage from right after Scorpion went dark and a copy of the security workers’ manifest at that time?”

  “What could you possibly need that for?” Walter asked.

  “Just send it to my screen,” I said. He was sitting on the edge of my patience, but he had the sense not to respond.

  When my data screen changed, I did a quick count of the manifest, then flipped through the security feeds and did a head count. The numbers matched. “We don’t have any security footage from anywhere around the building at the time, right?” I asked.

  “If you’ve read the file—”

  “That plus the fact that all the guards who are supposed to be on shift were means that it wasn’t an inside job. No one cleaned up that room because no one working there realized they’d had a break-in. Whoever took Scorpion knew he was coming and had the resources to shut down city security.” I was thinking out loud for Walter’s sake—to make sure he knew how good I was. “I need a list of all buildings in Hong Kong that are owned by the government—either directly or through a shell company. I need addresses, building purposes, everything you can find.” Whoever took him wouldn’t have taken him far. They didn’t have a lot of time to plan, and they’d have to work with what was close.

  His annoyed huffing and puffing filled my ear. He didn’t trust me, and his hesitance was enough to make me snap. “Everything’ll be on your tablet in a few seconds,” he said.

  “Thank you.” He had all of the locations inputted into my GPS map. One was less than four blocks away. According to the list it was purchased by a front company for Chinese intelligence. It hadn’t been used in years, and I had no doubt that was where they were keeping him.

  I ran the distance to the building, taking back alleys, avoiding the streets, and making sure I stayed away from any route a brave security guard might take if he decided to come after me. I stood across the street from the office building Walter had sent me to. It appeared to have about ten or twelve floors. If it hadn’t been used in a while, my guess was the security was probably lacking, but I had Walter check on it anyway.

  “It hasn’t been updated in years,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter. From the looks of things there isn’t any real power running to it. There’s such a low output it’s probably from a generator.”

/>   “Will they get some kind of alarm if the door to the roof is opened?” I asked.

  “Yeah, it looks like the generator is strong enough for the most basic security measures.”

  Perfect. Now I just needed to be sure I was in the right place.

  I found the infrared scanner on my tablet and passed it over the building. The upper floors were completely clean, but the bottom floor was a different story. There was a cluster of five people standing around a door on the first floor. They were huddled toward the edge of the building, most likely standing in a stairwell. The door didn’t seem to have a room behind it, which meant it had to lead to the basement. There were only two reasons why five people would be guarding a basement door in a supposedly abandoned building: They were either protecting something or guarding someone.

  Scorpion was alive.

  Chapter Eleven

  GOING IN BLIND

  Getting into the building was the easy part. The apartment building next door was only a touch taller, and uncomfortably close. I jumped from the roof of the apartment building onto the one I needed to break into, then attached my rope to the roof and rappelled halfway down its side.

  I could probably have taken all five guards if I had to, but in this case my best chance to pull this off was to split them up. I hung on to the side and used a glass cutter to cut a hole that was just big enough for me to fit through. Once I was in, I pulled the rope through and left it there. I wanted the break-in to be obvious—it would take longer for the guards to search the building and give me more time to get to the basement. I hurried up five floors to the roof, then pushed open the door, dropped a lock-pick kit, and sprinted back down to the floor I’d come in. I had just shut the door to the stairwell when three guards came flying past. I waited until they were two floors above me before I eased the door open and ran down to the first level. I paused before I rounded the basement corner, preparing myself—two guards I could take, especially if I caught them by surprise.

  I flung myself around the corner before either could react. I jumped behind the one closer to me and wrapped my arm around his neck, cutting off his oxygen supply. I was determined not to kill anyone unless I had to.

  He had a military-grade weapon strapped across his chest. I held on to it as he slid to the ground, then used the heavy butt of the gun to swipe the second guard near the ear. He dropped in an instant.

  I hurried down the steps into the concrete basement. Everything about it was harsh, hard, and empty. Scorpion sat on an old mattress against the wall. It was hot in Hong Kong at this time of year. The basement was a few degrees cooler, but it was still too hot and stuffy to be comfortable and smelled of stale sweat.

  He jumped up off the ground when I came down the stairs. I was surprised he wasn’t tied up. He backed himself into the corner with his fists balled defensively in front of him, ready to take on anyone. He didn’t seem to realize who I was. I moved a few more steps closer and saw that his eyes were red and so swollen they were reduced to slits. I came even closer and he backed himself against the wall, like he was trying to be sure no one would sneak up on him. He looked panicked, which was something I never expected to see.

  “Scorpion?” My voice was cautious as I edged closer. He looked startled, and it wasn’t until then that I realized that even though his eyes were partially open, he couldn’t see a thing. “Travis.” I said his name gently, without a hint of mockery.

  “Who is it?” He sounded startled and uncertain, and unable to hide it. I had imagined finding him a number of different ways, including dead, but this wasn’t something that ever occurred to me.

  “It’s—Jocelyn.” My throat cracked as I stumbled over my own name.

  “Viper?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His fists got tighter, ready to strike. I stepped even closer so I could get a good look at his eyes. I didn’t know what had been done to him, but based on how red and teary they were I was sure he must have been rubbing them. “I knew we couldn’t trust you.”

  “I’m not working for these people,” I said. “The IDA sent me.”

  He shook his head. “That’s impossible. We don’t do rescue missions.” He pressed his back into the wall, trying to get even farther away from me.

  “I guess they do for the golden boy,” I said.

  He rubbed his eyes, frustrated and desperate. “I don’t believe you.”

  “We don’t have time for this.” I was all too aware that the building was being searched. “There are five guards. I took out two of them, but the other three are going to be back soon. We need to get out of here.” I grabbed his wrist and tried to lead him toward the stairs.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you!” He pulled away and tried to punch me with his other hand.

  I dodged the strike easily and caught his fist. I pressed his arm into his chest so he couldn’t attack me again. There was enough tension in him to break a rock. “You can either stay here and let these guys kill you, or you can take a shot with me. If I’m lying, you’re dead either way, but if I’m not, then you may make it out of this.”

  His breath was heaving and angry, but I felt his arms relax. “I don’t trust you.” There a hint of defeat in his tone that almost made me forget who I was talking to.

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  He leaned his head back against the wall, weighing his options, then after a moment he nodded.

  I loosened my hold on his wrist and tried to get a plan together. I wasn’t expecting him to be so defenseless. It was going to make getting out more complicated. The only thing I had going for me was my training. Failure was never an option. I had learned to be quick and think quicker. “Okay,” I said, “here’s how this is going to work. You have to go wherever I lead you and you have to do exactly what I say, okay? No thinking and no second-guessing. I’m in charge here and we do this my way.”

  He nodded hesitantly. “Yeah. Okay.”

  “If I put you someplace, stay there.”

  He rubbed his eyes and inhaled sharply. “Fine.”

  “Good. Now, we need to move and we have a lot of stairs coming up.” I reached for him again, and this time he gripped my wrist. I led him up the stairs and he stumbled, catching himself on the railing with his free hand. I stopped him when we got to the top of the basement stairs and eased the door open. The two guards were still on the floor where I had left them, and the room was clear. I tried to pull him forward, but he wouldn’t move. I glanced back and saw him choking the railing.

  “Come on.” I tugged him. “We need to go.”

  But he shook his head. “I can’t—I don’t—” Trust me. He still didn’t trust me.

  I tightened my hold on him, trying not to get frustrated. If our roles were reversed, I wouldn’t have trusted him to get me this far. “You are my mission.” My tone was harsh and confident, leaving no room for doubt. “If nothing else, you know how seriously I take that. I’m not going to leave you behind.”

  He hesitated and dropped his head. I could see him struggling with all of this. “Promise?”

  The uncertainty threw me, and it took me a moment to answer. “I promise,” I said. “Do you think you can keep up with me?”

  He nodded more confidently than before.

  “Okay. Then let’s get out of here.” I pulled on his arm and he let go of the rail. This time he stayed with me, moving faster than I was expecting. I guided Scorpion around the guards and we hurried up the stairwell, with him faltering only a few times.

  We made it to the third floor before we ran into any real problems. The door to the floor opened as we were coming up the steps below it. I stopped quickly and flattened Scorpion against the wall. He moved easily and had enough instincts to stay perfectly still. The door opened out, shielding us from the guard. I crept slowly up toward the opening door, letting go of Scorpion and pushing his chest so he’d stay put. He took the
hint.

  I got close to the door, and waited until the guy started to cross the threshold. Then I slammed it shut, trapping his head. He fell hard, and one of his friends came charging after us. He pushed a button on his radio and told the rest that he had found the intruder. I spun into the floor and ran down the hallway at him. He fired off a few shots. I opened one of the empty office doors and ducked behind it, pulling out my gun and shooting enough rounds to get him to back up. I leaned on my knees, feeling short of breath and more winded than I should have.

  But I couldn’t afford to wait. I grabbed one last gulp of air, then turned and ran back to the stairwell before he could get his bearings. He would be right on our trail and there was still another guard to worry about. Plus, I’d left Scorpion alone longer than I would’ve liked.

  I kicked the unconscious guard out of the way and hurried back to Scorpion. “Let’s go,” I said, taking his arm. “They’ll be right behind us.”

  “Did you get hit?” he asked.

  I was shocked he cared. “I’m fine.” I yanked him harder and we hustled up to the next floor. I pulled him down the hall and into one of the offices. I needed a minute—or even a second—to catch my breath. Everything was quiet.

  “What’s going on?” he asked. He kept his voice low.

  “We just need to wait them out a minute,” I said.

  “Did you get hit?” he asked, more forceful and serious.

  “No.” I could barely get the word out.

  “I don’t have to see you to know you’re having a hard time breathing.” He was getting angry.

  “I’m fine.” But I wasn’t. This had never happened to me in the field. “I only need a minute.”

  He rubbed his eyes and I could tell he was getting frustrated with me. “You’re lying.”

  My breath started to catch up to me. “Remember how we said you weren’t going to second-guess me?”