Shine (The Infected: Mirror Man Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  That meant, when he found the bank of lights in the distance that he was supposed to head for, he just had to walk over. That part, walking instead of running the distance, was important. It took him seven minutes to walk a quarter mile in dry, loose sand. That was his best guess for how long it was going to take him to get inside.

  There were lights below him, as he moved through the slightly sinking darkness. Above him as well. Each a point from which he could move into the world outside. It wasn’t cold there, for all there was no source of warmth that he could find. Really, it always seemed to be about seventy degrees, more or less. No one knew what would happen if he slept there, since it hadn’t come up yet. Still, he was trying it if he ever got stuck in a snow storm.

  The walk was peaceful, which his little mirror place had going for it in spades. He could speak, and hear himself do it, but there was no other noise. It was a bit oppressive, if he wanted to be honest about it. Not too bad.

  Just enough to make him realize how sloppy he was being about almost everything.

  “Last minute alibi plans and not pulling the job when weird things started to happen. That’s pretty insane of you, Howard. Then, so is talking to yourself.”

  It had always been a habit of his. Even as a boy he’d done it. His mother had always tried to get him to stop, since it made him seem unhinged to a lot of people. Instead he’d simply learned to only do it in private. It was a staple of him being on a job, now. At least as long as he wouldn’t be caught because of it.

  There was more than one long row of mirrors on the building he was headed for. The trick there was getting the right set of shiny panels, he knew. It wasn’t that hard, once he was over to the place. The floors around the correct place didn't have anything like it, outside of bathrooms and even those tended to be smaller, since it wasn’t strictly speaking a building that was open to the public.

  So the seven large mirrors were his likely target. Looking through them, Howard saw the safe, exactly as he was supposed to. The only issue with the whole thing was that there was a man in the room. He wore a decently nice gray suit, and seemed a bit familiar. From where, he didn't know. Television probably. After the man got something from the safe, locking it firmly, he turned and held a small piece of black plastic. Then he moved to a table that had a screen on it, and plugged the thing in. There was some clicking, but it wasn’t possible to see what was on the device from the angle Howard was standing.

  On the far side of the room there was a window. That was totally black, and across from the one that he was going to use the explosives in his pack to blow out. Interestingly, it being made so no one could see through it, caused it to be a more than adequate mirror from a certain angle. That meant, after walking around to it, he could see what the man was watching. What he was getting up to as well. That part, simply put, was watching a child being tortured while abusing himself.

  Even worse, or better perhaps, the man was also on the screen, cutting the little boy with a knife. Just as the man grunted, bucking a bit in his chair, he plunged the knife home on the screen, ending the cries of the little kid. The boy in the pictures was about fifteen feet away from the window on that side, but the screen was huge. A large television style thing that put the one at Shady Lane to shame. It had really good definition as well. Enough so that, even not really getting a super look at the man’s face, he kind of got the general idea of who he was.

  From an older program that some of the ladies at the home had watched. Not that the man was ancient or anything. Only about fifty or so. Also, along with being famous, he was clearly a rather sick individual. One who it was tempting to kill, actually.

  Howard didn’t do it. There was a job to do that was more important. Instead he waited for the man to get up, open the safe, pack the thumb drive away in a locked box that was built into the inside of it and secure the whole thing. Then the fellow left, the lights inside the place staying on the whole time, even though no one else was there.

  “Fudge.”

  The reason for the invective about chocolate candy was that they’d missed something in their practice. The model of safe they were going up against didn’t normally come with locked boxes inside like that. They were safety deposit box style, and there had been at least twenty of them.

  So instead of a single, large space that he was supposed to loot, there were twenty little ones. Each about the size of a bread box. Plenty large to hide a lot of secret things, of course. Instead of feeling scared about things changing like that, Howard felt a grin come onto his face. Also, a soft buzzing inside of himself. The timing was going to be off. It already was, since there shouldn’t have been anyone in the room when he got there.

  If Kate didn’t know that part and there was no reason she should have, not being a fortune teller, then someone else might be in at any moment. So he was going to need to get in, prep the window and then tackle the safe. All with an unknown time limit.

  Worse, the longer he took, the less likely Kerry was going to be locked on and ready to go. Since she was his ride out of there, with only a hard landing being likely if he messed things up too much, that meant he had to hurry and hope she wasn’t going to get mentally lazy. So far she hadn’t seemed like the type, honestly.

  That didn't mean nerves might not start her daydreaming or worrying about the cops, in the heat of a job.

  He tapped the glass, knowing that he wasn’t getting out that way, as soon as he was in place. That part, oddly enough, was normal for him. Never in his life had he done a major job where leaving through a mirror was an option. The window however was really his way out about forty percent of the time.

  Moving fast, the heavy canvas sack on his back not making any noise, Howard jogged to the window. The one that should, hopefully, be right across from Kerry. Then he hooked up one of the explosive charges, so it would be ready to go as soon as he needed it. The room was nice enough, and while it smelled a bit like the inside of a cheap porn theater video booth, the place otherwise had some class to it. Nice wooden furniture. A golden carpet that seemed cleaned and well cared for.

  A big black safe with a digital key pad on the front, just waiting for him.

  He had, in his bag, tools that would allow him to get the thing open. Also, a lock picking gun, that might let him get into the boxes, as long as they weren’t designed to have a special key for each one. That was possible, but what he’d seen in the man’s hand had looked like a regular enough thing. It was a key for a lock, not a miniature bristle brush looking device, for instance. If it had been one of those…

  Well, then he’d need to just leave. He wasn’t beating that kind of thing without preparation. Certainly not on an unknown time schedule like he was on.

  It was tempting to talk to himself, but he’d practiced not doing it, so moved his black gloved hand up, and gently tapped in the six-digit number code. After it was in, and double checked, since getting that wrong might mean the safe had to be reset before it would open again, he held his breath. That was superstition, but meant he didn’t gasp when the thing just clicked. Letting him pull the handle down and open the safe. The action on the hinges were nice and smooth. Well oiled, meaning cared for regularly.

  Pulling the key-gun from his pack, he worked on the box that the asshole who’d been abusing himself had gotten into, first thing. After all, he knew for a fact that it had a thumb drive in it. It took about two minutes of pumping the handle, and resetting once, to get it to work right, but as soon as the thing was open, he emptied the contents into his pack. Right next to the sledgehammer he was carrying with him.

  There was no art to his placement, he just shoved things in and started on the next box, working from the middle outward. There was no real reason for that. He’d began at one place, in the center, so it felt right to do it that way. About half of the things held only thumb drives. The rest were a mix of objects. Several of them held cash. A few had a lot of coins or gems. Precious objects. Containers as well.

  Mos
t of them had books. Howard didn't waste time looking in them, since the whole thing was taking far too long. He wasn’t even halfway through at the twenty-minute mark. That put him nearly fifteen minutes past when he was supposed to be out of the room, thanks to the initial waiting he’d had to do.

  Keeping his mask on, even if things were getting hot, the black wool of the thing moist from his breath and sweat already, he kept going. Working lock after lock. Trying not to notice what was in some of the containers that he slipped into his bag. By the end, with only a few boxes to go, he started having to pull his tools out. Then, kind of hating himself, he dumped wads of cash on the floor. Mainly Euros. Not because there wasn’t American money in the mix, just because he wasn’t planning to head to that part of the world anytime soon.

  The pack was only so big, which meant that, as soon as he was finished, he put the cash back into the center drawer, along with two shaped explosive charges, and the tools that would fit there. He kept the sledge, and set one of the charges, just before he slammed and locked the safe door, and ran for the far window.

  The explosion from the box was intense enough that he recalled the great idea of putting in ear protection, while he set the device on the window. Then he dashed back, half wondering if it would turn out to be a dud or something along those lines. It wasn’t. If anything, the explosion was a lot more impressive, without being in the desert at the time. The rock backing had made a difference it seemed.

  “One thousand one. One thousand two.” He got ready to sprint toward the now open face of the large glass sheet. The hole was about four feet, instead of the smaller one they’d gotten in practice. Turning as he counted, smoke coming from the safe in two places, the sprinkler system came on.

  Because of the smoke. Mainly from the blast that had taken out the window, he was willing to bet.

  “One thousand seven.”

  On nine he started to run, as fast as he could. The carpet gave him decent traction, and nothing was in his way. Just as he said ten, he flung himself, wearing his heavy pack, out the large black window.

  Wondering if he were about to learn what hitting the ground at terminal velocity felt like. There was certainly falling involved in the whole thing. Enough that he honestly figured that Kerry wasn’t going to manage the catch for some reason.

  Then, after a few, very long, seconds, he stopped in the air, then rose, as he started to move forward. The speed was good, actually. Faster than they’d practiced it being. Then the girl, dressed in her bat costume, flew into the air, flapping awkwardly. She bobbed around a bit, until they met up. Then she put her legs around him and pretended to fly like a bat while carrying him.

  “Sure. Let’s just do everything on the fly. No, that’s fine. I’m sure that it will all work out.” Too much of the job had been done that way, he knew.

  Still, as soon as they were through the window of the office space, and settled on the floor, Yi waved to them. No one else was there, since they didn’t really need to be. Not for the escape. That part was being done to plan, at least.

  “Hurry.” The man looked at them, wearing a mask of his own. They all kind of matched that way, being in black and covered like they were. Only Kerry got to have wings on her arms, since it really would help confuse things if she were caught on camera. Making her seem like a different, unknown, Infected person.

  When they came back in, they were still dressed for the job, even if suddenly in the kitchen, as a party. There were, at least, clothes waiting for all of them there. The same things they’d been wearing earlier. It meant stripping down in the food area, but no one stared at them as they did it. Then, before anything else could take place, Brian grabbed the clothing, the outfits from the job and vanished. He was back not too long after that, being needed to mingle at the party.

  Kerry, for her part, seeming a tiny bit flush, just went back to work.

  “I should have these petit fours ready in a few minutes. Who’s up to take them out?”

  Kate all but ran into the kitchen, making a beeline for them. Howard got a hug.

  “Okay. Sorry about that… I missed the thing with the locked boxes inside. I got the contents, but not that. Which means someone was using a power or ability to stop that from being known. Did we get anything?”

  Because, if that was happening, if powers were in use, then they might not have, even if he thought so.

  “Let’s go and unpack this and check? We need a space for that.” One in which party goers weren’t going to simply walk in and see their collection of really rare snuff films.

  That got Brian and Howard waved at.

  “This way. To my work room. I should be able to deal with most of this… I recognize the computer system they use at least. Let me…”

  They didn’t run. Howard carried the pack with him, like it wasn’t a big deal. People saw him do it, as they moved into the large home and then through a locked door that took them down a set of carpeted stairs. They were spiral, even though it didn't seem like saving space was the issue.

  Once they got to the central hallway, there was a wave.

  “Door three, on the left. You probably don’t want to know what’s in the other areas, Howard.”

  Brian made a face then.

  “That bad? Where you keep your sex slaves and all that?”

  Before Brie could answer, defending her honor or at least lying about her sex slaves so she might still be able to get with the man, Howard laughed.

  “Not if she’s warning me about it. My guess is she keeps her loot down here. All the fine art and gems… As if I’m not going to have to break in now and find out. Then steal it all.”

  She giggled, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. Like a young school girl. Except that they did it out of nerves and Kate was deflecting from something. Probably her own secret vault.

  “That too, but it’s mainly that I have tech down here. Some things that almost no one else does. A magical altar room… Did you know that stuff can actually work? Most of the effective things take murdering people, but not all of it. I have a really sweet set up with a demon, just in case I need anyone killed. That kind of thing.”

  It was hard, for a moment, to credit it as being true, but finally he nodded, as they got to door number three on the left. When it opened it showed a decently nice room, that reminded him a bit of a college classroom. Only filled with computers, scanners and other things that he didn’t recognize at all.

  “Ah. So you have a secret space ship down here? Very interesting.”

  That got… A laugh which was so sudden that it seemed fake.

  “Not at all. I keep that someplace else. Now… Let me… Can you empty that onto the table there?”

  She meant him, emptying his pack, even if Brian came over to help. It was interesting, but Howard wasn’t afraid that the man would try to take off with all his money or gems. Not even with all the data, or the things in different containers.

  Looking at what came out, with Kate across the room, tapping on a keyboard, Yi shook his head.

  “Body parts? That isn’t what I would have expected.”

  From the other side of the room, the thin white woman took a deep breath, very loudly.

  “It shouldn’t be that big of a shock. A lot of the people at the top are very sick individuals. Which… Let me…” She didn't say much then, just sorting through the various thumb drives. They were all the same, except for some tiny bits of color on a few of them. “Here we go. This one first, I think. It should give you a feel of how high up this all goes.”

  It took several minutes of arcane computer mumbo jumbo to be done in order for the scene on the drive to play out. This one wasn’t of sexual abuse, at least. Not directly. No, it was an adult woman, using a rubber male phallic symbol on herself, while watching a child being burned alive. It was disturbing, but not just for the screaming of the child in the background.

  Howard pointed.

  “Is that…” He’d never been that up on politics, b
ut the woman was familiar. Eerily so. Known for being kind of evil, and very, very well connected. Untouchable. Not enough to rig the last election for President, but close to that.

  Next to him, from Brian, there was a huge exhalation of air.

  “That is, indeed. I’d kind of figured though. I mean, it’s all of them, isn’t it?”

  That got a nod from Kate.

  “Yes and no. Most of them. When this comes out, we’re going to have to be ready for… Honestly, almost anything. A fake nuclear war comes to mind, as a distraction. Even a real one. These aren’t people who will go down easily. We need to go over all of this and get it logged. Then… Well, I have some people to see. That part is mine, but I could use some backup for that, Brian? Travel mainly. Right now… I need to do this. You should get back to the party, Rich. Mix and mingle. Don’t worry, I’ll separate out your cash and prizes. We can deal with that later? Unless…”

  That part was her trying to be leading.

  “Unless I don’t trust you? The thing there is that, when it comes to money, I really do. I’m still not certain that you all aren’t going to try and take me in, after this is done, but then I won’t be for a while. You know, when you don’t put cuffs on me and try to take me to a secret prison?” One in the dark.

  That reminded him that he needed to learn to get into his mirror world without using that kind of thing. Kate had suggested it might be possible. How he was supposed to do it, he couldn’t have told anyone in the world. If it was doable at all. Even if she was on his side, it may not be.

  Clearly, knowing everything, at least in theory, wasn’t the same as having all knowledge, about everything, all the time. She really only knew what other people did. Living ones.

  Brian smiled at him, the thing reaching his eyes. Which meant fake. It was a good effort though.