by Jamie Davis
The thought didn’t last long and he changed his mind. Doing anything that rash would only put the cops on his tail, too. This guy’s body cam drone had already deployed and hovered overhead, giving a nice wide-angle view of all the action. There’d be no way to avoid getting his face on the video screen of every cop for a hundred kilometers if he attacked this officer.
Kurt couldn’t afford that kind of publicity on a good day. It was bad for business. Now, when he had a dicey job to do and a crazy biker gang chasing after him, he definitely didn’t need his photo floating around in the news. Kurt knew he needed to defuse the situation as quickly as possible.
“I’m complying, officer. I will not resist.”
He opened both hands and dropped the knife and baton to the pavement.
“Get on your knees.”
“Officer I told you, I was attacked by these two guys in the parking lot. Ask anyone in the restaurant.”
“The manager’s the one who called me. He said two regulars were trying to catch a murderer. I show up and those two guys are on the ground and you’re standing over them with a bloody knife in one hand and regulated tech weapon in the other.”
“I have a permit for the baton and the blood on the knife is my own.”
“I don’t care. We’ll let the magistrate at the station work it out. On your knees and put your hands behind your head.”
Kurt sighed and got down on his knees, lacing his fingers together behind his head. He’d made a mistake. He should have taken the cop down and worried about the fallout later. He didn’t have time for this. There were just two and a half days remaining to get the sarcophagus out of the impound warehouse and delivered to Clara’s captors.
The police officer remained where he was and launched his auto cuffs at Kurt. The devices flew over to lock around his wrists. They were followed by a metal collar that attached to the cuffs and latched around his neck, securing him in that position with his arms raised, elbows out.
Kurt couldn’t move his arms now without choking himself. The combo handcuffs and collar restraints were relatively new on the scene for law enforcement, but he’d seen them deployed on several holovid shows he watched. As long as he didn’t fight the restraints and followed the officer’s commands, he’d be fine.
If he didn’t, the collar could tighten enough to temporarily block blood flow to his brain, causing him to pass out. Kurt didn’t want that. He needed to remain alert. His only chance at a quick resolution was to try and talk his way out of this once they got him back to the station.
The cop secured the arms of the two disabled gangbangers with zip-tie flex cuffs while he called for back up and transport.
Kurt shook his head and lamented another string of bad luck.
Chapter 9
“Kurt Carter,” the guard called, pulling the cell door open. “Someone’s posted your bail.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I don’t have all day to stand here. If you want to turn it down, I’ll tell them and you can take your chances with spending the night in the county lockup.”
“No, I’m coming.” Kurt got up from the bench and crossed to the other side of his cell, exiting past the guard.
“Head down the hall past the other cells. I’ll be right behind you.”
Kurt walked forward, wondering who’d bailed him out. His comm chip had been disabled as a matter of course during processing.
He turned the corner to the room where he’d turned over his personal items when they processed him.
Marci stood there by the sergeant’s desk smiling at him. She blew a bubble with her gum, popped it and said, “Hey, K.C. Dad said you needed some help. Sorry it took so long to locate you.”
“Marci, how?”
“Dad has flags in the system with a bunch of his old intel contacts watching for your name. If it pops up in any of the national security or police databases, he gets an alert. I think he only does it so he doesn’t lose any important contracts. We both know what a mercenary he is.”
“Yeah, sure. I was gonna call him to get your help down here anyway so this worked out. Thanks for coming. Give me a second to gather my stuff.”
Kurt turned to the sergeant at the desk on the raised platform. The officer pulled out a large plastic zipper bag and dumped the contents on the counter. Kurt was happy to see his baton in there with everything else.
“Sign for this stuff and you can go. Here’s a ticket with your court appearance ID number. You can appear in person or via a virtual terminal at your local courthouse for an additional fee.”
“I know the drill. Thanks.”
Kurt shoved his wallet and other personal items into his pockets, slid the flexible metal band of his wrist comp onto his forearm and looped his belt through his pants. He clipped the baton to the belt last of all.
“Hey, how’s that baton thing work, anyway,” the sergeant asked. “The report says it gets longer but none of us could get it to work.”
“It’s keyed to my DNA. Won’t work for anyone else. Sorry.”
“Pretty cool tech. Way better than what they give us.”
“Yeah, well that’s the benefit of being a private contractor.”
The sergeant nodded towards the door. “You should head out and get away from here. I’m sure the Hell’s Gaters will be getting out of here soon, too. They have a lawyer on retainer here in Atlanta. If you’re still here when their buds show up—, well, we don’t want another fight to deal with, do we? We’d just have to lock you up all over again.”
“Yeah, good idea.”
Kurt gestured for Marci to go first. He didn’t want a fight to break out. Marci was no doubt armed to the teeth. While she had a legal U.S. concealed carry permit, the paperwork and processing for even a self-defense use of deadly force would tie them up for days he didn’t have.
“I got your SUV from the impound lot, too,” Marci said as they walked down the steps in front of the police station. I took the Mag-Lev bullet train down from Baltimore and picked your ride up on the way here. I’ll drive if you want. You said you need me for a job down here?”
Kurt checked his watch. It was later in the day than he wanted. The sun was already going down. He was going to lose another whole day if he didn’t hurry. He smiled at Marci. He had stuff to plan, so he was fine with her taking the wheel.
“Sure, you can drive. Get in and I’ll fill you in on what’s going on while we head north. Drive back up the interstate to the edge of the city.”
Marci grinned ear to ear and ran to the driver’s side. Kurt didn’t understand the excitement she had when she got to drive. She drove on her own all the time and even in manual mode, modern cars drove themselves for the most part. You could override the speed and steering to a point, but the collision avoidance and mandatory highway governors would kick in if you got too reckless.
A half hour later, they sat pulled off on the shoulder of the road. A half kilometer ahead of them in a small valley lay a large, government industrial park with a locked and guarded gate. They could survey the layout from the hill looking down into the fenced compound.
“So we have to get in there, find the correct warehouse, break in and get out of the building in under twenty minutes?” Marci asked.
“That’s the plan. Then I need you to locate the exact position of this unregistered gate. I have the general GPS coordinates but you’ll have to narrow that down when we get closer.”
“That’s no problem. Gates are my thing. What happens once we get there? We go through and rescue Clara or are you going to make me wait for you on this side?”
“No, much as I hate to drag you into this mess, you have to come with me again. I need an extra person on this.”
Kurt ignored the little happy dance Marci did in the driver’s seat. “The package is going to require two people to move and I’m not sure if the gate is permanently open or opens and closes on a schedule. Either way, I need you. But, I want your word you’ll stay out of trouble this t
ime and not pick-up any souvenir firearms from the trip like you did the last time. Got it?”
Marci deflated a little. “Yeah, but I do get to explore a bit while I’m there, right? You are going to be getting Clara out of hock and won’t need me until you’re ready to leave and have to be rescued again.”
Kurt ignored her last statement. “I suppose you can look around a bit but please be careful and don’t get lost so we can’t find you. Your dad would never forgive me if I left you to fend for yourself in some alien dimension or distant world at the other end of a gate. You know how he hates gate travel. He’d be super pissed if he had to come and fetch you.”
“It’s his own fault. He’s never been the same since he had to regrow his legs when that gate closed early and nearly sliced him in two.”
“I know this wouldn’t occur to you, Marci, but it can have an adverse effect to face death one too many times.”
Kurt wondered if it did affect her and she just didn’t show it. He knew a few of his former comrades who became extreme adrenaline junkies after they cashed out of the service.
The more death they saw, the harder they pushed back in the civilian world when on leave or after discharge. They just couldn’t adjust to a life where there wasn’t a near constant threat of some sort. Maybe Marci’s apparent reckless fearlessness was a result of a previous encounter.
He mentally shrugged, filing the concept away for future reference and examination.
Taking one last look at the closed gate with its small guard house and the fence around the complex, a plan began to form in his mind.
“Marci, turn us around and take me back into that small town we passed. I need to rent a plain white van and I think we should still have time to locate one before businesses start to close.”
Starting the SUV, she accelerated as she pulled a U-turn and headed back up the road. Kurt only partly paid attention to her driving, his mind pulled the pieces of his plan together. He also came up with a few contingencies based on the most likely failure points and needs for potential adjustment.
A few hours later, Kurt and Marci stood at the back of the white rental van putting on the generic uniform shirts and pants they’d bought at the Sam-Mart. Those plain work outfits, consisting of navy blue work pants and a tan button-down work shirt, were topped off with plain, blue baseball caps.
These disguises coupled with the plain white van and some empty cardboard boxes taped shut and stacked in the back, made them look like a convincing delivery service. The big companies rented extra trucks and vans to handle overflow all the time.
As the plan came together and Kurt shared it with Marci, she came up with numerous useful suggestions to flesh out the deception. She even got a clipboard with a data pad and mini printer attachment for it. She added stacks of delivery paperwork gleaned from the recycling bin behind an office building. These rural areas still used paper more than digital records in their small businesses.
Once the preparations were complete, they had only one thing to figure out. Where in that large complex of warehouses was the sarcophagus being stored? They’d narrowed it down to four choices.
Marci came up with the solution once again. Sitting together on the back bumper of the rental van, she got out a tablet from her bag. Tapping it to activate the screen, she opened a connection and started tapping away on a virtual keyboard hovering in front of her over her lap.
“With all the guards and the gated fence around the complex,” Marci said. “I’m willing to bet they didn’t think they needed to spend as much on top-notch security systems inside.”
“What makes you think so? This is a GEU impound facility, I’d think they would have tighter security than normal.”
“You’d think, but they’re still a government agency and that means the construction and maintenance contracts go to the lowest bidder.”
She tapped a few more times and exclaimed, “Aha!”
Turning her tablet around, Kurt saw the large datapad display filled with a four-quadrant security camera view. Every few seconds the display shifted and showed different camera views inside a building somewhere.
“Is that our warehouse?”
“Unless there’s another impound warehouse facility around? Yes, that’s the complex down the road. I wasn’t able to access the live camera feed remotely but they are storing the backed-up footage from their cameras in a cloud storage system. Much easier to hack.”
Kurt leaned over the tablet and watched the static screenshots scroll by until he spotted what he wanted. There was an ornate gold box the size of a small coffin that matched the description both Clara and Cat had given him. He pointed to the screen before it disappeared.
Marci reached out to touch the smaller thumbnail image and it enlarged to fill the whole screen. Tapping on her holographic keyboard again, she nodded and smiled at Kurt.
“That recording is only thirty-six hours old. It’s from the camera labeled ‘Warehouse 2, northeast corner, first floor’ so we get to the correct warehouse and you head for the northeast corner once you’re inside.”
“Good, now let’s find the feed that shows aisle seven in the same building. I have a little detour to make.”
“We’re getting two things out of the warehouse? I hope it’s not as big as the coffin thing.”
“It’s not. Something Jonesey was expecting got intercepted by the GEU and held for quarantine or something. She wants us to expedite the delivery for her.”
A big grin spread across Marci’s face. “How is Jonesey? I haven’t seen her in a while. I need to see her and get some of the charms on my gear updated and reinforced. Some of them are starting to fade.”
“She’s well. She was heading out on a trip when I saw her and wouldn’t be back for a few days. I’m not sure she’ll be back when this whole mess is resolved.”
“I’ll have to call Dad and have him get me on the schedule after this. She’s hard enough to pin down as it is. He says she’s getting busier and busier.”
“Honestly, she’s also getting crazier and crazier. That elf hasn’t met a conspiracy theory she didn’t believe.”
That got both of them laughing for a few seconds. Anyone who spent any time around Jonesey learned about her penchant for peddling the latest conspiracy theory to come along.
Marci scrolled down the various video feeds in the queue and then tapped the screen again. “Here it is. Aisle seven is also along the north wall. According to the floor plan I found, it should be on your way from the loading dock on the western side of the building.”
“Alrighty, then, time to get things done.” Kurt shut the van’s rear doors and started around to the driver’s side.
“You should let me drive.”
Kurt turned to face her. “Marci, this van is old school. It doesn’t have auto-pilot on it. Have you ever driven a totally manual vehicle before?”
“There’s always the first time. Besides, putting me in the driver’s seat allows us to play the sympathy card on the gate guard. I’ll play the newbie trainee. You sit in the passenger seat and hold the clipboard.”
Kurt hesitated. A lot was riding on this plan working.
“Trust me. I can charm anyone. It’ll work.”
He thought about it for a few seconds and decided it was as good an idea as his own lame idea to bribe the guard.
“Jump in,” he said, handing her the keys.
Kurt went and climbed in the passenger side of the van and the first thing he saw was Marci checking the loads in the magazine for the flechette pistol she’d found on his last job. He held out his hand. “Give me that. I thought I took that away from you? Do you have any idea what would happen to you, to us, if a police officer or a federal agent found you carrying military grade weaponry?”
“No, what?”
Kurt stumbled. It was meant to be a rhetorical question. “Not anything good, that’s what.”
Marci’s shoulders slumped a little and she handed him the pistol. Kurt disengaged the ch
arging pack that spun up the electromagnet used to propel the flechette darts.
Sliding the battery pack into his pocket, he shoved the pistol into the pink backpack. He’d have to take his chances and wait to dispose of it later when they were well away from here. He didn’t want some kid stumbling on it if he just tossed it into a drainage ditch beside the road or into a dumpster.
Kurt sat back and pointed out the windshield.
“Let’s go. Turn that charm on, Marci. Let’s see what you got?”
Chapter 10
The guard at the gate walked out of the small shelter beside the road and flagged them down as they approached the checkpoint. Kurt wondered how Marci was going to lead off the interaction and got a big surprise when he glanced her way and saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
Heart-wracking sobs started coming from her as she put the window down and slowed the van to a stop.
The tears threw the guard off right away. He looked past Marci at Kurt. Kurt just shrugged and circled his forefinger around the side of his head indicating she was crazy.
The guard smiled and nodded, turning back to Marci.
“Miss, are you alright? What’s wrong?”
Marci took a deep shuddering breath between tiny squeaks of crying. “I’m sorry. I need this job so bad and I’ve been messing up all day. Now we’re running super late and I’ve still got all these boxes to deliver before nine o’clock.”
She hooked her thumb over her shoulder to the stacked boxes in the back.
The guard, who looked to be about her father’s age, maybe around fifty-five or sixty, leaned in and looked over the interior of the van. His lips pursed when he saw all they had stacked in there.
Kurt decided it was time for him to play his part now that he knew where she was going with this little con job.
“You told human resources you knew your way around the city and how to drive a manual van. It’s not my fault we spent half the day either lost or teaching you how to drive, little lady. This is going to be your first and last day on this job unless you get your act together. That includes shutting down the tears.”