I opened the door and peeked into the corridor. Nothing. I crept out and hurried along, trying to remember where the big hall was. I had to cross the main entrance area. I pulled my hoody over my head and tried to walk confidently along. There were a few people there but no one paid me any attention. I spotted the doors to the room where the convention was held yesterday. Shit. Angelique stood right by the entrance. I retreated. I didn't want her to sense me. I hurried into the toilets and waited five minutes or so. I tried again, carefully moving towards the hall, my senses on high alert. I didn't detect her, so I carried on. I managed to slip into the hall and closed the door behind me. A few of the staff were still cleaning the place. I hoped to God that no one had found the phone and handed it in. I went to the area where Ned and Daniel had their argument. Nothing obvious stood out as to where the phone could have been. My senses stood on edge. Someone was approaching. I turned in the opposite direction to the source and started to walk off.
“Hey, Miss. Are you looking for this?” a soft voice called.
I turned around. One of the cleaning girls strode purposefully towards me with a stretched out arm. In her hand was the mobile. Rick didn't know it was a phone Daniel had been talking about, so I guess no one had thought to ask the staff to look out for it.
“I found it just a few minutes ago, it had slipped under the plant pots. You're lucky a little bit poked out, otherwise I would never have found it,” she said, very pleased with herself.
“That's fantastic. Thank you so much,” I said, trying to sound friendly but without looking directly into her eyes. My heart throbbed so loudly, I was sure even a non-Sensorian could hear it. I grabbed the phone out of her hand. Nodded once more and made my way out of the room as quickly as I could without breaking out into a run. I sped back to the toilets. They seemed to be the safest place to hang out.
I rang Zack, willing him to pick up. I didn't have to worry, he was on it after the first ring.
“Yes?”
His voice sounded stressed, eager for information.
“Got to be quick. Don't know how long I have. She's in the basement of Rick's Head quarters. Room 101. Armed guards.” I managed to say but got distracted. I heard hurried footsteps, urgent voices approached fast. I broke off contact and listened carefully. It was Irena. Shit! That was bloody quick. I looked around me. There was nowhere to go or hide and she was following my scent. I chucked the phone in the toilet, covered it with paper and hoped for the best as I pressed the flush. I hopped to the other cubicle after pressing the flush again and stuffing more paper in. Pulled down my trousers and sat down, just in time before Irena and guards burst in.
“The bitch is in the cubicle on the right,” Irena shouted. She was furious. My door burst open and the guards hauled me up and handcuffed me. My trousers still down my ankles, they stood me in front of Irena.
“Make her decent,” she snarled at one of the guards, who roughly tried to hoist up my pants and jeans. The tight trousers presented a problem and the guard cursed, not being able to get a grip on it. I couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. It earned me a slap from the frustrated guard. He finally succeeded. Even Irena rolled her eyes.
“What have you done?” she growled exasperated.
I took a breath to answer. Could I claim a momentary lapse of sanity? But she held her hand up.
“Don't say a thing. Take her to the basement. I'll search the area. Don't alert Rick yet. He needs to concentrate on his event.”
I wished heaven and earth for that phone to have flushed. At least it would buy us some time. I knew they wanted to make doubly sure what they were accusing me off, before informing Rick. No one wanted to be responsible for fake news.
I prepared myself for the brutal interrogation I was going to face. I had to stay strong mentally to be able to create enough confusion about what my intentions were and what I'd been up to. At least, until they were absolutely sure I'd done something wrong, they wouldn't hurt me too much. I hoped....
CHAPTER 50
Zack
This was it. The message we had been waiting for so desperately, confirming where Zaphire was being held. I was relieved to have received the call, but it sounded like Eliza was in trouble.
“Sir,” I addressed Michael. “I'm worried Eliza's cover has been blown. Do we need to get her out of there too?”
“We've discussed that scenario with Markus, and we decided the mission needs to focus on getting Zaphire out. It is too complicated for diversions. If it turns out that Eliza needs our help, we do have the option to use Jessica as a bargaining tool, so we can deal with that after the mission.”
It felt wrong leaving Eliza there if she was in trouble. Michael picked up on my misgivings.
“That's an order. Is that understood, Zack?” he asked sternly.
“Yes, Sir.” I submitted. I couldn't really see a way to liberate both either. Fuck. We didn't even know where Eli was.
The timing of our move was a difficult one. We had to act quickly in case they found out information was leaked to us about her whereabouts, as they might move her. We also had to be sure Rick was in our compound. However, we were still on our way and hadn't even met up with the whole team to double check our strategy.
There were ten of us, six men and two women going into the building and two staying behind in the van. Tristan was our driver and Archie would stay with him to deal with the communications. Vivian had stayed behind with Laura and Markus to ensure the capture of Rick. Frank was the overall leader with Michael and Rob as deputies. Brody and I were the youngest, but both of us did have a lot of experience. Our normal missions were never this complicated though, and we normally have the upper hand. That certainly wasn't the case in this mission. Going up against rival Sensorians was not something that happened often.
We knew very little about the building. We were practically going in blind. Archie, our computer expert had already looked into plans of the building, but they were hard to find. He had cobbled together a sketchy map of it with bits of info he'd found on the internet and that's all we had to go on.
They had guns, so we needed to weapon up. Brody and I were given special permission to carry for this mission, but neither of us were confident users as we didn't have a licence yet. Frank told us it was only for our own protection in an emergency. We should be covered by them. I fucking hoped so. I could hardly remember how to use the fucking thing. There was no shoot to kill policy, but I wasn't sure if I were even fucking able to shoot to maim. It would be complete pot luck on where I would hit anyone.
Our main ace was Rob, who had to be our eyes, using the people in the building by Vision Hacking them remotely. It would at least give us a much better chance to avoid being seen by people and dealing with those that may have caught a glimpse. A dose of luck would help too. I wasn't happy with the low odds of this mission succeeding. We were so underprepared. Not how we liked to conduct our business.
It was 11:30am. We still had no confirmation on Rick's whereabouts. The tension and adrenaline in the air was stifling, not to mention the restrictive bullet proof vests making us overheat and grouchy. But we had to stay put. There were too many Sensorians around to risk our scents being picked up by one. We had sprayed ourselves repeatedly with disguising spray, but there were ten of us so it was hard to cover it all up. We couldn't shield and cloak the whole time to the max as that would exhaust us before we even started our rescue mission, so we just had to endure it.
12:30pm. Finally, Rick had been sighted near our compound. It wouldn't be long now till we got the green light. Twenty-five minutes later our mission went live.
After having applied a fresh batch of spray, we hopped out of the van in twos and threes, not to look too conspicuous. Archie had fitted all of us with earphones and mics so we could communicate at all times. When we got to Rick's headquarters Phaedra and Saleem went to the front door to create a distraction whilst the rest of us went round to the back
of the building. There should be a window we could easily enter through. We got the all clear from Archie who had managed to interfere with the signal of their security system, which would hopefully give us at least a few minutes unseen access, until they manage to bypass Archie's interference.
We heard Phaedra and Saleem creating some consternation at the front door, we didn't need our earphones for that. It sounded like a lover's brawl played out in front of the people who'd opened the door for them, with Phaedra hysterically screeching for help. We could hear them trying to calm things down. I picked up the scents of several people including at least one Sensorian. Good. That kept a few out of the way. Hopefully a couple of the guards would go and suss out what was going on. We had to get a fucking move on.
Rob scouted the area through the eyes of several unsuspecting Dullards. The coast was clear. Frank broke the glass of the window. He did it so expertly and quietly, I hardly noticed it. That was a skill I wanted to learn! The six of us crawled through the opening and it looked like it had brought us right where we needed to be. If the map was correct, we had to get out of this room, turn left, go to the end of the corridor where there should be a door leading to the basement. Adrenaline pumped through our bodies, I could feel and smell it. The spray wasn't strong enough to hide it. Fuck it.
Speed was of the essence. We had to act before our scent was picked up. Rob was up front and opened the door. Next minute he hauled a man inside. Michael jumped on him and injected him with Thiopental. It knocked him out after about ten seconds and he was shoved aside. He should stay out for at least ten minutes. Rob said the guy was on his own as he hadn't seen anyone else through his eyes. We filed through the door after the all clear was given, but Frank and Sonia stayed behind to keep our way out guarded. It was up to Michael, me, Brody and Rob to find and liberate Zaphire. We ran as silently as we could to the door at the back of the corridor. We got there no problem. I hoped the security system was still down, because the place was fucking covered with cameras. The steep stairs led us to the basement which opened out into a corridor lined with doors. I briefly picked up Eliza's delicious scent, though it was laced with fear and despair. I felt she was near and in need of help, but we had our orders to get Zaphire out, first and foremost. We couldn't risk the whole operation. So, even though it made me feel sick leaving her here, I pushed it to the back of my mind. I had to concentrate on the task in hand.
Michael stopped dead and backed up.
“Guards,” he whispered.
There was nowhere to hide. We couldn't approach them without being seen. Fuck.
Rob VH-ed the guards.
“It's just the two of them,” he confirmed
“We need to lure them out. Both won't come but if we can get one of them to come over, we can use him as a shield,” Michael decided.
“Cameras are still out,” we heard in our earpiece.
We didn't need to do anything to lure the guard, because he was on his way already. A Sensorian; his scent unknown to us. We looked at each other, slightly panicked. He would sure pick up our scents soon and alert the other guard. Michael gave Brody and me the signal. We were the fastest and strongest. We didn't have a choice but to go for it. We stormed through the door. Raced towards the guard who immediately reached for his gun. It took us only seconds to overpower him, but the other guard was already on his way. He fired his gun in the air as a warning. But we were hiding behind our captive. We hoped that was enough to stop him from firing directly at us. Rob and Michael joined us. All careful to be in line with each other.
“Drop your gun!” Michael shouted at the other guard. He was still pointing it at us but with his other hand he was trying to reach his radio. Frank shot his hand.
The guard screamed out in pain, dropped his weapon and fell to his knees. The noise and the guard's outburst hurt every fibre in my body. I had to concentrate on shielding or I would collapse with him. By the look on everyone's grim faces, we were all suffering the same. We hurried to room 101, kicked the door open, guns at the ready. The guard in the room was prepared. He shot instantly. Michael got hit, but the bullet luckily only skimmed his arm. Rob shot back, making the guard have to take cover. Brody and I ran in to get Zaphire. She was sat on the floor, bound, blindfolded and gagged. I hauled her over my shoulder and ran. Rob behind me, leaving Brody and Michael to deal with the guard.
“Cameras are live,” Archie's calm voice informed us, totally at odds with the situation we were in. Fuck! This was bad.
We ran up the basement stairs. I sensed people running towards our area. They were minutes away. Michael and Brody caught up with us. Shots were being fired. I heard Michael cry out in pain again, but he was still moving. We burst out into the corridor and all four weapon carriers were shooting to create cover. Frank and Sonia tried to keep the corridor free for us to run. Brody got his weapon out too and was randomly shooting away into the corridor. I just fucking ran, blindly. Hoping for the best. We got to the room. Brody squeezed himself through the window. I shoved Zaphire through whilst he pulled. We had no time to deal with her restraints. I felt her frustration boil. I heard Brody's gun fire again, Rob struggled through the opening and helped Brody fend off the guards outside. Rob screamed. He was shot in the leg as bullets were flying everywhere. We ran out through the back garden, jumped the fence as best as we could. Practically pulling Rob and throwing Zaphire over it. The van was waiting, sliding doors open. We all bundled in, but Michael and Sonia weren't there. I couldn't see them anywhere. We didn't have time to go back.
“Go! Drive!” Frank shouted at our driver Tristan, and we sped off.
CHAPTER 51
Eliza
Bloody hell. Mayhem. Gun shots, shouting, an onslaught of smells, vibes and sounds. I could sense Irena wanted to go out there and help but was torn between that and making sure I didn't escape. She chose me. I felt and smelled Zack's presence in every fibre of my body. So near and yet so far. I picked out his running gait, so familiar to me after the hours and hours of fitness training we had done together. I desperately wanted them to knock down my door too, room 103, as they'd done to Zaphire's. I wanted to scream for help, but Irena had gagged me before I'd even thought about uttering a sound.
They were retreating now. I think they had Zaphire, I could smell her too. It was over so quickly, it almost felt like it hadn't happened. But the cries of pain and frustration were left hanging in the air. It certainly had happened. Irena was dying to go out there. She finally managed to get someone to mind me and she rushed out, but I felt her frustration finding the corridor and room empty. Shots were still being fired, a little further away. Possibly outside. In the far distance I heard police sirens. How were they going to explain this away? I doubted I was going to find out. The sour faced guard refused to engage with me. All I could do was wait. I felt utterly useless.
Within the hour Irena was back. The hair in my neck stood on end with what I heard and smelled next. The scent of Michael penetrated my nostrils. It wasn't a good smell. He was in pain and scared. There was another vaguely familiar smell too, equally rank. They must have captured two Sensorians from our team. Shit. I heard them being locked away in the adjacent rooms. All of us separated. All this to capture Rick, and now they had different bargaining chips to get Rick out if Markus had even succeeded in detaining him. A feeling of hopelessness engulfed me. If after all this Rick still got to walk away from it all, we might have just as well waited for Rick to return Zaphy, without all the pain and risk of loss of life. It was a complete balls up. Also, there would be no way for me to talk myself out of this. Irena's grim face told me as much. I was done for.
“Rick will be heartbroken,” she started. “He really thought you had joined him. You two would have made a great team. He loves you, you know.”
She paused and circled around me. Stopped right in front of me, face inches away from mine.
“How does it feel to have betrayed your own father, knowing it was all for nothing?” she spat out.
“We got Markus' message. Markus captured Rick moments after Zaphire was freed. I knew you had to be involved somehow and it has just been confirmed after beating the shit out of Sonia. I thought about sparing her, but I knew Michael would never speak. You gave them Zaphire's location and you have been in contact all along.” Her disdain and hate for me were tangible. I think if it was up to her, I would be dead by now. “Lucky for you, Jean-Pierre is second in command and he's decided to offer Markus a deal. You and Michael are the lucky ones. Poor Sonia will be the messenger.”
She actually smiled. I knew Irena was tough, but I hadn't seen this sadistic side of her. It made me feel cold to the core. She wasn't finished yet.
The Sensorians: Trust Page 19