But Hector didn’t seem worried at all.
“Relax.” He said. “I can tell you, a lot of people must scream for help in this place every day, including me and my brother once, but nobody cares.”
Hector dragged the man by his collar to a shower booth. He crawled back in despair until his back touched a wall. Hector grabbed a hose and signaled to Lily. Even not approving her partner’s behavior, she walked to the spigot.
“What’s your name?” Hector asked him.
“Miller.”
“Remember me, boy?”
“Y-yes!” Miller cried, trying to take his body further back with his legs, as if it was possible to go through the wall like a ghost.
“That’s right, the wet nigger. But I’m not the one who’s getting wet today. Lily, if you please…”
The Australian woman opened the spigot. A furious jet of water whipped Miller, compressing him even more against the wall.
“Stop! Please, stop!!!” He screamed in anguish and pain.
Hector nodded at Lily and she killed the jet.
“Alright, now that you’re clean, you can tell us where the equipment room is, and the code to open the door.”
“I can’t, please, I can’t tell you! You don’t know these people!”
Hector nodded at Lily and the water jet came back to life at full power, punishing Miller’s body.
“Stop, please!”
Lily closed the spigot.
“I’m not asking you again!” Hector shouted at him.
“Look, mister, I’m sorry for what I did to you, okay? I just follow orders! If you mess up with these people here, you don’t know what they do to you!”
“Oh, I think I do. And I know you follow orders. That’s all you do. Only now, you’re following my orders. And you don’t want to know what I can do to you.”
With a powerful grip, Hector strangled Miller’s neck to force his mouth open. Then, he stuck the hose down his throat.
“There’s only one way to clean racist pricks like you.” Hector spoke “By washing your dirty soul on the inside. Lily, when you’re ready.”
She was about to open the spigot again.
“UHHH! UHHH!” Miller grunted in dreadful horror, his eyes goggling.
“Hold it!” Hector said and took the hose out of Miller’s coughing mouth. “I’m listening, boy.”
Once by the equipment room, Lily typed the numeric code and it worked. They opened the door and Hector pushed Miller inside, to later tie him up and gag him with duct tape.
“No cameras in here” Lily spoke “as far as I can see.”
They studied the room and all the gizmos around.
“It’s not your brand.” Lily noticed.
“That’s why it’s so inefficient.” Hector replied, sitting down by a table with a desktop connected to monitor, mouse and keyboard. “Alright, time to play some piano.” He snapped his fingers.
“It’s that him?” Maria asked Aaron.
“Oh yes.” I’ll never forget that face.
The guard they saw was casually making his rounds, so distracted he didn’t see Maria coming with a pipe. She hit him on the head and he fell unconscious.
“You did this kind of thing in your hair-parlor too?” Aaron asked her.
“Only to customers that didn’t appreciate my work.”
“Right. What we do now?”
“Have you watched the movie I Spit on Your Grave?”
“No.”
“Follow my lead.”
The guard woke up in a room, his arms and legs tied up to a chair. He was dizzy and with a strong headache.
“What… what’s going on?” He screamed and struggled on the chair. “Get me out of here!”
“Good evening.” Maria went into the room and closed the door.
“What are you doing? Who are you? Untie me right now, you hear?”
“Yes, I hear you. I’ll untie you, but first I need you to tell me where you guys keep the heavy vehicles you steal from travelers. Is there a garage around here somewhere?”
“What?! Fuck you, bitch!”
“Oh, that’s not the answer I’m looking for, mister.”
“You are one of those freaking rebels, right? Oh yeah, it’s you! What? Is this supposed to scare me? Oh, I’m sorry to disappoint you, babe, cause this is just the way I like it.” He spread his legs as much as he could. “Come on, cunt, put your little mouth in here and do what you do best, hahahaha.” He wiggled his tongue and laughed again.
“You’re quite rude. Let’s see how you deal with a real man.” Maria left the room.
“Don’t be shy, baby!” He spoke between laughter. “Come back, I’m ready for you!”
But Aaron was actually the next one into the room.
“Remember me?” He asked the prisoner.
The man narrowed his eyes a little and said:
“Oh yeah, you’re that kike I shaved! So, how’s the new face doing? I guess I made you pretty, huh? What’s wrong, can’t you remember anymore what you ate last night? Hahahahahaha!”
“Oh yes, the face’s doing well.” Aaron answered serenely. “You shaved me indeed and you did it all for free. I guess it’s just polite to return the courtesy.”
The smile vanished from the prisoner’s face.
“What are you talking about, man?” He asked.
“You shaved me, now I shave you. Only I’ll start for your balls. By the way, I couldn’t find any electric shaver, like the one you used on me, so I’ll have to use the only item I could get my hands on.” He drew a big and rusty gutting knife.
“W-wait, man! Be cool, man! We were just kidding! That whole shaving thing was just to pull your legs, man!” He began to pant heavily.
“I’m kidding too! And I’ll also pull your legs.” Aaron opened the zipper of the man’s pants and raised the knife.
“Hey, hey, stop! Please, don’t do this, please, please! I’m sorry, you hear! I’m sorry! They made me do that!”
“Forgive me if my clumsy hands are not very familiar with this line of work. I’m not a barber, you know. I might cut the wrong thing by mistake.” Aaron put the knife right into his pants.
“Stop, come on, stop!” The prisoner burst into tears. “Please don’t do it!”
“The lady who was here before asked you a question.”
“Yes, yes, I tell you everything you want to know!”
“And you also owe her apologies for the way you treated her.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Mate, do you copy?” Aaron spoke on the walkie-talkie.
“Loud and clear, brother, copy.”
“I hope your driver’s license is not expired, my friend. You got some driving to do.”
“How is it going?” Lily asked.
“Purring like a cat” Hector replied. “I’m almost in. Security in this thing is a joke. Even a four years old kid can break these passwords. Now, if they used the ultra sophisticated encryption methods of Hector and Vince, Routers and Since my brother and I created…”
A strident blare interrupted his bragging. A loud alarm screamed to all walls. A light bulb on the ceiling spun red beams around the room.
The guard tied up and gagged on the floor beat his shoes against the ground in satisfaction.
“Oops!” Hector mumbled.
“What’s going on?” Lily asked.
“Somehow, they must’ve connected the man-machine interfaces to the local alarm system. They did that probably because their cryptography is weak.”
“Everybody, copy” She spoke on the radio. “Abort mission, we’ve been compromised. Try to get out of here or find a place to hide, copy.”
“Is there a third option, over?” Vince queried.
“Yes, you ask them nicely not to kill you, over and copy.” She turned to Hector. “Can you still do your magic?”
“Oh yes, I got access to the routers and switches, but soldiers will be all over us very soon.”
“Can you open that door never
mind what happens to the keypad?”
“Sure, it can only be locked on the outside.”
“Good. Keep on working. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll take a tour around the complex. I’ve never been to a TV station before.”
Lily left the equipment room and closed the door. She grabbed her boomerang and destroyed the keypad with it. Some soldiers ran to her, firing automatic machine guns. She jumped around a corner to a corridor, bullets crossing the air very close to her head and shoulders. She looked up and saw fluorescent light fixtures attached to the ceiling by cables.
The soldiers stopped by the door and tried to open it, but noticed the keypad was obliterated. One of them shot a whole round of ammunition at the locks, but to no avail.
“Forget it. It won’t budge. Let’s get the girl.” The man reloaded his weapon and ran with the others.
They turned the corner and faced an empty aisle ahead of them.
“Where did she go?”
“She couldn’t have run that fast!”
In fact she did not. From one of the light fixtures, Lily jumped and landed on two of the men. The others succumbed to her nimble dance of martial arts, hitting the deck unconscious.
She searched the sleeping soldiers until finding a lighter. Running again, she tried to reach the stairs to the upper floors. But another division closed on her from the opposite direction, blocking her way and forcing her to double back with more shots.
“Guess I’m not welcome.” She whispered.
While running, she also jumped and hit all water spray nozzles she found with the flame of the lighter. Water poured hard on the corridor like rain. More soldiers came from the other side and Lily had to stop. She was surrounded. Everybody was soaked.
“I don’t know why you did that,” one of the uniformed men spoke “but say goodbye to this world, toots.”
“Goodbye to this world, toots.” Lily said.
“FIRE!”
And they all fired at Lily. But none of the weapons worked.
“What the f…” The soldiers started to examine and shake their machine guns like mad.
“Wet powder” Lily explained.
“Only this water can’t do all that!”
“Crappy equipment, you’ve been forcing people to work real hard for almost no gain. You get what you pay for.”
That being said, she once again opened way through the men with precise karate blows. She found an open door and went in.
“Great!” A sergeant said. “She’s just got herself cornered.” He grabbed his radio. “All units converge to the showers. I repeat all units converge to the showers. And bring some dry weapons, damn it!”
Lily closed the door, and very quick realized that was the only way in and out the room. There were some glass windows, but out of reach.
“Wonderful.” She grunted.
Lily walked into a shower booth. “Please, tell me you guys dig a hot bath.”
Soldiers approached the door on both sides. One of them nodded at the others and broke into the place.
“Goddamn it!” He had to leave almost immediately because of the thick steam coming out of the room.
“Alright, let’s go in!”
They entered two at a time, but the overall atmosphere was unbearable.
“Man, this place is a sauna!” One private complained.
Unpleasant sounds of water hitting the floor reverberated through the walls.
“She turned on all showers.” A soldier informed his sergeant “Only hot water though.”
“Yes, I noticed!”
“She must have some water fetish.”
“No, it’s not that. She’s using the steam to cover her. All right, spread out and comb the area, widest possible angle! And turn off those damn things as you go!”
“Ugh, ah, ouch!” Screams were heard.
“James, Brody! Are you there? Please, respond!”
“Man, I can’t see a thing!”
“Ow, uuuuh, Jesus!”
Loud thuds echoed.
“What’s happening? Somebody talk to me!”
The soldiers finished turning off the showers. A few minutes later, all steam dissipated through the ventilation system. Several men were lying on the floor, knocked out cold. And the door was opened.
“Sir, we searched every inch of this dump. She’s not here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive, sir. She escaped.”
“Damn it!” He took his radio. “All units, this is Sergeant O’Herlith. We got a hostile on the loose! I repeat a hostile on the loose…”
Lily found the break room. She decided to stay there for awhile and even take a coffee.
“Too sweet!” She mentally complained.
Some men in suits ran outside.
“Lily, do you copy?” a voice came on the radio.
“Yes Mario, I hear you, um… over or copy.”
“We got some problems in here, over.”
“That’s a switch. Tell me, over.”
“A whole army of riot police is crossing the gates right now, copy.”
“Are you and Philippe in any danger, over?”
“Oh no, they look too worried about whatever you guys are doing in there, over.”
“Hang tight. I’ll get back to you. Just a question, over…”
“Yes, over…”
“Why we have to say over or copy every time we’re done blabbing on the radio, copy?”
“I’m not sure. It’s a convention I guess, over.”
“Okay, hang tight; over, copy and out.”
“You’d better hurry, sugarplum, they have tear gas.”
The rumble caused by the heavy boots of men crossing the main gate was enough to shake the structures of the security cabin.
“Oh dear” Mario cried. “It’s an earthquake outside.”
“All we can do now is pray for a miracle.” Philippe sighed.
Lily peeked outside. Coast was clear. She went downstairs, hoping to find a garage. She was anxious. It was a big place and she didn’t have the slightest idea where to go next. She was afraid to get lost.
Sounds of steps roared on the upper floors. They were so loud they could be heard even from two or three stories down. A shadow appeared on a corner. Lily froze and got ready to attack. When the person materialized, she jumped on whoever that was, fists ready to hit the punch.
“No, no, please!” The skinny young woman gasped and Lily held her hand. “I just noticed all the fuss around and I wanted to see what was happening. Please, don’t kill me! I won’t tell anybody I saw you!”
“Don’t fret, lass. Everybody knows I’m here already. Besides, it’s not a problem, I suffer from attention deficit.”
“W-what?”
“Never mind, it’s just a bad joke. What’s your name?”
“Becky.”
The Australian woman let go of her collar and stared at Becky for some seconds.
“I remember you!” Lily said.” Your pictures are all over town. Your face is showing in more billboards than mine on YouTube.”
“Yes, I know who you are.” Becky revealed.
“Is there a reception desk somewhere in this place?”
“Yes.”
“Do you mind telling me how to get there through the least busy route you know of?”
“Go straight ahead, make a right and you’ll find a service elevator. Nobody uses it very much, not even on emergencies. Reception desk is on the ground floor.”
“Great, thanks. Are you alright? You don’t look so good.”
“I’m fine.”
“You go home now.”
And Lily ran to the directions informed by the youngster.
“Too nice for a scoundrel and a looter” Becky wondered in her mind, but that was all she could think of.
A headache had been plaguing her for some time. The pain grew stronger to slowly become a migraine.
“What�
�s happening to me?” She cried while massaging her temples.
“Yes, yes, I know, we’re doing the best we can!” A neatly dressed front-desk receptionist spoke nervously on the phone.
By his side, another clerk drummed her keyboard like a crazy piano player.
“Yes, we got most of the invaders on cameras, but we still couldn’t pinpoint their exact location.” The receptionist continued. “Somebody keeps switching channels with me. That’s right. They must’ve tapped into the system. We’re locating the source right now.”
The other clerk raised her eyes and shouted “The security cabin by the main entrance.”
“Did you get that, sergeant? Great, talk to you later.” And he put the phone back on the cradle.
“Sorry folks, you’ll have to leave the office a little earlier today.” Lily said, walking behind the fancy desk.
“Hey, you can’t be here…!”
Before he could finish his reprimand, Lily hit both receptionists’ heads against each other, rendering them unconscious.
Apocalily Series (Book 1): The Sunshine Dame of Doom Page 19