Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1)

by Adrian D. Roberts

  Cursing under her breath, Hanna took a running jump and followed Valerie into the air. The suits were also designed to mask heat and, with the camouflage design, they faded easily into the background. The automated security systems would take no notice, they resembled one of the large winged predators, called pterodactyls, regularly flying the thermals above Inferno. Named after an ancient animal from Earth with, from what Hanna understood, had two wings instead of its Blaze namesake’s four. That was why they carried nothing with an active power source. Even an automated system was going to flag up a pterodactyl with an active com on it.

  A sudden gust hit Hanna from the left, forcing her off course and she fought to bring herself back in the right direction. Another slammed her from the right and this time flipped her all the way over. Biting back a scream, she saw a wall flashing towards her. She wrenched her arms back and managed to catch another gust to get her clear.

  For a moment she was able to steady herself and mentally curse Sneaker for understatement. He warned her, cross-winds above the city would be much worse than in the mountains. She hadn’t realised until now, just how much worse they could be.

  Fortunately she was not too far off course. She angled her wings to bring herself into a tight downward curve. There was no way to know if Valerie made it or already dead against one of the tall buildings. The plan called for com silence while approaching the building. They would not be able to contact the rest of the Crew until Hanna Hacked the security systems.

  Suddenly her landing zone disappeared. For a split second Hanna was confused, until she realised that it hadn’t disappeared, it was obscured by an unlit building. Without having time to wonder why it didn’t have its lights on, she pulled back on her suit in horror and hoped she wasn’t too low already. The roof loomed up in front and flashed past her in the dark. Hanna felt its permacrete top brush her feet by the faintest of touches as she swooped over.

  Now, once more out of line, she carefully realigned herself, searching desperately for anything else that could endanger her. There was nothing except, with her flight being more erratic than she had practised, she was now coming in too fast. Fighting down the urge to panic, she gently used her hands to activate the braking flaps.

  The tricky bit was to be slow enough so she could land safely, but without stalling and dropping the two hundred metres to the ground. Hanna gave up the noiseless landing she had spent days training for. All she was concentrating on now was making it alive and without any broken bones.

  The wind rushed past her face. At some point in the flight her hair had come free and now streamed behind her. With her eyes fixed entirely on her destination, she focused all of her attention on that and pushed everything else out of her mind. The speed was intense and she felt like a Mag round heading for its target. With minute corrections, she brought herself in.

  The brightly lit roof rose up towards her and just metres away, she brought the air brakes on fully for a moment before, with a well-practised pull of a cord, deactivated the flight suit. The fabric went limp all around her and she tucked herself in, prepared to roll across the permacrete rooftop. She didn’t hit it. Strong arms grabbed her and spun her round, the roof top spinning around her.

  Twice Hanna was spun in a full circle before being brought to stop and gently lowered to her feet. With an instinct born out of Tern’s less than gentle ministrations, Hanna got her legs under her and looked up in surprise. Valerie stood there. Somehow the woman caught Hanna before she hit the permacrete. Spinning around to bleed off the momentum. Hanna could not imagine the strength and skill necessary to accomplish a move like that. It was possible Valerie had just gotten lucky, but Hanna didn’t think so.

  Flying through the air might not be a core skill of Hanna’s, but burglary was and she kept her wits about her, not saying anything in her surprise. Pterodactyls regularly landed on buildings and the system would allow for them, as long as neither Valerie nor herself spoke.

  After taking a moment to steady herself, Hanna nodded to Valerie and in a crouch walked slowly over to the roof door. Getting her Quartz out of her backpack she turned it on, its power source no longer distinguishable from all the others on the roof. The Quartz was ready in moments and Hanna brought up the programs she pre-set for this door. She and Sneaker spent hours building the programs they would need for this night, using the manufacturer’s specifications on everything they would encounter.

  The door lock resisted. The security firm, who looked after the building, had used their own programmers to customise the systems as much as possible. Hanna grinned as her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard in front of her. Safelife were a massive, multi-system company, with contracts all over Pantheon space. They had a hard reputation, employing many former police and Legion personnel. If she had to fight one of them, she would have no chance and that was why Valerie was at her elbow. As a Hacker, she knew she could beat them and with a click she did.

  The door slide open and Valerie silently breezed inside like a ghost. Hanna waited a moment before following her in to find, as expected, a set of stairs leading down to the next floor. Valerie was already at the bottom and waiting for her.

  Quickly Hanna shut the door behind her and plugged the Quartz into a security console just inside. This was going to be tougher. It would give her access to the security system itself. While it would not be sufficient to get Troll and her team in, or allow Hanna to use her com to talk to them, it did give her access to the cameras on this floor.

  The firewalls were tough, but she was already inside the system itself. Her worms burrowed their way in and Hanna wondered how much Safelife paid their programmers. Not enough. They needed to invest in better talent. She quickly identified there were no personnel on this floor and looped the cameras. It was only a temporary worm, one that would dissipate in a few minutes. That would be just long enough for them to make their way to the main stairs.

  Nervously, Hanna put her datapad away and drew out the small Mag pistol she took from Sneaker’s armoury on a whim the day before. Although she had never used one before, she guessed it couldn’t be that hard.

  She crept down the stairs until she was behind Valerie. The woman glanced in her direction momentarily before holstering one of her pistols. Without any warning, she snatched the gun out of Hanna’s hand.

  “Do you know how to use this?” the woman demanded quietly.

  “No,” Hanna said in surprise and shaking her head. “Give me that back!”

  “No.” Valerie replied in that cold voice of hers before turning away. “Do your job. Tell me where we need to go.”

  With only Valerie’s back to stare at, Hanna swallowed her anger and pulled out her Quartz. She knew where they were going perfectly well, but as she no longer had a gun to carry it was better to have the information to hand. Without looking at the map on her screen Hanna pointed down the corridor to their right.

  “Down there to the end, then we go left. Keep going until the last door on the left. That’ll be the stairs down. We’re heading for the third floor down.”

  “OK,” Valerie said quietly. “Stay behind me, but no closer than two metres and keep low. I may need to fire over you. Let’s go.” Without waiting for a reply, Valerie strode off down the corridor and Hanna scuttled after her.

  Pausing at the first junction, Valerie glanced round and then nodded to Hanna that the way was clear. A wave of her hand told Hanna to follow and she was off again. Hanna resisted telling Valerie she already knew the floor was clear. Her run in with that home owner over the aircar keys and the injuries she sustained from it, made her think it was better safe than sorry.

  Hanna followed Valerie down the corridor to the end and the door she directed her to. The door was sealed and there was no way to tell if there was anyone on the other side. First they needed to get through the door. Hanna stepped up to the access port with her Quartz at the ready. A hand on her shoulder stopped her. She glanced questionly up at the older woman.

 
“Flight suit first,” Valerie told her. “Then the door.”

  With a nod, Hanna quickly unbuckled and stripped off the baggy fabric. It all folded neatly into a self-contained back pack and she slung it onto her back. As soon as she was done Valerie did the same, her movements swift, precise and well-practised. It was clear she’d used one many times before. When Valerie was ready, she nodded down to Hanna.

  Plugging into the system, it was much easier to Hack. She now had a good idea of how the programmers at Safelife worked and the door slide open. Valerie stepped past quickly with her pistols out. Looking down the stairs, she indicated to Hanna with a nod that it was safe before proceeding down them.

  Shutting the door behind her, Hanna followed and stayed the two metres behind Valerie. She watched as Valerie checked every corner, eyes and guns moving in complete synchronicity. Hanna was as surprised as everyone else at Valerie’s performance in the training sim. She could see it wasn’t a fluke. Valerie wasted no time or energy as she moved and they silently continued to the third floor down.

  They met no one on the stairs. Just as Sneaker told them would be the case. The guards all used the lifts and the stairs really were there for emergencies only. When people have full access to the Pantheons technology, they tend to forget or over-look the lower tech options that were a way of life for those in the Ghetto.

  This floor was mostly set aside for Safelife. It held their armoury, security computers and mainframe and it was where they would have at least five of their guards. It was possible there could be up to ten, if some came up for a break. The lock on the stair door was more substantial and Hanna would have to be more careful.

  At least that is what Sneaker expected. Hanna frowned in surprise. The upgrades on the door were no different than the others. Her Quartz learnt what worked on the previous locks and automatically updated Hanna’s worms. After a quick check to make sure they didn’t have any erroneous code, she released them.

  If Hanna thought Valerie moved fast before, it was nothing compared to her now. In a blink the woman was gone and Hanna scrambled to keep up. Darting through the door, she hit the close button and looked for Valerie as she heard a scuffling noise. The woman was standing just down the corridor with her arm tight around the neck of a man. He was a big body builder, wearing light armour without a helmet and Valerie held him easily down on his knees.

  The man’s face was turning a dark shade of purple as she squeezed his throat. He hit her arm again and again with no response. He tried slamming his elbow into her side and although it made her grimace slightly, she did not release the pressure at all. With a last kick of his legs the man slumped down in Valerie’s arms. She held on for another moment and eased him to the floor.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t shoot him,” Hanna said quietly

  “It would make too much noise. Where do we go now?”

  “We need to get to their mainframe. It’s in the centre of this floor. We go down this corridor and take the first turning on the right. It will then be the fourth door on the left.” Hanna explained with a glance at her datapad.

  “OK,” Valerie pointed to a nearby door. “Open that.”

  It was only a simple lock and Hanna quickly opened it. She glanced back and saw Valerie lift the big man easily over her shoulder. Hanna glanced inside, it was a storeroom. As Valerie not too gently dumped the man in the room, Hanna reset the lock so that it could only be opened from the outside. That man was going to have to use his Pulse pistol if he wanted to get out. She then saw that wouldn’t be an option, Valerie stripped him of the power packs and pocketed them.

  “I’ve re-programmed it so it can’t be opened from inside.” Hanna told Valerie as she closed the door behind her.

  Valerie only nodded before stalking down the corridor and Hanna dashed after her. This time the older woman left her guns in their holsters, Hanna presumed it was so she could deal with anyone they came across without any noise, like she did for the security guard. They moved slowly and Hanna kept checking behind them. It was easily possible for someone to come out of the doors they passed. They came to the turn without incident and kept going.

  Hanna was beginning to think they would make it to the mainframe room without any problems, when a door opened on the right, only two metres from Valerie. A man stepped through followed by a woman. Both wore light armour, but like the man before, neither had their helmets with them. They looked up in surprise and just as the man was going to say something, Valerie struck swiftly.

  Her left fist punched into the man’s throat and his eyes widened in shock, followed quickly by horror as he found he could no longer breathe. The woman, who was just behind him, went for her pistol, but it didn’t do any good, Valerie was already passing the man and her right fist came across in a vicious back hand. It struck the guard right across the cheek and Hanna jumped at the crack it made.

  The woman flew backwards against a wall and when she stopped, Hanna was amazed to see her head rest onto her shoulder in a very unnatural angle. Valerie must have broken the guards neck with a single punch. The man was now on the floor, clutching his throat as his face got darker and darker.

  “Hey. What was that?” a voice emanated from the still open doorway. “You alright, Sandy?”

  Valerie drew her pistols. It was so quick, Hanna didn’t see the actual movement. It was like the guns went instantly from their holsters to her hands. Valerie was firing her pistols as she stepped into the doorway, Hanna heard zipping noise from the magnetic coils launching the tiny metal darts out to Valerie’s targets.

  Hearing cries of pain, shouted curses and confusion coming from inside, Hanna stayed outside, not even daring to look in. She put her back to the wall next to the door and tried to stay as close to it as possible. Her instincts were still in good shape even if her mind was struggling to cope with the carnage Valerie was inflicting. Hanna kept looking both ways down the corridor. She was ready to shout in case any more came along.

  All too quickly it was over and there was silence from inside. Hanna held her breath and screwed up the courage to look around the doorway. Just as she was about to she almost screamed when Valerie stepped out completely unscathed.

  “Clear.” Was all the woman said before bending down to pick up the female guard she killed.

  Bile rose in Hanna’s throat from the woman’s head flopping around her neck as Valerie carried the body inside. Hanna heard a thump from dumping the corpse in the room and stepped out to get the man. He died at some point in the last minute. Hanna felt a twinge of guilt that she didn’t even notice his passing.

  Picking him up as easily as the others, Valerie threw him inside with a heave of her arms rather than carry him in. She turned to Hanna.

  “Can you seal this room as well?” Her voice was as cold and lifeless as ever, it showed no sign she just killed two people with her bare hands.

  Only able to nod in response, Hanna plugged her Quartz into the lock and could not help glancing around the doorway. Just inside lay the two bodies Valerie dumped in the room, the man was slumped over the body of the woman. The room was a break area for the guards, with tables and chairs set out in front of a kitchen unit at the back. There were also comfy chairs down one end in front of a VI screen.

  Valerie’s handy work could be seen all around. Two guards had been sitting at a table and now one was sprawled forward, the back of his head blown out. The other had come off his chair and lay on the floor, his dead eyes staring up to the ceiling, with a neat hole above them in his forehead. The kitchen unit was splattered with blood, bone and Hanna guessed the pink globs to be brain matter.

  A guard lay just in front of the kitchen. His ruined face told the tale of a shot to the back of his head. He had not even had the time to turn around before Valerie shot him. Over by the entertainment screen, a guard lay to one side and she had actually been able to draw her weapon. It did her no good and she was just as dead as the others.

  The last body landed backwards on the t
able below the screen, scattering the game controls and drinking cups. The man’s eyes seemed to be staring right at Hanna and the bile rose up her throat. This time her stomach heaved and she had to fight throwing up whatever was in there. Hanna had seen many awful sights in her young life, but none came close to this much carnage. What bothered her most was Valerie’s complete lack of emotion. Hanna expected something, breathlessness as though she had run a mile, a pale face, excitement at having survived, or even enjoyment from the kills.

  Looking back at the woman, Hanna could see none of this. She stood there waiting in the corridor, a statue showing nothing of what Hanna saw in all the other killers she met. Steeling herself and forcing her stomach under control, Hanna drew on Valerie’s lack of emotion, to concentrate on the task at hand.

  It took her only a few moments and the door to that horror slid shut. Hanna completely wiped the doors system and with a single command, her Quartz dumped a power surge into it, frying the memory. It would take a complete hardware and software replacement or heavy equipment to open that door now.

  “Done?” Valerie questioned when Hanna unplugged her datapad. She nodded in response, not trusting her voice.

  They were close now and with Valerie in the lead, they got to the mainframe room without meeting anymore guards. Shaking her head at the simplicity of Safelifes programming yet again, Hanna soon opened the door. Cold air flowed out causing her to shiver and Valerie was inside in a heartbeat.

  Following her in Hanna found no one for Valerie to deal with this time. There were rows of servers running back ten metres on either side, with narrow gaps between them for maintenance. After sealing the door behind her so only she could open it Hanna went to the only desk in the room. It was a small terminal with a single chair and Hanna slipped into it.

  Activating the terminal, she plugged her Quartz in and shivered as she waited for it to sync. The buildings environmental system would be keeping the room at a very cool ten degrees Celsius. Having lived on Blaze her entire life and rarely leaving Inferno, Hanna pulled her thin jacket tighter around herself. She knew without looking up that Valerie would not be feeling the cold and even if she was, she wouldn’t show it.