Hunting Nora Stone

by Colin Weldon

  “Done,” Miller replied

  He was nothing if not efficient, even if he was an asshole. The comm system shut off just and Eddie looked out at the streetlights below. His head was spinning. He needed more information. Abigail unhooked her seat straps and moved to his side of the helicopter. She sat down in beside him, momentarily making him jump.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” she said.

  Eddie looked back out the window.

  “You didn’t,” he replied.

  “Right,” she said.

  Eddie looked sharply at her.

  “Doc you have to give me more access. I know she was an assassin for Christ’s sake, but I need to know what she’s doing. The only way that strike could have been green lit is if they had an exact location. The only way to do that is if they eye-balled her or they can track her implants, or….” He paused and looked at Hiran.

  “Can you see if there was any unusual activity at an IP address at that location just before the attack?” Eddie asked him.

  “Unusual how?” Hiran said.

  Eddie raised his arms up.

  “I don’t fucking know Hiran, you’re the geek. Anything, any signals or hacking or anything that someone from the outside would find so suspicious enough that it could only be a rogue fucking cyborg assassin,” he said.

  Hiran sighed and mumbled something before turning his head down to his computer.

  “I was in charge of psych eval, Eddie. I wasn’t there from recruitment. My job was to make sure they were fit for field ops. That’s all. If we get close enough I may be able to talk her down, but we’re still under instructions not to make direct contact. What do you want me to do?” Abigail sounded frustrated.

  Eddie shook his head. He needed her on his side right now. Why had Stone not killed him? Surely the shrink could enlighten him? But she seemed as baffled as him. He sighed, thinking, not for the first time, that a full tactical squad would be a better idea than this motley team.

  “Anything?” he asked Hiran..

  “Hang on – I’m sending you all the data on every vessel that’s left port in the last six hours,” Hiran replied.

  Eddie reached into his pocket and took out his phone. The custom-made smart device had a seven-inch flat screen. It unlocked itself by scanning his retinas. The fluid interface came to life as new files were transmitted from Hiran’s laptop. He began flicking through the numerous vessel names and destinations. It was a needle in a country-sized haystack. She could have gotten on a horse and headed west for all they knew. The one advantage was that, at this time of day, it would be mostly cargo ships leaving port.

  “Any reports of assaults or anything unusual at any of these locations?” Eddie asked Hiran.

  Hiran shook his head.

  “Not that I can see, but local law is slow in logging data. Could be thirty six hours before anything shows up on their systems,” Hiran replied.

  Eddie sighed and looked back at his phone. He scrolled aimlessly through the departures.

  “Look, most of these ships have cctv on them to prevent smuggling and theft, right?” Abigail suddenly said.

  Eddie kept his eyes on his phone.

  “Probably,” he said, “but she’s not that stupid. She won’t just be wandering around on the deck having a smoke for all to see.”

  “What about a light aircraft?” Abigail said.

  “No,” Eddie replied, “we’d spot that easily and she’d just be shot down by a drone.”

  Abigail sighed, “She could be anywhere.”

  Eddie smiled at her.

  “Yep,” he replied.

  “Hang on!” Hiran suddenly shouted from the other side of the helicopter.

  He undid his straps and made his way over to Eddie, taking a seat next to him.

  “I think I have something,” Hiran said. “Central servers are reporting a hack at 21:03 last night.”

  That got Eddie’s attention.

  “Jesus, it cracked the classifieds and got right past the firewalls in less than thirty seconds. Incredible,” Hiran said. “There’s nobody in the world who can crack the CIA servers in that time. Not without a quantum cypher encryption key.”

  Eddie looked at him and frowned.

  “Ok look… she used the IP address at the location without routing her computer through any VPN relays,” Hiran said.

  “Meaning!” Eddie said.

  “You can’t get direct access to the CIA servers without full frontal attack and you can’t do that unless you go direct to source. She knew she would be tracked instantly. The hack is impossible. She would have had to have direct access to the central servers and she would have had to have known the decipher key to do that,” Hiran said.

  “Ok, so Jaguar would have seen it instantly,” Eddie said.

  “Exactly,” Hiran said.

  “And they would have known her location instantly,” Eddie followed.

  “Bingo,” Hiran said.

  “Wait a second, Miller said they had nothing to do with the drone strike,” Abigail said.

  Eddie stayed silent.

  “Can you see the files she was looking at,” Eddie said.

  “Not without hacking into the classified mainframe, no,” Hiran replied, “and, for the record, I am not able to do that.”

  “And off the record?” Eddie asked.

  “I would be detected within a millisecond,” Hiran said. “That’s what I am saying. She wanted to see something really badly.”

  Eddie turned his attention back to his phone. He stopped his finger swiping and tapped on three choices.

  “Right, these three cargo vessels left port within the last four hours,” Eddie said pointing at the names, “one going to Makassar, one going to Singapore and one going to Padang.”

  “I’m guessing she’s not going to Padang. She wants out of the country and that would be doubling back. Singapore offers her more route options,” said Abigail, “assuming she isn’t still in Jakarta hiding under a dumpster.”

  “I agree,” Eddie said tapping the name of the vessel and bringing up its designation and inventory.

  Hiran crossed the helicopter to his backpack and began rummaging. He returned to his seat with a small vial filled with blue liquid. It was in the shape of a dart.

  “If we can get close enough we can shoot her with this,” Hiran said.

  “What’s that?” Eddie asked taking the vial. He swirled the liquid around.

  “A little concoction of mine, radioactive isotope mixed in with some nano technology. It will travel around her bloodstream without killing her,” Hiran said.

  Eddie handed the vial back to Hiran and looked at his hands.

  “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt,” Hiran said.

  “The purpose being?” Eddie said.

  “You get this into her blood stream and it will light her up like a Christmas tree. Any drone within a hundred miles will be able to pick up the radiation signature,” Hiran said.

  “Not bad,” Eddie said, touching his headphones to activate the comm system to the flight deck. “Lieutenant, we’re changing course.”

  Container Vessel

  Nora Stone sat with her legs crossed in the centre of the container. Surrounded by blackness, she felt the motion of the ship as it swayed beneath her body. Her eyes were closed. Her hands were resting on her knees. She listened to her breath and tried to slow her thoughts. She hated the dark. It let the memories in. She tried to calm her heart as the images of horror flashed through her mind, one after another, accompanied by the sound of a high- pitched drilling noise. The faces of those she had killed began carving their bloodied pictures across the surface of her mind. The memory of her own flesh being ripped from her body. The months of being systematically electrocuted, the bright lights, the sleep deprivation, the vomit. The moment when her chi
ld had been torn from her broken body. The high-pitched scream. Her inability to hold her. Lying in a bed looking at the stumps where her shoulders had been. She dug deep and let the images come. She had learned over the years not to fight it. The darkness brought with it an assault on her senses. She had accepted it. She had learned to use it. To attach it to her fury. She listened to her speeding heartbeat and began to count rhythmically to each pulse. She could hear the wind outside the container howling.

  She could hear rain begin to fall against the metal. Its echo bounced around the empty metal hold and began to grow louder. She listened intently. There was a storm coming. Both outside and in. She was grateful for it. She opened her eyes and looked down at the light glow coming from her cybernetic arms. She ran her thumbs across her fingertips and wondered what it would feel like to feel again. She knew it would not be deserved, not after the things she had done, the things she was about to do. If there was a hell, she was at its gate. Rattling the bars and demanding to get in. She would not be alone, however. Oh no. There would be others with her. Others more deserving. The devil would have to make room, she was taking them all with her. She began to feel the ship tilt and sway as the sound of the high winds racing over the container built in intensity, as if god himself was sending his own fury down to join her in her journey.

  She then heard something different. Something familiar, in the distance. She lifted her head to try and hone in on the sound. At first she thought it was thunder. It began to grow louder. It was a continuous grumbling sound. It only took her a few seconds to recognise it. She got up from her crouched position, placing her hands against the container and pressed her ear close. There was no doubt. It was a helicopter, and it was close. She took a deep breath and listened as the churning of the blades grew closer. It was overhead now. Hovering. It was big. A twin prop, a Chinook. Military. They had found her. She clenched her hands into a fist as noise of the wind and rain pounded the metal walls of the container. It was time for a fight. She was too close to be stopped now. She listened to the sounds of crewmen on the deck. They were shouting something. A klaxon sounded as the helicopter grew even louder. She unhooked her weapon but left it in its holster. Pressing her ear up against the sealed double doors, she listened intently. They would not stop her. Nobody would.

  CIA Jaguar Headquarters

  Langley Virginia

  Julian Miller stood with his arms folded and looked at the satellite imagery being displayed on the screen. The infrared signatures of the helicopter and the ship’s complement showed up as white.

  “The name of the ship is the SINAR BRANI sir,” said one of the analysts staring into a screen full of data.

  Miller didn’t acknowledge him. He was busy watching the helicopter hover over the large cargo ship.

  “Any bio signatures for any of those containers?” Miller asked a young female analyst sitting at a workstation next to him.

  “There’s bio signs all over the place sir, I think it’s carrying livestock,” she replied.

  “Well find one that looks like is has arms and legs,” Miller snapped back

  “Yes sir,” replied the woman.

  A phone beside his desk suddenly rang. He saw who it was coming from and picked it up.

  “Yes Director,” he said still watching the screen carefully.

  Miller frowned and cleared his throat.

  “Sir, I don’t think….” He paused after being interrupted, “yes sir I understand that but escalation to that magnitude at this stage could…” he paused again as the sound of Wise’s voice could now be heard in the room.

  Several analysts glanced sideways to see what was happening. Miller looked frustrated. His face was beginning to tense up.

  “Yes, Director, I understand,” he said hanging up the phone.

  He exhaled loudly and looked at the ground. He rubbed his hand over his freshly clean-shaven face and looked back up at the satellite imagery. It looked like there was a person being lowered from the helicopter onto the ship.

  “Looks like they’re boarding her, sir,” said one of the analysts.

  “Get me a secure line to General Hammond,” he said, “and get me the current location of the USS Gerald Ford.”

  One of the screens on the far right began to change into a global positioning map rendering with little red dots scattered throughout it. Each dot represented military assets all over the world and currently in orbit around the Earth. The desk phone began to ring. He looked up at the map and back at the image of Conrad’s helicopter as it maintained its position. He picked up the phone.

  “Put him through,” Miller said, “General I’m going to need an F-22 Raptor for a sortie two hundred nautical miles due south west of the Gerald Ford,” he paused, “yes General, I understand, I’ll need command override for the mission.”

  Miller waited as the general relayed instructions and then asked him the question.

  “The mission name?” Miller said looking back up at the video feed, “Sleeping Tiger,” he replied hanging up the phone

  CHAPTER NINE

  The rain swept across Eddie’s face. It was cold, even through the zipped up military overalls he had put on in the helicopter. The pilot had objected to staying too long and told Eddie that he would be forced to leave if the weather got any worse. He had instructed Abigail and Hiran to stay on board and monitor from above and then reluctantly had himself lowered onto the deck. He looked up at the bridge of the ship. He could see the shadows of the crew as they stared at him, probably wondering what smuggled gear was about to be discovered. He looked around at the towers of containers and began moving across the deck with both hands on his weapon.

  “Hiran, you reading me?” he said as he manoeuvred his body past some rigging which was haphazardly strewn across the deck.

  “Copy that, it’s hard to get a lock with all this livestock,” replied Hiran.

  Something suddenly kicked a container next to Eddie, making him jump back and point his gun squarely at the door. He heard a low growl and the sound of something large moving around inside.

  “According to the manifest that’s just a bull, Eddie,” Hiran said in his ear, “I’ve got a positive feedback from my scanner Eddie, I think she’s definitely down there.”

  Eddie blew out a controlled breath and shook his head.

  “Easy,” he whispered to himself as he moved on.

  The wind was beginning to pick up and the swaying of the ship was making it difficult to maintain a solid footing. He leaned against one of the containers and looked down the length of the ship. It was huge, with hundreds of possibilities. This could take hours and he could barely see in the poor visibility. He manoeuvred himself down a small gap between the rows of containers. The wind and rain were being held at bay here, although there was an eerie whistling noise as it travelled through the passageway. It was like a floating haunted house. He rubbed his wet face and ran his fingers through his hair. He checked his weapon again to make sure the safety was off and began walking through the gap.

  “Hang on,” Hiran said.

  Eddie stopped.

  “Say again?” he shouted, as the noise of the hovering helicopter drowned out what Hiran had said.

  “I have a stationary signal from ten meters towards the stern of the ship. It looks human,” Hiran said.

  Eddie looked ahead at a section of containers. There were three rows stacked three high. He moved forward slowly and stopped just at the edge of the small gap trying to get a look at the possible exit routes if this went south. He looked up at the helicopter, which was now overhead. If Nora Stone was here, she knew damn well that they were too.

  “Abigail tell the pilot to back off, make it look like we’re leaving,” he said to her.

  “Got it,” Abigail replied, “listen Eddie, if you make contact, tell her the ocean is blue and the sun is shining.”

  Eddie frowned.
>
  “What?” he said looking up at the helicopter.

  “Trust me,” Abigail said.

  Eddie shook his head. He had no time for psycho babble.

  “Whatever, just get the chopper away from here,” he said.

  A few seconds later, he heard the helicopter ascend. He moved his eyes quickly and scanned the surrounding area. With the light from the helicopter beginning to fade, Eddie slipped the single night vision lens he had over his right eye into place. The deck went from black to light green. The rain was really coming down now and Eddie thought about whether or not to proceed. He could call it in and get an escort to port without having to do anything. If she was here she was not going anywhere. The thought quickly passed. His suspicion that something about this mission wasn’t adding up, and sheer curiosity had gotten the better of him. Or was it pride? Either way, he had been sent to do a job and he would be damned if he didn’t get it done. He moved slowly forward, placing one foot over the next in a controlled, slightly crouched position for stability. Reaching the end of the row, he ducked his head around the corner to make sure he was alone. He looked to the tops of the containers and performed a standard clearing sweep. It was a reflex action. He could hardly see three feet in front of him anyway. Up ahead lay a new row of containers.

  “Hiran, which one is it?” Eddie said looking down the barrel of his gun.

  There was a static response.

  “Hiran?” he said again.

  Nothing.

  “Fuck,” he said gritting his teeth. “Ok, let’s do this the old fashioned way.”

  He moved beyond the end of the gap he was standing in and took a step into the open. The wind and rain hit him hard. He widened his stance to get more grip and pointed his weapon towards the containers.

  “Nora!” he screamed towards them, “I’m not going to hurt you, but if you don’t stand down, I will shoot you!”

  He waited.

  “I know you’re there, there’s nowhere to go, listen to me, they won’t stop until you’re dead. Let me bring you in. I promise, you will not be harmed,” he shouted as he looked from one container to another listening for any sounds.