Sunscapes Trilogy Book 1: Last Chance

by Michelle O'Leary

  "Are—are they gone?” she breathed.

  There was a pause while she listened to the slow thunder of her heart and tried to think around the ebb and flow of aching heat in her body. They were on a damned mission. Losing control right now might prove suicidal.

  She felt the air change around her as Del shifted back a little, his deep inhalation a soft sound in the darkness. “Looks clear,” he rumbled, the bemused huskiness in his voice weakening her limbs even further.

  Concentrate, damn it, she ground out the thought with clenched teeth. They were getting nowhere with their current approach. They needed to change tactics.

  "We're never going to get into their main systems this way,” she whispered. “Even if we could get there unnoticed, they'll have them protected. We need a different plan, before they figure out that we're here."

  "Like what? I don't see how, unless you wanna blow it up.” He was starting to sound testy.

  "Well, I am partial to explosives, but getting back out of here would be tricky if we did that.” She chewed on her lip for a moment, before asking, “Besides a bomb, what do you need to open a lock?"

  "A key,” was his immediate response.

  "Let's go find us a key,” she whispered, and tried to shift to the edge of the stack, but he kept his hands firmly planted on either side of her.

  "I'm gonna need a little more than that, Sin,” he growled.

  She had a quick fantasy about giving him much more, before taking a deep breath and shooting him a grim smile. “If we can't get in, we need to find somebody who can."

  She watched comprehension tighten the lines of his face and felt an intense spear of satisfaction shoot through her. If she'd been with anyone else, they would have needed a full explanation, but Del understood exactly what she meant to do. The only other person with whom she'd ever felt such accord was her brother.

  "Let's go hunting,” was his simple response, and she bit her tongue hard to keep from pouncing on him.

  Without another word, they slipped like shadows through the darkened room and into the corridor beyond. Moving warily, they passed from the construction area into a better lit section. It appeared to be rows of offices, and Sin chose a likely looking door, lifting her eyebrows at Del and getting a nod of agreement in return.

  She opened the door, and they rushed inside. It was empty.

  With a disgusted noise, Sin exchanged a frustrated look with Del. “Well, hell, it couldn't be that easy, could it?"

  He grimaced and went to the door, prying the seal open a crack so he could watch the corridor beyond.

  Sin did a quick exploration of the room, humming in satisfaction when she was done. “Looks like it's unoccupied. This'll do as a safe hole for us."

  "Got a group coming,” Del warned, his body tensing with predatory intent.

  "How do they look?” she asked, moving to stand next to him.

  He was silent for a moment, before he grunted and shifted away from the door, letting it slip closed. “No good. Small fish."

  She nodded without comment, prying open the door control and slipping the detector inside. “Just in case,” she whispered as they heard the rustle and voices of a small group moving past.

  Del pulled his goodie bag forward and rummaged around inside for a moment, before drawing something out with a wry look at her. It was a riot rod, electrified on both ends when extended and powered up. “Also illegal,” he whispered.

  She gave him a coy smile and pulled out her own rod, letting the bag drop to the floor. “Also sanctioned by the FPA,” she responded as she depressed the activator. The rod swirled out in sections until it was roughly three feet long before locking in place, its ends shimmering with force.

  He shrugged one muscular shoulder and activated his own. “But less deadly and noisy than your stinger."

  "Exactly,” she murmured as she pulled the hand weapon from her waistband and dropped it on the discarded bag. If they went after their key with that kind of firepower, they were likely to get lots more company in a hurry. “Just watch where you point that thing."

  His glance was edged with wry humor. “Same goes for you, Lady Shadow,” he whispered, before prying open the door seal again. He tensed, and his voice took on clipped note as he said, “Got another group. Looks promising."

  Sin moved in to look as he shifted out of the way. They did indeed look promising—three suits and two bodyguards. “It's the one in the middle,” she hissed, bending swiftly to pull out another flash popper and showing it to Del.

  He nodded, hefting the riot rod in his hand and bracing his back against the wall. Sin moved to the other side of the door, put her fist on the door release, and waited. The heavy-booted guards made the group's approach obvious, and Sin waited until they were right outside before triggering the door and flicking the little metal ball into their midst.

  Shielding her eyes, she watched the flare of light outline the world beyond her eyelids in stark black and white. When it faded, she whirled out into the corridor, Del at her side.

  It was over in seconds. All five were blinded and disoriented, so Sin went for the bodyguards first, while Del reached for the suit in the middle, yanking the man out from his entourage and slamming him face-first into the wall. Sin missed how he handled the other two, her focus on the guards. Ignoring their cries of alarm, she backhanded one with her rod and buried her foot in the other's abdomen. The man she'd touched with her rod fell to the floor in convulsions, gurgling past the bloody mess she'd made of his nose. The other staggered back, bending double and wheezing his pain. A clip to the back of his head with the rod dropped him into a mass of clenched and seizing muscles on the floor.

  Glancing up, she saw the Del had the others well in hand. Their target was slumped against the wall, holding a hand over his bleeding mouth, while the other two suits joined the guards in a convulsive dance as Del stood over them.

  "Let's get them out of sight,” she ordered.

  He nodded, grabbing the target first and yanking him to his feet. Sin caught the nearest flopping body by the collar and wrestled him into the room.

  Del followed her with their hostage, shoving the man towards her. “I've got the rest. Watch him,” he snapped.

  She didn't argue. He had the muscle to get the job done swiftly, and their target was the only one still capable of giving them trouble. She looked the disheveled man in the eye and smiled. “Please, have a seat."

  The man blanched, flinching away from her as if she'd snarled like a rabid animal. “What d'you want?” he cried, beady eyes flicking desperately from side to side.

  She advanced on him, still smiling. “For starters, I want you to sit,” she said in a gentle voice. She could hear Del working behind her, but she didn't spare him a glance.

  The man stumbled back, eyes widening in horror as he looked behind her. “Oh, hells,” he moaned. “What did you do to them?"

  Sin lifted the rod and spun it in front of his eyes. “Electric shock therapy. They'll wake up in a while with a whole new outlook on life. Now, sit."

  He sat.

  Watching his trembling form with sharp eyes, she moved until she was standing next to him, but not close enough for him to reach her. Then she spared Del a glance. He was just dragging the last one into the room, the limp form still twitching weakly. Dropping the guard, Del lunged for the door control and it slid shut.

  "Clear,” he panted, meeting her eyes. “Door's locked."

  "Good. If you want to watch our guest, I'll make our new friends less comfortable."

  He flashed his teeth in a white grin, before prowling towards her. “They won't need it."

  "Better safe than sorry,” she murmured with a quirk of her lips as she passed him. Deactivating her rod, she tucked it into her waistband before straddling the first limp form and yanking at his belt.

  "Who are you people?” their hostage cried in a hoarse voice.

  Sin glanced up to see Del smirk as he gestured between them. “Mayhem and Chaos. Ni
ce to meet you."

  Sin snickered, pulling the unconscious man's arms forward so she could tie them together with his belt. “No, I'm Chaos. You're Mayhem."

  He sent her a mock frown while the man gaped at them both. “Why do you get to be Chaos?"

  She started on the next body, sending him a cheeky grin over her shoulder. “Because I'm the woman, that's why."

  He pondered this with a thoughtful rumble as she tied the next two people together with a belt off of the one. “You got a point there."

  "The real question is, who's he?” she asked with a pointed look at their hostage, moving on to the last still form.

  "Nobody!” the man exclaimed with telling panic. “I'm ... nobody."

  "Oh, yeah, that was convincing,” Del snorted.

  "Name and position, if you please,” Sin requested politely, as she tightened the restraints with a jerk and rose to her feet.

  "I'm just a—a minor supervisor, nobody important. That's my manager at your feet, there. She's who you want."

  Sin rolled her eyes, stepping over the person in question without looking down at her. “I don't believe in fairytales, mister.” She moved to stand in front of him and crossed her arms over her chest, studying him with a faint smile. “Friendly tip—you suck at lying. One would have thought a man like you would be better at covering his own ass."

  "Name and position,” Del growled, clenching his fist around the riot rod, making it quiver with suppressed violence.

  "All right!” the man said, hunching away from Del, the whites of his eyes flashing as he flicked the big man a quick glance. “All right. My name's Vislovski, and I am an operations manager. Not for the whole place, just the experimentals."

  "An operations manager,” Sin repeated thoughtfully, exchanging a glance with Del. His dark eyes reflected her own skepticism. “What do you mean by experimentals?"

  "We test concentrations and variations of our product on human subjects,” he mumbled, not looking her in the eye.

  "So you manage the Medical ward,” she stated, unable to keep the edge from her tone.

  "Just the experimentals,” he responded. “Not all of Medical. I'm really not that important."

  "Protesting a little hard, aren't we?” she gritted, leaning down until her hands were braced on the armrests, pinning him in place with her gaze. She felt Del shift closer and saw the faint shimmer of the rod out of the corner of her eye. “Why the guards, Vislovski?"

  His mouth compressed into a thin white line, the lines of his face becoming faintly bitter. “I'm not well liked, and they don't trust me,” he muttered.

  "Who are they?"

  "My bosses. My colleagues."

  "I'll need names. Who is in control on site?"

  He seemed happy to get her attention off of him. “Brickston, Matiel Brickston."

  "And who controls Matiel Brickston?"

  He blinked at her, a puzzled frown forming between his brows. “What?"

  "If Brickston runs this place, if he's responsible for the factory's production, who does he report to?"

  He blinked again, his eyes skidding away from hers. Sweat was beading on his forehead. A drop slipped down his temple and over his cheekbone as he stuttered, “I'm—I'm not sure."

  "Another fairytale, Vis?"

  He met her eyes again, the desperation clearly written in their muddy depths. “No! I told you, I'm just an operations manager, and not a very important one. I just always figured Brickston dealt with the buyers..."

  His voice trailed off as she laughed low in her throat. “Who owns this facility, Vis?"

  He looked away from her again, his voice dropping to a near whisper. “The Core."

  "Do you honestly think the Core would let Brickston sit out here and distribute their product? Who does he report to, Vislovski?"

  "I don't know,” he said, and then looked at her again when she made a sound of disgust. “I don't know. I swear!” His eyes flickered to Del, as more sweat traced down his temples. “I'd tell you if I knew."

  "Can you get into the main systems of this place?"

  A frown creased his brow at her swift change of subject. “Of course."

  Giving him a brilliant smile, she straightened. “Just what I wanted to hear.” Turning, she moved towards the door and the discarded bags.

  "Are you people ... FPA?"

  Del snorted as Sin searched her bag. “Do we look like FPA?"

  "No, but—who the hell are you?"

  "Let's not ask questions we really don't want the answers to,” Sin admonished as she found what she was looking for and returned to the men.

  "What do you want?” Vislovski asked again in a strained voice when she smiled down at him.

  "We want information. And you're going to go into the main systems and get it for us."

  He was shaking his head before she finished speaking. “I can't access it from here. And if you try to take me to the access core, they'll be on you in minutes."

  "We don't need to go with you, Vis,” she said in a soft, persuasive voice. “You'll be a good boy and get it for us."

  Hope lit his eyes before he shuttered them, his expression turning from fear to cunning. “You'd let me go alone? You'd trust me to do that?"

  She exchanged a quick grin of amusement with Del before leaning over him again, trailing her fingers down the front of his shirt. “Love will open every door,” she breathed, holding his gaze as she tugged his shirt open. There was a flicker of confusion and speculation in his muddy orbs that made her smirk. Holding up one of the objects she'd retrieved from her bag, she continued, “Love, and the appropriate application of high explosives."

  Clicking the center of the round object, she slapped it on his bare skin. He cried out in surprise and pain when it attached itself to him. A bead of blood appeared at each entry point.

  "Trust isn't a factor here, Vis,” she said in a hard tone as she backed up a step. “That's a bomb on your chest. I've got the detonator. If you want to live, you'll behave yourself."

  He gaped up at her, and then reached for the thing. She slapped his hand away.

  "Don't touch! You'll set it off,” she snapped.

  He froze, darting panicked looks from her to the object on his sunken chest.

  Sin lifted her gaze to Del's, giving him a crooked smile. “Behold, our key."

  "Works for me,” he murmured, expression bland, but his eyes sparkled with life.

  Turning her attention back to their hostage, she pulled up a second chair and sat, propping her crossed ankles on the man's knee in a relaxed stance. “So, here's how it's going to go. You trot down to the access core and retrieve any and all information on who runs this place, their stats, who they have contact with in the Core, everything. You will place it on this data crystal.” She held it up before his eyes. “Then you will return to us and place the crystal in my hand. Just to make sure you don't get any suicidal impulses and decide to squeal, I will place this on you as well."

  She rolled her fingers and the crystal disappeared into her palm, a button appearing between her fingers. “With this, I'll be able to see and hear all that you do. If you screw this up, I'll detonate the bomb. If you refuse to go, I'll trigger an explosion that will rip your chest apart and you'll die.” Pausing, she smiled into his eyes. “Any questions?"

  He was panting, his eyes darting down to the device on his chest every few seconds. “You—you wouldn't make it go off when you're so close to me. You'd die, too."

  "To tell you the truth, it's not really meant to be used like this.” She said in a confidential tone, flipping the button over her knuckles. “It's supposed to be used on locking mechanisms and the like, to destroy whatever it's attached to. It's a very controlled, directed explosion. At the moment, it's directed at your heart. I'll get blood and gunk on me, but luckily I'm wearing black and the stains won't show as bad."

  Showing him her teeth in a humorless grin for emphasis, she leaned forward and attached the audiovisual button to his collar. H
e strained away from her with a strangled sound, but didn't bolt.

  "Ready?” she asked with a polite lift of her eyebrows.

  When he stared at her without speaking, she gave him a sharp nod and held out the crystal.

  "Good. Go fetch, Vis."

  Chapter 23

  Vislovski didn't move for a long moment, staring from her to Del with wide eyes. Then he lifted a trembling hand and grasped the crystal. Closing his shirt with white-faced care, he rose to his feet and stumbled towards the door.

  Sin was right on his heels. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a headset and settled it in place, flicking the holodisplay over her left eye. “Vislovski,” she called softly, as he reached for the door.

  He froze, staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

  She held up the detonator without expression. “I'll be watching. Be swift."

  His throat convulsed as he gulped, and he armed sweat off of his face before opening the door and stepping out of the room.

  Closing the door, she turned to find Del sitting in her chair backwards, his muscular arms resting on the back casually. His dark eyes were speculative. “Would you really blow him up?” he asked quietly.

  "If I had to,” she responded in just as soft a voice.

  "Do you want to?"

  She looked away, but didn't hesitate. “Part of me does. He's responsible for those poor people down in the Medical ward. Monsters like that shouldn't be allowed to live."

  "And the other part?"

  "The other part has control over this,” she said, holding up the detonator and meeting his eyes again. “I won't use it unless he forces me to."

  His dark gaze was calm and undisturbed. “I've done things I'm not proud of, too."

  "I know,” she whispered, feeling the sting of tears burn the backs of her eyes. “But we take the chance to fix what we've done when we can."

  "What if we run out of chances?"