Enhanced

by Ben Brown

  Zac pressed the implant in his neck. “You there, Doc?”

  “Go ahead, Zac.”

  “We need you to make contact with New York authorities to evacuate Ellis Island. We need the place cleared of any potential hostages.”

  “I will contact the necessary authorities immediately. Have you located Dominic yet?”

  Lea pressed her implant.

  “We don’t know if Dominic is here, but we can sense multiple targets. It won’t end well if civilians get in the way.”

  “Agreed, I’ll get right on it.”

  “What are you feeling?” Lea asked as she turned to Zac. “I can sense multiple targets, but that’s about it. They’re still too far away for me.”

  “I can sense the presence of four powerful subjects. Two of them are in the main building. The other two are trying to outflank us by heading around the beach side of the Island. They will reach us in a minute or so if we stay here. I’m sorry to say, none of them are Dominic.”

  Lea looked at him with her mouth slightly open. “Impressive! I say we wait for the two coming for us — what do you think?”

  “I agree. I might be able to sense if they know where Dominic is. ”

  “This is your show, I’ll watch until I’m needed,” Lea answered as they turned to watch the two approaching subjects.

  As the two drew closer, Zac could see that they were both African women, dressed in traditional native clothing. One was older than the other, but both were tall and willowy. Each moved majestically; it was clear that the two were related. Lea took a couple of steps back as Dominic’s subjects approached.

  The older woman spoke.

  “My name is Chinwe, and this is my daughter Chinwendu. We have been sent by our organization to convince you both to stop your investigations.” She spoke with a rich African accent. It was almost hypnotic when combined with her slow and graceful movement.

  “I’m sorry, Chinwe, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. My wife and I are here on our honeymoon, sightseeing. You must be mistaking us for someone else. Now if you will excuse us, we don’t want to miss the tour of the museum,” Zac said in a calm apologetic voice.

  “You are Zachary Thomas; you work for a Dr Skinner and this woman you are with is Lea Abella. She also works for Skinner. You were both born in the UK. Zac, you were born in Reading, Lea in London. Need I continue? You are out of your depth here, and you should both take my advice.”

  As Chinwe spoke, Zac could feel her daughter preparing for a confrontation.

  “If you tell me where Dominic is then we will be on our way.”

  As he said Dominic’s name he had a flash of a location. It was too fast to make out. Zac pressed on.

  “Dominic’s a murderer, you know. He killed Lea’s brother and he will happily kill you and your daughter if you let him down. So tell me, where is he?”

  Zac got another flash, a building this time. He could feel the younger woman’s anger rising. Her mother was still impassive.

  “Dominic is mighty and he would squash you like a fly! This talk is pointless. You will agree to our terms, or you won’t leave the Island alive!” Chinwendu spat at him. Her rage was mounting and her mother knew it. She glared at her daughter.

  “Now, now, Chinwendu, you seem to be a bit touchy about your boss,” Zac pressed her further. “Maybe he’s screwing you. You, seem the type.”

  He had a number of images appear all at once. He saw a room, a large estate and a mansion. However, his last remarks had enraged Chinwendu. Zac could feel her preparing to strike.

  Chinwe knew it too. Chinwe was face to face with him. He fully expected her to lash out. However, she didn’t react. Why? Then he noticed that the two women were unarmed — it occurred to him in a flash. He needed to check for the other two subjects in the main building. He began to spin around, dropping to his right knee as he went. Simultaneously he pulled his weapon.

  “Lea, get down!” He heard two thumping sounds as he moved.

  Lea’s shoulder was hit by a single round. She dropped to the ground gritting her teeth as she pulled her gun. Zac’s back was now to the Africans, and he could feel warm liquid on his neck and shoulders. He may have been hit, but he felt no pain.

  Zac looked towards the main building about three hundred yards away, and spotted their assailants in one of the four towers.

  His vision zoomed in on the head of one of the gunmen. Zac fired his weapon. He watched as the bullet flew from his gun. It hurtled towards the gunman, hitting him between the eyes. His head exploded like a ripe watermelon. Zac swung his gun toward the second gunman, this one a woman. A petite Asian face looked back at him. He fired. Once again, he watched as the bullet traveled at an incredible speed towards its target. She ducked, just in time. The bullet embedded in the masonry behind her. Zac whipped back around to face the Africans. He had his gun raised, ready to kill if necessary.

  Zac was shocked by the scene that greeted him. The two African women were on the floor. The younger one cradled her mother in her arms as she wept. Her mother’s face was ripped to shreds. Zac realized the blood on his neck was Chinwe’s. She had taken the bullet that was intended for him. Chinwendu looked up into his face. Snot streamed from her nose as she sobbed uncontrollably.

  “I will kill you for this, you bastard!”

  Zac leveled his gun at her chest, he flicked the switch that set it to tranquillizer and fired. She was out cold in less than a second. The sequence of events had lasted no more than three seconds. However, time had once again slowed down for him, or at least, that was how it had seemed.

  Above the screams of panicked tourists, Zac heard Lea’s groan; he rushed to her side. As he knelt beside her, he could see that the bullet had passed straight through her shoulder, leaving a large exit wound.

  “Lea, don’t move. Do you have the medi-pack in your bag?”

  She nodded, looking pale. She had lost a fair amount of blood. Zac grabbed the bag and quickly opened it to reveal Doc’s best work inside.

  He grabbed the spray that would seal the wound with an anti-bacterial agent. He quickly sprayed this on her wound. The bleeding stopped immediately.

  Next, he used a syringe filled with blood manufacturing nanites. Once injected, they worked at an astonishing rate. In less than an hour, ten milliliters of the serum could replace nearly a liter of precious blood.

  Doc had explained that the nanites worked in the same way as the human body, only at an extremely accelerated rate. To make the platelets, red cells, and white cells, they extracted marrow from the closest bones to the wound. They created the plasma by absorbing water from the intestines. Like the other nanites Doc had created, these would simply deactivate once their work was done. The serums amazing qualities fascinated Zac; he only wished he didn’t need to witness them first hand.

  Finally, he administered a strong painkiller. This was in the form of an adhesive patch. Zac cut it to size and stuck it over the wound.

  Within two minutes, she was looking better. By this time, the Island had descended into chaos. The message to clear the Island had finally gotten through. Choppers and boats were everywhere.

  “I’ll be okay; please go find the other shooter. I’ll call Doc to arrange extraction.” The color was returning to Lea’s face as she spoke.

  While Zac had no doubt that Doc’s medi-pack had a great deal to do with this, he also knew that her healing abilities were amazing. Now he could see them in action for himself.

  Zac kissed her gently on the cheek and then ran into the confusion unfolding on the Island. People were screaming and shouting as helicopters landed to disembark S.W.A.T teams and pick up civilians.

  Zac soon realized that he would not find the girl in the swarm of people with just his eyes. He stood still, closed his eyes, slowed his heart rate, and concentrated. Within a second or two he could sense the woman boarding a boat on the other side of the Island. He knew it would be close, but he might get to the dock before the boat left. He headed off a
t a full sprint. The people around him became a blur as he bolted for the boat. By the time he reached the wharf, the boat was a good twenty feet from the dock. Zac launched himself into the air and landed with a crash on the deck at the rear of the boat.

  Zac’s sudden appearance startled the four crew members, who were on the deck, but, they reacted quickly. Two of the men pulled their side arms. The largest of the four, an absolute mountain of a man, threw himself at the intruder.

  5

  “Who the hell are you?” the giant of a man shouted. “Keep still or my men’ll blow your damn head off!”

  “Okay, okay, I’m looking for someone,” Zac replied as calmly as he could. He held out both hands in front of him. “An Asian girl. I think she got on this boat; you need to know she’s dangerous. She’s not who she seems. I’m trying to find her on behalf of your government. Let’s all calm down and lower the guns. If she is here, then you’re all at risk.”

  The giant pulled his gun and pointed it at Zac’s head.

  “Get the girl!” he bellowed to one of the men. He returned his attention to Zac. “We’ve got orders to take a witness to headquarters to identify the shooter from mug shots. Now, it seems the shooter is on our boat, and if she says that the shooter is you, then we will take you both to headquarters.”

  Zac looked around and realized he was on a Coast Guard vessel.

  “Now listen to me. The girl you have is very dangerous. She was one of the shooters. I’m telling you the truth.” He slowly moved his hand to the implant in his neck, opening the line to the Doc.

  “I know I’m on a Coast Guard boat, and I know you will shoot me if I make any sudden moves. I assure you I’m here to help.” Zac hoped Doc would know what to do. A second later, he heard Doc’s voice in his ear.

  “Understood, I will try to inform authorities of your predicament. However, it could take a while; the situation on the Island is descending into havoc. In the meantime you will have to deal with the situation on your own. ”

  “Try your best, Doc.”

  The giant in front of him looked puzzled and said, “Who the hell are you talking to? Just shut the hell up, or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes!”

  At that exact moment, a small Asian girl stepped out from behind the huge man. She was tiny, not even five feet tall, and young, no more than seventeen or eighteen. She stood next to the giant sailor, which made her seem like a small child by comparison.

  She screamed and started sobbing uncontrollably.

  “That’s him! That’s the man I saw. He killed the black woman. He has a gun in his jacket. I saw him put it there after he killed her.”

  She was very convincing — Zac almost believed her himself. He knew he was in trouble. All the men turned their attention to him. She smiled slyly. Only Zac noticed.

  The giant growled again, “Open your jacket slowly. If you try anything I’ll nail ya.”

  Zac slowly opened his jacket to reveal his gun. “I know what this looks like, but just listen to me!”

  The large officer moved towards him, gesturing to one of his crew to take the gun.

  “You need to pipe down or things will get real ugly, real quick. Why should we believe a single word that comes out of your mouth? You’re covered in blood that isn’t your own, and you’re carrying a Goddamn canon. It doesn’t look good, pal.”

  The crewman took the gun and laid it down on a bench, well out of reach. He then cable-tied Zac’s wrists. The big officer holstered his weapon and stepped towards his newly restrained prisoner. The man looked him up and down with disgust. Then, without warning, he lashed out. Zac’s head twisted to the side from the force of his blow. Yet, he felt no pain. As big as this man was, he was no match for his prisoner’s enhanced stamina. Zac turned his head back to him. His eyes were level with his attacker’s chest. The man’s name tag said:

  SPENCER

  U.S. COAST GUARD

  “Listen, Spencer, I know this looks bad, but things will get a lot worse unless you listen to me.”

  Spencer punched Zac in the face again. This time his head hardly moved. Zac looked up into his assailant’s massive face. He seemed to be getting angrier by the second. Maybe his ineffectiveness at inflicting pain was heightening his anger. He hadn’t even managed to draw blood.

  “Are you going to keep this up? Because it’s getting really annoying.”

  Another punch landed on his face, and then one to his midsection.

  “Okay, I get the message. I’ll shut up, but you’ve been warned.” Zac sat on a bench that was just behind him.

  Spencer turned back to the girl and said, “I’m sorry you had to see that, Ma'am. I know you’ve already seen too much violence today. I understand you must still feel really scared, but Ma’am, we sure could do with knowing your name. Once we know that we can inform your family that you’re safe.”

  “My name is Xing Chi,” she replied in a whimpering voice.

  “Jones, take this prick’s piece to the captain,” Spencer barked, “and then bring Miss Chi a hot cup of coffee and a bite to eat.”

  “Aye, sir, right away!” The young crewman snapped off a salute. He picked up the gun and ran up the small ladder, which led to the bridge on the deck above.

  The girl watched as he went up the ladder. Zac could tell she wanted that gun. An advanced piece of weaponry like that would be a nice prize. The two remaining crewmen watched as Spencer paced the deck. Zac looked up at the bridge and watched the young crewman as he spoke to the captain. The crewman then saluted his senior officer and headed off the bridge through a door, which he guessed led to the lower decks. The captain walked to the window and looked down at the deck below. Zac looked over at the girl. She stood looking up at the window. He could feel that she was building up to some kind of action.

  “You want my gun don’t you? Well bad luck sweetheart, I won’t let that happen.”

  Zac’s remarks enraged Spencer. He charged at him, grabbing him by his jacket. He lifted Zac off the seat, and pulled his face to within an inch of his.

  “Don’t open your mouth again, or I swear I’ll kill ya! Don’t even look at her. Is that clear, you freak?”

  As he spoke, he sprayed Zac’s face with saliva.

  “Make him stop, he’s scaring me, please make him stop!” As Chi cried, she ran to one of the young crewmen and threw her arms around his neck. She had to stand on tiptoe to do it. This was it, he could feel it in her, she was preparing herself for an attack. She was going to kill everyone on the boat. Starting with the poor sap she was hugging.

  “No! Watch out! She …”

  Before Zac could finish, she’d snapped the man’s neck with her right hand, whilst pulling his side arm with her left. She spun around and put a bullet between the eyes of the other young crew member.

  Zac ripped his arms apart, snapping his restraints with ease.

  Spencer still had him hanging in the air. He tried to turn to see what was happening, dropping his prisoner in the process.

  Zac knocked Spencer clear, as he threw himself towards the girl. She was ten feet away, but he reached her in a single leap. Zac grabbed her arm, but she reacted with lightning speed. Her right palm crashed into the bridge of his nose, as her knee buried itself into his groin with incredible ferocity.

  He dropped to his knees as Chi took the gun in her right hand and pointed it at the captain. He was on the radio staring down at the melee from the window above. As he watched, he spoke frantically into a microphone. She fired. As the glass in the window cracked the captain dropped the radio and backed away. The glass was clearly bulletproof! She swung the gun in Zac’s direction.

  Zac was back on his feet and ready for her. He wouldn’t let her size fool him again — this girl was deadly. He punched her in the face. The gun fell from her hand and Zac grabbed it immediately. She sprang backwards, hitting the ladder that led to the bridge.

  “Drop the gun!” Spencer shouted. Zac turned to see Spencer bleeding from his head and pointing his
gun at him.

  “You must be joking — or are you stupid! Can’t you see what’s happening here?”

  Zac knew he didn’t have time for this. He charged at Spencer, pushing him overboard with ease. As Spencer hit the water, Zac picked up a life jacket and threw it to the panicking man.

  Suddenly, she was on his back, her legs wrapped around his waist. Her arms were around his neck, trying to squeeze the life out of him. Zac lunged backwards, slamming into the bulkhead. Glass flew as her arms and legs sprang open. With the wind knocked out of her, he knew he had only a temporary reprieve.

  The force of the impact recoiled Zac forward, causing him to land on his knees. He looked over his shoulder. She was already regaining her strength. Chi was tough. She looked to see what she had hit. It was a glass-faced case, containing a fire axe!

  “Oh shit!” Zac heard himself shout as she grabbed the axe and came at him.

  At that moment, the door to her left opened, revealing a crewman holding a cup of coffee and a plate of sandwiches.

  She never took her eyes off her prey as she planted the axe in the sailor’s abdomen. She didn’t miss a step as he fell to the ground, dead. She swung the axe at Zac’s neck. He managed to catch it with his left hand. With the palm of his right, he hit her in the middle of her tiny chest. Zac felt her ribs break.

  She pulled back, leaving him with the axe in his hand. He was still on his knees as she looked at him, and then at the bridge window. Without warning she bolted for the bridge. She was at the top of the ladder in two steps. She launched herself at the window with all her might.

  Zac threw the axe but missed. The axe embedded in the bulkhead a few inches to her left.

  She was through the window and after Zac’s gun.

  He needed to stop her. He raced up the ladder and vaulted through the window after her.

  He reached the bridge just in time to see her kick the captain in the chest. He fell backwards into the boat’s controls, causing the boat to accelerate violently. It was enough to throw her off balance, probably saving the Captain’s life.