by K. T. Hanna
The entry was beneath a grate. I half-expected Orion to freeze the screws or something, but Sam pulled out a screwdriver and literally unscrewed them. I guess we were trying to leave as little evidence someone was here as possible.
My palms began to sweat. Not the best thing, considering my affinity. I almost chuckled, but I wasn’t quite so far gone in nervousness yet. My own ability rippled beneath my skin, eager to get out and do its part. It didn’t seem to understand that we weren’t in for destruction today. There was only enough room in the window well for three of us, so Driver remained up top, obscuring us from view.
Orion bit his lip as he angled what appeared to be thin ice through the sliver of a gap in the window. A soft click drifted over to me, and his shoulders slumped with relief as I heard the pent-up breath whoosh out of him.
“Well done.” Sam spoke like it was all she’d expected and more.
Perhaps I didn’t know Orion as well as I thought I did. He’d had this entire other side to his life for almost two years. Orion stepped through first, then Sam motioned me through just as our Driver jumped down and placed the grate back over our heads. If anyone threw a perfunctory glance this way, nothing would look out of place.
The room I jumped into smelled musty. Low-level golden light flickered over stacks of boxes, papers, and file cabinets. Reminded me of old movies. Aged and slightly out of sync with the rest of the world and itself.
I wanted to reach out and fix the light, knowing it was only a matter of a loose connection not providing the right wattage to the area on a consistent basis. But we couldn’t leave any trails behind. Not even one as simple as that. A part of me mourned the fact, and my ability suffered with me.
The area was larger than I expected, and each step sent up a cloud of dust into the air. I could see Orion struggling not to cough. He didn’t do so well with dust, smoke, anything with particles. Finally, we made our way to the door, and Sam stood staring at it, frowning.
“I think—” She paused, closing her eyes and touching the door lightly with her fingers before scowling as she pulled them away and looked at us. “This door has an alarm as well. Just like the window one. You’re up again, Cleaner.”
Ry nodded, his lips pursed in concentration as he only opened the door a tiny crack. He reached through with that strong thin ice. The sliver shot through, replacing the weight that opening the door would have triggered. His abilities were damned handy for a bit of casual breaking and entering. The only trace he’d leave behind when we were done was a few drops of water. None of this hacking the grid stuff from the crime shows for us.
The hall beyond the older records room was narrow and shadowed. Only one light served the entire area, and it was about fifteen feet away at the junction of another corridor. It, too, flickered. They really needed to rewire this place.
Sparks played across my skin intermittently, like it was reminding me it was there. Like I could forget.
Sam led the way, moving us down our own hall, further away from the light to a recessed door. This one was different. The handle wasn’t old and rusting. It was new and oil-rubbed bronze. As if they’d chosen that particular metal to make people think it was old. The hinges were fresh as well, and I could even see new oil shining in what light reached back here.
“So.” Sam grimaced. “This one opens outwards, and I’m pretty sure it now has an alarm as well. If the pattern holds, any door down here will be armed. Contrary to my intel.” The last she said softly, and I wondered how the intel could be out of date. We’d only just received this assignment.
I turned to look at her, and in doing so, I could have sworn I saw a shadow, claws gripping the edge of the wall where it led to our recessed hiding place. Taking a step toward it made it vanish and left me questioning my eyes. Okay, and maybe my sanity just a bit.
Electricity thrummed beneath my veins in response, charging me up. I had to clamp down on it quickly. You’d think in all of the gadgets they had, they’d have given me something to temper my power. Then again, if Nya was even remotely correct, due to the constant disappearance of eels, they weren’t knowledgeable about this power. It posed endless possibilities, if I was careful. Sam began to speak again, garnering my attention.
“As soon as the Cleaner is done, it’s your turn, Runner.” Sam laid emphasis on my role, entirely too amused by the fact that not only was I a Runner for this organization, but I also ran for fun. Ha ha, like I hadn’t put the two together already.
Still, I shook the cobwebs out of my head and readied myself for my task. Enough contemplations about how the system worked and just what it was for now. Time to not get us dead. Orion repeated his very excellent breaking and entering tactic.
My nerves were getting to me. Just like before a big meet. Speaking of which, I had to divert my attention away from Sunday. I focused on the job at hand.
With the door open, if I calmed myself, I could see the lines. Blinking like I was outside of time made event specks of dust in the air visible. They floated like snowflakes in front of my face.
Shaking my head, I focused on the lasers. They zigzagged that entire damned room. Whatever was in here, they didn’t want anyone unauthorized getting their hands on. Why were we doing this? What was so important about this stuff and who got to decide that?
Again with the questions. Nya was right.
Taking a deep breath, I focused on the tiny box off to the left side of the doorway. In order to reach it, I had to lie on the floor and wiggle my way under laser streams to it. I’d never clenched my teeth so hard before. I was scared. My heart tried to choke me by sitting in my windpipe. Except, that other part of me, the part that seemed to have given into the thrill of my power, it thrived. It fed on these sorts of sensations. My senses became sharper, and my timing more accurate. In many ways, it felt like I was executing a program myself.
I made it to the box, and checked a few of the calculations I’d done while training. As long as I maintained control, I could do this. Reaching forward, I touched my finger to the box and let my thumb hit the first red laser light.
It burned briefly as my body absorbed the laser and routed it back through the device. For a moment I wasn’t sure it had worked and was glad I’d clenched my teeth. The initial pain wasn’t something I’d wish on anyone. While my own power couldn’t electrocute me unless the doctor used that reversal thing she’d zapped me with, this stuff wasn’t my power. It was external energy that I was sending to flow through myself. A brief flash of jealousy skated through me. It felt like my abilities were extremely limited. After a moment it settled to a bearable heat, and then I let out the sigh of breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
Skill acquired: Rudimentary Excess Power Absorption.
“Well done, newbie.” Sam grinned as she stepped past me. “Give us five minutes.”
I hadn’t noticed the dust when I first crawled on the floor, which was silly of me considering Orion’s muffled coughs. There was none in this room. It was pristine, perfectly cleaned, and well-maintained.
My stomach twisted again. I extended my awareness slightly, but all that did was make me feel nauseous. Come on, Dare, how would I do it in a program?
Tracing.
I took another deep breath and focused my hold on keeping the laser from shorting out. In the meantime, I followed the source of the laser’s power. Something about this room, about the not quite correct information. It was all too conveniently different. Did someone know we were coming? Could they see us even now?
“Hey. Driver,” I whispered in that loud way that is almost worse than speaking normally.
He glanced down at me from his position by the door. “Yeah?”
“Are you still hiding us?”
He smiled. “Always. Never let it lift in missions like these. Because you never know. Why?”
I grinned back, but knew it probably looked like mor
e than a grimace. “Something about this whole thing just feels off. Door handle too new. Floor is perfectly clean. Hinges are freshly oiled.”
He blinked at me, and his brows pinched together like he was running things through his own mind. Like he was just used to following orders and not questioning everything. “I see what you mean.”
Without leaving his post, he managed to get Sam’s attention. I wasn’t sure how. Maybe he sent a message through the system.
Of course he used me. It’s the easiest way to be stealthy.
Sorry.
I guess my SC was a little hurt I’d chosen to whisper or something. Sam’s sorting through files became slightly more frantic, and a message flashed across my eyes.
Mission may be compromised. Moving out ASAP.
And just a moment later.
File D102BX14 obtained.
I waited for them to get back to the door before I released my thumb and scooted out. The lasers shot throughout the room again, their lines crisscrossing without ever touching each other. And just as the last one neared me, I released my finger too.
Successful Execution of Skill: Rudimentary Excess Power Absorption.
Field Experience obtained. Multiplied by a factor of two for job to rank ratio.
Skill acquired: General Excess Power Absorption.
Yay, me. I waited with bated breath, but no sound triggered, no lights whirred, and the little box on the wall continued to hum happily. The burning sensation departed, leaving me feeling somewhat empty. It didn’t take long for it to be replaced by ever-growing adrenaline. I wriggled like a worm to make it back to the others, and we began the whole process over again. Only this time a sense of urgency hung around us like a bad odor.
But we made it out of the laser room entryway, and into the hall.
It wasn’t until we entered that first, old records room that I realized another thing. Footprints. This room was the only one with enough dust and grime to showcase our shoes imprints. “Shit.”
“What is it?” Orion poked me in the side.
“We need to hide the footprints. Mess up the dust. All around us. All of it.” And I started to drag my feet through the path we’d taken, making sure that none of our prints were available for matching purposes. For all I knew, there was a way for them to sample our DNA through the air. I wouldn’t put it past them. It’s probably why Orion swept the area with his burning ice veil.
Whoever this them was, they seemed intent on us not getting the file. Why would there be another division out there? Were there multiple programs? Second chance and oopsies?
It took us maybe sixty seconds to make sure that while obvious something had been in here, they wouldn’t be able to tell if it was human. Again the questions started firing through my mind. Why hadn’t Sam noticed that? Surely she was a seasoned operative?
That sense of foreboding wouldn’t leave me be. I’d never had this much spidey-sense before. What the hell was happening to me?
“We need to leave.” I didn’t bother trying to hide the urgency in my voice. They needed to feel it too.
Sam glanced at me, curiosity in her eyes. She’d have to wait for answers to her questions too. We all would. “Okay. Let’s get out of here.”
Orion reached up, did his thing, and we exited into the window well. Driver stayed behind, just like he had the first time. He was keeping us safe and invisible as long as he could. Sam moved the grate to the side slowly and carefully. We’d been fast, probably faster than the ridiculous amount of time she’d calculated we’d need.
She lifted herself up, remaining in a crouch against the ground and motioned for us to follow her. Orion moved next, the file clutched to his chest, his breath coming in rapid bursts. I leaned forward to give Driver a hand into the window well, when I saw another shadow in the doorway. Damn it. Why did I keep seeing them?
The thing with never getting answers, and not understanding what I’m going through is that all along it made me feel like everything was in my head. But not this time.
This shadow was real, a silhouette of a guard with a gun. It materialized into true human form as if drawn by sand in front of me. The shots that rang out through the room, felt so far away despite the ringing they made in my ears. When the shot struck, it hit Driver’s torso with the sound of ripping flesh and spattered blood all over me.
He fell forward, surprise in his eyes that were already beginning to mist over, hitting his forehead on the stone ledge of the window. I scrambled back and barely made it up the ladder. Orion’s eyes were wide, and Sam’s shock visible on her otherwise hard to read face.
“Hale?” her voice cracked, and for a split second her pain was visible. Then she turned to me and whispered. “Run.”
She didn’t need to tell me again. We’d lost our Driver. There was no bringing back someone from that sort of death.
So I ran.
And I ran.
Just like a coward.
I won’t lie and say I changed my mind and headed back to fetch my best friend. Because I didn’t. He’d been doing this a lot longer than I had. I just ran. The one thing I was good at, the one thing I needed. Electricity powered me on, pushed me further, faster, beyond where I would usually collapse. It was past nine at night, and I needed to be getting to bed. I had training in the morning.
And Driver—no, Hale—was dead.
I slowed suddenly, raising my hand to my face. Flecks of blood clung to me. I could feel their brittle texture as they dried in the wind. It was the only thing that got me to stop.
Rendevous: Schuykill River Park’s playground. Head toward the river and turn south when you reach the park.
Okay. At least that seemed to make sense. I wasn’t even sure where I was running to, but it made sense to just run again and find the park. I vaguely remembered it, and it was nowhere near the City Hall, which was a good thing because I was never going back there again.
The new leaves on the trees blew in the night breeze as I made my way there. No matter where I looked, all I could see was that shot ripping through Hale’s chest. Fuck. He was dead. The system hadn’t been full of shit. We could die, all of us could. Mortality nipped at my heels, and a zip of electrical energy raced up from the tips of my toes. So solid, I could see it, yet so fast, I almost missed it. Maybe I stood more of a chance with my abilities.
Stand by…
Sure, that’s literally what I did. Thanks for that, system. Even though I knew that wasn’t what it meant, I was mad at myself.
It surprised me that I was the first one to arrive. The bright pink and yellow climbing apparatus had slides coming off it in every direction. It glowed in the streetlights, the black rubber from kids’ shoes marring the surfaces like a bruise. The swings creaked slightly in the ever-present breeze.
I sat in one of the four swings, suddenly tired in a bone-weary way. Death. I’d never been confronted with it so close up before. Blood in the face close.
It didn’t take long for Orion to arrive. He flashed me a strange look. Like a sort of grin, but also not. Like he was weary and tired. Shocked and sick of being stuck in this strange do what we tell you limbo. Maybe. It was hard to read him in this light with my heart frantic like it was trying to choke me.
He took the swing next to me. “I’ve never been able to keep up with you. But you’ve gotten a lot faster in the last few years.”
I nodded. He was right. I had. “Coach Marth is a hard taskmaster.”
As an afterthought though, I added, “Well, him and the whole electricity thing anyway.” I think my voice shook. Maybe that was a tear running down my face. Damn, it was going to mingle with the blood and leave pink trails behind.
“It’s okay, Dare.” Ry put his hand on my shoulder, and I leaned into it. “It’s all part of the job.”
I pulled back, unsure I’d heard him correctly. “What?”
> “It’s not the first time there’s been a death on a mission.” Ry looked away, biting his lip. Shadows played around his eyes, giving him an older look.
“Wait.” I tried to take that information in, to understand it. He’d been on missions where people died before? How was he so calm? “People die in tasks all the time? Like it’s no big deal?”
“We’re already dead, why should it matter?” But he sighed, and waved at me not to barge in with indignation. He knew me too well. “I don’t mean it like that. I just…people have died before. In two years, Hale is only one of the several affiliates who have died while on a mission with me. It’s not that common, but it does happen. Wounds happen more frequently.”
Overwhelmed didn’t accurately describe how I was currently feeling. “So several people in two years. That’s not bad, right? One every few months.”
I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice, and Orion flinched.
But I didn’t care, so I pushed on. “How many wounds? Any of them life changing? Death doesn’t matter anymore? Doesn’t shake you up at all?”
Orion’s eyes glinted. “Bullshit. I’m shaken. I’m fucking stirred. But it happens, and all I can think at the time is the totally selfish thought that hey, at least it’s not me. He was a Driver. Hale knew he would always bring up the rear. Depending on the task, on the difficulty level, depends on what role our abilities play. Driver, more often than not, is one of the most dangerous.”
I opened my mouth to retort, not even giving the words thought, but someone else spoke, cutting me off.
“Hale had been a Driver for a very long time.” Sam sounded more subdued than I’d ever heard her before. She suddenly looked older than the twenty-three or so I’d taken her for. “He’s been in the system for over a decade. Ten years of a life he’d never have had but for the program. Always keep that in mind. Any borrowed time is time with the people we care about that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.”
She had a point, and my whole argument deflated. For a moment I wondered if one of the people she cared about was Cyan. I was angry, but maybe I was angrier at myself for not being able to react in time. Surely I could build an electrical shield or something to repel attacks? A skin, a defensive power. It tickled at the backs of my knees now, like it had been waiting for me to think along these lines. Screw not having enough time. I needed to make time so I could protect as well as defend. What good were abilities like mine if all I could do when someone was shot at, was to stand by and watch them die.