The helicopter shuddered as it spun and it seemed to obey the pilot's efforts, until a gust of wind blew it over the Southbank. Coming down over the Southbank into and through the roof of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, coming to rest on the stage. The rotor stopped spinning as the shaken pilot turned off the engine.
Four people from the troop compartment with the pilot and co-pilot jumped out, running from the crash site. The co-pilot had a coms device held to his ear, as they exited the building their helicopter exploded, starting a fuel fed fire destroying the old building. A black MPV skidded to a stop, the six climbed onboard, eight seconds later the driver exited the vehicle leaving six bodies for the police to find.
Chapter 7
Deadly Consequences
"Yes," shouted Toni over the sounds of gunfire and explosions, "Go Cain, let’s leave the area." While the shock waves and reverberations lessened, Toni heard Daphne screaming. As Toni dropped back down inside the vehicle, she noticed two clean holes the size of her little finger in the windscreen. Both on Daphne’s side of the vehicle. Cain was not seated in the driving seat, he was face down across Daphne’s legs. Daphne had leant forward holding him, shaking and sobbing over his body.
Toni feared the worst, but she needed to know, getting Daphne to sit upright, back in her seat Toni looked down at Cain. She noticed two finger sized holes in the back of his combat suit, she touched them feeling for blood and entry holes. Her fingers found only the fabric of the combat suit, strangely no holes in the back of his body only the smoothness of Cain's skin. Still needing to check, she forced her left hand between Daphne’s legs where she felt the front of Cain’s chest. :There must be some blood, some exit wound I can't believe both bullets are in his body,: Toni thought as she ran her hand against Cain's chest.
Again only the fabric of his combat suit, she could feel no wetness from any blood and no holes in the combat suit underneath only the unmarked flesh. Toni tried to feel for any tremors, any signs of Cain’s breathing, any pulse in his neck. She grabbed hold of him checking to see if he was still alive, pulling on his body; there was no response. As Toni grabbed Cain to pull him off Daphne’s legs, she heard police sirens getting closer.
"Quick Daphne, help me move Cain into the back, then I’ll have to drive," Toni said, tears running down her face.
"I killed him, I killed him," Daphne practically screamed, joining Toni in crying. Through her crying Daphne said. "Cain must have noticed a line of bullets tracking toward us, he noticed something we missed as he unfastened his seat belt, then leaned over me.
"Smiling at me he held me close, putting his back to the windscreen. Wrapping me in his arms to keep me safe. Then, then the bullets hit the car and him, hit his back, I could feel the impacts against my chest through his body. He made no noise, none I could hear, not over the explosions and such, his arms went slack as he collapsed over my legs."
Toni and Daphne struggled to move Cain. Toni pulled while Daphne lifted her legs, raising Cain more upright, still they could not move him. So intent on moving him they both screamed when Cain took a deep shuddering breath and sat upright; banging his head on the vehicle's panoramic roof.
"Ouch! Double ouch, that fekking hurt. What happened, did we win? Are we still alive?" Cain asked rubbing his head. Toni balled her fists she would have hit Cain for frightening her when more shots were fired at them. The shots came from a man standing behind a stationary black SUV, several shots hit their vehicle. Another SUV pulled onto London Bridge, from Tooley Street and drove past the stationary SUV.
"Drive damn you Cain, drive," Toni yelled. She encouraged him, hitting him on the shoulders with her balled fists. Cain put the vehicle into drive, the electric motors soon sped the vehicle from the bridge. Cain headed for Arthur Street and the A3211, the first inner route out of London from the Tower. A burst of gunfire hit the rear perspex window breaking it, one round missed Toni on her left side and hit Cain in his back.
"Ow, will you please stop shooting at me, they smart when they hit," Cain said. The vehicle slid sideways into Arthur Street around the corner loosing sight of the SUVs temporarily out of sight of the shooters.
Leaving Arthur Street Cain drove onto the A3211, Upper Thames Street, he somehow threaded their vehicle into the flow of traffic as he slipped their vehicle into a line of EI controlled large goods vehicles. The SUV driving over the bridge stopped pulling up at the side of the road against the pavement, blocking the auto-bus route.
Two people exited the rear of the SUV, both visibly armed. They took shooting positions on opposite parapets, covering both directions of the A3211. As Cain pulled onto the A3211 missing the EI controlled large goods vehicle, as he slipped in behind it. The vehicle shielded them from the first shooter who had a clear oncoming view of all vehicles driving out of London.
Kicking the parapet in frustration the first shooter turned to run over to the opposite side, to join his fellow assassin, aiming to shoot the vehicle and kill the target. Not looking at the traffic on the bridge only thinking about the traffic below, and about killing the woman seated in the vehicle's rear, he ran onto the road.
A red London Transport double-decker auto-bus, displaying a ‘sorry not in service’ sign, hit the man a glancing blow as he ran in front of the parked SUV. The impact hit the man so hard, it threw him backward over his starting position, and over the parapet wall. His sniper rifle went spinning ahead of him. Smashing and wedging into the windscreen of an EI controlled large goods vehicle, destroying its sensor array and cameras. His body hit the same vehicle, not seen by its cameras since they were destroyed, and bounced forward from the impact.
Down on the road the EI controlled large goods vehicles ran over his body, none of the vehicles stopped. Only after the flow of traffic had reduced due to another accident half-a-mile back down the A3211, was the squashed body recovered during the lull in the traffic. His tracing chip had been picked up by somebody working for Assassins4Hire, five minutes before the police collected the squashed body.
Hearing the impact and his colleague's scream the other shooter looked over his shoulder, but not seeing his colleague. Turning back, the shooter realised he had missing his chance at shooting those in the fleeing vehicle, hidden as it was between two EI controlled large goods vehicles.
"How Cain? How? You should not be alive. Three times bullets have hit you, three times. This is not a game like Forsaken Cain, but real bloody life, there are no re-spawns here. Three bloody heart attacks you’ve given me Cain, three. Nobody gets shot like you have and lives, nobody," said an exasperated Toni. She leant forward, kissed him on his cheek as the EI drove their vehicle.
"We need to ditch this vehicle, as the overheating warning lights are flashing. I think a shot or two may have hit the battery pack. We need to ditch it before it burns out or explodes," Cain said.
[Depending on how far Cain can drive, the best place to pick up a new vehicle is Savage Garden. There is a little café there where self employed delivery drivers; go for early breakfasts. You could program one of the vehicle EIs and get it to drop you off in Rotherhithe Tunnel. Right outside the safe house with no one being the wiser, especially the goons or police,] said Rahab.
^T^ Cain, can you get to Savage Garden or do you think the EI can manage to get there? We can drop this vehicle off, then nick somebodies delivery vehicle, I’ll program the EI and away we go.
^I still don't understand how you are alive, not in the slightest. I don’t honestly know how you are not dead, I’m not knocking it I think it is great. Beyond great actually, but we need to understand how after being shot three times, you're still alive. ^
As Cain headed toward the destination having turned the EI off, Savage Garden was under a thousand yards away. Toni asked Daphne how she was, was she hurt?
"No, I’m fine, well I'm not really, how can Cain be alive? He must have seen the bullets and took them for me. I felt them hitting his body and he collapsed against my legs, not moving, not breathing. All of a sudde
n he wakes up scaring you and me both, then as we drive off the bridge he gets shot again. I don’t understand it Toni, do you?" Daphne asked. Cain pulled up and parked on Savage Garden, behind a UPS truck, Toni and Daphne were still talking.
"Time to leave ladies. If the battery cools down, it should not catch fire but I don't think it will cool down, the warning light is constant now, no longer flashing. I can smell burning from the rear of the car. Leave the Thales StarStreak launcher, I don’t think we need it any more and it is empty besides.
"Enoch told me those people flying and crewing the helicopters, were Assassins4Hire people, not military or special protectorate goons but Assassins4Hire. Those cold blooded illegitimate sods, who would kill their own mothers if the money was right.
"They stole the helicopters late last night, then came looking for us," said Cain as he folded his XM8b and hid it under his jacket. Toni collapsed and hid the MP5 likewise under hers. Cain handed Daphne one of his suppressed Glocks, telling her in case she needed to use it. Toni picked the lock on an old model red-liveried delivery van, a type they'd retrofitted with an EI system. Once inside, Toni looked at the small amount of cargo not getting any clues as to what the van was distributing.
She looked at a scrap of paper stuck on the dashboard, giving two addresses for the persons delivery. Accessing the EIs user interface, Toni programmed a new route. Ensuring it took the longest way for the two deliveries and the safe house. The new route went via Limehouse station, Rotherhithe Tunnel and the Blackwall Tunnel making several ten second stops along the way.
The first stop was for a delivery at Goodman’s Court, at a Travel Inn. The last delivery she programmed was to an independent book seller, based in Portsoken Street Garden. Daphne dropped the small package off at the Travel Inn, so the driver would at least get one of his deliveries made. Sitting in the delivery van's cargo compartment, they waited for their ten seconds stop in the tunnel. The programmed EI had already made several short ten second stops as it headed toward the Rotherhithe Tunnel, and their safe house.
"Before you ask again I don’t understand it myself. I've been thinking about how as I know it I should be dead, or seriously wounded. Once we get back safe I’ll ask John, he’ll have a good idea, I hope. I noticed the helicopter's chain gun continued firing as it tried avoiding the missiles.
As you were stood up Toni looking out of the car's sunroof you acquired the third helicopter with the DSS. Most of its shots were miles off target until I stopped the car. I felt my gut warn me about a danger to Daphne. I undid my seatbelt and leant in front of her, wrapped her in my arms putting myself between her and the helicopter, praying I could save her. The rest is as they say history, I somehow did not die when I was shot.
"I felt both bullets slam into me and I remember the sudden spike of pain from which I passed out. As you moved me or were trying to move me, I remember waking with a gasp and you both screamed.
"Once I was awake you had me drive off the bridge, I was hit again in the back for a third time. The hit smarted, it didn't cause me to pass out like the first two, so I think I or more likely my body is tolerating the pain. Though I don't want you to shoot me to find out I am correct," Cain told them.
Safety First
Toni sat mulling over what Cain had said. :It should not have happened, he should have died protecting one of his women. Yet here he is, sitting between Daphne and me. Now I know he has my heart. I thought it had broken when he laid there, slumped like that over Daphne’s legs, her crying like her heart had broken too. Yet he lives, and I can’t wait to check him out.:
Cain took out his coms device and activated the code to adjust the traffic lights on the entry to the Rotherhithe Tunnel. The delivery van came to a stop on the corner in the tunnel, four seconds was all it took for Daphne, Toni and Cain to exit the vehicle, five seconds later the vehicle continued its journey. Cain led his women the seven yards to the small door hidden in the corner of the tunnel wall, beside the larger door for a vehicle. Once they were in the secret tunnel with the door closed behind them, a string of lights came on lighting the way to the safe house. Cain set off at a steady pace and Toni and Daphne walked at either side holding his hands.
"Long walk, not! And we are?" Daphne said. Toni laughed, telling Daphne she had the same questions when first she came here. Toni told Daphne what it was like for her first visit.
"You may not know but Cain and I worked for the same company SPQR, yeah the makers of Forsaken. Well, Cain arranged for me to have a NL+A fitted, after which I had a two week stay at home to recover. I sent Cain loads of messages and he sent me plenty too, though neither set arrived; as Jason's thugs had blocked my phone. To cut a long story short, I got another phone and contacted Cain for help.
"Like the knight he is, he came riding to my apartment and rescued me from Jason's thugs, who were trying to murder me. Do you know Cain loves a big explosion! He wired my apartment as a deadly trap, in case Jason set other thugs to remove my presence. Anyway once he saved me, he took me back to his house. Where we slept together. Don't look at me like that. He was a proper gentleman, and I was scared. Anyway later that day he brought me here, the rest is well, we ended up playing Forsaken and finding you and the other DreamBabes."
Cain pushed open the door into the garage area, letting Toni and Daphne walk in first then closed the door behind him. The lights came on automatically revealing several vehicles, from small sports cars to large SUVs. Daphne was miffed, she was unable to tell which models they each were, since they were hidden under individual protective covers. Toni grabbed Daphne’s hand as she pulled her along toward the elevator and chose the one on the right, telling Daphne never use the left hand elevator.
"Welcome back home Toni," John said to her as he was seated at the table with a mug of tea, dunking a plain biscuit. "This must be the woman you and Cain went to Arnhem for, and saved?"
"Yes, sorry for my rudeness John. This is Daphne, Daphne this is John who is Cain’s friend, and former military technician stroke quartermaster," Toni said.
"Pleased to meet you John, Cain's friend" Daphne said and shook his hand. "Are all those vehicles yours? I’d love to have a look at them someday, will that be OK?"
"No, not a petrol head," laughed Toni and facepalmed; all the while laughing. "I'd hoped you'd like women's fashions, clothes, handbags, jewellery, make-up and the like. Maybe talking about guys?"
"I, err... sometimes, but I prefer vehicles, than men or women, always have. I blame my father, he was a true petrol head, loved the old Pirelli calendars. Now they were hot women, or bitches as my father called them, to his mates. When everything went electric, he lost interest in it all, even the calendars," Daphne said.
Cain asked what they wanted, then made a fresh jug of coffee. Pouring out the drinks and leaving a choice of cream or milk on the tray. He brought the drinks over to the table, sitting down between Toni and Daphne. She turned to face him saying, her voice tight with emotion.
"We're here now, care to explain to John, how you’re not dead? Three times he was hit John, three times, your combat suit bares silent testimony to where and it doesn't lie. Yet there are no matching holes in your flesh, no blood lost and most important you are alive. How can that be?" Toni said. John added to Toni's questions, he asked what had happened while they were out, between Toni and Cain he received a reasonably full picture of the nights events.
From stopping two women being exploited, collecting Daphne and freeing our helpers in the Netherlands. Dropping the dead body into the North Sea, then causing mayhem in London. Ending up fighting against the Assassins4Hire people in the helicopters, which Toni shot down.
"Did you get any prompts on your NL interface?" John asked both Cain and Toni. "You may need to turn on pop-up messages. The default on all NLs, even my NL+As is set not to receive pop-ups," Cain and Toni accessed their HUD NL interfaces and turned on the option, 'allow pop-ups.' They both received several messages, flashing in their HUDs. "You had better sort throug
h them, tell me what you have," asked John. Cain looked at the first of his pop-up messages. It was a good job Cain had sat down, else he would have slumped to the floor.
"How can this be? I don’t know how but I’ve got a stats page. Showing my health, strength, dexterity and stamina levels. Let me see what other pop-ups I received," said a stunned Cain. Closing his stats 1 screen he opened stats 2.
"I have a second stats screen, this one gives me three readouts. I have readings on power, armour and Nanogel reserve. Can you, do you have any ideas John?" Cain asked. As he quickly scrolled through the other messages.
"I think it has something to do with having an AI implant, plus using these enhanced PODs with their special Nanogel, that we created. Remember I created the gel after reading your article, your thesis from university. I designed the Nanogel as an enabler, an interaction between your body and an AI.
"You have already used the Nanogel in assimilating your robotic legs with your body. So we know your main idea from your thesis worked, the power is a boost to your natural body. The armour is a micro layer of Nanites, covering your skin, providing reactive armour. While the Nanogel reserve shows level in reserve and their power," John said.
"That explains the three messages I received. I'd been shot three times and received three separate messages telling me about the hits. Each message told me about the damage stopped, the cost in Nanogel and power in protecting me," Cain said then opened the third message, so Enoch could send John an internal message with the attachment.
"The first two messages, showed the same damage reduction of one hundred percent, but greater power and Nanogel costs. Since we have nothing to go on, do you think the Nanogel responds to perceived threats, when I am aware or does it act independent of me?" Cain asked.
Forsaken 337 BC Page 10