by Ian Williams
So with the Taser pistol tucked behind her back, she wandered to the front doors as casually as she could manage. They parted with a swishing noise. She then entered and turned toward the reception desk, where a strikingly beautiful woman in a red dress was waiting with a smile. The guards were watching too. Everyone had clocked her immediately. This was perfect for her.
“Hi there, Miss. Can I help you with something? Lost are we?” the woman said. Her presumption was incredibly rude yet apt at the same time.
Phoenix smiled and opened her mouth to give the impression she was about to answer. Nothing came out at all. Instead she let the stun grenade roll out of her hand and bounce across the floor behind her. It continued in the direction of the guards before finally coming to a stop.
“What’s that?” one of the guards shouted just as the grenade went off.
A flash of white light and a loud bang bounced around the room for a second or two, leaving those looking at the grenade stumbling about. Knowing what to expect, Phoenix had already covered her ears and closed her eyes moments before. She was left unharmed and unfazed.
After quickly flinging the Taser pistol out from behind her and aiming squarely at the receptionist’s partially exposed chest, she finished the job. Phoenix pulled the trigger and sent a bolt of electricity through her victim. She watched with a grimace as the receptionist shook violently before falling to the floor in a heap. It was unfortunate, but she could not risk anything less. Next were the guards, who each took a shot without much fuss at all. The room was now silent.
The scrambler device was thankfully working, as no-one arrived to stop her at all. Any other security guards in the building were probably trying to fix what they would assume was a faulty wireless connection to their monitors. Even with the device hiding her actions, it would still only be a few minutes until the guards came downstairs to see what had affected the security cameras. They would then find more than they bargained for: a room full of unconscious staff.
There was no time to waste at all, even without hacking any doors that remained between her and her brothers. She had planned this in advance too. It was always easier to use someone’s pass. The one hanging from the belt of one of the sleeping security guards was as good as any – probably better. She stuffed this into her pocket before moving on. She just hoped the security cards were not linked to an individual code too. That would be a huge delay and the clock was already ticking down.
She stopped at the interactive map of the building, stuck on the wall by the lifts. From the information she had stolen from the police database, she knew she had to look for the ideal place to store prisoners. And since the building was never designed for such a task, it stood to reason that they would be held somewhere relatively quiet. Only there was no indication in her intel where that might have been. She expected it would not be something recorded in the receptionist’s logs either.
Listed as on the ground floor was something promising however. The server rooms. These areas were usually only worked by a couple of people – she had broken into smaller buildings before with similar set-ups. It seemed a good place to start at least. She went for the door to the left of the stairs. There was one either side. Both appeared to have the same locking system, with a numbered keypad and a card slot. Shit, it needs a code, she thought.
She could not afford to hang around for too long. It was only a matter of time before whatever security that remained in the building was alerted of her presence. Hacking the door would take too much time. She pushed the card into the slot and waited, afraid to even breathe for fear of someway influencing the outcome. The door’s lock then clicked open and a green light flashed up on the keypad. The need for a code was only necessary for temporary access to the next area. Those with permanent access evidently only required the cards.
Once inside she let the door close softly behind her and breathed out. One obstacle was now behind her. Beyond the door was a long corridor with rooms lining the right side and windows covered by grey blinds along the left. She began with the first door and then worked her way down until she came across an open one. Inside, it was nothing more than a store room. This being the only room unlocked hardly surprise her, no-one ever needed to protect toilet rolls and detergents.
Further down the corridor was one large room on the right, walled with floor to ceiling glass windows that revealed row after row of computer stacks inside. These were the servers and were of no use to her at all. She still took a mental note of what she quickly passed; the space between the stacks were ideal hiding places after all. At the end of this room was a concrete pillar support which doubled as the corner for the corridor. She stopped here and peeked around.
Ahead was a second length of corridor. The route was one big square loop that led back to the lobby. This time the rooms lined the left side, with the right still made of the same glass panels separating the hall from the server room. She had not seen a door through to the computer stacks yet. There had to be one around the last corner ahead, she guessed.
She wandered along the corridor with the constant hum of the server room to her right. Then, as she progressed further, another noise suddenly broke through. Someone was having an argument, or was at least shouting at something. It had come from a door almost halfway down the path ahead of her. This was a good sign. She remembered how annoying her brothers could be at times. If they were pushing someone’s buttons anywhere in the building, she felt sure she would hear.
Coming up to the door slowly she could hear more of the loud voices. There was an aggressive tone to one of them. A man. While the other sounded more reserved and slightly fearful, like someone pleading. She crept up to the small window in the door and peered inside. Her brother Sean was there, cuffed and bruised, and sitting in an office chair. His scruffy blonde hair was in desperate need of a wash, with dirt and grease smeared across it. He was uninjured, just a mess. She saw no sign of Dillon though.
Sean was joined by two other men to his side that she recognised too. One of them was a follower of Anthony’s that she had dealt with once already, called Freddy. After murdering a copper and then legging it from the warehouse earlier, Freddy had eventually been caught. She knew not to trust him. He was far too unpredictable. The option to leave him behind soon entered her mind. His company was not going to help her at all.
They had all been roughed-up a little, with visible evidence of a light beating on their clothes and skin. Her brother had seen better days, but he was OK. He no doubt had missed a couple of meals still.
The shouting came from one of the three security guards standing inside. The other two stood silently with their arms crossed as they stared at one prisoner each. They wore the same black shirts and trousers, with large silver buckles on their belts. Nothing separated them at all. Nevertheless, it was abundantly clear which man was in charge.
She stepped away from the door and aimed her Taser pistol at the rough head height of the guards – all expectantly taller than her. Then with a knock of the door she waited for one of them to answer. Her aim was to bring the first down swiftly before the others could react. If quick enough, she planned to get the second down too. She could only worry about the third when the time arrived. He would definitely be ready to return fire by then.
Except the door did not open at all. Instead one of the guards called out to her. “What?”
Her plan had already stalled. All she could do was knock again.
“What do you want?” the guard called again.
There had to be something she could do. She had no intention of knocking a third time. That would surely be enough to prompt the guards to draw their weapons. “Hi, it’s the receptionist here,” she said quickly. What was she thinking? She leaned against the door to listen for their reply.
“Oh, it’s the chick in the red dress,” one of the guards inside said to another. Typical, she thought. Of all things, the possibility of getting laid would have to be their undoing. How unexpected.
&n
bsp; The door swung in smoothly on its hinges. A large man then stepped out with a well-rehearsed grin across his face. When he realised the woman in the red dress was in fact a red haired punk, his expression instantly changed into a seething stare of contempt. Of course by then it was already too late for him. Phoenix pulled the trigger and let the guy fall back like a tipped statue, landing flat on the floor. She then quickly searched for the second guard and fired the moment she spotted him. He too fell away without the time to react.
Unfortunately, the third had done as expected and already drawn his weapon. He fired a shot in return that flashed by Phoenix’s body, hitting the glass window behind her. The man was firing Taser bolts too. Thankfully, his were off target due to the dodging action he took. She fired again, accidentally hitting the prisoner the guard was now hiding behind.
Nothing was going to plan, she was already improvising. A firefight had been the last thing she wanted to face. Regardless, she was stuck dealing with one and the last guard was proving tough to hit. She dived back to the door and pulled it in front of her just before the guard shot at her again. Something had to be done about him, she just could not think of what. His next move was clear, he would threaten to shoot the prisoners. He would have figured out instantly that she came to rescue them.
She peeked through the window in the door and saw the guard crawling behind the other two prisoners. Sean had his eyes closed and was shaking in his seat. He wanted it over as quickly as possible it appeared. Whereas Freddy, in the middle of the three, was more than aware of the situation and looked over to her. He had spotted her watching from behind the door and was flicking his head back. She failed to decipher his meaning until he suddenly threw his chair back, pinning the guard underneath.
With the guard fighting off the lump that was lying across his back, Phoenix stepped out and fired. The guard slumped down, slapping his face hard against the carpet, as he fell into unconsciousness.
“Someone help me up for fuck’s sake,” Freddy said, still sprawled out on his back.
Phoenix dropped her Taser pistol and raced over to her brother first. “Oh Sean, I’m so sorry for leaving you like this,” she said while squeezing the life out of him. He was small anyway, so her arms went right around him.
“What are you doing here, Deb?” Sean replied, using her real name as always.
“You know I prefer Phoenix, Sean. Now, let’s get you un-cuffed.” She knelt down to the guard behind her and unhooked the small key from his belt.
“Hey Lady, I’m still stuck here.”
“I’ll get to you next, just wait a sec,” Phoenix snapped in response to Freddy’s impatience. She quickly released Sean’s cuffs and then moved on to the second man. As she did the same again she turned back to her brother, who was rubbing his wrists where the cuffs had been digging in. “Where’s Dillon?”
Sean did not reply, he just stared into space all of a sudden. When he looked back to Phoenix his eyes had begun to fill with tears. When one of them worked its way down his cheek, she knew something was very wrong.
“What is it Sean? Just tell me. Where have they got him?” she asked.
“He’s dead, Sis. They killed him back at the warehouse. A whole line of police just shot him for no reason.”
She stepped back into the unconscious bulk of one of the guards and fell straight onto her behind. Her arms only just made it in time to support her. “No!” she cried. “No, no, no, no.”
Sean raced to her side and threw himself into her, swinging his arms around and pressing his shoulder tightly under her chin. She could hardly breathe, both because of the shock and because of Sean’s hug. “I watched them bring him out on a stretcher,” Sean said, his voice muffled by her clothing against his mouth.
Phoenix stared at the wall. She would never see her brother Dillon ever again. He had been taken from her far too suddenly, and without any chance to say goodbye too. She had been reunited with only one of her brothers, the other was now just an empty space where once Dillon would have been. He was gone forever, just like Pete. They had already lost so much when their parents had died.
“Say something, Sis, please just say something.”
No words could express the feeling she was struggling to deal with. When her parents had died she had become a mess of tears and snot all mixed together to leave a film of muck on her face. This time she felt something completely different, and it scared her to the core of her being. Never before had she wanted someone dead so much, it mattered little to her who at that moment, just that someone had to pay in kind. Of course Anthony’s face would be the one she saw, regardless of who she would actually end up choosing.
Sean leaned away to bring her face into view. “Phoenix? We’ve got to get out of here.”
“I’ll second that,” Freddy said, while filtering through the nearby guard’s pockets. He pulled out a handful of keys and stowed them in his own pocket, without any clue of what they were for. They were shiny, that was all that mattered apparently. He had not even bothered to check on the third prisoner.
“Me and Freddy will help.” Sean tried to pull Phoenix forward, but she refused.
After staring continuously at the wall and imagining breaking it down with her fists, she snapped out of her enraged daydream and focused on her only surviving family member. He would become her entire world, she knew. Her failure to keep Dillon safe would make protecting Sean the only thing she would care about after this. “Grab a weapon, we’re leaving,” she said as she quickly returned to her feet. She would mourn Dillon at some point later, not now. Now she was itching for an outlet for her anger. Perhaps a guard would appear unexpectedly? They would soon regret that.
Sean and Freddy both found a guard’s pistol and checked them over for any damage. Then when Sean was about to speak again, something suddenly interrupted him. His bottom jaw hung in fright.
“Turn around,” someone said behind her. “Slowly. And drop the weapons, all of you.”
Chapter 16
15 minutes earlier
Graham adjusted the strap around his arm that held in place the mobile holographic projector. Without this he would be alone on his current mission. “I’m still not entirely sure about this. Also, do I really need a weapon?” he said, holding the pistol up to his eye to look down its length. With the other eye closed he pretended to aim at a moving target by scanning from left to right.
“This is the only way Stephen can control all of the relays. And yes, you need a weapon, if not just to be seen as a threat when and if security finds us.” Luke stood by the security door they chose to enter through, at the rear of the Simova building. He waited for Graham to pay attention. His smile suggested he was slightly amused by the amateurish gun skills on display.
This door had been picked for one particular reason, based of course on Graham’s knowledge of the staff there: it was where those in need of a Nicotine hit usually snuck away to. Sometimes they even placed something in the door to keep it open. This was not the case when they arrived. It would have been too easy otherwise. Getting inside now required something more than blind luck.
“So?” Graham said with a look to the lock beside the door.
Luke bent over a little to see the keypad more clearly. “I can bypass this easily,” he said as he straightened out again. “You will need to attach the holo-projector to the keypad. I will be able to connect to it wirelessly and break the lock.”
“OK.” Graham pulled the small device away from his arm, unconvinced yet willing to comply. The Velcro that had been holding it in place made a tearing noise as the projector detached. He then held it against the keypad’s keys until he felt it stick – without knowing how it had done it.
Luke’s image began to flicker and distort. He then vanished entirely into the air like a phantom evading sight. The projector frantically beeped and whirled. Something extremely taxing had begun to push the components inside of it. Whatever Luke was doing it was impressive to see.
After
he realised the space where Luke had been standing was not now where he was, Graham focused on the door lock. He watched in amazement as it flashed red three times before suddenly turning green. The door then clicked open. He pulled it the rest of the way and peeked inside. There was no movement, the coast was clear. Except for him the building appeared uninhabited. So he took a step inside.
“Aren’t we forgetting something,” Luke said behind him after reappearing.
Graham had unintentionally abandoned his companion, leaving him stuck in place by accident. “Shit, sorry.” He leaned back out the door, just before it had shut again, and grabbed the holo-projector. It conveniently reattached to his armband’s Velcro padding.
Inside was a short corridor with an opening at the end that joined another set a few metres beyond. Once they reached them they were faced with two routes, one leading forward and another going off to their right. Graham knew from his time in this building that the door to the server room was directly ahead of them. The other route would only take them away and toward a row of rooms. He had no idea what they were used for.
They remained quiet while venturing further inside; a hidden guard could have been waiting anywhere after all. Roughly halfway along a wall of glass panels was the entrance to a room with row after row of computer stacks within. This door was locked behind a keypad too. Before even asking, Graham removed the device from his arm and placed it on the keypad.