by Kai O'Connal
When she peeked out the doorway, Keandra saw a small troop of soldiers, all wearing armor and carrying assault rifles, jogging in formation from the center of the compound toward their building. A couple of drones flanked them on either side, providing air support. Another drone circled overhead. Keandra couldn’t see it, but she could hear the engine as it cut through the clouds above their location.
Paz fired a pair of grenades in a high arc. They soared over the roof of the warehouse to land somewhere near the approaching battalion. As soon as the first explosion went off, they scattered into two groups, splitting with trained efficiency and providing flanking support for each other. After that, the smoke obscured anything Keandra might have been able to make out. One thing was clear: they were well-trained, which meant Keandra’s team needs to get out ASAP A trained corporate force would cut them to shreds, no matter how good their muscle was.
Keandra dashed for the hole in the fence, practically dragging E-jekt behind her. He was wheezing before they got to the first storage container, but she didn’t dare slow down. Overhead, she heard the roar of an engine grow louder. It was soon joined by two others.
Keandra pushed E-jekt behind the cover of the storage container, diving next to him as bullets ripped into the dirt where they had been standing moments before. The drone raced past and arced out in front of her, coming around for another shot. It sounded like the other two were close behind.
Rolling onto her back, Keandra leveled her pistol at the drone, aimed, and fired. She wasn’t even sure if the shots had hit; if they had, the damage was minimal.
Paz’s heavy rifle roared to life and the burst of bullets raced out to shred the drone, streaks of light filling the air behind the flying sentry as bits of metal sheared off and fell to the ground like a rain of fireflies. The drone lost control and listed to the side before slamming into the ground and exploding. A couple smaller explosions followed the first, each one loud enough to make Keandra’s ears ring.
Lance appeared out of the darkness, jolting them out of their shock as he grabbed E-jekt, jerked the ork to a standing position, and shoved him in the direction of their van. One of the other drones opened fire, bullets kicking up dirt as it flew by on a strafing run. A round caught Lance in the side and he stumbled, planting his sword in the ground for balance. With a growl, he pushed himself up on the weapon and regained his balance before continuing.
Paz stopped running and lifted her gun, sighting in on the retreating drone. She pulled the trigger and another burst of fire ripped through the sky, shredding the drone’s control vane. When it tried to turn around for another pass, it veered first one way and then the other before entering a spin and plummeting to the ground. It crashed somewhere on the other side of the road, out of sight.
The final drone circled around, coming at them from the side. It fired a single shot before arcing up and moving away. Keandra had just enough time to realize what it was before the RPG struck the ground near their position. Lance and E-jekt escaped the blast, but Keandra and Paz were thrown through the air from the force of the explosion, landing several meters away from the smoking crater.
Keandra’s head rolled loosely from one side to the other and she blinked several times as she tried to regain awareness of her surroundings. A loud ringing filled her ears and blinking white spots obscured her vision. Something was wrong, and she wasn’t sure what.
As her vision began clearing, she raised her hand in front of her face, surprised to see it covered in dirt, gravel, and blood. She touched her forehead and it felt wet. Looking at her fingers, she saw she was bleeding. That wasn’t right. That wasn’t supposed to be happening. Where was she?
It all came flooding back as the roar of the drone’s engine cut through the ringing. It hurt when she moved, but Keandra forced herself to roll onto her side and prop herself on her elbow.
Paz was a few body lengths away, sitting up and moving her head around, looking for something. She spotted her rifle and scrambled over to it, holding a hand to her forehead the entire time. Once she got her weapon, she gripped it in both hands and a disturbing smile spread across her face, all the more disconcerting considering her obvious injuries.
She brought her gun up and followed the drone as it banked around, getting ready to attack them once again. Once it leveled out, Paz adjusted her height and held position, waiting.
The drone flew straight at them, only a few meters off the ground. Paz pulled the trigger and launched a single grenade at the drone. The grenade burst into flame, a miniature sun in the night sky, directly in front of the flying assault weapon. Unable to stop or vector away, the drone flew straight into the blast, emerging on fire in several places and with dripping liquid metal in others. It crashed into the ground, digging a trench just behind Keandra and Paz, smoldering in a heap when it came to a stop.
Another squad of drones zoomed toward them at high speed. There was no way they could get up the small rise to the gap in the fence before the drones were on them, and Paz couldn’t take them all out by herself.
Keandra sprinted back to the shipping container, sliding behind it just as bullets ripped into the metal structure. Paz ducked down next to her, offering some return fire, but not hitting anything. Keandra counted at least five more drones in the air.
Keandra didn’t recognize the new messenger, and had no idea how it had hacked into their private conversations. She opened a private window to E-jekt.
Keandra wasn’t sure what E-jekt was talking about, and she didn’t have time to sort through it. She tried to engage the security programs in her commlink, but another burst of drone fire interrupted her, forcing her to duck away from the corner to keep from being shredded to bits. As it was, several pieces of shrapnel tore into her arms and face.
The drones circled around for another strafing attack, this time coming from multiple directions. Keandra hoped the contact could do what it claimed, or else they’d have to hope the riggers manning the drones were bad shots. To her relief, all five of the drones powered down, the engines suddenly cut off. They coasted to the ground, some stopping their flight in more pieces than others.
Keandra and Paz rushed up the hill, joining Lance and E-jekt near the hole in the fence. As they approached the two men, each leaning on the other, it was difficult to say who supported whom. Lance must have been hurt worse than she’d realized, but they couldn’t do anything about it now. They’d have enough time to assess his injuries once they were back on safe ground.
Lance and E-jekt stepped out through the hole, with Paz taking a support fire position next to Keandra. Before leaving, she glanced behind her to see pairs of sec men from the guard units sweeping across the field, looking for the intruders.
They hustled the short distance to where the van was and started to cross when sudden white light blazed over the entire group. Keandra held up her hand to shelter her watering eyes. She made out several silhouettes in the glare, all of them armed with weapons pointed in her direction.
“Well, Miss Tiernay, it is quite a surprise to see you here.”
13
Even without seeing him, Keandra knew who it was. What she didn’t know was how the hell Mr. Johnson had found them here, and what he would do next.
Her gun, still in her hand, hung limply at her side. Lance and E-jekt no longer supported each other, each standing tall now that a new threat had revealed itself, but the tip of Lance’s sword dragged in the dirt, and he didn’t look like he had the strength to fight a toddler, much less a heavily-armed and armored security team. Paz was the only one who looked ready for a tussle, though even she had the muzzle of her firearm lowered, pointing at the ground just in front of her feet. They all stared ahead, but Keandra knew they’d follow her lead.
“Mr. Johnson. What a surprise.”
“I could say the same. I do find it quite surprising to find you here, serving the purposes of another client. At least, that is what I assume you are doing. I find it hard to believe that this attack would be in any way associated with our current arrangement. If I’m incorrect, please let me know.”
Keandra reached up to tuck her gun back into its holster. The instant she moved, the pair of guards flanking Mr. Johnson raised their own guns to target her. They moved as a group and each took a half-step forward into more solid shooting stances. They sounded like members of a choreographed dance troop as their armor rattled and their feet stomped in unison.
Keandra held up her free hand in surrender, dropping the pistol so she was only holding it by the handle, between her forefinger and thumb. Moving with deliberate slowness, she eased her jacket open and tucked the gun away. Only then did she bring her hand down so it could rested in comfort at her side. The guards didn’t budge, remaining vigilant.
“I believe we have crossed over the line from unusual into uncomfortable regarding your business etiquette,” she said.
Paz snorted softly behind her, but kept the reaction muffled. Keandra didn’t want to ruffle Mr. Johnson’s feathers too much, but his sudden arrival had put her off balance. She didn’t like how he was handling things. She only hoped no one else would speak up about the data that—as far as they knew—was currently on her commlink. At least she knew they would trust her. She was more concerned about an accidental slip.
Mr. Johnson walked toward her, until he was within spitting distance. He kept his hands tucked into the pockets of his trench coat, looking down at her without tilting his head. She matched his stare, recognizing the physical intimidation for what it was. She couldn’t help squinting at the bright lights in her face, but she couldn’t do anything about that.
When Mr. Johnson spoke, his voice was laced with irritation and steel. “Let me make this painfully clear. You will deliver our package, as we agreed, and on time. I will not tolerate anything less than exemplary performance. I have reason to believe you may have been considering not holding up your end of the bargain, whether by choice or circumstance. Whichever it may be is irrelevant. The consequences will be the same either way. Do you have my package, Miss Tiernay? If you do, I propose you deliver it now.”
“Our agreement was to deliver the package to you tomorrow evening, at the prearranged location. Your request is safely in hand, Mr. Johnson, and we will deliver as promised.”
“I highly suggest that you consider handing it over early.”
The guards advanced a step, moving as a unit with precision. It would have been intimidating, if Keandra wasn’t already in her element. She knew how to handle negotiations, even those that turned sour. Right now she had the power. She just had to be careful how to flex it and where to bend. She also didn’t want to outright lie, because even the best negotiators had tells they weren’t fully in control of.
“You hired us for our discretion and professionalism. This means that the data was not copied and is stored in a single safe location. You know our reputation. Do you think we would allow that data to be put at risk by carrying it with us into a hostile environment? No, I don’t have it with me. I’m afraid you will have to wait.”
“We would be more than willing to provide an escort to your final location. Given your recent…activities, it seems like such prudence might be required.”
He gestured with his chin at the Federated Boeing facility, where several security teams advanced on their location. Between the lights, the gunfire, and the drone explosions, there could be no doubt where the intruders were. They were running out of time, and each second spent arguing with Mr. Johnson brought the security teams closer.
But Mr. Johnson knew that. He wanted the data more than anything. He couldn’t risk letting Keandra and her team be captured, or worse, killed. Then he might never be able to recover the data. She hoped she was right in her assessment and he wasn’t willing to walk away. It would be easy enough to hold them here until the authorities arrived.
“Our business thrives on secrecy and some measure of distance. If you were to follow us, we would lose that distance. That would be bad for us as well as yourself. We would lose a safehouse, and you would lose your reputation for hiring people to handle the jobs that need to stay hidden. I doubt any team of respectable quality would want to work with someone who crossed that professional line.”
It wasn’t exactly a threat, but it was as close to one as she dared to make. She hadn’t said anything that wasn’t true. Secrecy, privacy, and a professional understanding between Mr. Johnson and a team were the lifeblood of the shadows. Endangering that meant he’d never find a team to work for him again. Of course, that assumed that they would still be alive to share their side of the story.
Keandra heard the shouts of the approaching security teams. Had she misjudged Mr. Johnson? Would he be willing to let them get caught even if it meant losing the data?
“Very well.”
He snapped his fingers. His troopers marched forward until they were at the edge of the road, and fired a few rounds of heavy suppressive fire in the direction of the facility. The security teams dove for cover, a couple dropping to the ground, injured. As soon as the team finished firing, the lights went out and it took Keandra a few blinks before she could see again. Two APCs were parked there, with a pair of spotlights mounted on the top of each vehicle. The troops marched into the back of the APCs.
“You have twenty-four hours.”
Mr. Johnson turned around and climbed into the front seat of the rear APC. His bodyguard closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Both vehicles roared to life with a rumble Keandra felt in her bones. They moved slowly, but looked like they would roll over anything that got in their way, except for buildings. Those they’d probably break through instead.
The team moved as soon as the APCs cleared out of the way, rushing to the van before Federated Boeing had an opportunity to send more troops or recover from the gunfire. Paz tore out of there so fast that Keandra had to grip the door to keep from being thrown around in the front, even with her seatbelt on. The dwarf only slowed down once they were on the highway and merged with other traffic. Keandra wanted answers; however, she didn’t dare start talking in the van, which might be once again bugged. Judging from their silence, she assumed the rest of her team had the same thought.
When they got near the safehouse, Paz parked a few blocks away as a security measure. They called a cab, taking it the last bit of the way so Lance didn’t have to walk. If their vehicle was being tracked, Mr. Johnson would have the right neighborhood, but hopefully that would at least slow him down.
Once they got into the room, Keandra helped Lance to the couch, easing him onto it and trying not to jostle his wound too much. He winced as he got comfortable, but
eventually offered a smile and waved her away. He pulled off his shirt and used the medkit Paz handed him to treat his wound. E-jekt sat down next to him and rubbed his hands over his face, as was his habit. He looked up at Keandra, demanding answers even before he spoke.
“If I may ask, why didn’t you mention the data on your commlink? It all worked out well enough, but I think that could have saved us some trouble.”
“For several reasons. First, if we handed it over to him there, there’d be no reason for him to keep us alive. Considering how obsessed he is with this data, he might have killed us to maintain secrecy. If we do meet with him again, we’ll need to take precautions. Secondly, I wasn’t able to lock down the data like you suggested. As soon as we handed the commlink over to him, I bet it would have jumped ship again, and we’d have to admit we lost it. Not to mention, how was I going to explain that? We lost the data once and it just decided to come back?”
“It might be better than assuming we’ve been sitting on it for a couple of days. He might be thinking that we’re taking a peek at it, something he’d definitely kill us for.” E-jekt kept staring at her, refusing to back down.
“There’s also the fact that you heard it. You saw those messages. That wasn’t a sprite and you know it. There’s only one answer. It has to be an AI. And it got us out of there. If we didn’t have its help, those drones would have shot us up without a doubt. I promised to hear it out, and I always keep my word.”