Little Phoenix (The Census Book 1)

by Willow Dean

  The twins nod their assent at his silent commands and disappear into the night, one moving to either side of the complex. The rest of us hide in the shadows of the trees, being careful to avoid tripping the wire.

  Jax alters the settings on his visor and takes to locating the security cameras at the front of the complex as Aus quietly sets off to scout out the towers and patrols.

  As everyone else undertakes their tasks, I sit in the grass and relax, keeping my senses open in case we happen upon action. I let my mind wander and cover different scenarios on how to enter the compound and what our plan of attack should be.

  Even if the guys can subdue the foot patrols, there’s no way the guards in the towers wouldn’t see that and raise an alert, unless there is a good enough blind spot. The canines will also be an issue.

  There is the option of using the retinal scanner and changeable contacts, however, that would mean apprehending one of the canine units. Without tranquilizer darts, the pups are going to be a problem.

  Scaling the fence won’t work either as it’s electrified, with the master switch in the guard’s station inside the compound. An EMP would work, but we are fresh out of them. That leaves a distraction or bait, but which one would work better? Maybe bot-

  My eyes dart open as I immediately go on high alert. Hearing approaching movement in the bushes on either side, I ready myself for a fight. Rick and Jax continue as they are. Both of them super chilled and none the wiser.

  Before I can warn them, two blurs run at us from both sides. Opening my mouth to shout a warning, someone grabs me from behind me and clasps a hand tightly over my mouth. “It’s just us, Lala,” Aus whispers.

  At the sound of his low timbre, I relax in his arms as the whole team converges on us in a tight circle. My heart still races from their sneaky approach as I step out of his arms and give him a reproachful look.

  “Three patrol units in total, walking two-hundred meters apart. Passing on average at fifty second intervals. Four guard towers, one in each corner with a central command situated one-hundred meters inside the compound at the back. One guard to each tower, four guards in command. Each armed with an assault rifle, baton and side arm.” Linc declares smoothly without a hint of apprehension.

  Damn! They’re heavily armed whilst we decided to go light, choosing a stealthy approach instead of going in all guns blazing.

  We only armed ourselves with silenced pistols and daggers, aiming to get in and out without confrontation. There was no mention of limiting casualties in the brief, but we all agreed it was the best course of action.

  “Two guards on each tower at the front with a single canine patrol unit running the perimeter on the front gate,” Aus concludes.

  “One camera near the base of each tower and one covering the gate. Blindsides at either edge of the compound are minimal. Two cameras placed on either side of the doors that lead into the main building. One set at each of the out houses to both sides. Thirty second blind spots of the main entrance, commencing when the cameras face forty-degrees either side.”

  Wowzers, this is going to be difficult.

  “I have a plan, but you guys may not like it,” I say cautiously. “How well it will work I don’t know.”

  “We’re listening,” Rick responds as all eyes focus my way.

  “The only way to get in the compound without further equipment is to simply walk in. Once inside, we can shut down the fences and bypass security.”

  “So…you are saying that one of us just has to get caught?” Micah asks quizzically.

  “Yes and no. Here’s what I’m thinking…”

  Screaming for help on a dead sprint, I vault into the clearing. Micah is faster than me and is gaining ground rather quickly, with a furious grimace on his face. I pump my legs harder, but it’s no use. He’s too damned quick.

  Tackling me to the floor, I claw at the grass, desperately trying to put as much distance between us as possible. Micah doesn’t relent though and is on me faster than I anticipated.

  Flipping me over onto my back, I don’t even have a second to orientate myself before I’m crying out in pain as he punches me square in the face. I see sparks. Barks sound out around me, accompanied by the padding of soft paws and heavy boots.

  I cower and guard, trying to stop the hits, but Micah continues to lay into me as he shouts a string of obscenities. Something about me being an inconsiderate asshole of a teammate and-

  A whore?! Charming!

  “Tsk, they can’t even work together properly. Let’s take them both inside and leave their team to attempt to infiltrate on their own. How the uppers think these guys are ready to take on missions I have no idea. They can’t even settle a petty disagreement between themselves,” a deep masculine voice gripes as Micah’s weight is lifted off me.

  Strong arms lift me from the floor as I whimper in pain. Blood is splattered across my visor from my bust nose, obscuring my view slightly. My lip is split and already starting to swell.

  Squeezing my eyes open, I see Micah being dragged reluctantly into the compound. He continues to shout and scream, thrashing against their hold.

  Whoever holds me walks directly behind them, carefully cradling me whilst his pup walks obediently next to him. The other canine unit goes back to patrol on the outside of the compound as the tower guards turn their attention back to the clearing. There’s no-one walking around inside the compound grounds except the guy carrying me and the two guys holding Micah.

  Now I just have to figure out a way of either subduing these guys and getting rid of the dog, or busting my way out without making a scene.

  Luckily, my dude makes a slight detour to the kennels to drop the dog off with another handler, who heads back towards the gate.

  As we enter the main building, I can hear Micah’s continuing bellows as he disappears from view at the end of the corridor. I scout for more cameras but don’t see any, the sound of approaching footsteps or voices is absent as well.

  Turning in the man’s grip, I wrap an arm around his neck and thrust out of his arms. Maneuvering my body up and over his shoulder, I wrap my legs around his neck and put him a chokehold.Clawing at my legs, he struggles for release. To no avail of course.

  As he slips into unconsciousness, I drop to the floor with him and land on the balls of my feet. His body dangles between my legs and swooshes softly as his clothes come into contact with the floor. Otherwise, the whole struggle is practically silent.

  I’m a freakin’ Ninja!

  Dragging him into a nearby closet, I tie him up, not wanting him to raise any alarms when he comes to. Taking off my visor, I try to clean it, but it’s no use. The blood just smears, making it even harder to see out of. Dumping mine in the guard’s lap, I take his instead. It’s a bit bigger than mine, but it’ll do.

  After checking the corridor is clear, I dart out of the closet and move off in the direction they took Micah. Keeping an eye out for cameras all the while, an unsettling feeling falls over me when I don’t notice any.

  It feels too...easy, too naive, to be true.

  I make my way down a few corridors, following Micah’s shouts. When I get to the door behind where he is being held, I look through the glass panel to see two guys directly on the other side.

  One of them appears to be on the phone to whom I can only assume is Lachlan. I have to choke back a laugh. They believe we’re imbeciles, but we played them like a fiddle.

  Micah is tied to a metal chair in the middle of the room and continues to thrash about yelling and cussing all sorts of colorful expletives. I cringe at some especially vulgar phrases.

  When we get back, I’m going to need to wash his mouth out with soap.

  Oh, that's an awesome idea for a prank! That’s going to be so much fun…

  Catching my eye, he gives me a subtle nod before spitting at their feet to draw their attention. Vamping up the amount of noise he’s making, he rocks the chair around crazily to cover my entrance. Not that it’s entirely needed as
the door doesn’t even creak when I slowly coax it open.

  “-started going crazy! He bashed the poor girls face in. We have them both, but-” He’s cut off mid-sentence when I slam the handle of my knife against the pressure point at the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.

  The other guy starts to turn, but I already have him where I want him. Throwing myself on his back, I use another chokehold that’s slightly different from the last.

  Again though, his attempts are futile. Chokeholds are my absolute favorite. I have them down to perfection. Not even Deac can get out of them and that’s saying something considering he’s the guru for hand-to-hand combat.

  Laying him down carefully next to his buddy, I bring the phone up to my ear. “Hey, Lachy,” I sing-song.

  “Hey, Kiddo, how’s the sim going?” He politely asks, a hint of restrained laughter creeping into his voice.

  “Fine, thanks. You know,” I muse, nudging the bodies lightly with my boot. “They think we’re idiots who can’t handle missions yet. I must agree with them, Lachy. Our intelligence levels are sorely lacking.”

  I top my words off with a high school cheerleader pout, intent on giving whoever is watching above a good show.

  Micah clears his throat to get my attention. “Anyways, I’ve got to go. I’ve got a grumpy Sonic waiting for me. He’s a little tied up at the moment. See ya!” I finish, staring mockingly at Micah as he glares daggers back. Lachlan’s chuckles echo around the room as I put the phone down on him.

  The moment I release Micah from his restraints, he’s immediately up close and personal. Pulling off my visor, he runs his hands over my face and catalogues each one of my injuries with a strangled expression. Guilt is written all over his face and he won’t stop apologizing.

  I’m pretty sure the blood just makes it look worse than it actually is. There’s barely even any discomfort anymore and the swelling feels near non-existent. Almost as if there was nothing there in the first place.

  “Yo! Blue Balls! I’m fine, honestly.” Swatting his hands away, I roll my eyes. “I’ve had worse tripping over in the playground, relax!”

  “Blu- Blue…Blue Balls?!” He sputters, finally letting go of my face as he doubles over in uncontrollable laughter.

  “Yeah,” I shrug. “Sonic is blue and you were staring at me as if your balls were being strangled, so I thought it kinda fit. Although, I gotta say, the whore part really hurt, man.” I feign being wounded, placing a hand over my heart and forcing a tremble in my lip.

  The sly bastard just winks and slaps a sloppy kiss on my cheek before giving me my visor back.

  It’s a good job that I know he didn’t mean a word he said, otherwise he wouldn’t be looking so happy right now.

  Snorting at his erratic change in emotions, I shake my head and try to focus back on the mission. “Come on, Sonic. We have a job to do.”

  After tying up tweedle dee and tweedle dumb, we take anything that could be useful and hide them out of sight of the door.

  “You know where the control room is?” Micah nods. “Good, make your way over there. Bring down the electricity on the fences and then compromise the security system. If you can, set up a distraction on the opposite side of the complex in a blind spot on one of the command posts. Use the lights at the same time to signal the guys.”

  With the biomedical firm’s history in pioneering technology, we thought it best to limit the tech we used. Ergo, forgoing comms and deciding on good old-fashioned signals.

  “Wait?! What are you doing? You-”

  “I’m going to retrieve the hostage,” I say simply, checking my dagger and pistols are all still where they should be.

  “But that wasn’t the plan. We don’t know what security exists further down in the compound,” he protests.

  “Well, I’ll just have to deal with that as it comes. We don’t have time to be waiting for the guys to come in. Besides, it will be the best time for me to infiltrate as you will have them distracted. I’ll get the hostage and try to make my way out. The guys should be in to give me cover by then if I get stuck.”

  Micah frowns, looking down the hall and back to me with uncertainty before grabbing my shoulders with both hands.

  “Do. Not. Do anything stupid. I know this is a sim, but I don’t like the idea of you getting hurt.” I raise my eyebrow at him. “That was for the- You know what…urgh, it doesn’t matter. Now’s not the time,” he huffs.

  I raise my other eyebrow and he rolls his eyes.

  “Quit it! This is serious! I’ll pay for that later I’m sure. But seriously, for real or not, I don’t want you getting hurt any more. Plus the guys would roast my ass if anything happened to you. I’m already going to have my ass handed to me as it is,” he grumbles. I snicker. “Protect yourself first, okay?”

  “I promise. Now go, we don’t have any more time to waste,” I urge as I don my visor again, taking off in the opposite direction.

  Making my way down numerous corridors, I stop at each corner to let the patrols pass. Hearing voices at the end of the corridor where the hostage room is located, I go to peek around the corner when the alarms start blaring.

  Good, that means Micah has reached the control room. Either that or we’ve been made and I’d rather not think about that option right now.

  I only just manage to conceal myself in the shadows of the nearest alcove in time for a whole group of guards to run back in the direction I came from.

  After they pass, I strain hard to hear past the alarms. Not hearing anyone else approaching, I leave my hidey hole and edge around the corner to where the hostage room is located.

  My steps falter as the set-up of the hallway that greets me looks unfamiliar. According to the blueprints, there’s only meant to be one door down here. Instead, there are three. Two opposite each other and one at the end of the corridor in between them.

  Running back over the schematics in my head, I retrace my route, certain I haven’t taken a bad turn. They must have intentionally left the rooms off the blueprints. Either that or the blueprints weren’t updated ones.

  Before going any further, I stop to think through my options. I still find it odd that I haven’t come across any cameras yet. Yet it constantly feels like I’m being watched.

  “Fuck sake, Mila! How can you be so stupid?!” I hiss, mentally cursing my foolishness.

  They do have security cameras, of course they do, just not in plain sight. I look towards the corners of the corridor. Specifically, at the wall panels on either side of the corners where the ceiling and the walls connect.

  Launching a dagger directly in the center of them both, electricity shoots out across the panels as the white covering that kept the camera hidden dissipates. The dagger dropping harmlessly to the floor.

  “God damn it!” I should have known better. I was too careless. No time to dwell on that now though. If Micah hasn’t already compromised the system, then they’ll already know where I am.

  The question is, why haven’t they sent anyone out to deal with me yet?

  “We have your friends surrounded. Surrender now.”

  Tsk. There’s my answer.

  33 Micah

  I finish signalling the guys and setting off the alarms in the command center when I see them being apprehended by the canine units.

  “Seriously? You guys can’t even be inconspicuous for five minutes,” I grumble. Dumbasses.

  A smile creeps across my face as I watch only three of them enter the building. No sign of Linc. Maybe Rick knew Mila would change the plan once inside and decided to come up with a crazy one of his own.

  I swear she’ll be the death of us someday, in more ways than one. We all feel a keener sense of protectiveness towards her than we do ourselves. Even my twin, who’s never let anyone else get even remotely close to him, has let her into his heart on more than one occasion.

  Scanning the cams, I find Mila ducking into an alcove just as a group of guards races past her. Unlocking access to all the electr
onic doors in the compound, I check that the guards behind me are securely tied up and unconscious before moving towards the exit to head to one of the labs. I noticed some very nifty pieces of kit in there that I wouldn’t mind trying out.

  “Oops, nearly forgot.” Skipping over to the controls, I can’t help but take one last glance at the buttons, snickering. Eh, I just can’t help myself!

  “We have your friends surrounded. Surrender now,” I boom in my most badass villain voice. I laugh to myself as I watch Mila stiffen before she turns to the remaining camera in the hallway and one finger salutes me.

  Totally worth it!

  Back tracking, my hands glide over the consoles, deactivating all cams before I leave the room. Heading further into the compound, I duck in and out of alcoves and doorways to avoid patrols until I make it to the labs.

  I wonder where Linc’s disappeared too? Hmm...I’ll make that my next priority, once I’ve retrieved what I originally set my sights on, of course.

  Whatever I do, I need to make it quick. We all know that Mila can look after herself, but it doesn’t help to ease our worry. None of us want to see her get hurt again.

  Quite honestly, I don’t think any of us could handle it if anything else happened to her. That girl needs a god damned, cookie loving break!

  Oh, cookies! I’ll get Lala some cookies to make up for before. She’ll love that.

  I’m about to step around the corner to the labs when I’m jerked backwards into a dark closet.

  “You’re careless without me brother,” Linc deadpans. No emotion in his voice, whatsoever.

  Chuffing, I let go of a small sigh of relief as another set of guards run by. “Erm…yeah, I was maybe a little distracted,” I say sheepishly, running a hand over the back of my neck.

  “Hime?” I nod. He knows me all too well. “Focus.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I gotcha.” I wave him away. “What happened with you guys?” I enquire as he follows me on silent steps into the lab.

  Looking around the room, I wait for him to answer as I look for a…aha!