Frankie guessed this had been some new technology, something experimental maybe, she didn’t know, but hopefully, Xenox would be able to perfect it, enhance it and apply it to her.
To Frankie’s left, on top of the second bed, lay a brand new pristine body. It seemed to be basically complete and looked like Frankie.
‘Is that…?’
‘It is, yes. I’ve been examining the systems within the body of Spectre here. It is without a doubt some advanced work, and probably a little experimental, or it was at the time it was made, which I think was a few months ago. It’s clever stuff. Whoever came up with this is clearly a genius. It’s not entirely unheard of, though; the theories that have been implemented within this body have been talked about for years, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it implemented. So, I just reverse engineered it and made a few little improvements of my own. I think I could push it further, but I want to see how this handles before I do that,’ he said.
‘So, will I be as fast as Spectre was?’ Frankie asked.
‘Faster probably, like I said, I made some improvements.’
‘Excellent, I’m looking forward to it,’ she said as a beep within her head announced an incoming call. She could see that the caller was the director and excused herself from Xenox to take it.
‘Sir?’ she said in her head as she answered the call.
‘Frankie, I need you to accompany me. We have a developing situation in the city, can you get to the hanger as quickly as you can, please?’
‘Of course, Sir,’ she said, feeling pleased with herself that she had yet to remove her stealth suit. ‘I’ll be there shortly,’ she finished before closing the link and turning to Xenox. ‘I have to go, thanks for showing me this. Keep up the good work.’
‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Happy hunting.’
Frankie left with a smile and made her way to the lifts that would take her to the hanger bay by way of the armoury to pick up her main firearm. Director Forrester had been quite vague as to what this “situation” was, so she figured she should go with her usual full kit so that she was covered for all eventualities. She wondered if he had called any of her teammates, too, or if she would be heading out there alone. Either option would suggest the level of seriousness of whatever this incident was. She guessed she would find out soon enough.
On reaching the armoury, she found she was the only one of her team in there, which suggested she would be doing this alone, but of course, she couldn’t be sure of this. Picking up everything she thought she would need as quickly as possible, she slung them over her body and left the room before entering the closest lift.
Seconds later, she emerged into the hanger bay to find William, the director of the A.C.T., standing in front of an idling flyer with his datapad out, tapping away on it. He looked up and smiled.
‘Excellent, let’s go,’ he said, and moved up the rear ramp of the flyer. Frankie jogged over and followed him up and found only Dion in the flyer with them, sitting at the aircraft’s terminal, ready to monitor comms and the mission.
Frankie nodded at the young man, who smiled back at her, saying her name in greeting.
She turned to William as she placed her bum into one of the seats in the flyer.
‘Just me going with you on this one?’ she asked.
‘That’s right, just you. Escort duty basically,’ he answered her.
‘So, what’s the mission?’ she asked through a new neural link that she opened up between them as the flyer rose up from within the hanger into the dull grey sky and banked left, setting out over the city.
‘A prison transport has been targeted. it was carrying operators and agents from Nano Technic that were turned into the authorities following the new partnership between that Corporation and the government. They were on their way to a secure facility when it was attacked,’ he said.
‘How long ago was this?’
‘According to the reports I’m getting, it’s still underway. We’ll let the city authorities deal with any conflict that’s still ongoing, though. You’re here to escort me, okay?’
‘Of course, Sir,’ she said before she turned to Dion. ‘What’s our ETA?’
‘We’re less than a minute out, coming in just behind the police,’ he answered her.
‘Hmmm,’ she said as she adjusted her gear and made sure she was carrying everything she needed. ‘The city reacted quickly to this.’
‘The transport was being closely monitored. The occupants had already shown signs of wanting revenge and were some of the best agents and operators from that Corporation. They’re high-value targets and had already expressed their anger at the situation. They were expecting trouble, I think,’ William answered her. William was a big guy, stocky, well-muscled, and a former military man. The way he held himself and moved gave away his career as an officer in the forces. She didn’t really know much more than that about his previous life, although, she had heard rumours that he was former Special Forces.
He was a natural leader and the perfect man to lead their small group.
‘We’re on final approach now, Sir,’ Dion said over their link.
‘Pilot?’ William asked.
‘Yes, Sir,’ said a familiar voice over the link as the pilot’s head appeared around the side of his seat. It was Jude. Frankie raised her eyebrows in surprise as she looked at him.
‘Hang back a bit; let the police secure the area. They’ll let us know when we can land,’ he said.
‘Copy that, Sir,’ he said, focusing back out front again.
‘Jude? I had no idea you were a pilot,’ Frankie said.
‘Surprise!’ Jude answered in a sing-song tone.
‘But, what’s going on?’ she asked. ‘I thought you were looking for a job or something?’
‘I was, and then Mr. Forrester spoke with me. He asked if I could be of help, and when I mentioned that I could pilot a flyer, well, it just grew naturally from that. I wanted to surprise you, though, so, I asked him to keep it quiet,’ Jude said.
‘So, you wanted to stay within the A.C.T. all along?’ Frankie asked.
‘It was high on my list of options, yes. I mean, I don’t have much of a life left to return to anymore, so, it made sense.’
‘Well, that’s great. Happy to have you with us,’ Frankie said.
‘Thanks.’ Jude smiled back.
‘Sorry to interrupt the “love-in”, but we’re being told to land,’ Dion said.
‘Take us in,’ William said.
The flyer descended towards the elevated highway beneath them while Frankie moved to stand by the open side door of the flyer, surveying the area around them.
She could see a long vehicle that looked like a large armoured van with a number painted on the top of it. No doubt the prison transport as she could see that it had ploughed into the side of a large wreck of a truck that looked to have been driven off the top of a nearby building. Two police flyers had landed on the freeway, one in front of the transport and the other behind while a third stayed airborne and circled the scene.
As she watched, their own flyer dropped down and came to rest upon the smart tarmac of the elevated highway with a bump before the engines started to power down to a gentle idle.
She watched as an officer in a high visibility vest walked over to her, only for her to suddenly recognise him. It was Detective Chief Inspector Ulric Riley, who had been in the police station when Psytech had attacked it, and Frankie had taken Gibson and Xenox in to help with its liberation.
‘DCI Riley, it’s a pleasure to see you again,’ she said.
‘Aaah, Frankie, isn’t it? I had no idea you were working for the government now,’ he said.
‘Gibson is, too. We work together now. He’s not here today, though,’ she said.
‘Shame. Give my best to him,’ he said.
‘Frankie,’ said William, who had moved up behind her. ‘As much as I hate to break up this little reunion, we do have a job to do.’
‘Sor
ry, Sir,’ she said and stepped out of the flyer. ‘Is the area secure?’ Frankie asked DCI Riley.
‘The highway is, but the surrounding buildings are not, which is why we have some airborne support,’ he said.
‘Watch the rooftops,’ William said through their neural link.
‘Will do,’ Frankie answered him and followed the director as he spoke with the Detective Chief Inspector while she scanned the rooftops and windows.
‘So, what happened?’ William asked as Frankie listened.
‘It seems that some people, probably former operators and colleagues of the captives within the transport, launched a rescue mission. Unfortunately, they were successful,’ Riley said.
‘How long ago did this happen?’ William asked.
‘Minutes, so they’re probably still relatively local. We have a couple more flyers inbound who will be searching the area in the next minute or so. As you can see, they didn’t hesitate to kill the officers who were escorting them,’ Riley said as they reached the smashed transport. Frankie saw two bodies within the cab of the van and a few more who had been in the cab’s rear seats and had managed to get out to fight. Now, they lay dead on the tarmac, surrounded by pools of drying blood.
At the rear of the vehicle, Frankie looked in to see the broken chains that had secured the inmates in place and the final two dead officers, both of them killed with clean headshots.
‘What do you make of it?’ William asked her out loud.
‘The hijackers were professional; they knew what they were doing. These wounds are clean, precise, and tightly grouped. They weren’t spraying and praying. These guys are good,’ she said.
‘Agreed,’ William said.
Frankie heard a muffled whoosh sound coming from above and looked up in time to see an RPG trailing smoke, streak through the sky from the rooftop of a nearby building and slam into the side of the circling flyer.
Half a second later, it exploded, and the flyer started to drop from the sky.
‘Get in,’ Frankie said, urgency in her voice as she unceremoniously shoved William and Ulric into the armoured transport. ‘Stay here, you’re safe in here,’ she said as rapid fire booms of gunfire shattered the peaceful highway.
‘What are you going to do?’ William asked.
Frankie looked up. It seemed like there were some operators on the rooftop of one of the closest buildings to the highway, and they were firing down on the police.
Frankie looked back into the van. ‘Deal with them, of course,’ she said, deadly purpose in her voice.
If she had to guess, she would bet that these guys were a distraction. Placed here to cover the escape of the main group by distracting and delaying the police response. They were sacrificial lambs, and they had no idea what they had let themselves in for, she thought, feeling angry and pissed off. The self-important arrogance of the Corporations and their agents never failed to annoy her.
Moving down the length of the transport, she peered around the end of it and looked up at the building. The threat seemed to be confined to the rooftop, and the building wasn’t too far from the edge of the highway, either.
‘What’s your plan, Frankie?’ William asked via their neural link.
‘Patch me through the Ulric, please,’ she asked.
‘One moment…’ William said. ‘Okay, you’re through, Frankie,’ William said as an icon in her field of vision appeared to let her know another person had joined this link session.
‘They’re on the roof of the nearby building to our north. Ulric, please let your men know that I’m going in,’ she said. ‘We need to take these guys out before any more innocents get shot.’
‘Do you want back up?’ Ulric asked.
‘They can follow me up, but I will be going on ahead. They’ll just slow me down,’ she answered him.
‘Okay, I’ll let them know,’ Ulric said.
Frankie eyed the building, the distance to it from the edge of the highway, and calculated her jump. Rocking back on her rear foot, Frankie charged forward.
She carefully judged her speed, hopped up onto the top of the side barrier, and pushed off hard, leaping into mid-air towards the side of the building as gunfire sounded all around her. A few shots slammed into the highway close to her, but she wasn’t hit and sailed through the air, firing off a handful of shots at her target window, spreading spider web cracks all across it.
A second later, Frankie tucked herself into a ball, holding her arms and legs close as she smashed through the window, sending chunks of glass flying into the room beyond. Frankie rolled and came to her knees, her gun up and ready.
Frankie remained still for a second, listening, but heard nothing of concern and moved to the door. She was in a room that was set up like a home office and moved cautiously as she stepped outside of it. She found herself in an open plan living space and standing within it was a woman, her hands up in surrender and looking very scared.
‘I’m not going to hurt you. Stay inside your apartment, let me out of here and lock the door behind me. Let no one else in until the police say otherwise. Got it?’
The woman nodded.
‘Where’s the exit?’ Frankie asked.
‘It’s there… It’s open,’ she said, her voice squeaking with fear.
‘Lock it behind me,’ Frankie repeated and moved to the door. She opened it and went through, checking the corridor. ‘Direction to the stairs?’ Frankie called back into the apartment.
‘Left, then first right,’ the woman answered.
‘Thanks,’ Frankie said before she set off along the passageway, holding her gun up high and ready. She took the first right as directed, and a short distance along the corridor widened out. There were four elevator doors here, two on either side, and another fire door that led to a stairwell.
She considered taking the lift, but it might announce her presence and make her an easier target, neither of which was a desirable option. Stepping through the fire door, Frankie moved into the stairwell and listened carefully once again. She couldn’t hear anything suspicious for the moment. All she knew was that she needed to get to the roof top as quickly as possible. Steeling herself, Frankie set off at a sprint, taking the first set of stairs in two leaps before rounding the corner and leaping up the second flight in a single jump.
Frankie kept her free hand on the centre railing to keep herself on track, using it to bank around the corners at the top of each flight of steps and moved as quickly as she could.
One of the benefits of being a full body cyborg was her ability to run at a full sprint and not get tired or out of breath, which came in useful at times like this when she needed to move quickly. Her enhanced muscles and strength was also proving useful as she took each flight in a single leaping step.
As she neared the top, Frankie slowed down and started to listen more to her surroundings, hoping to notice any threat before it was too late.
However, it soon became clear that there was no one in the stairwell with her, and as she reached the last few flights, she noticed that this stairway stopped short of the roof, with the final door exiting into the top floor instead. She ascended the last flight of steps carefully, having pulled her rifle from her back where she had stowed it for the run up the steps. As she reached the door, still not hearing much to suggest any danger, she noticed that this door had been forced open sometime recently. The frame around the lock was broken with bits of plastic and metal laid on the floor.
Frankie opened the door slowly and carefully, peeking around the corners before stepping out and into the empty corridor outside. She noticed, amongst the signs on the wall pointing to where the rooms on this floor were, there was also an arrow pointing to roof access. Frankie followed it, creeping along the hallways, taking a right, and then a left, but she stopped at the corner as she heard movement up ahead.
Frankie took a quick look around the corner and saw at the end of the corridor, which wasn’t too far ahead, that a group of four guys, operators by the loo
ks of them, had set up a little defensive wall around them using cleaners carts and boxes.
Frankie smiled, it was almost cute. She had no time to waste, though, and pulled out a grenade from her belt pouch. Frankie could set these on either a timer or control them wirelessly when they were in short range. She flicked the top off and armed it, causing an icon to appear in her field of vision asking her if she would like to control it. She confirmed that she did and threw it around the corner.
The two-inch long cylinder spun end over end and flew through the air, dropping behind the barricade just as one of the men spotted her at the corner and yelled to his teammates.
Frankie detonated the grenade. The explosion wasn’t huge, but it sent all four of the operators flying, along with their makeshift barriers with some of the debris bouncing past her along the hallway. As the shockwave passed, Frankie darted out into the hall, shouldering her rifle as she marched forward, through the still settling debris. She could see the first operator a short distance up ahead, laid out on the floor, covered in blood and badly injured. He was still alive, though, so Frankie put two rounds into the man’s head to put him out of his misery.
She moved up and reached the T junction with the doorway to the roof on the far wall and looked left and right, just in time to see one of the wounded operators lift a gun and fire at her. Frankie ducked and without even thinking about it, fired back with a three round burst into the man’s centre of mass.
He jerked as the round hit him before dropping limp. Frankie looked and found the other two, but they were already dead, their injuries too severe for them to be able to survive.
The door on the opposite wall was hanging off its hinges and looking much worse for wear after the explosion. It also had a sign above it saying, “Staff Only” and “Roof Access”.
Beyond the door, Frankie could see a good-sized storage and service room with cleaning products and maintenance tools inside as well as pipes and wires running all over the walls and into junction boxes.
Frankie moved inside and soon found some stairs leading up on a far wall. She hoped she wasn’t too late to help the police that the operators up here were shooting at, and moved forward, only to notice a shadow pass over the wall, blocking the light from the top of the stairs for a moment.
Prometheus Vengeance (The New Prometheus Book 4) Page 2