The second man fired on them again, but Cole was waiting and with a short burst, sent him staggering back against the door frame as the augmentative man ducked out once again.
Veronica fired her sniper rifle and put a single inch wide hole through his head, dropping him to the floor.
‘God damn it, I couldn’t hit anything,’ Frankie muttered, half smiling to herself. The other group of operators led by Zealotte had disappeared around a ninety degree turn up ahead, and they were alone in the corridor now.
Frankie stood and led the way along the corridor towards the office with the two dead operators in the doorway. As she listened, she could hear breathing and movement coming from within.
‘Someone’s in there,’ Frankie said over their link.
‘I hear it, too,’ Gibson said.
Frankie, taking point, edged around the door frame, side stepping to reveal the room meter by meter. Sitting on the floor, looking bloody and beaten sat a man in a suit while a woman knelt down before him checking his pulse.
‘Don’t you die on me, don’t you dare die. You’re my only link to her,’ the woman said. Frankie edged forward and stepped over the two bodies, scanning the room for any other threats, but saw no one else.
‘Hey there, put your hands up and turn around, slowly,’ Frankie said as Gibson and Veronica stepped into the room behind her. The woman raised her hands, her body suddenly filled with tension.
‘Don’t shoot,’ the woman said. ‘We’re unarmed.’
Frankie frowned, there was something familiar about that voice, she thought as the woman stood and turned, sheer terror on her face until she looked at Frankie.
Fear turned to recognition and relief that washed over the woman’s face. It was a face that Frankie had not seen for nearly a year until a couple of months ago, but it was also a face she would always recognise.
‘Mum?’ Frankie said.
4.08
‘Frankie? Is that you?’ her mother asked.
‘What the hell are you…’ Frankie said, trailing off as she suddenly recognised Isaac Hughes, the foreign minister, as the man on the floor looking worse for wear. ‘What’s going on here?’ Frankie asked.
‘Oh, my God, it is you. I can’t believe it. I thought I’d never see you again,’ she said, tears streaming down her face.
A sudden muffled explosion echoed through the corridor quite close to them, which made the floor tremble. The noise served to remind Frankie of the situation they were in and the danger that was just around the corner.
‘The Terrorists,’ Cole said through the link to Frankie, urging her to think about the mission.
‘I know,’ she sent back to him. ‘Mum, look, I need to do something. Stay here, I will be right back,’ she said. She didn’t want to leave her mother, but this was about more lives than just hers or her family’s. She still needed to catch up with the terrorists.
‘You’re coming back? You promise now, you will come back here,’ she said.
‘Mum, I promise. Cole, stay here with them; we won’t be long,’ Frankie said.
‘Yes, Sir,’ Cole said.
Frankie backed out the room, using her hands to urge her mother to stay where she was before she turned and looked down to where the rest of the terrorists had gone.
‘Let’s go,’ Frankie said, and jogged up the corridor towards the turn to her left. She slowed at the corner and edged around it to look down the next length of hallway. At the far end, another twenty meters away, it ended at a T-Junction, and on the far wall, a large hole had been blasted through to the city outside.
Had they escaped? Frankie turned the corner, her gun raised and ready and walked up the hallway. She watched the two corners up ahead, but also kept an eye on the hole and the view of the city outside. As she reached the junction, she checked each direction but found them empty and the corridor quiet. Rubble covered the floor, making walking here difficult, but Frankie nimbly stepped through and up to the hole. They were at the far end of the building from where the main police presence was, but that was because there wasn’t access to the palace platform here, something that the terrorists undoubtedly knew.
The drop out the edge of this side of the platform was enough to make your heart skip a beat and Frankie could only assume that Zealotte and her men had jumped. They could drop for hundreds of meters before needing to open chutes or a wingsuit, and they would likely be undetected, too.
Frankie opened her link to William. ‘Director?’ It’s Frankie. The prime minister is safe and the threat has been neutralised for now, but the group's leader and a good portion of her team have escaped. They jumped out the back of the building. Unless you caught them doing it, I suspect we’ve lost them.’
‘I’ll check with the police. They were running surveillance here, but I’m going to guess that they missed them. Good work on finding the prime minister. I assume she’s unharmed?’
‘She’s fine and in good spirits. I’ll start to bring people out. We need a team to sweep the palace to pick up any civilians or terrorists hiding in here, but I think we’re done,’ she said as she stepped away from the hole in the wall.
‘Yes, you’re done. Bring the team out, I’ll gather what information I can and we’ll debrief back at base. Forrester out,’ he said, and the link cut off.
‘Shit,’ Frankie cursed. She didn’t like being unsuccessful on a mission, and these rogue operators were starting to annoy her. The A.C.T. was responsible for the current status of these operators, but there was no excuse for their actions. She guessed they blamed the government for the Nano Liberation, which nearly sank the Nano Technic Corporation and led to them being arrested.
She wanted to find these guys and re-educate them.
‘I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of them,’ Gibson said.
‘I hope not,’ Frankie muttered.
‘In a bad mood?’ Gibson asked.
‘I don’t like it when the bad guys get away,’ she said.
‘Fair enough,’ Gibson said. ‘I can sympathise with that.’
‘Was that your mother back there, Frankie, with Isaac?’ Veronica asked.
Frankie’s mood lightened. She sighed as her mind jumped tracks to start thinking about her mother. ‘Yeah, it was,’ she said.
‘Any idea what she’s doing here?’ Veronica asked.
‘None, yet.’ She smiled. ‘I’d best go back to her before she think’s I’ve left her in there.’ Frankie led the way back to the office to find Cole finishing dragging the last of the two dead operators out of the doorway.
‘They okay?’ Frankie asked after her mother and Isaac.
Cole nodded as he straightened himself up.
Frankie stepped back into the office to find Isaac had been moved to the sofa on the left wall. He seemed to be awake now, though, and looked over as Frankie walked in. Frankie’s mother sat on the edge of the sofa holding Isaac’s hand. She noticed Isaac look up and followed his gaze up to Frankie.
Frankie looked down at them both. ‘Hey,’ she said. ‘How are you?’ she asked Isaac.
‘I’ve got a pounding head and everything aches or hurts, so, I’ve seen better days,’ he said.
‘Well, I’m glad you’re alive, at least,’ she said.
‘I moved him to the sofa after I checked him over to make sure nothing was broken. He needs medical attention, though,’ Cole said, having stepped into the room behind Frankie.
‘He’ll get it,’ Frankie said. Frankie looked back up at her mum, and for a moment, they just looked at each other. For a while before today, whenever Frankie had seen her mum, there had been a wall there, a barrier that had somehow separated them, kept them from really being mother and daughter, but suddenly, she felt like the wall had gone. For a long time, her mum had been just Fiona to Frankie, a woman who was in her life, but with whom she had lost much of her connection, too. She was just a stranger to Frankie. But something had shifted, something had changed, and suddenly she felt that connection again.
&
nbsp; ‘Hi, Mum,’ Frankie said.
‘Hi, darling,’ her mother said and stood up. She stepped forward, took Frankie in her arms, and pulled her in close. Emotion crashed over her and she actually felt tears well up in her eyes. She had no idea that her cyborg body could do that. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time she had really felt overcome with emotion in this new body. So, it was good to know that she could still get upset and cry.
The hug seemed to last forever, and in many ways, Frankie didn’t want it to end, but eventually, Frankie pulled back slightly so she could look her mum in the eye.
‘What are you doing here?’ Frankie asked.
‘Looking for you,’ said her mum.
‘Me?’ How come? I mean, why? What… Did something happen? Is Dad…?’
‘He’s okay… or, he was when I left him,’ she said.
‘Left him?’ Frankie asked.
‘Look, I don’t think I want to talk here. I would prefer to sit down with you somewhere private, somewhere where we can really talk,’ her mum said.
‘Of course, we can do that. You can come back with us?’ Frankie said. As soon as she said it, she wondered if William would actually allow that. He might not, but she could ask. She could be scanned for bugs and stuff in case of a trap, but Frankie didn’t sense one. Her mum seemed quite genuine, really. Something had happened, something had changed, but she wasn’t sure what.
‘Anywhere, I don’t mind, but I’d quite like to get out of here,’ she said.
‘Sure, I understand,’ she said. It was a typical response to something like this. Being in a place where something horrific had happened was never pleasant. It was human nature to want to get out of there as quickly as possible. The police would want to speak with her, of course, hear her version of events, but Frankie wondered if that could be done at the A.C.T. base?
‘Look, Frankie, we’ll talk more later, but… I just want to let you know, I just want to say, you were right, okay? You were right.’
Frankie nodded. She wasn’t sure of the full implications of that comment, but if she had to guess, and knowing who her parents worked for, she guessed that it was something to do with the Corporations and their true nature, as it was the main sticking point that Frankie had with them.
But now wasn’t the time to discuss these things. The police and paramedics would be here any moment and it would be chaos. They could talk later when things were calmer.
The next few hours were a mess as medical teams entered the building alongside police and SWAT. Frankie stayed close to her mother, but did as much as she could to help out, and felt much better once Isaac was taken away for treatment. William, keen to keep the A.C.T.’s existence a secret, at least officially, got them out of the New Palace of Westminster as quickly as he was able and was quite happy to bring Fiona, Frankie’s mother, back to their base once she had been scanned. She had to be checked over by a medical team anyway, so it was easy enough to have her scanned for surveillance bugs as well. But there were none. Once a neural plug was in place, blocking her GPS, she was brought onto the flyer with Frankie and the rest of the team to be flown back to the base.
Little was said on the flight over the city, and her mother only shared a few friendly smiles with Gibson and the others. The short trip in the noisy flyer was not really conducive to conversation, so they pretty much remained quiet. The flight was only a few minutes long, though, and soon they were dropping into the hangar bay and bumping down to the concrete floor.
Frankie led her mother down the ramp at the back of the flyer as the aircraft’s rotors slowed.
‘Wow, this place is amazing,’ she said, looking up at the powered roof as it closed up, and then around the hanger with its four flyers and various other vehicles.
‘Well, it’s home to me now,’ Frankie said.
‘You live here?’ her mum asked.
‘Pretty much, yeah. We all do. We’re part of a government agency, but we’re off the books. This base is secret, and only a few know of its location,’ Frankie explained.
‘Are you allowed to tell me this?’
‘Well, you’re here, and you likely had already guessed everything I’ve just said. Anyway, we have our main living space a few floors below; we’ll get you set up down there,’ Frankie said.
‘So, you’re Fiona Gene,’ William said as he walked over to them. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you. Your daughter has been invaluable to us. She’s a credit to you, really, she is,’ he said.
‘Now, you’re just going to make me blush,’ Frankie said, feeling a little embarrassed.
‘Oh, nonsense. I’m Director William Forrester. I run this facility and manage the team that Frankie here leads,’ he said.
‘Well, it’s lovely to meet you, William,’ she said, shaking his hand. ‘I’m pleased to hear that Frankie is doing so well. She was always a high flyer at school, you know.’
‘Mum, please, Frankie said.
‘Oh, nonsense, I’m proud of you,’ her mum said.
‘Of course, you are,’ William smiled. ‘Frankie, I can leave you to settle your mum into one of the rooms, right?’
‘Providing you’re happy for her to stay here, sure.’
‘Good. Once you have found a suitable room, though, I will need to see you. Xenox is going through the data from the mission today as we speak.’
‘Yes, Sir,’ she said.
‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, it was a pleasure to meet you, Fiona,’ William said before he walked off.
‘He seems nice,’ her mum said.
Frankie sighed and walked her mum over to the elevator just as Gibson walked up to it as well.
‘Going down?’ he asked.
Frankie smiled at him.
‘Hi, I’m Richard,’ Gibson said, offering his hand to Frankie’s mother.
‘Fiona. You work here with my daughter? I saw you with her at the palace,’ she said.
‘That’s right, we’re on the same team,’ he said. ‘We’ve known each other for about a year now,’ he said.
‘Oh, really?’
‘Yeah. I met her in the Undercity back when I was a detective doing my rounds,’ he said.
‘Ahem,’ Frankie coughed.
‘Frankie, don’t interrupt, he’s only being friendly. Besides, I’ve not really seen you for about a year, I’d love to catch up on what I’ve missed,’ her mum said.
‘And you will, as soon as I have a spare moment, but for now, let’s just get you settled in, shall we?’
‘Of course,’ she answered as the lift reached the living area floor with a “ping”.
Frankie walked her mother out and through the main communal area and onto one of the corridors on the far side. She really wanted to sit and talk with her mum and find out what she was doing with Isaac, why she wanted to find her and also find out where her father was. She loved the fact that she could feel a reconnection with her mum, like there was a genuine need to be closer, and also that she seemed to be on the same page as her now with her views on the world, although, that was just conjecture on Frankie’s part. Something was different, though, but in a good way, and she wanted to know what it was and why. But she wanted to do it properly and not rush it. She knew Gibson was only trying to be friendly, but he was jumping the gun by revealing how they met and where. It wasn’t a secret really, but Frankie wanted to be the one to tell her and to tell her in the way that she wanted to say it.
Frankie soon found one of the spare rooms close to hers and let her mother into it, checking that the electricity and water worked before she settled on it as a place for her mum to stay.
As she moved about checking everything, a message pinged up in her vision from William. He wanted to see her.
4.09
Frankie stepped out the elevator and walked along the hallways towards William’s office. Today had been a crazy day, and it seemed like it wasn’t over yet. She checked the clock in her vision and noted that it was after nine in the evening. Dealing with the assault on Parliame
nt had taken up the whole day after returning from her morning visit with Oliver. She wasn’t surprised about that though, it had been a messed up situation from the start.
She was just pleased that more people hadn’t died.
She wandered up towards William’s office and noted that Xenox was standing at the door to the next room along.
‘Evening, Doctor, everything okay?’ she asked.
‘Good evening to you, too, Frankie. If you’d like to come this way, we’re in here tonight,’ he said.
Frankie glanced at William’s office door before shrugging and walking over. Xenox followed her into the room, but nearly bumped into her when she stopped a few steps in. She nodded to herself with a smile. This room, to the best of her knowledge, had been empty until now, but unbeknownst to her, they had turned it into some kind of ops room.
A large bank of screen’s filled the far wall, with terminals set into tables before it. Meanwhile, a central circular table with four more terminals arranged equally around its edge dominated the centre of the room. The light in here was low, making the screens glow in the gloom. William stood close by, just behind Dion who sat at one of the tables’ terminals. Frankie also noted that there were two other figures in here, but they were clearly Dolls, and they sat over in front of the video wall.
‘This is new,’ Frankie said.
‘I thought we needed some kind of operations room for Dion and Xenox to work in where we can also discuss missions and such. This seemed like an obvious location,’ William said.
‘Sure,’ Frankie answered. ‘I like it.’
‘Good. Has your mother settled in okay?’
‘She’s fine, yes. She has everything she needs. I’ll find some time to spend with her as soon as I can.’
‘That might not be tonight,’ William said.
‘That’s fine. I’m sure she’ll understand. She’s been through a lot today, so I think some rest would do her good anyway.’
‘Absolutely. I hope she’s not in any trouble,’ William said.
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