Long Shot

by Christopher Williams

  “And the first floor?”

  “There’s quite a few men there,” she said.

  “Are they guarding something?” Aaron asked.

  “I don’t think so. I think they’re asleep.”

  “All right, we’ll start with the three on the second floor.” Aaron glanced back at Susan. “We’re they sleeping?”

  She shook her head. “No, I think two were standing guard and I’m not sure what the third was doing.”

  “Okay,” Aaron said. “Susan, you lead the way. Russell, you bring up the rear.”

  Susan opened the door a crack and peeked out into the hall. She was already pretty sure that it was empty, but it didn’t hurt to be careful, plus she knew there were some aliens that telepaths couldn’t sense.

  Opening the door, she slipped out and turned to the right. They didn’t have schematics of the building, so she picked a direction at random. The walls were painted a dull off-white. Thick glow rods ran down the center of the ceiling. Fifteen feet down the hall, the left hand wall went away allowing her to look down to the first floor. The building had an atrium that was three stories high. Several plants reached all the way from the first floor to the ceiling. A large painting hung on the wall to the left, and an enormous chandelier hung in the air almost directly in front of her. While she looked, a guard passed slowly on the first floor. Susan jerked her head back and motioned for the others to stay away from the opening. She whispered into her mouthpiece, “Guards on the first floor.”

  On the far end of the atrium, a marble staircase wound its way downward. Susan paused and looked back at Aaron, when he shook his head, she started moving again. They passed the atrium and continued down the hall. Doors opened off of the hallway but they didn’t try any, not until they came to the end of the hall. There was one door directly in front of them and Susan pointed at it while looking back at Aaron. He nodded and she silently slipped the door open and looked through. Like she had guessed, it was an enclosed stairwell.

  Susan paused just inside the entrance and let her thoughts wander. She could feel a guard on the first floor and she thought he was guarding the entrance to the stairs. Good thing they don’t guard the stairs on every floor, she thought.

  Turning, she waved the others to follow her and began descending the stairs. A few moments later she reached the door on the second floor and she paused again to listen. She listened, not with her ears, but with her mind. She could hear the thoughts of the guard on the first floor, not exactly what he was thinking, but more that he was bored. She could still sense the three people on the second floor, too, but they were back toward the middle of the building and they seemed distant, almost quiet.

  She turned the handle of the door and peeked out. There was nobody in sight and she pulled the door open enough to slip through. The others followed right on her heels.

  There was a hallway here that mirrored the one on the floor above, but Susan didn’t turn that way. Instead, she turned to her right and followed a small hallway that ran along the short end of the building. She held up a fist as she neared the end of the hall and the others froze. Susan continued on and edged out just far enough to see around the corner. As she had suspected, two guards stood on either side of the door, maybe ten yards away.

  Susan pulled back from the edge and signaled with her hands, she held up two fingers.

  Aaron nodded and moved around her to take a look for himself. He leaned out slightly to see the guards and they both looked bored. The one nearest to him was yawning.

  Aaron retreated and motioned for the others to follow him back down the hall. “Two guards about ten yards down the hall.”

  “Body armor?” Russell asked.

  “No,” Aaron said, relieved that the guards didn’t have armor. Body armor typically had built-in sensors and would set off an alarm if the guard suddenly went unconscious.

  “Stun them?” Adam asked quietly.

  “They’re not far from the atrium,” Susan said. “Someone might hear.”

  “I don’t want to kill them,” Jessica whispered.

  “Can you distract them?” Aaron asked. “You know, make them think they heard a sound down the other end of the hall?”

  “Yes,” Jessica answered quickly.

  “Okay,” Aaron said. “Here’s the plan. Jessica will distract them and Russell and I will try and sneak up and hit them.” He mimed hitting the guard with the butt of their rifles.

  “And if they don’t fall for it?” Russell asked.

  “Set your guns to stun,” Aaron said to Susan and Adam. “Only fire if things go badly, but make damn sure you don’t hit me or Russell.” They nodded and Aaron led them back to the end of the hallway.

  Aaron took a deep breath and looked at Russell, who nodded back at him. Then, Aaron turned his attention to Jessica, and this time he was the one giving the nod.

  Jessica closed her eyes and seemed to relax, and then her eyes popped back open and she motioned at them.

  “What was that?” one of the guards asked.

  “I don’t know,” the other guard answered.

  Aaron peeked around the corner and saw both of the guards with their backs to them. He slapped Russell on the shoulder and the two of them ran as quietly as they could around the corner.

  Aaron was on the left, with Russell running on his right. Susan and Adam followed but they ran with their guns at the ready.

  One of the guards had taken several steps down the hallway and it immediately became apparent that they wouldn’t get to knock both guards out. Aaron waved Russell away and charged the closest guard. The man must have heard something because he began to turn. He never made it all the way around before the butt of Aaron’s rifle connected with the side of the man’s face. The guard’s head snapped back and he collapsed. Aaron caught the guard before he fell to the ground and slowly lowered the rest of the way.

  A metallic pinging sound rang out and the second guard collapsed. He had been in the process of turning and he fell sideways with a thud.

  They all froze, not even daring to breathe. No alarms came, no sound of running feet.

  Aaron pointed at the stunned guard and Russell hurried forward to drag him back next to the door.

  Turning his attention to Susan, he asked, “Any sign the alarm’s been raised?”

  She shook her head.

  “There’s still another man in this room?”

  “Yes,” she answered quietly.

  Aaron moved up and inspected the door. It had a lock on it, but it was just a simple thumbprint reader. He dragged the unconscious guard, the one he had hit with his rifle, back over and pulled the man’s hand up next to the reader. He paused only long enough to make sure Susan and Adam were both ready and then pushed the man’s hand down on the scanner. They were through the opening before the door even finished sliding open. Aaron dropped the guard’s hand and darted through after them. Jessica was next and Russell finished dragging the stunned guard back to the door and then he ran through after them.

  The room beyond was a computer lab. Three long tables were weighted down in computer gear and cables were stacked everywhere. A single man sat with his back to the door, and he appeared to be working on a computer. He began to turn but froze when Susan placed the tip of her rifle against his face.

  “If you touch that alarm, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

  The man’s eyes widened and he slowly raised his hands out in front of him. He was a young man, maybe in his early twenties. He had greasy short black hair and was carrying twenty extra pounds around his middle. He was extremely pale, but that might have been due to his fear. He appeared to be a tech.

  “What do you want?” he asked quietly.

  “Where’s the cube?” Aaron asked. He moved up closer to see the man’s reactions better.

  “The cube?” the man repeated and then his eyes widened. “The cube?” he said again a bit louder.

  “Shhh!” Susan said. “You heard what he said. Where’s t
he cube?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Lie,” Susan said immediately but it was rather unnecessary. They could all tell that the man was lying. She pushed her rifle more into the man’s face and he had to lean farther away from her.

  “Okay!” he said, remembering to keep his voice down. “It’s in a room down the hall.”

  “How many guards?” Russell demanded.

  “Uh, none. It’s in the office.”

  “Office? What office?” Aaron asked, looking at Susan for confirmation that he wasn’t lying again. Her nod told him the man was telling the truth.

  “The office down the hall, on the corner.”

  “All right,” Aaron said. “We’re going to need you to come and open that door for us.”

  “I can’t,” the pudgy man said.

  Aaron smiled. “Now I would hate to think you were refusing to help us.”

  The man’s eyes widened. “No, of course not. But I don’t have access to that room.”

  Aaron looked at Susan and she nodded.

  “All right then,” he reached out and pulled the man to his feet. “Come show us the office.”

  He swallowed hard but he came quietly with them.

  They exited the lab and continued on down the hallway past the atrium to the far end of the hall. The tech pointed to a door on the right and Aaron pointed to Jessica and then back at the tech. She nodded and pulled her gun from her holster. She pointed it straight at the man’s chest and never moved her eyes from him.

  Aaron leaned in close to Susan. “Anyone in there?” She simply shook her head.

  Russell was already examining the lock on the door and it took him several moments to get the cover off. Once inside the housing, he began carefully examining the wires.

  “Well?” Aaron asked, moving up behind him.

  “Opening the door won’t be a problem,” Russell said. “I just need to short this circuit out, but there’s a good chance that I might set off an alarm.”

  “That would probably be a bad thing,” Aaron said dryly.

  “I think I can bypass this circuit completely; rig it so that its state never changes and that should be good enough,” Russell said after a moment’s consideration.

  “Should be good enough?” Aaron repeated questionably.

  “I give it a seventy or eighty percent chance of working,” Russell said.

  “Any other options?” Aaron asked. The odds might be on their side, but there was still a decent chance of setting the alarm off.

  Russell considered only for a moment and then shook his head. “Not that I can see.”

  “Alright do it,” Aaron said.

  Russell nodded and turned back to the panel. It took him several minutes to get the wiring set up and then he glanced back at Aaron. “Here we go,” he said and then finished his bypass of the circuit.

  The door slid open and no audible alarms rang out. Aaron looked to Susan, “Anything? Any alarms?”

  She looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  Relieved, Aaron waved Russell into the room and then followed him in. The others trooped in behind him.

  “No alarms or sensors,” Russell said. “I don’t get it.”

  Aaron shrugged. “Me either.” He turned his gaze on the tech. “Where’s it at?”

  The tech pointed to the far wall where the cube sat on a shelf.

  Adam scooped it off of the shelf and looked it over. “Alright, let’s go.”

  Aaron turned back to the tech and then almost too fast to follow, he swung his rifle up and caught the man’s head with the stock. His eyes rolled up and he collapsed in a heap.

  “Susan, take point and get us back to the roof,” Aaron said, but she wasn’t paying attention. “Susan?”

  “I don’t think this was a real mission,” she said quietly. “I think it’s another test.”

  “Test?” Aaron repeated blankly, and then he got it. “Locke!?”

  Susan nodded.

  Aaron gritted his teeth and seriously considered killing the man. After a moment, he got his temper under control. “Let’s go,” he said. They paused only long enough to tie up the two guards and the tech.

  Chapter 14

  They retraced their steps easily enough and quickly regained the roof. Adam put the small cube into a bag and tied it to the sled, after all the trouble they went through to get it; they would hate to lose it now.

  They took off using the repulsors as they didn’t want to alert the guards to their presence. One well-placed plasma shot might just take the emlift down. They soon were on their way, although Adam was careful to keep the sled low; they didn’t want to be detected.

  “Back to the park,” Adam asked over the headset.

  “No,” Aaron answered in an angrier tone than he intended. “Take us to the port.”

  “Are you sure?” Susan asked. “Perhaps it might be better to wait until tomorrow.”

  “No,” Aaron said. “I want to see the man tonight.”

  “Okay,” Adam said and adjusted their course slightly. “We’ll have to stop before we reach the spaceport.”

  Aaron nodded. The security forces on this little planet weren’t all that good, but all planetary systems tended to guard their spaceports. “Set us down in that old warehouse district just to the west of the port.”

  Adam nodded and adjusted their course some more.

  It took them just under thirty minutes to reach the warehouses where they landed the emlift. It had been a rather nerve-racking flight as they had to keep the sled low so they wouldn’t be caught.

  This section of warehouses had once been used to store goods arriving in the spaceport, but that had been a long time ago. These warehouses had been long abandoned. They quickly ditched the emlift and jogged the two miles to the edge of the spaceport. There wasn’t much traffic on this side of the port, and they had to travel a bit northwards to find a gate that was open. Once inside the port, the moving sidewalks sped up their progress.

  They left most of their gear with the sled but they each had a pistol on their hip and a rifle slung over their shoulder.

  They reached the hangar without incident and there was only one guard on duty. The guard was a young blond man and he knew Aaron’s group by sight. He stepped out of the door and waved his hand. “Sorry guys, Mr. Locke is in a private meeting and I can’t let anyone inside.”

  Aaron nodded and smiled, trying to appear understanding. He got in close and in one fluid motion drew his handgun and pointed it straight at the guard. “Listen very carefully,” he said in a calm quiet voice, “you’re going to let us in and don’t try anything funny. Got it?”

  The guard’s eyes had gone wide at the sight of the gun but he remained calm. “Guys, you shouldn’t do this. This isn’t smart.”

  “Shut up and move,” Aaron said rather gruffly. “My problem is with Locke, not you.”

  The young guard led them through the side door into the small guard’s office. It turned out to be rather fortunate for them that the main hangar floor was out of sight. They stepped into the office and Russell already had his hand on the door to the main floor, when Susan stopped him.

  “Wait!” she said quickly and quietly. “There’s somebody out there.” After a moment she corrected herself, “Several somebodies, I think.”

  Aaron turned his attention to the young guard. “Who’s out there?”

  The guard paled visibly and shook his head. “I’m not sure. I told you that Locke was in a private meeting. All I know is that a small ship landed about an hour ago. I was given specific instructions to stay away from the ship.”

  Motioning towards Jessica, Aaron said, “Tie him up.” He moved over to the door and opened it a crack. He could see the ship, or at least the rear of it, as it was facing away from the office. He couldn’t see anyone, but if they were on the ship then they couldn’t see him either. He opened the door a little farther and stuck his head out. No one was on the floor. H
e pulled his head in and closed the door.

  “I think they’re on the ship. I think we can make the stairs without being seen. Keep quiet and let’s go.” He spared a glance for the guard, only long enough to make sure the man was tied tightly. He then turned back and opened the door. He slipped through and began moving to his right. The stairwell was only about twenty yards away, but that would bring them around in a slightly more direct view of the ship. He paused after only a few steps. Jessica was third in line and it was to her that he spoke. “Hide us; make sure they don’t notice us.”

  Jessica didn’t say anything but only nodded.

  Aaron began moving again and he soon reached the stairwell. He opened the door quietly and slipped inside. The others were right on his heels. As soon as the door closed, he glanced at Susan. He didn’t have to even ask if anyone noticed them, she shook her head before he could even speak.

  He led them down the stairs and then cautiously through the hallways. The entire subfloor seemed deserted. He paused around the corner from Locke’s office and slowly looked around the corner. The hallway was empty and that was surprising. Aaron had been afraid that he might have to fight Xim again but if he was here then he was in the office with Locke.

  Aaron nodded in the direction of the office. “How many people are in there?”

  “Two men,” Susan answered.

  That was rather surprising, but welcome, information. “Russell, Adam, come on. We’re going to rush the room. If you’re fired upon, then fire back.” They simply nodded.

  Aaron stepped up next to the door and hit the release. The door slid open quietly and the three men jumped through. They turned their attention and their rifles to the left, towards the main part of the office.

  Locke was standing in front of his desk, but faced away from the newcomers. He turned in surprise, his surprise quickly turning to anger. “What the hell?” he started saying.