by Wolfe Locke
It turned sideways and Greg was waiting with his launcher. No, it had been switched. Niles cursed. Then Greg’s head lulled back with a force. The car swerved some more and rolled out of the road. Niles turned back and a man gave him a salute.
“Finally,” Niles said. He slowed down so they could keep up. He probably wouldn’t need the extension he said. They caught up to him and a man stuck his head out of the car and acknowledged him.
“I’m sorry about the delay, sir,” Niles shook his head. He would have been dead if they hadn’t come. “What’s the situation?”
“Four men, in that grey car up ahead. The have some kind of launcher. Something worse than what the man you killed had. You should be careful. There could be more of them in the City. I have eyes, but I don’t think he is very reliable at the moment, so keep an eye out.” The men agreed. He needed to do something. Stop the car. Do something. Its only four of them.
Niles pushed the bike, it screamed and accelerated. He reminded himself to thank Kubrick for the bike, it felt like flying. He would have to ask the kid how come he could afford them too. He pushed the bike and behind him his friend tried to keep up. When he could see the car again, he pointed at it. They car took the next left and Niles followed it. He couldn’t check his gun but if he was to guess, he knew he was half gone. That worried him, but he had something else up his sleeve, something he was saving that for the extension. A synch happened.
“Who is this?”
“Who else?” Kubrick asked. “He is close to you. He is exactly like you, without the leg troubles.” Niles groaned. “He is on something like your bike too, and trust me, he is bad ass.”
“I bet,” Niles said, and the synch was severed. The other vehicles and transports on the road were making it difficult to navigate. They were still in front of him. He needed a way to stop the car, that way they would be forced to come out. The car was fast, Niles had to admit. The traffic and their car’s speed were helping them, but Niles was using a bike. He raced past vehicles.
He knew he was taking a risk, he was leaving his support behind but he needed to stop them before they disappeared. He sped forward and past the car. Then he turned, slowing down the bike, with his gun stretched, he emptied what remained of the magazine on the car. The sound of the gun firing and people seeing him made things worse. Cars were stopping and people were running around. Niles cursed.
He stopped shooting to see that nothing had happened. The car was built to withstand military grade firearms. Just who the fuck was sponsoring these guys? People were running around and behind the grey car, cars were ramming into each other far back.
Niles jumped off of his bike when he saw one of the men pull out the launcher the had used in the lobby. He was still running when the heat of the explosion hit him and sent him flying. He slammed into the hood of a round car and his leg hit the asphalt. He groaned, biting back a groan of pain. He heard shots being fired and then he heard the explosion. He hid behind a car.
He crawled for a while and used a car as support and stood up. He tried putting weight on the leg on the ground and winced. He heard shots and ducked. Then he heard the bike behind him. This was worse than he had thought. The extension stopped the bike behind him. Kubrick was right, the extension looked just like him. But with a little more build—it was subtle, but Niles saw it.
He heard another explosion and when he turned around, the car the soldiers were in had exploded. The air was hot and smelt of burning flesh. It was temporary, but he picked up on it. A lot of people had been murdered already. Just their online presence, but it was enough to leave a scar—trauma. Niles cursed. He synched with the extension. He thought about raising his hand and the extension raised his hand. He nodded and then he brought out the third weapon he picked.
They were running. He couldn’t find them. Niles ran to his bike, leaving the extension standing there. The bike was blown, the tracker too. He called Kubrick.
“I lost them,” he said when Kubrick accepted.
“They split,” Kubrick said. “But they are on foot. Stay synched, I’ll keep an eye on you,” Kubrick said. Niles ran when Kubrick told him where to go. The extension followed him. It was faster but it stayed behind.
“Your mole has an exit strategy for them. It seems they can’t remove themselves…” Kubrick said. “I will block it to give you more time. Remember, just tag them,” Kubrick said. Niles didn’t reply. He kept running. He took the left turn when Kubrick told him to.
The street they were running in had several small businesses and people. Niles saw them before Kubrick pointed them out. They were not running, but they were walking fast. They had ditched the gun or maybe they hid them. Niles instructed his extension to run faster.
He watched it run past him. Niles stopped running, his leg ached. He watched the extension run. It was almost close when one of the men tuned around and caught him coming. Niles saw him bring out the gun but the extension was faster. He knocked the gun away and punched the man in the face. The other man turned around. Niles cursed.
He saw the other man bring out a knife. The extension was holding his ground but he wasn’t going to last long if Niles left him to fight them alone. He was faster and stronger than Niles was ever going to be, but he was still just one man against two well trained men.
Niles pulled out his side arm and aimed. People had run away from them, so there was no fear of hitting any other person but they were moving too, he could miss.
Then he shot without thinking. He saw one of them hit the ground and when the extension turned to look at him, the other man fled. The extension didn’t give chase. He stared at the man on the ground until the man disappeared, his online presence deleting from the system, then the extension walked over to him. Niles sat on the floor. He looked up at the extension..
He was tired. He needed a minute to gather himself. Looking at the extension, a completely virtual version of himself, his clone, Niles felt like an old man. The clone stone straight and his muscles were still there, not atrophied yet.
“What did he name you?” Niles asked.
Niles raised his brows in annoyance. Of course, it couldn’t talk.
“What would you like to be called then?” There was no response Niles sighed and pulled himself up. He instructed it to walk with him. he knew what he needed and where he could get it. He was still thinking of a warm bath when Kubrick called.
“What do you think?” Kubrick asked, talking about the extension. The window showed some computers in front of him. Niles shook his head And held in a laugh. The kid was a complete geek, every bone in his body. He was cool in this space because he could control it.
“It was useful,”
“That is all you have to say?” Kubrick asked. Niles shrugged. Kubrick shook his head.
“They are all gone. They had to kill themselves when they couldn’t find any of the prepared exits . That is weird, isn’t it?” Niles shook his head. His leg was killing him. He needed to lie down and soak in hot water. Then he had to take a brief run. It had been a while since he did the eRehab routine. He was not going to lose all of the progress he had made. The ache was killing him.
“Switching the tracker with your extension was smart,” Kubrick said. Niles didn’t think so. It was a matter of necessity. He knew he couldn’t get close to them. They were stronger and faster and he could die. It was just the decision that got the result they wanted. He sighed.
“Will you take him?” Niles asked. Kubrick nodded. He looked at the extension and for one moment, he saw the man he used to be. Not exactly like the extension but somewhat the same. He sighed and looked away. He severed his connection with the extension and limped away.
“We will get them now. The tracker will take us where we have to go and I think I can get the mole now. Most of what he did in the system left a trail. He is good, but like most of the guys there, he is not all that good. he makes the bug in real time, cloaking them as they come and get out. He disrupts the existing structure
to create a portal for them and then he fixes it right back when they leave. I’ll get a name for you soon,” Kubrick said. Niles gave him the thumbs up..
“Thanks, kid,” Niles said.
“Whatever, old man.” Their synch ended. Niles looked around and sighed. This might have been a small victory but it didn’t feel like it was. The mass death of ordinary users had been a problem. They were not dead for real but they had experienced something close to it. Grisham would have to make some kind of repair and that meant he was going to be in the line of fire too. Niles sighed.
He began the logout process and when he opened his eyes and got out of the pod, he was feeling too sad. He limped to bed and fell on it. He was lazy, aching and angry. But he was a bit relieved. Now he was going to find out who it was that was creating those tunnels in the system. He didn’t know what Grisham was going to do to the person once they caught them but he knew it wasn’t going to be good.
He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. There was no way he could. He needed a bath, he felt filthy even though he brought none of the soot and grime from SynaCAID. He needed to get his ass up. He grunted, dragging himself slowly. When he got in the shower, he stood under the water. It was cold, but he didn’t mind. He didn’t have the strength or will to care.
Chapter 27: Reassessment
* * *
Grisham woke him up quite early in the morning. Niles walked to Grisham’s office. His head was pounding and he was hungry. He woke up to see that he slept on the floor. His body ached and his mind was scattered. He scratched his head and was about to knock but the door opened before his fist even touched the door.
He sighed, knowing Grisham had done that intentionally. He walked in to meet Grisham dressed in his Colonel uniform. Grisham motioned for him to walk with him.
“What is it?” Niles asked. He still didn’t like the man and he didn’t he didn’t want to spend any more time with him. They walked slowly. Grisham looked at Niles, he didn’t look annoyed but Niles knew the man could change at the slightest. Grisham clasped his hands behind him.
“How’s the leg, Niles?” Grisham asked, Niles shrugged noncommittally. He was feeling better now, his leg was healing but it was getting close for him to take his rehab support serum. The amber that let him heal, albeit slowly.
They walked towards the beta-wing, where they kept the hardware. Niles didn’t know why but he was not very enthusiastic to find out. He stopped walking and Grisham stopped too. The Colonel looked like a god in his uniform. If they had custom tailored it to give him some kind of superior look, it worked. His greying hair peeked from under his military hat.
“You sure you’re still good with leading this investigation?” Grisham asked. Niles gave him an up down in affirmation.. He couldn’t understand why Grisham would be asking him that. He keeps asking that. It’s like he wants me to fail.
“Good, because, your boy sent me a message. He was trying to reach you and apparently, you were too tired to check the message. So I am asking you again, Niles, you sure you up for this? I don’t want you falling over in the field. That would be a sure death for you.”
“Sir, I have been doing my job, haven’t I?” Grisham nodded, looking away.
Niles felt a brief surge of anger and responded, “Then trust me that I will be doing my job until the end. I don’t care what happens to me, I am getting those bastards.”
“You don’t care, but—” the Colonel sighed, “The truth is we do, I do. I wouldn’t want you dying there. I have lost all of the men I worked with in my prime. Most of them are dead and the ones who are not, are soon to be. Most of them couldn’t take the life we lived, the wars we fought before the destruction of the atmosphere. They are already one foot in the grave and I wouldn’t want to put another one so near,” Grisham said. Niles frowned.
He didn’t think the Colonel was an emotional man. He never showed this side of himself. He never showed any side of him, if Niles thought about it. The man had always seemed like a golem made of cold, lifeless steel. He was always about the orders and never about the lives he was sending out. Was this old age? Was something happening to him?
“Grisham, I’m alright,” Niles told him.
“That is good, you won’t mind showing the board then?” Grisham asked. Causing a frown to creep onto Niles’ face. “We have all watched your progress in this mission. We have all seen how very effective you are, Niles. But we have also seen that they are, in a lot of ways better,” Grisham said.
That stung. This was the Grisham Niles knew. He had thought the man cared about him for a minute there. Niles looked at what he was wearing, a PT shorts and a t-shirt he had when he was still the force. Grisham waved his worries aside with a nonchalant hand.
“You are going to show them you are still fit, not your fashion sense,” Grisham said. Niles nodded. “You ready? These guys are the worst of the worst, Niles. They have a lot riding on you. They reported the death that happened yesterday up the chain and that is why they have come. Their records are clean but these are one of the worst people on the face of the planet,” Grisham said.
Niles frowned. They started walking again. They got to an elevator Niles didn’t know was there before. Grisham brought out a black card and swiped it on the face of the screen beside the elevator door.
“How did you get in with them, sir? Last I checked, you had the sense to stay out of this kind of thing. Is this even a government sponsored mission anymore? Who owns SynaCAID?” The questions were pooling out of Niles now. He had not suspected, even for a second that the board members would be criminals. He had known Grisham would be in trouble if anything happened, but now he was sounding like trouble was putting it mildly.
“Niles, don’t be naïve. This is the government. This is the part of the government everyone else does not see. We are the ones they place in this difficult position and when things go down the wrong way, we are made to pay for the government’s decisions.” he sighed
“We are almost done, sir,” Niles said and Grisham shrugged. “I tagged one of them with a tracker yesterday, Kubrick is going to find out where they are, we can get them and maybe our—” Niles stopped and looked around the elevator. It could be bugged. He should have thought about that earlier.
“Don’t worry,” Grisham said. “I know. Kubrick told me, the briefing was done last night, while you were dozing, I think. Yesterday must have been hard on you,” Grisham said. Niles shrugged. It was not exactly the fighting and adrenaline, it was connecting with the extension. After the synch was severed, it felt like he was less than normal, lighter. He almost passed out---he eventually did. Kubrick was right.
They came out in a huge space. It seemed like the Army’s store for huge machinery. It was lit up with white light. Grisham let Niles to a box in the middle. In it was a M16, something Niles had never seen before. It looked shiny and when he picked it up, it was not heavy. He checked the components and whistled. Grisham chuckled.
“You haven’t changed, Niles. Guns still excite you.” Niles shrugged.
“The test is simple. Eliminate your attackers and survive, these guys are real people, Niles. The bullets are real too, so a single mistake can cost your life. You survive and they won’t kill you right here. I’m sorry, but it is a test they came up with—maybe a punishment for yesterday.” Niles frowned, he should have known they’d do something like this. He sighed. The only way to survive a shootout is to be smart. He had thought he was getting things done. This was not a test, it was a sanctioned murder. He was going to try to disappoint them though.
“Are they watching?” Niles asked. Grisham pointed up and a light came up and shone on a platform at the top where some men and women stood behind a safety glass. Niles grinned
“What are the parameters?” Niles asked.
“It’s a four on one test. The problem is, they are all well trained and young… enthusiastic.” Came the answer.
“Great, Grisham. Just great.” Niles responded sarcastically.
&n
bsp; “Go!” Grisham said and Niles ran forward and then zig zagged to the left and hid behind a pillar. He requested for a synch with Kubrick. There was no answer. Of course, he thought, it was too early. He used his implant to scan the area, but he didn’t need to, Bullets tore into the pillar he was hiding behind. There was a quick ping and he turned the other way and shot the man coming. His face was covered, so he saw only the eyes before he ran forward. He had to find three more.
His implant pinged again, it was a soft direction, like an instinct. Niles ran away from the pillar just as an explosion hit it. He didn’t turn to see if the pillar still stood. He was fucked if one of them had a gun like that. He kept running until he stopped by another pillar. The coverage was limited, but there was one advantage he had, now he knew where they all were.
Niles waited and tried to lure them out, he coughed and then waited for who was going to come first, His shoes were peeking out from the side of the pillar. He waited some more, then he saw the one person he had hoped would come first. The man with the huge gun. He was built like a rock, but that didn’t matter. Before the man found out he wasn’t really there, Niles shot him way more times than were needed.
That was the biggest threat. He waited a few seconds longer to see if another would come and one of them did. He checked the body of the bigger guy and cursed. Niles waited until the man realized it was trap and then he killed him. He took no pleasure in their deaths, but it was either them or himself. He chose himself.