by T. C. Edge
“There’s a medical transport coming,” Ragan said. “Do you see it?”
He watched as Chloe tipped her head a little to the right, mentally commanding Remus to turn back. She nodded a second later, eyes still locked shut.
“Yeah, it’s coming from the gate,” she whispered. “The nurses are waiting in the courtyard, prepping the medical bed to be carried on board. Some of the guards are helping…” She stopped again, waiting for the ambulance to reach the front of the house. “…It’s there,” she continued, relaying everything to the others. “They’re loading the girl aboard now. They look tired, like they’ve only just been woken up. But…it doesn’t seem like an emergency either.”
She dipped her head a little to the left, then back to the right, surveying the area.
“Looks like the ambulance is changing to its airborne setting,” she whispered. “They’re flying from here. The nurses look upset, one in particular. She’s crying heavily. She’s quite young…”
“Can Remus tag her?” asked Ragan.
Chloe nodded, paused a moment, and then spoke again.
“It’s done. He’ll track her position wherever she goes.”
“What are you thinking, Ragan?” asked Nadia.
“I’m just curious,” he said, eyes narrow. “If we want to get in there and speak to someone, she’s a good bet. People are often more pliable when upset.”
“So who do you think the girl is?” asked Tanner. “Does Martha have a daughter?”
Ragan shook his head.
“I’m not sure. She never seemed very open about her family life.”
“OK,” came Chloe’s voice again. “The medical transport is taking off. It looks to be turning eastwards, out towards the lake. It’s going slowly but…yeah, definitely to the lake.”
“Lake Michigan?” asked Tanner. “Why would they head out there? It’s empty water for a hundred miles.”
“Yeah, you’d think if the girl’s sick, they’d go to a hospital in the city,” suggested Nadia. “Something’s not adding up here.”
She was right. Something felt off. Ragan turned to his thoughts for a moment, thinking. Was this girl really Martha’s daughter? If she was being given such treatment, rushed away in the dead of night, then surely she was of some importance. The way the staff gathered, the way the nurses were upset. Only a figure of real consequence would garner that reaction.
But where was she being taken? Tanner was right, the lake was empty. There was nothing out there, and certainly no hospitals. What was going on?
He turned back to Chloe.
“Update?”
“The staff are going back inside,” she whispered. “They look exhausted. Three guards still patrolling around the perimeter of the mansion. Remus has spotted a couple more further away in the grounds. The four from outside the house…two are going inside, two are staying at the entrance…”
“And there are four at the gate,” said Nadia. “That makes, what, thirteen in total?”
Chloe nodded, eyes closed.
“That Remus has spotted so far, yes. His scans are also finding cameras and motion sensors around the grounds, particularly closer to the outer perimeter.”
“How did Remus get past those?” asked Tanner.
“His cloaking function makes him invisible to all cameras and sensors,” said Chloe.
“Smart fella.”
Chloe, eyes tight, smiled.
“OK, anything else?” asked Ragan. “No sign of Martha then?”
Chloe shook her head.
“Nothing,” she said. “If she was here, then surely she’d have been down there outside the house too.”
“Especially if it is her daughter,” added Nadia. “Whoever the girl is, she’s important. Daughter or not, Martha would have been there if she was on site.”
Ragan grunted. Then he exclaimed, cursing quietly under his breath.
“What’s up?” asked Nadia.
“That transport,” he said. “If it is Martha’s daughter, and she’s sick, maybe they’re taking her to her mother. We should have been thinking quicker. We could have followed it.”
“We still could?” said Nadia. “Rush back to the falcon and…”
“It’s too late,” interrupted Ragan. “Anyway we’re here now, so need to make the most of it before first light.”
“You’re still thinking of infiltrating?” queried Tanner.
“Of course,” said Ragan briskly. “That nurse could provide information. Or we might find something else inside. Chloe, can you send Remus in to scan?”
She shook her head.
“The door’s shut now. Unless there’s a window open somewhere, he can’t get inside without help. I’ll send him around the mansion to check, but it’s a chilly night, so unlikely.”
“OK,” said Ragan, turning again to Tanner and Nadia. “Cliff, do you mind staying out here with Chloe? I’m not risking her being unprotected like last time with Mikel. You never know, he might be lurking about in the shadows somewhere.”
“I can take care of myself,” said Chloe defensively. Ragan turned to find that she’d opened her eyes, leaving Remus to work alone for the time being.
“I know you can,” said Ragan softly. “But there’s no sense in all of us rushing in there, and we could really use you and Remus to guide us, tell us where the guards are, motion sensors, cameras, things like that.”
“Fine,” said Chloe. She seemed a little hurt, as if her only contribution in missions like this was as a lookout, using Remus as her eyes in the sky. She really shouldn’t, Ragan knew. It was a unique skill and highly valuable to the team.
He turned to Tanner.
“You OK with staying here?” he asked.
Tanner shrugged.
“Sure. If Mikel is around, I’d like first crack at him. Otherwise, I’m not great with sneaking. Stealth was never my strong suit. More of a guns blazing sort of guy, me. I’ll keep an eye out from here, and watch the guards at the gate. If there’s trouble, I’ll take them out and enter from there.”
“With non-lethals,” Ragan was quick to say. “We don’t want any casualties here. We use our knock-out rounds if we can.”
“Fine,” said Tanner, begrudgingly. “But if shit hits the fan, I’m turning to live ammo.”
“Fair enough.”
“And me?” asked Nadia, drawing Ragan’s eye.
“You’re with me,” said Ragan. “If we speak with any female staff in there, a woman’s touch might work better. You’d get through to her better than me. I suspect they’ll be heading back to bed now - there’s still some time before first light - so hopefully we’ll catch them napping. Literally.”
He turned once more to Chloe.
“The nurse,” he said. “Has Remus still got her location?”
Chloe sighed and shut her eyes, refocusing. She took a moment before nodding.
“Looks like she’s gone up the central staircase in the main lobby, down a corridor to the left. She’s in a room.”
“Alone?” Ragan asked.
“Yeah. Two guards in the lobby, and two outside the main house. Probably not the best way in.”
Tanner made a huffing noise.
“There are only thirteen of them, you said. And normal soldiers probably. Why not just take them out, starting at the gate. Forget all this talk of sneaking around.”
“We don’t want to alert anyone inside the house, Cliff,” said Nadia, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Jeez, you’re such a grunt. No finesse to your work at all.”
“Finesse? There’s no finesse in our work, Nadia. We kill. There’s nothing subtle about that.”
“A debate for another time,” cut in Ragan, shooting admonishing glances. “Chloe, have you found a good way in? Somewhere without cameras and motion sensors?”
“There’s a spot a little way to the west,” she said. “There’s a camera overlooking a section of wall, but no other sensors. I can have Remus zap the camera, disabling it f
or a moment. As long as you can vault over it, you should have enough time to get in.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Ragan. “Good work. OK, you’ve got us on comms, so keep us updated. Try to find a way up to that nurse that doesn’t involve going through the front of the house. Tanner, keep an eye out.”
Ragan looked at Nadia, and both of them pulled down their helmets, before turning west and moving quickly towards the wall.
69
Chloe crouched beside a tree, hidden in the shadow, watching from Remus’ perspective as Ragan and Nadia vaulted the wall, one after another. A second or two ago, she’d commanded Remus to gather his little electrical charge, and zap the camera, disabling it for them to get through. It seemed to work.
With a mighty leap, she saw first Ragan, then Nadia, rush up the side of the wall, clear the electric wire and perilous spikes, and come down on the other side, landing softly in the dirt, one knee to the ground, bodies hunched low. It was a rather breathtaking sight, watching these two highly trained super-soldiers go to work.
Within a moment of landing, they were zipping forward, their nanite-augmented speed and strength allowing them to move at pace as they ventured towards the nearest cover. They reached a row of hedges, set around an area of beautiful gardens and flower beds, and stopped, their combat suits blending so well with the darkness as to render them almost invisible.
Remus’ vision, thankfully, wasn’t exactly human. With a few tweaks, he was able to hone in on their heat signatures, overlaying them upon their black-clad frames, making them glow more clearly in the darkness. It was a useful function that Chloe barely ever used. Missions like this were, well…rather alien to her.
She heard Ragan’s voice whisper down comms.
“OK, Chloe, where to next?” he whispered. She imagined he had his scanning lens activated, helping to guide his path, but wished for additional support from Remus’ lofty vantage. Currently, the drone was floating a dozen metres above them, and half a dozen metres ahead, scanning for nearby obstacles that they might want to avoid.
There was a guard wandering wearily off to the left, just at the other end of the gardens. His pattern of walking suggested his route was taking him in their direction, probably doing a circuit around the hedge.
Chloe relayed the information.
They moved off again, working quickly but quietly through the estate, the mansion still a little way away. The grounds were enormous, a staggering allotment for anyone to own, particularly within such proximity to Chicago to the south. Chloe didn’t know much about Martha - beyond her being a traitorous snake who masqueraded as someone so kind and affable - but she’d gathered that she was clearly extremely wealthy, and highly influential around these parts. This estate was a clear sign of that wealth, and by the sounds of it, only one of many, many properties she and her family owned within the area.
She shook her head at the grandeur of it all. She’d been born into money herself, the Phantoms being a family of some repute in New York once upon a time, but this was another level entirely.
As she continued to direct Ragan and Nadia’s path, she got the sense that she was being studied. She opened her eyes and glanced at Tanner with a frown. He was staring at her with a curious expression.
“What?” she whispered harshly. Chloe never liked being gawped at like that.
He shrugged.
“Just wondering how you do that. You and Remus…I’m trying to work it out.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. She didn’t need this right now.
“So, you can see what he sees, right?” Tanner continued. “But you have to close your eyes to do it?”
Chloe glanced again.
“It helps, yeah,” she said quickly.
“Fascinating,” hummed Tanner. “So, how do you give him orders? It’s all done by mental command obviously. Do you control him entirely, or does he kinda do things on his own, you know, without your help? And what about…”
She lifted a hand to shut him up. Her attempts to ignore him clearly weren’t getting through.
“Cliff,” she said, raising her eyes, “I’m kinda busy right now.”
“Right,” he nodded, “sure. I wouldn’t worry about them, though. This is a walk in the park compared to missions we’ve undertaken before. I remember one not too long ago…”
“Cliff! Seriously, would you just…” She drew a breath. “You know when you needed to concentrate when you were flying the falcon?” He nodded. “Well, I need that now, OK? And anyway, shouldn’t you be watching for Mikel…”
“Pffft, Mikel,” grunted Tanner. “That wretched creature isn’t around here. He’s probably wherever Martha is, that deceitful, conniving…” he trailed off, lips mumbling a series of insults.
Good, thought Chloe. That should distract him for a while.
She sighed and shut her eyes once more, returning to Remus’ sight. He remained in a holding position, just hovering along near to Ragan and Nadia below. He was, of course, quite capable of doing all of this himself, and merely relaying the information to Chloe for her to decide what to do with. If any specific commands were required, however, she needed to give specific instruction. Remus was more effective in an info-gathering capacity, but needed Chloe’s human intellect to make decisions.
After three years together, however, that had become a highly intuitive and instinctive process. Chloe would merely think in her head, for example, about finding a possible entry point into the mansion - a window or unprotected door - and Remus would go searching. He was an extension of her, really. He was in her head at all times, and yet physically embodied beyond it too; his form floating about here and there, and yet his sensory experience of the world always there in the back of Chloe’s head, capable of being tapped into at any time.
For Chloe, it had become just…normal, and she dreaded the day when something might happen to him. It was possibly her greatest fear, losing Remus. Without him, she’d find herself lost.
It took another minute or so for Ragan and Nadia to approach the mansion, doing so without running into a guard and being forced to disable them. Along the western wing, Remus had spotted a balcony door that looked like it could be easily forced. All Ragan and Nadia needed to do was get up to it, easy enough for people like them, despite it being on the second floor.
With Remus on lookout, they approached the mansion at pace, black shapes appearing suddenly from the shadows and surging forward. Leaping a good ten feet into the air, both began gripping at stone knobs jutting from the outer wall, strong arms hauling them swiftly up towards a first floor balcony. They landed on the outer edge of it, bent their knees, and leaped again, continuing on up to the next floor. It all happened so fast and with such startling dexterity, causing Chloe to watch on with an appreciative nod.
“Wow,” she murmured down comms. “That was awesome.”
“Nothin’ to it, honey,” hummed Nadia, giving Remus a little wave.
Ragan was turning towards the balcony door. It looked to be made of wood, with glass windows. Breaking that glass would make too much noise. Best to try to force it open as quietly as possible.
He seemed to study it for a moment, and then looked up to Remus, speaking directly to Chloe.
“Can you still see the nurse?” he asked. “She in the same room?”
Chloe turned Remus to the right. The shape of the woman appeared through the walls, still in the same room. She seemed to be sitting in a chair in the corner, bent over, head in hands. Probably still weeping.
“Yeah, she’s there,” said Chloe. “Straight through the room ahead, into the corridor, second door down on the left.”
Ragan gave Remus a thumbs up, then turned to Nadia, nodding.
Ragan looked ahead at the balcony door, reaching forward and taking a grip of the handle. His scanning lens had indicated that it was locked top and bottom with latches, with an additional key-opened lock right there next to the handle. They were old-fashioned - the house itself was incredibly orn
ate and archaic in its structure and external furnishings - and could easily be broken with a strong shoulder-charge or thrust of the boot.
That, of course, would surely be heard and thus raise the alarm. Not what Ragan wanted. Instead, a lighter touch would be needed. And thankfully, the key was still in the lock on the other side.
He turned to look up at Remus, hovering nearby. He remained cloaked, and was hard to spot, at least if you didn’t know he was already there.
“Chloe,” he whispered. “Can Remus emit a magnetic charge?”
“Sure,” Chloe answered down the line. “Why?”
“The key is in the lock on the other side of the door. I need Remus to come turn it like a magnet. You think he can do that?”
“Guess we’re about to find out.”
Remus zipped down quickly from his hovering position, rushing up to the others at the door. He moved to the central lock, his form pulsing and buzzing a little. A few sparks of electricity began to surround him. Then, slowly, he began to rotate.
Ragan stepped in, looking through the glass window. He could just about see the key, sticking out of the lock on the other side. He smiled. It was turning.
A moment later, the lock clicked.
“Excellent,” whispered Ragan down comms. “Now have him do the same for the latches at the top and bottom.”
He heard Chloe grunt her acknowledgement, before Remus moved down to their feet, working the latch across using his magnetic force. He then glided up, doing the same at the top. Ragan heard the sound of the metal latch scraping within its sheath, before the door itself seemed to budge a little. He reached forward, took the handle, and turned it down.
The door pulled open.
Ragan smiled and looked over at Nadia.
“OK, let’s go.”
With Remus following like a curious pet, floating above their heads, the two moved into the room. It was dark inside, though the space was given shape by the pale moonlight spilling in from outside. They saw a door and moved straight towards it. This one was open.
Gently, they moved through, stepping out into a long, darkened corridor, the floor covered with a deep maroon carpet. They looked right, and saw the corridor stretch away to a landing above the central hall below, doors on either side and carved light fixings on the wall, all of them turned off and emitting no glow. Voices began to filter up gently from the distance, those of the two guards stationed down there in the hall. Remus, sent forward by Chloe, drifted silently past them to act as lookout and make sure no one came their way.