by Karl Weber
Jack was looking out the window with her as he sat on the opposite side of the desk. “Damn it,” Anna muttered. She sighed and fell back into her seat. “How should we handle this? Donavan’s meeting with the Deep State tonight and we need to capitalize on what could be a golden opportunity.”
Jack sat up in his chair then answered, “Simple.” He pointed his index finger at Anna. “You do what you do best and infiltrate.”
Anna snorted and looked back at Jack like he was crazy. “Jack, it’s a virtual meeting. I am the best there is at sneaking into places, but even I can’t break into a place that isn’t part of reality.”
Jack grinned at her. “Maybe so.” He rose and walked over to the large window and looked out at the city of Baltimore.
Anna raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about, Jack?”
He looked over his shoulder at Anna. “Earlier I asked Price if it was possible for us to break into their virtual meeting room.”
Anna raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“It’s possible. The problem is that to break into a room that is as secure as what they’ll be using, we need a hard connection with one of the servers connected to it.”
Anna nodded. “I see where you’re going with this.”
“Follow me,” Jack said while he gestured Anna to follow. She complied and followed him to the elevator that they down to the basement. They entered the command center and walked over to Price, who was seated at his workspace. “Price, go over with Anna what we talked about earlier.”
Price turned around in his chair when he heard Jack’s voice. “So, we’re doing this?” Price was looking at Anna when he asked the question.
“Just show me what we know,” Anna said.
“Alright.” Price spun himself back around to face his computer. He tapped away on the flat screen of the Command Thread table and brought up a 3D diagram of a floor plan. “We don’t know what individual server will be used for the meeting. Therefore, you’re going to have to plug into the facility’s central core to gain access to them all. A tech giant like Transparence Software will be sure to have its central core equipped with magma tiles.
“Magma tiles?”
“Flooring that is pressure sensitive. They’re electronic tiles spread throughout the room that will sound an alarm if something as little as a mouse takes one step onto them.” Price shrugged. “The floor is lava basically. Hence the name.”
“Alright, then I’ll just use my boots and gloves to stick to the walls and ceiling to avoid the floor entirely.”
Price snorted at Anna’s comment. “That’s if you can even make it to the walls or ceiling. The central core was built underground and has only one entrance, a blast-proof doorway here,” Price stated while he pointed at the of set of double doors on the diagram.
Anna sighed while she covered her face with the palm her hand. “Alright, so I can’t use the main entrance, the ceiling is out of the question. What about the flooring? Any gaps I could fit through?”
“Let me see.” Price zoomed in on the flooring in the diagram. “Yes, ventilation where the wiring runs beneath the floor to each of the magma tiles. But how’s that going to help you? There are only four gaps, and none are close enough to anything for you to grab onto to avoid touching the floor.”
“Right, because the floor is lava.”
Price nodded.
“Unless you think you could go straight up,” Jack pitched in.
“What do you mean?” Anna asked with a raised eyebrow.
“There’s something that Waldo’s been working on in the armory that might help.” Jack once again gave Anna the hand signal to follow.
She followed him out of the command center and down the hallway before making a right turn into the armory. Most of the armory’s walls were covered with wall mounts holding various types of long guns. On one wall was Anna’s tac suit where it was hung up neatly to be serviced, with the metal table beside it where her utility belt and other important gadgets were spread out to be cleaned and maintained.
At the center of the room was Waldo, the quartermaster responsible for servicing Anna’s equipment. He stood behind a metal workbench wearing a black lab coat with his back to them.
“Hey, Waldo, did you ever finish that grapple gun you told me you were working on?” Jack asked.
Waldo turned around to face Jack and Anna. He removed his work gloves and adjusted his glasses. “Just about. I wanted to do just a bit more testing with it.”
“How has it fared in testing so far?”
“Hasn’t failed yet,” Waldo answered.
“Then it’ll have to do. Let’s see it,” Jack said.
Waldo shrugged. “Alright.” He stepped away from the workbench and walked toward a row of cabinets. He pulled one open, pulled out a gadget, and walked back over to place it on the workbench. Jack and Anna joined him at the table.
The gadget they were staring at was shaped like a pistol. It had what looked to be some sort of small suction cup at the end of the barrel with a canister filled with nylon rope behind the barrel.
Waldo began explaining the device. “I call it the Magnetic Grapple Gun …”
“Clever name,” Anna added.
Waldo chuckled at the sarcasm. “Yeah. Unfortunately, I couldn’t create a version that used a hook like superheroes used in the comics, so I did the next best thing. Instead of a hook, this gadget uses a suction cup that utilizes the same MAG technology that is used in your boots and gloves.” Waldo picked up the gun and walked over to the concrete corridor with metal bullseyes mounted to wall at the end to serve as a firing range. He took aim with the gadget and placed his index finger on the trigger, which made a red dot appear on the center bullseye.
Waldo continued, “I equipped it with a red-dot laser sight.” He pulled the trigger and the suction cup shot forward like a bullet with the nylon rope in tow. It hit the center bullseye in the blink of an eye and made a thud sound on contact. He then pressed a button just above the hand grip, and the rope retracted back into the gun at the same speed it came out.
“What if I’m in a tight space and I need to shoot it straight up?” Anna asked.
Waldo set the gadget on the countertop behind the range. “I also designed it to communicate with your Spectral Command Unit, so you can operate it remotely.” He rubbed his index finger against a small flat plate on the backside of the gadget. “I also built in a mount on the backside of the gadget to allow it to be mounted if needed.”
“I guess there’s no reason why I can’t pull this job off now, is there?” Anna asked.
“No, there isn’t,” Jack answered with a grin.
“There’s something else I’ve been working on that you might find useful,” Waldo said with a smile of excitement on his face. He raced back over to his workbench, pulled open a bottom drawer, and reached into grab something. With the look of someone ready to give a surprise, he approached Anna and Jack with his hands closed. He separated his hands to reveal three small metal balls in the palm of his hands. All three were roughly half the size of a baseball. “I call them Blast Marbles.”
“Let me guess what they do,” Anna said.
Waldo chuckled once again at Anna’s sarcasm. “More than you think.” He reached his empty hand out. “Let me see your SCU.”
Anna removed her SCU from her wrist and handed it to Waldo.
He walked back to the firing range. After a few taps on the SCU’s holographic screen, Waldo threw one of the Blast Marbles down range. It made a clank sound when it bounced off the concrete flooring and slowly rolled down range. Waldo closed the blast door separating the armory from the range. He tapped on the SCU, and the little metal ball exploded. It might’ve been smaller than a regular grenade, but the blast looked and sounded just as powerful as one.
Waldo opened the blast door and then looked toward Anna and Jack with enthusiasm on his face. “I designed them so you can set them off with the SCU at any time. You can even set them to explode
on impact or stick to surfaces. Cool, huh?”
They shrugged as an immediate response. “Cool, I suppose, but not really what I would consider subtle or good for keeping a low profile,” Anna stated.
Despite Anna’s criticism Waldo maintained his bright smile. “I know. But you’re resourceful, so I’m sure you’ll find a way to make them useful in your ventures, Ms. Perkins.” Waldo handed Anna back her SCU along with the two remaining Blast Marbles. “Don’t worry, I made plenty more.”
Anna pocketed the Blast Marbles and strapped her SCU back onto her left wrist. “Now that I’ve got some new toys, I’d say it’s time we pay the Deep State a visit.”
Chapter 8
“It’s eleven thirty. Donavan will be here in thirty minutes. Better get a move on, Anna,” Jack’s voice said in her earpiece.
She was sitting in a black van doing a double-check on all her gear before beginning the infiltration. After working the action one last time on her Lateral Marksman Rifle 14, she inserted the six-round magazine and chambered a round before clipping the rifle to the magnetic holster on her back.
“You know what to do, right?” Price’s voice asked in Anna’s earpiece.
“Seems straight forward enough. I sneak into the facility’s basement, plug into the core, all while avoiding the floor of lava.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Price said.
Anna laughed. “Trust me, if it was, people like me wouldn’t have a job.”
“Whatever the case, just inform me once you’re plugged in.”
“Will do,” Anna said as she opened the back door of the black van and stepped outside into the dark of night. The server farm was a glowing fortress that was impossible to miss in the near distance. The van was parked in a gravel lot on a small side street just outside the facility’s property line hidden by tree foliage and the dark of night.
Looking both ways Anna saw no vehicle headlights, so she crossed the dark street and approached the chain-link fence that served as the outer barrier of the facility. It was a basic ten-foot-high fence that was no match for Anna’s pen laser.
She activated the device and drew a circle with the laser big enough for her to walk through. After pushing forward the cut portion of the fence, Anna stepped on through. She put the fencing back in place enough that from a distance nobody would notice the intrusion. There was nothing but darkness from the chain-link fencing to the shrubbery at the edge of pavement where light poles illuminated the massive facility.
Anna went into a crouch and slowly creeped up to the pavement, only relying on the matte-black camouflage on the tac suit to stay unseen before going prone behind the shrubbery when she reached the darkness’s end. She took a moment to get a feel for everything.
The four-story, white-colored warehouse building still looked busy despite it being almost midnight. It was easy enough to tell due to the large clear glass windows that made up almost the entirety of the walls that faced the main driveway.
Through the glass could be seen a sharply dressed man who was standing next to a young blonde woman who looked to be his secretary. Both of them were tapping their feet while standing with two armed guards. Anna assumed they were waiting for Donavan to arrive.
Other than the two guards standing in the lobby, no other guards could be seen from Anna’s current perspective. There was, however, no shortage of cameras, with every light pole in the parking lot having a camera mounted to it looking down on the pavement. It would be a massive issue for someone breaking in, unless they had a cloaking device like Anna did.
Looking for the best place of entry, Anna immediately dismissed the main entrance, which had several people watching it vigilantly. The glass doors sliding open with nobody present would only draw suspicion. No alarms could be raised; otherwise, Donavan might flee with Anna losing her best possible chance to gain invaluable intel on the Deep State.
Anna noticed a series of side doors that were all made of frosted glass. She pulled her LMR14 off her back and looked down its scope to see what security the doors were equipped with. Keypads. Easy enough. Anna holstered her rifle and tapped on her SCU to activate the MLS device on her suit.
Since her time of invisibility was limited, she jogged across the driveway. As she approached, Anna winked with her left eye to activate night-vision to see if any human body was behind any of the frosted glass side doors she was moving toward.
There were three doors in her line of sight. The left door showed the heat signature of a human silhouette, but the other two were empty. Anna took the one to the right.
She approached the door and had her SCU make quick work in breaking the six-digit code on the security keypad. The light above it turned green, and the frosted glass door slid open, revealing a spotless white hallway on the other side. The sound of computer hardware humming was impossible to miss.
Anna stepped inside and shut the door behind her. She shook her head to shake off the obnoxious noise and concentrate. Checking her SCU Anna only had a minute left before becoming visible. There was nobody in the hallway. She began to race-walk down it to move quickly and minimize noise in case somebody was close by. She came to a stop when she reached a four-way intersection.
Down the hallway to the right were two male workers dressed in business casual. They were leaned up against the wall, chatting next to the entrance to the male restroom. After checking her SCU, Anna noticed she only had thirty seconds before becoming visible.
There were cameras looking down every hallway, so now was not the time to reappear. Looking for a place to hide, Anna quickly decided on the female restroom, since restrooms rarely had cameras. She just had to make sure the two men weren’t looking at the door when she opened it.
Needing to improvise Anna used a simple but effective solution. She walked to the center of the intersection and whistled. The sound made the two men almost jump at the sudden noise as they turned and faced the intersection. Not wasting the opportunity, Anna walked by and waved her invisible hand next to the door sensor. The door quietly slid open, and Anna stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
Nobody else was present in the restroom. The MLS device on her suit shut off at that moment. Anna placed a proximity sensor at the door for security. Then she tapped on her SCU and brought up a 3D holographic diagram of the facility to get an idea where she was. The red blinking dot representing her on the diagram was located on the northwest quadrant of the facility, about halfway from the center.
Tapping her feet, Anna thought about the best way to proceed deeper. She only had two charges left of invisibly within her MLS device and always liked to have at least one charge on standby in case of unforeseen obstacles. The rumble of an industrial heater turning on could be heard from the ceiling of the room. The sound gave Anna an idea.
She zoomed in on the diagram using her thumb and index finger and noticed the ventilation led further into the facility. After walking over to the stall at the end of the room, she saw that the ventilation grate was big enough for her to fit through. Anna had her mind made up.
After locking the stall door, she pulled out the pen laser from her belt and made quick work in melting down every bolt holding the grate to the wall. Before melting the last bolt, Anna grabbed the grate with her free hand to keep it from hitting the floor and making noise. Anna set the grate onto the toilet lid and then crawled into the ventilation headfirst. She could feel the barrage of heat hitting the small amount of skin exposed on her face as she crawled forward.
“Anna, the meeting starts in fifteen minutes, and our drone just spotted Donavan arriving at the facility. How close to the central core are you?” Anna heard Jack ask in her earpiece.
“I’m making progress, don’t rush me,” Anna responded.
“Not rushing you. Just giving an update and letting you know I’m rooting for you,” Jack teased.
“How thoughtful of you,” Anna answered. She knew that Jack had to be rolling his eyes.
“Just trying to be a sup
portive boyfriend,” Jack returned with some amount of sarcasm.
Anna chuckled. “That you are.”
“Alright, I’ll let you work. Shepard out.” At the same time Jack ended the conversation, Anna finally saw another grate.
Off to the left was a grate with light shining through it. Anna rolled over on her right hip in order to see through the grate. On the other side was a white glossy wall. A second later the head of somebody passed by, completely unare of Anna’s presence. Not liking how exposed she would be if she exited the ventilation duct, Anna moved on past the grate.
After some more crawling, she reached another grate to her left. This time there was no light shining through, which she took as a good sign. Nothing but darkness could be seen through the grate, so she activated the night vison in her Predator Lenses. Through the grate she could see a concrete, industrial looking wall along with some metal cabinets that made Anna guess the room to be a utility closet. Not wanting to waste any more time in the ventilation, Anna pulled out her pen laser once more and quickly broke open the grate.
With the grate removed, Anna crawled out of the ventilation, while using her MAG gloves to stick to the wall and keep from crashing to the floor. She crawled down the wall until she had all hands and feet on the concrete floor before standing up inside the pitch-black room. She approached the frosted glass door that served as the only way out of the small room.
She winked in the right eye and switched her vision from night to thermal vision. There were two human-shaped heat silhouettes on the opposite side of the door. Both of them looked to be sitting down, as their legs were stretched up in front of them with their feet almost higher up than their hips.
Anna pulled her MTSO9 off her hip and double-checked that the magazine was the one loaded with sedations. She waved her hand over the sensor next to the door, and it quietly slid open, revealing two guards dressed like mall cops sitting down with their legs resting on top of control consoles.