The rest of the car ride was uneventful. Dan had enough of seeing how Kodak agents acted and treated the general populace of this city. He followed Li’s playbook and simply leaned back and shut his eyes. Dan heard a light beeping noise which indicated they had arrived at their destination. He opened his eyes and saw the entrance to the hotel.
The door slid open on its own and Dan stepped out of the vehicle. Dan’s boot hit pieces of broken glass and they cracked beneath. He looked down and saw that the glass was mixed in with spend shell casings.
Looking up, Dan didn’t see a hotel. This was a skyscraper. The building had to be at least sixty floors tall if not much taller. The building was a giant monolith sticking out of the ground with its deep black appearance seemingly aborbing whatever light happened to hit it. The only source of light from the hotel was a sign that said ‘Revelation.’ He turned and the backseat doors opened for Dan and Li to grab their briefcases. Dan continued checking out his surroundings and saw the area around the hotel was surprisingly sparse. The amount of buildings and normal people out and about was barely higher than the suburbs during the car ride.
“I wonder what would happen if the budget for this hotel was instead put toward the rest of this city,” Li whispered as he was the last to grab his briefcase.
Aside from the darkness of the hotel, Dan could have admired the architecture and engineering put into this building had it not been for the red skies that provided little to no proper lighting on this structure.
Dan spotted two Kodak agents who both stood at least two meters tall, dwarfing both he and Li in physical stature. They stared at the duo as they walked towards the short steps to the front entrance. They received no polite greetings as they passed the two guards.
The lighting underneath the entrance also showed more cracks into Kodak’s level of engineering. The right side of the entrance flickered while the left side was completely dark as a technician was on a ladder working to replace the light bulbs.
Dan received a notification of an incoming private call from Li.
“And this is supposed to be a secret meeting place for Kodak VIPs,” he said. “What a joke.”
Dan walked past the ladder and stepped in front of the automatic doors. Both slid aside but only opened halfway. Dan squeezed himself through the gap and Li followed afterwards.
“The service just keeps getting better and better,” Li mumbled.
The interiors of the building were far more impressive than the outside. The carpet was a smoothly textured red without any hint of stains or imperfections. It was a carpet that was stitched to the highest quality. The high rise ceiling featured elaborate chandeliers that shined brightly and gave the room a warm ambience.
Dan looked ahead and spotted two giant walls of reflective marble as tall as the ceiling that almost met together in the middle, save for a gap. The numerous armed Kodak guards conveyed it was a security checkpoint before entering the main lobby.
Both Dan and Li made their way toward the gap in between the two giant walls, walking with confident strides to feign their status as businessmen. The Kodak guards looked at both of them with varying degrees of animosity.
One of the guards put his hand up at Dan and said, “IDs please.”
Both took out their ID cards and handed them to the guard. Briefly checking out both of them, he handed the cards back. “I assume you have weapon models packed in those briefcases of yours?”
“Correct,” Dan said. He thought about what additional details to add. “The officials at Kodak requested some hardware so they can check it out in person for the meeting.”
The guard’s steeled expression didn’t change. “Hold out your briefcases.”
Dan lifted his and held it sideways. The same guard took out a device that resembled a handheld vacuum cleaner and scanned the case. He did the same for Li’s case as well.
“Okay, that checks out. Now we need to pat you boys down. Get ready and we can move this along.”
Dan lowered his briefcase and set it on the ground. The guard pointed him in the direction of another guard and he walked a few steps. When he stood in front of the guard, Dan spread his legs apart and and raised his arms to point outwards from his body. The guard frisked him, his grip much more forceful than Dan thought was necessary. After about thirty seconds of the guard’s heavy-handed check up, he stopped abruptly.
“You’re good to go.” He looked towards the guard with the metal detector and gave him a thumb up gesture.
Li had also concluded his frisking and picked up his briefcase. Dan walked over and picked up his gear. The guards stepped out of their way without saying a word and the two walked through the gap and into the main lobby.
Dan was greeted with more beautiful scenery, so much so that Dan lifted his glasses to admire the surprisingly intricate details such as marble flooring, more expensive chandeliers as well as every surface seemingly either reflective or matte with no in between.
“Let’s get checked in before we do any sight seeing,” Li said.
“Right.”
The two walked up to the curved front desk. A line up of eight people stood in their way. One of the ladies at the front desk glanced in Dan’s direction and quickly elbowed one of her coworkers and pointed at them. Immediately, the lady raised her voice and asked, “Are you two from Cresh manufacturing?”
“That’s us,” Dan muttered to Li. He responded to the lady with a polite nod before walking over to her side of the desk. “Do you have our reservations?”
“Yes sir, Mr Phillips. You and Mr Sung will be sharing a room and your suite is 5812.” The lady had a concerning pale skin tone and seemed a bit too skinny even through her uniform. She took out a card and said, “Here’s your keycard sir. The elevators will be along that way past the bar. Enjoy your stay.”
“Thank you,” Dan said. While the lady was professional and allowed them to skip the line up, he couldn’t help but feel something was off with that interaction. He and Li walked away from the receptionist desk without saying a word.
“Did that chick seem a bit, malnourished to you?” Dan asked.
“She did. Then again, I would rather not imagine what it would be like to work for Kodak outside of being an agent.”
The duo walk towards the elevators. Dan looked around and saw more ambient lighting that shined from the floors along the edges up to the walls and more polished and reflective marble flooring. The bar itself appeared off to the right with nothing but wooden planks that made up its “walls,” making for gaps that customers could easily peek through inside the bar. An odd stylistic choice considering the more polished and clean aesthetic of the lobby.
Ahead of them was a narrow path that contained an indoor shallow pool along with a fountain the ran water down into these pools on either side of the path. Dan continued walking and got a closer look to admire the intricate design of this part of the building. The shallow pools had floors with various square tiles raised to varying height to give the flooring beneath the water a more blocky aesthetic. Ambient ground lighting gave the pools of water an ethereal and strangely angelic presence to the area.
“I’ll give credit where it’s due. Whoever worked on the fountains and pools here should have worked on the lights at the entrance,” Li said.
Dan’s admiration of the hotel’s aesthetics didn’t last long as he spotted two Kodak agents at the end of the left pool. One sat on a raised block at the end of the pool while a female agent with long flowing blond hair stood facing the other agent.
All it took was the blonde agant adjucting her hair and Dan saw the hooped earring. The same earring he had ripped off of Kate Razor when she tried to convince him to surrender himself after revealing herself to be a traitor who defected from the Alpha Corp and joined Kodak.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Kate was now wearing the Kodak body armor that was all black with spikes jutting out from the shoulder pieces and razor blades along the elbow and knee guards. He also saw some barbed wire wrapped around her arms and shoulders. It infuriated him to see that bitch wear the armor of the enemy shard.
Dan immediately put his sunglasses back on over his eyes and averted his gaze. His eyes glanced one more time in their direction and he confirmed the same skull painted helmet he had seen before on Kodak agent Adam Torrent.
Those two motherfuckers had caused him so much grief and injury. One for killing two of his teammates and betraying his trust and the other for almost killing him if Allen hadn’t arrived to save him at the last moment. The memories of his first mission together with newly assigned team came flooding back.
Dan tried to keep his cool and not jeoporadize the mission. He knew he was no match to fight either Kate or Adam, especially not two of them together, even with Li’s help. Walking past the two, Dan’s ears picked up a curious exchange.
“Do you think they can do it? Bring him back, I mean?” Kate asked. Her voice seemed inquisitive, nothing like the bubbly fake persona nor the cold demeanor after her betrayal.
Adam’s reply to her question was even more confusing. “I’ve seen their methods in action before. Hell, you saw what happened to me. Jane killed my ass and I would have been dead if I wasn’t put into a resurrection chamber. Colleen actually died once a while back and they brought her ass back from the dead too. It’s possible.”
The only thing Dan gathered was that the two talked about bringing a supposed dead person back to life. But that was impossible. Dead was dead no matter how much someone wished it otherwise. Death was the most inevitable fate for anything that breathed. Somehow, Adam survived the beating he received from Jane Sunheiser when she stepped in and saved Dan's life in his last encounter with the Kodak agent.
And what the hell was a resurrection chamber?
Dan and Li continued to the elevators and he pressed one of the buttons. He waited a few seconds before the nearest elevator to their right opened. Dan had no desire to stay in the lobby any longer and scurried inside the elevator. Li gave him a look before walking into the elevator with him.
The elevator doors finally closed and the two were taken up the hotel.
Li glanced at him and asked. “Was there a problem back there?”
“Those two Kodak agents around the pool, I know those two fuckers,” Dan said. “It was during my first mission with Jane Sunheiser. Kate is that blond bitch who betrayed us and sided with Kodak. The guy with the skull paint job is her boyfriend and he almost killed my ass.”
“I see. You handled yourself well around those two, both during that mission and now. You got to live to see them a second time.”
“That’s… one way of putting it.”
The dull ache behind his eyes began flaring up again. Then, Dan’s HUD popped up an incoming call from their hacker Tim Corsair. He accepted the call.
“Have you two arrived at the Revelation yet?”
“Affirmative,” Li responded.
“Good. Angie and Michael are on their way. For now, get into your hotel room and wait there for further instructions.”
“Why do we have to wait if we have less than four hours to get this job done?” Dan asked. Since landing and accounting for the ride here and going through security, they most likely had only three hours left.
“This is part of Michael’s plan. Simply put, making a grab at the container without full back up will not work. You need Michael there to keep the majority of the heavy hitting Kodak forced occupied and distracted while Angie will accompany you two in escorting the container.”
Dan thought back to Kate and Adam sitting next to the pool and fountain. While Dan was relieved that it would be on Michael’s end to keep agents like those two distracted, it was bittersweet. Dan himself wouldn’t have the opportunity to crush those two himself.
“The two won’t arrive for another half hour. I suggest you two get settled and prepare your equipment. And keep a low profile. The last thing we need is our covers being blown,” Tim said.
The elevator finally arrived onto the fifty-eighth floor without any interruption for the whole ride. Both men stepped out and took a left. Assuming a basic order from left to right, their room had to be on the left side since it was designated suite 5812.
The two eventually made it to their hotel room and Dan put his keycard onto the reader beside the door. An audible beep unlocked the door and Dan twisted the handle and opened it. As he entered, the room’s lighting automatically brightened up and they were warmly welcomed into their room.
Dan immediately threw his briefcase onto the floor and simply walked over to a small couch within the kitchen area and sat down. The dull aches in the back of his eyes had now ballooned into a returning headache. He leaned back while rubbing his eyes and forehead with his hand.
Li walked down the short hallway toward the bedroom.
Dan made the assumption that his blackout during the training session with Allen was was because of exhaustion. He was wrong. Whatever this condition was, it was serious enough that his headaches have been flaring up since the start of this heist.
He could not afford to jeopardize this mission. Michael Cynosa and the rest of his new teammates were counting on him. The only thing he could think of that could ease his headache was possibly sleeping it off or some meditation. Since Li was a stealth specialist, it probably wouldn’t be a stretch to think he might have some expertise in relaxing himself.
Slowly standing up, Dan walked away from the couch and down the small hallway to see what Li was up to. Looking around the bedroom, his teammate wasn’t around. Then he saw Li outside on the balcony, sitting on his own in a cross legged position. Dan removed his disguise and threw his clothes on the bed. He walked up to the door and slid it aside.
He remembered Michael’s warning about a thunderstorm when he saw the light drizzle that already blanketed the outdoors. Li sat unmoving in his chosen spot, ignoring his hair and face being drenched in water. Dan didn’t expect watching rainfall from a red sky would fill him with a strange sense of dread.
As if sensing his thoughts, Li turned his head and said, “Like I said during the car ride, it’s better to shut your eyes rather than rely on the scenery to give you any peace or tranquility.”
“That makes sense,” Dan replied. “You do this sort of thing often? This meditation?”
“I do,” Li said. He turned his body around to face Dan. “You most likely saw it already when your HUD gave you a rundown of my stats. I used to be a Spec Ops Hellhound.”
“Meaning?”
“The Alpha Corp owns numerous smaller, backwater shards. There are just some territories that don’t have nearly as much activity to warrant the Alpha Corp’s attention. The small pockets of Alpha agents and other facilities and services that operate in those areas are given independence to govern themselves while still reporting back to its parent shard. The Spec Ops Hellhounds are one of them.”
“Ah, that makes sense. So what were you up to before joining the main giant?”
“I operated in a small bit of land what we used to call Ukraine. That area just so happened to be next to a patch of territory owned by Kodak-Cresh. Our small land was always at risk of some invasion by the rival shard. Luckily, all attempts to attack us had failed. I spearheaded multiple counterattacks against those fools.”
Dan sat down across from Li. “So the Alpha Corp didn’t think it was important enough to send more of its forces to aid you?”
“Our region didn’t have much. Kodak gaining control of my our land would be a mere paper cut to the Alpha Corp’s bottom line. Still, I would never grant our enemies such an easy victory. Kodak are easy to fool. Funneling them down tight corridors to gun them down, traps involving smoke bombs and flashbangs, and snipers. Oh yeah, they hated snipers with a passion. Every small scale battle that took place where Kodak assumed they could just steam roll us had only made them look even more foolish.”
“That’s where you developed your stealth abilities from? By constant raids by your friendly rival shard from the other side of the border.”
“Precisely,” Li said smiling. “It’s genuinely sad that Kodak refuses to adapt. Every battle devolved into a playground for me to refine and hone my abilities in using throwing knives, misdirection, and performing silent kills.”
Dan nodded and the conversation ended abruptly between the two. Li turned his body to face the front of the balcony.
“How bad is your headache?” Li asked.
“It’s annoying. I have a feeling it might be serious. It flared up during the car ride.”
“Then follow my lead. Sit with you legs crossed and close your eyes.”
Dan listened to Li’s instructions. He shut his eyes and crossed his legs into and straightened his back.
“Take your mask off. It will make the breathing exercises easier,” Li said.
“Okay,” Dan said as he took in the air without anything blocking his nose. “What’s next?”
“Take a deep breath in through your nose. Hold it for four seconds. Then breath out through your mouth. Rinse and repeat and you will notice a difference.”
Focusing on something as simple as breathing was alien to him. Dan was used to a life of chaos where the next minute he could be dead if he wasn’t always moving or thinking about his next move. It had been that way for most of his childhood. His start as an agent was wrought with challenges and near death experiences which didn’t leave him much time to relax.
Dan lost track of time and had no clue how long he had been doing his breathing exercises. He was aware of his hair and face being drenched in rain water but that didn’t matter to him. His pounding headache had decreased and it returned back to being a dull ache in the back of his eyes. He was thankful the pain lessened, but it didn’t fully go away. He just hoped that his headache wouldn’t return in full force while he was doing something important in this mission.
“I think it’s working,” Dan said.
“Good. Are you alright with doing this until Angie and Michael arrive?”
Dan looked at his wet and glistening surroundings and thought it was a bad idea to interrupt his own meditation experience just to make his comment. Now he was out of the groove and back to his normal self.
“I think I’m going to do something else to keep my mind occupied. I’m going out for a walk.”
“There’s not much to see in the hallways but okay,” Li said. “Remember Michael’s advice and keep a low profile. Don’t start flirting with women or trash talk somebody just because they looked at you the wrong way.”
“I got it, Li. It’s a simply walk. What’s the worst that can happen?”