Dan could open his eyes again and his vision returned back to him. He laid flat on his back and watched the pristine ceiling and breathed in the cool filtered air. Slowly getting himself up, he spotted Li and the end of the bed in his full gear and long coat. His teammate attached the silencer to his handgun. Li looked back at him and give him a curt nod. Seeing Li in full body armor gave Dan a bizarre rush of excitement. They were no longer imposters and were about to execute this heist.
Michael’s voice filled Dan’s mind.
“Good, Li tells me you’re finally awake. How are you feeling?”
“My headache is gone,” Dan said. He could still feel the dull ache behind his eyes. “I think I’m good to go.”
“Good to hear. Get geared up. It’s time for the two of you to make a grab for the container. Michael out.” The link was immediately severed.
Li tossed a briefcase onto the bed. “Here, get ready. I need a bit more time to move my drone to a safe positon for me to pick up.”
“Drone?”
“While you were taking a nice nap, room service came up to us and delivered a package. Tim sent me a remote-controlled flying drone for me to use,” Li said. “Tim fed me the locations of where you placed the jammers and disruptors and based off that. I determined out safest route to reaching the restricted room were Kodak is keeping the prize.”
“Nice, so we got safe passage to the container?”
“More or less. We still need to watch our backs for any stragglers on the way. From this moment on, we’re ditching our disguises and going for it. I need to park my drone somewhere safe. Never know when it might come in handy again.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
A concern immediately popped up in Dan’s mind. “How do we know nobody sees this drone and wonders what’s up?”
Li gave him a familiar look as if Dan had just asked him something stupid. “It’s a drone the size of a common fly. Even if it was bulkier, Kodak won’t know about it since you dealt with the cameras already.”
“Oh okay. I’m just being paranoid then,” Dan said.
Li paced back and forth for a bit before he stopped and loaded a magazine into his silenced pistol. “Okay, the drone is nice and safe. I’m uploading the updated route to your HUD now.”
“Thanks, I got it,” Dan said. His HUD had already marked the ideal route with yellow glowing chevrons painted on the floor leading out the hotel room.
He opened his briefcase and quickly took out his gear and equipment. He removed his long coat and puts his arms through the sleeves. Then he grabbed his Aero SMG and placed the weapon on his back while taking his handgun and silencer and attacher them together. Lastly, Dan grabbed the smoke and flashbang grenades from the under the top lining, the same compartment where he found his jammers and disruptors.
“Okay, I think we’re good,” Dan said.
“Alright, I’ll lead the way and you check the rear,” Li said.
Both Li and Dan followed the glowing chevrons on the floor and Li led the way out the room. Dan closed the door behind him and quickly followed his teammate through the hallway and through the staircase.
“Hmm. Those jammers are making this too easy,” Li said. “No cameras and the motion sensors to tell Kodak our presence here. They won’t know what hit them.”
Dan nodded in agreement. As he continued following Li, the distance between the two gradually widened. It was so subtle that Dan didn’t notice he was falling behind. By the time they got to the second staircase, Dan began hearing a strange ringing in his ears. His HUD notified him of an incoming call from Li.
But for some reason, even as he accepted the call, he heard nothing but mumbling in his head.
Then it all went to shit.
Someone or something struck Dan in the back of the head and forced him onto his knees. When he looked back to see who attacked him, Dan saw nothing. Then a sharp pain pierced his head, as if someone had shoved a sword through his skull.
Dan collapsed and the world around him went dark.