Adrian
Well, the hotel was nice at least.
Not that I saw much of it anyway, at least outside the room that we were staying in. All I got a good look at was the sprawling lobby at the entrance which was littered with as many lights and fancy-looking pieces of furniture as the designers could afford to stuff in. It seemed like a bit much for just a hotel, much less one we’d be staying at for only four days, but Percy insisted on it. And yet despite all the luxury, our room looked mostly normal. Regular brown carpeting, two beds with plain white sheets, a couch, a small TV on a dresser, a few small tables; nothing remarkable considering how expensive the stay was. A black and white photo of it would bear no significant difference from the original. Regardless, it was enough.
As for the rest of Cincinnati, it, much like Cleveland, wasn’t that much to look at. Where other people would be dazzled by all the lights and tall buildings, all I could see were the aging roads, empty and underdeveloped sidewalks, budget stoplights hanging on by a wire, and snow covering nearly every surface. No color, no life; nothing but concrete, asphalt, and electricity in every direction.
So I stayed in the hotel room. And did not leave it.
I wasn’t brought here for any particular reason. I don’t know Skyler at all and I didn’t leave a good impression on Graham, so I’m stuck following Percy everywhere. I’ve been with them for close to three weeks and my status with everyone is the same as it was the day I arrived. It’s not ideal, but it was expected.
The first day at the hotel was settling in while waiting for a few of Brice’s militia to deliver the computer chips Percy and Finn needed. They showed up two hours late thanks to the traffic caused by the snowstorm, and by then it was too late for them to make any progress with the break-in plan. We just watched TV until 11:00 and went to sleep.
The second day, Finn went straight to work on finding the work clothes he would use, which I think only consisted of monitoring the closest plumbing contractors he found online. Percy couldn’t do anything until Graham’s mystery informant from Eclipse sent the internal maps she needed to plot her separate break-in, which didn’t arrive until late noon. She wanted me to help her plan it out because of my military experience, but most of the time I was just listening to her talk while quietly nodding.
The third day was, for the most part, analyzing the employee work schedules to find the best time to sneak in. Avoiding security was of particular importance. None of the maps for the layout of the building included anything below the third floor or above the 30th for a reason even the informant wasn’t aware of, and none of the security guards have stations, so our best chance of avoiding anyone standing in their way was diverting them somewhere else. They also couldn’t form any concrete pathway since the informant didn't specify where the cracked pipes were as per a promise of mutual secrecy to make sure we can trust each other. The informant didn’t specify the location of anything and we didn’t tell the informant what our plan was, all so Percy and Finn would be comfortable in the knowledge that they weren’t going to get jumped by guards the second they entered the building.
Everything was set by 4:00. Finn would show up at the front door disguised as a plumber just as the security guard in charge of watching surveillance left for lunch. Percy would then get inside the building through an opening in the air vents and drop into the boiler room once it was empty. Then the computer bugging begins, which will be less risky as most staff will be gone for Veterans Day. It’s an almost-perfect crime, which by the end of it may or may not unveil anything worthwhile.
They left the next day at 1:00 PM sharp, leaving me in the precarious position of being alone in an apartment with nothing to do. Three hours to burn in an empty apartment. And then we leave. Everyone’s stuff is already packed, but there was nothing I could do with it anyway. I turned the TV on to a random movie channel and sat on the couch.
Or… No. I sat… it was . . . I sat on . . . the . . .
I’m not sitting. Dammit.
But… still in the living room.
. . . .
Jesus Christ, the shower is like a fucking firehose. Who designs this shit? And where’s the fucking…?
Huh. Of course. Finn left his drinks in the fridge again.
Wait… Again?
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No, It… it was .. . …
No. No. No.
Lock the door. Lock the door. Lock the door. Lock the—
No! Fuck!
Not again!
This isn’t…… isn’t right.
The TV. I still hear it.
It’s... just some old Marvel movie. Like usual.
Nothing unusual.
It’s nothing.
It’s always nothing.
Nothing at all.
Ever.
And it never changes.
Never… changes…
Oh, please. Who the hell cares who the winner is? It’s not like it’s gonna affect any of us. Either one old man pulls us out or another old man does it. The only difference is which banner the evacuation falls under.
‘Evacuation?’
Yeah, evacuation. You don’t really think this is gonna end smoothly, do you? The military here doesn’t stand a goddamn chance. It’s gonna be utter fuckin’ chaos once they’re left to their own devices.
I guess, but the stakes are pretty damn high for them. They all remember what life was like in the 90s, do you think they’d just let that happen again? After all this time that we’ve kept them at bay?
They aren’t a fuckin’ military, man. Tell yourself otherwise all you want, but when the time comes to fight for themselves and the Taliban is showing up at their doorstep, they will fold like a piece of goddamn paper. They are nothing without us. We didn’t spend all these years teaching them to fight for themselves, and that’s exactly why they won’t.
So you’re saying we’ve just been wasting our time here. Iraq was based on a factual lie, but this was just a lie we told ourselves.
It’s the lie of the century, man. We were never gonna win this. And I think they knew that when they sent us here. Fuckin’ politicians, man. All of ‘em are bastards. Treatin' us like bullets, just loadin’ us up and shootin’ us wherever they damn well please. And we do it because they tell us to.
Brice?
Brice, are you there?
Pick the fucking phone up, goddammit!
...The phone! Shit!
Two missed calls from Graham. Fuck.
It’s ringing again.
“Graham? What the hell do you want?”
“Oh, thank fucking God. Dude, have you heard anything from Finn or Percy since they left?”
I was too disoriented to understand anything he was saying. “Have I… what?”
“Finn! And Percy! Have you fucking heard from them!”
“Uh….” I checked my notifications again. Nothing. Wait, it’s already 4:02? What the hell? “No. I haven’t.” The phone went silent, but he didn’t hang up. “What? Is something wrong?”
The sound came back. “They are still in the building, Adrian. They’re being held hostage in there.”
This was too much for my head to process. “H-hostage? Did you say ‘hostage?’”
“Yes! I said fucking hostage! They are being held hostage in the fucking building!”
“I… Wow. So what, should I go in there and get them out?”
Skyler’s voice cut in. “No, don’t do that. They almost killed Finn, and I don’t think you’ll stand any better of a chance. Just stay put for now, we’re on our way there.”
“On your way? It’s four hours to get here, how much time do they have?”
“I don’t know, but we have to regroup and think of an attack plan. We’re almost to Columbus right now, we’re going to see if Brice can help us. Just don’t try to do anything heroic in the meantime.”
“You called to tell me there was a problem, and you’re also telling me to do nothing about it?”
Graham butted back in. “Do not do anything! We will talk about this when we arrive, but please do not go there. This is way too fucking risky, and we alone cannot solve this. Stay in the apartment, and do not do anything!”
I pondered that for a moment. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I figured I would still humor him so he didn’t freak out any further. “Okay.”
“Okay. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Do not be a fucking hero.” He hung up.
To be fair to Graham, I didn’t plan on being a hero. The HQ is a 40-minute walk away, and they are more or less two hours away. That’s time that Finn and Percy may or may not have. They are obviously being kept alive as bait, and whether they have Brice’s firepower or not, they are going to walk into a trap.
Fuck it. The least I can do is buy them some time.
Sunset is in an hour. They have until at least 6:30 to get here. If Eclipse can stay distracted for long enough before they arrive… it could work.
5:20. I left a note on the front door so the others wouldn’t look for me, and left the apartment.
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