Chapter Thirty-Nine
Zella Mills - Solaria Del Sur, Naguela
From the rooftop of a venue-for-hire, Zella had a panoramic view of the city, eagerly scanning the area for Chi. Music and laughter filled the air as the second day of the festival came alive. The sounds of booming basslines reached her, while on the front side of the street, a symphony of cheers and chatter could be heard.
Chi and Zella had agreed on the back alleyway as their meeting point. The venue-for-hire and the businesses surrounding it were closed during the festival, resulting in significantly less foot traffic in the alley. Zella checked the time on her phone. Chi was late.
She was just about to dial her number when the call came through. “Where are you, Chi?”
“Meet me on Flor de la Vida. There’s a vacant parking lot behind the foreclosed building. You can’t miss it.”
“You can’t change the location at the last minute.” The line went dead. Zella typed the name of the street into the phone, seething. Flor de la Vida was a five-minute walk away. Why are you switching up on me? Zella could no longer trust Chi, and having no backup made her vulnerable.
She stepped down the ladder at the back of the building and headed for the new location, watching her surroundings closely as she walked, only glimpsing the GPS screen once she reached the end of each road. She crossed the street at Aguas Divinas, the road giving an incredible sea view. The Ferris wheel arched over the tranquil beach. The same Ferris wheel she had stupidly made out with Joe under the night before.
Minutes later, she stepped into the vacant parking lot, where she saw Chi waiting next to the ticket machine. “Scoping me out from the top of a building,” Chi said, as Zella came closer. “You still don’t trust me.”
“You saw me?”
“My spy drone did,” Chi said.
“And that’s why you changed the location?”
“That, and the fact the drone also caught the shooters you have hiding around the area. Are they yours or Raul’s men?”
“Shooters? What are you talking about?” Zella asked. “I don’t have anyone but my 40 Cal.”
“Then Raul doesn’t trust either of us,” Chi replied.
“I don’t know what he’s thinking, but can you blame him after you stole his prototype?” Zella pursed her lips, realizing Chi wasn’t carrying it in her hands.
“Glad I did. We pulled some solid leads with it, Z.”
“I bet you did.”
Chi tilted her head, staring into Zella’s eyes. “You feel some sense of loyalty to Raul, I get that. But think about this, we could keep the prototype for ourselves. Both Solace and the Phantoms could use it. We’ll go off grid so nobody can find us.”
Zella shut her eyes, shaking her head with disappointment. “How are we going to go off the grid? That thing works off the back of some hub in Antarctica. Have you considered what would happen if they shut that down? Or used it as a way to trace you?”
“That’s something I’ve considered,” Chi said. “My people can fix that. We’d need to change the mainframe to work on less superior technology. It means the thing would run much slower than it does now. But we could mimic the core functionality.”
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Zella heaved; her mind exhausted from previous events. “Chi, just hand over the thing, and let’s get this over with. You ripped the source code already. That’s more than enough.”
Chi tapped something on her wrist. Zella’s eyes searched around, her ears listening for any sign of an ambush. A drone flew into the car park a moment later, its legs hooked around the handle of the EnigmaCore briefcase. “Z, you’ll never guess what I pulled from this thing.”
“What’s that?” she asked, watching the drone descend next to Chi.
Chi took the handle of the briefcase and slowly stepped towards Zella. “I might have scored the name of a person inside the six families.”
“How’d you do that?”
“This thing can fast-track the hacking process. We looked into a ton of shell companies that we already know are laundering money for world elites. One of the on-paper CEO’s at a shell company was dumb enough to have an email thread stashed, bragging about how he stole millions from the six families without them noticing.”
“I guess it’s easy to steal from billionaires when they have more money than they can monitor,” Zella said.
Chi stepped in front of her, gazing up into her eyes. Zella stared back into red, bloodshot orbs. Chi raised her hand, offering Zella the briefcase. “Emerson Price.”
Zella took the briefcase into her possession, bracing it tightly. “Emerson Price?”
“That’s the name we got. We believe he represents one of the six families. I finally have a lead. It wouldn’t be possible without you, Z. Tonight, I’m grateful.”
“I did nothing.”
“You did more than you know.” Chi backed away and tapped a few buttons on her smartwatch. The drone flew away moments later. “Call Raul and tell his men to stand down. M16s and AR10s are overkill for one hacker.”
“If you know Raul like I do, those guns are normal under any circumstance.”
“Goodbye, Z,” Chi said, walking backward to the other side of the car park, unwilling to turn her back. “When you’re ready to shift the status quo, find me.”
*
Zella dialed Raul’s number on her walk back towards the beach. The festivities were amping up now. Music, cheers, and chatter filled the air. The Ferris wheel spun in the distance. Raul didn’t answer. She suddenly felt alone. The weight of what she carried in her hands hit her. The sooner she was relieved of it, the better.
A sharp, piercing whistle sliced through the air. Zella thought it was too early for fireworks. She stumbled, feeling shockwaves shoot through the ground from a terrifying blast. From the once beautiful view at Aguas Divinas, the Ferris wheel could be seen bursting into flames. Puffs of smoke surrounded the peer. People screamed, scattering like ants at the sight of danger. Another loud blast hit somewhere that Zella couldn’t see, her view obstructed by the array of buildings to her right. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and all logical thought abandoned her. She was at a crossroads, with no clear idea of what action to take or which way to turn.
A crowd of people rushed towards her. As she contemplated how to assist others in this situation, she couldn’t help but feel unprepared, unlike her previous successful rescue mission in Costaluna.
Her phone blared. Raul was calling her back. “Zella!”
“Raul!”
“Where are you?” he asked.
She dashed away from the stampede of people heading her way. “Aguas Divinas. Do you have any transport? We have to help people.”
“Do you have the EnigmaCore?” he asked.
“I’m holding it.”
“Head for the Apollo carriageway. I have a convoy with me. We need that tech, Zella. We cannot let the Estreans get it.”
“B-but.” Zella didn’t know what she wanted to say. She knew the prototype was the last thing on her mind.
“There's already rescue teams, Z. Troops are swarming in. Just get the tech to us. Go!”
The line went dead. Zella watched parents pushing their children ahead of them as they fled up the hill. Quick bursts of gunfire struck a group of teenagers behind them.
Zella pulled her 40 Cal from its holster with her free hand. The horrific crack of a sniper rifle echoed in the air, and several people collapsed, some in fear, one in death. Zella dipped low in response, aiming to creep out of sight. A lone gunman carrying a submachine gun stepped out from the west side of the street, firing on innocent people. Zella took aim, waited for a clear shot, and fired just above his vest. The gunman fell to the ground, immediately swallowed by the stampede of people rushing past.
Zella was nearly tackled off her feet as a group of people pushed her, believing she had been the one to murder the innocent victims. “I’m trying to help,” she cried out. It took another crack from the sniper rifle before they let her go and scattered into the alleyways heading east.
She waved her pistol, checking for gunmen before heading east herself, holding the briefcase firmly in her grip. It occurred to her as she ran that the shooters Chi’s drone had picked up were not Raul’s men. They had been Estreans. They’d been sitting in the buildings waiting for the missile strikes to hit. Naguela was under attack, and she only hoped that Naguelean forces could respond fast enough.
To be continued!