Hundreds of miles above the planet, an arrow of ceramic coated titanium the size of a tree trunk drifted in the void. The drone’s debris cloud that had hidden it during the interplanetary coast had dispersed. The planet’s tracking stations had so many pieces to track, and were too distracted by the need to co-ordinate a nightmarish number of satellite maneuvers, that they didn’t look too closely.
An electromagnetic pulse flashed up from the planet below, and discreet thrusters puffed gas, twisting the pylon against the starry backdrop. Once it had attained its final alignment, a recessed engine fired towards the planet, slowing the missile into a long, graceful dive into the atmosphere. Alarm stations across Xīn lù wailed desperate calls to action, but nothing short of a missile cruiser stood a chance of arresting the unfolding ballet of forces.
The pylon entered the atmosphere and glowed brilliant white as it streaked through the atmosphere like a meteor. Travelling fifteen miles every second, the pylon’s onboard computer steered it into the vehicle compound of the campus’s security response team. It impacted with the force of an extremely large bomb, destroying half of the building, and killing many of those inside. While VennZech security teams across the campus radioed desperately for a sitrep, most began moving to the site of the impact. For the survivors inside, the next hour would be spent crawling their way out of the rubble and seeking medical attention for their substantial wounds.
Jack felt the blast as a thump in his gut, while a cloud of dust dislodged from the cell walls. Riley kept the façade perfectly, looking around with a startled wariness. As alarms blared out, Rayker scowled at both of them before darting out of the cell.
The security guard tried to pull the cell door closed behind them, but Riley leapt up, pulling hard on the metal lip. The guard stumbled into the cell and went still as he took a boot kick to the head. They waited breathlessly, listening to the distant alarms and panicked voices. Fortunately, nobody else had been left to take care of them.
Riley grabbed the guard’s keys. “Let’s move,” he hissed.
“Storage box first—I need my phone.” Jack said.
Riley managed to knock out the lone guard at the security booth without much noise, and they found their confiscated effects, including Riley’s gun, in a plastic box on the desk. Following the plan they had spent weeks piecing together, they made their way through empty maintenance corridors until they reached the building’s main lobby. They watched through the window of a security door as scientists raced around in confusion, some bleeding from minor cuts to their exposed skin, while others gawped in shock at the shattered glass of the lobby’s multi-story windows.
“Come on Teddy,” Riley breathed, as they watched anxiously for the next step to unfold.
In the campus’ main building, the security dispatcher quickly figured out what had happened and tried to contact the state’s police force for support. She found to her shock that the campus’ phone and backup lines had been severed, while their cellular signals were being jammed. She ran outside to her truck and froze, watching in horror as a group of vehicles raced up to the campus’ main gate.
Theodore and his men swarmed the main security checkpoint, firing silenced weapons and killing the defenders easily. The Fenway men grabbed their radios, and some began to don their uniforms, as they transmitted confusing messages to the rest of the security force. Working from the communication protocols that Jack had shown them, they were able to quickly put an end to any hysterical rumors that an attack was underway. They told anyone on the channel that the news media was reporting a freak meteor impact.
While he left a rear security team to protect their exit, Theodore and the rest of his men made straight for a dull grey building in the near corner of the campus, where the facilities’ physical backup drives were located. They swept inside, shooting dead the few guards who resisted. A block of plastic explosives knocked down the access door to the main storage hangar. Theodore gave another command, and after they donned gas masks, a few of the men tossed canisters inside the room.
Back at the Advanced Sciences building, Jack nearly cheered as thick metal shutters slammed down across the doors and windows, sealing the building off from the guards who had raced outside to see what was happening.
“Environmental lock down,” he said, in an almost boastful tone. “I told you the nerve gas would be worth it.”
Riley only grunted. Jack produced his phone and waved it over the lobby entrance’s electronic lock. With a buzz the door popped open. They passed unnoticed by the research staff, who had begun to wander aimlessly through the building, stopping for confused conversation informed only by guesswork.
Despite his new workout routine, Jack struggled to keep up with the fitter, faster Riley, who had hidden his gun in his waistband. They followed a carefully memorized path through the facility, Jack unlocking security doors when necessary. Most of the security guards had abandoned their posts when they heard about the impact.
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When the pair reached a chokepoint blocked by meandering bodies, Riley took a quick look around before yelling “Security! Make a hole!” and driving through the compliant crowd. Jack looked away as he followed, trying not to meet the desperate eyes pleading for information.
Eventually they reached the high-security underground floors that housed the device and stopped short when they saw that a security checkpoint was still manned ahead of them.
“Listen,” Riley said as he paused to recover his breath. “I know you’re no good in a fight. But if you can just grab the one on the left and keep him busy, I should be able to take care of the rest of them.”
Jack nodded and offered a silent prayer to whoever was listening as Riley strode forward, both hands in the air, and called out to the guards.
“Guys! Special Branch!” he called, invoking the elite police unit that operated on Xīn lù. “Hey!” he called again, while the security team remained distracted with their equipment.
“Guys, are your radios down?” Riley asked.
He spoke with such honest concern that Jack almost thought he would try and bluff their way through. The time it took for the guards to articulate a response allowed him to close the distance to them. Then, in a fast and fluid motion, reached his hands into his belt, withdrew the pistol, aimed and fired.
Jack stopped thinking, lunging for the leftmost guard and catching him in his mid-section. They went down to the ground, and Jack tried to punch his way through the man’s scrambling arms. He was barely cognizant of the gunshots and falling bodies, and when he saw the guard produce a knife from his chest rig, he nearly panicked.
He caught the rising arm, trying to hold it still whilst his fingers grabbed at the man’s face. Somehow, the stronger opponent had managed to wrap his legs around Jack’s body. In a confused moment he was thrown sideways, laying on his back while the man leaned over him, knife raised in the air. His expression was fierce and determined, and Jack thought he had no chance against the trained professional. Then the man’s face exploded outwards, spraying blood and brain matter over him. When Jack wiped away the gore, he saw Riley standing nearby, smoking pistol pointed at the ceiling.
“You good?”
Jack’s head spun. “I think so.”
“Get up, then.”
As he hauled himself up on shaking legs, Jack noticed a spreading blood stain in Riley’s shirt.
Seeing his expression, the wounded man nodded. “I’ll be alright, provided we can get out of here on time.”
He turned away, heading off down the corridor. A thought burrowed its way into Jack’s consciousness. He needed a weapon he could hide. It was an instinct he had never paid much attention to, but now it was screaming at him. Unable to resist, Jack quickly bent down and grabbed his attacker’s knife, tucking it into his belt beneath his shirt where Riley wouldn’t see it. Then he raced to catch up.
Inside the subterranean research area, they quickly found the laboratory containing the device. Scientists and technicians fled as Riley fired gunshots into the air, but caught in a panic, some had trapped themselves in their offices. Riley selected one and kicked the door down. He strode inside and pointed his pistol at the cowering men and women.
“Hey—” Jack began, unsure what the psychopath was about to do, but Riley cut him off.
“This is not a shooting spree,” he called loudly. “This is a robbery, and we are here for the device. None of you have to die if you do not get in our way!” He pointed his gun at one of the scientists. “You, get up. Come here!”
Voices wailed as the man staggered to his feet and walked over on shaking legs.
“Where’s the team leader?” Riley demanded; gun still aimed at the man’s head.
Jack wasn’t sure if he should intervene, then reminded himself that VennZech security guards had already died getting in their way. It was true they had been armed and would have resisted, but… He pushed the thought aside, knowing he would be having a heavy discussion with Urtiga if he survived.
The scientist didn’t answer, and Riley stepped closer to him, putting the muzzle of his weapon underneath the man’s quivering jaw.
“Your life means nothing to me,” Riley explained carefully. “I will kill you, and anyone else I need to, until I get what I want. One last time—where is your team leader?”
The scientist broke, turning and searching with his eyes, then pointing to a desk beneath which a pair of legs were almost hidden. Riley punched the scientist hard, knocking him unconscious, then strode over to the desk. He dragged the weeping woman out into the open, then lead her out of the office and over towards the sealed laboratory that contained their goal, as Jack followed helplessly.
“Watch the others,” Riley instructed him.
Jack turned back hesitantly, but a helpless anger that he could not keep an eye on the unpredictably dangerous man was beginning to take over his thoughts.
“You have a loading bay beneath this level,” Riley explained to the lead research. “No! Get up!” he yelled, as the hapless woman began to sink to the ground, her legs unable to support herself. “I promise that I won’t kill you, but I will kill every one of your colleagues until you do what I say. Understand?”
The woman nodded, and Riley continued his instructions, describing how they needed her to move the device onto the material transport elevator, then load it into one of the waiting trucks. It took nearly ten nail-biting minutes to make this happen, as the researcher was required to electronically authorize each step in the transportation process. Once it was done, Riley lead her back to the office, threw her inside, and—to Jack’s immense relief—locked the door.
“Hey, grab that access card!” he yelled at Jack.
Jack looked around and saw the card on the floor nearby. A shiver ran up his spine as some dormant part of his mind insisted that he hadn’t seen it there on the way in. And what did Riley need it for, anyway?
“Let’s go!” Riley yelled as he moved closer.
Jack knelt down, reaching forward for the card. He caught the movement of shadow in his peripheral vision, and he swung without thinking, the guard’s knife clutched firmly in his grip. He heard a tear and a yell, and he whirled around to see Riley recoiling, blood on his arm.
The man looked at him with shock, and Jack dove forward as the gun came up, knocking it away. Then they were on the floor, and Jack was smashing his fists down with all his might, until the clawing arms went limp.
He felt a surge of adrenaline and wondered where the sudden flash of insight had come from. Had Riley really wanted to kill him? Thinking quickly, he searched the man’s jacket and found a second phone. He activated the device, and his hands shook as he realized that it was a blank, with no user identity or access protection. It only contained a single contact—Theodore.
Jack picked the gun up, checked the magazine and the chamber, then sat down opposite his newest enemy and waited.