“I see. It’s disappointing that you don’t have more details,” Flora sighed and reclined on her chair. “Not that I expected a lot more. We will give you some new gear to use on the day. The plan is simple. You will go along with their plan and when you arrive at the place where the bombing will happen, you will simply trigger a transmitter and then the police will take care of the rest. You will simply need to hold out for a while.”
“Wait, we don’t even know that the plan is to blow up something. The assassination plan they told me was just to see whether I would talk. Also how would the police be able to get to the place in time? It could happen anywhere.”
“I already told you, we know they have explosives. We just need to figure out what the target is. As for the police response. You need not concern yourself, dear. You just focus on your task,” Flora said and gave a cool smile. Margit frowned, but nodded.
Margit spent the rest of the week simply going to work and sleeping in her tiny pod. The anxiety of the upcoming mission disappeared after the first day, but came back in full force a day before the arranged time. Her new transmitter was tiny and completely undetectable until she needed to trigger it. It was nothing more than a button sewed on to her underwear. Another device was attached to the label of the underwear.
She hoped that helping Flora was the right thing to do. She was kept at a distance from the others in the group, never exchanging more words than was necessary for the mission. I’m not doing it just for the promised reward.
She followed the directions and arrived at another warehouse, this time much closer to the industrial district. She was glad that at least this didn’t require an online connection, so she wasn’t bombarded with advertisements, other than the ones that existed in the physical world that is. There were people loitering around in a couple of seemingly unconnected groups all around, but as she passed them, she could feel the weight of their gazes. She knew they were Isaac’s men. She went around the back, reaching the back door. People still watched her as she knocked on the door. The hatch opened and she leaned in.
“Pureco kaj libereco en la cindro,” she said, reading from the ocular display. One of the instructions that Isaac loaded into her head was the password she needed to enter the warehouse. The hatch closed with a loud clang and soon the locks began to rattle. She passed into the hallway. The doorkeeper motioned towards what looked like a free standing door frame. Margit frowned in what she hoped looked like dissatisfaction, but her heart was beating faster. She went on with determination, only slowing down right before she went through the signal detector. She let out a sigh as if frustrated at the bureaucratic procedure, but really just trying to calm her restless heart. Her eyes were shut as she stepped through the gate. She held her breath without realising. Nothing happened. Margit stood still as if petrified. She was brought back to reality by the cough of the doorkeeper behind her. She looked back and he waved her to move on. She could already hear the bustle coming from the main hall. She walked through the dark hallway towards the light. Inside she saw people doing all kinds of final small tasks. Isaac was pacing around giving orders, but stopped as he noticed her. A wide smile split his face and he immediately made his way towards her.
“Margit, it is lovely to see you. I knew I could count on you,” he said and checked his watch. “I see you are eight minutes early. I am glad you are so eager to help the cause.”
“I see everyone else has come even earlier.”
“Oh no, these people have different tasks. They will prepare everything for you and the rest of the main team. Do not get me wrong, many of them envy your mission, but with their records, we would surely fail without setting foot near our target.”
Margit smiled, but wished she could roll her eyes. Even though she was always meant to betray Isaac, she thought he was somewhat charming in his own strange way the first time she met him. Dignified and filled with purpose. After spending days in his company the charm quickly faded. Now everything he said grated. If he truly believed in his cause she wanted to shake him and shout at him. Perhaps it is better for my sanity that he knows about the AI. After they talked she was left to wait until everyone was present. Bennet was one of her partners in this mission. She felt a bit sorry for him, as he was the only one who tried to treat her with genuine warmth. Sadly he is as insane as any of them. The wait was over and Isaac addressed all of them together.
“You eight are our champions. You are the ones who will carry our hopes and bring us one step closer to our final goal,” he spoke in a dramatic fashion. He gestured to the eight briefcases next to his feet. “These are the instruments of our salvation. You will each take one and move to the next location.” He plugged a flash drive into the port in the side of the head of each of the champions. “Each one of you must follow the route strictly.” He smiled, nodded and left without saying another word.
They all looked at each other and stood still for a moment. Bennet was the first to snap out of it and picked up his briefcase. He looked back and winked at the others, which sprung them into motion. After picking up their packages they all headed out into the streets, scattering in different directions. Margit looked back and saw that Bennet was walking ten metres behind her. He gave a furtive nod and took a sharp turn into a different street. Margit went on, following the red line that she saw drawn over the streets. She crossed over into the industrial district. None of the others were in sight. For once she she didn’t dare to take side alleys to avoid the bustle of the streets. The plan seemed to be calculated to the minute.
The people on these streets were lively, either hurrying on some task or enjoying their free time. The despair from the poor districts wasn’t visible at the first glance even if a lot of these people actually lived there. The only constant between all the districts were the Abelos. They always looked and acted the same, following some protocols implanted in their synthetic brains.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Before she was able to get lost in her thoughts, she arrived at her destination. It was a bar that occupied a corner of a larger building. She blinked in surprise, but the directions were clear. She entered. The inside of the bar seemed like it belonged to a different time period. Everything was made of carved wood. It wasn’t really wood, but plastic, made to look like the real thing. She made her way to the counter. Without any real experience with bars, which were all an expense she couldn’t afford, she approached the counter, hesitating slightly along the way. The barkeep shot her an uninterested glance, but did a double take upon noticing her briefcase. He waited for Margit to reach him and nodded toward a back room. Inside four of the other champions, Isaac and some others were already waiting. They all sat in silence until the final accomplice arrived some minutes later.
“Now that we are finally all here we must discuss the plan. All you champions will carry your packages inside the Beguin chemical facility. The targets will be some of the laboratories and support systems. This will trigger a reaction that will take down the entire building, but we will still destroy the main laboratory even if that fails for some reason. This place represents the corruption that plagues us. You will get the update route plan before you leave. The timers on the briefcases are set to thirty minutes,” Isaac talked and everyone listened in total silence. He showed them how to activate the timers and warned them to leave as soon as they are done, unless they want to witness their victory first hand. When they were all ready he motioned to some of the others, that were present. They brought forth eight bags and placed each in front of one of the champions. “Put these on. These uniforms along with identification badges will enable you to pass freely through Beguin.
Margit swallowed, she finally knew the target, but until they reached the facility she was unable to inform Flora or the police. I just hope they make it in time. I might need to set off some alarm so that people evacuate if they don’t show up. I won’t survive this. She clenched her fist. They better be monitoring me somehow, the bastards. All of them stood up and took their uniforms. They changed clothes right there. Margit turned herself towards the wall. Even if the transmitter looked like a button, it was still better that no one noticed it.
“Now now, there is no reason to feel embarrassed Margit, we are all family now,” Isaac said, but then chuckled and left her alone.
After they were all prepared they received the new instructions and left after one last speech by their leader. They left using the employee exit and once again scattered in different directions. Margit nervously felt for the transmitter as she walked. She looked around and almost jumped as she saw Bennet right behind her. He winked and started walking right next to her. Apparently they would enter Beguin in pairs. It didn’t matter since she would be able to trigger the transmitter stealthily.
Side by side they finally reached the target. Isaac never even told us what they do here. Does the fool even know? They entered the building. She could just see another pair of their companions go around a corner. She exchanged glances with Bennet. They both displayed the identification badges on their chests, making sure they were visible, but trying not to face anyone long enough that they would bother looking at what was written on them. They were apparently real badges according to Isaac, but they didn’t want to find out the opinion of the employees in their current position. Margit triggered the transmitter almost immediately after entering the building. She and Bennet walked on through the hallway with the determination of a section chief preparing to give the workers a stern talk after another missed deadline. Only as they were nearing the final destination, the final instructions turned up in Margit’s display. The two briefcases needed to be linked together in order to prime the explosive. Each on its own would likely not register automatically as dangerous on most scans. She looked over at Bennet and to her surprise his regular cheerful energy was gone. He had an intense look in his eyes. Did the implication of what we’re about to do finally reach your mind, or are you just nervous that we will fail?
They passed the door to one of the larger laboratories. They would plant the explosives right beyond the next turn, where a maintenance shaft was accessible. Just before they reached the turn, a door opposite of the laboratory opened suddenly and slammed into Bennet, who was knocked down and dropped his briefcase. He let out a grunt, accompanied by Margit’s surprised squeak.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention. Are you all right? Let me help you up,” one of the two people who came out of the door said and rushed to Bennet’s side, trying to help him back to his feet.
“It’s fine,” Bennet responded and got up on his own. “You just caught me off guard.”
“I really am sorry,” the man said and bowed. “Mr E-” he said, looking up to Bennet’s identification badge. Just as he began saying the name, he suddenly stopped and colour drained from his face. “You’re not. You. Who are you,” he said with a stutter. “He’s gone, I-”
Before he was able to conclude his thought, both Margit and Bennet sprung into action simultaneously. The two employees didn’t even have time to scream before they both lay sprawled across the floor. Bennet was breathing heavily.
“We need to get rid of them,” he said, looking around for possible alarm.
“You’re right, let’s try to drag them to the maintenance shaft and tie them up,” Margit replied.
“No, that’s not good. We need to kill them. Otherwise they will expose us and we will fail. I can’t let them catch me,” he panicked and spoke fast.
“All right calm down. Let’s do it. You take that big one and I’ll take the woman.” Her words seemed to calm Bennet down. He waited and she gestured towards the unconscious man. He turned and walked towards him. Margit also went towards her target and reached for the label of her underwear. Then she quietly changed course and surreptitiously crept behind Bennet. As he bent over, she reached towards him and jammed a flash drive into the side of his head. He simply slumped over the body of the other man. “Sorry Bennet, I tried to avoid this. Still, this way you might make it out of this alive if they manage to stop us in time.” She checked on the other two unconscious people. They were breathing but wouldn’t get up for a couple of minutes. She dragged Bennet aside and leant him on the wall, then put the two briefcases in his lap. Finally, she tore off his identification badge, bent it in half and put it on a briefcase. “So long.” She realised she had little time, but didn’t know what to do.
She went back towards the lobby. I will just cause a scene, maybe it will be enough. She stopped. She ran back and grabbed the two briefcases and hurried back. This will do. She ground her teeth and continued to the lobby. All the hallways were completely silent. She turned a corner and gasped as she was smashed into the wall and dropped the briefcases. Despite the pain she still thought it was interesting that the people aiming weapons at her were wearing the same specialist uniforms as some of the police officers from Isaac’s test. She was held to the wall for a couple of seconds, though it seemed like minutes to her. The masked men exchanged quick looks and one of them nodded. The man holding her eased his grasp, tore off her badge and pushed her in the direction of the lobby, but not roughly. She walked back in solitude. All the doors were closed and she heard no sounds. The first people she met were the officers that stood at the front door. Her exit didn’t provoke any reaction from them at all.