Chapter Twenty-Nine
“She’s a child. We cannot bring her into this. The world will fail to see what we are trying to do. Rather, they will only talk about how we kidnapped a child. No good can come of that. It is not even an option,” Aura protested.
Her objection seemed logical to a few, while the others disregarded the excuses thrown around because of her sentiments.
Although Aura had tried to prove a point that left the decision at a stalemate, she wondered what the others would decide.
Azid, being in the room, might as easily pursue his plans, and they would do exactly what he told them. After all, he was their unquestionable leader.
Viktoriya pressed her ear harder against the door, but the voices still made no sense. It was Aura. She heard her as her voice grew louder.
“She’s just a little girl. The world will immediately label us a terrorist group once we do this, once and for all,” Aura had argued with the team.
Viktoriya sensed the conversation was about her and
could not believe her ears. How could Aura get herself caught up with such people?
“Listen to me. The girl brought herself into this when she spied on you and exposed us to the world. What other choices do we have, then? Tell me? Her parents would do whatever we demanded in exchange for the girl’s safety,” Azid demanded.
“I am all ears,” another man barked loudly as the group entered into a shouting match.
Fear trickled down Viktoriya’s spine as she pulled away from the door. She stumbled back, still in shock from what she had heard.
Aura was one of the bad guys. She overheard it for herself.
Viktoriya whispered to herself, “Okay, this is bad. I’ve, I’ve heard enough. Aura is a bad person. We need to leave.”
“We could launch for TITAN right now. We don’t need any insurance policy or additional leverage. Kidnapping someone will escalate us as the primary target, the public target on everyone’s radar!” Aura had answered.
“Are you saying this because you’ve developed sentimental attachments to this girl?” Azid retorted.
“No. The girl means absolutely nothing to me. I do not care about her at all. I am only saying we should be logical and strategic in our approach and not draw more disastrous, devastating attention to ourselves unnecessarily.”
“We still may have the element of surprise right now, and you may have a point. If she goes missing, we would be the only suspects considered and bring more hell down on us than we can deal with. I believe… I think I agree with Aura,” Azid finished.
Hot tears burned behind Viktoriya’s eyes before finding their way down her cheeks on hearing this come from her dear friend. She began perspiring, and her heart raced.
CLEFF sensed extreme heightened distress in Viktoriya and said, “Warning! Health safety parameters exceeded. Are you all right, Viktori-Ya? My sensors have det—” he said from behind.
“Oh No, no, CLEFF!” She jumped and yelled, taken by surprise from his sudden, loud warning.
She heard the screeching of the chairs skidding on the travertine tile as one man cracked open the apartment door a bit to peer out, weapon drawn.
“Who’s that? What’s that out there?” one of them called out.
Viktoriya turned swiftly, wide-eyed, wanting nothing more now than to escape, but she tripped into the hallway table as she turned. The fall caused a hall visitor’s phone to plunge to the floor, sending another ripple of clattering noise through the air.
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Viktoriya panicked and pressed her fingers hard into her palms, jerking her head to glance at CLEFF, then at the door, and finally down the hall.
The apartment front door swung all the way open, and Aura surfaced, gazing from in-between two Argosys members at the threshold.
She froze at the sight of Viktoriya. Her jaw dropped, and for a moment, everything paused.
A white-hot flash of frigid cold shot over her entire body. She could not believe what she was witnessing.
“Absolutely not.”
“No, no, this isn’t possible.”
There was Viktoriya, staring into her eyes. She knew that look: the painful look of betrayal. In those few seconds, Aura felt a pang of guilt like she had never experienced before. It was as if her heart was about to give up on her and the sorrow was unbearable—paralyzing every inch of her, forcing her to stare at Viktoriya with regret and remorse.
Tears rolled. She broke out in a cold sweat. She hated herself for what she knew this innocent child had just been exposed to, her own harsh, destructive words that could only inflict pain and despair.
If it was possible to loath oneself more in a split second, Aura somehow did exactly that.
She watched the tender girl, who once trusted her, stare at her with caution and fear. Fear one would have only in the presence of a brutal enemy.
The look one had when they felt like they were facing certain, inescapable death.
Aura’s heart was breaking into a million and one pieces, and there was nothing she could do about it other than feel the unending quiver of shame rushing down every nerve in her body, amplifying her guilt.
Viktoriya’s gaze fixed on Aura, and the few seconds seemed like hours before she tore herself away and turned, searching for an escape, down the hallway toward the stairs.
She no longer recognized the person in front of her.
She still looked like the Aura she recognized, the one who took care of her and was her friend, but she could not possibly be the same person. She could not be the same aunt that she knew and trusted while still being a part of all this.
One man called from inside. “It’s the girl! The scientists’ girl, she’s… she’s right here!”
“Get her! She’s seen our faces and overheard our plan!” Azid called, pushing the others who stood in the way.
“Oh boy! Oh, shit!” Rebecca exclaimed. She saw things were turning really ugly, really fast, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
An apartment door opened down the hall. “Will you idiots stop shouti—Oh damn!” the man said, then saw thugs with weapons headed toward CLEFF and Viktoriya. He slammed the door closed again.
“She can’t leave. She’ll tell her parents again!” a man dressed in black, who sported a thick mustache and a British accent, said as his hand floated to the sidearm holstered on his hip.
“She’s seen our faces!”
“Emergency protocols activated. Protect Viktori-Ya Kuzland at all costs,” CLEFF began sounding.
CLEFF immediately placed an emergency call to the authorities and updated the threat level to Sev-1.
“Emergency encoded message initialized to Dr. Kuzland. Error 0X8127, Signal Corrupt, please try again in a few moments.”
CLEFF snapped into a war machine, stepping between Viktoriya and the members of Argosys.
His large body blocked Viktoriya’s view with extra armored plates unfolding from his arms, legs, and back, grabbing her as he began scanning for a safe exit.
“CLEFF, you’re hurting me!”
He spotted the stairwell at the end of the hallway. He began running toward it with Viktoriya in front of him, protecting her from behind as a sprinting shield.
“Stop pushing me; it hurts!”
The first sound of a gunshot tore through the building. The bullet ricocheted upon impact with CLEFF’s armored back. He picked Viktoriya up, lifting her tightly to his chest.
Chromium? Viktoriya thought to herself. Perhaps her parents really had created him as a protector after all, and not just a babysitter they could pawn her off to.
Three more Argosys thugs emerged from the stairwell they were fleeing toward, drawing their weapons and cutting off their exit.
CLEFF placed another emergency call to the authorities and updated the threat level to Sev-3, shots fired, armed and engaging opponents.
Alarms sounded throughout the building.
He scanned a vacant apartment coming up on their left and took cover from their shots, breaking through the door and rolling into the empty front room with Viktoriya in tow.
“Ow! You’re hurting me, CLEFF!”
The Argosys thugs had every intention of taking CLEFF down and capturing her. Viktoriya’s heart flipped in her chest, and panic overtook her mind. If ever she had ever experienced sensory overload, today was the apex.
The sight, sound, and jostling. The arrival of unwelcome guests: the reality of her impending death, gripping her soul as if her very existence was being crushed to nothing.
The Argosys team scrambled down the hall after them and into the apartment, guns drawn, each of them pressing a thick wristband, which deployed a riot-gear-sized plasma shield.
Another bullet struck CLEFF.
“What are you idiots doing?” Aura’s voice was loud and authoritative. “Don’t you dare hurt her—”
“Get the girl!” another man yelled, interrupting Aura, who continued to scream and shout.
Bullets blasted toward them.
“CLEFF!” Viktoriya shouted, struggling to be loud enough over the gunfire. She held her ears pinned to her head, trying to drown out the noise.
“Emergency protocols activated. Protect Viktori-Ya Kuzland at all costs.”