Chapter Four
"The night is a skin pulled over the head of day so that the day may be in torment."
--Djuna Barnes(1892-1982)
Mauss Chemicals Complex
Bellevue, Seattle
April 3, 2059
8:50 pm
Lenny looked out the windshield of the Bison to see the complex looming in the skylight of Seattle. The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, bathing the city in an strange darkness that was the night. The sharp shadows and glowing lights gave the complex a gothic appearance. It reminded Lenny of something from an old horror flick he had seen.
The complex was quite large, covering nearly three blocks of Seattle property. The outside perimeter was surrounded by a four meter high ferrocrete wall that looked strong enough to deflect a speeding Banshee. From the maps the group had obtained, Lenny learned that there are only three gates in the wall. One was the main gate, located on Calgary Boulevard at the south end. This one was the most heavily guarded. Records showed that it was used by all of the people who live at the complex and as well as a few special guests. There was a guard station there with a link to the main guard building. The second gate was on north end, on 48th Street. It stood as an exact duplicate of the main gate. However, there wasn't as much security and many VIPs arrived through this gate. The third gate stood on the east side, on Frankfort Avenue. It was this entrance that gave Lenny the inspiration for a plan. This gate was suppose to be used only by employees and service crews.
The Bison rumbled up to the service entrance. Lenny had made sure that Riggs repainted the van with a peel-away polymer. Instead of the van's former black and gray colors, it was now red and dark blue. Also a sign had been attached to the side that read "S & Y Power Associates" where the S stood for Seattle and the Y represented Yamatetsu. The rest of the team wore orange and blue jumpsuits advertising the company that provided power and dataline services to most of Bellevue. Lenny himself sported a distinctive blue and orange hat with a name-tag attached in the center.
A well armed guard stepped up to Lenny's window as Riggs nudged the Bison to a stop next to the gate. The guard was an Amerindian looking fellow with deep red skin and hard features. Lenny figured that Mauss Chemicals would have guards of a better than average caliber.
"Your reason for being here, sir?" The guard asked in a harsh voice that was trying to be polite.
"Howdy, my friend." Lenny tipped the bill of his cap at the guard. "I got a work order that says me and my crew have got to do a dataline check on a local grid." Lenny lifted a datapad and punched a few buttons, trying to act like he didn't know what he was doing.
"One second." The guard scrolled down an appointment paper on a clipboard. After a few seconds his finger stopped about halfway down the page. "S & Y Power Associates?"
"Yeah, that'll be us."
"A little late for this kind of work, isn't it?"
"I ain't complaining cause I'm getting overtime for this." Lenny shrugged. "Besides, when a place like this reports a problem, the boss makes us get on it."
The guard seemed hesitant. "One second, sir." He turned to a small telecom booth that was set into the wall. "Don't move." He said back as he punched in a number that was listed next to his appointment sheet. It was the number to call into S & Y Associates dispatching office.
Lenny watched him with an uncaring eye. He knew that the group had spent more that enough time planning this to get caught so quickly. He had Tart to implant the appointment the day before. In preparation of the guard confirming the order, she had also come up with a way to fool him.
A few guards milled around the van. Lenny knew they that could not submit him to a search because he wasn't on extraterritorial property. That thought was a little helping. The rest of the group sat quietly in back, not making a sound.
The guard finished typing in the number and waited for the other line to pick up.
"S & Y Power Associates dispatching office." The voice of a somewhat older woman came over the line. "How may I help you?"
"Yes," The guard started, glancing back at the van. "I've got one of your repair crews down here at Meridith Moore Condominium. I need a confirmation on this crew."
"Yes, sir." The voice stated. "There should be a chief coordinator with the crew. Ask him for his work orders."
"One moment." He stated before walking back over to the van and approaching Lenny.
Lenny looked relaxed and calm. He didn't feel any pressure as he eased into his part.
"You the crew chief?" The guard asked.
"That's me, Eddie Sanchez." Lenny gave a modest point at the nametag on his cap.
"Work order." The gaurd's voice was hollow and harsh.
Lenny handed him the datapad.
The guard took it with a crisp motioning and stepped back to the telecom.
"I've got the work order."
"Okay, sir." The voice continued. "There will be a work order code at the top of the main screen. Please repeat the code to me."
"Alright." The guard flipped to the main screen on the datapad. "Code is 6673BL."
"One second," There was a brief pause in the line. "That is a confirmed work code, sir. Chief Sanchez and his crew are to investigate a problem with the datalines originating from the west end of the condominium complex. Estimated repair time is four hours."
"Okay, thank you."
"It's our job to help you." The voice replied.
The guard disconnected the call. At the same time, halfway across the sprawl, Lori disconnected the voice modulator from the telecom. She gave a thin smile, the ruse had worked.
The guard shuffled back to Lenny and handed the datapad back to him. "Everything seems to be in order." The guard explained. "You want the westside of the complex? That's the parking garage."
Lenny nodded.
"You know where the datalines are? Underground running beneath the building."
Lenny snorted. "I should hope I know where the things are. Otherwise I'm not doing my job."
The guard motioned them through as the gate opened. Riggs moved the Bison slowly through the man gates and into the complex. This was it, there was no turning back now. Everyone in the van knew it. They had reached the point of no return.
The inside of the complex looked like a person had stepped into another world. Green grass grew in small plots as tall palm trees towered above a sanitary looking pool and tennis court. The inside was also surprisingly roomy. Quite a change from the cluttered sprawl. There were only three buildings. One was the guard building that was located just inside from the north main gate. During preparation for the run, Gideon had discovered that this was where the complex's security condition is monitored. He also found out that there was a small bunkhouse connected to it for the guards to sleep on long shifts. The second building that towered over the guard station was the parking garage. It was located on the west side of the complex. An enclosed catwalk that leads to the condo building. The catwalk was elevated thirty feet from the ground and brightly lighted so that it illuminated the ground beneath it. It was made entirely of glass. The garage had four levels above ground and one below. From the blueprints, there were three entrances to the parking garage. One was for valet parking located in the middle of the building, one for cars going in located on the north end, and one for leaving cars on the south end. The main apartment tower was just opposite of the garage. The catwalk ran directly into the second floor. This was their destination, though there would be definite trouble in getting there.
"We're passing the guard house." Riggs reported, happy to once again be jacked into the vehicle. He had to remove the jack from his temple when they were at the gate. Lenny had thought that seeing a lowly repair crew driver rigging a vehicle would look suspicious.
Gideon peered out the armored glass on his side of the van. He could see guards milling about near the station. From the information that Tart recovered from the Matrix, the team knew that there were close to three dozen guards. However, with such a large area to cover, they would only have to worry about a portion of them.
"Take the main entrance into the garage." Lenny instructed.
"We've got a narrow window." Gideon rumbled. "No room for frag-ups."
"I can just feel it," Riggs mumbled. "They didn't buy the story about the power company, they've got us made. They're probably thinking about how to surround the garage when we go inside."
"Enough of that talk, Riggs." Lenny spoke harshly, reminding the rigger who was leading this escapade. "Pull us inside and into the basement level."
Riggs seemed to hesitate, his catatonic eyes staring off into the distance. "Okay, boss, but I don't like it." He said, moving the Bison into position.
Lenny gave a casual wave at the parking attendants as they past, two young men in snappy red coats looking all to eager for their job. Lenny thought that the two of them had it made. They had a chance to drive some of the hottest cars around and not have to pay for gas or insurance.
Shard's eyes focused back on the physical plane. "Everything looks okay, Lenny. There are a few watchers roaming around the perimeter, but I think they are looking for anyone who tries to make it over the wall. They won't be a problem to us."
"Nothing around the condoplex?"
"Not that I could tell."
Riggs pulled the Bison into the lower level. Bright lights bathed the level in daylight. There were only a few cars parked here. Most of them belonged to workers and security personal. There were stickers on the outside of the windows of most of the vehicles, indicating the owner's jobs. Some were red, indicating guards. Others were bright yellow which meant they belonged to workers. Resident stickers were green.
"Around this next bend is the access tunnel." Riggs informed as he brought the Bison around a sharp curve. He parked the rumbling monolith next to a metal covering that concealed the access tunnel that ran underneath the garage.
Lenny stood up and pulled out a bag of his gear marked with his name. "Everybody out."
The runners filed out in a practiced fashion. As Lenny leaped out the passenger door, he noticed a video camera high on the ceiling. It was recording them. Lenny knew that the guards watching the monitors could see him. He had asked that Tart leave this camera clear because the guards needed to see that the supposed work crew was doing it's job. It would matter because soon they would be in the tunnel.
Gideon, wearing a glove to cover the chrome hand the protruded out of his jumpsuit, pulled the cover off the tunnel, revealing a dark passageway.
"Alright, let's get the air line going." Lenny said in pretense.
"Yes, fearless leader." Smiley said as he picked up his bag and climbed down the rungs on the side of the tunnel. When he reached the bottom he pulled out a handful of glowsticks. He tore the end of each one of them, letting them give off a ghostly glow. He proceeded down the tunnel, tossing the glowing sticks around. This provided enough light to work by.
Shard and Nightsky unfolded a long hose from the back of the Bison and rolled it down the tunnel. The hose wasn't connected to anything, but it was suppose to look like the air hose of a work crew.
"Watch yourself out here, shorty." Gideon snorted to Riggs.
"I bet you guys run into a gator down there." Riggs retorted. "If you do, save me the skin."
The ork grumbled something to low to make out and lowered himself down. Nightsky handed five duffle bags down to Gideon. Then he followed.
Shard stared around for a few more moments. "Lenny?"
"Yeah?"
"I was wondering."
"What about?"
She smiled, staring at the floor. "You don't trust her?"
"The Johnson?"
Shard nodded, she wanted to be sure. The two of them had spoken about Mrs. Johnson before, but Shard wanted to hear Lenny say what she wanted to hear.
Lenny found it a hard question to answer. He knew that he choice in words would affect Shard's performance. She might worry about it or she might put it out of mind. There was no way to tell. Fortunately, words was his speciality. "As much as I would trust anyone else." He replied.
Shard seemed to think about his response for a second, rolling the words over and over again. She took a few steps up to Lenny and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Be careful." She said, and headed down the tunnel.
Lenny felt a bit flushed, he didn't know why. Shard had never done anything like that before. It was unusual to see it from her, someone who always seemed to be living on the high end of life and enjoying the best kinds of people. Lenny was far from the best.
"Wahoo." Riggs gloated after Shard had left. "Looks like Shard's got the eye for you."
Lenny couldn't tell if he was serious or only kidding. "What makes you think that?"
"Oh, I can tell." Riggs said. "I got a nose for these things."
Lenny dropped his bag down the open hole. "With the size of your nose, Riggs, I figure its got its own talents."
"Hey?! Is that an insult, cause I think you just insulted me?"
"Take it whichever way you want."
"Then I'll take it as an insult."
Lenny took a few steps down the rungs. "If it makes you feel better."
"It does."
"Okay, your way." Lenny disappeared from sight with that.
Riggs sat a few moments more. He ran down his sensors and quietly deployed his microskimmer when the camera wasn't looking. Suddenly, his eyes snapped wide open.
"Wait a minute!" He said in amazement. "I don't like being insulted!"
9:13 pm
Lenny hit the bottom of the tunnel with a dull thud. He immediately found his bag and stripped out of his jumper and put on an armored jacket. He stuffed the jumper back into the bag. If the plan went perfectly, the team would be able to sneak back into the jumpers on the way out and drive off without anyone being the wiser. Sadly, this would only work if everything went perfectly according to plan. In either case, Riggs would come down the tunnel in a few minutes to retrieve the bags. He would still leave the jumpers, though. This action gave the appearance that the crew was doing work because they would see people going in and out the tunnel every few minutes. That was the plan.
The rest of the group were already suited up and ready for action. Gideon and Smiley were nearly thirty meters up the tunnel. Shard and Nightsky were next to the rungs when Lenny dropped down. Both runners were ready for action. Shard looked drastically different. She wore a dull brown lined coat, one that didn't suit her sharp features at all. Jewels, normally dangling on the outside, had been stuffed into the coat's pockets. She also wore a black jumper that had a stiff ballistic weave. It wasn't much protection, but it would help. Nightsky wore a dark red long coat with body armor beneath it. The light, form fitting armor helped to keep him cool as well as safe. He had two firearms in cross-draw holsters and a monosword sheathed across his back.
The three of them proceeded wordlessly town the access corridor. Lenny was in lead with Nightsky bringing up the rear. After about thirty meters, they ran into Gideon and Smiley. The two of them were contending with their first obstacle of the night.
The access tunnel lead all the way from the garage into the basement of the condoplex. The tunnel was nearly four meters tall, but less than half of that wide. The walls were covered with pipes and datalines, connecting the complex to the rest of the sprawl. This further reduced the space between walls. A metal barrier fifteen centimeters thick blocked the passage before it left the garage. It was there mainly to keep intruders and devil rats from getting into the basement of the condoplex. At the edge of the property, a much thicker wall was in place to keep anybody from using the tunnels to get inside the perimeter. Those barriers would require nothing less of C-4 to get past.
Gideon sized up the wall. "Looks like it's steel." He commented.
"Heh." Smiley smirked. "We almost didn't find it." He said as Lenny came up behind him.
Lenny took one look at the barrier, then looked insistently at Gideon. "Burn it."
Gid nodded and pulled a small cylinder form his armored jacket. Lenny motioned at the others to put on respirators and eye protection as the ork twisted the cap. Blazing sparks of fire spurted out the end as the white phosphorus was ignited. The ork lowered a pair of goggles over his eyes and stepped up to the steel wall. He placed the blazing end of the cylinder against the barrier, squeezing the end as he made a lazy outline for a door. The phosphorus took a few times to burn it's way through, but it managed. Lenny knew that the fumes that the cylinder was giving off would normally set off smoke alarms. Fortunately Tart was in the Matrix. She kept such systems from functioning so the rest of the team could move in.
"We're through." Gideon dropped the now empty cylinder back into his coat pocket. He lifted his large foot and slammed it into the barrier. The cut-out portion gave way and crashed into a
small puddle on the other side.
Lenny checked his watch. "We're behind schedule, let's move." He ushered the team on. "Quick and quiet."
The runners fell into line. A practiced routine that they had performed before. Smiley and Gideon took point, Nightsky along with Shard were in the middle, and Smiley brought up the rear. The five of them soon disappeared into the tunnel, covering the ground to the condoplex.
Meridith Moore Condominium
Residential Dwelling 601
9:30 pm
Michelle McVey lay on her couch watching the trid. It had been a tiring day. She had called in sick after lunch and had refused to return to work. Michelle didn't feel like facing the people under her charge who were mostly kids right out of graduate school. To her, they didn't have the faintest idea what they were doing. They were so stupid. The arrogance they possessed nearly drove her over the edge. They had to be told everything.
She cursed herself. For the past month her section had been identifying the components of a compound. Which was fine and dandy until she found out what the compound was. It was a simple fuel additive, something so trivial that Michelle felt insulted to work on it. This job was turning into one long experiment as far as she was concerned. If her contact ever came through she would kiss her full on the lips. She would even kiss whoever that got her out of Mauss Chemicals full on the lips too. Even if a dragon suddenly sat on Mauss Chemicals and squished it into the ground, she'd kiss the dragon full on the lips.
She stared at the trid for the past hour, not really paying attention to what was on. Michelle's mind was in a different world while her eyes remained opened. It was a funny feeling, to know your eyes are open, but to have no idea what they were seeing.
The news was on. The anchors with their perfect hair and beautiful features gave tantalizing reports about absolutely nothing. There was a story on the recent food riots in the lower part of Seattle. A subject that Michelle didn't care about. It wasn't her fault that those idiots in Puyallup were too lazy to get a job. A newsflash about poisoned ducks flooding the local supermarkets nearly made her burst out in laughter. Then she wondered why not give the ducks to those people who were starving in Puyallup. News about Seattle's congressional race came up next. Michelle was only slightly interested in this topic. Though her favorite candidate, James Wesson, was enjoying a strong lead. His campaign was going so good that his opponent was being left in the dust. Plus Wesson seemed to have the perfect life, that meant a lot to Michelle. He had a family, a wife of thirty-four years and two daughters. One twenty-two, the other seventeen. Things seem just perfect for Mr. Wesson. Wesson's platform of having the corporations support the government in new tax laws and contracts is favored by a large portion of the voting public. For Michelle, this meant that there would be more openings for important research. Finally something worthwhile to study. Michelle hardly cared for the other candidate. Brandon Cole Olson, a millionaire stock holder of a few small companies and a former mayor of Boston. He was arguing for a more representative government with basic values on human rights and privileges and a need to put a stop to violent crimes. Michelle laughed at this, knowing that things would never change no matter what the fruit loop said.
She was about to crawl off the couch and throw herself on the bed when her doorbell rang.
"Who is it?" She called.
"Uhm..." The voice came back, the trademark hum of Lestor Hamm followed. "It's, me, Lestor."
Michelle gave a disgusted sigh. "What is it, Lestor? It's very late."
"Yes, well." Michelle could almost here him kicking the carpet with his foot. "I saw that you called in sick today."
"Yes?" She added, stepping up next to the door.
"I was wondering how you were feeling." Lestor said in a weak voice. "I brought you some soup."
Soup? Michelle felt a little annoyed at Lestor. He was acting like a school boy in her opinion. The one thing that she had to admit was that he was persistent. She thought about sending him away. It would be easy to get him out of her hair. At the same time, she didn't want to seem to mean to him. It was a hard choice, but one that she could live with.
She unlocked the door and pulled it open. "Lestor?"
Lestor looked up with startled eyes. He was wearing a suit, unusual for him. It was white with a black trim. Michelle thought that it looked expensive. That was even more unusual. Lestor rarely wore anything other than wrinkled shirts and slacks. He started at her for a minute, then offered the bowl of soup.
Michelle forced a smile. "Thank you, Lestor." In her mind she was screaming for him to go away.
"I know that I appreciate someone visiting me when I feel bad. I thought it would make you feel better."
"I'm sure it will."
"Yes, well." He almost mumbled. "I was wondering if you had a moment, there is a few things that I would like us to talk about."
Michelle almost shut the door in his face, but she knew it wouldn't help. Lestor would just be back in the morning. Worse yet, he would stand outside her door all night. The best thing to do was let him. This way he could say what he wanted and be done with it.
"Sure, Lestor, come in." She stepped back, holding the door open.
Now would be a good time for that dragon to sit on Mauss Chemicals, She thought to herself.
Newcastle Neighborhood
Bellevue, Seattle
9:42 pm
In the physical world Tart's body was slumped on large bean-bag. She wore oversized jeans and a black tank-top. Her legs were crossed lazily beneath her while her eyes remained closed to the world. However her hands clutched the cyberdeck on her lap. A thin datacord ran from her jack to the deck. Another cord ran from the deck to a telecom. All of this linked her mind with the world-wide Matrix. In this place, it didn't matter what the physical body was doing.
A large troll stood guard outside the door to Tart's tiny cubical. He was a hulking monstrosity standing well over nine feet tall with spiraling horns on each side of his sloped head. A distinctive aroma lingered as he stood motionless at his post. This troll's name was Guido, hired help that Gideon and Lenny had arranged. Every so often Guido would march down the hallway to the crash house, a small motel where Lenny had rented a room for Tart to do the decking from. During each pass, Guido would look around, then turn and march back to the door.
Tart was a little unnerved at the troll's presence. She had to keep reminding herself that Guido was there to protect her should anything go wrong. Nevertheless, the thought of a two-hundred and thirty kilogram monstrosity roaming around kept Tart nervous.
Once she jacked into the Matrix she found it easier to forget about the physical world. This was her turf in the winding datalanes and LTGs. Millions of MegaPulses of data flowed around her, buzzing at her presence. To Tart, this felt like home.
Currently she was juggling the Mauss security status and the internal elevators. She devoted herself to spoofing all the security cameras along the rest of the team's route. At the same time she was suppressing a fire alarm that wanted to trigger every time someone burned through the metal barriers. Tart also had to time the elevators to be where the Lenny needed them.
It was hard enough trying to balance all these jobs while keeping the team on schedule. Miles and miles of code danced in her minds eye as she made delicate changes to the system. The moves she made had to be done with crystal clarity. Maintaining the changes was the hardest part. Tart felt like screaming a few times when the loop that she put into the security cameras suddenly clicked out of place at the same time Gideon lite up another cylinder of white phosphorus in the tunnel. She redirected the datafeed with just enough time to spare, narrowly avoiding a dangerous flicker on a monitor or a smoke detector going off.
A red light went off in the back of her mind. She ran through the procedures and checked her datastream. Sure enough, she had activated a silent trace program from the Mauss host. It took the Matrix form of a metallic dog racing down Tart's path. It would seek her point of origin with intensity. Tart tried redirected the trace, but failed. It would only be a matter of time until the line lead back to the apartment in Bellevue.
If she disconnected now, she could kill the trace, but that would leave Lenny and the others on their own. Her meat body reached for the datajack, but stopped. She couldn't bring herself to rip the cord from her jack. The anguish she felt at leaving them alone was too much for her to bear.
She would have to slow down the trace. She began a maneuver while tapping her commlink program. The program sent a signal through the Matrix to two places. One of those places was straight to Lenny's beeper. The other ran into a beeper that the troll, Guido, carried on his belt. A warning that she had run into trouble.
From her Tart knew that things would get bumpy. Her only worry was that if she could slow down or redirect the trace without having to leave the rest of the team out on their own.
Mauss Chemicals Complex
Bellevue, Seattle
9:45 pm
Lenny clicked the buzzing pager off his belt just as the elevator the team was in came to a jerking stop. The group had to brace themselves against the walls to keep from losing their balance.
"What the frag?" Gideon said, mostly to himself as he looked around the edges of the elevator. "Something went wrong."
"No shit, Sherlock." Smiley scorned as he chambered around in his Franchi Spass.
Lenny checked the number on his pager. "Tart's ran into trouble."
"What happened."
"A trace." Lenny had went over a number of codes with Tart the day before. The one that had been keyed into his pager was 7101 which meant that she had a trace running on her. The seven was Tart's assigned team number. The second zero meant that she was still spoofing cameras, but the first one told Lenny that she wouldn't be giving much else. Fortunately it wasn't 7911. That would have meant that she was in serious trouble.
"I hopes she's careful enough to get out before they dispatch a team." Shard said, pointing out that Mauss may call Lone Star.
"Focus on the now." Lenny warned as he scanned the elevator. He found what he was looking for, a loose panel in the ceiling. "Gideon, boost Nightsky up. We're getting out of here."
Gideon nodded. Without anymore prompting, Nightsky leaped up on the ork's shoulders. He took out a knife and pried the access panel loose and slid it aside.
"Watch it." Gid warned as Nightsky dug his knee into the ork's collar bone.
"You can do it next time." Nightsky retorted as he pulled himself through the opening. He took a quick look around. The elevator shaft was filled with the whining of machinery from somewhere high above. Cables were strung up and down, making a decent climbing surface when the climber wore thick gloves. "Look's clean up here."
"Okay, everybody up." Lenny instructed. "We go up two floors."
"Yes fearless leader." Smiley hunkered.
"Gideon, do you have your grapple gun?"
The ork nodded.
"Let's put it to good use."
Smiley offered Shard a hand up which she gracefully accepted. Once she was through the panel, she looked back down to Lenny. "Why can't we just use the cable."
"No good." Gideon replied as he pulled out a grapple gun from his pack. "The cable's too hot and made of metal. Without gloves, a slip could cost a few fingers."
Lenny nodded. "He's right."
Nightsky held his hand down. Between him and Shard, they were able to bring Smiley up. Gideon helped Lenny up. Lenny returned the favor by pulling the ork on top of the elevator with Smiley's help. Once there, Gid targeted his grapple gun on a high beam and fired off the small grappling hook. It made a clanking noise as it connected with the beam and wrapped around it. Gideon gave the line a few tough jerks to make sure it was in position, then gave a thumbs up to Lenny.
"Smiley, Night, Shard." Lenny counted off. "You three take this line."
Gideon reloaded his grapple gun and attached another line parallel to the first.
"Me and Gid will take this one."
Shard looked at the line with some unexpected regret. "I don't know about this." She sighed.
"It's no biggie." Smiley grinned widely as he grabbed the line and proceeded to haul himself up. "Just don't look down."
Shard backed away from the line. It was obvious that she didn't like the idea of climbing up there. Nightsky had no regrets and took to the line like it was second nature. The two of them were nearly halfway up before she knew what happened.
"Shard?" Lenny sounded concerned.
Shard looked at him with tearful eyes. She was afraid to meet his stare.
Gideon spoke up. "I'll carry her."
Lenny looked at the ork in disbelief. "You sure?"
"I'm sure."
Shard smiled thankfully.
"Okay, you two." Lenny said as he took the line in hand and started hoisting his way up. "Take this line. I'll go behind Nightsky."
Shard grabbed onto Gideon's shoulders and held on tight. Her arms could barely reach around the ork.
"Hold tight." He instructed.
"You think I won't?" Shard replied, a hint of humor in her voice.
The ork grunted and started pulling himself and Shard up the line.
Once the group was in line with the right floor, Lenny had them stop. They were next to the elevator door. On the other side was their target. All they had to do was get to her.
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........
Lenny's pager was going off again. He paused just long enough to ripe the device off his belt and glance at the number
7112.
Not good, Tart had ran into serious problems in the Matrix. She wasn't covering the cameras as well as she was. Something on her security panel had gotten away from her and was now under the complex's control again. This was an automated signal that was sent if any of the cameras came back online. The two meant that Tart had come up against more opposition. An upgrade to her current situation.
For the first time, sweat broke out on Lenny's forehead. He began to have doubts, but he pushed them aside. "We're running tight. Let's get this taken care of this quick, chummers. Some of the cameras have been compromised."
"Well, drek, Lenny." Smiley cursed. "There goes the neighborhood."
"What's the gig?" Nightsky wondered.
"We swing in the door, leave the lines where we can get to them. This is emergency escape. We use the stairs and elevators otherwise. Hopefully Tart can get the elevators under her control and keep any security from coming up."
"Then let's do it and stop yapping about it." Gideon swore. He, with Shard hanging on to his back, and Lenny swung to the door. Gid grabbed the latch at one end and lifted it up. The elevator doors creaked open, bathing the dark space the runner's occupied with a blinding light.
Lenny tore the Predator II from his side and covered the hallway. Nightsky and Smiley swung themselves forward dropping in just inside the door. Both of them quickly moved to one side of the wall.
Gideon and Lenny came in. Shard dropped off the ork's back, happy to be under her own power again. The group immediately formed into a star formation and moved down the hall. Not a word was said amongst them. They moved quickly and efficiently.
"Six-zero-one." Lenny called the number as the group picked up the pace. He noticed a camera in the ceiling, but it's red light was off.
"Got it, chummer." Gideon reported as he crouched next to the target door.
Lenny pointed at the lock. "Nightsky."
"There." Nightsky said as he pulled a maglock passkey from his coat pocket. He slid the key past the scanner. The door clicked open.
Gideon, Shard, and Lenny moved into the room with a commando's footing.
Like this chapter? Then go on to the NEXT CHAPTER. Had enough of this story? Try going back to the Fiction Index and find something else. Thoughts, rants, comments? Email me and tell what you thought about it.