Chapter 3
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die."
-G.K. Chesterton
Boise Neighborhood
Auburn, Seattle
March 11, 2059
1:00 pm
The morning passed quickly with a bustle of activity. At eight o'clock Riggs and Smiley woke Lori from her peaceful slumber to go out and buy the things they needed to setup the satlink dish. Lori had been given her down payment for the run, a total of over six thousand nuyen transferred into her account. Indeed, so had everyone else. Shard had explained how the money was to be used to purchase supplies they need for the run that was scheduled to take place less than twelve hours.
Lori also heard that Lenny and Gideon had left the safehouse early, about half an hour before she got up. The two of them spent most of the morning driving around the research center, making plans and picking possible sites to set up from as well as likely avenues of escape. They filled out the information and stored in on a datachip that Riggs could slot in the Bison's GPS and read while he was jacked into the vehicle.
In the meantime Shard and the physad, Nightsky, had a meeting with Hector. Apparently it had taken him longer than expected to get Shard's materials for some sort of summoning. The two of them ended up waiting at the club for nearly an hour before Hector met with them. Nightsky felt a little uneasy about having to wait so long, but Shard got what she wanted and she was happy. They got back to the to the safehouse a little before noon. Shard took a duffel back from Nightsky and secluded herself in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Nightsky, left with very little to do, wondered around between keeping lookout and drifting down into the basement where work was continuing on the satlink dish.
"You two have fun this morning?" He said as he stepped down the small flight of stairs and into the underground garage. "I know I have."
Riggs looked up from an instruction manual. Grease stained his white t-shirt and he held a wrench in one pudgy hand. "Bloody hell I've had fun. This piece of drek reads like stereo instructions. I've never seen such a poorly written piece of technical jargon in all my life. I seen better stuff when I was in Hawai'i. The writers of this book must think I've got the intelligence of a cucumber."
Lori couldn't help, but giggled a bit. The dwarf hadn't stopped complaining in the hour they had been sorting through the equipment and constructing a frame. Once he had even been terrified that he was going to accidently electrocute himself or end up dropping the expensive electronics on his toe.
Nightsky shook his head and came up next to the two. They were both sitting on the cold concrete floor. Riggs found it easier to work on the floor with all the gear spread out where he could get to it. Tart too was on the floor, though mostly just to satisfy Riggs. Nightsky bent down and picked up a circuit board. "Look's like you've been busy nevertheless."
"Hey!" Riggs blurted as he waddled to his feet and snatched the board from Nightsky's hand. "Careful with that, it took me an hour to find it and I'll be drek faced if I'm going to let you break it."
"Okay, you can have it." Nightsky spread his hands out. "Has he been like this all morning, Tart?"
At first, Lori didn't notice that he had spoken to her. "Ever since he woke me up."
Riggs snorted. "Look, 'Sky, it's your job to break into the place and it's mine to make sure everything works. And believe me, picking a maglock is a frag of a lot different than setting up a satlink array. You and I both know you that you haven't a clue what a satlink is, so stuff it and let us work."
Nightsky shrugged. "I guess your right." He said as he folded his legs beneath him and sat in the middle of a netted panel that would make up part of the dish. "Where's Smiley?"
"On watch upstairs." Riggs replied as he didn't the bolt on the frame. "Last I saw he was eating a bran muffin next to the window."
"He didn't give you two much trouble this morning, did he?"
Lori laughed out loud. "No, he just punched out a mime."
Nightksy smiled at that.
"You ask me the sick fragger had it coming." Riggs added.
"Smiley is a bit.....uhm.." Lori shrugged. "Odd."
"That's putting it lightly, Tart."
"I tell you what, Michael, the only thing I'm thinking about is food." Riggs said as he patted his round tummy.
Lori looked at Nightsky in a bit of surprise. "Michael?"
"Yeah, that's my name." Nightsky stood. "Michael."
She smiled.
"Just don't call me that when we're out there tonight."
"Whatever, Michael." Riggs pronounced his name heavily. "I just want something to eat."
"You think with your stomach too much."
"That suppose to be a crime?"
"Well, with your taste in food, Riggs." Nightsky added as he got his feet and walked over to the Bison that had been backed into the garage. He climbed up inside the opened back door and removed a large black gym bag and hoisted it over his shoulder.
"So I like to eat at Granny's Fried Foods, big and deal. Gideon likes hot wings there too. Why don't you tell him that he is not eating right?"
Lori sighed at the conversation which rapidly deteriorated into the two runners exchanging insults. She excused herself from the argument by saying that she was going to find something to eat. Riggs let her go with a minium of fuss after she promised to bring him back something. When she headed up the flight of stairs she could still hear the two exchanging words as Riggs dug through the netting for the dish and Nightsky broke out the contents of his bag on a table.
Professionals, she thought to herself. Well, they certainly aren't what I thought they would be. She opened up the kitchen door to find a sack of foodstuffs sitting on a synthwood table. A plastic bag from a Stuffer Shack was still wrapped around them. She moved the bag and fished through its contents. Occasionally she caught glimpses through the other open door in the kitchen. It was the one that lead to a room by the front door. There Smiley was calming staring out a partially closed curtain, rocking back and forth and humming something to himself. Lori noticed that he was bracing himself on a large shotgun with the barrel under his chin and the butt of the weapon on the floor. Wether or not that Smiley realized that the business end of his shotgun was poised to splatter the contents of his skull on the ceiling was anyone's guess. She looked at him for a few more minutes, then busied herself in pulling out a box of twinkies and some instant spam.
She was just about to put the spam in the nuker when a cold burst of air sent chills up her back. She immediately shook, dropping the spam on the floor and rubbed her arms together for warmth.
"What was that?" She said, mainly to herself as Smiley seemed to be in his own world. It seemed that he wasn't paying attention to anything. It was hard to tell because he was still wearing those cheap sunglasses.
The waft of air seemed to travel around the kitchen. For a moment she thought she saw a shimmering into the air. Like a faint glitter that seemed to linger. She could make out the outline with some effort. She was surprised when the glitter moved out of the kitchen and up the stairs that lead to the second level. Lori followed it, curious as to what could have caused it.
When she sat foot on the second floor the chilled air was obvious. Lori shivered and wrapped her arms around her. She could hear a voice coming from someplace. As she slowly advanced down the narrow hall, she noticed some kind of scent int he air. Like incense.
Lori stood in front of a closed door that she knew lead to one of the bedrooms. The smell was definitely coming from the other side and so was the voice that she kept hearing. She was about to turn the doorknob, but recoiled sharply. It was freezing to the touch. By wrapping her hand around her large shirt, she was able to crack the door and peer inside.
What she saw amazed her.
The air was glittering, glowing a dull silver that sparkled. The air was fresh and pure with no scent of smog or pollution from the sprawl. Even the scent of the incense was masked out. Shard sat in the middle of some kind of circle in the middle of the room. She had shoved the mattress aside to make room. Around the circle burned small bottles of incense that flavored the air inside the circle.
Shard had her arms held out from her body. Her eyes were closed and her thin, red lips barely moved as she whispered words of power. The air around the circle shimmered more strongly as it swelled into a single form. Shard's voice became more vibrant and her words switched to English instead of a long forgotten language.
"Spirit of the air, the great Hireese, come and cloak me in your mists and shed your love on us." Her hair, once straight darts, fluttered and broke from their style. A wind produced itself inside the circle, blowing the elf's hair straight up in a constant funnel. Lori could only watch, finding no words to describe what she saw. Shard continued to whisper, never opening her eyes. "I thank you for your kindness, and you help great one. Show yourself now."
The air shimmered in front of her, pulling itself together. A barely solid form appeared in a moment, ghostly in appearance. Lori leaned on the door a little more, desperate to see what would happen next.
Suddenly, faster than Lori could react, a hand shot out from behind her and closed the door without a noise. Lori spun around to see Nightsky standing right next to her. She was startled and nearly let out a yelp. She hadn't even heard him come up the stairs.
Nightsky put his finger to his lips, shushing any sound that Tart was about to make. "Not a good idea to bother Shard right now."
Tart nodded, slightly. She still felt the chill from the room. "What..." She started. "What she doing in there?"
Nightsky looked at the door, then back at Tart before leading her back down the stairs. "Working a summoning from what I gather. That's what we went out for this morning, Shard and I. Those bottles and all. Materials she called it."
"What's she summoning?"
Nightsky shrugged. "I don't know to be sure. I got no idea how she works her stuff and I don't need to."
"But, it was so beautiful."
"It looks that way, but from what Shard has said before it can be dangerous too." Nightsky said. "It's best just to leave her alone and let her work. Like you and Riggs are working on that satlink. We've all got a job that we're good at."
"But.." She studdered. "But I still, I'm curious. What was she calling?"
"I guess the only way to find that out is to see what happens tonight."
Tonight, Lori thought, what would happen to me tonight. There were no less than a hundred things that could go wrong at the research center. Any one of them would result in someone ending up hurt or dead. The chances of it happening were enough to strike fear across Lori. She didn't know how to handle it and was terrified of the thought of actually having to go inside. Several times she told herself that she didn't know what she was doing. That she wasn't ready for this kind of life. Then, each time, she reminded herself how wonderful it felt to be hooked up to the Matrix. A world where a person's body didn't matter. There were still dangers, but dangers that could be more easily managed. The real world was different. It's not like she could pull the datalink from the jack behind her ear and make it all go away. She couldn't just step out of the real world.
Her thoughts turned to itching feeling inside her stomach as Nightsky opened the door to the kitchen for her. A feeling of anticipation? No, it was stronger than that. It was one of fear. Maybe she should have waited longer before getting involved first hand? Would that have made any difference? How would she know if it had?
"Nightsky," Lori started. "Can I ask you a question?"
The physical adept shurgged. "Why not."
"How long have you been doing this?"
Michael didn't reply at first, that made Lori think she had hit a nerve and insulted him. "You mean with the team? Not long, maybe a month or so."
"Do you--" She hesitated, Michael looked at her as if to encourage her question. "Do you ever get scared when you do this stuff like tonight."
"Sometimes." He admitted, seemingly not to care wether she knew or not. Like it was no big secret with everyone.
"How do you handle it?" She wondered, receiving a confused look from Michael. "When you get scared about something."
"I try not to think about it. Just focus on getting it done and what things are going to be like when it's all over."
"Does it work?"
"Sometimes." He replied, digging through the refrigerator and pulling out a can of synthjelly. "You've just got to be confident enough to stand up to it. Don't back down if your right." He took piece of bread from its bag and placed it inside the nuker. "We've planned this out pretty well. That's the most we can do. The rest..." He smirked as his bread finished toasting. "..we'll just make it up as we go along."
Lori smiled at that, but it didn't help her feel any better. She took a box of twinkies to the basement to give to Riggs. Her mind, though, kept wondering back to Michael's words. It was like he was saying that she couldn't let someone else tell her how to live her life. That she was the only one that could make those choices for herself. For some reason the thought appealed to her. Against all better reasoning. Though it didn't help her fear of what was to come in just a few hours. A few hours from now she would be sneaking into a heavily guarded facility with only seven people against a security force of over twenty. That wasn't counting and response from Lone Star. The odds weren't good. They weren't good by anyone's standards.
Riggs greeted her happily when she came back with something to eat. He even gave her a small hug in thanks. Afterwards he promptly began devouring the box and putting the finishing touches on the new satlink dish that he had finished in Lori's absence. A little over an hour later, they had managed to hardwire it to the Bison's powerplant and run a test on it. They found that it worked perfectly. Or at least as long as the throw-together work would last. They congratulated each other on a job well done, knowing that soon Lenny and Gideon would be back to lay out the plan for the run. In a few hours, it would all be over.
6:30 pm
The forest is dark, pitch black by anyone's comparison. The sky above it clouded over to where the full moon cannot be seen. The trees look like ancient creatures with horrid limbs reaching out to catch the unsuspecting traveler. The ground is soft and wet with fresh mud and the steam of a summer night.
The silence of a puddle is shattered as a scampering foot falls into it, splashing the muddy water in all directions. The violator of the water slips a little on the mushy ground, before regaining his footing and running off into the woods.
Nightsky's heart is pounding in his ears. His arms and legs work in a blur to carry himself faster. With each step he met the soft ground with a vengeance. The mud threatened to swirl around him and bring his body crashing to the ground. No matter, Michael kept running. He did not look back, did not glance side to side, but just forced all his nature to run faster.
The voice was there. Michael could here it in his mind. A taunting, laughing voice. A laugh that was sarcastic and vile. One that he had heard before, though not in Seattle. It was many years ago when he still lived in California. The sinister voice kept getting closer, no matter how hard he pushed himself to get away. His was being chased, hunted like an animal through a forest. It could only be a matter of time before the hunters called off their dogs and closed in for the kill. One that would tear Nightsky's soul from his body and strip him of everything he had. He was well beyond standing up for himself. Courage has no meaning anymore. Now there is only fear.
The laughing becomes louder, the forest floor more treacherous, it is only a matter of time.
A misplaced foot in slick mud sends him crashing to the ground. His face lands up against a cool wetness as the air is knocked out of his lungs. His heart still beats constantly even though his body is no longer in motion. Alone, gasping for breath, Nightsky feels the chilling wind of the forest blow through his senses.
The ground becomes alive, sinking beneath Nightsky's weight. Dragging him deeper into the despair and the horror. The moonless sky dances far above him, taunting as it passes. His struggles to escape a met with cold rebuffs. The simple task of getting to his feet is complicated by the slick mud which causes him to slip and splatter the slimy goo all about. Each passing moment lets him sink deeper into the pit of mud, carrying him further away from freedom. Even after getting to his feet, Michael finds his attempts to climb the mud caked walls impossible. He digs his fingers through the cold matter and pulls himself up with all his strength, carrying himself a meter from the 7pit's ever growing floor before his fingers slip and he slides back down to the damp mat below.
He hits the floor with considerable force. Vines and roots sprout from the walls of the pit and entangle his arms and legs. They wrap around his throat and threaten to suffocate his life away. Every persistent move results in him splashing around in mud and dirt, trapped from safety.
The voice returns, laughing and taunting Nightsky. It hovers over the pit, gazing at the helpless soul caught at it's vile mercy. There is no where to run, no where to hid. A forced confrontation with the past.
Michael let's out a scream, defiant and strong. The voice only smiles at him.
The vines and roots change. Their rough surfaces are replaced with smooth scales. They become alive. Heads pop out of the mud floor bearing eyes and fangs. Snake-like eyes stare at Michael scaley bodies wrap around him. Choking his neck, cutting off his breath, slicing through his will. The voice continues to laugh, as Michael exhausts himself in struggling.
His eyes wide, yet his voice gone, Nightsky is helpless. A figure appears standing over him in the pit. A ghoulish smile on his protruding teeth. A dagger comes from his hand, the blade dark and bent in a hundred directions before coming to a definite point.
Michael attempts to let out another scream, one of a call for help and a curse at his persecutor. The dagger is raised high, the face of his murder yet unseen by the shadows. He brings the blade down onto Michael's chest, piercing through the mud-caked clothes and into his flesh.
Nightsky feel's the blow, the pain and shock of it drown out his senses. His vision grows faint, yet he struggles to get just one glimpse at his murderer. Just on look before he goes, so that he may know who is to blame.
...D....Dervish?.........
"Wake up!" Gideon roared.
Nightsky flashed his eyes open with a startled yell in his throat. His head flew straight up from where he had been dozing on the kitchen table. For a moment he was frantic with fear. A cold sweat was pouring off of him. He glanced around the room, relieved to find no snakes or anything that didn't belong. Gideon was standing over him with a harsh look on his face. The kitchen table was clean. As was the procedure, the removal of anything the team brought with them from the safehouse before they made the run.
"Wake up, we got a job to do."
Michael blinked his eyes, trying to figure how long he had been asleep. He hardly remembered dozing off in the first place. He remembered spending most of the afternoon trying to memorize the ventilation duct that he was going to have to crawl through, but beyond that he didn't know. It didn't matter at the moment because Gideon grabbed his arm and hauled the small adept to his feet.
"We're going to miss our window if you don't get with it."
"Okay, Gid, okay." Nightsky shrugged off the orks large hands. "Where is everybody?"
"Downstairs." The ork motioned to the garage.
The Gideon and Nightsky made it to the basement, Lenny already had the blueprints laid out and was about to explain the game plan for the night. A small lamp fixture hung from the ceiling over the table that he was using. On the table was a thick layer of printouts. Each of them carefully arranged by the order that they were to be explained. Nightsky stumbled his way into a small folding chair got himself comfortable to listen. Gideon stood silently next to a support beam and folded his arms. Content to wait there.
"Now that everyone's here, let's go over this one more time before we hit it." Lenny cleared his throat. "Riggs, there's a parking lot for a furniture plant here, across the street from the research center. There'll be a set of dumpsters that you can park the Bison behind. We'll work from there.
"The first order of business is to neutralize the security cameras and deactivate the fence. We'll handle this with a two pronged attack. Tart will use the satlink to gain access to the facility's online matrix. From their she'll run a spoof on the cameras. While the cameras are being fooled, the first group will go in. This group consists of Gid, and Night. It'll be Nightsky's job to overcome the locks out the south door and make his way into the ventilation by way of this closet here." Lenny said, pointing to a location on the blueprint. "Nightsky, from their you'll follow this path to the guard booth. You should have a clear shot to take out the guard stationed there. Once you've done that, switch off the fence. There be a control on the booth. It's also your job to monitor the cameras while we make our way in. I'm giving you ten minutes to do all of that.
"With the cameras being under Night's control, we'll begin our second approach with team two. This consists of myself, Gideon, Smiley, and Tart. It's our job to get through the opened door that Nightsky has left us and make our way to the lab where the offline system is. Nightsky, we'll need your maglock passkey to scramble the lock on the lab."
"You've got it."
"Once we're inside, it's Tart's job to access the system and download the file. Once that's done, we make our way out through the same door we came in. At this point, when we have the file, Nightsky can leave his post at the booth. We retrace our steps back to the Bison and we're gone."
"Pretty straight forward, Lenny." Shard said.
"I know." Lenny admitted. "But I've put in for things going wrong. Shard, you will be our major backup. It's your job to make sure we've got a path out of the building, through the local security. Riggs, your running backup. Keep one drone, the one with the mods, on the north side of the building near the main gate. That's our decoy. Keep Big Bertha hovering overhead incase we need any support on the way out. It's also your job to keep an eye out for a Lone Star response. The second you pick something up, let us know. We're going to have to cut the time sort and alter the plan. You'll have to send Big Bertha out to slow down the response."
"You got it, boss. Though I still think we're all being setup." Riggs snorted.
"Shut-up, Riggs." Smiley cursed. "You always think we're being setup."
Lenny tried to ignore the two of them. "If all goes well it shouldn't take us no more than twenty minutes to get in and out. No more than ten minutes of maximum exposure. Questions?"
There was a round of silence from everyone.
"Okay, make sure everybody has a commlink of some kind." Lenny instructed. "We're packing non-lethals for this. Nothing unnecessary out there tonight." Most of those words were directed to Smiley and Gideon. "We switch to the hard stuff only when the drek hits the fan." There were a series of nods. Lori was at a lost for most of it. "Anything else?"
Everybody exchanged glances for a moment. Still, no one had anything to add. It was settled, they were all going in.
"Okay, suit up. We leave in fifteen minutes." He said, leaving the runners to mill about with their gear. Lenny, himself, retreated to his bag and pulled on a armored jacket over his body armor. He had instructed everybody to bring the best protection when he first got the call for this meet. Somehow it always seemed to pay off. He also holstered an Ares Predator II on his right thigh and his backup piece, a small Walther pistol, in a shoulder holster. He left his heavier weapons in his bag, throwing it in the back of the van. He clipped a few grenades, concussion and offensive, to his belt and checked the charge on his stun baton before acknowledging that he was ready. He took the shotgun seat in the Bison.
Riggs was already in the Bison, also wearing a heavy jacket. Though he didn't bother with as much preparation as anyone else. Normally he would be safely locked away inside his vehicle, running his drones. Yet, that didn't stop him from carrying his pistol. He plugged the rigger jacks into his temple and became one with the machine, forging his own will into it.
Gideon was strapped down in synthleathers and armor when he waltzed into a bucket seat behind Lenny. A M-23 compact was held in one massive hand while a large pistol, a Warhawk, rested on his belt. It was strange to Lenny that the ork would use such an ancient weapon. Not many people used revolvers anymore. Yet, Lenny also knew the stopping power of the weapon. It was probably smartlinked as well. Not at Gid needed the extra firepower. He was more than lethal enough with just the chrome he had implanted in his body.
Shard had forgone her flashy dress and sparkling rings. Instead she wore a long coat that jingled as she walked from the various talismans she had clipped to it. Objects for working her Art. The power the tiny jewels held was more than enough to outclass any regular firearm. Shard still carried a gun with her, mainly for use as backup. She leaned back in the bucket seat that was behind Riggs.
Smiley took the longest to prepare. For some reason he was feeling unusually giddy tonight. He spent ten minutes in the bathroom. When he came out, his entire face was painted. He had painted it a dull yellow with a sinister impression of a smiley face etched on his features. The appearance caused him to look more like a demon than anything human. The way he carried his shotgun over the shoulder, with his cross-draw Predators on his sides, made him look plain evil. He always got a corner to himself in the back of the Bison.
Nightsky moved through his gear with methodic coolness. He already layered body armor over a kevlar long coat. Opting for the protection it had. Since he knew that he was going to be crawling through some tight spaces, he couldn't pack much. A few flashers were always his choice. Then his main firearm, a compact MP-5 in a cross-draw holster on his left hip pair with a heavy pistol on his right. His non-lethal instrument for the night was a nacrojet pistol. He climbed in the back of the Bison while seathing a needle pointed Sai along his right thigh.
It didn't take Tart long to gather her things. She put on an armored vest for protection and left her cyberdeck in her bag for ease of carrying. Though she didn't know how much could her light pistol would do in the face of some of the hardware the samurai's were packing. She found herself a seat next to the satlink dish in the back of the van.
As soon as she was inside, Riggs slide the doors shut and rolled the large vehicle, loaded with runners, out into the night.
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