Guise Page 6
Patience finished slicing through the cable tie holding her wrists to her ankles. She switched to freeing her feet.
“Only a matter of time sweet cheeks. Besides, ya should be more concerned with yourself.”
Patience met his gaze calmly, waiting for him to elaborate. The man finally broke eye contact. He coughed nervously and continued.
“When y’all left, we knew the retrieval team had failed. We waited until ya were away before coming in. We looked things over, evaluated what had happened, and cleaned up. No need ta have the police starting any inconvenient investigations.
“We contacted the boss and I was told ta wait here for ya ta return. Once I had ya, I was ta find out what ya knew. Afta that, I was to report back and see what they want me ta do with ya. If y’all 're worth it, y’all will get the privilege of becoming the first agent ta act as a host. If not, I'm afraid ya gonna be joining the retrieval team.
“If I was you, I'd try ta get on ma good side. Be nice ta me and I'll put in a good word for ya.”
Patience let him pluck her answer from her mind as the cable tie about her feet parted. She moved to freeing her wrists.
The man laughed.
“Ya do have a colorful imagination. However, I have a fix on ya now. The time for small talk is ova. Let’s get this done.”
Facing Patience squarely, the man concentrated and started asking his questions.
“First off, do ya know where we're based?”
“Not precisely. Yet.”
“Our numbers?”
“Counting your losses from this morning?”
“Operative names?”
“Some.”
“Our schedule?”
“Roughly.”
“Did ya pass any of this ta Darwin?”
“We were interrupted.”
The man sat back, a slight sheen of sweat on his brow.
“Now was that so difficult? Sadly, I don’t think the others are gonna be as impressed with your sense a humor as ya might like. Looks like we got ya at the right time: before ya knew anythin’ that could be a threat ta us.”
The man pulled a cell phone from his pocket and made a call. He gave his report in short, clipped sentences, outlining his capture of Patience. He passed along the information he had read from her mind while she had been giving him her answers. He finished and sat in silence for a moment, listening. With a curt goodbye, he disconnected.
Patience felt the cable tie around her wrists finally give way. With her hands and feet free, she was better off than she had been. However, her elbows were still pinned behind her, something she could do nothing about at the moment. She concentrated on getting the feeling back in her hands and feet.
“Oh well,” sighed the man, putting his phone away, “I was right. They weren’t impressed with your comedy credentials. In fact, the decision is that y’all ’re not worth the risk to the organization. I’m ta kill ya. Now.
“Too bad really. I’d a liked ta take ma time. You’re a fine-lookin' woman. I’d a made it fun for ya before the end.”
The man picked up her gun and leveled it at Patience.
“If ya gonna beg, now’s the time.”
Suddenly the man’s cell phone emitted a high-pitched squeal. The sound blossomed into a deafening scream as he tore at his shirt pocket, trying to see what was going on. He yelped and dropped the device, blowing on his scorched fingers. Realizing his mistake, he snapped his attention back to Patience, but it was too late.
Patience looped a leg up and over the wires trailing from the contacts on her skin to the activations switch. Rising to her feet, she yanked the switch onto the floor. She used her other leg to pull the wires taut and rip the contacts from her flesh.
She swiveled and ducked down as the man fired at her. One shot whistled by her head, clipping her ear while another caught her in the shoulder. She kicked the desk from a crouching position, sending the heavy barrier slamming into her attacker. Her gun tumbled from his hand, bouncing on the desk.
As she stood, he lashed out, clipping her cheek and sending her reeling backward. She slammed into the wall and faced him. The man smiled a wicked grin and casually pushed the desk aside with one hand.
“You’re gonna regret that,” he stated with a nasty grin.
In two quick strides, he was in front of her. She swayed out of the way of his first punch, but his second caught her wounded shoulder. She yelped in pain and staggered. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her face before his.
“This was a mistake, girlie.”
Patience slammed her forehead into his face, shattering his nose. Startled, he released his hold on her. She followed up her attack by kicking his knee, popping the kneecap off. He dropped. She kneed him in the jaw before whipping around and snapping her foot into his temple. He lashed out blindly, catching her on the side and tossing her across the room.
Patience bounced off the wall and collapsed against her desk. Turning, she saw the man rising. He spit a tooth onto the floor as a glow faded from his healed face. Another more intense light could be seen under his pants at his damaged knee. In seconds the light disappeared and he was standing normally.
“Forget orders,” said the man, “I am gonna make you beg me ta finish ya.”
Patience questing hands found her gun. Turning it awkwardly, she fired behind her back, scoring a furrow in her arms, but releasing her elbows. She aimed the gun at her assailant and opened fire.
Roaring in rage and disbelief, the man thundered toward her. Bullets gouged chunks from his chest as they tried to batter a hole through him. His torso glowed too bright to look at, as he healed the wounds as fast as they were being made.
As she fired off her last shot, he reached her and grabbed her by her neck, raising her into the air. Before he could close his hand fully, Patience stabbed her finger blade deep into his eye socket. With a howl, he dropped her and backed up.
He started to twitch and vibrate, falling to the floor as his body began glowing once more. However, this time, the glow was a deeper amber color. The man let out an inhuman wail as he thrashed on the ground, the amber light covering his body. With a painful burst of light, his writhing body consumed itself in a hellish blaze.
Abruptly, it was over. The wail died and the light faded. All that remained was a greasy puddle inside his clothes. In his efforts to continually heal his host body, he had gone too far and consumed the matrix which housed him. He was dead.
Patience levered herself up and rested her back against the desk. She winced at the pain of her injuries as she sat there recovering.
“Well,” she muttered tiredly, “at least I don’t have to dispose of the bodies.” Looking down at herself she continued mournfully, “But they did ruin one of my favorite shirts.”
CHAPTER 08
The man sat slumped in an overstuffed reclining chair. His eyes were closed and his breathing was very shallow. He gave every appearance of being asleep. He had been motionless like this for a couple of hours.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he drew in a deep breath. Sitting up, he shook himself. He reached out for the water bottle on the small table next to his chair, draining most of it in one long drink. He rose unsteadily to his feet and took a few tentative steps towards the door.
Leaving the quiet, dimly lit room, the man shuffled down a short hallway. His progress grew steadier as he moved. By the time he reached a door with the number 113 on it, his steps were still slow, but far more confident.
The man entered the room without bothering to knock first.
The man inside the room jerked his head up at the unexpected arrival. He pushed his thick-lensed glasses back up his prominent nose, brushing at an unruly lock of dirty brown hair that had fallen into his eyes. He waited for his visitor to come in and close the door before speaking.
“What is it, Ken?” he asked in a nasal voice, slightly annoyed.
 
; Ken moved to a chair beside the man's desk and dropped heavily into it. He appeared tired and upset. He took a moment to collect himself before replying to the question.
“There's a problem.”
“Problem?” asked the other man.
“Yeah. That agent isn't a level one.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Remember you had me running surveillance on Frank?”
“Yeah. I didn't think it was necessary, but the Herald insisted. Complete waste of time if you ask me. Frank can handle himself. Especially against one puny girl. Even if she is some kind of --”
“Frank's dead,” interrupted Ken.
“What!? Impossible. I just talked to him a couple of minutes ago. He told me what the girl knew, which wasn't much, as I predicted, and I told him to get rid of her and come right back here. What could have happened?”
“I'm not sure,” replied Ken, running a hand through his short black hair. “Everything seemed to be going fine. Frank nabbed her like we planned. The darts took her out just like the Herald said they would. Frank talked to her. He reported in. He got the kill order. Then everything went wrong.”
“Wrong? Wrong how?”
“She escaped. There was a fight. She killed him.”
“Okay,” said the man, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. After a moment, he returned his glasses and looked at Ken.
“Let’s go over this in more detail. Like, how did she get loose? And how the heck did she beat Frank in a fight, let alone kill him?”
“Alright. Frank got there --.”
“How about we start with things after I talked with him?” suggested the man, cutting Ken off.
“Sure,” agreed Ken. “Frank finished talking with you and hung up. He picked up the girl’s gun. Then he was grabbing his phone, and he dropped it like he was burned.”
“Frakking implant.”
“What?”
“She probably has an implant. It lets her tap into electronics. I’d guess she overloaded his cell. Can’t believe he fell for that kind of an amateur play. Continue.”
“Right, anyway, he looks up and the girl is loose.”
“How'd she get loose?”
“Damned if I know.”
“You're supposed to know!” shouted the man, slamming a fist onto the desktop. “You were there to see what happened.”
“Like I said,” replied Ken, his voice dropping to a disturbingly calm level. “I don't know how she got loose. I was watching Frank when it happened.”
“You should have been watching her,” said the other man petulantly.
“I got distracted. Anyway, Frank got off two shots, nailed her in the shoulder with a slug, but it didn't seem to slow her down much. They fought. She got her gun and emptied it into him. Ended up stabbing him in the eye at the end, which is what put him over the limit.
“It was like she knew exactly what to do to make him overload and burn out.”
“She probably did. Where is she now?”
“Last I knew she was still in the office.”
“Last you knew?” asked the man incredulously.
“I figured it was more important to report to you than to watch her bleed all over Frank's corpse,” said Ken sarcastically.
“All right. Any chance of you going out and seeing where she is now?”
“No way,” sighed Ken, shaking his head. “I don't have anywhere near the stamina yet. I was pretty close to the limit as it was when I came back in. Another couple of minutes and we wouldn't even know Frank had been offed.”
“Okay,” said the man, taking a moment to think. “So, we upgrade her from a level one to a level two. No big deal. The important thing is that she doesn't have any leads on where we are, what we’re doing or when. We can take care of her later.”
“You going to inform the Herald about this?” asked Ken, a nervous tremor creeping into the forced casualness of his question.
“Not today,” said the man, frowning. “I was left strict instructions that the Herald was not to be disturbed until tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest.”
“Even when something like this happens?”
“I don't feel like interpreting orders. You?”
Ken looked at him in shock and then shook his head. Creative initiative was not a quality the Herald encouraged.
“What about Mendelson?” asked the man.
“No idea,” said Ken. “He wasn’t with the girl when she went back to the office.”
“Probably hiding out at his place,” mused the man. “He should be easy enough to pick up.”
Ken snorted.
“Once we separate him from the girl he won’t be a problem,” said the man confidently.
“You didn’t think the girl would be a problem,” said Ken pointedly. “Now we’re down, how many guys?”
“Just do your job and let me do mine, or maybe you would prefer a more direct role versus your cushy astral overwatch assignment?” threatened the man.
After a minute of strained silence, Ken asked, “Any luck with the data pull?”
“More useless busy work,” answered the man disgustedly. “I’m beginning to think we need to get rid of this Patience Nazi just so I don’t have to waste any more resources on her.
“Still, it may not turn into a total loss. Most of what Brian has gotten so far is what you would expect: personal e-mails, client files, web history – I would not have pictured her as a collector of hedgehog figurines - you know, the usual crap.
“There is an encrypted folder on Mendelson. Brian’s working on breaking that now. Might be something in there of use, but we’ll have the guy soon so who really cares?
“He did find a hidden partition behind a serious firewall. Whatever is in there is buttoned up tight. He’s afraid to even look at it. I’m guessing the good stuff is in there. The question is, how do we get to it without destroying it, or having it melt down on us?”
“No idea,” said Ken. “I have to get my kid to help me when my tablet locks up.”
“So,” said the man, changing the subject, “when do you think you can go back out? I’d like to know where Mendelson is. If we can get him without that damn agent around, we might just be able to forget about her.”
“I’m not going anywhere until the morning,” said Ken, taking the opportunity to stand and move to the door. “I need something to eat and then a good night’s sleep.”
“Okay,” said the man, waving Ken off, “see you tomorrow.”
After Ken left, the man sat at his desk, staring into space, lost in thought. Finally, unable to find a way out of it, he reluctantly placed a call to the Herald. No sooner had he called up the number on his cell than the phone was answered.
“Was I not clear in my instructions?” asked a sepulchral voice over the phone and echoing directly in his mind.
“Extremely clear,” whimpered the man, bent over as pain knotted his stomach. “However, this is a matter that could not wait.”
“You felt the loss of a subordinate important enough to ignore my express command?” queried the voice.
“No!” the man cried out before he was cut off.
“Ah,” responded the Herald. “I understand. You were correct in contacting me.”
“Thank you,” sobbed the man as the pain cramping his guts vanished.
“Upgrade this Patience Anastasia Isis Niazi’s status to that of a level four agent.”
“A four,” whispered the man, awed.
“Instruct our brethren not to engage her. I will gift her no more victories. When the time is right, I shall deal with her myself.
“Keep a watch on the host. Take what measures you must to keep him safe until the proper time. He will be a most fitting vessel for our Liege.”
“As you will,” said the man, nodding vigorously. Hesitantly he ventured to ask, “If I may, I do not understand -”
“The things you do
not understand are legion. However, know that a crossing is not as simple a matter as you believe. Mechanics beyond your comprehension influence the conditions of the dimensional fabric.
“All you need to know is that at the time prescribed, circumstances will be optimal to allow our Liege to cross here with certain success. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with this.
“Continue with the preparations. Contact me again before midday, and you will wish your life forfeit.”
The phone went dead.
The man sat trembling for a few moments. He always did after communicating with the Herald. Being that close to such power was not something you experienced without it affecting you.
Recovered, he picked up his cell.
“Yeah boss,” answered a bright voice on the third ring.
“Brian, that laptop you’re working on, just do the Mendelson file and leave the other.”
“You sure? I know some people who might be able to handle this.”
“Positive. You have an hour to get whatever you can from the file. If you get nothing, that’s okay. After that, I want that thing slagged and the ashes strewn far and wide.”
“Why?”
“The girl has been upgraded to a four. As of right now, she is hands off. This comes directly from the Herald. I’ll be sending out a message to everyone once I get off the line with you.”
“A four!? Are you for real?”
“Real enough that Frank is dead. I --.”
“Oh shit,” interrupted Brian before cutting the connection. Puzzled, the man looked at his cell and thought about calling him back, but decided that could wait.
For the next hour, he made quick calls, getting the word out about the change in Patience’s status. He told the group shadowing Darwin to hang back, but make certain nothing happened to him. He could hear the frustration in their voices at the conflicting direction, but that was their problem, not his.
Finally, he finished. As he was packing up to leave, his phone rang.
“I have a new assignment,” said the Herald before he could even voice an answer to the call. The man listened in silence, jotting down frantic notes to ensure he forgot nothing. After a couple of minutes, the Herald disconnected.