Balance (61 page)

T
he last man
, the one with the unusual full head of white hair,
watches
the carnage going on around him
,
frozen with fear
.
Meg
dispatches
him
swiftly
, a
knife
buried deep in
his chest.

Rena quickly pulls
out
a small module
drive
hidden in her
faux-
computer.
P
lugging it into the client
’
s remote terminal
, the program embedded within
accesses the
secure
servers, copying everything.

Meg pulls a handgun from the dead dispatch and goes into the main offices
to
ch
eck for additional personnel.
F
inding no one
else,
she steps into the lobby and dispatches the condescending receptionist
.

While waiting for the server to copy, Rena
plugs a second micro-drive into the remote terminal
.

Meg
re-enters
the
offices
,
p
lanting
several explosive charges
.  Returning
to the conference room,
she
set
s
the handgun on the table
next to Rena
.

With
the server
s
copied, a virus
is unleashed
that destroys all data,
everything.
 
Rena turns to the associate
sitting
silently
in
a
chair,
watching the two y
oung women work. 
“There are no other copies?
” She
asks
.

“None.”

“Where are the servers located?”

“On this floor.
T
hey didn’t want anyone to have access to them.”

“Good.”  Rena
grabs
the handgun from the table
and
shoots him in the head.

“Why did we have to kill him?”

“Meg, anyone that knows anything about thi
s program cannot be left alive.  I
t
’s
too dangerous.
Y
ou need to change.”

“
We don’t
even
know what this program does.
” She states, then hesitates, “
Change into what?”

“These.” Rena
removes
a pair of black legging
s, lycra tee
and booties
hidden inside Meg’s briefcase
.

“What
are these
?  We didn’t talk about this.” Meg
questions
nervously
.

“I’ll explain on the way.  Is everything set?”

“Yes.” Meg
confirms,
very
confused
.

…

“Sir, they’
ve
entered
the
elevator.”
A technician states
.

Takada, sitting at the conference table looks up,
“Good.”

“That’s odd.”
Waters
comments under his breath.

“What
’s the matter?” Takada asks, standing
from his seat, and steps toward the monitors
.

“
F
or some reason both of their
heart rates
are
elevating
.”
Waters
explains
, watching the bio-scan data sent by their tracking chips.

“What would make them do that?”

“I’m not s
ure, but whatever i
t
was, their
pulse
s
are
returning to normal.
  They should be hitting the lobby now.
”

…

“The top of the building just exploded.  The girls sho
uld be out shortly
.
O
rders
to
aggressively
extract them?”
Michael reports.

“Not yet
.
Everything
looks to be going to plan …
t
hey
should be
approaching the lobby
now
.  Wait
,
something
’s
wrong!
Rena
’s
heart rate
… it’
s dropping.
  She’s not exiting
the elevator
, she’s injured
.”

“Michael,
get her out now!
”
Takada
orders
.

Michael exits the car in a
full
sprint.  Even wearing a long black coat,
he
covers the two-blocks
to
the entrance
remarkably fast
. 
Racing into
the lobby, h
e
identifies
a group of gua
rds running toward the elevator,
a single guard on th
e ground
, blocking the doors,
and a body in black inside the carriage
, lying motionless
on the floor
.

Not waiting to sort out the details, he leaps the
security
station, pulling the glaive from behind his back with his right hand and a
Glock-9mm
with his left.
  He shoots
twice, dropping two guards instantly, both shot in the head
.

The
rest of the
security force,
realizing a threat materia
lized behind them, turn quickly, and take
defensive positions.  Before
identifying the
source,
two more go down with bullets to the head.
 
Three guards remain,
one moving into the
open
elevator
and two around the corner
into the hallway
,
hid
den from Michael.

C
onsider
ing
the
one
in the eleva
tor a threat to
Rena
,
he
throws the glaive, depressing the release at the last instant before
it
leav
es
his hand.

R
eac
ting
to a
rapidly
approaching object
,
the guard backs into the
carriage.
T
he
glaive
careens
off
his
neck and
imbeds
deep
in
to
the elevator wall
.

Without regard for himself,
Michael
sprints
past
t
he corner
where
the
rem
aining
two
hide
.
L
eaping up the far wall, his mome
ntum carr
ies
him alon
g the vertical surface in a long arc.
  Leaping from the
wall
in a tight spin
, his hands
move
from his thighs
, pitching forward
.
K
nives
pierce each guard
in the throat as they w
atch
i
n shock
, as this man, this being,
mov
es
as if
the
laws of gravity do not apply
.

Somersaulting
across the floor
, Michael
rights himself, crouched
in the hall
way
.  All t
h
reats eliminated,
he
turns
his attention to his only objective.  He runs
back
to the open
elevator
car
.

Rena
lies
sprawled on the floor, bloo
d pooling around her midsection,
a wound
visible
in her back. 
Michael
’s
mind goes wild for explanations. 
Kneeling down next to her, he carefully moves the hair from her face.  “Rena, Rena … can you hear me?
” He
whispers, his eyes tearing up.

“Is that you?
” She
replies, her voice low, weak.

His heart leaping, “Yeah … it
’
s me.”

“Do you trust me?”

Not sure she’s aware of what goi
ng on, he answers
, “With my heart … always, my love … With my heart, always.”

Picking her up,
he
looks around
for Meg.
S
eeing no sign
,
h
e runs out of the building with
Rena
in his arms
,
barely
remembering
to grab her
clutch
.

Th
e street
filled with people, the crowd
watch
es
the spectacle, as a
man carrying
a
bloody
body
races from
the
exploding
building
. 
N
o one
attempt
s
to stop
them expect
ing
many more will follow
.

Lying
Rena
on
the back seat of
the car,
he closes
the door
quickly
behind them
.
 
“I’ve got Rena. 
She’s
badly hurt. 
Where’s Meg?  I
don’t think we can wait for her
.
  What the hell happened?
”
 
Michael frantically updates
the Bunker.

“
G
et Rena out of there. 
Michael,
d
o
n
o
t wait for Meg.
W
e
wi
ll
explain on the way.  There will be a helicopter waiting
eight miles from your current location.  The driver has the
coordinates.”  Mr. Black works
to keep the operation under control
.

In route, Mr. B
l
a
ck explains, “S
omething happened in the
elevator on the way down.  When the
y
reached the lobby
,
Meg ra
n ou
t the
West
side of the building
and departed
the scene.
”

“You’re
tracking her
, right?”
 
Michael asks
,
his eyes
fixed on Rena
.

Black continues,
“A
bout fifteen minutes after she left the building, he
r tracking chip went dead.  She’
s
currently off the grid.
”

“How the hell is that possible?” Michael
barks
across
comms, looking down at the ashen faced young wom
a
n lying
unconscious
o
n
his
lap
, knowing
exactly how it’
s possible.