Scarlet Angel (26 page)

“
Well then, I suppose I shall see
you next week.” Scarlett waved to the woman behind the counter, but
she had already answered another line.

“
Universal Dynamic Industries,
Carmine Research Facility Lobby, how may I help you?”

Scarlett whispered a thank you. The receptionist
ignored her, so she turned to leave. She took a few steps then
turned back. “I’m terribly sorry to bother you again, but could you
point me the way to the loo? I mean, restroom?”

The woman rolled her eyes and pointed. Scarlett
thanked her again and strolled off.

Her comm beeped. “Well played. Who knew you could do
Brit?”

The corner of her mouth curled up. She continued the
accent in a whisper. “There’s quite a lot about me you don’t know,
young man.”

“
Touché.”

Inside the restroom, new marble tile covered the
floor and the walls were freshly painted.

Dax whistled. “So this is what women’s restrooms are
like?”

Scarlett set her briefcase down on the sink counter
and surveyed the room. There were three women’s stalls. A bench sat
in the corner next to a stainless steel trash bin. She looked up at
the ceiling and cursed. “Son-of-a-bitch.”

“
What’s the problem?”

She looked up again. “That.” The ceiling’s smooth
surface was broken only by the half-dozen recessed lights.

“
Oh.”

“
Yeah. That ceiling used to be
made of removable tiles. It’s been remodeled, and
recently.”

“
So... what now?”

She spun around and unzipped the front pouch of her
briefcase. “Now we improvise.” Scarlett was thankful she’d decided
to stock the briefcase with actual business supplies, including a
pen, paper and clear tape. A few minutes later, she stood back to
admire her handiwork.

Dax snorted. “Out of order. Cute.”

“
Thanks.”

Scarlett stuck her new sign to the middle stall
door. She took a seat in the third stall.

“
Why didn’t you sit in the out of
service one?”

“
Just in case someone comes to
check on it. Later I’ll move there as it gets closer to
closing.”

A long, awkward pause followed. Dax broke the
silence. “You know, I had sex with this girl once in a—”

Scarlett scrunched her face. “Do
not
finish
that sentence.”

“
Sorry, just trying to make
conversation.”

“
Well don’t. I—”

The door to the rest room burst open and the room
echoed with the voices of two women. Scarlett froze. The women
chatted about some office romance.

One of the women cursed. “Dammit. This one’s in use,
this one’s broke, and some sick freak left this one a mess.”

The other woman spoke, her voice farther away.
“That’s nasty.” The faucet turned on for a few seconds then off
again.

The first woman sighed. “Whatever. I’ll just wait
till we get inside.”

The two women were gone a minute later.

Scarlett let out a breath that she didn’t even
realize she was holding. “Look, Dax... No conversation please.
K?”

“
Sure thing. So, then... What
now?”

“
Now,” she sighed and leaned back.
“Now, we just sit and wait.”

Chapter 40
The Core

There’s no point in killing an innocent, no matter
how evil his employer is.

* * *

The door burst open, the sound echoing in the small
bathroom of the Universal Dynamics lobby.

Heavy footfalls entered the room accompanied by the
clanking of metal tools. “Son of a bitch. I’ll bet that lazy shit
Brent left this for me.” The maintenance man’s voice was tired and
angry. “I bet he didn’t even look at it.”

Scarlett crouched on the toilet, keeping her feet
out of view from under the door. Not that it mattered. The
maintenance man was about to open the door and get a big surprise.
The augmented reality display projected from her contact lenses
highlighted the man’s likely location based on sound. She held her
breath and lifted a small spray can.

The man outside the stall cursed and tore off
Scarlett’s makeshift sign. “Lazy son-of-a-bitch.” The small lock
turned and the door was yanked open.

Before Scarlett stood a short, middle-aged man in a
jumpsuit. He wore a leather workman’s belt that was loaded down
with various tools and he held an additional toolbox in his left
hand. Above his left breast was an embroidered patch with ‘UDI’ in
block letters just above his name, Alvin.

Alvin stood with his mouth open, unmoving. His
toolbox crashed to the floor.

Scarlett smiled. “Hello.” She pressed the button on
the canister, spraying Alvin’s face. Alvin blinked and collapsed to
the floor.

“
Good night.” She hefted the
unconscious man, propped him up on the toilet, closed the stall
door, and replaced the sign. She snatched her briefcase from the
back of the stall door. “Dax. Dax, you there?”

The video feed of Dax’s webcam was blank. At the
door leading out of the bathroom she stopped. Her shoulders
sagged.

She set the briefcase down and turned to the sink
counter. Tapping the side of her glasses, a keyboard of made of
light appeared on the counter. Scarlett typed out a few commands. A
moment later, a shrill siren erupted in her ear. As loud as it was
for her, she knew it was much louder for Dax.

The snorts and grunts of Dax waking up were almost
drowned out by the siren. “Huh? What? I’m here.” The small square
in the upper right corner of her vision changed from black to Dax’s
reddened face.

She canceled the alarm and shook her head. “Sure you
are. Listen, Sleeping Beauty, it’s time to get going.” From in the
briefcase she pulled a black backpack and a pair of soft shoes.
Scarlett pulled off her suit coat and unbuttoned her blouse. She
let the blouse and her pants fall to a heap on the floor. In the
mirror, she saw herself clothed in the black bodysuit she’d been
wearing under her business attire. Thin, flexible armor plating
covered most of her skin. “Much better.”

Scarlett dumped the heeled shoes she’d been wearing
into the trash bin and slid her arms through the straps of the
backpack.

“
Hmm? Yeah, right.
Okay.”

Scarlett stepped out into the lobby. Small blips
appeared across her vision, indicating where the cameras were. All
of them faced outward. When she spoke again, her voice was low and
quiet. “Dax, c’mon. I can’t hang around here all day. Already had
to put the maintenance man to sleep.”

“
Really?”

“
Dax.”

“
Uh, yeah.” His fingers clacked on
his keyboard. “Okay, here we go. Schematics are up and... First you
have to get past the scanners. They stay active and will sound an
alarm if anyone passes through them.”

“
Already on it.”

A tunnel-like structure had been erected over the
security scanners for traffic control since Scarlett had worked in
the building. It was comprised of an arch of rigid hexagon tubes.
She looked at the structure and noticed a small gap between the top
of it and the ceiling of the hall. The gap was just big enough for
her to squeeze through.

Scarlett wedged her fingers into the crevices
between the connecting tubes and climbed to the top of the arch.
She opened her mouth to tell Dax she was past the scanners when
footfalls silenced her. Scarlett lay flat against the top of the
tunnel.

“
Dax, someone’s coming,” she
whispered.

“
It’s probably just the patrol
guard. They roam the area past the scanners. Just wait a sec and
he’ll be gone.” Dax’s eyes darted from his screen to his
webcam.

Scarlett held her breath and waited but the
footsteps still grew closer.

Finally, the guard stopped just below Scarlett. The
plastic surface reverberated as the guard slapped the wall
twice.

Scarlett cursed. Her hand slid to the plasma pistol
at her hip. The snap holding the weapon in place silently released
and her fingers wrapped around the grip.

The guard slapped the wall again. “This is Scott at
Checkpoint Delta. All clear.” The footfalls started again and
headed away.

Peeking over the edge, she saw the back of his head
as he turned the corner. “Whew, he’s gone.”

She slid the backpack off and squeezed through the
gap. Her silicone-soled shoes hit the floor without a sound. She
re-donned the backpack and continued down the hall.

“
Alright, up ahead you’ll turn
left. You should be safe to follow that guard for a little
bit.”

Scarlett made her way through the white halls,
keeping her distance from the guard. She let the guard turn each
corner before she followed. When the man passed a door leading to a
stairwell, Scarlett slipped inside.

She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.
The sound of the air leaving her lungs was loud in her own ears.
Scarlett forced her breathing to stay slow and quiet as she started
her descent.

The soft crunch of every grain of dirt and dust
echoed as she stepped. The sound of an opening door made her stop
in her tracks just two levels from the floor where the data room
was.

Heavy footsteps echoed up the stairwell from below.
“This is Almasi. I’m heading back up to the ground floor.”

Scarlett backed up to the door leading out onto B3
level. She glanced through the small window and turned the
handle.

The approaching guard’s radio squawked. “Roger.
We’re just waiting on you.”

She slipped out into the hallway and waited for the
guard to pass. Scarlett wondered what the other guards were waiting
to do. “Dax. What’s going on?”

The image of Dax typed away at a virtual keyboard on
his desk. “I have no idea. I show nothing scheduled for tonight.
Maybe just a card game?”

Scarlett thought for a second. “Maybe. Maybe not.
Let’s get this done.” After Almasi passed her door, she re-entered
the stairwell and made her way down the last few flights of
stairs.

In the hallway, something about the white walls
struck Scarlett. Even though they were exactly the same as the ones
above, she felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Memories of
the halls she was walking through started to force their way back
into her consciousness.

In her mind, she saw herself walking side by side
with Derrick. They talked about the Centarus Project and what it
would mean for both of their careers. She saw the faces of other
researchers pass by, researchers dead for more than five years
now.

Scarlett realized she’d been walking in a daze and
shook her head. Sudden awareness brought her to a halt. She found
herself standing just before the next corner.

The hallway was silent, devoid of the guard’s
footsteps. Scarlett peeked around the corner. The next length of
hall was short and turned after twenty feet. She let out a deep
sigh and leaned against the wall.

“
Scarlett, you’ve stopped.
Everything okay?”

She smiled to herself and started walking again.
“Yeah. I just... nevermind.” Near the next corner, she slowed down
to check behind. Clear, she turned and found herself face to face
with security.

The lone guard’s eyes were wide and his mouth
dropped open. A soft “Uh...” escaped his lips.

Scarlett stared at the man for a moment. With each
heartbeat, Scarlett knew whoever snapped out of their shock first
would have the upper hand. A voice in the back of her mind screamed
for her to move and take down the man before he could make any
noise.

The guard’s posture twitched and he was in
motion.

Scarlett leaned back and shoved at the guard. He
stumbled backward. She felt the breeze of the guard’s fist passing
the tip of her nose.

The security guard held his comm up and opened his
mouth to speak. Scarlett closed the distance. Her fist smashed into
his hand, crushing the comm between his hand and his teeth.

He stumbled back. Blood poured from his mouth. He
looked down at his hand covered in red and looked back up. Scarlett
didn’t wait for him to recover. She spun around and whipped her leg
out, catching the guard across the cheek.

He fell to the ground unconscious.

Scarlett froze as the hallway echoed with the sound
of the collapsing guard. She backed up and peeked around the
corner. The coast was still clear.

Dax punched at the air. “That was awesome!”

“
Thanks, I did it just for your
benefit.”

“
Really?”

“
No.”

Scarlett pulled the senseless guard to the door at
the end of the hallway. An interface screen next to the door
displayed the word ‘secure.’ Below the screen, a small black
scanner with glowing green lines stuck out from the wall.

“
Okay, so you’ll need the
nanocloth I gave you.”

She slid the backpack from her shoulder and
retrieved a square of what looked like heavy grey canvas material.
Despite its plain appearance, Scarlett knew it was an interface
relay that would allow Dax to hack into the palm scanner to open
the door.

Scarlett carefully laid the relay over the hand
scanner and stepped back.

“
Fuck me like a monkey.” Dax’s
brow wrinkled.

“
What?”

“
Um... Their security with the
scanner is a little more than I expected. Apparently, the system is
looking for a subdermal ID chip. It looks like all scientists who
work in this lab get them.”

She looked around, hoping to find something that
would help. “What can I do?”

“
Ah...” Dax leaned back and forth,
typing madly at multiple keyboards. His eyes darted across his
several screens.