The Island Project: A Thriller (16 page)

“So what does this have to do with the robot-cats?” Kelly asked

“They’re called
juggernauts
,” Braden corrected her.

“Why do you call them that?” she asked.

Braden appeared annoyed with the question. “They were developed as transporters for the military. They can carry cargo and trek virtually anywhere on their own.”

“And they can kill on their own, too,” Kelly said.

“They take orders,” Braden said crossly. He was visibly annoyed with Kelly’s remarks. “They only attack when directed. They are given orders by a VA, or whoever is linked up with them.” Braden blinked uncontrollably for a moment. Kelly found it a bizarre reflex.

“So who’s linked up with them?” she asked.

Braden didn’t respond. He seemed to trail off for a moment. “That’s enough chit-chat.”

“No, really. I want to know how they get their directives. Can you control them? Do you have
The Shot
?” Kelly got up and stood behind the glass. “Hey!”

Braden glanced at his watch then walked over to Danner’s containment, ignoring Kelly. He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Danner. “Let’s go Rick. You’re going to take me to Lorry now.”

Danner didn’t move. He stayed where he was with his back against the glass.

“Now Rick! Move it!” Braden commanded.

Danner slowly rose to his feet and walked up to the glass. He looked beat, exhausted.

“What’s your plan, Braden?” he said in a rather hoarse voice.

“My
plan
? My plan is to get Lorry back, and I need you to do that. If she were responding to my directives—I wouldn’t need you. Now stop asking questions or I’ll give you a taste of what I gave your friend here. Now
go
!” Braden yelled and opened his door.

“No. I mean what are you planning on doing with them?” Danner asked and nodded in Kelly’s direction.

Braden looked over at Kelly and smiled. “They’re involved in this now too. Once her boyfriend wakes up, we will take…”

Braden took a step back and looked over at Bennett’s containment. “What the…?”

Braden slammed Danner’s containment door shut and quickly made his way over to the faction he had left Bennett in. He peered in through the glass.

Bennett was nowhere to be seen.

Braden opened the door and searched the containment thoroughly.

Nothing was inside.

“
How did he get out?
Where did he go
?” Braden screamed. He looked at Kelly as if she had the answer. Kelly didn’t say anything. Braden cursed loudly and looked down at his phone. “I don’t need you. I’ll find him. If he’s in here, I’ll find him.”

Braden stormed out of the faction and marched across the den, in pursuit of Tom Bennett.

CHAPTER 39

955 AKEA ST.

16 OCTOBER, 3:50 A.M.

Jim Lee couldn’t sleep.

He reached over and flicked on his bedside lamp. The alarm clock displayed the hour in digital green characters. It was almost 4AM, and he hadn’t slept a wink. He couldn’t get the info he had uncovered about CERTA out of his head. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something connecting this elusive “phantom” company and the murder that had occurred at the farm. It all pointed back to the location of the murder—the farm bordered the forest reserve—the last place he hadn’t fully covered.

If it exists, it had to be somewhere inside the reserve.

Lee got out of bed and got dressed. He grabbed his wallet, badge and his gun—then headed out the door.

CHAPTER 40

THE DEN

16 OCTOBER, 4:00 A.M.

Kelly waited until Braden was out of the room. She turned around and walked to the back of the containment. “Tom, he’s gone. You can come out.”

Bennett peered his head out from behind the metal cabinets lining the back of Kelly’s containment. He had been hiding behind them for the past five minutes.

During Braden’s rant, he had failed to watch Bennett who had managed to escape by slowly shimmying along the ground until he reached the back of his containment and using a large cable running up the sidewall, was able to climb up the wall, which was roughly about fourteen feet, and then drop down into Kelly’s containment unnoticed. Braden was on the far-side of the faction—out of sight. Kelly noticed that Bennett had disappeared while Braden was talking, so she tried to do her best to keep Braden’s attention by asking him questions.

Bennett stepped forward out of the shadows. He walked up and hugged Kelly.

“Are you ok?” Kelly asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up. How about you?”

Kelly’s eyes lingered on Bennett for a moment before she responded. “I’m fine. He grabbed me while we were up on the roof and drugged me with something—must have knocked me out. I still feel a little sluggish…” Kelly shook her head. “Ugh…what a creep!”

“We gotta get out of here. Do you have your keychain?” Bennett asked.

“No. He took if from me while I was out.”

Bennett pulled out his phone. He tried to start it up—but the battery was dead now.

“I bet you’re wishing you hadn’t come back here,” a voice said from the adjacent room. It was Rick Danner. He was standing against the glass divider with his back turned to them.

Bennett and Kelly both looked at him. “You’re not going to say anything, are you?” Kelly asked.

“No…no. I’ve got nothing to say to him. My business with him doesn’t require talking.”

“Alright, Kelly come on,” Bennett urged. He made his way to the front of the containment and clasped his hands together. “Let’s go. I’ll lift you up. You should be able to reach the top of the walls.”

Kelly paused and donned a look of confusion. “How are
you
going to get out?” she asked.

“You can get out through the roof. I’ll find a way out,” Bennett said trying to hurry her along.

“Tom, I can’t just leave you here. I…”

“I know a way,” Danner interjected. “If you get me out of here, I’ll show you.”

“What?” Kelly turned and looked at him. “
You do?
Ok…what is it?” she asked.

Danner turned and faced the east corner of the room. “That computer over there controls the security to the entire building. You can open these containments, too.  If you can get to it, I’ll walk you through it.”

Kelly looked back at Bennett. He nodded in response. “Kelly, we’ve got to move quick, though,” he said.

Bennett gathered his footing and crouched down. Kelly walked over to him and stepped into his locked hands. She reached up and braced herself on the walls with her hands.

“Ok, ready? One…two…three.” Bennett heaved her up. Once he got her above him he used his legs to bare the weight—which was not much seeing how light Kelly was.

“Ok, I can almost reach the top,” Kelly said. Bennett breathed out and extended his arms out above him. He held both her feet in his hands and moved his weight onto the balls of his feet—stretching up onto his toes.

“Almost…only a few more inches,” Kelly said.

Bennett gathered his strength and pressed hard. “Got it!” Kelly said. She hung from the top of the wall. She used her feet to climb up the glass as she pulled herself up. She crouched down and balanced on top of the wall. Then she lowered herself down the other side and dropped the rest of the way. Once on the other side, Kelly quickly moved over to the computer. She wheeled it over a short distance so that she could communicate with Danner. The screen flashed to life, displaying a password access prompt.

“Ok, type in P2FR811. Then click ENTER,” Danner instructed.

Kelly followed his directions. “Ok. I’m in.”

“Good. A nav screen should pop up. You will have multiple options to choose from. Look for Infrastructure, then Security, then look for Building Access.”

Kelly scanned the different options on the screen. Halfway down the list she found “Infrastructure”. Then she navigated through the “Security” options until she landed on “Building Access”.  “Ok, it’s asking me for another password.”

“Type in DESIGNATOR1,” Danner directed.

Kelly typed it in. An error message flashed on the screen. She tried it again. The same error message popped up—this time it was accompanied by another message:
You have 1 attempt remaining.

“Umm…it didn’t work. It’s telling me I have one attempt left,” she said. Kelly looked over at the door to the den anxiously.
Braden could return at any moment and walk through those doors,
she thought.

“Did you use all caps?” Danner asked.

Had she?
Kelly couldn’t remember.
She typed it in slowly, in all caps. Then she pressed ENTER. Multiple lines of security code ran across the page instantly. They stacked up and filled the screen. “Alright, that worked. Now what?” Kelly asked.

“About a quarter of the way down, there is reference to Building Access. It will ask for a door override.”

Kelly searched and found it right away. The override code was displayed in front of her.

23874/23874 files checked     100% done

Checking .main_building/access/building_security/doors. . .

Access granted . . .

System security currently activated . . .

Override doors? [y] [n]

“Override doors?” Kelly asked.

“Hit, yes,” Danner said.

“Wait!” Bennett said. “What about the other robots? The ones still inside their cells…” He pointed across the room to the shadowed out factions. Although they couldn’t be seen, there were still four more juggernauts behind the glass.

“It’s ok. Braden needs to activate them first. They are fine…unless he decides to turn them live. We just have to get out of here before that happens,” Danner said.

The information didn’t seem to appease Bennett at all.

“Ok, I’m gonna do it.” Kelly clicked “Yes”. Immediately the doors throughout the room all clicked. The locking hinges gave way and the doors were freed. Bennett manually slid the door open and exited the containment. Danner opened his and did the same. As soon as he exited he walked across the room and entered the control room.

“What do you think?” Kelly said.

“About Danner?”

“Yeah. Do we trust him?”

Bennett paused.  “He certainly appears to loath Braden. We could certainly use his help getting out of here,” he said.

“What about everything that went down yesterday? He almost
shot
you. Let alone the fact that he was an absolute jerk.” Kelly was clearly concerned with involving Danner. She was right. Her questions raised valid concerns and caused Bennett to think it through.

“So, do we trust him?”

Danner exited the control room before Bennett could answer. He looked focused—much more so than before.

“Braden took the guns. We’re going to have to make it out of here without them. The supply room is on the east side hall. That’s the objective for now…we’ll have a much better chance if we’re armed,” said Danner.

“Is that the quickest way out of here?” Kelly asked.

“It’s the
only
way out of here right now,” Danner replied derisively.

“Braden’s got two robots out searching for…” Danner looked at Bennett, awaiting his answer.

“Tom,” he replied.

“And I’m Kelly.” she said.

“My name’s Rick.”

Bennett stepped forward. “Listen, Rick. We appreciate your help. All Kelly and I want to do is get out of here safely. I’ll be the first to say that we have no business being here and we should’ve stayed clear from this place from the start. Regardless, we’re in the middle of this now.”

Danner listened to Bennett intently. Kelly noticed. His manner seemed to have changed dramatically from the day prior. The events that took place clearly sparked a change of character in him. Either that, or he was playing them for fools—leading them directly into Braden’s hands.

Bennett continued.

“Now, besides the murder that took place, there is apparent criminal activity taking place here. Those robots are completely out of control. I’m sure you’re quite aware that it’s only a matter of time before things surface and this place gets shut down. That being said, before we go any further I want to be sure you’re with us on this.”

Danner nodded and paused as if letting Bennett’s words sink in. Then he spoke.

“Tom, I’m a man of my word. When I involve myself with something, I do so only if I respect the people involved. Trust me when I tell you that the events that have taken place the last few days require some serious explanation, and Dr. Perry is the man to provide that explanation. I intend to see Braden answer for this—which likely means him in a body bag or locked in an asylum. My task right now is to find Braden, disarm him and hold him in a secure location. I’ll help you get out of here as well. This isn’t your fight…never was.”

Kelly and Bennett looked at each other.

“Alright. Let’s do this,” Kelly said.

Danner nodded and went right to work. “Ok, the robots are split up right now. I could see them from the surveillance cameras. One is guarding the lobby and the other was in the lab. I couldn’t see Braden—so keep your eye out for him. He’s a crafty devil.”

“Is there a way to avoid going through the lab?” Bennett asked.

“Well, there is another hallway to the north end, but it connects through the lobby.” Danner thought for a moment. “The server room connects to the west hallway.”

Bennett interjected. “The server room’s blocked…kind of. I had to close that exit off to get away from the robots. There might still be enough room to slide through though.”

“How sure?” Danner asked.

He rubbed his shoulder. “Well, I did it once, I can do it again,” Bennett replied.

“Ok. We’ll go through the server room. The supply room is across the hallway once we get through,” Danner said and nodded affirmingly to Bennett.

“Great,” Bennett said.

He was beginning to feel optimistic about their plan. He was glad that Kelly was OK and he felt better about Danner’s involvement. It was just a matter of getting out now.

“Oh yeah—here.” Danner pulled out a phone from his pocket and handed it to Kelly.

“I believe this is yours. It was in the control room.”

“My phone! Thank you.” Kelly turned it on.

“Just do me a favor. Don’t call the cops until Perry’s arrived. He should be here any minute. I’m confident he’ll straighten things out with Braden.”

Kelly looked uneasy. It was obvious that the first thing she was going to do was dial the police. However, Rick was clearly helping them escape and she decided to accommodate his request. She hesitantly nodded in agreement.

“Ok. Fine.”

“Good. Let’s move.” Danner led them to the door. He was about to slide it open when the room suddenly began to shake—like a steady earthquake. It was nothing extreme—but it was steady and constant. The shaking was accompanied by a din coming from outside—a repetitive
thump, thump, thump
sound.

Danner looked up. “He’s here,” he said.

“Who’s here?” Kelly asked.

Danner smiled. “Dr. Perry.”