Strangers and Shadows (38 page)

The first part of the plan seemed easy enough—waltz past the guard like he belonged there, get on the elevator, and take it down to sub-level D.

Here we go,
Wizard muttered to himself as he walked through the front door.

“Good evening,
sir
,” the not-as-pre-occupied-as-he-looked-guard said in a loud crisp voice.  “How can I help you,
sir
?”  The guard’s eyes were laser beams that burned into Wizard as they scanned up, down, forward, and back.  And there was something Wizard seriously disliked about the way he said
sir
.  He could almost hear the
Old Man
, which is how the guard was saying it.

No, Wizard did not like this man at all.  So he did what anyone in his position would do—he lied and smiled.  “Well, hello there, young man,” he said, speaking so slowly it almost pained him with the effort.  He hobbled closer to the security guard, sticking his hand out for a shake.

The security guard stood up abruptly, backing away from the offered hand like it was oozing with leprosy.  His left hand went up to ward the old man off while his right went to the blaster on his hip.  “
Sir
, please stay where you are!”  The pitch of his voice rose higher.

“What’s that you say?  Play what?”  Wizard asked as he continued shuffling toward the desk.  He just needed to get a little closer… there.  Now he could reach the waist pack without the guard seeing him, due to the desk in between.  He noticed the lobby had cleared out. 
Shift change must be over,
he thought.  It suited his purposes just fine—no one to see the scene he was making.

“
Sir
, can you understand me?  You need to stay where you are!”  The guard pulled his blaster from its holster, raising it at Wizard’s chest.

Jumpy little shit-head, isn’t he?
  Wizard thought.  Well, if he wanted to see a senile old man, who was he to dissuade him?

“I… I… I’ve had an accident,” Wizard delivered his best over-the-hill-with-one-foot-in-the-grave performance.  “Do you know where the bathroom is?” 
I’m never going to live this down,
he thought as he released his bladder, pissing his pants and adding some fact to his fiction.

“Oh god…” the guard heard the pitter-patter of the urine dripping onto the shiny floor.  He holstered his gun and was about to call for back-up when back-up arrived.

“What’s going on here, Hank?” the second guard asked.  “Everything all right?”

Jesus, another one?  This was supposed to be the easy part. 
Wizard watched as the second guard came closer.

“Everything’s fine, Tom,” Hank replied.  “This
gentleman
here—has just had an accident.”  He nearly choked on the word gentleman.  “I was about to explain our bathroom policy as I escorted him from the building, but—”

“For Christ’s sake, Hank.  Have a little compassion,” Tom said, shaking his head as he moved to help poor old Wizard out.

Wizard, a little touched by the man’s kindness, sighed.  “Oh, to hell with this.”  He pulled his stunner and fired once into each man. 
So much for the easy part,
he thought as he dragged the guards behind the desk and out of view from the front door.  From here on out, Wizard knew, the plan was pretty much smash and grab.

He checked the pockets of the second guard—Tom, if he recalled correctly.  Tom’s access key was in his chest pocket.  Wizard didn’t think he would need it, but it couldn’t hurt to have it just in case.

In the monitors behind the desk, Wizard saw no movement, no flashing lights, and no sign of a tripped alarm.  Then again, if it was a silent alarm, he supposed he wouldn’t be privy to it.  Either way, speed was of the essence.

He hurried to the elevators, the first of which opened for him as soon as he reached it.  Wizard entered the immaculate lift and the doors wooshed shut behind him.  The menu for the elevator destinations was next to the door on the wall.  He quickly selected sub-level D and was promptly greeted by a female voice.  “
Please swipe your access key now.
”

He still had the security guard’s key in his hand.  He swiped it across the menu.  

“
Access denied.  Insufficient clearance level.
”

Cursing his luck, Wizard dug into his waist pack and fumbled around for Dr. Lin’s card, hoping that no one else tried to use this particular elevator until after he was on his way.  Fortunately, if the security guards didn’t have access to the lab then he shouldn’t have to worry about seeing any of them down there.  He finally found the key and swiped it.  

“
Welcome, Dr. Lin.
”

The lift began to descend, stopping several moments later.  A chime sounded and the doors wooshed open.  Wizard adjusted his back pack and stepped through the doors at a complete loss for what he found on the other side.

The elevator opened into a large waiting room.  Even after hours, it was well lit.  The walls were lined with transparent, cylindrical tanks containing naked bodies. 
There must be hundreds of them,
he thought. 
Dear god, what were they up to down here? 
He wasn’t completely naive to what went on in facilities like this one, but being confronted with it firsthand shocked him more than he cared to admit.

Most of the tanks were holding nondescript bodies, suspended in some kind of liquid or gel.  The bodies were neither male nor female.  They were very skinny, with almost no muscle definition, and completely hairless.

There were, however, several bodies that were definitively male or female.  Hair had begun growing and there was a noticeable difference in muscle mass.  They appeared to be much more healthy than the nondescript bodies.  One female in particular caught his eye.  The body was younger than he was accustomed to seeing her as, the hair was shorter, unstyled and uncut, and of course it was naked, but there was no doubt that it was the body of Julia White, Prime Minister of the Seventh Verse.

Wizard stood for a moment, transfixed on the naked form suspended before him. 
She is certainly beautiful, this enemy of ours,
he thought.  He spent the next several seconds considering destroying the body, but after further thought, he decided against it.  She would only have another one produced, and at best it would only be a nuisance to her—hardly a striking blow.  The task at hand was more important.

He broke away from the pull of the naked bodies and moved into the central portion of the lab.  Various partitions separated the room into work stations.  Wizard bypassed these and went straight to the locked door at the back of the room.  On the other side he would find the sample he was looking for.

Now for the moment of truth.  Would the access key get him past the reinforced door or not?  He swiped the key and the door hummed to life.  “
Please swipe additional access key now.
”

Shit!
  The door needed two keys to be opened.  He was afraid something like this might happen, and to think, he might have knocked that poor girl out for nothing.  “
Please provide additional access key now.
”

Where was the cancel feature on this thing?
  Wizard looked for a touch panel or anything that could silence that voice.  

As if it knew exactly what he was trying to do, the voice spoke again. “
Please provide additional access key in ten… nine…
”

Uh-oh.  This wasn’t good.
  If an alarm went off, it wouldn’t take a strike team long at all to gate in and start raining down blaster bolts on his parade.  “
Seven… six… five…
”  He was running out of time.  He reached into his pack and pulled out a small detonator.  It was no larger than a quarter, but it would be powerful enough to take out the reinforced security door.  He had taken it from his son years ago, when their relationship wasn’t as rocky as it was now.  Dorian had just come back from a training mission and Wizard had seen the device lying on top of his son’s pack.  He’d held onto it all these years, never having had an opportunity to use it.

Well, the opportunity is here now,
he thought.  He planted the detonator on the center of the door with the utmost care.  The self-adhesive held and Wizard let out a deep breath.

“
One,
” the voice said.  Immediately the alarm sounded.  Bells and klaxons blared loudly.  The lights flashed on and off in random patterns.  

Wizard knew he didn’t have much more time—maybe thirty seconds at best.  He set the timer on the detonator for seven of those seconds and moved for cover back by the elevator, hoping that it would be enough time to get clear of the blast. 

He ran with a speed he didn’t know that he possessed, half-sliding, half-falling behind the furniture in the waiting area.  He curled up in a ball and braced for the explosion.  Any second now…

After what felt like an eternity, the detonator exploded, sending flame and smoke flying outward.  Wizard could feel the heat wave as it rolled by.

Stunned, he made his way to his feet and stumbled to the door that was no more. 
The door that was no more…
  He laughed at the rhyme in his head and then made himself focus on the task at hand.

Nearly the entire door had been blown away.  A few inches of metal remained around the hinges, still smoldering.  Mourning the loss of his detonator, but grateful for its service, Wizard entered the vault where the sample was stored.

The vault was filled with smoke.  Wizard coughed and hacked as he waved his arms about, trying to clear the air.

As the smoke began to dissipate, Wizard saw the safe he was looking for.  It was a rectangular cube made out of plastex, a compound developed for its light weight and superb strength.  

He moved toward the safe and tapped the door, activating the AI.  Thankfully, the power was still on despite the alarm.  The plastex was every bit as strong as the door he had just blasted through, and he was all out of detonators.  If he couldn’t open the door with Lin’s access key, then he would have to gate out without his prize.

“
Please swipe access key now,
” the AI said.

Wizard fumbled for the key, with sweat running down his face.  The pack on his back had grown heavier and he was about to reach the limits of his endurance, but he dared not take it off now.

He swiped the key.

“
Key accepted.  Welcome Dr. Lin.  Please provide genetic sample now.
”  A collection panel slid out of the base of the safe.

Wizard took the vial of blood he had collected from Dr. Lin and poured out several drops onto the collection panel.  The panel receded back into the safe.  “
Analyzing now.
”

“Come on… Come on…” Wizard muttered impatiently to himself.

A loud bang sounded from the main lab.  Wizard guessed that it was the strike team breaching the lab.  They would find him in a matter of seconds.

“
Come on!
”  He banged on the safe with his fist.

The AI chimed.  “
Analysis complete.  Narcotic substance found.  Access denied.
”  With that the safe went dark.  It was shut down for good now.  It would be another hour before anyone could even try to open it.

Damn it!
  He should have known better—it was the sedative he’d given her that showed up in the genetic screen.  He would have kicked himself if he had the time, but he didn’t.  He could hear the commands of the strike team leader now.  “Flash bangs on my mark.”

That was Wizard’s cue.  He activated the gate and dove through just as he heard the flash bang bounce off the floor behind him.

The room exploded with light and thunder.  Several troopers ran into the vault, weapons raised at the ready.  The leader activated his comm.  “All clear, no sign of the intruder.”  He listened to the reply and then responded.  “Understood, sir.”  

He turned toward his men.  “Alright, nobody goes in or out until the boss gets here.  Let’s lock her down, boys.”

Disorganized Resistance

Desmond had to get out of the city.  He hadn’t noticed any byrds flying about, as they were most likely under the influence of the EM field as well, so that left him with stealing an enemy transport or walking.

Cairo was a vast city, stretching out for miles.  No doubt the Seventh had the EM field deployed throughout most of the city by now.  Walking would take too much time, and the chances of being discovered and captured were far too great.

The EM field’s range was not without limit
.
  It would take at least several generators to create a field large enough to blanket the city.