《The girl named Seven》 Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Major Linda Shelia was pacing in a small dark room surrounded by computer monitors and analysts. Linda is an English woman in her late twenties. She joined the English military when she came of age and was recruited for the position of an intelligence officer in the J.A.T.F. (Joint Anti-Terrorist Force) when she became a captain, the youngest woman ever to become a captain in England. Now she holds the rank of a major, and is in the track becoming a colonel. ¡°Something is wrong.¡± She complains, they are monitoring a Hezbollah leader located in one of their safehouses in Lebanon named Ala Dawud. ¡°Our intelligence confirms that a weapon was transferred from the Al-Alam organization to the Abu-Shabaab terrorist group, and that the target is Ala Dawud¡± She talks while continuing to pace around the room while glimpsing the monitors that are displaying the footage taken of Ala Dawud in their safehouse across the street. ¡°Let them kill each other¡¯s till none remains.¡± An analysts shrugs his shoulders and interjects. ¡°But we have a deal with Ala Dawud that in change of ensuring his family¡¯s safety, he will name the leaders and safehouses of the Abu-Shabaab group.¡± Linda says and bites her lower lip. She knows that the man they are protecting now is the cause of three different terrorist strikes in middle-east that claimed the lives of 100 people of different ages. The senior analyst named Brian Delore, who was previously C.I.A. before recruited for the J.A.T.F. interjects from his computer: ¡°We have decrypted the files our team managed to get in Syria, there are over forty pages of documents.¡± Linda walks to a computer of her own ¡°Send them to the computers. Everyone who is not monitoring the asset, start going through them.¡± She orders. She is reading a document in Arabic about the weapon that was sold. The documents belonged to the Al-Alam, but they are mainly transactions documents. The group Al-Alam was brought down just after the weapon changed hands. It was the J.A.T.F.¡¯s, CIA¡¯s and FSB¡¯s joint operation. ¡°We got vehicles coming.¡± An analyst calls out. everyone stops what they are doing and focuses on the monitors that shows three cars turning to the safehouse. ¡°Be ready to engage¡± Linda says over the radio but redacts that order right after the doors opened up and young girls walks out of the cars. Disgusted, Linda looks at the girls who are guided inside the house. This has happened thrice since they started this operation. Ala Dawud has a thing for young girls, and his men bring them every now and then for his pleasure. ¡°Shit, they can be no older than sixteen.¡± A man says. ¡°Well it isn¡¯t that bad considering he could have a thing for children¡± Brian says. ¡°They are children.¡± Other analyst interjects. Brian looks towards the man who said that: ¡°You know what I meant. I mean younger children, younger than teenagers¡± He looks at the monitor and sees that the girls are now inside the house guided towards Ala Dawud. They are young, some haven¡¯t even hit puberty yet. He curses inside his mind that he cannot go and put a bullet in the terrorists head and that he have to watch him as he defiles the innocent looking girls. Linda pays no mind to them, she is too focused reading through the documents. She finally finds a document that has information about the weapon called seven. It¡¯s a list of targets that has been confirmed kills. She forwards the list to their headquarters in France, and requests information about the causes of death. There are only four names under the weapon sevens target list, none of them had a connection to Al-Alam, so she thinks that they rented the weapon to the highest bidder whose target was in range or otherwise accessible to the weapon.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. At first she feared that the weapon was a missile of sorts, so the anti-missile system surrounding the safehouse should be able to blast anything from the sky before compromising the house. Headquarters came through and she has detailed causes of death to all of the targets. The first two were killed by a sniper, the third was killed by a pencil stabbed to his throat and the last one was found drowned near his yacht. She realizes something, that the weapon Seven isn¡¯t a weapon but an assassin. Startled, she jumps from her seat and looks at the monitor showing Ala Dawud. She is trying to figure out if the assassin is amongst the girls. She doesn¡¯t believe that it is but decides to be on the safe side.
¡°We brought them.¡± One of Ala Dawuds men calls out. They have brought the girls to the Hezbollah leader¡¯s room and Ala Dawud is now eying them with interest. The girls are lined up in front of him as he moves to an upright position from the needlessly big bed. The room walls are covered with silken cloths, there are illustrious mats on the floor and a big chandelier hangs from the ceiling. His eyes are stuck on the girl to the far left on the line, the only girl who has western heritage of the group. She has beautiful face, crystal blue eyes and a blond hair, going just below her shoulder blades. She is average of height for her age, her body figure has yet to develop, but is showing the signs of early puberty. She is wearing the same clothes as all of them, a long white loose silken dress that covers her everything except her face and neck. ¡°How old are you?¡± Ala Dawud asks the girl in English. The men behind the girl shoves the girl towards their boss, while almost tripping her. She regains her balance and shyly looks down and answers in English: ¡°fifteen¡±. The man gestures the girl to come closer, and the girl obeys. She is only two steps away from him when the door is slammed open and men in combat gear starts coming in. Linda is the third person to walk through the door, and as she walks in, the fifteen year old girl standing before Ala Dawud looks lost at what to do. ¡°What is the meaning of this?!¡± Ala Dawud yells and continues: ¡°You¡¯ll get the names when I know for sure that my family is safe¡± ¡°There is a possible security breach, I¡¯ll have to ask all the girls to leave¡± Linda answers him, as she looks at the girls. Her eyes meet with the blue eyed girl standing in front of their asset and she recognizes something in them. It was panic and urgency, she starts bringing her hand to her holster as the girl turns to look towards her latest target: Ala Dawud, 45 years old, brown eyes, black hair and beard, likes young girls and alcohol. She is panicked and lost because she doesn¡¯t know what to do. She was supposed to receive instruction about what to do when the target is dead and where is the extraction point, but her trainers and the organization she belongs to never contacted her and have gone completely silent. ¡®Well it was only a matter of time until they leave me for death¡¯ She thinks to herself. But if there was a plan to extract her in some way, and she has failed to kill her target, she would be in a world of pain so she decides to go through with the mission. As Linda is raising her sidearm to the blond, petite girl, the girls jumps toward Ala Dawud and swings her right arm from left to right. Glint of the hidden blade that was concealed in her sleeve is seen. Blood sprays from Ala Dawuds throat as it¡¯s sliced cleanly open. The blood splashes on the girl¡¯s face, her hand still holding the blade, is straightened to her right side, blood dripping from the fifteen-centimeter knife. ¡°Drop the knife!!¡± One of the soldiers yell as Ala Dawuds men are raising their weapons. The rest of the soldiers take aim to Ala Dawuds men so that they won¡¯t execute the girl in front of them. The room is silent as everybody is aiming at somebody. Some are aiming the girl, some the lackeys of the newly deceased man and some are aiming the soldiers. Nobody dares to move. The girl turns around and her white dress, painted with blood is shown. She drops the knife. The knife lands on its blade, sticking to the floor. She knows she cannot win against a room full of armed men and decides to surrender to fate. ¡°What happens to me now?¡± She asks with an innocent voice. Linda gestures two of the soldiers to take her into custody. Ala Dawuds men don¡¯t dare to start firing as they are outnumbered. The two soldiers take the young assassin by her hands and starts escorting her outside, while Linda curses in her mind. They just lost weeks of work and persuasion with the death of Ala Dawud, but nothing can be done about that now. The girl is escorted to outside the safehouse where she is put on a car. Linda boards the next car and they start heading to an open field some kilometers south from their location. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Pov 7 I am Seven. I received instructions to infiltrate a J.A.T.F. safehouse by pretending to be one of the girls the targets men are delivering to him. The girls were in a house sixteen kilometers away from the target location. I went to the house two days ago, after confirming that the girls didn¡¯t really know each other I killed one of them and took her dress, hid her body and waited. It really didn¡¯t bother me to kill her, I know it should but it didn¡¯t. It was for the sake of the mission, and I have to complete it like always. Now I¡¯m in a car that just pulled up in front of the target location. As the minions of my target are escorting me I cannot help but to feel uneasy. My handler should have already contacted me about what to do after I have terminated the target. When I tried contacting them, there was no answer. This is worrisome, it has never happened before. My life has only been different trainers in a forest with a town ruins and with an occasional mission. Only during the missions did I get see something other than trees and houses that did not stand the test of time. This is my first time in an area with dense human population. I have seen places like these before only through my scope. At the time, the towns looked unreal to me. How can so many people live in such a small area? I learned to hunt, to track, to survive and to kill. But now I am in a group of girls that are so different than me. I have never met other people of my age, but now I realize something. Something isn¡¯t right about how I was raised. The other girls with me are frail, in body and mind. They look vulnerable and sad. I wonder what kind of lives have they lived and why are they so sad now, maybe they didn¡¯t obey or finish their mission and that¡¯s why they are sad. We arrive in a comfy looking room, there are no hard surfaces in sight except for the roof. There is a man on the bed who stands up when we are lined in front of him. He is my target. He matches the picture I was showed before they sent me of to join the other girls. Is it just my imagination or is he staring at me? It¡¯s fucking creepy. I try to avoid his gaze as he asks me my age. I¡¯m pushed forward, and I almost reflexive stab the heart of the minion who dared to push me. I regain my balance and answer the man while avoiding looking into his eyes. I think about the mission, should I terminate him now? No, I wouldn¡¯t make it out alive. I should wait for the contact from my handlers. It is always a different people who gives me my target, but my handlers are the ones that gets me out when the deed is done. As I¡¯m weighing my opinions the door slams open. Soldiers fill the room and amongst them is a single woman. As my target questions their presence, the fiery red haired woman with blue eyes says something troublesome. They have discovered that I should not be here. How did they discover that, this has never happened before. The woman looks me in the eyes as I gaze her. I really am not sure how to proceed. Well it was only a matter of time until they leave me for dead. Perhaps that time has come now. My trainers always said that capture means death. On the off change that there is a plan to get me out of here I should go through with the mission. I know my handlers, and I know what would happen if I were to return unsuccessful. As the woman is going for her pistol I go for my target. One clean swipe with the blade that I had hidden in my sleeve does the trick. My target collapses in front of me as I¡¯m sprayed with his blood. Somebody yells for me to drop the knife and I drop it. I turn around and I¡¯m greeted with half a dozen angry minions who want to shoot me full of holes and the soldiers that are the only thing stopping them. ¡°What happens to me now?¡± I ask, genuinely curious what becomes of me now. I¡¯m starting to doubt that my handlers are extracting me but I don¡¯t really mind it. It wasn¡¯t fun to live my life but it is the only life I have known. Perhaps this journey doesn¡¯t end with death. I¡¯m dragged away from the house and put in a car. I¡¯m seated between two of the soldiers so it really isn¡¯t that confrontable. We drive for ten minutes as I gaze through the cars tinted windows admiring the landscape, possibly the last one I see. We come to a stop in a clearing by the side of the road. I¡¯m told to exit the car and I do so. Standing there, the soldiers starts coming out of the other cars too. Then I see the red headed woman coming from her car, looking at me and walking towards me.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Who ordered the hit¡± She asks. Hit? Does she mean the termination? Probably. ¡°I don¡¯t know. An older man with a beard.¡± I answer. I don¡¯t really have anything to hide. My handlers didn¡¯t contact me and the guys who gave me the target are not my problem. ¡°We have already destroyed your organization Al-Alam so you are protecting no one. Give me a name.¡± The woman says. What? Al-Alam, is that the name of the group who trained me, tortured me and raised me? I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m happy or sad. A single tear runs down my face as I smile a sad smile. I will miss them, well, some of them. And I will miss the forest, but perhaps I can someday return to there, though I don¡¯t know where it is. I know it¡¯s in the northern hemisphere, possibly in Scandinavia. ¡°You terminated my trainers and handlers?¡± I ask, confused about what answer I¡¯d like to hear. She looks at me for a second and nods yes. ¡°All of them?¡± ¡°Yes, we launched a coordinated bomb strike to all their bases when their locations were leaked¡± A bomb, a projectile, formerly usually spherical, filled with a bursting charge and exploded by means of a fuse, by impact, or otherwise, now generally designed to be dropped from an aircraft. Or that it is what it says in the only books I was allowed to read: a dictionary. And of course my trainers told me about them, what to do in case of a bomb strike, and how to detect the signs when one is incoming. If they didn¡¯t manage to clear the buildings they are probably dead then, everyone I have ever known is dead. I drop to my knees and bury my face in my hands. I know that they were not good people, but they too were just following instructions like me. ¡°A Name¡± The woman says. But I really don¡¯t know what to say to her. I know nothing about the people who gave me my latest target. I do know some of the names of my trainers but that¡¯s useless as they are probably dead now, not to mention they probably weren¡¯t their real names. ¡°Seven¡± I decide to answer with the only name I know, whose bearer is surely alive. The other names I know are not relevant to their, nor my situation. They are only possible targets, men of interest so to speak. I had to study their most likely locations and their habits, if they ever did become a target. ¡°That is not a name¡± She answers. ¡°It is mine.¡± The red headed woman in a military uniform looks at me with a complicated gaze which I do not recognize. ¡°Don¡¯t pity her. She killed our asset.¡± A man who looks to be in his thirties in normal clothes with short black hair says from the side. Pity, sympathetic or kindly sorrow evoked by the suffering, distress, or misfortune of another, often leading one to give relief or aid or to show mercy. Why would she pity me, is it because they killed Al-Alam. If it is, then it is unnecessary. They killed people too, so they had it coming, I guess. By that logic, do I have it coming too? ¡°I just feel sorry for her Brian, shut up.¡± The woman answers to the man, Brian. I hear a noise coming from the direction of the setting sun. The noise is getting louder and what comes in a view is a helicopter. Wow. I only ever saw these in pictures. I get to go in that? Awesome, I always have traveled by sea. But I never actually saw the sea, I was always stuffed in a shipping container with enough food and water to survive plus a bucket. ¡°The chopper will take us to the airfield, where we grab a plane going to france.¡± The woman tells me. I stand up and wipe the tears from my face, dirtying my sleeve with the blood on my face. The blood of my target. If only there was a river for me to wash myself. It is my first time in a place this hot and dry and I¡¯m really not used to a climate like this. Not to mention the blood. As the helicopter draws closer the wind speeds up. I have cover my eyes so that sand does not get to them. As the helicopter has landed in the field, Brian says something to the soldiers, which I cannot hear because the noise of the chopper. But I can guess, as the soldiers take a set of sturdy shackles and starts heading my way. The shackles are clearly made for bigger guys than me but they still do the job. A chain connects my hands now, and from that chain goes another one that connects to the similar one in my legs. I cannot raise my arms up, I cannot run, or even walk properly now. I could try to pick the locks or wiggle them out but that would serve no point. Two soldiers take each of my hands as they start boarding me to the helicopter. Some of the soldiers returns to their cars, as the helicopter has seats for only nine people plus the pilot. ¡­ The helicopter ride was uneventful, nobody asked me any more questions, and as I wasn¡¯t wearing the headset the others had, I didn¡¯t hear much of their conversations through the noise of the rotors. I have excellent hearing and other senses but when there is so much loud background noise, my concentration goes to bearing the pain to my ears. It isn¡¯t always that convenient to have good ears. We are now at an airfield, my guess is that it is in the possession of Israel as I recognize a symbol painted in a plane in the hangar. It is the symbol for Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. There is another plane on the runway, the way we are headed. It has the symbol for J.A.T.F., which is a shield in front of a globe. We board the plane, and like in the helicopter, my shackles are connected with a chain to the floor of the plane. The helicopter ride was fun, but this is even better. During takeoff, I cannot help but to try and peek through the windows of the plane, as a smile involuntarily creeps to my face. I hope the landing will be as much fun as this. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Pov Linda We landed in France an hour ago. The girl, Seven seemed to really enjoy flying. I cannot help but to smile as I think about the young assassin and how she acted during takeoff and landing. She was like a child in Christmas. When we arrived in the headquarters in Paris, she was taken to holding and I went to report to my superiors, where I am now, listening to the ramblings of an old major general. ¡°So your point is, you lost the asset and the assassin doesn¡¯t have any information?¡± He asks, angrily. ¡°Yes sir, we need to question the girl more to find out what she knows, but I think it¡¯s safe to say that she doesn¡¯t have any intelligence of importance about the Abu-Shabaab.¡± ¡°And major, that begs the question how did she manage to single handedly kill a man, protected by a team of soldiers and analysts under your command, inside our safehouse?¡± Oh great, the pencil pusher of a major general is trying to pin this on me. Well, the fact is that the asset was under my protection but there was not really much I could have done as Ala Dawuds men personally should have wetted the girls. I wanted to prohibit their entry for more reasons than one, but he wouldn¡¯t have it. ¡°Sir, I tried to deny entry of the *ahem* entertainment for Ala Dawud, but he insisted. His men was the ones that did the background checks on the girls¡± I say that, but both of us know full well that there were no background checks. The poor girls were probably just kidnapped from their families, or sold by their families to Ala Dawud. ¡°That¡¯s enough, go and interrogate the girl. See what she knows. I will report this incident to general Raven¡± The major general says to me. I¡¯m glad that I don¡¯t have to report to him myself and that they don¡¯t just sign some random interrogator for the girl. I walk out of the administrative building and head towards the building that houses the interrogation areas and holding cells. It is late afternoon now, the sun shines above and the Eiffel tower can be seen in the horizon. To my left is the soldier barracks and behind them are the training grounds. My destination is to my right where a L-shaped building stands. In front of me, couple hundred meters away is the main gate for the headquarters. The J.A.T.F. bases are considered autonomous areas with diplomatic protection, but that doesn¡¯t stop the terrorists. They have started to get more active in the recent years. A lot more active. They are planning something big, and that is the reason why the J.A.T.F. was founded. As I walk between the patches of well-kept grass and flowerbeds I arrive to the building where they hold Seven. I walk inside, and inform the uniformed receptionist to move the subject to an interrogation room and I start heading there. I watch through a one-way mirror at the 5x5 meter big room with gray concrete walls, a single lamp, and a steel table in the middle of it. I see the girl I¡¯m here for. It seems they allowed her to wash herself. She is no longer sullied by blood and the white silken dress is exchanged with orange prisoner jumpsuit. There are no shackles on her feet anymore and there is normal handcuffs on her hands, which are chained to the table. There is no panic in her face, she just curiously looks around the room and inspects her new garments. When Brian walks in to the observation room I¡¯m in she rapidly turns her head and looks at the mirror, like she could see him. But she can¡¯t, right? That¡¯s impossible, there is no way she can see through the mirror and the room is soundproof. ¡°Are you ready to start? I¡¯ll be observing the interrogation.¡± The thirty year old man says to me. It is regulations that there is always someone observing the room when a prisoner is interrogated. ¡°Yes I am, Brian¡± I say while I leave the observation room and head to the next door down the hallway. Before I leave Brian hands me an earpiece. I doubt we¡¯ll need it but it can get handy. He can inform me if I missed something or if he has a good question for the girl. I open the door and Seven turns her head to me. I take my seat at opposite side of her. ¡°My name is major Linda Shelia and I¡¯ll be interrogating you. The reason you are here is because you eliminated a person of interest, for the sake of said person not leaking sensitive intel to us. We hold you as long as we deem you not to be a threat to the nations over the world and till we find out can you be rehabilitated.¡± I say the things our regulations require me to say, before I can get to the actual interrogation.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. There are two kinds of interrogations we hold. One is the normal kind and the other one is called forced interrogation which basically means torture. Luckily, this is the first kind. This is not a time sensitive matter, and we have no reason to believe she holds any time sensitive vital information. ¡°Okay¡± She simply says. Her hands are shaking a little bit so she is either nervous or scared. The only reason she would be nervous should be that she knows something. ¡°State your name and age for the record.¡± I say as I point at the recording device on the table. ¡°Seven, fifteen years old, I think.¡± ¡°Is that the only name you have? And you think, you do not know?¡± ¡°Yes, and yes. I do not know for sure. I remember twelve winters, so that is my estimation.¡± ¡°Do you know who gave you that name?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯ve been always called that¡± ¡°Who called you that?¡± ¡°My trainers, handlers and the people who gave me my instructions.¡± ¡°Yes, we have determined that the people who trained you, rented you out to other terrorist organizations. Like I said, when their locations was leaked we launched a coordinated airstrike.¡± I open my folder and put some pictures in front of her. They are the bombed locations, there are four of them. One is a desert location, a cave system in iran. Second is a small building complex in Syria, third is a building in Turkmenistan and the fourth is an old testing site of the Russian military¡¯s long range missiles. It is an abandoned town inside a forest, taken over by nature over time, full of ruins. All of the locations are bombed and the ruined city is even more ruined. She skims through the first three pictures and stops at the fourth. Her expression is hard to read, she seems to be relieved and sad. A single tear runs down from her eye, like when I first told her about the strikes. She pushes the picture in question to the middle of the table, and looks at me. Brian said not to pity her but it is hard, she looks like she lost the only thing she knew in life. ¡°That was where I was trained¡± ¡°For how long?¡± ¡°As long as I can remember.¡± So she has no idea who her family is and she has always been in the hands of Al-Alam. After that I showed her pictures of the recognizable bodies. Some she didn¡¯t know, some she identified as her handlers or trainers. According to what she says we got them all, at least the ones she was familiar with. ¡°Where else you were trained?¡± I continue. ¡°Only there. I left the forest only five times in the past to do a mission.¡± So that means she hasn¡¯t done any missions we aren¡¯t aware of. ¡°What was your mission this time?¡± ¡°To infiltrate a J.A.T.F. safehouse by masquerading as one of the girls the targets men were delivering to him and to terminate the target.¡± ¡°How did you infiltrate the girls?¡± ¡°I was given the location where they were kept before their delivery. I sneaked in and killed one of them and took her dress. I surveyed the place long enough to figure out that the girls didn¡¯t know each other. I hid the body and waited for the delivery.¡± She killed the original girl? Just like that? The way she explained herself was like she has done nothing wrong. The group that trained her really did a number on her. ¡°What were you trained at?¡± ¡°To hunt, to infiltrate, to track, to fight, to survive, to kill¡± A prompt response. They taught her to battle and survive. From the way she spoke to me before, I guess the only thing in her mind in the safehouse was her mission. They didn¡¯t give her a name, but a number. They rented her out to others but didn¡¯t use her them self. Basically they raised and treated her as a weapon. Al-Alam had to be more than just a regular terrorist group. We suspected this before too. What kind of terrorist organization can infiltrate an abandoned Russian military testing site within their borders, and to use it as a training site. And now we learn that they even managed to launch missions from said location. I really wish to continue investigating Al-Alam, but all our intel indicates that we destroyed them completely. I decide to go out on a limb, and give her pictures of other person of interest. Mostly terrorist leaders, but some country leaders and officials. I do this to test her knowledge about the persons of interest in the conflict zones and over the world. ¡°Do you recognize any of them and what do you know about them?¡± I ask, as she starts looking through the pictures. ¡°This is Ali Ibrahim, primary location is Damascus, Syria. Secondary location is Byblos, Lebanon. Leader of the Abu-Alim group, Likes women, cocaine, and fast cars. Hates America and the United Nations. Bad heart, uses pacemaker. This one is¡­¡± She continues naming some of the pictures, others she pushes aside indicating she doesn¡¯t know them. The way she describes them is a little morbid in my opinion. She names them, tells their position, possible locations and possible weaknesses to exploit. Some of the information is news to us too. ¡°¡­ This is general Raven, one of the leading figures of J.A.T.F. and their public spokesperson. Primary location is Rue Legendre 17, Paris. Secondary location is J.A.T.F. headquarters administrative building. His office is in the south-east corner, there is a line of fire from the buildings to east, but one would need a .50 Cal armor-piercing bullet to get through the multilayer bulletproof glass. He has a wife Valentine and a 19 year old girl named Annie. And he is type one diabetic with an automated insulin pump." That leaves me speechless. How could anyone get their hands in that much information or how the girl even remembers it all? And the information about general Raven isn¡¯t accessible even to the other leaders of J.A.T.F. The door swings open. ¡°How do you know all that?!¡± Brian comes in and yells. The girl startles for a split second, after which she regains her composure. ¡°Hello Brian¡± She says, smiling. Why is she smiling? ¡°My trainers gave me the intel to study and memorize in case they ever became targets. They didn¡¯t tell me more.¡± She says, no longer smiling. ¡°We need to talk.¡± Brian addresses me, and I nod. ¡°We¡¯ll be taking a breaknow. Someone will bring you food and drink.¡± I say, while rising from my seat and walking towards the door. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Pov 7 As I¡¯m left alone in the interrogation room I can¡¯t help but to chuckle. Brian didn¡¯t know how to act when I called him by his name. I guess names hold power, I¡¯d really like to have one. Well I have one, but like Linda said, it really isn¡¯t a name. It¡¯s a number, and an English one at that. Why it has to be English, It¡¯s my least favorite language, though it¡¯s the most useful it seems. I was thought to speak all major language in the world. English, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French and many more, but those are the ones I¡¯m fluent. I really had little free time in past, if any. If I wasn¡¯t training, they were teaching me the languages or general information about the world so that I could blend in. When I had free time I read dictionary. There weren¡¯t other books than those, because we used them when learning languages. I had many of them in different tongues. Someone entered the room behind the mirror. I cannot see through the mirror but I can hear there pretty well. I guess that shouldn¡¯t be possible as they don¡¯t watch what they say there, but I don¡¯t hear anything of importance to me. They are wondering who I am and why I am here, so I guess they didn¡¯t share information about me to just anyone in the facilities. But one thing of note I do hear, food. They are bringing it to me now. I hoped that Brian and Linda would go to discuss over there but they didn¡¯t. The door opens when a young looking black haired woman walks in to the room with a tray. She looks like she¡¯s not even twenty but she¡¯s still wearing a military uniform. If I remember correctly, the stripes tell me that she should be a corporal. She places the tray in front of me. She takes a final look at me with wondering eyes and leaves the room. The food looks good, better than I¡¯m used to at least. There is a plastic mug of milk, potatoes, some vegetables and meat. There is also a slice of bread. It definitely looks better than the rations I¡¯m used to. But, how do they think I can eat while being chained up. Well it doesn¡¯t matter now that I¡¯m hungry as a wolf. I already picked the lock of my handcuffs when they brought me to this room and there were no one in the room behind the mirror. That was before Linda came to interrogate me. They didn¡¯t pat me down as well as they should have when they took me in custody. I had a hair pin hidden in my hair which I used to pick the lock. The handcuffs fall to the table with a clang as I start eating. They didn¡¯t give me any utensils but I¡¯m too hungry to care, and eat with my hands as fast as I could. I hear some muffled gasps behind the mirror when I removed the handcuffs and some talking after that but once again, I¡¯m too hungry to care. After the tray is clean I stop to think about what has happened to me. I got caught, as simple as that. But not really my fault as my handlers and trainers were killed and I was left alone behind the enemy lines so to speak. I got transported to France to the J.A.T.F. headquarters and I was told that I¡¯d be interrogated. I was kind of scared and freaked out when the interrogation started, so much so, that my hands were shaking. I thought the interrogation would be a little different. No, a lot different. I was trained to resist torture and was always told that, that would happen if I got caught and my captors didn¡¯t kill me right away. In the training, my trainers really went all out and used different, very imaginative methods to torture me. All I had to do was not scream and to not give them the number they handed me before the training. If I were to give it up, they would stop. But that would also mean that I had to go a week without food. A week without food in my training was more torture than the actual torture they put me through. They avoided scarring me, but still I¡¯m riddled with scars. At least they didn¡¯t scar my face and hands, as that would hinder any possible infiltration mission. The whip marks on my back are ugly though, but I am not sure what does it matter if I¡¯m ugly or not. Linda enters the room, and looks at my handcuffs that are placed at the edge of the table. ¡°Thank you for the food. I never had anything as good as that.¡± I thank her. She raises an eyebrow as she looks at the tray which is licked clean. ¡°You still hungry?¡± She asks. She is nice, she is the first one to ever be nice to me. There were some trainers I liked more than others but none of them were nice. ¡°A little.¡± I answer. ¡°We¡¯ll get you some more later today so don¡¯t worry. How did you open the cuffs?¡± I don¡¯t say anything but show her the hair pin with a coy smile, which she snatches from my hand. ¡°Sorry, but I was hungry and couldn¡¯t eat with them on¡± I say apologetically. ¡°It¡¯s all right, Annie must have forgotten to take the cuffs of.¡± ¡°Annie?¡± I ask. ¡°The corporal who brought you your food¡± Linda answers me.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Come on, I don¡¯t think you are that much of a threat that you should be locked up in a small room all day. Just don¡¯t take these off.¡± She says as she hands me the shackles I was wearing previously. I really don¡¯t like them as they restrict my movement so much but that¡¯s the point and since it¡¯s Linda who asks me that, I won¡¯t try to pick them. ¡­ We are outside now. I¡¯m gathering a lot of stares in my orange clothes and the clanging shackles but I couldn¡¯t care less. This is place is wonderful. The grass is well kept, there are men and women walking in uniforms and suits all over the place. There isn¡¯t a single trash on the ground, and all of the buildings are intact. This place is not ravaged by war or bombs so it¡¯s all new to me. Linda is walking behind me as my attention is all over the place. There are pretty flowers and tall trees behind the center most building. There is even a fountain in there. ¡°Don¡¯t drink from that!¡± Linda yells me when I¡¯m just about to clench my thirst from the fountain. A lot of heads turns to our direction, some of them even laugh a little. What did I do wrong? ¡°But I¡¯m thirsty, and there is water?¡± I ask Linda questionably. I don¡¯t get it. It¡¯s just water right? ¡°Come on, I take you to the cafeteria.¡± She says. Her face reddened a bit. Is she angry with me? We start walking towards the cafeteria that is between the barracks and the center most building.
PovLinda I take the girl towards the cafeteria between the administrative building and the barracks. Gods, that was embarrassing. Everybody looked at us as she was about to drink from the fountain. She had her face already in the water for crying out loud! I¡¯m lost in my thoughts and at some point, I notice she isn¡¯t in front of me and I do not hear the sounds of her shackles. I turn around to look and see her, way off the road next to a flowerbed. She is looking and smelling the flowers, while trying not to trip with her shackles. Her attention span really is short. It¡¯s like taking a dog to a walk. First she stops next to every flower, tree and sign just to look at them and then I have to stop her from drinking from a frigging fountain. And now she is again sniffing the flowers, her thirst and hunger forgotten. ¡°Come now. I thought you were thirsty.¡± I say as I walk next to her. She looks at the flowers with a look that says she has never seen something so beautiful. I guess there were not much flowers in the forest she grew up. Well, it was close to Chernobyl and the area has been a target for missiles so it makes since that delicate flowers don¡¯t grow up in there. ¡°That one is called Iris. It is the national flower of France.¡± I say to her with a soft voice. ¡°So even flowers has names¡­¡± She says quietly. I can see that it¡¯s really bothering her now, that she doesn¡¯t have a proper name. Her voice was filled with sadness and regret. My heart aches at the sound of her voice. Deep down she seems to be just a girl who wanted to be of use. She wanted to be wanted, to finish her instructions so she could be of help. But what she really wanted was for somebody to care about her, enough to name her. I know I shouldn¡¯t do this, it¡¯s unprofessional. She is still held in custody until we can determine if she is a threat and until we figure out what to do with her. She is still silently looking at the flowers as I contemplated should I do this. What the hell, she is a sweet girl who deserves a name at least. It isn¡¯t her fault that her world view and morals were twisted by her surroundings. But what name would suit her. I look at the girl who is gazing the flowers, testing the limits of her shackles chains as she tries to pick one up from the center of the flowerbed but cannot quite reach it. I look at the flower she was reaching for. It is a kind of lily. ¡°Calla.¡± I say, while picking the flower she was reaching for. ¡°Huh?¡± she looks at me confused, but that confusion turns in to a smile as I hand the flower to her. ¡°The name of this flower, and yours if you so wish it? It symbolizes resurrection and rebirth, faith and purity, overcoming challenges, and the liveliness and innocence of youth.¡± And magnificent and overwhelming beauty, but I leave that part out. Thought it suits her well. She is really beautiful, her blond hair that flows freely just beneath her shoulder blades. Her crystal blue eyes that are now tearing up and looking at me fits the innocence part of the lore. The scars she bears both mental and physical fits the part of overcoming of challenges. And I hope that now she can be rebirthed with a new name and put her old life behind her. ¡°Calla¡­¡± She quietly tastes the name, how it sounds. She looks at the flower and then me and then the flower again. Now she is for the first time I¡¯ve known her, crying for real. Tears falls down from both of her eyes, as she sniffs and tries to say something but cannot get the words out. I startle as she suddenly jumps at me, burying her face in my breasts and trying to hug me, but the chains don¡¯t let her do that. She settles for gripping my uniforms jacket as she is crying and nodding her head vehemently. ¡°Yes *sniff* Thank you¡± She manages to get out between her sobs. I wrap my hands around her and hug her, not caring who is looking. A major hugging an inmate is bound to turn gazes but that is not important. We stand there silently, as I wait for her to settle down. Some minutes passes as she lets go of my jacket and looks up to me with a smile that makes life worth living. She is sure to break hearts in the future. I only hope that it will happen in the romantic sense, and not the literal. ¡°Really, thank you. Nobody has ever been nice to me but you¡± She quietly says. ¡°You are welcome. And that part of your life is over, now people get to see you as yourself, not as the weapon for rent they made you to be.¡± ¡­ We arrived at the cafeteria and all eyes turn on her, the beautiful young girl in orange jump suit, who is practically drooling at the different pastries in display. ¡°Order anything you want, it¡¯s on me¡± I say to her smiling, ignoring the others. ¡°But I¡¯d rather use the plate.¡± She answers, looking at me while tilting her head. I look at her confused, and then I get it. I burst out laughing and now it¡¯s her turn to be confused. After I got myself under control, and was about 40 euros poorer as Calla really ordered anything she wanted we sit down at the table. Before she can say anything, I reach over the table and take of the shackles on her arms so that she can eat normally. And so that she wouldn¡¯t pick the lock again. She is still holding the flower, and carefully places it on the table. I think from the way she eats the pastries that she has never eaten anything so sweet before. She nibbles on one muffing, before putting it down and tasting another and then going back to the first one again. I chuckle at her eating habits, and start drinking my coffee. Like that we spend the next forty minutes in the cafeteria before I escort her back to her cell. I thought she would be sad to be back there, but she seems like she is content. I smile at her and close the door. It has been crazy few days. Time for some well-deserved rest, I think to myself as I start heading to the barracks towards my quarters. I¡¯m too tired to go home for the night. Ranks Ranks Officers GeneralThis tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Lieutenant General Major General Brigadier General Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Major Captain 1st Lieutenant Lieutenant 2nd Lieutenant Non-commissioned officers Sergeant Major Master Sergeant Sergeant 1st class Staff Sergeant Sergeant Corporal Private 1st class private Chapter 5 Chapter 5 3rd Pov Calla woke up from the cold floor of her cell. She opted to sleep on the floor rather than the bed. She has always slept in hard surfaces, so she knew she wouldn¡¯t get any sleep if she went for the bed. It was 0600 in the morning. She woke upto the sound of the morning patrol''s footsteps, that echoed through the corridor outside of her cell. She thought she would have nightmares but she didn¡¯t, in fact, she slept really well. Perhaps the prospects of good morning breakfast helped in that aspect. The morning guard sift must have noticed that she woke up, because only ten minutes passed before they brought her porridge, bread and milk in a plastic mug and a plastic spoon. She ate her breakfast, slowly enjoying it. She wasn¡¯t as hungry as she was yesterday, so she took it a little slow. In a different room the soldiers guarding the holding area were talking. ¡°We should now inform the higher-ups that she has awoken and eaten.¡± A sergeant said to the staff sergeant next to him. Normally breakfast is delivered at 0730, but they had orders to bring hers in the moment she woke up and inform when that happened. ¡°Yes, they have something planned for her, so we shouldn¡¯t delay that.¡± The other one answered, reaching for the landline phone they have on the monitor room¡¯s desk. ¡°Subject Seven has woken up.¡± The staff sergeant says. ¡°Okay, move her to interrogation room five¡± A voice answers. ¡°Yes sir¡± The staff sergeant says, after which he instructs the sergeant with him to move her.
It was now late afternoon. There were five people sitting around an oval table in a conference room. The table is made from hardwood and the room is more elegant, than the rest of the military facilities. It was used usually for important meetings with the top brass of J.A.T.F. The floors are wooden, and paintings of various artists are hanged on the walls. They portray different landscapes and all of them looked expensive. General Raven was sitting on the end of the table, behind him a large window. He is slightly overweight, his hair is dark and short. He is clean shaven and his face and brown eyes screams authority. He is wearing a military uniform with four stars on each side of his collar, which indicates his rank to be a general. On his right side sits the young woman that brought food to Calla the day before. She has similarities with general Raven, like her dark hair and brown eyes. She too is wearing a military uniform with two stripes on her collar indicating she is a corporal. Her actual rank is that of a cadet, meaning that in the hierarchy tree she is equivalent to a 2nd lieutenant, but she is acting as a corporal for a while for her mandatory studies for the academy. Normally she wouldn¡¯t have any business in a meeting like this, as she still studies and trains in the J.A.T.F. academy to become an officer, but she is Annie Raven, the general¡¯s daughter. And she has had contact with the person this meeting is about: the young assassin in their custody. Opposite of her sits Linda and next to her is Brian. Linda is wearing her uniform and Brian is wearing a not so formal suit. Opposite to general Raven, at the other end of the table sits a man in neat suit, wearing glasses. He has brown hair long enough to cover his ears and green eyes. In front of him is a folder with the word Seven written in the cover page. He is a psychologist of the J.A.T.F. medical staff, who had a sat down with Calla in the morning in order to do a psychological evaluation on her. ¡°So, doctor Lenz, what did you learn about her?¡± General Raven starts the meeting. ¡°Well, I do not think that the patient Seven¡­¡± He starts but is interrupted by Linda ¡°Calla¡± ¡°What?¡± the doctor asks. ¡°Her name is Calla¡± She continues. General Raven looks questionably at major Linda but she remains silent, and only answers his look with a determined gaze, indicating she will not back down. Brian too looks her sideways but remains silent. Only one who looks confused is Annie, as she knows very little about the girl. As the general doesn¡¯t interject the doctor continues: ¡°Okay then, I don¡¯t think that Calla can ever lead a peaceful life. Her brain is wired for combat, and her reflexes support that. I do not mean that she is a violent person, actually she seem very reasonable. She is very curious about the world and her surroundings, almost childlike. She acts much like her age, albeit she doesn¡¯t have the experiences to support that, which other people her age have.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. He turns the page in his folder and continues. ¡°And when I said she isn¡¯t a violent person doesn¡¯t mean she is incapable of violence. I do not think she would respond with physical force against verbal assaults but as an act of self-defense, she wouldn¡¯t hesitate. She would be capable of violence without personal grudge, provided that she acts upon orders that makes sense to her, or orders given by people she respects.¡± ¡°So there is no chance for complete rehabilitation?¡± Brian asks, knowing the answer. ¡°Well there is a chance, but I do not see the point of that. If it goes well, and that is a big if, she would have to start her life with no useful skills for normal living. I think she is too old for that possibility. She carries scars all over her body and mind that would always remind her of her old life. But like I implied earlier, she has been trained for combat and survival situations for all her life and from what I gathered from our talk, the training was adapt or die most of the time. They broke her repeatedly and put her back together, over and over again.¡± ¡°Then how can she function as well as she does. She seemed a normal girl when I brought her food. A normal, very hungry girl. Though she did pick the handcuffs when I forgot to remove them¡­¡± Annie answers. She had no idea that the newest addition to the holding cells had a life like this behind her. Annie only spends little time in the J.A.T.F. base just like the other cadets training in the J.A.T.F. military academy which is located close to the base. ¡°Normally a person wouldn¡¯t be able to, after all those negative experiences. My only answer is that she didn¡¯t know any other life than that, so she didn¡¯t have anything to compare. And that she is remarkably strong willed girl, all things considered. From what I gathered, she met people of her own age for the first time only recently. Her knowledge of the world aside from warfare or combat are only factoids with no real experiences supporting them. When I said I was a psychologist and asked her does she know what that means, she answered with a short textbook explanation about my profession. For example she knows what a family means, but has no idea what a real family is like, or what any kind of affection feels like, even though she knows what it means.¡± The general, who has stayed mostly silent, opens his mouth: ¡°What is her morality? I already heard she doesn¡¯t have a problem with taking a life, but how does she feel about that?¡± Doctor Lenz ponders for a moment before answering: ¡°I think she¡¯s a bit immoral, but that is because she has been raised in isolation. She recognizes that the things she and Al-Aman did was wrong, but thought that that¡¯s the way the world is supposed to work. More than morality, I think she is very rational person, coldly rational even. If she was presented with the dilemma of choosing the death of one baby or two men, she would kill the baby provided that the remaining years of the two men put together according to life expectancy is longer than the baby¡¯s. That cold rationality doesn¡¯t show much, but it is there.¡± The room falls silent. Linda has nothing to say. She doesn¡¯t know Calla well enough to disagree with anything the doctor said, and from what she does know her, the doctor¡¯s diagnosis seems accurate. ¡°What do you recommend on how we should proceed with her?¡± The general asks. He won¡¯t make the decision based only in the doctor¡¯s opinion, but it still carries weight. And he has a feeling that he and the doctor are on the same page here. ¡°I recommend putting her to the academy. Not to the officer training, but for the operative training.¡± The doctor answers right away. He expected the question and decided on his answer before the meeting started. Operatives are a form of modern warfare and vital to clandestine operations. They can work alone or in a group. They can be used as bodyguards or sent behind the enemy lines. They are basically spies, trained in combat, reconnaissance, interrogations, and assassinations amongst other things. All things Calla has some form of experience with. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought.¡± The general answers. ¡°I too think that would be the best option for all.¡± Brian gives his opinion and looks at Linda. Linda only nods, as she isn¡¯t sure she wants that for her. But she knows that, that is the only option for now. They can¡¯t just release her, or put her in a normal school. There are facilities for war orphans and children who have been used in the battlefields and these facilities are in dire need in these days as the conflicts are becoming more frequent, even against the best efforts of the welfare states. But she knows that they aren¡¯t intended for cases like Calla and she wouldn¡¯t magically grow to be a normal fifteen year old girl in there. ¡°It¡¯s decided then.¡± The general says, and looks at his daughter: ¡°That brings us to the reason you were in this meeting Annie. I want you to escort her there and get her settled in. I know that you won¡¯t share many courses with her, but there may be some, depending how well she does there. I want you to keep an eye on her, and help her if there is a problem with the other students or trainers.¡± Annie now realizes why she was in this meeting. So her father had already decided to put Calla in the academy, and only wanted to hear the doctor¡¯s opinion in case it would change his mind. ¡°But sir, usually people get admitted in the academy at the age of seventeen? And that is after they have completed the compulsory six-month training period to become a private 1st class?¡± Annie asks her father. She calls him sir in front of other J.A.T.F. personnel, as her father has told her to. ¡°I don¡¯t think her age is a problem. The age limit is there for the reason to ensure that the students are mature enough to endure the training and the six month private period is there to weed out the weak willed. She has gone through much more than the 1st class privates now starting there, and if she wasn¡¯t mature enough for the academy¡¯s training, her mind would already be broken beyond repair from her previous training.¡± The general answered, thinking about that there isn¡¯t time for her to go through the private period, as the one held this spring has already ended, and the new students who completed it started at the academy two weeks ago. She still can easily catch up with them, as she probably surpasses them in some areas already. ¡°Ye.. *BOOM*¡± As Annie is about to say something, an explosion is heard. It came from the building with the holding cells. The general looks through the window behind him and sees the broken windows and fractured outer walls of the building. The explosion took place near the holding cells from what he sees. Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Pov Calla I¡¯m sitting on the corner of my cell. I am reading a book that was given to me when they brought me lunch after the guy in a suit asked me all sorts questions. I asked him after our talk that can I get something to read so they brought me a book called The Egyptian. It is a big book and kind of interesting but not really my style. The guy whom I had my lengthy chat was a psychologist. He asked me about my life and how I felt about different things. He presented me with hypothetical situations and asked what I would do. He showed papers with spilled ink, and asked what comes to my mind first when looking at them. Well, they clearly were poorly shaped bats, flowers and blood splatters. And then, surprise surprise, he asked how I felt about the test. Every time I answered he scribbled something to his notes. At first I thought he was as bored as me, but then it came to me that he was evaluating me. That¡¯s what they do, they evaluate, from what I know. Psychologists are specialists in psychology: the sum or characteristics of the mental states and processes of a person or class of persons, or of the mental states and processes involved in a field of activity. He was trying to figure out what makes me tick I guess. *BOOM* My thoughts are interrupted by an explosion next to my cell. The corner of my cell is blown apart with a small part of the wall that divides my cell to the one next to it. A shard of concrete ricochets to my forehead and causes a laceration between my hairline and left eye. Had I been on the bed, I would probably be dead. The cell is full of smoke and debris, as I cough while pressing the wound. What is happening, have my captors decided to kill me? Are we under attack? What should I do? No good, I¡¯m starting to panic. Calm down Sev¡­ Calla. Assess the situation. First the surroundings. There is a hole in the corner of the cell, by the bed. The door is closed, there is alarms going off and emergency lights have activated. No immediate threats can be seen. Second, me myself. I breathed some smoke and dust but nothing too serious. I concentrate my focus to my body, what I can feel and more importantly is there something I can¡¯t feel, as that would indicate a more serious injury. People don¡¯t usually feel fatal wounds or lost limbs if they happen suddenly and unexpected. My body seems to be okay, no fatal injuries found. I have a bleeding wound on my forehead. It isn¡¯t serious but the bleeding hinders my left eye vision. Human field of vision is roughly 210 decrees, but because of the wound, mine is more like 170 now, and my depth perception is reduced as the blood bleeds to my eye. Vision is important, and now my combat capabilities has dropped too low. I have to stop the bleeding but with what? Cloth? No, there is a faster way. I take a piece of concrete that is hot from the explosion. I wrap it in the blanket of my bed, but I can still feel the heat through it. I press the piece to the wound, burning it shut. I want to scream from the pain, but I¡¯m trained better than that. I hold it there for three seconds and throw it on the bed. I wipe the blood from my eye and conclude that the bleeding has stopped. I hope it will not scar, I do not need anoth¡­ Not important now. Thirdly, what is going on in the corridor? I edge closer to the hole in my cell and try to see if there is somebody out there but cannot see anything. I take a stub of rebar from the floor, which was reinforcing the concrete wall. It too is hot, so I rip my sleeve, and make a makeshift handle for myself. Armed with do it yourself knife for stabbing, I head for the hole and slip through it, in to the corridor. Damn, there were people I didn¡¯t notice as they were so close to the wall. There are three of them, and they are standing in front of the cell next to mine, the one which was their intended target. Two of the men are wearing military uniform, and I recognize the sergeant with three stripes, who brought me breakfast this morning. The man next to him seems to be of higher rank, a master sergeant I think. I was taught to recognize ranks of different militaries in my sniper training.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. The third man is wearing the same orange clothes as I, so I can assume that he is the one from the cell they blasted open. He has wounds over his body and is dusty all over, but judging by the size of the explosion, he must have taken cover somewhere when it took place. Under the bed perhaps? So they must have told him to take cover. But all that begs the question, why didn¡¯t they just open the cell with a key? They surely have one, as the sergeant is the one who brought me breakfast today. They notice me as I come out of my cell. They glance at my weapon and then me. ¡°We are not your enemy.¡± The master sergeant says. I do not reply, and just walk closer to them, ready to run or fight at a moment¡¯s notice. The two soldiers are armed with pistols and the inmate is unarmed. ¡°Start releasing the other prisoners.¡± The sergeant commands and hands the keys to the master sergeant. Why did a sergeant just issue an order to a master sergeant? It doesn¡¯t make sense. He hands the key to him and he takes it. The fact that the master sergeant doesn¡¯t mind the order, and takes the key from his hand without a change of expression causes a realization for me. They abide a different hierarchical order than the J.A.T.F. As I¡¯m only three meters away from them and the master sergeant is starting to turn towards me, going for the cells behind mine, I ponder: They infiltrated the J.A.T.F. headquarters, they released one prisoner with a big ass explosion, needlessly big. After which they intent to use the key to release the other prisoners. If they wanted to release just one man they would¡¯ve used the key and done it silently, but now they are going to release all of them or as many as they can before the J.A.T.F. personnel responds to the blast. That would cause chaos, is that their aim? No, if they wanted chaos they wouldn¡¯t have used the explosion. They would have released as many as they can before getting noticed. This is a distraction, it must be. I¡¯m going to act. I¡¯ll try to thwart their plans. The J.A.T.F. is safer bet than some random people that reminds me of the ones that gave me targets. The J.A.T.F. has treated me well for now, and I even gained a name from one of their officers. As the master sergeant is next to me, looking down the corridor, I stab the rebar straight through his throat, penetrating his carotid artery. I cannot be sure if he¡¯s wearing some kind of thin body armor, and the rebar isn¡¯t exactly sharp so damaging the artery that delivers blood to his brain is the surest way to kill him. When the rebar exits from the other side of his neck he freezes, clearly not understanding what just happened. He will lose consciousness in about twenty seconds when I pull the rebar out, maybe ten if I got both of the arteries. I side step to his front, as the other two is starting to realize what happened. I snatch his sidearm from the holster on his thigh and pull the rebar out, splashing his blood as I do so. I don¡¯t wait for him to fall down, so that the sergeant doesn¡¯t have time to take his weapon out. I step in the view of the other two, still hiding half my body behind the master sergeant. I aim the pistol. First I incapacitate the sergeant, as he was the one to give orders. I shoot his right shoulder so that his dominant hand is damaged and immediately after I shoot his right kneecap. The person who invented kneecapping was a genius. What better way there is to ensure that a person will not walk straight ever again. The sergeant falls down, holding his left arm to his shoulder, as I push the soon to be dead master sergeant to the side with my left hand which is holding the rebar. I drop the rebar to the ground and use my both hands to aim the gun. ¡°Please wai... *Bam*¡± The inmate tried to say something but I painted the wall behind him with his brain, before he could finish. If he was important to their organization, they wouldn¡¯t have used his release as a distraction. I take couple of fast steps towards the sergeant who is now trying to fumble his pistol with his left hand from his right side thigh holster. *Bam* I shoot his left shoulder as well. ¡°AAAH!¡± He screams. Perhaps some may think I¡¯m over doing it a little but I¡¯m not about to go and disarm a trained, adult male, even if he is injured, when I have a safer option available. As he shrivels on the floor, I take his pistol from his holster, I take the clip from it by reflex as I throw the pistol to the floor away from us. I already have a pistol in my hand, and dual wielding is just stupid, but you always run out of ammo at some point. I look behind me and see that the master sergeant has already passed out on the floor. He will bleed out under sixty seconds. *Bam* ¡°AAAAAH!!!¡± I shoot the sergeants left kneecap now. No reason really, just felt like doing it. Four limbs out of four sounds better than three out of four. ¡°Why¡­¡± He manages to say before he passes out from the pain. I just look at him, wondering when the first respond team of the J.A.T.F. arrives. Just as I think that, I hear the sounds of footsteps coming behind the corner. A team of five men are tactically advancing the corridor Damn, this must look bad. I¡¯m standing in the smoke and debris filled corridor with a pistol in my hands. My orange jumpsuit is bloodied all over from when I pulled the rebar out. I have to learn to be cleaner about all this. There are two soldiers and one inmate unmoving on the floor. The soldiers being the guards of the holding cells. One soldier is lying in a puddle of his blood, the inmate has a hole on his head, and the wall next to him is covered with blood and chunks of his brain. The other soldier is bleeding from his legs and shoulders, his weapon thrown down the corridor near to the advancing men ¡°Drop your weapon!¡± They command me. As I¡¯m about to drop the gun a rock falls from the damaged roof behind me, startling me. I reflexively raise the pistol while turning around, facing away from the men. That¡¯s when I feel something akin to electricity running throughmy body. I fall down, convulsing. The feeling stops, and as I¡¯m barely holding to my consciousness, lying face down on the floor, I look over my shoulder to the men who apparently just tasered me¡­ fuckers. ¡°Distraction.¡± Is the only word I manage to get out before everything goes dark. Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Pov Linda I have just left the J.A.T.F. situation room. That¡¯s where we hand down orders during operations, survey the operations area through satellite feed, or a UAV. From there we can destroy a building, kill aperson or save him, with just a word. Provided that we have personnel on ground or they are within range of our missile systems. I have always been someone who rather lead on site, rather than from a distance. Just ten minutes ago there was an explosion in the L-building, that¡¯s the building that holds our captives and was holding Calla. Now she is at the medical quarters next to the L-building. Our first response team tasered and sedated her when they came in contact, believing that she was the cause of the disruption. We replayed the camera feed of the corridor where the explosion took place and where we were holding her. We are lucky that our security cameras are in wall, covered by bulletproof glass. But the assailants managed to hinder us by disrupting our network, so we couldn¡¯t access the feed right away. But that did tell us something. They managed to get to our network without setting of alarms so they must have been familiar with our systems to a point. But not familiar enough, as our analysts changed the security protocols we got the feed back. The feed showed how two of our non-commissioned officers set a charge at the cell next to Calla¡¯s, and warned the inhabitant by knockinghis cell door and saying something before detonating. We do not know what they were speaking as there is no microphones installed. They talked for about a half a minute in the corridor with the inmate after releasing him, and then Calla came out of her cell with a wound on her forehead and a small steel bar on her hand. Honestly, I was worried at first that she was involved with the men as the men said something to her, and didn¡¯t show any aggression towards her. But then I was worried for a different reason. She stabbed the man passing him, reminding me of the scene which she showed me when we first met. The one strike, with no wasted movements was impressive and sad at the same time. She went straight for his vital spot. He took his gun and from the cover of his body he incapacitated the other soldier with two shots while pulling the improvised knife out of the first soldier¡¯s throat. The inmate was trying to say something to her when she shot him dead and shot a third bullet to the other soldier who was trying to get to his gun. At that point I let out the breath I didn¡¯t know I was holding. There were no more threats to her so she would be fine. I knew she was good but seeing is different from believing. In the safehouse we met I didn¡¯t really get to observe her fighting capabilities. It¡¯s like she has an on and off mode, when in combat and when not. There were no hesitation in her as she secured the corridor, the cute girl was nowhere to be seen as it was replaced with a veteran warrior wearing the skin of an innocent looking girl. But then she did something I didn¡¯t except. She was just standing next to the guy she had already shot thrice, when she nonchalantly shot the left knee of the man, leaving him in a wheelchair probably for the rest of his imprisoned life. She barely even looked at him when she shot! And I can swear I saw a smile of accomplishment flash on her face. What was she thinking? Doctor Lenz said that she was rational, but that was not rational at all. After the man passed out, our team came in. When a rock fell, and the girl reacted to it, our men tasered her. Well, I can¡¯t blame them considering the situation. Apparently the last word she said before passing out was distraction. We concluded she must have heard something and when we raised our networks security protocols one more level and ran a threat diagnostic, we found that the security feed was disturbed in the high security facilities located next to the barracks. That¡¯s where I¡¯m heading now. They are probably trying to get to the VAULT. It isn¡¯t a real vault, but a computer that isn¡¯t connected to any network and it holds our most sensitive intel. Mainly the identities of our operatives that are undercover. It would be a disaster if they were to leak out. I see the building in question in front of me. Our teams have already entered and are heading for the VAULT which is below ground level. With me there is only one man, Aatos Salmi. He is of Finnish origin, he has dark brown short hair and blue eyes. He has an athletic body and charismatic face. He looks to be mid-twenties but it¡¯s hard to tell. He isn¡¯t wearing a military uniform but a black suit with long jacket. But the most important factor of this person is that he is an operative, and highly valued one at that. For the moment, he is under my direct command, appointed by general Raven. We enter the building where the soldier in command of the team that came before us salutes me. ¡°Major, Lieutenant Brody reporting. As we thought there were other traitors. Two of them, they somehow smuggled in an armed group of six and are now in the hallway before the VAULT. They are trying to get in, but they clearly thought they had more time before we take notice. They are now trapped in between the security door of the VAULT and my assault team.¡± ¡°Good work lieutenant. What are their weaponry? Any explosives?¡± I ask ¡°They have automatic rifles and side arms. We saw them planting explosives on the doors but they didn¡¯t have time to finish the job before we interrupted. We are now locked in a firefight.¡± I listen to his report as I note the sounds of gunfire from beneath us. I start heading towards the VAULT and the sounds become much clearer. ¡°Do not use grenades. In this closed space, there is a chance that there will be no survivors and we will be wanting to interrogate them, at least some of them.¡± I tell him while heading down the stairs.¡± I can now see our soldiers shooting from a large door opening. I walk next to a soldier by the door and tap his shoulder. He understands my meaning and steps to the side. I take a quick peek from the door, missing the hail of gunfire fired towards me. Damn, I should have brought gas with sleeping agent but there is no time for that now, not to talk about that we don¡¯t have our masks with us. Aatos also takes a look from the corridor. ¡°Like the lieutenant said, eight men in total. Two of them wearing our uniforms, one of them wounded. Six wearing basic camo, two of them are KIA¡± They do not have much shelter from where they are shooting so he was able to confirm the enemy count with just a glimpse. So they have six men left with one wounded. ¡°They probably don¡¯t have any operator class fighter with them, because our body count is still zero.¡± He continues. It may sound smug coming from an operator, but he speaks the truth, and that¡¯s why he was ordered to come with me. He will speed things up considerably. ¡°So they have a fighting force of six with one wounded. Aatos, make it three, with one wounded. Do not kill the traitors.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am¡± He promptly answers. He isn¡¯t really required to call me ma¡¯am or major as he is a high-class operative, and usually only takes orders from colonels or above but he does it out of courtesy and to show the men that there is a clear chain of command in place. He takes a pistol from under his jacket and stand next to the door opening. *BAM*BAM*BAM* He fires three quick shots to the assailants in rapid succession before returning behind cover.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Done ma¡¯am.¡± He informs me of his success. ¡°Lieutenant Brody if you will, inform them of their last chance of surrender.¡± I tell the lieutenant who is gawking the operator with amazement. Coming back to present, he shakes his head, unbelieving of how effective Aatos was: ¡°Drop your weapons, and lay down on the ground face facing the floor. This is your last chance!¡± He yells to the men. The gunfire cease and we hear as they drop their weapons to the floor and lay down. I¡¯m glad they had the sense to surrender. Three of our men goes before me, and I¡¯m followed by Aatos and the lieutenant. As we are five steps away from the surrendered men, one of them draws a pistol he was hiding, raising it towards me. *BAM* Before he had the chance to even aim, Aatos had drawn his gun once again and fired to his head. He dies instantly. He was the wounded man, who betrayed our organization so he probably feared that he will never gain his freedom. The other men who surrendered are smarter, and remain unmoving. They already witnessed Aatos¡¯s skills so they probably won¡¯t try anything anymore even if they were planning it. Not to mention they are severely out numbered. Our soldiers pat them down and found a hidden knife and pistol from them. They also take their phones, and practically everything they have on them except for their clothes. ¡°Take them to L-Building and prep them for interrogation. Do not let them speak to each other¡± I put emphasis on the last sentence. It is crucial that a group about to be interrogated are separated from each other and denied communication. ¡°Yes major.¡± The lieutenant answers for his men as they start escorting them away. I also exit the building with Aatos. That was way easier than I thought, and probably not what they had planned. Did Calla''s intervention throw a wrench in their plans? ¡°Thank you for your assistance.¡± I sincerely say my thanks to Aatos. Not only did the situation ended quickly thanks to him, he also saved my life. Operatives are not some superhumans, they are just men who are trained superbly. But the training doesn¡¯t make them the assets they are. The training just gives them tools to operate, and it¡¯s up to them how they will use it. In other words: experience is everything, especially in the case of operators. I once saw a recording of a battle between two very skilled operators. It was an amazing show of skills on both parties. One would think they can even dodge bullets, but in fact they dodged the aim of the other person before they managed to pull the trigger. No matter how well trained, nobody can move faster than a bullet. Calla already has good training and some experience and she isn¡¯t even seventeen. Her future prospects are frightening if she really enters the operative training and gains more experience. We are not going to force her to the training, but we have to make her understand that it would be best for her, and us. ¡°Just doing as I was ordered.¡± Aatos replies with a charming smile. Is he hitting on me? In this situation? I never begged him to be a playboy. We part ways in front of the building as he heads back to the administrative building and I go for the medical quarters.
Pov Calla I wake up from a soft bed, my first time in lying one of them. I see a white roof and walls, with cabinets and a sink in the corner. Hospital? The soldiers used a stun gun on me and apparently sedated me, because as far as I know, getting tasered doesn¡¯t cause loss of consciousness. I try to sit upright but something is stopping me. I¡¯m strapped to the railings of the bed by arms and legs, and a belt goes overmy chest to hold me down. ¡°Let me take those off. They were a precaution as we weren¡¯t sure of your part in the incident.¡± Linda says to me, as she rises from her seat and starts releasing me. ¡°You woke up fast. Usually it takes hours to wake up from the sedatives we use¡± She continues. I sit upright and massage my released wrists. I note that I¡¯m no longer wearing the orange jump suit but a hospital gown. ¡°Does this mean I¡¯m being released?¡± I ask while inspecting the white gown I¡¯m wearing. I¡¯m happy at not being considered a threat anymore, but it somehow irks me that somebody changed my cloths without my knowledge. Though, I do not know why that is. Perhaps it¡¯s because of the scars, that I don¡¯t fancy the idea? ¡°Not exactly.¡± She says, and my expression darkens. So they do still think I¡¯m a threat? ¡°We have decided to put you to the J.A.T.F. academy¡­¡± She explains to me what they intent for me and briefly explains the academy to me. It is located near this base, and they share part of the training grounds with each other. Basically, it is a military school where they train their officers and special troops, for example the cyber unit, who maintains their networks and responds to cyber threats. But the training they want to put me is the operative training. I know what an operative roughly is. That¡¯s what my trainers called themselves, so I think they were training me for that before too. Do they intent to continue my previous training? Is that why they spared me? I do not know how to feel about this. The training was tough, unimaginably so. I do not wish to continue that. Perhaps my thoughts showed on my face as Linda eases my worries: ¡°It isn¡¯t what you think. It is humane training whereas your previous one was not. You will be subjected to pain and harsh conditions in training simulations, but nothing like the one you have been through. What do you say?¡± I have a choice?? I have never had one. I do not know what to respond. The question itself isn¡¯t difficult but the meaning of a choice is hard to wrap my head around. And this choice will probably set the course for the rest of my life. The life which I thought was ended when I got caught. I think about asking her what she thinks I should do, but I decide against it. It is my first choice, my first crossroad and I intend to make the decision myself. If things go south, I can only blame myself for it was my choice to do so. The silence stretches out for minutes, I think Linda figured out that this is a bigger deal to me than one would think, as she just silently waits for my answer. After I got over about the shock of the meaning of a choice, I started thinking about the actual question. So, they want to use me as a weapon too. Or operative, as she said, but it¡¯s the same thing in my book. An operative is just a very versatile weapon with a mind. But I understand the J.A.T.F.¡¯s reasoning. I¡¯m already halfway through to become an operative and there aren¡¯t many places where I could fit in I think. Though, I doubt I will fit in in anywhere perfectly. And I do not have a problem with the job description. Plus, the J.A.T.F. has treated me well. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± I answer her. I feel relieved. Is it because I made my first decision concerning my life and future or is it because of the smile that appeared on Linda¡¯s face when I answered? Perhaps a little bit of both. ¡°Now that we settled that, I¡¯d like to ask you some questions about the incident. Why did you think it was a distraction?¡± She asks me. ¡°Well, they used the big ass explosion to release one inmate, when they had the keys. And they were going to release more of them had I not stopped them¡± I voice out my thought process during the incident. She is silent for a few seconds. She probably is going through the same thoughts as I were when it happened. ¡°It is a good thing you stopped them then. On behalf of the J.A.T.F. I thank you.¡± I¡¯m speechless yet again. No one has ever thanked me. Thanking is gesture of expressing a grateful feeling or acknowledgment of a benefit, favor, or the like, expressed by words or otherwise. I have thanked people before, I just have never been on the receiving end. Is it because I have never done anything to be thankful for? Well I had little chances for that. ¡°Now my other question. Why did you shot the left leg of an enemy who was no longer a threat?¡± She asks while raising an eyebrow. Damn, so there were cameras. I didn¡¯t notice any but logically thinking of course there would be. I don¡¯t know how to answer that. Let¡¯s go with the truth. ¡°On a whim.¡± And there it is, the truth. I had already done it before I realized I did it. I just glanced his only limb left unhurt and the asymmetry of it all brought the whim which I acted upon immediately. It wasn¡¯t really my intention or a planned act, it just happened so calling it a whim seems correct. ¡°¡­¡± She just looks at me now with a neutral expression ¡°Pfft¡± She laughed! Or almost laughed but suppressed it but I still count it as laughing. I smile at the thought that I can make her laugh. She regains her composure quickly though. ¡°It caused needles pain to an already suppressed man. We will need to reprimand you somehow.¡± ¡°But you laughed?!¡± I ask unbelieving. I mean she laughed, doesn¡¯t that make it okay? ¡°So what, you think you are off the hook now that I Almost laughed?¡± She puts emphasis on the word almost. It still counted in my opinion. ¡°Off the hook?¡± What a curious expression ¡°Does that refer to some kind of torture mechanism I have yet to experience?¡± I ask, intrigued. I have experienced many techniques and was trained in some, but that one is new. ¡°¡­¡± Once again, a silence reigns. I can hear footsteps of people walking outside of my room, the birds singing behind the window and the fighter jet flying somewhere in the sky, far from us. ¡°Perhaps we can let it go just this once considering you upbringing.¡± She finally breaks the silence. ¡°Okay?¡± I say tilting my head. I don¡¯t know what changed her mind. Perhaps she realized that I was right, that¡¯s got to be it. We do some small talk and she informs that general Ravens daughter, Annie is going to take me to the academy and help me get started the day after tomorrow. After that she excuses herself by saying that she has to report to the general to inform him of my decision. My decision. It was mine and mine alone. The fact that I just chose my first decision sinks in yet again as Linda leaves me alone in my bed. ¡®¡­It¡¯s actually pretty comfortable¡­ But I still prefer the floor.¡¯ I think, and slip from under the covers and sit on the floor against the corner of the room with my book, which Linda was kind enough to bring with her. Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Pov Annie ¡±Finally¡­¡± I mutter under my breath. Finally this useless exercise is over. It¡¯s part of the training to know what our future subordinate job descriptions are so we are to act as corporals in different kind of positions. And of course my father made sure that I¡¯d be stationed in the J.A.T.F. headquarters with the most boring orders imaginable: Guarding detainees. I had to act all proper and disciplined in the base and especially so in my father¡¯s base. I think about my friend James, who got stationed to the base in Florida. That would have been a nice place to finish this training. Or Nata who got stationed in the Irak base. I wonder if she got to see any action¡­ I¡¯m sitting in a military Humvee heading towards the academy. I¡¯m with Calla, who¡¯s face is glued to the window. I wonder what she finds so interesting. I¡¯m to help get her settled in the academy but there isn¡¯t much that I can do. She¡¯ll be in the operator training so that means she¡¯ll stay in the Omega building. That¡¯s the place where the operators stay. Access to the Omega building is restricted so I can only show her there. ¡°Are we there yet?¡± She asks me when the car takes a right turn. ¡°Soon.¡± I simply answer. The academy is pretty near the base so the car ride doesn¡¯t take long. I Study the face of Calla. The scar on her forehead is healing nicely. It may leave a mark but it¡¯ll be hard to notice. She has such a pretty face that it¡¯d be a shame if the scar couldn¡¯t heal properly. Now that I think about it, she looks kind of like Nata. Nata¡¯s hair is little darker than hers and her eye color is not as deep as Calla¡¯s Calla was brought to the base just two days ago and father already sent her to the academy. It seems a bit rushed in my opinion but I know very little about the operator training so there must be a reason. Our car now drives through the gates of the academy. I can see the shared training grounds to my right, and the cadets quarters to my left. They are concrete buildings of different shapes. Behind them are forested areas used for training and other buildings. To our front is the academy¡¯s main building where the administration of the academy is, with the large lecture halls. Next to that is the canteen building and behind it one can see the Omega building in the distance. Our car comes to a stop in front of the main building and I thank the driver while we get off. ¡°I¡¯ll need to report to the front desk and after that I¡¯ll take you to the Omega building.¡± I inform Calla. ¡°Omega?¡± She looks at me questionably. ¡°That¡¯s the building where you will be staying with the others who got in the operator training.¡± ¡°Others?¡± ¡°Yes, the others. Don¡¯t worry. They¡¯ll tell you when you get there.¡± I say to her while heading to the door of the main building. Inside is a large hallway. There is the receptionist desk straight ahead and a cadet is sitting behind it. First year cadets takes turns to man the desk, and while behind the desk they have the authority of 4rd year cadet. ¡°Cadet Annie Raven reporting back to the academy.¡± I say to the freshman. He writes down my time of arrival in the books. ¡°Has James Elvin or Nata Verusha come back yet?.¡± I ask, hoping that my friends have returned. He looks through his books searching if they have reported back yet. ¡°Cadet Verusha has returned.¡± He says. I nod and turn around to leave. I exit the building finding Calla surrounded by a group of first years. ¡°What is a girl like you doing here?¡± A boy asks ¡°Perhaps she is a daughter of someone?¡± Another one answers. ¡°That doesn¡¯t give her the right to be here¡± The first one answers. Calla is wearing black college pants and white T-shirt, courtesy of me. There weren¡¯t any normal clothes that would have fitted her in the base and we couldn¡¯t give her a uniform or the training clothes of the operators as she isn¡¯t a part of the academy officially yet. She will be when she gets to the omega building. ¡°Answers us or we will take you in to custody!¡± A boy yells. I think he¡¯s forgetting that he is a first year. If she didn¡¯t have the authorization to be here then that would be a problem for the MP¡¯s. ¡°And what gives you the right to do that?¡± I ask and look at the boy with a blanc expression. The group snaps in to attention when they notice my presence. ¡°And she is with me. Do you have something to say to that?¡± I look at them menacingly. I¡¯m a 3rd year cadet so I am their senior and they have to treat me like an officer of higher rank. But I think they are more intimidated by the fact that I¡¯m the daughter of a general. That is well known in the academy. ¡°No ma¡¯am¡± They answer in unison ¡°Dismissed¡± And as I say that they all turn around and leave without another word. ¡°Are you okay?¡± I ask Calla. She just smiles. I know she is strong but from what I gathered she isn¡¯t much for social situations and her expression when she was surrounded looked like it was a matter of seconds before she teaches the group of cadets a lesson in hand to hand combat.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Annie!¡± Someone yells. I turn around and see Nata smiling and walking towards me. ¡°How did your assignment went?¡± She asks. ¡°Hey Nata. It went well. It was boring most of the time but at the end things got interesting.¡± I say and glance towards Calla. The two of them really look alike. ¡°Did you get to see any action?¡± I ask Nata. She was in Irak so that¡¯s a possibility even though she was on security detail in the base. ¡°Nah. Just once, but the military police were quick to react that time. Someone tried to enter the premises for some reason but the MP¡¯s arrested him before he could do anything. There were attacks on our convoys and our troops did raid some hide outs but I wasn¡¯t there when those happened.¡± She finishes, turning her gaze towards Calla. ¡°And this is?¡± She looks towards me. ¡°This is Calla. I¡¯m to take her to Omega and help her where I can so she can settle in.¡± ¡°She looks too young to be an operator candidate?¡± She observes her. ¡°Yeah but she has special circumstances.¡± I carefully say. I¡¯m not sure how much I¡¯m allowed to say about the information pertaining calla. I think Nata notices my dilemma as she changes the subject: ¡°Well you still have two hours before she needs to report in so let¡¯s do something while we still have free time.¡± Our training resumes tomorrow but there isn¡¯t anything scheduled for today as people are still coming in from their assignments and first years are still getting their gear and finding their way. We decide to give Calla a brief tour around the academy. She barely talks, and only studies her new surroundings with interest. Although she seems oddly waryabout the people who are roaming the area. I guess she isn¡¯t used to masses of people. When we walk in the recreational building where the cadets comes to hang out when there isn¡¯t anything in their schedule, Calla freezes in the middle of the corridor. I curiously look at her. What is she doing? ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Nata asks but Calla doesn¡¯t answer. She is just standing there. Then I notice that her eyes are becoming a bit watery, like she¡¯s about to cry. I edge closer to her and repeat Nata¡¯s question while placing my hand on her shoulder: ¡°Calla, what¡¯s wrong?¡± She jolts back to reality when I touch her and she looks confused. She rubs her eyes and looks at me. ¡°What is that?¡± She asks. ¡°What is what?¡± ¡°The sound.¡± She answers. ¡°Do you mean the music?¡± Nata questions her. There is a slow song playing from the speakers. It isn¡¯t loud but still audible. ¡°Music, an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody and harmony¡­¡± Calla mutters quietly under her breath. Is this the first time she hears music? ¡°Is all music like this?¡± She asks. If Nata didn¡¯t look confused earlier, she surely looks now. I can¡¯t help but to chuckle at her confusion. ¡°There are many different kinds of music. Some you¡¯ll like and some you don¡¯t. Depends on the person listening.¡± I say to Calla while brushing her cheek when I remove my hand from her shoulder. ¡°I like music.¡± She simply says and I smile to her. ¡°Let¡¯s get going. We have time to eat here before I have to take you to the Omega. The canteen food sucks so even if it¡¯s free, I¡¯d rather eat here.¡± I say ¡­ After that we ate there. I paid for Callas meal and drinks. Now we are in front of the Omega building. The omega building is octagon shaped with 4 floors above ground and as big as a football field ¡°This is as far I can go. Someone will help you once you¡¯re inside.¡± I say to her and point at the door. She looks reluctant to leave me but after I give her a small push on the back she opens the door and walks inside. ¡°So what¡¯s the deal with her?¡± Nata asks as we start heading to our quarters. ¡°Like I said, she has special circumstances. I¡¯m not allowed to say much about her.¡± ¡°Yeah I gathered that much, but come on. She has never heard music before? Or at least that¡¯s what it looked like to me. And she looks so young¡± ¡°Well Yeah, she has a rough past. I can say that she is well trained so that¡¯s why she is placed to the Omega even though she is so young. I think she is fifteen, give or take. I really cannot say anything more, and even that was too much. My father ordered me to keep quiet about her if the situation allows it.¡± ¡°General Raven did? That makes me wonder even more but okay, I¡¯ll stop pestering you about it.
3rd Pov As Calla entered the building, a young man that looks to be around twenty years old takes notice of her. ¡°You are Calla? I was informed of you earlier.¡± He says. He has dark hair that just stops above his green eyes. ¡°Yeah?¡± Calla timidly answers. ¡°No need to be so reserved. Welcome to the Omega, young candidate. Your training starts tomorrow as the day changes. Have you already eaten?¡± Calla quietly says yes and the man nods. ¡°Then I¡¯ll show you to your room. In your room, there are clothes like mine, that you¡¯ll be wearing in your time here.¡± He says while indicating the clothes he is wearing. They are Black semi loose pants, with thicker cloth around the knees. He has combat boots on his feet and is wearing a sleeveless tight shirt, also black. He shows Calla to her room. It is the size of a regular class room. There are four bunk beds on either side of the room and a desk at the end of it. Behind the desk is a window. Next to each bed is two cabinets. All of the cabinets are open and without a lock except two. ¡°Here is your key and badge¡± The man says while handing Calla the items. ¡°This year there is only one more girl aside from you in your group so you¡¯ll have plenty of room. Take which ever bed you want, but I¡¯ll suggest you¡¯ll choose the one next to your cabinet. Change in to your clothes and like I said, tomorrow your training starts. My name is Kalev Milan, and I¡¯m a gold knife operator candidate.¡± ¡°Gold knife?¡± Calla asks. ¡°Affirmative.¡± He shows her his own badge which is leather, the size of a playing card. In the middle of the badge there is a golden knife. ¡°The badge is what proves our rank as operative. You¡¯ll start out as bronze knife. Then comes silver and then gold and lastly black knife. After black knife come bronze sword, then silver and then gold and finally black sword. When one reaches the sword ranks they¡¯ll be fully fledged operators so usually people leave the operator training when they reach bronze sword. Some people decides to continue training when they reach the sword ranks if they think they have still something to learn aside from experience. That is pretty usual here in the Omega.¡± ¡°What does the Omega have different from the other training centers?¡± Calla asks while studying her own badge with a bronze knife. ¡°Simply put, it¡¯s the best. We are trained here for a longer time and with more resources than the others. This place only takes fifteen new trainees a year, so that individual teaching and training is guaranteed. And from those fifteen only a five or so manages to graduate from Omega. The other places have more candidates, so the instructors have no time to individually assist them. Do note though, if you cannot keep up with the training, you¡¯ll drop out of here and be sent to the other training facilities.¡± ¡°And about the ranks¡± He continues:¡± Ranks bronze to gold knife are akin to a lieutenant and black is 1st lieutenant. The sword ranks basically have no rank, as they are not part of the J.A.T.F. military but the intelligence organization under the J.A.T.F. but you¡¯ll find out more about that in due time. They will explain these thing to you tomorrow also. Now. I have somewhere I need to be so good luck on your training. The other girl should come here soon. And remember, it starts tomorrow so get some rest.¡± Kalev says. After that he leaves the room leaving Calla alone. After changing in to her clothes, exactly like those on Kalev, Calla slumps down on her bed, which is the lower bunk next to her cabinet. She lays there quietly for about ten minutes. ¡°Haah¡± She lets out an exaggerative sigh and sits up. She takes the pillow from her bed and lays on the floor in front of her cabinet. She closes her eyes, wondering what the other girl is like. Chapter 9 Chapter 9 3rd Pov Calla¡¯s new roommate arrived in the evening. Her name is Maria Stein. She is seventeen year old girl from Germany with dark brown hair and eyes. She is 170 cm tall and has a feminine frame, although one can see that she is athletic and has trained a lot. They briefly got to know each other before heading to bed but it didn¡¯t escape Marias notice that Calla didn¡¯t have a lot to say about herself and she didn¡¯t even give her a last name. ¡®Just Calla¡¯ Maria thinks to herself while lying in her bed. That¡¯s what she answered when Maria asked her her family name. She turns to her side and looks at the blond young girl who is sleeping on the floor. ¡®What a peculiar roommate¡¯ She thinks. Maria has a hard time sleeping. She is nervous about the training that¡¯s about to start. Operator training has been her goal since long ago. When she was little she was caught up in terrorist attack on Berlin and there she witnessed the swift actions of German military¡¯s own operatives. They neutralized the threat in no time, and then she thought that she doesn¡¯t want to feel that powerless ever again and decided to train in order to become operative. She joined the J.A.T.F. because she had family already within its ranks. She wonders how this ¡®Calla¡¯ has no problems sleeping even though the training is about to start. On the floor, no less. All they were told was that the training starts tomorrow. It is already 0100. It¡¯s dark outside and the light from the moon shines through the window in their room. Suddenly red emergency lights light up in the room and corridor. Sirens sounds through the speakers and a voice yells from the corridor: ¡°Get up candidates! You have three minutes to be in the courtyard!¡± Calla jolts awake and jumps up. She quickly surveys the room for threats before she realizes that it¡¯s just the beginning of the training. Maria looks at Calla with her mouth open: ¡°I thought you were sleeping¡± She says. ¡°I was¡± Calla answers, bothered that her sleeping time was cut short but she is used to it. Calla waits for Maria to put some clothes on. She was already wearing them but she wants to wait for Maria. Maria rapidly puts the same training clothes as Calla and then the girls head out. In the courtyard there are thirty people standing in a row, Calla and Maria amongst them. They made it just in time with the others. The boys were a bit slower but still made it within the given time. In front of the row stands a bald man with angular shaped head and blue eyes. He looks more like a medieval warrior than a modern operator. He is wearing the same clothes as the candidates but has a long black coat on them reaching to his thighs. ¡°Welcome to the J.A.T.F. academy of military science! My call sign is Alpha, and you will call me that or sir!¡± He yells to the group while surveying each member of them from head to toe. ¡°It seems we only have two ladies with us in this year. But that doesn¡¯t mean the two ladies will be present a month from now. As you have noticed your group is thirty strong. But! Here in the Omega we only train fifteen so half of you got to go.¡± He drops the bomb. The candidates glances at each other with worried gazes, not understanding what is going on. ¡°Permission to speak sir?¡± A candidate calls out from the row. Alpha looks to his direction: ¡°Permission granted.¡± ¡°I thought we already passed the tests. How will you select the ones that will drop out and what happens to the drop outs?¡± ¡°A good question but pointless, as I was just about to explain it to you.¡± Alpha says and clears his throat. ¡°Those that drop out from here will be transferred to other operative training facilities and as to how we will select the drop outs, we don¡¯t. You do.¡± He says and waves his hand to the edge of the courtyard. From there Kalev arrives with two more senior candidates. They are all carrying multiple boxes. ¡°Here in Omega you will be given your own sidearms with three clips. The next months we will put you through physical exercises, hand to hand combat, survival situations in the wild and have you show us how well you can handle your weapon. During this time you will try to steal the weapon of others of your group and if yours gets stolen and it is delivered to me before you can obtain it back, you will drop out from Omega. When fifteen has dropped out we will begin individual training.¡± After that he explains the ranking system and briefly tells them where the Omega buildings gun ranges are with other training areas. They all receive a box and as Calla gets hers she open it immediately. Inside it is a black 9mm pistol with three magazines. She loads and fires the gun once when it¡¯s empty and after hearing the click of the firing pin she puts a magazine in and loads the gun. Not wanting to walk around with a loaded gun she presses the trigger while keeping her thump on the hammer and lets the hammer slowly back to the unloaded position. That way she has a bullet in the chamber and she only needs to pull the hammer back to start firing. ¡°Explain to me why you did that?¡± Alpha looks at her. His expression is not angry, on the contrary he looks satisfied. ¡°Quicker and quieter to load¡± Calla answers.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°What did you forget?¡± Alpha says Calla thinks to herself but cannot figure out what she forgot. She only tilts her head and that¡¯s when Maria whispers to her ¡°Sir¡±. ¡°Quicker and quieter to load, sir?¡± Calla says. ¡°Good. Try to remember the next time by yourself. You are Calla right?¡± ¡°Yes sir¡± Alpha casts a meaningful glance at Calla and after that they are taken to the gun ranges. ¡­¡­ In the following days the candidates are put through rigorous physical exercises and shooting tests. They are made to battle each other in unarmed combat and knife fights with rubber knifes. One of the candidates managed to steal the weapon of one of the boys and he got dropped out. Calla has yet to try stealing from the others but she intends to when she gets to know the group better. Many of the boys are starting to dislike Calla out of jealousy as she is good in hand to hand combat and she is the most accurate shot of them all. Now it is once again a hand to hand fight, this time it is Calla versus one of the boys who is jealous of her. ¡°Be careful Calla. I¡¯m not gonna hold back¡± The boy says to her. ¡°Oh¡± Calla answers. She isn¡¯t thinking about what he said but about his name as she cannot remember it at all. ¡°Enough, get into position.¡± Alpha says to them. They position themselves on the training room¡¯s padded floor. They are two meter apart and ready to fight. Now Calla for the first time observes the boy. He is about 180cm tall, has light brown hair and blue eyes. He is very muscular but that doesn¡¯t frighten Calla at all. His inexperience shows through his eyes and demeanor and as Calla was pitted against experienced soldiers in her previous training this one shouldn¡¯t give her any problems. ¡°Begin.¡± Alpha says and the boy spring in to action. He rushes towards Calla with arms raised. He tries to hit Calla with his right fist but Calla easily dodges to the side and makes a light kick to his left side knee. The boy wavers but doesn¡¯t fall down. He comes at her again, this time with a high kick towards Callas head. ¡®What a uselessly big move¡¯ Calla thoughts to herself. If the kick would hit it would be devastating but at this point there is no change of it hitting. Calla crouches down and once again kicks the same left side knee, only this time said knee is supporting his whole body. Calla¡¯s kick hits the knee but there was a thing Calla didn¡¯t take into account. When he was kicking, his whole body weight was on the supporting leg and because his kick''s momentum the strain on the supporting leg was larger. Callas first kick to the same knee was to weaken it, aiming to bring him down with many soft blows but her second kick became harder as she did it with the momentum she got when dodging low. The knee bends to the side with a sickening crunch followed by a loud scream. ¡°AAAAAAAA!¡± The boy yells and rolls on the floor while holding his broken knee. ¡°Sorry.¡± Calla says but doesn¡¯t look sorry at all. In fact she looks little happy. ¡°Stop that screaming. It¡¯s just a broken leg. What was with that high kick?? You couldn¡¯t possibly hope to hit with it, this early in the fight with a more agile opponent.¡± Alpha states. He cares little about the boy and only points out what he did wrong. ¡°And Calla¡­¡± Alpha turns his looks to her: ¡°Good job bringing down a larger opponent with little to no effort.¡± He says thinking about the fight that lasted only a few seconds. ¡°And you. With that leg you cannot hope to continue the training. You¡¯re lucky this happened this early on in the training so you didn¡¯t waste much time. You have dropped out. After you have healed you can come back provided you can pass the test again.¡± Alpha says to the boy who is silently crying on the floor. The boy looks at Calla angrily, clearly blaming her for this. Calla pays to him no mind and when the boy notices that he turns his look towards one of the other boys who was observing the fight. The other boy silently nods and turn his gaze to Calla. ¡­.. *BAMBAMBAM* Calla advances forward in the house. It¡¯s shooting range where they advance through a house where targets pop up suddenly and they have to shoot them within the second it comes out. It is hard to do, but the operative candidates are the best of the 1st class privates that got in to J.A.T.F. *BAMBAM* Calla fires twice. Both bullets hit the human shaped target that popped up from behind the corner. She hit it once through the heart and once through the head. Calla exits the other side of the house after finishing the range. ¡°Good job again Calla. All targets down through their vitals.¡± Alpha says to her, earning her more looks of jealousy. ¡°You are great Calla!¡± Maria yells and runs to hug her. They have grown quite close with each other during their days in the Omega. Calla gets startled from the sudden hug but relaxes when noticing that it is from Maria. ¡°It¡¯s not that hard. Just point and shoot.¡± She says. ¡°Easy for you to say. Really. One of these days I¡¯ll have you tell me where you were trained. Because it sure as hell wasn¡¯t with us in the J.A.T.F. I think I¡¯d remember you.¡± Maria says. She has tried to get Calla open up about herself but hasn¡¯t gotten anywhere. She only knows that Calla is a shy girl who prefers the floor for sleeping and is younger than the rest of them. Calla has only said that she has special circumstances. ¡°Perhaps someday.¡± Calla answers. ¡­.. They have been in the training for a month now. There is twenty of them remaining. Three has dropped out because of injuries got during training and the rest had their weapons stolen. One of the injured got his injury when he tried to steal Callas weapon. He was the boy who came to a silent agreement with the drop out from Callas fight. He tried to take her weapon when it was holstered on her and she noticed it and broke his arm from two places, by reflex of course. The group of twenty is now standing in front of a large forest and Alpha is in front of them, between them and the forest. ¡°This is the last part of this part of the training. There are fifteen flags hidden in the forest. you can work as group or alone. When you pick up a flag, the chip inside it activates and sends its location to the others in real time with two-hour intervals. The intervals shorten the closer you get to the edge of the forest and it is five-minute interval when you are as near or nearer than 15 km.¡± Alpha says and points at the small computer bracelet on his wrist. The candidates are all wearing the same kind. ¡°Those who come here with a flag has finished this mission and those who don¡¯t will drop out. Hand over your ammunition. You will all get a knife and one clip of rubber bullets for the duration of this assignment. And the knife isn¡¯t meant for you to use on each other, but for hunting and survival. This forest is hundreds of kilometers in diameter. Your wrist computers show the approximate location of the flags before they are activated, but expect to spend a few days in the forest. And try to avoid headshots. The rubber bullets can be lethal when aimed at the head.¡± He says. He collects the groups ammo and hands one clip of rubber bullets to each of them with a knife, a tinderbox and a suppressor. ¡°If you would look at your wrist computers map you¡¯ll notice that it is a normal map that doesn¡¯t show where your position is nor does it have a compass. The only thing it shows is the forest, the approximate locations of the flags when not activated and exact locations of the flags in intervals when activated. There is also a blue circle in each of yours map. You now start making your way to the circle and when all participants are at their designated circle the exercise will begin. It should take around twelve hours for the exercise to start.¡± ¡°Now all of you, head out.¡± He issues the final command, and the group starts making their way to the forest. Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Pov Calla I entered the forest about thirteen hours ago and the training started two hours ago. That means that everyone of the candidates has reached their starting position in the forest. I started heading towards the nearest flag to my position. It¡¯s about twenty kilometers out still and it¡¯s getting late. I intent to go through this exercise quickly but I still decide to make camp. I have to spent couple of days in the forest anyway so it¡¯s best to be rested when I get to the flag. I decide against on sleeping on the ground and look at the tree tops. There are couple of thick branches which could serve the purpose so I start getting ready for the night. First I check the surroundings for anything to be wary off but there isn¡¯t anything, so I¡¯ll start making traps. They are simple ones for intending to get me breakfast. I cut a branch as thick as my wrist and place it leaning against a tree. Under the trees there are eaten cones that suggest me that squirrels should be plenty in the forest. From the bark of the younger and smaller trees, I weave a simple rope as thick as a pencil. It breakes easily but it should hold a squirrel. I take the rope and place it in a loop above the branch I placed against the tree trunk. Now if a squirrel decides to climb the tree, it will probably use the branch first to get to the trunk. When it climbs the branch that¡¯s leaning in a 45o angel to the tree it will run through the loop of make shift rope and it tightens around its neck, hopefully killing it, and if not at least trapping it. I make three more similar kinds of traps and place some loops from a bit thicker rope to the ground in paths which looks like rabbits use them. Now that¡¯s food, but I got to do something to my security. The boys seem to dislike me, not that I care, but I don¡¯t want to get caught unaware. If they can even manage that. I place the makeshift bark ropes to the forest surrounding me, and tie their other end to a rock which gets suspended in the air. It¡¯s simple and not very effective but it is enough for the night as visibility isn¡¯t that great. If they walk from where one of the thin ropes is set, it doesn¡¯t take much force to break them. When the rope breaks, the rock falls. The sound is going to be only a small thud but that is enough to wake me. That ordeal takes me a few hours, most of the time spent to weaving the ropes. I climb to a tree in the center of my perimeter and lay down on a branch as thick as me. I am confident that I won¡¯t fall down during the night as this certainly isn¡¯t the first time I have slept like this. I close my eyes to get some sleep. ¡­ I wake up and survey my surroundings. I don¡¯t see any threats and I check the time from my wrist computer. It is a little over 0500 in the morning. There aren¡¯t any changes to the locations of the flags meaning that none of the flags has yet to be activated. I climb down the tree and see that my rabbit traps didn¡¯t have any luck but three of the squirrel traps has worked. One of the squirrels is dead and two of them is alive. I take them to my hands and snap the necks of those who were alive. I Start collecting the reusable parts of the weak ropes and notice that the final squirrel trap¡¯s rope has snapped from the loop. Well I knew the rope was weak and three squirrels are enough. I make a small fire with my tinderbox. Making a fire is always risky as the smoke, heat and light may give away your position but I do it anyway. It¡¯s a small change that the other will notice it, and if they do, I intent to be gone by then. Heating the meat and eating it doesn¡¯t take long as the meats size is small and the edible parts of the squirrel isn¡¯t much. After eating I put out the fire and throw some branches to cover the obvious campfire place. Next course of action is to find water but that is easy as there are small streams shown on the map. I see the terrain goes down to my left and a hill can be seen in front of me. From the sun¡¯s position and from the moss that covers the rocks and bits of the trees I know which way is north. Moss mostly grows on the northern side of things because it will be cooler and more damp there. Using the terrain and the hill as a landmark I ascertain my position on the map and start heading north, towards a stream and the closest flag from me. ¡­ I have walked about ten kilometers today. I am already half way to the flag and it has only taken me under three hours. I could move faster but there isn¡¯t a point to it, and it would expose me unnecessarily. I can hear the stream now. That is good, because I¡¯m starting to feel the thirst now. I haven¡¯t drunk anything after yesterday, before setting camp. I quietly move closer towards the water, being careful. Water sources in the wild are excellent places to ambush people, although I think if somebody would want to ambush anyone here they would be near the flags or wait till one of the flags gets activated. I do not hear anything or see anything, but the sound of the stream and the birds singing on the treetops. Even the birds have failed to notice my presence as they still sing using the same melodies they used when I was nearing the area. Or then they aren¡¯t the kind of birds to go silent or alarm if someone enters their vicinity. I see the size of the stream now. It is a small river with clear water. Its depth is to the knees and width is about seven meters. I decide to take a five minute break by the stream. From the bushes next to the stream I stealthily drink the water, careful that the surroundings don¡¯t get alarmed. After having my fill, I lean against a tree trunk and check the time. It is almost 0900 in the morning. I have made good time. I wonder how Marie is doing¡­ I hope she passes. As I¡¯m thinking that the birds change their singing. They don¡¯t go silent but they change the melody from the long slow rhythmic tweets to a more rapid singing. I notice the change immediately and steel my nerves. I hear footsteps from where I came from, but because the forest and the birds I can¡¯t be sure how many are closing in. Deciding to gain information, instead of leaving before noticed I look at the tree next to me. I can¡¯t be sure if there is anyone on the other side the stream but I don¡¯t think there are as there hasn¡¯t been anything that would suggest it. I climb the tree on the side of the stream so that the people nearing wouldn¡¯t notice me. I climb to the height of three meters and wait, hiding myself to the thicket. I see five people coming to the stream, walking in a single file with 5 meter gaps. At least they know to advance tactically but in a group you get noticed so much easier if one knows what to look for. ¡°Let¡¯s drink and go across the stream here. I think she used this way too.¡± One of them says. They are looking for me? How is that possible? They couldn¡¯t have known where I would start and for which flag I would go. Or could they? ¡°Her camping site was just where he told us it would be. She has proceeded with caution seeing how hard it was to track her. There were barely any signs she came this way. Could she know we are hunting her?¡± One of them says. Who the fuck told them where I was sleeping? And of course I didn¡¯t know they were hunting me with a purpose other than the exercise. That is just how I move in a forest. ¡°I doubt she knows anything. Let¡¯s just keep going on. We should catch her at the flag at the latest.¡± The one leading the group says. How could anyone know where I spent the night? There is no way, unless they monitor the area. ¡°Yeah let¡¯s. We could teach that other bitch too a lesson while we are at it, if we find her. Only thing a woman operator is good for is spreading her legs to get information, there is no need for them to train in OMEGA.¡± At that remark by one of the following boys the others chuckle a little. What the fuck? He was using that filthy mouth to threaten Maria. I think this is anger I¡¯m feeling now. A strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong. Yeah, definitely anger if not rage. Rage should be the same thing except uncontrolled. I need to keep my head cool. No point in making them aware of my presence in a fit of rage. I think cold calculated anger should do for now, although I¡¯m tempted to show that spreading my legs for them isn¡¯t really the thing I¡¯m good at. They start crossing the stream one by one, and continuing to tactically advance through the forest. I follow them carefully, keeping a visual only to the last one of their line. They walk in silence, and I follow sneaking from tree to tree, from bush to bush, making sure they don¡¯t notice me and I don¡¯t lose them. At least they know not to talk while advancing. This gives me time to ponder. What do they want with me. How they found my camp site and knows the closest flag to my starting position. Well it is obvious someone is helping them. Otherwise they couldn¡¯t have known my starting place. But who? There are three possibilities. The Alpha, which I think is unlikely. The Bravo, who is the Alphas assistant trainer but I didn¡¯t see him before the exercise started and I think this is completely run by the Alpha. And lastly, one of the older candidates who helped the Alpha to organize this exercise. But the older candidates couldn¡¯t have known where I was camping. But then again, nobody could have. I¡¯m pretty sure they have a UAV circling the area but it couldn¡¯t have seen me through the trees. The smoke from the campsite then? No, it couldn¡¯t have known it was me. Or was the starting positions that much apart that it could have been deducted? We come across a another stream, and the group of boys doesn¡¯t stop for it. I take a mouthful of water and continue to tail them. There should be only five kilometers to the flag. I need to figure out my next move by then. The boys come to a stop few minutes after the stream. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen anything to indicate she came through here.¡± One of the boys says. The leader like boy ponders for a moment before answering: ¡°Let¡¯s just keep going. Perhaps she took a different path or is moving more carefully but we still know the flag she is heading for.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I listen as they try to track and ambush me for whatever reason. ¡°I think we should just be on the safe side and ask her location?¡± One of the boys says My location? ¡°No. The Alpha told if there isn¡¯t anything to go by that only then we should ask him for assistance as there is a change the communications gets picked up by the HQ.¡± The Alpha? The boys nod to each other and slowly continues onward with me on their tail. So it was the Alpha. But why? No, that¡¯s not important yet, the how comes first. How could he know my location? They must have a tracker on me aside from the UAV which tracks the whole forest, but where. the wrist computers can be tracked but that isn¡¯t a secret, and it is easily avoidable. I check my computer and confirm that the GPS is not activated. When using the GPS I could see my position on the map but as that is indeed easily trackable, they told us not to use it in the training because we won¡¯t be using it in live operations either. I have checked the clothes I¡¯m wearing. Multiple times, as I¡¯m cautious. But there wasn¡¯t anything. It must be something they gave before the start of this training exercise. I check the knife, and the tinder box, but they are clean. I know it isn¡¯t my pistol as I have taken it apart many times to check and clean it. That only leaves the clip with the rubber bullets. I inspect the clip while following them and find that there is something at the bottom which shouldn¡¯t be there. Now what to do. If I take it out, the clip comes apart and is no longer usable. If I don¡¯t, then they can monitor me. They once again come to a stop. ¡°We are only a few kilometers away from the flag. Let¡¯s take five minutes here to rest. If she gets to the flag we start hunting immediately and if not, we¡¯ll lay an ambush for her. Make sure she dies.¡± Dies? They want kill me?? What the fuck. Why the fuck. They are going by the instructions of the Alpha. They are obeying their instructions like I did for so many years. And the Alpha is obeying someone else¡¯s instructions, because there wouldn¡¯t be any other reason for him to do this. I don¡¯t know who¡¯s for sure but I think I can rule out the J.A.T.F. as they are avoiding the communications because the HQ could overhear. But I can¡¯t be sure if the orders came from within the J.A.T.F. Everybody is always following instructions. Did they even question them or are they mindlessly obeying. Well, I did that for years. But no more. Fuck the orders and fuck the instructions. Fuck the chain of command. I never vowed to fight for the J.A.T.F. and for the national peace they represent as the others did when they were privates. And now in the first month here my comrades are already hunting me down. Fuck this. I¡¯ll forget my orders and the exercise for now. Time to get some answers. And save Maria from a beating while I¡¯m at it. She and Linda are the only things I¡¯ve liked here anyway. And it¡¯s not like I¡¯m betraying anybody. I leave the resting group of targets and head to the flag. Now, how should I play this. I need information from them¡­ well, one of them, the leader should suffice. They intent to kill me so I¡¯m not going to hold back, even if I knew how to do that. And the one with the filthy mouth which threatened Maria is going to need a dentist at least. They will rest for four minutes still and by the speed I¡¯m moving compared to them that should give me ten minutes at the flag before they start laying their ambush. Should I place an ambush of my own? Yes, but not by the flag as they are going to surround it and never go near it. As I come to the flag I have decided my course of action. I take the flag and start heading towards the edge of the forest with the fastest speed I can go, while still minding my surroundings. I was very careful when taking the flag and leaving the area to not to leave any tracks. The flag will give them my position anyways after two hours. After I¡¯m about thirty minutes away from the clearing where the flag was, I place the flag down and walk so that I leave some tracks but nothing obvious. I walk for a few minutes, leaving a broken small branch here and a visible footprint there. After that I start building traps meant for humans. They are simple but hard to detect if you are not looking at them. One step can break the rope that is ten centimeters from the ground. When the rope is broken it releases the bent branch that straightens itself then. At the end of the branch is a sharpened wooden stick, about fifteen centimeters in length and as thick as a thumb. I make couple of traps like that and look at the time. I still have an hour to prepare before the signal is sent. They must have noticed that I took the flag but they can¡¯t be sure which way I went as I was careful not to leave tracks in the vicinity of the clearing. I dig a few holes in the ground, about thirty centimeters in depth and diameter. I make sticks with both ends sharpened push them to the holes so that they are sticking from the bottom and the walls and all pointing towards the sky at some angle. I cover the holes with moss and leaves so that when they step on them, their own weight will push the sticks to their flesh. Now it¡¯s time. The flag sent out a signal so that others can see my position. I take the flag from where I placed it and carefully take it through the path I had just trapped and hide it behind a tree. The flag means nothing to me now but it still works as bait. They will see the place the signal was sent and from there they can find some of my tracks heading to the forest. Without me or the flag in sight, they want to proceed quickly if they are idiots, and calmly if they are not. But it doesn¡¯t matter. I don¡¯t have high hopes for the traps anyway. I climb the tree next to the place the signal was sent. I want them advancing towards the traps while I¡¯ll come from their back. Now I¡¯ll wait. ¡­ ¡°The signal came from here¡± The leader informs. I watch as they look around the area below me. ¡°There are some tracks heading this way¡± One of them says. They are talking quietly, thinking they will get the drop on me. The leader nods and they start following the tracks. They spread out a little but that is good for me as the traps weren¡¯t all in a single pathway. Two at the back, then the leader and two at the front. ¡°We should deal with her quickly and head for the other flags. This is wasting too much time¡± One of them says. The leader hushes him to be silent and indicates the others to stop. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? We are closing in?¡± The on at the front left says. And the leader answers: ¡°What¡¯s wrong? First we barely keep up with her, advancing for kilometers before a sign of her passing there can be seen and now all of the sudden there are visible tracks just after where the flags signal was sent.¡± So not a complete idiot. But I trust his friends are. ¡°Perhaps she moved quickly rather than quietly when the flags signal tells her place anyway?¡± The one on the back says. Their formation is now is a square with the leader in the center. I have silently come down from the tree and I¡¯m now following them just a few meters behind them. I chose this area because the ground is silent to walk on and the traps aren¡¯t easily detectible. Also the trees are big and there is only few meters between them at most so it is easier to follow them undetected at close range. I watch as the front right guy is walking towards one of the traps. They already passed the first one, and by luck they all avoided it. I slip from tree to tree, avoiding being on the open when the guys on the back glances their six. But it shows that they really should be paying more attention to behind them, even if they think they are the ones hunting. ¡°Perhaps, but she still wouldn¡¯t want us to know to which way she heade¡­¡± ¡±AAAAAAH¡± The leader is interrupted by the front guy on the right side as he steps to a hole and his calf and foot on his right leg is pierced by the sticks. During his loud scream I jumped from behind the tree and stabbed my knife to the neck of the right side guy on the back and simultaneously aiming with my left hand, I shoot the other guy on the back. The silenced shot is covered by the loud scream and it hits straight to the eye of the guy. Blood gushes out as he falls on his back, and I pull the guy I just stabbed behind the tree to my right. The guy I shot falls behind a tree too. Lucky that there was a tree just next to him. I don¡¯t know if he died, but at least he lost his consciousness. Rubber bullet to the eye will hurt enough to pass out and the impact itself should cause the loss of consciousness when hit to the head. The dude who walked to the trap has now shut his mouth and is kneeling and taking his belt of, probably to use it as a tourniquet. ¡°I will fucking kill that bitch!!¡± He screams in anger. Or is it rage? Looks like rage to me. ¡°Fuck, retrace you footsteps and get in to a single file.¡± The leader says as he turns around to look. ¡°Where the fuck is Tom and Pierre?!¡± He yells as he notices his missing companions. I don¡¯t care that the other one is dead and the other is probably dying. Like I earlier thought, I won¡¯t give them mercy when they try to hunt and kill me. Besides, as much of a big deal Linda made from pointless suffering and death in our talks, I really don¡¯t see it as that much of a big deal. It¡¯s the way of the world. Still hiding behind the tree with a dead Tom or Pierre by my feet I think. The remaining three went to the one who stepped in to the trap, they are probably trying to get his leg free. I notice that the one with the filthy mouth is the other one besides the leader who is left unhurt. ¡°Are you here Calla!! Stop this now!¡± Damn. I¡¯m right next to them so there isn¡¯t a need to yell but they don¡¯t know that. Three left, one of them cannot move. I could end it easily with three shots but the rubber bullets takes away the certainty of that plan and I still want to talk to the leader. Perhaps now is a good time? ¡°I¡¯ve been following you ever since the stream this morning. Mind telling me what are your orders.¡± I answer from behind the tree. I just gave away my position but the terrains advantage is still mine and even if they have the numbers, it¡¯s quality over quantity now. ¡°To¡­ To kill you. The Alpha said nothing more, only that you are a threat to the J.A.T.F.¡± The leader manages to answer me. Heh. How unprofessional. ¡°Well perhaps I should do the J.A.T.F. a favor and kill you instead, as it seems you cannot even keep your orders a secret.¡± I reply with merry voice. Really, operators, as I understand are experts in secrecy and clandestine work and this idiot screamed his orders after the first question. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t¡± And as he says that I step from behind the tree and shoot aiming the man that threatened Maria. After the shot I jump behind a different tree. The leader was ready with his pistol, but I¡¯m too fast for him to aim proper and he misses me. ¡°AAAGH¡± A muffled sound comes. It sounds disgusting really. I can hear as the blood bubbles in his mouth. I shot straight through the teeth of the filthy mouth. He will need a dentist. Well, if he survives. The leader seems to realize that he isn¡¯t a match for me as he starts escaping from me. I though he was smart but in the face of danger he is just like the rest of them as he starts running straight to the path they were following earlier. ¡°AAAAAA¡± He screams. I walk next to him and see that he ran straight to my trap, breaking the thin rope made of bark that was holding the branch behind a tree in place. When the rope was cut, the branch straightened and stabbed the stick tied to its end to the leader¡¯s thigh. ¡°Now, is there anything I should now about your orders that you didn¡¯t tell me?¡± I ask while pressing the stick on his leg deeper. ¡°AAA¡­ No, nothi¡­¡± I apply more pressure ¡°AAAAA¡­ huff. huff. You crazy whore! AAAAAAAA¡± I pressed the stick all the way through his thigh. ¡°So anything else. Anything?¡± I ask, smiling to him. I know there is more like the fact that they can ask my location. I already know it but still, I need him to be honest. ¡°He told that he can track you and if we needed help we should contact him. That¡¯s all, I promise!¡± *BAMBAMBAM* ¡°AAARGH¡± I fire a few shots to his leg and side. The rubber bullets are pretty handy in a situation like this after all. ¡°Really? What about if you had killed me?¡± I asks the whimpering mess of a candidate. ¡°Nothing, we should just proceed with the training. I don¡¯t know anything else¡­¡± He¡¯s practically crying now. How pathetic. *BAM* I shoot him in the middle of the forehead. Now let¡¯s see. The guy I shot to the eye seemed to have died. The guy I stabbed is dead. The guy who stepped in to the trap is passed out, he will probably bleed to death seeing he didn¡¯t manage to tighten the tourniquet before he passed out of the blood loss. Seems like the guy who threatened Maria is currently suffocating on his blood, and is too unconscious to do anything about it. The leader is alive, just passed out. It seems that the headshot wasn¡¯t enough to kill him. Well I didn¡¯t intent that anyway, just wanted to knock him out fast and effortless when I was done with him. He won¡¯t die of blood loss either as I pushed the branch through his leg. He would if I were to take it out but there isn¡¯t really a reason to do that. He was just doing as told. Deciding what to do, I tighten the tourniquet on the guy who stepped to the trap, probably saving his life. And that¡¯s it. The leader will live too and that¡¯s enough. I cast one last glance at the guy who is choking to his blood and teeth. I think about how easy it would be to save him, just turn him from his back to his side. But I won¡¯t do that. Call it illogical, immoral or cruel. I won¡¯t save him. I check the magazines of their guns and see that they have a tracker on them too. So this is just their way of monitoring us. The alpha is likely watching the signals. I empty my clip, putting the remaining eight bullets to my pocket and leave one in the chamber. I drop the empty clip to the ground, to a place the others won¡¯t notice it when they wake up, just to be sure. I search them quickly and conclude that they would have communicated with the Alpha through their wrist computers. I take them all and break them. Now when the Alpha watches the signals, he will think I have died here and took them with me. Then the other two wakes up and as they have no means of contact to the alpha nor maps they can only start heading for the edge. But they won¡¯t do that straight as they don¡¯t know how many traps I have made. The Alpha will think they are continuing the training as instructed. Now, let¡¯s go see what the Alpha has to say. Chapter 11 Chapter 11 3rd Pov Sometime earlier Encrypted video conference between four parties. In the video conference, there are four avatars representing the people taking part on it. One of them is a black humanoid figure, another one is red, then blue and white. ¡°Have you got anywhere confirming the situation of subject 7xx?¡± The black figure asks with a voice that is modified to sound mechanical. ¡°We have not.¡± The blue one answers with the same voice and continues: ¡°We still suspect that it got taken in by the J.A.T.F. a month ago. Shortly after that we tried to get the confirmation on the mainframe of J.A.T.F. called the VAULT but it proved to be more difficult than we anticipated.¡± ¡°Subject 7xx was the only subject of the four ongoing COT training operations that was on a mission when they attacked the Al-Aman facilities. The mission site was a J.A.T.F. safehouse. The mission was cleared but the subject disappeared then, before we even could confirm the kill.¡± The red one says. ¡°So, the J.A.T.F. probably got her. Who was the target?¡± The black one says. ¡°Some small Hezbollah leader. The hit was not for our benefit, but for the purpose of training.¡± The white one answers the question, and that confuses the black one. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the xx models be trained a little differently? I thought only the xy models would be trained in a more practical manner and the xx models would be focused on infiltration and covert operations?¡± He asks. To his knowledge the xx models should be trained to assume some false identity and to keep it alive, and if possible use that identity to infiltrate the large intelligence organizations. ¡°Yes, that is true. The Al-Aman didn¡¯t seem to agree with us with that, or perhaps they saw something in the subject to train it differently.¡± The white one says. The black one ponders for a moment before coming to a decision: ¡°If the J.A.T.F. noticed the subject¡¯s potential they would have placed it in the operative training, and if not, we¡¯ll find the subject soon enough. But if they put it in their training, it shouldn¡¯t take them long to realize that it was put through counter operative training.¡± At this point he takes a small pause worth of few breathes before continuing: ¡°7xx Is too powerful of a weapon just to hand over to the J.A.T.F. Do we have anyone inside the OMEGA?¡± ¡°No we don¡¯t. But the trainer there has children in Paris. His name is Ryan Owel, originated from U.S.A. He is the main trainer in the OMEGA. That could be our in.¡± The white one says. Their organization has spent years¡¯ worth of manpower to map the organizational structures in the different intelligence and military organizations. ¡°Good. I would think that it is a fool¡¯s errand to try and recruit the subject back to us, so if we can¡¯t have it, neither can they. Kill it.¡± After black one¡¯s order, he waits a bit to see if there is anyone who disagrees but there is none. With a new task in hand, they adjourn the conference. The white one rises from his seat in front of the computer and pics up a phone. He needs to contact his operatives on ground in Paris to kidnap the Alpha¡¯s children.
3rd Pov Present day Calla is heading for their starting position, the place where Alpha should be staying. There was a cabin there. The candidates didn¡¯t see what¡¯s inside of it but Calla presumes the Alpha stays there for the duration of the exercise and monitors the candidates. Calla has been proceeding for hours now and the day is starting to turn into night. She takes a break by a small stream. She drinks the water and wipes sweat from her forehead. The sun has already set so low that it cannot be seen from the forest. The birds are going to their nests while the nocturnal animals are starting to wake up. Calla looks up at the sky that is mix of blue and sunset red. ¡°Tonight¡± She mutters to herself. She opts to confront the Alpha tonight, during the darkness of the night for several reasons. The Alpha is less likely to notice something is amiss if she acts fast. The cover of darkness will help her go unnoticed to the UAV circling the skies above. And she wants every advantage when confronting him, as he is after all the trainer of the Omega facility. ¡®I only have one shot, and it¡¯s a rubber bullet no less¡¯ She think to herself while moving forward. She left one in the chamber and now that the remaining of her bullets are in her pocket because she left the clip behind, she knows that the Alpha will react way too fast for her to load the next one in the chamber after the first shot. Minutes turn in to hours as she advances through the damp forest. She is nearing the edge as the moon has risen to the sky. She stops in the cover of the trees and surveys the small cabin by the edge of the forest. This is the second night of the exercise so the Alpha probably isn¡¯t expecting any of them to come back yet. She checks the map on her wrist computer and sees that two of the flags have been activated. Those who activated them will spend the night resting and moving near the place the flags were because the interval of the signals there is longer, she thinks. ¡®They will be there trying to get little rest before heading here so that should give me the rest of the night free and the morning too¡¯ She ponders, trying to come up with a plan. *Creek* The cabin door opens and Calla lowers herself to cover. She sees the Alpha walking outside and taking place next to the cabin, leaning on its wall. He takes a lighter from his pocket and a cigar and lights it up. ¡®Fuck¡¯ The Alpha thinks to himself. He is so worried about his children and feeling sorry for Calla that he couldn¡¯t get any rest. ¡°And now I¡¯m smoking after all these years¡± He mutters to himself and Calla pics that up. He feels ashamed that it was so easy to blackmail him, a veteran operator, to kill a girl he is in charge of. He left the active operator duty because of his family and started the safe training duty in the Omega. While he¡¯s wallowing in self-pity Calla is busy making a strategy. ¡®The one bullet I have should be used to deny him the access to his weapon¡¯ She thinks. She looks at the holster that is visible on Alphas thigh. She knows that the Alpha is carrying live ammo and she only has one rubber bullet. The only way to incapacitate him is to take the fight to close range. She knows she cannot enter the cabin without being noticed so she has to act now, when he is still outside if she wants to use the element of surprise to full advantage. There is about twenty-five meter of open space between the cabin and forest so she has to time it right. She knows that while running she needs to be at least fifteen meters away to make an accurate enough shot with the suppressed weapon. She looks at the cigar that still has half of it length left as she removes the suppressor from her weapon. That should give her little bit more accuracy when she acts. She waits when the Alpha turns to look away from the forest but he doesn¡¯t. She waits until he has smoked the cigar. He drops the cigar on the ground and steps on it. With a sigh he puts it out and turns to walk to the door. He only has taken a couple of steps when his peripheral vision notices movement. He turns to look at the source and is shocked at what he sees. There is Calla, running towards him on the grass. Not making any sound and moving with a speed that of a cheetah, she raises her pistol. Alpha is stunned for a moment. He thought she already died. A part of him is happily pleased and a part of him fears for his family. He looks at her impassive expression and the blue eyes like ocean made of crystal when he reaches his gun.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. *BAM* A shot is fired just when the pistol is in his hand. The bullet hits his thumb, breaking it and releasing his hold of the pistol. He grunts from the pain but doesn¡¯t let it stop his actions when he pulls a knife from his back to his left hand. Calla is less than ten meters away when she drops her weapon and takes her knife to her hand. The Alpha rushes to meet his opponent while thinking to himself that this is all wrong. He doesn¡¯t want her blood on his hands but he also knows that at the first sign of weakness, the candidate will win. He has watched her fights during training enough to know that she isn¡¯t just any candidate and her combat effectiveness is already that of a high class operative. *Cling¡¯ The metallic sound from the knifes is heard. Calla went for a stab to the chest with the knife on her right hand. At the moment she holds the advantage as Alpha is right handed and is forced to use his left for this fight. Alpha was disappointed when Calla went for the plain stab but noticed immediately when he blocked it that it didn¡¯t hold the strength it should have. It was a feint, and immediately after Calla makes a low kick with her right leg, designed to break his footing. The Alpha takes one step back, leaving him in a stance where his left leg is on the front. That stance is what Calla was aiming for as the stand leaves his left arm exposed. Calla makes a swing with her knife from right to left, aiming at the wrist of his arm but the Alpha manages to dodge. He pivots on his right leg turning clockwise and removing his left arm from the trajectory of the knife. Using the rotational motion he attempts a back kick to Calla¡¯s jaw. Calla bends her waist backwards dodging the kick but she doesn¡¯t stop her motion. She makes a back handspring, gaining some distance to the larger opponent. ¡°Why?¡± She asks. The Alpha looks nervous, as he wasn¡¯t expecting for her to confront him in the middle of the fight. ¡°Sorry, but I have my reasons. You must end here.¡± He simply answers. Calla watches him silently for a few seconds before opening her mouth: ¡°You will lose. Your dominant arm is out of commission and I¡¯m faster.¡± She states, attempting to make him lose his spirit and distract him. She noticed that he isn¡¯t fond of the situation he is in. The Alpha glances at the gun he dropped a few steps away. The statement of his impending loss made him involuntarily look for other options as he knew there was some truth in it. Calla didn¡¯t miss the fraction of a second when he was looking at the gun, and takes the opening. She decides in that moment to take the risky action, and throws her knife towards the throat of Alpha. Alpha hastily swings his knife to block Calla¡¯s throw but being distracted before, the block leaves him open to what comes next. The moment Calla threw her knife, she ran after it. When the Alpha blocks the knife with a quick and unbalanced swing, he exposes his chest and face. Calla jumps toward him when his knife hand is still extended to the left and plants a knee kick to the Alphas jaw. The Alpha doesn¡¯t lose consciousness, but staggers backwards, leaving him leaning to the wall of the cabin. As Calla falls from her jump, she rolls to her left and takes the weapon that Alpha dropped at the beginning of the fight. ¡°Why?¡± She asks again, this time aiming at him. Alpha falls silent, and after a moment he slides to a sitting position next to the wall. *Sigh* He lets out a loud sigh and reaches to his pocket. Calla is ready for a last attempt but still allows him to take something out of his pocket. The alpha takes the cigar he reached for and lights it. ¡°You know, the general gave me these to celebrate my future promotion. But I guess I can smoke them now as that isn¡¯t happening¡± He lets out a self-demeaning chuckle. Calla doesn¡¯t answer but only stares at the bald man smoking. She can see from his expression that this whole thing was most likely forced on him. ¡°They have my family.¡± He finally answers the question. ¡°And who¡¯s they?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. They just told me to arrange your death so that my family can live.¡± Calla thinks about what she heard: ¡®Someone wants me dead, but there isn¡¯t many who even know of my existence as far as I know.¡¯ ¡°What did they call me¡± Calla asks. That can tell a lot about her opponents. If they called her Calla, then the orders came probably from inside the J.A.T.F. and if they called her Seven then the threat is from her past. ¡°They just described you as a blond blue eyed young girl, with exceptional skills.¡± He answers. ¡°I really wonder where you were trained. General Raven only said that you are trained but I didn¡¯t except this much.¡± He continues, thinking about the five unmoving tracker signals in the forest aside from Calla¡¯s and she even managed to apprehend him, an experienced operator that has seen many battles and wars. Calla doesn¡¯t humor him with more information, as she contemplates what she just heard. ¡®They knew my appearance and that I¡¯m skilled. They could be one of the groups that were my targets. But I doubt it. Even if they had the resources to find me why would they? Revenge? I don¡¯t think they would go after the hired gun but instead after the people who hired it. And if so, they wouldn¡¯t try to kill me, but to get information about my previous trainers and handlers.¡¯ And that only leaves one possibility if she is right. ¡®Al-Aman was it? The people who trained me. But I thought they were dead. Perhaps there is more to the organization that I knew.¡¯ She thinks. A minute of silence falls to the two. The sun has yet to rise but it shouldn¡¯t be long. Some of the forest birds are starting to wake up as their songs fill the forest. The sky is beginning to light up from the sun that is still below the horizon and a cool breeze brushes the grass on the clearing. ¡®What to do now¡¯ Calla wonders to herself. From her perspective she hasn¡¯t done anything wrong. Just self-defense. ¡®I must leave Alpha alive as he is the only one to know the whole truth.¡¯ She thinks. If he kills Alpha then the J.A.T.F. will think she went rogue under her own volition. And the two boys she left alive know only about the orders but not the reason behind it. If they even decide to tell anyone they were the ones who tried to kill Calla first. ¡®But if I remain in the J.A.T.F. they will try again most likely. And now that I have spilled the blood of our fellow candidates they might dislike me in the Omega for whatever reason.¡¯ ¡°What happens now¡± The Alpha asks, already resigned to his loss. He has tried to find an opening on Calla but all the time they discussed, the gun she is holding never even wavered and her eyes never left Alpha. ¡°If I leave you alive, what will you do?¡± Calla asks instead of answering. ¡°The only way my family has a chance is for me to come clean now. I don¡¯t know where they took them but they must have moved them away from our home.¡± He says. And that was the answer Calla had anticipated. If she has learned anything from the small social talks with Maria, she knows that people hold their family dear. ¡®Well, I would murder the world if Linda was threatened.¡¯ She thinks to herself, and even surprising herself. Only now she notices the amount affection she holds for Linda. ¡®Is it because she was the first one to be nice to me, or because she named me..? And if I were to leave now, would I ever see her again? Would she have to hunt me because I left?¡¯ She thinks. For a moment she thinks about staying. To go to Linda and tell her everything that has transpired in these few days. ¡®But what if the ones who organized this finds out about mine and Linda¡¯s connection.¡¯ She comes to the realization. She remembers the intel about the various people in key positions she was made to memorize. There were always possible locations and weaknesses. And in the weaknesses there were family listed many times. ¡®Is she my family¡¯ She ponders. ¡® I¡¯d like that¡¯ But knowing now isn¡¯t the time to think about that she starts planning what to do now. ¡®I will leave the J.A.T.F. For now at least.¡¯ She decides. ¡®I will find out more about the people after me. I will figure out why they want me dead. I will find out why they made me what I am in the first place if they truly are the ones responsible.¡¯ During her free time in the training she read some of Maria¡¯s books. There was a phrase that moved her in one book. ¡®To see the road ahead, one must know where he comes from. Otherwise you¡¯ll be walking in circles.¡¯ That was the text in a book that summarized the history of the world. That sentence spoke to Calla, as she knows where she comes from. The forest. But she doesn¡¯t know why. ¡°Stand up and turn around. I will let you live. Tell Linda I¡¯m sorry.¡± She says to Alpha. He is standing up now, and facing the cabin wall when something impacts the back of his head and he passes out. After rendering him unconscious Calla goes inside the cabin to look around and spots monitors that show the tracker signals, the position of the flags, even the ones activated and of course the UAV feed. Normally people wouldn¡¯t notice the UAV in the sky but Calla¡¯s keen eyes spotted it at one moment. She looks at the tracker signals. She sees that the two boys she left alive are heading for the edge of the forest but has still long way to go. She notices that Maria has a flag and isn¡¯t that far away from the cabin. ¡®I guess she didn¡¯t wait for the night to end¡¯ Calla thinks and smiles to herself. She is glad that her friend is going to pass the training, but then again, they might do the training all over because of what has happened. ¡°Now that I think about it, out of twenty, fifteen will pass. I killed three of them and injured the other two.¡± She lets out a small laugh. ¡®I guess the final fifteen is decided, wait, fourteen, as I¡¯m leaving too.¡¯ Then she spots the tiny trackers thatAlpha had put on their clips. She is not an expert in technology but she has been trained some, in order to circumvent security. She looks at the laptop on the table and closes the window which shows the tracker signals. She sees that the image of the program that tracks them is on the desktop. She takes a memory stick from the desk, empties it and copies the app onto it. After that she takes couple of the trackers after making sure they are turned off and leaves with them and the memory stick. ¡®These will be handy¡¯ She thinks to herself while walking out of the cabin. ¡°Now, where to¡­¡± She mutters. She hasn¡¯t got any experience from the normal world, but she has some useful information to go by. For instance, she knows the addresses of a few Al-Aman safehouses. She was made to memorize them if she ever was on the run from authorities and needed a way to contact her handlers. But there isn¡¯t one she knows about in Paris, or in France for that matter. ¡®Well first I should leave the academy and hide from the J.A.T.F. because they will surely be searching for me. I doubt they will use a lot of resources for that, as I was the one attacked first and if the Alpha comes clean, they just see me as a deserter. I should head for the center of populace and hide in the masses. I need money, I think? And the thing called ID. It¡¯s supposed to prove my existence or something like that.¡¯ ¡®And a bigger gun¡¯ She thinks and looks at her pistol with one clip. Before she leaves she takes the two remaining clips from Alphas holster and the knife she threw and heads straight toward the Eiffel tower that is seen in the distance. Chapter 12 Chapter 12 One hour after Calla left the cabin. Pov Linda I¡¯m heading towards general Ravens office. We just got the call that something went wrong with a training exercise in the Omega facility. I don¡¯t know what it is but I hope Calla is okay. *Knock knock* ¡°Enter¡± I hear the generals voice. I open the door and close it behind me. I note that there is Brian and another man with the general. The office is a big corner office, with a desk by the corner, large bulletproof windows instead of outer walls and a table with four chairs and a couch to the right from the door. ¡°Sir¡± I salute the general and throw an inquisitive glance towards Brian and the other man. The other man is wearing the clothes of the Omega facility. He is a bald, warrior like man with blue eyes. But he doesn¡¯t look like much of a warrior at the moment as is evident on his face. He looks nervous, and something is obviously pressing on his mind. General Raven gestures us to sit by the coffee table and takes the chair at the end of the table for himself. ¡°Mr. Owel. Please tell the major what you just told me.¡± The general says. Owel lets out a loud sigh, before beginning his explanation. ¡°I got a phone call couple of nights ago from my wife¡¯s number¡­¡± He goes into the explanation. When he goes to the point that he was told to arrange Calla¡¯s death, I cannot help but to angrily yell: ¡°What!?¡± ¡°Calm down Linda, let him finish¡± Brian tries to calm me down. I got very attached to Calla in our brief moments of interactions. In that short time I came to see her as something akin to a daughter or a little sister. I didn¡¯t realize it at the time but now it is obvious as my worry goes through the roof when the attempt on her life is mentioned. Owel finishes his explanation about what has transpired and I am relieved when I hear that Calla didn¡¯t even sustain any injuries. The general informs me of the corrective actions that has been made so far: ¡°We already have people looking for Mr. Owel¡¯s family. We have sent a picture of Calla to the local authorities and gave them an explanation that she escaped our medical quarters and that she suffers from PTSD. Lies of course, but we don¡¯t want them to know about her past. We told them that she has some training and if found, they should report it to us and to not take any action to secure her, as we don¡¯t want the Frances finest to get hurt.¡± Well that was a good choice of action. He couldn¡¯t just say that the assassin we were trying to train as an operative escaped after an attempt on her life. They would try to forcefully apprehend her and that wouldn¡¯t end well. ¡°And now you are up to speed. Do either of you know where she might be heading?¡± The general says. ¡°No sir¡± I answer as I really have no idea where she would go other than the J.A.T.F. base, and that isn¡¯t going to happen. ¡°Sir, she asked questions about the kidnappers and my instructions. I think she is going to go after them.¡± Owel says. That is all well and good but we don¡¯t even know who they are. Safe bet would be someone from her past or someone who saw her potential and didn¡¯t want her in the J.A.T.F. *knock knock* ¡°Enter¡± general Raven says. A man in a suit enters the room and I recognize him. He is the doctor who did the psych evaluation on Calla. ¡°Sir, I just came from the medical quarters. It seems that three of the candidates are dead, and two are severely injured but nothing fatal.¡± Dr. Lenz says It seems the doctor knew a little about the situation but not much as general Raven briefly explains it to him. ¡°Do you have any idea what she would do in a situation like this?¡± The general asks. ¡°If it were a normal girl who came under an attack she would find the police or go to a place familiar to her or somewhere she would feel safe, a church for example. But alas, she isn¡¯t a normal girl. If I have to guess based on the information I have about her I think she would firstly find a way to arm herself and hide. Or rather than hiding she would find a place where to plan her next move and rest.¡± The doctor says. ¡°She is armed. She took the live ammo I had.¡± Owel grudgingly says. I cannot help but to worry. She has no idea how to act with the normal populace and that is probably where she would go to hiding. I want to say something useful but nothing comes to mind. I¡¯m worried for her safety when I should be worried about the safety of those around her. She could perceive a simple gesture as an act of aggression. She has never been to a big urban area and the amount of people in the base already made her uncomfortable. I hope she is not heading for Paris. ¡°I thought as much. Brian. Take a team of analysts and start combing through the surveillance cams at Paris for any sign of her. Also monitor the police radios if they happen to find her. Major, you can participate in the search but Brian is in charge. Leave your emotions out of it. Our primary concern is the safety of the civilians, but I don¡¯t think she poses a threat to them. Dr. Lenz, call the hospitals if something out of the ordinary comes to their attention. That is all, dismissed.¡± The general issues our orders. The safety of the civilians, huh. Well it¡¯s only natural for the J.A.T.F. ¡°And also major, Calla said she is sorry¡± Owel tells me. I rise from my seat and follow Brian as we start heading towards the situation room. She is sorry. She shouldn¡¯t be. From the way I see this, she is the victim, yet again. I really hope she isn¡¯t headed for Paris¡­
Paris Pov Calla Fuck, it hurts my ears. The noise. The sun has barely risen and there are already so much people on the streets. The cars are buzzing about and honking away, and every time they do I have to cover my ears. Everywhere, even from the houses I can hear people walking, talking, arguing and yelling. I can hear several cries of babies but can¡¯t say from which direction they come from. The different music and radio shows the car drivers are listening is becoming a one loud mess in my ears. I can barely walk straight as the noises haunt me. And the visual distractions. Every time a traffic light changes I flinch at the direction. Every time a new car comes around the corner I automatically and involuntarily check its model and license plate. I cannot take this. All I want to do now is to hug my knees and scream but my better judgement doesn¡¯t let me do that. I am still far-off the center of the city and I¡¯m already in this much trouble. I spot a narrow alley couple of steps ahead of me and head there, supporting my walking by keeping my hand to the wall. I get to the alley but the noise is still too loud and I head deeper to the narrow back alleys. Finally a breather. I am not sure how long I walked but the noise is manageable now. I stop in the dirty alley and lean against the wall, steadying my breath. I still hear conversations taking place inside the houses but that is something I can take. The street noises were the worst of it. I look around. The alley is narrow, so much so that three persons could barely walk side by side. The houses surrounding me is brick walled six or seven storied apartment buildings from the looks of it. Now that I can think clearly I remember what I had to do. I need money and ID. My trainers once mentioned that in the major cities there is usually a go bag of their organization hidden. In the bag there would be money, a gun, ID¡¯s for different ages, names, genders and nationalities with the picture left blank. And a phone that has two numbers. One of them would be some guy from Al-Aman. My trainer told me that if I¡¯m ever separated from them I should use that number. He didn¡¯t tell me whose the other number is. If I remember correctly it should be in the train- or metro station that have customer lockers and that is nearest the tallest building in the city. I really hope that it is there. But to get there without any problems I need money for a cab. As I¡¯m thinking about this I hear some voices from further down the alley. ¡°Shut up and give it to me! You chose the wrong way to take a shortcut.¡±Is heard in French with some snickering. I walk around the corner and keep going. The narrow alley widens a bit, now a single car could drive through it. ¡°Okay, okay. Just don¡¯t hurt us.¡±A woman¡¯s voice sounds. They are behind the next corner. I am not sure what is going on but it sounds like someone wants something from someone. And that someone doesn¡¯t want to get hurt. I take a peek behind the corner and see a couple dressed in lavish clothing. And opposite of them is two men in ragged clothing and the other one is holding a small knife. Are they threatened? Is this a mugging? A threat of violence with the intent to rob. Probably. Why isn¡¯t he defending himself? It¡¯s only a small knife with a man that looks malnourished. I step from behind the corner and walk towards them. When the assailants notice me they glance at each other and letting out a devilish smile, showing their yellow teeth. ¡°Now what do we have here? A little girl has come to play?¡±He says in French. Now I¡¯m glad that I was taught the different languages by my trainers. I don¡¯t answer them and just keep walking towards them. I¡¯m sure they wouldn¡¯t look so confident if I hadn¡¯t thrown my holster away and hidden the weapon to my lower back, under my belt with the knife. ¡°Run away! Leave!¡±The well-dressed woman yells to me but I ignore it. Instead I look at the thick wallet that one of the thugs has in his hand.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°You ain¡¯t going nowhere kid¡±The one holding the knife says. What an idiot. Double negative means I am going somewhere. I guess I¡¯m better versed in French than the two Frenchmen in front of me. He takes a step closer to me, coming to a stop where he could reach me with his knife while the one holding the wallet circles to my left. Before they have a chance to do anything I do a rapid wristlock to the knife man so fast that he hasn¡¯t got the time to adjust and I break the bones on his wrist. The knife drops to the ground and the other assailant takes a step back in fright. Before he can do anything stupid I kick the ankle of the man whose wrist I just broke, taking him of balance and tripping him, while simultaneously I take my weapon from by back aiming to the other man. He looks stupefied as he raises his arms towards the sky. The couple looks at me with round eyes, or rather they look at my gun. Nobody moves or speak for a few seconds before I break the silence. ¡°Give.¡±I say in French while pointing the wallet with my left hand. He obediently hands it over. I take a few steps back and point at his friend. ¡°Leave before I break something important.¡± He looks me for a second before going to his friend and helping him up. ¡°Wait.¡±I say. I still look too suspicious even without the gun as I¡¯m wearing the Omega training clothes. The man who had the wallet is wearing a thin black parka jacket, that doesn¡¯t look too worn out. I want it. ¡°Give me you jacket¡± He looks stupefied for a moment and then unwillingly hands his jacket to me. I watch as they walk around the corner before putting the jacket on. It¡¯s too big but it will do for now. I put my gun to the big pocket on the right side of the jacket and take all the cash from the wallet before throwing it to the ground. The well-dressed couple just realized that they weren¡¯t saved. ¡°Now you are going to rob me?! Where are your parents?¡±The man says. ¡°No idea. And I didn¡¯t rob you. I robbed the guys who robbed you. There¡¯s a difference.¡±I say and throw the wallet to the man. I don¡¯t need his cards. Only the cash. I turn around to walk towards the street noises while hearing some very colorful use of the French tongue behind me. Is that the origin of the expression ¡®pardon my French¡¯? I wonder. Now I have money for the cab, but as I¡¯m nearing the street I remember something crucial. The noise. How can I hail a cab for me in the noisy street? I remember when my trainers told me about the world in order for me to be able to blend in they mentioned cabs or taxies then. You can hail them at the street, and they¡¯ll take you to where you need to go if you pay them. But I still need to get to the street. Then I have an idea. I take the rubber bullets that were left in my pants pocket. From two of them I take of the metallic cartridge, leaving only the rubber parts to my hands. I stuff them to my ears and the noise pollution drops to a quieter level. I¡¯m a fricking genius. I cannot help but to smile a smile of victory against the streets. I walk to the ¡®not so noisy street anymore¡¯ and start walking by it. I want to disappear to the masses of people before the well-dressed couple comes out of the alley. The streets are a lot cleaner than the alleys I just came from. The six storied buildings are replaced with few stories higher as I walk towards the Eiffel Tower that is seen behind the tall buildings. I look at the different display windows to my left as I keep going, and surveying the different cars that come and go. Then I see it. A white car with a taxi sign on the roof. I raise my hand and it stops next to me. I go into the backseat and ask the driver: ¡°Is there a metro or train station with customer lockers near the Eiffel Tower?¡± He looks at me questionably for a second and I just smile back at him and then he answers that there is a metro station but he isn¡¯t sure if there is lockers in it. ¡°Take me there¡±I say. If that isn¡¯t the place I just have to find another taxi and try again. The couple had a lot of cash on them so money shouldn¡¯t be issue for a day or two. I board the back seat and we start moving. I¡¯m looking at the driver, or more precisely his actions, as I was never taught to drive and it interests me. At some point our cab enters a big circle for cars to drive around it. I don¡¯t understand why there would be something so pointless in the middle of the city. At the center of the circle is a big ass door made of white greyish stone. It looks pretty and majestic with the carvings and decorations but still, what is its point. A big ass door that nobody needs built in the middle of the car circle. Probably designed by some megalomaniac. After the car drive which I spent looking from the window, getting used to all the different sounds and sights I step out of the cab after handing some bills to the driver. I guess the amount was appropriate as he smiles and drives of. I enter the underground metro station. The air is a bit cooler down here. The voices doesn¡¯t ease much because the echoes but I am not bothered by much. I walk by the tracks where people are waiting for their train. And then it comes. *SCREEEEEECH* Sounds as the train starts slowing down. I almost lose my balance as I cover my ears and lean against the wall. Damn, this place is louder than the streets. I keep walking while covering my ears and slipping through the masses of people. There are so many of them. How on earth can we all be in this small place at the same time? How is there enough air for everybody? If I remember right, there should be over two million people in Paris but I never thought about the number until now. And there are even cities with greater population in existence? How can they all fit in? I spot a wall filled with red and blue lockers. I walk by them surveying each of them. Then I see it. A locker where somebody had drawn two x¡¯s interlapping. That should be it. I type the key code I was made to memorize. 186458 With a click it opens. Before I take the black shoulder bag made of cloth from inside I check that there isn¡¯t anything that alarms anybody that the locker has been opened and there isn¡¯t. I take the bag and head for the bathrooms. I walk the tunnels to where I came from as I remember that there were doors where there read WC. I have three doors in front of me now. By my powers of deduction I reason that the one with the picture of a person wearing a dress is for girls, the on with pants is for boys and the last on is for¡­ No idea. People who sits on something? I¡¯ll just go to the one with the skirt. In my bathroom stall I check the context of the bag. There is a lot of cash, both Euro¡¯s and American dollars. There is multiple ID¡¯s and a pistol with a few clips. There is also a phone that is turned off. I think a phone can still be tracked if turned off so I take the battery out of it, with its sim-card. I check the bag itself to see that there aren¡¯t any tracking devices in it. I put everything in the bag like it was and start heading out from the station. Next I need a picture for the ID, and a sea route to America, as the safehouse I¡¯m headed for is in Washingtonand I couldn¡¯t hope to smuggle my pistol through airport security. Also I want a bigger gun. I already have a good idea how to obtain one. It¡¯s simple really. There is the two numbers in the phone. I call the one that I was instructed not to use. I say I¡¯m Seven and leave it on a bench somewhere. Then I wait for the bad guys to show up, take their gun if they have a big one and see if I can track them back to where ever they came from. A great plan, if I do say so myself. Maybe if that plan pans out I don¡¯t even need to visit the safehouse. Well that is a matter for another time. Time to hail a cab, and ask where I can have my picture taken.
Pov Linda ¡°What!?¡± I yell at Brian. He just informed me that a girl fitting Calla¡¯s description robbed a very influential couple in the streets of Paris. ¡°This cannot be happening¡± I mutter to myself. She has already committed a crime just hours after she left. ¡°We aren¡¯t even sure it was her. Besides, how else she could get money when she knows next to nothing how the real world operates beside from her factoids.¡± He tries to calm me down. I snatch the report from his hand and read it to him out loud: ¡°¡­ then the assailants were stopped by a blond girl in black trousers and tank top. The girl broke the arm of one of the men before holding the other at gun point. She took the wallet of the victim and the jacket of the other assailant before disappearing in the streets¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Well? That sounds like her to me.¡± I ask him. Brian has a point though. She needs money if she wants to be able to move around but she will need a lot more than that. And now the French police are asking awkward questions that we do not want to answer. Like why is she armed. Or what is her name. ¡°We just caught a hit on the facial recognition software! Look. This was taken ten minutes ago from a metro station near the tower.¡± An analyst comes to us waving a security camera picture. There is clearly Calla. ¡°What is that bag with her? And I like the jacket.¡± Brian says as I glance at him disapproving. Though, the jacket looks good, even if it¡¯s few sizes too large. ¡°No idea. Let¡¯s get the ground teams to survey the area. Also inform the police about it. Tell them not to engage or to try and take her in to custody if found.¡± I say and Brian nods. He clearly didn¡¯t like that I said that like I was giving orders when he is the one in charge but he has realized that Calla is important to me. ¡°I will go too. Inform me if you find anything. I just cannot sit here and do nothing.¡± I inform Brian and head out of the situation room before he has a chance to complain.
Pov Calla I¡¯m once again at the backseat of a cab. Before I got in, I spotted a small shop that sells electronics. I bought my self a small pad for when I want to use the tracking program for the tracker I took from the cabin. I also bought five cheap phones with prepaid cards. I copied the two numbers to one of the phones from the phone I got from the go bag and threw it away. Now, instead of being glued to the window I¡¯m checking if the clips from the go back fit in to my gun from the Omega. That is the gun I want to use as I have a suppressor for it. They don¡¯t fit but the bullets are the same so I empty the clips to a small pocket inside my shoulder bag and decide to toss the second gun when I have the chance. The driver frighteningly glances at me from the back mirror. What the fuck is his problem? The car comes to a stop and the driver points at the store next to us. In the windows there are different kinds of photographs from different people in different frames. I say my thanks as I toss a bill to the driver. I think that ought to be enough. I guess it was as the driver speeds away immediately when I get out of the car. I didn¡¯t even get to close the door. Perhaps it was too much and he hurried away before I change my mind? I enter the shop and a lady in twenties welcomes me. ¡°I need a picture for my ID¡±I say to her. ¡°All right. I don¡¯t have any other customers now so you can get it immediately¡±She answers. I sit on the chair in front of a white large paper wall. She goes behind the camera and says to me that I shouldn¡¯t smile when a picture for ID is taken. Was I smiling? I didn¡¯t notice. Perhaps she just informed me. I look at the camera and concentrate on not smiling. With a click and a flash of light the picture is taken. She informs me that she will print the picture now, and goes to her computer. A half minute later she is giving me two copies of the pictures with shaking hands. I thank her and give her the money I owe. I look at the picture when I leave the shop. It turned out okay. I start walking the street as I don¡¯t see any cabs near me. Just when I¡¯m turning the corner I see J.A.T.F. cars rushing to the street and heading for the shop I was just in. How did they find me? Surveillance cameras of course. How stupid of me. All my missions from before were in a war ravaged countries but this is a modern city with modern technologies. Of course they have some software to go through the surveillance feed and to find me. I have to postpone my brilliant plan to acquire a bigger gun. It¡¯s too risky to do it in Paris. I¡¯ll do it in Washington. It¡¯s better that way. Less risky and less to smuggle to USA. I need to go to the sea now and find a ship headed for the states. I doubt the cabs would take me that far but there is another means of transportation. It¡¯s like a cab but bigger and it goes by premeditated routes. The bus. As I gain distance to the shop I keep looking at the different display windows that are on either side of the street. There are clothes and jewelry displayed with many other things but I couldn¡¯t care less about those. I¡¯m looking at the reflections on the windows and try and spot if there is anybody following me. I see no one and then I spot a cab that turned my way. I raise my hand and waive to the driver. It stops and I ask the driver to go to the bus station. We drive the way I just came from and I can see that Linda has entered the shop. I fight the urge to yell out to her. I cannot go and talk to her now. I have to wait and in the future when I have resolved my matters I can see her again.
Some minutes earlier Pov Linda I¡¯m in front of the stations underground access. Our teams are searching it but with no luck. Then I get a call from Brian. ¡°Hello¡± I answer. ¡°Linda. A taxi driver just called the emergency services. He said that there was a girl he gave a ride that fits the description of Calla. He also said that the girl was comparing two pistols on his back seat while counting her bullets. I think it¡¯s a safe bet that she is Calla.¡± Brian says through the phone, clearly amused. ¡°¡­¡± I don¡¯t reply right away as I digest what I just heard. She really is oblivious when it comes to civilians. Did the thought even cross her mind that they might be wary of people with weapons other than authorities? ¡°Where did she go?¡± I ask, realizing that the situation is time sensitive and I have no time to think about her habits. ¡°She asked where she can have her pictures taken and the driver took her to¡­¡± He tells me the address and I jump to the car that was next to me. I tell the address to the sergeant driving the car and we rush through the streets, not caring for the speed limits. After a short drive we stop in front of the shop. I go straight in and ask if there was a girl in here with black parka and blond hair. ¡°There was. She have her photo taken for ID¡± She answers to me with broken English. I tell the others that followed us to search the streets near this place, and I call Brian and tell him to check if there are any security cameras in the area that got a glimpse of her. The shop owner prints something and hands it to me. I look at what is. ¡°¡­pfft hah hahahh¡± I cannot help but to laugh at the picture. She looks like the camera is the gun at her execution and it¡¯s going to be fired any moment now. Or it is a target, and she is ready to ¡®terminate¡¯ it, as she would put it. I take the picture and make sure the others who are with me in the shop aren¡¯t looking when I place it in my wallet. Few days ago I thought that I¡¯d like to have a photo of her and now I got it. Though I wish she was smiling. As I have gotten no word from the men searching her I can safely assume that she has already left the area. I decide to go back to the HQ. She will survive. And when she is ready, I think she will make contact with me. I hope that. Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Pov Calla I tell the driver to stop just before the bus station. If the J.A.T.F. is trying to catch me I should probably do something about my clothes. Before stepping out of the cab, I look around the street to see where the security cameras are and where are they pointed. There are few of them but if I walk right, they won¡¯t see my face at least. That way whatever recognition software they are using won¡¯t alarm them of my presence. They might recognize my clothes but they¡¯d have to look at the feed personally to do that. I throw a yellow bill to the driver and leave the cab. I head straight forward to a clothing store in front of me. There are different kinds of clothes for girls on its windows and I eye them, trying to see if there is anything nice. Entering the shop, the shop assistant spot¡¯s me but looks sour. She checks me from head to toes, and turns around. How rude. I was under the impression that they needed to help the customers. Well no matter. I check the shop. It is fairly big shop with four counters for paying. There was one camera on top of the door but I slipped past it by looking down. There are more cameras but most of them are pointed towards the counters. That¡¯s good for me. I start walking between the different racks of clothes, trying to find something that catches my fancy. I pick some normal black walking shoes made of leather. I try to find pants that wouldn¡¯t restrict my movement too much and I find them in the sporting section. Similar to my current pants, they are black, semi loose pants. Except now the cloth isn¡¯t the same but more softer and elastic. But I decide against them as they are too similar. I take the pair next to the one I was looking. They are dark grey semi loose pants of the same elastic cloth, but they are shorter. They end halfway from my knees to my ankles. The sign above the rack says they are something called capris. I decide to keep the black tank top on me, as I head for the jackets. I like the parka I¡¯m wearing now and I¡¯m used to wear that kind of jackets from my time in the forest. I choose a light beige parka that is more stylish than the one I¡¯m wearing now. It has something called jersey lining whatever that is. Maybe it¡¯s a good thing. Though one of my trainers used to say that nothing good comes out of new jersey¡­ I wonder if the two things are related? I spot a grey shoulder bag and grab it too. Now I want a hat. And sunglasses. Then my perfect escape is ready be realized. I spot what I¡¯m looking for. I take the black hat from the rack and try it on. It says on the sign that it¡¯s boy cap for women. How illogical. I survey the other customers for a few seconds so I know what to do. I don¡¯t want any unnecessary attention now. Confident enough I head for the counters. I¡¯m carrying the clothes on my hands expect for the cap which I¡¯m wearing. I drop the items on the counter and pluck the paper thingy from the cap so the clerk can beep it. I have tucked my hair under the cap and I tilt my head so that the small visor prevents the cameras to see my face clearly. I take sunglasses from the rack next to the counter, rip the paper thingy off of them and put them on. I hand the paper thingy to the counter. The clerk scans the papers from the clothes and takes some white plastic things off of them. ¡°That¡¯ll be 447,58€¡± The clerk says to me. I hand her the violet bill that says 500€ to which she looks surprised. She thanks me and starts rummaging with the cashier but I don¡¯t wait for her to finish as I head for the changing stalls and enter one of them. After changing my clothes I look at my mirror image. I have black leather walking shoes on and the dark grey semi loose capris. The light beige parka I¡¯m now wearing is long enough to cover half of my thighs. My old training shirt is seen under it but it blends in nicely. I¡¯m wearing the sunglasses from the counter which are black also, with totally round lenses. The ¡®boy cap for women¡¯ is on my head and it hides my hair under it. I take all my money, weapons, phones and ID¡¯s from the old bag and put them in to my new stylish grey shoulder bag. I leave all my old clothes in the stall and close the door so people think it¡¯s occupied and leave the store. That took a lot more time that it felt like. Almost two hours. Not bothered how much time it took I head for the bus station. Now that it is visible, I can see that there is a police car parked in front of it. Are they looking for me or is it just a regular patrol, I wonder. Deciding that my new clothes are enough to fool those who have not seen me I head there anyway. I don¡¯t think the J.A.T.F. has showed them my photo but only a description. And also now that I¡¯m wearing the cap that hides my hair and the glasses that hides my eyes I think I can fool them. Confidence is the key, is what my trainers told me about situations like this. I walk by the police car and head for the door. Once inside I can see multiple counters and I choose the one which is empty. Before I go there I check where the cameras are and figure out which way I need to tilt my head for them to miss my face. I will not make the same mistake I did in the photograph shop. I walk to the counter and greet the old lady behind it. ¡°When does the next bus for the sea leaves?¡± I ask. She looks confused but after some clarifying questions from her I got my ticket. I go outside from a different door this time. There is multiple people waiting for their busses here, and I head for the group of people that are boarding one of the many busses. There reads 44A on the bus, so that should be it. While waiting in line I can see police officer walking around, surveying the people. I guess they are looking for me. One of the officers walks right by me, but he only spares a glance for me before continuing. I am the master of disguise. Feeling good about myself I board the bus and take an empty seat by the window where the emergency exit is. Now all I have to do is wait.
Pov Linda I¡¯m back to the J.A.T.F. HQ. As I sit in my office I ponder about Calla¡¯s situation. It¡¯s been hours since the last sign of Calla came to our attention from the taxi driver. I think she has already left Paris but to where, I wonder. It¡¯s a big world and she knows little about it so where she could be headed. Maybe she has some information to go by from her time with the Al-Aman. I just hope that if she ever needs help she would call me. *knock knock* ¡°Come in¡± Brian enters my office with a sullen face. I guess he didn¡¯t have much luck after I came here. ¡°There are no signs of her.¡± He says. ¡°I think she¡¯ll be fine without us.¡± I say. I can¡¯t know that for sure but it is what I believe. I stealthily sneak a peak of her photo that is in my wallet. I¡¯d still like to find her, but now that I have had time to think I can understand her reasoning. Doesn¡¯t stop me worrying though. ¡°Do you think Dr. Lenz was right? That she would go into hiding?¡± I ask him. ¡°Partly. I believe she would be trained to these kinds of situations and even if she doesn¡¯t realize it, she would stick to her training.¡± He says. Trained for something like this, hmm.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°So she got off the grid and she will start counter surveillance?¡± I confirm if he thinks the same way. ¡°Yep. She is the kind of girl who thinks attack is the best defense.¡± Heh, I guess she is. ¡°I think we lost our chance to find her for now. She is trained to blend in even if she sucks at it at the moment. If she has left Paris we can only wait for her to do something that puts her in our radar. And I¡¯m certain she will do something at some point.¡± I voice my thoughts. ¡°I think the same way. The other way of finding her would be to go after the same people she is going after.¡± I think about what Brian said but we aren¡¯t even sure who they are. ¡°I know what you are thinking, but remember that neither does Calla. I think she presumes that the people after her have something to do with Al-Aman.¡± Brian says. ¡°Well yeah, that¡¯s what I think also but we don¡¯t have anything to go by.¡± I say ¡°That is not necessarily true. Remember when the group of people tried to get to the VAULT?¡± He asks me. ¡°I do. Calla played a big part in that incident. But you think they were after information about her?¡± I say. There is a lot of vital information in the VAULT and we cannot be sure they were after. The survivors didn¡¯t talk much in interrogation. ¡°It¡¯s a theory. If they were after the cover identities of our operators or something other they would have needed some kind of memory storage but they didn¡¯t have any. That suggests they were after some small information that they could remember without any external memory.¡± I ponder about what he says. It¡¯s reaching, but there is some logic to his theory. ¡°I guess it¡¯s worth to investigate it a bit deeper. But how, the interrogations hasn¡¯t yielded any results.¡± ¡°I have few ideas¡­¡± Brian smilingly says. I didn¡¯t expect for him to work so hard on finding Calla. Maybe he¡¯s doing this for me, but for whatever reason, I am grateful for him. I stand up and start following Brian as we head out of my office.
Pov Calla I¡¯ve been on the bus for hours now. The bus is filled with people but it isn¡¯t that uncomfortable. The smell is bad though. The day has turned into night. I watch from the window as the yellowish street lights flashes by. It was an eventful day to say the least. It was my first decision to join the J.A.T.F. and now it¡¯s my decision to leave it. I didn¡¯t want to do that but I felt like I had no choice in the matter. It¡¯s better this way. ¡°Something troubling you young lady?¡± The old woman that took the seat next to me asks. ¡°Just a bit nervous¡± I answer while turning my face to look at her. ¡°First time traveling alone?¡± ¡°Not exactly¡­¡± I say, while thinking about the times when I was stuffed in to shipping containers when sent to a mission. ¡°I¡¯m going to go and visit my son. He barely ever calls me now days. You keep in mind that your parents worry. Be sure to call them every now and then¡± She informs me. Is this the legendary ¡®small talk¡¯ that people do in elevators and public transports? I have no parents to call but Linda comes to my mind again. ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to do that¡± When I figure out a way to call her without being traced. ¡°Good, good. It took me weeks to get a place for my dog so I could be away from home for a few days.¡± I¡¯m a bit tired but I think it is rude to sleep now that she is trying to make conversation. ¡°I had a dog once¡± I say to her, as I remember the puppy my trainer brought me one day. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s nice. What was his name¡± ¡°A Dog¡± ¡°¡­¡± She goes silent. I never really thought about names back then and it was the only dog around so I just called him that. ¡°You don¡¯t have it anymore?¡± She tries to continue the conversation. ¡°I shot it¡± I simply say. That¡¯s actually a bit of a sore spot for me. ¡°¡­¡± After a moment of silence she speaks again: ¡°Why?¡± And that¡¯s the question. Why I did anything in those days. The reason behind my every action at those times was the orders of my trainers. ¡°I was told to do so¡± I say. I still remember it fairly well. Something about to lose affection, and not to get attached to anybody or anything. And that is what I did, until I met Linda that is. ¡°I¡¯ll think I¡¯ll get some sleep¡± I say to her before she can ask any more questions that are hard to answer. ¡­ I wake up. It¡¯s early morning, and the sun is about to rise. I think we are closing the sea as I can smell the salt in the air. I¡¯m a bit surprised that I got any sleep in a bus filled with people. Every time there was a noise louder than the background noise I woke up. When someone coughed, when we hit a bump in the road, when another car honked. ¡°Where are we?¡± I ask the old woman who apparently is awake. ¡°Ten or so kilometers from the port city of La Rochelle.¡± She says. That is good. I look out of the window and I see large fields of grass to our left with old looking stone houses and farms. I¡¯m pretty sure that I see an old church also. It has a grey brick walls and a steep, pointed roof adorned by a cross of Christianity. To the right, the side I¡¯m sitting on is a forest. There is light morning dew covering the trees, and it seems very peaceful. I miss my forest town. Before I return to J.A.T.F. if I return, I¡¯m going to visit it. There isn¡¯t much left of it after the airstrike but still I want to visit. Few minutes later the bus comes to a stop in the local bus station and all the passengers get off. I walk a few meters away from the bus and do some light stretching. I can feel how the tension is released on my extremities. I yawn as I look around. The streets are not so filled with people as Paris. There is a train station on the other side of the street which has a clock tower. It is 0714 in the morning. To my side of the street there are a lot of parking space and few six storey buildings with white walls. At the ground level of those building are some shops and a restaurant. The restaurant looks good right about now, as the last meal I had was three squirrels, and that was two days ago. I survey the restaurant from the street to see how I¡¯m supposed to act in there. I see a couple that just got there are talking to a waiter. The waiter apologies that all the tables next to the windows are reserved. That¡¯s when the man slips a bill to the waiter and magically one of the reservations is no longer, as he shows the couple to their seats and gives them menus. Impressed by the act, I¡¯ll be sure to remember that. The bribe works it seems. People like money. That is good to know. I walk to the restaurant and ask a table for one. The waiter shows me to my table and hands me a menu. I quickly choose something with meat and water to drink as the waiter takes my order. I eat with relish as my hunger is subdued. After the meal I leave a green bill on the table and leave. The food reminded me that I need food for the ship also. I intent to sneak in to one of the cargo ships as the J.A.T.F. is surely monitoring those who leave the country. I spot a store down the road and head there. From the store I buy food enough to fill my shoulder bag and a stick of glue that I can attach my photo to one of the ID¡¯s. I also buy water bottles and a backbag so I could carry more. Before leaving the store I spot real earplugs and take them also. There is something morbid to keep bullets in my ears, even if they are rubber bullets. I leave the store and start looking for a cab. I remove the rubber bullets from my ear and drop them on the street. I notice that this place is not nearly as loud as Paris so I don¡¯t put the earplugs on. I hope to grow accustomed to the noise a little better before I get to Washington. I see a cab and start waving my arms to it. ¡°Where does the cargo ships leave?¡± I ask. He looks a little suspicious of me. Is it because I¡¯m young and asking that? I throw an orange bill to him and that works fine. Bribery is handy if that counts as one. The cab took me to a docking area filled with shipping containers. There are trucks and forklifts driving around. I watch the area from outside the fence, wondering how to get in and to which ship I should go. I see a small office building, the size of a room near the gate and walk towards it. Once inside, there is a small desk filled with papers and a computer with a man behind it. ¡°Is there any ships headed for Washington?¡± I ask, smiling to the man while slipping a grey bill to him. ¡°¡­¡± He looks at the bill and then me. ¡°pffftt hahaha. Little girl. You think I¡¯ll commit a felony for five euros?¡± He answers me. It was too little? I raise my shoulder bag to the desk and start digging through the food to get to the money. It¡¯s too full so I take some of the food out with my second pistol and put them on the desk. Then I see the bill I was going for. It¡¯s the violet one. I take it and hand it to the man who¡¯s getting a cold sweat. I guess he hasn¡¯t seen this much money ever as he seems so nervous. I decide to be generous and give the poor man two of them before I pack my stuff to the bag again. ¡°The red one is headed there. B 452. It leaves in few hours. But you know, they won''t take passangers.¡± He says. Bribery is the best. I thank the man as I head out. I never intented to be a real passanger but a stowaway. I still need to get through the fence so I walk alongside it for a few moments before climbing over it. At the top of the fence there is barbed wire but with an agile bounce I fling myself over it, without ever touching the barbs. I move in between the high stacks of containers to look for the ship. I see it being loaded by the dock. A truck drives pass me towards the ship. The trucks speed isn¡¯t that much so I jump on the back of it, gaining a ride. It stops in front of the ship I¡¯m aiming for and the driver steps out and goes to talk with a crane operator. I take the chance and climb on the container that has been brought near the ship just as another crane is starting to lift it. At its zenith I take the chance to admire the ocean and the vast horizon that opens up before me. The container is lowered on to the ship and I decide to slip to the narrow corridors of the ship before someone spots me. I¡¯m headed to the below decks. My plan is to find some small space near the engines to hide for the length of the journey. I could¡¯ve broken into one of the containers but that leaves the chance of getting locked inside of it. There isn¡¯t anybody expecting me in my destination so I rather avoid that possibility. Just as I¡¯m about to turn a corner I hear steps from behind it. I take a few steps back and hide in a small closet. I listen as the footsteps go farther and farther before getting out. The corridors are so narrow that it would be hard to walk side by side with someone. I carefully move ahead, jumping behind corners when I hear steps. I find a straircase and head down. Near the engine room the air is a lot hotter but I don¡¯t let it bother me. I find a small room, used for storage of the smaller spare parts and tools of the engine. I take off my jacket and start my waiting. I¡¯ll probably have to change locations sometimes during the journey but I don¡¯t let it bother me. The engines are already running and now the ship is starting to leave the port. I put my newly bought earplugs on as the engine¡¯s sounds are growing stronger. Now I¡¯ll just have to wait. It should take about ten days to reach the states. Chapter 14 Chapter 14 Pov Calla As I have waited for a few hours for the ships departure I notice something worrisome. To make sure I heard right, I have been hugging the wall for the last thirty seconds and I can now confirm what I heard. Listening to the footsteps and short conversations I hear, I can ascertain that they are systematically checking the ship. Every hiding place, ventilation shaft and container is being checked. I remember they did that also when I was traveling inside the containers but then it was easy to go unnoticed. Then I just had to remain quiet and wrap myself with a sheet that looked like folio. Back then I didn¡¯t realize that they checked the rest of the ship also. The footsteps are coming in closer so I decide to leave the room, as there wouldn¡¯t be places to hide here. I go to the empty, white metal walled corridor and go to the corner where the footsteps are coming from. I peek around it. Customs officers. Or so it says on their uniforms. Two coming this way but I can hear there are more on board. I run for the opposite direction of them and come to a different corridor, but identical to the one I was a moment ago. I hear footsteps from my right so I turn left. I peek at the rooms I walk by and try to find a good hiding place but I cannot see any. A staircase comes to my right and I go for it. I don¡¯t want to head any lower so I start going upwards. I hear people in the same stairs with me but I still have time. By the time I have gone up three floors, I start risking exposure so I leave the stairs. The floor to which I arrive has customs officers too, or so I think. I hear people¡¯s steps echoing in the corridors, and from what I gather, they too systematically check every nook and cranny on the floor. I run the corridor, trying to find a good place to hide but there isn¡¯t any. Some of the rooms has windows so I know I have come above the water line at least. If the windows would open I could try to hide outside the ship, hanging from the window but I don¡¯t see any handles to open them, and a broken window could seem suspicious. At some point, I¡¯ve been surrounded. How could I let that happen? I know about, and hear them when they are oblivious to my existence and yet I¡¯m now hearing footsteps from the front and behind. I should have just got to the cargo hold and find a place there but no, just run around the narrow corridors looking for your perfect hiding place¡­ Damn. I rush to the door on my left and get in. It¡¯s a bathroom. For the crew by the looks of it. There are five stalls and five showers, the stalls on the right and showers on the left. At the end of the room are five sinks. They¡¯ll be sure to check the stalls. There¡¯s nowhere to hide. I survey the room more accurately now and spot a ventilation shaft in the middle of the ceiling. That is my only chance. It isn¡¯t screwed to the ceiling so I jump and give it a little push. It rises a few centimeters before falling back to its place. Determined that I found my hiding place I jump again, push it a bit and take a hold of the ledge. I¡¯m hanging from the ceiling now and the footsteps are dangerously close in the corridor. I pull myself up and push the hatch in the shaft with my head. I pull myself to the shaft and in an awkward position I manage to put the hatch back to place just as the bathroom door opens. I hear as the men beneath me are checking the stalls one by one. I¡¯m crawling ahead as silently as I can in the very dusty and small vent. No grown man could hope to fit in here so I¡¯m not sure will they check it but to be on the safe side, I take distance from the hatch. I barely got behind the corner in the shaft when I hear the hatch being lifted. I look towards my feet and see that someone is pointing a flash light down the shaft. I hope they don¡¯t realize that the dust is cleaned to one way when the other way is as dusty as ever. The hatch closes and I hear the man saying it¡¯s clear, and finally I can give a breath of relief. I¡¯ll wait here until the ship takes of, and after that I¡¯m going to use the shower. I¡¯ll clean myself with my clothes. I doubt that the crew men come here just after the take off, and if they come, I¡¯ll make sure they¡¯ll slip and forget I was ever here. I cannot stand my new, fabulous clothes being this dirty, along with my hair and face. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ I¡¯m currently hiding in one of the lifeboats in the main deck. I heard the crew members talking yesterday that today we should arrive to Washington DC so I moved away from my hiding place, and made my way to the main deck. The journey went without any complications after the initial search. After I had cleansed myself, I moved back to my original hiding place in the lower decks. It took nine days and I didn¡¯t have to change my hiding place even once. There was this one time when a crew member came to get some tool but I was quick to react and hid behind some shelves. During the journey I attached my photo to one of the ID¡¯s and maintained my guns. There were plenty of oil to use in the room I was hiding. Also during that time I taught myself to use the tracker software that I took from Omega along with the trackers. I peek from my hiding place to get a look at the capital city of the United States. I¡¯m a bit disappointed. I thought there would be skyscrapers all over but there isn¡¯t. The most notable structures I can see are a rectangular tower like thingy with a sharp top, two big majestic looking buildings, one with three towers and the other one with one. Seems to be a clock tower. And then there is a dome roofed white structure.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. It¡¯s impressive but I expected more. Looking to where the ship is headed I can see a harbor which is full of shipping containers. It¡¯s not near the city itself but it shouldn¡¯t take long to reach there. I check my stuff once again that I didn¡¯t leave anything to my hiding place and it seems I didn¡¯t. Now I just have to wait for the final approach. ¡­ It¡¯s night time now even though we arrived during the evening. I had to wait sometime to leave the ship undetected. I¡¯m walking between the stacks of containers, trying to find my way outside of the harbor area. There are some security guards patrolling the area but they have no hope of detecting me. I can hear footsteps from behind me and a car approaching from the front. I¡¯m in the middle of the container stacks and have nowhere to hide so I start to climb. There are three containers stacked on top of each other but I make it in time. The car comes to a stop next to the two security guards that came from my behind. ¡°Where is the delivery?¡± The driver asks. One of the men points to a stack of boxes that was unloaded from a different ship I came on. The large pickup truck drives next to the boxes and the driver gets out of the car and starts loading the boxes in. I move closer to them on top of the containers and try to read the a4 sized papers that are stapled to the boxes. During my time in the forest I came to a suspicion about my senses and my time in the Omega confirmed it that they are abnormal. And the reason I think that is I¡¯m currently reading the paper from the distance of about nine meters. And that is one of the things I want to have an explanation when I confront the people I came here to look. I cannot read the smallest texts on the papers but I can read that they are to be delivered to the National Museum of Natural History. I wait for the men to finish their work and when the two security guards starts leaving, and as the driver is going for the driver seat I climb down from the stack and hide in the back of the truck. Just as I slipped to the back, the truck starts. As the truck begins to move I hide between two boxes. Now I have time to plan again. First things first, I will probably spend a month or two in DC so I need a place to stay. My brilliant plan how to acquire a bigger gun and the safehouse scheme can wait for a few days. And I probably should try and find the Al-Aman¡¯s go back from here too if there is one. I find it and change its location. I have no need for money yet as I still have plenty left and I have six clips of ammo. That means eighty-four bullets. That means I could kill small company¡¯s worth of soldiers if my aim holds true. I have pretty much nothing to do as I cannot even see from my hiding place so I open the pad I bought from Paris and start browsing the net. The internet came as a surprise in the ship. I knew what it was and I was thought about it in theory but never allowed to access it. In the ship I discovered that there was a wi-fi and using the small information about hacking I was taught, with trial and error I managed to get in. And there it was. The net. Though it only worked yesterday and the day after we left from La Rochelle. Filled with cats and other disgusting things there was the whole world on my fingertips. It was actually too much information. I shiver as I think about the time when I opened an unknown link and the picture that appeared about a man that was sprea¡­. Don¡¯t think about it. If I could erase that memory I would. All the blood and gore I have lived through, that will be the material of my worst nightmares. While searching google I find some possible places to stay. Though I have to pay something called the rent. I¡¯d rather find some abandoned place and make it my base. While going through my options I realize that I have been in the car for some time already so I decide to take a peek outside. We are already in the city, so I¡¯ll wait for a while and when the car slows down I jump of it, doing a battle roll on the street. That turned quite many heads but I pay it no mind as I leave the area. My jacket got a bit dirtied but I can clean it. But that reminds me I need another set of clothes along with this one. I don¡¯t want these to get all bloody and as my experience shows, I really am bad at killing people and staying clean at the same time. I spot a tall building with the sign of hotel and head there. When looking for places to stay, hotels were the ones that popped up at first. You pay for every night you spend there but it doesn¡¯t matter as it¡¯s only a couple of days. I rest for the remaining night there and start figuring out my housing situation tomorrow. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Ten days later. I ended up staying five days at the hotel when I found out about this awesome thing called room service. At some point, they wanted me to pay upfront but that wasn¡¯t a problem for me. I spent my time searching the net for a place to stay and eventually I found one. A cab took me there and I paid three months in advance to the owner, aka, landlord. The landlord is a twentysomething man named Theo. He has a bald head, pierced ears and nose. He has the number 88 tattooed to his arm and is always wearing jeans with chain and a sleeveless t-shirt. He didn¡¯t have any problem with my age and the fact that I paid with cash¡­ unlike the hotel. Fuckers. They threatened to call the police if I didn¡¯t tell them who I am and where I got the money. I showed them my ID to calm them down but that actually only worsened it. What does it matter if the passport is Swedish? They started asking about some green colored card and something called visa or visum or something and questions about my parents but I had no idea what they were talking about so I packed my shit and left. Theo didn¡¯t ask me anything except money. The area of where my apartment is located is a little shady but that¡¯s fine with me. For the other five days, I spent just wandering around the city, learning its streets and finding a good location for my foolproof plan. And I found one. I made preparation for it, secured few escape routes and scouted a few roofs. I still must decide on the details but that can wait for now. And I also cased the surroundings of the safehouse, looked for escape routes and good ambush and sniper positions. But to need a sniper position I need a sniper first. And that is where my plan comes in. I think I will execute it tomorrow I muse to myself while leaning against the wall of my apartment. My apartment is small, but big enough for me. When you come in there is the bathroom immediately to the left. After the bathroom door is the small kitchen to the left and on the right side is the living room with dimensions of 3m x 4m. By the side of the living room is an alcove for the bed. The floor is wooden and the walls are plain concrete. There isn¡¯t anything hanging from them and there are no other decorations to be seen. It¡¯s nothing much compared to the hotel room I had, but compared to the ship, this is luxury. There were already a bed, a table with chairs and two armchairs when I moved in. I¡¯m now cleaning my pistol and thinking about tomorrow. The big gun I¡¯ve been wanting is the sniper but other weaponry would be welcome too if I find a way to get some. Something that goes boom would be nice¡­ Well I¡¯m sure an opportunity will present itself if I¡¯m patient enough.
La Rochelle Pov Dan I should have never told my wife about it. Now she is nagging nonstop about it. She is always nagging about something:¡¯ Do that Dan, fix this Dan¡­¡¯ but now she wants me to go to the police! I took a bribe and she wants me to go to the police. Women¡­ I told her about the girl with a gun that gave me a grand for information about the ship routes. And that is a felony. ¡°God dammit Elise! If I go to the police I get arrested. Don¡¯t you understand it was a crime to tell her about the routes and accept the money!¡± ¡°Tell them that she threatened you or something. Don¡¯t you worry about the girl at all?? She could be in trouble!¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t look like she was in trouble. She was pretty carefree at the time!¡± ¡°DAN! Don¡¯t raise your voice to me!¡± Fucking cow. I should¡¯ve never married her. I should have realized it at the time that looks don¡¯t last forever but a personality might. ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll fucking go to the cops! Don¡¯t blame me if I¡¯m not home for dinner for a few years!¡± ¡®The only bright side of this thing is that if I go to prison I get rid of you¡¯ I¡¯d like to say but I¡¯m too much of a coward to voice the thought. If I was a brave man I would¡¯ve divorced the hag years ago¡­ Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Washington DC Pov Theo ¡°¡­And I finally got a tenant that ain¡¯t a negro or a junkie.¡± I finish telling what¡¯s going on with me to my buddies. ¡°Oh yeah, what¡¯s his like¡± Bob asks me. ¡°She. And dunno. Haven¡¯t talked much to the broad. Probably some runaway from a wealthy family seeing she paid three months ahead in cash and her clothes are pretty fancy¡± ¡°She hot?¡± Freddie asks. ¡°She¡¯s like fifteen or something dude.¡± I answer. But I know these motherfuckers don¡¯t care about age. They are identical twins and equally ugly and disgusting. I don¡¯t get why boss keeps them on our payroll. They are embarrassment to our race. ¡°That¡¯s just a number and I was never really good with those!¡± Freddie yells with a grin. That dude has never been good with anything other than his right hand. ¡°You think she got more money? Maybe we should tell the boss. We just spent ten grand to the weapon shipment and are running pretty low until we find a buyer for them¡± Bob says. He has a point. He has always been the smarter of the two when Freddie is the crueler one. ¡°No idea. I¡¯ll go through her stuff when she is out and see¡± I say. It¡¯s not an honorable way to make money to steel from your own race but in order for us to rise up, sacrifices must be made.
Pov Calla Could they not discuss that right next door, I wonder. The walls are already as thin as paper so I could hear them without all the yelling. And I didn¡¯t understand half what they said. What on earth is a negro? Dunno? Or a broad? Isn¡¯t that the same thing as wide? And am I hot? What is that supposed to mean? And what does my age has to do with my temperature? But the thing I did understand was the weapon shipment. Must be fate. Something that is inevitably predetermined. Well I don¡¯t believe in that nonsense but I don¡¯t believe in coincidences either. I was just thinking that I¡¯ll wait for an opportunity to present itself and now it did. Well, no point dwelling on it. I¡¯ll take what I can get. My respectable landlord Theo said that he will go through my stuff when I¡¯m away but I have other plans. My apartment is on the second floor so it is not hard to climb down from the window. I land on the dirty asphalt courtyard and see if there is anyone around. The apartment complex is U-shaped building with three floors. It¡¯s made of red bricks and by the looks of it, there isn¡¯t much variation about the apartment sizes. The courtyard is dirty, there are trash cans at the edge of it, by the road. They haven¡¯t been emptied in a while, evident in the trash bags that are thrown next to them as the cans are full. There are some people walking on the street and couple in the courtyard. They look sick. Some of them are smiling like idiots while others are shaking and scratching their arms. I hope whatever ails them isn¡¯t contagious. I see three motorcycles parked by the side of the door to the building. There are three doors to the building. Mine is on the right, if looked from the road. There is one opposite of the road and one opposite of my door, on the left side if looked from the road. The motorcycles are parked by my door, and I walk to them. Few days ago when coming back from the city I saw Theo and his friends leaving with the bikes so I know they belong to them. I place a tracker to each of them and head towards the wall where I climbed down. The brick wall is relatively easy to scale up as there is a gap between the bricks to offer a grip. I climb back to my apartment and open the pad. I confirm that the trackers are sending a signal, and I choose the option to record the routes. The range of the trackers is about 30 kilometers if one were to believe the information presented in the software so I hope it will be enough. I doubt they keep the weaponry in their apartment as it¡¯s anything but secure and they mentioned a boss so they probably have a hideout somewhere. Now that I have nothing to do, I take some cash and put it in my pocket and decide to hide the rest of the cash, ID¡¯s and three of the phones. I pull the bed out of the alcove, trying to do it silently. I make a cut with my knife to the bed¡¯s side, on the side that¡¯ll be against the wall and take some of the stuffing out. I put the items in the backbag which I bought before I crossed the sea and I put the backbag inside the bed. I push the bed back to its place. Pleased with the hiding place, I start applying oil to my knife and suppressor, now that my gun is good to go. I decide that I go buy some clothes today for tomorrow¡¯s operation. .... I yawn as I open my eyes. Today is the day. Operation ¡®Iwantasniperrifle¡¯ is a go. I have thought it over and over again, and decided that I just want the sniper for now. I will not try to track the people who shows up, I¡¯ll just rob then. Then with my brand new sniper I will stalk the safehouse like a wolf and then¡­ I haven¡¯t really decided that part yet but all in good time. I have other things to do now. I slept on the floor, but this time I used the blanket as a mattress, because the floor looked dirty. Maybe I should clean this place a little bit when I have the time. Last time I cleaned something was in the forest town. That was about two or three months days ago. Time sure flies. I slept in my underwear and the Omega training shirt. I put on the black college pants and the grey hoodie I bought yesterday. I bought a white t-shirt for my normal clothes so I leave the Omegas training shirt on. Now that I¡¯m dressed I walk to the fridge to grab a bite to eat. I open it and look what I have bought during my days here. Muffins, chocolate, a cake and some oranges. I take a muffin and an orange and start eating. Vitamins are important, hence the orange. I should really buy meat as it tastes sooo good but I wouldn¡¯t know how to prepare it without a campfire. After I¡¯m ready and have checked that my gun works properly and the magazine is full with three spares with me, I head out. I open the door as silently as I can and close it behind me. I hid my stuff but I still don¡¯t like the idea of Theo going in there when I¡¯m not there. I pluck a strand of hair from my head and place it to the doorway as I close the door. If someone opens the door, the hair will fall and I know someone has been inside. I doubt they would notice the hair when they enter. I walk to the street and start looking for a taxi, and when I find one I say the name of the park I have previously scouted for this purpose. It¡¯s a bit risky doing this in day time, but there will be more people for me to blend in, and the other guys won¡¯t be so inclined to start shooting. Sitting in the cab I ponder my options. Just now I decided that I won¡¯t try to track the ones who show up there so I think I¡¯ll do something else. They started the fight, so I¡¯m going to declare a war. Outside the cab the rundown neighborhood turns into well maintained streets and classy looking apartment buildings. The trash filled roadsides turns into flowerbeds and advertisement signs. The traffic increases the closer we get. ¡°45$ Miss.¡± the driver says. I still have plenty of money, both euros and dollars. I pay the man with a few bills and walk towards the park. I don¡¯t like US dollars as currency. All the bills are the same color. When I was surveying the city few days ago, I found the go bag of Al-Aman in the train station. I didn¡¯t take it with me but I chanced the locker it was in and changed the phone from there with a prepaid I bought here in the city. The numbers on the phone were the same as the ones I got from Paris so I tossed it.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I walk the esplanade in the park and enjoy the peacefulness around me. There are other people too but it¡¯s not nearly as crowded as the streets. The well-kept grass and flowerbeds reminds me of the J.A.T.F. headquarters and by extension, Linda. After I¡¯m done with this I¡¯ll give her a call. I have a plan how to avoid a trace but it needs some refining still. As I¡¯m walking towards the bench I decided on few days ago I spot something in the flowerbed. I walk over to it and pluck the flower I noticed. A smile surfaces on my face as I look at the flower I share a name with. That was one of the highpoints of my life, no doubt. It was the moment when I was the happiest. It was the moment when my second chance began. I place the flower behind my ear, still smiling, I walk to the bench and take a phone from my pocket. I select the number I was never supposed to call, and call it. *beep* *beep* *beep* ¡°Whiskey 2¡± A voice answers. ¡°Seven here. Fuck you¡± *beep beep beep* I hang up the phone. I drop the phone to a trash can next to the bench and turn around. This will also serve as a test can they track a phone that is on, but not calling. It will tell me little about their organization¡¯s resources. I start heading towards the buildings, according to my plan. ¡°Damn!¡± I accidently yell out loud. I forgot to choose for which roof top I should go. I have checked and prepared the possibilities but didn¡¯t choose. I have to do this quick and while walking. So, they know this is a trap so they will place snipers on the roofs. I know that, so I should go to a roof where I have a shot to the snipers roof. Close enough that I can make the shot with my pistol. Or I hide on the snipers roof and take the fight to close range. Yeah, that¡¯s better. But still, which roof. They know, that I know that they know this is a trap. Or do they? Will they plant snipers on a roof that has a direct shot to the other roof? And maybe they even know that I know, that they know that I know¡­ Am I over thinking it? Fuck it. I¡¯ll just go to the first roof as that has the best visibility to the phone and the best escape route I found. They have to place at least one man there. I¡¯ll go with that. Operation ¡®Ireallywantasniperrifle¡¯ is active now. Shit is about to get real. I enter the eight storey building and go to the elevator. The building is some kind of office building. I¡¯m in the elevator with a girl that looks to be just a few years older than me. She is dressed in a pant suit, probably some kind of secretary. We listen to the calming elevator music as I¡¯m screwing the suppressor to my gun. ¡°It¡¯s a good weather, isn¡¯t?¡± I open the traditional small talk. ¡°y-yeah¡± She answers with a meek voice. Is she shy or isn¡¯t the small talk culture part of America. I think she is just shy. She actually kind of cute. Cute? Huh. Is this what it means whether one is ugly or beautiful? I feel like I got some insight to the workings of regular people. I eye her figure as the elevator comes to a stop. ¡°we-well, this is m-me¡± She says. ¡°Have a good day¡± I say to her with my best smile. I really have gotten better with social interactions. The doors close and the elevator keeps going. I re-check once again my magazine and that I have a bullet in the chamber. The elevator comes to a stop on the eighth floor and I step out. I go to the maintenance door that I picked open two days ago. It seems nobody noticed it so I don¡¯t have to do it again. As I walk through the door, I rip the piece of tape that held the deadbolt in place so that the door locks after me. That way the ones who come to this roof don¡¯t know for sure is there somebody here. Though now I realize that I did the same thing to two other roofs. If men enter those, they will presume that I¡¯m on that roof. But that is a good thing, as then they would be wary of their own roof rather than to cover their friends. I get to the roof through another door that can be opened without a key from the inside. I glance towards the trashcan and I can see there is nobody there yet. I hide behind a ventilation shaft so that I still have vision to the park. Normal people would need binoculars or a scope to do this but I am fine without them. I look at the people in the park, trying to see if anyone has an earpiece, or isacting strange in some other way. Perhaps I overestimated myself as I cannot be sure if I see an earpiece or an earring. *click**screech* The door is slowly opened and I make sure I¡¯m not visible. The roof is as big as a basketball field. There are couple of ventilation shaft sticking out of it, and I¡¯m hiding behind one of them. I hear the steps of two men on the roof. The other is walking towards the edge and the other is checking the roof. The man who went to the edge speaks to his radio: ¡°Sierra 1 in place.¡± and from his earpiece I hear muffled sounds but I manage to comprehend what I heard. I heard that Sierra two and three was also in place. So, three snipers. Probably two men teams also. The other one checks the surrounding and becomes the spotter after that? That is how I would plan it. But they responded quickly to the call. I guess it makes sense that a secret organization has teams on standby in the capitol of United States. And their resources must be comparable to the federal agencies in the States at least, if not to the intelligence agencies, seeing how fast the phone was traced. The man with the radio lays to his stomach by the sound of it and places something on the roof. The rifle probably. The other man¡¯s steps are coming closer to my hiding place. I will need to do this quickly and without allowing them to fire. *step* Couple of meters away. *step* I ready my knife and pistol. *Step* I can see the barrel of an assault rifle now. *Step* With the knife in my righthand I stab his right hand wrist when it comes to my view, severing his tendons and preventing him to pull the trigger, and with my left hand I aim at his head from a downward angle and fire. ¡°bam¡± The suppressed shot is heard. The other man was sure to hear that so I drop my knife, pivot on my left leg and shoot the sniper who just turned his head to my direction, aiming with both arms. The bullet impacts the laying man to the head, killing him instantly. I don¡¯t stay to admire my handy work as I rush to the sniper rifle. I take it and check the roofs I have scouted earlier. There is two men on the other and only one on the other. The distance to the closer one is 200 meters and the farther one 500 meter. So basically, nothing for a sniper. They have yet to notice what happened here so I act fast. The sniper rifle in my hands is a model I¡¯m familiar with, so I know there are five bullets in a magazine. *BAM* I shoot the one holding the rifle of the two man team. I reload the bolt action mechanism. *BAM* I shoot the lonely sniper from the roof further away. He was already aiming at me so my bullet pierced his scope, and then his eye. I reload the rifle. *BAM* I shoot the survivor of the two men team that took the weapon of my first victim and was about to take aim. I reload the rifle. ¡°Sierra squad, did you get her?¡± Sounds from the radio of the dead man. I could answer with the radio to him, but I won¡¯t for two reasons. One, he would know my position to be the same as one of his dead men. And two, I want to identify the speaker. I turn my rifle towards the park where people are looking panicked, but not running. Yet, anyway. I call the phone I dropped to the dumpster and see how a man in a suit hesitates, before taking it and answering. He is a black-haired man with a very average face. ¡°Did you get all three of them?¡± He asks me. And that¡¯s when my blood runs cold. If I were him, and had three teams I would¡¯ve asked did you got both of them. Always hiding the existence of the last man in the off chance the opponent missed one. There could be one sniper more! I raise my head from the scope just in time to see a reflection of a scope on a roof on the opposite side of the park. I roll to my left, barely avoiding the bullet that grazes my clothes. The bullet impacts the door of the roof behind me. *BAM* the sound follows. I take aim at the man. I didn¡¯t even think about that roof so I¡¯m not sure about the distance but something in the back of my head informs me that it took 2,5 seconds for the sound to come after the muzzle flash so the distance is 850 meters in this temperature. I correct my aim by lifting the crosshair of my scope one quarter of a centimeter above the sniper''s head and fire. *BAM* I sigh in relief when I see the man turning into a fountain. One bullet left, and I know who it¡¯s for. ¡°Now I got them all.¡± I say to the phone and watch through the scope as the man¡¯s face turns sullen. ¡°I was going to ask you were you the ones behind the kidnapping incident, but I guess your eagerness to kill me tells it all.¡± ¡°Wait 7xx! I had nothi..¡±*BAM* He falls dead to the ground and now the civilians are like a panicked pack of animals, running to every direction. This operation wasn¡¯t to gain information so I shot him dead. They could have more ground teams nearby and they probably have, so I need to get out of here. This operation was to get me a sniper rifle and to strike back. It¡¯s war now. I quickly rise up and check the pockets of the sniper. He has one more magazine for the sniper. I take it and rush to the guy I killed first. I take his assault rifle and the extra magazine he has on his belt and run to the door. In the maintenance corridor there is black rectangular case. Probably what they used to bring the guns in as there are two more magazines for both weapons. The sniper won¡¯t fit in the case but as I¡¯ve already used the same model in the past I take it apart from muscle memory and throw the assault rifle there as well. With the 1,2-meter-long case I head for the elevator. I¡¯m still in the maintenance corridor and the elevator machine is in front of me, while the elevator shaft opens below it. There are two elevators side by side, using the same shaft so I go to the one that I came up with. From my shoulder bag, I take the gloves I have prepared for this and with my belt I tie the weapon case to my shoulder bag. I jump to the elevator shaft and grab the wires. I control my descent as I slide down. The thick leather gloves are starting to heat up from the friction but I bear with the pain. My feet impact the elevator that has stopped at the ground level. The other elevator is coming down from above, so I jump and grab the wires that are coming down with it. Like that, I descent to the bottom of the shaft. I use my knife to pry the doors open and enter the parking hall beneath the building. All the spaces are full and there are even some people here but I pay no mind to them as the siren¡¯s sounds are starting to get closer. I walk to a wall where I had already screwed a ventilation hatch open. I slid in there with my stuff. I had to push the weapon case first, as it was a tight fit but I managed. The length that I have to crawl through is only a few meters. I come to a maintenance corridor for the Washington metro system that runs parallel to the tracks. I turn right and start walking towards my apartment. I will surface when I¡¯m far away from this place. I wore my hood the whole time and played with the camera angles inside the building and the elevator so that my face cannot be seen. Only the cute girl can recognize me but I decide to leave her alone. Operation ¡®IreallywantedasniperrifleandIgotit¡¯ was successful. Linda would be proud. Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Washington DC Pov Detective Anthony Simmons What a mess. Just after getting out of narcotics I get assigned to this mess. The captain could¡¯ve given me some easy case. For God¡¯s sake, I was undercover for three years and I¡¯ve only been out for a month and they assign me to some shooting that is not as simple as the papers say¡­ And now I even took God¡¯s name in vain, if only in my head. ¡°Random shooter on a roof top¡­¡± I mutter to my partner who is surveying the crime scene next to me. ¡°Now now, it was our choice to feed the press with incomplete info as we don¡¯t know anything ourselves either as of yet.¡± My partner, detective Joshua Riley says. He is my first partner in years and I already like the guy. He especially asked for a black cop to be his partner. ¡®Easier to get criminal informants¡¯ he said¡­ Well that¡¯s partly true. Depends what kind of group you are after. It¡¯s easy to get a CI from some small drug ring but hard when the criminal activity becomes more organized and the money involved becomes more plenty. Joshua is thirty years old white male with dark brown hair and eyes. He looks like a kind man, the kind of man you¡¯d never expect to be the detective that brought down a million dollar smuggling business. I look at the two bodies on the roof, wondering what took place here. The papers and public think that the only victim is the man shot dead in the park but there are four more, all armed expect these two. The other victims had either an assault rifle or a sniper rifle and the man in the park had a pistol hidden under his clothes. ¡°This could be some sort of retaliation or the beginnings of a gang war.¡± I muse out loud. ¡°I doubt that gangs had anything to do with this. The weaponry and the radios are too advanced.¡± Joshua says. ¡°There is pretty fancy equipment in the gangs if their business profits enough¡± I say. But he has a point. As a veteran who fought in Tikrit and Afghan, I recognize the militaristic positions of the group of victims. ¡°Looks like they were killed while they were covering the park. Did the uniforms find anything from the victim in the park aside from the gun?¡± I ask. ¡°There was a phone. I got it taken to the station to get dusted for prints and for the tech guys to look into it.¡± I walk around the roof and spot something on it that doesn¡¯t fit the picture. With a latex glove on my hand, I pick the flower up. ¡°Is that a lily?¡± Joshua asks while coming next to me. ¡°Seems like that. Could be here just by accident. Or it¡¯s a signature for an assassin. Or it¡¯s meant to send a personal message to somebody.¡± I voice my thoughts. ¡°Run it by me how you think all this came to pass.¡± Joshua says to me and I start my version what could have happened in the scene. ¡°Somebody was hiding behind that vent. He stabbed and shot that guy.¡± I point to the guy with a knife wound on the wrist. ¡°Then he shot this fellow laying here.¡± I walk to the second body. ¡°These two were probably armed like the others. The assailant took the rifle of these men and shot the other snipers, don¡¯t know in which order, but according to the witness reports the man in the park was last to go as there were no shots to be heard after that.¡± At that point one of our uniformed officers comes to the roof with a young woman in tow. ¡°I got an eyewitness over here!¡± He yells at us. Me and my partner walk to them and take the woman back inside so that she cannot see the two bodies. ¡°Who are you and what did you see?¡± I ask the woman, or girl would be more appropriate. ¡°I¡¯m the assistant secretary in the offices below. While I was riding the elevator there was a girl wearing a hoodie with me. She had a pistol.¡± She says, clearly upset by the bodies she managed see. The officer shouldn¡¯t have brought her up. ¡°I see. Did the girl speak to you? Is there anything else you can tell us about her, like skin color?¡± I ask the woman with a kind voice. ¡°She complimented the weather and bid me good day. She had grey hoodie, black college pants, blond hair and she was white skinned with blue eyes. I didn¡¯t see anything else.¡± The woman says. ¡°It¡¯s all right. Go to the officers outside and give them a report of what you saw and heard.¡± Joshua says to the girl while placing a hand on her shoulder. The girl nods and heads for the elevators. ¡°Let¡¯s have the uniforms go through the area again. You there!¡± I yell at the officer who brought the woman to us. ¡°Get every surveillance tape from this building and the others, and every feed you can get that shows the park.¡± I order the officer and he grudgingly accepts. ¡°There¡¯s not much we can do here. I¡¯ll contact my informants if they know anything and you do the same.¡± I say to my partner and we start heading down.
Pov Calla I got to my apartment without any problems. I just got here and noticed that the hair has fallen from the door. I check if Theo has found my stash and it doesn¡¯t seem so. I do a quick inventory for my bullets and then turn my pad open. I open the tracking software and see the routes the three idiots have taken since yesterday. Using google to check some of the locations that turns out to be stores and a bar I look where they are now. Their bikes weren¡¯t outside when I came in so they have gone somewhere. The tracker shows that all three are in a same location and I search the internet of what is over there. A picture shows me that it¡¯s a one storey building with a garage door. It¡¯s made of bricks and concrete painted yellow and that¡¯s all that I find out. Today has already been an eventful day but the time isn¡¯t even 1600 yet so I decide that I should check it out today. It¡¯s a bit rushed but I doubt I need the same preparations for them as I did for my real enemy. They sounded like morons. But I will not act yet. I¡¯ll act during late evening. I go to my new adored sniper and start cleaning it. Though I¡¯d rather own a .50cal. This one is .308cal if going by the American standards. After that I will do the same for the assault rifle and my pistol. I still have some of the lubricant oil I took with me from the ship so I¡¯ll use that. I cannot wait to have an excu¡­ a reason to use it. ¡­ ¡­ Now that my weapons are all clean and shiny I feel much better. Cleansing guns is much more relaxing than anything I know. It¡¯s medicine for the soul. That reminds me of the second pistol that is hidden in my bed. I was going to dump it. I had a plan to drop it in one of those recycling pins for Africa that I saw on the streets. People were throwing clothes in them but they need weapons over there much more. There is always conflict somewhere in Africa as far as I know. Heck, even one of my first missions was over there. A smile comes to my face as I think about the .50cal Barrett M8A1 I used for that particular mission. Haah, I sure miss it¡­ But now I decide that I keep the pistol just in case. I move my bed to get to the stash before putting it back in place. I load the pistol and make sure the clip is full before hiding it in one of the armchairs by pushing it in between the cushions. Now that that¡¯s done I check the tracker once again. They are still in the same place. Wondering how I should do this I decide to go for the more rough approach. The police reacted quickly to the shooting before so I put emphasis to speed over stealth. There is going to be gunfire, I¡¯m sure. The suppressed pistol won¡¯t be enough so I¡¯ll take the assault rifle. When I was coming home from my previous operation I bought a large duffel back to carry my future armory with. I wish someone had taught me how to drive, as I¡¯m going to be moving slowly with the weapons I¡¯m about to pillage but no use crying over it now. I¡¯ll figure something out. The motorbikes look fun though. Might have to get me one of those. I have four magazines for the assault rifle, each holding twenty bullets, so it¡¯s probably enough to raid their hideout. I just hope I got the place right and they are holding the guns in there. I take the duffel bag and put the rifle in there and put the three surplus magazines in my pockets. A mag vest would be handy¡­ I decided to put the assault rifle in the bag because I came to the realization that whenever handling guns in public places people give me strange looks. Is it something akin to urination? Like, you should do it at home or out of sight¡­ I double check that everything I need is with me. A phone. Check Pistol tucked to my pants. Check. SCAR assault rifle. Check. Ammo for it and my pistol. Check. Earplugs just in case. Check. A chocolate bar. Check. Everything is ready so I grab the duffel bag and start heading out. When I¡¯m out of the door, I put my hood on and start heading for the road. I took the earplugs if I have to go through a crowded area at some point. I¡¯m so used to gunfire that I can zone out the noise pretty much. I hail a cab for me and tell the address where the tracking signals are coming from. Now what to do with the men I¡¯m about to meet. Should I leave any of them alive? While thinking that I remember a teaching of one of my trainers from past. Something called the Murphy¡¯s law. ¡®Anything that can go wrong will go wrong¡¯Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. If I let some of them live they could come seeking revenge. So if there is nothing alive to go wrong I should be okay¡­ And I don¡¯t have to pay rent after this. That¡¯s good. ¡°Something funny miss?¡± The driver asks me. ¡°Did I laugh?¡± ¡°A bit¡± Oh, I didn¡¯t notice. ¡°Just thinking about my landlord¡± I answer him and notice that we are almost there. ¡°You can leave me here¡± I say to him while giving some bills to him. ¡°Three dollars aren¡¯t enough miss.¡± He says while I¡¯m getting off the car. Fucking dollars and the green color code. I check that the bill I hand him this time reads 50$ before handing it to him. He thanks me and as he is starting to give some of it back I just start walking towards the house. It is just down the street. There are two storey buildings on both sides. They don¡¯t seem to be apartment building but shops of some kind, or warehouses. It¡¯s starting to get late so there aren¡¯t probably much people in them. I see the target house on the right side of the street. There are several motorcycles parked in front of it and I can hear sounds coming from there. I go to the same side on the street and edge closer to the house. I circle the one storey house and see that there aren¡¯t any windows visible and aside from the large garage door there is two normal ones. One in the front, and one in the back. I choose to use the backdoor. I drop my duffel bag to the ground after getting my gun from it but I don¡¯t immediately go in. I listen for a while, trying to ascertain how many men I¡¯m facing and where are they in the house. I don¡¯t take the break because I want to eat my chocolate bar. Not at all. Operation ¡®myveryownarmory¡¯ is a go.
Pov Theo I¡¯m at the hideout with the guys. There are seven of us and the boss. We got word that a prospective buyer has contacted us and we just finished talking business. We chose the location for the meet, and discussed what to do with the money. I guess I don¡¯t have to rob that tenant of mine after all. Bob still suggested it but there isn¡¯t any reason for it anymore. ¡°You guys heard about the shootout that happened?¡± Bob asks. ¡°Yeah. One victim my ass. I was nearby and heard five shots.¡± Joel says. Joel is a good guy. Loyal to the cause and has a good head on his shoulders. Unlike the rest of them, including the boss. The boss is over two meters tall, charismatic and ruthless. And that¡¯s why he is the boss. ¡°You were near? Any idea of who was shooting who?¡± The boss asks while flexing his arms. His big tattooed frame looks menacing, no matter what he does. The symbol of our group is tattooed to his left shoulder. It is a crown topping a two-edged Sword through the Revolving Resurrection Cross on the Face of a Shield. I chose not to tattoo it as it screams racism and to which group we belong. I¡¯m content with the code 88 that only shows that I support the ideals of nazism to those who know about it. ¡°I was near but don¡¯t know anything else except there were five shots.¡± Joel answers to the boss. I go to the fridge and grab a beer before going back to the guys. We are all standing around a billiard table that is filled with weapons. There are assault rifles, uzis, grenades, grenade launcher and even fucking stick grenades. All else of the stuff is modern except the stick grenades and the old rpg. I wonder where they come from. Just as I¡¯m about to ask why the fuck there is the antiquities that belongs to a war museum in our weapon shipment, the backdoor is pushed open. *BRATATATA* *BRATATATA* Two burst are fired, killing Joel, Bob and Harry. ¡°Take cover!!¡± The boss yells, as he flips the billiard table and takes cover behind it. *BRATATA* Freddie dies as he runs for the door. I jump behind the billiard table with the boss and Jeffrey, and take my pistol out. It would be nice to use the weapons from our shipment but they are on the floor now, and I¡¯d die before I manage to get to one and load it. *Bam* Bam* Tom is trying to return fire from the bathroom he ran to take cover. He fires and takes cover straight after. Idiot. *BRATATATATA* He falls down, his torso visible from the door way. The drywall did nothing to stop the bullets the attacker shot. I still haven¡¯t got a good look at the attacker. Only that he is wearing grey hoodie and black pants. And holding an automatic rifle as evident by my friend filled with holes. *BAM* A single shot is fired to Jeffrey as he peeks behind the table. He falls down limb, with a hole on his forehead. Whoever is attacking us is a professional. *Click* *clatter* I hear the sound of something dropping to the floor. ¡°He¡¯s out of ammo!¡± I yell as I realize that he threw away his empty mag. Me and the boss simultaneously stand up and start shooting but the attacker is fast. *BAMBAMBAMBAM* We both fire two bullets but the attacker side stepped and we both missed two times. *BRATATATA* We dive behind cover just before she shoots at us, bullets impacting the table and the wall behind us. She expertly changed her mag while dodging our aim. ¡°IT¡¯S MY FUCKING TENANT!¡± I yell as I realize that I recognize the face. ¡°What! That¡¯s the bitch Bob mentioned earlier!?¡± As I¡¯m about to answer something catches my eye. It¡¯s one of the fucking stick grenades. ¡°GRENA..¡± *BOOOM*
Pov Calla Wow! They even had stick grenades and some WW2 rpg. That¡¯s so cool! Vintage is the best! The stick grenade carried more punch than I expected but luckily the green table was sturdy and only shattered a little bit. I managed to avoid the shrapnel by taking cover outside from the backdoor but I was more worried about my armory. I¡¯m going to make a killing with this raid. hehe¡­ killing. But I wasn¡¯t quite as fast as I¡¯d like to be. I took one bullet to my left bicep. The bullet passed clean through and it¡¯s only a flesh wound luckily. I take the belt from one of the dead guys and make a tourniquet for my arm. After that I start collecting my price, my armory. I take two of the assault rifles, one grenade launcher with multiple grenades for it. I take the three remaining stick grenades and some normal grenades. Few pistols with ammo for them and two of the shotguns. Cool! There¡¯s even a semiautomatic bullpup gun with ACOG scope for medium range. I take it. I gather some other weapons from the floor and throw them to my duffel back and then start collecting as much ammo as I can carry. When the duffel bag starts to get so heavy that I cannot afford to take anything else I start to make my leave. The grenade of my new rpg is sticking out of the bag as it was a bit too long for the duffel bag so I grab a plastic bag from the floor and cover the grenade with it. Too bad there weren¡¯t a .50cal sniper in here¡­ As I walk out of the front door I grab a leather jacket that¡¯s hanging next to it so that people won¡¯t notice I¡¯m wounded. ¡®Never show weakness¡¯ was something my trainers used to say. I glance the street to both ways, and the windows of the shops. I thought I saw some movement behind one of them but as it¡¯s dark they probably didn¡¯t see my face so I start walking down the street. I turn to an alley that goes in between two shops as I¡¯m starting to hear sirens in the distance. I walk the small alley down and come to another street. This too has shops instead of apartment buildings by the sides. I cross the street and keep to the alleys until I have crossed two more streets. The sirens are getting closer but they aren¡¯t yet at the hideout. I spot a forested small park to my right, down the street and head there. When I get to the small park I run through it in the covers of the trees and bushes it has. The moon is hanging high above, it¡¯s probably midnight already. I come out on the other side of the park and come to a road that has some traffic on it. I walk on the walkway for a while until I see a taxi and wave it to stop. I throw the duffel bag to the back seat with a loud clang and give the driver an address that is five blocks away from my apartment. He looks at me and then at the bag disapprovingly before starting to drive.
Pov detective Anthony Simmons ¡°Yo Simmons! There was a shooting at the Aryan Nations hideout!¡± My partner yells at me. ¡°What? How big?¡± I ask. The department has tried to nail those guys for a while now, but they didn¡¯t even have enough evidence for a search permit. ¡°Big. That¡¯s all I heard. I¡¯m heading there over now.¡± He tells me. ¡°But we already have a case. Ah, you know what, do what you want. It¡¯s getting late and everyone with a wife should have gone home already.¡± I tell him as I start gathering my things. I¡¯m done for the day. Michelle¡¯s been nagging to me about my late evenings at the office and I don¡¯t blame her. We barely talked on the phone not to mention seeing each other when I was undercover. ¡°Suit yourself¡± My partner tells me as he¡¯s heading out with a group of uniformed officers. I admit, it does sound interesting but we haven¡¯t gotten anywhere with the current case and he¡¯s already taking on a new one. I start heading for the elevator intending to go home. I think about the two sets of prints we pulled from the phone. One was the victims and the other didn¡¯t have a match. The unrecognized prints were also found in all of the roofs where the victims were except for one roof. He, or probably she must have scouted the area before the incident. We searched through the surveillance footage. There weren¡¯t any good angles for the park, but the building surveillance showed the girl the eye witness was talking about. She was just like she described, but we couldn¡¯t see her face. Always when she was walking near a camera she looked the other way. In the elevator she kept looking downwards to her pistol, though I¡¯m pretty sure she was also ogling the witness. Just to be on the safe side we placed a squad car by her house. ¡­
Next morning Pov detective Anthony Simmons I¡¯m standing on the elevator of our office going up. *yawn* I barely got any sleep. When I got home, it was already 1 am and the case kept coming to my mind when I tried to fall asleep. The elevator doors open and I¡¯m greeted by Simmons. ¡°You¡¯ll never guess what we found!¡± He practically yells at me. I massage my forehead and try to fight the sleepiness away when I answer. ¡°What?¡± ¡°The same prints from our case were on a weapon magazine over the Aryan Nations hide out!¡± ¡°What!?¡± That sure woke me up. So the two cases are one case? Does she belong to the white supremacist movement? ¡°Yeah. And get this. She was the attacker by the looks of it. Killed eight men.¡± He continues. ¡°What? You¡¯re shitting me?¡± I say. This is starting to sound unbelievable. ¡°Nope. Her prints were found on a weapon magazine that didn¡¯t belong to any weapon there and on a candy wrappings outside the building. Also the caliber of the mag matches the caliber that was used to kill the men.¡± He reveals to me. Now this is getting interesting. What group does she belong to? Are we witnessing the start of a war of some nature after all? But there hasn¡¯t been any more attacks and the only common factor with the two shootings is the girl. And also a candy wrapping? Did all that shooting make her hungry? ¡°How many guys did the girl have with him?¡± I ask ¡°None by the looks of it. Forensics told that all the men who were shot were killed by the same weapon.¡± Joshua says. Even he looks like he doesn¡¯t believe what he said but the MO matches that of the shooting in the park. A lone shooter, a girl by the looks of it. Skilled with weaponry. ¡°Was there a flower on the scene?¡± I ask. ¡°No. There was just a shit load of weapons and some illegal substances.¡± I don¡¯t know what to make of all this. I guess it¡¯s going to be a long night once again. Michelle is going to kill me¡­
Paris Pov Linda ¡°Linda! I found something.¡± Brian comes to me. We have been trying to get answers from the men who tried to breach the VAULT for weeks now but are getting nowhere. We have some leads though. The men had received large payments from on offshore account that belongs to an obvious shell corporation so our analysts are trying to find out where the shell corporation leads. ¡°What?¡± I quickly answer. I hope he has something more actionable. ¡°A worker from the docks in La Rochelle came forward to the police. He said that an armed girl that fits Calla¡¯s description threatened him for information about ships leaving for Washington DC about three weeks ago.¡± Brian tells me. ¡°What?! Why didn¡¯t he come sooner?¡± I ask. He has been sitting on this information for weeks now. ¡°He felt threatened is what he claims. But there¡¯s more. Just yesterday there were two big shootings in Washington.¡± What? Could Calla have played some part in those? I hope she is okay¡­ ¡°What are you waiting for? Let¡¯s find out what happened.¡± I tell Brian as I head for the room that has our top analysts. It¡¯s located right next to the situation room in the administrative building, near my office. As we enter the room the twenty or so analysts turns their heads, waiting for orders. ¡°Drop what you are doing and hack in to the MPDC¡¯s servers¡± I give the order. I hope the investigation is under their jurisdiction as hacking to the federal agencies is much more difficult and hacking to the intelligence agencies is downright impossible to do on such short notice. It would require weeks, if not months of work and still might fail. I watch as the server files pop up on the white screen and Brian goes to one of the computers. As a senior analyst it shouldn¡¯t take long for him to find the files in question. ¡­ Me and Brian watch side by side as a hooded girl with a frame similar to Calla is screwing a suppressor to her pistol, an Omega issued pistol, while standing next to some civilian. There isn¡¯t sound but by the movement of her head and by the reaction of the civilian she obviously tried to start a conversation in that situation. And she¡¯s definitely checking her out! I cannot help but to facepalm while Brian is busy laughing his ass off. ¡°Pffhe I guess that confirms it¡± Brian says, while trying to hold his laughter down and wiping tears from his eyes. ¡°What is she thinking!? What is she doing??¡± I exclaim. What¡¯s going on in her head. Doesn¡¯t she realize tha¡­ right. She¡¯s Calla. Of course she doesn¡¯t. ¡°And they found a Calla on the crime scene¡° Brian says as he browses the files. ¡°They what!?¡± I yell. ¡°Calm down. A Calla, as in the flower.¡± Brian says. Phew. I almost got a heart attack. Why there is a Calla there. Is it meant as a message for us or just her sentimentality if there is such a thing for her. Well of course there is. I saw it when I named her. ¡°What about the other shooting?¡± I ask, stopping my internal monologue. One of the analysts opens the files on her screen and skims through it. ¡°There isn¡¯t any video for that but the police thinks it was done by the same person. It was an attack on the Aryan Nations. The police found the same prints from both crime scenes. There were six men killed by the same weapon and two by a grenade.¡± Aryan Nations? Did they rub Calla the wrong way? Why else she would be attacking them? ¡°It seems that the police found a manifest for a weapon shipment of the Aryan Nations, but the weapons in the manifest didn¡¯t match the ones on the crime scene. There are several of them missing.¡± The female analyst continues. ¡°It would seem she¡¯s arming herself. But for what?¡± Brian deduces. And that is the question. Why would she need that many weapons? Please tell me she isn¡¯t preparing for war¡­ I guess I should start planning to head over there. We don¡¯t have a base in DC but we have an embassy of sorts.
Washington DC Pov Calla I¡¯m ready for the war now. Operation ¡®myveryownarmory¡¯ was a resounding success. I have enough weapons, explosives and ammunition to take on a country. Very small country. Like Luxemburg. Or the Vatican. I haven¡¯t got much sleep as I¡¯ve been doing inventory since I arrived and patched my arm. My future operation for the safehouse has to wait till I heal, but I can scout the nearby area of it once again and try to find some place near where there would be a visual to the safehouse. I don¡¯t want an apartment there though as my rental situation just took a change for the better. I wonder if anyone else has ever thought about killing their landlord so they don¡¯t have to pay rent¡­ Well of course that wasn¡¯t the reason I did it. Well, that wasn¡¯t the only reason I did it. But now it¡¯s time for sleep, even though it¡¯s still day time and quite early at that. I¡¯m a bit cranky because I lost the flower I picked up from the park but my new armory calms my mind I lay down on my blanket on the floor, hugging my vintage rpg as I start to drift off to sleep. Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Pov Calla Fuck this! A fucking eviction notice! It¡¯s been two days since the operation ¡®myveryownarmory¡¯ and I was so excited to get the first letter of my life. And it turns out to be an eviction notice. Turns out, Theo wasn¡¯t too keen on paying his taxes and loan, so now the bank is doing some ¡®foreclosure¡¯ whatever that means. But if I were to believe the letter I got, it means that I have one month to leave the apartment with all my stuff. I did have the option of paying rent to them, instead of Theo. But they wouldn¡¯t accept cash, and wanted something called insurance. The letter also mentioned that they have to check my credit score, whatever that is, and in order to do that they need my social security number, whatever that is. And just when I thought I can stop paying rent for good if I stay here. I¡¯m pissed. During these two days I haven¡¯t done much. I¡¯ve been spending my time to check my new weaponry and to get familiar with the models I haven¡¯t seen before. And also I¡¯ve been using the internet to teach my self the mechanics of a motorcycle, or more importantly, how to drive one. I cannot wait for my first cruise! *Knock Knock Knock* Huh? Someone¡¯s at the door? Yay! My first visitors! I rush to the door wondering who it is but as my steps take me nearer to it, my pace starts to slow. Who it is indeed? Nobody should have any reason to come knocking at my door. Damn, could it be some Theo¡¯s buddies that have come looking for him, or worst, my armory? I have organized my weapons on my bed, left to right, the longest ones being on the left. And the pistols are in alphabetical order according to their models next to the bed. I was bored, sue me. I make sure that none of the weapons are visible from the door. I throw some grenades from the table that is straight ahead from the door to the armchair and make sure the shotgun behind the door isn¡¯t going to fall down when I open it. I grab my pistol and don¡¯t bother with the suppresser. *Knock knock knock* They knocked again. What¡¯s their hurry? ¡°Who is it?¡± I yell through the door and move closer while keeping my pistol ready. ¡°MPDC ma¡¯am. Open up¡± The what now? ¡°Empeedeecee?¡± I ask them for some clarification. Am I supposed to know what that mumble jumble means? And ma¡¯am, do I sound that old? ¡°The police! Open up!¡± They answer. I look through the eyehole and see that there is a man holding a small metallic thingy in the shape of a shield with a dome shaped house and some text carved on it. Is that supposed to prove their identity? They still could be Theo¡¯s friends looking for Theo or my weapons. And if he really is a cop I think it¡¯s bad too. The man claiming to be a police is black, with shorthair and small, well-kept beard. He is about 180cm tall so I aim my pistol a little higher behind the door as I open it, just a little.
Pov detective Anthony Simmons I just checked the apartment of one of the deceased from the Aryan Nations shootout. There weren¡¯t anything of note in there except a pistol. According to our database he owned the apartment next to his and is renting it. I decided to ask the tenant few questions about the owner of the apartment and if the tenant has heard or seen anything that might help us with the case. It¡¯s a long shot, but every stone must be turned in order to get to the bottom of this. A girls or woman¡¯s voice behind the door asked who I am. I think it¡¯s a girl after all, as she didn¡¯t know what MPDC meant. She sure is taking her sweet time to open up. I heard some rummaging when I first knocked so perhaps she was undressed or something. It¡¯s a school day though, maybe she is skipping class. Well that wouldn¡¯t be a surprise considering the neighborhood we are at. She carefully opens the door slightly, only for 10 inches. ¡°What?¡± She says. She is about 5 feet, three inches tall, has a blond hair and crystal blue eyes. And I was right, she wasn¡¯t dressed, and neither is she now. She is wearing black sport bra and briefs from what I can see. But it¡¯s not her underwear that draws my attention. No, what draws my attention is the multitude of what looks to be knife scars, a few gunshot wounds and some burn marks that covers her torso. She has a faint scar also on her forehead, above her left eye and she has bandages wrapped around her left arm. ¡°Can I come in?¡± I ask, cursing in my mind that we didn¡¯t get search permits to the deceased¡¯s property but only for the apartment he lived in. ¡°No.¡± She immediately answers. ¡°Are your parents¡¯ home?¡± I ask with little hope. I have a feeling that my long shot paid of unexpectedly well. ¡°No.¡± She answers once again. ¡°I¡¯m going to need to see some ID.¡± I say, hoping she can¡¯t provide it so I can take this investigation forward right here and now. ¡°Hold on.¡± *WHAM* She practically slams the door to my face! I wait for a while, thinking what to do if she has ID. I should probably call Joshua and tell him to get me the search warrant and some reinforcements. I¡¯m not about to underestimate my suspect, because that could end badly for me. I shiver as I remember the scene in the Aryan Nations hideout. Five men shot to death, two men blasted in to goo, and one man who had both gunshot wounds and was in the blast radius. Even during my time undercover with the drug rings I didn¡¯t see something as gruesome as that. It reminded me of my time in the marine corp. It shouldn¡¯t take more than ten minutes to get the warrant as it¡¯s still office hours and we have good reason to do it. The door opens once again and she gives me a Swedish passport. Damn. Sweden belongs to the Visa Waiver Program and she can stay here up to ninety days with it. I need the search warrant after all. So much red tape. Bureaucracy will be the end of us all. ¡°So, Erica..¡± I plan to question her about her previous landlord but something feels wrong, so I pause for a bit as I hand her her passport back. ¡°Huh, who?¡± She says ¡°¡­¡± She doesn¡¯t even know the name on the passport¡­ ¡°You, according to your passport.¡± I say while raising an eyebrow. ¡°Ah, oh yes. That¡¯s me. Erica. hehe.¡± She says as she nervously laughs and with her right hand she opens the passport and checks the name before continuing. ¡°Erica Grahn. Yep.¡± I can feel the vein about to burst on my forehead right about now. And the worst thing is I still can¡¯t arrest her or legally search the apartment as I don¡¯t have any proof this is the same girl from the security footage. I almost involuntarily take a small step towards her door as I want to take her in custody but as I move my right leg one inch forward¡­ *click* ¡­I hear something that sounds awfully like a pistol¡¯s hammer being pulled to the loaded position from behind the door. *gulp* I swallow. We are directly looking at each other¡¯s eyes. She doesn¡¯t say it but I get the feeling that if I move any closer she will redecorate the wall behind me with me. Now I know what the feeling of wrongness I felt was. It¡¯s her left arm that has the bandage on. It has been raised in an unnatural angle and hidden behind the door the whole time, even before she brought me ¡®her¡¯ passport. ¡°I think that is all for now. We¡¯ll be in touch.¡± I say to her when backing away from the door. I need to call Joshua right away.
Pov Calla I think that went well. I doubt he suspected anything. After all I have been getting better with small talk and social situations, not to mention I¡¯m the master of disguise. I can rest at ease, but just to be on the safe side I press my ear against the door and listen. I filter out every other noise, except the steps of the police man that is heading for the stairs of the building. Alleged policeman. I zone out the talking of my neighbors, the music that is playing in the apartment above mine. The trucks that are driving on the street, the barking dog from the courtyard and the weird bubbly noise that comes from downstairs always followed by an earthy smell. ¡°¡­I found her. Get the search permit for Theodore¡¯s property and send reinforcements¡­. All of them¡­ be quick¡­ when you come, don¡¯t use the sirens, no need to alarm her¡­¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Well fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. I really thought I was getting better. It seems my eviction just got hastened. I think I have ten minutes at most to make myself scarce. I quickly put on the dark gray capris, the white t-shirt and my light beige parka. I once again hide my hair in my ¡®boy cap for women¡¯. Still as illogical as ever. And I wear my round sunglasses. I start by grabbing my weaponry and stuffing it into my duffel bag. I pull the bed out and grab the backbag that has my money along with the ID¡¯s and spare phones. The bagback opens by accident and some of the stuff drops out. I quickly grab the money and the three phones. And stuff it back to the bag. I grab the ID¡¯s that fit my age, as there are only two of them, and don¡¯t bother fishing the rest of the ID¡¯s from under the bed. I put the backbag on and throw the shoulder back in to the duffel bag with my pad and the trackers I recovered from the bikes. I think I have everything now. Oh right. I grab my clothes that I used in my operations and put them to the duffel bag also. Just one more thing and I¡¯m ready to go. I heard that the ¡®police¡¯ man¡¯s steps stopped when he got down the stairs so I suspect he is waiting there for the reinforcements. That means I can¡¯t get out through the front, nor the back door. I run to the fridge and take my chocolate bars and stuff them to my pockets. It has already been about five minutes. I grab my blanket and tie its other end to the duffel bag. I open the window and start lowering it to the courtyard. Few heads turn to my direction but they belong to the sick happy persons so I don¡¯t really care. As the bag is only a little more than a meter above ground I drop it and jump after it. I don¡¯t waste time climbing this time, so I just fall down. It hurts, but nothing I can¡¯t take and the drop doesn¡¯t break anything. With quick steps, I get to the road and start walking. It seems that the ¡®police¡¯ man has yet to notice my perfect escape. I look behind me at the dirty street and see that a dozen police cars heads for my apartment. I guess he wasn¡¯t lying about being a cop. They all drive to the courtyard and gets out of the cars. I turn my head forward, not daring to stare at them. But I listen. I listen as the door is opened and they get inside while some of them stay on the yard. As I walk the shabby street filled with trash and sickly people I hear the faint sound of a door kicked in. Now they have probably noticed my great escape so I should make haste. I have a plan. I use the same route I used when I completed operation ¡®Ireallywanteda.50calbutgotstuckwith.308cal¡¯ but this time I will walk the metro¡¯s maintenance tunnel towards the center of the city. I have a secondary location in mind. It¡¯s the abandoned office building, that¡¯s opposite of the safehouse I intend to stalk. I was going to use it as only a hiding place when preparing for the operation but now I will use it as a hideout. It will become my new base of operations. I come to a T-junction, about fifty meters away from my apartment building. The crossing street is the same kind of a shabby and dirty street like this one. It¡¯s lined with similar rundown apartment buildings like mine but there are more people on this one. Some of them look sickly, some of them don¡¯t. They stand on the sidewalks while talking and laughing. They do not pay much attention to me. I once again turn to look around and get startled as I see the police have already come back outside. The black policeman that came to my door is looking at the street to both ways. I think he spotted me as he points at me and the uniformed policemen start running. Damn. But if there is one thing I have learned is that people like money. I don¡¯t know if I can bribe the police, but I do know I can cause a distraction. I grab a handful of bills from my bag and throw them upwards. The people on the street gasp as they notice what I did and the sickly looking persons rush to the money, obstructing the view of the policemen. This is what I hoped for. That they don¡¯t see which way I turn. I start running to the left but a group of the healthier people that was watching the situation seems to be blocking my way. I anticipated this would happen. People like money after all. I remember the scene in Paris when the two Frenchmen robbed the couple just before I robbed them. As I run towards them they seem confused. I guess they expected me to turn around or stop and look scared. It¡¯s hard to run with the duffel bag in tow but I have no choice, I¡¯m not about to abandon the armory I worked so hard to gather. With my left hand I support the weight of the duffel bag and with my right I take the pistol that is tucked away in my pants. *BAM* I shoot near the legs of the group who is trying to block me. They get the message as I point the gun to them, and the people busy collecting the money starts to panic by the sound of the shot. The group that was obstructing me makes way, as I walk by them, still aiming towards them. I don¡¯t see the police yet from behind the panicking people but they can¡¯t be far. I run for a few dozen of meters before turning to an alley on the right. I run through the dark alley surrounded by concrete walls filled with graffiti. I come to the backyard of some big building that¡¯s purpose remains unknown to me and keep heading straight. My destination is only a few blocks away. I keep to the alleys, avoiding the roads. Every now and then I see a police car and I have to hide behind some dumpster or a corner. After what feels like an eternity of dodging and running I arrive at the manhole cover I used few days ago and open it with great effort. The cover is heavy but I have done it once, I can do it again. The hardest part is getting a good grip but I manage fine with the help of my knife. It¡¯s difficult to descend the stairs with the duffel bag but I don¡¯t want to drop it. As I¡¯m at the bottom I start walking towards the center of the city. While walking in the narrow maintenance corridor with pipes and cables running above me, I think. Now one of the policemen knows what I look like. Should I kill him? I remember my trainers telling me that if I kill policemen during ops I should leave the city as the department tends to take it personally and use all its resources to hunt down the assailant. I¡¯m confident that I could hide from them but it complicates things as I still have things to do in this city. And I have a feeling Linda wouldn¡¯t approve me killing cops. I think I avoid it as long as it¡¯s possible. But now I really think that I should be more prepared in the future for things like this. The police use surveillance cameras so I think I could do the same in my new base. Just have to find a place that sells them. I¡¯m pretty good at circumventing different kinds of security systems but this will be my first time building one. It could be fun.
Pov detective Anthony Simmons ¡°Shit!¡± I cannot help but to yell. We were so close but we lost her. After she threw money to the air we lost visual. Some of the local gangbangers she threatened pointed us the direction she ran but we couldn¡¯t find any sign of her. Our squad cars started canvasing the area but she avoided them perfectly. We even created checkpoints and roadblocks but it¡¯s like she vanished into thin air. The patrolmen are still trying to look for her as we still keep the perimeter up on the off chance she hid somewhere rather than ran. They are going door to door at this point but I think she already got out. I¡¯m with my partner in her apartment looking to find anything to point us where she would be headed. ¡°Look at this.¡± My partner says as he lifts a pistol from between the seat cushions. ¡°She left in a hurry but I¡¯m still amazed how well she managed to grab her stuff.¡± I muse out loud. Well she probably didn¡¯t have much stuff to begin with. I notice how the bed is slightly sideways. I pull the bed away from the wall and notice that there is a cut to its side. I try with my hand but it doesn¡¯t seem there is anything in the stash. I see something on the floor under the bed and crouch down. There are three ID¡¯s under the bed, two belonging to males and one of an older woman. But in each of the ID¡¯s there isn¡¯t a picture. It¡¯s left blank. Her ID was probably the same way before she glued the photo to it in which she looks like a condemned serial killer. Though that description could be accurate. I really don¡¯t know enough about her as of yet. ¡°Who on earth is she?¡± Joshua says, probably just thinking out loud. ¡°I have no idea. Her face looked pretty normal aside for the faint scar on her forehead but hear body was filled with scars.¡± ¡°We should but an APB out. We don¡¯t have a picture but at least we managed to burn one of her aliases.¡± Joshua says. He is right that we burned one of her aliases but I highly doubt she will use it again. And we will have some kind of picture after I have a sat down with a sketch artist. ¡°So let¡¯s go over it again. She rented an apartment here eleven days ago according to the neighbor. The neighbors barely ever saw the girl. Just a few times when she went out. And let¡¯s be honest, we can¡¯t get any reliable eyewitness reports in this part of town. It¡¯s mostly gangbangers, dealers and junkies. Then she plans and executes an ambush to some unknown men in the park, killing five of them. We don¡¯t know if there were more.¡± I voice what we know about her and Joshua continues from there: ¡°Right. In the night of the same day she executes the ambush she attack the Aryan Nations, which just so happens, that one of their members is the owner of her apartment. She kills all the members who are at least present in the hide out and steals some of their weapons.¡± ¡°I think the Aryan Nations just happened to be close when she wanted weapons. Or they did something to her that made her angry. But after raiding their hideout one could believe that she would leave the apartment so why didn¡¯t she?¡± I interrupt him. ¡°Perhaps she was going to but something stopped her.¡± Joshua says. That is possible but what could have stopped her leaving. I think It¡¯s not as simple as that. ¡°But the real question is who the men she ambushed are. We didn¡¯t get anything from the phone that the deceased in the park was holding. She used that phone to make the ambush I think. There were only two numbers on the phone, both of them are no longer usable.¡± I say. ¡°According to the tech guys the phone¡¯s serial number showed that it was bought in Paris. Nothing else can be found from it.¡± Joshua finishes. This would all be more believable if she were older but she is just a young girl, fifteen or sixteen maybe. That young girl killed thirteen people in the span of a day. She escaped both crime scenes undetected and vanished from us just when we tried to catch her. ¡°Let¡¯s have the forensics check this place out. I¡¯ll go to the station to have her picture sketched but you know how those are.¡± I say to Joshua while starting to move out. ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t remember a single instance when we have caught a suspect using those.¡± He answers and starts dialing his phone, calling to the forensics team. I hate chasing underage kids down, and none of them have ever proved to be this elusive and effective before.
Pov Linda My plane lands in an hour to DC. Brian has kept me updated about the police investigation as it goes so I know that Calla is on the run. They apparently found her apartment and she ran, but I don¡¯t know anything else as of yet, because they haven¡¯t added the files to their database yet. We will probably contact the local authorities for cooperation as United States belongs to the countries that founded the J.A.T.F. we have some pull over there, but I still would like to keep this in house. Brian is still in charge of the investigation and general Raven hasn¡¯t shown any great interest to it, aside from the normal reports we have to make for him. Although Brian is in charge, he respects my wishes on how to proceed. I will contact the police department and ask to be included in the investigation. The investigation will most likely remain under their jurisdiction, and as long I don¡¯t make noise about it, the C.I.A. shouldn¡¯t show much interest in it. I will help with the search where I can but I will also try to hinder it if I see it as necessary. I don¡¯t know if they are pursuing Calla as a murderer or an operator but I will not let her go to jail. It¡¯s not like a prison could even hold her. Our goal is to bring Calla back to the Omega quietly and help her figure out who her true enemies are. I suspect that her goals align with ours since we investigated Al-Aman before and tried to figure out if there¡¯s something more to it. At least I think she is going after them. The organization behind it could be one of the sources of unrest over the world and the increasing conflicts the terrorist organization are causing. Every year we manage to wipe one or two organizations down but they keep forming new ones. It does feel like somebody is trying to start something big, using them as puppets.
Pov Calla After I got to the tunnel I didn¡¯t have any more problems. At some point they are going to figure out that I used them as an escape and start monitoring them more closely. I walk the street of the safehouse. There are ten to fifteen storey buildings on both sides of the road, mostly for residential use but there are some offices on the lower levels. The street has a new asphalt pavement and the area is nothing like the one around my previous apartment. The street is well lit and there are no gaps between the buildings so there are no dark alleys to hide. I have already walked this street many times so I know the positions of the three security cameras that the lower level offices have that point towards the street. The buildings have balconies and large windows. The building I¡¯m headed is a twelve storey building with only offices. That is the only building on this street that isn¡¯t that well-kept, but it isn¡¯t too shabby either to stick out. There is a notice on its door that it¡¯s scheduled for renovations in 20XX, that¡¯s two years from now so it gives me plenty of time to finish my business in here. The whole building is abandoned offices and empty corridors from the looks of it. Opposite of that building is the address of the safehouse, the reason why I¡¯m in this country in the first place. I will not try to break in until I have monitored it for long enough. This is the capital of the United States, so it could be very well used in secret meetings or such. I call it a safehouse but it¡¯s actually just a big apartment on the eleventh floor. I have not yet seen its interior but I¡¯m sure there will be a good vantage point in the offices. The police is surely looking for me now so I intent to lay low for a while and just watch the safehouse. When I first checked the address I did a walk by. I entered the building and walked once by its door. Although subtle, the door for reinforced and it had electronic lock. I cannot pick that without the prober equipment, which I don¡¯t have. I also want to plant a bug in it, which also I don¡¯t have, so I need to find some place to get the right equipment. This would be so much easier if I had the help of some tech expert but alas, I¡¯m alone. So for the next days I will be making some sort of security system for my new base, trying to secure the right equipment to get inside the safehouse undetected and leave the same way after planting a bug, then it¡¯s just surveillance. I¡¯ll use the time I have in hand to get more familiar with computers and electronics, and to see if I can find myself some mode of transportation. And the .50cal if I happen to come across one. Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Pov Linda My plane arrived half an hour ago and I¡¯m heading to the Metropolitan Police department¡¯s headquarters. I¡¯ tell my driver from our local office not to wait for me as we arrive to the HQ. It¡¯s right next to the superior court of DC. It¡¯s a big light brown building with three main doors at the front. I walk the short distance from the parking place to the door. When I enter, there is a receptionist desk at the front and a police uniformed sergeant sitting behind the glass. ¡°Greetings. I¡¯m Major Linda Shelia from the J.A.T.F. I¡¯m here to meet the detective in charge of the two resent shootings that happened in the DC area.¡± I greet the Sergeant and show her my credentials. ¡°Good day. You¡äll find them on the third floor in organized crime division. Captain Perry is in charge of the investigation and it is led by Detective Anthony Simmons.¡± The grey haired lady sergeant answers me. I thank her, and head for the stairs. I already contacted Captain Perry, and let him now I wish to be looped in as I may have some information about their suspect. He agreed and told me to meet with his detective. There probably will be some argumentation when and if we catch Calla, about what to do with her. They certainly want her to be processed by the local court system and I want to take her with me. Well, if it comes to that I have to change favors with them, though I hope I find Calla on my own, without the presence of the local police so I can talk her into coming with me. Now, what information should I give them about Calla. They certainly want to know something or else they will not be as cooperative as I want. As I think about that, I arrive to the organized crime division. There are desks lined in a big room in four different rows with men and women sitting behind them, and at the end of it, are two glass walled offices. The detectives all seems busy investigating their respective cases. The office on the left reads Det. Simmons and one on the right side, the corner office reads Cap. Perry. I walk to the office on the left where I can see an African American man going through some papers with a Caucasian man. I already know who they are as I researched detective Simmons and his partner detective Riley on the plane. Before I have a chance to knock they notice me and waive me in. I¡¯m wearing my uniform and Captain Perry has probably already notified them about my arrival so they recognized me immediately. ¡°Major Linda Shelia. I¡¯m an intelligence officer for the J.A.T.F. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± I introduce myself. ¡°I¡¯m detective Anthony Simmons and this is my partner detective Joshua Riley. The pleasure is all ours.¡± Det. Simmons says. ¡°So we were told you know something about our suspect. Is she one of yours?¡± Riley gets right to the point. I guess they have been suspecting that since they heard that I¡¯ll be coming and it¡¯s no wonder. Even an idiot would have realized that Calla has some form of training. ¡°She was with us only for a month until something happened. She was involved in a kidnapping incident and left us after that.¡± I tell them one version of what took place. ¡°Did she have anything to do with it?¡± Simmons asks. Should I tell them it was done to harm her and she is now hunting the ones responsible? ¡°Hmm, you could think of her as hostile witness for the incident. She didn¡¯t do anything, and was more of a victim than a perpetrator. She left us and I suspect she is now hunting the ones behind the incident.¡± I tell them what took place vaguely. ¡°Tell us about her. Is there a chance she would surrender?¡± Simmons asks. Surrender? Yeah right, I cannot see that happening. ¡°I¡¯ll doubt she would come in voluntarily. There is a chance I could persuade her to come back to the J.A.T.F. but I¡¯m not sure about her state of mind as of the moment, so I cannot say for sure.¡± ¡°What¡¯s she¡¯s like?¡± Riley ask. What¡¯s Calla like. Hmm. Psychotic? No, that isn¡¯t the right word. Cold, ruthless? Rational, straightforward, and effective? She can be quite adorable too if she wants. ¡°She¡¯s many things, and highly trained is one of them. She may not know much about how the world works so she may leave some obvious clues that criminals would never leave but there is one thing I can tell you. If you are an obstacle to her objective, she will use you as a stepping stone and you will not live to tell about it.¡± I say, what is in my opinion, pretty accurate description of her motivation. She came halfway across the world to hunt the people after her, so I doubt she will let the local police to stand in her way. ¡°Yeah, I got that feeling when she had a gun aimed at my head¡­¡± Simmons mutters to himself. I guess they have already met then. ¡°Let me ask you something simple, what¡¯s her name? And any known aliases?¡± Riley asks. That isn¡¯t simple. ¡°I call her Calla, like the flower you found at the crime scene. I hope you don¡¯t mind that I checked where you were on the case when I was flying over. And she has no known aliases as far as I know. I didn¡¯t know she had any.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t mind. She was going by the name Erica Grahn when we met, and we found some blank ID¡¯s on her apartment. She probably took the ones that fit her age and gender with her.¡± Simmons says. Where¡¯d she got fake ID¡¯s? And money to operate in the first place? ¡°You know anything about the people she is going after or why she attacked the Aryan Nations.¡± Riley asks. ¡°We know nothing for certain. We suspect it¡¯s some kind of organization but its nature remains a mystery to us. They may have some connection to Calla¡¯s past which we know very little about. And she went after the Aryan Nations probably just out of convenience. She needed guns, they had guns.¡± ¡°Convenience? It was a pretty big amount she took.¡± Simmons questions. ¡°I assume she thinks she will need them.¡± I say, though I know that the amount she took is enough to do some serious harm to society. ¡°I see. Let¡¯s go over the evidence and say if something comes to mind from them.¡± Simmons says as he indicates for me to take a seat opposite side of him. Riley starts placing crime scene photos on the desk with a forensics reports.
Pov Calla I¡¯m exploring my new base. I decided to take the floors from ten to twelve for my personal use. I will place cameras to the whole building but floor ten will be sort of a buffer floor with locked or barred doors. Eleven is for surveilling the safehouse as it¡¯s on the same level and twelve is for my personal use.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. These floors are just like the rest of the building. Large rooms with empty cubicles, and offices on the sides and by the corridors. There was a basement in the building, and it was connected to the parking structure that is beneath the building next to this. Some of the renovations had started at some point in the floors below, but they were halted for some reason. The workers have left some tools and construction material behind so I intend to use them. I¡¯ll turn the tenth floor in to a maze using the cubicle walls, and I turn the elevator shaft to my primary escape route. I will cut or disconnect the elevator wire from the bottom and lift it to the eleventh floor so I can use it as a rope to get down but others can¡¯t use it as a rope to get up. I will plan secondary escape route by the roof, as there isn¡¯t a gap between the buildings. I will find another building that¡¯s a good spot to go back to street level. The tertiary, is that even a word? Tertiary. heh. The tertiary escape route will be by a window and for that, I¡¯ll need rope. There is a problem I encountered though. There isn¡¯t electricity in the building. The water runs just fine but the power is out. I have to do something about that. I also need the equipment to put up surveillance, the listening devices and other miscellaneous things. And a TV! I want a TV. I have never really watched one but I listened when my neighbors were watching in my old apartment. I also need monitors for the cameras. At the moment I¡¯m browsing the web, heh. I¡¯m so tech savvy. So I¡¯m browsing the web to look for places that sells what I need but none of the normal shops seems to fit the bill. There are cameras and monitors in them but not exactly what I had in mind. And there¡¯s another thing. I read the instructions how to install them. I thought that I could manage it as I¡¯m expert in taking them apart but that doesn¡¯t seem to be the case when doing the opposite. It¡¯s complicated to do it right. As I¡¯m searching some forums of people who had similar problems I found some links to something called ¡®the dark net¡¯. Sounds menacing but it seems there are people with similar mind set with me over there. I downloaded the browser I needed for it and I¡¯m now searching if I can find somewhere I can buy the stuff I need and maybe even some help to install them if the seller seems trustworthy. ¡­ ¡­ I¡¯m meeting a man in the park. I know next to nothing about him. I found a way to contact him on the dark net and we arranged a meeting. He goes by the name of Mox. He sells stuff and buys it. I don¡¯t really know what he¡¯s involved in but from what I gather, a little bit of everything from art theft to cons. I understood that he doesn¡¯t do killing though or deal in weapons and drugs. He is a respectable underworld liaison to many people on the irc. He told me in the internet relay chat that I am to wear a blue skirt and a red scarf and be in this park reading a newspaper at midday. The park is one of the largest in Washington dc. It¡¯s mostly just grass for people to picnic on. There are some trees here and there with flower beds. I¡¯m at a place where four walkways meet and there is large fountain in the center of it with benches surrounding it in a circle. He seems a bit odd and paranoid. I had to go shopping for new clothes because of him but that was in my agenda anyways as the police saw my clothing during my great escape yesterday. I bought other clothes too but as I didn¡¯t know anything about fashion I just picked the same clothes the mannequins were wearing and left the heels out. ¡°The parrot sings at midnight¡± I say the ridiculous sentence that I was instructed to say. ¡°The song is heard over the ocean.¡± I hear the equally ridiculous reply I was told to expect. I turn and look from the bench at the man who said it. He is a short man for his age, as tall as me and looks to be in his late twenties. He is wearing jeans and a buttoned up orange colored flower t-shirt. He is wearing dark, rectangular shades on his head. His face looks kind of funny and very harmless, with his shaved head. I can see that he is balding. His hair length is only a millimeter or two but I can see the receding hairline none the less. ¡°Mox?¡± I ask him ¡°Depends who is asking.¡± ¡°Calla. You said to meet me here.¡± ¡°So you say. But how do I know you are who you say you are?¡± Yep, he¡¯s paranoid. ¡°Who else would I be? I¡¯m the only one wearing the blue skirt and red scarf.¡± I say to him waiving my hand upon the knee high skirt and the red scarf that is hanging over my shoulders. I also decided to wear the new hat I bought as I don¡¯t like the idea of cameras seeing my face and hair so clearly. He briefly looks around and nods to me. ¡°So what do you need? I have you know I¡¯m prepared to run at moment¡¯s notice. Fifty steps to my right is the car waiting for my instructions and twenty steps to my left, is the noble ice-cream stand owner who would give his life to save me.¡± What is he babbling about? I look to our right and see no car, I look to our left and see the ice-scream stand owner who is picking his nose. I decide to play along that I believe him. ¡°I¡¯m not dangerous to you, you know?¡± ¡°Ha! And Paul McCartney wasn¡¯t replaced by a look alike in mid-sixties! ¡° That dude is crazy. And who is Paul McCartney? ¡°Can we just do the business?¡± I ask him. ¡°Fine. But not here. Follow me.¡± He says as he raises from the bench and starts walking. We walk down the street and he hails a cab for us. We get on as he tells the driver the address. The area the cab is heading is a shopping district. There are many of different kind of small stores and street stands that sells everything. From watches to clothes and electronics. He walks to a tea-shop and bows and greets the owner in Chinese while the owner greets back. He walks by the counter and walks the stairs up into a spacious room with nothing but support pillars. ¡°So what do you need and how do you pay?¡± ¡°I need...¡± I tell him what I need to make my base and tell him that I¡¯m paying cash. He drops in some small suggestions and he seems to really know what he is talking about. Towards the end of the discussion he started to get really enthusiastic about the project. After our chat I decided that no matter how odd and crazy he seems that I could probably trust him. He had a fair amount of respect in the web and his subtlety and hate for the ¡®G-men¡¯ was legendary. He agreed to help me out with installing the equipment to my base so we are now heading there. He had a van and I helped him to load the stuff we need to it. He drives the van to the parking space under the building next to my apartment near the door that connects the parking area to my building¡¯s basement, and we start to unload the van to there. Before we started he discreetly went to the camera that points towards the connecting door and turned it to point the other way. Once the van is unloaded he started doing something to the electrical box and in no time, the power is on. I have no idea how he did it. ¡°I would suggest you do not use the lights much as people will then notice that this building is not quite so unused as it¡¯s supposed to be¡± He informs me. He begins to install the cameras as I start carrying the monitors up to the twelfth floor. The day turns to night as we work on my base. I mostly worked on the tenth floor. I took apart the cubicles from it and arranged the walls to block some corridors and changed the big rooms with office space so that there would be plenty of cover and that people coming in wouldn¡¯t see where the exits in said rooms are. I used some of the construction materials in there to help with my crafting. Mox installed the cameras so that the first floor has plenty of them and put some on the other floors. Floor ten also has many cameras as that is intended as the buffer floor. He also cut the elevators wires completely off, trapping the elevator to the basement level and put a rope by the shaft in floor twelve. He also put a rope by the window in floor eleven to be my tertiary escape route. The monitors for the cameras are on the twelfth floor with my brand new TV and computer. I helped him install the surveillance for the safehouse on the eleventh so that I would be more familiar with the system. I told him that I wanted to also plant a bug to the safehouse but he had a better idea. From his car he got a microphone that pics up sounds from a distance and also pointed one camera towards the safehouse. When the camera notices movement, it activates the microphone and sends a signal to a computer, which in turn sends an alarm to a phone number of my choosing, that there is movement. The computer also records everything the mic pics up. Same sort of alarming system is also installed in the security cams of my building. As a payment we agreed to half of the rest of my money, so I paid him 3000 Us dollars and 2500€ as he was happy to accept both currencies. That wouldn¡¯t have been enough, and I already thought that I have to get my other go bag but when we were installing the equipment I mentioned about the tracker software I got in my hands. The apparently highly classifies tracker software. He copied the software for himself. He didn¡¯t even ask where I got it and I didn¡¯t offer an explanation. Now we are sitting on the office chairs on the twelfth floor in front of the many monitors that shows the insides of the building and one monitor that shows the surveillance feed from the safehouse. ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask this, but who are you really?¡± He asks me while warily glancing my armory that is laid out on the floor next to us. ¡°I¡¯m just a girl with motivation to strike back.¡± ¡°I see¡± He says as he sips his wine. ¡°Well remember: ¡®The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting¡¯. Sun Tzu said that¡± He informs me. ¡°Sun who?¡± ¡°Sun Tzu. I hope you don¡¯t need all those weapons.¡± I kind of hope that I do. ¡°Who¡¯s your opponent anyway?¡± He asks ¡°I actually have no idea. I suspect they have their fingers in little bit of everything but we¡¯ll see. I just wish I didn¡¯t have to wait here for them to show up.¡± ¡°Well, the only reason for time is so that everything doesn¡¯t happen at once.¡± He sure likes talk in riddles. ¡°Sorry if this drags you in to this. The ones I¡¯m after are kind of ruthless.¡± I apologize for the possible future if the ones I¡¯m after finds out we have a connection and he helped me. ¡°Are you kidding me! Building a secret base and suspected conspiracies are what I live for.¡± He says as he sips his wine. ¡°Well, thanks for the purchases. I¡¯ve got places to be and things to steal, so I¡¯ll get going now. Here.¡± He says as he hands me a card with a number. ¡°If you ever need my services again. Sayonara!¡± ¡°See ya!¡± I bid my farewells to him and watch as he walks to the stairs with his wine bottle in tow and starts descending. Is he going to drive after drinking? That¡¯s illegal you know, I muse to myself as I¡¯m inspecting one of the stick grenades. Chapter 19 Chapter 19 ten days later Pov detective Joshua Riley ¡±Sigh¡­¡± This is getting tiresome. We haven¡¯t had any progress after Major Shelia joined us almost two weeks ago. She helped a little to create a profile of this ¡®Calla¡¯ but there is nothing much I can do when we have no leads. This case is driving my partner crazy. The Interpol approached him last week about a position to become one of their agents but he denied it. They were impressed how integral part he took in bringing one of the Mexican cartels down during his undercover assignment. But alas, he won¡¯t rest until he has caught our suspect. I don¡¯t know why he is investing so much in to this case. Perhaps because it¡¯s the first case after the undercover assignment and he wants it to be solved. The Major said something about going back to her other duties if Calla doesn¡¯t surface soon. I can tell from her attitude that she really wants to find her but there isn¡¯t anything to go on and there are much more important things to do for an intelligence officer from J.A.T.F. than going through the same evidence over and over again. And that is what we have been doing these past ten or so days. We did investigate a theft where someone fitting Calla¡¯s description hotwired a motorcycle but we couldn¡¯t track where she went through the traffic cams and the bike has not been seen since. There is a chance she left the city. We put some feelers out to our informants and one of them kind of panned out. We got word that she has been meeting with someone called Mox, but there isn¡¯t anything on him. Mox belongs to the underworld society from New York but from what we gather, he belongs to the gentlemen thieves and more respectable part of the underworld. Our informants know next to nothing about him and those who does know him doesn¡¯t want to turn on him. Almost everyone who knows him owes him favors and he himself has never crossed anybody so crossing him would mean the end of their criminal careers. He has that good of a reputation. We know Mox is an alias and that¡¯s all we know about him other than that he is active in New York. I¡¯m fine with this, it¡¯s a little boring to go through repeatedly the same evidence but I¡¯m personally not so invested in this investigation as my partner so I worry about him. The Interpol assignment would help him in his career tremendously but he won¡¯t take it. At least for now.
Pov Calla Boring¡­ There hasn¡¯t been any activity in the safehouse. In my time here in my base I have added little things to its defense as I needed something to do. I also got a motorbike. Some had just left it on the side of a street so I took it. When I first started to get interested in those I read the mechanics about them before the actual driving manuals so getting it started without a key wasn¡¯t that hard. I managed to drive it to the parking hall that¡¯s under the building next to mine. I have practiced driving a little bit, what I could, but I¡¯m not an expert¡­yet. I basically drove circles in the parking hall as I didn¡¯t want to take it outside. The reason I didn¡¯t want to take it outside was because I¡¯ve been watching TV and realized a few things. I watched some shows about polices and crime solving and turns out, they keep track of vehicles by the plate thingy and by model. Only then I realized that they would probably be on the lookout for the bike. And another thing is that owning weapons without permit is illegal. Who would have guessed. My armory would probably be a gold mine for the agency known as ATF. And then there is the fingerprint thingy. When I touch something with my finger it leaves a print. I never noticed it before but now that I know about it I can actually see on some surfaces how it works. According to the show every person has a unique print. I guess I¡¯ll have to start wearing gloves when doing an operation. Or I just don¡¯t touch things. There was one movie I watched that I liked but the end was complete shit. The movie started with introducing the villain, he was some balding cop going to see his wife. Then the main character, who was this charismatic international thieve and master mind, started his plans. He played cat and mouse with the villain cop who tried to prevent him realize his dreams. Then at the end, just when the main character, Hans Gruber was about to win he was shot and he fell to his death. It was so disappointing that I shot my TV to pieces. It helped a little to see the cop with a hole on his forehead but then the TV caught fire and I had to drop it down the elevator shaft. Other than watching movies I have been hanging out a little with Mox. He is¡­ interesting fellow and good company. He helped me get an American I.D. It is a fake of course, but quality work. He left the city a few days ago as he said that he was supposed to stay only for a while to do some business. Because he met me, he had prolonged his stay for a few days but his so called ¡®empire¡¯ needed some tending. He¡¯s main job description is a fence, meaning he sells stolen stuff forward. But he also assists with heists and cons and works as some kind of fixer. He has a lot of connections so he¡¯s a good liaison to have. *beepbeepbeep* As I¡¯m checking the wound on my left arm that has almost healed I hear the alarm go of. I turn to look at the monitors which survived my fit of rage for the bullshit movie ending and see that someone is in the safehouse. The lights are turned on in there and the visual is clear as it¡¯s already getting dark. I quickly run to the eleventh floor, and look through my sniper scope to the building. A man in a suit has entered in it. I see a car pull up by the side of the road below me and see a man leaving the car, also wearing a suit. He enters the building and I continue to look through my scope. The glasslooks like it¡¯s bulletproof so with this caliber I probably won¡¯t be able to pierce it. I decide not to risk shooting as that would give away my presence if it is bulletproof. I look at the blond man waiting in the safehouse, and then the door opens up. The man who just parked his car came inside. His clean-shaven jaw is angular and his black hair is neatly combed back, only one lock of hair hangs above his green eyes. I make sure the video and sound records as I grab one of the trackers and head downstairs, intending to plant it in the black haired suit man¡¯s car.
Pov Red I arrive at the safehouse because one of the operators of our organization said he had something urgent to tell. I enter the safehouse. ¡°Red, we have a problem¡± My main operator, Romeo 1 says. ¡°What is it?¡± I ask him. It¡¯s been some time since our organization has been threatened. Subject 7xx is still at large but I don¡¯t think this is about her. ¡°A reporter of the New York Times has been poking around dangerously close at the Brooklyn facilities.¡± He reveals. ¡°Well that is a problem. How did he even know where to look? The only security breach we are supposed to have now is 7xx. Could she be involved?¡± I ask. At the Brooklyn facilities are the series Nine subjects. ¡°We have no idea but the cameras caught him taking photos of the area. We put surveillance on him and deduced that he is researching for some story. We were about to launch a precautionary hit but he somehow noticed that we were watching him and went to hiding.¡± He explains it to more detail. Damn, something must be done, and quickly before he talks to anybody about what he knows. ¡°Well, locate him and kill him. These are the kind of situations for what we are paying you¡± I say to him. ¡°Yes sir¡± He says. There isn¡¯t anything I can do about it now. I need to trust my operators to do the job. I don¡¯t want to bring Black or the others in the loop yet. It¡¯s my job to secure the facilities, not theirs, and Black would have my head for this blunder. I leave the safehouse without another word. I need to get to the Pentagon before anyone starts suspecting my reason for absence. The government is launching a big operation to bring down a terrorist cell in Yemen and I¡¯m expected to be in the situation room for that. There is also the matter of China considering joining the J.A.T.F. and that is something my organization cannot allow. It would stabilize the east and bring unity to the relations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and UN. I go to the elevator to head down to my car. ¡­ I pull up the car to the gates of pentagon. The security is buffed, more than normal, because of the important operation and the happenings that are taking place in these next few weeks. Every governmental agency that has something to do with those is on a state of high alert. That is why we have had minimal meetings in our organization, just in case. As I show my credential to the military police that are on the gate other team starts inspecting my car. ¡°Credentials checks out¡± The MP says to the others after scanning my ID-card. I still have to wait for the dogs to sniff my car through for bombs and the MP¡¯s to check for anything that sends signal from my car, aside from my phone. I wait as the MP¡¯s waives the RF-signal detectors, spectrum analyzers and other detectors around my car. *beep* One of the detectors is indicating that its picking up on ongoing transmission I get out of my car to check it out and it¡¯s true. There is something sending spread spectrum signal from my car! ¡°Where is it!¡± I yell at the MP¡¯s Who has put a bug on my car? Many possibilities run through my mind. The C.I.A.; the J.A.T.F.; the FSB. There are as many possibilities as there are intelligence agencies around the world and then some. Now I need to inform Black about this. But I cannot do it now. ¡°Found it sir!¡± One of the MP¡¯s yells as he takes the bug from under the hull of the car. I take it to my hands and I recognize it. It¡¯s not a bug but a tracker. I recognize it because it was made by an American defense contractor. I was handling acquisitions for military in those days, and I remember the model. Our government didn¡¯t buy them as the range were too small but I knew who did. The J.A.T.F. military academy bought them for training purposes. It didn¡¯t count as a treason for profit for the manufacturers, as America is one of the founding members of J.A.T.F. 7xx! It must be her doing. The tracker must have been planted outside the safehouse, and 7xx could very well know the locations of a few of them. ¡°It¡¯s only a tracker. I¡¯ll handle this.¡± I say to the MP¡¯s as I grab the tracker and start heading for the main building. I need to backtrace it without being found out by other Pentagon personnel and send our teams to the location to kill her. I won¡¯t disable the tracker yet as that would alarm her that I¡¯m onto her. She could threaten our whole organization. I won¡¯t make the same mistake of underestimating her like White did. He only sent five men, I will send all that is available.
Pov Calla A reporter in New York? I have to find him before they do. I check the tracker signal and it stopped in Pentagon. Is the group I¡¯m after a part of the American government? The States are a part of the J.A.T.F. if I remember correctly so it feels unlikely but I will keep the possibility in mind though. They could have members in the government, probably in other countries too, but I think they are not a group sanctioned by the government or governments. I study from the recorded video feed the face of the man who seemed to be in charge, and make sure I remember it in the future. I would love to go after him but the reporter takes priority as he is in a time sensitive situation. This ¡®Red¡¯ on the other hand is alive till I put a bullet in his head, whether it was tomorrow or a year from now. He¡¯s a dead man walking even if he doesn¡¯t know it yet. I go online and look up New York, where it¡¯s located and its basic street map. Then I check where Brooklyn is and its maps.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. As I¡¯m learning information about the two places I hear something from the street level but think nothing of it. *beepbeepbeep* My phone sounded the alarm again. Is there someone in the safehouse? I look at the monitor that shows the safehouse and see that there is nobody there. Why did the alarm go off? I look at the other monitors and see how the front door of my base has been kicked in, and men in combat gear is coming to the building. Damn! I quickly stand up and rush to my weaponry. I take the mp5 and extra clips for it as my main weapon. I grab my pistol with the suppressor and tuck it in my pants. Luckily, I wasn¡¯t wearing the skirt but my college pants and the Omega training shirt with a hoodie as I just went outside to plant the tracker. I grab extra ammo for the pistol too and look at the monitors again. There are at least two nine men squads inside the building, but there could be more. How did they find me? There isn¡¯t any indication that they are police on their armors so they must belong to my enemies. It can¡¯t be a coincidence that they found me shortly after I planted the tracker. I grab the pad that has the tracker program and disconnect all its connections and turn it off. They shouldn¡¯t be able to track it if I¡¯m not tracking them. I wish I had added more of the ¡®little things¡¯ to my defense as I watch from the monitors the squads that starts to go up the stairs. There are two sets of stairs in the building that goes all the way to the top but from the tenth floor up I barred one of the stairways on each floor so that they would have to walk across the floor after each stairway to get to the other stairway that can be used. I used the construction materials that were left here and for good measure I threw most of the office supplies and chairs I found no other use for to block the stairs. I placed a grenade so that it can be seen but not tampered with as it¡¯s behind all the junk I used to block the stairs. I tied strings to the pins of the grenades and tied the other ends to the office supplies so they would get detonated if someone tried to dig their way through. Though they won¡¯t do that as the grenade is visible. Their purpose is to scare the invaders from using said stairways. As the first squad has gotten to the third floor I switch on the lights in the stairway of said floor. Mox moved the light switches of the stairs to the twelfth floor and I replaced the light pulps with partly disassembled grenades so that the electric current detonates the primer, which in turn detonates the grenade itself. *BOOM* The first explosion sounds from downstairs and the camera I had there goes dark. I hope I got most of the squad. The second squad heads for the other stairway at the other end of the building. *BOOM* I switched the light on at the corridor they were using. I see from one of the cameras that five men survived from the second squad. They are hurt, but they survived. The camera from the fourth floor shows that three men survived from the first squad. Or at least they were the ones that could continue onwards. In the stairway, they were more packed so it did more damage. I don¡¯t have any other grenades hooked into to the electrical system but there are some hooked to tripwires. I just hope they trigger them too. Two more squads enter the building. How can there be so many? I see a glint in the corner of my sight and by reflex jump to the side. *BAM* The pullet pierces through the window and one of the monitors that showed the stairway. Fuck. I have no idea how many snipers there are so I run away from the windows, grabbing the grenade launcher with a six-round drum magazine and head for the stairs. I must avoid the windows from now on. And I have a decision to make. Do I retreat, or do I fight and retreat? Let¡¯s fight. Every dead man is one less to come after me in the future. I reach with my hand from the door to the monitor room and grab the duffel bag that¡¯s laying on the ground. Most of my weapons were scattered around the room but the RPG and two remaining hand grenades along with the remaining grenades for the launcher are in the duffel bag. I grab the hand grenades and slide the duffel bag next to the elevator door before heading down the stairs. I run across the eleventh floor to the stairs leading down to the tenth, The tenth floor is where I make my stand before retreating. I make my way through the maze-like floor and stop when I have a visual to the stairs. I¡¯m kneeling behind a corner, aiming at the stairs with the mp5. It¡¯s a good weapon for this situation. The small caliber doesn¡¯t give much recoil so I can fire accurately even with automatic fire. And I need accuracy because it looked like the attackers were wearing body armors. I can almost hear my heartbeat as I wait. The sound of the approaching men¡¯s steps echoes from the stairs as I start hearing sirens in the distance. Judging by the footsteps the first three should already be one floor down. *BOOM* I hear an explosion about two floors down. I guess they triggered one of the tripwires. *BRATATA* I fire a small burst as the first head pops to my vision. Now it begins, a good old-fashioned firefight. *BRATATATA**BRATATA* Two more heads come to my view but this time they were ready and fired as soon as they came. They missed though as they had no idea where I am. It was just cover fire. They probably thought I took cover as both of them rushes up the stairs. *BRATATATA**BRATATA* I fire two bursts, killing both men. The trick when firing automatic fire to moving targets is to sweep the weapon horizontally, squeezing the trigger only when the targets are seen through the sights. Not the amateurish way to aim at first then stop the weapons movement before firing. *clang* A thrown grenade hits the floor few meters in front of me. I lunge myself behind the corner. *BOOM* I retreat behind the next corner while changing my mag and take aim from there. *BRATATA* I shoot the man that comes to view. He fell to his back but my shots only hit his body armor. *BAM* With a singular shot I execute him on the spot, spreading his blood and brain matter in a fan like pattern to the hard floor. I hear multiple steps coming from the stairway but I have no longer visual to over there. It must be a whole squad. I ready the grenade launcher that was hanging from my shoulder by its strap. Still holding the mp5 by its armguard with my left hand I steady the launcher with my left arm and wait. *swosh**BOOM* I shoot at the wall next to the corner when I see the first sign of movement. *BOOM* Another trap is triggered. But this time the noise came from behind me from the stairs. They triggered one of the grenades that was meant to scare them not using the stairs. This is bad. I¡¯m about to get surrounded, and I don¡¯t dare to use my secondary escape route from the window as I don¡¯t know where the snipers are positioned. I have the home field advantage though, as we are on the tenth floor. I turn around, not wanting to get in between the two attacking groups. I head to the corridors that have dead ends and blocked doors, towards the stairs where the grenade was triggered. I still hear footsteps from behind so I turn around and fire two more grenades. *swosh*swosh**BO-BOOM* I didn¡¯t stop moving when I fired and don¡¯t intent to. I drop the launcher to hang by its strap as I raise the submachine gun. I don¡¯t lower the weapon as I advance through the corridors, aiming down every corridor I come across, never slowing or letting my guard down. *BRATATATATATATATA* four men in a tactical formation came from the direction I¡¯m advancing. I shot a long burst towards them, only killing the first one as the other three were behind him. I take cover to the office on my left. *BRATATATA* The bullets impact the doorway next to me. I grab a hand grenade, pull its pin and throw it towards them. *BOOM* The explosion sounds and I step to the corridor. *BTATATA* I fire a small burst to the man left alive, who was still disoriented from the explosion, killing him. I step back to the office and change my magazine. *BOOM* Another tripwire is triggered. The sound came from this floor so they must have gotten more squads in here. There is only two traps remaining, them being the grenades in the tenth to eleventh, and eleventh to twelfth floor stairs. I keep moving towards the stairs that leads me to the upper floor, keeping my weapon aimed to the front. I can see from the windows the blue flashing lights and hear the sirens of the police cars. It¡¯s time to leave. As I advance I hear sounds coming from behind, probably survivors from when I used the grenade launcher. Without stopping or lowering my weapon, I grab my last hand grenade from my pocket with my left hand, pull the pin with my teeth, and swing my arm downwards, throwing it behind me just as I turn the corner. *BOOM*BRATATATATA* The grenade explodes behind me as I fire the two men that turned from behind the corner in front of me, just by using my right hand to hold the gun. I can see the stairs in front of me, at the end of the corridor I once again raise the grenade launcher. I intent to make a beeline for the twelfth-floor elevator door, where the duffel bag and the rope for my primary escape route awaits. I intend to grab the sniper from the eleventh floor on my way up, as I don¡¯t want to lose it. I have three shots left in the grenade launcher mag and one clip left for my mp5. The pistol is a backup and I wish to save its ammo.
Pov Linda We arrived at the office building few minutes ago where the shooting was reported. *BOOM* *BRATATATA**BRATATATA* The combat sounds come from the inside. ¡°It¡¯s a fucking warzone!¡± Joshua screams over the sounds of explosion and fire. ¡°Our sniper teams spotted other sniper on the roofs¡± The SWAT team leader says. ¡°Tell your men to shoot their weapons.¡± Simmons orders. You can see he used to be a soldier as he isn¡¯t much affected by the situation. But is Calla in there? How did the attackers found her or did she find them? *BOOM* The fighting grows tenser inside. We have already two SWAT teams that have entered the building, and they are encountering heavy resistance. I never thought I¡¯d see such a battle in the middle of Washington DC. *BRATATATA* *BAM**BAM**BAM* The singular shots came from outside. The SWAT snipers did their job, even though it was very unconventional order for police snipers. *BOOM* Yet another explosion. The window shatters in the stairs between floors eleven and twelfth. She really started a fricking war¡­ The attackers are now between us and Calla. Although I worry about her, they are between a rock and a hard place so to speak. They are probably regretting their employment choice right about now. Personally, no matter how badly I want to get inside, I won¡¯t. My expertise isn¡¯t fighting as I¡¯m an intelligence officer, it is gathering and analyzing intel. I help with commanding the police force for now. The whole building is surrounded and there is only our snipers on the roof so we have a good chance to capture some of them alive. Perhaps that way we can learn more about their organization but our primary goal is Calla now. ¡°The resistance is growing smaller. Some of them are starting to surrender.¡± Comes from the radio Detective Simmons raises his radio to his lips and presses the ¡®talk¡¯ button. ¡°Take as many alive as you can. Your main target is the suspect Calla. Do not fire at her unless she fires first. And do not, I repeat, do not under any circumstances corner the target.¡± He puts emphasis on the last sentence. And he is right to do so. If Calla feels threatened, her training takes over. It¡¯s like cornering a tiger, a very hungry tiger with combat training and automatic weaponry. His men acknowledge the orders through the radio *BOOOOOOOM* ¡°What the fuck!¡± Simmons yells as we all take cover from the falling glass. Now even he was surprised at the intensity of the explosion. And so am I What the fuck was that?! ¡°A part of the roof exploded!¡± Joshua yells and we all look up. He is right. There is thick smoke coming from the roof and all the windows in the twelfth floor shattered. What happened?! Is Calla Alright? I¡¯m fighting my instincts to rush to the building. People are yelling over the radios. The police had reached the eleventh floor already when the explosion took place so the shock wave of such an explosion in closed space must have wreaked havoc in their midst. *BOOM* As Simmons is trying to get some clarity over the radio about the situation, the garage door of the next building blows up. *VROOOM* A motorcycle speeds from inside it and as it comes to the street it hits the brakes and slides sideways before stopping. Everything stands still as the driver with a duffel bag and a grenade launcher with a still smoking barrel looks around. She looks towards us and I can see Calla¡¯s eyes turning wide inside the helmet as she looks at me. We stare at each other, for what feels like an eternity but lasts only for a couple seconds. The moment is broken when the policemen outside raise their guns towards her. ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Her left eye twitches in annoyance as she turns to look forward and hits the throttle. *VROOOOOooom* She speeds towards some of the officers who lunges to the sides to avoid her. She drives from between the two patrol cars blocking the street and disappears behind the next turn. ¡°Did that just happen?¡± Joshua states. Phew, she was alright. The relief washes over me as I listen to the fading sound of the bike I now recognize from the theft report. ¡°AFTER HER!¡± Simmons yells as he runs to one of the police cars.
Few minutes earlier Pov Calla I had a little resistance when I got to the eleventh but not much, only a few people. I grabbed my sniper and ran to the twelfth. When I reached the twelfth I grabbed my shoulder bag which had my money, ID¡¯s, the pad with the trackers and magazines for my pistol. I¡¯m now rushing towards the elevator. As I arrive I kick the rope that is by the opened elevator doors down to the shaft. It is already secured to the top of the shaft and has a handle attached to it that is designed for fast descent, courtesy of Mox. As I quickly dismantle the sniper and stuff it to the duffel bag and throw it over my shoulder. As I¡¯m about to jump to the shaft I hear something behind me and rapidly turn. ¡°You have no idea how much grief you have caused us Calla.¡± The blond man from the safehouse earlier today says. I have my mp5 in my hands and he has a pistol. We are both aiming at each other. But I don¡¯t have any bullets left in the magazine, though he doesn¡¯t know that. He thinks I hold the advantage as I have an automatic weapon. ¡°Let me introduce myself. I¡¯m Romeo 1, an operative of the Caturix movement. And you are subject 7xx.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Calla¡± ¡°Ha. You can wear the clothes of a person but you are nothing more than a weapon made for war. And that is the only destiny that awaits you if you live.¡± He tells me, probably trying to make me flinch and show an opening. ¡°You were made to hunt the hunters. As operators has become more integral part of warfare we designed subjects to counter them. You were made to kill operatives! And nothing more.¡± I would have shot him already if I had a bullet. ¡°So, it only makes sense then for me to kill you too.¡± I say to him. The things he said bothers me, but I know better to show weakness in front of him. I will have time later to think about his words, the last ones he will ever speak. ¡°How about we make this a fair fight?¡± He says, and takes a knife from his back to his left hand. That suits me well. He still thinks I have the advantage and is trying to provoke me and make this a close quarters fight. I have no choice but to oblige as I¡¯m out of bullets. ¡°A fair fight.¡± I say to him, while taking my own knife to my hand. He smiles, and releases the magazine of his pistol. *clatter* it drops to the ground and I do the same for my weapon. He starts lowering his weapon and I lower mine. I let him lower his first, making him believe I have bullets but the truth is, this weapon is useless right now. *clatter* We both drop our weapons at the same time to the floor. He changes his knife to his right hand. *BOOM* The tripwire in the stairs to this floor gets triggered, some debris is seen flying in the corner of our vision from the stairs. His concentration brakes for a fraction of a second and I take the opening. I throw my knife towards him and jump backwards, without looking if I managed to wound him, to the elevator shaft and grabbing the handle. I slide down the rope, tightening my grip of the handle as I grow nearer the elevator at the basement level. The braking mechanism activates when doing that, and it feels like my shoulder is about to rip and dislocate from the sudden slowing. *thumb* My feet impact¡¯s the elevator roof, denting it. I can feel the pain in my bones, as I lower myself to a kneeling position, grabbing the tail end of the RPG that is sticking out of the duffel bag. Why the fuck would I fight fair when I have an RPG? I aim it upwards, making sure that the tail end of it points to the elevators opened ceiling hatch. Romeo 1 comes to view as he looks down the shaft, intending to jump after me by grabbing the rope. Our eyes lock, as the reality of the situation register in his brains a look of shock and urgency is visible on his face. I smile at him as he turns around. *Swosh**BOOOOOOOM* With haste, I drop myself down to the elevator through the hatch while pulling the duffel bag with me. The shockwave hits the elevator roof and some of the pressure comes to the elevator, causing my ears to ring. I stand up from my laying position and stagger out of the elevator. ¡°Freeze!¡± A policeman yells from my left as he points a pistol to my temple, just ten centimeters away. ¡°Put your hands up!¡± A second one yells from my front. My ears still ringing and my balance compromised, my instincts take over. It all happens in a split second as I move my head forward while grabbing the gun aiming at me with my left hand. My right hand grabs my pistol and I aim it at the police in front of me¡­ *BA-BAM* ¡­putting two bullets to his chest, and immediately after, I aim at the officer to my left¡­ *BAM* ¡­shooting him to his leg. He starts to fall and loosens the grip on his weapon that I¡¯m holding with my left. I jerk the gun out of his hand and throw it to the side. I didn¡¯t mean to shoot him. It all happened too fast. And now I have killed a policeman. Linda won¡¯t like this. Oh, wait. The man I shot to the chest is grunting in pain but still breathing. Phew, he was wearing a vest. I grab my duffel bag and walk to him, take his gun and throw it away. The ringing in my ears starts to cede a little bit and now that I have time, I stop and think. Why were they down here? My escape route was the old steam vent that is no longer used but perhaps escaping underground three time a row is a little too unoriginal. Were they here because they anticipated that? If so, there could be more people in the vents or at the places where it would surface. My eyes fall to the grenade launcher that¡¯s hanging from my shoulder and then to the door that connects this one to the parking hall. I decide to change my plan and hope that my driving skills are good enough. I run to the door and get to the parking hall. There is my lime green motorcycle waiting for me. I climb on it and start it. I put the helmet on that came with the bike *VROMVrooom* I give it a little throttle before driving it so that in front of me is the garage door. *Swosh**BOOM* I use my trustworthy grenade launcher to blast the door open and drive through. *VROOOM* I just manage to brake it in time as its rear tire loses its friction and the bike turns sideways, stopping in the middle of the street. I look around. I¡¯m surrounded by cops who are looking at me startled and then I spot something. The red headed woman standing next to the policeman who drove me away from my old apartment. Linda! My eyes widen in surprise as I look at her and a smile comes to my face. ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Someone yells as the policemen takes aim at me. ¡®tch¡¯ I can feel my eye twitching in annoyance as the pests interrupt our reunion. I fight the urge to fire my two remaining grenades to them as I give the bike some throttle¡­ *VROOOOM* Barely avoiding the pests and their shitty cars I speed away from the scene. Fucking pests. Chapter 20 Chatper 20 Pov Police radio ¡±All units be advised. Suspect is heading east on Monroe¡± Centre ¡°This is unit 17. We have a visual on the suspect, I repeat, we have a visual on the suspect. Suspect is driving a green Kawasaki.¡± Car unit ¡°This is unit 5. We have a visual on the suspect.¡± Car unit ¡°Suspect turned north on route one.¡± Centre ¡°This is helo 2. We have a visual on the suspect.¡± Helicopter unit ¡°All units be advised, suspect is armed and dangerous. Proceed with extreme caution.¡± Centre ¡°What is the suspect¡¯s location¡± Det. Simmons ¡°Still heading north on route one.¡± Helicopter unit ¡°Suspect¡¯s doing something, hold for details¡± Helicopter unit ¡°Is that a grenade launcher?¡± Car unit ¡°MAYDAY, MAYDAY. We are hit! I repeat we are hit! We are going down on Brentwood¡­*whitenoise*¡± Helicopter unit ¡°Suspect just shot down helo 2, I repeat, helo 2 is down!¡± car unit ¡°All units be advised, apprehend the suspect by any means necessary. Use of extreme force is allowed.¡± Centre
Moments earlier Pov Calla *VROOOOOOOM* This. Is. Fucking. AWESOME! I love motorcycles! I take a left turn, avoiding the other cars. I head north, towards New York. I check my rear view mirror and see that the polic¡­ pests are still pursuing me. They ruined my reunion with Linda so no more mr nice girl. Damn. There is a helicopter following me. I can never lose them if I don¡¯t do something about that. There are two cars pursuing me on the same road, about one hundred meters behind me, but I hear sirens from other directions also. I should have worn my earplugs¡­ The sound of the bike¡¯s engine is almost too much. With my left hand, I grab the grenade launcher that still has one shot left in the magazine. I rotate my body to the left, keeping my right hand on the throttle and aim at the helicopter behind me. I have to make this count. *Swosh**BOOM* The grenade hit the tail rotor of the helicopter, causing it to start spinning and losing altitude. That¡¯s that. I keep accelerating on the road I¡¯m on. It¡¯s still dark and the scenery flashes by me. The houses are starting to thin out as it¡¯s replaced with small patches of forested areas and grass fields. I¡¯m zigzagging between the two lanes that has traffic going to my direction, avoiding the cars. There are still car patrols behind me, the flashing blue lights are seen in my rear-view mirrors. They are keeping up with me even though my speed is nearing 250km/h. There are at least six patrol cars chasing me, and I¡¯m sure there is many more trying to cut ahead of me and surround me. I see a truck with a trailer in front of me going to the same direction as I. I curve to the left lane, and when I¡¯m passing it, I grab my pistol. *BAM**VROOOM* I shot its front left tire and accelerated in front of it. I keep increasing my speed, and glimpse my mirror. The driver lost control of the truck, and is trying to stop it. The sudden braking causes the trucks trailer to turn sideways on the road, as the truck is stopping. It came to a stop, blocking the road. Now that they lost visual of me I take the next turn to right. I need to dump this bike, and get some other ride to New York. Shouldn¡¯t be that hard, I¡¯m thinking that I jump to some truck that has stopped for gas and get a ride that way or something like that. It¡¯s about 350 km to New York if I converted it from miles correctly so I intend to be there by the morning. I think Mox said he went there also, so I contact him when I arrive to help me with accommodations. And there¡¯s a chance that he can help me find the reporter.
Two hours later Pov Linda ¡°Damn! We lost her.¡± Simmons curses next to me. There was a high speed chase but Calla seemed to have enough of it as she put an end to it. She shot the helicopter down, then used a truck to block the road. That was the last we saw her. The police teams are now going through the crime scene where the firefight took place. No, I guess it would be more accurate to say that the police teams are now going through the battlefield. I¡¯m on the eleventh floor inspecting what Calla left behind. There is a camera and a mic pointed towards the building opposite of this so she was clearly surveilling something. There were monitors, computer and weapons on the floor above this one. And the police found a shot and burned TV on the elevator shaft which Calla used for her escape, I wonder what happened with that¡­ ¡°And you two idiots. You had her at gun point but managed to fuck it up. You were instructed to call for backup if she really tried to escape with underground tunnels again!¡± Simmons berates the two officers that were positioned to the basement. I wouldn¡¯t blame them too much though. I knew that a few officers wouldn¡¯t be enough to catch her. I¡¯m just glad she refrained from killing any cops, though the helicopter crew is still on the ICU as their condition isn¡¯t stable yet. ¡°What were we supposed to do? She staggered out of the elevator and was disoriented. We thought that¡­¡± The officer tries to defend his actions, but Simmons interrupts him. ¡°You thought what? We told you not to corner her and you two imbeciles ambushed her.¡± He continues. But I¡¯m sure he too knows that they didn¡¯t have time to call for backup. He¡¯s just unloading his frustrations to them. By the preliminary reports, it seems Calla took down 45 attackers by shooting or using traps. That¡¯s five nine men squads. That¡¯s a whole platoon worth of men. At the twelfth floor, there was a blond man in a suit that was severely hurt. He will probably lose his legs and right eye because of the explosion. I suspect that he is an agent or an operator of the organization that Calla is after. I have informed Brian and General Raven about the situation and the General seems to be taking this whole thing more seriously now. Perhaps he realized that the people Calla is after means business. He sent Brian to come here to help with the investigation and a team of analysts. Though I¡¯m pretty sure Calla left the city, but she will surface somewhere. I just have to wait for a big ass gunfight but before that, I want to interrogate the blond man when he wakes up. If he wakes up.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Location undisclosed Pov Handler I¡¯m the handler of 5xy. I¡¯ve just given it its new instructions to terminate a member of China¡¯s Central Committee. He is the one actively pushing for China to join the J.A.T.F. I don¡¯t know why the higher ups wants him dead, as it¡¯s above my paygrade. I think about the old-days, when we were still training the subject. It was a teenager then and we got to pick our targets for the training purposes. We used to rent it out to others as it was simpler to find good targets that represented real situations like that and we got money out of it. Simpler times¡­ *sigh* Now I¡¯m reading instructions that after this hit, the subject is to hunt and terminate one of ours that¡¯s gone rogue. And another subject no less. Subject 7xx. I know nothing about it except it¡¯s a female as its name implies. It sounds almost impossible that a subject would desert us as that¡¯s how they are made. I belong to an organization called Al-Avus, and Al-Avus belongs to the group that gives us our orders and the subjects. I¡¯m not sure how many similar organizations there are like us, who¡¯s task is to train and handle the subjects but I know there are more. The group that gives us our orders calls themselves the Caturix movement, Caturix as in the war god of helvitii that later became known as Mars of the ancient Roman religion. I looked it up as I was curious, and wondered about the motives why the group became to be. Every hit I have assigned to 5xy directly or indirectly caused the geopolitical situation to unstabilize in the region involved. And 5xy has never failed a termination yet, nor has it ever questioned its orders. I don¡¯t know what they have done to the subjects before they are delivered to us at the age of two but they are not normal, that much I know. I once got the chance to observe subject 3xy before it died, and came to the realization that it was similar to the Five-series but different. It wasn¡¯t as advanced in some areas as 5xy and by advanced, I mean that it was little harder to train, its reaction time was little slower and it didn¡¯t heal as fast. Though it was better in some areas too, though those thing could have nothing to do with their makings. But it too never questioned orders, and that makes it sound highly unlikely that a subject has gone rogue. Well no matter, the Seven-series could be more advanced but 5xy has a lot more experience and the xy-models are trained to be deadlier that the xx-models. 5xx for example was trained to infiltrate the Mossad. We sent it to Israel when it was 14 years old and devised a perfect alias for it and gave it a ¡®family¡¯ so to speak that would pass Mossad¡¯s background checks. As I¡¯m still its handler I know that it succeeded in its mission. Now it works for Mossad like any other their agents, waiting for our instructions. A sleeper cell. So I¡¯m not that worried that 5xy fails to terminate 7xx. I just have to wait for it to finish its current assignment and then the hunting can begin.
Pov Calla I dumped the motorcycle in a river and got on the ¡®Amtrak¡¯ train heading north. According the announcements this passes through New York. I stole some clothes that someone had left just hanging outside their house. They are tight dark jeans and a red sweater. I tied my hair up so that I¡¯d look a little different and bought some cheap sunglasses from a kiosk that was open. The sun is beginning to rise as I look through the window at the passing sceneries and sip the ¡®cola¡¯ bottle I bought. It¡¯s too sweet for my tastes. Drinkable things shouldn¡¯t be sweet in my opinion. The voice from the sound system just said that earlier stop was called Philadelphia, and I remember the place from the map when I studied it. It shouldn¡¯t be long anymore. I take my phone and decide to call Mox. *Beep beep beep* ¡°Yeah¡± He answers. ¡°Mox? It¡¯s Calla¡± ¡°Oh hey Calla. I¡¯m glad you are all right. I saw the news. They said that there was a shooting and some explosions in your base.¡± He says. So it made it to the news, huh. I watched some news in my late television but they were kind of boring. ¡°I¡¯m all right. I¡¯m heading to New York and was wondering if you could give me a hand? I can pay, of course.¡± I ask him. I could probably manage alone but it is easier to ask for his assistance. ¡°I can help. As long its nothing like the shooting that took place.¡± He says. I earlier got the feeling that Mox doesn¡¯t even like guns so I¡¯m not going to involve him in my bloodier businesses. ¡°I need a safe place to stay.¡± I say to him. ¡°I can do that. When do you arrive?¡± He asks. ¡°Little over an hour I think. And there is something else. I need to find a reporter of something called the New York Times¡± I mention the other thing I had in mind. From what I gather, he knows New York so this is my best chance to find the reporter. If I don¡¯t find him, I have to start searching Brooklyn one house at a time and that could take too long. ¡°Sure, sure. Does this reporter have a name?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I know he has gone into hiding.¡± I say to him. I wish the man called ¡®red¡¯ or the blond dude whom I killed would have mentioned some names in their conversation. ¡°Okay. I see what I can do. Meet me in two-hours at the¡­¡± He tells me where to meet, and we say our goodbyes. Now that I have some time to think, I recall what I learned at the base. So, my enemies finally have a name. The Caturix movement. That makes my internal monologues a little simpler as I don¡¯t have to refer to them as ¡®enemies¡¯ any more but it doesn¡¯t help more than that. I doubt I can just go around and asking people:¡¯ Ever heard of the Caturix movement?¡¯ The second thing is that I finally know the reason why I came to be, if I were to believe him. I was ¡®made¡¯ to kill operatives. What did he meant by the word ¡®made¡¯? Was I not born like other people? What am I then? The Caturix movement created me? Fine! I¡¯ll make them regret that they ever made me. I¡¯ll be the monster of their own making. ¡®To hunt the hunters¡¯ Is what he said to me. Isn¡¯t it the same thing as an apex predator. A predator considered to be at the top of a food chain because it has no predators of its own. A predator that has no natural predators in its ecosystem. And according to one of the movies I tried to watch, but stopped as it made no sense: a creature that should not feel guilty when it kills something weaker than itself. In all my life, I have never felt guilt. When I thought I killed the officer I didn¡¯t feel guilty, I just worried what Linda might think. I have killed many people in my life. In my missions when I was still with the ¡®Caturix¡¯ I killed a few people. In my training, I killed many more. My trainers would bring me people to fight to the death as an exercise and I never felt guilt then. When I killed my dog named ¡®dog¡¯ I felt bad but not guilty. I killed tens of people during the attack to my base but I feel nothing. Am I supposed to feel something? I have never really thought about it. I have known that people frown upon killing usually, but if it¡¯s for your country, the killers are patriots. If it¡¯s for peace, they are heroes. If it¡¯s for their bosses they are loyal. And if it¡¯s for their self-interest, they are evil. But now I have realized something. There is no good and bad in the world. There is no evil. There isn¡¯t white and black. There aren¡¯t even shades of gray. Humans created those concepts to survive in a pack. Humans created the thing called morality to bring order to the herd. But the truth is, evil isn¡¯t wrong and killing for whatever reason is a part of nature. The apex has no need for those things. I¡¯m not a pack animal. Now I¡¯m not even sure I¡¯m completely human. Caturix will regret that they created me. They want to kill me for whatever reason, but I will not simply roll over and die. They think they can just create things like me and get away with it. To use things like me for their own goals and ambitions. To play god. I will burn them down to their foundations. I will spill every drop of blood until they are drained dry and leave only ruins in my waste. They will be a dark spot in human history. People will wonder what happened to them, and as time passes they turn into a legend that¡¯s in the process of being forgotten. *shatter* As I think those things I accidently broke the bottle I was holding by squeezing it too hard. ¡°Are you all right?¡± A woman sitting on the other side of the corridor asks as she looks at my hand. There is little blood coming from my palm but it isn¡¯t much. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± I answer as I make a fist so that the blood doesn¡¯t get my clothes dirty. ¡°You sure?¡± She continues. I¡¯m not really in the mood for small talk so I just nod my head and turn to look out of the window. Soon I¡¯ll be in New York, Mox will help me find a place to stay and hopefully help me locate the reporter. If I find the reporter I''ll have him spill everything he knows, along with the location of the facilities and go check it out. I¡¯ll be sneaky and try to check it out without being noticed before I teach them the meaning of destruction. I want to know what is inside of there. I want to know what he meant when he said that they created me and perhaps the answer lies in Brooklyn. ¡­
Pov Mox It¡¯s soon time for my appointment with Calla. I¡¯m kind of glad she came to NYC as I grew fond of her. Though we aren¡¯t anything alike. We both color outside the lines but even though we don¡¯t belong to the world of regular people, our worlds aren¡¯t the same. I live in the grey. I live in the shadows. But Calla gives the feeling she is the shadow. But I doubt that she will ever come to hurt me as long as I don¡¯t do something to her or betray her. I got the feeling she understood that I don¡¯t like violence as she seemed to try and keep me out of those parts of her mission. I¡¯m still very interested what she¡¯s after though. Perhaps she is trying to unravel the North American Union? Or the New World Order? Or the Ust akil? Perhaps she is an agent of Ust akil!? As I ponder the possibilities I grab a white toga and wear it. I put on a fedora that goes nicely with it. Security through obscurity. There are many people always looking for me, here in New York especially. And now days when the government puts RFID chips in everything so they can track you, I cannot be too careful. If I look eye catching and obvious they will think it can¡¯t be me. I leave my hide out that is in the hidden rooms under a bar. The stairs are long and dark as I walk them up. I admire the paintings I have managed to obtain in my time here. The Degas looks lovely in this lighting. I come to the backrooms of the bar and greet the bar owner. He is an Armenian man that came to America few years back. I was already using the rooms here when he opened the bar but we came to an agreement of my use of the rooms as I forged credentials for his son¡¯s job interview. I come to the streets of New York and start heading for the park. Few heads turn to my direction, probably because of my clothing choice but this city is filled with weirdoes and crazies so they must think I¡¯m one of them. I walk the streets, continuously trying to spot if someone is following me. Of all the places in the States, I like New York the best. The tall buildings surrounding me, the people and vendors who populate the roads and the brilliant skyline that is outlined by the skyscrapers and the Empire State building. Not to mention this is the cultural capital of America filled with old buildings that are declared as landmarks and museums just waiting to be robbed. I see the open park and Calla already waiting for me by the big tree. She notices me and walks to my direction. ¡°Hey Mox. Good to see you.¡± She says. Isn¡¯t she going to comment on my clothes? ¡°Hey Calla. Good to see you are all right. Welcome to the big apple.¡± I say to her welcoming her to New York. The news said that the shooting was big, and there were several explosions followed by short high-speed chase that ended with one helicopter down and a multiple collision caused by a truck that lost control. ¡°Big apple?¡± She asks, tilting her head. ¡°That means New York¡± ¡°Oh. Did you got a chance to look into the reporter.?¡± It¡¯s only been an hour since she mentioned it to me. Well I got some information. ¡°I found out that four of the New York Times employees haven¡¯t been coming to work. One is at a vacation, one had an accident and was hospitalized and that leaves only two names. I think the reporter you are looking for is one of them.¡± I say to her what I have found out. Isn¡¯t she really going to say anything about my costume? ¡°What were the names?¡± She asks. I guess not. ¡°Timothy Carter and Joslyn Everdome. Do you know is the reporter a man or woman?¡± I ask her. She thinks for a while before answering. ¡°They referred to the reporter as him so I think he¡¯s a male.¡± ¡°So then it¡¯s probably Timothy you are looking for. I check the usual hiding places in the city if I can locate him. I also have a place for you to stay. Follow me.¡± I say to her as I start heading to one of my hideouts. I¡¯m going to stop on the way though and make her buy some clothes because the ones she¡¯s wearing now is a crime against humanity. ¡°What do I owe you?¡± She asks. ¡°Let¡¯s just say that if I ever need your expertise¡¯s, you¡¯ll help me.¡± I think it¡¯s a good thing to have her owe me a favor, if I ever have need for her talents. I hope I never find myself in that situation though. She agrees to the manner of payment as we walk the street down, her eyes rapidly turning from left to right, surveying the surroundings all time. Or just admiring the cityscape of NYC. Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Pov Calla ¡±This place hasn¡¯t been used since they faked Regan¡¯s death¡± Mox tells me as he took me to my new hideout. It¡¯s a corner building in Manhattan that looks to be four stories high, with a steep gabled roof. It¡¯s not as tall as the surrounding buildings but it has more character. The walls are white with couple support pillars at the buildings front. ¡°It has fallen into an economical loophole so technically no one owns it and no one can buy it. It is my fourth favorite safehouse and now I give it to your use.¡± He explains as he shows me through the door. We arrive in a small hallway that¡¯s filled with stacks of books. The floors are made of grey stone with decorative patterns made of granite. Mox turns on the lights and heads for the narrow stairs to our right. ¡°It is a library. I¡¯ve kept the book collections updated so you can do some reading while staying here. Its security measures are not as good as in your previous base but it has cameras. The monitors for the cameras are upstairs. I installed the same kind of alarm system we used in DC.¡± He tells me. We walk the corridors that are lined with bookshelves filled with books and come to a room with more bookshelves and a wooden table in the middle. ¡°This neighborhood is very calm. There are few street cams on the road but none of them points to this direction.¡± He continues with the showcasing. He walks to bookshelf by the wall and tilts one of the books little. *creek* The bookshelf opens like a door, revealing the hidden rooms behind it. We come to a small room with books stacked on the floor and a table by the wall with few computer screens which he turns on. The screens are showing video feeds of the library and the street outside. ¡°Any good escape routes?¡± I ask him. ¡°Only one but it is a good one.¡± He points to a corridor only a half a meter wide and continues: ¡°That corridor leads to the building next to this. It goes inside it walls leading to the apartment building behind it and comes out there from a hidden doorway. The building next to this is declared as a landmark so you don¡¯t need to worry about them renovating and finding the hidden passage. They are not allowed to take down the walls over there.¡± He explains the nature of the escape route. This is all fine with me. I like it more than the previous one. Instead of TV I can read and that is all right with me. There is a TV in here but I prefer the books as they can be more educative. I have realized that if I want to be more efficient I need to learn more about the world and its societies. ¡°Any books on penetrating computer systems? It¡¯s bit of a weak subject for me.¡± I ask him. It¡¯s something I¡¯d like to get better with as my training over the subject has been miniscule. ¡°Aah, to paraphrase Churchill: ¡®Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.¡¯ There should be some over there.¡± He points to a stack of books by the corner of the room. ¡°And do you know something called the Caturix?¡± I decide to ask him. It¡¯s a long shot but still there is a chance. ¡°You mean the god?¡± He says. God? ¡°No? I mean the movement.¡± I ask. ¡°It¡¯s an old god from Helvetii, that later was conquered by the Romans and the religion was merged with the Roman beliefs. Can¡¯t say I never heard of any movement that goes by the name. Do you want me to look into it?¡± He says. ¡°No. I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± I answer to him as I made the decision not to involve him in my agendas and if he starts asking questions using its name he might find himself in trouble. ¡°Okay then. I leave you to get settled in. I¡¯ll start looking for the reporter if I can find him and contact you when and if I do. Give me a few days.¡± He says to me as he starts heading out. ¡°Ok, thanks. I¡¯ll see you later.¡± I say to him. ¡°Au revoir.¡± He says as he closes the bookshelf door behind him. I watch from the monitors as he exits the library and hails a cab from the street. I like his clothes.
Video conference between four parties. ¡°¡­and you are saying that it killed all five ground teams you sent after it?¡± ¨CBlack ¡°Yes. On top of that I think it killed my primary operator as he hasn¡¯t yet reported back.¡± ¨CRed ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that effective. How the hell did Al-Aman train it? And what about the reporter? Any luck finding him?¡± ¨CBlack ¡°We have a name. Timothy Carter. We haven¡¯t found his hiding place yet but it¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± ¨CRed ¡°You better find and kill him or it¡¯s your head on the gallows. How about you Blue? Anything to report?¡± ¨CBlack ¡°The hit on Jiang Lee is assigned to 5xy after which it will start hunting down 7xx. It should be any day now that the hit is completed.¡± ¨CBlue ¡°Good.¡± ¨CBlack ¡°If we could revisit the matter with subject 7xx, you are right that it shouldn¡¯t be that effective. The way our modifications enhanced it must be extraordinary. We could use her body and blood work to improve our means to create the subjects.¡± ¨CWhite ¡°What do you mean? And do you need it to be alive in order to do that?¡± ¨CBlack ¡°No. Just its body should do the trick. And I mean that even if it were put through the COT training like the xy subjects it still is very intriguing how it could manage in such an age to survive the ambush and even disappear from us and the police afterwards.¡± ¨CWhite ¡°And you are sure that it has something to do with its modifications?¡± ¨CBlack ¡°Well, no. We can¡¯t be sure of anything as of yet with the subjects. We only have had sixteen of them and some of them have died before they could be used to compare. The focus group is much too small still, but for the future its body could prove to be useful.¡± ¨CWhite ¡°Very well. We¡¯ll try to get its body after its death. You have always been in charge of the labs so you know best. But don¡¯t disappoint me.¡± ¨CBlack ¡°I will not.¡± ¨CWhite.
Washington DC Pov detective Simmons I¡¯m sitting in my office at the department headquarters going through my files about the case. The men captured alive from the crime scene doesn¡¯t seem to know much. They only had orders to kill the suspect. And the blond man with the suit is still in the hospital in a coma. The explosion really did a number on him. He had a phone on him and we managed to get few numbers from it but they all were for burner phones. We keep it here in case someone tries to make contact and then we¡¯ll be there to answer. Linda has been in awfully good mood since she saw the suspect escaping our barricades. Was there something she left out when she told what she knew about her¡­ She is sitting on the opposite side of my desk with Joshua, going through the same files in case we missed something. *knock knock* I see a man that looks to be in his thirties with a short black hair and a casual suit through the glass of my door. He comes in before waiting for permission and smiles at Linda. ¡°Good to see you Linda. I heard you had an interesting night.¡± He says to Linda. ¡°Hello Brian. You came fast. And yes, to say the least, it was interesting.¡± Linda says. She seems to know him and that he was coming here.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°This is Brian Delore, our senior analyst. He was sent to help us.¡± Linda introduces the man to me. So he¡¯s a senior analyst for the J.A.T.F. That means that he works for the intelligence agency under the J.A.T.F. ¡°By the way Linda, did you hear the news?¡± He says With a questioning gaze Linda asks: ¡°What?¡± ¡°They found the Alpha trainer¡¯s family in a cabin in the mountains separating France from Spain. They were all executed.¡± He says. Does this have something to do with the kidnapping incidence Linda mentioned earlier? ¡°Damn. What happens to Owel now?¡± She says. Owel must be this ¡®Alpha trainer¡¯ if I understood correctly. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. General Raven has yet to decide. There is a chance that he is imprisoned or stripped from his rank. But there also is the chance that he remains with the J.A.T.F. and goes back to being active operator as he now has more than enough motive to hunt the perpetrators down.¡± Brian says. ¡°The enemies are despicable to stoop so low as to kidnapping and killing children.¡± Linda says with a grimace. This is much bigger than I previously thought. If Calla has left the city the case falls from my jurisdiction to some other precinct. I could go as a consulting detective to help out but I wouldn¡¯t be in charge. This has me considering the Interpol¡¯s offer again. I¡¯m inclined to accept it now if I could continue investigating this case. That way I won¡¯t be so bound by the territorial rules of the police here in USA. I have to ask them if that¡¯s okay. Although I could always ask Linda if there was a chance of me getting a spot in the J.A.T.F.¡¯s ranks. I¡¯m trained by the marine corp so my skillset shouldn¡¯t be a problem
NYC Pov Calla It¡¯s starting to be evening as I have finished inventorying and cleaning all my stuff. I also took a closer look at the clothes Mox took me to buy. I did the same as previously, and picked the same clothes the mannequins were wearing, with some additions Mox said to take. There isn¡¯t a bed in here but a mattress in the next room from the room with the monitors. I think I should start trying to learn sleeping on soft surfaces¡­ Though I think it¡¯s going to be difficult. I have never done it before and now that my RPG is left behind I don¡¯t have anything to sleep with. I could sleep with the sniper but it wouldn¡¯t be the same. It has less character than the RPG¡­ I go to the mattress and take the book about the computer systems with me, intending to spend the rest of the evening reading before going to sleep. ¡­ ¡­ *Yawn* It really was difficult to sleep on this thing¡­ It¡¯s a brand new day, the morning sun shines to my windows that are plastered shut with old newspapers and I can hear the morning traffic outside. If only I had something to do other than wait. I grab an apple as I start reading the book I started last night. I spend some time reading it when I¡¯m interrupted by the front door opening downstairs. I get up and ready my pistol. I walk to the room next to this and take a look at the monitors. Oh, it¡¯s only Mox. I put the pistol down as I open the hidden door to the rest of the library and go greet him on top of the stairs. ¡°Dear god Calla, put some clothes on!¡± He yells to me as soon as he sees me and continues. ¡°And what¡¯s with all those scars?¡± I glance at my body. I¡¯m wearing my underwear so I¡¯m not naked. I wonder what his problem is, it must be the scars. I decide to ignore his question about them as I put on some grey college pants and a black t-shirt. ¡°Find anything?¡± I ask him going straight to the point. He wouldn¡¯t come here so early in the morning if he didn¡¯t find anything. ¡°Not even a ¡®good morning¡¯? Fine. I found something. I checked the cheaper motels and the usual hiding spots in the city and found him in a motel. He was scared and thought someone is after him so I moved him to a safer location. Want to go there?¡± He says what he found. Good. I don¡¯t like waiting. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go there now.¡± I say to him as I take a grey hoodie and put it on. This is perfect. I¡¯m glad I met Mox and asked him for his help. As I¡¯m thinking that we are heading down the stairs. Once we get to the street there is already a cab waiting for us. ¡°I knew you wanted to leave immediately.¡± Mox says to me as we go inside the waiting cab. Mox tells the address to the driver and the car starts moving. We don¡¯t talk much on the car ride as I¡¯m busy checking out the city. It¡¯s nicer than Washington because there are more sniper positions available. The buildings are taller and the windows seems to be a bit bigger in general. Though there are much more people too but I¡¯m starting to get used to the crowds. I bought earplugs yesterday just in case but I¡¯m not sure do I even need them anymore. The cab stops in front of a rundown residential building with five floors. We head inside the building and use the stairs to get to the fourth floor where Mox heads for apartment eleven. *knock-Kno-knock Knock* Mox rhythmically knocks the door before opening it with his key. Inside is an empty one room apartment with a bathroom and a kitchen cabinet. There is only a bed and a table with one chair. A blond curly haired man is sitting on the chair as he turns to look at us. He has eyeglasses and is wearing jeans and a buttoned up grey shirt with a tie loosely hanging on his neck. ¡°Timothy Carter?¡± I ask him, verifying his identity. ¡°Yes. And you are the person who wanted to talk to me? Why should I trust you? I wouldn¡¯t even be here if the little man hadn¡¯t threatened to spread out the location of my previous hiding place.¡± He says angrily glancing at Mox. I look at Mox and he only shrugs his shoulders back at me. ¡°You should trust me because I¡¯m the one with the gun.¡± I say back at him, taking my pistol to plain view and pointing it towards him from my hip. ¡°Calla?!¡± Mox is startled by my action but I don¡¯t want to waste time. I¡¯m not sure if I even want him in the room when I ask my questions but he deserves to be here as he was the one who found the guy. I didn¡¯t want him involved in this but it¡¯s not like I¡¯m actively trying to involve him. If he wants to get involved after he hears this conversation it¡¯s his choice. ¡°Who the fuck is this girl!? You said I could trust you!¡± Timothy yells at Mox when Mox only shrugs his shoulders back, not wanting to start arguing with me about my methods. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t want to waste time persuading you to talk. This is simpler. Answer my questions and you get to retain your ability to breathe.¡± I say to him. I lower my weapon a bit before continuing: ¡°You found some facilities in Brooklyn and thought you were followed because it and went to hiding. I want to know how you found the place and where is it.¡± I state what I want from him. He goes silent for a moment but I put on an expression that promises death and decay if he doesn¡¯t start talking. *gulp* ¡°Alright I¡¯ll talk.¡± He says to me after audibly swallowing. ¡°It all started when I began to follow a General Assembly member of the UN. I noticed that he left the headquarters of UN many time at odd hours when I was looking for a story. I smelled a scoop there, and thought he was having an affair or something so one night I tailed him to where he was going.¡± At this point he takes a breath and turns his gaze downwards before continuing: ¡°I followed him to a building in Brooklyn and stalked the place. I stayed in my car and noticed that the same people kept walking the area. At some point I noticed that the people carried weapons under their jackets so I got scared and left the place before they noticed me.¡± He raises his head to look towards me. ¡°Then a couple of days ago when I was walking the street I recognized one of the guys when I left from the office. He was waiting for me. That¡¯s when I went to hiding after circling in the traffic to make sure no one was following me.¡± He finishes his tale. ¡°Where the building is and what was the name of the person you followed.¡± I go to the important part. ¡°The man¡¯s name is Vinny Cooper and the place was at¡­¡± He tells me the address. Only one more question: ¡°How many guards did you see?¡± I ask him. ¡°Guards? Oh, the guys who kept circling it? I think, maybe six? I¡¯m not sure. What do you intend to do? Are you going to help me?¡± He says. So many questions at once¡­ He saw six guards but there must be more. And why would I help him? ¡°I intend to pay them a visit. And no, I¡¯m not going to help you. If they still chase after you when I¡¯m done with the place that¡¯s your problem. But now you must stay here for a few days so they can¡¯t get to you and make you speak about me.¡± I finish my sentence, raising my gun at the end of it. I would consider shooting him if Mox wasn¡¯t standing next to me. ¡°What are you intending to do?¡± Mox asks me, not mentioning my name as I haven¡¯t mentioned his. We are on the same page about that thing. Although my name ¡®Calla¡¯ would probably mean nothing to Caturix. ¡°I thought you wanted to stay out of this?¡± I ask him raising my eyebrow. ¡°Are you kidding? I¡¯m not going with you or anything but I¡¯m still curious. A real life conspiracy involving the UN and god know who else!¡± He says. Oh, right. He likes stuff like that. In our talks those things must be his favorite subjects¡­ ¡°I intend to check the place out and probably burn it to the ground if I have the means to do so.¡± I say to Mox as I¡¯m heading for the door. The only thing is that I don¡¯t have the means to burn it to the ground. Some explosives would be nice but I have nothing but the six grenades left for my launcher and I doubt that¡¯ll be enough. ¡°That reminds me, can you get me something that goes boom?¡± I say to Mox while putting my pistol away and open the door. Mox follows me as he says: ¡°I have a supplier for semtex and c4 but I don¡¯t feel comfortable that you use it for blowing up a building. I have only used the stuff for vault doors and such.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to buy it for me. Just introduce me to the seller.¡± I say to Mox as we are heading out of the building. ¡°Fine¡± He answers, not happy about his part in all this but it just the simplest way to do things now. We head for the street and take a cab to the seller. I¡¯m going to go there during next night so I have to get everything prepared during the day. We come to a stop in front of an old warehouse. Mox pays the cabbie and heads for the warehouse. ¡°Jeff!¡± He yells once inside and I can hear steps coming from behind the tall racks filled with pallets. ¡°Mox. Who¡¯s the young miss?¡± The man with a bushy black beard and bald head asks. He must be near two meters tall and his frame is very big. You can see his muscles from underneath the black sweater he is wearing. ¡°This is your new customer, Calla. Calla, meet Jeff. Now that my job here is done I¡¯ll be taking my leave.¡± Mox says as he turns around and heads for the door. ¡°Hey, are you serious? She can¡¯t be older than fifteen!¡± Jeff says to Mox but he¡¯s too late as Mox is already outside. I feel a little sorry for Mox for putting him in this situation¡­ ¡°He is serious. I need as much c4 as this bag can fit.¡± I say to him while showing my shoulder bag to him. ¡°¡­¡± *sigh* He looks me from head to toe before sighing. ¡°Fine. Since Mox introduced you. But it¡¯ll cost you.¡± He says. I grab few rolls of bills from my bag, and that reminds me that I should check if there is a go bag here in New York as I¡¯ll run out of money if this rate keeps up. Or I just look for some work. I¡¯m sure there would be some guys willing to hire me for my particular set of skills. I throw the money to him before asking: ¡°Is that enough?¡± He catches the money before counting it and nods his head after which he heads for the backrooms. ¡°Wait a sec.¡± He says. ¡­ I got my explosives and I hope that they are enough. I¡¯m walking the street that is filled with other warehouses and small factories as there are no cabs in these parts. While walking I search the name ¡®Vinny Cooper¡¯ with my pad that I had in my shoulder bag. He is a man in his late forties according to his information on the net and he has black hair that is beginning to turn white as he is aging. He has blue eyes and wears eyeglasses. Before he joined the UN he was a medical doctor and worked with this thing called ¡®doctors without borders¡¯. It seems respectable organization by the looks of it and that makes me wonder why he is part of the Caturix. But it matters not, as I have a bullet with his name on it. Or a c4. Depends on the situation. ¡­ I¡¯m sitting on a cab heading for the library. It isn¡¯t even mid-day yet but I intend to make my final preparations and head for the address. I¡¯ll survey the building during the day and make my move during the night. ¡°¡­A member of the China¡¯s central committee was assassinated by a lone shooter in Germany. The shooter is still at large and Germany¡¯s police have yet to comment on the incident¡­¡± The reporter of the radio news says but I pay no mind to it as I¡¯m busy preparing myself mentally for tonight. Who am I kidding, I¡¯m ready to go. I¡¯m just too eager to listen. I can¡¯t wait for the night and have my much wanted answers and bloodbath. Vinny Cooper. Doctor Vinny Cooper. He will be assassinated by a lone shooter also. Soon. I just have to visit the facility first. Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Pov Calla I¡¯m surveying my target building in Brooklyn from the roof of the warehouse next to it. It¡¯ll soon be dark and my operation ¡®findanswersandkilleveryone¡¯ can begin. The warehouse that the reporter mentioned is about five meters of height, fifty meters wide and forty meters deep. I¡¯m wearing black tactical pants with thicker cloth in the knees and combat boots I bought yesterday. I have a dark grey hoodie on and black latex gloves. I have my shoulder bag filled with c4 with me and my pistol with four extra mags. I have the suppressor attached to the pistol and my combat knife, which I bought before I came here, is on my lower bag, slightly hidden by my hoodie. I didn¡¯t take the grenade launcher with me this time, as it would slow me down a bit and I think I can manage without it. I have only six rounds left for it, so I wish to save them for later. I have counted eight men who circle the building in fixed intervals and I have timed their patrols to the second. There haven¡¯t been any people who have got in or out of the building but there must be something there, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t be so protected. I have to start this thing as silently as I can and when I have found the answers I¡¯m looking for I can get as noisy as I want. I¡¯m contemplating should I kill the guards outside the building before I head in. I have confirmed that they say something to their radios every hour, so I think I¡¯ll do it. Less people to hinder me when I make my exit. If I manage to kill them silently, I would have one hour before they notice that they don¡¯t respond anymore. One hour should be enough. I expected better security detail for secret organization¡­ One-hour intervals for the check ins are much too long. It could be for the purpose that they aren¡¯t spotted by other people so easily as there is some activity in the area. The area seems to be partly for industrial use and for warehouses so the traffic isn¡¯t that much but it¡¯s still there. I once again check the time from my phone, as the guards check in using their radios. An hour has passed since the last time. The next time they do that, I¡¯ll start my operation as it¡¯s going to be dark then. I¡¯ll start making my plans for the infiltration now. There is a fence circling the building. There is only one entry point visible, that being the front door. Two men patrol outside the fence, four patrol on the large front yard inside the fence that has containers and boxes on it, probably only to disguise the place as some warehouse. And the last two circles the entire building inside the fence. The men circling outside the fence take about ten minutes to walk around it, after which they stop for a few minutes next to the closed gate before continuing. The men who circles the building inside the fence takes about six minutes to make the lap. The men at the yard just walks around without aim, stopping somewhere before continuing so I have to wing it how I get rid of them. The men outside the fence are the first to go. There are some surveillance cameras but they all point towards the front yard and there are many blind spots from what I can see. For the rest of the time, I study the blind spots, trying to burn them in to my mind so I don¡¯t have to stop and think about them as I start the operation. ¡­ ¡°Outer perimeter is secure.¡± I hear the man couple of tens meters ahead of me say to his radio. The operation is a go. He is alone, circling the building now. It should take three minutes for him to reach the front gate but he will never reach that far. I¡¯m not even hiding my presence as I¡¯m running towards him. I have my hood down and no weapons visible. He looks warily back, towards me but turns ahead as he notices that I¡¯m just a young girl on an evening jog. He turns his back towards me as he keeps walking his patrol. *shing* As I¡¯m passing him I horizontally swing my knife, severing his spinal cord at the base of his neck. I drag his body to the shadows on the other side of the small street so that the inner perimeter guards don¡¯t take notice of it. I take his radio, turn the volume way down and hang it on my belt. Now only people with my hearing should hear it if someone talks to the channel. I keep up my jogging routine as I circle the fence. The other guard is walking towards me as I turn the corner. He too only spares me a glance as I¡¯m nearing him. This was also done in a test to see if they have been shown photos of me but I guess not. And why would they, as the Caturix shouldn¡¯t have any clear images of me. *shing* ¡°Aa-grrhhgl¡± With a similar swing as previously, I cut his throat, severing his airways so he cannot scream before I stab the knife to his carotid artery and watch him fall down. Heh¡­ That brings the memory when I killed the men who blew up my cell block in J.A.T.F. in mind. I drag his body a behind a dumpster and check if the men circling the building inside the fence are close. They aren¡¯t but one of them should walk past this spot in a couple of minutes. I take the leather jacket of the dead man, noticing that he really had a holstered weapon under his armpit, and throw it on top of the fence. There is a barbed wire there so this way I can climb more easily. I put my hood on. Mox had me bought a blank white mask also, but I¡¯m not going to wear it for this as I don¡¯t intend to leave anything behind to identify me. I climb the fence and start circling the building to the direction my next victim should appear from. I¡¯m at the back of the building now as I keep close to the wall so that the cameras don¡¯t get a visual on me. I stop by the corner and wait. *step* *step* I ready myself and take an inverted grip of the knife. *step* I stab the knife just below his sternum in an angle so that the knife penetrates his heart. The next guard who circles the building should come from the opposite direction so I start making my way there, circling the building counter clockwise. I am not even holding my pistol now, because if I were to fire it, it would alarm every one of my presence. I once again wait by the corner. As the corner I¡¯m now waiting by is the corner for the sidewall and front wall I cannot kill the man like I did previously. The front yard guards would notice. I have to be fast. The knife is in my left hand in a normal grip and the corner is on my left side, as I¡¯m standing by it with my back against the wall. *step* *step* I wait for the guard to come closer and just as he is about to turn the corner I stab him directly to the throat, blocking his airway and destroying his vocal cords. With my right hand I grab his clothes by his chest and jerk him behind the corner. He falls down to my right side, and I fall down on top of him, his back against the ground. I grab the knife which is still stabbed in his throat with my right hand also, and strongly swing it to the right. The cut severs his arteries and veins, splashing his blood to the wall on my right and staining my clothes. I stay on top of him without moving and listen. It doesn¡¯t seem like anybody noticed what happened. I stand up and edge to the corner, glimpsing behind it to verify the positions of the guards. As I see an opening I rush to the front yard, avoiding the areas which are visible for the cameras. I hide behind some wooden boxes and peek at the two men who are standing few meters ahead of me side by side, facing to the left. They are talking and smoking cigarettes without worry. They have no idea that death is looming just few meters to their right, thinking about the quickest and quietest way to dispose of them. ¡°This is the most boring job ever. Nothing has happened in years. I thought that the reporter would bring some excitement to our lives but he¡¯s probably already dead.¡± Target number five says. ¡°That¡¯s how it is. The operators have all the excitement nowadays while mercs like us are put to guard duty.¡± Target number six answers. I¡¯m about to bring some excitement to their lives but it¡¯ll be so fast that they don¡¯t have the chance to enjoy it. I wait for the moment when the other guards aren¡¯t looking at this direction. The further of them is at the other side of the yard next to a shipping container and the closer of them is by the gate, in front, and slightly to the left of me, about fifteen or so meters away. Now the remaining two guards, aside from the ones in front of me, don¡¯t have a visual to this position. The one by the gate is facing a different direction and the other one just walked behind the container. I rush out from my hiding spot.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Three meters to go. The closer guard starts turning his head towards me, probably hearing my steps. Two meters to go. I ready the knife on my left hand with a reverse grip as the closer guard has vision of me. One meter to go. The guard is about to open his mouth as his other hand reaches for his jacket but I¡¯m close enough and I¡­ *Shluk* Stab the base of his neck, killing him instantly as I simultaneously kick with my right leg to the back of the knee of the other guard. The other guard falls to his back as I quickly regain my balance from the swift kick and¡­ ¡°Arghl¡± Stomp on his throat with all the force I can muster. I pull the guard whom I stabbed to the ground using my knife as a handle. I pull the knife out and finish the other guard quickly by jumping on top of him and slicing the already crushed throat, before he manages to get his gun. ¡°¡­¡± I¡¯m crouching down on top of the dead man, listening if the other two makes any indication that they noticed. I don¡¯t hear anything like that so I carefully raise my head and look at their directions. The other one is still behind the container, and the other one is¡­ Just turned his head and is looking at me! As he is reaching for his gun I shift the knife to my right hand and throw it at him. The knife penetrates his neck, just above his breastbone. He falls down with gurgling sounds as I run towards him. I arrive to him, take the knife and finish the job by cutting his throat from ear to ear. The last guard must have heard something so I take the knife and keeping to the blind spots of the cameras, I make my way towards him. He comes from behind the container with a radio in his hand but I predicted that as I took my radio to my hand also. ¡°We have an intrud¡­¡± He starts his sentence but notices that I¡¯m jamming the channel by pressing the ¡®talk¡¯ button of my radio. He takes his weapon from under his jacket and I hastily throw my knife towards him before he can make a shot. *clang* He blocked it with his gun, dropping it in the process as the knife made a cut to his fingers. I start running towards him as he looks around for his gun. He chooses to fight with fists as I¡¯m already closing in and he hasn¡¯t got the time to pick the gun up. He takes a regular boxing stand as I¡¯m closing and when I¡¯m about to enter his reach he takes a wide right hook toward my head. I forcefully stop my momentum just outside his reach, missing his fist by millimeters. I take a quick step forward and¡­ ¡°arghl¡± ¡­ use a left jab to hit him to the throat. He is large adult male so I have to go for the weak spots. He puts his left hand to his throat as he lets out the noise and he makes a panicked frontal kick with his right leg. I dodge to the right, grabbing his ankle while doing so and holding it up. With my right leg I kick his supporting leg¡¯s ankle, bringing him down. The knife is too far away and I want to finish this before he¡¯s throat has recovered enough to scream so I jump on top of him, mounting him between my legs. He tries to hit me with his right fist but I parry it with my left arm. I punch him with my right straight to his nose. His head hit the hard ground under him and he is disoriented enough to drop his defenses. I grab the back of his head with my left, and take a hold of his jaw with my right. *crunch* With a painful sounding noise I break his neck. ¡°haaaah¡± I let a large breath out. I look at the empty yard and check the camera angles again, confirming that I stayed out of their vision. I stand up, my heart still pounding in my chest. I look for my knife and see it few meters away from me. I walk to it and pick it up, and look at the yard with bodies again. I stayed out of the cameras and so did the bodies. That was intense towards the end. Is this the excitement the two dead targets were talking about? Avoiding the cameras, I start moving towards the entrance of the building. It¡¯s a simple wooden door on the center of the concrete wall. When in front of it, I press my ear against it and listen. I cannot hear anything from inside so I open it carefully. I peek to the insides and see that it is empty. Only a small room in the center of it, nothing more. There are no visible cameras inside the room so I go in. I head towards the small room in the center of the place and open the door. Inside of it is only stairs heading down. That where the facilities must be. I walk the stone stairs downwards, keeping to the left side of the stairs. When I come to the bottom I see that the wall that starts on the left is made of glass. I plant a c4 on the stairs in the corner of the floor and a stair and take a peek what¡¯s behind the glass. I see two guards sitting behind a desk with monitors. It must be the surveillance room that shows the cameras and where the guards report to. I still have forty minutes before the guards are supposed to call in but I don¡¯t know how much time I have before they notice the absence of guard activity outside. I don¡¯t see any cameras inside the facilities so I get low and walk past the window so that they don¡¯t notice me from behind the desk. The corridor I¡¯m on has white walls and ceiling. It divides in to two few meters ahead of me, the other one going to the right in a ninety-degree angle and the other one heading straight. I see three doors on the one heading straight, two on the right side and one on the left. I gather that the door on the left is the way to get to the security room, but I don¡¯t intend to go there I don¡¯t see any activity inside the corridors but I can hear that there are multiple people here. I walk past the door on the left and see that the corridor heading straight turns to the right couple of tens meters ahead of me. I switch to the right side of the corridor and go to the first door on the right and carefully open it. I come to a room with oxygen tanks and medical supplies on the walls. There are a lot of cabinets circling the room and the tanks are placed at the center of it. Behind the tanks are IV-bags filled with some serums. In the bags is the number ¡®9¡¯. I¡¯m starting to get a feeling what this is all about and the idea of it sickens me. I place a c4 inside the room, and start opening the valves of the oxygen tanks. The oxygen should spread through the facility so that when it is time to detonate, it will cause a flash burn in the facility, hopefully burning everything inside. *creek* The door is opened and a man walks in to the room wearing a white coat. I managed to get behind the tanks so that he didn¡¯t see me. He walks past the tanks and heads for the IV bags. I kick the back of his knee when he walks past me and place the knife to his throat. ¡°Shut up or you die.¡± I quietly say to him as he freezes from the sudden assault. ¡°How many more men are the inside.¡± I ask him ¡°I¡¯m no-not sure¡± He fearfully replies to me. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt me. I¡¯m only a scientist.¡± He says. I change the knife to a pistol and take a step back and continue with my questioning. ¡°What are you people doing in here?¡± ¡°We do research.¡± He answers. I¡¯m getting impatient. *klick* I pull the hammer of my pistol back. ¡°What research?¡± ¡°Genetics.¡± He says. ¡°Show me.¡± I say as I prompt him towards the door by signaling it with my pistol. We come to the corridor and I see there is no one in it. He turns right and I follow, keeping my pistol on his back. ¡°You will not get away from here alive.¡± He says. ¡°Shut up.¡± We come to the next door on the right and he opens it. ¡°Did you get the serum Ed? Hey, what are yo..¡± The other man in the room says but I interrupt him: ¡°Shut up or die.¡± I look at the center of the room, keeping my gun pointed towards the men. There is a pregnant woman laying in a hospital bed with an IV-bag attached to her arm. The same kind of IV-bag that was in the storage room. I study the room and see that there are scans of the woman¡¯s stomach on the wall, showing two embryos. I take my knife and swiftly swing it with my left hand, cutting the throat of the man I met in the storage room. ¡°What ar..!¡± He starts yelling but shut ups as I point my gun towards him. ¡°Talk if you want to have the slightest chance to live. What¡¯s all this?¡± I say to him, my expression promising death. ¡°Okay, okay I¡¯ll talk.¡± He says while holding his hands up. ¡°This is genetic research. We are enhancing the embryos.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°We use different kind of serums to make slight changes to their chromosomes and to their protein uptake by¡­¡± He explains it in medical terms briefly but that doesn¡¯t really tell anything to me so I continue: ¡°To what end?¡± I ask ¡°¡­¡± ¡°To what end!¡± I raise my voice to the end of my sentence, starting to lose my cool. ¡°To make them better! To increase their reaction time and senses. Make their muscle tissue tenser and elastic. And to¡­¡± He starts lowering his voice towards the end. ¡°And to?¡± I prompt him to answer. ¡°And to diminish their emotional responses towards a more passive state, although there are some inconsistencies in that department still.¡± He answers. Is this what I am? A genetic research. Diminished emotional responses? ¡°Why?¡± Although I know why. To make weapons like me. But I want to know what he knows. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about the why. I¡¯m here just for the research.¡± He answers me. ¡°And who is this?¡± I ask, pointing to the unconscious woman. ¡°That¡¯s the series nine host.¡± So was I too born in a facility like this? ¡°Why twins?¡± I ask, this time pointing towards the ultrasound images. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Why twins!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s more efficient. The host¡¯s die after the birth as their grown bodies can¡¯t handle the serums and we need to start doing the changes to the children while they are still in the womb. The women who¡¯s genetic markers are fit for the modifications so that they can live through the pregnancy are very rare, so having twins is more efficient.¡± He finishes his explanation. ¡°We make sure that one of the baby¡¯s is a boy, and the other one is a girl to see the differences in results caused by the gender.¡± He continues. This makes me sick. And I have a brother? Is he still alive and with the Caturix? ¡°Who is in charge here? Who leads the research?¡± I ask him ¡°We only know him as White. He comes in from time to time to survey our progress and with additional data for the research.¡± He says. White? ¡°What does he look like?¡± I ask him. I already have an idea who it could be. ¡°A man in his late forties. We call him dr. White¡± He partly confirms my suspicions. I take my phone out and show him the picture of Vinny Cooper. ¡°Is this him?¡± I ask ¡°Yes.¡± He confirms my suspicions. ¡°Are there more of these facilities?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think there is as some of the data dr. White has brought with him is from other subjects. They don¡¯t tell us anything. We just monitor the Nine-series host and follow the procedures we are instructed to follow.¡± He answers. It doesn¡¯t seem he is lying. Has this man outlived his usefulness to me or is there something else I could ask? There is a moment of silence as I think about is there anything else. ¡°Who are you?¡± He asks. ¡°Seven¡± I answer He widens his eyes as I answer. ¡°HEL..¡± He starts to yell. *bam* The suppressed shot is heard as I put a bullet through his head. They must have heard that. I drop a c4 here also and go for the door with my pistol ready. *ba-bam* I shoot the guard that was rushing down the corridor. I decide to check one more room as the alarms go off. The white light¡¯s turns in to red and sirens starts blaring. I walk the corridor deeper in to the facilities and make the right turn at the end of the corridor. There is only one door at the end and I go in. ¡°Please don¡¯t shoo..¡± *bam* I shoot the scientist that is in the room. The room has medical equipment and different scientific stuff, which I don¡¯t recognize. I go for the only computer in the room and decide not to test my recently learned computing skills as I grab the external hard-drive from it. I¡¯m too pressed for time. I drop two c4¡¯s in the room and go out. *BRATATATA* A three-man team is coming from the room next to the surveillance room and opens fire as they see me at the end of the corridor. I managed to dodge behind the corner before they started firing. I wait for them to proceed closer, and when they are close enough so that I can dodge their aim I jump from behind the corner¡­ *BRATATA* ¡­they fire but I dodge to my right. They are in a formation with one man at the front and two behind him side by side. I grab the automatic weapon of the first man and pull it pointing to my left while I punch his face with the barrel of my pistol and fire¡­ *bam* The blood sprays to the man behind him on the left, blinding him for a few moments before he can wipe the blood from his eyes. The man on the right is aiming at me so I kick from the right side of the legs of the man I just killed, making him fall to the right¡­ *BRATATATA* The bullets the man aimed at me hit the man I just used to block his aim¡­ *bam* I shoot the man who was wiping his eyes and¡­ *bam* ¡­ I shoot the last man on the right when my first victim of the trio has fallen out of the way. I drop a c4 for to the corridor and keep heading towards the stairs. *bam* I shoot immediately when a man comes from the left side of the stairs, where the corridor divided in to two. There are probably more behind him so I keep aiming to the direction as I keep advancing. I place some more explosive in the corridor as I keep walking ahead, nearing the stairs. I¡¯m next to the window of the security room and see the two guards still inside it. They are looking at me with panicked expressions but as they aren¡¯t going for their guns I deduce that the window is bulletproof. I plant one of the c4 on the window, grinning at the men inside before continuing. Their faces were priceless. The other corridor is to my left. It¡¯s only a ten or so meters long with a door at the end of it. The door opens and I can see there is few men inside of it and the room that has at least a table and some cabinets. *ba-bam* I shoot the first man who came from the door, scaring the others to take cover. I throw a c4 towards the door as I start climbing the stairs. I can smell from the air that the oxygen levels are going up because of the opened valves. With that I can give an estimation that the facility isn¡¯t that big and the rooms I left unchecked doesn¡¯t probably lead anywhere else. I¡¯m just glad that the levels aren¡¯t big enough to start a fire from the gun shots. As I climb the stairs, while hearing footsteps from behind me I drop my last two c4¡¯s on the stairs. *ba-bam**bam* I shoot the last of my clip at the bottom of the stairs so that the men don¡¯t have a change to open fire yet. I rush the rest of the stairs up while changing my magazine and arrive at the empty building. I want a little more distance. I rush through the door of the building to the front yards, not caring about the cameras anymore. I hear that the steps are now at the stairway so I decide to detonate. *BOOOM*rumble* The explosion is heard as the ground shakes. Cracks appear at the walls of the building as fire rushes out from the stairway. From four different places on the front yard, pillars of fire explode towards the sky from vents for the underground facility that I did not notice before as they were partly hidden under the boxes and covered by some bigger pebbles. Fires start at the yard because of the vents and part of the fence falls, as the ground collapses under it. It must be the spot of the biggest room where the scientific equipment was. I make my way out of the yard using the partly collapsed spot where the fence has fallen and disappear in to the shadows. I learned something. I killed something. Operation ¡®findanswersandkilleverything¡¯ complete. Operation ¡®killVinny¡¯ is the next one on my agenda. Chapter 23 (little recap: gets caught in the assassination of ala dawud Omega training with jatf. Things go wrong with the alpha trainer and calla escapes the jatf and flees to usa sniper fight and steeling weapons from the aryan nation. gets found out by the police in her apartment and flees meets mox via darknet mox helps with the base. she scouts the safehouse that is in the neighbour. She bugs the car and find out that the man went to pentagon. The man backtraces her and orders an assault to the base. firefight in the base and calla escapes with motorsycle. new york. new base->library Calla gets c4 and attacts the facilities that she found out from the reporter of New York times. She finds out about the experiments and Vinny coopers identity as dr. white. and here we are Chapter 23 The next morning Pov Linda I look around the burned yard and the bodies decorating it, thinking this must be Calla¡¯s doing. Detective Anthony came with me, although he doesn¡¯t have much jurisdictional powers here in New York, but he wanted to stay on this case. We heard about the reports that NYPD and FDNY received late at night and left right away. He is surveying the yard with me while looking worriedly at the puddles and burned out boxes: ¡°I hope that the fire department¡¯s extinguishing job didn¡¯t wash any evidence away.¡± So he says but I doubt that there would be any evidence laying around here on the yard. We have already inspected the insides of the facilities but there weren¡¯t anything of importance there. Everything of note had burned and the bodies were unidentifiable. Although, the body of the pregnant woman worries me. ¡°I think it about to be time where we change our priorities from Calla to whoever they are whom these facilities belonged to.¡± I say to Anthony. He looks at me with a thoughtful expression and after a few moments of contemplating he responses:¡± Perhaps we have reached that point. Whatever this place was used for had to be illegal and immoral.¡± He says, obviously thinking about the burned pregnant woman that was strapped to a medical bed. It¡¯s a shame Calla made such a mess of this place. All the equipment here were so damaged and the computers were also burned so we couldn¡¯t make anything out of them. But one thing is for sure, this place was used for research and a human research at that. What we could find were burned x-rays of humans and broken medical equipment. ¡°We have to wait for the forensics to make sense about what we found and if they can identify any of the bodies¡± I say to him. The forensics team should get here soon but it¡¯ll take a while before they can recover anything from the partly collapsed basement. Two men comes over the police tape and the other one asks: ¡°Have you found anything?¡± With an inquisitive gaze. He has black hair combed back with a small lock of hair hanging above his green eyes and is wearing an expensive looking suit. The man that he is with looks to be thirty years while he looks to be forty. The other man has short ashen hair and blue eyes with a sleek looking body and face. ¡°And you are?¡± Anthony asks him and turns his gaze to look at the police men that let him to the scene, who only shrugs back at him, indicating that he has the authority to be here. The suited man looks at Anthony with an annoyed gaze: ¡°Gregory Wilson, I¡¯m with the DOD¡± He answers while showing his ID card. What does the department ofdefence want¡¯s with this? ¡°Why is the DOD interested?¡± Anthony beats me to the punch. The man, looking no longer as annoyed as before answers immediately: ¡°A large scale gunfire happened at our capital and only days after that, this happens.¡± He says while indicating with his hands at the partly collapsed yard and the warehouse building that is barely standing. Great. It seems like the US government has taken an interest with the incidents, meaning Calla is on their radar. Simmons starts explaining what the police thinks has happened here, while I study the man that came with him. He doesn¡¯t look like he is a normal pencil pusher from Pentagon so I start drawing conclusions. He is carrying a weapon but it is hidden under his jacket. I only caught a glimpse of it when they stepped over the police tape. While Simmons explains, he keeps the details about Calla to himself. He only talks about a suspect he has chased from Washington to here. After his explanations the duo from DOD heads inside the facilities through the partly collapsed stairway and disappears from our sight. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect this to happen,¡± Simmons tells me as he is watching the two men starting to descent the stairs. ¡°Yeah, this may complicate things. But the goal should be to find the rest of this organization. We find them then we¡¯ll probably find Calla as well.¡± I say to him. He takes on a pondering expression and looks at me, figuring out should he say what he is about to say. ¡°You know, I¡¯ve been thinking. As a detective I have little power elsewhere other than Washington DC and now that the DOD has taken an interest, that little power I had just grew smaller. You know the Interpol has asked for me to join them but..¡± He takes a pause, clearly thinking how he should phrase the end of that sentence. ¡°I feel the J.A.T.F. to be a better fit. After I left the military I felt like joining the police department was a good choice and it was, for a time. But the J.A.T.F. continues to fight the war against those who would seek to harm the world , the war I left behind. But I think I left that war behind too early. I don¡¯t want to just to protect America, but everyone. Is there a chance for me to join the intelligence unit of J.A.T.F. as an agent?¡± He finishes. Wow, I wasn¡¯t expecting that. And he seems to have the wrong picture about what we do. The J.A.T.F. was originally created by some of the larger powers between the nations to ensure that they won¡¯t go war with each other as the conflicts grew more frequent. But nowadays it fights against the numerous terrorist and paramilitary organizations that threaten the countries involved but on top of that we also protect the interest of the countries that has joined and contributed for us against the other nations who remain independent with their military. I have to think about this and take it to the higher ups, if I come to the decision of recommending him. ¡°I cannot give you an answer right now. And you know, we aren¡¯t some heroes of justice. There have been many operations launched against other nations if they have threatened the interests of our member countries?¡± I say to him.In case I recommend his joining to General Raven, I don¡¯t want him to regret that decision.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Library Pov Calla I¡¯ve been going through the external hard-drive I took but haven''t found anything yet. Most of its contents are encrypted and it takes a lot of time for me to crack them, if I even manage to do that. I¡¯ve been thinking about what I have learned. It seems I¡¯m one of these subjects. I was born in a laboratory and my body has been manipulated somehow when my mother still carried me. They made me different, from what I understood, both mentally and physically. Is this the reason why killing has always been easy to me? Or did that come from how I was raised? I have put a lot of thought into this, and decided not to mind what I am too much. They created me. But I won¡¯t allow for them to control me. I will learn more in time but now I will concentrate on the presence. Like it says on one of the books:¡¯ Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.¡¯ I think some bald dude named Buddha said that. And the present moment for me is to make the head of this ¡®Vinny¡¯ go pop. I¡¯ll make a hole with a 7.62mm diameter on his forehead and an exit wound with 150mm on the back of his head. It would be great if I had the .50 cal though¡­ There wouldn¡¯t be a head after getting hit by that. When I do get I, I will call it ¡®limb remover 2000¡¯ no matter what its real model is. But back to Vinny, I have to scout out the UN building for any good sniper spots in the vicinity. And more ammo for the sniper and my pistol would be nice, as I¡¯m starting to run low. I thought about how I have been operating lately, and came to the conclusion that I could play this a little differently. Now I have been getting intel, and acting on it right away. Well, that¡¯s how I have been trained, but now I¡¯m seeing a more safer option, though it will take more time. I will kill Vinny instead of questioning him, because although he would hold some answers for me, it would be difficult getting close to him. And lately I have noticed that when I go looking for answers, I find more questions instead. They play the long game, so I¡¯ll do that too. After Vinny, I¡¯ll start laying low, getting more contacts in the underworld and hopefully intelligence society. And when doing that, I keep decrypting the hard drive I took from the facility. The encryption on the thing is hard as hell so it will take a while. I¡¯ll ask Mox if he can get his hands on to some fancy software that would hasten the process. And after Vinny is gone, it will hopefully ruin or hamper their plans on making more soldiers like me. Or should I say assassins? *ring ring* Huh? The phone Mox gave me for contacting him is ringing so I pick it up from the table where the computer is on. ¡°Hello?¡± I answer. ¡°Hey Calla. Listen, I¡¯ll be needing that favor a little sooner than I hoped for.¡± He says to me. We agreed that I would ¡®owe him one¡¯ whatever that means. It seems it means a favor. I am in his debt and I know that. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m selling something and I don¡¯t trust the buyers that much so it¡¯ll be great if you could cover me?¡± He says to me. It sounds fair to me so I agree:¡± Okay. When and where?¡± ¡°Tomorrow. I¡¯ll come to pick you up at noon.¡± He answers to me. I end the call now that the conversation ended and all related information has been passed, and start cleaning my pistol. I really need more ammo. ¡­ Next day I have been preparing for Mox¡¯s arrival. I''m wearing a long black coat over a grey t-shirt and dark jeans. I¡¯ll be only taking my pistol with few extra mags with me, along with my knife. As always, when preparing for an op, the clothes, weapons and gear I take is one of the most important decisions in the op. Though I have a few rules of thumb I go by: never wear anything that is brighter than the floor, don¡¯t take too much weapons so that they don¡¯t affect mobility too much, and always, always keep one knife on you hidden. I wonder what kind of people the buyers are, and what Mox is selling for that matter. He should soon be here so I keep an eye on the monitors that are showing the feed from the street while I make my last preparations. I¡¯m still a bit bothered about yesterday¡¯s findings although I decided not to mind them. Everythingwill become clear if I bide my time and collect information before I act. Well no matter, I¡¯ll concentrate on Mox¡¯s problem for now. He has helped me a lot so it¡¯s no bother for me. I see from the feed that a black car pulls in front of the library, so I start making my way out. I descent the narrow stairs and walk in between the bookshelves to get to the main door. Once I¡¯m out I see that Mox is driving the car. I get to the free front seat and ask Mox: ¡°So who are the buyers you are so afraid of?¡± He starts driving and while looking at the road he answers me: ¡°I¡¯m not exactly sure who they are either, but I know I don¡¯t trust them. I¡¯m selling them a painting but a lot of the buyers for art are international criminal organizations or arms dealers. They use art as currency. Easier to smuggle a painting than few millions cash across the border, you see.¡± He explains to me. Arms dealers? That would be awesome! Mox glances at my direction and panickily yells ¡°No! I recognize that look. They are my customers, not your new victims of robbery.¡± Shit, he noticed. ¡°Alright alright. But if things go wrong you have no problems with me taking what I want from them?¡± I ask him. He glances at me again before turning to look at the road while turning the car to an industrial area:¡± Do what you want then, as long you keep me safe. But I already toldyou I¡¯m not sure who they are. They could very well be just private art collectors or something. I just have never dealt with them before and neither has any of my associates, so I took you along.¡± Well, I hope they are arms dealers. And if they are and the business with Mox goes well I can always buy from them rather than steal. Although I¡¯m starting to run low on cash if I decide to buy large quantities of weapons. Mox pulls the car in front of a large building that looks like an abandoned factory and gets of the car. I follow his lead and step outside. Mox walks to the trunk and opens it. From there he takes a wooden crate that isn¡¯t very thick but is about one meter in length and width. Just big enough to fit a painting. I survey my surroundings and see that the buyers are already here. They are probably inside the building but I can see some movement in the windows and at the roof. I guess they either didn¡¯t trust Mox like he didn¡¯t trust them or they are planning something. We head towards the door that is to our left on the side of the building and enter. We arrive in a corridor with offices on each side. We keep walking straight, heading towards the factory area, but before we arrive there we turn left and enter a large room with nothing but support pillars and windows on one wall. There is a group of five men waiting for us, all of them wearing suits, but one of them stands out from the rest. His suit is clearly more well-made and his stature looks like that of a leader. He is a black man and is at least two meters tall and about twenty-five to thirty years old. I cannot see if he is carrying a weapon but the other four who are with him seem to be. I can see that their jackets bulge a bit under their armpits so they probably have pistols hidden there. Five here and when we walked outside I spotted four more. They are probably keeping an eye on the area so that there won¡¯t be any interruptions. ¡°You must be Mox.¡± the leader like man states with a very low voice. ¡°That I am. And you must be Darrel. I brought the painting as we agreed. Now show me the money.¡± Mox says, eager to go straight for the business but this ¡®Darrel¡¯ doesn¡¯t answer and instead looks at me. We stare each other for a few seconds before he brakes the silence: ¡°I see you brought someone with you. Who is she?¡± Darrel says. Mox glances at me and then back to the buyer: ¡°She¡¯s my muscle. Are we doing this or what?¡± Mox says, still eager to be done with this and leave. Darrel continues to study me before he speaks: ¡°You know. We have some sources at the police and the word is, they are looking for a young blue-eyed girl with a blond hair. She is suspected to be involved in the shootings in Washington and the events that took place last night. I know little about what happened last night as the police is keeping it under wraps but rumors say, that government people showed upas well. You don¡¯t happen to be her now would ya?¡± He asks, looking directly at me still. ¡°And if I were?¡± I say my first words to the man while moving my hand closer to my pistol that is tucked in my jeans. ¡°If you were, I¡¯d say that you have my respect about what you have done. I know not of your motivations or what the people you are after have done but never the less, I wouldn¡¯t want to be on your bad side. To evade the police while continuing to look for trouble is praise-worthy.¡± He says to me. I just got praised. I wipe the smile that involuntarily came to my face and answer with a simple nod, not confirming or denying his allegations. Though I¡¯m pretty sure that he already figured it out. He turns to look at Mox: ¡°And to think I¡¯d get to meet you so soon. How small the world is.¡± ¡®How small the world is¡¯? Was that supposed to be a question? I don¡¯t get it. Mox answers the man while he starts opening the wooden crate: ¡°Small indeed. Can we get to business?¡± With a small chuckle Darrel answers:¡± Of course.¡± They show the money to Mox and one of the men starts inspecting the painting. It takes ten or so minutes but everything seems to be in order as they hand out the money to Mox. ¡°You don¡¯t happen to be up for some work, by the way?¡± Darrel turns to me when his and Mox¡¯s business has ended. Work? Money would be nice, and so would more connections but operation ¡®killVinny¡¯ takes priority at the moment. ¡°Perhaps, but I have something to do before that.¡± I say to him. His offer is tempting to say the least. When I said I¡¯m going to lay low, I meant that I¡¯ll stop actively hunting the Caturix and just take my time with them. Other work is most welcome, but I do intend to find out about their business before I accept. If they are in human trafficking or something like that, I¡¯d rather stay out of it. It would just remind me too much of my not so distant past where I was just a weapon, a product. He smiles at me: ¡°Great. Then here¡¯s my card.¡± He says, as he hands me a card with nothing more than a number written on it. I give my thanks to him as I take it, while Mox is already turning to leave. We exit the building, and head towards the car, while I¡¯m still keeping myself at ready if something unexpected comes. ¡°Well that went well.¡± Mox says as he takes the driver seat: ¡°But I would be careful if I were you if you are planning to take the job. We don¡¯t know anything about them.¡± He warns me. I know that though. But this first meeting with them left a good impression of them and I will ask some information if and when I contact him. But The next thing on my ¡®to do list¡¯ is the operation ¡®killVinny¡¯ so that takes precedence. I¡¯ll start planning tonight. Chapter 24 Chapter 24 3rd Pov It has been a week since Calla helped Mox out by accompanying him to the meet. During that week, Calla has been trying to tail Vinny Cooper but it has proven to be difficult. He doesn¡¯t adhere to any public schedules, and he changes his route to home and work irregularly, and never uses the same route twice in a row. Because of this Calla doesn¡¯t even know where he lives but she pays no mind to it. She decided to simply kill him, so all she need to do is to be patient and wait. And that is what¡¯s she¡¯s doing now. Waiting patiently. She is on the roof of a building that isn¡¯t directly opposite to the UN building, but she still has a line of sight. The building she is on, is to the left of the UN-building if looked from the street, about 800 meters away. So all in all, easy shot for Calla even though she has to shoot a moving target that moves on the horizontal axle from right to left. Usually when sniping, it¡¯s ideal that the target is moving directly towards or away from the shooter but with experienced sniper it doesn¡¯t matter. She has waited here for 8 hours, patiently looking through her scope. It is 0800, and she took position at midnight. The window for the shot is about twenty meters, the distance of the driveway and the front doors. She knows that Vinny¡¯s driver drops him off there, before going to park the car. She has seen this, five times already, and the next time will be Vinny¡¯s last. Calla sighs, while looking through the scope. She is wearing gray hoodie and black college pants. Behind her is a guitar case, where she can fit her sniper easily by taking it to two parts. She has five shots in the magazine just in case, but she intends to get the job done with just one. A black car turns and drives through the gates of the UN. Calla follows the car through her sights, as she knows her target is in the car. The car stops on the spot where Calla expected it to stop. She changes her breathing pattern a bit to ready herself, as she watches the car doors opening. Four men steps outside. Vinny Cooper, A.K.A dr. White, and three of his bodyguards. Calla keeps her crosshairs on Vinny while keeping an eye to the flags in front of the UN building. She has a shot, but the wind is too irregular, so she waits. Fifteen meters to the door, and the wind loosens up. The bodyguards surround Vinny on both sides and one on the back, so she doesn¡¯t have a clear shot. ¡®Yellow¡¯ she thinks to herself, meaning she has an indirect shot. Red would be no shot at all, and green is the situation she¡¯s waiting. Ten meters to the door, the wind pics up again and he is still surrounded by the bodyguards. Eight meters, and the situation is the same. ¡®No unnecessary risks¡¯ she thinks to herself. If she doesn¡¯t get a green shot, she will not take it, as it would only warn Vinny if he doesn¡¯t die. She can always do this another day. ¡®Yellow¡¯ She whispers, as the distance is only five meters. She takes deep breath and holds it. Regularly irregular is the best kind of security detail, that can be. To protect the mark while never falling in to predictable pattern is the professional way to protect. And Vinny¡¯s security is professional, but even professionals makes mistakes. The worst kind of mistakes for pro¡¯s are to fall in to a routine. And that routine will be the demise of Vinny. Calla watches through the scope as the leftmost bodyguard of Vinny breaks the formation and takes a few quick steps to open and hold the door for Vinny, just like the other times when Calla watched this situation through her binoculars. Four meters, but the wind is too rough. ¡®Yellow¡¯ at three meters too. The flags fall as the wind stops. ¡®Green¡¯ *BAM* The bullet impacts Vinny¡¯s left temple, destroying the hypothalamus of the brain and exiting from the other side where it impacts to the right side bodyguards left shoulder. ¡®Confirmed¡¯ Calla thinks to herself, as she witnesses the body of Vinny falling to the ground. ''Operation killVinny is accomplished'' She finishes her thought process, as she is backing away from the edge of the roof. She doesn¡¯t waste time as she expertly takes her rifle to two pieces and puts them into the case, and starts making her way to the other side of the roof, towards the access point. She hastily goes the stairs down, keeping her hood on. There aren¡¯t any cameras in the building, and she knows what route to take in the street so that she can¡¯t be spotted by the street cameras in a few block radius. Meanwhile in front of the UN-building one of the bodyguards is tending to the wounded one, while the one that went for the door is pointing towards the direction where the shot was taken from, to the men who rushed outside.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. They are already coordinating with the police so that they can lock up a five block radius, but they know that a sniper is hard to catch. After the direction of the shooter is pointed, the guard who left the formation to open the door can only berate himself. The moment the shot was taken he realized that the shooter was waiting for him to leave the formation. At that moment Mr. Cooper had a bodyguard to the right and behind him, so the only spot with guaranteed direct shot was from the left. A week or so prior to this, Cooper had told his bodyguards to be more vigilant, because there was a threat on his life, but didn¡¯t tell more. They had been extra careful in everything these past few days, and now because of him, or rather the routine where he always opens the door, cost them their boss¡¯s life. But there isn¡¯t much he can do now, and the other guards had fell to the same routine as him, as they always let him open the door. The only thing they can do now is to improve from this, if they ever want a contract again. ¡­ Calla has made her way back to the library now. She took a cab a few blocks away from her shooting spot and exited the area just as the first responders were starting to lock the grid down, but the cab didn¡¯t get inspected. She took the cab to a location, few kilometers away from the library and took a different cab from there, just to be safe. Now she is in the library, with a satisfied smile on her face as she is eating a muffin. The reward for her, she bought prior to the shooting. With her other hand she studies the card she received from ¡®Darrel¡¯, and thinking she rests for the rest of the day and contact¡¯s him tomorrow. Before that there is one call she wants to make. She has put it off for too long and now is as good time as any. Changing her clothes to a white knee-high dress with a brown jacket on it and a fedora. She is wearing comfortable shoes and has tied her hair to ponytail that hangs on her back from underneath the fedora, and the big round sunglasses are the last thing she puts on before heading out. She intends to make the call from a payphone just to be on the safe side, even though she trusts Linda, she knows that some people might have anticipated her call to her.
NYC police department Pov Linda I¡¯m watching the emergency news that tells how some UN-dude was shot and killed by a sniper. ¡°Why I¡¯m getting the feeling, that this is connected to our little miss assassin.¡± Brian says with a smirk. We are alone in det. Simmons office, waiting for him to meet us. We haven¡¯t gotten anywhere with our investigation of the organization, nor Calla, but we haven¡¯t focused much on her now as we are going through the evidence found in the facility in Brooklyn. Though it was all destroyed. ¡°No point in guessing, we should just focus on the tasks at hand.¡± I replay to him but I think he¡¯s right. This Vinny was probably a member of the organization and Calla took him out, but it doesn¡¯t matter anymore as his dead and if he left evidence lying around about his connections to the organization, I will found out about it sooner or later. ¡°You are right. We don¡¯t have much to go on for now. Our best hope is for the man who was involved in the Washington D.C. shooting to wake from his coma, or for the tech teams to recover something from the labs computers.¡± Brian says, and I nod in agreement. Though I don¡¯t have high hopes for the tech team. The computers were blown to bits in the explosion. *ring ring* My phone rings as I¡¯m thinking about the possibilities. Not a number I recognize but it often isn¡¯t. I work for the intelligence in J.A.T.F. so it¡¯s the norm to receive calls from burners or such, but this call is coming from here in new York, and it looks to be a pay phone at that. ¡°Excuse me.¡± I say as I stand up and head for the empty conference room, where people has taken measures to make eavesdropping nearly impossible. ¡°Hello?¡± I answer the call and the answer I hear brings a smile to my face. ¡°Hey Linda!¡± Calla greets me from the other end. ¡°Calla! Where are you? Are you okay? How are you doing?¡± I excitedly barrage her with questions, even suprising myself about how worried I have been. I¡¯m sure my colleagues wouldn¡¯t appreciate me talking to her with out trying to trace the call, but we decided that we concentrate on the organization now, rather than Calla. I know it¡¯s only an excuse for me, but I¡¯ll still take it. ¡°I¡¯m okay and doing good! I saw you in Washington but the pests ruined our reunion¡­¡± She says, her voice starting happy but getting gloomier towards the end of that sentence. Pests? ¡°But I can¡¯t tell you where I am now, I¡¯m sure you understand¡­¡± Her voice getting a bit timid before she continues ¡°And you? Are you okay?¡±. ¡°Oh I¡¯m doing just great after flying over the Atlantic to catch up with you and going through the bodies you dropped and the battle zones you left behind¡­¡± I say, dripping with sarcasm, before adding: ¡°But I¡¯m glad you are okay.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Calla? You still there?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m sorry for causing all this trouble. Are you mad at me?¡± She replies, her voice sounding scared. My heart aches to the sound of her voice. She may be an assassin but she is still a teenage girl and I was the first person she had any positive form of contact with, outside of Al-Aman. ¡°I¡¯m not mad Calla. I¡¯m just worried. Can you tell me anything more, like what you have been doing and are going to do? Is the Vinny Cooper assassination your handiwork? You should know that we are now concentrating on the organization rather than you.¡± I ask her, not really expecting an answer, but it¡¯s worth a shot. I¡¯m sure others wouldn¡¯t approve of me telling Calla that we aren¡¯t actively searching her anymore but I don¡¯t care. ¡°Oh, that, hehe.¡± She chuckles at my question, and that pretty much answers me. ¡°Yeah it was me. He worked for them. I¡¯m not going to get in to it now, as I don¡¯t know much either, but I can say that Vinny was a high-ranking member of them as far as I know, but there were reasons why I took him out before interrogating him. I know they call them self the Caturix movement, and that they have one member in the pentagon. Here, I sent you a photo.¡± Calla says and as she finished, my phone vibrate from incoming message. It¡¯s sent from a different number, probably a burner phone. After opening the message I see a picture of a man with angular clean shaved jaw, and a neat black hear that is combed to the back. with only one lock of hair escaping and hanging lightly above his green eyes. The photo is taken through a sniper scope from the building in Washington, where the shoot out took place. The man in the photo is right at the center of the crosshairs. I can¡¯t help but grinning as the photo is so Calla like. I hold the phone back to my ear as I heard Calla started talking again. ¡°They called him ¡®red¡¯, and Vinny was called dr. white, so I think he too, is a high-ranking member of Caturyx. And you should now I¡¯m going to ease of from the hunt of the Caturyx for a while now and lay low.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s some good intel. And I¡¯m glad you decided to lay low. I don¡¯t have to worry about you so much, but I would prefer if you just came back to us¡­¡± I mutter the last sentence so I¡¯m not sure if she heard me. ¡°Heh. I don¡¯t¡¯ think I¡¯m doing that anytime soon but when things cool down we could meet, but let¡¯s not worry about that now. But anyway, I think that if you are tracing this call you should be getting close to discover my location, so it was Really nice talking to you, and I call you later, gottago bye!¡± *beep beep beep* ¡°¡­¡± Well that was rude. But I¡¯m not mad, I understand why she would do so and I would¡¯ve probably done the same. I do hope to see her soon though¡­ I lower the phone from my ear as I start heading out of the room, and walk back to Simmon¡¯s office. ¡°What are you so happy about?¡± Brian asks me with a smirk as I made my way back. I¡¯m still smiling from the phone call, and from the information that Calla is alright, and for her help at pointing the Pentagon guy to us. Now we have something to go on. ¡°I just received some good intel so listen up¡­¡± I start explaining him about the intel Calla gave. I¡¯m not going to say where I got it but I¡¯m sure he figures it out in like three seconds. It¡¯s okay, I trust him. Well, as much as I trust any ex-CIA but there isn¡¯t really anything he or any of us can do about Calla right now. Chapter 25 Hey! Before the chapter, I would like to mention that if someonecan come up with a better summary for the story than the current one (as I''m not quite happy about it) please post your version of it on the comments or send a pm to me. Chapter 25 One month later 3rd Pov Since Vinny¡¯s death, Calla got in touch with Darrel. Before she accepted anything, she asked about their organization and discussed what manner of jobs would she perform and how the payment would be handled. The first thing she learned was that Darrel¡¯s organization was called ¡®Rabbit Hole¡¯, and that Darrel wasn¡¯t the leader of the whole group. No, he was just a leader for the New York branch, as the ¡®Rabbit Hole¡¯ was an international organization. Other than that, she also discovered what manner of a group it was, and verified the facts with the help of Mox as much as she could. She found out from Darrel¡¯s explanations and Mox¡¯s research that the Rabbit Hole is sort of a neutral group in the criminal underworld, that was created in the sixties by a collaboration of many organized criminal groups, such as the many mafias, including the Russian Bratva amongst others. Rabbit Hole was created due to the constant backstabbing that happened between different groups to bring some civility and trust to the criminals and their dealings. Simply put, they would witness a contract between two parties, and take a small cut from the money involved. They¡¯ll be the witness for the contract if both parties agree to it beforehand, and when they do become involved, they would see to it that both parties will honor the contract. In case of a breach of contract, the Rabbit Hole would punish the party that broke the contract. Depending on the scale of the breach, they would act accordingly. There are other things they are involved in, but the purpose they were originally created was to oversee the dealings of the larger groups and make sure the contracts they were hired to oversee will be held. That brings us to this moment, where Calla is in the back seat of a black Nissan Qashqai. The other person in the car is the driver, who has no idea that Calla has snuck on board while he was still in his offices. The driver, a man named Dave Renee, was a CEO of his business that is a front for money laundering. Dave betrayed a local, relativity small group of criminals, to the Chinese, and the whole thing ended up in the deaths of the local group. The thing Dave didn¡¯t know before the betrayal, was that the contract was witnessed by Rabbit Hole. In fact, he didn¡¯t even know what Rabbit Hole was, as he was a small-time money launderer. Because of this, he saw the chance to make good money and gain a favor with the triads. The triads didn¡¯t take any part in his betrayal, even though they were the ones that benefited from it the most. For that reason, Dave is the target of Rabbit Hole, instead of the Chinese. The car drives down the busy streets of New York, as the news played on the radio. Calla was in the back seat, now sitting normally, instead of in the crouched position she was on the floor when Dave came to the car. She thinks about the words Darrel said to her before this ¡®audition¡¯. He explained to Calla that she would have to first do a job for free, where they can see roughly how she operates, so Calla thought the whole thing as an audition. She is glad that she will not be tied to the Rabbit Hole, and instead, she is seen as an independent contractor, so they can¡¯t order her around. The car is exiting the busy street to some more secluded roads. Calla has chosen the spot of the assassination beforehand, keeping in mind the routes Dave takes to home, and the position of the cameras on the streets.
Pov Calla It¡¯s only a few hundred meters away, I think to myself while watching outside of the window. My target is blissfully ignorant to my presence behind him and to his impending death. I don¡¯t know much what the target did to deserve this, but I reckon he broke some contract. Not that it matters to me, he¡¯s just a mark. The car takes a left turn, and the spot I have chosen comes to view. It¡¯s a street with no traffic, with apartment buildings on each side of the road. Dave¡¯s home isn¡¯t too far from here, but he doesn¡¯t live alone, but with his family so I decided I¡¯ll do the task when he is not surrounded by anyone from the office or from his home. The car comes to a small intersection, where there is some amount of traffic on the crossing road. I can see the black car that is waiting in the lights ahead of us. The car belongs to another member of the Rabbit Hole, who was introduced by Darrel. He is here to help out and observe how I plan and execute the mission. Dave¡¯s car comes to a stop behind the black Audi in front of us, and he silently curses to himself that why the car doesn¡¯t move even though the light is green. Just as his about to honk the horn, I act. Faster than he can react, I swing the small wire over his head and tighten it around his neck. A muffled sound escapes his lips before his trachea completely shuts. He tries to pry the wire out with his hands as I tighten my hold, and wait for his life to end. Slowly but surely, his movements stop as the blood circulation to his brains have ceased, and his hands fall limply to his sides. After a while, I loosen my hold and check for his pulse to make sure he has died. Before exiting the car, I drop a business card on his lap. The card is completely white, with only a black spot in the middle with the diameter of few centimeters. The cards purpose is to identify this hit as the work of the Rabbit Hole so that the people who matter know why and by which group this was done. After getting out of the car I walk to the Audi waiting in front of me, quickly glancing that there are no pedestrians on the street and no witnesses to see me exiting the car. I enter the Audi, and the driver takes off immediately. ¡°How did it go?¡± The man I know as John asks. ¡°According to the plan.¡± I answer simply. We don¡¯t talk more, and I sit in silence as we drive through the streets. The car comes to a stop and I exit the vehicle. ¡°When there are more jobs available, we¡¯ll contact you. Now then, see you later Izza:¡± he bids his goodbyes as the car takes off. Izza el-Khan. That¡¯s the name I chose to use when dealing with the Rabbit Hole. I also got a fake ID for that name by the courtesy of Mox. Izza was the name of the girl I killed months ago in order to infiltrate the J.A.T.F. safe-house to assassinate Ala Dawud. The mission that changed my life for good. Heh¡­ I chuckle at my own sentimentality by choosing that name. For some reason, I remember that kill better than most. I walk down the street and spot a cab, and wave for it to stop. Mox had something urgent to tell me, so he is meeting me at the library. I tell the address to the driver, that is a block away from the library and start thinking about the possibilities as to what is so urgent that it couldn¡¯t wait a day.
Pov Mox I nervously tap my feet on the floor in the rhythm of Beethoven as I wait for Calla in the library. I¡¯ll quickly inform her of what happened and go underground after that. I have a bad feeling about this. The door disguised as a bookshelf opens and Calla enters the hidden rooms of the library. I lock eyes with her and note that her clothing is not the usual she wears when she goes about her daily business. I can only conclude that the reason she is wearing dark, and easy to move clothes is that she came from a jog or the more likely option that she just finished one of her ¡®missions¡¯. I have made it to a rule, to not ask too much for what she spends her time. It¡¯s not my business, and she doesn¡¯t want to involve me, but I''m guessing this particular mission was given to her by the Rabbit Hole. God¡¯s. Had I known a month ago that the ones buying the painting were the Rabbit hole, I would have been more at ease as their reputation is that they never brake a deal, if the other party doesn¡¯t do it first. ¡°What¡¯s up Mox?¡± Calla greets me. ¡°Hey¡± I answer her and go straight to business ¡°So what I wanted to tell you was that the G-men found Jeff killed in his warehouse. And he was tortured before being shot to death.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Calla?¡± ¡°Jeff?¡± She tilts her head while asking. Figures. ¡°My semtex and c4 supplier I introduced to you.¡± I watch as the gears turn in her head, and a flash of recognition comes to her face. ¡°Oh, Jeff! Now I remember. So?¡± I think I need a drink¡­ ¡°So? If he was tortured, he was probably interrogated! This happened shortly after your little raid in Brooklyn so one could assume the attacker would have been after you!¡± I tell her, slightly getting angry. Half because I¡¯m annoyed and sad that I lost my supplier and friend, and a half because I¡¯m worried for Calla and myself. ¡°Ah. So, you think someone is after me?¡± ¡°That may be so. In any case, I¡¯m going to lay low for a while. This is a number you can reach me if you absolutely must or you find information about the attacker.¡± I give her a slip of paper where the number is written. ¡°Burn it after you have memorized it.¡± I add the instruction to her. Only two people know that number, now three. All people I trust. I don¡¯t dally, and start moving towards the exit. I¡¯m going to my safest safehouse, safehouse number 17. As I¡¯m exiting the back rooms I find myself incapable of leaving without saying something smart, so I act on that impulse. ¡°And remember Calla, life is ten per cent what happens to you and ninety per cent how you react to it. Arrivederci!¡± Heh... It¡¯s been a while since I last quoted Charles R. Swindoll¡­
Week later 3rd Pov After Mox¡¯s visit, Calla hasn¡¯t noticed anything unusual. Only things worth mentioning she did during the past week is one more job for the Rabbit hole. It was a simple job, some unfortunate idiot tried to take advantage of Rabbit hole by spreading false information, so he was targeted for assassination. The man didn¡¯t know what he was getting in to and was much too careless as he didn¡¯t know they would place a hit on him. Calla completed the hit in a crowd when the man was out shopping. A quick stab to the vitals, after which she disappeared into the large mass of people. When the first scream came, Calla had already cleared from the immediate vicinity. Calla used a long and thin knife to stab the heart so that the target wouldn¡¯t collapse right away giving Calla a chance to slip away. Calla walked towards the target and bumped into him, and in that instance, she slipped the knife in between his ribs before making her exit. It all happened so fast that the man didn¡¯t realize the sharp pain was from a stab wound, and he even managed to take a few steps before noticing something was seriously wrong. After that job, Calla got paid. The Rabbit Hole gave Calla¡¯s alias ¡®Izza¡¯ a bank account. They organized the whole thing so well that Calla was more than happy to sacrifice twelve percent of the income she got to the Rabbit hole. Every time she did a job, she would be paid 88% of the agreed amount. The twelve percent Rabbit hole kept to them self, was due to the costs that would come from laundering the money for Calla, and setting up her alias. As of the moment, Calla owed them, as the twelve percent from that one job wasn¡¯t enough, but Darrel realized Calla¡¯s worth and was sure that in the future Calla would be worth it. Good relations with operatives was imperative for big organizations and Darrel wasn¡¯t dumb enough to not notice that, that was what Calla was, an operative. They gave ¡®Izza el-Khan¡¯ a background that would pass the less intrusive background checks. The alias Izza is now a trust fund baby, whose mother died on birth and father died of cancer a few years back. Calla received information about the alias that she should memorize along with the bank account and other documents she would need. The account itself was from a Swiss bank, so it was unlikely that the authorities gain access to it even if the alias comes under scrutiny. Now she has another job though, a job where she isn¡¯t required to assassinate anyone. The Rabbit Hole operates differently from other criminal organizations. Basically, you gain a membership for the organization if you do a job for them. After that, they give contracts for the members that vary from assassinations to intel gathering and witnessing deals made between their clients. When they are to witness a deal, they act as the representative of the Rabbit Hole. When acting as a representative, they are to remain neutral, witness the contract and report to the branch head who gave the job. It is a position of respect, and it is unconventional for a new member to receive such a job.
Pov random thug I follow the boss to the meeting place. It¡¯s here, in a small pub that the meeting is to take place. Our group runs the docs and we are to make a deal with the Turks, as they want to expand their drug business to New York. There is sure to be territorial fights because of their actions but that doesn¡¯t have anything to do with us. We are just to help them to get the drugs through customs. Of course, there is a change we will be targeted by their rival drug lords, or god forbid, the cartels, but such are the risks of our lifestyle.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. We enter the discreet little pub with the force of five men. There is the counter to the left and tables to the right. No other persons are inside other than the barkeep, a middle-aged balding man who runs the pub. This pub is a regular place where these kinds of meetings take place, so as the barkeep notices our presence, he says nothing, but instead goes to the window and turns the ¡®closed¡¯ sign so that we wouldn¡¯t be interrupted. Three of us sits by the counter, as I and the boss walk to the dark wooden table at the end of the narrow bar, and sit down. We don¡¯t have to wait long as four men of Turkish decent enter the bar, two of them remain close to the door and two of them comes to our table. ¡°Soza, I presume?¡± Says one of the two with a thick Turkish accent. He¡¯s wearing a suit like the other and has a very dark hair and beard. His whole demeanor screams businessman, contrary to the men he came with, who are obviously bodyguards. ¡°Indeed, and Ahmed, I presume?¡± The boss answers. ¡°Yes. Are we ready to go down to business?¡± ¡°Not yet. We are still waiting for one party.¡± My boss says. I turn to look at him, bewildered, as I didn¡¯t know there would be more coming. ¡°What? Who? Why is this the first time I¡¯m hearing about this?¡± Ahmed says, clearly irritated. ¡°I invited them because this is the first time I¡¯m doing business with you. And don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll manage the payment for them as it¡¯s a small sum compared to what we stand to gain from our deal. Surely a man of your stature has heard of the Rabbit Hole?¡± My boss elaborates. Rabbit Hole? Holy shit! I didn¡¯t think they really existed. They are more of a legend or a myth among the small-time criminals, and they would only be involved in transactions and deals where the money involved is substantial. And by substantial, I mean that the amounts involved are enough for the bigger organizations to go to war. ¡°Hoh? The Rabbit Hole is it? I¡¯ve heard of them, but this will be the first time for them to oversee a deal of mine.¡± Ahmed notes, not showing other emotions than surprise. A good sing, I think. *ding* The bell by the bar door sounds, as two persons walk in and head towards us. The other one is a man in his thirties, wearing a suit. He has a bald head, and he looks more like a military man than a criminal. But it¡¯s the other one that draws puzzled gazes. A girl, looking to be around sixteen years of age, with slim body and moderately fashionable clothes, that heads towards us with confident steps. She is wearing a beige parka with a white shirt underneath and has black capris for pants. Her hair is blond and tied to a ponytail which falls to her back from under a fedora she has on her head, slightly tilted. As she walks closer to us, she removes the round sunglasses and reveals the most beautiful crystal blue eyes I have ever seen. ¡°Erica, from the Rabbit Hole.¡± She simply says as she pulls a chair for her to sit at the same table as us. My boss and Ahmed look at the man who she came with, who has taken a position slightly behind her, and it is obvious that they both expected the man to be the witness to the deal. Silence prevails for a moment, but the man who came with the girl stays silent, so it becomes obvious that he isn¡¯t going to take a seat at the table. ¡°Very well.¡± My boss moves the situation along. Nobody knows much about the Rabbit Hole, and I doubt that even the members of it don¡¯t know how deep it runs, hence the name ''Rabbit Hole''. I myself believed it to be a myth until today. ¡°Business then?¡± Ahmed acknowledges the attempt of my boss to move things along. The business talks proceed well, with little disagreements that are solved on the spot. The man who came with Erica has seated himself on a table next to us and writes down our deal into the form of contract. Very rarely would we keep paper contracts in our line of business, as they wouldn¡¯t be legal, obviously, and they would only work as a proof for the authorities if we were ever caught. That is not the case now, since the overseers of the criminal world are present, and they need the contract. There will only be one copy, and it belongs to the Rabbit Hole. During the talks, the girl just listens silently and observes us. At one point I notice that she is packing a weapon, and it makes me wonder what her story is. Being a member of the Rabbit Hole at such age, and even acting as their envoy, so to speak, isn¡¯t what one would expect. But I know better than to try prying into the matters of the elusive Rabbit Hole and their representatives. As the talks come to an end, our both parties inspect the written terms and sign it. ¡°The deal is witnessed. Any breach in the contract will be punished accordingly. Our payment will be two percent of the yearly income this deal profits, for a three-year time period, after which, we will stop enforcing the deal unless you desire our continued involvement and we come to another deal. Failure to pay will be punished accordingly.¡± The girl says, seemingly from memory, as she hands a card to both of our parties. ¡°With this number, you can reach the person who will be overseeing this contract if you suspect a breach or you both wish to change the terms.¡± She continues. I look at the card that my boss is holding. A white card, with a number on the other side, and a black dot on the other, like someone spilled ink over it. The Turks are the first to leave, after shaking hands with my boss, and we follow shortly after, leaving the people of the Rabbit Hole alone in the bar.
Pov Calla I¡¯m left alone with John, as the others leave the pub. ¡°It went well, didn¡¯t it?¡± I ask him. This was a somewhat interesting experience since I have never done any missions besides terminations. The ramble about the conditions, payment and the contact means for the Rabbit Hole was something I was instructed to say before coming here. From what I understand, the man named Soza knew about the terms beforehand and as he was the one paying, instead of splitting the bill with the Turks, there wasn¡¯t any fear of me having to start negotiating on behalf of the Rabbit hole. I don¡¯t think they trust me enough to handle that. According to John, it¡¯s very unconventional for me to act as a representative when I just became a member. ¡°Yes, it did. Good work Izza.¡± He says to me. I decided to use the name Erica for this meeting. I have many names and not one of them is official, but the name Calla, which Linda gave me is the one I choose to recognize as my real one. I use Izza el-Khan with the Rabbit Hole because I don¡¯t want them to know I have connections to the J.A.T.F. though I doubt they would found out anyway. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m famous, it¡¯s the opposite. I think J.A.T.F. has classified all information relating to me. Never the less, being an operative, it''s somewhat a tradition, from what I understand, to bury you real identity beneath countless of aliases. Usually it''s done in order to protect your close ones, but I don''t really have any, but it still can''t hurt to be extra careful. I like to think it''s protecting Linda. I smile at his reply as we start exiting the pub. John gives a nod to the barkeep as we leave the building. As we walk down the street towards the car that is a small distance away, I spot something on a display window that draws my attention. ¡°I¡¯ll go and start the car.¡± John remarks as he notices I have stopped by the shop. I absentmindedly nod and continue to look through the masks that are displayed on the window. I¡¯m pretty sure this is the shop where Mox bought the white mask he gifted to me some time ago. Well, whatever. I start heading to the car, where John is already seated in the driver seat. *BOOOM* Fuck! I fall to my back as the car explodes when John tried to start it. My training takes over as I immediately roll backward and get on my feet. Assess the situation. A car bomb most probably. Target either me, John or the Rabbit Hole organization. I think me, as the death of Jeff springs to mind. My body feels alright, I don¡¯t think I was injured. But most importantly, I¡¯m an easy target for snipers right about now. I dash for the alley that is next to the pub and leads to the back alleys. I ready my pistol in my right hand and my combat knife in my left hand in a reverse grip. I support the pistol with my left arm as I walk the alley deeper, tactically advancing, keeping my eyes on the windows and corners while straining my ears to hear any rapid movement. I turn a corner andnotice a shady looking guy with cheap looking ragged clothes, that¡¯s sitting on the pavement and leaning against the wall. I stop for a second, pondering what should I do but decide to take no chances. *BAM* I place a bullet in his head. I rather kill him than walk past him and showing him my back. He could very well be an enemy, and the moment I walk past him, he pulls a gun and shoots me. I mean, he was clearly awake as he was watching me, and he didn''t react when an explosion occurred on the street. Like he knew it was going to happen. There is another corner ahead of me, the alley being only a few meters in width, surrounded by brick walls filled with graffiti. As I turn the corner I immediately duck back as the sound of a shot echoes in the alley and bullet flies just past my head. The shooter was a man in his thirties with a blond hair and blue eyes wearing dark clothes fit for training and combat. The man seems oddly familiar, but I pay no mind to it. I need to take the initiative if I intend to survive. It''s too risky to turn back, and he would surely chase after me. That one shot was enough to tell me the man is a professional and means business. He took the shot the moment I turned the corner, and I barely managed to duck, so I¡¯m guessing he''s an operative. I storm the corner turning right, towards the shooter, jumping to the left side of the alley. *bam*bam**BAM* The shots echo in the small alley as we both open fire. I dodge his aim by jumping back to the right side of the alley while he dodges my aim to his right. Damn! He isn¡¯t just any operative. This small exchange already puts his skill above that of the Alpha trainer. *bam*BAM* We both fire and dodge as he starts running to meet me. We have limited time to end this if we are going to escape the police that is surely coming due to the explosion. My enemy is using suppresser but I¡¯m not. I have one with me but there isn¡¯t any time to attach it. The man too takes a knife to his left hand as our distance is rapidly closing. *bam*BAM*BAM* Only a few meters now. Both of our eyes are concentrating on each other¡¯s pistol in order to dodge the aim. I momentarily consider throwing my knife in order to catch him off guard but that would be stupid. If it fails, he would have even more advantage in close quarter combat other than his already bigger frame and probably much larger experience. We enter combat. *BAM* I fire my weapon, anticipating where his going to dodge and swing my left hand towards his new position that is to the left of me, as he ducks low and to the side, still advancing forward. I can almost see the sparks, as he parries my attack with his knife and aims his gun. *bam* I barely managed to dodge the shot aimed at to my head. I think it grazed my cheek. I do a low kick, aiming his knee with my right foot, but he blocks it with his left and stabs the knife with his left hand towards me. I parry the knife with mine, to my right side, and fire my pistol towards his center mass. He pivots on his right foot, and spins to dodge the shot, and tries to end the spin by stabbing his knife to the side of my neck. I dodge backward and I''m about to shoot again, aiming towards his center mass, but he takes the lead and aims first. *bam* I try to dodge, but I still have the momentum of my backward dodge and only slightly succeed to change my position. The bullet impacts on the left side of my side, few centimeters above my lower ribs. It hurts, but the pain is manageable. But I know I¡¯m in trouble now, and I¡¯m lucky if I survive this. Though I¡¯m already lucky to stop by the window when the car bomb should have killed me. *BAM* I shoot towards him just to buy time. He dodges both shots expertly, but I managed to prevent him shooting again. We have both fired seven times now, so that means I have six bullets left. He, on the other hand, has four, as I recognize his pistol and know that it has a smaller magazine. *bam* He fires, and I barely dodge to my right, moving in a manner that probably worsens my wound but it¡¯s the only way to survive. He¡¯s in the middle of the alley and I¡¯m on the right side, so I decide to use my only advantage that I can see now. I rush towards him but before we come in contact he fires again. *bam* And I dodge the shot by jumping towards the wall on his left, using every bit of my superior agility, and grunting from the pain, I bounce from the wall towards him. I¡¯m in the air above him and try to stab the knife to his eye but he dodges low. Usually, in a fight, jumping is the last thing you want do, but in this narrow alley, against a stronger and bigger opponent, I must try something. I¡¯m still airborne, falling towards the ground behind him, I start doing a frontal flip, and aim towards him as best as I can in my current position and condition. *BAM* The shot connects and hits his left leg just as he was turning around and taking aim. I have five left, and he has two. I land on the pavement, using my momentum I roll forwards and spring to my legs. Just in time, I turn around and dodge to the side. *bam* He has only one bullet left. I take the fight to close quarters as his leg is hurt, although I¡¯m starting to notice the effects of my wound. I believe my left lung is collapsing. I probably have seconds, instead of minutes before my combat ability is compromised and falls under acceptable levels. I feint a stab towards his right shoulder, forcing him to put his weight on his wounded left leg. Like I suspected, like me, the pain does little to hinder him. But it slows his movement enough for me to fire again. I aim the pistol low from my hip, in order to not let him notice the aim. *BAM* I hit his left leg again, this time the hit connects with his bone as he falls to his knee. *bam* He fires his last bullet. Though it hits me, I shifted my weight just enough to survive. The bullet hit¡¯s my shoulder muscle but it goes through and through, leaving only a flesh wound behind. *BAM* I fire to his stomach, and he finally falls to his back. He is out of bullets, and more injured, and has lost his mobility. It¡¯s my win. I don¡¯t have time to question him as I seriously need some medical attention. But still, I must confirm something. The whole fight took barely a minute, but that¡¯s how it is when people with our skill fight. And I was lucky to survive, as he had all the advantage, and he was even more skillful in combat than me. Experience is everything. I realize now that Caturixhas more subjects of this caliber under their command. But, the more I keep resisting and opposing them, the more I keep gaining combat experience, the more of a threat I will become for them, and in the end, I will be their undoing. The only reason I lived through this contact is because I caught him off guard by jumping from the wall. Normally people wouldn¡¯t do something like that as it makes your trajectory predictable and leaves you no way to dodge. It was a risky move, but it won the fight for me. And the reason I must confirm something is that in our short encounter, I recognized his combat style. That is because, for years, that same style has been hammered into my body and mind. The style al-Aman thought me is a combination of little bit of everything. Basically, mixed martial arts with heavy weight on krav maga, sambo, muay thai, aikido and basic CQC amongst others. The only option I find probable as to why he uses the same style is that he is a subject of the Caturix movement. He even looks like me. Is it because the genetics of the mothers have the genes for blond hair and blue eyes, or are we blood related somehow? Well, no point in guessing, and I doubt even he knows. ¡°Your name?...or number?¡± I say to him. He is laying on his back, calmly looking at me. He knows he has lost. He has lost his mobility, and the gut shot would kill him anyway if it doesn¡¯t get treated. Well I¡¯ll die too if I don¡¯t get treated. I¡¯m already feeling the space around my lung filling with air and blood as the lung is collapsing. And I here sirens in the distance so time¡¯s getting short. ¡°¡­5xy¡± So, he is a subject. I look at him with complicated expression. That could very well be me, if the Al Aman didn¡¯t get in the cross hairs of J.A.T.F. He doesn¡¯t show any emotion on his face as I keep staring at him. ¡°If you know anything, would you tell me?¡± ¡°No.¡± He simply answers. And I don¡¯t have time to question him. And I know that like me, he has been trained to resist torture, so I wouldn¡¯t get anything out of him. ¡°I understand.¡± I answer. Truth to be told, my emotions are all over the place, even though I don¡¯t show it on my face. This person has the most in common with me than anybody I have ever met. But we were destined to be opponents. Destiny, the hidden power believed to control future events, and in other words, fate. I don¡¯t believe in that crap. No, I refuse to believe in it. My fate is my own to decide, and nobody can control the outcome of life and free will. There is no predetermined path to anything. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know you were just following orders. Mission comes first, right?¡± I say to him, my voice breaking. I can feel something wet on my cheeks as I give him a weak smile, and realize that I must be crying. No, not crying. Crying requires wailing, according to the dictionaries I¡¯ve read. I¡¯m shedding tears. I¡¯m sure he too has realized that we have much in common, only my shackles were broken while his was not. ¡°Right.¡± He gives a small smile with his response. *BAM* ¡­
Pov Paramedic I¡¯m sitting in the back of the ambo, chatting with my partner. We are one of the three ambulances that arrived on the scene of a car bomb, that went off about some minutes ago. There is three dead, one died in the car bomb, and the other two were found shot to death in a back alley, the shooter still at large. And one pedestrian who was wounded in the explosion. We are on the scene but there isn¡¯t anything to do. But still, we are required to stay here as long as the police is still searching the area, in case there were more causalities. ¡°I hate these pointless calls, you know.¡± My partner complains. Truth to be told, I don¡¯t like these much either. I wanted to be a paramedic to save people, not to be there just in case. As I¡¯m about to answer, someone enters the back of the ambo and closes the door the instant she enters She takes a seat at the stretcher, opposite to me, and points a gun at my face. ¡°Drive, or your partner dies!¡± The bloodies teenager hisses, between rough breathing while a trickle of blood comes from the corner of her mouth. ¡°Wha..?!¡± My partner turns around with round eyes, looking at the injured girl, who is holding me at gun point. ¡°FUCKING DRIVE!¡± She yells at my partner. As my partner realizes that she ain¡¯t asking, but telling, he starts the engine, and prepares to drive. I, on the other hand, keep my calm. I wasn¡¯t expecting this, and truth to be told, I¡¯m a bit scared. But as an ex combat-medic, this ain¡¯t the scariest situation I have been. I take this time to examine the girl. She is a blond teenager, slightly bruised, and bleeding from her shoulder and side. Her face is smeared with tears and blood that she has coughed. I can pretty much guess that she was shot and that her lung is collapsing, as this ain¡¯t the first gunshot wound I¡¯ve seen. I recognize that rough breathing that accompanies one, when one of the lungs is being pressured by the air and blood that is accumulating from the hole the bullet made. ¡°Pneumothorax.¡± She simply says as the ambo is moving down the street, while she''s removing her jacket. She gets a small coughing fit, but still keeps the gun to my head. ¡°Fix it.¡± She tells as she rips her top to shreds, and gives me a visual over the wound. ¡°Holy fuck¡­¡± I cannot help but exclaim, as I see the condition of her body, with toned muscles and filled with scars. I get to work, not caring the scared whimpering of my partner. I block the hole of the bullet and prepare a shunt. *hisss* I hear the sound of air and a bit of blood escaping the area outside of her lung, as her breathing stabilizes. ¡°You still need to go to the hospital.¡± I inform her as there is still the bullet inside of her. I start working on her shoulder, but notice it isn¡¯t that serious, and just but a compress bandage on it. ¡°No. Dig the bullet out.¡± She refuses me. ¡°No. You need surgery.¡± I refuse her back. She calmly looks at my face, nothing suggesting that she is in any kind of pain. With a steady move, she aims at the driver seat, towards my partner. ¡°Dig it out. Now.¡± She growls. Fuck. With a small hesitation, I take a scalpel, and start cutting into her. She barely twitches from the pain, and that alone is enough to impress me. I have done this many times when I served, but not even the most hardened warrior got through this without screaming. But she is silent, and even her aim at my partner doesn¡¯t falter. ¡­ We have driven about twenty minutes now, and I have successfully removed the bullet. I still cannot believe that she took the pain without screaming, when most men would¡¯ve passed out. I have patched her up, but she still needs more attention. ¡°Stop the car.¡± She says much to my partners relieve. ¡°Phones.¡± Me and my partner hand over our phones to her. She aims her gun to me, while she reaches the front seat, and with one swift movement, she graps the radio¡¯s talk piece, ripping the cord. ¡°Thanks¡± That¡¯s the only thing she says, before she disappears into the alleys of New York. ¡°Well that was interesting.¡± I try to break the tension in the silent ambo. My partner just stares at me, clearly still shocked of the whole experience. Well, I¡¯m too. Though probably not as much as my partner. I cannot help, but to wonder who the girl was¡­ Chapter 26 Chapter 26 Pov Calla I stagger on the alleys of New York. I still have some distance to the library, and my condition isn¡¯t helping. The paramedic did a fine job, but after being twice shot, and cut with a scalpel, I¡¯m not feeling that great. I have lost a lot of blood, although I¡¯m in no danger to pass out, my vision is a bit blurry. ¡°fuck..¡± I mutter under my breath. I feel like shit. Other than my physical condition, my mind is wondering about things I rather not think about. Killing a subject brought many things to my mind. I remember when I first shot a weapon, I was five I think? It was a revolver, and my targets were soda cans. Though at the time, I had no idea what soda was. I remember when I first killed, it was my dog. And I remember when I was the first time in combat. I was nine years old then. In the snowy forests where I grew up, one day, a car arrived. From the car, four men came out, one of them was handcuffed. They took the cuffs off, gave him a weapon and told him to run, and if he survives, he gets to live. Now that I think about it, he had probably betrayed the Caturix, or Al-Aman. He ran off into the forest as we all watched silently. After ten or so minutes my trainer gave me a gun and told me to hunt him down and terminate him. Only one of us were to survive. I did as I was told, and started the hunt. First, I followed his tracks in the snow, but in order to avoid him ambushing me, I soon separated from the tracks. It took me four hours to find him. He wasn¡¯t used to fighting in the forest, so it was easy to get close. I advanced behind the trees until I was proximity twenty meters away from him. Being my first combat, I forgot to load the weapon beforehand. I cocked the weapon, and he heard it. He slowly turned around. He tried talking first, suggesting we escape together, but I didn¡¯t know anything at that time besides the forest. He told me he was KGB, and he needed to report about the group. He tried pleading, while I just stood there aiming at him. And finally, he tried shooting. Tried. Before he could point the gun at me, I had already shot him. One through the head, one through the heart. The sound of the shots echoed, and the forest came to alive, as birds fled from the vicinity. I took his pistol and made my way back, waiting to be praised. The praise never came though. My trainer slapped me with the back of his hand and told me that it took too long. Next time I would be faster, is what I thought. ¡­ I turn left and see the library. With pained steps I enter the building, making sure there is no one looking at me. My clothes are bloodied, and my gait is unsteady, but luckily, I didn¡¯t attract too much attention as I kept to the small alleys. I must call the Rabbit Hole and inform what happened. Also, I have to give them the contract. It''s a bit bloodied but I don''t think that will be a problem... At least it didn''t explode with John. They do not need to know that the car bomb was meant explicitly for me. And I will call Mox also. I¡¯ll inform him that the one who came after me has died. There will probably be more coming after me, but at the moment I don¡¯t think there is a threat. I took 5xy¡¯s phone with me. I have shut it down for now and removed the sim and battery. I¡¯ll worry about it when I have healed. ¡­ It doesn¡¯t take long to explain the situation to Mox and Rabbit Hole. Mox was happy now that the immediate threat is no longer, and he sounded like he worried about me. Darrel though, didn¡¯t take John¡¯s death well, and he was practically fuming over the other end of the phone. I think if I play this right, I¡¯ll gain a powerful ally in my fight against the Caturix. I¡¯m not going to lie to the Rabbit Hole in order to make them my ally, I¡¯ll just tell the right truths to them and forget to mention some. It¡¯ll be a slow process, but I have high hopes. If Darrel were the only one to decide, this would be easier, but he¡¯s just the New York branch leader, and there are more influential people above him. We agreed that I deliver the contract when I have healed. He tried to ask where I''m staying but I didn''t feelinclinedto tell. Thefewerpeopleknowthe location of the library, the better. Now I¡¯ll get some much-needed rest. Before falling asleep on the mattress, my last thought is that I miss Linda¡­
Pov det. Anthony Simmons ¡°¡­And after that, she told to stop the car, and vanished into the streets. We came back here afterward.¡± The paramedic finishes his story. Joshua has gone back to Washington DC so I¡¯m alone now. I¡¯m just helping the NYPD now, as I don¡¯t have jurisdiction over here. Although we decided we would stop chasing Calla, it¡¯s a different matter when there is a car bombing and shooting that claimed the lives of three people. I walk to the alley by the bar and meet up with Major Shelia. She is looking at the corpse of the blond man. I glance at the dead homeless, that is about to be bagged, and walk over to the Major. I wonder if the homeless was somehow involved but now is not the time for that. ¡°¡­¡± She says nothing and keeps looking at the dead man, her face is complicated, and I know why. ¡°The resemblance is too big for it to be a coincidence.¡± I voice her thoughts out loud. ¡°I¡­¡± As the Major is about to say something we are interrupted. ¡°We¡¯ll take over the scene now. The police can go to the perimeter.¡± A man comes and orders. I remember this guy, he¡¯s the man from the Pentagon. Again, he¡¯s interfering with this investigation. He¡¯s accompanied by multiple men wearing suits, and they start shooing away the police. ¡°Mr. Wilson.¡± The Major greets him with a grimace. I think she isn¡¯t a fan of him getting involved with this. ¡°Major Shelia. This has nothing to do with the J.A.T.F. so I¡¯ll expect you to leave now. The D.O.D. will take care of this.¡± He simply says with a smug look. I expect Linda to object, but on the contrary to my expectations, she agrees. ¡°Very well, we¡¯ll be heading off. Come Anthony.¡± We walk in silence as we are nearing the car and I can¡¯t keep my mouth shut anymore. And since when did she start calling me by my first name instead of detective Simmons? ¡°Major! Why didn¡¯t you object? I¡¯m sure we could have remained involved if we explained that we have been investigating this a lot longer than the D.O.D.!¡± ¡°Anthony¡­ We need to talk¡­¡± She says as we are entering the car, holding a serious expression. ¡­ During the car ride Linda explained a little more about who Calla is, and about what she found out about this ¡®Caturix¡¯, and also, she told me about the real identity of Gregory Wilson, A.K.A. Red.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°¡­¡± I¡¯m speechless. The information about Calla is disturbing and makes me hate the organization that put her through that kind of childhood. And our government is involved too, and it doesn''t look like it''s the only government that is a part of this Caturix. What have I gotten myself into¡­ Though isn¡¯t this what I wanted? The bigger fight. Instead of taking some drugs off the street I wanted to join the fight the J.A.T.F. is fighting. ¡°Does this mean, you are accepting my request to join the J.A.T.F.?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be official or anything for now, but yes. I can¡¯t give you a rank, but it¡¯s in my authority to appoint you as an agent for the intelligence unit. The rank can come later when I meet with General Raven.¡± She explains to me. ¡°This is all complicated since officially you are still part of the Washington D.C. police, but for now, they¡¯ll be ¡®lending¡¯ you to me. We¡¯ll figure it all out in time.¡± She continues. As we talk about the small details her phone rings. *ring*ring*ring* She looks at the number before answering. It didn''t look like she recognized the number. ¡°Major Shelia¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Alright¡± She ends the call. ¡°Anything important?¡± I ask her. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Major?¡± ¡°It was Mox.¡± ¡°What?!¡± The legendary, ever elusive Mox. No cop has ever come near catching him or even getting a description of him. In fact, we are not even sure he is a he and not a she. And now he just calls Linda? ¡°Yes. He wanted to meet. We need to dump our phones first.¡± ¡­ After dumping our phones, we follow the instructions Linda got. We drive to an empty parking hall and park next to the only car that is there. It¡¯s a normal white car, nothing extraordinary, aside from the bald man sitting in the driver¡¯s seat. He is wearing rectangular shades, a flower pattern shirt, and jeans. Is that Mox? We enter the car, the Major taking the seat at the front while I enter the back. ¡°Linda, Cop.¡± He greets us. Well if you can call that a greeting. ¡°Mox I take it? So what¡¯s this about?¡± Linda moves the conversation along as Mox starts driving the car. ¡°It¡¯s about Calla. She has told a great many things about you.¡± He answers. Linda is obviously nervous now, though she tries to hide it. ¡°Is she okay?¡± She asks. ¡°She will be. It¡¯s her emotional state I¡¯m worried about, hence I called you. She called me earlier and sounded pretty shaken up. She mentioned me earlier that you have ceased your hunt for him, and from what I have understood, your reasons for chasing after her was always for her best interests?¡± ¡°True¡­ I care about her. So where are we going?¡± ¡°To her hideout. I¡¯m taking you to her. And Cop, can we trust you?¡± At his words, I can almost feel the vein on my forehead to be about to burst. Linda, on the other hand, is pleasantly surprised. ¡°You can.¡± I simply answer, not letting my anger show on my face and luckily the Major decides to back me up. ¡°You can trust him. He may still be part of the police force, but he¡¯s going to join the J.A.T.F. officially soon, and be working directly under me.¡± She explains. Mox only nods, as he continues to drive. ¡­ Sometime later he has parked the car, and we are walking towards a four-story building with white walls and support pillars at the front. It¡¯s quite charming. As we enter I realize what this place is. A library. We walk to the staircase, avoiding the stacks of books that are everywhere and accent to the upper floors. There Mox opens a secret door, hidden behind a book shelve, and we follow behind him. Isn''t it a bit of a cliche to hide a secret door behind a book shelve? There is a room with a table that has monitors which shows multiple feeds from the library and the street outside. Next to the computer on the table, there is a grenade launcher, which I recognize from the shooting in Washington. There are six grenades next to it. Aside from the launcher, there is numerous passports, clips, and bullets on the table also. Linda expertly ignores them as we walk deeper into the secret room and arrive in a room with only a mattress. And there on the mattress is the person I have been searching for. I immediately recognize her from the time I knocked on her apartment door in D.C. I shudder as I remember how close she was shooting me at that time. She is wearing a white shirt that has been ripped apart and covered with blood, and black briefs. She has bandages on her side and shoulder, that has leaked a bit of blood through and sullied the mattress. She''s hugging a sniper-rifle to her chest while laying in a fetal position and her pistol is close to her head. I can see that she has been crying, in her sleep or while awake, impossible to tell as she isn¡¯t crying now. Linda has stopped and just stares Calla with a complicated expression somewhere between worry, sadness and caring. Carefully she closes towards her and kneels by the mattress. With a start, Calla wakes up, and the next moment her pistol is aiming at the Majors forehead. Her eyes widen, as she recognizes the Major, and lowers her gun instantly. ¡°Linda!¡± She yells as she jumps at the Major, hugging her and burying her face in her chest. The Major wraps her arms tightly around Calla, as if she will never let her go, as Calla¡¯s silent sobs are heard. Mox tugs at my arm, and I turn to look at him. He nods towards the door and starts walking. I understand his meaning and follow him out, closing the door behind me. I do not wish to interrupt their reunion. ¡­
Pov Linda Shelia I¡¯m not sure how long I have been hugging Calla, minutes or hours. It doesn¡¯t matter. All that matter is that she is here now, in my arms, safe. My heart almost stopped when I saw her. Hurt and wounded. Those were the only words to describe her. The happy smile she had when I bought her muffins in France were nowhere to be seen. Only a face, sullied by blood and tears along with a battered body that has been through many battles during the past months. When I caught her in Lebanon and brought her with me, I thought she would not have to suffer anymore. I was wrong. Her first suffering was just exchanged with another. As time passes her silent sobbing stops and she loosens her hold of me, backing up and looking at my face. And there is a small smile on her lips now. ¡°How did you find me?¡± She asks. ¡°Mox brought me here. He was worried about you. And I was too. What were you thinking when you left me in France? You know you could have come to me when you were attacked.¡± I berate her. I wasn¡¯t going to start nagging at her, but I can¡¯t help it now. Doesn¡¯t she realize how much I have worried about her during this time? I feel like I aged ten years in the past two months. She looks down, guilt written all over her face as she makes herself smaller and lumps to her knees ¡°sorry¡± A barely audible apology escapes her lips and my heart melts. I cannot be angry or frustrated at her, as I take her back to my arms and hug her again. She returns the hug and once again we stay there as time passes by. ¡­
Pov Calla Linda is here!! All my worries washed away when I jumped into her hug. Then she scolded me for leaving¡­ Then we hugged again, and everything was right in the world! Caturix, my past, the stress I¡¯ve been under, the subject I killed, the memory of the girl I killed in Lebanon, my wounds, the weird pain in my chest, all that vanished the instant she hugged me. I do feel guilty for leaving her in France though¡­ Guilty huh? The fact of having committed a specified or implied offense or crime. Or in psychology, the term Guilt refers to an emotion where an individual feels responsible for some action or inaction that is perceived as having negative results. Some dude called Freud wrote a whole book about it which I skimmed through. It was a boring book. It only highlighted how fucked up I am... I remember thinking about guilt when traveling to New York. I thought about how I have never felt it, not before now. What a weird emotion... But I did call her to tell I¡¯m okay and shared some information, so she can¡¯t be too angry, right? The door to the room opens slowly, and I fight the urge to empty my pistol to whoever decided to interrupt us. It¡¯s the policeman who chased me from my apartment in Washington D.C. Why is he here? I separate from Linda and notice that she pushed the pistol away from my reach when the door opened. Was I that obvious? ¡°*ahem* I don¡¯t like to interrupt, but it has been a few hours already¡­¡± The pest starts his lame ass excuse for ruining my alone time with Linda. He flinches back as he looks at my face. My expression must have been one promising death and thousand years of torture for his crimes against me, but Linda gently pats my back and everything is alright again! ¡°Yeah sorry about that. I didn¡¯t notice it has been that long already.¡± Linda says to him while looking at me. At my body to be precise. ¡°And you young lady, you need a shower and to change your bandages. Wouldn¡¯t want your wounds to get an infection now, would we?¡± ¡°Okayy¡± I meekly respond as I start taking my clothes off. ¡°Calla! About time you learned some modesty!¡± Linda continues as Anthony quickly turns around It¡¯s the scars, right? Well, no matter. I run towards the shower, intending to get it over quickly so I can spend more time with Linda. ¡­ After a quick shower, I join the rest in the room with the monitors, a towel wrapped around my body. ¡°You were fast.¡± Linda smiles to me before continuing ¡°Mox here told about what happened to you and I still have some questions for you, but first things first, who was the second body that was in the alley? The one leaning against the wall?¡± ¡°The shady looking guy?¡± I ask. Why does he matter? ¡°Shady? I mean the homeless looking guy.¡± Homeless, huh? Well, not like I have a real home either. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He looked shady, so I removed the potential threat.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± They are all looking at me, and not saying anything. ¡°You shot a man because he looked shady? You can¡¯t do that!¡± The pest¡­ I mean cop yells. I remember hearing his name but can¡¯t remember it. ¡°The cop raises a valid point Calla. You can¡¯t do that.¡± Mox continues. But I did it, though, so why I can¡¯t do it? And Mox also calls him a cop, so I guess it¡¯s okay for me to do so also. ¡°I can¡¯t? I did, though.¡± ¡°No Calla, you can¡¯t just execute people if they look shady to you. I know this is still all new to you, but not everybody is a threat here.¡± Linda reprimands me. Since even Linda says so, it must be so. ¡°You mean I should have just kneecapped him?¡± Crippling does not lower the threat status to zero like killing, but I guess I can do that in the future¡­ ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Calla¡­¡± The other two are silent while Linda just said my name while shaking her head. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about this another time. Come, I¡¯ll disinfect your wounds and dress them.¡± She continues while walking to the bedroom. Mattressroom? Whatever. I follow her and close the door behind me. I sit on the mattress while dropping my towel as Linda starts taking out bandages and a bottle, alcohol probably. When did she get those? I lay there silently as she does her thing. I¡¯m pretty sure Mox said something about knowing a good doctor who doesn¡¯t ask questions. I should probably see him. I have always healed fast and I don¡¯t think seeing a doctor is necessary, but it would probably speed up my healing time. My lung was punctured after all, and even if it has clogged and stopped bleeding, the hole still remains. If it opens up, my lung could collapse again. And the faster I heal the faster I can start moving around, doing jobs, and ultimately, wiping the Caturix from the face of the earth. They will be only a bad memory when I''m done with them... And so, I fall asleep again, while Linda is still treating my wounds. Chapter 27 Chapter 27 Pov Calla It has already been two weeks since my reunion with Linda. I haven''t done much during this time, only read some books and focused on healing. I could already move around a few days after the fight but now my combat ability has returned to satisfactory levels so I''m comfortable to meet up with Darrel. That day, Linda stayed the night, and the night after that but then she had to leave and meet up with Brian. She tried to talk me into coming with her back to the J.A.T.F. but I vehemently argued against that. I don¡¯t want to be another cog in their machine, not after I have been used for my skills my entire life. After some negotiations I got Linda to back off on that subject. She said she going to see what options she has, but I don¡¯t think the J.A.T.F. brass has much against me not coming back. Or they do, but they can¡¯t do anything about it. I after all played by their requests from the start and I left only because they couldn¡¯t keep me safe. When it was their men who got compromised and turned against me in the first place, I doubt they can force me to come back. And if they really want to use force, I¡¯ll just hide. The Rabbit Hole is good for that. Well, no point in worrying about it now. But still, the way that attack came out of nowhere did scare me a bit. I must be prepared. Who knows when they send more subjects after me, it might even be a good decision to leave town for a bit. Perhaps Darrel can arrange something? There is also one thing that has been on my mind. It''s something Cop said. Or Anthony, as I now know. I guess it wasn''t okay for me to call him Cop, even though Mox did it. He said, that to think even the government has people who belong to the Caturix, and it made him wonder if ''Uncle Sam'' knows of its existence. So who is this Sam? And whose uncle is he? I think it could be smart to start looking for him if he knows anything... A little bit of torture in the right place can work wonders for intel gathering. Well, those matters are for later. For now, I''ll meet up with Darrel, hand him the contract, and find out if Rabbit Hole has some jobs in some other town as I don''t feel comfortable knowing that the Caturix knows in which city I am. And getting some body-armor might be smart. No matter how fast I am, if I''m fighting against people like me, dodging every shot is going to be difficult. Subjects huh... I almost think of them as siblings. But it doesn''t matter who the enemy is. An enemy is an enemy, and I kill my enemies. Young, old, female or male, it doesn''t matter on the battlefield if they choose to enter it. I have read one book that told about war and the use of child soldiers and the morality of fighting against them. Well, I think I count as a child soldier too. Only better. I know what morality means. Well, I know its definition, but never have I thought about it. And I''m starting to think that the subject of morality will elude me for the rest of my life. If a child pointed a gun at me, I would shoot first. I have shot first. In the mission for Al-Aman in the past that was the termination job in Africa, there were child soldiers protecting the mark. Granted, I finished the job about two kilometers away with my lovely .50cal Barrett M82, but there was still some resistance getting to the sniping spot. It didn''t bother me then, and it would not bother me now. Anyway, time to go. I''m wearing jeans and a hoodie as I exit the building and start looking for a cab. I really should get a new motorcycle. Driving one was one of the best moments of my life, only superseded by meeting Linda, reuniting with Linda and getting my name from Linda. Heh... I''m so sentimental... .... ¡­ After the meeting with Darrel, I¡¯m once again sitting in a cab, heading back to the library. I handed the contract to him, though the paper was worn out and crumpled, it could still be read. When Darrel asked about the attacker, I said little. Only that he was obviously a professional, and that I and possibly Jeff was his target. I didn¡¯t tell him about Caturix yet, as it seems too early for that. I don¡¯t want him to realize that the hit had nothing to do with the Rabbit Hole. If I already had all the answers about the attack, he would have realized that I was expecting an attack on some level. I also didn¡¯t bring up my plans to relocate out of New York. I¡¯ll wait to hear from Linda before that. My cab is now a block away from the library so I pay the driver and walk the rest of the way. I have been keeping my guard up ever since the attack, but I haven¡¯t spotted anything of note. I enter the library and head to the stairs. I can smell something foreign in the air, but can¡¯t place it right away. It is very faint, barely noticeable and the only reason I notice it is because it has lowered the oxygen level in the air. That means it is some kind of gas and not just some scent. I ready my pistol and start slowly making my way up the stairs. Something is not right, and I can tell the gas is spreading from upstairs. I halt my steps and decide to play on the safe side. I don¡¯t know what this gas is but I¡¯m not going to stay and find out. But just as I¡¯m about to turn and head back out, a thought comes to mind. If this really is a trap, and the gas is here to incapacitate or to kill me, then the building would already be surrounded. I have to make my way towards the hidden exit in the monitor room.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Luckily gasses don¡¯t affect me much. I don¡¯t know what kind of modifications they did to my genes when I was still in my mother¡¯s belly exactly, but I know they did something. At my old home in the wintery forest, when they tested my limits. Or should I say, the limits of their subject, as they exposed me to all kinds of stimulants, one of them being gas. Their baseline was some poor soul they dragged there, a male, about twenty of age. They put us in the same chamber and filled it with cyclosarin. Then they watched. They watched as the man started convulsing and vomiting. They watched as he started bleeding from his eyes and hallucinating. And then they watched him die, just as I was starting to feel something affecting me. But no matter how long I spent there, the gas didn¡¯t give any symptoms to me except making me feel slightly dizzy. And that is why I¡¯m confident I can make it to the hidden exit before anything happens. I keep my weapon ready as I open the bookshelf and enter my quarters. I¡¯m guessing that the gas is being pumped from the outside, into the ventilation of the building as I don¡¯t see anything that would suggest somebody has been here. I walk towards the hidden door while avoiding tripping over all the books that are laying around. I¡¯m feeling a small dizziness, that confirms me that this isn¡¯t just your normal gas-leak. That wouldn¡¯t affect me so. Just as I¡¯m about to open the door to the exit, something happens. A pulse travels through the room. I can see it destroys the computer equipment and the lighting in the room. Everything electrical is destroyed but that isn¡¯t what worries me. It¡¯s how the wave affected me. First, it was a stabbing pain behind my eyes, then it felt like my brains had gone numb. Something shut down in my head. I can still think and feel, but the ever-present presence of something isn¡¯t there. It was the thing that calculated bullet trajectories when I was sniping, the thing that kept my inner clock accurate and my aim true. Never did I realize there was something like that in my head before I lost it. Now that it isn¡¯t there, I can feel its absence more accurately than its presence ever. I have no time for this! A quick self-evaluation to my senses tells me that I¡¯m still combat efficient so I can escape now, and think later. As I¡¯m opening the hidden door to the exit, something else makes its presence more known. It¡¯s the gas! It¡¯s starting to slow me down. As I walk the narrow corridor that travels inside the walls of the neighboring building, I feel my senses to blur. Every step I take is shorter than the last, and I¡¯m feeling very sleepy. Everything is starting to go dark in my eyes, but my hearing still works, and it tells me there are people behind me. I need a plan of action and I have very little time. I¡¯m probably going to get caught, but at least they want me alive, why else use a gas with a sleeping agent. So first things first, I need to make it more obvious to Linda and the others that I have been taken. My pistol hasn¡¯t got its suppressor on, and that works to my favor. Finally, the strength leaves my legs and I fall down. I didn¡¯t make it even ten meters into the secret corridor. The steps behind me are now in the same corridor as I so they should be a nice target seeing how narrow it is. With my last strength, I turn to my back and start emptying my weapon to the approaching blurry figures. I aim at them and the back wall of the monitor room so that they cannot hide the signs of a battle just by closing the door to the secret corridor. *BAM*BAM*BAM The noise of the shots will persuade my neighbors to call the cops. Anthony will hear about it, and Linda will also. *BAM*Bam*bam* I squeeze the trigger few more times. Now my hearing is also failing. The sounds of the shots are starting to sound distant and the blurry figures that are approaching me are coming closer. *bam*bam* I at least got a few of them, but can¡¯t tell for sure¡­ I still have¡­bullets¡­ I don¡¯t hear the shots anymore¡­ Impossible to keep eyes open.. I¡­ust¡­ scape¡­¡­
Pov Linda I¡¯m sitting in the local PD¡¯s coffee room, waiting for Anthony to finish a phone call he went to take in the other room. By the sounds of it, it was his wife who was not happy him coming to New York and staying so long. I wonder where Brian is. I haven¡¯t seen him in a week, but his probably chasing down some lead. I came to an agreement with General Raven. He wasn¡¯t happy that Calla didn¡¯t want to come back as he sees her only as a possible asset, but after using Calla¡¯s own arguments against the general, he didn¡¯t start to push the matter. Calla was right when she said to me that she did everything we asked after we took her in and that she was forced to leave in the Alpha trainer incident. So he gave me an option, a way in which I don¡¯t have to be disloyal to the J.A.T.F. and at the same time I don¡¯t have to betray Calla¡¯s trust. Calla would be seen as an independent contractor. She would work for us as an operative but had the power to turn down a contract. Independent operators usually don¡¯t work well with big organizations and can never be truly trusted, but this way we can still keep tabs on her while still respecting her rights. And we know Calla¡¯s character. She isn¡¯t likely to betray our trust as long as we don¡¯t betray hers. The door slams open, startling me. Anthony comes in with quick steps ¡°There have been reports of shots fired at the library!¡± He informs me to my surprise. I hurriedly get up and start heading downstairs. We jump into Anthony¡¯s car and drive off. At the library, there is already a few patrol cars on the street. The patrolmen are keeping bystanders away and isolating the library. One of them comes to me and Anthony, probably thinking that Anthony is a local detective. ¡°Neighbors reported shots fired and we were the first to arrive at the scene. According to eyewitnesses we interviewed, they saw a black van leaving in a hurry. We tried entering the building but there is some kind of gas in there so we turned back as soon as we felt the dizziness, which came almost instantly after entering.¡± The patrolman finishes his report. ¡°Shit¡± I curse. ¡°We need to get a look inside. Don¡¯t we have masks?¡± ¡°No. But they should arrive soon. We already requested it from the dispatch.¡± I nervously wait for a few minutes, while Anthony tries to explain to the local detective that arrived why he should let him and me enter first, without giving him information about Calla. It seems he succeeded and now that the masks arrived, we head to the library. The local detective also comes in with two of the patrolmen. We enter the library and immediately head upstairs. We arrive at the monitor room and I see three bodies, one of them in the room, and two of them in a narrow corridor which I didn¡¯t know was there. ¡°What the hell?¡± The local detective exclaims. The patrolmen are checking the rest of the building while me the local and Anthony came to the monitor room. Anthony walks deeper into the room and looks around after heading down the corridor. I¡¯m trying to make sense of what happened here by studying the room. I don¡¯t see Calla here, or any blood other than those of the bodies so she should be alright. ¡°Calla!¡± I yell, not caring about the local. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± The local asks but I ignore him as I yell once more. Anthony comes back from the corridor and turns to me. ¡°It looks like that the exit of the corridor hasn¡¯t been opened in some time so it¡¯s improbable that Calla got away. Taking into account the gas, the three dead men wearing gas masks and the empty pistol in the corridor that doesn¡¯t belong to the dead men seeing they have their weapons holstered, I think Calla got taken.¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I yell as I uncharacteristically punch one of the many bookshelves. ¡°We will find her.¡± Anthony tries to calm me down but I know that that is a hard task. ¡°How did they found this place in the first place.¡± I mutter under my breath but I now must concentrate on finding them. And as much I hate to admit it, the local PD is the best option right now. They know the city best and can track a car through their CCTV network more easily. But I¡¯m not going to leave it all to them. I need to contact Brian.
Pov White HaHAHahaa! I will succeed where the old White didn¡¯t. And for that, I need subject 7xx. I watch with Red as our men carry it deeper into the facility. Red managed to catch it in New York and transported it here. It took four hours to transport it to here, but in this facility we are safe. After the previous White, I¡¯m the only one who can continue this research and I am going to perfect it. With the help of subject 7xx, I can do it. Even if it kills it, the data received experimenting on her will be invaluable. ¡°Now that we managed to get her alive, you owe me big time.¡± Red tries to get me in debt but I am not going to let that happen. That stupid troglodyte doesn¡¯t even realize the significance of subject 7xx and how much of a miracle it is that it won against 5xy. ¡°If I recall correctly, it was I who gave you the plan. It was I, who told you the way to win against it without killing it.¡± I remind him. ¡°But it was I who got her location in the first place.¡± ¡°That is hardly an accomplishment." "Oh but it is! You have no idea how difficult it was to track it!" ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this. I have work to do.¡± I say to him while turning my back. I hear his laughter behind me. The idiot thinks he won the argument, but after my work is done, we¡¯ll see who has the last laugh. I decent deeper into the concrete complex that has been built under the jungles of Puerto Rico. Time to get to work. Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Pov Calla I wake up, hanging from the ceiling. My mind feels groggy as I try to assess the situation. I¡¯m in a room, three by three meters of size surrounded by concrete walls. The only light source is a lamp above the steel door that¡¯s facing me. I¡¯m in the middle of the room, with shackles on my wrists. They are connected to the ceiling with a chain. I¡¯m not suspended in midair, but the chain is too short for me to even get on my knees. I¡¯m wearing just my undergarments which I was wearing before. They consist of a sports bra and small shorts. The thing that ¡®shutdown¡¯ earlier still hasn¡¯t returned. I don¡¯t know what it is or was, but I suspect it has something to do with my upbringing. I don¡¯t know exactly what it did for me either, as it feels like I¡¯m still the same. My senses are still superb and as I¡¯m concentrating on my body and my senses, I notice that there is gas inside this room also. Not as much as there was in the library. That is probably the reason my body feels tired and weak. All my weight is on the chain, and the shackles have already caused my skin to tear and bleed on my wrists. I have to escape so I try standing up, but I can¡¯t muster any strength. The steel door opens up and a man in a white coat comes in with strides. ¡°Good morning my beautiful little plaything. We have a busy stay ahead of us so let¡¯s not tally¡± He says to me with a smile and a kind voice, if only a little too enthusiastic. I just glare at him, not saying anything. ¡°Well, anyways. I¡¯m doctor White. The new White after you killed my predecessor. I thank you for that by the way. Now, let me explain why I¡¯m going to do the things I¡¯m going to do to you. My predecessor used to be the head of this project before and he followed to different paths to perfection. First one was the chemical gene modification done before birth. It was done to all subjects 1 through 9.¡± That fucker really likes to hear himself talk¡­ Stupid fucking villains, always explaining their plans when they could just execute their plans. At least it is information that I¡¯m interested in. ¡°The second method was nanotechnology!¡± He proudly exclaims while spreading his hands for theatrical effect. I continue to glare at him. It takes all my strength just to keep my head up. It must be the gas. The doctor is wearing a gas mask which covers his mouth and nose. ¡°But sadly, he didn¡¯t succeed in the efforts of using the nanotechnology efficiently. The Seven series were the first try at it. When you were three, the nanomachines were injected into your brainstem and blood flow. The machinery in the blood flow worked as expected, and gave you faster healing process and purged your body of toxins and other harmful substances. The ones in your brain, however, didn¡¯t activate¡­¡± He gives me a sad look as he finishes the sentence and continues. ¡°They seemed to be not working at all and only laying there in your brain. When we tried forcefully activate them in your brother, he died. Quite violently, I might add.¡± Nanomachines¡­ So the pulse at the library was an electromagnetic pulse and disabled the nanomachines in my body that were counteracting the gas¡­ That explains a lot. ¡°And since creating even one subject is costly and you had the chemical enhancements already in place, we didn¡¯t want to kill you. We discovered the reason the experiment failed was that the machinery we installed in you was simply too powerful, and would fry the brain when activated. With that in mind, we created the eight series. They worked as intended but because we had to make the nanomachines not as efficient as planned, they were a failure at the end because the benefits the nanotech gave them was so minuscule.¡± If a simple EMP is enough to deactivate the nanotech, it¡¯s a stupid idea anyway in my opinion. ¡°I can see what you are thinking.¡± He gives me another fanatical smile. I¡¯m really starting to want to kill that guy¡­ ¡°The EMP only deactivates them for a few minutes. The gas we are using here is different, specially designed for you.¡± ¡°HAHAha¡­ I can see the growing hate in your eyes. Now, the Nine series was completely chemical as the previous White gave up on nanotech, but that doesn¡¯t really matter, seeing how you destroyed the Nine series.¡± ¡°Get.. to the¡­ fucking point¡± I manage to say. White talks like he thinks himself a fucking god. I will get out of these chains one way or another and find a way to kill him. ¡°Okay then. The nanotech in your head will destroy parts of your brain if activated forcefully. But there is one other way to activate it. The nanotech is mainly focused on your central nervous system. And that is precisely the spot that got fried in your brother¡¯s brain. So instead of directly stimulating your brain, we will stimulate your nervous system. And with enough signals flying around that pretty little noggin of yours, they are bound to interact with the nanotech, hopefully bringing it online.¡± Fucking shit. He want¡¯s to torture me¡­ ¡°By your expression, you figured out my plans.¡± He says with a twisted smile. ¡°And if that works we¡¯ll kill you because of your disloyalty and use the data for the Ten series. HAhAHAHA.. A weapon shouldn¡¯t think or dream. And that was your mistake. They were the fucking ones who cast me aside in the first place, but I have no strength to retort. The door opens again and another man walks in. He is wearing a gas mask also and pushing a cart with him, filled with instruments I have seen before a long time ago. In my pain resistance training. ¡­ Now left alone with the man I dubbed as ¡®Zombie¡¯ after White left the room, I bite my teeth together as another jolt of electricity runs through me. Why Zombie? Because he¡¯s a dead man walking. ¡°NNHng¡± Once again stabs into my skin with the two blades that are hooked into a battery. I won¡¯t give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream. I have to remember my training. The training I hoped to leave forgotten. ¡°argnnhnh!¡± Retreat to your past, to your memories, and bide your time¡­ A chance will come.
3rd Pov Under the full moon, the waves of the dark seas rise to the height of two meters. A cold wind blows against a black military grade zodiac boat that glides through the waves. After every passing wave, the salty water splashes on the face of the driver. A girl, barely 14 of age with blonde hair wearing a black tactical uniform is the one steering the small vessel. The motor doesn¡¯t let much noise, as it is built with stealth in mind so the prevalent noise is that of the waves. The black ocean scenery illuminated by moonlight could almost be peaceful, but that isn¡¯t what the girl thinks. Her thoughts are only in her mission. The girl, known as Seven, has been given mission parameters as follows; Terminate the target Radek Reinhard. A Polish/German arms dealer that has made a name for himself by providing arms to anyone who can pay. She stares into the darkness through night vision goggles she is wearing. Her destination is the yacht that she can see on the horizon thanks to the multiple lights that decorate it. She glances at her weaponry. There is a silenced automatic rifle that is accurate to 300 meters laying on the boat, and she has a silenced pistol on her thigh along with a combat knife strapped to her lower back. She knows she can¡¯t use them. They are only a precaution. She has to make the hit so that it is deniable. She was told that it can¡¯t look like a plain assassination.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Because the target has been on a boat that has been moving she doesn¡¯t have any existing recon information. She¡¯ll have to improvise. The small zodiac boat closes in on the big white yacht unnoticed in the darkness of the night. Seven turns the engine off when there are only ten or so meters left. She lets the boat glide closer and prepares a rope. She hooks the rope on the railing of the yacht and attaches the other end to her own boat. Silently climbing she peeks from under the railing and catches a glimpse of the lower deck. The lights are on and she can hear music but doesn¡¯t see anyone. She doesn¡¯t climb up but waits until she hears someone. It¡¯s coming from the opposite side of the boat so she climbs back down and circles the boat, only using oars to move as silently as possible. She again hooks the rope, but more carefully this time, and climbs up. Now she can see her mark. The man ¡®Reinhard¡¯ was standing on the deck, holding a wine glass and humming to the tune of the music. Seven observed for some time, counting few servant people that were on board. They brought her target more wine at some point and hasn¡¯t been seen since. The girl nods to herself and climbs down to her boat. She grabs an air tank from her bag and attaches it to her belt. Its size is small, about the size of a water bottle but she doesn¡¯t need much. She didn¡¯t have a concrete plan when she came, but she is prepared for multiple scenarios. She takes the small regulator mouthpiece and attaches the tubes to the air tank. Climbing up, she disconnects the rope from the railing and ties it to her belt. Now she and her boat are connected with the rope. *tap* The man, Reinhard, who was enjoying his favorite music after a successful deal hears something. He turns to look towards the sea but doesn¡¯t see anything. Slightly drunk, he marvels the beauty of the full moon and its reflection from the sea. *tap* Again he hears something. He looks towards the railing and scratches his head. Was it the music, he wonders. Looking around he doesn¡¯t see anyone else but himself, but he was sure he heard it. He walks towards the railing, thinking it could be some loose part or a buoy. He bends over the railing, searching for the light of a buoy. Before he can react, Seven lassoed a rope around his neck and using the railing she pushes herself off the railing, pulling him with her. They fall into the water, the splash quickly drowns to the sound of the waves and music. After under the surface, Seven restrains the man the best she can. She doesn¡¯t want to choke him with the rope because she wants it to be drowning. The larger man struggles but Seven is strong for her size. She also pulls on the rope she tied to her belt so that her boat would be above them so even when the man manages to pop his head on the surface, he couldn¡¯t get air. His fight slowly starts to quiet down understandably. He was taken in by surprise and given no chance to draw breath in when falling. In his drunken panic, he breathes in the water and loses consciousness. Seven still stays under for a full minute after the man stopped struggling. She has air left for over twenty minutes in her tank so it¡¯s no problem to stay in just in case. She takes her rope off of him and checks that it didn¡¯t leave marks on his neck. After a minute she rises to the surface and looks at the yacht that has already traveled closer to a hundred meters from their position. She leaves the body, face down, to the sea as she climbs to her boat and starts the engine. She gives a final look at the body that will likely never be found again before speeding away to the direction she came from.
Pov Calla My ribs are about to shatter as the zombie punches me. ¡°Don¡¯t daydream now. This is the best part.¡± The sleazy man gives me a disgusting smile while saying that. I had a flashback of one of my missions. Though, it was like I was watching someone else than me. ¡°Let¡¯s see if you scream now¡­ hehehe, ya know, some studies say that scream actually helps with the pain¡­¡± He continues but I pay no attention. I have been here over a day but under two. Hours ago I could feel how the nanotech inside me came back alive. I realize that it always has been there, but only now do I actually feel it because I was made aware of it. I can feel the ones in my bloodstream alleviate the pain in some places while in other they make it worst. That must mean they are repairing my body. I can also feel the nanotech in my brain coming back. That too I had never noticed until I lost it. It isn¡¯t much of a difference, but I¡¯m so used to it that I¡¯d rather have it. It makes calculating things a little quicker and planning things a little easier. But White said they aren¡¯t working properly, so I wonder what they are supposed to do. ¡°It¡¯s great that the nanotech started working. Don¡¯t have to worry about killing you so much anymore. hehehe¡± I watch the zombie with droopy eyes as he handles a syringe filled with liquid. ¡°This little thing was created by the C.I.A.. They believed at the time that chemical torture was the best way. It¡¯ll hurt like a bitch, and last longer cause those little droids in your bloodstream doesn¡¯t see it as a threat. hehehe¡± Fuck. I have just to hold on. A chance will come if I wait. He pushes the syringe into my skin. I have no strength to resist him at all. I feel as the liquid enters my bloodstream. I grit my teeth and try to think anything else but the pain. It feels like someone injected me with burning gasoline. The pain spreads from my shoulder towards my torso. Before long it reaches to my head and my mind goes blank from the pain.
Pov Calla I enter the target structure. It¡¯s only a few weeks after I did the job on the yacht but now I have a new mission. To terminate the target ¡®John¡¯. They didn¡¯t tell me much about him, but enough. His location is a remote building near Cairo, and well-guarded. But it¡¯s a hotel so access isn¡¯t that hard. I¡¯m dressed in a burka, with a scarf that hides my hair, neck, and ears. I enter the hotel like I belong there, and the guards wave a detector around me. ¡°Where is your family?¡± One of the guards asks. I pretend to not understand and answer something in Farsi and point towards the elevators. They give up and nods at me. I leave and head to the elevators. I select the fourth floor and wait in the elevator. The ding indicates my arrival and I step out. This mission is simple. They said that this John isn¡¯t expecting to be targeted and is traveling alone. I walk by the doors, without looking at them. I know my target is at the northeast corner. Arriving at his door I knock thrice. ¡°Yes?¡± A kind looking older man answers the door. ¡°Can I use your phone? I don¡¯t remember our room number¡­¡± I say, trying to sound meek. My trainers and handlers haven¡¯t taught me much how to interact with others, but I do know ways to get through a door with talking when the other one isn''t on guard. He gives me a smile and opens the door all the way ¡°Certainly¡±. I try to smile in reply but it doesn''t feel naturalas Istep in. I walk into the room and turn towards him as he is closing the door. ¡°Do you want to call you paren..!¡± I don¡¯t let him finish. As he turned to me, I stabbed a pencil to his throat, aiming at the carotid artery. I pull the pencil out with a violent movement and the wound expands. He tries to get to the hallway while pressing the wound with his other hand but I stop him and pull him into the room. He falls to the floor and tries to crawl to the phone but it is already too late. He has lost too much blood and he slumps down on his belly, the light leaving his eyes. I check the mirror on the wall and see that I¡¯m covered in blood. No worries though. I take off the burka and scarf, revealing college pants and a sweater. I use the bathroom sink to wash my face from the blood and head out. I leave the hotel unobstructed as the guards don¡¯t check those who are leaving. My extract location is ten kilometers to the south, and I have forty-five minutes to get there so I better start running or else my trainer puts me through pain resistance training again. Hrrr, I shudder at the thought.
Pov Calla As I return to reality from my memories the effects of the drug are starting to disappear. I¡¯m alone in the room, still hanging from the ceiling. The floor under me is covered with my blood but I am not in danger of blood loss just yet. Zombie has been careful about where to make a cut. Something is different though. Something in me. Did those fuckers succeed in their experiment? If so, they have no longer use for me. They¡¯ll just kill and dissect me. But it¡¯s a change in my situation and therefore, something that could be exploited. I concentrate my senses inwards and I can feel the nanotech in my body more accurately. It¡¯s like I could influence them with my mind. But I know that this experiment was to stimulate the tech in my head, not in my body so why the change feels like it¡¯s from my body. While thinking that the zombie steps in. ¡°Good, you are awake. Time to test have we succeeded. I¡¯ll get the doctor.¡± He says and turns around. Though the situation is urgent, something else than the zombie claims my focus. When he opened the door briefly, I sensed so much. So much more than now. They were signals and fields of some kind. I almost could see them. They were in the air and some of them connected to the pocket of the zombie. And that¡¯s when I realize. Or at least start to realize. They were probably low and high wave transmissions, radio waves or Wi-Fi signals. The change did happen in my brain. I can now perceive frequencies that I couldn¡¯t before. But why the absence of signals in my room? There is only one explanation that is logical if I''m right. White knew to expect this and built a Faraday cage into the walls of this room. That would stop any signal from getting inside. That would also mean that this is what the nanotech was intended to do if he knew to prepare for it. The door opens again, and the signals come back. But I have a more urgent worry now so I don¡¯t have the time to think about what I could do. White has a device on his hand and I can sense that it emits some kind of field to its immediate surrounding. ¡°Let¡¯s see if they are starting to work.¡± He says as he brings the thing closer to my head. I sense as the field it emits starts to bend slightly when nearing me. I focus all my attention on the tech in my head and concentrate on ¡®being quiet¡¯ so to speak. It works, but the field is still getting interference. I change my approach and try to think as little as I can. Emptying my head of thoughts. White takes the machine away and reads the numbers on its screen. ¡°Weird¡­¡± He mumbles ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s starting to work¡­ A little more¡± and takes his leave followed by the zombie. I think I just barely managed to fool him. Now that the door is closed again, I have nothing much to do so I concentrate on the tech in my body. I can see signals, and even the nanotech in me sends some, though very minuscule. But since they are inside my body, they are easy to sense. As I¡¯m exploring the tech, I realize it is almost like there is a computer in my head. Or more accurately, my head got turned into a computer. After a while of trying and many tingly sensations later I managed to do what I hoped for. I got the tech in my body to react towards the gas that keeps my muscles unresponsive. I feel my body¡¯s control returning quickly, but I still haven¡¯t got a way out. And I¡¯m still hurt after all the torture. The nanotech can repair me fine, but if there is nothing to use for repairs, in my case, food, they can¡¯t do much. Thinking through my options I realize that I know instinctively about the tech inside me, now that it has been properly activated. I can feel all the possibilities how it can be used now. What a fearsome weapon they built. And gave to me¡­ Idiots. Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Pov White It¡¯s been four days already but the subject hasn¡¯t shown any changes after the initial scanning. But that was the first time used the device so it was probably a matter of calibrations. We have pushed the subject to its limits already so I¡¯m not sure what more can we do. Because of that, I¡¯m forced to try a different approach. This strategy was used before in her pain resistance training but I''m hoping that the physical growth of the subject would have an influence on the results. We are going to try directly to stimulate the nanotech that has infused itself into her central nervous system. But to do that and to minimalize the risk, we have to get the subject to better condition. We gave it food and water yesterday evening and again today morning so we should be able to start this tomorrow. ¡°Are you sure this is smart? That girl in there is freaky. No matter how much I beat her down she takes it quietly, and heals soon after.¡± Frederik complains. He is the one in charge of her treatment. ¡°Don¡¯t think of it as a girl. It may have been a girl once, but even before her birth her humanity was stripped.¡± I inform my dumb little minion. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± I turn to the surveillance screens that show the subject eating on her cell floor in an uncomfortable position because of the chains we loosened just enough that she could eat, and ponder how to answer. ¡°Well you see, in one part of the enhancements they receive, their ability to feel empathy is reduced and replaced with the conscious want to hurt. Their sense of self is diminished and their overall nervous system is heightened along with their muscles.¡± I explain him, quite proudly. ¡°That¡¯s just twisted.¡± ¡°Hah! That¡¯s just the start of it. That ¡®girl¡¯ there.¡± I point towards the screen. ¡°Was implanted with nanomachinery. When we get it operational, you have no idea what we could achieve.¡± He just shakes his head and turns to look at the monitors. His face pales as he sees the image. ¡°What?¡± I ask and turn to look. ¡°Is it supposed to be able to stand?¡± Frederik asks. ¡°No¡­ The gas should make that impossible.¡± But yet, there it is, standing. It is looking around the room but doesn¡¯t seem to notice the camera. And how could it? It¡¯s just the other end of a fiber optic cable that is in the room. The actual camera is here in the command room. We watch as she tugs the chains, first lightly, and then with force. At the second attempt, the chain broke off from the ceiling. Now she is studying the shackles. She twists her arms as much as she can and uses her knee as a fulcrum when she places her weight on the shackles. She stands back up and we can see the severed chain that was binding her arms together. Her left arm is bent the wrong way but that doesn¡¯t seem to affect her. With her right hand, she sets the bones with one quick movement. She studies the heavily reinforced door for a moment before sitting in the middle of the room in a lotus position. She straightens her left arm and makes a fist before relaxing it and giving a faint smile. She turns her attention back to the door. *gulp*
2 Days Earlier Pov Linda It has been two days since Calla went missing and we aren¡¯t any closer to finding her. Anthony is working with the local police, but all they managed to do, was to track the van to a private airfield. We have no idea where they went from there. I managed to get a hold of Brian who said that he was chasing a lead, but he didn¡¯t tell me anything more. I¡¯m in my hotel room, just waiting for the phone to ring. There isn¡¯t anything else I can do at this point. Thinking again how they found Calla, there are only a few options. First, the library wasn¡¯t so hidden as we thought but knowing Mox and his reputation I think it is highly unlikely. If it wasn¡¯t Mox or that the library wasn¡¯t hidden in the first place, that just leaves me and Anthony. And Brian. I told him about the library. Anthony is very unlikely to be the one who sold Calla out since he¡¯s originally just a cop from DC. He shouldn¡¯t have the connection. Brian, on the other hand, would have the connections, but I refuse to believe it! But it¡¯s the only way. The way he has been hard to reach for these last few weeks¡­ But he just answered my phone call. He isn¡¯t stupid, I¡¯m sure he realized that I must be suspecting him and he still took the call. If he disappears he is the one responsible, and if he doesn¡¯t he still could be the one responsible... *ring*ring* I end my train of thought and answer my phone. ¡°Major Shelia.¡± I say. I can see it¡¯s the general from the caller ID so he probably made a decision on how to proceed. I have explained to him what¡¯s going on and have been waiting for his answer. ¡°Major, There isn¡¯t much we can do, seeing we have so little information. But I talked to the rest of the brass and we came to a decision. We will inform the Americans about our investigation of the Caturix, and tell them about Gregory Wilson. They can more easily gain information since he is on US-soil.¡± He informs me I don¡¯t really agree, but that¡¯s still one way to go. ¡°Let¡¯s just hope that they decide to do something about it, sir.¡± I say to the general. ¡°They will. One of their own''s involvement with an organization that has been actively promoting war and terror from the shadows, it would embarrass their government so they¡¯ll try to get to the bottom of it as fast as possible.¡± General Raven says. Maybe he is right, I can only wait and see.
A few hours later Pentagon Pov Military policeUnauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I kick the office door in once one of my men yells¡± Military police!¡±. The office is big and luxurious, a bookshelf on the left and paintings on the right wall. At the end of the office is a big dark wooden desk with a window behind it. Between the window and a desk, a man stands, startled by our sudden entrance. ¡°Gregory Wilson, We have an arrest warrant for you. You will be taken into custody immediately, please don¡¯t resist.¡± I inform him as two of my men walks up to him. ¡°What is the meaning of this! You have no right!¡± He continues but my men don¡¯t care. They take his hands and starts putting the cuffs on. ¡°Get me my lawyer!¡± He barks at me. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that due to your alleged activity, we are forced to see you as an enemy combatant. Thank God for Patriot act.¡± I answer with a smile on my face. ¡°Take him away. Start going through the office.¡± I give additional commands to my men. It takes few hours to search the office from top to bottom and coming up with nothing. That is until we run a MEMEX search on the geo-data for the burner phone we found that we get something. With the commander of the 110th platoon, we watch the satellite image from Puerto Rico. The geo-tags putsthe location of Wilson in this facility a few days ago. It¡¯s only a house made of concrete but the infrared images reveal the underground complex that spans hundreds of meters of area.
Present Pov White ¡°The hell we are supposed to do now?¡± Frederik ponders. We are still staring the subject who is waiting for the door to open. ¡°I¡­¡± Just as I¡¯m about to answer something else steal my attention. It¡¯s the perimeter alarm from the surface. I turn to look at the screens that show the surface and freeze. There is a soldier squad ready to breach. Americans by the looks of it. Fucking shit. They can¡¯t ruin everything when I¡¯m so close to achieving it. Before I can think of a plan, an explosion shocks the facility. They blew the door and breached. The next ten minutes pass by quickly as I watch the battles that take place in the narrow corridors of the facility between our guards and the spec ops unit. ¡°We need to get the fuck out of here!¡± Frederik yells in panic and for once I agree. We start heading out towards one of the emergency exits but I¡¯m not confident we make it. This place wasn¡¯t built for fight and retreat. It was never meant to be found. We quickly walk along the corridors, listening to the sounds of battle that echoes in the complex. Turn after turn we proceed, always fearing getting caught when we round a corner. And then finally we got surrounded. They didn¡¯t shoot us as we are unarmed but they did make it clear they are ready to shoot. The battles are dying down now by the sounds of it. ¡°What now?¡± Frederik whispers to me. Idiot. Doesn¡¯t realize it¡¯s all over. For him at least. I¡¯m a smart guy and an expert in my field. There is a chance that I can continue my research under their government. A squad of six escorts us through the corridors and towards the surface. If I counted right, they sent three squads of nine to take the facility. And even though they were outnumbered to us, Special Forces is just that much more effective than the hired guns we use for security. As we are escorted through the corridors Frederik spots something that makes him freeze. He just stops and stares somewhere and cold sweat starts forming on his head. I look behind him and see what he was looking at. The soldiers are checking every room and collecting documents. Not that they will find anything of note. As per procedure, Ishredded all my research from the database. I didn''t have time to erase all of the data, but the important parts of my research only exist in my head now. The soldiers are now using a breaching charge to open the only locked door they found. The room of the subject. ¡°Don¡¯t open that!¡± I try to scream, but it''s too late. The leader of the squad turns to look at me, and then at the door just as the lock mechanism is exploded. ¡°NOO!¡± Frederik also yells but too late.
Pov Calla I hear battles, gunshots, and explosions. Somebody is attacking the base. I¡¯m as ready to escape as I¡¯ll ever be. My body is in good condition, my broken arm is still healing but I''ll make do. I patiently wait for my chance. I cannot open the door by force, but someone will do it for me. I hear how they have now put a small breaching charge on the door so I ready myself. I¡¯m like a sprinter waiting for the start of a race. ¡°Don¡¯t open that!¡± *BAM* ¡°NOO!¡± I run as fast as I can. Before the broken door even hits the floor, I have jumped through the doorway. The world moves slowly around me and the signals once again come to my attention. Now is not the time for that though. The soldier waiting behind the door are too slow to react as I weave past them using my smaller size and greater agility to my advantage. Twenty meters ahead of me, on a corridor that runs perpendicular to this one, stands White and zombie next to each other. Their hands are shackled, and they are escorted by six soldiers. I sprint towards them and enjoy the terrified faces of my targets. The soldier surrounding them takes notice of me, and aim their guns. Because they have friendlies behind me, they cannot shoot freely. And the few shots they managed to take was easy to anticipate and dodge. Way easier than before. Three meters to go. White is my primary target. Because something he said. If I kill him, the research dies with him. And I¡¯m guessing by his character that nobody else can anticipate what I¡¯m capable of. I doubt he shared about the possibilities of what I could do in detail with the others. Zombie stands in front of him, and there are three soldiers to their left and right. I jump forward, flying past the zombie. When I¡¯m passing White, I grab his head with my right hand and use my momentum to add to his. With all my strength I smash his head against the wall behind him. I feel something crack, and his body going limp. Not giving myself time to drop to the floor, I jump from the wall back towards the Zombie. The soldiers tried shooting after I killed White, but they were too slow, only hitting the wall and Whites body that is falling down. It all happened so fast that Zombie just turned around to look at White¡¯s direction when I was already approaching him midair. With my high jump, I take his head between my thighs and use his body as a fulcrum, to swing behind him, turning his head 180 degrees in the process before gracefully landing on the ground. The crack of his neck was just as satisfying as I imagined it to be. During my landing, I thought about my next actions. I¡¯m not entirely sure which military this is, but it isn¡¯t the J.A.T.F. so that in mind I decided to escape. Getting affiliated with J.A.T.F. in a similar situation once before I''m not eager to repeat that with another military.
Pov Special Forces Sergeant As the bloodied girl lands on the floor, none of us know what to do. She just killed two of our captives in front of us in a span of a second! I mean what the hell!? ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± One of my men yells at her, but she pays him no mind. The girl wearing only underwear and covered with scars and blood starts sprinting away. Few shots are fired to her direction, but she always sidesteps just as the shot is fired. I yell orders at the radio for the rest of the men to stop her. I just hope that they make it. The girl''s speed is something inhuman, and it seems she knows the facility like the back of her hands. After minutes of silence, no further reports come about the girl. ¡°There is no way she could just have disappeared into thin air! She has to be here somewhere!¡± I yell at my men. The girl was obviously a captive here. She looked to be tortured, and the broken shackles on her wrists support that. I understand why she wanted to kill her captors, but why did she run away from her saviors? And howdid she do it so effectively?
Pov Calla Running in the corridors I get more understanding of my abilities. By concentrating I connected to the facility¡¯s network and got the blueprints of the place. It¡¯s like the map is overlaid with my vision without hampering it. And that¡¯s not all. The surveillance feed from the cameras is also available to me. It¡¯s hard to concentrate on a singular feed, as that hampers my true vision. But if I study the feeds as a whole, I get the idea where there are soldiers and those locationsI can consciously overlay with the blueprints. It is easy and doesn¡¯t take long to avoid the soldiers and for me to get to a room I was aiming. From here, there is an emergency hatch to the surface. I can see that the soldiers are guarding the main entrance along with the smaller entrance, but not this one. Climbing the stairs I emerge in a jungle. I¡¯m battered, I need new clothes and a shower but at least I¡¯m clear. As I¡¯m wondering where I am, I use the internet connection of the facilities to connect with a satellite. ¡°Woah¡± I cannot help but to exclaim. This is so cool. I know now that I¡¯m in a jungle in Puerto Rico and I know the way to the nearest city. As I study the inaccurate feed, I notice something else. Signals are coming and going between the sky and the soldiers. I know enough about warfare to guess what it is about. I concentrate on the signals and it rewards me with a new bird''s eye view. It¡¯s a UAV belonging to the special forces that attacked the facility. From it, I can devise a safe way out, hiding in the cover of the trees. Something else I realize that the UAV belongs to the USA so it¡¯s safe to say it was the US military that attacked. Starting to make my way out, I cannot help but smile. I look probably half dead, and surely look very ¡®indecent¡¯, as Linda would say, butstill, I''m happy. I just gained a new weapon for my arsenal, one that I''ll carry with me at all times. Chapter 30 Chapter 30 Pov Calla After few hours of hiking, I came to a house. It was a small rustic house at the edge of the jungle, and there was laundry hanging in the backyard. I stole some simple clothing and continued my way. Before the house, I came across a small stream and washed off most of the blood. During my ''visitation'' here, I gained a few new scars,the most noticeable of them being on my wrists. Before long I came to a small town. Walking past an outdoor caf¨¦ I steal a phone that was left unattended on the table, and continue my walk. Dialing Linda¡¯s number and putting the phone to my ear I call her. ¡°Major Shelia¡± She answers on the other end. ¡°Linda, it¡¯s me.¡± ¡°Calla!? Are you alright?¡± ¡°Yeah I am. I¡¯m in Puerto Rico. Can you get me a ride back?¡± I ask her. She sounds like she hasn¡¯t slept at all since my abduction, which I now know lasted four days. ¡°Of course. What happened?¡± She asks, and I start explaining the situation. I tell her everything from the abduction butleave thetorture part out. I end my explanation to the way how I got saved during the confusion of a raid and left the scene. I didn¡¯t tell her about the nanotech nor the reason why they took me. She in turn told me how they revealed Red¡¯s identity to the Americans and how it was probably because of that the raid was executed. She told me that she didn¡¯t know how my location got leaked but she was looking into it. After talking for a while I went to the nearest airstrip and waited for my ride. After few hours a J.A.T.F. troop transport plane arrives, and I hop on. It was transporting J.A.T.F. soldiers from Africa to U.S.A. and was in the area so it didn¡¯t take long. ¡°So let me get this right. You were on Puerto Rico visiting your uncle but your plane broke. Then you radio help and our pilot responded because he was near the area?¡± ¡°Yes¡± It¡¯s perfectly reasonable. ¡°And the shackles?¡± Another soldier asks ¡°It¡¯s called fashion.¡± ¡°And the blood?¡± ¡°¡­ I¡¯m menstruating?¡± ¡°pff Hahaha. Yeah right. What¡¯s your name really lass?¡± The leader of the group asks. ¡°I told you. Erica.¡± I like that our flight continued. They asked me questions and I answered. Pretty sure they didn¡¯t believe a single thing I said but it was all fun and laughs. At one point one of them complained about the new standard issue rifles and then I got to impress them with my knowledge of weaponry. It''s much easier to make conversation with people that share your interests than with the ignorant civilians. All in all, a fun trip with good company. ¡°Best of luck then lass!¡± The soldiers gave me their goodbyes as we were separating. Never once did they call me Erica and only used ¡®lass¡¯. I kind of hope to meet them again. Spotting a familiar vehicle on the parking lot, I approach it. Linda rises from the driver seat and comes toward me with quick steps. ¡°I¡¯m glad you are alright.¡± She says, giving me a short hug and keeping her composure. I can tell she is in a different mindset she was at the library a few weeks back. She is in the mindset of a soldier, ready to hunt the enemies down. And I¡¯m glad for that. I didn¡¯t need an emotional reunion now. It was only a little bit of torture and it isn¡¯t even that long the last I saw Linda. I want to put all my focus on my agenda now. I thought I could take it easy and possibly relocate somewhere but decided to put those thoughts away. Caturix must cease to exist. That was the last time they will hurt me. And by doing so, they gave me the tools I need to break them. We are traveling in Linda¡¯s car towards one of Mox¡¯s safe houses. I contacted him to meet up with us and take the hard drive with him that I collected from the Brooklyn facilities. Before I exited the jungle complex I tested my abilities in other ways. I delved through their database in the facility, at least all the data that was connected to their main network. I didn¡¯t have time to go through most of it, but I did manage to get locations. Nine locations in total, four of them were the locations J.A.T.F. bombed months ago, including my old home in the forest; one was the Brooklyn facility and one was the Puerto Rico facility where I collected the data. The rest were unknown to me. One was in Tokyo and looking at the satellite images, it¡¯s a skyscraper. One was in Hawaii, a factory by the looks of it and the last one was in Germany. The German facility was a big industrial complex. Arriving in an alley, we open an old metal door and enter the elevator. It¡¯s old, almost antique and surely a safety hazard but I still board it. It makes nerving sounds during the ascent. Linda slides the door to the side as we enter a large room. The floors and walls are hardwood, pillars decorated with carvings support the roof. In the middle of the space, there is a sand garden and I recognize the style of Zen from Mox¡¯s books. He is there waiting for us, wearing a monk¡¯s robes. Time to start putting together another operation. One that will end this.
A few days later Pov Calla Sitting on a plane I think of my past few days. Things got really complicated for a while in there, but I managed to get a desirable outcome. After I told Linda that I got some locations she, of course, wanted to resolve the situation within J.A.T.F. jurisdiction. Then the Americans somehow managed to connect me from the jungle facility to the J.A.T.F. and they wanted to take also part with the attack on Caturix. After investigating Gregory Wilson they got the picture of what kind of an organization it was. So general Raven and the American big sirs decided that this is to be a joint operation. The Americans had found out the identity of ¡®Blue¡¯. I didn¡¯t know there was a fourth color but thank god for inter-agency data sharing. I killed White twice, and if I can believe the last one, that means that there won¡¯t be a third one. But when taking care of the others, I want it to happen at the same time so that they can¡¯t choose new predecessors. And from those thoughts, I made my plan. Comparing the investigation results of me, J.A.T.F. and U.S.A, I concurred that Black, the leader is in Tokyo and blue, the one in charge of the finances and operations is in the German facility. And Red, the one in charge of security is in prison here in America. Military prison but a prison nonetheless.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. At first, I didn''t see the pattern, but after helping Mox to crack the hard-drive from Brooklyn, I made sense of it. With the nanotech, cracking the encryption was much faster. The hard-drive contained an IP-address to a secure server. The server had only four users, White, Red, Blue, and black. From the server, I gained clarity as to how the Caturix functioned and also I got locations of the two still active IP''s that connected to the server. I don¡¯t care much about Blue, as I never met any of the colors during my training and it seems like he only got contracts and passed them to the Al-Aman and its sister organizations. But that means he knows where the other subjects are. Rescuing them isn¡¯t my burden though, and I don¡¯t even know if they would want that. But if I were to kill Blue, I would lose that option altogether. So my plan is this: I gave the locations to general Raven. Only two of them though. The German and Hawaii. J.A.T.F. will surely take the German and U.S.A. Hawaii because of their jurisdictions. To the general I said I want to have nothing to do with this, so they can take care of the rest, but Linda guessed that to be a lie. It took some convincing of her to let me do my own thing, but I got through to her in the end. I¡¯ve made it clear that I can take care of myself with my actions and continued survival. With J.A.T.F. taking care of the Germany location, Blue is left to them. They are less likely to use the subject training organizations for their own good, as they are more transparent compared to the U.S. military. I met up with Darrel and told where Red was held and that he is the one behind the attack. Darrel wanted to know Red¡¯s motive, so I came clean and told that he was after me. Being a member of the Rabbit Hole gives me protection from them to a point. Assassinating a man in US military prison is included in that protection if said man has made a clear attack on a member. Though Darrel made it clear that I would owe him ¡®one¡¯, a favor as I now know, but that is fine with me. It simplifies my plans. All that is left is the Tokyo location, the one known only to me. I asked Mox to get me to Japan cleanly and asked Darrel to provide me some weapons over there. This time it was a transaction, and the cost of the weapons is reduced from my future pay. I know this was just a way for him to ensure my employment after my own thing is over but once again, I¡¯m fine with that. Employment is good. So now I¡¯m on a plane headed to Tokyo. J.A.T.F. and the Americans start their attack in exactly four days and at the same time Rabbit Hole carries out the assassination. That¡¯s when I move also. The Americans and J.A.T.F. have dubbed this operation as ¡®operation broadsword¡¯, and the Rabbit Hole calls it ¡®Puncture¡¯. But the true name that encompasses all four operations taking place at the same time is called ¡®operation Closure¡¯. And I¡¯m the only one who knows that. A closure has many meanings but the one I''m after is a bringing to an end; conclusion. J.A.T.F. knows about the German and Hawaii attack, and the Rabbit Hole thinks this is just a singular hit with time specification, but the truth is much more. I wanted it to happen like this because I don¡¯t want just to destroy Caturix. I want them forgotten. If the leader dies in a battle no one knows about and only Blue is captured is the closest thing to that I can achieve. With more time I maybe could do better, but I want to end this. I am a patient predator, but I feel if I start seeking perfection, this will never end. According to my research, Caturix didn¡¯t back up their information. But I¡¯m sure the leader had backups. Black, real name Kazumi Yamato, is a leader of a large corporation. The corporation isn¡¯t a shell company but after some digging, I notice it was the main financier of Caturix. There were tons of data the Americans got from Puerto Rico and shared with J.A.T.F. It didn''t make sense to them, because of the sheer amount of useless information, but with the data from the hard-drive I knew where to look.
Germany Pov Nata Verusha I¡¯m double checking my equipment before the attack. We are gathered in a warehouse close to the OA, and ''operation broadsword'' is about to commence. I¡¯ve been hearing rumors that this whole thing is connected to Calla, the little blond girl I met last fall. I remember she leaving the Omega training because of the incident but the particulars were never made clear with us. Now, in my first actual mission as a new operative, I was assigned under major Linda Shelia. She¡¯s a bit of a legend in the J.A.T.F. intelligence community so I¡¯ll gladly take her orders. ¡°Is it true that this involves Calla?¡± I ask her. She gives me a complicated look but doesn¡¯t answer. I take that as a yes. ¡°Can you at least tell me how she is?¡± I continue. Annie has been wondering what happened to her so I might as well try to get some information. ¡°She is doing good.¡± She answers and I don¡¯t get the chance to ask anything further as the mission is about to commence. The troops are doing last check on their weapons and reserve is in place.
Location: undisclosed Pov Dom Hiding the shiv in my sleeve I keep on walking. Three days ago a guard came to me with a proposition. He said that my family would be looked after and paid 50 000 US dollars if I do this for them. I¡¯m already spending the rest of my days here, in a secret military prison that no one knows about. That makes me wonder the reach of those who gave me this job. But it is of no matter, I¡¯ll see it through. I love my family dearly and my only regret is that I can¡¯t be there for them. The need of money got me into this mess in the first place. This is the only thing I can do for them now. I trust they pay, the guard doesn¡¯t work for them but he was paid handsomely just for delivering the message so it''s worth the risk. The man, prisoner number 1024 is in my sights. This isn¡¯t my first contract killing, and I know just the place where to stab tomake a sure kill before the guards intervene. Time ensure my family¡¯s future¡­
Hawaii Pov Special Forces sergeant The countdown to the breach is already going. The last of the troops are soon in position and the raid is about to commence but my thoughts drift back to the girl. The girl who killed two of our captives right under my nose and disappeared into thin air. Who the fuck was she? We checked the flights that came and left the island after her escape and boy, were we surprised to see a J.A.T.F. troop carrier making a pit stop in the local airport. And when we asked them about it, they clammed shut so fast that I¡¯ve seen trees more talkative. They just gave us the name ¡®Calla¡¯ and that she is an independent operative. I¡¯m shaken away from my train of thought as my second in command grabs my shoulder. ¡°T- minus three mikes.¡± He says and I respond with a nod. Time to start last checks. ¡°Everyone goes home tonight.¡± I say to my men the few words of encouragement I always say and hope that this time I wasn¡¯t lying. We wait in silence for the initial breach to be executed.
Pov Calla Standing on the roof of an adjacent building of my target building I keep my eye on the watch. It¡¯s 2100 local time, and my target is in the building. I have done surveillance for the past few days and mapped the target location guard routes and camera positions. I surveyed the target with my regular means, and with my newly found skills. I can access the target buildings surveillance cameras, and I know the blueprint of the building. There is tons of data I can get access to, but it¡¯s mainly about the legal business of the corporation. The curious thing is, I cannot find Black¡¯s office computer anywhere in the network so it¡¯s probably isolated. But I know where the data is kept. Or at least I''m pretty sure. The vaultthat can be accessed from Black''s office. Most of my planning went into figuring out how to crack it. I came up with a plan, although it''s a bit reckless. "hehe..." Okay, it''s a lot reckless. Linda would never let me go through with this if she were to know my plan. Still, I''m oddly proud of my plan. My hope is that in the other attacks they can¡¯t find enough data to piece their research together. But even if they can, the way White spoke indicated that he was needed for the research to be continued so I try not to worry. I¡¯m only one girl, so perfection in this matter is difficult to achieve. Time to start moving. Readying the crossbow in my hand, I shoot it at the target building¡¯s roof that is twenty meters lower than mine. With the rope secured I do my last equipment check. Pistol with high tech suppressor and subsonic bullets, few extra mags, a knife and a parachute strapped to my back and a shoulder bag that holds the remaining equipment needed for my plan. Confirming I¡¯m ready I slide using the rope to the target building''s roof. When there, I yank the arrow out and throw it off the roof along with the rope. There are cameras on the roof and in every other part of the building complemented with electrical locks and trackable keycards. If only the White¡¯s would have been more open about the possibilities of their research Black could have prepared for me. I have accessed the building''s network and I start manipulating the cameras. It is easy to loop the surveillance feed in a singular camera just when I would appear on the screen. I calmly walk towards the roof''s door, looping the security feed always when I¡¯m about to show on camera. If they were to look at the recorded feed, they would probably notice the wrong timestamps in the feeds but as they are only a few seconds off and I return them to normal after I have walked past, they won¡¯t notice it immediately and when they do, it¡¯s already too late. Coming to the door, I place my hand on the keycard reader, and by tugging the electromagnetic field just right, the door opens with a click. I leave my parachute to the roof and head in. ¡®Operation Closure¡¯ commence. Chapter 31 Chapter 31 Pov Calla Descending the stairs, I try to move as quietly as possible. I don¡¯t keep my pistol prepared nor do I have my knife at hand. I¡¯m confident that the route is secure. I am, after all, monitoring all the security feeds while looping the ones that would show me, and listening to the radio frequency the guards are using. First, they give me the most lethal training and then they antagonize me. After which White thought it would be a good idea to give me the means to use their own security systems against them. I say it again, idiots. But before heading deeper into the building, I find the entrance to the elevator''s machine room and pick the lock open. It is just a standard mechanical lock so I make quick work of it. However behind the doors are the elevator systems and machines which are controlled by the security room. It would be a prime place to place a bomb and bring all of the elevators down crashing, so there is an alarm on the door. If I were to push it open the alarm would go off. The alarm is hidden inside the wall and door and it is a simple magnetic plate that detects when the door is opened. It has nothing wireless in it, so I cannot bypass it I don''t have the tools to disable it. It''s part of my exit plan so it doesn''t matter now. Now that that''s done, I head to the floor. I turn a corner and keep walking true. The hallways and room are just what one would expect from a financial firm. White walled corridors with black carpet, rooms with computers and empty conference rooms. The top floor isn¡¯t currently in use, and it¡¯s only me and the floor guards. They circle the floor in irregular intervals, one patrol going clockwise while the other counter-clockwise. I¡¯m about to round a corner, but instead, I go to the empty office next to me. There I quickly hide behind a desk and keep still. Two guards wearing vests and carrying pistols in their holsters come from behind the corner. They look through the see-through wall into the office while walking. They have no use of the flashlights that hang from their belt as all the lights are on. I wait for them to pass before continuing. I quickly make my way to the elevators. There I touch the console and order the door to open. What greets me is a deep shaft, with the space for five elevators. I enter the shaft, taking hold of the pipes that run along the wall as the doors close behind me. During my recon, I studied the building plans. The elevator shaft also works as a bracing for the building so all the elevators run through the same shaft. Four of the elevators are for normal use, but only the fifth one can stop at 24th floor. It¡¯s the private elevator of Kazumi Yamato. It takes me a long while to decent from the 51st floor to the 24th, climbing down the shaft. Now I need to get to the other side of the shaft, but the fast-moving elevators hinder me. There are support beams running both vertically and horizontally, so I climb on one of them. With elevators moving on my both sides, I keep my hands close to my body as I balance over the beam. The speed of the elevators is substantial, and every time they pass me, the air currents they cause threatens my balance. Reaching the halfway point, I take a breather. I can¡¯t access the cameras on the 24th floor. They are entirely cut off from the rest of the network and there is nothing wireless in the system. Reaching the door, I¡¯m pleased that I can at least access the console and open the door. When I am through the door I see that there are not any cameras in sight. Could be that the reason I couldn¡¯t access the cameras is that there isn¡¯t any. Readying my pistol and advancing according to the blueprints I also note that there are no radio waves either coming or going from this floor. There must be no guards then. Or only one effective guard? The carpet here is royal red in color, and the white walls are adorned with paintings and golden decorations. The lights are not the same fluorescent ones but a warmer and brighter color. I keep my guard up and concentrate on my hearing and sight instead of the signals. Peaking from behind a corner I can see a large reception room with an open door at the other end. There is a receptionist woman, about the age of 35 and a man wearing a black suit sitting on one of the chairs. From the open door, I spot my target, Kazumi Yamato, in the office. He is sitting behind a desk and going through papers. He is so close now, but I don¡¯t dare to move without a plan. That is because of the man and woman. They look similar to each other in appearance and age, but the worrying thing is that they look similar to me as well. If I¡¯m guessing correctly, they are 4xx and 4xy going by their age. From the place I¡¯m standing the woman is a few meters in front of me and to the right, sitting behind a desk. And the man is sitting next to the open office door, on its right side. What are my options¡­ Kill the man, then woman, then Black? The man is probably the one trained in counter operative training while the woman is probably trained in infiltration, so the man is the bigger threat I think. But the woman could certainly stall me, during which my target escapes. Killing the woman first would end the same way. I need to try getting to the target first. It leaves me to deal with the two subjects at the same time and is the riskier plan but it¡¯s the surest way to incapacitate the target. I could try just shooting and escaping but I want to destroy the data he might have. And for me to get to the data, I''ll need him to stay alive a while longer. Coming to a decision I start preparing. I retreat couple corners back, fearing that the subjects have as acute hearing as me. I remove my clip from the pistol and take the round out of the chamber. I load a rubber bullet to the clip otherwise loaded with lethal shots. People don''t make subsonic rubber bullets so I had to remove some of the gunpowder from the bullet myself. Or at least I didn''t found any. The target will be informed about the attacks taking place any moment now so I¡¯m running out of time. I make my way back to my earlier position. Coming from behind the corner, the gun is the first thing to be revealed, I shoot the moment the target is in my sights. The distance is about fifteen meters, so the shot isn¡¯t that hard. I just hope the rubber bullet has enough force to knock him out after I removed some of its gunpowder. *wiuh* The weapon and the special bullets make this weapon impossible to hear on the other floors but it doesn¡¯t escape the senses of my ¡®siblings¡¯. *wiuh* I shoot another shot towards the target, this one lethal. Though I didn''t aim the target because I don''t want to kill him. The man who was seated next to the door reacts to the shot and jumps in the way in order to protect the target, and the shot hits him on his right shoulder. Changing my aim to the woman who is already jumping over the desk I try to shoot. *wiuh*wiuh*You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. But she was too fast and dodges my aim. If the woman wasn¡¯t carrying a weapon, then the man at least has one. I quickly position my self so that the woman obstructs his shot. I see the man behind with a gun in his hand but the woman doesn¡¯t let me take aim. She makes a quick jab towards my throat but I¡¯m fast to react and dodge backward and take aim. *wiuh*wiuh* Again, she dodged both of them, but the first shot was meant for the man. He couldn¡¯t dodge my aim since the woman was blocking his view. I hit him on his left side this time. The woman once again enters close-range and tries to break my balance with a low kick. I block it with the sole of my shoe while simultaneously giving her a left jab aimed at the throat. She dodges to the side, but I had already my gun aiming there. *wiuh* I hit her in the stomach, and she takes steps back while covering the bleed. Turning my attention forward, I see the man taking aim at me, and I jump behind the woman again. I don¡¯t want him to shoot as that would alert the whole building. The woman realizes this and jumps to the side, but before she can, I kick her in the stomach, pushing her towards the man. I have more time to think about my next movement than previously. I had always fast reaction time but now it''s like my perception of time has changed. *Wiuh* I shoot the eight and last bullet in my clip to the forehead of the woman. Just as she falls out of the way, I grab the man¡¯s gun, pushing my finger behind the trigger and thus preventing him from shooting. With a swift pull, I yank the weapon out of his hands, and give him a sidekick, aiming at his injured side. With a grunt, he takes steps back and puts pressure on his side. I give a glance at my target, and see that my first bullet accomplished the task. ¡°We can stop now, you know? It''s already over and soon there will be nothing left of the organization.¡± I give him a meaningful look, trying to show that I truly meant what I said. Instead of answering, he lowers his gaze at whom I presume is his sister and then turns back to me. Yeah, I would expect so. I was going to say my piece earlier before I shot the woman but everything happened so fast. The man rushes back at me, and I holster my weapon while discarding his. With one movement I bring my knife to my hand. The man is shot twice but that doesn¡¯t seem to slow him. I parry the punch he aimed at my face and dodge back at the quick one-two combo he performed afterward. Before he can continue his initiative, I attack. With a reverse grip on the knife, I throw few quick rights at him which he dodges. As he tries to counter I dodge low and perform my own counter. Stabbing the knife into his ribs, aiming at the heart, his strength leaves him and he is left standing on my support. I let him fall to his knees as I pull the knife out. The look his giving me isn¡¯t accusing, or sad, or happy. It¡¯s just blank. Like it didn¡¯t really matter that he lost and is dying. I say nothing, only soften his fall as he collapses to the floor. He keeps staring at metill the moment the light leaves his eyes. With that done I make my way to the office. I reload another magazine to my weapon, this time only lethal. My target is collapsed next to his chair behind his desk. He is already regaining consciousness but I don''t let him. He is sure to be a treasure of information but I just want this to be over. I have nothing to say to him. As he rises to his knees, I give him a sidekick to his temple, knocking him out again. The door to the vault is on the left back corner of his office, next to the bookshelf. I drag the suited man towards it with some effort. This is where it get''s tricky. The vault itself is meant only to be accessed by Black and no one else. The thickness of the walls and the amount of steel in the doors make it impossible to crack it by force in this little time I have. It would take weeks. The technology that operates the vault is a closed circuit system and I can''t access it without getting inside the vault first. The vault consists of two rooms. The vault itself, and an airlock. First, you enter the airlock. Then after the vault verifies that the identity of the one entering is Kazumi Yamato it opens the vault door itself. If there are more persons in the room aside of Kazumi, the vault doesn''t open. It is constructed like this so that if Kazumi is ever threatened to open the vault, it would still be mute. The airlock is as secure as the vault itself, and after the vault opens, the airlock remains shut. Only he alone can enter the vault. The verification measure the airlock of the vault uses is state of the art. First, Kazumi has to place his finger on the scanner in order to enter the airlock. Once in the airlock, the vault reads the unique heart print of Kazumi. If there are more than one heart print in the airlock, the vault doesn''t open. And that is why it get''s tricky. First borrowing Kazumi''s finger, I open the airlock and drag Kazumi in there. I open my bag and start preparing. Once done with my preparations I press the button that closes the airlock and starts the heart print scanning. I have ten seconds before it starts. This is why this plan is a lot reckless. Well, this and my final escape method. "Hehe..." No time for that. Eight seconds. I check that the small defibrillator is working and that the timer is running. My plan is this: I will kill myself. Simple, isn''t it? I will kill myself for thirty seconds, and then the timer on the defibrillator that I installed will bring me back. Hopefully. Well, it will give me a charge every five seconds after thirty seconds in case the first one doesn''t bring me back. I think I could use the nanotech in my body to do this but I''m sure as hell it wouldn''t allow me to kill myself, hence I brought the defibrillator. The human brain can survive up to six minutes after the heart has stopped, so I''m pretty confident that thirty seconds with my constitution is nothing. Okkayy, here goes nothing. *TZZ* ...[blacknes]... *TZZ* "Ah!" I gasp as I sit up. That was fucking weird. Being dead is weird. It''s almost as I saw someth...*TZZ* ...[blacknes]... *TZZ* "Fuck!" Fucking idiot me, I think as I rip the pads from my chest. What kind of moron starts pondering about life when she is strapped to a defibrillator timed to go off in five seconds. I survived this long but died twice today. It would have been fucking embarrassing if Black were to wake up with the vault open in front of him and a dead me laying on the floor twitching every five seconds! Anyways, the vault is opened and no one was here to see my mistake so all is good. *Wiuh* I shoot Kazumi to the head. He isn''t needed anymore. *Wiuh*Wiuh*Wiuh*Wiuh* And make sure he is dead and stays that way. The subsonic bullets I have with me doesn''t have much penetrating power so it wouldn''t be unheard of if a person were to survive a headshot. *Wiuh*Wiuh*Wiuh* I end up emptying my clip into him. I head to the vault which consists of only one room with a computer in the middle. I don''t bother with the keyboard but instead, I place my hand on it and skim through the data. It''s the backup. Noting that there are still some locations, but according to the data, there isn''t anything of worth in them. I memorize all the safe house locations of Caturix, and keep reading. I conclude that there aren''t any high ranking members I don''t know of and every facility that has importance has already been taken down, I start shredding the information. It is much faster to destroy it than to read it, and it only takes few minutes to shred all of it. I didn''t bother reading through all of it, but I did browse through the important bits. Done with the data destruction, I leave the vault. The vault door closes and after it has shut, the airlock opens. The vault doesn''t require any more verifications when leaving so killing Black before leaving didn''t hinder me.Entering back to the office, I gather some paper documents in a pile. I had an emergency plan that only involved killing Black and making a quick escape. My exit plan was made for this quick escape and requires a fire. Taking a small lighter fluid bottle that I had prepared beforehand, I spill it over the paper documents in the room. When that is done I take a small device I made for my exit plan. Putting it on the pile of documents and turning it on, the little wireless incendiary device beeps once. It¡¯s is the size of a normal lighter and is simply built. Only a battery, a receiver, and a spark plug. I leave it there as I walk back towards the elevators. When there I once again enter the shaft, but this time I don¡¯t start climbing. I wait till one of the elevators is in a good position. One of the counterweights stops near me and I jump. Latching on to the counterweight of elevator number three, I use the nanotech to activate the device I left in the office. I don¡¯t hear anything, but after a few seconds, the fire alarms go off. All the elevators are automatically called to the lobby and as they start descending, the counterweights start ascending. It doesn¡¯t take long to reach the top. With a small jump, I climb to the elevator¡¯s machine room. The machine room is near the access to the roof, and with the door already unlocked, I open it. I see the small sensor on the door, and even though I don''t hear anything other than the fire alarm, I know the silent alarm has gone off. But it''s too late. I exit the room and head towards the roof access. During a fire alarm, one guard is sent to make sure the roof is clear. I hear him ahead of me, and he just entered the roof. I didn¡¯t account for him to be here this fast. Peaking from the door, I see him looking at my parachute. Quickly I step outside and perform a high kick aimed at the back of his head to incapacitate him. I didn''t give him a chance to see my face, and it''s probable he will not even remember the parachute after my kick. Strapping on the parachute, I check the wind direction and start running towards the edge. This will be a nigh impossible jump. From a relatively low height in a densely packed urban area with unpredictable winds. This too, is why the plan is a lot reckless. ¡°WOOOOOoooo¡­!¡± ten minutes later That. Was. Fucking. Exhilarating! Who cares about motorcycles, base-jumping is all the rave right now! I find a quiet corner away from my OA and start making calls. After Calling to Linda and Darrel I confirm that the operation went as planned. The Caturix is no more. Only surviving high-level member is Blue, and he is in J.A.T.F. custody. Now it¡¯s their decision will they go after the subjects or not. There will be no new subjects anymore and no more Black. Finally. I¡¯m free of my past. I have closure. Few loose ends still might be there, but nothing I can''t take care of or live with. ¡­ Now what? What might be/what could be So here''s the deal. I''m real happy with my story and how it turned out to be for the most part. I was going to continue this in the ''girl named izza'' but i have no motivation to do so right now. I''m not really happy with the ending of the first book, so I didn''t feel all that comfrotable starting a new one not to mention I have no motivation at the moment to continue this.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. So, I may change the ending of the first book before continuing to the second in the future, but thats a big if, and I''ll let you guys know if I decide to do that. Right now I may start a new story alltogether about magic and stuff because thats where my interests lie at the moment. There propably come a time when I want to write about a young beatifull assassin in modern world, and that''s when I will continue this, but that time is not now. Thank you for reading, sorry to have kept you waiting. When and if I continue this, I''ll give you guys a heads up.