Crow's Gambit, page 19
part #1 of Sylphan Revelations Series
“I’m serious,” Sanchez replied. “Look at our electrical grid. It’s a flexible, smart, system based on non-polluting energy sources and distributed generation. Do you think that would ever have been built without the Sylph?”
“You mean without them destroying the old system?” Cassie again tried to pull away from Sanchez, but much of her body sat numb and unresponsive.
“To be fair, the Sylph didn’t destroy the power grid. It collapsed on its own when it lost synchronization because it wasn’t built strong enough to start with. And the improvements in infrastructure? Without Net-Day we’d still be arguing about designs and right of ways for the Puma.” Sanchez leaned closer, his hands gesturing excitedly as he talked.
“You’re crazy.”
A look of disappointment flashed across Sanchez’s face before he straightened, his back returned to professional seriousness. “You have to agree many things have improved since Net-Day. With the rebuilding of the power sector and the elimination of aircraft our environmental atmosphere is the healthiest it’s been in a hundred years.”
Cassie remained silent, uncertain how to reply to the man without risking agitating him more.
“Look, I don’t think you are a bad person, Cassie. Just misguided. Darrow’s actions are going to put everyone at risk. He’s only thinking of himself. And not of the consequences.” After taking a step away from the bench, he turned back to her. “Consider what I said. We will stop Darrow. Whatever it takes. You and your friends are in danger if you continue to work with him. So, I’d recommend you stop helping him, leave here, and just go home—for everyone’s sake.”
He leisurely walked away.
She sat there for several minutes watching the crowd, shaking slightly as she slowly regained the ability to move her legs as if they were waking up after falling asleep. Finally, she stood and took a couple shaky steps.
Taking out her phone she dialed Gloria’s number.
Chapter 30
WHEN GLORIA GOT TO the park, she was pissed. Pissed at Cassie for being so careless to leave without telling her and pissed at Joe for helping her do it.
Most of the ride back Cassie remained silent. She’d been preoccupied with what the man, Sanchez, had told her, with the guilt she hadn’t been smarter about going to the park, and fear this is what the rest of her life would be like if she kept working for Darrow. And overriding all of that? The annoyance they had left the concert before Ragnar’s Daughters had taken the stage.
By the time they got back to the townhouse Gloria had run out of profane mumblings. Now she was silently fuming. She walked Cassie to the door and waited for her to go inside. Once inside, alone, and with the door locked behind her, Cassie started to relax.
The townhouse was designed with a second-floor balcony which overlooked the living and dining rooms below. The bedroom and master bathroom were on the second floor. Cassie went up to get ready for bed. She started brushing her teeth, staring at herself in the mirror.
Grandpa had always said she looked like her mother when she was young. He said she acted like her father though. Headstrong, sometimes impulsive, but with an inner intuition which generally kept her out of trouble. What would he think now? So many of her decisions over the last few years had been questionable.
And now, even her intuition seemed murky. She didn’t know what to do: Go back to Minnesota? Take the university sponsorship? Or see this through? She wished she could talk to Grandpa now. What was he thinking when he started all of this?
As she was spitting the toothpaste out in the sink, the room went dark. The entire townhouse went dark. A power outage? But there hadn’t been any storms or wind in the area.
Maybe a transformer blew somewhere. So much for Sanchez’s new resilient power grid.
She turned and looked out the small window above the bathtub. The nearby street and sidewalk lights were still on. In fact, the townhouses across from her were still fully lit.
That’s weird.
Cassie listened to the silence of the townhouse for moment. Goosebumps popped out along her skin and some small part of her brain started pumping adrenaline into her system. Something felt ... off. Like the power was off for a reason.
She quietly felt her way along the wall and back into the bedroom. Finding the door, she closed it as silently as she could. The lock made a disturbingly loud click as she flipped it. On her hands and knees, she crawled back to the edge of the bed and followed it to the wall. Every creak of the floor made her wince.
As her eyes adjusted the edges of the bedroom appeared in the soft glow of the outside lights shining through the window. She could also see the bedroom panel for the security system. It was glowing brightly on back-up battery mode next to the headboard. Trying not to second guess herself, she punched in the access code like Gloria had shown her and activated the silent alarm.
Slowly she took several deep calming breaths. Trying to remain perfectly still and quiet, she listened to the dark townhouse. Abruptly the glow of the security pad died, too. Maybe the battery backup hadn’t been fully charged ... or someone had deactivated it.
Fighting the urge to panic and run for the front door, she reached under the bed and grabbed her bag. Sliding it out quietly, she crawled with it quietly toward the large walk-in closet.
Feeling her way around the door she pulled it shut behind her. The closet was completely dark. There wasn’t even the glow of a smoke detector. She felt around the doorknob and realized there wasn’t a lock. Why would there be? How many people locked themselves in their closet?
Sitting on the floor she tried to collect her thoughts. Best case she was just panicking irrationally. In a few minutes they’d get the power back on and she could turn every light on in the townhouse and feel silly about how she reacted.
Worst case ... worst case there was someone already in the townhouse. If that were true, they would be in her bedroom in minutes, if not seconds. She had to be ready. Feeling around with her hands, she tried to remember the contents of the closet. Not much. A few pairs of clothes and some extra pillows.
Trying to move fast, she felt for a pillow and stuffed it inside the jacket she had been wearing moments before. Feeling for the ceiling she hung the stuffed jacket from the light in the center. Then she sank back to the floor and crawled to the left side of the door, scrunching herself tightly against the wall. Reaching into her bag she felt around for the knife.
She clicked open the knife and gripped it tightly in her right hand. The knife had originally belonged to her grandfather and he never skimmed when it came to purchasing a tool. Its high carbon steel blade and nano diamond edge never dulled and was sharp enough to cut through about anything. Taking a deep breath, she tried to make herself small and waited.
Everything was quiet for several seconds. Then a series of small splintering noises came from the closet door. She held her breath to keep from letting out a small scream. The doorknob made a low metallic sound as it was turned then the damaged door swung open. The diffused bedroom light outlined a dark figure in the doorway. In that instant, she heard the “poof, poof, poof” of what she assumed were bullets tearing into the jacket and pillow.
Without hesitation, she swung the knife toward the feet of the figure with all her strength. She felt the initial resistance as it hit, what she assumed was, the tough outer material of a boot and then the slow resistance as the blade slid through it and into the foot within.
Based on the muffled scream of surprise and pain, the boot’s owner was obviously male.
Cassie launched herself from the floor with her head tucked down. Without being able to fully see the attacker, she figured her best chance was to just hit him as hard as she could and hope he dropped the gun.
The pain of a knife in his foot should give her a slight edge. The sudden impact in the dark stunned her slightly, but she continued to power through the motion with her legs. She felt the man lose his balance and then they both were tumbling into the side wall. Cassie grunted in pain as the air was knocked out of her lungs and her head collided with something hard and metallic on the attacker’s clothing.
Body armor.
With a thud, something hit the floor.
She really hoped it was the gun.
Cassie scrambled to her feet to get away from the assassin, but his arms wrapped tightly around her. She struggled and kicked in reaction. Her feet just bounced off the hard shell of armor. Then his arm slipped around her neck and she felt herself being pulled backward; her windpipe being crushed.
Cassie fought back for a second, trying to breathe, and nearly panicked when she couldn’t draw in air. Then her mind seemed to clear, and a sudden calm came over her body. She reached down with her right foot and felt for the man’s boot: the one with the knife stuck in it. The entire time she could feel the pressure on her throat tightening. She was sure there were only seconds before she passed out. Her foot brushed the attacker’s boot, she pulled her leg up and slammed it down hard. The grip around her neck momentarily loosened as the knife dug deeper into his foot. Twisting her head sideways, Cassie let herself become dead weight and dropped out of his grip.
Taking a deep gulp of fresh air, she pushed herself into motion. Reaching her hand out, she felt for the knife’s handle, and pulled with all her might. The knife slid back out smoothly and the attacker made another mumbled curse.
She stabbed out with the knife, trying to aim for the attacker’s leg where he was hopefully more vulnerable. There was another muffled scream as the knife bit into flesh. Scrambling on her hands and knees she tried to get away, but his hand grabbed her arm again, pulling her up even as she fought.
Yanking hard away from the man, Cassie felt herself start to lose her balance and tumble. The attacker was pulled over with her. Twisting as she fell, she brought the knife in front of her. Remembering the body armor, she brought it up to her shoulders and held it there. She hit the floor on her back and the attacker’s full weight slammed into her, the hilt of the knife pressing hard into her sternum. The other end slid through the soft flesh of the man’s neck as he made a gurgling sound. Warm blood spilled over Cassie, and she again fought the urge to scream. Trapped underneath him, there was little she could do.
After a moment, the man’s wheezing stopped, and she was able to draw her own breath. Her chest was sore where the hilt of the knife had pressed into her. The body on top of her had stopped moving. It was now just a dead weight pressing down on her. She pushed hard against the body and was able to roll it to the side and off her.
Everything in the townhouse was quiet. It was unlikely this was the only intruder. The rest would know where she was now. Giving up stealth, she fumbled around the floor until she found her bag. Pulling out her phone she turned the light on and scanned the room.
First, she saw the blood. Then she saw the man dressed in black fatigues, lying just inside the closet door. He wore a black face mask and what she assumed were night vision goggles. The hilt of her knife protruded from his neck. There was no denying he was quite dead.
After a moment of fighting the urge to vomit, she yanked the knife from the man’s throat and put it back in her bag. She started to pull the jacket off the pillow but then noticed the small round holes that had been torn in it. Instead she grabbed a long sleeve shirt off a hanger and stuffed it in her bag. She considered the gun lying on the floor for several seconds. It was matte black and had a long-barreled silencer on it. Deciding against taking it, she swung her bag over her shoulders, and cautiously slipped out of the room.
Staying low to the floor, she moved toward the stairs. Peering over the edge at the room below she waited. Nothing was moving but the shadows seemed to be in the wrong places. A bright light suddenly blinded her. Like a spotlighted animal she froze, sure she was about to be killed. Instead she was surprised to hear Gloria’s voice.
“Cassie? Are you okay?”
Cassie practically skipped down the stairs until she tripped over an overturned kitchen chair in the middle of the floor at the bottom. The shadowy outlines of the furniture showed the downstairs was a disaster.
Gloria didn’t say anything else as Cassie made her way over around overturned furniture toward Gloria’s flashlight. On the kitchen floor, Cassie could see another pair of black boots and pants extending from behind the island. There appeared to be a dark liquid pool expanding from under them. She turned away and focused on getting to Gloria, who was sitting on the floor with her back up against the opposite wall.
When she reached her, she knelt.
“Gloria, are you okay?”
“Cassie, you need to leave.”
Cassie ignored the command and took the flashlight from her hand. Directing the beam down on Gloria, Cassie sucked in her breath sharply.
A small black handgun was gripped tightly in her hand.
Gloria had a deep laceration across one side of her face. She wasn’t wearing her normal suit coat and the long sleeve dress shirt she did have on showed one expanding circle of red.
Gloria had been shot.
Chapter 31
“GLORIA, YOU’RE HURT.” She started to get her phone out to call for help.
“No,” Gloria said forcefully, then started a hacking cough. Small drops of blood sprayed from her mouth with each cough. “Someone will be on the way, more of them or the police. Either way, you don’t want to be here when they arrive. There are too many people who want to get their hands on you now. Being in custody will make you a sitting duck. I’ll be fine. You need to go. Now.”
“I can’t leave you here.”
“Yes, you can.” Gloria struggled for a second to suppress the urge to cough again. “You need to get to Dale. You can trust Dale to look out for you.”
“Gloria, I can’t—” Cassie started when Gloria interrupted her.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Cassie asked.
“I know you haven’t been happy strangers know about your tattoo. Both for what it is, as well as where it is. But it wasn’t Dale. I was the one who did the surveillance on you. I put it in the report.”
Cassie was momentarily speechless, but then snapped back to attention.
“It’s okay, Gloria. It doesn’t matter. But I can’t leave you here, like this...”
“You have to. I’ll be fine—trust me, I’ve been through worse. Now go. Here, take my phone. Dale is number one on the speed dial. Get away from here fast, then call him. He’ll look out for you.” She tried to smile with only partial success. “I’ll be all right. Now go.”
Cassie took a deep shuddering breath. She hated to leave her, but she knew Gloria was right. She’d be a sitting duck in custody. She leaned over and kissed Gloria on the forehead. “Thank you.”
She grabbed the phone and went to the patio door. Glancing around the back hurriedly, she slipped outside. Trying to stay in the shadows, she cut across the back commons area and the small playground for children. Coming out from between two townhouses on the next road over she headed down the sidewalk, watching the shadows around her.
In a couple minutes, Cassie started to hear sirens. When she could see the flashing lights approaching, she decided an alternative route might be in order. Heading off the sidewalk she went into the small strip of forest which lined the housing development.
For a time, she walked at a normal pace, carefully in the dark, skirting dips in the ground and stepping over fallen trees. The sound of the sirens started to fade, and she could no longer see any flashing lights. There were sounds of traffic nearby and she knew she was nearly out of the woods.
She could feel blood on her shirt and knew it would call too much attention to herself. Quickly she swapped her shirt for the clean one in her bag. Emerging from the trees on the other side of the development, she noticed there were several small strip malls on the other side of the road.
Dodging traffic, she jogged to a bus stop on the other side of the road. According to the schedule, she was in luck. There was one more bus that night, in about ten minutes.
Catching a glimpse of her reflection in the shelter glass, she winced. She looked like hell. She might’ve changed her shirt, but she hadn’t thought about her face or hands. She’d been lucky the blood was dried, or she would’ve ruined the clean shirt, too.
Whispering a thank you for the fact no one else was around, she jogged over to the nearby Taco Supreme and ducked into their restroom. Soap and water got most of the blood off her face and hands. It took several minutes before her hands stopped shaking though. Finally, she tried to straighten up her hair to be presentable and headed back to the bus stop.
Taking a seat to wait, she took out Gloria’s phone and speed dialed number one. Dale’s voice answered on the second ring.
“Gloria. What’s going on? I got an alert from the Security Desk.”
“Dale, it’s me. Cassie.”
“Cassie? Where’s Gloria?” His voice had instantly dropped into a calm assertive tone.
“I don’t know. She could be dead. I mean, I hope she’s not dead, but she’d been shot and there was this huge cut on her face, and I had to leave her, but I didn’t want to leave her. But she gave me her phone and told me to run.” The words kept spilling out of her mouth, one over the other. She couldn’t control it. “But she said she’d be okay. Not like the man upstairs. He was dead. I killed him Dale. And there was another dead guy on the kitchen floor, too. But that was Gloria and—”
“Cassie! Take a breath. Tell me where Gloria is.”
“I don’t know. Still at the townhouse, I guess. Unless the police have already taken her to the hospital. These men in black attacked the townhouse. I didn’t even know Gloria was there until I came downstairs and found her hurt.”
“It’s okay Cassie. Tell me where you are.” Dale sounded completely calm and professional. Part of Cassie’s brain wondered how he did that.
“I’m several blocks away from the townhouse, on the other side of the development, about to get on the Route 5 bus headed north. I don’t know where I’m going.”
