Stolen, page 22
“Quite so,” Barron said, the last member of our quartet. “I believe that's going to leave them in the dark.”
“The city, yes,” I said, watching the tall buildings go dark under the coming onslaught of the storm. “The prison...not so much. Let's go.” And Barron whipped up another portal to take us back to the safe house, where it was just about time to start on step two.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Fen Liu
“Power just went out in the city,” the chief technician said, frowning at his computer.
“A power outage goes with a typhoon like fish goes with rice,” Hao said haughtily.
Fen Liu found this cause to frown. “The power outage generally follows the storm, not vice versa. This is sabotage.”
“If so, it has failed,” Hao said through his gas mask. She almost told him to take it off, but looking at his glass acne was too much for her nerves at the moment. “Our facility is independently powered by generators.”
Reaching into his pocket, the technician pulled out his cell phone. “Towers are down.” He looked up. “We will have no external communication save for through satellite and hardline.”
“We have hardline comms,” Hao sniffed.
Fen Liu reached for her own cell phone, and found it still in service. “And I use satellite communications.”
The technician swallowed rather obviously. “When the storm blows in, the satellite communications are unlikely to function well...if at all.”
Fen Liu felt a very slight prickling of worry. This was an unseen, unexpected move, but hardly changed the shape of things. It was ultimately foolish; preventing outside communication was unnecessary, for Fen Liu already had divisions of troops within radio range, in addition to the metahuman army stationed here in the prison. “Radio is still functional?”
The tech nodded furiously. “It should be – unless we choose to jam, and Americans typically work on different frequencies than ours.”
“In short,” Hao said, “while this may be unexpected, it does not defeat our plans at all, and we are prepared to counter this maneuver.” He snapped off a crisp salute, almost knocking askew his gas mask in the process.
“We proceed,” Fen Liu said, and felt some of the tension bleed out of the room. Apparently they were not expecting the premier to be present for this moment. But this was good; now she would be sure to get the absolute best out of them.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Sienna
I checked my watch, a thing I had a feeling I'd be doing a lot of in the next hour. We were rumbling along in the back of the stolen truck, all of us save for Hays, who was up front driving, a dark curtain hung in the giant space I'd had Madison burn out of the passenger seat so she could simply turn and leap back into the compartment with us to leave quickly in case of emergency. “One minute,” I called out, and saw the nods of the others take my message onboard.
We were rolling up to the stone wall that separated the prison from the perimeter road that girdled it. Guards were on the walls, peering down at us. They hadn't opened fire, but doubtless someone would be along shortly to either check our credentials or start shooting. We'd driven out of a portal under an overpass about a mile away from the prison, shielded from sight by the overpass and total lack of traffic. The citizens of Shenzhen seemed to have taken our leaflets and radio broadcasts to heart, because there was no one out on the roads.
“Exterior floodlights aren't on yet,” Hays called back to us, flashing a relieved smile.
“Bonner,” I said. “You're up.”
She wordlessly melted into the shadows of the canvas-topped truck, her ebony skin and combat fatigues fading into darkness. I thought I could see movement, like a snake slithering in the shadows, as she ran across the canvas and out the open back, disguised as the flutter of the cloth.
“Barron, we have an open spot in the back corner of the prison courtyard,” Bonner's voice came in a moment later. “Ten feet off the back corner to your left, probably two to three feet up.”
Barron grimaced. “Have I mentioned how hard it is to create a portal while one side of the object is moving and the other is out of my sight?”
“This is why you're getting paid the total lack of big bucks, British,” Hays chirped.
Barron created a portal a little more than an inch wide in the center of the truck as Hays took the vehicle hard right. An eye peered back at us, and Bonner's voice whispered through it, meta-low. “Good positioning. Widen it and let's move.”
The Earl of Hampwick grunted, and the portal widened enough that Heidi could leap through, landing in a crouch, her hands already extended. “Illusion up,” she whispered through the radio.
“Taking the truck off road,” Hays said through the black shroud curtain we'd placed to hide from any onlookers that there was a passthrough to the back.
“Move, move,” I said quietly, and my team started leaping through, following David, who'd already gone and was standing just off to the side, ready to throw up a shield on either side if needed.
“Reaching position Gamma,” Hays said, referring to the place where we'd be ditching the truck. It was a small patch of trees, and now that we'd infiltrated at least the outer courtyard, Barron could just make a portal back to the safe house from here. The truck was now unnecessary.
It was, however, not finished. It still had a role to play.
“Hays?” I asked, trying to peer through the shrouded black curtain. The truck was slowing; I had a feeling we were close.
“Putting her in park,” she said, then leaping back through the curtain, leaving the engine running. We joined the others through the portal, and I found myself in a stone courtyard between the tall, thick wall that ringed the prison and the building itself. The prison was a concrete building in the midst of asphalt ground, the most forbidding landscape you could imagine. I could hear guards patrolling the wall above us where we squatted just beneath a wide metal staircase, and the sky was steadily darkening.
“Get us in before the lights come on,” I said to Bonner, who was already melting away into the shadows again. There was still plenty of fading daylight and shadow to work with, but when the storm had moved in and the prison lights came on, I had a bad feeling about how much shadow Kristina was going to have to work with.
“Gyah,” Heidi said, “the air is so sticky inside this gas mask.”
“When the suppressant starts blowing around, you're going to be glad you have it on,” I said. I did fiddle a bit with mine, though, because it was sticky, and damned uncomfortable.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Fen Liu
“We have motion in a shadow,” one of the video techs said, rising up to point at her screen.
Fen Liu hurried down the row of monitors, Hao just behind her. Pausing at the monitor, she saw the motion in question, a slithering of shadow across the screen. “That's Kristina Bonner,” she said, unable to hide her smirk. She looked up to Hao. “They're coming.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
Sienna
“Okay,” Bonner's voice cut in a moment later, “we got a spot. Isolated guard room, about twenty feet down from the back corner of the building to your right.”
The sound of doors and fences rattling at the changes in pressure and the wind rolling through from the coming hurricane provided a nice soundtrack to our wait. I could feel the suction against the seal of the mask on my face and the pull in my ears as Reed's hurricane played hell with the barometric pressure. Checking my watch, I noted that we were right on time. “Barron, you heard her,” I said, and Charles gave me a crisp nod. “Let's go. Heidi, you're with us.”
“Yep,” Heidi chirped, and the three of us sprinted, under cover of her illusion, across the yard to approximately where Bonner had pointed us. Twenty feet from the back corner of the building I stood until I got the nod from Heidi, then sparked the energy blade out of my wrist–
In it went, plunging through the solid rock wall, melting and slagging the concrete. The molten aggregate rushed out in both directions, leaving a smoking hole in the wall that I bent down to peer into–
And saw another eye looking back at me. Ebony fingers did a jaunty wave, and I knew we were in the right place. “Barron, take a peek.”
“Cover is established,” Heidi said.
“You heard her – move up,” I said, checking out the guards patrolling the walls. They were walking established patterns, keeping an eye out around the place for any sign of trouble at the perimeter, which meant mostly they were looking out. Not their fault that we were already in.
“Step inside, ladies and gents,” Barron said, his portal to the inside already open thanks to my clearing the way for him to peek. “Much easier,” he said as I passed through into a dimly lit guard room ringed by dingy metal lockers.
Someone opened the door, walking in to find us all mid-break-in. The illusion held – at first. Then came the muttered Chinese greeting. Then the realization – hey, I don't know these people. It all played out on his face as we watched.
There was a slight whistle from behind him, for standing in the shadow of the door was June Randall. A puff of toxic purple sprayed into his face, and he gagged. He had a gas mask, but it was on his belt.
Whoops.
“Nighty-night,” Tara Hays said, popping him in the side of the head with a crisp blast that snapped his head back. He dropped, his neck limp from breaking. Madison Gustafson was dropping a blanket of plasma upon him to “cleanse” the area of evidence. He'd had his finger on the trigger of his gun, and you get no prize for guessing his intent.
“I've rerouted the cameras in this room,” Arche said casually from the nearest electrical plug as Barron closed up the portal. “Working on the rest of the building, but that's going to be a bit more complex.”
“What about piggybacking so we can see what's going on out there?” I asked, watching Madison squirm a little as she dissolved the corpse of the Chinese soldier. Puffs of black smoke escaped from beneath the cloud of plasma, diffused into the atmosphere and giving the room a slightly toasted smell. She wasn't looking at what she was doing very closely; who could blame her?
“Same problem,” Arche said, her eyes flashing. I'd never figured out whether she and Jamal had some practical reason for doing that, or just did it because it looked cool. “Give me sixty seconds.”
“I guess we'll just chill here,” I said, checking my watch. It was okay. We had the time to spare.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Fen Liu
“I think they're in the guard room in the northwest corner,” the chief tech said. Fen Liu was huddled over his shoulder, watching, still smirking. “Also, someone's in our system and trying to take over the security cameras.”
The door behind them rattled from the changes in pressure, and Fen Liu glanced over. So did Hao, who, behind his mask, smiled. “It's time.”
Fen Liu nodded. The storm had arrived, and the distinct change in air pressure rattled the doors throughout the complex again. It was almost a shame her predecessors in the CCP hadn't vacuum-sealed this facility; the rattling doors were already getting on her nerves.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Sienna
I shuffled my way over to the giant hole in the wall that led to the exterior yard and took a look through. Outside, the lights were now shining bright, the sky so dark I couldn't even tell it wasn't night.
Checking my watch, I smiled. The storm had arrived, right on time. “Thanks, bro,” I whispered, listening to the wind whistle through the hole into the guard room.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
Fen Liu
“Their objective is the courtyard,” Fen Liu announced, still staring at the monitors, trying to decide if something was happening on the other side of them. Nealon had Rakshasa with her, so it was unlikely they'd be able to tell.
“We suspect they will not bother with capturing the control room,” Has said, opening the door at the far side of the room. It resisted him slightly and a flash of annoyance crossed his face as the air pressure changed again. “Her energy blade can melt through the bars, she can simply cut them out and leave.”
“Ah, excellent work by the analysts,” Fen Liu said. This was the use of having an entire country's brainpower behind you, you could assign a think tank of analysts to ponder every scenario. Hopefully they had actually managed to cover every contingency this time, or else what exactly was the point of them?”
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Sienna
“Ten seconds 'til we move,” I announced, “keep the formation tight, keep the illusions up, and Heidi – keep that brain of yours seeking.”
“This place is a muddle,” Heidi said. “There are definitely telepaths here, trying to ferret us out.” She grimaced. “I think...I think I'm keeping them at bay. Maybe.”
“Strong confidence coming from romanceland,” Tara Hays piped up.
“There are definitely a lot of guns in the building,” Fortune Renard said, snagging my arm, then letting it go.
“I'm sure that'll be a huge help to them,” I said, opening the door and peering out. As I had suspected, bright klieg lights ahead meant Kristina Bonner's efficacy as a scout for us was now over, unless we could cut the power. “We're about to have to head into the den of the beast.”
“Den of the lion,” June Randall said, and when every eye (behind the gas masks) went to her, she bristled. “Belly of the beast, den of the lion. Get your cliches straight.”
“In this case, I believe it is technically the den of the dragon,” Renard said.
“Yeah, it's the Brits that use the lion as their symbol,” Tara Hays said. “Sounds like they haven't found our truck yet.”
“Or they're being real quiet about it if they have,” I said, still just listening. The prison was strangely muted. I checked my watch.
It was time.
“Keep those gas masks on and secure,” I said, holding position at the door. “Time to move. David?” And I looked to David Gustafson, who, without looking me in the eyes, gave me a sharp nod. “Okay, let's go.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY
Fen Liu
“We have motion at the door,” the tech said, rising and pointing at the screen with great enthusiasm. “It's them!”
“Everyone in place,” Fen Liu ordered, but Hao was already on it, whispering fiercely into his microphone. On the screen, she could see a figure in a gas mask slipping out of the room, followed by another, and another. “Activate radio jamming.”
“Activated!” Another tech called back.
Fen Liu felt her face twist in a crooked smile. No emergency calls for help now. “Bring in the helicopters, the tanks, the APCs. Tell them to surround the prison. And on my signal, once our Magneto removes their gas masks and we have ours on – unleash the suppressant. Through the whole prison, you understand?”
That main tech nodded furiously. “It will be done.”
“See that it is,” Fen Liu said, already in motion. She had her gas mask hanging on her belt, ready for what was to come. Hao hurried ahead, his already on, preceding her as she joined up with her bodyguard phalanx, and headed downstairs...to confront Sienna Nealon at last.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
Sienna
We moved forward along a dull concrete-block hallway into the bright klieg lights ahead, squinting against the glare. “Comms just went out,” Arche said in the quiet of the hallway; her muffled voice did not issue forth in my ear like it had so far. “We're talking and shouting from here.”
“Acknowledged,” I said tensely. Ahead I could see a courtyard with benches, just beyond an unmanned checkpoint with a metal-barred door. I nodded at Renard in the quiet, and he offered a Gallic shrug before waving a hand. The door clicked and swung open with a faint squeak.
Madison Gustafson was suddenly at my elbow. “This is the trappiest trap I've ever trapped to trap.” I slowly turned my head to frown at her. She must have caught it through the plexiglas face of the gas mask. “Was that over the top?” she asked.
“Like my coffee in the hands of an incompetent but well-meaning barista,” I said.
“I would like a coffee again,” Kristina Bonner said, sotto voce, a few steps behind me. “You know the kind – fancy, from a shop where the barista has nose rings, or blue hair, and knows every blend. The sludge we've been drinking the last few days – I mean, how do you not have a Keurig in your lair?”
“I have missed decent coffee in prison,” Amanda Gustafson chimed in. “Or coffee at all, most days.”
“Coffee has such romance and possibility to it,” Heidi said.
“Seriously, people?” Kat asked. “We're walking into a trap and you're all talking about coffee?” Chastened, they all fell silent, and Kat just had to go and twist the knife. “Also, Starbucks is terrible, acidic and over-roasted, and don't pretend that most of you weren't thinking about them just now. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.”
