Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1) (41 page)

“That’s the one and don’t forget the heels.”

“Bugger.  Really?” the look on her Hanna’s face said it all.

“Yes.  Don’t ask me why.  I don’t make up the fashions and heels are in again.”  Valerie looked at the younger woman.  “You did practise didn’t you?”

“Of course I did,” Hanna replied indignantly.  “This isn’t my first time you know.  I just don’t like them, they slow me down.”  Valerie could well imagine how a child of the streets, who relied on her speed and wits to survive her entire life, would view an item of clothing that did that.

“When we’re past the social section of the tower, we can revert to flats.  Fortunately people prefer that for business.”  Dumping their first clothing set into the handy incinerator set in the storage room, they repacked the later sets with their new disguises over the top.  Some of their items were now able to go into the fashionable bags their backpacks converted into, along with the datapads retrieved from the skateboards. 

They tucked those out of sight and left the work pads clearly on a shelf.  When no completed job notifications came through to the supervisor, he would track them down.  It was not unusual for workers to find what they were given was almost impossible.  It was sometimes better to give up.  If you didn’t complete the work, you would have pay deducted so it just wasn’t worth it.  The cleaning company would be complained to and would have to pay compensation.  Sneaker would make sure they weren’t out of pocket after the Job was completed.

Valerie glanced out the door to make sure it was clear and quickly headed out with Hanna behind her.  At the end of the passageway, where it entered the main corridor, she did the same thing.  If they were seen, it would cause questions as to what two of the Privileged were doing in the workers passageways.

Taking a deep breath, Valerie stepped out.  She relaxed her body into the stroll of someone who was happy, content and in no rush to get where she was going.  Hanna dropped in beside her in a similar walk.

“Wow, I didn’t think you knew how to relax,” she teased.  “What about a smile to go with it?”

Looking at her Valerie forced her lips to rise at the ends.  “OK.  Please stop that.  It’s scary.”  Hanna said with a shiver.  There were many things Valerie’s covert training allowed her to do, smiling genuinely since that day two years ago, was not one of them.

“It doesn’t matter,” Valerie told her.  “I’m just yet another ice queen.” 

“Not another,” Hanna said with a bit of a smile.  “You’re the original.  Just ask Hobbs.”

That was not a conversation Valerie was prepared to have in any way, no matter how close she and Hanna were getting.  She looked straight ahead and Hanna got the message.  From the corner of her eye, Valerie could tell Hanna realised she had gone too far.  A couple of times she looked up to say something and thought better of it.

People passed them in the corridor without paying any attention to them, other than the usual glances heterosexual men and homosexual women give to two attractive women.  They turned a corner and saw their destination.  It was a maintenance room that would give Hanna access to this areas part of the central computer. 

Stopping just by it, Hanna leant casually against the door and starting tapping on her wristcomps virtual keyboard.

“Oh, come on.  Can’t that wait?” Valerie asked her in an exasperated voice.

“No, it can’t!”  Hanna said sharply.  “If I don’t reply to him now he’ll think I’m ignoring him and he’ll start messaging Travis.  You know he swings both ways!”

“Just hurry up.  I’m hungry.”  Valerie said, turning her back on Hanna and crossing her arms as she watched the corridor carefully.  Everyone seemed to be taking in their ruse and didn’t look at them.  Hanna meanwhile was busy Hacking the door lock.  In her bag the Quartz provided the processing power, while she typed in commands via her linked wristcomp.

A faint click signalled Hanna slipping through the door and Valerie continued to keep watch.  She started tapping her foot and checking her wristcomp, as though she were waiting for someone.  By her chrono, it took exactly one hundred and sixty three seconds before there was a quiet knock behind her.  It was the signal Hanna was finished and Valerie marvelled yet again at her skill.  If Hanna had been a member of Shadow Company, some of their missions would have been quite a bit easier.  It was also possible the Legion would lock her away somewhere.  She was too good and would represent a danger.

It took a couple more minutes, for the corridor to clear enough, for Valerie to kick the door lightly with her ten centimetre heel and start walking leisurely away.  Within two steps Hanna was beside her, despite her heels, and handed over a new ID.

“Any problems?” Valerie asked.

“Nope,” Hanna said confidently. 

***

Two hours later, they stepped out onto the 160th floor, now dressed in their last set of clothing.  They wore tailored, very expensive business suits and Hanna was thankful they included shiny black shoes with no heels.  She had gotten used to them a bit more with all the walking they had done.  It just felt like she couldn’t trust her footing and move properly in them.

This floor had an armed Safelife guard behind a security desk.  He checked their ID’s thoroughly before letting them pass.

“Very nicely done Hanna.” Valerie said quietly once they were safely in the clear.

The wave of pride from Valerie’s compliment was only matched by the satisfaction she felt of defeating all of Safelifes security protocols with almost no preparation.

“Thanks,” she said, trying to keep her voice even and all of that out of it.  She didn’t think she succeeded very well.  “Any of the executives offices will do.  They should all have access to what we need.  Here we go.”

Picking one at random, where she could see it was empty through its clear wall, Hanna swiped her latest ID and the door opened.  Hanna went straight to the desk while Valerie took up position by the door.  She pushed a button and the wall onto the corridor switched to one way so they could see out and no one could see in.  It was perfect for them to work without being disturbed. 

Plugging in her Quartz directly this time, Hanna sent out her trusty worms.  At every floor they learnt more and more of Safelifes programmers and now her luck was really in.  Rather than using their own independent security, Orobello contracted their systems to Safelife as well.  She didn’t need to start from scratch.  Hanna’s worms could use everything they learned on the way up.

It was ridiculously easy to get into the system and find the file Garson wanted.  It wasn’t large and Hanna downloaded it in an instant.  She was just congratulating herself when a movement caught her eye.  Glancing up, she saw Valerie darting out of the door.  A man was walking past.  Valerie picked him up and bodily threw him into the office.

“What are you doing?”  Hanna demanded.

Valerie ignored her, strode over to the man and grabbed him by his throat.  “Hello Aamir.”  Her voice rang alarm bells in Hanna’s mind.  It was that cold tone, one she hadn’t heard in months.   Hanna stood up carefully, all of her confidence deserted her and she didn’t know what to do. Automatically she unplugged the Quartz and tucked it safely away.

“Who.  What?”  The man said in confusion and then his eyes rested on Valerie’s face and he jerked in recognition.  “Ell…?”  He didn’t finish that name as Valerie’s fist backhanded him viciously.  Hanna had seen her break a woman’s neck with that blow.  She was surprised she didn’t hear the crack this time.  The man slumped down, unconscious or dead, she wasn’t sure.

Looking up at Valerie, Hanna saw something she had never seen on that woman.  Rage.  It was pure unadulterated rage, radiating out of her like a beacon and for the first time, Hanna was afraid.  Not of Valerie, but of what she would do.

“Is he dead?”  Hanna asked.

Now Valerie looked at her and Hanna almost took a step back.  “No,” she said.  “He’s unconscious and I need to speak to him.”  There was an edge of frustration in the icy voice.  She hadn’t meant to strike him that hard.  Hanna realised it was an indication as to just how close Valerie was to losing control.

“Who is he?”  Hanna asked in confusion.  These two knew each other and she didn’t know why.  Valerie ignored her and the older woman’s eyes were sweeping the room.  Not finding what she was looking for, she grabbed the man she called Aamir and lifted him easily up.

“Come on,” Valerie told her, turning to the door.

“Hang on,” Hanna said rushing around the desk to Valerie’s side.  “We can’t take him.  We’ll be lucky to get into the lift before we’re stopped!”  Yet again the other woman took no notice of her.  She draped one of Aamir’s arms over her left shoulder and grabbed him around the waist with her right arm.  With his rolling head unconsciously around, Valerie strode into the corridor and Hanna rushed to keep up.

When they turned the corner of the corridor before the security desk, Valerie shouted to the guard.  “Can you give me a hand here?”  Her voice was pitched at just the right level of helplessness, the guard dashed over immediately.  He grabbed hold of the unconscious man and as soon as he took the weight, Valerie grabbed the guard by the throat and snatched his pistol from its holster.

Aamir slumped to the ground.  With the guard frantically kicking and trying to stop from being strangled, Valerie dragged him backwards to the desk.  There, she hoisted him up by the neck and slammed him against the wall.  Only then did she release her hold enough for him to gasp for breath.  In the same movement, she jammed the barrel of the pistol hard into his crotch.

“Open your arms safe.  Now.”  Hanna was in complete shock.  This wasn’t the woman she called friend and worked with so closely this past year.  This was the woman from a year ago.  The woman who jumped off a five hundred metre tall building without a word.  The woman who killed a Boss and an entire building of Enforcers to save Hanna’s life.  This was the woman who scared every single sadist and killer in the Inferno Underworld.

The guard did not fail to understand his situation and nodded his compliance instantly.  Valerie thrust him to the safe and tossed Hanna his badge.  “Set up my credentials on that.  Use his system to input an order that I’m taking an unconscious man and his attacker to the flight deck for transfer to a hospital.”

Not daring to question her, Hanna got to work.  The ID wasn’t too bad and she stepped over to the terminal to set up what Valerie wanted.  The Guard opened the safe.  He was stepping back when Valerie put the gun against his head and fired.  Hanna was taken by surprise.  All she could think of was that break room in their first Heist as the guards body fell back to the floor, his forehead melted by the Pulse.

Hanna frantically tapped away on the terminal.  She could see Valerie next to her, loading up with various items from the safe and tucking them in her pockets.  A second Pulse pistol went into the waist band of her trousers with the first and Hanna couldn’t say what the rest was.

“Done.  The order is in the system and I’ve fritzed the cameras.  The lift will get us to the flight deck, but the moment those doors open, they are going to know we shouldn’t be there.”  Hanna said, trying desperately to get some sense into what they were doing.  It would make little difference now.  With that guard dead, they had very little time before it was discovered and the Tower was sealed.  There was not enough time to walk out the aircar entrance ten floors down, as they planned.  All she could do was to follow Valerie and hope she would get them out alive.

Reaching past Hanna, Valerie pulled out a medical grav board from under the desk.  She almost shoved it into Hanna’s hands.

“Fit this to Aamir and bring him to the lift.”  Hanna nodded and ran over to the unconscious man.  He was still lay face down on the thick carpet.  That was actually helpful.  It made it easier to strap the foldout board to his back and legs.  After a moment’s reflection, Hanna also secured his arms tightly.  If he did wake up, he wouldn’t be going anywhere. 

A push of a button activated the anti-gravs and the man floated gently a metre into the air.  She spun him so he was the right way up.  After further consideration, Hanna ripped off some material from her sleeve and stuffed it in his mouth.  Another strip tied it into place and she pushed him over to the lift, where Valerie was waiting with a Pulse rifle in one hand and another over her shoulder.

She glanced at Aamir, nodded approvingly and handed Hanna a Pulse pistol as the lift arrived.  “Here.  Stay five metres behind me and only shoot if you have to.  Their attention will be all on me so it’s unlikely they’ll even notice you.”  Unlikely, just the word you want to hear when you’re kicking a Stone Dragon in the nuts.

The lift doors opened and Hanna pushed Aamir in.  Valerie stepped in beside her, swiped her ID and entered the command for the flight deck.  The lift rose and Hanna swallowed hard, trying to remember Valerie’s training.  Again and again the thought
I’m a Hacker not an Enforcer.  I can’t do this
, went through her head.

When the doors opened, there was no hesitation on Valerie’s part that Hanna could see.  With a Pulse rifle in each hand held at waist height, she opened fire.  Outside the lift three guards were standing, waiting to assist what they thought was a hospital and prisoner transfer.  They died instantly, their bodies flying backward from the force of the Pulse rounds.

Hanna had fired Pulse rifles many times on the range in Valerie’s training.  They were heavy, she needed both hands and the stock tight into her shoulder, to hold the rifle steady enough to fire accurately.  Valerie was using them like pistols, her only allowance for the weight being her holding them at her waist, rather than full extended.

Stepping out of the lift and over the bodies, Valerie moved forward and her guns whined again.  Hanna could hear shouts of confusion and anger coming from ahead of them.  She waited until Valerie was the five metres ahead and with the pistol in one sweaty hand, she gently pushed Aamir out of the lift.

Past the lift doors was a security desk.  Two bodies slumped over it already and a single corridor leading further in.  It ran in a straight line for twenty metres with a few doors along it, until it ended in a large opening and Hanna could see the flight deck beyond.  Valerie was at the first door.  She leant round, exposing only a small amount of her body and opened fire.  There was a couple of screams and then nothing more.

Pushing Aamir to one side, out of the line of fire, Hanna ran to the security desk as an idea occurred to her.  She cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner.  She pulled a small remote connector from her pocket and slapped it into one of the input ports.  Stuffing the pistol into her waistband, she pulled her Quartz up and, using the remote, sent her worms into the system.

Glancing up the corridor, Hanna saw two guards coming out of a door near the end.  They held pistols and opened fire on Valerie.  The Pulses didn’t come anywhere near her, a remote part of Hanna’s brain pointed out, they hadn’t paused and set themselves before firing.  Valerie’s return fire didn’t miss and both dropped down dead.

More guards came out, unorganised and confused.  They died instantly, with only a few getting shots off and none of them were of any danger to Valerie or Hanna.  Advancing in a steady walk, Valerie kept the pressure on, firing as she went in conservative three round bursts.

With the Quartz balanced on Aamir’s chest, Hanna pushed it forward to catch up with Valerie and typed away one-handed.  It amazed Hanna, Safelifes own programmers hadn’t yet realised they were Hacked.  There had been no attempt, beyond the automatic systems, to keep her out and she already had the measure of those.  She was so far into their system, the worms were able to glide past without even a twitch from the anti-viruses.

Doing this familiar task kept her distracted from the abject terror threatening to overwhelm her.  With a flick of her finger, all the doors on this floor slammed shut and sealed themselves.  Including one where a guard was using the doorway as cover.  Unfortunately Hanna happened to be looking in her direction when the guard was sliced in half.  Her blood splattering all over the corridor and Hanna almost threw up.  Valerie glanced back at her and the only acknowledgement she gave her, was the slightest of nods.

Shaking her head at the lack of anything from the woman for saving their lives Hanna concentrated on the next task.  Getting out of here alive.  Massive blast doors came down at the entrance to the flight deck.  With her rifles hanging by her sides on their shoulder straps Valerie strode up to it.

“I need you to open this so there is just a thirty centimetre gap, hold it for a second and shut it.  Then open it again five seconds later.”  It came out as a statement, with no question whether Hanna could do it or not.

Not bothering to reply, Hanna’s fingers flew over the keyboard as she set up the command.  She didn’t know what Valerie was going to do, only it was not going to be good for whoever was on the other side of that door.

“Ready.  Just tell me when.”

Valerie turned back to the door and reached into her pockets.  She stood there with both hands full.

“Now.”

Pushing the button, Hanna saw the door do exactly as Valerie wanted.  The moment it opened, Valerie stepped forward, her hands a blur as she cast several objects through the opening.  A second after the doors slammed shut, Hanna heard the muffled thumps of multiple explosions.  They had been grenades.

The door swept open again and this time all the way.  On the other side was complete carnage.  Men and woman lay about all over the place, the floor covered in bright red blood.  Many were dead, some weren’t and their screams filled the area.  Valerie didn’t take any notice and merely stepped forward into the blood.  Her guns blazed, not aimed at those by the door, but at two groups that must have been running towards it.

Hanna stared at the other woman’s back in wonder.  After she sealed the doors, Valerie instantly saw the implications and planned accordingly.  She knew they would gather outside the door and the grenades would kill or incapacitate them.  She knew more would be coming and if they weren’t caught in the blast, would be disorientated and vulnerable.

Now Valerie had a gun trained on each of the groups and she was systematically killing them.  Each man and woman got a single three round burst to the chest.  When the doors opened they had just stopped running, their hands and arms up to protect their faces.  None of them were equipped with body armour.  There wasn’t any reason to here at their main base until now.  The squads of guards in the Helos outside would be fully equipped, but right now they would be shocked and confused.  They would not be able to understand the level of danger, presuming those here could handle it.  This gave Valerie a very small time window and she was using it to its fullest.

The last of the guards dived to the floor, trying desperately to get out of Valerie’s line of fire and respond.  It didn’t matter.  She gunned them down even there.  Valerie took off at a run towards one of the Helos, though not the nearest.  Hanna followed across the open space, running as fast as could while bent down and using Aamir for whatever cover he could provide.

There was little resistance now.  Hanna guessed the last of Safelife’s personnel were either trapped in the rooms she sealed, or died as Valerie came through the door.  Stray shots whizzed past Valerie, closer than any of the others.  The shooters were much further away and under cover they had the luxury of taking more time to place their shots.  Valerie’s guns responded each time and as the shots stopped coming, Hanna knew she didn’t miss.

Valerie vanished behind the Helo she was heading for, Hanna was right behind her.  Rounding the hull of the aircraft, Hanna found Valerie holding a very scared woman by the front of her overalls.  Clearly marked on her chest were the words Ground Crew.

“Open it,” Valerie barked at the woman.  Though there was no gun jammed into her crotch, the woman put up no more resistance than the guard downstairs, immediately entering the code to the Helos hatch.

The hatch lowered and Valerie heaved the woman bodily through the air to land easily five metres away.  She jerked her head at the grav board and Hanna took her meaning.  She pushed Aamir in, quickly strapped him to one side and was shocked to see his eyes were open.  He must have woken up at some point.  From the look of complete and utter terror there, had seen enough to know he was in serious trouble. 

Hanna could not help herself.  She rolled her eyes at him with an impish shrug and nodded in Valerie’s direction.  Hey? What can you do with people like that?  Her body language said before running for the cockpit and jumping into the co-pilots seat.

“You’re really earning your pay today.”  Hanna muttered as she plugged the Quartz in. 

As her worms attacked the Helos security, she realised that someone else was already there.  “Shit,” she said out loud.  The Safelife programmers were now at work.  The doors sealing themselves would have sent red flags flying and woken them up.  They were now busy trying to regain control of the systems she Hacked and those she hadn’t, including the Helos.

“Valerie!” Hanna shouted at the top of her voice.  “Kill the coms.”

The sound of a Pulse rifle’s whine, followed by a small explosion reverberating through the Helos hull, was answer enough.  “Hah!  Hard line always beats wireless,” Hanna exclaimed.  The Safelife’s people were cut out of the Helo.  All it took then were some minor adjustments and reinforcement of the worms and she was in.  The Helos controls lit up in front of her.  She turned and shouted back to Valerie. “Let’s go!”

Running up the ramp to the cockpit Valerie, dumped her rifles out of the way and climbed into the pilots seat.  The engines started cycling up as Valerie hit the right buttons.  Hanna looked across the flight deck and saw doors opening.  Men and women, now in full armour and armed to the teeth, spilled out.

“We’ve got company and they look pissed,” Hanna shouted.

“Not a problem,” Valerie replied calmly.  The Helo rose gently into the air.  The nose came round gracefully to point at the running guards.  Some of them must have realised what was about to happen and started to dive out of the way.  It didn’t save them, a stream of fire ripped out of the Helo.  It lanced straight through the guards, their armour being no defence against the Helos Heavy Blasters.

It was carnage, the guards stood no chance and bodies flew all over the place.  Hanna steeled herself as she saw peoples bodies ripped apart by the intense fire.  She had seen a lot of people die in her life but nothing like she witnessed in the last few minutes.  Since they walked out of the lift, more died than in all her years put together.  She glanced at the other woman.  Her face was back to that cold statue, there was no emotion there and nothing of what she should be feeling.  Who was Aamir and what had he done to cause her friend to revert to this?

With the last of the guards dead the Helo swung round and Valerie targeted the other Dragonflies on the flight deck.  They weren’t moving targets and Valerie was able to target precisely their weak spots.  One by one they exploded.  With the last a burning wreck, Hanna was pressed tightly back into her seat.  The Helo shot smoothly out into the open sky.

Metres from the exit, alarms sounded and lights flashed on the Dragonfly’s control board.  Hanna was jerked sideways, Valerie sending the Helo into a tight downward turn.  Something flashed past the cockpit and detonated on the side of the building.

“The patrols.  They’re targeting us!”  Hanna shouted and cursed herself for saying such an obvious thing.

Valerie’s only response was to haul on the controls.  The Dragonfly responded and went vertical.  Hanna was pressed back hard in her seat as Valerie brought the Helo up and back.  It curved over so they were upside down, Hanna saw the top of Derwent Tower pass over her head.  There coming into sight in front of them, was another Helo, it seemed to hang for a moment, before two missiles streaked out to slam into it.  The blazing fireball went spiralling down to the ground.

The hull shuddered and Hanna was hurled forward hard.  The straps dug unto her shoulders painfully.  She was glad she had taken the time to strap herself in properly.  Another Dragonfly seemed to hurl itself past.  Hanna realised Valerie had braked hard, causing the other Helo to overfly them.  More missiles shot forward and another blazing wreck went down.

Buildings spun past in front of Hanna.  The Helo banked left and she was pushed hard against the right side of the seat.  “Amateurs,” Hanna heard Valerie say.  She looked over and saw the woman had one hand on the flight stick while the other danced over a complicated computer consol.  “They don’t even know how to use their own counter measures.”  The woman was talking to herself.

Hanna realised, not only was Valerie flying the Helo against four others and controlling the weapons.  She was also running the Helos anti-missile and targeting systems, to confuse those trying to kill them.  Suddenly the noise of the engines died and the Helo spun one hundred and eighty degrees.  For an instant Hanna thought they were hit and about to die, but there in front of them was one of the enemy Helos.  They were flying backwards!  Somehow Valerie used the ships anti-gravs to hold it in place, while its momentum kept it going in a straight line.  She then spun the Helo and brought her weapons to directly bear on the Dragonfly following them.

The two Helos were facing each other for just the slightest instant.  That was all it took for Valerie’s missiles to destroy it.  The Helo continued to spin until it was back facing its original heading and the engines kicked in.

“Now for the last of you bastards,” Valerie snarled.  The dragonfly’s nose went back to point directly at the sky and it shot upwards.

Airsickness was never a problem for Hanna before.  Maybe because she hadn’t spent a lot of time in aircars and when she did, it was while the compensators were on full, so you didn’t feel the movement.  Also they were mostly flown in a calm and easy manner.  It was not the case today.  Valerie hadn’t engaged the compensator and the sight of the ground, sky and buildings spinning around in front of her, as she was being pulled in every direction, was really making Hanna’s stomach want to empty itself.

Hanging on grimly, Hanna promised herself that she was not going to throw up and splatter the cockpit.  That could be the one thing that distracted Valerie or obscure her view enough, to get them killed.  Hanna lost her concentration on the fight, focusing purely on keeping her stomach contents down.  The Helo lurched, up down, left, right, backwards and forwards.  It went in every direction imaginable and then, there sitting in front of them was the last Dragonfly.