The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse (25 page)

I skimmed through the rest of the form. There were plans of the building, suggested tactics, guard and employee locations, and telescopic photographs of the location. When I got to the field reports of the agents involved in the mission I started reading in full.

Lieutenant Marshall

Mission 44203

2054-07-07

We infiltrated the building on the east side doorway at 0220 hours. Two guards encountered. No alarm was raised at this stage. We made our way through the building to objective one. Another guard and two lab personnel were taken care of on the way. In the process Private Joffrey was injured by a chemical spill. We used the new pain reliever (full report of field-tested meds attached to this report) and he was carried out of the building by Private Jefferson. The rest of us continued on our mission.

The three scientists in the supply room offered little resistance. We managed to secure the Prismane and the Quadratic acid, which was filled into the packs of Private's Michaels and Kobb. They made their way back out of the mission with Carey and Mullen. That left Private Jenn, Mitchell, Carey, and myself to continue with phase two of the mission.

I frowned as I paused from my reading. Phase two?

Our way was blocked at by seven guards. Need to look into the intel to see if we missed a silent alarm of some sort. Private Jenn took a bullet to the chest in the process of taking them down. We were able to get her to a stable condition. Care and Mitchell placed her onto a makeshift stretcher and escorted her out. I was left to finish the mission.

Limare was on site. I had to use my Pulse to avoid weapons fire from him (full Pulse field report attached to this report). I completed my mission and, after confirming with DNA, made my way back to the rendezvous point. All team members accounted for. No friendly fatalities.

Total kill count: Ten guards, five employees, and primary target Limare.

Mission Status: Successful.

I put the piece of paper as my heart thumped in my chest. They were all killed? My hands shook as I considered what had happened. Before I got too ahead of myself, I wanted to be sure. These people may have been monsters. I lifted the paper and went back to the start of the mission objectives. I skimmed through until I got to Limare.

Priority Target: Jason Limare.

Background: Untrained in combat. Civilian contractor in charge of several laboratories in the mid-west.

I frowned. That didn't give me much more information. It rubbed me the wrong way that he was a civilian within the country, but that didn't make him a saint. I dropped the paper to the floor and was about to pick up the next, when something caught my eye. The back page had more writing that I had missed.

Mission Result: Limare removed from business, and our own scientists set up for the manufacture of Brain Operational eXperience (BOX) and Medicinal materials. The civilian trail that led us to Limare has been cleaned. There is no evidence of his lab ever existing. Our hold over the manufacture of medicinal supplies within country is maintained.

I had to put the paper down I was shaking so hard. That was the reason for killing all those people? To make sure that the military had a hold over the medicine? They even 'cleaned' the trail. I shuddered as I thought about all the people who must have died to keep this information secret. I felt like I wanted to be sick. We weren't helping people. We were just trying to control people. The people in freedom city were right.

Sarah touched my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

When I looked up at her I had tears streaming down my face. I just shook my head and handed her the paper.

As she read I picked up another and gave it a quick read. This one wasn't about an infiltration, but was about a protest that was being planned in the Miami area against the military and their involvement on US soil after the Washington incident. The military had caught wind of a section of people there wanting to section off Florida from the rest of the US. They had wanted to govern themselves without military interference.

It was a slaughter. Two teams of Pulsers infiltrated the network and traced it through to the core. One hundred and seventy eight civilians were killed in total. People who just wanted the right to look after themselves. Mission successful.

I looked up at Sarah who was sitting with her hand on her mouth reading the paper. She looked up at me. "This is…"

I was about to show her the next piece of paper when I heard something that sent my blood cold. There were two people talking inside the library.

THIRTY-ONE

We stuffed the papers back into their drawers and I rushed forward to grab my backpack. Once the room was clean we snuck out into the library again. After a quick scan of the area I couldn't see anyone, and frowned at Sarah. She shrugged in response. Just when I was going to say we should get back to the barracks the voices started up again. The muffled sounds were coming from a small set of vents in the corner of the room. There were people in the hallway that ran behind the library.

Sarah grabbed my arm. "We should get out of here."

I knew she was right, but I couldn't leave without knowing who it was. I pulled away and walked over to stand as close to the vents as I could. Sarah started whispering her disapproval, but I held up a hand to silence her. I stepped up on one of the lower shelves so I could hear better.

The Doctor's thick accent made me cringe. "I need another test subject."

"They don't grow on trees you know."

I frowned when I placed the voice as Gus. Was everyone awake at this hour? I shook my head and leaned in closer.

The Doctor's voice came through clearer as they passed right next to me. "It's not a supply issue, but more of a… how do you say, motivation issue."

"You want us to throw a candidate?" I could hear the skepticism in the Sergeant's voice. "You think getting you this much is easy? We don't have the supply to cater to your whims."

"Not one of the good ones, but maybe every now and then, yes?"

Gus chuckled. "You're a crazy old man. If we get caught doing this…"

"You wait until you see where I'm getting with this one! Come now, you'll see. Then you'll not have the same reservations you have now."

The Sergeant mumbled a response, but they were getting too far away to hear. I jumped down and turned to Sarah.

"We need to follow them."

Sarah's jaw dropped. "Are you nuts?"

"Didn't you head what he just said? That doctor is a sicko. If he's doing something illegal, I want to know what it is."

"Alex…"

I turned to looked at Sarah who was biting her bottom lip. I flicked my head and shrugged, impatient. "If you want to say something then just say it."

"Do you think that maybe you're letting your feelings for the Doctor get the best of you. We've all been through the same simulations. If you didn't resent him so much for those, you would see he's not a bad guy."

I glared at her. "This has nothing to do with my feelings. This has to do with right and wrong. After what we just read, and what we just heard, are you telling me that you don't want to know what they're up to?"

Sarah sighed, but shook her head. "I do, but is it worth the risk of getting caught?"

I crossed my arms. "Yes."

Sarah stared at me for a few seconds before nodding. "Then we'd better get after them."

I made my way toward the exit as fast as I could without making too much sound. The two of us left the room and made our way around the hallway to where the men had been. I crept along hoping they hadn't gotten too far, and peered around the edge of the hallway.

It was empty.

"Damn."

"There's only one way to go, why don't we just keep going until we find something?"

I nodded at Sarah and started down the hall. I hadn't noticed it at first due to the darkness, but she was right. This hallway ran behind the library but there were no doors on either side. The only two exits were where we had come from, and a single door at the end. I pressed my ear against the door, and opened it when I was sure it was safe. It opened onto a set of stairs leading down into darkness. There were no windows here to let in even the smallest amount of moonlight.

I turned to Sarah. "If you don't want to come you don't have to."

"Let's just get this over with."

I nodded and made my way down the stairs. After Sarah let go of the door it closed behind us. The darkness was disorienting at first, but I reached out and placed my hands on the walls. Once Sarah had a hand on my shoulder we starting making my way down the stairs. We followed them down for a few minutes. We must have been deep underground now—well below the foundation of the building. After another minute I stepped for another step, but there was none. The shock rattled my teeth, but I was able to turn and warn Sarah before she did the same.

We turned a corner and I could see a small amount of light spilling into the room. We were standing before a door. A quick feel around and I found the handle, turning it and peeking out into the area beyond.

The light was dim, but felt bright to my dilated eyes. Once they adjusted I slipped out onto the metal grate of a floor. Sarah stepped out from behind me and looked around the room, or should I saw cavern. It was like standing in a huge warehouse, so large that it would take a good ten minutes to jog the length of it. It was supported by large steel beams that stood every twenty feet or so. We were standing in one corner of a series of floating walkways that ran across the top of the room. About ten feet under us were the roofs to a multitude of smaller structures. They didn't look large enough to hold more than a few rooms each and didn't have any windows. The only thing of note were the individual air conditioning units on top of each.

Sarah took her hand from my shoulder. "What is this place?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "It's huge. Looks pretty modern compared to the mansion."

"Yeah it's definitely an addition, but what is it for?"

The two of us frowned and kept looking over for any signs of life. The walkway that we stood on led to two different doors. The one we came in through, and another at the end. From my position here I could see about six other doors. Did they all lead into the mansion, or did they come out somewhere else? The place was much larger than the mansion, so the other doors could lead anywhere.

I turned to Sarah and pointed to a set of stairs that led down the the rooms below us. "Might as well check it out."

She nodded, and the two of us made our way down. I was careful to keep an ear out for any signs of life, but we made it to ground level with no trouble. A quick scan of one of the rooms revealed it to only have the one door in or out. It was locked. As we explored we discovered that each room was a little different. Some had more than one door, and some had small dark windows that were impossible to see into. Each room stood at least twelve feet tall.

Sarah sighed. "Where did they go?"

I frowned. "They must be in one of these rooms."

Sarah threw her hands in the air. "But which one?"

"I don't know, but I'm not leaving until we find out."

Sarah sighed, and with a shake of her head started down one of the rows. "We'll cover more ground if we split up."

After a twenty minutes of walking through the maze of buildings I was starting to think it was a lost cause. I turned to look for my friend, but as I did a strange noise made me freeze in my tracks. I could hear an odd kind of ripping sound coming from the room that I was next to. I frowned and pressed by ear against the brick, but that didn't help at all. I circled the room, but the only point of entry was the doorway which I didn't want to risk.

As I completed my third lap of the building, a thought crossed my mind. I climbed the nearest set of stairs as fast as I could and made my way above the building where I had heard the noise. As I looked over the edge I realized it was a little too far to fall without making any sound. I needed Sarah. A few minutes of searching later, made easier by the fact I was twenty feet in the air, and I found her. It took an almost shout to get her attention, but she was soon looking up at me in confusion. I motioned for her to join me, and she made her way to a set of stairs to meet me on the walkway.

"What's going on?"

I smiled at her. "I found something."

She grimaced. "Where?"

"Over this way."

I led Sarah back to the room that I had found earlier.

"The problem is that it's too far for me to drop," I said, pointing to the room. "It will make a lot of noise. I need you to help me."

"How?"

"I need you to lower me down so I don't fall as far. When I'm down there I can catch you when you jump.

Sarah raised an eyebrow at me. "You're going to catch me."

I frowned at her. "I'm strong enough."

Sarah smirked at me. "It's not your strength I'm worried about. You like a pocket sized person. I'll squash you, even with my lovely figure."

"Feeling a bit full of yourself are we?"

"Whatever you say, munchkin."

I stuck my tongue out at her, and slid myself over the edge. My hands gripped onto the frame of the walkway, and I lowered myself down as far as I could go. When I was at full extension Sarah gripped onto my wrists, and I let them go. A year ago I would never have put myself in this kind of position with someone. It was amazing how much things had changed now that I had someone that I could trust.

Sarah lowered me down until I was only six feet or so from the rooftop. At my nod, she dropped me. My training put itself to work and I landed into a roll. Sarah start to lower herself over the edge and I positioned myself underneath her. She let herself fall and leaned backward to make herself easier to catch. Her weight made my knees buckle, but I stayed upright and held her in my arms.

"Where to now, sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes. "Put me down, dork."

I sighed. "One day you'll realize I'm your one true love."