While I was down there, I took a few minutes to go through the sensor logs. The only trips had been around the solar panels, which didn’t make me too happy. I looked through the video footage, and it definitely wasn’t professionals. Just some idiots poking around. They were lucky they hadn’t taken a few more steps and found the claymores.

  Satisfied that everything was as it should be, I used a cargo lift to bring up the equipment I was taking. I was a bit surprised when I found Jim and Scotty waiting for me.

  “We figured you’d come up this way. Thought we’d lend a hand,” Scotty said, grinning.

  “Asshole,” I said and walked off, leaving them to bring my gear.

  After they loaded everything up in the MRAP—Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle—we headed back into Toronto, where they helped me get my things up to my new room.

  * * *

  I was frustrated I hadn’t noticed the hidden door in the wall the first time I was on the top floor. Of course, I had been slightly annoyed at the time since I’d been brought from my bunker with no explanation and given no choice in the matter. The concealed door led to a hallway that wrapped around the building. I used the keycard to open the door, and I couldn’t keep from gawking when I walked in. This wasn’t a room; it was an apartment. I pointed to the side of the door. “Just leave everything there. Thanks guys. Sorry I don’t have a tip.”

  Scotty grunted as he hefted one of the heavier boxes through the door, then waved as he left. “Asshole.”

  I chuckled as I locked the door behind them and took a tour. A nice, large living room, kitchen, dining area, an office, and two bedrooms. “This’ll do. I wonder if they have a gym.”

  I was surprised when I’d heard there were four other residences up here. The building had never been built for residential use, just retail and offices, but I suppose Obsidian had the money to do whatever it wanted before the war.

  It took me about an hour to get everything situated. I’d brought some extra toys for security. Once I got all of my gear and clothes put away, I swept the apartment for bugs, cameras, and pretty much anything else that didn’t belong. To my surprise, I found nothing. Next, I set up an infrared tripwire net at the main door and in front of the windows. Being on the top floor didn’t mean much to someone who was trained to infiltrate a structure, no matter the height. I also tucked away various weapons throughout the apartment so no matter where I was, even if I wasn’t wearing my pistol, I could easily be armed.

  Once everything was set, I stood at the windows in the living room and looked out over the city. If I looked up at the familiar landmarks—the CN Tower or the TD Canada Trust Tower—things almost looked normal, whatever that was. But all it took was looking down to see the new normal. Sixty-eight floors up, everything at street level looked tiny, but it was like I could feel the desperation.

  If I was going to help these people, I needed to know who I was going to help. I was still somewhat conflicted about the whole thing, but it was time to take a tour of New Toronto. I needed to do it without the goon squad following me though. I changed into more comfortable attire—a pair of cargo pants, some well-worn tennis shoes, and one of my Linkin Park t-shirts. I had a few.

  I put on my holster and concealed my trusty 9mm. I wanted to go out without guards, but I wasn’t stupid. I grabbed a ball cap and my shades and headed out.

  When I got to the ground floor and started for the door, one of the guards I’d seen before stopped me.

  “Heading out, Mr. Smith?”

  “What, the hat wasn’t enough of a disguise?”

  He didn’t appear to have a sense of humor.

  “One moment, I’ll get someone to go with you.”

  I shook my head. “Nope. I just want to take a look around, and I don’t want the guards painting a bullseye on my back by showing everyone you think I’m important.”

  “Sorry, sir. Not an option.”

  I sighed. I could probably slip out another way, maybe, but I figured it wasn’t worth it. The only way this was going to come even close to working was to build trust.

  “Fine. Someone can come with me, but they need to be dressed like the people out there. Not in full military regalia, carrying an MP-5.”

  He looked at me for a few seconds, then nodded. “Let me see what I can do.”

  I nodded and went to sit down in one of the chairs against the walls in the lobby and started humming an old Linkin Park song to myself.

  About five minutes later, Bill came out of the elevator. He had changed into worn jeans, boots that had been made to look like they’d seen better days, and a tattered t-shirt. He’d even mussed up his hair.

  I stood up and nodded. “Wow, you can walk without Ted standing beside you.”

  He smirked. “What do you expect? We’re brothers. We always stick together, but we felt you’d probably complain if both of us tried to come along.”

  “Right you are. I assume you’re armed?”

  He pulled up the side of his t-shirt to reveal the grip of his handgun.

  “Okay, good. Try not to shoot anyone. I just want to get a feeling for the mood on the streets.”

  “Well, let’s go then.” He walked over and opened the door for me.

  I nodded my thanks and walked through. I looked up at the sky, remembering when there was a beautiful metal-framed glass entryway. Some of the metal framing was still there, but the glass was long gone.

  Once he was beside me, I walked out of the entryway, made a right, and started walking.

  “How’s the underground?”

  He shook his head. “Not good. We don’t send folks down there if we can help it.”

  I grimaced. That was bad, given that it led to virtually every major building in the area.

  “That’s a problem.”

  “We know, but right now we’re doing our best just to keep people fed and alive.”

  I grunted. “You know the Anarchists Legion could get down there, plant a bunch of explosives, and turn Toronto into a big crater, right?”

  “We’ve collapsed strategic sections to try to make it harder to get to the key locations.”

  “I see.”

  I didn’t say more for a short while, as there were a few people around. People tended to get out of our way as we walked, and it took me a block or two to figure out why. We didn’t smell like the streets. They knew we had enough influence to get a bath, with soap, and that was enough to warn them.

  Just as we passed Toronto Dominion Centre, what I had hoped to avoid happened. We both saw it coming, but there were too many civilians around to do much other than wait for the situation to play out.

  Two men, both wearing leather jackets that reminded me of Michael Jackson’s from a music video long past jumped out from behind the corner of the building, then two more ran out behind us, wearing identical jackets.

  “The Jackson 4?” I asked and smiled.

  “Give us what you got,” the larger of the two men in front of us said as he pulled a bowie knife.

  It must have been a signal. The other three also pulled knives of various types and sizes.

  “Look, exactly what do you want? Maybe we can help.”

  “Everything you’ve got. Those sunglasses look nice.”

  I shook my head. “Oh no. That won’t do. These are my favorites.”

  He started to take a step forward, and I raised my right hand, palm out, toward him.

  “I think you really want to go back behind that building and wait for someone else. You’re making an extremely bad choice here.”

  “We saw where you came out of. You got lots of stuff in there that could help us.”

  “And those of us in that building are also making sure everyone here is safe and fed!” Ted said.

  I was impressed Ted hadn’t pulled his gun yet.

  “Fed? Really? You wanna eat the scraps I feed my kids? I go hungry so they don’t have to!”

  I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. “Is that right…”

  “Yeah, same here!” one of the men behind us said.

  A small crowd had started to circle around us, and I wasn’t sure whose side they were on. I could handle four, but it was getting closer to fifteen. As long as none of them were armed, they still wouldn’t be a problem, but I preferred another option.

  “That’s the kind of thing I’m here to find out,” I said.

  The man I assumed was the leader tilted his head. “Huh?”

  “Yes, you see, a few days ago, I disarmed an unexploded nuclear warhead at CFB Trenton, that, if it had gone off, would have killed you all. Now, I’m working with the folks at Scotia to see how we can make things better out here.”

  “A nuke?” one of the onlookers asked.

  I nodded, without taking my eyes off my target. “That’s right.”

  “Leave ‘em be, Jacob,” the same onlooker said.

  “Screw you!” Jacob charged.

  “Disarm only,” I said calmly.

  “Got it,” Ted said and turned to take care of the two behind us.

  Jacob made a typical mistake. He charged and raised his knife high in his right hand. I made sure Ted had moved a few steps away and sidestepped to the right just as Jacob stabbed down. I kicked out with my left foot and caught him in the groin, which sent him to the ground screaming.

  I turned back just in time to catch the wrist of the next attacker. I used his momentum to whip around to get behind him and brought his arm with me. I twisted and pushed his wrist up his back until his hand opened and the knife dropped, then I shoved him toward Jacob, whom he tripped over and fell.

  I checked on Ted, and both of his targets were on the ground as well.

  It had only taken about ten seconds before all four of them were disarmed and down. The crowd of onlookers took a few steps back. I doubted any of them had seen people like us in action before, but now they had.

  “I want the four of you to understand that you could all be dead, right now, with pretty much the same effort, but some of you have kids, and I don’t want to be the reason you don’t go home to them.” What the hell had happened to me?

  I looked around the crowd. “Anyone know anything about the Anarchists Legion? Where they hide? Who they are?”

  “Yeah, we know who they are! Cult brainwashed assholes!” someone I couldn’t see in the back of the crowd yelled.

  A few chuckled and nodded. Good, they still had a sense of humor. For some, that was the last thing to go before despair became death.

  “Anyone have anything useful?”

  Lots of shrugging and head shaking was my answer. “If anyone hears anything, go to Scotia Plaza and ask for Mr. Smith. That’s me. I’ll listen. Good information that leads to something solid will be rewarded.”

  The crowd started to disperse.

  “Okay, Ted, I think that’s about it for today. Let’s get back.”

  “You know, we should have at least detained them.”

  I shrugged. “Look, you want law and order, fine, but it needs to be something the people are aware of before it’s enforced. What do you plan to do, deputize a few dozen random people?”

  He glanced sideways at me as we turned toward the entry to Scotia Plaza. “You’re not exactly what I expected, Mr. Smith.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?”

  “Being predictable makes you an easy target.” I winked and headed toward the elevator.

  He chuckled and peeled off to go further into the ground floor.

  I pondered the scope of what these people wanted to accomplish and wondered, again, why I was here. Sure, I had some skills that could help here and there, and I could buy that they needed me to disarm the nuke, but why bring me this far in? I was sure there was someone, somewhere, who knew exactly why. All I had to do was figure it out.

  It’s good to know what motivates people in this Fallen World.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Three

  Later that day, I was called to a board meeting, which seemed a bit odd, but I figured it would be a good way to get some answers. We met in the boardroom on the top floor, which I could now get into without having to go through an outer office and then a bathroom like I’d had to do on my first visit.

  I sat down with Jonathan and Jeremy and a new addition to the group, who I knew on sight but hadn’t actually met. Bethany Evans used to be the head of military operations in the sector and was another Agent. She had been on my target list, but I hadn’t gotten to her before the war.

  “I understand you had an eventful morning, Mr. Smith?” Jeremy asked, starting the meeting.

  I nodded. “A small scuffle with a few desperate folks on the streets, who oddly, did not seem to be as well taken care of as I was led to believe.”

  “We told you things were running out.”

  “Oh, bullshit. You laid out what areas you supposedly control, but it doesn’t seem to me that you’re in control of anything, except maybe what happens in this building.” I thought about the intruder I’d dealt with. “Well, not even that really. You’ve been secure in here for 20 years, and have food, wine, and whatever you seem to want.”

  “We really only started working on control of the zone a few years ago.”

  “Okay, fine, but the building belonged to Obsidian before that. Who was here until a few years ago? What the hell was going on?”

  “I was.” Bethany finally spoke. “There were protocols. Once Teledyne started the destruction of the world, executives were sent to pre-determined locations, with orders to stay there for a period of one to two decades. Obviously, they were all…improved…so a few decades were really no problem. My location was here. Each location was stocked, much like your bunker probably is, with enough supplies for quite a while. They weren’t luxurious, but they were survivable.”

  I didn’t miss the stab at Teledyne, but I really didn’t care. I motioned for her to go on.

  “A few years ago, I sent out some of the Agents I had with me to retrieve the executives. Mr. Kent and Mr. Hammond were the only two executives who were found alive. Now, we have about fifteen guards, and the three of us. The rest of the people, we’ve hired since we started organizing.”

  I finally figured out why they really needed me. The three of them were imprinted and wouldn’t, or couldn’t, think outside the box. They needed someone who wasn’t programmed to think a certain way or fill a specific role. Personally, I thought they would have been better off with someone who lived that life before, taking care of people, but I was about as good as any these days. I suppose I was a somewhat known quantity. I had never considered that Obsidian imprinted their executives…

  “So, you’re all imprinted? Really? I thought Obsidian allowed their executives to think for themselves.”

  “We have some imprints that were supposed to help with the job. They aren’t as limiting as the imprinting for field roles,” Jeremy said, “but they have proven to be less than helpful in this new world we find ourselves.

  I could tell Bethany was annoyed Jeremy was so forthcoming. Red flag number one.

  “Well, you have a security nightmare on your hands. The underground, specifically, but besides that…the city is a huge open area, with the waterfront a few blocks away. What about the former Ontario Police or Toronto Police? Surely some of them are still around somewhere.”

  “How do we know we can trust them?”

  I stared at her. “I haven’t even decided if I trust you.”

  “Alright you two,” Jeremy said.

  “Moving on. You have 68 floors in this building. How many are actually in use?”

  “We currently have four floors powered,” Jonathan said. “The rest are turned off to conserve power.”

  “Four? Well, three are obvious, what’s the fourth?”

  “The second floor. It’s used for storage mostly, and food prep, housekeeping, things like that. It also contains the arsenal.”

  Bethany stared at Jonathan, and he smiled. “If he’s going to be here and be a part of this, he needs to know, Bethany.”

  I nodded. “I know there are five residences on this floor and this conference room. What’s in the other space? I’m no architect, but I’m damn good at evaluating floor plans.”

  “Oh…just corporate office space, stuff like that,” Bethany said.

  “You’re a shitty liar.” I stared at her.

  “There’s also all the equipment that was used to run the imprinting device, which as we told you already, is nonfunctional,” Jeremy said.

  I turned my gaze to him and narrowed my eyes. “You’re trying to get it working again…”

  “Of course we are!” Bethany said.

  I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. “No. That’s no good. You don’t get to turn people into whatever you want anymore.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are, Smith?”

  “Someone your boys dragged out of a comfortable little bunker and asked to be here.”

  She quickly stood and pulled the gun that was on her hip and aimed it at me. I knew if she wanted to shoot and kill me, she probably could. She knew I’d recover from anything but a guaranteed kill shot, but I was pretty fast, too.

  Jonathan stood up and held out his hands. “Whoa!”

  I chuckled and shook my head. Now this, I was trained for.

  “Don’t shoot, you’ll kill us all!” Jonathan yelled.

  “What the hell are you talking about? I thought you had some guts. We don’t need this idiot.” She slid her finger inside the trigger guard.

  “What’s in your hands, Mr. Smith?” Jonathan looked at me warily.

  “Enough. You’re smarter than I thought, Jonathan. Bethany, I’m an assassin. Do you really think I’m not prepared for something like this? You kill me, you die too.”

  Bethany glanced between Jonathan and me, and I saw a quick flash of concern on her face, though her hand remained steady on the gun.

  “You’d better shoot me or put the damn gun away. This isn’t negotiable.”

  She thought about it. I could tell she really wanted to, but she cared enough about herself that she didn’t want to die today. She sighed and holstered the gun before she sat back down. “Fine.”

 

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