Code of Vengeance: The Complete Collection, page 20
Stuck in a difficult situation again, Bryce defaulted to his usual routine: he invented a story that would make sense of everything that had happened.
Perhaps the office building had been a trap. At the least, they had expected trouble. But Br00-S couldn’t have been in the building long. For them to grab Nat, they must have been looking for her. Which meant only one thing.
“I think Nat is bait,” he said.
The robot glanced up from the floor. “What do you mean?”
“Look, Nat is a very talented hacker, but I can't see how she poses a risk to the company or this project, whatever it is. The worst she could do is find information and try to go public with it, but no one believes or cares about things like that anymore. She's not the threat. You are. Because you're a robot, you have the physical ability to prevent this organization from reaching its goals. The reason they took Nat is because they want to get to you.”
“But if that's true, shouldn’t they make it easier for me to track her? I tried accessing her phone's GPS, but it's been turned off.”
“Do they know who you are?”
“I believe so.”
“If it was too easy, don’t you think you’d suspect the trap?”
The robot was silent as he processed these new ideas. “The logic is backwards, but I’m beginning to see what you mean.”
There was still one crucial problem, though. Even with a story, they didn’t know where Nat might be. They still had to find her before it was too late.
Chapter Nineteen
When the doors of her van burst open, Nat knew true fear for the first time in years. It was more than just her heart beating faster and her mind starting to race. It was a complete and utter shutdown of her nervous system, an inability to do anything.
She was armed, and she’d even had a few seconds of warning. None of it had been enough, though. She hadn’t known what to do, and she couldn’t fight her way out.
When she came to, her wrists were handcuffed behind her and she had a dark bag over her head. She didn’t see the point in struggling. She had seen a handful of men on her camera, and there wasn’t anything she could do against such a force, not right away at least.
Because she didn’t struggle, she wasn’t badly hurt during the abduction. They’d thrown her into the back of another vehicle and searched her pockets. Her phone was removed, and she heard a window opening and then closing. No true loss there, though. The phone’s capabilities would have been nice, but it wasn’t like she was one of the idiots who stored her entire life on one.
One breath at a time, she forced herself to focus. She didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious either. Instead, she focused on what might matter, sounds and smells that could become useful later.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t very good at it. The vehicle smelled like dirty boy, and the only sounds she could hear were the clacking of weapons against armor. Apparently these men were professional enough that they didn’t feel the need to speak between missions.
Eventually they came to a stop, and she was hauled to her feet.
She thanked her assailants silently for not doing a more thorough search. They had turned out her pockets, but they had done little else. Why would they? She was a young woman. What possible threat could she be? The cold weapons against her lower back were a comforting answer.
Nat planned on showing them once they gave her the chance.
It was interesting, she thought, that there was so much you could tell about a space even with some of your senses hampered. Even though she couldn’t see, she knew she was in a large, open room of some sort. She assumed a warehouse, simply because it was the first thing that came to mind.
Nat tripped over the first stair, but the firm hands that held her upper arms prevented her from falling. She learned her lesson quickly enough and picked up her feet, taking the steps two at a time thanks to the aggressive help she received.
Then she was in a smaller room. She was forced to sit, and one guard held her while another removed one handcuff, wrapped the chain around the back of the chair, then reconnected it to her wrist. Hardly a professional job, she figured, but they obviously weren’t expecting much out of her.
What did they know about her?
Apparently a little, but not nearly enough. They probably only skimmed the surface, looking no deeper than the fact that she was Br00-S’ hacker companion. They hadn’t dug into her history enough to know what she was capable of.
When she was fifteen, she had escaped police custody. It was still one of her proudest moments. These goons couldn’t hold her for long, she thought defiantly.
The hood was pulled off, and Nat blinked away the tears as her eyes adjusted to the too-bright fluorescent lights.
Almost as soon as her eyes adjusted, the lights were flipped off, and she was left once again in relative darkness. In the glance she had gotten, she saw she was in a medium-sized office space, maybe about ten by fifteen feet. The room was bare, at least as far as she could see.
As her eyes readjusted to the darkness, she considered her next step. Attempting an escape was the obvious answer, but Nat wasn’t sure that was wise. The handcuffs were no real challenge. They hadn’t found the picks she kept on her belt. With her weapons, she could certainly make a try for it.
But she got the feeling she was bait. Their real target was Br00-S, not her. That meant there were probably more guards here than just the ones that had abducted her. Despite her confidence, she wasn’t a trained soldier, and her likelihood of escaping felt slim. And if she failed, she’d lose any element of surprise she once had.
There was a second consideration. If she was the bait, she might be just what Br00-S needed to go over the edge and kill. Perhaps the sacrifice was worth it.
So Nat pulled out her picks and palmed them. Doing so was a small risk, but she wanted to be able to free herself on a moment’s notice.
Once that was done, she sat in the dark, waiting to see what happened next.
Although she had no idea what she was in for, she wasn’t expecting the man who eventually came to her. She recognized his face from the files they’d recently studied. Felix Benham, the man Br00-S believed was the architect of everything that happened in the past several weeks.
From a glance at him, Nat had to admit Br00-S’ analysis seemed unlikely. Felix appeared to be no more than a piece-of-shit middle manager with no hope of a future. He looked like the sort of man that bitchy women eventually married because they wanted a “nice guy” after they had their fun and wanted to settle down.
There was no way this man was capable of the planning and execution Br00-S thought he was.
Felix turned on the lights and walked past Nat, almost as though she wasn’t there.
The gesture irritated Nat to no end. It was a petty power play and nothing more. Fifth-grade psychology bullshit designed to remind her who was in charge. If she pulled her weapons on him, he’d have a stern reminder he wasn’t all that.
Suddenly, she felt a prick in her neck. Instinctively, she fought, but his hands held her in place while he injected something into her. A moment later, the needle came out.
“What the fuck?” she yelled.
She heard a scraping behind her and fought the urge to turn around and see what was happening. A few moments later he appeared in her peripheral vision, carrying a stool.
He set it down next to her and took a seat.
“You know what happened to Clive Proskey? You know how he died?”
Nat glared at him, connections solidifying in her mind. Her heart was racing, but she wouldn’t show him a hint of fear. She nodded.
“Then I don’t need to warn you about the price of failing to cooperate.”
His phone beeped, and he swiped at what appeared to be a text message. Nat was struck by the incongruity of such a mundane task at the moment.
Nat considered shooting him in the face with her robot-powered weapon. If she died, at least she’d take him with her.
“What’s your name?”
She glared at him, silent.
There was a flash of fire in his eyes, and Nat realized she’d misjudged this man. He wasn’t just a middle management corporate drone. This man believed. His next words proved it.
“Fine. You’re not one of those modded freaks, are you?”
The one thing that Sapiens hated more than anything: people who allowed themselves to get modified, to have chips and implants placed inside them.
Nat had considered it, of course. You could do some pretty amazing hacks with a little bit of hardware melded to your brain. She always used the fact that she didn’t have much money as an excuse, but that wasn’t all. The truth was, she was afraid of the technology. Horror stories were rare, but they did happen. No, she wanted mods, but she planned on waiting a while.
She had always thought of them as just that, a modification. Nothing to be concerned about. She was pretty sure you were still you, even if you got modified.
But Sapiens didn’t believe that. They felt it killed you somehow, that it destroyed the soul of who you were as a human.
Felix definitely believed. There was a simmering rage, a hatred in his eyes that went beyond all rationality. He hated mods, hated AI, and hated robots. His heaven was filled only with humans, and he was more than willing to kill to see his dream come true.
It gave Nat a flash of insight. Clive and Felix were two sides of the same coin. Clive provided the resources, and Felix provided the vision. But Felix must have been above Clive, because he had killed his partner without a problem.
Felix was the boss.
Clive might have been the arms and feet, but Felix was the heart.
Not the brain, though. Nat didn’t buy that for a moment. The man was unhinged. He took his orders from higher up.
But here and now, he was in charge, and that was all that mattered. And he was the one who had ordered the deaths of Br00-S' first owners. He was the one they had been pursuing for so long.
Nat shook her head. “No. I’m pure human.”
“Bullshit. No pure human would dare to work with an AI. Perhaps you don’t have any mods, but your soul is just as corrupted as those who do.”
Felix stood up, apparently having worked himself into a bit of a rage.
He paced the room for a few minutes while Nat watched and studied him. There would be no reasoning with him, she knew that much. She might be bait, but in his mind, she was already as good as dead.
He turned back to her and pulled out a phone, taking a moment to answer another text message. Felix opened a file and turned it to her. Nat was surprised to see a collection of information on her. The real her, not one of the identities she assumed. She was disappointed they’d pierced her cover.
“Perhaps, Natalie, you’re not as beyond saving as I think you are. Detective Lewis has a theory about you, you know. He doesn’t believe that you’re helping the robot. He thinks we’re after the same thing.”
Nat frowned. Bryce knew exactly what she was about. She had more or less spelled it out for him when they met. But how did that have anything to do with Felix or Sapiens First or Clive Proskey?
Felix sat back down and leaned in closely. “What if I told you we could get the proof you’ve spent your young life looking for? We can prove that your house robot let Jack die, then lied to cover up its involvement.”
Rage and hope surged through her, and by the time reason reasserted itself, she realized she had pulled the handcuffs and their chain taut.
“Don’t you dare say his fucking name,” she spat.
Felix grinned. “We’re not that different, you know. You hate me. I know. But I carry the same rage you do, the rage that made you give up your future to prove a point. It can all end, tonight. Jack can rest easy.”
Nat fought against the handcuffs, and a part of her mind registered the fact that blood was dripping down her hands from her wrists. She would kill him for mentioning her baby brother’s name. She didn’t know how much time passed, but eventually she stopped struggling, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Felix’s voice was soft and reassuring. “All you need to do is get in touch. Let him know where you are. We’ll take care of everything else, and when you’re done, you’ll have the evidence you need.”
She looked up at him and tried to summon all the conviction she could. “And if I don’t?” Her voice didn’t even convince herself that she was serious.
Felix’s smile was grim. “Then the nanos eat your brain.” He held up his own phone. “All I need to do is press a button. But we both know that’s not what you’re going to make me do.”
She knew it should be a harder decision. Br00-S had saved her life, and he had kept her safe when no one else would. Perhaps their partnership had been founded on false pretenses, but they were still partners. But it wasn’t even difficult. Her eyes were open and staring at the ground, but all she saw was Jack’s twisted body at the bottom of the stairs. Her shoulders slumped, and she nodded, giving Felix the betrayal he was looking for.
Chapter Twenty
Br00-S and Bryce stopped the police car three blocks away from the warehouse. From where they sat, the warehouse didn’t attract any particular attention. It was a three-story building, and based on the building plans Br00-S had accessed, the structure was built to be mostly empty space. A few small offices surrounded the building on the top floor, but that was it. Until they got inside, they wouldn’t know the layout of the space.
They had just begun their search when the message came from Nat. It was clearly a trap, but he didn’t see how to avoid it.
Fortunately, Bryce had led him down to the armory before they left. He let Br00-S hack the system so that it appeared the weapons and armor had never even existed. The police would never know what happened, and now Br00-S had some very useful upgrades installed.
The two unlikely partners looked at one another. Br00-S found humans to be endlessly fascinating. Their minds didn’t make logical decisions, but the longer he was active, the more he believed he understood them.
“Do you want to take the front door?” Br00-S asked.
The detective craned his neck around, checking out the building. “I’d rather not go in there unless I have the full backup of several SWAT teams.”
Br00-S analyzed the conditions. Knowing the enemies he had faced thus far, he could assume the building would be equally well-guarded. The front and side doors would all be covered. The detective was correct in his assessment. If Bryce attempted to go in on his own, he was certain to die, no matter what entrance he took.
Br00-S still believed that if he could preserve life, he would. Although Bryce’s death would simplify his life, the decision wasn’t optimal.
“I’ll go in first. Once I believe it’s safe, I’ll signal you and you can come in.”
Bryce reluctantly agreed, and the robot exited the car, testing out his new equipment. Thanks to Bryce and some creative accounting, Br00-S was now equipped with some of the best tactical upgrades provided to the police force.
An extra layer of armor covered his torso, lightweight but almost impenetrable. He also had high-voltage stun batons strapped to his leg. The additions weren’t much, but they’d make all the difference today.
Br00-S turned his attention to the warehouse and the empty grounds surrounding it. A week ago, he would have charged straight in, heedless of the sensors and traps laid for him. Now he was wiser, having learned from every experience that had come before.
He let his sensors sweep the area, and he found a variety of intrusion alarms invisible to the naked eye. There were infrared sensors, a handful of weight plates, and even magnetic sensors to detect a robot intrusion.
He mapped out hundreds of entrance paths in less than a second, trying and discarding each as soon as he lost the element of surprise. Yes, his enemy knew he was coming, but they didn’t need to know exactly when or where.
Br00-S found a route through the sensors. He tested the route mentally twelve more times, just to ensure he wasn’t missing something.
There was the possibility his sensors hadn’t picked up on all the alarms, but there was nothing to be done for that use case, so there wasn’t any point in thinking about it.
In a single moment, he went from stillness to action. He sprinted forward, the muscular fibers in his legs churning as he leaped over the barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence.
He landed, speeding forward, and slid to a halt just outside the warehouse. Hugging the wall tightly, he shuffled towards a pipe that led to the roof.
According to his sensors, the pipe contained wiring for the many electronic sensors scattered throughout the grounds. It led to the roof and was firm enough to hold his weight.
Moving without a sound, Br00-S locked his hands on the pipe and turned his legs out behind him. The position was impossible for humans, but was well within Br00-S’ range of motion. Hand over hand, he pulled himself up the pipe.
Once near the top he rotated his legs up and onto the roof, finishing his climb with a silent, superhuman grace.
Br00-S dropped into a crouch and let his sensors run over the roof. If Nat had taught him one thing, perhaps more important than any other, it was the necessity of good information.
It was good that he did. He stood on the edge of the roof, but there were plenty of sensors running along here as well. Not as many as below, but still enough to possibly ruin his attempts at stealth.
There were skylights positioned throughout the roof. Br00-S worked his way around the sensors to one. He didn’t dare stick his head over the skylight to telegraph his presence, but he had another tool gifted to him by Bryce.
The robot drilled a small hole in the roof and stuck the probe through it, bringing in all the data he could have hoped for.
Although he didn’t, Br00-S could have smiled to himself. He taped the probe in place as he squatted on the roof. He mapped the building down to the last detail, storing all of it in his working memory. He memorized the layout and counted the position and weapons of his enemies. The building was crawling with soldiers. Sixteen by his count.
