Code of Vengeance: The Complete Collection, page 21
Some were standing in position, others wandered the perimeter of the warehouse. A handful were moving in what appeared to be random directions.
Everything went into Br00-S’ memory, easy to access when needed. He timed the routes, projecting the movements into the future.
He also found Nat. She was on the third floor, her hands handcuffed behind her, the chain between the cuffs wrapped around a chair. Although the sensors didn’t give him all the information he wanted, she looked as though she wasn’t in immediate danger.
There was one other piece of information that he uncovered, something he wasn’t expecting. Felix Benham was here. The man who ordered the deaths of Alex and Roger. The man who killed his own people. Today would be the day he paid for his sins.
Stealth was his most important advantage. If he could take out some soldiers before they realized they were being hunted, he could even the odds. If he failed, if they realized too soon what was happening, Nat might be dead before he got to her.
He studied the nearest skylight. There was an alarm on it, but it was an electronic mechanism. He had come prepared.
Br00-S sent a signal to Bryce, who cycled the power off and on throughout the block. It was a standard technique used by the SWAT forces, but the robot used it in an unusual way. He only had about two seconds, but he lifted the skylight and placed a small magnet where the alarm was. When the power cycled back on, the window reported it was still closed.
The men below were professionals, though. Even the two-second outage had them on edge, and they instantly became more alert. Br00-S squatted on the roof, out of sight. He had the camera feed from the roof probe coming into his processor, and he patiently waited for the soldiers to go back to their routines. It took almost ten minutes, but waiting was something he was good at.
When the coast was clear, Br00-S opened the skylight and slipped through, dropping silently onto the top of some warehouse shelving in-between large cardboard boxes.
His first targets were the soldiers up high. There were two stationary posts, each containing a sniper and a spotter on a catwalk above the third floor. They both had vantage points that would make every subsequent task nearly impossible.
Br00-S scanned the ceiling. He couldn’t attack the pairs from below. They’d see him coming. But no one looked up, not when they were tasked with watching the ground below.
The ceiling was flat, with metal crossbeams that spanned its width. The robot climbed onto one and tested his weight on it. It held without making a sound.
He double-checked to make sure no one was looking before he climbed onto the ceiling. Hanging upside down, he crawled towards the first sniper pair like a spider towards its prey.
He didn’t dare turn on his stun batons. The sound they made would be heard throughout the warehouse, but even as sticks they were excellent weapons.
Had he been human, he might have taken a deep breath. He was hanging no more than six feet above the first sniper and spotter, both laying on their bellies with their eyes glued on the ground below.
His last reflection before he dropped was that humans were terrible at everything they put their minds to. A robot with a full sensor suite could never be stalked, not like this. The attention of a human was too limited, though.
Humans were the past. He was the future.
Br00-S dropped, each of his feet landing square on the back of one of the duo. He heard the gasps as the air was driven from their respective lungs. The robot reached down and grabbed a head in each hand, pulling them up violently and slamming them into the catwalk.
Both bodies went limp, but his sensors let him know both still lived.
He leaped, reattaching himself to the ceiling. This was becoming too easy. He used his sensors to see if his action had been noticed, but the patterns of patrol were unchanged.
The second pair of snipers fell just as easily as the first, and now Br00-S had time to reevaluate his position. Twelve enemies left, plus one Felix Benham, now sitting in the room with Nat.
There were two pairs of guards patrolling the third floor of the building, which ran around the perimeter of the structure.
Br00-S singled out a pair that was approaching a set of offices. Inside, he could ambush them undetected and invisible from the rest of the building.
Crawling across the ceiling, the robot dropped into the offices though an open ceiling tile.
He assumed the men approaching were professional, even if they weren’t expecting him. They would clear the room, but they wouldn’t clear every corner.
Br00-S folded himself into the space between two cabinets. The space was too small for a human, and he suspected it wouldn’t even register for the soldiers. But he was able to fold his limbs at unnatural angles. His reaction time would increase, but he was sure he wouldn’t be noticed.
He was right.
The doors to the office opened, and the two guards came in, barrels swiveling left and right.
The soldiers were cautious, but not prepared.
They walked right in front of him, not even glancing at the space he hid in.
Silently, like a spider unfolding from its slumber, Br00-S slid out of his hiding space, pulling out his batons. He swung twice and two bodies dropped to the floor.
A timer started in his mind. The other pair patrolling the third floor would expect this pair to emerge from the office shortly.
Br00-S leaped from the office back to the ceiling, crawling as quickly as he could to the other side of the building where the other pair patrolled.
Bad luck struck. The ceiling he climbed creaked under his weight, and one guard brought his rifle up.
Br00-S pulled hard, throwing himself across the remaining space before barreling into the guard. He had been fast, but not quite fast enough. The warrior had enough time to let out a shout for help before he joined his comrades in a deep slumber.
The robot brought his baton across the skull of the second guard, sending him down in a heap to join his partner.
He had eliminated half his enemies, but the other half knew they were under attack. Br00-S switched priorities, focusing on speed instead of stealth. From the third floor he quickly scanned the room, using the data from the roof probe in conjunction with his own sensors, finding the gaps in the coverage of the remaining guards. He leaped into one such gap, using the probe’s camera to give him a view he’d never be able to keep while fighting below.
A path opened between him and another pair of guards, one that wouldn’t put him in view for more than a second.
The route was within risk tolerances, so he pushed forward, sprinting between the tall shelving and taking a hard right where two lanes met.
He came face to face with the guards, who were already raising their rifles, reacting to the sound of his pounding footsteps.
Br00-S raised his hands and swiped them across, pushing both barrels away from him. He slammed into the soldiers at nearly his full speed, sending them all crashing to the ground. The robot tucked his legs and arms and became a ball of metal and intelligence, rolling away from the collapsed guards. As soon as he was clear, he came back to his feet, hands pulling out the stun batons.
The loud sound of crackling electricity filled the warehouse, and Br00-S stuck the ends into each of the guards as they struggled to their feet. They immediately collapsed as the voltage coursed through their bodies.
The sound brought the other three pairs of guards to the site of the assault.
He knew he didn’t have long to act, so he sprinted away, turning off the batons and stowing them back in their holsters.
One of the guards spotted him as he ran, the man’s rifle already up and ready. The soldier fired a handful of rounds, but Br00-S was moving too fast, and the bullets lodged harmlessly in the cargo behind him.
The soldier didn’t pursue, much to Br00-S’ dismay. The more the guards spread out, the easier it was for him to take them out. He watched on the rooftop camera as they came together over their fallen comrades, checking them for vital signs.
Br00-S had created a problem for himself. The six remaining guards had bunched together and had started to move as a fire team, covering each other.
He wasn’t going to pick any more of them off. That much was clear.
He didn’t have any time to debate. The gunshots made it almost certain that Nat’s life was now on a timer.
Br00-S launched himself up one of the shelves, reaching the top in a matter of seconds. He didn’t need to pause to scan the area. He knew exactly where each of the men was. With a powerful leap that shook the shelves behind him, he jumped across one row of shelves and dropped twenty feet to the ground, right in the middle of the remaining six guards.
His legs absorbed the tremendous forces of the impact with ease, and he came up with stun batons firing in his hands.
The six guards were all turning, and the scene became one of chaos.
The first guard to get his rifle trained on Br00-S was rewarded with the electric end of the stun baton, sending a surge of electricity through the weapon and into the man’s hands. He yelled as his finger tightened convulsively on the trigger.
The robot used the end of the stun baton to guide the barrel of the firing rifle into the ceiling, away from others. His second baton caught the guard under the arm where there was no body armor. The gun stopped firing as the man slipped into unconsciousness.
More guns swiveled, and Br00-S knew he couldn’t avoid all of them.
He dropped low, forcing the soldiers to adjust their aim once more.
His batons reached out and swept the legs of one guard. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to finish his opponent before the others caught up to him. As fast as he was, he couldn’t be everywhere at once.
Br00-S leaped across the small circle, tackling a guard just as his rifle went off and sent one high-velocity round into the robot’s chest. Fortunately, his new armor took the brunt of the impact, and the bullet didn’t have enough power to divert the lunge.
He crashed into the guard and wrapped himself around the man, attacking him and using him as a human shield at the same time.
Another well-placed stun baton rendered the man senseless.
But now he had a problem. He was outside the circle of remaining guards, and they were all drawing a bead on him.
He needed to get back into the middle where they were worried about hitting each other and not just him.
Br00-S was fast, but not fast enough. He jumped back towards the remaining three, but their rifles all went off before he could reach them. Bullets tore into his torso and arms. He didn’t feel pain, of course, but his left arm suddenly went limp and unusable.
The stun baton was still locked in his grip, though, so he swung his left arm from the shoulder socket, hoping it would at least cause the soldiers to step back.
It worked. The guards avoided the baton, and within a second, Br00-S was back in the heart of the much-reduced circle.
He used his dead arm as a club while making precise strikes with his right arm.
The soldiers were all firing their weapons on full automatic, all discipline gone in a last-ditch effort to stop their opponent; but Br00-S would not give up, not this close to the end of his journey.
One soldier tried to deflect one of stun batons, but Br00-S just used his much greater strength to crush the man’s defenses. He struck him across the temple.
Suddenly, it was over. All his enemies lay at his feet, and he was still standing.
Br00-S looked up to the offices on the third floor. Nat and Felix were still there, waiting for him.
He picked up one of the soldier’s pistols. It was time to finish this.
Br00-S stepped into the office, moving deliberately. His element of surprise, although lasting for a while, hadn’t been long enough. Felix knew he was coming.
The pistol aimed squarely at Nat’s head made that clear.
As soon as Br00-S entered the room, Felix extended his arm, touching the muzzle to Nat’s head.
“Stop right there.”
The robot complied, his processors working through scenarios.
He was too far away to attack. He was faster than humans, but even a human’s slow reflexes would be fast enough in this case. Felix’s finger was already tight on the trigger. Just another ounce of pressure and the gun would go off.
Felix looked at him with what Br00-S could only describe to be curiosity. Curiosity and disgust.
Br00-S used the break to study his opponent, whom he was only now seeing for the second time.
Felix Benham’s most remarkable trait was perhaps just how unremarkable he appeared to be. He was a tall man, standing easily over six feet. But he was thin and weak. The robot figured he had to be over fifty years old, his shiny dome surrounded by thinning, gray hairs. He looked like he belonged in an office as a mid-level manager unhappy with his life and career. Not like a man who would point a pistol at another human.
Nothing about Felix Benham made sense to Br00-S’ pattern recognition systems. Who was this unremarkable man to have any control over a powerful man like Clive Proskey?
There was a part of the story that didn’t add up, but Br00-S couldn’t figure out what it was.
He couldn’t even decide if it mattered or not. The man was a threat. He was pointing a gun at Nat’s head, and there was no excuse for that.
Felix opened his arms out wide, his right hand still holding the gun and Nat’s life.
“We’ve been waiting for you for some time.”
Br00-S listened silently. He couldn’t formulate a response or make any sense of what was happening.
“If you want to save the life of your hacker friend here, there’s only one way to do it.”
The robot waited, a feeling of dread sinking into his processors for the first time in his life.
“To save her life,” Felix said, “you need to kill me.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Nat glanced between the two people in the room with her, just as shocked by what Felix had said as Br00-S was. She figured Felix had some sort of card up his sleeve, but she hadn’t expected that.
Her mind raced, knowing that she could influence the outcome. Her choice was in front of her, black and white: the robot who came back for her, or the man who offered to make her life’s purpose a reality.
Felix, for his part, seemed perfectly content to wait and see what happened.
They were all waiting to see how Br00-S would react to this situation.
Nat’s mind ran the problem over and over. She hated Felix. She hated his easy conviction, the stubbornness that allowed him to kill Clive Proskey just because he might give Sapiens First away.
Felix wanted to turn back the clock. He was no different than religious zealots from hundreds of years ago. He denied the advancements of science while basking in the luxuries that science afforded him. He claimed to hate technology, but Nat had little doubt he was as addicted to his phone as the next person. He couldn’t see his own hypocrisy.
But he would serve her purposes. There had to be cameras in the room. Everything was being staged. Nat had no doubt. He would sacrifice his life, and she could take the video public.
So what was the debate? Why wasn’t she screaming at Br00-S to kill the slug?
Then it hit her. Br00-S cared. Her mind went back to her rescue after the ambush. There was no logical reason for him to return and risk himself. But not only had he come to rescue her, he cared for her after. In short, he had been kind when he didn’t need to be.
Was Felix the same sort of man?
Nat didn’t think so. Every time one of his own team posed even the slightest risk to his dream, he had them killed. Kleon and Clive, misguided by hate as they had been, were both dead because of this man, so blinded by purpose.
Perhaps she’d become the same, so blinded by her own mission that she missed the bigger picture. She had met Br00-S for the first time because he had stopped to help. He hadn’t been the only person or robot on the street that evening, but he was the only one who did anything. The others had turned up their jackets and walked away.
Perhaps Br00-S was the most human of all of them.
Making sure her movements were undetectable, Nat worked the handcuffs. She was nervous, so it took longer than she would have liked, but eventually the steel bracelets hung loose around her wrists.
She didn’t dare move, though, not without a plan. The gun was to her forehead, and if Felix was going to get Br00-S to act, he would need to start pulling the trigger.
She could reach her weapons. The stun gun would disable Felix, but her other weapon would disable Br00-S.
She took a deep breath. Br00-S stood there processing the situation. He wouldn’t take long.
She let the handcuffs fall to the floor. As she did, she kicked the chair back, leaning back at the same time.
The chair tipped over, and Felix, surprised, pulled the trigger on his pistol. The air in front of Nat opened up with an ear-splitting crack, but the weapon discharged safely into the wall.
As she fell, she drew her own weapon, somehow finding the focus in the moment to make sure her aim was true.
She pulled the trigger, and she did not miss.
The weapon discharged enough energy to freeze Br00-S in his tracks as he raised a pistol.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bryce had been a detective for decades, but when he came upon the scene in the warehouse, he had to admit that this was a first for him. Unconscious guards were strewn about the place as though there had been a huge party and the guests hadn’t had a chance to sober up yet.
He had doubted himself every step of the way. Helping Br00-S, even though it seemed the right thing, was against the law, the one principle he’d stood for his entire professional career. The law had been his home since Cynthia passed.
When he came upon the scene, he called for backup. At worst, he thought Br00-S might be up against a handful of men, not a large force like this. A quick look at the weaponry showed that they were illegal. The charges might not stick, but it would get these men off the street for a while.
