| |
THERE WAS A VEHICLE in the storage shed out back that Lena and Solan took into the village. It was supposed to be used only during emergencies and official business, and this was definitely official business. They parked in the central parking lot and decided to split up. Lena would go west, Solan would go east, and they’d circle around to meet back in the middle. She was uncomfortably reminded of the simulation they had run where they had to protect the diplomat from an Apsyn infiltrator. She had failed terribly, mostly because of her insistence on splitting up. But this time splitting up was Solan’s suggestion, and he didn’t hesitate for a moment before making it. He believed in her. She needed to believe in herself.
While they were going through the village on foot, the computer was going through all available surveillance information. The cameras from the shops and café, the credit information from every business, and the guest records from the only hotel in the area.
Lena was grateful for the AI. She had spent months and months back on Earth combing through piles of credit statements and surveillance footage. No computer had the capability to do what the Zulir computers could.
As Lena walked down the street, she had a bad feeling. She’d been on jobs that went wrong with the DEA, and this was starting to feel like that. Would the Apsyn know they were coming? What kind of firepower would he have? Were she and Solan enough to take him on?
They had to be. No backup was coming.
She passed by the park where they’d played with the children a week ago, and it was quiet. There were no children playing, no one walking; she didn’t even see any animals. Where was everyone?
As she entered town, everything seemed deserted. No one walked up and down the street and when she peered into the nearest shop, she didn’t see anyone, not even a worker. The café looked equally empty. Had something happened? Had the Apsyns done something? Shouldn’t she and Solan have known if the town was in danger?
Her shoulders sagged in relief when she saw two Zulir walking on the other side of the road. She couldn’t be certain they were Synnrs rather than Apsyns, but they offered her polite smiles as they passed. She was human and they were being polite. Synnrs.
Was something going on that was keeping everyone off the streets? Was this normal? It didn’t feel normal.
There was no sign of the Apsyn anywhere that Lena looked, and when she and Solan met up back at their vehicle, he was also empty handed.
“Something feels off. Where is everyone? Do you think the Apsyns did something?” She leaned against their vehicle and looked up and down the street in front of them. There was another person walking. That made three.
Solan glanced up. “I sneaked a look at the weather report and things are supposed to turn dreary later. Could be people are just staying inside. But you’re right. Something feels weird.”
His communicator beeped as the computer from the house sent a report their way. Solan pulled it up and read quickly, relaying the information to Lena. “There’s an old science academy outside of town. It was decommissioned years ago, but the town has been planning to turn it into a school for a long time. That’s why it was never torn down. There have been anomalies in surveillance over the past few weeks. No one should be out there except a groundskeeper. No confirmation it’s our guy, but with nothing in town...” he trailed off.
Lena knew exactly what he was suggesting. “We need to check it out.”
They got into the vehicle and headed out of town. A creepy abandoned building. Sounded fun.
***
SOLAN PULLED OFF THE road well before they made it to the academy. If there was an Apsyn inside, they didn’t want to tip him off. The far side of the property was overgrown, with trees and bushes leading all the way up to the building. It provided decent cover for Lena and Solan, and that was what they wanted.
He used his override code on the electric lock on the back door, and the hinges didn’t creak at all as it slid open. It wasn’t confirmation of an Apsyn presence, but someone had used this door recently.
They moved quietly. This time they stuck together. Footsteps in the dust of the hallway were another sign that someone had been using the building. It could have been kids in the village looking to have a little fun, but Solan wasn’t optimistic. Especially when he heard banging coming from deeper inside the building. ‘Academy’ might have been overstating it. The building was only one story tall and had maybe ten classrooms. There were offices somewhere, but they hadn’t had a lot of time to study the schematics.
Lena and Solan rushed towards the banging sound. It reminded him of the infiltration drills the computer had been throwing at them nearly every day. Except this time they couldn’t predict what tricks the computer had at the ready.
For a crazy moment he wondered if this was another simulation. Were he and Lena actually in the basement of the house? Was this whole thing a trick to see if they were ready for something real? But no. The simulations the house threw at them were good. They were very believable. But something about this building and everything around them felt more real than any simulation he and Lena had been through in the past two weeks. This was no tricky computer. There was a real Apsyn threat. And if he and Lena failed, if they got hurt, if something worse happened, they wouldn’t be able to brush it off.
Lena held up a fist and stopped walking. She did that sometimes, and he was pretty sure it was a remnant of her training on Earth. But he got the idea and stopped. She pointed at an object on the wall. Solan looked. At first he thought it was a small window, but he didn’t see anything outside.
“Camera?” she asked quietly.
“It could be.” And if it was, they had already lost the element of surprise. Disappointing, but there was nothing they could do about that.
They kept moving, faster now as the sounds of destruction were getting louder. They passed a handful of empty classrooms, but a flickering light was coming from one in the center of the hallway. A flickering, hot light. Fire.
They burst in, and an Apsyn was there chucking a pile of documents into the flame and laughing triumphantly when he caught sight of them. “It’s too late.”
“Too late for what?” Lena demanded. Her wings flashed out and she sent her spark at the Apsyn without a hint of hesitation.
Solan was proud, but they didn’t have time to celebrate. They were in an interior classroom. The only way out was through the door that he and Lena were now blocking. But they wouldn’t last long if the fire got out of control. Solan called on a large burst of power and sent it towards the fire, smothering it and depriving it of oxygen. That knocked the smile off the Apsyn’s face. He kept his mouth shut, but his eyes darted around wildly, looking for another exit. When one didn’t magically appear, he shoved the rest of the papers to the side and ran straight at Lena and Solan, hoping the sudden movement would surprise them enough to let him go.
It didn’t work.
Lena shocked him with her spark again and he went down. Solan latched onto his arm and called on his own spark, sending a constant stream toward the Apsyn. If he kept it up, it would prevent the Apsyn from calling on his spark and using his powers against Solan. “Too late for what?” Solan asked Lena’s question again.
The Apsyn pressed his lips together and jerked his head from side to side, refusing to answer.
Lena stalked into the room and looked at the papers he’d been trying to destroy. There were also wires and other pieces of gear on the table. Solan didn’t know if they were left over and scavenged from the academy, or if the Apsyn had brought them in himself.
“How long have you been in town?” Solan asked.
The Apsyn didn’t say anything.
“What is your purpose here?”
Still the Apsyn was quiet.
Solan was tempted to send even more of his spark at the Apsyn, but if he didn’t keep the power stable, it might give the Apsyn a chance to pull on his own spark and fight Solan off.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lena freeze. She picked up the paper and held it close to her face, reading it several times before bringing it over to him. “He didn’t burn everything,” she said as she offered the paper to Solan. “Does this look like what I think it looks like?”
He scanned the document. “Do you think it looks like a bomb?” He was no engineer, but he could recognize destructive power when he saw it.
The Apsyn laughed. Solan would take that as confirmation.
“Where is it? What did you do with it?” The Apsyns had already planted a bomb in Osais a few months before and killed dozens of people at a military installation. Was this one bigger? Would it target civilians? How long did they have? Were they too late?
Lena rushed back to the papers and looked through them. She found one in the pile that had been mostly burned. The edges were blackened, but the ink was still readable. “This is a map of the city center. I think they’re trying to hit Osais again.”
The Apsyn stiffened. He didn’t laugh, and he kept quiet. But his body gave him away.
Solan called it in. Major Ozar instructed them to take the Apsyn back to the house. The training facility could be used as a temporary jail if they gave the computer the proper instructions.
“I want you two back in the city,” said the major. “Good work.”
Lena scooped up the papers and they were off. They had a city to save.
