Kelly and Rebecca acted as though nothing had happened between them. Rebecca nervously stepped into the common room after getting herself dressed. She glanced at Kelly, whose expression was cold and serious as she conversed with Boris about patches for the security glitch he had noticed. An icy feeling crawled between Rebecca’s ribs as she realised that Sato had caused the glitch.
‘We’ve hit the jackpot,’ Yuri announced stepping out of the elevator with Akira. He looked directly at the captain. ‘We suspect Mr Yamasaki is hiding at another facility in Afghanistan.’
Kelly moved to the glass interface.
‘Did you get that from the interrogation team?’
‘I didn’t ask how they got the information – not sure I wanted to know – but yes, one of the captives talked, another confirmed the intel,’ said Yuri.
‘We followed up,’ Akira went on. ‘It gets better. We’ve traced Hiroshi, Dimitri and Song all to the same location.’
Kelly nodded. ‘We’ve backed them into a corner. Good work. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Alright, make the preparations. I want to deploy ASAP. Boris…’
‘Yes, captain.’
‘File a requisition order for an assassination mission.’
Suddenly Rebecca didn’t feel so enthusiastic about returning to the field. She reflexively touched the scar on her neck. Kill Sato, accomplish the mission, and the UN would have no reason to investigate her. Get it done quickly. Get in over with. She had a job to do.
Just another job, right?
That was a lie.
This would be their final mission. That was a good thing, right? This is what she wanted. Let it end. She reminded herself what was important to her: avenging Robb and Zef, earning her freedom… completing the mission, being there for Kelly. She had to be prepared – a mistake now could mean so much more than failure.
The helicopter glided once again over the arid Afghanistan desert to the drop-zone near the Nexus Rogue facility, where Kelly intended to eliminate all of her bad eggs in one go.
‘Alright,’ she announced, standing up in the helicopter and swaying with the turbulence. ‘We’re going after four targets spread across one large facility, which means it has to be simultaneous elimination. Bec, Akira, how is it coming with those scans?’
The task of sending a micro-drone undetected over the facility was almost impossible, let alone a fully-sized surveillance drone. Rebecca had to upgrade all of her gear and step up her security to avoid another resistant-tech incident. The first report from the surveillance drone indicated a massive sandstorm coming their way. The captain intended to use the sandstorm as cover in the event that anyone was compromised during infiltration.
‘I got it,’ said Bec, uploading the data to a holoprojector and handing it to Kelly.
The holoprojector displayed a 3D map of the facility: most importantly the fences surrounding the major sections, the gullies and cliffs throughout, the main tower in the centre of the base and the three surrounding buildings.
‘Okay,’ said Kelly. She scanned the map, looking for her strategy. ‘Okay, primary target is here.’ She pointed at the tower and the red dot that represented Sato Yamasaki. ‘Bec, what’s the angle from that ridge there? Good enough for a sniper position?’
Bec ran the calculations.
‘Yeah, it’ll work.’
‘Okay then, Yuri, set up a sniper nest there. Congratulations, Sato is yours.’ The captain ran her finger along the miniature trenches in the map. ‘The ravine should give us enough cover to move across the base. Emily Song is here in the north-east building. Connor, move along the ravine from Yuri’s position, that should get you there. I’ll go south from the same position to this building here and eliminate Hiroshi.’ She turned to Boris. ‘Getting to the north-west building might be tricky, and there’s definitely no chance of a sniper shot… no, it’s too low. Boris, you’ll have to circle around, climb the ridge and cut through the fence in order to reach Dimitri. Once you’re all in position you are to wait for Rebecca’s signal and then eliminate your targets. Any questions?’
They worked on their strategy until their arrival at the LZ where Rebecca watched them hop one by one from the chopper and run towards the distant chrome tower. The sandstorm was a monstrous sweeping mass on the far side of the base that left a lump in Rebecca’s throat. The thought of Kelly getting hurt had never been so terrifying.
‘Good luck down there,’ Bec said to the team, mostly to Kelly. She signalled for the pilot to lift off.
As the helicopter ascended, Rebecca activated the cameras on the team’s tactical visors and tracked them on GPS. She got to hacking every nearby security mechanism, ready to either hijack it or shut it down on the team’s command. It was a long wait as the team traversed the rigid path to the facility. Rebecca spent that time disabling the NR security sensors. She watched them cut through the tall barbed wire fence and reported in, ‘Sensors are down.’
Kelly an Yuri climbed to the sniper nest marked on the map, a small peak that unfortunately offered a poor view of the facility, which is why there wasn’t a guard post on it. The nest did provide a perfect line of sight into the tower’s upper floors, and that is all they needed. Kelly scanned the building with her binoculars while Yuri set up his rifle.
Kelly spotted Sato Yamasaki, pacing back and forth in his office.
‘Bec, I need you to lock that office door. We can’t have our primary target getting away. Yuri, if he tries to leave you have permission to execute before he raises the alarm. Everyone else stay frosty.’
‘Roger that,’ said Bec, switching to her laptop.
‘Affirmative,’ said Yuri.
Kelly turned to Connor and said, ‘Delaney. Go.’ She signed for him to head to his objective while she turned and entered the ravine, heading to the southern block. ‘Boris, what’s your status?’
‘This climb is a bitch,’ Boris replied. Rebecca saw through his visor, from the jagged rock on screen, that he had circled around the facility and was making his way up to the north-west building.
The movement on Kelly’s screen suddenly stopped. The captain ducked behind a crate and into some bushes, a moment later an armed guard patrolled by. Kelly let him pass then continued on. The southern block was a low building. Kelly crouched beneath a window and listened for signs of people.
‘Captain, you’re clear,’ said Bec.
Kelly opened the window and climbed into a clean white hallway while Bec issued the instructions: ‘Turn right. Go to the end of the hall in the room on the left…’ She guided Kelly through the building until she picked up on a voice, Hiroshi’s voice in the other room, taking a call. He spoke in Japanese, walked around the room.
Kelly hid in a storage closet.
‘In position.’
Connor had made his way through the ravine in a similar manner and infiltrated the north-east building. He snuck up on Emily Song and readied his weapon.
‘In position.’
A few minutes later Boris reach the top of the cliff, cut through the fence and entered the north-west building.
‘In position.’
‘Rebecca, are we clear to proceed?’ said Kelly.
‘Affirmative, captain.’
‘Understood. Execute your targets.’
The captain left the closet, crossed the hall, opened the door to Hiroshi’s room and shot him twice in the back. But he didn’t fall, or bleed, or even move. He flickered. And as the window in the tower shattered and the bullet pierced through Sato Yamasaki’s chest, nothing happened. The same occurred with Emily and Dimitri.
‘What is this?’ said Yuri, still looking at Sato through his scope. ‘What’s happening?’
‘They’re holograms,’ said Kelly. She ran to the projection of Hiroshi. An alarm sounded – red flashing lights, a blaring siren. ‘It’s a trap! Get out of there. Bec, we need evac—’
Static.
Rebecca checked her radio.
‘Captain? Kelly, do you read me?’ Her computers glitched. Everything unresponsive. ‘Oh no, not this.’
Someone intercepted her communications. The voice rang in her head.
‘Hello, Rebecca.’
Rebecca pressed her finger to her earpiece and glared out the window at the sandstorm slowly bearing down on her.
‘Sato?’
‘I’m sorry for what has to happen here but I did give you a choice, you shouldn’t have refused,’ said Sato. ‘I had hoped to avoid all this. Goodbye.’
The missile tore through the sky like a ball of fire.
‘Incoming!’ cried the pilot.
The missile collided with the helicopter. A deafening roar. Flames spilling out from the rotors. Then Bec was spinning. Falling. Crashing. And the sandstorm devoured the remains.
ns 108.162.216.19da2