21. Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Chi
The server here is clearly secured by invisible technologies that block signals in and out, but from everything Oxy has told us and shown us, she has been able to hack in via an off-site backup server. This is the plus side of knowing what you want to crack into ahead of time. Now, even though this site has the fanciest high-tech protection available, she’s found a way to get through their security system.
“Get that device Oxy gave you and search for any and all shared information to download,” I whisper. “Hopefully, we won’t even have to leave this room. I’m sure there’s something in here. Something that we can’t find outside the building, but that we might be able to find inside of it.”
After Andy takes out the device, I duck quietly over to the desk with him following behind me while he stabs the screen with his finger to give it commands. I just need to override the controls on one of the computers in this room. I’ve always been as interested in computers as I am in video games, but I quickly realize that I’m out of my depth, so I take out my phone and hit the speed dial for Oxy.
“What are you… who the fuck are you calling?” Andy stops stabbing the little gadget and stares at me in shock.
“Oxy,” I answer distractedly.
“How do you even know…”
I look behind me and smile at his bewildered expression. She picks up the phone, and I hear the keyboard clacking away on the other line. “Hey, babe. I’m sure Andy has told you already, but you are fucking crazy.”
“Thanks,” I whisper. “You need to help me crack into this mainframe.”
I don’t even have to describe anything to her; she just asks me a few easy questions about what my screen looks like and then starts rattling off instructions. She gives me command after command, and pats herself on the back once she gets through. “Do you see any USB cords nearby?” she asks.
I grab one that’s already plugged into the computer. “I’ve got one.”
“Okay, tell Andy to stop fucking around with the device I gave him and plug it in. You’ll probably get way more from what I just cracked you guys into than whatever he can get through shared networks.”
“Stop typing and plug this in,” I command Andy, and he does it without hesitation. “Can you just be the lookout? I should be fine with this.”
Andy just nods wordlessly, pulling his mask down over his hardened expression. I’m guessing this is his stealth mode. I’ve seen it a few times briefly, but being a part of this with him, I truly appreciate what he must have learned from his time in the army
“What do I do now?” I ask Oxy over the line.
“You wait and make sure there’s nothing that blocks the download. It shouldn’t take very long, and then I strongly suggest you get the fuck out of there.”
I don’t plan to try anything more tonight. “Yeah, of course.”
I can almost feel Oxy rolling her eyes at me. “‘Of course,’ she says. Of course you won’t jeopardize everything by running through eight active cams and right into enemy territory. Of course you’ll leave quietly and not get fucking shot in the back.”
“Get down!” Andy whispers, although he doesn’t really have to say anything, because he’s already on top of me a second later. The cord to the computer pulls taut and almost comes loose as he tackles me to the ground.
The door opens as we all go silent and hold our breath. We are lying underneath the reception desk, which doesn’t feel like a very good hiding spot from a guard.
“He’s going to check under here, isn’t he?” I breathe.
“Yes.” Andy shifts himself to silently grab his gun. “We need to be ready to run.”
I look at the device, about half finished downloading. “I need to wait until it’s done.”
“Chi, this isn’t the fucking movies.” Oxy says her words in a whisper, even though she’s not actually here to be heard by the guard. “Download whatever you can, and we’ll work with it. You won’t lose it all if you don’t finish downloading it.”
I watch as the progress bar goes up so slowly: 47%, 48%, 49%...
“I want it all.” I whisper through clenched teeth. Unfortunately, that small whisper seems to be the thing that perks the guard’s ears up and makes him suspicious.
“I need to shoot him,” Andy says, as I feel him getting his gun into position. “He could call for backup any second now.”
I take another look at the line as it makes a big jump: 82%... 83%... 84%...
“Fuck, he has a smartwatch.”
“Andy, I’m so close.”
The guard’s voice drifts over to me as I speak, cutting into my feathery whisper… “Hey, I need—”
Andy yanks out the cord, picks me up without another word, and shoots the guard twice, right through the skull. There is no time to get my bearings or even consider what’s happening, as he carries me in one fucking arm, my feet sweeping against the floor, right out the door. I knew Andy was strong, but he’s not huge like Cas. I could never have imagined that he’d be able to effortlessly carry me at top speed through the lobby and out the door. I’m basically an unmoving, rigid lump plastered against his front.
He says nothing, just sprints toward the well-curated trees and bushes we came through to get in here. It’s strange how eerily silent everything is before the nearest shout reaches our ears. “Hey!”
The first gunshots whiz past us just before Andy throws us both down, as far into the high bushes as we can go.
“Crawl!” he whispers from above me, still blocking me with his body. I can barely move with him on top of me, but somehow he pulls me along even like this. I don’t know which way we’re going; it doesn’t feel like a straight line to where we came from. I hear the footsteps getting closer and gunshots nearby but feel certain somehow that we’re about to get out of this.
And I’m right. We get to the electric fence, Andy takes out the cut-off switch, throws me over with a grunt, and hops it like it’s low-hanging caution tape. He hasn’t said a word to me, but I hear his breath getting heavier and heavier as he touches down. It has taken him a quarter of the time it took us to hop the fence getting here, and the voices are still far enough away that I doubt they know exactly where we are. Not enough, at least, to be able to shoot with accuracy. We are still in danger here, but we can easily outrun it.
I don’t have a moment to look back at Andy, though, before he picks me up in the exact same way as before, against his front. He sprints again, but I feel his pace slowing. He’s sweating profusely through his shirt. “Andy, I’ll run with you, just put me down.”
He doesn’t even answer, like he’s not listening to me at all. I still hear the guards, and although they’re gaining on us, we still have time. The further we go, the bigger their radius to search for us will be, but we’re really not far enough away yet to be out of the woods.
“Andy, stop! Put me down,” I whisper loudly, wondering if anything will break this near robotic trance he seems to be in.
He’s panting harshly now, and he stumbles. His arms lose strength, and I push away from him. “Come on,” I say, grabbing his hand. But even without me in his arms, I notice he’s still having a hard time less than a minute later. I look back at him and realize my grave mistake. The sweat I thought was pouring out of him wasn’t sweat. It was blood.
“Oh my God!” I cry, trying to keep my panic down, but feeling certain I won’t be able to. “Andy! You’re shot! Where is it?”
“It’s just the lower back. Didn’t hit the spine and it’s close to the…” He starts running with me again, but stumbles a moment later and groans. “Close to the tailbone. Probably didn’t hit any major arteries, or I’d be out cold by now. Must’ve been right when we jumped into the bushes.”
My mouth opens wide in surprise, and I gasp. “The bushes? You’ve been shot since we started army crawling in the bushes?”
I hear the voices growing louder again, and I know we need to either move or hide. I doubt Andy can go much further, so I pull him over to the nearest thicket and tug on his arm to drop down.
“What are we going to do?” I ask anxiously.
I notice now how bad off he really is as I take a good look at him for the first time since we left the building. He might not be feeling the pain much, but the loss of blood must be getting to him. He looks sweaty and winded, his chest rising and falling heavily. “You’re going to leave me behind and run like hell past the road and to the nearest neighborhood,” he rasps out.
“I’m not leaving you, so come up with something better than that, or I’ll have to,” I say, thumbing through the speed dial on my phone. Oxy can’t help. I decide to dial Riku, but as I put the phone to my ear, Andy collapses backward.
“Shit, Andy?” I know I won’t be able to carry him out of here, but I really don’t want to leave him. He could bleed out… but I suppose that will happen whether I’m with him or not.
“Ms. Yano? What has happened? You are half an hour past your check in time.”
“You need to bring the guards here. Andy is shot. We need to get to the—” I hear the soft but unmistakable sound of footfalls and freeze. They are so close. Too fucking close. I thought we had more distance. More time.
“Don't be afraid, Ms. Yano. You were taking too long. So I called him.”
“What?” I whisper-shout. “Called who?” I feel a sharp sting in my arm just a second later. I reach up and yank out what looks like a tiny pompom with a needle attached.
Before Riku has a chance to answer, I lose all feeling in my body, dropping on top of Andy and shutting down as quickly as one of Oxy’s goddamned high-speed computers.