Chapter 34
Six rebels walked Aberdeen’s tunnels until we took an escalator up to the ground level and emerged into the most beautiful (and only) promenade I’d ever seen. Trees, flowers, and shrubs lined a curving sidewalk that seemed designed to woo pedestrians into slowing down and enjoying the scenery.
It was the weirdest dichotomy ever. We’d just come from a battle and were being hunted by every enforcer and drone in Aberdeen.
Blood splattered our fancy clothes, but they were gawdy enough that the blood was hardly noticed.
We kept our faces down and the hoods on our overcoats up—which turned out to be a common thing to do—as, evidently, high-towners preferred anonymity and privacy as much as the rest of us.
We tried to blend in, forcing laughs and small talk whenever we met others on the path.
The green park filled one square mile of the city center. Surrounding it, skyscrapers rose like a razor wire fence. Our destination was the tallest one. A solid silver skyscraper with a large atrium on the uppermost floors. We were walking toward a giant penis, and I allowed myself a chuckle.
“Glad you find this all funny,” Andra said, walking next to me. “Because I feel like I’m going to have a panic attack.”
I reached out and grabbed her hand. I wasn’t a touchy feely sort of guy, but I knew a lot of people were. She didn’t pull away, so I figured it helped.
Drones floated high overhead, and we had to be careful to never look up.
Sirens sounded to our left. Andra clenched my hand.
I instinctively glanced toward the sound before looking away, scolding myself for looking guilty until I noticed others walking the promenade were gawking as well.
I realized then that they weren’t used to sirens sounding in the middle of a highly secure city, so I allowed myself to look again as two patrol cars zipped by.
Byte appeared to my right. They’re searching for our group.
Fortunately, there’s no indication they know where we are going.
Since they are focused on the apartment buildings, I think they believe we returned to Aberdeen to go to ground to some place much like the set of apartments Kynan had.
“Let’s hope they keep thinking that way,” I said. Andra glanced at me, so I added, “They don’t know why we’re up here.”
Her grip relaxed somewhat. “That’s good to hear.”
I didn’t mention that they’d figure it out if someone noticed us within even a block of the tower.
“Wait,” she said, stopping.
“What?” I asked. The others stopped, too.
“I need to change our face IDs,” she said.
“Can’t you do it as we walk?” Talon asked. He and Vera were in the lead, several steps ahead.
She thought. “Yeah, I guess, just walk slow.”
“How slow?” Vera asked.
“I don’t know. Slow enough so I can change six IDs.”
“Byte might be able to help,” I offered. Byte nodded to my right.
“I’ve got this. Let me do this,” Andra said.
I glanced at Byte, and we both shrugged.
Andra is self-taught. She takes great pride in her abilities even if an amp can assist her.
It also gave her a sense of control, and if it helped prevent her from having a panic attack, we’d walk as slow as she needed…
assuming the enforcers hadn’t narrowed down the search yet.
We continued through another round of sirens in the distance, though these weren’t as close.
According to Byte, the drones above remained in their hovering stations, which meant we hadn’t raised suspicion yet.
We reached Softbiotics Tower and were able to walk right through the front doors and into a wide atrium.
From there, we had two security lines: one for employees and one for visitors to the museum that took up the lowest two levels.
Our original plan was to go through the employee entrance as enforcers running a drill.
But without the outfits, they would never buy our story.
So now we were museum tourists. The good news about that was the minimal visitor security process.
The bad news about that was that we’d have to get creative to get from the visitor levels to the employee levels.
We had a plan, but it was more squishy than solid.
Even at nearly ten pm local time, there was still a line for people wanting to tour.
Evidently, touring the Softbiotics museum was a hot date night activity.
With six of us, we split into pairs. That way, if one person or couple was pulled aside, the others would still be in the clear.
Andra and Tommy passed through the security portal first, which was simply a screen to validate IDs via armlets.
Two security guards sat behind it, looking bored.
A low crime rate was playing in our favor.
Talon and I walked through next, clearing no problem. And finally, Mitch and Vera came up last. The screen beeped on Vera. One of the guards stood, looking even more bored. “Random check.”
I glanced back to see her frozen in fear and Mitch reaching into his overcoat.
Talon bumped me, and I realized I’d been standing there instead of moving forward like we didn’t know them. It was too late for them, but it didn’t have to be too late for the mission. But it would shorten our timetable.
“Weapons alert!” the guard yelled. “We’ve got a stun stick.”
Mitch pulled out his stick and struck the first guard. The other guard shot him with his blaster.
“Damn it,” Talon said. “He should’ve just let them get arrested. The IDs would’ve held. Now, we’ve got red flags here.”
Vera reached for the first guard’s weapon only to be shot by the second guard still behind the counter. With both down, he called it in. “Security, this is desk One Bravo. We had two citizens attempt to enter the museum armed. They’re down.”
Byte appeared by the large open museum entrance. They’ll close the museum now. We need to hurry. Catching citizens with weapons is so uncommon that it will draw attention. It won’t take long for Viktor Garris to connect this event to us.
While the other tourists stood and gawked, we left two unconscious team members behind and entered the museum.
Andra and Tommy joined us. Just as we were inside, the doors closed, and a generic voice announced, “The museum is closing for the night. You have five minutes to make your way to the nearest exit. Thank you for visiting Softbiotics Tower-11.”
Tourists looked around confused. We did too, except we were searching for elevators or stairs.
I could see why this museum was popular—it was a wonderland of technology, all displayed in the most entertaining manner with holograms, robots, and lifelike mannequins.
As we walked through the Future of Amplification Technology section, displays showed happy humans achieving greatness, traveling the stars, or just luxuriating on a yacht.
“They’re full of shit,” I muttered.
“Over here,” Andra called, and we rushed to find an elevator open up and a group of tourists emerge. Once they were clear, we climbed in.
“Dang it,” she said. “It only goes up to the second floor.”
“Take it,” Talon said. “It puts one floor between us and the army about to be breathing down our necks.”
Tommy leaned against the back of the elevator, breathing hard. He was the quietest of the rebels—in fact, I don’t think I heard him speak even once. He was young, twenty at most, and even though he looked anxious, he seemed steady.
The elevator opened, and there was a large group of tourists waiting to use it.
“The museum’s closing,” a woman said.
“Thanks,” Talon said.
Once we were clear, Andra looked around. “Where to now?”
The second set of stairs runs adjacent to the museum’s north stairs. If only we had an explosive or blaster with a full charge, we could burn a hole through the wall.
I turned to my team. “Any of you have a blaster or boom-boom?”
Talon unholstered a blaster. “My personal motto is if you see a weapon, grab it.”
“Good motto,” I said. “We need the north stairs.”
Tommy pointed, and I followed his finger to see an illuminated sign on the adjacent wall. I hustled toward it.
Around us the generic voice spoke again. “The museum is closed. Immediately make your way to the nearest exit. If you do not exit, you will be detained. Thank you for visiting Softbiotics Tower-11.”
We reached the stairs just as a pair of guards were walking up. Talon tucked his blaster behind his back.
“The museum’s closed. You need to leave,” one guard said.
“We’re leaving now,” Andra said.
We waited for them to exit the stairs to do their rounds on the second floor, and we entered the stairwell.
We need to break through the wall to your left.
I slapped the wall. It wasn’t concrete, but it still felt pretty solid. “This one?”
Yes.
I eyed Talon. “The stairs we need are on the opposite side of this wall.”
Talon’s brows rose. “And you think I can shoot through that?”
I shrugged. “Byte seems to think so.”
He shrugged, too. “All right. Tommy, hold that door. Andra, watch for trouble. And everyone, step back.”
He cranked up the dial, aimed, and began firing. Fortunately, blasters made a very slight sound, but even slight, it was enough to echo through the stairwell, and I wondered if it could be heard through the doors.
Several shots later, Talon stopped and walked up to the wall, then touched the scorch marks and hissed at the heat. “Not making a dent.”
In my defense, the wall material was not indicated in the data files. A blaster would penetrate a normal fire wall.
Andra tensed. “What do we do now?”
“I’m thinking we’re going to have to fight our way through security downstairs and go with our original plan,” Talon said.
“Wait,” I said. “I’ve got an idea.” I headed to the door and said to Tommy, “I’ll be right back.”