Coded the connection sag.., p.22
CODED (The Connection Saga Book 1), page 22
“Activated.”
The botnet triggers and opens up every system inside the estate, making them vulnerable to an attack.
“Begin extraction.”
“Starting. Ms. Young, there’s not much time.”
Iris displays the percentage of extracted data, and again, Amity is right. If I wait until it’s at one hundred percent, there won’t be enough time to recall the drone. With the threat of the EAs within the building and now knowing someone from Black Web is here, it poses a new challenge. I expected something to go awry, however, not to this magnitude. A member of Black Web revealing information I helped crack is a betrayal. I grit my teeth. Iris buzzes again, showing less time.
“Continue the extraction,” I say. “I have to get closer to the building to get the drone back.”
“Be careful, Ms. Young.”
I sprint to the edge of the building and jump, navigating the descent with a wired grapple until I reach the street below in a rolling crouch. Red lights flicker throughout the building as sirens warning of approaching EAs blair in the distance. My feet continue to move until I’m concealed in a dark passageway between the estate and its neighboring facility.
I’m stunned as the side door opens on the estate and an EA walks out, gun in hand, ready to fire. I push off the estate wall and knock the gun out of their hands. The EA surges at me and grabs me by the neck. My knee collides with their groin, pushing them back. I wince at the release of my airway and cough, allowing air to fill my lungs. The EA regains momentum and comes at me with a serrated blade.
I sway from each strike, right to left, back and forth, leaving the EA to slice air. They retreat to find a new angle. It gives me a chance to find my own advantage. The blade tries to strike low, but it’s too slow and I dodge to the side.
With a quick shuffle, my knee clashes with their helmet, snapping their head back. The EA releases a loud grunt of anger and proceeds to pursue me. I unsheathe my staff and slam it vertically into the ground, utilizing it as a pole for advantage.
The EA runs at me, and I spin around my staff, snapping their head sideways. They tumble into the wall as their helmet rolls to the ground. Landing on my feet, with burning blood and electric veins, built up from the guilt of failing my parents, I remove the staff. It vibrates with potential energy matching the intensity inside me and I swing, colliding at the spot my boot found the EA’s head. A loud crack escapes through the alleyway, and the EA fall dead to the ground.
“Extraction complete,” Amity says.
About time.
Through jagged breaths, I use the camera lens on Iris to guide the drone back up through the vents where the explosion happened. Fire and smoke block the passageway, and I’m forced to find a different route. The echoing alarms are a representation of my pulsing heart. Boots hitting the ground startle me, and I know they’re coming to investigate the EA I killed. The sirens from the approaching back up grow louder, and it’s clear I’m out of time.
None of this was part of my plan. Regulating the negative thoughts threatening to petrify me, I remember there’s always another way.
I control the drone and exit the ventilation shafts, then speed past EAs who shoot at it. I soar and dodge the bullets as best as I can, and the masked person appears again. Who could they be? And why would they help the enemy? A shot of fire escapes their hand and flies past the drone, igniting an explosion above. Too close. I force the speed of the drone and crash through the windows.
The glass shatters above me, raining down with shimmering light. I tilt my head down and drop to a crouch, protecting my body from the raining threat. The glass splinters my back and cuts my arm, cracking to the ground in chunks. Larger shards split upon hitting the concrete. The sharpened rain stops, and my eyes find my drone above. Blood seeps through the gash on my arm as I rise back up.
Before I can initiate the recall for my drone, a stream of fire directly hits it, exploding in bright orange and yellow, raining down in pieces. Tears fill my eyes as each one hits the ground.
“Ms.…Young…”
A crackle floods my ear where I’m used to hearing Amity.
“Systems…failing…”
The notification on Iris makes my heart wrench. Connection to Amity is dwindling.
I can’t bring myself to believe it.
Amity is dying.
“No! Stay with me,” I whisper. “I need you with me. I can fix you when we get back.”
“Backup…installing…” Amity says. “It won’t…last long, Ms. Young.”
“How long?”
“Twelve…hours…”
“Okay, I need a place to hide until morning, when the trains are back up. Then I can fix you.”
“Routing…Ms. Young.”
A building displays on Iris with a direct route.
I exit the alleyway and follow it. I glance back as fire and smoke fill the air from the estate. The backup has arrived, and they shuffle out and into the estate. A handful of EAs usher Ezra into a vehicle and speed off to an unknown location.
The masked person exits and looks around. Their mask turns toward me, forcing me to jump into a crevasse of a nearby building. After a moment, I peek out and see they’re gone.
I sprint again, continuing my pace toward the building Amity found. My heart breaks from the loss of my drone and the weak state Amity is in. If I don’t get home, I’ll lose the connection to the only thing keeping me alive.
“Stay with me. You hear me? I’ll fix you.”
Tears stream down my face as I find my way to safety.
38
I haven’t slept since yesterday morning, before my plot for extraction was executed. The wound on my arm is shallow, but blood seeps through it nevertheless. If the glass from the estate had pierced me in any way, I most likely wouldn’t be alive. I take a cloth hanging on the edge of the windowsill. As I wrap it around my arm, I get a clearer idea of where I am. I must have run for miles without realizing it, each step fueled by my adrenaline to stay alive. The city of Millennia sits in front of me.
Tightening the wrap, I notice the first peak of the sun shines through. The dark space brightens as the sky begins to split from midnight blue to a more friendly light hue. I wince at the pain in my arm, echoing from the sore muscles I used to fight the EA. The snap of his neck plays in my mind, and I don’t feel a thing. The emotions that threatened to wreck me on the roof seem to have returned to their rightful place, in the back of my mind.
The events which took place during my extraction couldn’t have been any more jarring. Seeing Ezra in the flesh… My mind almost broke apart at the sight of him. The biggest revelation is that a member of Black Web is involved, someone who can manipulate fire somehow. Technology never ceases to amaze me, but this kind is lethal and dangerous, something I’ve never seen.
As for how it works and who this person is, these questions rattle my brain, and I’m not sure I’m ready for the answers. As the thoughts creep into my head about the mystery person, Eliza appears behind my eyelids. I feel certain she’d been at the hotel, seemingly in a hurry. Then, suddenly, a member of Black Web appears in the office with Ezra Coleman…
The enemy.
I’m not sure if they were there on a mission from Claire or working with him. What I saw indicated they were likely working with Ezra, and Claire mentioned no one was supposed to engage. It’s not good they gave up the intel I helped crack, but it also doesn’t make any sense, considering it was stolen from him. Unless it was something he wanted to know and didn’t have access too. Which would mean he used this mystery Black Web member to help him. But, who?
I switch my focus to the disaster. Whoever the pyro wielder was, they destroyed my drone and, in the process, weakened my connection to Amity’s. I don’t know how it was done and I’m not confident I will be able to reverse its effects. What I do know is, I need to try.
I cannot lose Amity.
“Amity,” I say, “how are the trains looking?”
There’s an unusually long pause before it responds.
“They will be up and running in under an hour…” Static growls through my ear. “Ms. Young…you should…make a move for them… There is a possibility that only one train will make it out of Millennia…before a shutdown happens, after last night’s events…”
“On it.”
Iris displays the time remaining for Amity’s backup: Eight hours.
Amity’s weak voice makes me push myself to move a little quicker. Blocking the pain my tired legs and arms feel, I proceed toward the station and hope I won’t be too late.
I made it.
A few people board the train and take their seats. I pull up my hood to hide from possible pursuers. The train locks, gaining momentum as it leaves the station. I stretch my sore legs, rubbing them with my arms until the pain starts to subside.
‘Six hours’ flashes on my wrist, and it makes my heart jump.
“You need…to rest, Ms. Young.”
“I know. I can’t trust falling asleep.”
“Apologies, Ms. Young. Scanning is…disabled due to the malfunction…”
It’s worse than I thought.
My primary source of assistance can no longer help me. The pain starts to settle deeper inside of me, making me stir. I don’t know how to move on without Amity. The fact I’ve gotten this far surprises me. The extraction couldn’t have gone any worse.
I try to think positively as the train takes off. Thinking about the best outcome that could come from this mission.
“Arcadia…will hopefully be…the same as it was when you left…”
“I certainly hope so.” I slouch into the seat. “I need to regroup, figure out what we secured, and work out our next steps to take down Ezra. Especially since I now know it’ll be hard to kill him.”
“Indeed, Ms. Young… But you can’t do anything without rest.”
The train sways as it speeds out of Millennia. The sun is higher now and its warmth travels through the car. My eyes hold stone as I force them open to watch my surroundings. The fear and paranoia of being followed haunts me to the core and I can’t relax. My inability to scan affects me in a way I’ve never imagined having to prepare for.
Cool air makes my eyelids close without my control. My parents flash in my mind. When they smile, my eyes shut, and I fall into my subconscious.
Metal clamps hold me down, locking my arms and legs into place so I can’t move. The metal is cold and sharp against my skin, making it impossible to struggle without pain. My pulse thuds against my wrists from the pressure and I start to shake. I try to look around, but the device around my head holds it in place, forcing my eyes to stare at the white light above. The headpiece peels my eyelids back, keeping them open as a silver syringe is placed in front of my right eye. Forgetting the pain the clamps produce, I struggle to move, triggering them to activate burning lasers scorching my skin. I scream in agony as tears begin to fall.
The syringe draws closer to my eye and there’s no way to avoid it. Through my struggling, a voice echoes.
“Activate protocol A,” says a man with a raspy voice.
“Acknowledged,” says a woman.
A whirring sound echoes through the room and the syringe begins to rotate. It closes the remaining distance to my eye and pierces it, plunging deep inside. There’s no pain, but the metal pushes against something inside my head. The syringe locks into place as I lay helpless and silent, abandoning my unheard screams. It rotates in my eye once again, tearing the flesh inside as blood pools out of the socket, streaming down my face.
Still, no pain.
“Vitals?” a different voice asks.
“Heart rate 120, blood pressure 140/90 and rising. Breathing stabilized,” replies the woman who acknowledged the protocol activation.
I try to focus on the newly added voice as familiarity sinks its teeth in me. It starts to fade from wind rushing past me and the sounds of people moving. The footsteps get closer to where I lie, and in an instant, Amity pulls me out of my nightmare.
“Ms. Young…your heartrate is above normal… Are you okay?”
“I am now,” I say. “Thank you.”
I slowly blink, my eyes adjusting to the bright silver of the train. The sun’s rays burn, triggering a mental image of the syringe in my nightmare, and I jerk my head away from the window.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Thirty minutes, Ms. Young.”
Thirty minutes. The grogginess in my body makes it seem like I was asleep for hours. However, I’m grateful it wasn’t longer, as my time to save Amity dwindles. It leaves me with a little over five hours to reach Arcadia, get to my home, and fix it before it’s lost for good.
My eye tingles, recalling the metal piercing my cornea, implanting the node in my eye. Trying to force the nightmare down, there’s a change in the car. No one on board is moving except for me. My brows raise from the sight, and I walk slowly to a couple cuddled together in a seat. Their eyes are open, but there is no sign of life. I check for a pulse—nothing. My gaze turns and see the bodies of all the people who boarded the train after me, laying lifeless. My heart rate increases as I continue to the next passenger.
An older man. His head hangs low, and when I crouch down to meet his eyes, blood flows from his mouth and his right eye is an orb of red. I jump back, holding my breath.
Nodes have been activated on this train.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Before Amity can answer, two men stand tall in shadow black suits. Masks conceal their faces as they stand. Another person exits a seat next to them, taking a position in between. Much shorter than the two men, their face is concealed by a hood and mask.
A Black Web mask. Who could they be?
Thoughts of the masked pyro wielder flood my head and I freeze. My voice and movements are stunned once again by indecisiveness. The mysterious character gives a small wave of their hand, forcing me to step back. The two men start to make a move, but they are stopped by the masked figure, with a smooth lift of their other hand. The mask stares at me, flickering with different facial expressions I can’t read. Neon highlights, changing the form of the eyes and mouth, making it impossible to understand. I stare back, waiting for them to make their move.
I think about how they could have found me. There’s only one reason they’re here.
Ezra Coleman.
They must have followed me from the estate somehow, and I was dumb enough to think I was in the clear. Dammit. The person steps forward, breaking my thoughts as they move toward me. My only option is to fight. The train is moving too fast to attempt jumping off, and there’s no way to tell how far the station is.
Their heels draw nearer as I’m stunned by my lack of options.
“Amity, dro…”
Before the command leaves my lips, my heart races, and I sweat. My drone is gone. It leaves me with my staff and daggers. I remove my staff from its holster, the energy humming inside.
If I’m going to die, I won’t make it easy.
As I wave my hand over Iris to trigger an EMP, the two men reveal guns from their suits, but the person in front of them moves faster. Two black orbs appear, fitting perfectly between their fingers as they spin, throwing both with perfect precision. Before the men can pull their triggers, their skulls ricochet off the car floor to the opposite end.
The car goes silent.
The unknown person peers down at the dead men. I stare with wide eyes as they turn to face me. The mask falls into their hands, and the hood drops back. She unveils thick red hair. It falls to her shoulders as glossy blue eyes meet mine, making the blood in my veins freeze.
I knew it had to be her.
“Hey stranger,” Eliza says with a smile.
As it did days ago, her voice paralyzes my legs, and I can’t move, prompting an urge to rise from the depths of my core. The combination of ocean blue eyes and a lustful smile sparks my old desires from back at Black Web. It all comes back, and I want to take the dive as she takes another step forward, crossing her arms. Her sweet tone echoes through the car when she asks:
“Did you miss me?”
39
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
Seeing her makes my heart do things I never thought it could do. Yesterday, it was caused by a state of panic. Now, it flutters and beats in a rhythm that makes the inside of me tingle with warmth. My mind, however, forces me to always think the opposite.
“I’m here to help,” she says, stepping forward.
I don’t know why, but something inside me makes my legs step back, away from her. I defy the want my heart craves to be near her and think about the moment I saw the masked person with Ezra Coleman.
“Why are you here?” I ask, intending to get a different answer.
She opens her mouth to speak, but doesn’t, leaving her lips parted. Her eyes momentarily squint as she stops her pace toward me.
“I can’t explain it here.”
“That’s not an answer,” I counter quickly.
“Trust me,” she says. “I would love to sit and talk, but right now, we need to get out of here.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
The fact I can’t see any threats or what’s happening because of Amity’s malfunction plagues me. I have to rely on my own senses and whatever Eliza has to tell me. The idea of uncertainty makes my heart thud against my chest with a heavy beat. Dizziness takes over and I’m ready to fall.
“Brace yourself!” she shouts.
Another orb appears in her hand. Once again, I skip a breath at the thought of her using them against me. She rolls the orb around. It changes from deep black to a fiery red. It glows in a brilliant hue, and she tosses it past me, toward the end of the train car. It shines brighter. As it travels, the oranges and reds collide with yellow until it starts to spark. It explodes with searing heat and the pressure pushes us back a few feet. The air floods the inside, with gusts funneling black smoke into the car, forcing my lungs to fight for clean air.
Ahead, through the plumes of fire and burnt metal, EAs run toward us from another car. They stop short of the detachment of cars and start to move further backward as the train continues to speed along its track. They fire their weapons, but the train is too fast. We immediately escape their range.
