CHAPTER 7: "CHOLA'S PROBLEM"
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 – 05:35 a.m.
Burbank
It was already bright outside when John was stirring in his sleep. He felt a warm, naked body slipping under the blanket on his left while the right side of the bed was suddenly empty.
"Cam?" he asked half-asleep.
"Yes," she whispered back, "how did you know? I removed the band aid; the bullet wounds are almost completely healed."
John smiled.
"Your head smells different," he said and brushed through her hair.
"Oh," Cameron replied, "of course. Her new color."
She smiled and kissed him lovingly.
"So, you saw Alison?" he asked.
"Yes, we met in the hallway and had a quick talk. Her hair looks nice."
Another kiss.
"Were you successful in downloading and printing the blueprints of the Simdyne Tower?"
"Yes, but the connection was frequently interrupted, the city council's computer network sucks. The download lasted all night. Eric is already fast asleep next door."
... kiss...
"So, you didn't have a chance to look at it yet?"
"I just skimmed it. I already told Alison that Eric and I will probably spend the morning with analyzing it all. We should be finished in time before you all return from your errands."
… kiss…
"Where is she now?"
… kiss…
"Alison? She said there was something she had to ask Jacobson."
… kiss…
"What time is it anyway?"
"5:37 a.m. Don't worry, you can still sleep for a few hours."
… kiss...
"Hmm… if you let me," John replied with a smile.
"I'll let you sleep," she said and snuggled up to him very tenderly. "But I'll stay with you, is that okay?"
"Of course, Cam, you know you don't need my permission for that."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
John smiled and drifted back to sleep.
-0-
Breakfast time arrived, and everyone gathered at the kitchen table. When Cameron and Alison entered the room, both Sarah and Derek choked on their coffee. John turned around to see what was up and immediately burst into laughter. So did Lauren, and she gave the two cyborgs a thumb's up. Eric couldn't help but laugh out loudly as well.
Alison wore a white tee shirt, emblazoned with the slogan "I love Death Metal" in black writing on it, with "love" being symbolized by a red heart that was being split in half by a bolt of lightning. Cameron wore she same tee shirt but in black with white writing on it.
"I swear they're just doing that to annoy me," Derek muttered in an irritated tone.
"Let's be honest, Derek," John said chuckling, "you're making an easy target. Lighten up a bit. Isn't it great that they developed a sense of humor?"
"Humor?" Cameron asked and tilted her head a bit.
"What humor?" Alison added and did the same, her face as stoic and serious as her sister's.
Suddenly the laughter stopped. For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence. Then Alison and Cameron smiled and pointed fingers at them.
"Fooled you," they said in perfect synchrony and sat down on the table.
"Don't overdo it, you two," Sarah said but couldn't suppress a smile. "We have traumatized people sitting at the table."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Derek replied grumbling. "Ha, ha, ha, keep making jokes on my account."
"Look at it this way, uncle Derek," John said with an emphasis on 'uncle' and padded him on the shoulder, "as long as they make jokes on you and pull their pranks, they won't kill you."
"No, we won't kill you," Alison added and smiled, "that would only be a very brief satisfaction."
"This way we're having much more fun with you over a longer period of time," Cameron added.
Derek pointed his fork at John.
"You know the machines have won when you cannot tell anymore if they're serious or not," he said, then looked up at Cameron and Alison. "I believe you two do that on purpose. You realized you can work me up with stunts like that and do it just because you take perverse pleasure from it."
"Yes," Alison deadpanned and stuffed a piece of pancake into her mouth, "we do."
"The fun never stops," Sarah commented with a sigh, while John, Lauren and Eric kept on chuckling and Derek mumbled something about a 100-ton hydraulic press he'd like to have at his disposition right now.
John looked at Alison.
"Cam said you were with Jacobson this morning to ask him something," he asked.
"Yes," she replied, "there's something I wanted to know from him after our visit to James Ellison."
"Care to share your knowledge with us, Tin Miss?" Sarah asked.
"I was about to," Alison answered. "It has to do with the cyber-attack on John Henry. Jacobson confirmed that it was indeed the pre-Skynet A.I. that did it."
"Hadn't we already assumed that?" Derek asked.
"We had," Alison confirmed. "And now we know. However, what we didn't know, is that the pre-Skynet A.I. did it on its own initiative, without having received any instruction or authorization to do so."
"Great," Derek said sarcastically. "It's already starting to disregard and ignore its human programmers. That's bad news."
"On the contrary," Alison argued, "it might have bought us the time we need to prepare for the attack."
"How so?" John asked with a frown.
"Jacobson told me that his team of programmers panicked afterwards. They cut all outside connections and attempted to shut down the A.I."
"And did they?"
"They were able to isolate the A.I., yes. But they weren't able to shut it down. Pre-Skynet fought back and killed the whole team of programmers."
"What?" Sarah asked. "How?"
"It locked them in the bunker and sucked out all the air. They suffocated."
"So, it already has become conscious or self-aware and kills to defend itself," Derek said. "This isn't getting any better. How can that be an advantage for us?"
"Please hear me out, I'm getting to it," Alison replied. "Jacobson didn't inform his business partners of the incident. It's obvious that the pre-Skynet A.I. is further ahead of its development than Kaliba or the Air Force know. If they should find out and realize the danger it represents, they might pull the plug on the project."
"So, Jacobsen got cold feet," John concluded, "and hid the machine's solo move from them."
"Correct," Alison said, "with the help of George McCarthy he got rid of the dead bodies and swept the incident under the rug. The two of them staged some kind of traffic accident to explain the deaths. The project was so secret that hardly anyone at Simdyne knew the men anyway."
"Who's George McCarthy?" Lauren asked.
"An employee of Kaliba," John replied, "one of their killers, to be precise. He lived with his family in Charm Acres, a neighborhood for engineers that worked in a Kaliba research lab. When the lab was blown up and all employees killed, he wasn't there. He was one of only two survivors but is also considered deceased. His wife and daughter know he's still alive, but they remain silent about it. They received a lot of money from the insurance for his death."
"I see," Lauren said.
"So, the programmers are all dead and Skynet is far ahead of its schedule," Derek asked. "How can that be an advantage for us?"
"Because Jacobson locked the bunker," Alison stated. "There's nobody in there now and he's the only one who can open it again."
There was a moment of stunned silence.
"So..." John said slowly, "since Jacobson is our prisoner and nobody knows where he is, nobody can access the pre-Skynet A.I., which is now trapped in the bunker, cut off from any outside connection."
"Yes," Alison confirmed. "The Air Force still has a remote connection via a standalone work station on one of their airbases, but it's only one-way. They can see pre-Skynet is active but won't get any data from it and can't give it any commands."
"So, currently there's no chance for Skynet to reach out into the world and spread to other computers," Derek summarized, "is that what you wanna say?"
"Yes."
"But you said that it already has access to other computers," Sarah reminded. "And it was able to attack John Henry. Couldn't it, you know… have dumped some parts of itself somewhere else already?"
"No," Alison replied, "as I already said, the A.I. is still dependent on its mainframe, it was able to reach out but unable to transfer itself anywhere. It's currently trapped and isolated in its bunker. Nobody has access to the installation. The entrance door to the bunker is impenetrable and there is no other way in. After all, it was built to withstand a nuclear blast."
Everyone took a deep breath.
"If I understand you correctly," Sarah said, "this means that as long as Jacobson is our prisoner, Skynet is a prisoner in the bunker as well?"
"That is correct," Alison confirmed. "But it won't last forever. Kaliba and the Air Force will have their software experts working on the problem already. Eventually they might find a back door. Then there is the emergency protocol..."
"Emergency protocol?" Lauren asked.
"Yes, it stipulates that in a case like this, the Skynet software must be transferred to a secure backup location on an airbase in Nevada. Fortunately for us, however, that backup system is still being installed. It won't be ready for about four weeks. We should be able to destroy it in that time frame."
"We better should," John replied, "because if Skynet would be transferred out of Los Angeles, we wouldn't have a chance to destroy it anymore."
"We shouldn't wait four weeks with our attack," Sarah said. "But we now have time to work out a detailed plan. You're right, Tin Miss, that's a huge advantage for us. Good thinking on your part to ask Jacobson about that."
"Thank you."
"So… I assume that pre-Skynet also flew the drone into Weaver's office?" John asked.
"It would seem so," Alison said. "Apparently, there was a remote connection between pre-Skynet and the drone that couldn't be severed in time. The A.I. lashed out at who it considered its greatest enemy, Zeira Corp. The last gasp, if you want, before it became trapped in the bunker. At least for the next few weeks, pre-Skynet is doomed to inactivity."
There was a general feeling of relief and the mood in the kitchen improved visibly.
"Yesterday, after our visit to James Ellison, it all looked rather gloomy," Sarah stated, "but now we not only have enough time, but also a realistic chance to destroy Skynet once and for all. Jacobsen himself did us the favor. And since the whole programming team is dead, there's no one down there to stop us. Am I Right?"
"Except for the security guards, which are Triple-Eights, and the automatic security systems," Alison remarked. "but yes, the whole 5th sub level is currently abandoned."
"We'll find a way past the security systems, I'm sure of that" John said. "Don't forget, we have Jacobsen. He can grant us access. I suggest we'll have another briefing later, after we went for our errands, and after Cameron and Eric were able to study the blueprints."
"So, you're still going to buy beds and stuff?" Eric asked.
"John and Derek will," Sarah replied. "Alison, Lauren and I need to pay Chola a visit. She took over Carlos' business and owes us for killing his murderers. We'll need papers for Alison Baum, John's other older sister, and Lauren and Sydney."
"This brother and sister routine is getting old," John complained, "it'll be hard to keep it up from now on."
"Especially since we now share a room and a bed," Cameron added.
"Your problem, not mine," Sarah stated. "We also need a solid cover story because sooner or later our neighbor Kacy will find out that there are now two of you. Don't forget that her fiancé, Trevor, is with the LAPD."
"Cameron and I already came up with a cover story," Alison said.
"Oh?" Sarah asked and leaned back. "Let's hear it."
"I'm Cameron's twin sister. I'm back from a private boarding school in Europe. You know, the one with the uniforms that make you look like a flower sock."
Sarah had to smile because she remembered her scene with Cameron nine months ago at Carlos' house.
"Okay," she said, "let's assume for a moment we go with that. Why didn't we ever mention you before?"
"Because the topic never came up," Cameron answered, "You almost only talk about John when you're with others. We are your problem children, you don't like talking about us as much."
"Isn't that actually the truth?" Derek asked grinning while chewing on Sarah's slightly charred scrambled eggs.
"Derek has a point there, mom," John agreed. "You tend to only talk about me with others, never about Cameron. Remember that awkward first appointment with Dr. Sherman? You completely ignored her, and he noticed right away."
Sarah didn't reply.
"Okay," John continued. "Alison was sent away to a boarding school for some time. She… got into trouble with drugs. You didn't wanna talk about it but now things have gotten better, and she has returned."
"Drugs won't work on me, though," Alison said.
"Doesn't matter, it's just a cover story."
"Do I have a criminal record?"
"No," John said annoyed. "And if anyone asks, just be evasive and say you don't like to talk about it. It worked with your friend Jody, didn't it?"
"I had a real memory loss," Alison argued, "and Jody only pretended to be my friend. She lied to me. I don't like it when people lie to me."
"Yes, and you almost killed her in return. I'd say you're even."
"But I..."
"STOP!" Sarah yelled, and the bickering stopped. "Thank you."
She looked around the table.
"Do you think Kacy will actually buy that story?" she asked.
"Why not?" John asked back and shrugged. "They look identical, so there's no better explanation."
"I don't know," Sarah said doubtfully.
"Why not?" Eric asked. "Do you think somebody might assume that they're in fact two identical cyborgs from the future who ended up here by traveling back in time?"
"Thanks for making my point, Eric," John replied and grinned at him, then looked at his mother. "We should also consider their significant progress in human interaction. They don't freak out people so easily anymore."
"James Ellison would beg to differ," Sarah said.
"But he knows what she really is," John argued, "Kacy doesn't. We mustn't forget how alien and unimaginable the reality of our situation is for an outsider."
"That's true," Eric confirmed. "I was almost ready to call 911, because I seriously thought Cameron was crazy when she told me she was a cyborg, even after she did that flashy thing with her eyes. Only when I saw her metal skull underneath and witnessed her throwing those guys around the room, I believed her."
"Yes," Lauren agreed. "Every explanation is more likely than the truth."
"Alright, twins they are, and I will take it on me to explain this to Kacy," Sarah said, "but what about you, Lauren? How do you fit into the picture?"
"She's Derek's daughter," Cameron suggested and for the second time Derek choked on his coffee this morning.
"What?" he croaked.
"Think about it," Cameron continued, "You know Lauren from the future, you have a connection with her and her sister, Sydney. So, the best cover story for you is to be their father. The mother is an alcoholic and currently in a detoxification center. That's why Lauren and her baby sister came here to live with you for the time being."
"O-kay, no more soap operas on TV for you," Derek said dryly, "your fantasy's going crazy."
"It makes sense, though," Lauren stated, "it's a convincing cover story."
"You mean it's so far-fetched that everyone will believe it?" Derek asked.
"Exactly… dad," Lauren answered with a big grin and Derek flinched.
"And about you, Eric…" Sarah begun.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Eric said, holding up his hands in protest. "I already have a family, I have my parents and a little sister. I even have a regular job, I don't need to have a cover story."
"I was about to say," Sarah continued with a smile, "that you are a friend of the family, nothing more, and you stay with us for a couple of days because your apartment is being renovated. That okay for you?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Eric replied relieved.
"Fine," Sarah said. "Attack is the best form of defense. Before we go visiting Chola, I walk down to Kacy's house and invite her to a barbecue on Sunday. And I will casually inform her about our current guests. The whole thing is so unbelievable that she will probably buy it without questioning."
With breakfast coming to a close, Sarah rose from the table.
"While we go on our errands, Cameron will stay home with Eric and take care of the prisoner and the baby while they analyze the blueprints. Any questions?"
There were none.
"Looks like we two will be going shopping for furniture," Derek said and winked at John. "Are you up to it?"
"Are you kidding me?" John asked back. "I'm looking forward to it. Will be a lot less complicated, less stressful and much more fun than with the women."
"You're right about that," Derek agreed grinning, "let's have a men's shopping tour."
Sarah frowned upon that remark but said nothing.
"Alright, if everyone knows what to do, I'm gonna go over to Kacy's now," she said.
The family rose from the breakfast table and while Sarah walked downhill to their neighbor's house, the rest of them cleaned up the kitchen and prepared for their businesses. Alison holstered her Glock, Lauren did the same with her Smith & Wesson M&P. Since Chola's house was located inside gang territory, it was a necessary safety precaution. While they were gearing up, Sarah's loud voice could suddenly be heard from outside.
"They'll certainly be glad to meet you too, Kacy!"
Hastily they covered up their weapons, ammunition and weapons cleaning equipment, and not a second too late because Sarah entered the living room through the terrace door, followed by Kacy.
"I'm sorry to bother you this early in the morning," the woman said upon entering the house, "but I wanted to see you with my own eyes, so… oh my God."
Kacy gasped, seeing Cameron and Alison standing next to each other.
"Wow! You two look absolutely identical! Hi, I'm Kacy, you must be Alison, your mom told me about the hair."
The two shook hands.
"Nice to meet you, Kacy," Alison smiled warmly at their neighbor.
"And this here," Sarah said, steering Kacy away from the cyborgs, "is Lauren, and the baby is Sydney. And you already know their father, Derek, John's uncle."
"Yes, of course, I didn't know he had children, though. Aww, the baby is so cute."
"Derek is very tight-lipped," John explained, "he's been through a lot during the war in, uh… Iraq."
"Yes, I remember you telling me," Kacy said sympathetically, "your family has been through hard times."
"And this is Eric," Sarah continued and introduced him to Kacy as well, "friend of the family. Staying with us as long as his apartment is being renovated."
"Yes, you mentioned," Kacy replied and shook Eric's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Has mom told you we're having a barbecue on Sunday?" John asked. "You're welcome to join us."
"Yes, she told me. I must ask Trevor first, but he's got a free weekend, so I'm sure he'll attend. I'm looking forward to it. It's about time we socialize. You've been living here for seven months and the only one I spent some time with, is Sarah. We barely know each other, that has to change."
"We're looking forward to it," Derek said.
"Me too," Kacy replied happily. "I see that you're all about to leave, I don't wanna hold you up. See you all later."
And with that, she left the house again.
"That was much easier than expected," John stated with relief.
-0-
Before they left, Sarah and Derek checked on the prisoner. They had decided it was best to keep him sedated all the time, so he couldn't shout with the risk of somebody hearing him.
"Sooner or later we'll have to decide what to do with him," Sarah said on their way back into the house.
"You know what we have to do with him," Derek stated.
Sarah shot Derek an angry look.
"We're not going to kill him!" she declared rigorously.
"Sarah, be realistic. We need him until we destroyed Skynet. But after that, he is of no use for us anymore. On the contrary. He knows where we live, he knows everything about us. He has powerful partners. We can't let him live. Besides, if we don't kill him, one of the girls surely will, in order to protect John. So, don't get squeamish about this."
She gave him a strange look.
"What is it?" he asked. "Don't tell me you feel sorry for that fat bastard or that you think there's something good in him somewhere?"
"No, that's not it," Sarah replied, "you said 'one of the girls' will kill him, not 'one of the metal' will kill him. It's the first time you referred to Cameron and Alison as 'the girls', the first time you're not being derogative about them."
"Yeah well," Derek said under his breath, "Can happen to anyone. Nobody's perfect."
Sarah only smiled in return.
-0-
While John and Derek took the Dodge RAM pickup truck for their trip to IKEA, Sarah, Lauren and Alison chose the Chevrolet Suburban for their drive to Chola's house. It was located in South Central L.A., roughly seventeen miles from their house in Burbank, and it wasn't exactly the safest area in Los Angeles County. That's why the three of them were armed.
Lauren had learned how to handle a gun in the sixth months she and her family had been on the run from the Triple-Eight, and despite her still being a teenager, she also had become a rather tough cookie when it mattered.
"Who's this Chola character anyway and what's your connection to her?" Lauren asked.
"She was the girlfriend of Carlos," Alison said, "Carlos provided us with our current ID's. He was killed by people who were after us. Chola was the only survivor because she wasn't home at the time. We helped her avenge Carlos' death, kill his murderers, and now she's taken over his business."
"Sounds like a tough girl," Lauren commented.
"Yes," Alison agreed, "tough girl. But very quiet."
Sarah chuckled.
"When they first met, Cameron and Chola got into a contest about who's cooler."
"Really?" Lauren asked. "Who won?"
"We were interrupted by a police officer," Alison said, "it was a draw."
"And I had to interfere before Tin Miss could kill the police officer," Sarah recollected and smiled.
"He was about to call in the license plate of our stolen car," Alison explained. "In that moment he became a threat. I don't like threats."
"It's what police officers do," Sarah said, "You cannot simply kill someone who's doing their job, even if it's inconvenient for us."
"I learned since then." Alison replied and looked at Lauren. "I now know it's not always necessary to kill someone to solve a problem."
Lauren laughed. Sarah and Alison looked at her in puzzlement
"Sorry but listening to this kind of conversation is so hilarious," she explained. "The killer cyborg and her 'mom', teaching her to not kill everything in her way."
Sarah gave her a knowing smile.
"You haven't seen her in action yet, honey. Once you did, you might not be laughing anymore."
"But you only kill the bad guys, right?" Lauren asked and looked at Alison.
"Yes," she replied, "only the bad guys."
Sarah rolled her eyes.
After an hour of driving, they reached Chola's neighborhood and all checked their guns again at a red light.
"Remember, it's gang territory," Sarah explained. "Keep your eyes and ears open and try to behave inconspicuously."
"I already know the routine," Lauren stated. "And I practiced shooting a lot in the past half year."
"Don't get me wrong now," Sarah replied. "But I won't make my final judgement about your abilities until I've seen you perform in a dicey situation."
"I can check on your skills on a shooting range later," Alison said. "Would you like that?"
"Sure, who wouldn't wanna have a bad-ass killer cyborg as their instructor?" Lauren asked smiling.
Alison smiled back, apparently treasuring the compliment.
"We're here," Sarah said and turned into the driveway of former Carlos', now Chola's house. "Hasn't changed much."
"No guards," Alison commented, "it looks deserted."
"Sarkissian had them all killed, remember?" Sarah replied.
They parked the car in the driveway behind Chola's 1963 Chevrolet Impala Sports Coupé and – always carefully checking the perimeter – climbed the stairs to the front porch. Sarah knocked on the door. For a moment nothing happened, then the door opened slightly.
"Chola?" Sarah asked, recognizing her face in the opening. "Can we have a talk? I know I should have called first but it's an urgent matter."
The chain was unlocked, and the door opened completely. Sarah, Lauren and Alison stepped into the house. It was dark inside because all the blinds were closed, and the lights switched off. The air condition ran on full power. Due to the difference in brightness from the blazing sun outside, Sarah's and Lauren's eyes needed a moment to adjust.
As soon as all three were inside, the door was closed behind them and before Sarah or Alison could react, they heard the unmistakable clicking of guns being cocked. Sarah realized too late that a man had waited right behind the door and was now standing next to her, pointing a gun at her head.
"You better don't move, puta," a sinister voice with a Spanish accent said next to her.
The three women put their hands up. Once her eyes had gotten used to the dimmed lighting, Sarah saw that three men with guns were inside the house. One was pointing a pistol against her head, the second one stood by the stairs and held an old-fashioned, double-barreled shotgun in the direction of Lauren and Alison. The third one sat in Carlos' old armchair in the opposite corner of the room, resting a Desert Eagle on his lap.
The man holding the shotgun was about 6' 10'' and very muscular. The other two were considerably shorter. The one with the Desert Eagle on his lap wore glasses and was apparently the leader of the three, the one next to Sarah was bald and had tattoos all over his arms and face. All three were Latinos. Chola stepped back into the middle of the room until the guy in the armchair pointed his Desert Eagle at her.
"That's far enough," he said leisurely.
"Sorry, didn't know you had visitors," Sarah commented sarcastically and looked at Chola who looked back with an unreadable face.
She noticed that at her side, Alison was ready to burst into action at any given moment. Sarah ever so slightly shook her head. Now wasn't the right moment to attack, with guns being pointed at them. Even the fastest Terminator couldn't prevent that they were shot at.
Sarah and the two girls were thoroughly searched, which seemed to give the bald, tattooed guy a lot of pleasure as he deliberately spent more time than necessary to feel up each woman's breasts and bottom. He quickly found their guns and showed them to the tall guy.
"No policia," tattooed guy said to the man with glasses. "What are we going to do with them, Javier?"
"Tie them up," Javier responded from his armchair, "we'll deal with them later. Leave the redhead untied, though. I like her military outfit, makes her look cute and sexy. I like cute and sexy."
It was obvious that he had set his eyes on Alison, who was in full infiltration mode and made the perfect impression of a vulnerable, frightened girl on the verge of tears. Sarah was impressed by Alison's performance and understood the plan, so she let herself being tied up, knowing that it wouldn't be for long. She was then unceremoniously thrown onto the couch, with Lauren and Chola following suit. Lauren's face was one of genuine fear. Sarah tried to give her a comforting look, but it didn't help much.
With the three women helpless and out of the way, the tattooed man and the one wearing glasses lowered their guns and grinned at Alison. Javier stood up and pointed his Desert Eagle at her, stepping closer.
"Take of your clothes," he ordered.
Alison started sobbing and took off her jacket, then put her hands on the hem of her tee shirt. From the sofa the other three women watched with various expressions. Chola was cool and seemingly unaffected as always, Lauren was showing genuine fear and Sarah just smiled, almost feeling sorry for the men. When Alison had lifted the tee shirt over her head and revealed her bra, the men started grinning and looked transfixed at her cleavage.
"Small but shapely, as I like it," Javier said with a lewd expression, "I think I'm gonna enjoy you."
His hand moved to her belt and tried to open it. That was the moment Alison acted. What happened next, was so fast that the women on the sofa had trouble following it.
Alison grabbed the Desert Eagle from Javier's hand, crushed it and broke his neck with one swift move. The other two guys needed a second to process what had just happened, that the whiny, helpless looking girl had suddenly killed their leader in a fraction of a second. Their moment of shock was more time than Alison needed.
Within a fraction of a second and with the grace of a ballet dancer, she whirled around and kicked the tall guy's shotgun out of his hands while at the same time grabbing tattooed guy's head, snapping his neck in one swift motion. He, too, sank dead to the floor.
Before the tall guy was able to go after his shotgun, Alison kicked him hard into the balls. The man cried out in pain and sank to his knees. Meanwhile, Alison had picked the shotgun up from the floor. She looked into the kneeling man's surprised face, tilted her head, then put the shotgun around his neck, bending it into a tight metal loop. It looked as easy as flexing a garden hose. Only the squeaking noise of the two steel barrels revealed that it was metal and not rubber. With an ugly crunch, the man's larynx was crushed. The life vanished from his eyes and he fell to the ground, dead. Not a single shot had been fired and no blood was shed.
"Madre de Dios," Chola said shocked and stared at Alison with wide open eyes.
The cyborg girl started to untie the three women.
"You alright?" she asked, and Sarah and Lauren nodded.
"So, this is watching her in action," Lauren thought and couldn't help but shiver.
"That took you longer than I expected, Tin Miss" Sarah remarked critically and rubbed her wrists. "But nice handiwork. You're getting more creative."
"I needed to make sure none of you were in danger of ricochet," Alison stated calmly and untied Chola. "And I also wanted to avoid raising attention by gunshots."
The Latina quickly jumped up and knelt next to the tall guy, touching the bent gun barrel around his neck, as if to make sure it was real and not a fake. Then she crossed herself, looked up at Alison, all the coolness vanished from her face.
"What are you?" she asked breathlessly and looked up at Alison.
The cyborg girl let her eyes glow blue in response, and a triumphant grin crawled onto her face as she watched Chola finally lose her coolness. The Latino woman gasped in shock and scuttled backwards with a frightful expression. Sarah saw Alison's smug face, rolled her eyes in disapproval and knelt next to Chola.
"She likes to show off," she said, "but don't you worry, she won't harm you. I'm sure you must have noticed before that she was no ordinary girl."
"I always suspected she was badass," Chola stated with a shaking voice, "But this... what is she? A demon?"
"No, I'm not a demon." Alison replied and stretched out her hand to help Chola up again, obviously enjoying the triumph of having finally impressed her. "But wouldn't it be cool if I was one?"
Hesitating a moment, Chola reached out for Alison's hand and was pulled up with ease.
"She's a badass cyborg!" Lauren exclaimed enthusiastically, apparently being on an adrenaline high.
"LAUREN!" Sarah warned sharply.
"What?" the girl asked and shrugged. "Chola has seen her in action and knows she can't be human. This won't be going away, except you wanna kill her now as well. So, we better let her in."
"We're not going to kill her," Sarah said and looked Chola directly in her face, "you are safe, do you hear? Alison will not harm you. Right, Alison?"
"Yes," the cyborg girl confirmed, "she's not a threat, I don't need to kill her as long as she doesn't talk to others about us."
Those weren't exactly the right words to calm down Chola, but she nodded, nevertheless.
"Why are you here?" she asked.
"We need papers for Alison, little Miss Boaster here, and a birth certificate for a six-months-old baby," Sarah explained. "Driver's licenses and passports would be ideal."
"Alison?" Chola asked, "wasn't her name Cameron last time?"
"Yeah, that's the other one," Lauren said proudly, "we have two of them. Two badass cyborg girls, ain't that cool?"
Sarah closed her eyes in frustration and groaned, trying to keep her composure.
"Who were these men anyway?" she asked, looking down on the three dead bodies.
"Javier was one of the leaders of a rivaling gang," Chola explained. "It has been tough ever since Carlos died. Thankfully, I could convince everyone that I could take over his business and earned myself the respect of the gang and a good reputation in the area. Javier here heard of it and thought he could force me into working for him as well. They've been threatening and harassing me for weeks."
"Couldn't it start a gang war by breaking into here and threaten you with guns?"
"No, it was a calculated risk from their side. Besides, I'm a freelancer, I don't exclusively work for Carlos' gang, as you know very well. They wouldn't start a war over an unimportant forger chick like me. Javier, on the other hand, was high profile. You might have saved me from him but I'm afraid his death will demand a retribution from his gang now."
"Only if the bodies are found and can be traced back to you," Sarah said. "There was no gunshot, so we didn't catch anyone's attention. Did someone see them entering your house?"
"I don't think so. My house is located directly at the border to their territory, they could have simply entered through the gardens. But I suppose they have someone waiting in a car nearby, right behind the border to their territory. If the three are being reported missing, Javier's gang will know where to look first."
"I understand," Sarah said, "how would we be able to recognize that driver?"
"They all carry the same tattoo on their left forearm. When you think you found him, just ask him if he's waiting for Javier."
Alison walked over to the dead tall guy and lifted his arm up.
"That tattoo, is it the knife symbol with the number 35 on it?" she asked.
Chola nodded.
"See that you find that driver," Sarah said.
"On my way," Alison replied and was about to leave the house through the back door.
"Don't forget to put your clothes back on again," Sarah remarked with a smirk.
Alison stopped dead in her tracks and turned around.
"Right," she said and walked back, putting on her tee shirt and jacket again.
"Make sure nobody sees you."
Alison left the house through the back door and walked into the garden. Sarah sighed.
"Sometimes I don't know if she's doing that on purpose to provoke me or if she really is that careless with nudity," she said.
"So, she… isn't human?" Chola asked.
"No, and neither is Cameron," Sarah replied. "I'm not telling you the whole story because the less you know, the better for you."
"But she seems so real."
"Living tissue over a metal endoskeleton," Sarah said. "Javier and the other two guys could have shot their guns empty at her and she would have shrugged it off."
"She protects you?"
"Yes, they do."
"Can you spare one?"
Sarah chuckled.
"No, I'm afraid not. Come on, let's start cleaning up the mess?"
Fifteen minutes later, the back door burst open and in flew a small man, landing hard on the floor, moaning in pain. He tried to get up with an obviously broken left wrist. His head was bleeding as well.
"He was the only guy inside a car with a running engine in the vicinity," Alison explained. "He didn't want to show me his forearm and didn't want to come voluntarily. So, I had to become more convincing after he tried to threaten me with this."
Alison handed a revolver over to Sarah.
"I'm surprised he's still alive," Sarah commented, looking at the writhing man on the floor.
"I figured that maybe we should interrogate him before we kill him," Alison explained.
The man saw the corpses of his three friends, lying spread out on the floor on plastic sheets, and gasped. Then he saw the bent shotgun around Javier's neck and started panicking.
"Oh dios mio!" he exclaimed. "Por favor, let me go. I won't talk. Please, spare my life."
"Don't beg us," Sarah said with a smirk, "we're just guests here. It's up to Chola to decide what she does with you."
"I'm not a killer," Chola stated. "And I know that man. He's a subordinate gang member. He has a daily job and a family. I doubt he's working for them voluntarily."
"Alison," Sarah said, "would you be so kind to convince him that he better stands true to his word and doesn't tell anyone what he's seen here today?"
"With pleasure, Sarah," Alison replied and reached down for the man.
She grabbed him by his throat and pulled him up with one arm, his feet dangling in the air. He choked and tried to loosen her grip with his hands, clawing at her arm, but it was a futile attempt. Alison let her eyes glow red this time and took the revolver back from Sarah.
"When you get out of here," she said and used a deep, demonic voice like from a bad horror movie, "you will not say a word to anyone. Or I will come after you and kill first your family in front of your eyes, and then you."
"Oh dios mio, oh dios mio!" was all the man was able to stammer while a wet stain formed in his lap.
To emphasize her words, Alison held the revolver in front of his face and pressed her fingers together, squeezing and bending the gun as if it was made of plasticine.
"Did you understand what I said?" she asked menacingly.
The man nodded his head vigorously with wide-open eyes, at least as much as he was able to with his neck still being in Alison's iron grip.
"Si," he croaked, "I understand. Not a word. To no one. I swear!"
"Get that filth out of here," Sarah said and Alison threw him out of the back door, where the man hastily got on his feet and scurried away with a limp.
"Nice performance," Sarah commented, "but don't you ever let me catch you using that demon routine with Derek late at night, is that clear?"
Alison pouted. Apparently, that was exactly what she had planned to do.
"I really wish you hadn't asked if she was a demon," Sarah said to Chola with a sigh, "I'm afraid it has given her a new idea and it'll take some effort to convince her not to use it as a prank on my brother-in-law."
"It was an effective strategy," Alison declared and shrugged. "You can't intimidate these guys with worldly threats, so I tried something supernatural."
"We better don't show her any horror movies," Lauren remarked.
Chola called a few members of her gang on the phone who she said would make the bodies disappear. When they arrived, they were also shocked about the way Javier and his men had died. However, they were smart enough not to ask many questions. Sarah then handed over pictures of Lauren and Alison for issuing the papers.
"So, how much for everything?" Sarah asked.
"Nothing. Service of the house for helping me out," Chola said, "But I have one condition."
"What condition?" Sarah asked warily.
"That I can contact you if trouble ever returns here, and that you will come and bring the girls if necessary. I mean Cameron and Alison."
Sarah looked at Alison, who shrugged and nodded.
"Alright, she said," write down this number. "It's a prepaid cellphone, you can leave a message on the mailbox, but we won't be calling you back."
"Thank you," Chola replied. "The documents will be ready in two days.
"Friday then," Sarah confirmed. "I'll send one of the girls to fetch them."
-0-
John and Derek were already home again when Sarah, Lauren and Alison returned.
"Why are you back so soon?" Sarah asked astonished. "We've only been gone for three hours."
"Easy," Derek replied with a lollipop in his mouth, "no women."
"Very funny," Sarah said with a disdainful look.
"No, mom, really," John assured, "in and out in under two hours. No arguing, no stopping and looking at things we don't need, no losing ourselves in the odds and ends before the furniture warehouse. We even had time for a snack and buying some Swedish chocolate."
Sarah squinted at them warily.
"What did you buy?" she asked with her arms crossed, still not quite believing the men had been so quick with buying furniture.
"We bought a resilient, king-sized bed for the girls and me, with mattress and pillows and sheets and everything. Also, a queen-sized bed, a wardrobe and a couple of dressers for the spare room Derek is going to get. We also stopped at an electronics store on the way back, buying flat screen TV's for Lauren and Derek, and also some wall paint at Home Depot. We'll let you do all the fine tuning and decorating, though, so you don't feel useless."
"Hmmm," is all Sarah replied, not liking John's smugness at all. "Well, don't expect me to help you with the furniture. You bought it, now see that you get it assembled."
John rolled his eyes.
Fifteen minutes later, and with the help of Cameron and Alison, all the packages were unloaded and sorted into the appropriate rooms. It was decided that Lauren and Sydney would get the infirmary from John, since it was next to a bathroom with a bath tub. Derek would move into the second spare room after it had been cleaned and renovated.
There was a bit of an argument about whether Sarah should give up the master bedroom on the ground floor with the associated bathroom but in the end, everyone agreed that there was a greater need for space and privacy for John and the girls than for a single woman alone.
Sarah reluctantly moved into Cameron's old room. That way, Lauren and she would have to share the same bathroom, but both were okay with it. Derek would now use the guest bathroom on the upper floor where Riley had cut her wrists open. The door lock would have to be repaired first, though. All of Sarah's stuff, including her bed and furniture, was moved upstairs while John's, Cameron's and Alison's stuff was carried downstairs. Thanks to having two cyborgs, all that went very quickly and smoothly.
With everything and everyone re-arranged, they started to put the furniture together. Derek and Lauren had trouble putting the wardrobe for his room together and he voiced the assumption that the construction manual was nothing more than the visions of a drug-addicted Swedish graphic designer. But in the end, with a lot of swearing and some minor blood loss, they were successful.
John and his two girlfriends had a lot less trouble with putting their new, king-size bed together in the master bedroom downstairs. Somehow, the cyborg girls had a knack for putting stuff together in the correct way and did it almost without needing the manual. The frame of the bed and the mattress were specifically designed for very heavy people, so it was ideally suited for two 180-pound cyborgs and a 150-pound teenage boy.
Then it was lunch time and as it turned out, Lauren was quite the chef. She had prepared Lasagna for all, and it was a nice change from the usual Mac and Cheese, Spaghetti with tomato sauce or burnt meat loaf.
"So, what did you find out about the Simdyne building?" Sarah asked as everyone sat down to eat. "Could you study the blueprints?"
"Yes," Cameron replied. "The building itself is not so much of a problem. Getting in there should be easy. The problem is the underground floor where the bunker with the pre-Skynet hardware is located. It's separated from the rest of the building and is only accessible by an elevator. The stairwells have been filled with concrete, it has its own power and water supply as well as air filters. It can function independently for more than a month. The good news, however, is that we should have no problem severing the power and data connections for the whole building. They're fairly easily accessible – when you know where they are."
"The Simdyne building itself is a 35-story office tower, built in the 1980's," Eric added. "The bunker was originally designed as a public shelter in case of a nuclear attack. As we already know, it's located on the fifth sub level. That's almost sixty feet under street level. The entrance to the bunker is a 20-ton blast door. There are, however, no plans of the bunker layout itself. It was classified at the time and our guess is that the plans are either lost or lay forgotten in some cabinet somewhere in the city archives. There was a catalog entry for them, which means they must have been digitalized at some point, but the files were deleted years ago, probably at the behest of Jacobsen or Kaliba. There's no way of restoring them now."
"Well, I'm sure Jacobson knows his way around down there," Sarah said.
"I'm sure he'll cooperate with us when the time has come," Alison agreed.
"Bringing him with us could pose a potential security risk, though," Cameron argued.
"We'll sedate him and carry him with us," Sarah said. "He's going nowhere. And if he still has hope of survival, he might even help us voluntarily."
"But we're going to kill him afterwards, right?" Alison asked a little too eagerly.
Sarah frowned.
"This will be a very risky and extremely dangerous operation," she pointed out, "we might need him alive as the ace up our sleeve, in case something unexpected happens."
"I think mom's right," John said, "he's worth more to us alive until the operation is over successfully."
"The best time for the operation will be around 2 a.m.," Alison stated. "As I already mentioned, I was able to watch the building for a couple of nights before I traveled back in time. Nobody there is working that late, and there'll be hardly any traffic."
"Where exactly is the building connected to the outside world?" Derek asked.
"There are two cable shafts for electricity, telephone lines, cable TV and internet on the first sub level," Cameron replied. "There's also an array of satellite dishes on the roof. Since we don't know if any of those are connected to the pre-Skynet A.I., it will be necessary to take them all out. Somebody has to get onto the roof and do it. That means we have to split into teams to cut the connections and destroy the satellite dishes at the same time. Otherwise the A.I. might raise an alarm and we'd be getting company very soon."
"We need to rob it of the ability to communicate with the Air Force," Sarah said, nodding in understanding. "Since it is already locked up in the bunker, it can't go anywhere or alarm anyone, even if it detects the intrusion. Sounds good so far. "
"How can we be sure that after Jacobsen's disappearance the Air Force won't occupy the building?" Eric asked.
"That's unlikely," Alison replied. "Keep in mind that officially, the Air Force isn't involved at all. It's a black project that Washington doesn't know about. Kaliba will also do nothing to reveal their connections with Simdyne Cybernetics. Everyone will avoid attracting attention, desperately hoping for Jacobsen to show up again. They're probably quite distressed by now and it won't get better anytime soon."
"At least not until the backup system is completed in Nevada," John said. "My guess is they're gonna do everything they can now to finish it as soon as possible. We shouldn't wait longer than, say… two weeks before we start our assault."
"Can we access the cable shafts from the outside or do we have to enter the building for that?" Derek asked.
"There's access via the city sewers," Cameron replied. "C4 with a timer should do the job. But it's important to really cut all connections at the same moment, including the satellite dish array on the roof. Otherwise Skynet might be able to send out an alert."
"Yes, I guess we all understood that," Derek said. "And I think each one of us is aware of the fact that it's important to 'kill' the pre-Skynet A.I. in a way it can't be restored anymore."
"After the power connections are cut," Alison continued, "the building will switch over to battery buffers. Seconds later, two diesel generators will start. We need to take those out as well. Without the generators, the building is virtually dead but the computer center inside the bunker still has its own generator and will be under power nevertheless."
"First, we need to get rid of the Triple-Eight security guards, though," Alison said. "Nothing will be accomplished with them still being around. Once they are out of the way, things will get a lot easier."
"That's the part where Catherine Weaver would be a massive help," John explained, "If she really is a T-1000, she should be able to destroy the Triple-Eights quickly and quietly. We need to prevent any shoot-outs to not draw the attention of any passers-by to the building – at least in the lobby and on the surface floors. What awaits us down below, is still an unknown. Skynet might have arranged for security measures even Jacobsen knows nothing about."
"Awesome," Sarah said, "So even the best preparation leaves room for a lot of unpleasant surprises."
"Has anyone considered hacking into the security systems beforehand?" Lauren asked.
"No!" John quickly replied, "we mustn't do that."
"Why not?"
"Skynet might not have contact to the outside world anymore but it's safe to assume that it has the control over the building," Cameron explained. "It would notice any attempt of an intrusion and raise the alarm."
"If I understood it right, the only way down is the elevator shaft?" Derek asked.
"Yes. But it is secured with an array of high-powered laser barriers," Alison said. "powerful enough to kill a human. They can only be deactivated from down below."
"How long do you need to get down there?" John asked Cameron and Alison.
"If we jump, two seconds," Cameron replied.
"Can you do that?"
"Yes," Alison said, "we can safely land a jump from that height without taking any damage."
"That's so cool," Lauren remarked and both cyborgs smiled at her.
"So, once the laser barriers are deactivated," Derek summarized, "we climb down to follow you and might have to take Fatty Jacobsen with us. Cute."
"How thick is the concrete in the stairwell?" Sarah asked. "Maybe we should consider blasting our way through that as well."
"Not a chance," Eric replied, "The filling reaches up to the next level. However, it might be possible to blow a hole in the floor of the fourth sub level and get down onto the fifth through that. But that can only happen after the power generators are taken out. Otherwise you'd be killed by the automated guns down there."
"Automated guns?" Sarah asked.
"Oh, right," Cameron said, "forgot to mention. The corridors on the fifth sub level are all protected by automated guns, guided my motion and heat detectors."
"Laser barriers, automated guns," Sarah stated with a sigh. "And we have no idea yet what awaits us inside the bunker."
"The plan isn't perfect," John admitted, "and it's far from being finished. Besides, we should definitely discuss it with Catherine Weaver first."
"You're right," Sarah agreed.
"Good," Derek said. "Now let's finish lunch before it all gets cold."
-0-0-0-
Author's note:
- The big showdown is still far away but maybe it's nice to know about the general idea. What's they say? No plan aver completely survives the impact with reality.
