Chapter 33
SPOV
As I lay on the bed, I had nothing else to do but think. With everything that happened in the last week I think I was beyond feeling anything. I knew I should be feeling more, maybe scared or nervous, probably even on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But those feelings seemed to be buried deep inside of me and a new set of emotions were taking control. I felt that Ranger and I were back to where we were. He was more open with me and as was as usual concerned for me. It was more than that though, somehow, I felt liberated in a way I'd never experienced before, and I put it down to the acceptance of me from the guys. So, as I lay here, I was going through all the information that I'd learned about Gannon and some of the people who seemed involved in this whole situation.
I heard the door clunking before it opened, pleased to see a soldier walk in with a tray in his hands. He placed the tray on the table and turned to leave but not before Gannon slunk into the room. To be honest the place where I was being held was a lot better than some of the places I'd found myself in before. How sad was that. The room wasn't overly big, but it had a single bed with clean linens on, a small round table with four chairs and a door that led into a small bathroom. The bathroom had a sink, toilet and shower with white towels hung up and soap by the sink. No way would I undress at any stage of my visit here. I'd seen a camera in the corner of the room so was careful with how I'd behaved; trying to give the impression of boredom rather than the nervous wreck I was inside. The food was passable, a hamburger and fries with a dark strong coffee. I needed both so tucked in as soon as I sat down. Gannon took his jacket off and hung it on the back of the chair next to me and then sat down opposite me and watched, his expression never changing and never saying a word until I'd eaten my last fry.
"Okay Miss Plum, maybe now we can talk"
"Sure, what do you want to talk about, the weather?"
"I need a serious conversation with you"
"Well maybe first you can tell me why you scared me to death by chasing after me"
"There were men after you"
"Other than you?"
"Yes"
"You mean Dolby?"
"Yes, he's fixated on the idea that you have something that Buckley gave to you"
"Why would Buckley give me anything, I mean I was at his house as a Bounty Hunter and he was my FTA?"
"You were the last person to see him and then he rescued you from the house"
"Oh yeah, your Grandparent's house"
"Clever, how did find that out?"
"Research, so why did you take me there?"
"To keep you safe"
"And the man who shot Buckley?"
"I don't know who that was, it wasn't an order from me"
"But the house you took me to was close to Buckley's parent's house"
"I knew they used to live there but assumed it had been sold when they died"
"You knew the family then?"
"No, I was born and grew up in Philadelphia, I never went to that house before"
"Say I believe you, what are you after?"
"The microchip, like everyone else"
"Why?"
"It's something that everyone wants"
"How do you mean?"
"I think you've experienced the effects of someone trying to control robots"
"They're killing machines"
"Yes they are. The problem is they can't distinguish the good guys from the bad ones"
"So civilians would get killed?"
"Yes"
"Surely it's hard even for a person to figure out who the good guys are?"
"Point taken Miss Plum, but I am a good guy"
"So why did you arrest Ranger and Ash?"
"National security"
"Bull shit"
"Look I have my orders and I have to deliver"
"So, you duped Buckley with that false company Herichlon hoping he'd hand it over"
"Yeah well he almost fell for it, said he had the answer to perfect the flaws"
"How would he do that?"
"A machine where their thought processes grew and learnt"
"So what happened?"
"He didn't like that I worked for the army"
"Well I can see that"
"Miss Plum we need that microchip"
"I'm sorry but I have no idea where it is or even if it exists"
"I could make you a good offer"
"Maybe your uncle has it?"
"No, much as he would like to have it he hasn't"
"You working with him then?"
"No. I despise the man and everything he stands for"
"What does Dolby want with it?"
"He sees it as a way of getting power and money"
"And Gauge?"
"You have done your homework haven't you?"
"Pays to be prepared, I saw you talking to him at the funeral. So Gauge?"
"He sees it as an opportunity"
"An opportunity for what?"
"I don't know"
"Well let's face it if Buckley had managed to create what you wanted there'll be others who can do the same"
"No, anyone else is years behind him"
"So Mr Gannon, why arrest Ranger and Ash?"
"As I said before, National Security"
"Why infiltrate into Rangeman and work there?"
"To have access to Safenet and Hastings"
"So it was you who corrupted their systems?"
"No. I honestly believed at the time that you had something to do with that"
"I'm tired now but I'll think through what you've said and see if anything comes to me"
I got up and stood behind his jacket and handed him the tray of dirty dishes and then watched as he tried to work out how to put his jacket on while his hands were full.
"Allow me"
As I lifted his jacket from the chair, I made sure I was between him and the jacket and feeling in the pocket quickly slid a card into my palm. I hung his jacket over his arm then turned and lay on the bed, pushing the card underneath the pillow. I watched as he balanced the tray in one hand and knocked on the door and as a soldier opened it and let him out before pulling it closed behind him.
Now I really needed to think through our conversation because somewhere in amongst it all he'd been lying, at least lying by omission. I mean what he'd said seemed logical and seemed reasonable from his point of view, but there was more to it and I had a horrible idea that the microchip of Buckley's was more than just enhancing those awful robots. Let's face it most men I come across are obsessed with power and money, so how would the microchip achieve that?
I know I must have fallen asleep, or at least dozed. As my eyes became accustomed to the darkness of the room, I realized at some time the light had been switched off. The camera no longer had the red light on underneath it making me wonder if it was still working or had been switched off when the light went out. I was sure it was late enough that people would either have left the building or be asleep. Getting the card from under the pillow I walked over to the door holding it next to the scanner. I heard the clunk of the door releasing, waiting in case someone was outside and came in. Nothing happened, no one came through the door and in the end I was curious as to what was going on outside. I quietly stood by the door, pulling it open enough to look up and down the corridor. Nothing, hell what now, there were only other doors on this corridor and the elevator, and I knew you needed the card to make that work. I stuffed the pillow down the bed, just in case the camera came back on and started to walk down toward elevator, making sure the door to the room I'd been in was closed. The lighting was dim, obviously nighttime lighting but what made me jump was when the elevator doors opened to an empty car. Did the scanner detect the card from so far away? I was getting anxious and didn't know whether to get in the elevator or not, I mean where would it take me to?
I knew I had to find Ranger and Ash, so I took in several deep breaths and stepped inside watched in horror as the doors closed, yeah I know that happens but usually when you press a button. I just hoped there was no one there when they reopened.
I was sure I was going down, why the hell do secret research places always have to be underground, I mean it's like that in all the horror films; you know where they keep the maniac locked up in the basement. The elevator stopped and the doors opened onto a wider brighter corridor that had two metal doors on the same side. I tried the first door and was surprised when it opened into a large control room with banks of equipment on every wall. Shit was this place like Safenet; did they have robots here as well?
As I walked further into the room I bumped into a desk and a computer screen suddenly lit up, showing a file that had recently been opened. Maybe Gannon had been working on this file earlier? I watched fascinated as I opened the file, pleased to see that it was one that I could read, so sat at the chair and began to read through it. It seemed to be a resumé of work that was being done in the field of robotics, far too much for me to read now, so searching through a drawer I found a memory stick and having pushed it into the slot watched as the file suddenly downloaded.
Once finished I closed down the file and I pushed the stick into the top of my bra. I stood up to leave when I noticed a second door, and I just felt compelled to go through it. I breathed out a sigh of relief when I realized it was the second door that I'd seen in the corridor so taking a good look around I moved into the corridor and ran for the open doors of the elevator. As before the doors closed behind me but this time, I actually held the card to the control box. I was on level 1 so decided to go up to level 2. As the doors opened, I realized that this was the level I'd been kept on so hit the control for Level 3. When the elevator stopped and the door opened, I seemed to be in an area where there were cells, could Ranger and Ash be here? I peered through the windows of each room as passed them. All the cells were empty until I came to the last two and there laid down on each of the cots were Ranger and Ash.
"You two ready leave now?"
I know they looked shocked and they both gave me a strange look, well stare really. I held the card to each scanner until there was a clunking sound and the doors swung open allowing Ranger and Ash to come through.
"Babe how the hell did you get here?"
"No idea, but we need to get out"
"Ash, you okay?"
"Yeah Ranger, I can walk out of here"
The problem was I hadn't seen anyone around at all and that was starting to worry me, I mean surely there'd be guards around somewhere. I shouldn't have thought that because no sooner than the words came into my mind than alarms started to sound, and red lights started to flash.
"Run, get to the elevator"
I didn't need telling twice though I made sure that Ranger and Ash were close behind with Ranger holding Ash under his arm. He helped him until we got into the elevator and then he propped Ash against the cool metal walls.
"I hope this isn't like the last time with a few explosions"
I saw Ranger thinking and when the elevator stopped and the doors opened he ran out.
"Stay there and keep the doors open"
I watched as he approached a fire alarm on the wall and as he smashed open the glass and pulled the chord. More alarms started to blare out as he returned to us. Once inside the elevator I chose the top control, hoping it was the ground floor entrance.
"Ash there are going to be armed guards up there, can you manage?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure how the hell we'll get off this base"
The elevator opened into the empty area that I recognized as the same place where we'd come in. As we approached the door to the outside and looked through the glass section my heart fell as I saw four guards stood there, but then stared at one of them as he turned around and winked at me. Les! Les was here!
"Les, it's Les"
Tank, Les, Cal and Ram were dressed in the uniform of the military police. Les opened the door while we quietly crept out. While Tank and Cal stood behind us Les and Ram led the way with us in the middle heading away from the building. To be honest the alarms now blaring out wasn't as spectacular as the explosion had been as Safenet but as a distraction it served its purpose. All anyone saw were four marching soldiers with us in between. As we came to a gate the guard on duty came up to us, eyeing us up.
"Where you going?"
"We were told to move the civilians to somewhere safer, the building's on fire"
As Les continued to talk there were other people suddenly surrounding us, men and women in civilian clothes, maybe cleaners or cooks who worked on the base. Ranger carefully moved back a step and Tank and Cal moved apart so that we suddenly became part of a larger civilian group
"I can see that"
He looked around at us and I think just gave up any idea of keeping people in.
"Okay, through you go,"
I didn't dare look up at all, I was half scared shitless and half of me wanted to jump up and down. We carried on walking then as we rounded a corner our small group fell back behind the other people; I was sure this wasn't the right way to get out.
"Move over to the side of the building"
I felt someone take hold of my collar and pull me back against a wall, I didn't know what had happened or why Les had made us do it but then watched as a helicopter came down, hovering above the ground before it eventually touched down.
"Wait here"
I watched as Tank and Les walked away from the wall and made their way to the front of the building and then as the engine seemed to quieten, I heard the unmistakable voice of Gannon. I pushed myself tight up against the wall and closed my eyes.
"What the hell happened?"
"Not sure sir, something about a fire"
"Where?"
"Sector G sir"
"Get the place locked down"
"Already done sir"
"Any sign of what's going on?"
"No sir, a fire seems to have start in the sub levels"
"Shit some ones gonna pay for this"
"Yes sir"
I jumped when a hand fell onto my shoulder and saw Les smiling at me.
"Stay low and follow me"
I watched as Tank and Cal led Ash around the corner and out of view then recognized that Les had a mic and ear bud and he then spoke quietly to Ranger and Ram. They too disappeared around the corner, so that just left Les and me. He took my hand and we skirted along the wall and turned the corner, going in through a door. It felt like a big space, maybe a hanger, and when Les stopped and ducked down behind some crates I did the same until we came to another opening.
"Okay Beautiful we're going across to that jeep, stay close and follow my lead"
We walked quickly and were behind the jeep having just seen Ranger and Ram hide behind the wheels of what looked like a plane from here. Suddenly there were footsteps coming toward us and immediately Les pushed my back to the jeep and surrounded my body, well his arms did. His hands ended up on the side of my face and on my hip and suddenly he was kissing me, thankfully no tongues but he was certainly moaning. Then it came to me and I started to move my hands over his backside and moaned out loud as well.
"Hey, you aint got time for that, get your body moving soldier, we've got an emergency situation, the base is going into lock down"
I heard his footsteps receding and felt Les move away from me, his eyes constantly scanning the area.
"Okay, last move across to that helicopter"
I was looking around now and felt Les pulling me along, almost running as we came to an old looking helicopter. Then as a whirring noise started, he swept me up into his arms and deposited me on the floor. As Les climbed in, I could see the ground getting further away and realized we were taking off. As the door slid shut, I felt hands under my armpits and allowed myself to be lifted onto a bench and found myself sitting between Rangers legs with his arms like bands of steel around me. Then I felt earphones go onto my head, courtesy of Les, allowing me to hear when Ranger spoke to me.
"You okay?"
"I think so, we're flying, in the air, in a helicopter"
He laughed, actually laughed at me but my arms were locked to my sides so I couldn't get to him. I needed something to think about to get my mind off the idea that we were in the air.
"What happened to you and Ash in there?"
"Gannon had us in one of their interrogation rooms, at least we were both together, but I just couldn't work out what he wanted, his questions were random and a lot he already knew from working at Rangeman. He seems, I don't know, on the one hand totally into this whole idea of using robots as soldiers but then his questions just seemed so off, as though there's another agenda out there. Did he talk to you?"
"He tried, and yeah I got the whole for the good of the army spiel, but he's obsessed with that dam microchip"
"He mention anything else?"
"He was the one who took me from Safenet, but I'd already worked that out. He said that Dolby was just in it for power and money, but he said he hated him. I just don't know who Gannon is working with. I'm not sure about Gauge"
"Where do you want to take it from here?"
"I think it's personal and Buckley is the key, so I'll delve into that. Oh, Gannon was the one who set up Herichlon to try and trick Buckley. Maybe the file will tell me something"
"What file?"
"I ended up in a large computer room and found a file that seemed to have lots of information about work being done"
"Babe, how the hell did you get out and then get us out?"
"I stole a key card from Gannon, shit I was scared there were going to be more robots"
"Yeah me too"
"Where are we going to go?"
"Somewhere you'll like"
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"Zeph will drop the others off where they'll get picked up and then he'll fly us to somewhere safe"
We were both quiet after that, the sound from the helicopter and the vibrations coming through gradually lulled me to sleep, knowing everyone was safe.
