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Chapter Seventeen - "Backs Against the Wall"
Hayward, California
...
Traffic's lighter than usual; the black Range Rover maintained a steady thirty-five miles per hour as it zipped across the asphalt. Road signs, billboards, and people came and went at this speed, just as the buildings that lined the roads. Just another calm mid-afternoon 'burbs. The peace was quite deceptive, however, as a keen eye could spot the police cars parked in an alley or a roadside here and there. The cops could be on break, could be on the prowl. A gut feeling would tell this was not a normal thing to see in this city; current events in the world made security a priority for all governments. Still, the black vehicle pressed on, not daring to put certain assumptions to the test. All that mattered was the journey - it was taxing and perilous, but the end was now in sight.
Hard to believe the trio had made it this far, all things considered. They breezed through Utah and Nevada without much trouble, but that was more to do with them avoiding major thoroughfares, for the "Department of Defense" credentials that the driver had on his person were likely ineffective now.
"Take a left here.", Erin Cosgrove said to him.
"*sigh* You're the boss..."
Ethan's professionalism lapsed for a moment as his hands turned the wheel. He didn't mind playing chauffeur, but he was quite weary, much like the woman who barked orders and the little girl who sat behind them. Most of all, he didn't like her idea: rather than head straight to Prestige National Bank's main office in San Francisco, they took a detour to Hayward. Erin's home. She apparently held on to vain hope that some of her stuff was still in her apartment – stuff that could help them along the way, assuming her kidnappers hadn't ransacked her apartment already. Or worse, the cops on their payroll would be waiting for her and her luckless companions, ready to clip them on sight. Of course, perhaps all the heightened police activity he'd been seeing so far was due to the Saint Claire Law; he saw the same thing when he arrived at Newark Airport more than a week ago.
Newark. He started his journey in New Jersey, never once thinking he'd end up in the West Coast of all places. It felt like an entire lifetime had gone by since Ethan came back to America on an important mission for Rainbow. That mission had since been derailed. The occupants on his vehicle, which were three too many, was proof of that.
"Are you okay back there, Agnes?", he looked at the rearview mirror.
The little girl stared back at him with a small grin. She was wrapped in a jacket, munching on a few crackers which left white crumbs on her tan-skinned cheeks. Ethan felt a bit easy knowing the kid's health was improving. One less person to worry about for him, which was a small consolation considering the two adults in the party were left off much worse. The Rainbow Operator still had a hole in his chest that still needed attending to, and by rights he should be taking things easy rather than manning the steering wheel. As for the woman, the luckless data analyst from Prestige National Bank, she had a lot of scrapes and bruises hidden underneath her clothes, courtesy of a bomb blast from more than a week ago and her hasty escape from the CIA's goons a few days after. A soldier and an analyst, both of whom were swimming in all sorts of medications just to keep themselves going.
The turn that Erin him her to take led to another two-way road that had little traffic. It looked like a residential area: trees sprinkled on the fore, with rows of fancy apartments and townhouses in the background. One corner had a coffee shop, another had a dog park, while sedans and SUVs of various makes were parked along the way. A typical neighborhood for young professionals and budding families, and not at all surprising for a San Fran yuppie like Erin. Ethan continued to drive along the road until his passenger had found her place, which was just round the next bend: a cream-colored apartment block, some ten floors high...
...
"Oh no…", she muttered. Her voice was trembling.
Before Ethan could ask her 'What?', his eyes had locked on to the source of her concern: two black and white vehicles bearing the shield of the Hayward Police Department were sitting on a driveway, close to her building. A black van was also nearby, not at all unusual to the naked eye, but the intuition of an experienced soldier hinted that it was a surveillance vehicle. Thinking on his feet, he avoided the next turn and simply drove along without changing his speed, as though he knew where he was going. On the other hand, Erin had gotten antsy, unable to fathom that she was barred from the only sanctuary she had in this city. It was a good thing that the Rover's windows were tinted, because she was causing a ruckus.
"T-That's the Philippine Embassy!", she frantically pointed at another car that was parked between the police vehicles. "Then that means…"
Before Ethan knew it, she started fumbling with her seat belt, causing enough commotion to cause Agnes to peer between the seats and ponder.
"Wait! What are you doing?!", Ethan grabbed her hand, his eyes briefly glancing from the windshield.
"It's my dad!", Erin whisked her arm from his grasp. "Senator Darcy said she'd bring him over from Manila while I was in the hospital!"
There was relief in her eyes. And frustration. And fear. So hasty she was at freeing herself from her seat that she grunted in pain from it all - the wounds on her body, not yet fully-healed, made themselves known to her again. She clenched and grimaced, but they didn't prevent her from making another bold request from Ethan.
"Stop the car! Oh my God, I gotta get to him!"
Fired up and anxious, she looked like she was about to jump from a moving vehicle. Looked dead serious about it too. The man sighed and did as he was told, but he had no intention of letting her run off. As soon as he pulled the handbrake, he grabbed her arm again, this time with a firmer grip.
"You're not going anywhere."
"Let me go!", she struggled again.
Emotions filled her heart, clouding her judgment. She started to fight back, albeit in vain. She struggled fiercely, unintentionally brushing a slap across his chest where his wound was. Ethan, who was starting to get riled himself, realized he was in no mood to force some sense into her. Mustering a sudden burst of strength, he calmed her down with a cold stare and some choice words. Agnes gasped and held her breath, seeing the two adults fail spectacularly to keep their best behavior.
"Erin! Listen to me! Your place is locked down. No way in hell you're gonna get past those cops!"
In that moment, the fire on the woman's eyes began to fade.
"And even if you do, do you seriously want to get your father involved too?", he continued. "Maybe he's there because the cops know you'll come home!"
He was bait, in other words. Reality check: she was a fugitive, or at the very least, a person of interest for the cops. Ethan's suspicions about their predicament had turned out to be true, as the people running this illegal operation with the CIA had ordered every cop in this side of the country to be on the lookout for them. She and Ethan had eluded their lackeys in Utah and Nevada; there was no way in hell he would let themselves get pinched here, so close to their main goal. But at the same time, he understood how she felt. This place was her home.
"I-I… I just…", Erin stammered, eyes starting to fill with tears.
She started to calm down so he loosened his grip on her. He suddenly felt guilty for using such force to restrain her, but she left him with no choice. She seemed to have understood as well why he had to do it.
"Look.", he said to her, gently this time. "We'll go get him after we're done in San Francisco. I promise."
Erin scoffed in response, sniffling and wiping away her tears. The driver, meanwhile, lifted the handbrake and continued their quiet drive. Apartment blocks came and went, as the view shifted from the comfy suburbs to the dull and lifeless road. It was time to head to their main destination: San Francisco. It wouldn't take them more than thirty minutes or so, assuming traffic and road conditions were still good. If they played it cool like before, then the cops probably wouldn't bother them. Before long, they were back on the main road, and the driver whipped out his smartphone with one hand to double-check their route. Caution was advised against taking Highway 92, for fear of yet more police checkpoints along the way.
Ethan didn't know what the so-called Prestige Tower looked like, let alone its floor plans, but he trusted Erin to be up to the task. This whole trip, after all, was her idea. The only way to retrieve her data that would likely identify the bastards hunting them down was to access the Bank's main server, directly. Of course, there was still a lot of prepping to do, but Ethan reckoned they had all the time in the world. A glance at the dashboard's clock told him he still had about two hours of daylight to work with, plus a few hours more until the Tower would close for the night.
"This isn't happening... fucking, putang ina (son of a bitch)...", Erin vented everything bad in her heart. "...I should've just kept my goddamn mouth shut! Fuck!"
"*sigh* Pardon?"
She looked at him with dejection, not appreciating his sass. She had just resigned herself to a terrible fate. She'd already told him what they needed to do, but now the reality truly dawned on her. The point of no return. Agnes, who had been watching them all this time, leaned in from behind Erin's seat, offering the older woman some crackers. The little girl's smile was enough to mellow her feelings, even for a little, and Erin smiled to her as she accepted the little gift. It did work, to some degree, as the tone of her next words were a lot less angry.
"Why are you even doing this?"
"Doing what's right. Doing my duty.", were the first two answers that came to Ethan's mind. Such a corny and disappointing choice of words, so the woman beside him responded in kind.
"Heh. Duty. I don't intend to throw my life away too, thank you very much."
"Our lives are not gonna matter anyhow if we don't get that evidence of yours."
"Assuming we can even get them to the FBI.", she remarked bitterly, turning away from him.
She did have a point. Even if they did manage to retrieve the data from Prestige Tower, Ethan would be saddled with planning yet another exit strategy for the three of them. And in truth, he hadn't really thought that far into their desperate plan; their chances of success weren't that high to begin with. He was hoping, praying that his comrades would bail him out this time tonight. The thought lingered in his head as he took another turn to I-880 North, following the map from his phone.
"If not them, then my guys can help us.", he retorted.
"Are you even sure they're gonna get to us in time?"
"They better."
It sounded like he was trying to convince himself. Perhaps he really was way out of his depth, just like what Erin said.
Sighing to himself, Ethan pushed a few buttons on the dashboard, turn on the onboard television to pass the time. Maybe even give Agnes a cartoon to watch as a distraction. To his disappointment, the screen came to life with the voice of a droning news reporter, coupled with a clip of one bespectacled old man in a suit talking at a press conference in DC. Ethan barely kept himself from recoiling in disgust as he saw the man's face. He was someone that Team Rainbow had an intimate knowledge of, and not for the best. Robert Jonah Treadway, Secretary of Homeland Security.
...
"…even as news from Russia remain scarce. All that is clear is that the US State Department vehemently denies having any involvement or prior knowledge about the second shooting incident that took place in Moscow at dawn, less than forty-eight hours after a major counter-terrorist operation in the city. The White House is yet to-"
...
*click*
"Yep. That was a bad idea.", Ethan sighed.
Not that he didn't want to see the bastard's mug, of all things, but the news didn't interest him one bit either. He begrudgingly settled for what would be a boring next few minutes. Erin didn't seem to care either, as from the corner of his eyes, he saw her looking out of the window again, perhaps silently hoping for a miracle. Nothing left to do but press on, onwards to whatever fate waiting for them today. He should've looked to Agnes, whose eyes were wide the moment the TV came to life.
She was taken by fear. She couldn't even speak loud enough for Ethan to hear.
"That man in the TV…", she trembled.
He ignored her words. It was his first mistake of the day.
…
Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California
Two hours later
...
Ethan had never been to San Francisco before. Not that he had any reason to: a few of his fellow Delta had told him in the past that their kind were not welcome here. For his part, he thought they were just jabbing at the city's... unique culture. Certainly a bit different from Hayward. His binoculars were set on the imposing headquarters of Prestige National Bank, about a couple of blocks away from his windshield. It looked like a marble spire reaching into the sky, relatively shorter than many of its kind, perhaps only having sixty floors or so. To the northwest of his Rover parked to the sidewalk was Chinatown, where people flocked to at this time of the day. Further north of that was North Beach, where he'd find fine foods, strip clubs, and all sorts of strange. Across the buildings and the waterfront was San Francisco Bay itself, whose blue waves were juxtaposed by the setting, orange sun. Quite picturesque indeed, if only he didn't have important business to deal with here. The stream of vehicles coming and going provided ample cover for his approach.
"Can't you patch me through to the cavalry?", he spoke into his phone.
"Negative.", Meghan Castellano radioed back. "Dokka's encryption means we can only operate one secure comms channel at a time."
"Not my fault you Americans use outdated protocols…", hummed the geek herself, who was listening in on them.
By 'Dokka', she was referring to Grace "Dokkaebi" Nam, whose brainchild was about to be put to the test in a few minutes. Ethan needed something to bypass security, so the Korean Gremlin was front and center tonight. It's just that Ethan had hoped her help wouldn't be the long-distance relationship that Meghan was able to arrange. He remained silent on the phone, as though to hint to the former SEAL that he wasn't at all thrilled to hear her proposition. He needed reassuring, which she quickly delivered.
"Don't worry. They're ten miles out. I told them to raise you on your frequency once they get there."
"Roger that."
"Listen, you're breaking a lot of rules with this plan.", Meghan continued. "Like, if something bad happens inside that Tower, we're not sure if we can get you out."
"*sigh* I know, I know..."
The exfil wasn't the only thing bad about this mission. Ethan would be putting himself and two civilians at risk just to access one fucking computer and mine data off of it, something that could've been done remotely. However, Erin insisted that the Bank's servers were a self-contained ecosystem: virtually unbreakable and impregnable unless someone opened a proverbial backdoor, and that meant going inside the Server Room in person and pushing a few buttons. Plus, he figured that he should join her and bring the kid along while he's at it, so that the rescue team could find them all in one spot. As for the break-in and the hacking, he wasn't sure if the woman had done it before. He had faith in her, regardless - she volunteered to lead the way, after all.
He looked behind him, phone still in hand, to check on Erin and Agnes who were now sitting in the back. They were sharing a simple dinner of veggie burgers and matcha tea that they'd bought from down the street earlier; Ethan didn't dare ask the woman about her strange tastes. They seemed to be getting along quite well if their faint smiles were any indication. Erin caught his eyes and nodded - she was ready. It was his turn to uplift their spirits, giving them a small nod. Next, he peered into the binoculars again, looking down the street to observe the Tower. What looked like a company car had emerged from the underground parking lot, followed by lights shutting off on the main lobby. The office was now closed, save for the nightshift perhaps.
"...Alright, we're almost ready to head out. Gonna sign off for now, Valk. I'll check back once we're internal, out."
"Acknowledged. Good luck, brother.", Meghan radioed back.
*click*
Ethan pocketed his phone again, taking a deep breath when he was done. Beside his seat was the scoped M14 EBR he had stowed in its carrying case. He still had about two full mags for it, plus two more for his Glock. With luck, he wouldn't have to bring them both to bear, though it wouldn't hurt to be prepared all the same. It would seem the whole thing hinged on Erin. By this time, she and the little girl were done with their food, and the former had donned her denim jacket again while she slinked back to her seat on the front. She seemed calmer now, more focused. He was surprised when she suddenly reached out and grasped his shoulder.
"Hey, Agent Mallory-"
"Ethan.", he cut her off as he inspected his rifle. "I think you've earned the right to use my name."
"Heh. Okay, Ethan...", she went on. "...I-I'm sorry if I blew a gasket earlier."
He raised an eyebrow, but a quick look at her showed that she was genuinely remorseful.
"Nah, forget about it.", he smiled back.
With that, Ethan turned the ignition, lifted the brake one more time, and switched gears. Before he turned the wheel, he looked at the woman again, with the same serious expression that he'd shown earlier in Hayward. He looked at her for reassurance, as though she was a comrade about to charge into a battlefield.
"Are you sure about this?"
"I guess.", she shrugged, not mincing words. "I... Is this how it feels like to have our backs against the wall?"
"Pretty much, yeah.", he shrugged, try to get the edge off of her. "It's okay to be afraid. Just remember, the alternative is to be hunted down to the ends of the earth."
"Well, I can't run from those people forever. This... This is definitely better than waiting for 'em to kill me."
He nodded at her, appreciating her courage. Next, he took out another carrying case beside his seat, one that contained the data pad for the tri-rotor drone that he had already expended in Iowa many days ago. He opened the case and fiddled with the device within, then took off a wireless transceiver from its port. In short order, he refashioned the device to serve another purpose.
"Just slot this in on whatever console you're gonna use. My phone will do the rest."
"Your phone?", Erin frowned and tilted her head very slightly. "You mean, you know how to hack into a fortified server?"
"No, but my friends do. The wireless is just a go-between. I'll spare you the details, if you don't mind."
"Huh. Works for me."
The woman reached for the device and tucked it into her jacket's breast pocket. And with that, it was time for them to head out. Seat belts were fastened and a foot pressed on the accelerator, Ethan pushed on ahead with the plan. He drove ahead and joined a line of taxi cabs and sedans headed north, before reaching the lane opposite Prestige Tower in a manner of seconds. A quick drive by the front entrance showed that the lobby was empty, though receding lights could still be seen in halls on the upper levels, just as Erin told him they'd be at this time of day. Suffice to say, there were scarcely anybody left inside save for the janitorial staff and some guards. The only other entry point was the utility entrance at the back, so Ethan circled around the block, making a left to Sutter Street, and another left to Sansome. He slowed the vehicle to a halt, just adjacent to the underground parking lot he'd seen earlier. The entrance was there, past a row of shrubs that hide it. Save for one security camera, there was nobody guarding the metal door. He looked to his right, and the woman was scoping the place out herself. She seemed ready.
"Phew… Here goes nothing.", her lips seemed to say as her hand opened the door.
"Erin.", Ethan called to her. "Good luck."
"Thanks."
She wasted no time to cross the busy street, making her way to the metal door in a hurried pace. He looked on as Erin fumbled with the knob, as though she was intimately familiar with it – he figured that, perhaps, she was fond of slipping away for unauthorized breaks. Within seconds, she unlocked the door and slipped inside like a sly thief. Then, Ethan waited for a few seconds, to see if she'd run into trouble after a minute or so, upon which he'd kick the door in and try to fight his way through if need be.
Hopefully it wouldn't be necessary. First order of business was for him to pull security, watching both the north, east, and west streets for anything out of the ordinary. He was his own solo overwatch, with a rifle sitting on his lap in case it was needed. Of course, this alone was not enough. He still didn't have an exit plan for this mission, should things go awry. Much as he hated to admit it, he was putting everything on the line to Erin retrieving her data and Team Rainbow coming in with the cavalry. As for the latter, Meghan told him that a small team was on their way to California, "on the fastest bird" they've got on Hereford. However, the longer they weren't here to lend a hand, the greater the chances that their opposition would finally zero in on him and the girl. Ethan felt his heart quicken, despite the best the painkillers' best efforts to slow it down. He kept thinking about the array of police cars he'd seen in Hayward earlier, as any one of them could've been working for the bad guys. Who was to say that San Francisco would be different? He felt it in his gut that they were coming. He pictured planting his crosshairs in each and every one of them, just to calm him down.
'Why are you even doing this?', Erin's quote lingered in Ethan's head once again. The answer, this time, was a lot clearer. Perhaps, back when Harry was talked to him, he accepted this mission because he wanted to do his bit for the Team. Perhaps, it's because he was told that Emily was involved, and that this was his chance to settle things with her once and for all. The excuses sounded hollow. He kept his eyes on the roads, hands on the rifle as firm as possible, while the wounds on his chest started to act up again. Right now, at least, he didn't need a rationale for his actions. He had been shot at by terrorists on American soil for the past few days and two innocent lives were caught in the middle of it all. He had to protect them, at the very least, no matter what. That, he felt, was perhaps a good enough reason.
I bet that's what Twitch would've said.
"Are you okay back there, Agnes?", he called to the kid behind him.
She was the littlest thing. She looked scared, but still she held firm. She tried her best to smile back and share some of her courage.
"Mmhmm."
"That's good... That's good."
He rubbed the top of her head with a smile, then resumed his sentry. He didn't see that the little girl had actually stood up and leaned closer, fumbling her hands. Ethan glanced at her again, seeing that she was scared. The same could be said about him, but he didn't want to admit it.
"Will you take me home after this?", she asked.
It made him feel quiet. For once he didn't have an answer for her, not even a corny one like he did with Erin.
"...We'll see, kid. We still got a long way to go."
"Can... Can I stay with you?", she muttered. "I... I-I don't know if I want to go back anymore."
She grasped the fabric of his jacket. Ethan couldn't help but feel for her. She might be an important witness that Rainbow should get their hands on, but she was still a frightened little girl, thrust into the cruel world of intrigue solely because of her father. Knowing what was done to her, what she'd been through, he reaffirmed his silent pledge to never leave her side.
"Sure thing. You can stay with me."
"What if... what if something bad happens?"
"My friends will take care of you.", he muttered, coming to terms with his mortality all of a sudden. "They're coming to get us tonight."
"Promise me?", she held out her right pinky.
"Promise."
He responded in kind, as though she was his own daughter, crossing his finger with hers in the cutest handshake. He wanted to laugh at himself for letting his hair down this way. But as silly as it seemed, her friendly gesture calmed his nerves, even by a little. Just then, he heard movement beyond the vehicle. He turned around a few seconds and scanned the street ahead, seeing Erin wave at them from the Tower's backdoor.
"Logic Bomb is deployed. You have ten minutes, Ethan.", Grace then radioed.
Automated security was down, in other words.
"Roger that. I'm on foot."
The coast seemed to be clear; there was no need to go in guns blazing. He looked both ways then crossed the street at a hurried pace. One hand across the rifle tucked beneath his jacket, and another holding the child's hand.
...
...
Ethan gently closed the door behind him, his weapon held with his other hand. Agnes was not far behind.
"Let's go. This way.", Erin bid them both while she strode ahead.
The Tower's back access was a tight labyrinth compared to the fancy front door lobby and mezzanine; it was easy to get lost in this part of Prestige Tower. Luckily, she knew exactly where they were. Just a few dozen yards to their left, an elevator down the hallway could take them to the eleventh floor. She only needed to bypass the keycards, which was something that the DOD agent with them said he could do. A stream of thoughts wrestled in her head. She knew what she needed to look in the server room: a digital cache of financial data that she'd reviewed before this whole mess started. It would be a dangerous thing to have. After all, some of it were things the media would kill to get their hands on - a scoop like that could be bargained in exchange for protection if the Feds failed to deliver.
But as if God decided to give Erin a reality check, her eyes quickly caught a brand-new security camera mounted above in a pillar, watching the elevator doors. She briefly felt a knot in her heart, thinking that the damn thing was still working somehow. Their cover was blown; sooner or later a squad of guards would be dispatched to detain them, game over. However, the blue light shining from the strobe told her otherwise. The camera was actually motionless. The woman was flabbergasted, but quickly figured not to delve further. Whatever computer mojo Ethan's friends had brought to bear tonight seemed be working so far. It felt like she dodged a bullet.
"Valk, we're on the elevator now, headed ten floors up, over.", she heard Ethan speak into his earpiece.
A press on the call button, and the metal doors slid open a few seconds later. The trio quickly went inside as the woman indicated their destination on the keypad. Then, the ground beneath them started to lift.
"You sure there's no security up there?", Ethan asked while he checked his gun.
Despite his condition, he still seemed ready to kill in a heartbeat.
"*sigh* God, I hope not.", Erin replied. "If we come across any guards, promise me you won't kill them."
"No guarantees. We only got ten minutes to do this."
"Oh. No pressure, huh?"
"You said yourself: we're going all in now.", he turned to her.
She then took a deep breath and composed herself. It finally sunk in that this was real espionage-shit she was about to do, beyond the purview of a mere data analyst. The security camera from earlier had caught her off guard; it wasn't there when she was still working for the Bank. Perhaps the Board decided to update its protocols after the attempted assassination on Senator Darcy not too long ago. But something else gnawed at her mind. The stocks and financial data she discovered about Ithaca, Lyle and Maya disappearing, Abby too, and now the added security… they couldn't have been mere coincidences.
"Erin?", she heard Agnes call to her.
The woman looked down to her side. A pair of wide, hazel eyes from a little girl was enough to her a small sliver of comfort, telling her that things would be alright. The effect on her was the same, as it was before. Erin smiled back and held the kid's hand, gripping it firmly. While they were both scared, only one of them needed to be braver by a few notches to make the fear go away. Neither of them was alone, all along. For a moment, Erin felt a peculiar bliss – the kind her doctor implied she would never have. Her husband, Justin, would be sharing in this joy right now, if he was still alive. She still missed him so - her heart still wrestled with a mixture of pain and regret…
*ting!*
At last, they reached the eleventh floor. The elevator doors opened after the chime, and there was-
"What the hell?!", a man in black and blue exclaimed.
A dark vest, a holster, and a cap that said "SECURITY" in bold yellow text were the first things that caught Erin's attention. Before she could gasp in fright, she saw Ethan from the corner of her eye lunge forward with a punch, striking the guard square in the jaw. She yelped and knelt down, instinctively covering Agnes with her body, as though to shield her from any errant blow. It was unnecessary, for the scuffle was done as soon as it started, the hapless guard lying motionless, out-cold from a pinpoint strike at his neck. Ethan then dragged the poor man and shackled him to a nearby handrail with his own plasticuffs. A moment later, the government agent winced and knelt down, clutching his chest.
"Woah! Are you okay?", she asked and knelt down.
"I'm fine…", he held out a hand. "...You said you didn't want me to kill them, right?"
Nodding back, Erin pressed on to their destination. The clock was ticking.
The floor they were in was lined with glass panes that created a short hallway. Beyond the panes were rows of computer cases and cooling systems, blinking and beeping. Beyond one cluster of servers was a collection of unoccupied workstations that Erin could use. She kept up the pace while Agnes followed her and Ethan covered their rear with his rifle. And same as before, the security cameras in this level were inoperable, giving her a bit more peace of mind. Whatever "magic" that Ethan's friends had casted on the Tower's computer systems, it was giving them easy access on some tight locks. The hallway ahead of Erin was proof of that, as the security door to the server room simply slid open at the moment she drew near it.
"We need an active console…", she went straight to the computer tables. "...Okay, here's one."
She pulled up a chair and went to work, not forgetting to plug in the device that Ethan had given earlier. The monitor came to life with the usual dark screen, sparse with fast scrolling numbers and unintelligeble code. She keyed in her credentials at the prompt, and it mildly surprised her that they still worked.
"Right, I'm in. Is your friend ready?", he called to Ethan.
He replied by lowering his weapon and talking into his radio.
"Valk. We're in the server room. Need a secure line with Dokka, now."
There was a few seconds' pause. Then, he gave Erin a thumbs up.
And thus, she took a quick breath and performed the standard access procedures, as though Prestige National Bank's technical manual was photocopied in her head. After tonight, however, she realized she would have to kiss her job goodbye; what she was about to do would be a massive breach in her contract. As if the title of "senior analyst" was more important to her right now...
"Come on… Come on…"
Keystrokes and mouse clicks rang, for the data she sought from the Bank's servers was buried beneath layers of folders and windows. She should've been flagged as an intruder right now, but it would appear that Ethan's friends were keeping them safe in the cyberspace. Seconds went by faster than she thought, for what Erin could've sworn was just sixty seconds worth of computer-work was actually five minutes in real time. Her goal was to retrieve the contents of her own private files, which she remembered uploading here as per the Bank's security protocols. Soon, she stumbled across a list of timestamps that indicated when and where the uploads took place. One of which matched San Francisco Medical Center, from her alma matter, stamped with the date of her fateful kidnapping by brutish thugs in black suits. A terrible flashback came and went, which she consciously fought off.
"Yes! They're still here!", Erin exclaimed. "Downloading them now."
More lines of code scrolled down, resulting in a progress bar that was slowly filling up. In the meantime, some of her files opened and popped up, revealing charts and graphs filled with data that only she could understand. Stock data from Holdstadt AG and Ithaca Corporation, foreign investment ventures from Prestige National Bank, bank accounts from federal-owned entities, including several belonging to notable Senators. As it did a few days before, the accounts that bore the words "Patricia Darcy" caught her attention. Money transfers and deposits, stretching as far as the last few months or so. The Bank had taken a particular interest with these accounts, judging from the labels attached to each of them. Several people, like Erin's boss Lyle Harkin and her colleague Abigail Frye, had opened them a few times.
"What do you got?", Ethan asked.
Erin didn't bother answering him, for he was already approaching her workstation before she could even talk. He leaned in beside her chair and sifted through the contents of her screen. There was a long pause from him while the progress bar went along...
...
"Oh my God.", he muttered.
"What is it?", Erin turned to him and asked.
Ethan then looked away and straightened himself up, his hand already on his radio.
"Valk, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
The device he'd given her was also uploading her files to his people; Erin was stumped and didn't bother pondering the specifics. What she did wonder about was the tone of the man's voice. Normally calm and firm outside of a fight, he began sounding quite concerned. He was speaking into his earpiece while Erin waited in bated breath. The progress bar was about a quarter full when he finally gave her the lowdown.
"Those are the same bank accounts my people found in Australia weeks ago."
"You mean the terrorists'?", she asked. Ethan immediately replied to her with a quick nod.
This seemed to be the evidence he was looking for. In the eyes of the bank employee, the accounts didn't look anything out of the ordinary. A closer look on the files' properties indicated that most of the bank accounts were made several years ago. At least one of them, however, bore a business address that Erin had encountered before: "Penny's Place", an old family-owned bar in Worthington, Minnesota that closed down during the Eighties. She leaned in closer to the screen, seeing things that she never thought to piece together when she was still an analyst for Prestige National. Judging by the number of transactions that were made under these bogus accounts, it would appear that someone was siphoning money through and from them on regular intervals. An old-school tactic to minimize the papertrail - spread the wealth around to avoid suspicion. Erin couldn't believe what was under her nose the whole time. Soon enough, the part of her who used to work for the US Treasury started to become even more inquisitive.
The keystrokes continued, this time with a hint of anger and frustration. How on earth did she miss all of this? She was a senior data analyst - it was her job to sniff out these irregularities in case someone in the Legal Department was slacking off. The more she studied the bank accounts and timestamps, the more it seemed that Ethan's theory of a massive conspiracy between Erin's employers and a cabal of murderers in DC was becoming more likely. This was the reason why Lyle didn't want her to look into Holdstadt AG's downfall and Ithaca's rise in Europe: someone with terrorist ties stood to profit from it all. And these people were some of Prestige National Bank's biggest customers.
"Here, check this one! Who's the consignee?", Ethan pointed at the screen, to which Erin followed.
"It's restricted access. From... uh, some federal government holdings in Maryland."
Yet another irregularity. The file didn't have the seal of the State Government of California, which was an odd omission.
"I don't understand. How the hell did the Board approve this?", she frowned.
Erin then opened up another window, to search for any particular person or entity who applied for this specific bank account. The answer to her queries was buried deep within a separate database, accessible only to Prestige National's Board of Executives. Gritting her teeth, she keyed in the last credentials she'd used to access this packet of data. It succeeded. Her screen opened a different window, with a different list of names scrolling up like a waitlist. There were a lot of fancy words there: Ithaca Corporation, Puissance Group...
"…Committee of Enhanced Domestic Defence?"
"It's a Senate Committe. The one headed up by Patricia Darcy.", Erin pointed it out for Ethan. "Look here. See? Homeland Security is on it too."
"Dammit… This doesn't look right.", he muttered. He then turned around and spoke to his earpiece. "Valkyrie, we got something big. Do you still have a hold on the Treasury Department? I need to double-check something…"
That was two of such reactions from him in a row. It was as though that this trip to Prestige Tower provided him with a couple of terrible truths. The woman, meanwhile, didn't dare wrap her mind around it. She had to focus on the download.
At this point, he backed off a bit from Erin's chair, give himself some room for an important call.
This left Erin with enough personal space to work in peace. She looked at the progress bar on her screen, and was relieved to see it reach the halfpoint mark. So far so good. Next, she sifted through her findings again, double-checking for any other detail she might have missed in her first go. Many of the files she was extracting had a record of the last person who accessed them. "Abigail Frye", the name appeared over and over. Erin felt like she was kicked in the stomach, the more she saw it. Ethan's hunch was right - her friend was in cahoots with all this. Her eyes started to glisten, her heart unable to accept such a harsh truth. In the end, there was no denying it any further. More names appeared on her screen, more pictures of faces of other would-be collaborators that Ethan's people definitely needed to see.
"Erin. It's... it's that man.", Agnes tugged on her jacket.
"Who?"
The little girl had been a silent observer this whole time, but there was one picture that finally caught her attention. The woman brought the picture up in a bigger window, showcasing the face of a bald, bespectacled, and elderly man in a suit. Pinned to his collar was an American flag, indicating that he was from the government. Erin had seen him in the news a few times.
"Secretary Treadway?"
It was an innocent question on her part. Little did she know that it invited... dread on the kid, standing beside her. Before Erin knew it, Agnes grasped at her jacket tighter, as though to seek solace. Brown eyes were wide with fear, like she'd just seen a monster.
"I-It's him!", she pointed. "It's HIM!"
Such a peculiar reaction. Erin's instincts immediately kicked in and held the poor girl's hands, comforting her. The man didn't look like a fiend, but it would be foolish to ignore a child's honesty.
Ethan would probably have an answer for her. Erin turned to him, but was disappointed to see that their vaunted guardian was still talking into his radio. Failing that, she resolved to tend to her own business for now, seeing that the download was already nearing its completion. She watched it closely as it neared the end goal. Ninety-five percent, ninety-six, ninety-seven. And then, it froze. The screen started to stutter, causing Erin to curse under her breath. She fiddled with the keyboard again, realizing that her inputs weren't registering either. A few seconds later, everything went back to normal and the counting resumed. Only this time, she was no longer reassured.
"…That means we have a hot package. Say again, hot package. Extract's a top priority now - what's the ETA on the rescue squad, over?"
It seemed Ethan was just about done with his call. He approached the woman again, placing a hand on her shoulder. It didn't help her feel less anxious.
"They should be here in a few minutes, Erin."
"Mmhm. Coolcoolcool."
"What's the matter?"
"I-I don't know... my computer froze up for a bit at 99%. Could be nothing."
That was a lie. Her gut was telling her incessantly that something was amiss. Sure enough her fears were realized as red lights began to blink above the server room and alarm bells rang throughout the whole floor. Door locks started to engage and disengage, as though they were struggling with their primary protocol and the bypass that Ethan's hacker friends had done to the entire Tower. And Erin had worked in this place long enough to know what was about to happen next. Thinking on her feet, she waited for the progress bar on her screen to finish, then immediately pulled the computer's power socket. She hoped that it didn't damage the fancy plug-in device that Ethan had given her, but she didn't have time for a proper shutdown.
"Yeah. That's not nothing.", he seemed to have gotten the message as well.
"We got to go!"
Erin stood up from her chair and made her way to the door, clutching Agnes's hand along the way. Ethan followed the two of them, this time with his weapon raised. The trio retraced their steps back to the hallway. The elevator was waiting for them.
"Dokka, sitrep!", Ethan radioed again. "This place is lighting up!"
Erin didn't bother listening in to the garbled voices on his earpiece. She knew enough that the Tower was about to enter into a lockdown. This meant they had about less than two minutes to reach the back access on the ground floor, then hightail it out of here. Security guards would soon swarm their floor, and the San Francisco Police Department would've been notified by now of the security breach, if they weren't on their way already. Time was of the essence. Erin took deep breaths to calm herself, though admittedly the escape was somehow exhilarating.
"Shit. My people said someone's trying to lock us down with a manual bypass.", Ethan told her.
That caused her heart to seize for a moment, go back to reality. "Manual bypass" implied that somewhere in the building with them. Panic began to build. If it was true that Abby had turned on her, then the bad guys were waiting for them all here. As much as she'd like to weep at her friend's betrayal, Erin sucked up her grief and soldiered on. She had herself and Agnes to worry about.
"What's that mean?", the little girl clutched her hand.
"Don't worry about it, baby. Don't worry."
She gripped her hand tighter for whatever comfort it brought them both.
*ting!*
"This way!", Erin strode ahead as before.
She was the one holding the little girl, unlike before. Luck seemed to be with them so far, as the guards hadn't yet caught up with them on the ground floor. Of course, that could very well change for every passing second, so the trio moved as fast as they could. Ethan brought up the rear and held up his rifle in case somebody would cut them off from behind; faint voices could be heard coming from the furthest end of the hall. With their haste, they reached the Tower's utility access before anyone knew where they were. Erin swung the door open...
...
"Freeze! SFPD!"
Her eyes went wide. Two police cars were waiting for them outside, red and blue blinkers flashing. There were a handful of men in black uniforms huddling behind the vehicles, pistols and shotguns pointed at her. At that moment, she could've sworn her heart had stopped beating. She held Agnes close to her body, as though it was the only thing he could. The poor kid was trembling. Ethan, whom she'd seen walk up slowly to her right, still had his hands wrapped around that mean-looking rifle of his. He too was caught off-guard.
"I SAID FREEZE!", one of the policemen yelled again. "Drop your weapon! Do it now!"
"Goddammit...", Ethan muttered.
He didn't have a choice in the matter; he lowered his rifle and knelt down, resting it on the ground. He had one of his hands raised the whole time, complying to the cops' orders, which eroded the last of the woman's grit and confidence. She found herself taking small, quiet steps back, bringing Agnes along with her. They inched more and more, until he felt the cold, hard surface of the wall touch her skin. She wanted her heart to just freeze in fright, save her the pain of yet another prison. This was it. The end of the road. They were so, so close to getting away.
*thwoop!*
"Argh!"
The officer jerked as he yelped, as though something had hit him in the leg. He fell down in a violent thud, prompting his comrades to turn their heads to him in shock. A heartbeat later, another cop yelled in pain, followed by another, then another. All four officers were down for the count. They winced in pain, clutching their legs and shins, while their weapons were dropped just beyond their reach. Lucky again. It happened so fast, Erin couldn't even muster the will to gasp in surprise. Ethan, instead, did it for her.
"What the-?"
He looked up, searching for a sign in the rooftops or the sky. He probably surmised where the shots came from - from their left, from what the woman gathered.
Then, she saw him smile.
...
...
A dark-blue VTOL aircraft was hovering six hundred feet above San Francisco tonight.
"Confirmed hits. Four targets down."
So said the observer peering into her night-vision binoculars. She joined two shooters flanking her on either side in a prone position, both wielding sound-suppressed HK417s. Their rifles were harnessed to the fuselage, as did their bodies, while the rest of their comrades locked and loaded their gear. The two shooters saw the confrontation go down several blocks away. They reacted as fast as they could. They had no choice but to train their crosshairs on the four men in dark blue uniforms.
"Merde (Shit). I can't believe we're shooting cops now.", Julien Nizan muttered.
Emmanuelle Pichon couldn't agree more.
"Reste concentré (Stay focused), Juju."
She felt like a hypocrite, as pulling the trigger also left a damn bitter taste in her mouth. The GIGN always taught her that drastic measures were always an absolute last resort, never the default. Unfortunately, time was not on their side tonight. Hesitation meant Ethan might be taken down or killed. Duty demanded that the team protected him and his charges, no matter what. There would be time for finger-pointing later. The mission was still on.
Besides, Emma wasn't the one who gave the order.
"Mallory, this is Cohen. What's your status down there, over?", Eliza called into her earpiece. Her binoculars dangled on her chest rig.
"No scratches here, Ash.", a man radioed back. "I can see the bird. Goddamn, it's good to hear from you!"
He sounded incredibly grateful for the intervention. The feeling was actually mutual; Emma couldn't help but smile to herself, letting her focus lapse for a moment. Before she knew it, she pressed her radio as well and joined in.
"Heh. I could say the same to you, Ethan."
There was a brief pause before he responded again.
"Twitch!? Holy shit, I thought-"
"Cut the chatter!", Eliza firmly took charge of the comms. "Mallory. Mount up and head north along Montgomery Street, then take a left on Columbus Avenue. We'll land the VTOL at the waterfront for extraction. How copy?"
"Copy all. Northbound on Montgomery, left on Columbus, extract's at the waterfront, over."
"Roger wilco. We're eggressing now to the next grid. We'll maintain eyes on your victor (vehicle), out."
Emma peered into her scope again. She saw him and his two VIPs board the parked SUV and rev the engine. Briefly, she scanned on the two policemen, lying on the ground and wincing in pain above small puddles of red. Guilt and disgust weighed on her shoulders once again; neither Ethan nor Rainbow should squander this sacrifice. As the vehicle drove off, she scoped out and scanned for targets on the road. It seemed more police cars were headed to the Tower, from the south and west. Eliza continued to radio instructions to their man below, but her words ended up as white noise to the Frenchwoman's ears. She looked at Julien, whose mask didn't hide the grit in his eyes. They exchanged nods, pledging that their friend wouldn't be abandoned tonight.
...
Author's Notes/Comments: Sorry for the late upload, but the delay is due to me tinkering with the last few parts of this chapter quite a bit. Again, I figured I introduce some parts of the next chapter here rather than later, because I plan the next one to have a different introduction. Also, for anyone who's looking for Osa and/or Thorn, I plan to include them in the second chapter I'll release after this one.