Chapter 5
Darien and Hobbes sat on the dirt road next to the van. Hobbes checked his gun and glanced behind him at Megan. "She, uh... know about the quicksilver?"
"Yeah," Darien muttered.
"All right... that'll make this easier. Okay, when we get up there near the warehouse, you shoom and cause a distraction on the north side of the building. Meanwhile, I'll be sneaking in through the west."
"Why the west?"
"Because, if the distraction comes from the north, they'll assume entry on the southern end. We'll fake them out on both sides. I sneak in and cause a distraction on the inside. When I have their attention, you go in through the north and grab Leila, quicksilver her, and get the hell out."
"What about you?"
Bobby finished loading his gun and snapped it, stuffing it into the waistband of his pants. "I can handle myself, Fawkes. You just grab the girl and get out."
Megan, sitting in the driver's seat of the van, asked, "What am I supposed to do?"
"Stay here, keep your head down and try not to draw attention to yourself. Ready, Fawkes?"
"As I'll ever be." They rose and headed toward the warehouse indicated by Le An. As they slinked off down the road, Megan quietly got out of the van and followed at a safe distance.
---
The kidnapper sat on the edge of the table, watching Leila. "You're assistant, Megan. Tell me about her."
"How do you know about her?"
"I know lots of things about her, Ms. Bach. I know that she was the focus of a rather nasty news story a few years ago in New York... What was that?"
"That was a total lie. Megan told me everything; the newspapers blew it out of proportion."
The kidnapper laughed. "This from the woman who trusted The Chameleon for two years. You'd think you would be a little more gullible than that." He slid off the desk and knelt in front of her. "Such a pretty face... with such an awful flaw." He ran his finger down her cheek and grimaced. "Such a waste... How did you lose your sight?"
She kept her mouth tightly shut.
"You weren't born blind... I know that... Which means that sometime during your childhood, something happened to you that made you turn out the lights...."
~~~"Daddy! The car!....." Tires screeching on the pavement, headlights impossibly bright, the last thing she ever saw was her father's terrified face as the truck slammed into them~~~
The kidnapped slapped her face. "Why didn't they just kill you? Such a horrible waste of beauty." He stood and walked across the floor of the warehouse. "How long has it been?"
"Two hours, sir," the guard reported.
"Damn... What's taking them so long?"
"No clue, sir."
The leader sat again, drumming his fingers on the hard surface of the table. "Thirty minutes and I kill her. To hell with the plan."
---
Darien squatted next to the door on the north side of the building and coated himself with quicksilver. He found a trashcan and several wooden planks lying around in the debris. He picked up a plank and tested the weight and strength of it. Moving the trashcan so that it was standing up a few feet from the wall, Darien reared back with the plank and swung like a major league ball player.
The trash can dented with the impact and was hurled against the side of the building. The concrete chunks inside clattered and fell to the floor, shattering on impact. The entire north side of the building shook. Darien dropped the plank and remained frozen.
---
Hobbes heard the ruckus on the other side of the building and quietly pushed the west door open. He slipped in and immediately hit the ground. He saw three guards heading for the north door, guns drawn. The side of the building Hobbes was on was covered with old junk; piles and piles of garbage were being held at bay by very weak chicken wire.
He scanned the ceiling where the wire ended. He mentally counted the number of shots he would need; three would be enough to take out the chicken wire. All he had to do was shoot the posts that were holding it up and the weak wire would collapse. There were at least five goons he would have to hold off... maybe two each. That left him one bullet short.
He examined the area in which he was confined. He suddenly got a very good idea. He picked up an old tin box, looked at it for a moment, then dropped it. It clattered against the concrete of the floor and echoed through the entire building.
The goons turned their attention away from the north door and immediately headed for the chicken wire. Hobbes cocked his gun.
He heard the wire rattle as a goon grabbed ahold of it and Bobby struck. He fired three shots at the posts he'd mentally marked earlier. The chicken wire collapsed, as expected, but instead of just making noise, the falling junk collapsed atop four of the five goons.
Bobby jumped up and fired twice in the direction of the last goon standing. He sped across the floor, firing as he went, and finally reached a flight of wooden stairs that led to a second story. He scurried up, keeping his head covered as he ran.
---
Darien heard the clatter and snuck in through the north door. Staying low to the ground as he entered, he saw a pile of garbage to his right, and Leila sitting in the middle of the room, tied to a chair. A man was standing next to her, appearing to watch Hobbes with interest as the agent scurried up a flight of stairs across from Darien's current position. Darien recognized him immediately as Jared Stark, the man Darien assumed was in charge of Chrysalis.
At the back of his mind, Darien wondered, 'Why isn't he shooting at Hobbes?'
He made his way across the floor and pondered how to knock out Stark. Unfortunately, he shouldn't have worried. The situation never came up.
The south door flew open and Megan walked in. Darien muttered, "Aw, crap."
Stark looked at her and said, "Chameleon."
She raised a small box and hit a button. Shockwaves spread through the warehouse, causing the walls to shake violently. As they hit Darien, he felt every bone in his body quaking. He fell to the floor, clutching his head as a 6.8 earthquake roared between his ears. Stark applauded. "Well done, Chameleon."
Megan simply shut the device off and lowered her head slightly.
Her boss laughed. "Remarkable. Mr. Fawkes, pleasure to see you again. Meet the new Chameleon. Completely and utterly untraceable."
Darien groaned, "How's that?"
"The Chameleon is now a small device implanted at the base of the skull. It is completely inactive until I turn it on. At that point, the host ceases to exist and the Chameleon takes their place. After the mission, the host awakens with no memory of what happened. The perfect assassin... and there are currently nineteen hosts equipped with the Chameleon chip. All of whom are at my whim."
"What happens if these people, these hosts, get killed?"
"Then their families are notified and the official story is that they went insane," he smiled. "It's the perfect crime."
"You keep saying that. What's to keep me and Hobbes from going to the authorities and... oh, I get ya... You're gonna kill us."
"You're very astute, Mr. Fawkes."
Darien stood. "How do you deactivate one of these Chameleon chips?"
"You kill the host."
"Remove it."
"It would, again, kill the host."
"Then destroy the controlling device."
"You're asking me to do the impossible, Mr. Fawkes. It would be easier if you would just accept your fate."
Leila quietly asked, "What's going on?"
"Don't worry, Leila," Darien said. "It's gonna be okay."
Stark smiled. "The nightmares that Ms. Winters has been having are caused by a glitch in the chip. It's the only glitch we've found so far."
Darien spotted Hobbes on the second level, quietly making his way across a narrow walkway. He had grabbed ahold of a rope and was testing it's strength. Darien said, "So, Stark... Where's this control?"
Stark held up a small hand-held device. "Right here."
Hobbes leapt off the walkway and swung in a low arch toward Stark. Darien jumped out of the way, grabbing Leila as he went. Stark turned just in time to see Hobbes' loafers as they hit him square in the chest. They rolled across the cement floor and landed in the pile of garbage. Darien ran over, grabbing the control from Stark's hand. "Good job, Hobbes."
Bobby sat up and grumbled, "Actually I was just trying to grab the control box."
"Well either way... you did good." He turned and hit a button on the box.
Megan blinked and looked around. "Darien? Bobby? Leila? What's goin' on? Where's the van?"
Darien sighed and said, "We have something to tell you, Megan."
Bobby pulled Stark out of the garbage and handcuffed him. "I'll leave you two guys alone. Come on, buddy." He led Stark out of the warehouse.
---
Claire sighed and pulled her bloody rubber gloves off. Darien stood. "Well? Any luck?"
A smile crept across Claire's lips. "The chip was removed. It was a success. Unfortunately, there are still nineteen chips out there... we've reproduced the control box taken from Stark and distributed them amongst the major law enforcement agencies. It shouldn't be too large of a problem."
The Official nodded and turned to Darien. "We managed to deliver Le An and Jared Stark to a local law enforcement agency... the FBI." He laughed, "Looks like we're getting a big, fat reward."
Hobbes entered and only heard the last end. "Great! We gonna see any of this one?"
The Official said, "Actually, we were planning a little three-day weekend for the both of you."
Hobbes' face visibly lightened, but then Eberts spoke, "Unfortunately, most of the reward will have to be given to the San Diego Recycling Commitee."
"What?! Why?"
"The garbage which you so callously spilled all over the warehouse was SDRC property. They had to completely reinventory their possessions thanks to your destruction."
Hobbes grumbled. "There's always something..."
Darien asked, "What about Leila?"
Eberts glanced at the Official. "She has quit her job modelling. The entire incident has traumatized her something awful and... she said he heart isn't in the pictures any more."
Darien lowered his head. "It's a damn shame." He stuck his hands in his back pockets and headed for the door.
Claire asked, "Darien? Don't you want to see Megan?"
"Uh... have her stop by after she's recovered from surgery, 'kay?" He waved good-bye and left the building.