Chapter 21 – Tracer
50km North of Helsinki, Finland. 5:40pm, 6th November 2032.
"You are insane Matt." Erin notes over an earpiece once again as she stares up the tall shaft of the large white wind turbine that stretches up into the night. Both Alex and Erin have night vision glasses on to see in the dark without emitting any light themselves. They are both wearing all black clothing black long pants, black long sleeve shirts that hide a black compression shirt underneath to keep them warm without the need for a jumper. Both also wear gloves but only Erin has a beanie on, neither of them wears a mask. They each carry inside their backpack; 3 parachutes, 1 main and 2 reserves. The temperature tonight is around zero, but it feels much earlier than that.
"You're the insane ones actually doing this." Matt retorts. "How far away are you from the base?"
"Not long, you ready?" Alex asks.
"And waiting." Matt replies. He holds a small device which will allow him to uplink the turbines systems directly to Matt for his control. Firstly, they have to get inside. Erin takes point with the lock and breaks it easily. They both move inside, Alex looks for the computer terminal whilst Erin looks for the ladder to get them up to the top.
"Now plug the Ethernet cable into the port on the left and next to that put the UHDMI cable into the RCA converter and then that into the port below the first one." Matt explains, trying to give him the simplest instruction possible for the situation. It helps that Matt showed him exactly what to do earlier so he would be confused with all the computer terminology. Alex puts the wireless transmitter on the bench and puts the two cables into the back and then connects the Ethernet cable to the port before attaching the converter cable. In truth, the video conversion cable is not necessary but Matt never told them that. The real reason he wanted it was for a higher quality video stream.
"I'm done." Alex says. "You get anything?"
"It's working." Matt replies before turning to the front of the vehicle. "Jess, you're up."
Jess leaves the vehicle parked next to another wind turbine in the area and heads towards the target. She's on clean up duty, she'll retrieve the uplink when Matt is finished with it so that no evidence is left behind. Meanwhile, Erin is already a third of the way up before Alex starts his climb up the ladder. There's none of the scary 'don't look down' banter between them, heights don't scare either of them and they are too focused on the task at hand. Matt gets into the wind turbines systems and applies the brakes on the turbine itself, slowly grinding it to a halt so it doesn't hit them as they jump. The blades have almost stopped just as Erin open the top hatch to get out onto the top of the turbine. She keeps a low profile on the top to make sure she's not blown off the top by a gust of wind. She sits and peaks down from the top for her brother to get up to the top. Alex shuts the hatch when he gets outside.
"We're at the top." Alex radios in.
"Okay, here's your landing spot." Matt announces, He highlights a section inside the complex near the emergency hatch for them to see on their displays. It gives them a spot to aim for in the complete darkness. "The chutes will deploy as good as instantly so pull on the strap as you jump."
"Not such a bad location for the first time." Alex comments as he stares across to the server complex.
"Not such a bad location for a 4th jump." Erin replies with a little smile before turning out towards the vista. Alex is a little stunned that she's done this before, but his surprise erodes as he focuses on his own jump.
"Clear to go." Matt announces. Erin jumps first followed shortly by Alex. They begin to glide towards their target in the very chilly and icy air. Matt is monitoring their height and location to see if they'll make it over the fence or not, the worst thing that could happen is if they snag onto the electrified barbed wire and becomes easy prey along with the severe pain it would cause. The first 15 seconds go according to plan. Once they have jumped, Jess unplugs the uplink and takes the cables and the transmitter with her and shuts the door, this automatically returns the turbine to it's default setting, undoing the brakes and allowing it to turn in the very light winds. Alex is fixed on the landing sight in between peaks across to his sister to check on her. In the dark of the night and even with the night vision improvement to his glasses, he doesn't the cause of what happens next. The first he knows of it is a loud shriek from Erin. It hurts his ear a little bit and he's turned invisible too from the shock, but those concerns are very far away as he watches his sister plunge towards the Earth no longer with a working parachute.
"Erin! Pull the reserve!" Alex shouts in hope. He's looking down as he sees her tumbling before she pulls a reserve chute only 25 metres from the ground. She survived the encounter, but she's not going to be infiltrating the server complex at that height.
"I'm alive, I've got it." Erin struggles to reply as she uses her whole strength to control herself. She's flailing her legs out to try and feel for solid ground, it will be a hard landing. She feels a little bit of grass against her black lace up utilitarian boots and hopes for solid ground but the grass goes away.
"Landing's going to be hard." She quickly responds. She doesn't have time to stiffen her legs to brace herself against the ground when she hits it. Alex hears her grunt against the pain of the landing. She hasn't landed on her feet since she couldn't spot the ground. She detached the shoot shortly after feeling the ground but the fall was a further 2.5 metres. She tumbles over in the dewy and semi frozen grass beneath her.
"Talk to me Erin! Alex shouts after hearing the landing. She gets up gingerly and tries to locate herself in the barren grassland. She hasn't injured herself badly, the clothing on her back has had more damage than she has, but the most prominent thing she realises is that she's wet. Wet from the ground, but where did the rest of the water come from initially?
"Keep going Alex." Matt assures him. "She's fine."
"Erin, you okay?" Alex asks, only a personal confirmation will do.
"I'm okay, you keep going, you've got this." She encourages to Alex. After such a large shake up to the plan, he needs all the encouragement he can get. "Matt, was my parachute packed correctly?"
"It's not my fault, I'm looking at your vision. Something hit it from the top and made it collapse on itself." Matt explains. "Alex, some else must be watching us, keep an eye out for anything unusual."
"Will do." Alex replies. "Height check."
"You'll clear it easily." Matt quickly responds, focused more on the cause of Erin's failed jump. "Erin, we're coming to get you."
Tyson was going to be driving despite his little experience, but Jess got back before the need arose so she's taken the wheel to locate Erin in the darkness using only a GPS coordinate.
"I got water bombed." Erin realises as she feels the stinging chilliness of the water that has covered most of her body as it hit her and her parachute in mid air.
"Like a fire-fighter would do to fight a forest fire?" Matt asks. She begins to shiver from the coldness and has to move around to prevent her clothes from freezing.
"Yeah." Erin answers as she wipes away some of the water from her face and waits patiently in the darkness to retreat into the safety of the rest of the gang. Alex glides in over the barbwire fence before turning to the left to be parallel to the fence before landing on the level grass ground. He stops quickly and pulls down the parachute so it doesn't fly away and stuffs it into the backpack it came from. Matt has marked the entry location, a bare steel hatch with the stencilled white paint reading 'emergency exit, do not obstruct.' Alex quick hides himself inside the hatch shuts it quietly so it doesn't make any noise. He checks that he hasn't lost the tiny USB uplink in his pocket before moving along the steel walkway. It only goes a short distance before there is a set of stairs that plunge into the earth which he follows in the concrete shaft only illuminated by fluorescent lights, meaning he has to turn the night vision off to see where he is going.
"Keep it steady." Matt commands to Jess to make sure his computer and other hand scribbled plans don't go out of the order he has put them in. Jess is taking the route 1 approach to locating Jess since there are no major obstacles in her way, apart from the steep inclines and descends which she drives straight over without letting any of the wheels leave the ground.
"Hey Matt." Tyson exclaims from the front passenger seat.
"What is it?" Matt asks as he holds down his equipment with his hands as they climb over another mound.
"There's something entering the place." Tyson says, but he can't see exactly what they from this distance away. "I think it's two vehicles but I can't see."
"Where did I put it?" Matt asks to himself, searching frantically for something to magnify his view.
"Does anyone see a pair of binoculars or anything to see what they are?" Matt asks as he looks into the foot well in the back of the off road vehicle.
"You mean these?" Tyson asks, holding a pair of binoculars in his hands.
"Yes, gimme." Matt instructs, but Tyson is taking it upon himself to search them out.
"How do you zoom in on these things?" Tyson asks.
"Give them to me." Matt commands forcefully.
"At least say please." Tyson says as he nonchalantly hands them over to Matt who de-escalates his anger. The vehicles are moving into the compound as Matt focuses his picture. The motorised gate slots in behind them, two police vans have arrived at the scene.
"Police?" He asks to himself. "Alex, the police are already here. You need to abort now."
"Not happening, I've just started the uplink. Have you got anything?" He whispers.
"It's started but they'll be inside before it's done, you'll be trapped if you don't leave now." Matt advises before turning to Tyson. "Does anyone have a towel or a jacket?" He asks as they spot Erin right ahead, he's thinking she may need something to warm herself up in.
"I'll get out, stay hidden." Alex replies.
"This is no time to be a hero." Matt hisses. "But if you're staying inside, we'll help you out and if it doesn't work out…."
"Save the goodbyes for later Matt." Alex says as the uplink is still working and still running the trace. Erin gets into the back of the car after Matt shoves his stuff across to make space for her. She's still damp and freezing when she gets inside. However, there is no person who is more worried inside the car than Jess. Interpol are going way too early for an arrest, she didn't tell them to do this. Jess' most important duty right now is not to panic, she is playing a role and must stick to that role for better or for worse.
"Do we leave or wait?" Jess asks to Matt.
"Just wait for now." Matt commands, watching the trace program near completion. The circular progress bar reaches 90%, the orange pie is nearly full. The progress bar fades away and is replaced by a map of the world on Matt's computer. A marker shows up on the map, which it automatically zooms in to.
Europe… France… Paris.
"He's in Paris." Matt announces.
"I'm heading out now." Alex radios in.
"They're going inside the building." Tyson announces, watching through the binoculars in his hands. "Armed to the teeth."
"Alex, their sending armed police units inside; get out of there." Matt pleads.
"On the move." Alex replies.
2 teams of elite police units all clothed in heavy body armour and weapons to match enter through the main entrance. Tyson counts about 15 of them but the real number is closer to 20. Erin wonders if they really consider her brother to be that much of a threat to them if they need to seriously outnumber and outgun him in every department. Then she realises that the police must have been called in before they arrived, the police could not mobilise that quickly because the nearest police station is several kilometres away. Secretly, she thinks of who is most likely to be the figurative rat amongst them. Her first thought is about who is the going to gain the most from a police raid.
"You said you got water bombed?'" Matt asks, interrupting Erin's thoughts. "Did it come right from the sky?"
"It was like being wiped out by a tidal wave, someone else must be watching us, someone must know what we are doing and called the police." Erin answers.
"Was there a… helicopter or a plane above you that you heard flying towards you at the time?" Matt asks.
"They're going around the side to the emergency hatch." Tyson comments as he keeps tabs on the unfolding situation in the distance.
"Alex, their blocking the emergency hatch." Matt relays to Alex quickly. "Stay out of sight."
"What I don't understand is that, assuming that someone did do this is, why they only got rid of you and not Alex." Jess comments.
"They could have missed." Matt answers. "Timing the drop would be extremely difficult."
"It hit me from the top, if the payload was moving then the water would have been spread out over a larger area. It felt heavy, not like heavy rain or a fog but like a huge rock was thrown on top. I'm sure it was targeted." Erin explains.
"Shouldn't we be moving in closer in case he does make it out?" Tyson asks whilst still looking forward.
"Okay. Jess, drive closer to the exit point but slowly this time, and no lights. Tyson, turn off the interior lights." Matt instructs, he himself lowering the brightness of his computer down to the minimum level. Jess creeps up to the facility, going slightly faster than walking pace. There's still no sign of Alex, either free or captured, and the police that are blocking the exits have not moved from their posts. At 500m away from the fence, Jess stops the car thinking that she could get no closer without alerting them to their position.
"Sit tight." Matt whispers to the group. "We might be here for a while."
They watch and wait, nothing is happening which is worrying regardless of the result. They have nothing to go on to know what to do next, the only thing to do is to wait. They wait for some minutes, some more anxiously than others. The longer they wait, it gives them hope that he's outlasting the police, every second he's not in handcuffs and being loaded into a police van is another small victory for them; it means that he's still got that chance.
Out of the darkness, a blinding light. A fireball rips through the front guard station at the main checkpoint, obliterating the guard post. They all see this, causing them to duck their heads and cover their ears as they wait for the shockwave to pass at the speed of sound. It hits with force, shaking the vehicle a little bit but it's the noise that's the most noticeable. Tyson peaks up to take another peak at the situation.
"He's destroyed the main checkpoint." Tyson says. "Way to go!"
"What are police doing?" Matt asks while Tyson looks.
"They're retreating, they're going to the explosion site." Tyson says.
"The explosion is a distraction." Jess concludes. "He's going to come out the emergency exit soon."
"Now he's killing the guards one by one!" Tyson gleefully announces.
"What?" Erin exclaims. Her brother is not a killer.
"Pass me the binoculars." Matt commands, Tyson hands them over to allow Matt to see the destruction up ahead. The guards are falling to the ground one by one, but it doesn't look like an invisible combatant is killing them.
"They're being shot." Matt says. "They're falling towards the building. Someone else is here."
Jess is more distressed for her fellow officers who have been massacred like fish in a barrel, unable to return fire due to the silent shots fired most likely from a hill to their right.
"Remember Tyson, he said at the start he wanted a zero body count. He wouldn't turn into a homicidal maniac in a split second, he couldn't." Matt reminds him.
"Pass me the binoculars." Erin says to Matt, putting on her night vision glasses and opening the door to go outside and avoid any bright sources of light. She looks through the binoculars over her glasses to get an infrared picture of the scene. The body heat from the guards is slowly fading, but she notices the figure running towards them at a full sprint through the ankle high grass outside of the front perimeter fence. She takes off her glasses and tries to see him using normal light even in this darkness, but she sees nothing.
"I see Alex, he's running towards us." Erin says to the group from outside the vehicle.
"Start the engine." Matt commands. Erin goes back into the vehicle and waits to hear the rush of the raccoon come towards them. It's only when he's 25 metres away that they can hear him.
"Open the door!" He shouts. Erin opens the left rear door and shuffles into the centre just in time for Alex to fit inside and close the door hastily.
"Drive!" The invisible Alex commands desperately, putting on his seatbelt. "Fast!"
Jess obliges, she turns to go along the grassy hills that go along the road as fast as she can control the vehicle at.
"Pass me those infrared glasses." Jess commands, she doesn't want to drive with her lights on. If a helicopter saw them then it would be an impossible task to avoid them in a pursuit. Matt receives the glass from Erin who passes the to the fox's right hand that's stretched backwards, ready to grab them and put them on as soon as she can. She slips them on and now has the bearings she needs to get away. "They'll send reinforcements, I can't drive on the road or we'll be spotted."
Meanwhile, in the backseat, Erin and Matt can hear the heavy breathing of Alex as he recovers from the huge effort of running at top speed for over a minute. More disturbingly, he's still invisible. Erin doesn't know of any bad side effects that Alex has told about staying hidden for too long, but if he's invisible for this long, he must be really scared.
"What happened?" Asks Erin softly and calmly despite their hurried escape. She leans across to at least feel he is there; her left arm touches his right.
"Did the uplink work?" Alex asks to Matt nervously.
"It came from Paris, we got an exact location." Matt answers.
"We have to go their now." Alex advises strongly.
"We need a plan first." Matt reminds him.
"Alex, calm down." Erin asks sensitively. She grasps his hand in hope; she wants to see her brother. Matt is awestruck by the tenderness she is showing, which somehow manages to get Alex to reappear.
"You're back, Alex." Erin says, meaning Alex won't need to use the mirror this time.
"Thanks." Alex replies tiredly, she had help massively in calming him down; even if was only the spark to snap him out of his worry. She cares for him, they care for each other, they have no choice.
"What happened, why are you so scared?" Erin asks as a truck passes by their left.
"There's 15 dead guys now because of me! I…I didn't shoot them!" Alex tries to explain in order to clear his name but the straight faces on the rest of them, except for Jess who's focused on driving, make him realise that they wouldn't think that for a second.
"You're not a killer." Matt replies across from Erin.
"I was hiding next to the front doorway, I took a peak outside and saw all of the guards blocking the entrance. I… I got out my mirror and checked myself quickly… thinking maybe I could go right by them without them knowing. I took another peak, the next thing I hear is an explosion. I waited for the guards to move before I did, I took barely two, just two steps outside when one guy just flopped on the ground. I saw another drop. I jumped straight back behind cover and watched as they all… died right in front of me. I waited until the shooting stopped before I just ran, in fear. I heard no shots, but I don't know if there were any more. I just wanted to run away." Alex recounts, trying to be brave and surpress all of the emotions for long enough to explain it to them. There is one feeling which is overriding them all, something much more basic than any emotion.
"Does anyone have any food? Water?" Alex asks tiredly.
"Hold tight, we're a few minutes away from the safe house." Jess announces as they reach a rural dirt road, no more climbing and descending to do.
"Here." Matt offers, passing a water bottle to Alex who consumes all of it in one go, nearly three quarters of a litre gone in seconds.
"Any more?" Alex asks tiredly. "I need food."
"Does anyone have anything else to feed Alex?" Matt asks loudly to make sure everyone hears his request. At the same time he's wondering why he's so incredibly hungry and thirsty.
"I've got this." Tyson says, showing the brown liquid filled clear drink bottle to Matt. "Protein shake, good for recovery."
"Gimme." Alex insists. He holds out his hand weakly for the sustenance. Matt takes the protein shake from Tyson and gives it to Alex to who he skulls it down with speed, like it was going to save his life; not that it was life saving in the first place.
"Anything else?" Alex asks, Matt wonders if invisibility also makes his stomach bottomless.
"You'll throw up if you eat anything else." Matt cautions. "We're not far away."
"Hang in there." Erin replies kindly, but Alex has already escaped this world and fallen into a deep sleep.