Chapter Thirteen
—-
Loid was out the door the second he had what he wanted, ignoring the Handler calling after him.
Five weeks.
He wasn't wasting another second.
Loid had so many questions, so many answers he wanted, but right now all that mattered was getting Anya back.
He loaded up with whatever he might need before jumping into his car and heading home.
Black clothes that would blend into the darkening sky, he grabbed, getting back in the car.
He was doing this tonight. He'd get in as close as he could and improvise a plan once he knew what exactly he was dealing with.
He already knew he'd be doing this by himself. Agents were scarce these days, they had their own missions. Stealth missions were easier on his own, anyway.
He already started formulating, adaptable to whatever he would learn in observation.
Loid drove for at least an hour, the scenery turning from urban to thick forests, trees taller the farther he went out.
He checked the map several times, trying to waste as little time as possible, the fewer wrong turns the better.
As he neared, he parked the car on the deserted road a ways away. Changed into his spy gear.
One never knows what's waiting. Maybe they'd be outdoors, hear the car, maybe they'd have surveillance. Security guards watching the entrance.
He couldn't risk anything.
Loid crept into the forest, glad the weather had damped the dead leaves that would otherwise crunch under his feet.
It was silent. The evening turned to night, the woods near pitch black.
He hiked for another twenty minutes before he saw the pale reflections of stray moonlight hitting the walls of the large building.
It sat in a clearing, filling out the space. Woods specifically cleared for it to nestle unseen under wide-reaching branches.
A narrow dirt road led away from the entrance to Loid's right, Loid being on the right side of the lab.
The forest being a forest, had uneven terrain, and Loid took advantage. He quickly found a dip in the earth, cresting over the top to peer through his binoculars.
He counted at least three cameras attached to the building from where he lay prone, a couple security personnel patrolling the outside.
A door caught his attention at one end that he suspected the guards had a key to.
That was his way in.
—
Yor drove Kiara's car through the streets like a madwoman.
The late hour left few people on the roads, leaving her very unworried.
She was well on her way to the lab where roads were all but deserted anyway, so what did it matter?
Yor wasn't waiting another second to get Anya out of there. So angry every time she thought about what a horrid place for her to be in.
Kiara had given everything she could on the subject, location mostly, and her previous dealings with the organization that Yor could care less about.
She didn't listen very well once she heard what she wanted.
Kiara was trembling when she found her, easily plied of her knowledge of the place.
She'd killed her of course, leaving her alive was out of the question.
You'd have to be a horrid person to aid in something so awful as one of these labs.
Yor stepped on the gas, rage building the more she thought about it. Emotions she didn't know what to do with, spurring her on.
So she sped through, driving fuelled by anger and conviction, missing several turns. Got lost once or twice, but miraculously reached the lab within a reasonable time-frame.
She ditched the car somewhere, trekking silently through the woods, a piece of the shadows. A clear view of the building from the massive trees she climbed.
The road leading away from the building to her left.
There weren't too many people outside. She could dispatch them easily. Her knives would make quick work of the cameras. A door she could break into. Or walk into, she supposed if she took the guards keys. She highly doubted it'd be left unlocked.
She took stock of everything again before preparing to invade.
—-
This plan might work.
Yuri thought as he climbed into the supply van.
He was forty percent sure this was going to fail. But Brook, the spy's real name, assured him it would work.
He'd wished he'd asked her more questions. But once he got the map and she pointed to the lab's location, every braincell went into finding a way in. His sister was counting on him, not that she knew that, and he wasn't going to fail her. Brook could wait.
Yuri took a look at the map once more before starting up the vehicle. It was going to be dark soon.
Yuri drove.
And drove.
The sky turning dark.
Until he finally turned a corner that led down a narrow dirt road trailing on for a few minutes before reaching his destination.
He drove up to the check-point, handing papers and showing a forged ID to the agent manning the gate.
If Brook didn't have so much information on the lab, this plan would not work.
Yuri had acquired the same make and model van that the lab used, prepared the van with medical supplies that he stacked up to the ceiling, a reforged lab ID from Brook.
The agent checked the contents before slapping the side and sending him inside to the hangar.
Brook was right. They didn't question him.
He parked beside another van identical to his own and jumped out, taking in his surroundings, insuring he was alone.
Headed for the door that led into the laboratory. It was locked as he expected.
He drew out his lock-picks, the first taking at least three minutes before he heard a click.
He got the second lock, quicker. The third lock, longer.
The door was heavy, thick iron that squealed horribly as he opened it. It was almost better to close it fast behind him.
He stood in a white hallway, white floors.
He was in.
—
Loid wove through the woods, trees providing cover, a blur jumping behind one to the next, getting ever closer.
He approached as far as he could get, the tree-line ending near the lab.
This was going to be tricky.
He started near one end of the wall where a camera was mounted, one of the two security guards posted in the area around it.
Loid's best guess for the lack of security, was the confidence in no one finding them. The secluded location. The organization a well-kept secret. Or so they thought.
Well, it worked for Loid.
From his hiding place, he pulled out a dart gun first, in preparation. Then his silenced pistol. He would be lying if he said Anya didn't make him think of it.
With the deft hands of the elite spy that he was, he switched seamlessly from shooting out the camera, to darting the guard who fell next.
He cringed at the sound of shattering glass breaking, raining down on the pavement below, but it was better than being seen.
The building was so large, he doubted it was widely heard.
But the other guard heard it. His head swivelled from his post a long ways down the wall.
Loid had to move quickly to dart him as well before he got close enough to see what happened and alert anyone.
Then took out the other two cameras.
He dragged the guards out into the blackness of the woods where'd they'd be unseen before he grabbed one of their keys.
The tranquilizers should keep them out with plenty of time for him to complete the mission.
He took the man's clothes, his ID badge, and prepared a face.
It wasn't the most optimal setting for face-changing, but he was a professional.
With his new identity, he unlocked the door and entered gleaming white hallways.
He was in.
He was thankful for his disguise when alarms started blaring. Pulsing, dark, red light bathing every surface.
No doubt alerted from the broken cameras they no longer had access to.
He would use this to his advantage.
—
Yor leapt from a high branch, taking out the cameras mid-air with a flick of her wrists. The guards knocked out before they realized what was happening, a kick to their heads bringing them down for the count.
Took their keys. Threw the guards out of sight into the woods.
She grabbed her blades which had fallen from the dead cameras before opening the door.
She was in.
She stood out like a sore thumb.
The halls contrasted with her black clothes, her outfit that was definitely not that of a security guard.
That was fine.
She'd knock out anyone that saw her, anyway. They probably deserved it.
The assassin didn't get far, before alarms screeched at her, announcing the lab's awareness to the situation.
Red lights intermittently washing away the blinding white paint of the walls.
She expected this. She didn't care. She'd deal with whatever they threw at her.
She continued, unbothered, blasting through most doors she passed, looking for Anya. She didn't know where she was, her best solution to check every room until she found someone she could make talk.
She wasn't moving very quickly due to all the stops, but that was fine. Better to be thorough.
And then she came upon one of the labs.
There were several machines. Ones hooked up to wires. Ones that looked like torture devices. But her attention went to the table in the metal room, leather straps drooping off of it. Tiny cuff's for especially tiny wrists.
It stopped her in her tracks, rage surfacing. Welled up until it was all she could feel.
A growl of outrage rang through the room as she strode inside, bringing her leg down on the table and bending it nearly in half. The machines, she decimated with her fists, pulverizing them. The room destroyed by her wrath.
She wished she could rip the room itself apart, But she couldn't waste any more time.
Yor left the room in shambles, completely eradicating any chance to salvage what remained.
—-
The gun dropped out of the man's hand as his back fell against the walls. A hand over his shoulder, spilling blood.
A streak of red followed him as he sank to the floor, painting the surface.
Yuri's first reaction was irritation that he'd given himself away, but it didn't matter anymore.
He procured handcuff's, linking the man to one of the window's bars before checking on the boy, unmoving in the bed.
He wasn't asleep. His eyes open, looking at him, but not entirely aware.
He didn't appear to be hurt.
From his pocket, Yuri took his walkie-talkie. Spoke into it.
"Target secured. Commence operation."
—
Anya woke with a start from a fitful sleep, alarms baring outside her door. Incessant and loud.
She wrapped the blanket around her against the chill of the night and climbed off the bed, careful of her bandages.
She heard steps pounding in the halls, passing her door. Agents yelling something to each other.
She tried to read anyone's thoughts nearby, but all she got was static.
Anya went to look out her window, but nothing seemed amiss.
She didn't know how long the alarms were blasting, intruders still loose in the building, when her door was unlocked.
Director Kai opened the door, looking none too happy.
"Let's go." He strode forward, Anya slinking into a corner away from the window.
He grabbed her arm, Anya's blanket falling to the ground as he pulled her out of the room.
"No! Let Anya go!" She said, a hand clawing at his, clamped around her arm.
"Shut up!" He yelled back, jerking her forward to emphasize. "You've brought the SSS down on us! You've ruined everything!" He looked down the hallways both ways before exiting the room, as if watching for cars.
He picked Anya up under his arm then, and ran. Anya, yelling the whole way.
Kai twitched at every noise, head jerking left and right at hallways they passed. Signalling agents they crossed, to deter anyone who might be coming up behind them.
He was nervous, Anya realized.
She had never seen him nervous before.
—-
Loid didn't think he'd run into such luck, in such a situation, but his disguise had been a very good idea.
An agent ran past in the halls, a double take at Loid/the agent who was calmly leaving a room.
"What are you doing?! Our orders are to protect the director! Block the SSS from reaching the hangar!" He shouted at him, continuing on his way.
'The SSS. They're here. That's going to complicate things.' Loid thought. Hoped it'd be more a help, than a hindrance.
He picked up the pace, sprinting through the hallways the direction that agent went.
He couldn't let the director escape.
—
Yor was getting impatient.
She'd run through many halls, but she began to worry she was running in circles.
She'd come across several agents on her way. None of them forthcoming. All of them unconscious in her wake.
She didn't have time for this. She'd heard agents yelling around the corner about the SSS invading. She needed to get Anya and get out.
She'd let the SSS take care of the rest, now that they were here.
She's wished she'd had a layout of the building to guide her.
—
The secret police had come out of hiding from the van. Had unlocked doors for their compatriots who had snuck through the woods, surrounding the building on all sides waiting for a signal.
They'd stormed in, taking down agents and bursting into every room.
Yuri had handed off the boy to one of them to get checked out.
He didn't know a lot about kids, but he knew they weren't supposed to be so listless. So he gave instructions to an SSS agent before joining the others in raiding the building.
They were finding children locked behind thick, thick, iron doors. A metal wheel like a Christmas wreathe on them keeping them in.
Yuri had left the police to it. He had other work to do, and keeping Anya from knowing he was secret police was best if he could manage it.
So he hurried through the halls.
—-
Loid raced along, shoulders and arms bouncing off the corners to aid his turns.
He had never felt faster, the urgency pushing him on.
He knew the hangar was somewhere near the front of the building, and he was guessing how to get there.
He would have continued on his path if something hadn't distracted him. A faint noise traveling down the hall from a door.
A feeling. A weird sense he should go that way.
So he did.
He flew down the hallway and yanked the door open that led into an outdoor space.
A darkness accosted him, the brightness of indoors leaving him unaccustomed.
But yellow bulbs cast soft glows on the garden allowing him to see. On the foliage. On the dirt path. On the bird feeders that held no birds. On the benches along the trail. On the little girl screaming and crying her lungs out as a man held her, cutting across the garden up ahead.
Loid's face set in determination. Icy wrath glazing over every emotion.
He zeroed in on them, his feet leaving the doorway.