Chapter 5— "Conservation of Energy"
Dr. Aswat's Red Mercury Manufacturing Complex, Hong Kong
As the Paladin neared Hong Kong, Sam was talking to Victor before they went to debrief with everyone else.
"How is she?"
"She's actin' less like herself than you are yours."
"What's that supposed to mean, Vic?"
"For her? Obviously, Lucas did a number on her mind. He's plottin' somethin' against us, and to be frank? I think you need to let Grim recover; otherwise, she may jeopardize the mission," said Vic. "As for you… Are you doin' okay in spite of all this rogue agent business, Sam?"
"I'm fine, Vic," said Sam.
"But what about Sarah?"
"I said I'm fine, Vic," said Sam, before he sighed, and said, "The news report says she's receiving death threats… and given that the world is run by the very people we're hunting… I'm worried sick."
"Do you want me to set up a call with her?"
"No, Vic, having her talk to me would just put her in further danger."
"But Sam… you may never get to see her again—"
"Right now, I'm more worried about her safety than being able to see her again, Vic," said Sam. "Now, the favor?"
Vic said, "My boys at Paladin Nine are pullin' some strings to keep an eye on her… It's not easy, though, Sam… and to be honest, I'm worried it may do more damage than good to all of us… especially if they figure out I'm workin' with you."
Sam looked up, and ran a hand over his face and through his crew cut. He said, "Fine. If you feel you're putting your company at risk by acting as Sarah's backup protection detail, pull them out immediately. Otherwise, have them keep her under their watch at all times."
"Of course, Sam," said Vic. "I hope to god we all make it out of this Selection thing alive."
"Me too, Vic," said Sam.
Vic said, "One of my people at Paladin managed to install our software in Sarah's apartment surveillance systems. If she's gone, you'll know."
Vic tapped his watch. Sam looked at his OPSAT, and manipulated its touch interface until he could see a new set of surveillance footage.
The light in Sam's eyes faded a little as he saw Sarah talking to someone on her phone. Sarah had a hand to her head as she was sitting down at her desk.
"Yes. I know. He's a terrorist now, the news said the same thing. Yes. What? No, I don't have any clue where he might be." Sarah sighed, and looked out the window for a moment. "Sometimes I feel like the only way I know my dad is by how little I actually know about him. What? Do I hope I'll ever see him again? Is that what you said?" Sarah looked down. "You're breaking up… ugh, the cell service here's as much of a mess as the wi-fi. I'm sorry, I'll call you back!" Sarah hung up her cell phone, and buried her head in her arms.
I'm so sorry, Sarah… because of me, your life is ruined…
"Sam?" said Briggs.
Snapping out of it, Sam turned around.
"Charlie's done looking at the schematics for the factory. He's got an idea on how to get in."
"Am I going to like it?"
"The rest of us don't."
"I'll bet this month's paycheck I'm going to like it."
Briggs smirked as Sam walked with him into the command center.
Charlie and Grim were looking at the strange symbols from the Abstergo files.
"I thought I told you to wait for us," said Sam.
"I'm all right, Sam," said Grim. "Besides, Charlie said he had a plan and it involves me."
Sam and Briggs looked at Charlie now.
"So given all the talk about space magic, conspiracy theories, and Norse mythology, I took some notes about everything you and Grim mentioned so far about the Isu, Sages, and the Phoenix Project… My notes are super messy, so I'll skip to the fun part: I suspect, based on what Grim explained about Lucas injecting her with the…" Charlie cleared his throat before saying, "Aesir caste member, Freyja's DNA from the Phoenix Project, and trying to brainwash her, that Lucas tried to turn Grim into Freyja's Sage."
"Which means?"
"Grim has Freyja's consciousness in her head, trying to fight for control of her mind."
Briggs raised one eyebrow and opened his mouth partially.
"Are you absolutely sure about this, Charlie?"
"Well, about as sure as most cranks are about this stuff, but given the only apparent expert in this room now might be a potential Manchurian candidate, this is my best guess."
"This is a waste of time," said Briggs.
"Charlie's right," said Grim. "Right now, though, she's lying dormant… but she's still there. She and Odin are up to something… but I'm still me for now."
"So Grim's a Norse goddess of death and fertility now, we get it. But what does that have to do with the plans to stop the Red Mercury?" said Sam.
"Well, for starters, because she's now a Sage, she can understand bits and pieces of the files we pulled off of Abstergo's servers back in Rome."
Grim said, "The language is becoming more familiar every time I look at it… but the majority of the files are in a dialect that I can't recognize. I suspect it's part of the Greco-Roman Isu caste, whom the Aesir referred to as the Jotunn."
"This might make sense because Grim was made into a Norse Sage, not a Greco-Roman one," said Charlie, "but… anyway, we'll need to find a Greco-Roman Sage to decrypt the rest of the files."
Sam locked eyes with Charlie.
"Right, sorry," said Charlie. "Is it bad that I find this shit interesting to learn about? Anyway, I merely let Grim take a look at the files to test my theory of her being a Sage—"
"—briefly?" said Briggs.
"Yes, briefly!" said Charlie. "Where was I? Ah, right… So we need a Norse Sage's biometric signature to break into the secure server room where the schematics for how to defuse the Red Mercury bombs are… as well as how to safely sabotage the facility without potentially causing a nuclear meltdown."
"Now you're talking sense," said Sam.
"The schematics show that the hallway leading to the elevator which leads down to the underground bunker containing the server room are covered with biometric scanners designed to detect anyone not registered in their systems… which is basically anyone who isn't a Norse Sage. However, how it works is that the biometric scanners will tolerate potential unregistered guests as long as they pass through the hallway at the same time as the Norse Sages. It was mainly just designed this way so Lucas could take whoever he wanted down there."
"So, if Grim is registered for the scanner…" said Briggs.
"Then she can let Sam in too."
"We're going to have to bluff our way in, then," said Sam. "Our best bet is to pretend that Grim's brainwashing succeeded… that way it'll make whoever's at the facility think she's working for Lucas and that we're dead."
"The only potential problem with the plan though…" said Charlie.
"…is that in order for the people at the facility to think we're dead, none of us, save for Grim, can be seen," said Briggs.
"Until we get past the biometric scanners and reach our objectives, at least," said Sam. "A no-alerts mission parameter is nothing new to me."
"There are likely to be more civilians working in that facility as well among the guards," said Charlie. "We should avoid killing them."
"Agreed," said Sam.
"Still, for this plan to work, the no-alerts parameter has to be prioritized over the no-civilian casualties parameter," said Grim. "The area in there is tightly packed with civilian workers, and Sam will only be able to disguise himself for long enough to enter the facility. So, if a civilian discovers you and you're unable to take them out non-lethally, kill them instead."
The others looked at Grim and frowned.
"We still have rules to live by, Grim," said Sam, "and those civilians have lives to live after they're done with their shifts."
"And Lucas still has his hands on four Red Mercury devices, and he'll have more soon if we don't succeed here. Their lives matter little in the grand scheme of things."
"You said it yourself, Grim," said Sam. "We're still operating under the orders of President Caldwell. Turning civilians into collateral for the sake of the larger mission is a bad idea if we want to get our lives back."
"And you said it yourself, Sam," said Grim. "We're not getting our lives back after this. The situation Lucas put this team in… what he's done… it's irreversible."
Sam frowned. "I'm not becoming a killer again, Grim."
"I hate to break it to you, but despite that he's a monster, Lucas was right; you already are one, Sam."
"Enough!" yelled Briggs. Sam and Grim stopped glaring angrily at each other.
"Sam's the leader of this team," said Briggs. "President Caldwell gave him full authority to run the team, meaning he controls the mission parameters. Isn't that right, Sam?"
"That's right," said Sam, "and whether we've been granted Fifth Freedom or not, we don't kill civilians."
"All right," said Grim. "How are we going to get into the facility?"
"I managed to forge some ID badges for you and Grim to get past main security," said Charlie. "I've also provided you with some lead-lined bags to get your gear through main security as well; your cover is that you're a technician who's there to provide maintenance to the facility's servers."
"Never thought I'd have to pose as a techie," mused Sam.
"After that, you're going to have to rely on stealth. Hiding in plain sight is going to be risky, so when possible, use the shadows to your advantage. Once you get to the hallway…"
"Then I'll be able to put my gear on," said Sam.
"Right," said Charlie.
"Works for me," said Sam. "Briggs, you're on duty for extraction."
"Of course," said Briggs. "Where's the van?"
"Vic's pulled some strings to drop it off at a nearby safe house. The Paladin will touch down there and then you'll drive Sam and Grim to the facility."
"All right," said Briggs. "If things go south, I'll be ready to pull you two out of there."
"If all goes according to plan, it won't come to that," said Sam, looking at Grim. "We're go for Hong Kong."
Briggs was driving them into the parking lot of the manufacturing facility.
Sam looked at Grim.
"You sure you're still you?"
"I don't have a choice but to be me," said Grim. "Just like you have no choice but to trust me."
Sam frowned, and put on his technician uniform disguise, then picked up the bag containing his gear.
Briggs said, "We're here. Again, if you two run into trouble, say the word and I'll find a way to get you out of it."
Sam nodded, and got out of the van with Grim.
They entered the facility's front doors, and approached the security checkpoint.
The guards looked up at Sam and Grim as they scanned their badges and passed through the checkpoint gates.
"Hold up," said a guard. "You're not scheduled for tonight's shift."
"I'm here to perform last-minute maintenance on the servers," said Sam.
"What's she here for?"
"She's a friend of Mr. Richards," said Sam. "He wants her to see the progress of the Red Mercury production line for herself."
"Why isn't he here with her then?"
"Lucas said he's running late," said Grim. "He's a busy man."
"I didn't hear about any scheduled maintenance operations," said the guard suspiciously.
"Look, pal," said Sam, "it's called compartmentalization. Lucas doesn't want any screw-ups in his operation. We're just following his orders. So don't make this any harder for us than it needs to be."
The guard sighed, and said, "All right, you're cleared to enter."
One of the guards put Sam's gear duffel bag through the X-ray scanner. He stared at the scanner's monitor with a confused look on his face for a moment, then took the duffel bag out of the scanner and nodded toward Sam and Grim.
Sam picked up the duffel bag, and followed Grim into the factory, which was extremely crowded with civilian workers and armed guards.
"Good job bluffing, Sam," said Charlie.
"All right, Grim," said Sam. "I'll be shadowing you until we get to the biometric scanners."
Sam looked around at the manufacturing facility while laying low.
The warehouse areas were filled with secure containers of Red Mercury, and the assembly lines were putting together portable Red Mercury bombs the size of baseballs. Meanwhile, in the laboratory areas, the Red Mercury was being produced.
"It looks like Lucas is almost ready to ship out enough Red Mercury to blow up the world…" said Charlie over comms.
"Yeah," said Sam. "We arrived just on time. We have to put a stop to this."
Sam froze when he saw a familiar face talking into a smartphone ahead of him.
"You said it looked like them?" said Hisham Hamza. "Send me some security footage to confirm. I need to know it's them before I do anything drastic."
Damn it, thought Sam as he quickly ducked behind an empty station on a nearby conveyor belt where Red Mercury bomb parts were being loaded into totes.
Sam took a detour through the cafeteria, where some workers were watching the news.
To Sam's misfortune, the news had his face displayed on it, along with Grim's, Charlie's, and Briggs's.
"Fourth Echelon's agents were last spotted in Tuscany. Their current whereabouts are unknown, but global authorities are working on tracking them down. In the meantime, US President Caldwell's administration is facing increased scrutiny after the terrorist attack on Abstergo Headquarters in Rome. More information is coming out via whistleblowers by the minute. We will keep you updated as the situation continues to unfold…"
Sam looked away, and told the others via comms, "Hisham's here, and he's almost onto us. We have to hurry before we lose our chance to make it to the basement servers."
"I'm almost there," said Grim. "Sending my location to your OPSAT. Come find me and we'll pass through the biometric scanners."
"I'm on my way," said Sam.
Grim and Sam entered the hallway lined with biometric scanners.
"This had better work…" said Sam.
"It will," said Grim.
"Two biometric signatures detected," said an electronic voice as they walked through the hallway. "Scanning first biometric signature."
Sam could see that the scanners were scanning him first.
"First biometric signature, not registered. Scanning second biometric signature."
Now Grim was being scanned. Sam tensed himself to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
"Second biometric signature, registered. Welcome, Freyja."
Sam sighed as they made their way to the elevator.
Sam looked at the security camera guarding the elevator doors nervously as Grim hit the button to call the elevator.
To Sam's relief, the doors opened. They entered the elevator, and Grim held her badge up to the elevator controls' scanner. The elevator then descended to the underground bunker.
As they descended, Sam unzipped his duffel bag, and got changed into his commando suit and trifocal goggles.
Sam and Grim walked through the bunker toward the servers, only to find they were too late.
Dr. Aswat and several guards were destroying the servers by shooting them with their machine guns, and shredding hard copies of files.
Sam quickly killed the guards with a barrage of precise rapid-fire shots from his SC-20K.
Dr. Aswat turned around to look at Sam and Grim, and quickly tried to sabotage one of the last sets of computers. Sam quickly grabbed him, and socked him in the face to subdue him. "Lucas said you'd come," he said. "You're too late. The files containing the schematics showing how to disarm the new Red Mercury bomb models are as good as gone."
Sam said, "What about what's on that computer over there?"
Dr. Aswat grimaced.
"I suppose I could find out for myself and simply slit your throat."
Dr. Aswat yelled, "No, don't! It… it contains information on how to contain the Red Mercury that's already been successfully manufactured. Put it in a time-locked storage so it can't be accessed for a while."
"Good boy," said Sam. "Now this Red Mercury bomb model… you're the scientist who developed it. I assume you can tell me how to disarm it yourself."
"Go to hell," yelled Dr. Aswat.
Sam pressed his knife against Dr. Aswat's neck as he held him in a chokehold.
"Arrgh! It's too complicated for a mere verbal explanation!" yelled Dr. Aswat. "But Lucas wanted me to send him a copy of the schematics to him. They're… they're on the Abstergo servers."
Sam said, "And they're in Greco-Roman Isu dialect."
"You already have access to them?" said Dr. Aswat in disbelief. He said, "It doesn't matter. You won't stop Lucas's plans. You don't even know how to read that particular dialect."
"Then who does?" said Sam.
Dr. Aswat said nothing.
Sam plunged his knife into the man's clavicle, and held his mouth as he screamed.
Once he calmed down, Dr. Aswat cried, "Majid Sadiq!"
Sam and Grim stared at Dr. Aswat as he said, "He's Loki's reincarnation. Find him, get him to translate it, and you'll get your damned schematics!"
Sam said, "Sounds like Uncle Sam needs to have a talk with him. Thanks for the intel, Dr. Aswat."
Dr. Aswat said, "You're going to spare me, right?"
"Of course," said Sam. "Just like I spared your double."
Dr. Aswat's eyes went wide before Sam slit his throat, and pushed his corpse to the floor.
Sam looked at Grim, who was plugging in Charlie's flash drive to the computer that hadn't been destroyed.
"Charlie, what do we do from here?" he said.
"Downloading the information about the time-lock storage that Dr. Aswat mentioned," said Charlie. "Okay, got it. The Red Mercury that's already been produced is being stored in the warehouse area, but the warehouse is secured inside a vault in the event of a meltdown. It's just a matter of closing the vault."
"So how do we do that?" said Sam.
"It looks like the time-lock mechanisms can be triggered from some of the other servers down here, along with a meltdown alert," said Charlie. "That should scare off the workers and give you time to sabotage the production line."
"I assume there's a catch," said Sam.
"One of you is going to have to stay down here and defend the servers while I hack into the time-lock mechanism. The other one of you is going to have to go to the vault and manually lock down the vault once I've got control of the mechanism."
"I'll go up to the vault," said Sam. "Grim, do you think you can hold your own down here once things get loud?"
"I'm an Isu reincarnation now, Sam," said Grim. "My combat skills are likely superior to yours at this rate."
"We can agree to disagree on that," said Sam. "I'll see you topside."
Sam headed back to the elevator, while Grim looked at the server consoles.
As Sam exited the elevator and headed back through the biometric scanner-filled hallway, he heard alarms go off in the facility.
"Fisher," said Hisham over the intercoms.
"Hisham," said Sam.
"I know you and Grim are here, Sam," said Hisham. "Neither of you are making it out of this facility alive."
"Grim," said Sam over comms, "can you and Charlie trigger the meltdown alert now… and maybe provide me with a few extra shadows to hide in?"
"On it," said Grim.
Hisham said over the intercoms, "All guards in the facility, initiate a search for them… and start by going to the bunker. Whoever manages to kill Fisher gets a bonus from Lucas himself."
Sam prepared himself for a fight as Grim and Charlie triggered the meltdown alert and blackout.
He hid in the shadows of the factory, taking advantage of the pandemonium as the civilian workers in the facility started to flee toward the nearest exits.
As several guards marched toward Sam's location, Sam fired his SC-20K at them, taking care not to shoot any of the civilians.
Charlie said, "Sam, I don't know if you're looking at your OPSAT right now, but I'm seeing more guards converging on your position. Dozens of them!"
Sam quickly found a way around them by climbing a pipe lining the facility walls and hiding in the ceiling.
Sam located and marked the guards searching for him beneath him with his trifocal goggles' Electronically Enhanced Vision, and hung upside down from a pipe in the ceiling while aiming his Five-Seven at them and landing several suppressed shots to their heads.
The guards were wearing sonar goggles; they started to look up for Sam in the ceiling and fire their automatic rifles at the ceiling.
Damn it, thought Sam.
He quickly climbed across the pipe and quietly landed and crouch-walked across a set of catwalks until he made it to an air vent. He cut open the air vent's hatch, and crawled into the vent.
He eventually made it out of the air vent, and made his way to the vault full of Red Mercury.
Sam entered the vault, and said to Charlie, "What now, Charlie?"
"There should be a set of four computers that will help you lock down the vault. You'll have to defend each one while I hack into them and activate the time-lock."
"This sounds like a job for two people," said Sam. "Briggs, do you think you could lend me a hand?"
"I was getting bored waiting out here in the van," said Briggs. "I'll be there in a second."
Sam nodded, and headed over to the first set of computer controls.
"Work your magic, Charlie," said Sam as he plugged Charlie's flash drive into the computer.
"On it," said Charlie.
Sam reloaded his SC-20K, and planted some proximity mines and sticky camera traps to prepare for an ambush. He then shot out several lights to give him the cover of darkness, and took cover behind a set of metallic crates.
As the vault doors were slowly closing to seal away the Red Mercury, Sam saw the dozens of guards approaching his position.
Shit, thought Sam, I don't think I can take all of them on by myself. Where are you, Briggs…
Sam prepared himself for a bloodbath as the guards approached some of Sam's traps.
Once they exploded, killing some of the guards, Sam took advantage of the element of surprise and started firing SC-20K assault rifle rounds at the guards along with several underbarrel 40MM sniper rifle rounds.
The guards fired back at Sam's position. Sam stayed under the cover of the metal crates, and crept around them to find another ambush point. He was pinned down, though.
Fortunately, now the guards were being picked off by sniper rounds from somewhere behind them until they were all dead.
Briggs walked past their corpses.
Sam nodded at Briggs as he unplugged Charlie's flash drive, and headed to the next computer station.
As they waited together for Charlie to hack the second set of computer controls, he contacted them over their OPSATs.
"Guys," said Charlie, "I've been trying to multitask and monitor the local authorities' comms… You're about to have all of Hong Kong come after you… along with the Collective Force."
"Lucas's PMC," said Briggs.
"He's onto us," said Sam. "We need to make ourselves scarce. Speaking of which… Grim, are you still with us?"
"Yes," said Grim over their subdermals. "Several guards came down to the bunker looking for me. They're all dead now."
"You managed to kill them?"
Grim said, "Like I said, I'm an Isu now. They didn't stand a chance."
Sam thought to himself, if she really is much better at combat than before… and Lucas actually succeeded in brainwashing her… she could be a bigger threat to the rest of the team than I thought.
Charlie said, "Second computer hacked."
"Two to go," said Briggs.
Sam tapped into the third computer while Briggs covered him with his sniper rifle as more guards approached their position.
"Briggs," said Hisham over the intercom. "You're good with a sniper rifle, I'll give you that. But can you manage to kill a target you can't see?"
Suddenly a sniper shot grazed Briggs.
Looking around, Sam and Briggs ran for cover.
"If I can't shoot you, then I suppose I can just shoot the computers you're trying to hack into instead," said Hisham.
Sam quickly threw a flashbang grenade to blind Hisham, and covered his eyes.
As Sam unplugged the flash drive from the third computer and ran for the fourth, Briggs unleashed a barrage of suppressing fire in Hisham's direction.
"I'll act as a spotter, Briggs," said Sam. "And I'll try to draw him out."
"Copy," said Briggs.
Sam fired his Five-Seven to draw out Hisham as he ran to another set of metal crates for cover.
Several bullets were fired in Sam's direction.
"Did you get that?" said Sam to Briggs over comms.
"Yeah," said Briggs. "I think I see him."
Briggs fired his sniper rifle at Hisham.
"Did you get him?" said Sam.
"No, I think I just grazed him," said Briggs.
Sam used his sonar vision to track and mark Hisham as Hisham ran for another set of cover up in the catwalks.
"The fourth computer's hacked, guys," said Charlie. "Now you need to get out of there before you're sealed into the vault too."
Sam nodded, and threw several smoke grenades to cover their exit. He hit Hisham with a barrage of suppressing fire as he and Briggs ran out of the vault. Sam managed to hit Hisham in the leg.
Hisham screamed, "Damn you, Fisher!" as he barely managed to limp out of the vault himself before its doors shut him in.
Sam and Briggs then made their way upstream through the crowd of fleeing workers, and started to plant EMP charges on the assembly lines.
As the authorities and Lucas's mercs entered the facility, Sam and Briggs ran for the shadows and detonated the charges.
The assembly line was now completely destroyed, while the Red Mercury devices were not damaged enough to cause a real nuclear meltdown.
"I think we've done enough damage to the production line to bring it to a halt," said Briggs.
"At least for now," said Sam.
Charlie said, "I think now's a good time for you guys to make your escape. Things are looking bad on the streets."
"We're about to do so," said Sam. "Grim, where are you?"
"On my way back up from the basement," she said.
"Shit," said Charlie. "Guys, the front door's definitely a no-go. On top of that, the van is surrounded."
"Can you find us another way out?" said Briggs.
"Give me a second," said Charlie. "Wait, I've got it! There are a few shipping trucks that were left behind amidst the chaos. You could try hijacking one of them and drive out of the facility that way."
"Sounds like a solid plan to me," said Sam. "Lead the way."
After regrouping with Grim, they entered one of the shipping trucks. Sam hotwired the truck until he was able to drive it. They drove it out of the cargo loading area, and through the parking lot.
Police cars were barricading the exits.
"What do we do?" said Briggs.
"We're going to have to go through them," said Sam as he hit the gas and rammed through the police cars.
The rest of the police cars surrounding the facility quickly followed after their truck as they drove into the city.
Charlie was monitoring their truck via the SMI as they were being chased by dozens of police cars through the streets of Hong Kong.
"Guys, I don't think you're going to make it out," said Charlie.
"We have to," said Sam over comms.
Thinking for a moment, Charlie said, "I'm contacting Vic. Maybe he can lend us a drone to cover your escape."
"Negative, Charlie," said Sam. "If we get Vic involved in this, his company may get shut down by Lucas."
Charlie looked at the SMI. The truck they hijacked was about to be cut off.
Charlie frowned, and manipulated the SMI until he could bring up a secure communication channel.
"Vic, are you there? This is Charlie Cole. I need to ask you for a favor."
Charlie slaved the drone Vic loaned him to the SMI, and began to take control.
"I hope you know what you're doin', Charlie," said Vic.
"Not at all," said Charlie, "but I know that if I don't do this, the others aren't going to make it out of Hong Kong alive."
Charlie started piloting the drone remotely, following the truck Sam was driving and the mercenary and police cars following it. Charlie fired the drone's turret at the cars, knocking them off of Sam's trail. Charlie tried his best to hit the tires of the police cars so he didn't kill the police, whereas he didn't bother blowing up the cars of Lucas's mercenaries.
"You're almost to the safe house," said Charlie to the others. "There's a chopper there. Once you're there, ditch the truck and get onto the chopper."
The truck started to get jammed in traffic. There was a protest going on in the streets.
"What's going on down there?" said Charlie.
"Looks like a riot," said Sam. "The locals must not be happy with the way the government and the companies in town are treating them. The wealth gap is pretty bad right now to be fair to them. I wouldn't be surprised if Abstergo is responsible."
"You're going to have to take a detour," said Charlie. "Marking an alternate route on your OPSAT's GPS."
"Copy," said Sam as he steered the truck out of the way of the protesting civilians.
Finally, they managed to shake off the police and mercenaries chasing after them.
"You're in the clear," said Charlie. "The safe house is just a few klicks away."
"All right," said Sam. "I see a parking lot next to a nearby mall. We'll ditch the truck there and make our way through the crowd of protesters until we reach the safe house."
Charlie sighed in relief as Sam drove the truck into the mall parking lot.
As Sam, Grim, and Briggs finally reached the safe house, they entered the chopper stashed there and piloted it out of Hong Kong.
Sam said to Charlie over comms, "That was a good call with the drone, Charlie."
"I hope so," said Charlie. "But what about Vic?"
"He's a smooth talker," said Sam. "I'm sure he'll find a way to convince the authorities he's not working with us."
Charlie then looked at a notification on the SMI.
"That's weird…" said Charlie.
"What is?" said Sam.
Opening the notification, Charlie's eyes went wide.
"Uh… Sam?"
"What is it, Charlie?"
"Someone just contacted the Paladin directly via the SMI. I'm not sure how they managed to… I thought I patched up security properly, but…"
"What?" said Briggs.
Charlie said nothing.
"Who contacted us?"
"Sadiq."
The Paladin, Chinese Airspace
Sam grimaced as he, Briggs, Grim, and Charlie looked at Sadiq on the SMI's console.
"It's been a while, Fisher," said Sadiq.
"How'd you contact us?" said Sam. "President Caldwell had you locked up in Gitmo."
"She did," said Sadiq, "and due to the fact that her administration is under fire from the rest of the world due to the mess you and your team made in Rome, she no longer has control of me. The world suspects that I work for her, because you work for her, and you work for me. I'm being taken into custody by the British government instead."
Briggs said, "Well if you're still in prison, at least for the moment, how come you're able to contact us?"
"Lucas managed to pull some strings for me."
"So you are working with him," said Sam.
"Yes and no," said Sadiq. "But he has a purpose for me, and I have my own reasons for working with him for the time being."
"Why'd you contact us?" said Sam. "What do you want?"
"I was transferred to a CIA black site near Paris," said Sadiq. "I'm about to be transported to England via a secure train across the Chunnel. Your team is going to break me out."
"What makes you think we'd do that for you?" said Sam.
Sadiq grinned. "Have you checked up on Sarah recently, Fisher?"
Sam's eyes went wide in horror.
"As of now, some of my men are on their way to kidnap her. Given Abstergo runs the world, her security detail doesn't stand a chance. If you want your daughter to survive Lucas's Selection, Fisher, you'll cooperate with me."
Furious, Sam said, "Is there anything else you want from us, Sadiq?"
"I'll let you know once we meet face to face," said Sadiq. "In the meantime, I suggest you start planning with your team on how to break me out. The train's security detail is immense."
Sadiq said to Sam, "Don't look at me like that, Fisher. It's nothing personal."
"Oh, it's personal all right."
"One more thing…" said Sadiq. "I heard about what Lucas did to your ice queen. Lucas and I aren't friends… in fact, we're more like the complete opposite. My intuition tells me that he's going to use her to make sure you keep me in line. I suggest you have her sit this one out. For the good of both of us. After all, Lucas has a purpose for your team as well, whether you know it or not. And once you've served your purpose… he'll dispose of you. It's likely he'll have her do the disposing."
Sam and the others looked at Grim suspiciously.
"You underestimate how difficult it is for a Sage to overcome the Isu consciousness in their head, Fisher…" said Sadiq. "Your ice queen is no longer Anna Grimsdottir… she's Freyja."
Sadiq continued by saying, "Anyway, if you refuse to help me, Sarah is as good as dead. Consider your options carefully, Sam. I'll see you on the Chunnel."
As the line went dead, Sam said furiously to Charlie, "Call Vic. I want to know if Sarah's safe."
Charlie said, "All- all right, Sam."
Vic said, "Sam."
"Vic, is Sarah all right?"
"I was just about to call you about that," said Vic with a somber voice. "Surveillance on her apartment went dead for a few minutes. When it came back online, my boys were found dead, and Sarah was nowhere to be found. I don't know where she was taken, or who took her."
"I know exactly who took her," said Sam angrily, "and I'm going to kill him."
"I'm sorry, Sam," said Vic. "I'll have my boys do everything they can to find her."
"Good," said Sam, "you do that."
"What are you going to do, Sam?" said Vic.
"Continue the mission," said Sam.
"All right," said Vic. "If you need help with anythin' else, I'm just a call away."
"I know," said Sam. "Thanks Vic."
Vic nodded, and hung up.
Sam looked at the others.
"Are we really going to free Sadiq?" said Briggs.
"He has my daughter, Briggs," said Sam.
Briggs said, "As much as I know you love Sarah, Sam… we have bigger problems to worry about right now. And Sadiq's one of the most dangerous men on Earth. Freeing him is just going to cause more problems for us… not to mention it's going to make us look even worse to the rest of the world."
Sam sighed. "What about what Dr. Aswat said. About Sadiq being a Greco-Roman Sage… the reincarnation of Loki?"
"What's your point?" said Briggs.
"We could use him for our own ends," said Sam. "To translate the Abstergo files. That way we get the intel we need to help us know how to disarm the Red Mercury bombs."
Grim, Briggs, and Charlie frowned at Sam.
"He has a point," said Charlie.
"Still," said Briggs, "I don't like this."
"I'm with Sam," said Charlie.
"I'm against," said Briggs.
"What about you, Grim?" said Sam.
Grim looked at Sam.
"We'll free Sadiq," said Grim, "and get your daughter back."
Briggs looked at Grim.
"You sure you're not just trying to fulfill the purpose Sadiq was talking about, Grim?" said Briggs.
"Does it matter?" said Grim. "Sam's right. We need to know what those files say. Besides, we've beaten Sadiq before. We'll figure out a way to stop him again."
Sam said, "All right. Are we ready to head to Paris?"
The others looked at each other before looking back at Sam.
"Go for Paris," said Grim.
"Go for Paris," said Charlie.
"Go for Paris," said Briggs.
"Good," said Sam. "It's time to find out what that son of a bitch wants."