The team rose early and carried out their normal morning routines – food, personal hygiene, a morning run, praying to the spirits for protection, checking their messages and deleting the torrent of spam that still managed to seep through to them even though they had black-market phones with the numbers unlisted.
Hunter had worked with Marius on assembling the information from his own data searches and then the verbal debrief from each of the teams that had gone out to survey the sites they'd identified. When everyone was sat ready, he activated the screen, adjusted his notes and started to outline the information they'd gained.
"Right – target one, the Kaiser Health Centre. This is just off the I-5, fronting onto Maple Street, with Pacific Avenue to the south and Hewitt Avenue to the north, and with Pine Street to the west. Really good access and escape routes via the I-5 in terms of speed and distance, though once on the interstate there's limited options to get off if the alarm is raised. This is a pretty small hospital, or maybe a very large clinic, in a five story building. The bottom two floors are an integrated car park through, with the medical facility on top. According to their matrix site, they 'fulfil basic physical and medical equipment accessibility standards' which is their way I think of saying they have disabled access ramps and stuff. They've got a good range of medical departments: Cardiology, General Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Injection Room, Laboratory, Nephrology, Occupational Therapy, Oncology, so there should be plenty of equipment and supplies." He paused for a moment to see if anyone wanted to speak, before continuing.
"There's a whole bunch of stuff to do with payment and insurance, again this is all pulled from their matrix site: 'This provider is Preferred In-Network. Summit PPO members who get care from a Preferred In-Network provider will have the lowest out-of-pocket costs. Refer to your Evidence of Coverage for more information. Additional providers and pharmacies are available to Summit PPO members at a higher cost through regional and national networks. Virtual Plus - Connect Network members Your costs may be higher if you receive in-person care without a referral.' I'm not sure if that makes any difference to us, but it was linked from all over their site, so they feel it's kind of important for some reason."
"The fly in the ointment with this one lies in the northern side of the block – the Doc-Wagon annexe. This has a hanger, maintenance area, fuel terminal and landing spots for two aircraft. One is a med-evac chopper, a Boeing with an extended body – we don't have an exact model on that, but it's big enough for a couple of stretcher patients and about four staff, so it's not a small bird. Along with that, there's an Doc-Wagon Osprey, so that's likely to be a fairly similar size and configuration to our bird."
"Just without the machine guns!" Tads smiled as she said it.
"Um – no. Actually, more than likely with the machine guns, and possibly under-wing rocket pods firing concussion warheads for area clearance. This is what they call a 'High Threat Response' vehicle, so it's going to be armoured and designed to put down in the middle of a situation, anything from a gang attack to a corporate extraction that's gone wrong, lay down enough firepower to supress the area and allow the crew to extract the VIP casualty, then evac them to hospital. They do NOT mess around, and have good training and equipment." The smile on Tads face froze as she was corrected, then faded away into a slight look of horror at the description.
"The Doc-Wagon compound has electrified fences topped with razor wire, what looks like decent quality cameras and the whole area is illuminated with high power lights covering the landing area and spilling over to light up all the external fences. The buildings are all covered with a basic level ward, that we should be able to penetrate with minimal effort now."
"What about the hospital itself?" Tads queried.
"That doesn't appear to be warded from the outside – it's a reasonable size so would take some effort from what I can see. The same thing applies to the other two as this, so it's worth taking this as a general note on all three targets – hospitals and security are a really bad mix. It's one of those cases where the two drivers are completely at odds with each other and make it very difficult." Hunter sat back and ignored his notes for a moment, trying to describe the situation.
"Security is designed to keep a facility secure, safe and controlled, restricting access to only the right sort of people… which means not us." He smiled, his crooked mouth forming a nightmare visage that thankfully the team were well used to by now. "On the other hand, a hospital is supposed to grant easy access to people in urgent need of care. People who might arrive at speed, unable to speak or communicate easily, in time critical condition. You do not have time to establish an identify when your patient is bleeding out, or choking, or has had their arm ripped off by a troll – they need to be in and dealt with, immediately. And those people have concerned relatives, hysterical partners, terrified children, all kinds of people who also are in no state to clearly and calmly authenticate themselves." He stopped and took a sip of water, then continued his analysis.
"So they do the best compromise they can. Lock down key areas that are critical – baby units, pharmacy, admin offices, computer rooms, stores – with decent security and monitoring, and pretty much give up much of the rest as a bad job. People are going to be in and out, moving around so frequently that you're not going to stop them. Active mobile security looking for the 'wrong' kind of people, monitored CCTV looking for suspicious activity and a response force to go and deal with things – but you have to let people in and around the facility for it to do it's primary job, and that means accepting lower security overall."
"I think I understand now. Thank you." Tads nodded, and then fell silent, letting Hunter continue his briefing.
"Ok, so back to facility number one. They are staffed with guards from 'Bulldog Security', a local Everett firm that provides both security and investigative services. I had a quick look at them as well, and part of their marketing spiel is that if you have a security breach, they provide you with their forensic and investigative services free of charge." He tapped a key and the screen changed, showing a cartoon bulldog sitting on the floor, holding on to the coat tails of a burglar with the slogan 'A Bulldog doesn't let go!' written underneath. " It seems to be a reasonably professional outfit, modern body armour and basic sidearms, patrol cars we've seen are standard saloon cars with livery – we'd expect maybe a rack of shotguns locked in the boot and a decent radio in the car. Overall, there's a handful of guards on patrol around the building that we've identified, and we have an estimate of around thirty doctors, forty-five nurses and maybe sixty ancillary staff working there."
"I don't like the sound of that one – Doc Wagon sound like they're too heavily armed, and I bet they have some kind of mutual defence contract built in." Kai frowned, then motioned for Hunter to flip back to the grainy overhead shot showing the facilities laid out alongside the multi-lane interstate.
"Possibly – but only the HTR team will be heavily armed, and they're much less of a threat away from their aircraft. What bothers me is the forensic services of this Bulldog security. That could lead to complications…"
"Facility number two is much larger," Hunter continued, taking back control of the discussion. "It covers eight city blocks, From Pacific Avenue down to 33rd Street, from Kromer Avenue and Nassau Street. And yes, the same Pacific Avenue as the first facility – but much further over to the west. It's a seven storey building at least – there may be additional levels below ground, with two large multi-story car parks on either side. The roof has a helipad, and it's rated as a level two trauma centre – from what I can see that means that any major incidents in the area end up there, including any industrial accidents from the docks to the west, the rail yards and any serious crashes on the I-5, skipping past the closer medical units, and I've found a bunch of references in the news to injuries from sporting events ending up there as well."
"It's run by something called the 'Sisters of Providence', and their matrix site is full of religious rhetoric and about a thousand ways to give or donate charitably to the hospital foundation. What I didn't find what any of the co-pay stuff or insurance details that were all over the first one, so it may be that it's a free clinic or funded by this religious mob, or some charitable foundation. The list of departments is impressive: Trauma / Emergency centre, Family Maternity Centre, Children's Centre, Heart and Vascular Care, Neuroscience Institute, Surgical services, Neurosurgery, Diagnostic Imaging Services, Hospice Care Centre, Clinical Research, Rehabilitation Services."
"We had a look, and there does not seem to be a dedicated security team at the site – they rely on Lone Star providing coverage of the area and having an interest in them, though from the recon we did it seems that quite often there's at least a couple of units there dropping off or supervising some random troublemakers that have gotten themselves hurt. The main form of security they have is their CCTV system, and that's contracted out according to the labels on the cameras to a local IT firm called 'Managed Technology LLC'. They're a pretty small operation that do remote tech support for a bunch of local firms, and the hospital seems to be their biggest customer. Other than that, security at the hospital seems to be pretty light, and we saw evidence of old style manual code locks on doors, so they're behind the tech curve – not surprising if they are a charity."
"Like I said this place is much bigger, and our estimates are that there's between eighty and a hundred doctors, more than two hundred nursing staff and maybe as many as seven hundred ancillary and admin staff, so it'd probably be much easier to infiltrate and pose as employees there than at the others."
"I agree. And I'm sure between Marius and Hunter that you have the skills needed to intercept and deal with that external video feed and make sure there's no footage of us." Tads added.
"Indeed. Or infiltrating the IT company might be a very easy target, and allow us to do remote reconnaissance of the main facility." Aswon suggested.
"What about the third facility?" Kai asked, and the others settled down again while Hunter bought up his notes on the third target.
"Number three is a two block area, bounded by Rucker Avenue and Colby Avenue on the sides, and 39th and 40th Street top and bottom. It's probably not much bigger than the first one, if at all – but takes up a lot more room as it seems to be mostly single storey. It's also the only one that's not fully twenty-four hour operations. The emergency room section is only open from 07:30 to 19:00 during the week and 08:00 and 17:00 today and tomorrow."
"Again, there's a bunch of information on the matrix about them – one of the things they cite is that 'Walk-in clinic visits are billed as office visits, not as ER or urgent care center visits. Please check with your health plan to find out how walk-in visits are covered.' So it looks like they're still insurance funded, but they're probably cheaper than other facilities. I'm not sure how that will affect the demographics of who's visiting them – not enough information yet."
"Department wise, they look to be similar to the first in terms of breadth, and short of the second: Urgent care, ENT, Cardiology, Musculoskeletal medicine, Obstetrics and family medicine, Ophthalmology, Podiatry, Rheumatology and arthritis, Urology".
"They use a firm called Blue Shield security, and a quick scout on their matrix presence shows a very high proportion are retired cops or armed services personnel, so they're likely to be past their prime in terms of age and physical performance, but have lots and lots of experience. From what I can see, though, they have pretty good gear. One thing I did notice was that the site listed lots of qualifications in customer care and things like that – they seem to want to project a caring and considerate image."
"Ahh – I wonder. Lots of the medical departments seem to be things that apply a lot to older people. I wonder if they focus on elder-care more, and that's why they need more reasonable and polite security?" Aswon suggested.
"Maybe – we can try a run on the records, though they're likely protected quite well. There is a residential home over on the other side of Colby Avenue though, so that idea sounds quite feasible. But in terms of other security, they have the usual CCTV systems, and one thing that was noticed was they seem to use drone gurneys or trolleys to move between the urgent care centre on the west to the main facility on the east, so that might be an opening for Marius. Overall though, it's a smaller facility, with probably around twenty doctors, sixty nurses and about forty admin staff." Hunter grabbed another drink and then sat back, swilling around the water in his mouth as he finished his briefing.
"Ok, thanks Hunter. So – comments, everyone?"
"I favour the third one. If they have a rigger on site controlling those drones, then they have a network, and that will provide access. And our rigger is better and much more stubborn than theirs, I'm willing to bet." Aswon grinned at Marius, who couldn't seem to work out if that was meant as an insult or a compliment. "As I said before, I don't like the forensic investigation of the first site, and I also do not like the idea of genuinely hurting a charity and stealing from the second. The insurance companies will protect the first and third, but maybe not the big one."
"I've already said I don't like the first because of the ward."
"The ward was small though, and I don't think it would challenge any of us." Aswon scoffed. "We could and have done much better in very short amounts of time. That will be no obstacle to us."
"It depends somewhat on how quickly we leave the area after performing this raid. If we are leaving straight away, then we should not worry overly about the forensic investigation. We will be long gone by the time they have anything to go on." Marius added.
"Yeah, we'll be leaving soon enough to get up to Ice Maiden – we gotta go see her before we go to take on that Horror, just in case she has anything really useful. And we have to leave enough time to make use of whatever she might have for us as well." Aswon shook his head. "I thought we'd have much more time to prepare to fight that thing."
"I know Aswon, so did all of us. But there's nothing we can do to change that, so we should concentrate on keeping us safe now, and deal with that later." Tads suggested. "And part of that is working out what to do with you. Even though Hunter and Shimazu are pretty big, neither is as noticeable as you are! It's going to be hard work to disguise you…"
"I agree. Oh – and I just thought of another reason to avoid the larger hospital. If they are protected by the city police force, they have access to all of the local cameras and records. It's much more likely that they could trace us back to somewhere near here, or any of the other places we've been in the city. So we want to think about what SINs we use in areas that have surveillance – which around here seems to be all of them…"
"Maybe instead of going directly for a facility, we can target one of the senior officers or employees. Tads, can you not cloud their minds and judgement if you get hold of one of them?"
"I could, I think. It depends how strong willed they are, and what we ask them to do. The more out of their normal routine they are, the more likely their mind is to rebel and throw off the control."
"I like the idea in principle," Aswon interjected, "but I'm not sure we have the time – we'd probably want to spend another couple of days doing a search and recon on them, and that pushes us too close to our departure date I think. We've got a week before we need to be in the Sioux, and though it should only take us a day to fly there, we've got to get back up to the top of the Salish first to go see Ice Maiden. And what if she has a spell that will defend against the horror, that she can teach Tads – but it's going to take five days to learn? And we've not left enough time? I mean, that's unlikely, but what if there is something that needs time, or equipment or something and we've not left enough to sort that out. So I'm in favour of going in sooner, and leaving more time for preparations."
"Well, wherever we go, I'm in favour of a non-lethal attack. I don't want to kill anyone that I don't have to, especially not any medical staff or people that support them." Tads looked around, and saw a general nodding of heads, very firmly in the case of Aswon, but all in favour overall.
"If not working the soft side on an executive then, how about turning up as some kind of government inspector team, to do an audit on their equipment and drugs?" Marius countered. "That should let Kai do the negotiations and us add our relevant skills and area of expertise, and hopefully get the whole thing done without any violence at all?"
"Is that a thing?" Aswon asked? "I mean, I like the sound of it, but is there a government agency in the UCAS that does that? And do they do surprise inspections? Or are they on a regular cycle?"
"I'm pretty sure I can be convincing, we just need to work out cover stories for anyone else that's coming in with me. But yeah, that's a possibility." Kai stared into the distance and they could almost hear the cogs whirring as he ran through possibilities in his mind.
"How about if we find out where the local bar is that the guards drink at. Maybe I could do a brush past, and cast a spell on them to find out what they know – door codes, the layout of the place, weaknesses, that kind of thing?"
"It might work, Tads, but I bet their local bar is probably near the security company, not the workplace. We'd have to track that down and go from there. I mean, it would work, but we're back to doing more surveillance and making sure we get the right guards, and don't get the information on some other company."
"Aswon, you mentioned some network thing. What's that?" Aswon was going to speak but he saw Marius stir, and closed his mouth, indicating that he should speak instead.
"A rigger network is like a computer network, but it differs in that drones and vehicles are attached to it instead of computers and servers. It uses a different protocol and types of connections, and without a convertor the two types do not communicate with each other. But a rigger network also generally has a security rigger monitoring it. As soon as I enter their network, they will almost certainly become aware, and would engage me in combat. I may be able to defeat them, but if I do, they would just be expelled from their network and forced back into their body. Then I suspect they would manually raise the alarm."
"How long does the mind probing take, Tads?"
"It depends, Kai – if I've got a list of questions to ask already, and I've had time to think about them, then it's pretty quick – I can rifle through their mind and pluck out the facts that I want to know about. The main risk there is they become suspicious about thinking on such random things with no apparent link between them. If we get a person, probe their mind and then I tell you the information, so you can work out the next question – well that takes as long as it takes for us to talk about it and for you to phrase the next question. A lot longer, and a lot more suspicious, unless they're unconscious or asleep."
"I have done a little reading on the company, Optum" Marius announced, putting down his PDA. "I believe that they are owned by Yamatetsu. Or rather, 51% of their voting stock is owned by Yamatetsu giving them a controlling interest in the group. It could be worse."
"Could it?" Tads asked, somewhat confused. It was at times like this where her upbringing worked against her, and her tribal culture and magical skills were no substitute for the complexities of the modern world. Though Aswon had come from a similar (though much warmer and drier) background, he'd had many years of experience as a mercenary working all across Europe and had accumulated a lot of practical knowledge along the way.
"Yes – no megacorporation should be treated lightly. But there are some that are definitely worse than others. Mitsuhama for instance have a reputation for developing the 'zero-zone', a set of layered security designed not just to stop intruders, but to eliminate them, with extreme prejudice. Saeder-Krupp, my former home," as he said the name a trace of bitterness and anger tinged his voice, "have a reputation for tracking down people who cross them and exploiting that later. Other corporations like Renraku will only really pursue you if you impinge upon their honour and make them lose face – otherwise once it becomes financially more expensive to chase you than to let you go, they write it off as a business loss."
"And Yamatetsu. Hang on, aren't they the ones building that new city up in Vladivostok?"
"Yes. They decided to move their headquarters out of Japan and to Russia – an action that sent shockwaves throughout the business community, and caused much anger in Japan – costing the country much prestige and power. But they are generally metahuman friendly, and seen as one of the more practical and business-like enterprises. Short of an individual with a particularly vindictive nature, provided that we leave little evidence, they are unlikely to take things personally and make extended efforts to pursue us."
"Ok, so that is a good thing then. From what it sounds like, this is probably the best option to go for then."
"I'm tending to agree with you, Tads. This feels like the least bad choice." Aswon grinned at his choice of words.
"Right then – let's get ready to go. It's only a kilometre away or so, so it's time to go for a walk," Kai announced, reaching down to start tightening his boots. "Grab some discreet gear, and we'll go do a walk around the area, and get some more in-depth research and concentrate our efforts, see if we can pick up any additional information. And if they close their urgent care centre at nights, maybe that's a perfect time for a break-in…"
The team grabbed their gear, sticking to easily concealable melee weapons and pistols, throwing on long coats over their armoured clothing to try and hide the odd suspicious bulge or the straight lines of the ceramic plates built into their combat trousers and padded tops. Outside the weather was grey and a little drizzly – perfect for keeping a lot of people off the streets and they made good time as they crossed under the I-5 through a tunnel so filled with graffiti and gang-signs that you couldn't even see the concrete anymore, then down 38th Street, detouring around the edge of the Funko Field baseball centre where it protruded into the regular grid that filled much of Everett.
They worked around the edge of the site, using a parallel street to approach from the south-west and ensuring they were 'arriving' from the opposite direction to the church, just in case anyone did track them via the traffic cameras. As they walked up, they split into two groups of three – Kai, Aswon and Shimazu in the lead group, with Hunter, Tads and Marius made up the second, trailing thirty metres behind.
Coming up Rucker Avenue, they spotted the clinic as they approached 40th Street, a low-rise cerma-crete and polarised glass building made from modular segments, painted a fairly vile shade of peach. All of the windows on the side facing them were polarised, and looked to be sealed units – they could just make out the blocks of the HVAC system on the roof which presumably kept the inside climate steady and appropriate.
"I can feel the edge of the rigger network. Good solid signal, consistent strength. That means they have invested in multiple access points and control nodes throughout the building, ensuring even signal coverage. The system feels quite quick – I am seeing a lot of data noise, though it is all encrypted, of course. But this feels like a competent system, and I would be surprised if there is not an on-site rigger to co-ordinate it all."
They walked up the road, apparently ignoring the clinic and the entrance doors as they headed north on Rucker, moving up the block until they reached the car-park. Here some quick glances to the east revealed a covered walkway from the car-park to a second entrance, closed and locked like the first. The car park was a very simple two-level affair, with covered stairwells at the corner and a reasonable number of cameras covering the entrance and sides. Lower to the ground than those on the main building, these were considerably easier to get a bead on, and as Aswon passed by, he twitched his eye muscles in a peculiar pattern, squeezing the eye and making it bulge. The changed optical characteristics zoomed his vision in, bringing the manufacturer's plate into focus and he relayed the details to the group.
"Hitachi Magna-sight 45, dated 2056. Release two if that makes any difference."
"I am familiar with the range, they should be colour and of reasonable quality, with built in low-light amplification and an onboard processor for motion detection and signal monitoring. Competent, but not undefeatable." Marius didn't sound too phased by the camera, and they moved onwards, past a small bus stop and to the corner, turning to go down the slope of 39th Street. The car park took up the width of the block, leading them to Hoyt Avenue which ran down between the two blocks. As they looked down they could see what looked like a large set of lights and two large barriers pointing up into the sky, reminding them of an at-grade railway crossing. Their interest piqued, they turned to wander down, the car park to their right while the main residential part of the hospital was to their left.
The main hospital was clearly occupied – they could see the fans on the roof spinning as the air-conditioning units ran, and there was the occasional dark shape moving behind the polarised glass where the crystals were starting to lose their efficiency. It was probably time for breakfast or first rounds for the residents, and the place was probably already in full swing, unlike the area to their right.
As they walked south down Hoyt they got close enough to make out the details – and their impression of a railroad crossing was further reinforced. The barriers came in two sets, forming a channel about three metres wide leading from one block to another, encompassing a series of hazard markings on the floor and with the flashing lights at each corner to warn oncoming traffic. Straight through the middle of the area ran a strip of material with a metallic sheen.
"Almost certainly a guide rail, for robots or drones to follow as they move from one side to the other. If it was just unmanned drones, I do not think they would have this elaborate a safety system – so I can only assume that they move patients from one building to the other via this system." Marius looked up and around, spotting a few tell-tale antenna on the edges of buildings overlooking the area. "Ja – the signal is constant throughout this area. No blind spots or drop outs. They have a dense coverage of lower power units, so the loss of any one node is not critical, and the load is well shared. Good."
They were half way down the block now, and took the opportunity to cross the road. Beyond the car park on the west side, just behind the emergency building looked to be a small residential condo and some utility buildings, one of which had a small smoke stack.
"I'm guessing they have a boiler house or back-up generator in there, running on stand-by or ready to go if the grid goes down. Or maybe just being filtered through there with some batteries to provide a backup. I wonder if any of the staff live on site, or if it's a caretaker's house?" Hunter scanned the area, pointing out a set of pipes that looked like they might be a fuel inlet in the back of the building he'd identified as the powerhouse.
But, on the west side they saw a pharmacy, attached to the hospital and already open for business. As they closed in on it, walking through the single level car park that lay on the southern side, they could see the pharmacy had extended opening hours, running from 07:00 each day until midnight. It looked to be attached to the hospital by a reasonable size corridor or set of rooms, and was of the same construction, and they wondered if it held all of the hospital's drugs, or just those dispensed to outpatients.
There was an armoured vestibule with a heavily reinforced counter similar to those found in some banks or service stations open late at hight – allowing for customers to be dealt with by the staff working the late shift without letting them into the store proper.
The ground continued to fall away sharply as they walked east, and by the time they hit Colby Avenue they'd descended far enough that the main hospital was now a two level building. Turning north and heading up towards another bus-shelter perched on the edge of the landscaped grounds, they could see what looked like the main entrance to the facility on this side of the building, guarded by a slightly portly-looking elderly man wearing a pressed blue uniform. A taser baton was clipped onto his left hip, and a heavy-duty pistol was holstered on his right.
"See the chunk on the back end of his pistol, and the size of those induction pads on the grip? Pretty sure that's a safety interlock. It'll be coded to an implant in his palms or wrist, and won't fire if he's not the one holding the gun." Hunter murmured. "They're not that common, but it means if we go in without weapons, we can't steal any of theirs. Not unless you want to just use it as a club.
"Good morning, sir." The guard called out, raising his hand to the peak of his cap and giving it a tiny tug. He'd spotted the group looking his way, but his voice didn't sound particularly suspicious or alarmed. Well, they thought that the security company had a reputation for customer care, and this seemed to back that up.
"Good morning. I am Aswon!" A number of groans filtered over the radio network as the team mentally facepalmed.
"You don't have to be so honest, you know! Now he knows your name… and it's not like he's going to forget you!"
"But I AM Aswon, Hunter. I cannot change that."
"But you don't have to go around announcing it to all and sundry!"
"I am Aswon."
"Whatever."
They'd reached the north eastern corner of the site now, and were turning back to the west, walking up the hill along 39th Street, past a small car-park with room for only a few vehicles – half of the spaces being filled with compact family cars emblazoned with the hospital logo and LTG number. Further up there was a small gap between two wings of the building, and as they drew level they could see a small security fence that covered the gap, with a fairly simple looking code lock on the outer door, and a couple of mag-lock doors leading inside, one into each wing. Hunter gave a sniff, then smiled
"Smoking area." He sniffed again, then nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, getting multiple varieties of cigarettes and cigars. Some stale, some fresh. Guess that even when you're ill, if you need a fix, you need a fix…"
"That might make a good entry point then." Kai added. "It's likely that they have people coming in and out through those doors most of the day and night. Even the staff are likely to want a break and a smoke sometime."
"Let's head back up to the middle, and down past the crossing – I want to see the other side of the boiler house and stuff." Hunter said, leading the way up the hill and heading back towards Hoyt.
"The more I look at this place, and things like the old people's home over there… the less good I feel about this as a plan." Tads said, gesturing down the hill towards the large sprawling condo block on the opposite side of the road that offered assisted living packages. "Can we not just buy a load of supplies and gift them to April?"
"We could, and yes – we have the money now. But that means we can't afford the things we need to make more money. And this place is owned by a mega-corp, so they're going to be insured and covered against anything we do. If we don't kill or hurt anyone, then really – we're not doing anything that's going to cause any real distress or loss." Kai seemed earnest and sincere, and Tads grudgingly nodded at him.
They reached the bottom of Hoyt, turning onto 40th Street and looking back up towards their starting point. It was closing in on eight in the morning, and the urgent care centre should be opening soon, and on the main roads west and east of them they could see a noticeable upsurge in traffic as people headed out to the shops or their weekend jobs.
"Maybe we could offer to ward the buildings for them?" Tads suggested. "And just arrange for some supplies to fall out the side door while we're doing that?"
"We could, but without a proper licence and security company credentials, I don't think somewhere like this would hire us – despite the fact that we'd do a better job than anyone they could actually hire." Aswon shrugged. "I think I agree with Hunter – going in through the smoking area will likely get us inside with few questions, and once in a hospital I think people will mostly assume you are supposed to be there, unless you act in a suspicious manner.
"We can always thump someone in the face and give them a black eye, then send them in for treatment?" Kai grinned as he said it.
"But if you go in with a massive bruise all up the side of your face and they ask what happened, and we tell them you didn't sell the shares, they're not going to understand…" Hunter said, his face deadpan serious. Kai spluttered for a moment, until a sly grin spread across the ork's features.
"Ok, maybe not then. How about trying to get into this maintenance building, and grabbing the maintenance team's access cards and badges. They normally have pretty much access all areas, right?"
"Yeah, that's a pretty reasonable plan. And a lot of professional staff just really don't concentrate on folks in overalls pushing something dirty." Hunter nodded along, indicating his approval of this idea. They crossed the road, moving to stand under a tree on the far side of the small landscaped area where they would be outside of the zone of any of the local security cameras and started to swap ideas, working out how they could get inside, who would be the best team to send, and then trying to work out what the likely loot would be in the building and would have the most value to April and the church versus the portability of the supplies.
"I could get some of the spirits to start causing glitches with the locks and hardware on the outside of the building, making them fail and start up again a few times. Then maybe Marius and Hunter can go in covered as a repair company and get access to their security system?"
"But your spirits would have to be visible to do that, wouldn't they?"
"Yes, but we could get them to hide in the trees and use their auras for cover. Or lurk on a rooftop, trying to keep their heads down. And I've heard Marius swearing enough now about intermittent faults to get the idea that they're the worst kind of annoying thing to try and fix or troubleshoot…"
"That plan has some merit. It would also be useful to know a little about any areas inside that might be protected."
"Hunter, catch please." Tads projected out of her body, watching as her meat form sagged into Hunter's arms, his muscles easily holding her light weight. She dived into the hospital, pressing carefully through the walls and making sure she avoided any wards or alarms, astral traps but especially any people – the last thing they needed was someone getting the tell-tale 'shivers down the spine' as she pressed through their body, and reporting the incident to security.
She was back about two minutes later, having done a thorough check across both parts of the hospital, and as she merged back with her body she gave Hunter a quick squeeze on the arm to let him know she was in control of her body once more and a smile of thanks.
"Plenty of people in there, but mostly in the main block. There's a dozen staff or so in the urgent care bit, getting ready to open up. In each building there's just one room where I found a ward. Well, there's one room in that building," she gestured at the urgent care centre, "reasonably powerful, but not that big, and it was next to what I think was a lift shaft. In the other part, the bit with the actual wards and rooms, it was like a small suite, probably room for about three rooms altogether. Again, fairly powerful, and had the same kind of feel to it, so probably the same team or mage that put it up. Everywhere else is open though, no wards, no guardian vines, no spirits on patrol. In the bigger half it felt like a hearth domain, I guess enough people staying there over time… this side though is just a city domain, with a couple of dark spots." She looked sad for a moment as she experienced the feeling of travelling through some of the ICU areas. "I guess not everyone makes it through."
"Well, that makes it easier for us. My guess is that the warded areas cover critical plant equipment – lift machinery, security cameras or maybe the computers in this side, and that over in the main building it is where the rigger is stationed along with the other security systems. But we do not wish to go in either of those places. If we can get in, there is a good chance we can locate mobile equipment that can be moved to trauma rooms on trolleys or something like that – and we can just grab those. If we can conceal them magically, we can perhaps just walk straight out of the doors with them, with no need for conflict." Marius snorted. "That way we do not need to disturb or alarm the rigger, or have to deal with him. And if you need to get access cards for certain areas while you are in there… well, watch this."
He walked over to Kai, and appeared to stumble, grabbing Kai's shoulder with one hand to steady himself and muttering an apology. Kai looked surprised, but caught his arm, helping to keep him upright. As Marius stood, he gestured to Kai's coat pocket.
"What do you have in your left coat pocket?"
"Nothing, I think? Nah… my PDA is inside, so yeah, it's empty."
"Are you sure?" The team watched as Kai reached into his pocket and surprise distorted his face, as he pulled out a small screwdriver. "You cover the small movement with the big one – a standard espionage technique. As I put my hand on his shoulder, I put weight on there, enough that he could not feel the slight tugging on the zip and me inserting the screwdriver. In the same way, when you stumble and brush up against a doctor or nurse, they will not detect the sharp tug while you pull their ID badge from their belt, then palm it off to the person behind you. Then you can apologise to the doctor, raising your hands in front of you, and reinforce to them that both of your hands are empty. They may remember the bump but cannot imagine that it was you that stole their badge – and they then assume they have lost it elsewhere."
"How about we go in, with some bloody wounds but demanding a VIP service. Maybe take in Hunter and Shimazu, and tell them a story about how they're prize fighters or for a competition or something. So we need discretion, and assurances that they'll cut the cameras, because they're famous and can't be seen there?"
"But Kai – if we're famous fighters, why would we be in a shit-hole like this? And besides, you're not thumping me in the face and ruining my looks…" Hunter smirked at him again, well aware that any ruining of his looks had happened a long time ago.
"Maybe we had a car crash just a few blocks away or something like that – and this is the closest place. Hmm – now I think about it, terrible idea. They're doctors – they're going to spot fake blood or wounds really easily. What we need is something like a suspected concussion, something not really visible without running tests or scans."
"Hey – look. Down the middle." Aswon gestured with his head and the team peered around the tree to spot the barriers half way down the road start to descend as the lights on either side flashed red. Trundling across from the main hospital was a pair of automated trolleys, each big enough to carry a patient inside their plastic cocoon, yellow flashing lights front and rear warning people to move out of the way. "How about we just follow those in when they get scanned through whatever doorway they're entering via?" Kai smiled and nodded, then turned to Tads.
"Can you cover…. Marius, Shimazu and Aswon with an invisibility please? Think they'll be the best inside. I'll go front door for a distraction. You and Hunter stay out here as a reserve and to provide overwatch. Let's go."
Tads reached over to Marius, grabbing his sleeve to stop him from leaving and muttered words, her other hand fluttering about as she cast the spell. A moment later his form wavered and wobbled, before they could see him again.
"Did it not work?" Kai asked, confused.
"Look through a camera." Tads reached over to Shimazu and repeated her spell, casting a low force bubble of invisibility on him. It was harder, with some of her attention used to maintain the spell on Marius who was already striding briskly down the road, moving to intercept the trolleys as they used the crossing. Kai pulled out his phone and turned the camera on, then looked at the screen – and the complete absence of Marius boldly marching down the avenue.
"The machine – it has not spirit, no life-force. It cannot resist the effects of the spell. We can. The spell is low in power, but she needs to hold three spells up at the same time Kai." Aswon gestured at Tads. "That is a most difficult task, and I don't think Tads will be able to concentrate on much else whilst she is doing so." She let got of Shimazu, and he started to jog down the road after Marius, visible to them if they looked for him, but disappearing if they didn't concentrate on his form. She cast again, this time on Aswon but the spell apparently wasn't to her satisfaction. With the effort of concentrating on the other two spells, the weave of invisibility was weak, and she let the spell dissipate, then tried once more. This time she managed to jam more power through her body, reinforcing the spell and making it considerably tighter – but at a cost of increased backlash that ripped into her mind, settling into a throbbing tension headache that acted as notice that she'd better be careful.
Aswon raced off after Shimazu and Marius, running down the road to close the distance and follow the pair of trolleys as they approached the building. A small door had opened into the interior, a metre wide and about one and a quarter metres high, showing a darkened tunnel inside, just big enough for the trolley to fit into. Marius was right behind the rear trolley, squeezing into the darkened chamber and looked around, spotting the sensors on either side of the doorway that checked to ensure the trolley was safely inside before allowing the door to close.
He raised a hand in front of the sensor – then immediately realised that it wasn't going to work – the invisibility spell just let the light beam bend around his form without impedance, and he quickly looked around for anything he could use. At the last moment he spotted a leaf that had blown into the tunnel, grabbing it and jamming it in front of the sensor just as the door started to close. As the leaf broke the beam of light, the door retracted back into the wall, allowing Shimazu and then Aswon to cram through into the tunnel, before he finally allowed the door to close.
"Will the rigger have picked that up?"
"I doubt it – the door was only open for a few extra seconds, and it cannot be unheard of for things like leaves and debris to block the sensors, Shimazu. Though much longer and it may well have started to raise suspicions."
The tunnel was dark now, the trolleys having disengaged the warning lights now they were not in a pedestrian area, and the team of three shuffled forward slowly and carefully, using the meagre light from a phone to provide them just enough illumination to spot obstacles or issues.
Outside, Kai concentrated hard as he walked up the street towards the corner, controlling the muscles and pigment on his face and changing the shape and tone, adjusting his appearance until he looked like a standard UCAS citizen, pale white skin and rounded eyes, flesh drawn slight back over his cheek bones and thinned lips, while a dark patch formed on one temple as if a large bruise was forming from a sudden blow.
Inside the building the three infiltrators reached a junction point, with two more of the retractable doors ahead of them. Marius and Shimazu squeezed to the side of the corridor, letting Aswon worm his way through and listen first, then each put their own ears to the doors as well.
"Sound of voices from the one ahead," Aswon whispered. "At least two, female. Talking about the weather and the shows on the trideo last night. Ahh, asking for the disinfectant. Probably cleaning staff."
"I can hear a fairly distinctive whine from this one," Marius indicated the door to their right. "It sounds like a convertor, transforming alternating current to direct. I would suspect there is a charging station for some large battery powered device – perhaps the trolley, perhaps something else. Maybe a defibrillator for instance. But something is definitely on charge on the other side of the door."
"I think we wait for the cleaners to leave, then get through into the room. Even if the rigger is monitoring, they're likely to just assume the cleaners are coming back in to get something or do more work if he senses movement?" Aswon suggested.
"Agreed. A motion sensor in the room will just report some activity, not necessarily the number or type." Marius flashed his torch on, shining it up around the top of the hatch until he found what he was looking for. "There is a sensor there – if we disconnect that from the door mechanism, it will not detect the opening. There should be nothing to alert the rigger then."
"Kai, this is Shimazu. We're inside, and ready to move into a room. What's your status?"
"Just approaching the front doors. Entry in five. Standby…. Now."
They hit the manual over-ride, opening the hatch into the unknown room, and got ready to bundle through the doorway…
