Chapter Twenty Three: Seattle Vance
I booked it as soon as black uniform jumped down, and Dust was not far behind me. We ran through the mess that was the ASA building. Even though it still stood, the building looked like it had gone through an earthquake—which it kinda did. Broken glass and debris were scattered everywhere. We ran past a printer which was now tipped on its side.
Dust was confused as he saw where we were heading. “Shouldn’t we be getting out of here!?” He shouted in desperation.
Kid was scared, and I couldn’t blame him. He had been tied up and received the same treatment as I did. He had a nasty black eye, and he had a limp. Dust was terrified for his life, and he wanted no more part of this.
That’s the hardest thing. It separates the guys who get the job done and the quitters. The shakes that hit you after everything has gone wrong are just as bad—if not worse—than when you’re fighting for your life. When you have a moment to think, after seeing people die left and right and the plan in proper shambles, what do you do?
For me, I finish the damn job and get what I came here for.
I rounded one last corner, and we were back in the hallway where everything had gone to shit. There was blood and carnage everywhere as bodies were slumped against the walls and floor. There were bullet holes everywhere, and I was astounded that I got out of that tricky spot alive.
“We can’t get the flash drive!?” Dust yelled at me, trying to convince me to leave. “The door is locked. We can’t get it!”
I slung one of the soldier’s rifles over my shoulder. Then I knelt down and started rummaging through the pockets of vests of one of the soldiers. Lifting my hand back up, I shook what I had retrieved in front of him. “Grenades, kid.”
It took a few blasts. That glass door was plenty sturdy, but even it couldn’t take that kind of beating. A minute later and we were in the secret room. Black hulks of servers loomed over me, and the dark red room was filled with high-tech equipment I couldn’t make heads or tails of. Searching frantically, I opened every drawer and container in that room.
And then… there it was. I opened a metal grate of one of the servers, and I saw a black flash drive plugged into it. Ripping it out, I pocketed the device.
I texted Raven and August that we had the device. If they were still alive and free, wherever they were, they would meet at the rendezvous. And if there weren’t, well, they knew the risks. In either case, I wasn’t going to wait for them once I got there.
Dust saw I had retrieved the flash drive, and I could see he was just about to break and run. He turned back towards the corridor, and I had to grab him by the shirt to keep him from running out of the cramped server room and into the hallway.
“What is it now?” He pleaded with me.
“Let’s call it a hunch,” I said.
I poked my head out of the server room and down towards the secret entrance. Everything looked normal—well, it looked like we were alone at least—but I never trusted these things. And if our friends managed to deal with black uniform guy, then that meant they could be right outside that door.
“Daniel!?” I called. “I got your serum right here! Come out and let’s talk!”
No one answered, and Dust looked at me like I was crazy. He moved, but again I grabbed him and shoved him behind me. There was a long moment, and then Daniel stepped into the doorway.
He had a rifle, too. He had pointed it at my head. “Place it on the ground slowly and roll it over.”
“Well, I can’t. It’s in a locked container. How about you come in here and help us lift it, and we can get it to your friend. Keep the gun if you want. Whatever makes you feel safer.”
Daniel didn’t budge, and I sighed. Kid was smart. He knew the second he stepped into the secret corridor, his advantage was over. The black Zurite would cancel it out.
“How about you bring it out here? You have that kid with you. You two can do the lifting.”
I took Dust aside back into the server room, away from Daniel’s ears. “By the way, how long ago did you place that call?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Five, maybe ten minutes?”
I smiled. “Good to know. When you hear buzzing, cover your ears.”
Poking my head out into the corridor, I shouted. “All right! You got me! There’s no serum. There’s not a damn thing anyone can do to help Mason!”
Daniel aimed the rifle down the corridor and shot it. It was an anger shot. I knew if he wanted to get lethal, he could use the same grenade trick I did. We were stuck, and if he decided to flush us out, I had no doubt he could take us both.
“So why shouldn’t I kill you then!?” He yelled.
“Because you ain’t got no future, kid! Mason is going to drop dead soon, and what’ll you have then? Jack and shit! And you’ll still have the whole city after you. Let us go, and I’ll cut you in!”
“Cut me in on what!?”
“I have an employer who’s prepared to pay a lot of money from what I’m stealing here! I cut you in fifty fifty for what he’s prepared to pay me! We both get out of here, and you’ll have enough money to run anywhere in the world!”
Daniel seemingly mulled over it. He lowered his gun. “All right, I accept! Come out, and we’ll leave!”
Dust looked at me with pleading eyes, and I shook my head. I turned back to Daniel. “That’s great and all, but could you drop the gun!? It’s not like you need it anyway, and it’s making me nervous!”
Daniel dropped the gun.
“Why can’t we just go with him and leave!?” Dust hissed.
I turned to him and whispered under my breath. “Because the second we step out, he’s going to teleport us off the side of the building.”
“Why don’t you come out already!” he yelled. “I’m getting impatient over here!”
I took a grenade out of my pocket, and from behind the wall, I pulled the safety pin. Taking a deep breath, I knew this was risky even for me. I let the lever release. My hands suddenly became very sweaty as I had a ticking grenade in my hand. A second passed.
“Well, are—”
I ducked into the secret corridor and threw it at him. Tackling Dust back into the server room, there was an explosion in the hall. Once it settled, I poked my head back out, and I saw Daniel standing with his rifle in the scorched hallway. He was completely unharmed.
He pointed his gun at me. “That the best you can do?” he asked.
“Sorry, I had to try. You know how it is.”
“No, I really don’t. You lied and used my friend. You gave him false hope, and all for what? So you could steal from the ASA?”
“If it means anything, it was really important data.”
Daniel fired another shot, and I ducked back into the server room.
“Fuck you!” He yelled from outside. “You’re a piece of shit, Seattle Vance!”
“A guy’s gotta make a living somehow, kid!” I shouted back. My heart started beating fast when I heard a light buzz in the air. I knew Daniel must’ve had too, and if he dodged this, then it was all over.
I stepped out into the corridor just as Daniel was glancing behind him. He was caught, distracted. He raised his weapon to shoot at me, and I threw my hands over my ears. And Daniel didn’t get the time to process what happened next.
Joshua’s drone shot into the corridor and detonated. The explosion was twofold. It had a nullifier bomb that emitted a sonic shriek to disable superpowers. The next was a more conventional explosion. I didn’t want it to come to this, but Daniel Peterson’s life was secondary to me getting out of here alive.
The force caused me to stumble back, but thankfully the Zurite seemed to dampen the worst of the sonic attack. Daniel Peterson was not so lucky. He had managed to dodge the drone from ramming into him, but he couldn’t escape the nullifier and the fragmentation.
When the dust settled, I was more than surprised to see him in one piece. He was a nimble kid. I was even more surprised that I saw him breathing haggardly.
I walked over and kneeled over him. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean for you to get hurt in this dust up.”
He breathed, and he tried to rasp out a response, but all he could do was spit blood in my face. I wiped it away.
“Yeah, I know I deserved that. But come on,” I said as I picked him up. “Stay alive for a little while longer, and I’ll get you out of here.”
…
It was harder than I thought, lugging Daniel Peterson’s unconscious body down so many flights of stairs. I left out the back entrance, invisible, of course. Thankfully, our truck had been far enough away from the chaos that it was undamaged. Raven and August never showed. Maybe I would find out what happened to them later. Maybe not.
Either way, Dust and I piled in with our new friend, and we took off. City 57 had established a security perimeter around the fighting, but since it was City 57, it was a very loose and unorganized security perimeter. It was easy for us to slip on past back into the ugly—but not quite war zone City 57.
I lit up a cigarette as I dropped Dust off at an Index safehouse. All the crew save me had one. Oh well on that. I texted Mr. Greene that I had the kid, and after a few seconds, he texted back coordinates that were on the outskirts of the city.
It was a long, boring drive. My only concern was that Daniel might try to teleport out of the vehicle. But he never gained the wherewithal to do so. I pulled into what looked to be an abandoned grocery store around the back. It was a quiet, secluded place that seemed to have been passed over by even the homeless. There were three men in unremarkable clothing and Mr. Greene with a fedora. They stood next to a humming truck that was disguised as a food delivery vehicle.
While I parked next to them, the men brought out a gurney. They had rightly assumed that Daniel might’ve had some injuries, and good on them for it. Their foresight probably saved his life. I yanked open the door to my truck. Mr. Greene took one glance at Daniel, and he was understandably pissed.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“He got in my way, but if you see to him quickly, he’ll live.”
I got a look of contempt, but Mr. Greene pulled out his phone and he clicked on the screen. “Your payment, Mr. Vance,” he explained, pocketing the device. “As promised. Now get out of my sight.”
I shrugged my shoulders and saluted goodbye to Daniel. He was awake again, and he was struggling against the men. They had already hit him up with a sedative, so he was too disoriented to teleport.
“Let… go of… me,” he muttered weakly as the men put on restraints.
Mr. Greene kept his back turned to Daniel, as if not wanting him to see his face. But I don’t think it mattered.
Daniel raised his head and a look of confusion and shock and betrayal filled his expression.
“Jayne?”
Link to Chapter Twenty Four