Demon Accords 05.5: Executable (24 page)

The scope of the preparations being made were exhaustive
, and Director Hasta had been making changes for some time.  He had broken and blocked the stairwells in such a way that you were forced to traverse each floor in order to move up or down a level.  Vast quantities of depleted uranium had appeared and were being installed throughout the facility.

The autonomous combat element research team was tuning up a veritable army of drones and robots, some of which were really impressive.  The Spiders, in particular, caught Miseri’s eye, scuttling faster than a human could run and armed with a stacked-munition, electronically fired weapon.  The cyborg gorillas and Hulk-like experimental soldiers seemed a little too Dr. Evil for her tastes, but at the same time, they were impressive.  Which made her wonder about this whole project.  The Council’s obsession with this Brutal Asset character seemed to have no bounds, but from what she had gleaned from her sources and from the general rumors flying around the organization, every attempt to date had failed utterly and rather spectacularly.  Now, they had expended one of the organization’s most highly trained and best-equipped squads to grab his goddaughter.  Miseri couldn’t help but think this was going to be another clusterfuck, but this time, she was caught dead center along with her valuable prizes. 

Slipping away from Hasta’s tour of the base, she left the Director and this new agent, Guillotine, to get to her own quarters and grab her go bag, her tablet, and her kitten.  Talon rode in her slung duffle without protest, thankfully staying out of sight as Miseri looked for the Goth witch girl who was supposed to help her contain the warlock kid.  The girl was nowhere to be found.

“She went out to do her nature stuff or whatever it is witches do.  You know, sacrifice small animals or whatever,” the guard at the command post told her.  “Haven’t seen her since.”

She headed back down, feeling she needed to check her prisoners again.  They were all secure, staring at her silently from their respective cells.  The little girl looked in remarkably good spirits for someone who had been taken by force from her parents.  She had even been laughing when Miseri came through the first door, but she stopped instantly.  Now she just stared like the others.

Miseri turned to go.  “He’s going to kill you.  He’s going to kill everyone,” a high voice said.  She looked back at the child.  Big brown eyes were waiting for her response, serious and upset, but nowhere near panicky.

“Correction, kid… he’s gonna try,” she replied.

The little girl just shook her head.  “Momma says he’s God’s warrior,” she said, stretching out the r’s in warrior.  She had to be only seven or eight.

“Who is your mother, kid?” Miseri asked, curious despite herself.

“Gina Velasquez.  She works for the President sometimes.  About all this stuff,” she replied, waving her hand around.

“What stuff?”

“You know.  Super stuff.  Wolf people, vampires, witches like Declan, stuff like that.”

“And your godfather… have you ever seen him do anything supernatural?”

“Well.  Once on the way home from school, some people tried to hurt us.  I couldn’t really see much ‘cause everything is a blur when Mr. Grim is moving.  But he broke the car and all the people.  Then today, when you stole me.  Mr. Grim and ‘Sos beat up all your soldiers.  Miss Brianna was scared.”

“Who?”

“Miss Brianna.  Everyone here calls her that weird name.  Gee-o-teen,” she replied, sighing and looking tired of the conversation.

“Agent Guillotine?”

“Yeah, but her name is Brianna.  My mom and Mr. Chris know her, but they don’t like her much.  She was so scared, I thought she was gonna poop her pants!” she said derisively. 

Interesting. 
Miseri had been wondering about this mysterious Guillotine and why she was suddenly an agent and suddenly in charge.  She had personal history with Brutal Asset and
that
was her value to the Organization.

Caeco, who had been watching Miseri intently, suddenly tilted her head to one side, a gesture Miseri knew well.  She was listening to something that her enhanced ears could hear.

“Gunfire,” she said, eyes locked on Miseri but her comment directed to everyone.

“He’s here.  I told you,” the little girl said, sitting down on her blanket.

Unsettled, Miseri stepped back through the main cell block door, closing it behind her.  Standing and listening, she finally heard it, just on the very edge of her hearing…
pop-pop.  Pop.
Like the tiny ladyfinger firecrackers her father used to light for her, only her experience told her what it really was—gunfire.

The sound of running feet drowned out the tiny popping sounds from far above her
as two people rushed out of the stairwell.  Hasta and Guillotine appeared like magic, looking slightly panicky.  Upon seeing Miseri, both drew themselves up and tried to look calm.

“Ah, Agent Miseri.  How are our prisoners?” Hasta asked, smoothing his dress shirt.

“They’re fine.  What’s going on?”

“It would appear that our guest of honor has arrived somewhat early.  Agent Guillotine and I will monitor the traps from the Box.  You, my dear, will have the honor of guarding our leverage, the young girl.  Keep your blade handy
; in fact, keep it in sight of the security camera.  We may need to show him footage of you, her, and your famous blade to keep him compliant.”

“You want me to threaten a kid?”

“I am
ordering
you to threaten that kid!” Hasta snapped. “Now get in there and do your duty to the Organization!”

With that, he turned and led the woman toward the Box, the giant Lexan structure that housed another AIR experiment—some bizarre concoction of wormholes, string theory, and witchcraft.

Miseri watched them leave, then felt a rumble roll through the floor under her feet.  Startled, a sinking feeling growing in her stomach, she turned and rushed back to the cell block door.

She was,
Krista figured, almost three miles from the base when she felt her circle break.  It was not a feeling she’d experienced often… breaking another witch’s circle was frowned upon but relatively easy to do from outside, which, to her knowledge, was the only way to do it.  Apparently not.  Somehow, that kid had shattered her circle from
inside it
.  The kickback was fierce.

Had she been anywhere in the base, she had no doubt the backlash would have knocked her for a loop, possibly even unconscious.  As it was, the sudden snap of her own power dropped her to the ground, adding further damage to her torn tights.  The ground shook slightly, just enough to get her attention.  Time to move on.  Her premonition had been spot on.

She climbed to her feet and pulled out her phone.  “Gillian?  Things have changed here,” she began, walking the side of the road as she talked.  A sign across the road from her indicated the Town of Alstead was two miles ahead.  She picked up her pace even as she reported, shuddering as she considered how close she’d come to being caught back there, on that doomed base.

I heard the cell block door open behind me but kept my right hand on Caeco’s arm and my left on the lock to her cell.  The sound of fast steps rushing forward filled my ears and finally
, I couldn’t stand it any further, looking back over my shoulder.

Miseri was unlocking the outer gate, a long, thin knife held openly in one hand, her eyes locked on me.  The cell lock clicked under my fingers and I let go to turn and face Miseri leaving my right hand touching Caeco for a second longer.  Then I stepped aside and faced the blonde agent, who was visibly upset about what I was doing.  What did she expect us to do once Caeco heard the conversation with the Director?  Watch her threaten a little girl?

Fit
and
fierce
were the two words that popped into my head as I watched Miseri approach.  She moved like a trained fighter and I had no doubt that her own Juice supplements were fully up to date.  Faster, stronger, and better trained.  Great!

Breaking the circle had been hard, taking every erg of energy I had managed to hoard.  Being circled wasn’t a new experience by any means.  From the time I could crawl, my mother and aunt had circled me to keep me safe.  An eldritch playpen for baby warlocks.  Apparently, the first time I stood up on my own wobbly legs, I had leaned on my mother’s circle like it was just another wall.  The circles my aunt and mom used had been spelled to prevent shocking me, but most witches would still have avoided touching them.  Not me.  Always the different one.

I broke my first circle at eight.  I was being punished for sneaking into the walk-in cooler and eating a substantial part of that night’s dessert pies.  So Aunt Ash circled me in the apartment and went back to the kitchen to see what could be salvaged.  Pissed at being circled like a baby, I had pushed my whole hand through till I could bend my wrist and touch the outside of the circle with one fingertip.  The backlash had sent my aunt first to the ground and then to her bed for the rest of the night.  I was so scared and worried that I refused to participate in the experiments she came up with the next day, until she had Darci close a circle that she’d prepared.  Humans without Craft can close a circle; it just takes willpower and training.  Not as strong as something closed by a witch, but still strong enough to hold most witches and even some demons. An untalented human would never feel a blowback of power, and Darci hadn’t been bothered when I broke hers.

Miseri looked from me to Caeco, then her eyes flicked to the cell door, which was closed.  Looking back, she looked me over, obviously weighing my condition.  It didn’t weigh much. 

Breaking the circle had taken all the power I’d managed to build up, and standing on warded ground had prevented me from absorbing any new.  So my magic battery was drained and all I had were my hands and feet, my brain and my training. It wasn’t going to be enough. If this were an action movie, then I would likely win the day through some combination of luck and plucky nerve.  But against a highly trained, enhanced and experienced soldier armed with her favorite weapon?  Not likely… at least by myself.

I reached over and pulled on Caeco’s cell door.  It opened.  Earth witchcraft is hell on locks.

Miseri instantly moved back three feet and reached behind her back with her left hand, drawing out a pistol-shaped object that I would recognize anywhere.  Taser.

Caeco stepped out of her cell, eyes locked on Miseri, while I struggled to keep a poker face in place.   

The blonde agent pointed the Taser at Caeco while keeping her knife hand aimed toward me, moving back from us as we spread apart.  I flicked a look at Caeco; our eyes met and agreed.  We both started forward, and Miseri spoke.

“
Pugna Congelo
Caeco!” 

Caeco froze, but I kept going, rushing faster.  Miseri brought her knife up, but I caught her arm in Krav Reference Point One and stepped inside her reach.  Her reaction was simple—she brought her left hand around reflexively, pressing the Taser against my side and triggering its full power. Must have been a combat instinct, something she hadn’t thought through because her eyes had an
Oh shit!  What did I just do?
look in them.  Electricity shot through my side. What a relief!  Power filled me and left as I returned the gesture, one hand on her forearm, the other on her left shoulder.  The arc was strong enough to blow us apart, leaving me in a crouch five feet away and her still standing, if only barely.  Stunned, hands, arms, and clothes blackened, she still managed to stay on her feet.  That’s when Caeco stepped forward in a blur of motion, knocked her knife to the ground, and gripped the back of her head in one hand and her chin in the other, extended claws visibly hooked into Miseri’s skin.  Staring straight into Miseri’s widening eyes, she held her place for just a moment, then her arms exploded into motion—twisting counter-clockwise with a sharp snap.

Miseri collapsed to the ground, her body bouncing in a boneless slump.  Caeco looked down at her for a second, her expression blank… almost.  There was a hint of regret, for just a microsecond, before it hardened into resolve.  Then she grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and pulled it over her head, leaving her in just her bra and jeans.  She froze and turned to look at me, eyebrows raised.

I shrugged.  “Told you.  It was easier to change the command to something else than delete the file entirely.”  I took a step back at her sudden frown.  “The good news is it’s just an impulse, not a directive.  You can resist it.”

She looked down at her t-shirt, then shrugged her way back into it.  “But it had to be stripping?  Really?”

“Look I was tired, hungry, and a little punch drunk.”

“So now what?  You can reprogram me whenever you touch me?” she asked bitterly.

“Um, no.  No one can reprogram your nannites now except you.  I deleted all the authorization passwords and the backdoor password.  They’re clever little machines and they were bonded to you long ago, but now they are truly a part of you.”
“What do you mean?  How can I program them?” she asked, eyes wide.

I shrugged.  “Not entirely sure.  Visualization maybe?  Meditation?  We’ll figure it out.  I can still talk to them, act as an interpreter till you get the feel of it. It shouldn’t be too hard,” I said, a little nervous with the look she was giving me.  Was that a glimmer in her eyes?  Tears?  Not good!  I don’t do well with tears.

A sniffle behind me caused me to turn.  Toni was huddled in the corner of her cell, as far from where Caeco and I stood as possible.  As far from Miseri’s body as she could get.  Idiot!  Of course she was, duh!

I moved over to her cell door and drew some power from the unWarded ground beneath my sneakers.  The lock clicked obligingly and the door swung open.

“Hey Toni, it’s okay.  She’s not gonna hurt anyone now.  We’ll just wait here for a rescue,” I said, glancing at Caeco for help.  She just stared at us, head tilted to one side.  Hmm, maybe consoling scared children wasn’t part of her skill set.

“The gunfire has gotten closer,” she said.

I listened.  Slight rumbles and a few small pops were all I could hear. Then even they went quiet.

Toni was staring at Miseri’s body and trembling.  She climbed to her feet and came over near me, still looking at the dead agent.

“Hey, don’t look at her, Toni.  Look at me.  Hey, have I told you about Chuck Norris?” I asked, grasping at straws.

She sniffled. “Only like a hundred times.”

“Did I tell you about the time Chuck Norris fought Superman?  The loser had to wear his underwear on the outside of his clothes,” I said.

“That’s stupid!” Caeco contributed.

I was about to thank her for her help when the room shuddered and the cell block door disappeared in a roar of tearing metal and exploding concrete.  One moment, it was there, solid and massive, the next, it was gone, yanked away like it never been.  A small cloud of dust swirled in its place till it was brushed aside by the passage of wind. 

A man was standing outside the bars of the second barrier, just suddenly there.  His jeans and t-shirt were ripped and filthy and his short brown hair was dusted with powdered concrete.

I’m not sure if I blinked between the doorframe’s destruction or not, but he was literally just instantly there.  Intense eyes stared at us—eyes a freaky color of purple.  They were focused on Toni, but then they flicked to me and to Caeco and I realized they were the eyes of a killer.