Evenfall (18 page)

"Done already?" the guard called out, his voice muffled through the heavy metal door.
Boyd heard the clanking of the key turning and the door opening. He stood at an angle that would give him the best advantage and waited until the right moment: when the man had opened the door enough for Boyd to get out and just as he was looking inside. Just before he would see his fallen comrade.

Boyd moved in close and struck with quick, precise movements, slamming his palm up into the guard's jaw and following up with a strike to the side of his neck. The older man started to stumble back and Boyd moved with him, stealing the rifle slung across his back and slamming the butt of it against his head.

The guard slumped and Boyd caught him before he made too much of a noise in the hallway. He dragged the guard's body into the cell and stole anything that looked of use from him as well. Then, he walked out of the cell and firmly shut the door behind him, making sure it locked.

With a glance up and down the hallway to reorient himself and ensure no one was around, Boyd took off in a half jog, half stride. Fortunately he'd memorized the blueprints of the area, since the building had been renovated from a rec center for the abandoned park. He was displeased that they'd stolen his tonfa and was disappointed that the guard hadn't had anything suitable to replace it. Too many people relied solely on guns.

It wasn't hard moving relatively unseen through the building even though it wasn't terribly large. Something he'd learned quickly as an agent was that people tended not to question someone who walked with purpose and seemed like they knew exactly where they were going.

With the red band around his arm and a gun at his back like everyone else, and with his black clothing that hid any blood or bruises, it was a simple case of casually turning his head or letting his hair hide his face as he moved through the hideout. There were more people here which worked to his advantage; the likelihood of them knowing everyone was diminished compared to the small
safe house
he'd tried to infiltrate on his first mission.

It didn't take him long to find the computer room. They had partial information from an informant regarding the layout of the place. There was only one person inside, since the building was supposed to be on lock down and news of a prisoner likely hadn't traveled that fast. Even if it had, he hadn't received any indication yet from the radio or the behavior of the hostiles around him that implied it had been discovered that he'd escaped.

Boyd walked into the room and when the woman glanced over her shoulder at him he smiled and made an inane comment to disarm her, acting as though he was in there on business. She started to look away and he hit her hard on the head at an angle to incapacitate her quickly.

She didn't even let out a startled noise; she simply slumped to the side. He caught her before she could land on the equipment, and he sat her back up in the chair so if anyone walked in it would seem at first glance that she was just sitting there.

He moved quickly, rolling her out of the way so he could crouch over the computer and access the information he needed. He copied it all onto a memory card and kept an equal eye on the door, making sure no one else was coming. The network the hostiles had wasn't as fast as it could have been but even so it wasn't a long wait until a window on the screen informed him that the copy was complete. He erased all indication that he'd been there and rolled the woman back in front of the computer. Then he secured the memory card back in the hiding spot in the back of his belt buckle and left.

He was calm as he walked through the building, acting perfectly casual, as if he had every right to be there. He only received one or two odd looks but the confidence he displayed caused the people's gazes to inevitably slide away with only the faintest quizzical furrow of their eyebrows. Intel suggested that faction 53 had been recruiting a decent amount of people lately so a new face certainly wasn't unusual.

Boyd was just passing through the front door when someone suddenly yelled that a prisoner had escaped. It would be obvious that something was wrong if he walked right out after such a declaration, but he wasn't about to push his luck by running around all night pretending to be a hostile until someone realized he really wasn't who he said he was.

He slipped outside and at first thought he may have gotten away. But as he moved quickly across the expanse of open space before he reached the trees that surrounded one edge of the property, he heard commotion inside. He moved faster but didn't start to run in case he was under surveillance and they didn't know yet who he was. Just as he was disappearing into the shadows of the trees, he heard the main door open and someone yell out that a person who matched the description of the escapee had just left the building.

Boyd immediately slipped into the forest, using the trees as cover. He broke into a run, no longer having need to be casual. He could hear people shouting orders to look for him and knew that the forest would be a place they would look pretty quickly.

Soon, he heard pursuit behind him. It only sounded like two or three people but when one of them shouted that they thought they saw him ahead, Boyd's eyes narrowed. Sometimes his pale skin and blond hair did not work to his advantage.

Boyd ran as fast as he could but the woods were unfamiliar to him and, being unaccustomed to forests, he also found it more difficult to navigate at night. There were too many dips and bumps hidden by foliage and on a half moon night the amount of light that filtered through the canopy was minimal.

He realized at one point that he wouldn't be able to outrun them when they had probably traversed these woods many times. When he concluded that he couldn't take entirely evasive actions, he decided to go about this a different way.
He slowed to a stop and hid in the shadows to see if they would pass him by. It was worth a try but they stopped right around where he had, likely having noted the lack of footsteps ahead of them. Boyd knew it would only be a matter of time before they saw him lurking there and they'd notice movement if he tried to slip away, so instead he made noise as he broke into the small clearing they were in.

Two men were there. Guns were leveled at his head and chest immediately.

Panting for breath, Boyd raised his hands to show he held no weapons. The rifle remained hanging over his shoulder. "What the hell's your problem?" he demanded breathlessly. "I saw the intruder running this way so I came after him. Don't aim your guns at me; go after him instead."

"Nice try," one of the men said with a sneer.

"You're the intruder," the second man said firmly. "And you're just lucky we've been told to bring you back alive or you would've been dead twelve times over by now."

Boyd stared at him for a moment, as if he thought him stupid. "Are you an idiot? I joined a month ago. Look." He tilted just enough so they could see the band on his arm.

"We know what you look like," was the unmoved reply. "I saw you being dragged down to the prison in handcuffs half an hour ago."

Considering this, Boyd figured there was no point standing there arguing. The rest of the hostiles could be on their way and he knew he wouldn't be able to get away once they appeared.

Without warning, Boyd dropped to the ground, where the darkness of the night helped cover him. The two men clearly hadn't been expecting it because one of them made a noise of surprise and the other started to look down.

Not waiting for them to get their act together, Boyd rolled to the side and swiped one man's legs from beneath him. As the man crashed to the ground, Boyd slammed him on the head with his rifle butt. The man groaned but didn't fall unconscious. Boyd had to scramble away just as the second man shot in his direction.

Twirling, Boyd jumped up behind him and kicked him squarely in the back, knocking him forward enough that he stumbled and lost his balance. Boyd was in his personal space in a blink, his rifle swinging around and slamming into the gunman's face so hard that his head snapped to the side with a crack.

The man fell to the ground and Boyd twirled around just as the first man was staggering to his feet. Boyd kicked him back against the tree and hit him across the head with the rifle again. When the man started to fall, Boyd dropped the rifle and followed it up with a hard chop against the back of the man's neck. The man collapsed, unmoving.

It was all over relatively quickly and silently, aside from the single crack of gunfire which could draw attention from other hostiles. The sound had been muffled by the forest but he didn't know if it would have muffled it enough. He grabbed one of the rifles just in case and took off running.

Even running, it took him a few minutes to navigate successfully through the woods, a task made more difficult by the dark of night. He'd been born and raised in this city and as a child he'd wandered around many areas with his best friend. He had no problems with buildings and streets and remembering directions in those settings. He could be in a building one time and remember directions. He could see blueprints before he went into a building and know how to properly navigate, building a 3D image in his mind that he could spin around and turn and always know where he was.

But when every direction seemed to be filled with the same view of tree trunks and leaves that blocked out any reference points beyond, he got confused.

It was stupid and he wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he actually felt a spike of uncertainty as he felt like he'd been running and running with no end in sight. He started wondering if he'd gotten turned around. Was he running straight back toward enemy territory? Would he burst right back out into a clearing and find hostiles surrounding him with guns he couldn't evade this time? He couldn't be that confused, could he?

He was starting to grow worried when he finally ran through an area with thinner canopies, affording him a much-needed glimpse of the half-broken buildings rising beyond the park. He reoriented himself in his mind based on the angle of the buildings and kept going. It wasn't long before he burst out of the park area and back into the more familiar urban streets.

He hadn't actually been that far off, which was a relief since he didn't want to have to run another few blocks because he got stupid when a bunch of trees surrounded him.

This area of the city was largely abandoned, although there were still lights flickering in windows here and there. Faction 53 had likely chosen this location because of that; because it was removed from the general populace and gatherings would be less noticeable. The kind of area where gunfire went unreported.

Once he was back in urban territory, he had no troubles easily navigating to the meeting point. As he reached the vicinity, he slowed down. He approached the corner and checked around first to ensure he wasn't being watched or followed.

He was breathing so hard that he couldn't even hear his thundering heartbeat, and his limbs tingled. His torso ached furiously, something he noticed more when he'd stopped running and he was less focused. His ribs burned and his fingers felt less strong than usual. He tried to be as quiet as possible until he determined that no hostiles were around. Satisfied, he slid through the shadows and approached the vehicle.

As per their new routine, Sin was sitting in the driver's seat waiting. On a larger mission with a bigger team, it would be customary for the team leader to wait in the vehicle to run the mission and make sure everyone was on point. It didn't apply for their partnership since there was only two of them; Sin was needed in the field not the van.

Vivid green eyes flicked over Boyd's disheveled form as he climbed into the van. "Surprisingly impressive," he commented idly, starting the engine.

Boyd shut the door and paused as he was about to toss the rifle in back. He looked over at Sin with faintly narrowed eyes, trying to determine if that had been some sort of veiled slight. Judging by Sin's expression and tone, it had been a simple statement with no negative undertones.

That caught Boyd off-guard, since it was the first time Sin had said anything positive to him related to a mission. It had never been something Boyd had been clear about as to whether Sin simply sat in the vehicle the whole time waiting or whether he got out to explore.

"Were you watching?" Boyd asked after a moment.

Sin didn't answer immediately and glanced in the rear view mirror briefly. His gaze narrowed before sweeping back to the windshield as if he sensed something or was looking for something. Despite the fact that he didn't accompany Boyd on the assignments, he was always diligent about ensuring that they were not followed upon leaving whatever area they had been in. As cynical he was about the trial partnership and his own future as an agent, Sin still protected the integrity of their covert nature.

He shifted the car into drive and guided them off the street. His gaze remained intent on the darkness that pressed in on them from the outside. Streetlights in this forgotten neighborhood had long since died out.

They returned to the highway with no signs of a tail. For several moments it seemed as though the question had been ignored and forgotten.

Boyd went about ensuring the safety was on the rifle before he twisted to stow it out of the way behind his seat. His torso screamed at the movement and he winced briefly, thinking that he should have been more careful about that. He was belatedly fastening his seatbelt after having returned to a normal sitting position when Sin spoke.
"I was observing."