Specimen(32)

“Solid. Good work.”

Isaac nods at me, but Pike has already turned his focus to the new trajectory. We head to the right, away from the large group.

“One-seven percent.” The brief message is enough for my two companions to increase their speed to match mine. If McCall is concerned about our time, this should make up for it.

Several civilians stop and watch as we run by, keeping close to buildings. We have to dodge a couple of them, but none seem surprised to see us. Most of them move out of our way as we approach. Some even wave at us.

I wonder exactly what they think we are and if they understand our purpose.

We start down a long street with structures lining both sides. I’m on alert. This is a good place for an attack, and I’m not surprised when shots ring out. Pike is nearly hit as he jumps sideways and ducks into a doorway. Isaac and I take up similar positions.

I watch the angle of the shots, and based on the shots fired, identify seven soldiers. I hear Isaac confirm the number as we begin to return fire. Within thirty seconds, we’ve eliminated them all and continue on our way. As we pass the “dead” men, they sit on the ground with their hands up in the air. The boxes on their chests blink green.

We encounter four other groups with similar results. The numbers aren’t high, and it’s relatively easy to dodge their blows. I look up at the rooftops as we move along the street.

“We’re close.” Pike and Isaac nod at me, and Pike points out the best way to go. There are only a half-dozen blocks left. I follow Pike to the south, down an alley. We all slow our pace as we approach the building where our objective is to be found.

Cautiously, we make our way around the row of buildings and come to the side of the Yost Financial Building. For a moment, we all look around to get a better feel for our surroundings.

“See the tower?” I ask.

“It would be the hardest to access,” Isaac says. “That has to be where the flag is.”

“Definitely.” Pike agrees with a nod.

“Most likely,” I say. “That should be our destination.”

“We could scale the walls,” Pike suggests. “There will be civilians inside as well as guards. If we can get around back and enter one floor below, we might not be detected immediately.”

“There’s security all around,” Isaac says. “They’ll probably see us before we reach halfway.”

I go over the building’s security information in my head.

“It would be a harder climb, but there are blind spots in the back. If we can stay inside of those, we should be able to make it up six floors without being spotted. Once we’re inside, all alarms will be triggered, but there are only two more floors to cover, and the stairwell is close to where we’ll enter.”

“Let’s do it,” Pike says.

“Solid.” Isaac nods.

We make our way to the back of the building and begin to scale the walls in a zigzag, avoiding the camera angles. The climb is easy enough for us, even when we have to shift sideways to get to another set of bricks suitable for handholds.

I nod toward the window that will be our access point. Isaac and Pike fan out around me as I approach it from the bottom center. I pull myself up to the ledge and peer inside.

Two civilians are inside, sitting at a table and going over a stack of papers. They don’t look in our direction as we take our positions on the ledge. With a glance and a nod, we smash the window and simultaneously dive inside the building.

The two civilians jump out of their seats, and one man places his hand on his chest as he takes a step back. Isaac directs them with his weapon to the corner of the room, and one man grins and nods as he holds his hands in surrender and looks all three of us up and down appreciatively.

At least they know something like this might happen.

Pike takes cording from his belt and loosely binds the hands of the two civilians as they sit on the floor.

“No escaping now!” He winks at them as he stands back up.

Both of the men smile and nod, obviously enjoying their part in the game. They could easily slip the cord from their wrists any time they like, but they are out as far as we are concerned. It makes little difference. As soon as we are out in the hallway, alarms start to ring.

Without a need for words, the three of us head down the hall in the same direction, heading straight for the stairs. The alarm echoes loudly through the stairwell as we make our way up three flights with lightning speed. At the top, a single door opens into a top-level conference room.

A large table in the center of the room is brightly lit from overhead lights. The walls hold abstract art consisting of shockingly bright colors in large frames. They’re so vivid, I almost feel like I could hear what the paintings have to say if I concentrated enough.