Lyle pulled the release and watched with a critical eye as the shorter guard flipped through the tools and wires.
“Says here you’re an electrician, you should be in the database, so stay here.”
Lyle focused on his breathing as the guard typed something into the tablet at his post. He glanced at the ID, and then back to the screen. He stared at Lyle for a full minute before he stood and returned.
“Alright, you’re clear. Drive down for about a mile and enter through the garage.”
Lyle accepted the card and smiled as he drove off. Whoever hired him had some serious connections inside this place. When the house came into view, he slowed the car and parked next to the entrance. He popped the trunk, moved several items to the side, and pulled out two toolboxes and a utility belt.
He made sure to park out of the range of any cameras or prying eyes, so he could slash open the spare tire, pull out the explosives, and put them in the hidden compartments, he’d prepared on the boxes. Within seconds, he was ready to move on to phase two.
From then on, everything went according to plan, just like the person who hired him said it would. As he took the elevator up, he got into his car as soon as possible. When he was two miles away, his cell phone rang.
He reached over and saw a new text message “BOOM.” He wrinkled his face as he tried to see who sent it. Naively, he thought it was his employer letting him know he’d triggered the explosion. A second later, realization dawned on him when the car stalled.
Chapter 2 –
Arthur fidgeted in the waiting room chair, glancing at his watch for the fiftieth time in an hour. His probe broke atmosphere three weeks ago and since then, had been held in the International Decontamination Bureau (IDB), on the Kerguelen Islands, known to most as the Desolation Islands. The location was chosen specifically for its remoteness.
A six-day boat ride from the coast of Madagascar was the first step. Then a short jeep ride and he was shown to a drafty tent for the duration of his stay. For the last week, he’d been coming to the office every day to see if the items his rover collected were deemed safe and would finally be released to him.
A short man with a stocky build opened a door, which Arthur never noticed. “Dr. Covington, follow me please.”
Arthur shot out of his seat so fast he knocked it to the ground. The metal legs clanged loudly on the concrete floor, he blushed bright red, corrected the chair, and then trailed after the man.
An antiseptic looking hallway with bright lights and doors with strange sequences of numbers diverted his attention briefly. When the man opened the door to some sort of observation room, he got back on track.
“Are my samples ready? I need to start work right away,” Arthur asked with enthusiasm.
The man walked over to a stool and sat as he picked up a tablet and turned it for Arthur to see.
“Dr. Covington, I’m sure you understand our first priority is to make sure nothing is brought into the world at large that could harm the population, or might have the potential to cause harm.”
Arthur moved forward and took the proffered object. His eyes scanned the information, but his brain couldn’t believe what he was reading.
“This can’t be right. Every single rock is contaminated with an ‘unknown element’.”
“We ran the tests four times. I’m sorry, Doctor.”
“But that’s the whole reason I sent the probe, to see what’s out there. I need to study this.”
“I’m sorry, we’re keeping the samples. They need to be locked away so nothing happens. Good day, Doctor.”
A hand grabbed Arthur from behind and he was led like a limp dishrag to the waiting room. All that time and money wasted. What would the people at Sunset Inc. say? They’d warned him about the importance of his work.
Fear knotted his stomach, and on the walk back to his tent, his head filled with every worst-case scenario he could imagine. All of them ended with him dead in an alley somewhere, with a gun in his mouth. He couldn’t go back to being a nobody.
Ten minutes later, his meager belongings were packed up and a jeep waited to take him to the boat. Funny how everything was timed just right. The next six days, he would debate whether to throw himself off the side and into the sea.
Drew Hawkins glanced around the room as he took a few of the recently arrived samples out of the bin. He grabbed four, and put each on the scale, except one. The digital readings popped up a second later for samples #47-49.
Retrieving the rocks, he placed the sticker with the corresponding number on them and set them next to the matching digits in a special container designed to insulate them as much as possible. He didn’t know what the big deal was. They were stones, so where they came from didn’t matter. He never understood why scientists got so uppity about things. There were so many rules and protocols, he wondered when the addendum would come down the chain of command about what color underwear was appropriate.
At least that’s what the secret agent who’d offered him over a million dollars for a single sample convinced him of. Drew wasn’t doing anything wrong. In fact, he was helping the world. Who knew what might be in these rocks; alternative fuel and energy sources or perhaps a cure for cancer.
His new friend bought him his favorite comics and even let him watch one of the scarier movies his uncle said no to. No matter how often he asked, the secret agent refused to say whom he worked for; just that it was better Drew didn’t know – for his own safety.
The coolest thing ever was having a spy as his new best friend, but he made sure no one else knew. He wanted to keep this all for himself. Plus, his friend warned him something bad would happen to Drew’s uncle if he told. When Drew thought about what the man proposed one evening, his first reaction was to say no. After some prodding and words of encouragement, as well as talk of money, Drew agreed.
Hell, he should be getting a medal for what he was doing. He knelt down to adjust the secure strip around his ankle and slid the rock inside. Once he entered the decontamination shower, he would slip it in a sock and put it in his bag.
Everyone loved him and most people let him pass the usual security measures, because a guy like him wouldn’t do anything wrong. His uncle let him work there doing simple tasks like weighing things or mopping the floors when they were in-between collections. They called him slow and harmless. He tried not to sneer behind his cloth mask. He guessed none of them was special enough to have a million dollars held under their nose as incentive.
Three hours later, everything went according to plan. He met the secret agent in a restaurant and handed him the sock underneath the table. He didn’t know if it was necessary, but he felt super cool doing it, like one of his heroes in the comics. A second later, the smile fell from his face as two red dots blossomed across his chest.
The man stood and tucked a napkin in Drew’s collar, then made his way out. He was over a mile away when the waitress realized what happened and she let out a scream.
Frank unholstered his FNP-9, enjoying its lighter weight.
Four other men were with him. All were dressed in black and wearing masks to avoid identification. He didn’t know their names and it didn’t matter, he couldn’t tell who was who anyways. Not to mention, in this line of work, anonymity was the key to success. Their job was simple, go in and take the rocks using whatever force necessary.
Frank unzipped the small bag slung over his shoulder and pulled out a device about the size of a golf ball. He twisted it and waited for the red light to turn green. Seven seconds later, all the facilities lights went off, and a vehicle driving by stuttered to a halt.
