Y - Novel Teaser

Interception

"What do you mean they went out the window?" Angela asked from behind her folded arms.

The guard who'd been chasing Rohan and Kaden through the maintenance systems glanced down at the pistol holstered at the Overseer's hip. "I mean they activated the pneumo-nets and jumped, ma'am," she repeated. "They've already dropped a few levels. I'd wager they're back inside the tower by now."

Angela's brow furrowed deep as she looked the guard up and down. Just another in a growing line of failures. Marlie had been a frustration, but these boys were rapidly becoming enraging. "And do we know what floor they're on?" she asked as she tilted her head up.

It was another member of her security team who stepped forward with the answer. "Ma'am, the pneumo-nets are spaced every four floors. They had to have dropped to the forty-fourth floor." The woman touched a finger to her ear and paused for a moment before she nodded. "Control reports teams are already en route, full discretion and non-lethal take-downs authorized."

The Overseer nodded along with the guard's words. At least she knew what she was doing. "Tell them to inform me the moment that they have something to report," she instructed, and the guard nodded as she walked past. "I want those boys found now. No failure. I want results!"

Angela froze in mid-step as she passed by the elevator. It began to move, and she rolled her eyes. "Did no one think to lock down the elevators?" she shouted at those guards still scattered around her. "Wait, belay that," she added as inspiration struck. "Someone get me Tech. I want biometric scanner confirmation that that's them the moment they're inside."

She walked over to the elevator and glanced at its display as she dared to smile. It was on its way down to the forty-fourth level. The boys had to have called it; she hadn't instructed any of her people to break from the forty-seventh floor. "Wait. Wait for it..."

The numbers ticked down slowly, until at last they reached the forty-fourth floor. Angela reached out to grab at the nearest security guard and pointed it out to her. "There. Wait." It took another couple of seconds before the elevator began to move down. "Is that-"

"Biometrics confirmed, ma'am," interrupted the guard. "Rohan Mathews and Kaden Blair are in that elevator and heading for the ground floor."

"They are not getting out. Go. Go!" She all but pushed the woman toward the next nearest elevator as she ran to follow. "I want all available personnel converging on the lobby! Alert the forces we have down there! Do not let those boys out of this tower!"

As the guard began to issue the orders, Angela mashed the call button on the next elevator. It began to swiftly move to her location, and she smiled thinly as she watched the display. They'd made a mistake, just as she knew they would. Soon, the trouble that Marlie and her traitorous team had stirred up would be all taken care of. Everything would be back to normal, with perhaps a small decrease in their student numbers. Acceptable losses, of course; that was why the black floor existed.

The elevator door opened and Angela forced her way inside along with the handful of guards that made it in just ahead of her. She all but punched the button for the first floor and turned to her security team as the doors closed. "Remember to keep your weapons at non-lethal charge levels," she told them as she drew her pistol and looked it over. More than a few of her guards warily eyed the weapon off before she holstered it again. "I don't want a single hair on their heads harmed. They can still be useful to us, even after this mishap."

A chorus of acknowledgments echoed throughout the elevator car as it approached the lobby. Angela held her breath as the numbers ticked down lower and lower. A tap on her shoulder caused her to turn her head for a moment, and she frowned at the guard there. "Yes?" she asked the woman with a finger to her ear. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Report from Tech, ma'am," she answered as the door slid open. Around them, the rest of the guards started out the door with weapons raised and ready. "Searches of Rohan Mathews' and Kaden Blair's intranet access history and personal databases are complete. There was an anomaly Tech detected in Mister Blair's searches; they seemed to be spoofed in the logs. What appears to have been assignment searches of the archives turned out to be searches on something called BASE jumping."

Angela frowned as she turned to stare at the guard. "BASE jumping?" she repeated.

Shouts echoed through the lobby from various guards as they confirmed the all-clear. The guard in her elevator nodded once. "Yes, ma'am. I'll admit I'm not familiar with it. Tech says it seems to involve short-distance free-fall and parachuting from the data we have on-file."

"Parachuting?" The look on Angela's face darkened further with realization as she glowered at the guard. The boys had played her, and her security forces, for fools. The elevator had just been a diversion to help them reach the roof unmolested. "Damn it all. And are any elevators not filled with my security personnel moving at the moment?" she demanded.

With a gulp, the guard pressed her finger to her ear. Her eyes inexorably locked on Angela's pistol. "Ah... yes. Yes, ma'am. One elevator in motion, headed for the roof. Sensors say it's empty."

"Send our people to the roof now!" Angela ordered as she stepped out of the elevator. She turned about and pointed at the nearest collection of confused guards. "If they have access to secure systems, it's not unlikely that they'd be able to isolate elevator sensors. You there! Get in this elevator now! Head for the roof!" They saluted and made for the elevator as Angela started toward the empty one that she'd thought to contain the boys. Just a diversion. Damn it all.

She felt her teeth begin to grind as she stared up at the ceiling. Somewhere up there, the boys were on their way to the roof. If Kaden Blair had an interest in learning about BASE jumping, then the roof would be the perfect target for their escape. An interest was one thing, but pulling it off would take more time than they had.

Angela mashed the button for the roof, and the doors closed behind her. Those boys had nowhere left to run, and in spite of their humiliation of her security forces, Angela had won.

They had nowhere left to hide.