Ethan's Gang : Unholy War : Book I

Chapter 13 - Winston Wrecks

9:37 AM, The Third Floor

Ethan reached the third floor and decided to try opening the door instead of breaking it down.  It was locked. He shrugged, then shot the lock to pieces before kicking the door.  It flew open, revealing the fact that the entire third floor was one large room around 45 by 60 feet.  The room also had no windows, and was painted a bluish grey color from the floorboards to the ceiling.  It was lit by banks of fluorescent lights set in the walls.

     Two men in blue-grey uniforms that matched the walls were sitting in swivel chairs, wearing headphones, operating some kind of switchboard device.  Neither one of them turned around, or so much as flinched, when Ethan burst into the room.  Apparently, the headphones were completely soundproof.  He raised his eyebrow.  There was easily several hundred thousand dollars worth of electronic equipment in the room.  For such a high-tech operation, the security protocols were nothing short of pathetic.

     Willy came creeping into the room next to Ethan, looking around in wonder at the blinking lights and control panels. Ethan aimed his HK-53 at one of the technicians and fired one shot.  The high-velocity light-weight bullet exploded into the man's back, destroying his spine.  He lurched forward and slumped dead on his control shelf.  The second man noticed this out of the corner of his eye, and abruptly gasped, whirling around.  He saw two boys with guns-- and more behind them.  He spun back to the control panel, and Ethan shot HIM as well.  One bullet, between the shoulder blades.  His heart exploded and he crashed gracelessly to the floor.  With the sharp reports still ringing in his ears, the boys rushed over to the corpses.

     "Damnit," Ethan grumbled, "It would've been good to interrogate one of these idiots, but we couldn't risk them setting off an alarm."

     "What IS this place, man?" Willy wondered aloud.

     "Yeah," Kelly said, "If this is, like, their headquarters, where's the rest of those yucky coco guys? There's gotta be more than just two."

     Ethan grimaced, scrutinizing the equipment.  On closer inspection, most of it turned out to be fake.  The banks of colored lights were apparently nothing more than banks of colored lights, signifying nothing.  A sheet of shiny foil-covered foam board had been fitted with ranks of toggle switches-- none of them labeled.  Ethan grasped at the foam board panel and ripped it off the wall, where it had been glued.  As he'd suspected, the switches weren't hooked up to anything.  The complex-looking "switch board" turned out to be a piece of black-painted plywood with broken calculator keypads glued to it, along with a row of gauges that had apparently come from the dashboards of junked cars.  Only two pieces of equipment in the room proved to be real-- an Acer brand desktop computer with keyboard and monitor, and a mysterious black box with phone wires attached to it.

     "What's all this for?" Ollie wondered, examining the weird "equipment".  Ethan said with barely concealed amusement :It would appear that this is not the headquarters.  This is a telephone relay station.  I would guess that when I called that number we found on the Ugly Coco business card, the call was routed through this room, to protect the location and identity of the REAL headquarters.  Technically, that could be anywhere in the world."

     Omri looked supremely forlorn. 

     "But," Ethan cackled, "We KNOW that the true headquarters IS in New York.  That's where the bastards who stole Lukas are taking him.  Also, well, whoever designed this room was thinking like a young child when he did so-- I mean, you know, kids like control panels, lots of switches and stuff, because it looks cool.  Most of this stuff in here is purely for show, it's completely unnecessary.  We're dealing with an egomaniacal buffoon.  Dangerous, true… but irrational and very weird.  I might even say pathetically stupid, but we shouldn't underestimate Yucky Coco, as Kellybear called it a moment ago.  Their technology and professionalism may leave something to be desired, but their insidious effectiveness is still intact.  After all-- Omri, don't think I'm not concerned about Lukas, I'm very concerned.  I'm scared for him.  But now…"