Read Cold Hard Truths 1: Vices Online

Authors: Nash Summers

Tags: #LGBT; Cyberpunk; Futuristic

Cold Hard Truths 1: Vices (6 page)

BOOK: Cold Hard Truths 1: Vices
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“Wow, Bruno, never really took you for a romantic.” I stopped and smiled at him.

“Shut up, smart-ass. What would you dream of?”

I’d dream of a world where Carver wanted to touch me, a world where he wanted me to be his.

“Nothing. I told you, I don’t dream like that.”

The intercom system sounded above us. “ENAD soldiers are to report to Con Room 7.”

Bruno’s eyes met my own. It was unusual that we’d be called into a meeting without scheduled notice. ENAD was very strict about scheduling and proactive about informing us ahead of time.

We left the workout room and headed toward the conference room, running into Tanis and Seno on the way. At the front of the room was Carver, with Corp standing next to him wearing his usual grimace.

“All right, soldiers, listen up,” said Corp. “You may have noticed that two of your comrades have been gone for the past couple weeks. Carver is going to fill you in on your first mission here as a unit. This will be quick, painless, and precise, ladies and gentlemen, and if it’s not, there’s no need for me to tell you the repercussions of that.”

Carver stepped forward, and the screen behind him flicked on. “Ko and Vcue have been part of an intel mission finding the best possible route to engage our target. His name is T8, at least that’s all he’s known as, and he’s one of the largest Pentrox dealers in this city.”

A video clip came up of him on the screen, showing him in some candid daily activities, always looking over his shoulder. It didn’t surprise me that he was so sketchy, since Pentrox was one hell of a drug. It was like Corx kicked up times forty. It turned peoples’ worlds upside down, literally slowing the reaction time of their brains to the point where users were almost temporarily brain-dead but felt like they could solve all the world’s problems in one big swoop of their hands. Worst of all, this drug was very cheap and chemically laced with nanobots that rotted your brain from the inside out. It was so readily available to end users, at such an inexpensive price, that it was the most deadly drug the state had ever had problems with, and the most popular.

“We have to get into his drug house, take out his men, and make it look like a gang fight. T8 comes with us. The most important part of this mission is getting him into our custody alive. I don’t care if you lose an arm in the process, you bring him in alive. There’s belief that he’s tied financially to Deleviv, so we want to get him here and make him sing. We’re expecting around fifteen to eighteen people total, elimination on all counts not necessary, just whoever sees us or is a known associate with T8. Standard-sized operational tower, had been abandoned twenty years ago, reinhabited by T8 and his people within the last two. More bots and cameras around than we’d like, but we can make it work.”

A video of the tower came onto the screen, followed by a few quicker clips of some of T8’s personnel, mostly well-known drug dealers and pimps.

“Ko and Vcue are out of this mission, so we can keep them undercover working in the same circle, which leaves us five collectively. Myself, Seno, and Bruno are scaling in from an adjacent building and entering through the back. Tanis will be in charge of cutting all frequencies in the building but ours, along with controlling lighting and bypassing all their safeguards in their motherboard. Jones will be the sniper.”

My head snapped up to Carver. Snipers, for the state, were generally assigned with the very important task of being the ones who put down a soldier if things went south. If someone was held captive or was compromised, the soldier was taken out by a sniper if self-termination wasn’t possible. Of course, we had both methods of suicide. A capped tooth in the backs of our mouths, very old-school, but snipers were always the most secure, because they had their last option for life put into someone else’s hands.

“Carver—” I started.

“Jones, you’re the best shot,” he responded. Curt, tight, stern. So very like him. “Moving on. If one of us is compromised, for security purposes, you know what you need to do. If I give the order, I won’t repeat myself. Briefing for your individual reports is awaiting each of you in your rooms. Read up and sleep tight. We need you sharp. Dismissed.”

Carver turned his back on us and began swiping his fingers across one of the flat tabletop tablets. Within an instant, everyone had silently left the room. When I approached him, he didn’t move a muscle, but I knew he sensed me standing behind him, probably a little too closely.

He was studying pictures of Deleviv, never lingering on one image longer than the others. My stomach felt tight and my head was full of fog. I didn’t want the responsibility of being the sniper. I wasn’t the best shot, Carver was, but I knew he had to be with the majority of our team on this mission. Still, being assigned as the sniper on any mission was stressful and had a bad tendency to cause stable people to lose a few marbles.

“Carver, I can’t be the sniper for this mission.” I sounded regrettable and weak.

“You can and you will.” He continued his swiping and surface pressing, rearranging images of T8 and other faceless men.

“I can’t do it. I might falter.”

He faced me, standing just as close as I’d originally oriented us. I stared down into his beautiful, pale eyes and knew that if he told me to shoot myself in the leg at that moment, I’d probably agree to it.

“Straighten yourself out, Jones.”

I couldn’t help myself when the corners of my mouth pulled themselves up at his choice of words.

He just kept staring at me.

If he were anyone else, he’d have blushed at the comment, maybe even laughed or been embarrassed, but not Carver. He was made of stone.

I sighed and let my smile slip away from me.

“Listen, Carver,” I started saying, reaching out to touch a particular strand of his blue hair. For a moment, I thought he was going to let me, and the thought was exhilarating. The tips of my fingers just barely touched the silk strands of his hair when he grabbed my hand and shoved it back down.

“Our mission starts in two days. You’re dismissed.” He turned back around and instantly started moving images on the tablet again.

I knew better than to stick around longer than Carver wanted me to. Carver had a long fuse, but when it finally hit the sweet spot, everyone was in for a lashing.

I left Carver in the small, metallic room, feeling more optimistic than I had in years.

One of the back hallways was vacant as I made my way to the cafeteria. I noticed that Seno was in a nook in front of a doorway with his back facing outward. It was odd that he was just standing there, so I slowed my pace a little to see what he was up to. It looked almost like he was staring at the doorknob or the lock on the door, but I couldn’t be sure.

A faint sound came from in front of Seno, but I knew it wasn’t him. I stopped instantly and walked toward him, shifting my position to try and see past him.

“What’s going on?” I asked, seemingly surprising him. Both of his hands were planted flat against the wall, but I caught his attention. And that’s when I saw a terrified, teary-eyed Tanis pressed against the wall, hidden by his body mass.

“Nothing,” Seno replied with a huge, disturbing grin.

“Doesn’t look like nothing.” I set my spine straighter, trying to be more threatening. I didn’t think it worked, though. Seno was hardly ever scared or put off by anything. I’d heard stories around the facility that Seno was once shot in the leg and began laughing like someone had told him some funny joke. The man was obviously insane.

“Tanis and I were just having a little talk,” Seno said to me.

“I don’t think she wants to talk to you. I can’t imagine why not.” This just made his leer grow. Tanis stayed silent.

“Well, I can guarantee you’re not her type,” Seno said, letting his eyes gaze at me from head to toe. It made my blood boil.

I stood my ground and tried to restrain myself from kneeing him. He just shrugged and laughed. He passed one more glance at Tanis, then moved out of the nook and leisurely down the hall as if nothing had happened.

“Hey,” I said to Tanis. “You all right?”

“Yeah,” she sniffled, putting a fake smile on her face. She had tears in her eyes and her thick-framed glasses were foggy. I still wondered sometimes how Tanis was ever recruited to be a soldier. She must’ve done something big to really make a bang. Her physical appearance never gave anything away about her skills or ability to fight. She was always afraid and seemingly innocent about the cruel world around her. This just made me want to protect her even more.

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” I tried to regulate the anger that was in my voice. If Seno had hurt her, I was planning on tearing his nose off.

“No, no,” Tanis replied, laughing a little. “Not physically, at least.”

“Mind telling me what’s up between you two?”

Tanis sighed and took her glasses off to wipe her eyes. She was tired, like there were years of pain lingering behind her eyes.

“Her name was Zoey. All three of us were in the same training unit growing up: Zoey, myself, and Seno. She was beautiful. She brought life into the world where there was none. Seno and I both loved her, but Zoey only loved me back.

“Something went wrong during one of our training missions. I was in charge of the circuits. The lights came on too quickly and Zoey was discovered. They tortured her and then shot her, and Seno had to watch. They had a backup breaker that I didn’t know about. I hate myself every day thinking that it’s my fault that Zoey died. Seno hates me even more. He’s cruel to me, but I deserve it. He’s never been the same since Zoey died. His screws get looser and looser every day.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. It was the only thing I could think to say. It might’ve been her fault that her lover was dead, so I couldn’t offer comfort there. But I could admit to her that I was sorry for her loss and sorry that Seno couldn’t forgive her.

“It’s fine,” she said, making a hand gesture to brush me off. She tugged at the bottom of her black shirt, straightening herself.

Tanis sighed deep and then pulled something out from under her collar. It was a tiny charm on a necklace. She lifted it up and her eyes lingered on it fondly, touching the sides delicately like she was thinking of a memory the trinket held. It was a thin chain that had a small script word dangling from it that read
Life.

“She gave this to me. She told me that it would be my lucky charm, and that it would always keep me close to her, no matter how far apart we were. And she was right. She really was my life.”

I could feel her loss just from her expression. Love had to be something dark to cause so many people so much pain. In the end, someone always got hurt.

* * * *

Game day.

I was sweating beneath my gear, but it barely fazed me. The gear for actual missions, as opposed to training, was much different, yet much the same. Black pants, black long-sleeve shirt, and thin, protective, bullet- and stun-gun-proof padding to the shoulders, chest, and thighs. The black boots were a bit taller, with slots for e-bombs and knives. The gun holster was the same; the headgear was of a new variety. The masks we had to wear were based on ancient versions of motorcycle helmets: smaller than the former, lighter, thinner material, with state-of-the-art digital displays behind the face visor, along with speakers in each ear and a built-in microphone. Everything was lightweight, easy to move with, and easy to carry. That’s how we worked best.

We were suited up, ready to go, standing in front of Corp and Carver in the main hall of the facility. Kavric had already explained to us the few parts of medical protocol that we had to follow, which basically consisted of not getting shot in the head and, more importantly, definitely not damaging their equipment.

I hadn’t slept a lot the night before, tossing in my single bed, letting my foggy eyes gaze mindlessly at the glowing lights from my desk workstation. My mind couldn’t wrap itself around having to shoot a comrade if the time ever came, but I tried to psych myself up by reassuring myself that our team was impeccable and that it wouldn’t be an issue.

“Any words for your team?” Corp turned his usual grimace to Carver and asked. Carver just glanced at us.

“Gear up. Let’s go. And don’t fuck this up.” Then he walked between us with a flick of his head, indicating we follow.

We collectively trudged out back and through the cyber café. Hardly anyone was there, and the kid behind the kiosk didn’t even lift his head when we walked by.

In the alley was an unmarked van, electronic still, but an old make that probably ran off some ancient make of motor. Everyone piled in the back and sat on the small benches on the sides. The van probably used to be used as some sort of SWAT vehicle from way back in the day when SWAT still existed.

When we began moving forward, no one said anything, just sat there in silence, staring at the rusted, dirty floor of the van.

I was staring at Carver.

The lights from the front window of the vehicle shone through to the backseats, dancing neon streams over the pale-blue hair on his head. His long eyelashes were making shadows on his cheeks, his lips pursed and tight. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, staring at his hands. I wondered if he was thinking about the mission, worried about losing one of us to another pointless cause like this. I somehow doubted Carver thought any of this was pointless. He wasn’t exactly man of the year, but I could tell all this political bullshit mattered something to him, in some way at least. Maybe he actually thought we were making a difference.

The van stopped, the back doors opened, and everyone was ushered out by Carver. We were still approximately six and a half blocks from our destination, but that was where we’d split up. Too many people in a large group like us would draw attention, even in this part of town.

The wide alley was wet with puddles of water left over from the perpetual downpour in the city. There were old, presumably useless electronics shoved into one of the corners of the lot next to a large, rusted, puce-colored garbage bin. Broken-down halogen lights, unwanted bots, food wrappers, used vehicle batteries. The retractable screen doors of the businesses in the alley were closed, keeping the rain and customers out. Businesses in these areas hardly ever opened before night because that was when their customers came out to play. The businesses were usually drug fronts of places people could go to find a nice girl or boy to keep themselves company for the night. No matter what kind of business the glowing sign on the front read, they always revolved around drugs and sex. It was a dank area, complete with grime and smelling like it too. Everything was dark except for the glowing lights. There were always glowing lights.

BOOK: Cold Hard Truths 1: Vices
7.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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