Silence In Numbers: File One (48 page)

Sano shrugged, giving a slight smile. “When we met each other.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So we have two runners,” Hackett said, barely concealing his anger.

“It appears that way,” M responded, lacking his trademark smile as he reported to the board in the HQ control room. “At the moment we have no idea where they are, but I assure you, I have the entire team searching for the traitors.” For once he actually seemed angry; betrayed, even.

H sighed and rubbed his face. “This is a disaster… Get those two back now, M. The future of the company may depend on it.”

“Loyalty only goes so far,” M stated harshly. “It ends with betrayal. They will be found.” As the call cut off, M immediately smiled and turned to another screen where he had a different call open. “You know what I know, Major.”

“Thank you for doing this for us, M,” Katsumi responded over the call. “I know the position I’m putting all of you in…”

“Position?” M chuckled. “I’m looking forward to this.”

“Well if I’d known that I’d have done all this sooner,” Katsumi replied, sounding amused.

“I knew you were going to be trouble the moment I met you.”

“That explains why you made me the leader. Alright, I’m running out of time – I’ll contact you at the next opportunity.”

“Do keep safe,” M said before the call was disconnected. He then turned to the remaining four, who had been standing to the side listening to both exchanges – Sano, Reno, Rufus and Hitomi. M smiled at them, using two fingers to push up his reflective glasses. “Well, my friends, things are about to get interesting.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Outside of the boardroom at the Aegis Headquarters, one of the Directors moved down the hall away from the others, opening up a door none of them knew existed. Inside, the Director closed the door behind him and continued down a long corridor that appeared on no building plans. Eventually, the Director arrived at a hidden room and gave a sigh, sitting in a chair surrounded by computers and screens and lit only by the glow of the monitors. A switch was flipped on a monitor, a cable was plugged into a spot normally hidden on the Director’s neck that a synthetic skin plate slid aside to reveal, and the SIGMA AI uploaded itself onto the network, establishing a connection with a hideout in Tokyo.

“So everything is in motion,” Joseph said after the connection was made, his face appearing on the screen. “We have the Demon Soul, you’ve successfully convinced them that they need the sisters, and their team is split apart; are you certain everything will still go as planned?”

Sigma smiled. “No need to worry, it’s all working out even if there are a few discrepancies from the original plan. I admit I didn’t foresee it going exactly this way, but everything is still on schedule. I will have to put more effort into my next Active Shell, however; I didn’t expect them to be able to destroy it.”

“That will no longer be a problem; without my daughters, they are virtually harmless.”

“We haven’t come this far by being careless,” Sigma cautioned. “Try not to forget this was simply the first step.” Sigma grinned. “It’s the next step that’s going to cause all the chaos.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Outside of a gas station at the city’s outskirts, Katsumi hung up the payphone she had used to call M. Their cell phones had been left back in the city, and using their cyber links wouldn’t have allowed her to hear the conversation with the board. She didn’t know quite what to think about Aegis’ betrayal, but she didn’t even consider that she could be making the wrong decision; especially when she turned around and smiled as she saw her sister leave the station’s convenience store waving the candy she’d just bought.

They’d ditched their clothing, as well, and were now dressed in civilian clothing; Ayane wore a pink hoodie and blue jeans, while Katsumi had opted for a simple black long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. Comfort and durability were the main goals for clothing when on the run, because you never knew when you would get a chance to change. Katsumi walked back through the cool night air to the running car, getting back inside and shutting the door.

Ayane watched her from the passenger seat as Katsumi shifted the car into drive and pulled back onto the road. “I’m sorry we have to leave it all behind,” she said softly, breaking the silence of the road and drawing Katsumi’s eyes to her. “Our first real home, family, friends, your job, and everything else… I’m sorry it had to go this way.”

Katsumi shook her head. “All of those things are nice, yes. I care about them, I enjoy them, I’ll even miss them while we’re gone. But there has always been one thing,
one
, that I’ve been able to count on for my entire life, and since I’m in the car with her right now, I don’t care what else is going on.”

Ayane smiled, leaning over to lay her head on her sister’s shoulder. “So you aren’t upset that you’ve ended up here?”

Katsumi looked out the window as rain began to fall upon it, taking in the road they were heading down. She then looked back at her sister, who was taking her hand. Katsumi squeezed it, giving a genuine smile. “This is the only place I want to be.”

END OF FILE 1

###

About the Author:

Jake Taylor lives in Austin, Texas.  A passionate collector of all things Final Fantasy, Marvel Comics and Star Wars, he writes both Fantasy Fiction and Science Fiction.  His characters are his roommates (they unfortunately refuse to chip in for rent) and his writing is his life.

Discover other Titles by Jake Taylor

in the

Silence In Numbers Series

and

his Fantasy Fiction series, Victis Honor

Connect with Jake online:

twitter:  http://twitter.com/@The7thShadow

Blog:  http://www.theseventhshadow.com