Chapter 6.3

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I started into my armor, wrapping the stomach protection around my torso and waiting for the discomfort that came from my bionic spine pressed against my skin. As I felt the pressure bands tighten to conform to my torso, I felt a small pinch, but not the pressure I expected. I reached around to check the armor, make sure it wasn’t on wrong and felt my bionic spine where the armor’s spine should have been. I twisted around, trying to get a look at it. The armor had conformed to my augmentation, casing it nearly perfectly.

“Tawny is why you refuse to check gear anymore,” Nick whispered. “You were on her team.”

I barely heard him say it but it was just loud enough that I caught it over the hum of the engine.

“I checked her gear,” Vicki responded. “The commander checked her gear, too. Both of us said she was good to go, then I watched her hit the ground. I remember it in better detail than her and you didn’t hear her when the flaps didn’t work or when the air brakes stopped working. All she remembers in the feeling of terror. I remember every word she cried out, every, single, word. I remember the fear in her voice, the panic. I remember the crunch when she hit the ground. Have you ever heard that, Nick? The sound of almost every bone in someone’s body snapping. It was horrible. Her knees were bent the wrong way and she could just barely twitch her fingers. The worst part was when one of the medics accidently nudged her leg, she didn’t even seem to notice. She couldn’t feel it. I understand why she didn’t want the gear, but it’s for her own safety and you’ll check it for her.”

I put my armor on piece by piece as I listened to Vicki. I never realized how much my fall affected her. I could hear the tears choking up her voice as she spoke. She glanced over at me and must have caught me looking at her, because she looked away instantly.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I muttered. “My gear malfunctioned in the software, you couldn’t have found that with a physical check.”

“Everything worked in the hovercraft,” Vicki said.

“Proximity triggered,” I said. “Hooked into the proximity sensor so that when the suit hit a certain altitude, the virus was released and everything malfunctioned. It’s not your fault.”

Vicki smiled weakly. “Good to know. You need help with the jump suit?”

“I’ve got it,” I said. I secured the clips around my ankles and knees. As I hooked the belt around my waist, I clipped my boots into the clamps. Vicki pulled the chest portion of the suit up and hooked it around my torso and began affixing the elbow clips and wrist clips.

“I know you don’t blame me,” she said as she clipped on the right wrist piece and I ran through the finger pads activating every flap and airbrake on my right side. “But I blame myself and Otto. We checked your gear, we were supposed to help you and we did nothing. I didn’t even try to grab you as you fell, so I blame myself and one of these day’s I will make it up to you. I promise.”

I nodded and she touched her lips to my cheek. “Kai, eta?” she asked.

“Ten minutes,” Kai said.

Vicki nodded and moved back to her seat next to Nick. I began to run through my premade hacks on the tablet. Black outs, communicator jams, electromagnetic pulses, squealers and a half dozen other small trinkets that would stick to walls and could be hacked from my wrist interface. I glanced out the window to see the mountains rising rapidly.

“Do these things usually do well?” I asked.

“This is my fifth train raid,” Vicki said, “We rarely lose a civilian and it’s even rarer for one of us to get killed. Granted, we haven’t had a newbie on a raid in a long time, but we should have seven people instead of six now. So, don’t worry, this will go off without a hitch.”

The hovercar descended and we climbed out. Wind whipped across the exposed grasslands at the base of the mountains. From here, I couldn’t see the city. Everything felt so big. I didn’t have police breathing down my neck or security cameras. For the first time in my life, I was free of big brother, free of the government and spying. Then I noticed a hovercraft and three people leaning against it, two in similar gear to ours. Vicki pursed her lips.

“There should be four,” she muttered.

“Doesn’t look like they ran into trouble,” Nick said.

“Addi, where’s Vince?” Vicki asked as we approached.

The one person straightened up. The female cut suit caught my attention, another woman. Wow, I judged these people wrong. A tight bun of fire red hair sat atop her hair with the exception to one curl that hung down beside her face. “Well, you said you were bringing four operatives,” she shrugged. “Six person operation, seven with our driver, but we only needed to supply two people and Vincent is high ranking and he’s getting old, he stayed back. He’ll be part of the extraction team though. So, this the new girl?”

"Yup,” Nick said. “Addison, Nigel, this is Tawny. Tawny, Addison and Nigel. Tawny here is a hacker. Got us the train info.”

“Did she now?” the man, Nigel, asked. “You’re a soldier then.”

“Mechanic,” I said. I raised my pant leg until he could see my bionics. “Crippled since HAJ training.”

“Never seen action then,” Nigel said.

“Correct,” I nodded.

“Nigel, we need to get moving,” the other man said. We climbed into the hovercraft waiting for us. The man who had spoken, climbed into the front seat and as soon as the doors were closed, took off.

“Weapons are along the wall,” she said. Vicki and Nick each took a rifle and began to check it. Vicki barely looked at me as she passed me a suppressor and a pistol. Addison pointed to each in turn. “Masks, tear gas, ammo. Nick, you’re arm working completely this time?”

Nick flexed his bionic wrist and muttered something, the blade extended from his forearm. With another mutter, it folded back inside his arm and a different blade shot out from his wrist, this one on the underside of his arm.

“Good. Tawny, you’re in charge of disrupting their communications and possibly keeping control of their hacker. It’s hard to get reinforcements up into the mountains but we don’t want to give them any time to catch up.”

I nodded. “Alright.”

“What kind of shot are you?” Nigel asked.

“I’m a hacker,” I said.

“Right, take a rifle anyway,” he said. “Just watch where you point it.”

I nodded and Nick handed me a rifle and two magazines. “Don’t shoot me,” he said.

“I’m not that bad of a shot,” I muttered.

“Eta, sixty seconds,” the driver called.

Addison handed me a small microphone. “Your communicator,” she said. “In case we get separated.”

“Right,” I nodded. I pulled my mask on and then secured the helmet before hooking my communicator in. I saw Nick pull his shemagh up around his mask.

“Tawny, stay close. The rest of you, you know what to do. You three hit the cars closest to the prisoners first, then move forward towards the engine,” Addison said. “Tawny, Nick, we get the engine and crew quarters, at any given time, there’s one platoon off duty but on call, but at this time, they’ll be sleeping, we hit them hard and fast. From there, we move down the train, we have fifteen minutes from the time we hit the roof to stop the train, so we can’t waste time.”

“Twenty seconds,” the driver shouted.

Nigel, I think it was Nigel, everyone looked the same now, opened the door. Wind filled the interior of the hovercraft. I poked my head out to see the mountains flying past in a blur. We crested a mountain top and began to bleed altitude quickly. The trees below disappeared in an instant and were replaced by a train roof.

“You are a go,” the driver shouted over the wind.

Addison, I think, clapped me on the shoulder. “See you on the train,” she said and vanished.

I swallowed my fear and let out a deep breath. With a step, I plunged into freefall and felt my throat jump into my heart.