“Optical camouflage,” said Sara, unimpressed. “Let me guess. Federal funded paramilitary?” A pair of soldiers plucked her off the floor as if she was nothing but stray litter. The other four soldiers fanned out; the roar of their oversized automatics echoed throughout the warehouse.
“You have to stop this,” said Sara as one soldier stripped her of her vest. “We need them alive.”
“My men will get all information they need when they strip the hard drives,” said the leader. “I have to adhere to my platform of no tolerance. I am a man of my word.”
“The Attorney General, I presume?”
“Surely, you didn’t think we were the police?” replied the Attorney General. He removed his helmet to reveal a long, dark face with a shaved head.
“No,” replied Sara, not missing a beat. “The police aren’t this well funded. Unfortunately, I’m not in the mood for interdepartmental politics. My friend has been kidnapped, and I am certain these people can lead me to her.”
“I’ve been informed of your current situation, and I know you by reputation,” replied the Attorney General. “I, however, cannot let a civilian get in the way of my investigation.”
“Don’t you mean extermination?” asked Sara sharply. “Your men could have a harder time tying their shoelaces than taking out these criminals.”
“Extermination is exactly the right word for it. Criminals are a disease I can no longer tolerate in my city.”
“That sounds nice as a sound clip, but does killing the patient constitute a cure?”
“You misunderstand my metaphor. Society is my patient. These lowlifes are carriers that must be exterminated so that the disease does not spread.”
“I wish it were that simple, but I had experiences with these ‘lowlifes’ too. Some people run out of luck and are forced to do things they’re not proud of.”
“Everyone has a choice,” replied the Attorney General.
“It’s easy for you to say that. Let me guess: rich family, never had to work too hard for anything. Am I getting close?”
“This conversation’s beginning to bore me.” He turned to his second-in-command. “Put her in a holding cell until I’m done with the press.”
“Wait,” said one of the other soldiers. “One of them is trying to escape.” He leveled his rifle to the person climbing out of a window. Sara rammed her shoulder into him, knocking the rifle out of his hands. She struggled to take it from him, when another soldier brought the butt of their weapon down onto Sara’s skull.
Sara awoke hours later in an isolation cell. A guard came and brought her to an interrogation room. The Attorney General was already there, waiting for her.
“Please sit,” he said and Sara complied. “I could bring you up on charges of interfering with my investigation. Sadly, you still seem to have some friends in important positions, just enough to make this more of a hassle than I have time for.”
“So, then why are you here talking to me?” asked Sara.
“Have you ever heard of Khyber Gorah?”
“Who is Khyber Gorah?”
“The name came up in a number of encrypted files we recovered. It seems to be more of a where and less of a who.” The Attorney General looked Sara straight in the eyes. “It seems to be a little out of my jurisdiction, but perhaps you know someone who’d like to look into for us.”
“So, now I’m useful to you,” said Sara.
“Not at all. I just want you out off my planet.”
“That’s the second person who’s said that to me. I must be very popular. But make no mistake, I don’t approve of your methods.”
“Then, you’d be in the minority. People want their streets clean. They don’t care how.”
“The ends never justify the means.”
“We’ll see.”
The Attorney General’s last words echoed in Sara’s mind as she got out of the taxi. She was reluctant to let him have the last word, but her priority was to find Zoey and not to get caught up in the usual political nonsense. There were no messages at the front desk, and Sara rode the elevator up in silence. She unlocked the door with a swipe of her card key and paused at the threshold.
She could hear the sound of the television, even though she knew she had turned it off. She slipped into her room and quietly closed the door. Sara’s mind raced, trying to figure out who was in the next room. Surely, an intruder would not sit down and start watching television? She started to glance around for a possible weapon, but then stopped. She’d face this, like any problem, with her wits.
She walked into the room and without hesitation, said, “I hope you can explain yourself.”
“Hey, Sara,” replied Zoey, lounging on the coach. “Long time, no see.”
“Zoey!” Sara hugged her old friend as Zoey was getting up off the couch. “What are you doing here? I thought you were kidnapped.”
“Oh, I was,” said Zoey. “But I got bored and decided to leave.” She told Sara about the fire alarm and her attempt to escape.
“You faked fainting?” asked Sara. “Didn’t that hurt your feminine pride?”
“That and the twenty spot I gave the concierge to keep a secret that your ‘niece’ had come for a surprise visit. But I figured an ambulance would be the safest way to leave.”
“And how did you know where to find me?”
“That’s easy. You always stay here, whenever you can. I just had to discreetly ask about you.”
“Can you recognize any of your abductors?”
“I don’t know who the big cheese was, but the guy who was guarding me had a large scar on his face. I think he was called ‘Anton.’ There were two other thugs but I never saw them again.”
“Well, I might be able to shed some light on that.” Sara related her own near-abduction and the recent sting at the Cabel secret headquarters.
“So,” said Zoey. “I was basically going to be their leverage to get you to do their bidding.”
“Very likely, but what did they want me to do?” Sara pursed her lips as she thought. “Does the name Khyber Gorah mean anything to you?”
“Should it?”
“The Attorney General was generous enough to pass that nugget of information onto me.”
“To what end?” asked Zoey.
“So, I can do his dirty work for him.”
“And are we?”
“Not exactly. I need to find out who’s behind all this and make sure that they never come after you or me again.”
“But, Sara, where are we going to find out who this Khyber Gorah was?”
“In the greatest archive of accumulated knowledge,” replied Sara.
“You’re kidding me,” said Zoey as they walked the streets at night. “They have one of these here?” She was referring to the towering building that was just one of many branches of the Institute of the Brilliant 5.
“Of course,” said Sara as they strolled up to the gate.
“They look closed,” said Zoey, not impressed.
“Yes, they are,” replied Sara. “But being on good terms with the Brilliant 5, I have a security code that allows me 24 hour access to any facility.”
Unbeknownst to them, unseen hands were tampering with the wiring of the security system.
“Error, error,” squealed the computer system.
“What’s going on?” asked Zoey.
“I don’t know,” replied Sara. “I haven’t even put in the code yet.”
From underneath them, a glass dome encased the two women. “Error,” stated the computer. “Intruders. Subdue.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” said Zoey. Her comment was followed by the hiss of gas.
“Cover your mouth,” said Sara, gasping for air. The two women struggled in vain, for there was nowhere they could go to escape from the gas that now surrounded them.
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Written by J M Emmons. The story and all characters are copyrighted by J M Emmons.
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