Replica (Original Work)

Chapter 11 - Doubling Down

I spent the morning mulling over the pieces in my head. Three dead genestock, a suicide bomber, a man that doesn't exist, a poorly thought out attempt on my life, and now an internal affairs officer was somehow involved. It didn't seem to make any recognizable sense at first, but the more I thought on things the more I felt like I had at least some semblance of a theory. By the time chief Wade called us in for the expected meeting, I had devised a plan. I took a neural linking hub with me, packing it into my coat pocket, and made for the second floor.

The second floor conference room was not much. The place consisted of a bare metal table with bare metal chairs thrown haphazardly around in a room just big enough to fit the entire SID. At the front, Wade stood by an older holoscreen waiting to begin the briefing.

"Good of you to join us, Lucy." Wade's voice was calm, but ever so slightly caustic.

The rest of the department was already in the room, sans Eva who was still on leave. Maybe I had spent a touch too long thinking. I made my way to an empty chair next to Cutter, and sat.

"So old man, what's this new assignment that's so important we had to be called in first thing?" Cutter asked. He already knew the answer, of course, but being himself he was ever impatient and eager to get things underway.

"We have a termination order. This man," Wade said, gesturing to the screen behind him as a young man's face appeared on it, "Is defecting with company intellectual property to a rival firm. An outfit by the name of Trident Multinational. They operate primarily out of the EU, and it seems they are a shell corporation for a much larger competitor. However, it doesn't concern us now. Our assignment is simply to eliminate him."

"Which, of course, will be my job?" I asked, if only for formality's sake.

"Very astute, as always," Wade said. "We've tracked the man to a safehouse in south Texas, just outside of Corpus Christi. According to our intel he's being held here." Wade gestured again, and the screen displayed a large, somewhat run down looking warehouse. A satellite image, taken from the top down.

"Not much of a safehouse," Pierce said.

"Looks can be deceiving." Wade signaled the screen again, and several images of the surrounding area appeared. Of note, several of the pictures featured very well equipped guards. Next generation assault rifles, hybrid body armor, the works. "The area is heavily patrolled, and very well guarded. It's surrounded by a good deal of flat woodland, so the company believes the best course of action is to send in a surgical strike force. Lucy, you'll be heading that team. This is going to be a joint operation with our Texas branch."

"And what about the rest of us?" Cutter asked. "Don't tell me we'll just be sitting on our asses while Lucy goes in with some yahoos out of Texas?"

"You, Peirce, and Boones have been designated extraction and fire support. You'll be on standby with Armored Personnel Carriers. Should the operation prove unmanageable, your job boils down to going in, making a whole lot of noise, and pulling our team out before things escalate. This is a delicate situation. The executives feel it's best not to let go of proprietary secrets, but they'd also like to avoid touching off a skirmish that could escalate into an intra corporate war. We all know the world went to hell the last time that happened."

"And me?" Dunlap asked.

"You be providing communications and technical support, as per usual."

I chewed on my thumbnail. Nothing about this operation sounded particularly on the level. Termination orders were routine enough, but surgical strikes against other corps installations were dangerous at best and potentially apocalyptic at worst. "Is that all you've got for us?" I asked.