Dissonance - Book One

one

"What do you mean, if it works?"

"We obtained the retina and fingerprints of a Environettix employee with high level security clearance and we were able to enter the identifying properties electronically."

"Obtained?" I raise my eyebrow at his use of the word, knowing full well the fate of the woman whose pass I hold in my hands. It might be Aveline's blood smeared across the hard plastic, but hers wasn't the only blood spilled to obtain this access.

"Don't ask," he replies and then continues on. "The system resets every four hours, which means we don't have long. We should be fine as long as..."

"As long as what?"

"As long as they haven't noticed she's missing and as long as a security reset wasn't implemented when we made our presence known."

"That's a lot of 'as long as's,'" I respond.

"Kelly, we've got movement coming in our direction," the Mod speaks up, as he holds his hand up to an ear piece. There must be someone communicating on the other end, and for a split second, I wonder what's happening in the rest of the Environettix headquarters right now. How many other Mods are here risking their lives for me? How many nameless faces will I never get to thank?

"How long?" Kelly asks.

"A minute, maybe less."

"Well there's no time like the present," Kelly says and swipes the mystery woman's pass, then hits a button on his handheld device. The keypad on the wall lights up and a series of numbers begins running across the screen. Kelly holds his breath in anticipation and for the first time he actually looks nervous. Then three green lights appear and the words "enter access codes" blink across the screen.

"Yes!" Kelly shouts holding his fist up in celebration.

"Thirty seconds," the Mod says, raising his weapon and readying himself for attack. Lex and I follow suit.

I glance back and forth from Kelly to whatever is about to come around the corner. Kelly types away on the device, entering numbers and cursing under his breath when the light above the door flashes red again.

"You only have one more chance before it goes into complete lock down," Lex reminds him.

"I'm aware," he yells back at her. His fingers are sweaty and he wipes his right hand on the side of his pants.

I gently place my hand on his shoulder. My touch startles him, bringing him back to the present from his intense stare down with the device which holds our lives in the balance.

"You can do it," I say softly, looking into his eyes. "I believe in you."

My words seem to calm and recenter him and not even the Mod's warning that we're going to encounter the enemy in about ten seconds, can rattle his nerves and determination.

He takes a deep breath, then enters the numbers one last time. We all look up anxiously at the lights above the doorway. Seconds seem like hours before the green light illuminates and a voice says, access granted.

Kelly reaches for the handle and we hear a click as it opens, but our excitement is short-lived as a voice shouts, "there they are!" from the other end of the hall. Shots ring out and we duck in response.

"Move! Move!" Kelly yells as he holds open the door and signals for us to run through. Lex and I sprint as fast as our legs will carry us as the Mod returns fire.

"Come on!" Kelly yells at him.

"I'll hold them off!" he yells back in return. "Go! You don't have much time! Go!" But Kelly holds his position, not wanting to leave the man behind. "I was never meant to go further anyway," he assures Kelly.