“Down there!” Sang said, pointing to an unguarded stairwell. It was on the east side of the apartments, where a large undeveloped piece of land lay below. There were all sorts of trees and shrubbery waiting for them. Fortunately, the roof sloped downward, making it easy to get to the eastern stairwell.
The four carefully climbed down from the roof and slowly made their way downward. Van could feel his heart still hammering away. The gunshots in the distance had died down and now there was nothing but an eerie silence.
“The moment you see anyone with a gun,” O’Hara said, “you blast them.”
“Got it,” Sang said as she held her shotgun up. The gun was trembling terribly, though, and each step that Sang took was getting slower.
“Are you okay?” Van whispered.
“Truthfully?” Sang replied. “I’ve never felt better in my entire life.”
Van chuckled at that. “Just hang in there.”
“I think the haptic system actually did some internal damage,” Sang said. “I’m really banged up.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t feel like I broke anything, but I’m really sore,” Van replied.
“Well, unless you both want to give each other backrubs and do yoga, I suggest you shut the hell up!” O’Hara said as she held up a hand. They had reached the bottom of the stairwell. It wouldn’t be too hard to reach the thickets from where they were.
“One guy to the left,” Sang said, pointing to a man wearing a skull bandanna over his face. He was armed with a rifle and wore a bulletproof jacket. He was quietly walking around, keeping the exit secure. It was clear that the eastern area was poorly guarded—probably due to the fact that it would have been impossible for them to reach it through Sang’s apartment entrance.
“Not a word,” O’Hara said as she slowly walked toward the guard. He had his back turned and was whistling as he walked. She got behind him and placed her gun to the back of his head. He stiffened immediately and dropped his weapon. He got on his knees and laid on the ground. Van could hear him sobbing a little.
“Go!” O’Hara said. “Get into the woods and find somewhere safe to hide.”
“What about you?” Van asked.
“You’re nuts if you think I’m gonna let Neil have all the fun!” O’Hara replied as she delivered a swift kick to the side of the man’s head, making a sickening crunch noise. She knelt down and picked the unconscious man’s gun up.
“Godspeed,” Sang said.The three players then turned and made their way into the thickets of brush. The area was incredibly undeveloped, making it impossible for anyone to see their location. They wandered through the overgrowth until they reached the edge of the undeveloped land.
“So, what’s the plan now?” Van asked. “That hit squad probably isn’t the only firepower that Draco has.”
“I think we should find somewhere to lay low and wait for the CIA to find us,” Sang said. “But I’m worried I need serious medical attention.”
“Well, let’s try to find a cab or something,” Van said. As he emerged from the thicket, he noticed that there was a road directly in front of him. A large windowless van pulled up to them.
“Ah crap!” Van shouted, but before he could do anything, he heard, “FBI! Put your hands up now!”
“Oh, thank God,” Kenwar sighed as he noticed the flashing lights of police vehicles pulling up.
“We’re injured and under attack!” Sang called out as she dropped her shotgun. “Terrorists have colluded to kill the three of us.”
Several agents emerged from the van, weapons drawn. They quickly grabbed the three, cuffed them, and shoved them into the vehicle. Van had never been happier to be forcibly stuffed into a vehicle in his life.
Sang sat across from Frederick Yuri. The man’s expression had not changed from the moment the FBI operatives had brought her into the interrogation room and sat her down. He was scowling intensely. She sat in weary silence for as long as he would last. Fortunately, she had received appropriate medical attention; while she had sustained a serious wound to her back, there was no internal bleeding or sign of hemorrhaging. She had been extremely dehydrated due to lack of drinking in the game, though—apparently, the DRZ required a player to drink in order for the haptic pods to provide nutrition. After a few bottles of a sports drink, though, she was feeling far more alive.
“Sang…” Yuri said. “I don’t know where to begin. You know, when you blew it a few months ago, I really tried to keep your career alive. I stood up for you. I fought for you. I brought you into this project because I didn’t want to see an amazing young woman lose everything she’d fought so hard to earn, just due to a mistake. I trusted you. And… and then you do this? You steal government property, hijack a van at gunpoint, and go AWOL. What did you think was going to happen? Did you think you’d find something important enough to prevent me from making sure you’d spend the rest of your life in prison?”
“As a matter of fact,” Sang said. “Those were my exact thoughts.” She gently placed a USB drive on the table. She had snagged it off of Van and made sure to hide it so that she could get it to Frederick. He was probably the only one who would take it seriously.
“What is that?” Frederick asked, his tone lightening up. She could see a spark of curiosity on his face.
“It’s our ticket to the big leagues,” Sang said. “We managed to access a serious Draco facility in the game system. We got our hands on some real data. I’m talking highly classified information. Even if it’s not enough to prove our alien theory, it’s enough to make any serious government official freak the hell out. It’s even got missile codes.”
“How…” Frederick trailed off and gently picked up the drive. “You’re serious? You actually found something?”
“Pull it up right now. I haven’t had a chance to see it, but Neil told me it’s a goldmine.”
Frederick stood and opened the door to the interrogation cell. “Get me a laptop, now!” he yelled at an aid.
A few minutes later, the aid shuffled in with the laptop. Frederick sat down and plugged the stick in, facing the computer so that they both could see it. Information quickly appeared before them.
“My God…” Yuri mumbled as he read through the first document. “It’s a list of all of the nuclear missile sites. I recognize those coordinates.” He pointed to a few maps that were displayed. “And these are… policies. Launch code policies. I’ll be damned.”
Sang read along with them; they both remained glued to the screen for what seemed to be hours then, and they barely scratched the surface.
“Alright, Agent Sang,” Frederick said as he slid the computer back. “It would appear that you have gained some very valuable information. Valuable enough, perhaps, to justify your actions. It will take some cleaning, but I can probably convince my superiors that this was warranted.”
Sang grinned at that. “Am I free to go then? Can you let Van and Kenwar out, too?”
Frederick sighed. “I’m afraid it’s not that easy. The senator has still been making threats, ever since he discovered that your team went rogue.”
“How the hell did he find out?” Sang asked.
Frederick shrugged. “There’s a leak, and we can’t seem to figure out how to plug it.”
Sang sighed and looked back at the computer. “Wait a minute… Neil mentioned something about people’s names being mentioned.”
“Like who?”
“I’m not sure, but he said there are a lot of names in there.”
Frederick pulled the computer back and began to scroll. “This is easily a week’s worth of round the clock study,” he said.
“Yeah, but there’s a logic to it,” Sang said. “Look,” she pointed at one of the sub-sections. It was labelled Assets. “They don’t look at individuals as people.”