“Maybe we should continue this in the morning,” she sighed. “There’s just a few main-”
There was a knock on his office door. Jill froze. Looking puzzled, Wilks was going to call out to whoever it was when she signaled him to be quiet. She distinctly remembered hearing Tammy locking the front door when she left. Motioning for him to remain quiet, Jill picked up one of Wilks’ heavy lifetime achievement awards and crept to the side of the door. Then she gave Wilks a nod.
Looking more confused than worried, Wilks said in a loud voice, “Come in.”
Simon, wearing a trench coat and a very unfashionable set of sunglasses, walked in. “Senator Wilks.”
“Simon?” Wilks began. “Why are you wearing sunglasses at night?”
Night vision goggles! An attack!
Before Jill could act, Simon drew a pistol and shot Wilks, knocking him off his chair. She leaped from the corner and blindsided Simon, slamming the large metal award against his face, followed by a knee to the groin.
Get Wilks out of here!
Simon groaned as she walked over him to check on Wilks. She eyed his smug face and brought her fist down on it, feeling a satisfying crunch as the bridge of his nose suddenly made a sharp detour on the way up to his forehead. He passed out.
“That’s for threatening my kid.” She kicked him in the gut for good measure and ran behind the desk. She found Wilks lying on the ground, clutching his left shoulder. He had ducked just enough for the bullet to miss his heart.
This was a bold attack. Simon must have backup.
“Can you stand?” she asked. He grimaced as she helped him up. “We need to get out of here,” she said.
Wilks picked up the phone and punched a few buttons. A second later, he dropped the receiver. “Phone’s dead,” he said, gritting his teeth. “Is this the other team you’ve been telling me about?”
She nodded.
There is bound to be a secondary unit.
“Baji, what are they doing here? We’re in the Senate building for God’s sakes.”
Attempting to assassinate a sitting senator basically implies they couldn’t care less about that. The front door and back will be watched. Exit through the side of the building.
“There aren’t any doors at the side.”
Her bangle beeped and Marco’s voice came on. “Jill, is everything alright?”
She raised it to her mouth. “We just had an assassination attempt on the senator. He’s alive but injured. We need to get out of here.”
“It’s worse than you think,” Marco replied. “I just received reports of this occurring all over the capital. All our agents are under attack. We’ve lost forty so far.”
She gasped. Forty operatives in the government. Dead in an instant. How could this be?
It is a cleansing. The last occurred during the Spanish Inquisition. The Genjix have decided that removing us from power is worth the fallout.
“I’m coming for you, but it’s chaos on the streets. There are Penetra vans everywhere.” Marco said. “For now, get out of the beltway or get underground. I’ll find you.”
She turned to the fallen senator. “Listen carefully, James,” she whispered. “There’s a coup going on. The enemy is trying to wipe us out in order to control the government. We need to get you to safety. Keep quiet and follow closely.”
He nodded and grimaced as they left his office. She picked up Simon’s pistol and checked the clip. Wilks’ eyes widened in surprise when he saw her handling the pistol like a trained expert.
“This is crazy,” he whispered.
“You don’t know the half of it,” she muttered.
Get the night vision goggles.
Jill picked up the pair of night vision goggles and turned them over in her hand. From afar, a person wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from regular sunglasses, but that seemed kind of silly. Wouldn’t a person attract more attention for wearing sunglasses at night? Someone didn’t think this through very well.
Worry about fashion later. Move!
Jill put the goggles on and led Wilks out the door. Together, they left his office and sped down the hallway, passed the elevator banks on their way toward the center of the building. She risked a glance through the atrium window and saw half a dozen dark figures on the ground level wearing the same goggles.
She grabbed Wilks by his good shoulder and dragged him around the corner to the stairwell leading to the lower levels. She motioned for him to hide in a cubicle while she scouted the stairs. She found two Genjix guarding the exit on the ground floor.
Kevlar. One with a combat shotgun. The other with an assault rifle.
“Take them out?”
Too risky. Taking out two fully armed agents in armor will be difficult. It will also draw attention. Not to mention you are wearing a pencil skirt.
Jill swore under her breath. “Second floor plunge it is. Sometimes, I hate this job.”
I thought you hated being an attorney.
“I hate that too.”
The problem is not the job. You just need a better attitude.
“Shut up.”
See.
Jill went back to the second floor and led Wilks toward the southwest end of the building where it joined with the Dickson Senate Building. They moved slowly, hiding behind cover and in cubicles wherever possible. There was a small garden with several large trees on Constitution Avenue nestled between the two buildings where Wilks liked to smoke when he didn’t want anyone to see. With luck, they could climb down a tree or at the very least jump onto a nice bed of flowers to soften the fall. As luck would have it, there was another guard near the entrance to that section of the building. Wilks was about to call out to the guard when she covered his mouth with her hand.
“We’re not sure if he’s compromised,” she whispered. Then she motioned for him to stay still. She stayed low to the ground and crept forward toward the guard.
“He’s wearing a federal uniform. Maybe he’s a good guy.”
I am sure the Genjix have several federal uniforms for Halloween. You cannot risk it.
“I don’t see a rifle or Kevlar. I think he’s a regular.”
Do not risk it. If he is a regular guard, the best thing you can do is put him down non-lethally. He would not stand a chance against Genjix squads.
Jill cursed under her breath as she inched closer. The closer she got, the more she was sure he wasn’t the enemy. For one thing, he looked relaxed and was completely oblivious to his surroundings. If he were a Genjix agent masquerading as a bored guard, he should be nominated for an Emmy.
She crept up to the cubicle adjacent him and waited. And waited. And waited some more. The guy was so lazy he kept staring straight ahead, at one point yawning and leaning against the wall. Finally, feeling a sense of urgency, she picked up a stapler on the desk, stood up, and chucked it at him. It clipped him on the ear. Jill leaped out of the cubicle, swept his legs, and choked him out.
Well, that was not elegant.
“No style points there, but it did the trick.”
Jill went back to retrieve Wilks, and they continued to the next room. By now, his shoulder was pouring blood, leaving a trail for anyone to find. They had to get out of there fast. They reached the corner of the building with the small garden. She looked out the window. It was a decent drop, but not more than what she had trained for with Marco. She took aim and put three slugs into the window, shattering the glass. She dragged Wilks to the ledge, apologized quickly, and pushed him out. Then she leaped out of the second floor window and landed on a bed of tulips, rolling as she was trained into a kneeling position with pistol drawn.