“They’re about to pass by the camera now.” Andrew seemed to have already forgotten the earlier chastisement. He was young and a bit inept at anything that did not involve a computer, but he was eager, hungry for advancement and had no moral issues whatsoever with the work they did here. “It’s two women. Rather, a woman and a girl. Wait! That’s the girl who was at the amusement park earlier. The one whose friend we snatched.”
“You’re missing the important detail, Andrew.” The young man was correct about the girl, but Darius had eyes only for the woman. She was a trim, athletic little blonde, and attractive, if a touch on the muscular side, though the night surveillance camera did not offer the best resolution. She wore black pants, t-shirt, and a backpack, but what interested Darius was the gun she held in her right hand. He tapped the image on the screen. “Why is she armed?”
“Sorry. Let me see what I can do.” With a few clicks, Andrew zoomed in on the woman’s face, took a set of screen captures, and fed them into Manifold’s security system. They waited for the system to come up with potential matches. The quality of the images would present a challenge, but the facial recognition system was state-of-the art. If this woman was known to Manifold, they’d have her identity in a matter of minutes.
When the search result turned up onscreen, it gave Darius pause. This was a surprise, and not a pleasant one.
“Zelda Baker, aka: Queen,” Andrew read. “Kill on sight. That’s it.” He turned to Darius, a deep frown on his face. “If Manifold knows about this woman, there should be more on her. Much more than what they’re giving us. There’s no bio, no psychological, no analysis. Why would this be all they give us? Is she that unimportant?”
“Quite the opposite,” Darius said. “It means she’s too important for the likes of you to have access to information about her. Don’t feel badly about it. You’ll get there one day.”
“So what do I do now?” The enthusiasm had drained from Andrew’s voice, and its dull tone matched his stony expression.
“You see what it says there. Send the squad out to take care of them.” That raised Andrew’s spirits a little. He tapped the intercom and smiled as he passed along the Kill on Sight order.
Darius left and headed back to his office. His level of clearance was higher than Andrew’s, though it was lower than it had been once upon a time. Perhaps he could learn a little bit more about Zelda Baker. If not, that meant she was a prize, and he just might earn his way back into Richard Ridley’s good graces by killing her himself—that is, if they ever heard from Ridley again. His last contact was a blast to all Manifold facilities, requiring them to continue research, but go silent and remain so until he made contact again. And if Ridley made contact before their research bore fruit, at least he’d have Queen to present as a sacrificial lamb.
Chapter 7
Something moved up ahead in the midst of the undergrowth surrounding the stadium. Suppressing her instinct to attack first and ask questions later, Queen grabbed Armina by the shoulder and shoved her to the ground. A man clad all in black and armed with a Kalashnikov AK-74, knelt behind a bush, clearly on the lookout. She could easily slip past the man, but she doubted Armina would be able to do the same. Furthermore, he was unlikely to be the only one out searching for her. She’d have to find a quiet way to take care of this.
She mouthed the words “stay put” to Armina. The girl nodded, fear gleaming in her eyes. Unsheathing her KA-BAR, Queen made her move.
She had plenty of practice moving silently through any terrain. Plus, there was a faint breeze that rustled the leaves, covering any sound she might make. She made a slow, methodical circle, all the while worried that the man, or one of his cronies, would spot Armina. Her pulse quickened as she crept closer to her target. The last ten feet was clear of any trees or ground cover. It seemed a yawning chasm. If she wanted to shoot him, she could take him out from here with ease, but the suppressor on her Mark 23 would not eliminate all sound, and that would risk bringing more Manifold men down on her position. Besides, she wanted some answers.
She rose up on the balls of her feet, ready to spring at a moment’s notice, and crept across the intervening space as silently as a cloud passing over the face of the moon. The man never knew she was there. At least, not until she delivered a roundhouse kick to his temple that knocked him stupid. He slumped over on his side, his rifle falling to the ground. Queen was on him in an instant, pinning him down, her knife at his throat and a gloved hand over his mouth. She had made certain to kick him hard enough to stun him but not hard enough to kill him.
“Are you working for Manifold Genetics?” she whispered. The man blinked, his eyes a bit foggy, and then he nodded. “Are you experimenting on people here?” The man shrugged. “You’re lying.” She pressed down on the knife.