The Colonel answered with a single word that was nearly a grunt. “Survive.”
As they made their way through what seemed like a maze of corridors, she considered what they’d been told so far, which didn’t add up. She kept circling back to the question of why a team of assassins had been hired for this assignment. Mercenaries would act unpredictably, so having them play the roles of the first-person-shooter point of view seemed odd when this was billed as training.
They trudged down a series of stairs, then another, before the line finally stopped. “This is you, Chopper,” the Colonel said.
She heard shuffling sounds and assumed he had detached Chopper from the procession and was leading him somewhere close by.
“This is a nylon spandex suit,” the Colonel’s voice went on. “Strip to your skivvies and put it on. There’s built-in tech that will allow the VR system to create an avatar for you.”
“What about my face?” Chopper asked in a strained voice. Apparently, the disorientation of total blindness and now isolation in a subterranean structure had him spooked.
“There are optical generators built into the neckline of the suit that will project an image completely covering your head,” the Colonel said. “I’ve seen the prototype, and it’s impressive.”
She waited another few seconds while the Colonel made final arrangements with Chopper.
“Stay right here,” the Colonel said to him. “Remote-controlled bars will rise from the floor, creating a cell. Once everyone is situated, the lights will come on, and the scenario will begin.”
The sound of grinding metal told her the bars were locking into place around Chopper. Dani walked on with the others, going down more sets of stairs before they were detached and deposited into separate cells as they went. When it was her turn, Toro gave her shoulder a slight squeeze she interpreted as a sign of reassurance before releasing his grip. The whole experience was disorienting, as she was sure it was meant to be.
Her prior training prepared her to face the unknown, the unexpected, and the unpredictable. She composed herself and allowed the Colonel to grasp her elbow and lead her forward.
“Here’s your suit.” He pressed slippery fabric into her outstretched hands. “Fold your clothes and leave them here. Wear your boots.”
He hadn’t said anything about her wrist cuff, and even though it didn’t transmit, she’d wear it. She heard the now-familiar grinding noise moments after she sensed the Colonel retreating and put out a hand to feel thick metal bars surrounding her.
“Now’s not the time for modesty, soldier,” the Colonel called out to her. “Get into that suit, or we all stay in the dark until you do.”
He was deliberately reminding her of time spent in the military, where privacy was considered a trivial matter. The success of the mission was above all personal concerns. Aware he was watching her—and that she might also be visible on whatever cameras had been installed in this underground facility—she stripped down to her bra and panties.
The nylon spandex suit slid on easily, clinging to her form like a second skin. She pulled her socks and tactical boots back on and folded her street clothes in a neat pile beside her. She felt completely alone in the oppressive darkness. No sound reached her ears. Had she failed the initial test? Had her cover been blown? Was this all an elaborate ruse to get her alone to interrogate her and kill her as Toro had promised would be her fate if the FBI did not construct a watertight background for her?
She turned her attention to her surroundings. No one within earshot was talking, moving, or breathing. Sounded like she was alone. When she’d stepped out of her boots, the floor beneath her feet was cold and hard. Her fingertips registered what felt like poured concrete.
Overhead lights blazed on, and she squinted against the sudden glare. After several seconds, she opened her eyes a fraction wider to see iron bars across the front of what appeared to be bare gray walls. A prison cell.
Detecting no immediate threat, she contemplated her predicament. If the Colonel was telling the truth, everyone in the group—including himself—had been separated into individual cells. She paced the length of the enclosure, which was completely empty.
She examined the bars and could find no locking mechanism or way to open them. Allowing her gaze to rove over the entirety of the cell, a blinking red light near the ceiling caught her eye.
She moved closer, tilting her head back to study the area around it. As she had suspected, a small circular lens was mounted to the ceiling.
Someone was watching her.
Dani barely had time to process her discovery before an announcement sounded through a hidden speaker.
“Welcome to your trial by combat,” the voice said. “Where only one of you gets out alive.”
CHAPTER 26
Dani considered the ominous words. Was this part of the scenario? Was this a mind game? It sounded as though something else was going on, but what?
Lacking enough data to draw a conclusion, she turned her attention to the person who had made the announcement. She did not recognize the voice, which was American with no discernible regional accent. The timbre sounded deep, definitely masculine.
“You are all in different parts of this structure,” the voice continued. “Your mission has changed. You are not here to create interactive training videos. You are here to fight for your lives. There is nothing virtual about the reality you are in right now.”
Somehow, hearing the pronouncement from a disembodied voice made it more sinister.
“There is only one way out,” their unseen host said after a brief pause. “Only one of you will be allowed to escape. Everyone else will die.”
Dani tried to figure out the endgame as she listened in growing disbelief.
“Some of you may still think this is part of the scenario you were hired to participate in,” the voice went on, echoing Dani’s thoughts. “Here’s a demonstration.”
A square patch of light appeared on the wall, and Dani could see the projected image of twelve cells, each containing a member of the group she had arrived with. She assumed the others could see her and not themselves.
“Your first challenge,” the voice said as a panel set into the wall to Dani’s right slid open. “Type in the correct combination to open the safe. There’s something you need inside.”
Dani noticed all the others moving toward panels that had opened in their cells as well. She walked to the wall and found a keypad that looked like the buttons on an old-school telephone.
“You have sixty seconds to open the safe,” the voice said. “The clock starts ticking after I give you the clue.” After a moment’s pause, a single question emanated from the speaker. “What is the world’s most populous city?”
A small screen above the keypad began a countdown in glowing red numbers.
00:59
Dani’s mind began to whir. Her extensive travels had taken her to many large cities. For either personal or professional reasons, she’d been to Mexico City, Delhi, Cairo, Shanghai, and S?o Paulo.
00:52
She also currently lived in New York, the largest city in the US, but not the world. Probably Asia had the most populated cities, but where in Asia?
00:48
A hissing noise distracted her, and she glanced up to see a row of tubes pumping something that looked like red smoke into the cell. A quick check of the screen told her that everyone else’s enclosure also had some kind of red gas streaming in.
00:41
She turned her attention back to the keypad and steadied herself. Panic would not help her think. She pulled her mind back to her previous thought. Asian cities. She recalled Delhi with its sea of humanity, and Shanghai with its massive crowds. Maybe a different city. Someplace she’d never been.
00:35
The cloud of red haze began to float down from overhead, and she instinctively crouched. Once she came up with an answer, she would have to stand to punch in the code, but for now she would stay as far away from the fumes as possible in case they were toxic.
00:29
What features would make a city denser? A thriving economy. Infrastructure. Land. She turned the thought over. The red smoke thickened, descending lower.
00:22
A scream ripped through the air, and she turned to see one of the Colonel’s men claw at his throat. He was standing with his head in what looked like a plume of crimson fog, desperately bashing the keypad with his fists. That was the test. Think under pressure. The more stress a human being underwent, the more difficult it was to access advanced cognitive abilities. Even simple things could become hard to recall in a life-or-death situation.
00:18
She lowered herself all the way to the ground and used breathing techniques she’d been taught in Ranger school to bring down her heart rate and calm her nerves.