Chapter 64

The intelligence we had accumulated at the resort had given me a location where Dindraine was supposedly being held. That intelligence told me that Dindraine was under guard in an executive suite in the central tower of the Onyx headquarters building. That had made perfect sense to me when I had heard it the first time. Mai Woo, Angela Kent and others that I had dealt with from the alternate Earth had told me quite a bit about their Earth. In fact over the last few months I had become very knowledgeable about manner of mundane stuff that most people probably thought was useless information. I however listened carefully to everything that they told me and I carefully filed it away for when an opportunity arose for me to us it. As it turned out, a lot of what they had told me concerned their living conditions on the alternative Earth and the conditions that their betters lived in. Because of the condition of their world, no one lived outside of a building complex that wasn't isolated from the native environment. Most people who worked actually lived where they worked. The headquarters of each and every one of the networks were actually small self-contained cities. They weren't that big on amenities and entertainment facilities, at least for employees below the management level, but that was because the people of the other Earth were encouraged to stay in their quarters and to watch Game World as much as possible when not working. There were a few exercise clubs and a park or two in each complex, but the fact was that most people never mingled after hours.

Naturally as with most closed societies there was a class structure and housing and food was regulated according to where you stood in the networks hierarchy. Just like the lavishness of the resort, the quarters of the executives in the headquarters building were more spacious and more elegant and definitely more appealing. At the executive level the residents had access to swimming pools and clubs and restaurants where they could relax with their fellow executives and enjoy the finer way of life. They were also strictly controlled which made them the perfect detention centre for a child being held as a hostage.

I left Dork in command of the control room and the floor it was on and the surviving members of our strike team. I took Rory with me and Sarah Williams and Damien. Damien was there just in case Dindraine wasn't where we expected to find her. So far he hadn't sensed her yet but that didn't mean a thing. Given the strangeness of the environment that we were in and the possibility of some sort of shielding, there was a good chance that he wouldn't sense Dindraine until we were almost on top of her. Bidding Dork good luck, we headed off to clear an elevator of dead men and destroyed robots so we could head upwards to the executive levels of the headquarters.

The elevators operated with access codes and swipe cards. Thankfully we had plenty of them to use; all taken from the bastards that we'd captured and interrogated at the resort. Of course not every elevator went to the executive level and that included the executive elevators that were situated throughout the lower level of the headquarters complex. As we'd learned, executives did not use the same elevators as managers and workers. What it meant though was that we had to work our way upwards through the building pausing to change elevators from time to time and doing that brought us into contact with both employees of Onyx Network who were running around in a panic because of the attack that had taken place down in the control room and members of the complexes security forces who hadn't been drawn away from their control points throughout the complex to deal with our little invasion. They were in fact busy trying to reassure everyone that things were under control. Image how wrong they were.

Our encounters proved to be minor as we worked our way upward. To our amazement, most of the security people were lax about their duty when it came to keeping an eye on the executive elevators. Their primary job was to make certain that no one entered the executive elevators who didn't have the authority to do so and as such, all of their control stations were positioned facing away from the elevators themselves. They had never expected the elevators to be used by intruders. Of course, people did look when we stepped out of them to move to the next one that would take us up further in the complex and those people naturally screamed with fright upon seeing us step out of the elevators and just as naturally their screams alerted the guards but by that time it was too late for the guards to do anything but die. A short burst of automatic gunfire dealt with the guards and it also ensured that anyone hanging around their control station got the hell out of there fast. Thus we had very little trouble until we actually hit the executive level. At that point we ran into security robots again.

The layout of things was different on the executive level and we found out about it in a hurry. Security was actually set up in front of the entrance to the residential area and not the elevators. When the doors to the elevators opened, we stepped out to meet one human guard behind a desk and two robots. The guard immediately jumped to his feet and hit an alarm button and the robots immediately brought their weapons up and they started to fire. Of course, I was already firing my carbine as I stepped out of the elevator so I took down the robot on the left of the guard first just as it started to pull the trigger. My burst of rounds tore the mechanical man apart and the burst the robot got off went wild as it tumbled to the floor. The second robot had aimed at the open doors and his first burst of fire tore up the back wall of the elevator. Then as the robot turned to engage me, Rory got into the action. While I had stepped out of the elevator, he had slammed himself against one side wall of the elevator while Damien and Sarah Williams had slammed themselves against the opposite wall, thus keeping out of the line of fire. Now with no threat focused on the elevator Rory leaned out of the open elevator doors, thrusting his upper body out from around the corner of the inside front wall and he fired a burst of three shells into the other robot. That did it for that robot. As for the human guard, he was just pulling his pistol out when I dropped him with a second burst from my carbine.

With that done we headed to the residential access point and started to try and get in. The big problem here was that this level required a hand print along with the swipe card and code to get in. Fortunately we had that covered. In the interrogations back on Game World at the resorts, we learned that there was a security override code that would allow any guard into the residential area in an emergency. It meant that we could use the hand of the dead guard and his swipe card plus the code to access the level. I left that task to Damien and Sarah to accomplish while Rory and I prepared for whatever was waiting for us on the other side.

What we found waiting for us were less than terrified residents. When the access point opened it revealed a broad corridor that led up a sloping floor that ran for about a hundred feet. At the end of the corridor was an open courtyard that was bigger than a football field back on my world. The courtyard was filled with gardens and staircases that led towards upper levels and terraces and there were several fountains in the courtyard that filled the air with dampness. There were also people waiting for us there in the courtyard, all of whom were armed with weapons. There were old men and old women and a few young women as well. There were no children in sight at all. When we came out into the courtyard the people opened up with whatever they had to defend themselves. Most of the weapons were sub-calibre popguns. A few were not. One was a laser pistol just like the one I was carrying in my bag. Thankfully there weren't more than twenty or so people there and more importantly, there were no robots.

The first barrage of fire from the inhabitants of the executive level splattered all about us. Not a single round came close to hitting anyone in my group. I quickly brought my carbine up and as I did it, I ordered my group back into the corridor. As we retreated, another fusillade of small arms fire pinged of the walls about us. Naturally I answered it with a burst from my carbine that dropped the shooter closest to me.

"What do we do now?" Rory asked as I got back under cover.

I didn't answer him immediately. Instead I did a quick check of what I had left in the way of magazines. I had one partial in my weapon and two full left in my magazine belt. I then looked over at Rory and asked him how he was doing for ammunition. After a quick check, Rory came up with about the same amount of magazines. I sighed at that knowing that after they were gone we were down to pistols and swords and while they'd take down a human opponent they wouldn't stop a robot without a lot of effort if we ran into another one before we found Dindraine.

Speaking of Dindraine, I turned to Damien and quickly asked if he had started to sense Nimue's sister yet. The man drew himself up straight at my question and closed his eyes for a moment or two and then he breathed deeply. After a second he let it out and a thin smile appeared on his lips.

"Yes," Damien said softly but firmly when he opened his eyes. "She's nearby but not on this level. I sense her somewhere above."

It was the first good news that any of us had heard in the last twenty-four hours and I took it. It wouldn't bring back the dead but it would help balance things out. I glanced out of the exit from the corridor for a second or two and gazed at the people out there who were skulking behind planters and tables and half walls in wait for us to come out of hiding again so they could kill us. I sighed at the thought of what I would have to do next, even though I knew that these people were the bastards that had been running Game World for decades, long before I had come to it. I knew they deserved to die but my thoughts kept going back to Kola and Goiania and even to Mai Woo and I wished there was another way. There really wasn't. I might be able to capture a few of them given my enhanced strength, speed, and agility, but what then. If I left them alive on this Earth then they would attempt to undo what I was doing today and if I sent them to Game World or in fact to any other Earth that was known to them in the multitude of parallel Earths then they would die one way or another. It was better to get it done here and now and then I could move on.

"All right," I said finally to the trio who were with me, "this is how we're going to do it. Rory ... you're going to cover our backs. I want you down the way we just came watching the elevators. You're to kill anyone who comes out of them who isn't one of our people. Damien ... I want you to cover me with your bow. Your job is to thin out the opposition while I close with them. Sarah ... you're going to stay right here and you're going to hold my carbine for me while I go and do what I have to do. I want you to stay clear of any of the fighting. Do you hear me?"

"Yes," Sarah acknowledged, a little startled and a little annoyed at the sharpness of my tone, "but what are you going to do?"

"I'm going in with my sword and shield and I'm going to show these idiotic bastards that death is not a game," I growled back, handing her my carbine as I spoke. "That is what I'm going to do."

Rory naturally protested. He wanted to go out with me and help out but I wanted him clear of the action and I wanted to make certain that our backs were covered while my attention was elsewhere. Thankfully he had grown enough in the last few months to know when to shut up and do as he was told. He wished me luck and then trudged off to do exactly as I had asked.

I shucked my shield off my back and secured it to my left arm as he went. Then I drew my longsword and hefted it in my right hand. I then gave Damien a nod. After that I started to run.

The bastards opened up the moment that they saw me coming. Again bullets pinged off of the walls next to the exit from the corridor. Several actually bounced off my shield. The laser sliced the air but missed me by a foot. I just kept moving towards the courtyard and the people waiting there dodging left and right as I went and dashing around obstructions. The second blast of gunfire was a little more accurate. Most of the rounds fired at me struck my shield. The sub-calibre rounds ricocheted off the rounded surface of my shield and zipped away harmlessly. A couple struck me in the head but once again the high tech metal of the helmet and the coif and cap beneath it saved me from any serious injuries. The only real threat to me was the laser and so far it hadn't gotten close to hitting me. Still it was only a matter of time and I prayed silently that Damien would be able to deal with that shooter before they got a bead on me.

It didn't take me more than a second or two to get in amongst the first rank of defenders. The first man I got to was an ancient fellow who needed a cane to support him standing. He emptied his pistol at me even as my sword started to rise to strike him down. My blade cleaved straight through his frail form and as he crumpled to the floor, I moved on, ignoring the blood that had splattered all over me. After the old man, I struck down two elderly women and a middle aged fat man. It took but a matter of seconds. When I was clear of them, I suddenly realized that the gunfire had ceased and there was no more resistance to be seen.

The defenders had run. Even the person with the laser pistol had fled rather than choosing to stay and face me. I was stunned for a moment or two and then I just sighed and glanced back behind me to see how Damien and the rest of my party were doing.

Damien was fine. I saw him standing roughly thirty feet away from me, half hidden behind a low wall and a good six feet or so above the central courtyard. His bow was drawn and an arrow was nocked and ready to fly. He nodded his head as I glanced over at him and I knew that he was okay. I quickly turned my attention back to the carnage that lay about me. Besides the four people that I had killed, I quickly spotted three more sprawled out around me. One was laying spread eagle on a staircase leading upwards towards a terrace that overlooked the courtyard and the other two were lying on the courtyard's deck where they had fallen. All had a long dark arrow sticking out of them and the ground about them was stained with blood.

"All right," I shouted out to Damien after a moment, "it's time to get moving. Call Rory and tell him to get his ass up here. We're changing locations."

It took less than a minute for my party to regroup. Sarah blanched at the sight of the bloodshed that lay about me but she didn't say a word. Rory just nodded his head when he got up to us and then he reported. It turned out that he had a little fun as well while standing his post watching the elevators. A pair of human guards had shown up only a moment after he'd gotten into position and they had ran right into his line of fire. Smiling he told me to scratch two more bad guys.

We made it up two flights of stairs and across a terrace filled with lounge furniture and potted plants before we ran into any further trouble. Gunfire reached out and struck about us once more as we passed in front of a long corridor. The shooters were at the far end and they were trying to put an end to us. I decided not to even hesitate. Yelling at my partners to cover my back, I headed towards the shooters with my shield in front of me and my sword ready to fall on anyone who got in my way. I ran as fast as I could and I covered the length of the hallway before the shooters could get off more than a couple of shots at me. All the rounds ricocheted off of my shield or splattered up against the walls of the corridor. None of them even hit me. When I got to the shooters I cut them all down in a matter of a few sword strokes. There had been three elderly men shooting at me and they died very quickly.

I left their bodies and their weapons where they lay, having no time or inclination to search them and take their equipment. We'd pick everything up later when we'd found Dindraine and not before. Instead I hurried back to where my party was waiting. I found Rory standing at the beginning of the corridor with his shotgun at the ready, covering me. I found Sarah next to him waiting crouched against the wall of the terrace, and I found Damien snipping down into the courtyard with his bow and arrows. A few residents had come out from hiding after we'd passed them by and now they were trying to organize themselves into some kind of resistance. There were only a handful of them and all of them were elderly men and women and while they were armed with firearms their weapons were only pistols. Damien had dropped a pair of them that had tried coming up the stairs after us and the rest had fled into hiding once again. He had just taken out a third man when I had come back to rejoin my group.