Whisper (part 24)
She walked with intentional pointed steps. Her back straight and chin elevated. Her cheekbones appeared as though they had been cleft from a block of stone. Her eyes were intense and seemed to send cutting lasers at anything they focused on. She often had difficulty keeping eye contact as even the strongest often looked away in her presence.
Zach Anderson listened to the sound of Ono Draken's high heels tapping against the marble floor and reverberating off the walls as they walked . He sensed an angry passion yet it only seeped out in her tone of voice.
“He is brilliant and clever. His ideas are highly original and could provide us a way when we have thought of every seeming possibility. He has been an asset already. It was his idea to use the gas.” Zach responded in a measured tone. “He killed a guard! How stupid can he be!” Her words were spitting. “The guard was about to kill Mark.” Anderson responded.
They had entered a winding staircase and ascended spiraling upward. When they reached the top they entered Draken's favorite sequestration hold out. It was at the top of a towering gothic spire. The entire room was covered in black marble with gold inlay. There was a steel framed desk with a glass top and a single bust of Caesar stood in a corner.
The hexagonal walls housed tall windows containing sheets of bulletproof glass. There was a modern fireplace in the corner. There were candelabra in all the corners and a large book case took up two of the walls. There was a plush couch in the corner and a smooth titanium framed door. They walked over to the door and Draken pulled a molded lever shaped like a lion's head. The door slid open and they walked out onto a black stone portico.
They looked out over the fields below. Tiny cars moved along miniature roads like toys and in the distance they could see the glittering city lights. It was a beautiful blue-green dusk and the sun had just tucked itself below the horizon. The wind whipped through Draken's close cropped platinum hair.
She remained unaffected as a frigid wind harassed the finials and molding. Zach shivered and rested his hand on the parapet. “We recovered the two subjects. They are mostly in good health and recovering. It is as we expected. OX-110 is like nothing we have seen before. One of the men described its effects in detail. I've written a report on the entire mission and you can find the details there.” Zach said.
“Did they manage to access the mainframe?” Draken pulled up the collar of an expensive quarter-length waistcoat. “No there wasn't time and we hadn't prepared the malware payload to infect the system. We weren't expecting the mainframe to be located anywhere near the prisoners.” He said with apprehension. Ono turned toward him after a moment of thoughtful silence. Her eyes burned through him like a beam of focused light from a magnifying glass. “We need to get access to that database as soon as possible. Tell me you have a plan.” She hissed.
“Yes, I am still working it out and will get you the details. There is another facility in a logistics center in Vermont. I have reports there is an operations center there. It may be a hub for coordinating agents and arranging the victim pickups as well as other logistics. It is high security but not as well maintained as you would expect.
"My intelligence is good on this one and we will have a full layout of the facility soon.” He said. “How can you be sure. You haven't compromised yourself have you?” We have a man inside who I can trust.” Zach responded with a tone of defiance for the first time. He knew it was her way but the probing was starting to get to him. Then again maybe it was the uncertainty he kept well hidden behind his fortress walls.