Jack makes a low humming sound of disapproval. “Sounds like a good way to ruin dogs.”
I let out a short laugh. “Facts, though.”
Jack settles back into his seat then, seeming satisfied with his allotted socialising for the day. He turns his head to look out the window, momentarily dismissing my presence in favour of watching the city surge busily around us as we speed through it.
I’ve always liked Danger, despite its penchant for getting attacked by every supervillain under the sun. They all seem to flock here although maybe that’s just because of the SSS unit. So many superheroes in one city is bound to bring attention to the city itself.
The safe house Jack and I are meant to infiltrate is situated in Bristol, which is a few hours away from Danger.
Those hours go by fast, and before I know it, we’re closing in on our destination.
“We’re nearly there,” I say to Jack. “Do you want to go over the plan of action again?” It isn’t technically necessary; North had us go over it several times during the briefing, but sometimes it helps to repeat a plan right before it’s set into motion.
“Alright.” Jack nods in agreement. “Go for it.”
“Okay, well,” I begin amiably, “the building outline we have for the safe house tells us there are two exits. One off the side lane and another at the front. Since it was used as a commercial building previously, there are a few small rooms at the back and a larger room at the front.”
Jack makes an agreeable sound and picks up where I left off.
“For the sake of getting the job done quickly, we should split up. I’ll take the front, you go round the side. We’ll keep in contact”—he taps at his comm unit—“and alert the other when we find what we’re looking for.”
At the mention of the comm unit, I reach up to make sure mine is definitely switched on. Once I’ve ascertained that it is, I nod at Jack.
“Okay, sounds good.”
A few minutes later, I pull over and park the van a short walk away from the safe house. From my vantage point, I can’t see any obvious security, either in terms of tech or human guards. Jack doesn’t voice having noticed any obvious threats either, and his eyesight is far better than mine, so I take that as a good thing.
I don’t hesitate to get out of the van, sharing one last glance with Jack before I dart off towards the side lane.
Our best bet is to go in fast and get out as soon as possible. I’d rather not alert any more OI personnel than I have to about our invasion of their property.
I only need a few seconds to pick the old lock on the side-door entrance and get inside the safe house. The interior of the building is that of an abandoned office. The walls are painted grey and marked with dirt and dust, cobwebs in every conceivable corner. There’s a faint smell of mildew, and when I look up briefly, I spot a few patches of mould on the once-white ceiling.
I have a couple of doors to choose from ahead of me. One likely leads to another small back-office space and the other to the main room of the building.
Before I can make my way over to the first door, I hear the sound of yelling and gunfire from the main room where Jack must have now entered.
I pause for a moment, listening for any signs my partner might need aid, however unlikely that scenario is. But all the distressed yelling seems to be coming from the OI agents, not Jack. I’m sure I’d recognise his voice if he called out for whatever reason.
Feeling sure my partner can take care of himself on a mission of this scale, I head over to the first door and enter the small office space. It’s almost identical to the other office, except this one has a desk and a brown filing cabinet.
After a brief search of the meagre surroundings, I come to the disappointing conclusion there isn’t anything in the room that is relevant to our mission.
I leave the office and go to check on my partner in the main room, taking out my tranq gun on the way. I’m careful to stay close to the wall as I open the door, just in case there’s anyone nearby who might notice and take a shot at me.
Inside the main room, I find Jack standing in the middle of it quite literally surrounded by fallen OI agents. The bodies lay scattered around him, all of them clearly dead from bullets having been fired into each of their heads with a precision that is undeniably chilling.
I get a slightly queasy feeling in my stomach, which I try very hard to supress. I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable seeing a room full of corpses. I’m almost certain I never want to be comfortable with such a thing.
Jack reacts to my sudden appearance by instantly raising his gun and pointing it at me.
I don’t make an attempt to avoid his aim. Jack is far too good. If he wants to shoot me, he can do so, and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
Instead, I trust his ability to realise who he’s aiming at and stop himself from firing.
It seems my trust is well-placed because as quickly as he pointed the gun at me, he’s dropping his arm and relaxing at the sight of me entering the room.
“Did you get everyone?” I ask, taking the chance to look around.
