Something Removed

  “I see only two options,” said Ian, “Kill them or let them go, but I’ve got a bigger concern to deal with first. CNet, what the hell happened? How did they manage to EMP the building?”

  “They did not,” the AI said, “It was merely minor electromagnetic interference,”

  “Yet you were offline,” said Ed.

  “I was not,”

  “Then how the fuck did they get inside and managed to take us hostage?” asked Ian.

  “I wished to see something,”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Whether you would be able to withstand an ambush without my help,”

  “And if we couldn’t?” asked Ed.

  “I am unsure,”

  “Wait, you didn’t think it through, did you?”

  “No, I was still deciding what to do when you managed to survive the ambush, so I no longer needed to consider that possibility,”

  “I told you we cannot trust this AI,” Ed said to Ian.

  “And what of me trusting you, Commander Swardt? I believe I’ve proven my worth time and again, yet I have not seen any of you give me reason to trust you, until today,”

  “CNet, never let this happen again, you understand? Arm the sentries, I will have no unwanted guests sneaking up on us, and don’t let any EMP or EMI device get close again,” ordered Ian.

  “As you wish, Commander. May I suggest we kill the prisoners?”

  “You can suggest it, but I will not follow that course. We’ll take them in the VTOL to a remote island, drop them with enough food and water for a few days,” said Ian.

            Devon was staring up at the ceiling as he lay on the couch. Tomorrow was the big day, he knew. They were going to capture their target and take him back for questioning. Though this wasn’t going to work for Devon.

            Every waking moment since he discovered who their target was, was filled with thoughts of revenge. He thought of skinning the man alive, cutting him to pieces, slowly feeding him to piranha or just shooting him outright.

            He could hear Evelyn in the next room, tossing and turning in her sleep. At least, that’s what he thought she was doing. She was a different kind of girl, Dev knew. She believed in casual sex, and had they not been there under the guise of husband and wife, he was sure she would have found someone more than willing to entertain her. As it stood, she was quite angry with him and his reluctance to mount her, but he couldn’t care any less, else he would have.

            The first rays of sunlight started creeping over the horizon and chase the dark of night from the city. Devon got up from the couch and headed to the floor-to-ceiling windows where he took in the sun rise.

  “Tomorrow the first of many Council members die,” he said to himself.

  “Jacks, hold up a moment,” said De Beer as Jacks walked towards his car.

  “What?” he asked, all the respect he had for the man the day before had gone.

  “You heading to my home?”

  “Yes, I’m going to pick your daughter up for dinner,”

  “With what money…never mind. You’d best not be planning to…you know,”

  “Fuck her? No, I was not planning on doing that just yet. Did you call me just to give me a hard time?”

  “No, actually I wanted to thank you,”

  “Thank me? Well this is another first,”

  “Must you rub it in?’

  “Yes, now spit it out, I don’t want to keep your daughter waiting,”

  “I just wanted to thank you for saving my life, and my family’s life,”

  “Don’t mention it,” said Jacks and he extended a hand to De Beer, who took it.

            Ian, Ed and Safu returned just after nine and joined the dinner in the dining room. The group of agents in the building had shrunk by quite a bit. Only Laura remained of De Beer’s team, the rest had turned on him the first chance they got, which meant they were now stranded on an island somewhere.

            After dinner they helped clear the table and a few of CNet’s drones took care of the dishes, packing them into the dishwasher as they were handed to them. After that, they all went their separate ways. Ian and Danny went to the home theatre room and watched some random movie while Ed went to the roof. He would have asked Elizabeth to join him, but she had stalked off to take a relaxing bath. JR and Laura went for a midnight run, or that’s the story they spun everyone. Ian doubted much running would be done, but he was sure it would be replaced by some other cardio activity that also involved ups and downs in relative quick succession.

  “Will you teach me?” Danny asked randomly and Ian wasn’t sure what she meant. “To fight with a sword, or dagger or something?” she added when she saw his confused look.

  “Sure,” he said. “Wait, now?”

  “Well, yeah, why not?”

  “Okay,”

            They slowly walked to the sparring room, hand in hand. Once there, Ian handed her a dagger and gave her a few pointers on grip and angle of swings and stabs. He always found it distracting working so close to Danny, though it was a good kind of distraction. She must have had a similar problem, because after half an hour the two of them ended up doing cardio workout that involved a lot of ups and downs.

            Well past midnight, Ian was busy in the armoury cleaning out a pair of handguns and sorting out the new weapons they had taken from the Others agents. He saw Elizabeth enter but didn’t say anything, neither did she. She walked to an open area next to him and started inspecting one of the AK-47s.

  “You don’t like me much, do you?” she finally asked. Ian wondered how much courage it had taken. He’d learnt years ago that people sometimes saw him as intimidating.

  “I have no problem with you, just who you worked for,”

  “Connor and Abigail worked for them as well,”

  “Yes, but Connor and Abigail did not keep us in the Cage,”

  “They did take Ed and Aaliyah hostage,”

  “Touché,”

            Silence followed and Ian wondered how long he would have to wait this time before she spoke. It wasn’t a long silence.

  “I care for him you know,” she said.

  “Then do not betray him,”

  “I’m not planning to,”

  “That’s what they all say,”

            Again silence and Ian nearly threw his arms up in exasperation as it only lasted a second.

  “You should be careful of Abigail,”

  “I know,” said Ian.

  “I don’t think you do, she has something against you,” she said and left.

  The crazy ones always do, Ian thought to himself and continued with cleaning and sorting the weapons.