Page 49 of Sloth
Parker pulled out four black balaclavas and threw one to each of the crew. They each donned a jacket made of some custom thin material from Parker’s company. Stronger than Kevlar vests, but light and easy to wear. It took Max a moment, but then he realized the jackets were like their Deadly Seven combat uniform, but without the distinguishable D7 logo.
That knowledge gave him a sense of pride. They trusted him, completely.
Amused, Parker watched Max adjust the fitting on the jacket, and then he explained: “At first glance, this disguise could belong on any mercenary group. If they catch us on camera, we don’t want their first conclusion to be the Deadly Seven.”
If all went well, they’d see no action. This was a quiet, secret intelligence-gathering mission. But with these guys, Max was fast learning to expect the unexpected.
As he checked the rounds in his Glock, he wished for his crew. They worked well together, like another limb of the same body. He knew they’d have his back, and he would have theirs. But the less they knew about this side of the Lazaruses, the safer it was for them.
After dumping their rucksacks near a bush, the four of them trotted closer to the site. Adrenaline pumped in Max’s veins and gave him a second wind.
Outside the mountain, there were five to ten warehouse type buildings, a few residential houses, and one admin type building.
“That’s the one you want, Sloan,” Parker said. “The admin.”
“Got it.”
“We’ll take the rest. Ready, Tony?”
Tony rolled his balaclava down and lifted his hood. “Let’s go sightseeing.”
They paired off, and soon it was just Max and Sloan in the darkness. She had her device out, fingers tapping away as they approached the buildings.
“Almost done,” she murmured as they came to a halt near a chain-link fence.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I just updated the code that recognized Barry’s face and prints to recognize any of ours instead.”
Max checked the guards standing at the closest door, a soft light flickering overhead from the eaves. The building was a large warehouse. The kind that usually housed weapons, or vehicles. Two men, military uniform, assault rifles. Whatever was in there needed to be protected.
Something Sloan said about Barry’s biometrics tripped an alarm in his head. “All of us connected to the same ID? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Not if I get access to their mainframe as planned. I can erase our existence when we’re home. Alright. Finished.” She packed her iPad away. “I’ve also tapped the feed to the remaining drone in the sky. Doesn’t look like they’ve noticed the other one we took down. They’re either short staffed, or security is lax.”
“Good.”Parker’s voice rumbled over the comms.“Keep that drone away from us. Rendezvous in thirty, back at the rucksack drop. Stay frosty.”
Parker went quiet, and Max knew he and Tony were using Barry’s fake credentials to access any areas they could. Max and Sloan slipped through a hole they created in the fence and trotted toward the admin building. No lights were on. No guards. Keeping to the shadows, they slipped up to the nearest door. An electronic keypad with biometric scanner locked the door tight.
Sloan held her palm to the scanner. They waited, breath hostage in their throats as the blue light scanned down her palm, then back up again. The light switched to her face. A green light on the proximity reader triggered. The distinct sound of the lock chambers releasing, snickered and clicked.
“Suckers,” Sloan whispered.
In they went. After canvasing the interior, checking for late night workers, Max took up a position near the windowed door, and kept an eye out. There may be no one burning the midnight oil in the office, but out there, something was going on at the warehouse.
While he kept watch, Sloan darted around behind him, no doubt finding a computer to install her backdoor program. Once done, theoretically, they’d have access to the entire network of Syndicate secrets.
A few minutes later, Max was getting antsy. He checked over his shoulder to source Sloan’s balaclava covered face and caught her bent over the glow of a screen, a look of pure concentration in her eyes.
A sound outside drew his attention, and he ducked further into the shadows, gun ready. Through the window he spotted a dark silhouette moving toward the warehouse. The closer the figure got to the door, the more light cast on his face. He cursed under his breath.
Sloan hissed, “What?”
“It’s Barry.” Max’s grip on his weapon tightened. “We didn’t expect him to be working so late. Will an alarm go off saying his credentials are being used twice?”
“I won’t know until I’ve finished hacking their system and I’ll need time to search…” She paused, staring in the direction Barry had gone. He was out of sight, but she probably felt his sin-signature. Max could virtually hear the thoughts ticking over in her head.
“Sloan,” he urged, voice low. “Forget him. We get the job done. We get out.”
