3 Discordant Convergence
I was always interested in technology. Growing up, you could see me dismantling clocks, watches, compasses, phones or anything I could find around the house only to see how they worked and then put them back together. At first, hardware interested me, cogs, wheels and gears. As I grew older and started to outgrow the dated technology my countryside home had, I immersed myself in software and taught myself coding and hacking. It all came so easy to me; the way the words and symbols lined up made sense to me. My knowledge of computers and desire to learn pushed me to do things better every day. I love reading and teaching myself things for fun. So when I learned the best starting job I could get with my extensive drive for learning and knowledge was simply hacking through security systems for an agency, I was disappointed. What about the years spent in my bedroom, teaching myself lessons about the inner workings of computers? At least it paid well, and my co-workers seemed like honest and intelligent people. Had I been stuck with a couple of idiots, I would have quit on the spot. They seem to be nice enough, if a little exclusive because of their close friendship. Oh well, I didn’t necessarily come here to make friends, mostly just to do a job. I decide it can’t hurt to walk up and introduce myself to them; hopefully we can get this mission under way.
“Hello. My name is Jeff. How are you guys today?”
“Hi! I’m Adonis. It’s so nice to finally meet face to face. You feeling ready for your first mission?” a stocky fellow of middling height replies. He has a wide but relaxed smile, and seems to be very peppy yet easy-going. Even though he seems like a talker (which I am not) I think I already like him.
“And hey, I’m Sampson, but you can call me Sam,” Adonis’ tall friend says, extending a well-groomed hand to shake. He seems quieter and more reserved, most likely the more level-headed of the pair. “It’s great to be working with you. Where ya from?”
I returned his shake. “I’m from a little hamlet in England. And, yeah, I guess I’m ready to go.”
Running out of things to really talk about, Adonis, Sam and Jeff got in their company-provided white SUV and started driving to the remote mountain town this whole mess started from. It wasn’t a long drive, but it was certainly awkward enough for Adonis to want to drive the car off of a cliff. Normally, Adonis did well in social situations and with Sammy, but Jeff made the air heavier somehow. He seemed pleasant and was polite, but he had a haughty way of carrying himself that clearly read he thought he was better than Adonis and Sam. He was a typical tech; self-adoring, overestimates their value (learning basic hacking was part of the agency’s requirements to be hired anyways), and much too quiet. Silences are always more silent when there’s a techy person around.
As they approached the site, they watched the landscape transform from a teeming metropolis to suburbs, rolling forested hills, to, finally, mountains sticking straight up to the sky. It started to rain lightly, and since it was early November, gold and red leaves speckled the trees and swirled to the ground. It would be a lovely day to go backpacking; unfortunately, I must go stabilize a bomb first, thought Sam. He loved going on nature hikes by himself.
Finally, after a stiflingly quiet fifty-eight minute ride, the trio reached the top of a mountain and saw themselves looking down into a vibrantly colored bowl, with multicolored trees and lights turning on in preparation for night. This must be the ‘little mountain village.’ It must have at least four hundred houses! Adonis thought in awe. ‘Village’ didn’t suit the gleaming bowl of light amplified by the softly falling drizzle. All of the houses, most of which were almost big enough to be called estates, sprawled across the diameter of the valley, nearly six miles across. At the far end of the curved valley, a hairline trail led to a subtle gap in between the mountains. Although blocked from Adonis’ view by tall, snow-tipped mountains, a huge, silvery lake resided on the other side. While it was a far cry from a city, it definitely was a private and luxurious housing area only for the rich. One mansion stood apart from the main bulk, partially hidden by a thick pine forest with a wending drive leading up to its front. That must be the target house. It’s placement is just far too obvious. Adonis joked with himself.
“Gameplan. Sam and I will do a perimeter sweep at nightfall around the suspect’s house. Jeff, I need you to tap into the security gates right now and disable whatever other measures they could have,” Adonis started to rapid-fire speak as he pulled the car off to a shoulder on the side of the road. A lookout, he remembered from studying maps beforehand. This shoulder of the road was named ‘Star-Chaser’s Lookout,’ and was the last place you could easily see Helena from before dropping into Briarcliff Valley. “Also, Jeff, if it’s possible, I also need you to change the guards’ shifts so somewhere in their schedules there will be twenty-five minutes of patchy guarding without them realizing it. This house seems to be owned by some rich billionaire scared of being robbed or something. It’s about a half mile in circumference. When we come back to the truck after the sweep, we should be able to assemble the camp and tents in a defensive location in under fifteen minutes. Got it?”
“Yes, sir, Adonis,” Jeff replied.
“Sure, brah. Whatever you say,” Sam said without even looking up from doing his facial routine. He had recently discovered the magic of good skin care, and was now addicted to having fresh, dewy skin.
“So unprofessional! How did you even pass the entry exams?” Adonis snickered under his breath.
“I heard that! And I’m still on vacation time, numbskull. Besides, I’m not the fallen angel here. Your texts are drier than California,” Sam called back.
“Sammy boy, that’s completely unrelated-” Adonis yelled as he made a move to tackle Sam, “-and completely uncalled for!” Adonis and Sam started to throw punches at each other, Adonis for being called dry and Sam for being called a name he only let his mom call him. Jeff just sighed and moved off to the side, slightly uncomfortable with this display of friendship. He felt like a third wheeler in between their brotherly relationship.
They are kind of turning out to be pinheaded. I suppose just because you present yourself one way does not mean you are that kind of person. Rather amusing how fast it took them to feel comfortable enough around me to degrade their self-images. As Jeff spiraled deeper into his fatalistic thoughts, he found and began hacking into the estate’s database. After about five minutes, he easily had the code. He switched the guard positions and turned off the electric fence, set the videos to loop in the security cameras, and disabled the smart charging stations for the guards’ cars. Noticing Sam and Adonis were still play-fighting in the back with raucous laughter, Jeff clambered up to the front and guided the car down the rest of the mountain, to a deep and secluded area in the forest. This is going to be a long mission.
“If you two don’t quiet down, you’re going to expose our position!” Jeff hissed from the outside of the truck. Meanwhile, Adonis and Sam acted as though they were tispy, giggling at every little thing. Jeff, a pluviophile, sat outside enjoying the light drizzle and finalizing the security measures so the two lovers inside the SUV could infiltrate and scan the perimeter. Finally, Sammy gathered himself up and tramped out of the van to look at the house through the dappled trees, still chuckling occasionally. Adonis followed suit a minute later, firstly walking deeper into the forest to relieve himself before coming back to review Jeff’s notes.
“Sorry, sorry. We always let loose right before long missions like this. I swear this isn’t our normal state,” Adonis grinned. Jeff just rolled his eyes.
“Ok, you should have twenty-five minutes before security rotates and will see you. Put on dark grey clothing to match the exterior, and keep your phones handy and on vibrate. I’ll text you three times quickly if I see someone coming, and four times if the cameras or fence come online unexpectedly. Got it?” Jeff droned.
“Yep. Thanks dude. You’ve helped a lot,” Adonis nodded to him, then donned a grey sweatshirt. He jumped off the incline leading up to their camp, and rolled to the base of the hill where the fence started.
“Thank you. See you in a minute,” Sam said collecting his snickers completely before somersaulting down the hill as well.
Night was truly setting in, and the pair had slight trouble finding footholds in the fence at first, but finally squished their too-wide feet into the square holes. The cloud cover above diffused the moonlight into a silvery-white light everywhere. This barely-there light inhibited their sight, but also prevented shadows from being made and helped them sneak around. They scaled the fence within seconds, and landed feather-light on the damp grass below, not making a sound. Sam, who is good at memorizing directions, knew that they had scaled the fence on the north-east side of the property. Turning themselves so they faced the direction of the front of the mansion, Sam set a timer for twenty-three minutes; he and Adonis took off at a fast jog, staying fifteen feet away from the main house at all times. Sam kept a lookout, while Adonis, with his better memory, relaxed his eyes and took in every detail he could of the landscape flashing by. Camera, trimmed tree, flowers, camera, gardening shed, greenhouse, large wall, camera, pool, grass, gravel, small house, cars, motorcycle, garage, camera, camera, wrought iron fence, guard shack, light- LIGHT!
“Quick, Sam, in here!” Adonis whisper-yelled, yanking himself and Sam behind a large potted fan palm. They covered their mouths with their hoods to muffle their labored breathing, and the large security guard ambled past them, walking leisurely and- Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! The warning texts. Damn! Not NOW!! The guard’s head whipped around and stared directly next to them, and he flicked his flashlight to the highest setting and started waving it everywhere, getting closer by the second. Think! Adonis ran hundreds of ideas through his head, but the best one right now seemed- Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!
“RUN!” Sam yelled, and dragged both of them out of their hiding spot and sprinting away. They careened through the property, all the while the security guard screeching for backup into his walkie-talkie. Just as searchlights flashed on, temporarily blinding the security team, Adonis and Sam dove behind a rock and army-crawled to the forested perimeter. The only thing that stood between them and the outside was the fences, only three feet tall at the front, an easy climb; but the warning texts! Adonis stopped short and reminded himself.
“Sam! The fences-!” Adonis screamed, but it was too late. In his haste, Sam had forgotten the fences had switched back on. He tried to whip his hand back, but his brain had already committed to the movement. His finger made contact, and electric sparks lit up the night. Sam instantly blacked out and fell over. Adonis ran over to cradle his head as he plummeted, then lifted his limp body, and with all the strength he had, threw Sam over the fence, just clearing the barbs at the top. Sam landed with an unceremonious thump, thankfully crashing in a lush pile of grass and dead leaves. Needing another way out, Adonis looked around and saw security golf carts piled up against the wall only 400 yards down, but out of the forest. Thinking of no other way, Adonis sprinted out of his cover and immediately heard shouts, running and the characteristic sound of rubber bullets being fired. In order to avoid the bullets, he leapt, rolled and dodged side-to-side without losing any speed. His long-time passion for parkour and gymnastics was really starting to pay off. He ran as fast as he could for the last twenty yards, then flung himself on top of the carts and catapulted his body over the fence.
For now, the chunky guards couldn’t follow him as they worked to get the carts ready and gate open, but it was not a major lead. Knowing he had three minutes at most, he doubled back to grab Sam, who was just coming to. Ignoring Sam’s complaints that he could walk on his own, Adonis scooped up Sam bride-and-groom style, and ran him up the hill as fast as he could. He looped back around the building, going back to where they first started the perimeter sweep, wondering how it could all go so wrong.
Jeff realized the moment he saw the searchlights flash on and sweep the buildings that Adonis and Sam needed help. He quickly ran to get his vitals computer, and pulled up the system hacking on the other computer to see where he went wrong.
Crap. There it was. He had accidentally skipped a line in the shield, leaving a flaw that turned into a gaping wound. On the other computer, he monitored Adonis’s and Sam’s activity, trying to decide whether he should risk revealing their camp spot to fire one of his guns offensively. He noticed a huge and sudden spike in Sam’s heart rate, only for it to plunge low a second later. That can’t be good. Adonis is still ok though- deciding what he must do, Jeff’s hands flew over to his main computer and he began typing furiously into it. His goal: lock all gates so security could not follow them out of the complex, at least temporarily. He checked every pattern this time, and he made no mistakes as he was only focusing on one aspect this time instead of many security aspects. He glanced over at the vitals while finishing up the security hack; Sam’s heart rate was starting to look normal again, if slowed. He must have been shocked. Jeff finished the final code and stood up to grab water. He always got thirsty when he was anxious. He sat down a minute later, but jumped up again when he heard a loud rustling and heavy breathing. He grabbed a pistol, just in case. However, it was only a very tired Adonis carrying a very limp Sam.