As they entered the mansion, the dark, expansive hallways opposed the claustrophobic layouts of the apartments she was used to seeing. The lounging area they entered was the size of her own flat, if not bigger, and the velvet couches sat on marble tiles with patterned walls that appeared to repeat the same insignia. A bar counter panelled with a light brown wood and shelves stacked with alcohol sat on the far end of the room.

  Each of them slowly stepped through the lounge, glancing down the two hallways that sat ahead and to the right of them.

  “Straight on,” Cai said.

  They moved down the hall, through the darkened silence of the mansion, with no stimuli to suggest the areas ahead of them were truly cleared. The hallway stretched like a road in an alley, with several points of connection that led to other regions of the house.

  Hallways that led to more lounging areas, kitchens and dining halls. Offices with large desks and whatever lay beyond the closed doors. Wealth seemed to be about excess. Mei didn’t want to take this job because she had enough money to afford her needs for another six months, and thought she was financially comfortable. But this showed her levels that she hadn’t fathomed before.

  Rooms with rooms that didn’t seem to have been used in months, if ever, were maintained and cleaned as if they were used daily. Furniture with metals lining them that she knew would cost a fortune, possibly years of rent for one item that had never been sat on or used. If anything, she’d have imagined a large family with dozens of members living here, but it was too quiet. The entire first floor had an alarm system that was active, preventing anyone from moving around in the dead of night.

  No house holding a large family would do that, and she’d seen plenty of overcrowded apartments throughout Silic. It didn’t seem fair. But that wasn’t her concern, not right now. Danger came to those who took the moral high ground, and as Cai said. The Atlas would happily drop an orbital beam on anyone who did.

  They approached a large, spiralling staircase at the front end of the mansion, the front door alone extended so far up that it seemed impractical to open. Wealth seemed impractical in its nature, and the less sense it made, the more it signalled power above those who were forced to think practically. Forced to consider survival because they couldn’t fathom a life with excess.

  Cai raised a fist, and they all stopped in place behind him. He placed a hand on Lev’s shoulder and turned to look at the rest of the line. Everyone was in their designated positions, waiting for orders.

  “The plans showed that there would be five guards upstairs. Each of them occupied different posts each night, so there’s no telling where they are. But, if we keep moving slowly and checking our corners, we’ll be alright.” He said.

  A silent affirmation in the form of focused attention suggested to Cai that the crew got the message, and as he was about to tap Lev on the shoulder, Mei interrupted him.

  “Wait,” She said over comms, “I think I can route the power from the security lights to a few of the security cameras upstairs and get a fix on the guards' positions.”

  “Will the guards at control be able to see the feed?”

  “I can lock them out,”

  Cai took a moment to think, liking the idea but shaking his head at the thought, “Nah, it’ll take too long. We proceed as planned. I don’t want us to get greedy with our window.”

  She nodded, and Cai tapped Lev on the shoulder again. They slowly made their way upstairs, and before reaching the top, Lev used the staircase as cover to peek over to the second floor.

  “Nothin’ in sight,” He said.

  He continued up the stairs, and as Mei made her way up, she noticed the same dark hallways that seemed to extend in all directions. However, in one of the halls on the right side, there was a light shining through to the main hallway. As they approached the corner, Lev took another peek and quickly ducked back behind the wall.

  “Two guards,” He said with his back to the wall. “About twenty metres, heading this way,”

  “Alright,” Cai said as he readied his blaster, “You take the one on the right, I’ve got the left.”

  Lev nodded his head, and Cai began counting down, “Three… Two… One,”

  They both swung around the corner, each firing two shots in quick succession that briefly illuminated the hallway. Mei heard the heavy thuds and the brief pause where Cai and Lev waited for a response, but there wasn’t one.

  “Move,” Cai ordered, “Master bedroom is down this hallway.”

  They began pacing down the hallway with more urgency. The flash of the blasters was bright, and the light radiated far enough that the remaining guards may have seen it. There were none in sight as they weaved their way through the building, and shortly after, they posted up by a doorway that led to the main bedroom.

  Beside the bedroom door was another door that was open, and Mei could barely see into the dark room to distinguish that it was an office, with a computer on the desk at the far wall and bookshelves all around it. She glanced at Cai, Lev and Garett, who were preparing to breach their way into the room as Sam picked the lock, and she looked back into the dark office.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  There may be something on that computer that could help her find out more about FEN. Anything about Kythera and what it was up to in the city would help… She looked back at the crew, who’d just managed to unlock the door.

  I just need the hard drive, she thought to herself. There was no power anyway, and getting it out wouldn’t be too difficult or take very long.

  “Got it,” Sam said.

  “Let’s move,” Cai ordered over comms.

  As the crew entered the room, two screams quickly became muffled groaning. Mei decided to head into the office, and she rushed over to the computer before she started disassembling it.

  “Hand me da restraints,” Mei heard Lev say to Sam.

  Mei had to use a bit of force to break open the computer case, considering she hadn’t brought the correct tools to open it up. As she did so, she noticed the files scattered on the desk, and one of them read, ‘Redistribution plan - Silic’. The title unavoidably caught her attention, and once she pulled the hard drive from its mount, she picked up the file.

  It read like an overview of a document that was yet to be written, but the notes were clear. Various sectors of Silic, such as Otewo and Shatzi, where there was a heavy gang presence, were going to be reestablished under political control with the help of The Atlas. There were no projected dates for when this may take effect, but the document did state that a large military force would be used to ‘flush’ out the ‘negative influence’ of the city and its sectors.

  With Otewo having been specifically mentioned, Mei used her eye to scan the pages, and it blinked red as she continued reading. The intention for the ‘redistribution’ was to restructure the district for the city's income, with the intention of turning Otewo into a gambling district to encourage tourism to the area. A guise for a much more nefarious institution.

  She’d visited gambling cities before she arrived in Silic, and knew that the tourism encouraged by it was predominantly for the wealthy, however, gambling cities eased the laws and regulations for tourist experiences that may otherwise be considered immoral. The thought of what she’d seen created a pit in her stomach, and she turned to the last page to see a brief plan for the intended layout of Otewo– the addition of a large casino and several hotels were spread across the small map in places where she recognised the streets. And based on these new plans, all of the pre-existing apartment blocks and small businesses would be removed, with no plans for relocation stated.

  “We ready to go?” Cai asked.

  “Got him,” Lev replied.

  Mei packed the document and the hard drive into her backpack, preparing to leave, when a bright light shone through the windowed door to one side of the office. It was a security guard, staring right at her from the balcony outside the office, and she froze, uncertain of what to do. The guard yelled over the edge, and she could briefly hear what sounded like ‘intruders’ before two bright lights zipped through the glass. Blaster shots that whizzed right by her and sent a debris of glass in her direction.

  “Shit!” She screamed aloud, ducking and sprinting for the door.

  “Mei?” Cai asked, “Where are you?”

  “I fucked up,” She said, running into the bedroom, “We have to go.”

  “Of course you did,” Garett gritted his teeth.

  Cai gave her a frustrated look before his gaze dropped, and he started thinking, “Time to move.” He said, taking the lead and rushing in the direction they’d come from.

  The politician was flung over Lev’s shoulder, tied at the hands and knees with a gag over his mouth. He was rather chubby and short-looking, but Lev seemed to carry him without much encumberment. His wife was sitting on the bed, restrained in the same places with a pathetic fear in her eyes and what looked like a spill stained the bed– She’d probably thought the crew were here to kill them.

  Mei didn’t have much empathy for the elites of the galaxy… Or many people in general. She cared most about finding out the truth about Illium and doing her job correctly when the time came. This time, however, she had her attention split and didn’t notice the balcony or the glass-panelled door before it.

  “Garett, take point,” Cai ordered, and Garett swiftly stepped to the front, aiming down the sights of his blaster.

  As they descended the spiral staircase, they could see an amalgamation of torchlights approaching. She was too panicked to count, but at a glance, she could tell it was too many for them to handle. Sudden flashes of light emerged from the darkness, tearing through the glass and the front door. As they reached the bottom, they overlapped Garett as he returned fire, and Cai took point.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Sam ducked as the beams whizzed overhead.

  “Hold your fire!” Mei heard one of the guards yell out, “They have the client.”

  “Go, go!” Cai called out as they made their way down the hallway.

  “They’re heading to the back!”

  “Wrap around.”

  Their muffled dialogue continued as Garett kept firing, and they hastily made their way outside. Mei took out her blaster, activating it as the charge set to ready, and she kept her eyes fixed on the corner of the building as she ran for the hedge. The moment she noticed them, she fired shots to pin them behind the wall, and as Garett exited the building, she gave him cover to keep running.

  “C’mon!” She yelled.

  One of the guards stepped past the wall, despite Mei’s shots and managed to fire a beam that hit Garett in the leg before he made it to the pool.

  “Ahh!” He cried out as a splatter of blood erupted from his right calf.

  Garett fell to the floor, and Mei took a step forward to go help him when Cai tapped her on the shoulder and ran past. “Keep firing!” He said as he ran, and Mei followed suit.

  She managed to hit the guard who shot Garett when she returned fire, and he dropped to the floor, grabbing his shoulder before he got pulled around the corner, giving Cai the space to help Garett to one leg and provide him enough support to limp his way to the hedge. They made it right as Mei needed to reload her blaster with another charge, and like clockwork, Sam dropped a smoke grenade that Mei had brought along, having rummaged through Mei’s bag whilst she was firing.

  They continued sprinting across the lawn, following Lev, who had already crossed through the fence hole with the hostage. Sam dropped the second smoke grenade right as they entered, concealing the view of the van as they quickly stepped into the vehicle. Cai handed Garret over to Mei as they entered the backseat, and he got the car started.

  “C’mon, C’mon,” He yelled as they made their way in, the van roared to life with Cai’s impatient revving timing with his words.

  “Gaahh, Fuck!” Garett grunted as Mei pushed him into the back seat rather forcefully.

  Sam was already in the truck, and Lev got in the back with the politician with a firm grip on him.

  “We’re in, let's go!” Mei said, and without hesitation, Cai stepped on the gas.

  The car zoomed down the street, and Mei noticed the guards had just reached the fence, with the smoke beginning to dissipate as they drove off.

  Follow! It keeps me motivated to see who's coming along for the ride