Prototype

Two days passed.

Nathan was bored.

He’d counted the tiles in the ceiling; thirty-one.

He’d counted the number of cracks that he could see on the walls and floor; fifteen.

Man was he getting so bored. He could see people and chat with other prisoners at the very least, it wasn’t like he was in solitary confinement, but conversation wasn’t extensive enough to keep his mind off of boredom. He knew eventually someone was going to talk to him, but they were sure taking their time.

He knew this particular procedure was to get him stir-crazy so he’d immediately tell the interrogator what they wanted to know; where to find Reggie. But their plan was flawed for two significant reasons; there was no reason good enough to make him turn on her, and he did not have the faintest idea where she was now.

He stood up and began to pace.

Surely, he thought, they couldn’t leave him here too much longer. Every second they don’t interrogate you is another minute Reggie could be in another country.

He immediately turned to face the door as it swung open and in walked a man in a suit with a white undershirt.

“You must be FBI,” Nathan said simply before taking a seat.

“I am,” the agent confirmed. “Mark Springer. I’m investigating a suspect in a murder investigation. This suspect was said to have been seen with you.”

Springer looked at his file.

“You have quite a career here; a decorated Marine – a war hero who went into the police department after being honorably discharged. You’ve given years as a devoted police officer in the SWAT team. Why would you throw all of that away to be with Reggie?”

“I’ve been a cop long enough to know it’s innocent until proven guilty,” Nathan said simply.

Springer ignored him, “Why did you go on the run with Reggie?”

“She held me hostage,” Nathan said, leaning back in the chair. “She threatened to kill my family and my dog if I didn’t go with her.”

“Your family is long deceased, and you don’t have a dog,” Springer informed him.

“Then I guess I was pretty stupid to believe her threat then, wasn’t I?”

Springer slammed his fists into the table, “This isn’t a joke! These are serious charges against you for aiding a fugitive. Why would you risk your ass for her?”

Broke him fast, Nathan thought with a smirk creeping over his face.

“Because she didn’t kill anyone,” Nathan said. “There’s a conspiracy going on here that’s a lot bigger than anything you could watch on any crime drama. Like you said, I have no family or pets; I have nothing to offer her except loyalty – that’s the one thing no one has ever shown her.”

“So you’re sleeping with her and you’re loyal to your fuck buddy,” Springer said standing up from the table.

Nathan reacted to that by blinking. He wanted to get up and throw his chair, but he knew violence wouldn’t help.

“No,” he responded calmly. “I’m doing my job to protect and serve someone who needs me.”

Springer was genuinely surprised by Nathan’s lack of aggression toward the accusation. He read that Nathan possessed an explosive temper; he was written up for getting overly hostile with suspects in interrogation. Springer thought he was going to be able to use that to have the upper hand, but Nathan didn’t take the bait.

He must not be sleeping with her, maybe my next tactic should be that he’s defective as a man and that’s why Reggie doesn’t want to sleep with him.

A knock on the door interrupted Springer before he could resume his seemingly useless interrogation.

“What is it?” he asked the police officer who knocked.

“Someone’s infiltrated,” the officer informed him.

“Someone infiltrated a highly secured police facility?” Springer asked in shock.

“She’s incredible, and she’s managed to disable our security systems,” the officer said. “We need everyone we’ve got to hold her off.”

Springer exited the interrogation room, locking the door behind him. If she came for him, she was sure as hell going to have to fight with all of her to get him out of there.

Springer’s record was flawless, none of his cases were unsolved, and he wasn’t going to let this suspect change that.

* * *

Tracking movements was a new skill Reggie rapidly incorporated into her list of abilities. With something as simple as reading what the police vehicles said, and then searching through a local phone book Reggie was able to track Nathan’s location inside the local prison.

She waited only long enough for Shelby to the floor plans of the building before launching a plan of infiltration. She went to one local gun store and bought reloading equipment, then visited a local drug store and began making her own ammunition that would be particularly useful against the local police department. She armed herself, and went to the police precinct.

Reggie entered through the front door, Shelby disabled the metal detector and Reggie was able to gain entrance with her firearm concealed in the small of her back. She would only have one shot at this, and that was all she needed.

She headed inside, not listening as she was told to wait for someone to escort her through the prison. She placed a small device on a glass door separating her from the inside where the interrogation rooms were. The device clicked on and broke the door open, allowing Reggie to move in.

Alarms should have begun to flare at the sound of the glass door shattering, but Shelby kept that from happening. Reggie walked past the receptionist, quickly firing her firearm once and continuing.

The receptionist was down.

Shelby sent out a signal that unlocked the security system of the prison and began to flicker the lights to hinder anyone from getting a clear view of Reggie to open fire on her.

“Which cell is he in?” Reggie asked.

“No records of his cell number,” Shelby told Reggie. “I would search the interrogation rooms first.”

“Copy that,” Reggie said.

“Nine o’clock,” Shelby instructed. Reggie turned to her left and fired as an officer was coming around the corner. Reggie continued her onslaught, firing once into each officer or facility employee who came into her vision or whose presence Shelby alerted her to.

“Go left up ahead,” Shelby relayed to Reggie.

“I could shoot Paul for not giving me an eyepiece…” Reggie said. She hated turn-by-turn instructions. But at least Shelby’s AI was with her; this would be a lot more difficult without Shelby knowing the floor plan on the place.

* * *

Nathan could hear the alarms outside blaring. He knew something extremely abnormal was happening just outside the door, but he couldn’t see or hear anything beyond the alarm. Each pass of the alarm’s echo changed the lights to deep red. It didn’t sound like a prison break though; the guards were all heading toward the entrance, not back toward the other prisoners.

Something happening by the prisoners remained locked up? Strange.

The door unlocked and opened and Reggie stood on the other side of it.

“There you are,” Reggie said simply. “Come on, partner.”

Nathan followed, seeing the body count she’d racked up on her short expedition through the police station.

“I have him,” Reggie said into the earpiece. “Cut the lights for me; I only have three magazines of good ammo.”

Shelby obliged, killing the electricity to the hallways and cameras in the facility, but leaving everything important working. The darkness enabled Reggie and Nathan to head back toward the entrance without encountering another officer.

Within fifty feet of the entrance, only one brave individual stood against Reggie and the outside world.

Reggie fired a round through the door next to him. He didn’t move.

“That’s not an officer,” Nathan pointed out. “That’s gotta be that FBI guy.”

“Freeze or I’ll shoot,” he commanded. Nathan was right; it was not an officer, but Agent Springer.

Reggie did stop.

“Put the gun down, hands behind your head, and lay down on the ground,” Springer commanded with his voice full of authority.

“You’ve already hurt how many officers,” Nathan started to say to Reggie. “Don’t shed any more blood.”

Reggie considered for a moment, but she still wasn’t lowering her weapon.

“No blood will be shed,” Reggie agreed.

“Put the gun down!” Agent Springer repeated.

“Should have fired when you had the chance,” Reggie said quietly. She lifted the weapon slightly and fired into his leg. While he bent down in pain, she fired again into his chest.

“We wasted enough time, let’s go.”