Steen had been to many secret bases of various organizations during her training. The CIA, RAW, even the M16 and Mossad, but nothing she had seen before could be compared to heinous.
The facility was like a skyscraper, just inverted and seemed almost hundred years into the future. Most of the structure was almost completely made up of thick toughened glass almost 20 inches on the exterior layer. The enormous boulders around the structure could be seen very clearly, bestowing the facility a very eerie ambience. The walk connecting the lift to the facility was almost, entirely made up of glass. Steen could see all the to the top of the structure and bottom.
Many times the trainers had described the facility to her, but seeing it herself was very different. She spotted the underground river below her, lit up with floodlights she could see right through the h2O. The bottom seven floors she recalled, were all underwater.
She had to swipe her card once again in front of two armed guards holding next-generation assault rifles and black-clad armours.
Although she knew, they weren't the only people monitoring her.
As Tom had explained the 45-meter walkway had over 20-night vision-enabled thermal imaging spy cameras. In addition to that, the glass flooring was designed to open up in case somebody tried to enter forcefully, which meant a 200 feet drop into the slushing river below.
In addition to that, every inch of the street was under 24-hour surveillance of Heinous agents. The lift was fitted with an emergency feature to lock up completely, in case somebody was able to breach the security. The secret code of the lift changed on a random basis, usually every 24 hours.
The guard outside the building, the peons in the reception and even the wrinkly old man selling newspapers outside the building were undercover Heinious operatives.
"Understood?", Tom asked.
"Yes", Steen nodded, still feeling numb.
They were in the briefing room and Tom was sitting on his desk opposite to her, he had just finished priming Steen about the Heinous. A phone call interrupted their briefing and Tom had to return to his position at the reception.
The room had frosted glass around it and black tinted glass as the flooring. One side of the room had a clear curved glass and the big boulders outside the building could be seen in a close-up.
A while passed before the door opened again. This time the man who walked in reminded Steen of Tom Chandler. He was already in his middle ages, with striking black eyes and wavy grey hair, he stood before her in the blue uniform of the Heinous and put his hand forward. Steen's eyes fell on the badge he wore, just above his breast.
"Welcome to base Night-Flower, Steen", he smiled warmly, "My name is Erick Magnus and I am the head of operations of this facility, or, your boss".