Darren and Anya stepped out of the transport into the cold night, the thick viscous rain ran down the front of their environmental suits, the flash of lightning reflecting off the dark visors which concealed their identities. "Looks like the weather is on our side tonight, should hide the sound of our entry" Anya stated, "We might be able to enter closer to our target after all," "Don't get ahead of yourself, what are you going to do if security spots the breach while we're working, the whole building will go on alert, possibly even lockdown the network" Darren replied. The two stood in front of a large skyscraper a hundred floors high, the building was small for Vladivostok being one of the smaller subsidiaries of Genetech. "We'll stick to the plan, blast into the elevator shaft at the base of the building where the foliage will cover our entry the thunder outside and hum of machinery within should cover the sound." "All the climbing though..." Anya whined, Darren ignored her and moved into position, he rifled through the pouch at his waste and pulled out a small black device and set it to the wall.
After a quick high pitched hum a large circle around the device was reduced to dust creating a three by three foot hole they could climb through, Darren peered up the shaft before entering the building. The shaft was dark, Darren clicked a button on the side of his helmet and it gave off a soft hum, "The elevator isn't close, if I had to guess I'd say around floor fifty where the security offices are located," "Well lets get going then" Anya said cheerily as she bounded passed Darren and into the dark opening Darren shook his head and followed behind.
The climb was slow going they couldn't use the usual equipment on this mission since the instructors regarded it as a training exercise after all if they failed it wouldn't be to late to send someone more experienced at a later date. "Is there a reason for that" Darren asked clearly annoyed, "What?" Anya asked innocently, "You know what!" Darren responded, Anya was shaking her hips in an unusual manner as she climbed above him putting an emphasis on her backside.
"I won't know what I'm doing if you don't properly tell me" Anya replied giggling, Darren let out an exasperated sigh as he continued the ascent, they would be stopping at floor forty nine in order to get passed the elevator which worked out since they needed to access the security systems on floor fifty to manipulate the cameras. "Move to the other wire we're getting close and the door should be on this side," Anya shifted her position on the guide cable, as she did the elevator began to move, she lost her grip due to the sudden movement and began to fall Darren quickly shifted his position and grabbed her by the wrist. "This is what happens when you're more focused on getting a rise out of me then doing your job" Darren lectured "What's rising?" Anya teased although she was clearly shaken by her near fall. Darren waited for the elevator, it moved up two floors then stopped, he lifted Anya up so she could grab the cable above him, she expertly swung up to the target floor. Darren climbed the last few feet and braced himself so Anya could let go of the cable and use him as a secure hold, she pulled out some steel tools and began working at the wall, the wires hissed and sputtered in protest as her tools cut into them. The elevator began to move again Darren had little time to respond and let go of the cable quickly latching onto a weak hold the wall, "Hurry" he stated with urgency. Darren's grip was weakening and the elevator barreled towards them, fifty first floor, fiftieth floor, as it descended closer towards them the door to the forty ninth floor opened silently and they quickly leaped in as the elevator continued to descend.
The rush of air whooshed passed Darren as he rolled onto the level the elevator descending passed him, "close call" he whispered, Anya was uncharacteristically silent. Darren looked towards her to see what was wrong, he looked down to see his hand resting on her backside, astonished he quickly tore it away, "how bold" she whispered softly.
The two quickly surveyed their surroundings, they were fortunate to find no security camera's around the elevator doors, the level was dark save a few security lights giving off minimal wattage, they both clicked their visors to night vision mode. Darren began going over the mental map in his mind, according to the blueprints they studied the stairs were more towards the center of the building which they were quite a distance away from. "How are we going to manage the camera's enroute to the stairs" he asked Anya, Anya was already fishing some gear out of her waist belt, "Readjust your camera to account for electronic devices" she said, "We'll try to avoid the cctv as much as possible."
The layout of the building was fairly simplistic, Darren guessed they were likely on the break rooms level of the building since there were few cubicles and various different lounge rooms, he figured the rooms must be broken up by departments. "We've got various electronic signatures up ahead, I can't tell whether they are cameras or not from our position" he said quickly, "Turn your head away and be ready to sprint" Anya said as she prepared to throw a small object.
A large flash filled the area and the two sprinted towards the stairs using memory to guide them, Darren felt small paper like objects brush off his suit as he ran by. "You can open your eyes now" Anya said, behind them confetti like aluminum foil floated through the air, "They'll be sending a security team pretty quickly to find out why their cctv went white for a moment, the foil should be sucked into the air ducts by then but we should hurry" she said urgently. They ducked down to a lower level on the staircase for a moment, they heard rapidly approaching footsteps moments later and caught a glimpse of two uniformed men moving onto the forty ninth floor. They moved quickly "We should have time to get to the security office before they get back if we ignore the video, they'll be focused on the lower floors for a while" she said.
Time wasn't in their favor so they had to move quickly, being seen wasn't an option so they made their way quickly to the main office. While the two remaining guards stared intently at various different angles on the forty ninth floor they slipped into the server room in the back silent as shadows.
Anya fumbled with a small computerized device while Darren kept an eye on the guards, "I can hook this into their system so I can control their cameras from anywhere in the building but we'll need to come back for it" she said. "Alright, I'll set up a diversion so we'll be able to get back into the server room and out quickly for our escape, head towards the target, I'll meet you there."
Darren pulled up a map of the plumbing systems on his visor and had it overlay the blueprint of floor fifty he followed the system to where several met up and were likely to cause stress, he was fortunate to find a sprinkler head right at the main junction. He pulled a small incendiary device no larger then a stick of gum and stuck it to the base of the sprinkler head, "That should do it he thought to himself" Darren set the device to be able to be triggered from the computer in his suit and then made for the stairs.
The climb to the company manager's office took a while fifty floors without the convenience of an elevator.. he arrived in the room to find Anya had removed her helmet, her short platinum hair drifting slightly from the breeze coming through one of the overhead vents. "Unzip me" she said teasingly, "take this seriously" Darren retorted, "But its hot.. and I'm all sweaty" Anya whimpered, Darren sighed, and partially zipped down the back of her environment suit. "You'll have to make do with that" he replied not having the energy to argue with this ridiculous woman, "How's the security" he asked, "Shouldn't take long" she replied matter of fact. The managers office was fairly lavish, Anya sat at a dark stained oak desk, oak has been increasingly hard to come by outside of Canada and New Zealand. He had it decorated with a cabinet and a few leather couches as well, Darren walked over to the cabinet and opened a large crystal decanter and gave it a sniff, Highland Scotch, a good year to from the aroma. "This guy must be up to something shady given the appearance of this office, surprised how audacious he is about it, how would he explain everything to the CEO if he happened to visit" Darren mused.
Anya giggled "Want a taste" she asked motioning towards the scotch, "We weren't here remember" Darren said giving her a serious look "Might never get a second chance" she said enticingly, "We are still talking about the scotch right" Darren asked her, Anya just smiled innocently.
Anya began to work seriously at the encryption her brow furrowed, Darren always enjoyed watching Anya when she was like this, her laser like focus was admirable, a nice change from her normal dirty old man behavior. He continued to walk about the room taking in his surroundings the large picturesque windows were clearly made of reinforced glass nothing short of a rocket would penetrate that obstacle. He noticed the ceiling was a basic paneling that could be removed without causing damage if done carefully, " This could take a while" Anya finally said "Its not particularly hard its just heavily layered" she paused "Give me a half hour and I'll be through."
"I'll go take a look at the rest of this level in the meantime, blueprints can only tell you so much" Darren said Anya waved him off from behind the desk, He headed passed the assistants desk and back out into the hall. Aside from the Head Managers office the building was true to its position and relatively plain, the other executives had very basic yet functional rooms a far cry from Genetech in Moscow.
Darren and Anya were called to the directors office of Genetech Academy when receiving this assignment, it was their first real assignment since they started in the academy, It was the final exam of their first year. Instructor Semenov told them that Dr. Vasaliev asked for them personally and was beaming with pride while relaying the information, Ito seemed disappointed that she wasn't chosen instead of Anya but she'd be alright.
Now was not the time to be reminiscing, he had to focus on the job at hand, should they fail here and survive it could mean repeating the first year, While sorting through his thoughts Darren heard footsteps approaching.
Anya was just about through the security when she heard the footsteps enter the room, "Toss me a drive would you, I'm almost in," she said the click of a gun came in response, she quickly flicked a switch at her wrist before the commanding voice rang out, "Get on the floor hands behind your back!" Anya followed the mans instructions, he bent over her and secured her wrists and ankles with zap straps, he clicked on his communicator, "I've got an unknown woman in the manager's office, she mistook me for someone else when I came in send back up immediately."
Only static followed the request.. "I repeat I've discovered an unknown female in the manager's office, she was accessing the system possible unknown partner requesting immediate backup" in response to his request was a loud snap and a spark of light, the man dropped to the floor a taser at his neck. Darren quickly wrapped a clear bag around the mans head and secured it with a zap strap "Well this is a fine situation we've gotten ourselves into" he said as he drove a knife through the man's back and into his heart.
Darren quickly secured the man in a large black bag he took out of his pack and unfolded "Planning on untying me or doing something filthy" Anya said giving him a wink, "Why are you like this" Darren replied as he snapped the ties with his knife. "Why'd you stab him anyways, he was as good as dead once you got the bag over his head" Anya asked, "I'm not a monster" he replied "You know how horrifying and painful it is to die of suffocation?"
Darren tossed Anya a drive and went back to work on the guard, he took the guards communicator and finished securing the opening, after pulling a cord on the end all the air was quickly sucked out of it. Darren carefully opened up a ceiling panel and hid the man in the small space above it, he looked over and saw an unusual expression on Anya's face. Anya was looking through one of the files which showed bank balance receipts from Earthwave Energy a corporation based in Canada, she quickly hacked into the managers emails. Dear Mr. Semenov, thanks for the information our agents have confirmed its accuracy it seems my son was indeed taken to Moscow initially but his current whereabouts are unknown I look forward to your continued cooperation Robert Smith Earthwave Energy.
"Did you find something?" Darren asked, Anya suddenly remembered where she was, "No not yet, the format and organization are awful" she replied.
"I have everything we need" she finally stated removing the drive from the pc and quickly shutting it down. The escape wasn't to difficult breaking the sprinkler proved to be an effective distraction and from there getting to the elevator after retrieving Anya's handheld was no difficult task. The communicator Darren took sparked to life when they got to the elevator door on the forty ninth floor "Is the floor secure?" a voice asked from the device. Darren played with a few buttons on his headgear "You know what check your damn self, I quit I'm on my way out the lobby now" Darren responded in a perfect replication of the voice from the guard he killed. Darren clicked off the device as they swung into the elevator shaft and began their descent.