“Where could they hide…” As I was trying to think, my eyes were wandering around the lab, and I saw safety storage cabinets that usually are built to store hazardous289 materials. Viruses are very hazardous, right? “Marco, you’ll need to shoot again.”
Marco turned around and saw what I was pointing to. We heard some noises outside.
“Go to the other side. I’ll check here!” We heard James’s voice, and he appeared in the doorway. “What’s taking you so long?” he hissed through his teeth.
“Just another minute, James.” Marco said and pointed his gun at the cabinets.
James disappeared to deal with the situation in the corridor when Marco sent another bullet from his powerful gun into yet another lock. He didn’t get it at first and had to shoot two more times until the doors of the cabinet swung open, and we saw a neat row of full vials on the shelves.
“Let’s do it!” he yelled. “I’ll go and help James.”
I touched the vials with my hand and felt the glove doing its magic. There were more vials on the shelves than I expected, and I had to repeat the process two more times to make sure that I covered all the inventory. Meanwhile, I heard some yelling and shots outside. Marco ran in with some blood on his face.
“You got shot?!” I shrieked.
“Just a scratch. We gotta leave now!”
I couldn’t agree more. “I’m done. Let’s go.”
We left the lab. James was holding off the security on the left side of the corridor. There were some yelling and bullets flying from around the corner, but James made sure that his former comrades did not see who was shooting at them.
“Go to the other side. There’s another door up to the roof,” he said and shot blindly around the corner.
We took the right corridor, which was still empty and ran for the door. I punched the code on my phone to let the pilot know that we were on our way. According to the plan, the helicopter was going to land and pick us up from the roof. No more ropes.
We got to the door.
“James! Come on!” Marco yelled.
James appeared from around the corner and ran towards us. As he was approaching the door, one of the security men appeared from around the same corner and started to shoot. James tripped and fell.
Marco caught him, dragged290 him in and I sealed the door from inside. “He got me,” James said, out of breath.
“Can you walk?” Marco asked.
“I think I can,” he said and tried to stand up.
“Let’s move then,” Marco said and placed James’s hand around his neck. I saw a big dark stain around a bullet hole in James’s back between his shoulder blades291.
We took the stairs and dragged James one floor up when we heard some loud bullet pelting the door we had just used to enter the stairwell and sealed from inside. James was getting weaker, and Marco had to carry him on his back.
“The door won’t hold long,” James said, exhausted.
“One more set of stairs and we’re there,” I said. “Marco, give me your gun!” Marco reached for his holster and took out his 480 Ruger.
“It’s very powerful,” he said and gave it to me.
“Go and I’ll cover you,” I said, and I heard some people running up from down below.
We reached the exit door. I opened it and saw the helicopter hovering a meter above the landing spot. The pilot’s assistant was waving to us to hurry up. I let Marco and James go through, shot the remaining bullets down the staircase, slammed the door shut and ran to the helicopter.
One center to go.
I am writing this as Marco is finishing packing our stuff. We are leaving for the airport in two hours. We’re flying to Taiwan. Our last destination is hidden in the mountains on the eastern side of the island, which, according to Albert, is a lot more beautiful than its western side. It’s a 12-hour flight and I’m looking forward to catching up on292 my movie list and catching some z’s293 as well. There will probably be two or three movies, three meals and a few hours of sleep. It’s been a month since our last mission that resulted in a lot of shooting practice and the unfortunate but not lethal bullet wound. James survived and has been getting treatment in one of the Committee’s locations.
Earlier today, Albert informed me that he had made some modifications to the glove and the container I would be carrying it in.
“No one can take the glove out of the case without destroying it, except you,” he told me, showing me the new case that looked pretty much like a small, black, hard-shelled suitcase. “Even if they get their hands on the case and somehow open it, the glove will self-destruct in a matter of seconds. There is a sensor on the lock that responds only to your hand with pulse.”
“With pulse?” I asked, slowly realizing what that meant. “So, if I’m dead, they won’t be able to use my hand?”
“Correct. You must be alive to open it,” he said and left me with the case.
An hour ago, Irene came to see us and say goodbye. Yana was on her way to Europe and had bid her farewell two days ago. Irene told us that James was recuperating294 well and was going to rejoin the team in a few weeks. We chatted about some details of this trip, which included the fact that we did not need to take most of our equipment with us, except for the glove and a charger, but the main surprise she saved for last.
“You might meet Natalie,” she said. Natalie was the third leader of the Committee who spent most of her time in Asia. “She’s looking forward to meeting you both.”
“This is great, but why couldn’t we meet her over Zoom or something?” I asked. “She’s quite mysterious, isn’t she?” Over the past couple of months Irene, Yana and I became so familiar that I sometimes forgot that they were not just pleasant ladies to talk with, but powerful leaders of a big and serious organization.
“I’m afraid she can’t risk being on any online platform outside her formal capacity, which I can’t divulge295 at this point just yet.” She gave me one of her motherly warm smiles and covered my hand with hers. “You just be careful out there and we’ll see you back in a week or so.”
She stood up, walked to the doorway of our living room, stopped, and turned.
“By the way, did Albert tell you that you’re flying first class?” she asked with a smile and left.
It went without saying296 that we were not upset by that development.
I was as happy as a clam at high water297 when I saw all the amenities