COLORADO
1403 Words
CHAPTER 5: COLORADO
Rule 10: There is no such thing as an impossible mission.
Only missions where you’re not supposed to come back.
We’re 12 hours from Nightfall.
Colorado. 3 AM. Freezing.
The compound is 40 miles from Denver.
Middle of nowhere. Mountains on 3 sides.
One road in. One road out.
From Rook’s drive:
- 20 guards. Rotating shifts.
- Thermal cameras. Motion sensors.
- Underground bunker. 10 levels deep.
- The Director is on Level 1. Always.
From Handler’s drive:
- Bank accounts. 12 shell corporations.
- Names of the committee. 12 people.
- Protocol Nightfall launch codes.
We have everything.
Except a way in.
Maya and I are in a rental car 2 miles out.
Watching through binoculars.
"Stealth or assault?" she asks.
"Stealth," I say. "We can’t fight 20 guys and a bunker."
"Then what’s the plan?"
I point. "Service tunnel. Northwest corner.
Used for deliveries. Guarded by 2 men.
We take them out, get in, find the Director."
"And then?" she asks.
"And then we make him talk. On camera.
Then we broadcast everything to the world."
She nods. Pulls out her camera.
"I’m recording everything."
I check my gear.
2 guns. 4 mags. Knife. Zip ties.
Handler’s drive. Rook’s drive.
No backup. No extraction.
Just us.
"Ready?" I ask.
She takes a deep breath. "Let’s go."
The service tunnel is exactly where Rook said.
Metal door. Keypad. Camera above.
I shoot the camera first.
Then the keypad.
The door blows inward.
2 guards. Down before they can react.
I zip tie them. Gag them.
Drag them inside.
Maya is already filming.
"For the record," she whispers. "3:17 AM.
We have entered the Director’s compound."
We move.
The tunnel leads to a loading dock.
Empty.
From here, stairs down.
Level 10. The bottom.
We take them slow.
Every corner. Every shadow.
Level 9. Empty.
Level 8. Server room.
Level 7. Armory.
I grab extra mags. A rifle.
Maya grabs a flashlight.
Level 6. Medical.
Level 5. Barracks. Empty. Night shift.
Level 4. We hear voices.
I press against the wall. Listen.
"...should have killed him in the warehouse," one voice says.
"Director’s gonna be pissed when he finds out Viper failed."
"Director’s got bigger problems," another says.
"Nightfall in 12 hours. Markets are already jittery."
12 hours.
Less than I thought.
I signal Maya. We move past.
Level 3. Offices.
Level 2. Security.
This is where it gets hard.
The security room has 4 guards.
Watching 50 cameras.
I can’t take 4 at once. Not quietly.
Maya tugs my sleeve. Points.
Ventilation shaft.
Small. But I fit.
I crawl.
10 feet. 20 feet.
Above the security room.
I drop down behind them.
12 seconds.
All 4 down.
Maya drops down after me.
"Jesus," she whispers. "You’re terrifying."
"Good," I say.
We check the monitors.
Level 1. The Director’s floor.
And there he is.
Sitting at a desk. Alone.
Old man. 70s. Suit. Reading glasses.
The Director.
No guards. No protection.
Like he’s waiting for us.
"That’s it?" Maya says. "That’s the most wanted man in the world?"
"That’s him," I say.
We take the stairs down.
The door to Level 1 is unlocked.
He doesn’t look up when we enter.
"Sit," he says. Voice calm. Old.
We don’t.
He finally looks up.
Eyes sharp. Tired.
"You’re Asset 7," he says to me.
"And you’re Maya Reyes. The journalist."
"How do you know my name?" Maya asks.
"I know everything," he says. "I’ve known about you for 6 months.
I’ve been reading your articles. Pulled them all."
"Why?" she asks.
"Because you were right," he says. "And I needed to see
how close you were getting."
I raise my gun.
"Where are the launch codes for Nightfall?"
He laughs. "You think I have them?
I’m just the face, son.
The committee votes. I execute."
"Then call them," I say. "Tell them to stop it."
"I can’t," he says. "They’ve already voted.
6 hours ago.
It starts at 3 PM. Whether I’m here or not."
Maya steps forward. Camera rolling.
"Why? Why do this?"
The Director takes off his glasses.
Rubs his eyes.
"Because the world is broken," he says.
"Wars. Poverty. Corruption.
Democracy doesn’t work. It never did.
People are stupid. They vote for liars.
They elect idiots. They destroy the planet."
"So your solution is to crash everything?" I ask.
"My solution is to rebuild it," he says.
"Clean slate. New system. Run by people who are smart enough to run it.
Us. The committee.
12 people. 12 countries. 12 corporations.
We can fix it."
"By killing millions?" Maya says.
"By sacrificing thousands to save billions," he says.
"You call it murder. I call it triage."
I aim the gun at his head.
"Stop it. Now."
He looks at me.
"You won’t shoot.
Because if you do, you’re just like me.
Deciding who lives and who dies."
He’s right.
I lower the gun.
"Then what?" I ask. "What do you want?"
"I want you to understand," he says.
"And I want her," he nods at Maya, "to tell the story.
The real story.
Not ‘evil men crashed the world.’
But ‘desperate men tried to save it.’"
Maya shakes her head. "No one will believe that."
"They will," he says, "when the alternative is chaos."
My phone buzzes.
Unknown number.
I answer. Speaker.
Handler’s voice. Weak.
"7. Don’t listen to him.
He’s lying. The codes... the codes are biometric.
His. Only his."
The Director smiles. "Ah. The Handler.
Still alive. Impressive."
"How?" I ask.
"The drive," Handler says. "Rook’s drive.
It’s a tracker. He sold you out."
I look at Maya.
Her face falls.
Rook.
The Director stands.
"Well. That’s enough talking.
Guards will be here in 2 minutes.
You have a choice.
Die here. Or join me.
Help me build the new world."
I look at Maya.
She looks at me.
Then I shoot the monitor on his desk.
The room goes dark. Emergency lights on.
"Run," I say.
We run.
Alarms. Everywhere.
Guards. Coming from both ends of the hallway.
I fire. Covering Maya.
She’s running. Camera still on.
Filming everything.
We make it to the stairs.
Up.
Level 2. More guards.
I shoot. They fall.
Level 3. 4. 5.
We’re almost to the service tunnel.
Gunfire behind us.
Maya stumbles.
"Are you hit?" I ask.
"No," she says. "Just tired."
We burst into the tunnel.
The 2 guards I tied up are gone.
Trap.
Figures. Rook.
We keep running.
Outside. Cold air.
The car is 2 miles away.
We run.
Behind us, trucks. Coming out of the compound.
They found us.
I fire back as we run.
Slow them down.
A bullet grazes my arm.
I don’t feel it.
We make it to the car.
I drive. Fast.
Maya is in the passenger seat, editing footage on her laptop.
"Upload it," I say. "Now."
"I’m trying," she says. "No signal."
"Then we find signal," I say.
We drive.
Trucks behind us.
10 minutes.
We hit a town. Small. Gas station.
I pull in.
"Upload," I say.
Maya plugs into the station’s wifi.
The upload starts. 12%. 20%.
Trucks screech into the parking lot.
Guards. 6 of them.
I get out. Gun up.
"Keep uploading," I tell Maya.
The fight is fast. Ugly.
I don’t count how many I drop.
When it’s over, 4 are down. 2 ran.
I’m bleeding from 3 places.
Maya is screaming my name.
"Is it done?" I ask.
She looks at the laptop.
"100%. It’s live. Everywhere."
The footage. The Director. His confession.
Protocol Nightfall.
All of it.
On every news site. Every social media.
It’s over.
I collapse to my knees.
Maya runs to me.
"Stay with me. Stay with me."
I look up at the sky.
Dawn.
3 PM is coming.
But the world knows now.
They can’t do it.
Not in secret.
Sirens. Far away.
Police. FBI. Army.
The Director’s men, or the real ones?
Doesn’t matter.
I did it.
25 years.
"7," Maya says, holding my face.
"Stay awake."
I smile. "Call me... call me by my real name."
"What is it?" she asks.
But I don’t answer.
Darkness.
I wake up in a hospital.
White walls. Beeping machines.
Maya is asleep in a chair next to me.
TV is on.
BREAKING NEWS: GLOBAL CONSPIRACY EXPOSED
MARKETS STABILIZED. COMMITTEE MEMBERS ARRESTED.
PROTOCOL NIGHTFALL CANCELLED.
I close my eyes.
It’s over.
- END OF CHAPTER 5 -
- Writer
