The Blonde Bowstring: Steelgray's Story

3

Nicole was glad when Timothy changed his mind. It would've sucked having to reject his offer to come along. But she had to get out of there.

She pulled her hat down by the brim so that it brushed against her eyebrows. Here in Limitless Hacks Ajar, she had to conceal herself. It was late February and extremely cold. Truthfully, after eight years of fighting for her survival, the cold didn't phase the woman. Still, she wore a thick black coat that went down to her knees. She pulled it closer by the zippers and further herself as she walked.

This was the building where the Steelgray Voyage was custom built. It'd been out of use for two decades now. Nobody that worked for Nicole's dad would ever settle in a place like Limitless Hacks Ajar, so the brunette had it all to herself.

Nicole nodded, knowing that the entire place was sealed up. She walked around the entire building the day before and found it was only open from a small hole in the top. Today it was about getting inside.

She eyed the gate around the building and hopped over it, scarring her hands in the process. She was still in horrible shape after eight years on Cape Diyu and the fight with Joe. Of course, one measly fight really didn't amount when you've trained 24/7 365/8, so Nicole was well equipped to get back in the groove of things.

She pushed off from a dumpster and flew up to grab a pipe connected to a wall. She climbed up the pipe like it was a tree back on the island or some type of control tower that she had to blow up. When Nicole reached the top, she had to crouch under the wooden planks, but eventually, she was back on the roof.

Wow. Maybe she owed some of that to her cheerleading days.

Getting inside the building was easy. The landing was the tricky part.

Nicole looked inside the dimly lit construction hangar. Damn, she thought. That's going to be a long fall. The brunette spotted a grated walkway that would be on the second floor. She shrugged before pulling all her limbs in. The girl acted like she was in a waterslide and fell right through the hole in the ceiling. She dived into a roll at the last second as her body plummeted onto the metal railing.

All she could do was just lay there for a second, the wind knocked out of her. But she had to find the door to unlock it so she didn't have to repeat this over and over whenever she needed a hideout.

Nicole used the bars on the railing to propel herself underneath them. She tumbled down to the final floor in the hangar and rolled out underneath herself. Maybe some lights here and there and she'd be fine.

<2>

Nicole could barely carry herself. Her feet dragged behind her as she used her arms to pull along the shore.

"Ah," she coughed out her dry mouth even though she was surrounded by water. It was undrinkable anyway with a solution of four percent salt.

"Nicole?" her dad asked.

They were both in horrible shape. Nicole looked back at her dad, glared, and looked ahead. She slowly regained her strength now that she had the motivation to get away from her father. Right behind the disheveled man was a dead bodyguard. A single gunshot lay smack dab in the middle of his forehead. Nicole could still see his dead eyes from up ahead.

She used the rest of her strength to roll onto her back and propped herself on her elbows. At least there was a good five feet between her and her dad now.

"What are you going to do, ignore me?" Raymond asked. He mirrored Nicole by sliding onto his back as well. "You're not a teenager anymore."

Nicole's lip curled as she stared her father down. Actually, she was a teenager. She only graduated high school two weeks before. The 18-year-old was still entitled to having an attitude with her daddy.