Legacy (Completed)

Chapter 8

Nothing is better than getting to leave work early. Soon after our return from McDonalds, Director Jamison briefed Ren and I that they had sent in a special ops and forensics teams to dig around and see what they could find in the carnage.

That allowed me to go home, crash on the couch, and munch on potato chips as I watched reruns of the old TV show Criminal Minds. Despite the crappy color content, it was a show that brought in ideas from my line of work, which helped me appreciate the plot even more.

I sat on my couch wrapped up in my cocoon of a blanket until midnight. I made it to bed after that, brushing my teeth and slinging my hair up into a ponytail before settling into my bed. I snuggled into my comforter waiting for sleep to overcome me. It would easily take a few days to process the information from the site, and I wasn't expecting a call back to work for at least a day.

My eyes drifted shut, the darkness consumed me as images of sand dunes and dragons danced behind my eyelids.

Until my wonderful dream was ruined by a phone call. I growled, my eyes squinting open to stare at the clock. Are you kidding me?

I wormed my way around my bed, accomplishing the task of grabbing the ringing phone without have to get out of bed before answering it.

"What."

"Agent Mullen, we have completed the analysis of the information left behind from the explosion. It held traces of locations from the past, mostly information that's no longer prevalent to us anymore," a masculine voice called over the phone. I rubbed my face tiredly, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"And you felt the need to tell me this at one o'clock in the god damn morning?"

"In normal cases, no, but in this case we also managed to mine up some encrypted information regarding the next place Rizal plans on being. There is going to be an exchange of military grade proto sensors that are being sent for testing, and they are using this city as a waypoint to exchange the shipment. We have evidence to believe he will attack there at five this morning, and we need you and Lorenzo to head to the shipyard to investigate and possibly put a stop to it.

"We need you to get Ren. The agency has tried to reach him, but he's not answering his phone. We sent his address to your interface device. The combination to his apartment is 4983." The agent hung up sharply afterwards, without a word of goodbye.

I groaned loudly, the end of the noise coming out angrily before breathing in slowly. I rolled myself out of bed, dressing in a pair of jeans and a white shirt with a leather jacket over it. I grabbed my key to the car, slipping on sneakers before heading out of the apartment. Just remember the five million.

I didn't bother taking the elevator, jogging down the single staircase to the lobby. The car garage was adjacent to the apartment, and not a far walk at all. I meandered my way to the car, its black body shining in the dulling lighting of the building. It's lights flashed as I neared, the driver side door lifting up into the air.

I slid into the leather interior, a red dot grid fanning over my face before a confirmation beep sounded. The door closed, and the engine rumbled to life.

"Hello, Jacqueline. A new destination has been added remotely to the interface. Would you like to use it or delete it?" the car spoke, his robotic voice managing to come off slightly curious.

"Use it," I answered back, fastening my seatbelt. "Turn on auto-drive. I'm going to take a quick nap until the destination."

"As you wish." Soon the car was in reverse, back out of the stall. It started forward, and I snuggled back into the seat. I touched the knob on the side of the seat, pressing it backwards to recline. I kept my eyes open for the first bit of the travel, looking around the barren streets. It was a bit eerie, one of those instances where you would think an apocalyptic event wiped out the population, but you knew it wasn't true.

The ride was quicker than normal for an across town travel. There was nearly no traffic aside from the occasional taxi picking up a partygoer. I eventually closed my eyes, allowing the purr of the engine to lure me into a trance as we hovered our way across town. Reality seemed to fade in and out before the car came to a gentle stop.

"We have arrived at the destination," the car chirped happily. A noise left the back of my throat as I straightened the back of my seat.

"Time to see what's up with the boy," I grumbled, grabbing the handle of the door.

"Shut down will commence in five seconds," the car's AI announced, a beep sounding for every second. As I stepped out, and the door lowered closed, the engine cut off, and the car slowly sank to the ground.

I made it into the lobby, a large screen glowing dimly in front of the elevator. Tapping it, a list of residents showed up, my finger scanning through the names until I came upon Lorenzo Castellano. I pressed his highlighted name, the floor and apartment number showing up. Floor 2, apartment 43.

A meandered around it, the elevator lighting up as I neared it, the doors sliding open. Stepping into the machine, I hit the two button, the doors closing automatically before rising up. The elevator was silent; society had decided that elevator music was pointless for such a short period of time.

When the doors opened once more, I marched down a bland hallway, my footsteps echoing against the tile floor. It must have been buffed recently, the tile so polished that it easily reflected its surroundings. My eyes darted from number to number, settling on a 43 as I approached. A digital red lock presented itself in front of the door, putting up a force field to keep people from entering. I touched the key hole, the picture changing from a lock to a keyboard. My fingers nimbly jumped from one number to the next, before a confirming click sounded and a green, unlocked lock flashed before the shield powered down. I grabbed the handle, pulling it down as the door swung inwards.

The lights flickered on, and a noise left my throat unconsciously.

The place was an absolute wreck. Take out food containers littered every surface. Dishes were piled up in the sink, and I was pretty sure I could even hear the flies buzzing from where I stood. Clothes were strung over the place, and I was pretty sure I could see a red bra peaking out from behind an arm chair.

A light flickered in a room on the right, and I stepped over the clothes to the room. It was the bathroom, and my face twisted up in disgust. Beard shavings littered the sink. The toilet seat looked like it had a ring of orange on the inner part. The floor was filled with rags and toilet paper shreddings. The only thing that looked decent was the shower, with its aray of products crammed into a shelf.

"What the absolute fuck, Lorenzo?" I grumbled.