Saffron's Fire

The Shadow King

Katelyn printed out her screen shot and walked the face over to Byrd's station. She triumphantly slid the picture to him across his desk.

"There's our man" she crowed

Byrd sat up straighter in his chair and leaned over the picture and studies the face. After a moment, he leaned back in astonished laughter. Shaking his head admiringly. Katelyn continued, "I traced his computer to a private residence in Belarus. Your people are checking on who he is."

Byrd visibly paled, "Which private residence?"

"It belongs to a man called Lord Ruben Salazar Ismay. Our man is his underling. From what I could find on Lord Ismay, he is a wealthy entrepreneur from Russia and is only a self styled "Lord". By Entrepreneur I mean he was a boss in the Russian Mafia, who in the past decade has set himself up in a beautiful mansion in Belarus which he calls Midas."with each syllable she spoke Byrd looked more and more distressed.

"This is bad." He said when she finished. She raised her eyebrow in query. "we've been after him for months and if he's trying to infiltrate us...that is bad. It means we weren't careful enough."

Frantically, Byrd started making several phone calls to various other members of the team. Katelyn stood silent and studies Byrd's face which had gone puce. She waited for him to calm down and stop his flurry of activity. When this did not happen she ventured, "I don't think you need to worry about him getting in via the computers. I have already secured the leak in our defenses."

"A cyber attack is not what I'm worried about at this point. There is a distinct possibility that he could attack this facility." Byrd's voice could barely keep down the panic. He then met her eyes and his panic increased, " I need to get you out of here! If he finds you he will have no compunction about using you to...."

His sentence was cut off by the entrance of Wilmar Dietrich, the head of security. He handed Byrd his tablet and reported in his clipped efficient accent, "We already have company. The Prince of Darkness must have been planning to attack all along. I am invoking Protocol 7, the faster we can get you and the team out of here the better."

Byrd handed the tablet back to Dietrich and rose precipitously from his chair knocking it backwards. He dashed around the table, grabbed Katelyn by the arm and the three of them left the office and set off  in the direction of the staircase. As they moved more of the team members joined them until all parties involved were swiftly coursing towards an escape route as yet obscure to Katelyn. She submitted to the dragging only because she did not know where they were going. 

The sounds of an explosion rumbled up from the street entrance. The building was solid as a rock so the impact merely made noise but the effect of the sound on the fleeing people was galvanizing. Their trot turned into a flat out run that did not slow until they had reached the 3rd level. 

The sounds of a scuffle were more audible and Katelyn, detached, mused about how counterintuitive it was to be running towards the sounds of danger. Byrd lead the team onto the 3rd floor and into a suite of offices and unlocked what looked like a janitor's closet. Inside they all piled, knocking over cleaners brooms and mops in their haste. There, at the back of the closet, concealed by a tall utilitarian metal shelf was an airduct. Dietrich and Byrd attacked the screws attacking the metal screen to the opening. Once open Dietrich cautiously climbed in. 

Katelyn could not see what was happening but it sounded like he was typing in a code or a pass key. A minute later, his lower limbs wriggled out and he motioned for people to begin to enter the air duct. Byrd went first, followed by two other team members then it was her turn. In she went, crawling along the tunnel. Her face bumped into a hard cold surface. Her eyes stung with the pain of a bruised nose. She cautiously reached out her hand to feel where she needed to go or if the obstacle was merely a disguise for a clever entrance. It was not. She did however feel that the duct sharply turned to the right and continued crawling in that direction. The tunnel made another sharp turn some 30 feet further. This time she was prepared for that possibility and was able to avoid a repeat of the uncomfortable nose bashing. 

Past the turn she saw light illuminating an exit and the whisper of voices that signaled the end of the route. She eased herself down and landed with a soft thud on the floor of the room she found herself in. Byrd and the other two were studiously watching a tablet and barely acknowledged her arrival. She peered over their shoulders and saw that they were watching a live feed of the rest of the team escaping through the duct. At least that is what she assumed because the only team member left was Dietrich and he was only just climbing into the duct. 

"Move!" said an insistent male voice from overhead. Katelyn blinked and shifted to the side allowing the rude person to descend. They also made a neat landing but he immediately moved to the side allowing another person to land. Two more thuds and then finally Dietrich made his appearance. 

"All are through." he announced to Byrd who was already typing furiously. Katelyn heard a series of clicks and the groan of strained metal. Byrd reached out again and grabbed her upper arm and began to drag her along again. 

"Let's get out of this hell hole." He said, his voice only just perceptively shook. The group followed like a line of ducklings, straight and unquestioning. All except for Katelyn and Byrd in the front. He led the group through the building. It was also an office building full of bustle and work. The men and women carrying on their every day tasks barely blinked as the odd procession made its way through to the underground parking garage. 

The eerie darkness of the parking garage, lit only by the flickering lights typical to that particular kind of room, was made worse by the near silence and the buzz of those aforesaid lights. They did not get into any cars. Instead, the group made their way to a stairwell in the center of the parking garage. Inside was a computer panel which Dietrich and Byrd began manipulating ending with Byrd typing in yet another code. With a hiss, a concealed door opened up revealing a well lit stairwell going further down into the ground. They all entered and began to climb down yet more stairs. 

The group reached the bottom of the steps and entered a large tunnel that looked to be apart of a subway. They were in fact in the U-Bahn, the Underground train system that connected Berlin, and the stale smell of the air told her that they were in an underused part of the U-Bahn. The group made their way cautiously through the transit tunnel. Fairly quickly up ahead, the light of a station. 

Climbing onto the platform, Katelyn realized that this was not a public platform. The seating was opulent, the benches were of black leather and teak, with glass topped coffee tables accompanying them. There were refrigerators and other food dispensers were stocked with sustenance of all kinds. The other most obvious difference was that it had a glass wall separating it from the train tunnel was yet another coded and locked door. They all huddled in a small 10x10 foot square while Dietrich and Byrd worked to open this haven. The mecca opened greeting them with the amazing smell of warm cookies and coffee. They all piled in and the door closed behind them with a snick. They were finally safe, at least for the time being. Katelyn could not help wondering though, why was Byrd watching Ismay, and why Ismay felt to threatened that he attacked? She was determined to find out either by interrogating Byrd or finding the information some other way. As she sank down onto the plush leather bench, she found herself again wondering if running away and disappearing would not have been the wiser course of action after all.