Partners? - Vancat (Book 1)

~Part 17~

"The mission is simple: find and retrieve a hard drive. Easy peasy, ey?" -Natalie spoke.

"What's on the drive?" -Evan asked.

"It's a list of LAAU members, and more info about some of them. We have no idea why they stole it, but it can't be in their possesion. All our agents are in danger of being exposed or killed. Hence why we need to get it back as soon as possible."

She shuffled through the files on the table and kept talking.

"The people we're dealing with aren't exactly small fries either. They might be just a branch of a bigger gang but they're pretty influential. If they hand those documents to a higher power, we'll be in bigger trouble. The drive's located in an old apartment building they bought two years ago. They never renovated it or put it to use, at least to the public's knowledge, which is why it's believed it's their branch's headquarters."

"You'll sneak in, grab the drive, and sneak out. Once you've secured the drive and had left the building, you'll inform us and I'll send a bigger team to infiltrate the building."

"Hold on. Why are we going in alone and not with bigger numbers? Why hold off backup?" -Tyler questioned.

"They don't know we know they have the drive. If they see someone barge in with the intention to get it, they might destroy it. Also, they probably made copies, so you'll need to erase those too if you find some. It's best if they don't know you're coming.

But don't worry, you won't be alone. Since David's stuck with paperwork all day, so Brock will help you out through comms." -She informed them.

"Now, let's get you two ready."

~~~

Natalie dropped off the duo and handed them comm devices.

"That one over there." -She pointed at a building a few ways ahead.

"Brock is gonna help you get in and stay undetected. If the situation escalates, try to grab the drive and call up backup. If it's too dangerous, get out immediately. The safety of our agents is more important than the drive."

"That seems unpractical." -Evan commented.

"Shut up smartass. Now, go! I'll standby with your backup nearby, don't worry."

She quickly wished them good luck and drove away. The duo made their way to the building and snuck around to the back.

"So, how do we enter?" -Tyler asked.

"Check to see if there are any vents. The building should have some, unless they bolted them or closed them off." -Brock said.

They looked around and Tyler spotted one. They opened it as quietly as they could and entered. Brock tried his best to navigate them correctly, but for some reason the signal was bad at times.

"They're probably using some kind of tech to block any outsiders from hacking in. It might be what's messing with your comms." -Brock speculated.

"I guess that makes sense, but where the hell did they get tech like that?" -Tyler spoke.

"They're a branch of a powerful and rotten tree. What do you think?" -Evan replied.

"But they're still just a branch. Which means the root is even worse."

They kept going and made sure to make as little noise as possible. The vent was pretty old, so they kept thinking that they'd fall through at any moment. Luckily, they didn't, and they reached the closest room the vent had led to where the drive was supposedly located.

They quietly left the room and started sneaking their way to the room.

"Turn left on that corner and you should be at the door."

"Thanks GPS guy." -Evan joked, making Tyler chuckle.

Brock wasn't as amused though, and said nothing as they finally reached their destination.

"We're here. Now what?" -Evan asked.

He carefully reached for the hande to try and open the door, but Tyler quickly stopped him.

"Are you an idiot? They might have alarms you could've triggered." -He hissed.

Evan opened his mouth to retaliate but immediately shut it after. He had done it out of instinct, and forgot for a second that they actually might trigger an alarm. It is a security room after all. But, he knew that doesn't excuse him.

"Brock, can you check if they're running some type of aj alarm system?" -Evan asked.

But Brock didn't respond. He pulled out his comm device and checked to see if it waa broken or if it was jammed, but after seeing Tyler doing the same thing, he realised that that wasn't it.

"Comms are offline. Whatever's in that room is what's been blocking the signal." -Tyler said.

"Then how do we get in if we might trigger something?" -Evan asked.

Tyler pulled out his phone and tried accessing the system from outside, but he kept getting shut out.

"I can unlock the door,but I can't get in the system from here. We'll just have to go in blind."

"Even if there's an alarm and we'll trigger it, we don't really have a choice. If we can grab it and run fast enough, I'm sure we'll make it." -He continued.

Evan sighed and nodded.

"Fine. Go ahead."

Tyler unlocked the door and after a few seconds, he barged through. Immediately, loud alarms began blaring throughout the building, and if that wasn't enough, they were met with four guards on the other side of the door.

Tyler swung at the closest one and kicked him before he could respond.

"I'll handle them, get the drive and check for copies!" -Evan yelled as he smacked one in the face so hard his yell echoed theough the room.

Tyler dodged another guard that flew at him and went straight for the computer. As Evan took them down, Tyler quickly searched for any copies or useful info on the computer. No copies, but he found some info on Lui - that was recent. He grabbed the nearest USB and started transfering the files to it.

"Did you get it?" -Evan asked as he finished off the last of the guards.

"No, I'm still looking for it." -Tyler said.

He stood up and started searching for it whilst Evan helped him out. As they were searching,they heard hurried footsteps approaching the room.

"Keep looking, I'll hold them off." -Evan instructed and threw himself at the incoming guards.

Tyler was getting frustarted and quickly looked through some more drawers until he finally stumbled across it.

"Found it!" -He yelled out and ran back to the computer.

"Cool, let's- what are you doing?" -Evan questioned, quickly dodging an incoming punch and punching the guy back.

"I'm- getting something useful, it's just gonna take a few more seconds..."

"No time! We gotta go!"

"It's important!"

"Mission-related?"

"No."

"Then it's not!"

Tyler still didn't budge, and Evan was getting tired from fighting. He pushed another incoming guard out of the doorway and slammed the door shut.

===

Part 18 isn't done yet, but I'll try to finish it over to course of the week, and then upload it.

Since school is almost over, I'll try to get back into this book more regularly.

It's not a promise, but it's a possibility.

That's all.