Subjects

58 - Capture, Interrogate, Terminate

Angie,

I was so happy to get your letter! Yes, I made lots of new friends but none as great as you.

So much has happened. Last week I joined some sort of a project that is supposed to help people like me walk again. I train every day but it is still very hard. I get tired too quickly because I'm not used to the activity.

Don't worry, though! There is a big team of doctors and scientists working on this project and they are all helping me get better.

But what about you?

And what about this aunt of yours? She sounds seriously scary.

Stay out of trouble,

Jeff

P. S.

Why does everyone think that Ben and Eva got kidnapped?

***

Roa prefers not to visit the cabin if she doesn't have to. Something about being there makes her feel... Bad. Not like a bad person bad, but just a bad sort of feeling. Okay, maybe it does make her feel a bit like a bad person, but it's not true, is it? She did the right thing, erasing their memory. She has to decide what to do with her knowledge.

And that's not the only thing she hates about being at the cabin. They are all so happy there, it is revolting. How can they be happy right now? Can't they see the danger they are in? So what if they have friends, so what if they have a family? It is about survival, not socializing. That's what Roa always thought. Being safe equals being happy. Being in control equals being happy.

She is in control, maybe more than any side in this war. Being the best warrior and the one with all the knowledge makes her the winning card. So why does she feel like crap?

She has a mission today. That ought to cheer her up.

Roa walks to the communication room to receive her instructions. As always, the technician on duty checks her mission identification and connects her to the communication equipment. The face of her commander appears before her.

"Your task should be easy. Capture, interrogation, termination. The target is a human who we believe knows of our activity. The target is not part of the experiment so no blood samples are required. You must determine the extent of the human's knowledge and whether other people were told. We understand that the target is in a fragile medical state so it shouldn't be difficult to make it seem like a natural death. I am counting on you to finish this quickly and with no mess, like you always do. The files have been sent from the ship, report when the target is terminated."

The call ends and Roa takes the time to go through the files in front of her. She is still connected to the communication equipment but now that the call is over she can hear what's going on around her. Apparently, while she was talking to her commander, the next shift's technician walked into the room and he is now talking to the one from the previous shift.

"Yes, that's her," says one.

"Why do they still let her go on missions? I heard she is completely insane!"

"Terrifying? Yes. Crazy? I don't think so."

"Come on, she assassinated her own niece. Even if the girl is half-human, you can't say that this is normal."

Roa stops going through the file and listens to the conversation happening behind her back.

"Okay, you're right, that is kind of insane."

"Mental!"

"I'm telling you, there's something wrong with this family."

"One's a traitor, another's an assassin. Yeah, definitely something wrong."

The technician from the previous shift leaves the room. Roa takes off the headset and grabs the mission files. She storms out of the room, not forgetting to glare at the technician on her way out. He jumps back and almost falls from his chair.

How dare they? She was never so upset in her life. She runs to her room with the files in hand. Two things always make her feel better. Punching, and shooting. She drops the files on her bed and heads straight to the range. She opens the weapons storage with her trainer's access card and takes out her favorite gun. The weapon is not very useful on her missions because of its size but it is very satisfying to fire.

An hour passes before she is calm enough to go back to her room. As always, she hit the targets perfectly every time. Even with the lights off. On the way to her room, she makes a stop to get food for her mission. She considers getting some human food to drop off at the cabin but she noticed that they never eat what she brings.

Her bag is already packed and ready for leaving. She considers the option of getting some sleep and leaving in the morning but she is not in the mood for sleeping. She is in the mood for getting the hell away from this place.

The drive to her destination takes 27 hours and 24 minutes. She only stops when she needs to fill some gas from the spare tank she carries with her motorcycle. When Roa finally arrives at her destination, she is exhausted.

Usually, she can go on without sleeping for at least 30 hours. Now she is in her 44th hour and her eyes are starting to betray her. She finds a safe place outside the city and lets herself crash for an hour or so to regain her strength. When she wakes up she feels great. Even her anger died down a little. There is something about the earth that makes her feel way more energetic than on her home planet. She can remember Leo explained it to her but she completely forgot what he said.

She drives into the city, following the directions in her files. The hour is still very early in the morning and the streets are only starting to come to life. She finds the target's building easily. They even have a sign at the entrance that assures her she is at the right place. Seriously, drawing a target on the roof of the building couldn't have made it easier for her to get there.

She parks her motorcycle at an ally behind the building. The back door is locked but- oh, wait, it isn't anymore. The back door hangs loosely on its broken hinges, Roa steps right in. It looks like a combination of a hospital and a lab. Roa swiftly climbs the stairs to the fourth floor and looks for the room with the correct number.

She carefully looks behind her before opening the door and slipping in. It is not even locked, she could never sleep in such an unsecured room.

"Who are you?"

It is the human. Roa expected him to be asleep but it doesn't matter, she will be done with him soon anyway. The human is obviously in pain as he sits up on the side of his bed. He tries to reach for two metal sticks leaning on his wall and then Roa realizes that one of his legs is missing.

Roa notices, even in the relative darkness of the room, that the human doesn't look too healthy. He is skinny and his bare upper body is covered with sweat, probably because of the pain he's in. Nobody will suspect if he suddenly dies. He gives up trying to get the sticks and turns to greet her instead.

"Sorry, can you help me with those? I wasn't expecting company."