Project 6 Read online

  Enter from baggage chute

  Discretion is necessary. Going in through the front will only complicate the opp. Hostages are a secondary concern, but there’s no sense looking for a gunfight when one isn’t necessary.

  The lid to the baggage chute is open. The Liberation Movement might be adept at hit and run bombings, but at securing a perimeter, they have much to learn. 6 knows the airport like the back of his hand. And he knows the path to take him straight to the terrorists.

  Quietly, 6 climbs inside and makes the long trek in to the New York gate. Along the way, he’s surrounded by an assembly line of briefcases. Not to mention doors and levels. He recognizes every centimeter of the place as if he’s been here before. The mission briefing had been thorough, and anyhow, 6 was programmed to be a fast learner. His mind is not like that of a regular person’s. He can think faster, process information more efficiently, and as a result, he can act on intel better than anyone else. Which is why the journey doesn’t take long. Eventually, 6 finds the path to the maintenance room that takes him straight to Gate 32.

  But there’s a problem. He sees a shadow standing on the other end of the door. If he is where he thinks he is, then there should be two terrorists inside the room counting the tango with his back against the door.

  6 takes the time to think. If he’s going to clear the room, the best way is to make a loud entrance. If done successfully, it will catch the targets off guard, and he’ll have the chance he needs to take them all out.

  He hears something on the other side. Something like conversation. 6 leans close to the door to catch it. There are three people talking. Tone suggests they’re the terrorists. One of them tells the other something to the effect of “Guard the terminal.”

  The other replies, “It’s a waste of time. There’s no one there.”

  The target at the hallway has moved. Now there’s three of them all bunched in the same location.

  “Get back to your post,” barks second man, his voice the clearest since he’s closest to the door.

  The first man yells expletives back at the others. They’re arguing. 6 can think of no greater diversion. If he’s going to act, this is the time to do it. So he does. He retrieves his Glock 27 from his holster and lines it at the door. He places the barrel at the source of the second man’s voice. He holds his aim, then pulls the trigger.

  Gunfire goes out, then the screams of the hostages, and then the cursing of the targets. 6 opens the door immediately, revealing himself to two armed men who are shaken to his presence. They’re both armed with assault rifles. AK-74s, to be exact. One of them is close to the hostages. The other isn’t, which makes him the next target.

  The second man raises his gun to aim. He doesn’t even fire a shot. 6 kills him with a bullet to the head.

  Finally there’s the third man. The third man has only enough time to secure a hostage. A woman, young, blonde, in her early twenties, grabbed on her neck by the last remaining target; a man named Terrence.

  6 recognizes Terrence from the dossier in the briefing. But he also recognizes him someplace else. 6 can’t put a finger on his face. But he knows that he has seen him before.

  “Get back!” he cries as he holds a woman who’s as scared as he is. He holds her on the neck with his right arm. On his left, he carries the assault rifle, barely keeping it steady.

  “Please,” the hostage begs. “Please let me go.”

  She says this to Terrence, but her eyes land on 6.

  “Let her go,” says 6.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be this way, man. We were set up. God, what the hell?”

  “You can still walk away from this.”

  “Drop your gun, man. You drop it, or I fucking kill her!”

  His face is red. He’s scared, and angry, which makes him unstable. The woman bobs her head, from side to side panicking. She unwittingly shields his face.

  6 isn’t sure he can land a shot without hitting her.

  “I said drop the gun you fuckin…” he pauses. 6 detects a change in his facial expression. “Jared? Jared? Is that you?”

  6 stops. He has heard that name before. Jared. Where?

  “What are you talking about?” asks 6. “Who’s Jared?”

  He asks this to humor him, to give him a clearer shot. But he also asks for other reasons.

  The name swirls inside his mind. Jared.

  “Holy shit. Shit man, Jared, it’s me, Terrence. It’s me, man.”

  6 squeezes the pistol, confused. The name stays with him, and repeats itself in his mind.

  Jared. Jared. Jared.

  “I thought you were dead, Jared.”

  Then 6 realizes. Terrence had two brothers. Jared, and Tom. According to Magnet intel, they were both members of the Liberation Movement, and they were both killed in two separate police raids. Like Terrence, they were high priority suspects.

  Magnet intel states that Tom died from a shotgun blast to his chest, while Jared died from a factory explosion. His body was never recovered.

  His body…

  “Don’t you remember me? Don’t you know who I am? It’s me. It’s your little brother.”

  6 never got the chance to observe the dossier on Terrence’s brothers. He doesn’t know what Jared looks like. But in seeing Terrence face to face, 6 can’t deny the resemblance between him and the terrorist.

  “They got to you, didn’t they?”

  6 cocks his head.

  “They? Who’s they?”

  “You fucking know damn well who I’m talking about. Look at the Magnet tag on your jacket.”

  It is true. For ID purposes, 6 is wearing a leather jacket with the Magnet Securities logo.

  “They brainwashed you, didn’t they?”

  Terrence’s grip around the hostage loosens. The woman struggles, and he’s forced to tighten his hold. Meanwhile, 6 contemplates what he hears from Terrence. The word that stays in his mind; brainwashed.

  “Do you even know who you are, man?”

  “My name is…” 6 pauses. 6 is not his name. It’s his identification number. It’s all that he has. It’s his only identity.

  “Jared, you don’t work for them. You work for us. I’m your brother. We’re in this together. Together with Tom, don’t you remember? We were in this to expose assholes like Magnet, and the people who are trying to control us.”

  “You think that acts of terror are going to help you?”

  “My, they must have really done a number on you.”

  6 doesn’t understand.

  “Don’t you remember what you used to say? You beat them by making them scared? Hell, it was your idea to torch their corporate jets in the first place. I was going to do this for you, but they set us up. God, man. What have they done to you?”

  “Let the hostages go.”

  Terrence shakes his head, and his resolve grows stronger.

  “No. No, man. Whatever they’ve done to you, you’re not my brother anymore. They wiped his mind right out of you. You want me to let the hostages go? You drop your gun.”

  6 analyzes his options. Terrence has a hostage. If 6 obeys, he might be able to resolve the situation peacefully. But on the other hand, Terrence has no control of his weapon. 6 can likely take him out before Terrence even lifts a muscle.

  Drop the gun

  Shoot Terrence

  Drop the gun