Cracker: Clip

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Chapter 1: Extraction

"Hikaru. Get out of there, NOW! Do you hear me."
"Just a minute. Okay, got it. Good to go!"
"Zephir, Taichi, pull her out of there, ASAP. We have incoming!"
"Hey wait. What is that?"
"Hik, we don’t have time."
"1 second. It looks like…… yes. A portable hard drive. Okay, reel me in."
"30 seconds!"
"Okay, got her. We are good to go!"
A jeep screeched off into the night as an alarm began to ring in the background.

Hikaru rolled over, the bed cover tangling her even more. Her hair, normally neat and straight, was tangled up in bunches. She glanced at the digital alarm by her bedside.
"6:15 in the morning? What kind of a person makes us get up at this time of day?"
Over the intercom came a reply.
"The kind of person who has a briefing and a plane flight for all of you. Now, get up."
Hikaru clambered out of her bed, head aching. She wandered into the bathroom and looked, bleary eyed, into the mirror, before turning the taps to put the shower on.

20 minutes later, hair still a mess, but at least not sticking out like a cat that had been given an electric shock, and feeling a little more awake, as well as a little neater, not that it mattered to her, the boss wasn’t all that bothered how you looked as long as you paid attention, she wandered into the briefing room.
"Well, now that we are all finally here, lets get started. As you all know, last nights exercise was a success, no thanks to a certain member of our team, who nearly blew it for everyone."
"Hey, get off my back. I got the job done, and grabbed the portable hard drive with all the extras on." Hikaru exclaimed.
"Yes, that’s why you are still on the team, despite your… foolish… actions."
"I don’t have to take this from you."
"Ahh, but you do. Remember, the US federal government doesn’t like you. No other government likes you that much either. Its only because I stop them from coming after you that you are still alive."
"Whatever."
"Look. I don’t expect you to like me, but I do expect you to respect me and to obey my orders when we are in the field, are we clear?"
"Okay fine!"
Hikaru glared at her ‘employer’ with his dark black suit, and matching tie. Even so, she wasn’t that angry with him, because she knew he was trying his best to help. 6 months could seem like years if you were being hunted, so his protection had helped.

6 months earlier, Canadian border, United States east coast.
"What do you mean my passport is invalid!"
"I mean what I say ma’am, now step out of the car and come with me. The police will be here to collect you soon."
"No. I won’t."
"Ma’am, don’t make me shoot you."
The border guard levelled his pistol at her, and she could feel her heart rate increase. She could see down the barrel. Down the god-dam barrel. She could read the head of the bullet, where it said 23 Remmington. Then she stared into the guard’s eyes.
"Ma’am, please. I don’t want to do… ugh."
The guard collapsed, his pistol falling to his side, a red dark in his back. Hikaru glanced around, but didn’t see anyone. She gunned the engine, then thought for a moment, and leaned out, opening the door, to pick up the guard’s pistol. Then she stepped on the accelerator.

"Target has passed the checkpoint. Proceeding with tracking stage."
"Roger that Taichi, keep your eyes open. Zephir, is the helo in position?"
"You bet it is. And I have my rifle ready, just in case."
"Good. Remember, bring her in alive, and preferably uninjured."
"You got it, sir."

Hikaru rounded a corner and continued up the road. She knew it wouldn’t be long before the border guards wondered why they lost contact with that particular post, and the F.B.I would put 2 and 2 together, realise she had crossed into Canada and then get the Canadian authorities to come after her. She lifted the pistol gingerly. While she had shot before, she had never done so in order to kill. As she rounded the next bend and braked, she spotted what looked like a small airstrip. She thought if she could get there, perhaps the money she had with her could charter her a plane out of the country, perhaps to the UK or France. This in mind, she continued up the… well, it was no longer a road, more like a frozen dirt track, towards the airstrip.
"This is Taichi, Target has entered final secure zone. Zephir, over to you."
"I got it, mate."
"Remember Zephir, alive. Preferable by her own decision also."
"I got it. Please, back down."
Zephir loaded a tranquilliser dart into his rifle. A small, green, battered car rolled to a stop nearby, and he kept the rifle hidden as a woman, her blond hair rather ragged after 3 days on the run, climbed out. She glanced around, and spotting only him, walked over.
"Hey, any chance you can fly me out of here?"
"Where to?"
"I dunno, anywhere except the US?"
"Hmmm. Here, take this."
Zephir handed her a mobile phone. It began to vibrate almost immediately.
"Excuse me… your phone is ringing."
"You answer it, I need to fuel this bird up."
"Oh, okay. Hell.. hello?"
A dark, almost demonic voice replied, but it was also rather mechanical, as if it was a voice filter. "Good morning, Ms. Hikaru. I believe you are still on the run from the US authorities?"
"How did you know that? Who are you?"
Hikaru spun round, looking for Zephir, but he had vanished.
"Calm down. I am offering to help you. The F.B.I has already organised all the western nations forces against you, so there isn’t really a safe country for you to go to at the moment."
"And?"
"And I can change all that. Tell me, have you ever heard of ‘the alpha and omega’?"
"Yes. Its a Cracker legend. An elite team, composed of Commandos, Hackers, Crackers, Electricians and other specialists, all lead by someone they know as The Shroud."
"What if I were to tell you it wasn’t just a legend?"
"Then I’d laugh at you, normally, but this seems too much a coincidence for me to do that."
"Yes, it does. How much was it again? 6 or 7 million, the newspaper said, but I suspect it was more like 20 million."
Hikaru gasped. How could he, assuming it was a he, know that? She had covered the tracks as well as she could, and the fact the papers could only trace the fact there was 7 million missing showed how well she had done, yet he had given her the exact amount.
"Very well, I’m listening."
"Get onboard the helo. Zephir will fly you out to meet me, and if you agree to join TAAO then I will arrange for your ‘record’ to be dropped by the world governments."
"Can I trust you?"
"Do you have a choice?"
"Not really."
Hikaru clambered aboard the helo, its engines already revving up. Zephir, as she assumed he was, was already seated in the front, and opposite her, clutching a rifle, was a short, stocky Asian man. He was bulky, but it was all sheer muscle, and he wore snow camouflage. The helo took off and headed even further east, across Alaska.