Code by Mary Ting

Author:Mary Ting
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vesuvian Books
Published: 2021-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One — Alarm

Josephine Chang

Josephine was grateful to be out of her high heels and into her dark trousers, a red sweater, and a pair of black flats. She sat on an old wooden office desk, swiping through her messages and trying to be productive, but her eyes kept closing and her head drooping.

Alone in this dilapidated office with nothing but the chipped paint and scent of old socks keeping her company, she wanted to sleep. Or rather soak in a warm bath with a glass of wine.

Extracting Verlot had drained her. She’d been trying to get ahold of Zen, but he wasn’t answering her calls. Did she need to worry about him? Zen and Frank had been on their way to meet Rhett, last she heard. Had things gone wrong?

Zen is fine. Everything is fine. No use worrying about something that hadn’t happened.

Josephine stretched her arms, and rose to peer out the dusty window. She had a back view of the building, nothing but fallen trees and the bones of half-faced buildings. She spotted a bakery and wished she could walk over and buy a fresh, hot muffin and coffee.

Josephine just needed to get through the day and Verlot would make his speech.

“Dave,” she called her captain through her chip.

“Yes, madam.”

“Just checking in.” She’d heard voices in the background.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

“Yes.” Josephine sighed softly, easing the tightness in her chest. “Everything good so far on your end?”

“Not a sound. Are you—”

She waited for him to finish, but he didn’t.

“Dave?” She paused and she spoke louder. “Dave?”

“We’ve been attacked. Councilor Chang, this is Marc. Dave is down. Team one is coming your way.” The sound of gunshots rang.

Josephine clicked off and made a distress call to ANS on her chip. She stated her name, the reason for the call, and left the coordinates. She had no idea who she was calling. ANS had never given her a contact name, but Mr. San—who she’d never seen, only spoken with—had told her to call in case of an emergency.

Josephine couldn’t get hold of Zen, so this was an emergency. After she hung up, she patted her gun holstered on her waist and rushed down the halls to Verlot’s room.

Verlot had said his men were coming for him, but no one knew where they were.

Was one of her men a traitor? She had no reason to believe so. She’d known all her soldiers for the past three years. Still, one of them could have been paid off.

“Something wrong, Councilor Chang?” Verlot said in a cool, relaxed tone.

Josephine despised him. He would not escape. She had sacrificed so much. She was not going down.

“Why would you think that?” Josephine flashed a fake smile and tapped at his hub.

No use trying to lie to him. He knew.

He offered a smug grin, his arms to his side from the metal cuffs, preventing him from raising his arms higher. “I told you my men would find me.”

“They won’t find you in here.” She gave him the same smug grin and pushed the red button by the door.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.