Once the hour passed, it reached ten in the evening, and Cai gave the crew the signal to get a move on. Having hacked the electrical grid's control centre yesterday, Mei got in without any interference or notice of her access. She set up a simple command on the computer back home that she could trigger remotely with her chip. When Cai gave the order, she switched off all of the lights, and the houses within a five-block radius all went dark. They all took off their reflective plumbing disguises and, with their dark clothing, got their weapons and backpacks out of the van. In the cover of darkness, they approached the nearest side of the fence, sticking to the shadows that were cast by the dimly lit security lights.

  _INCOMING TRANSMISSION: CAIPHUS

  “We’re all online?” Cai’s voice entered Mei’s mind.

  “Roger,” Sam said in her usual excitement.

  “Copy,” Lev and Garett confirmed.

  “Mei?”

  “I’m here,” She said, eyeing a guard who was approaching the fence.

  “Alright,” Cai confirmed, “Sam, get us through that fence.

  “Aye aye,” She stepped towards the fence, rummaging through her backpack.

  “Hold on. I’ve got a mark,” Mei pinged his position, and a red arrow appeared in the guard's general area.

  They all froze and stared in the general direction of Mei’s mark. A few moments later, a shadow appeared beside it, and Garett etched closer to the fence.

  “Good spot,” Cai noted. “You got a shot, G?”

  “Working on it.” He murmured.

  The guard looked inquisitive, but didn’t walk all the way up to the fence. He took a moment to look over his shoulder, as if he was worried about being watched, then he unzipped his pants to take a piss on the grass.

  “Whoa, he packin’,” Sam giggled.

  “G?” Cai asked again, a little impatient.

  Two subtle beams of energy briefly illuminated the garden as they streamed over the grass. Both hit the guard in the chest before he fell to the floor without a sound. They all paused, scanning the area in case anyone might have seen the lights or heard the soft scratch of the blast.

  “Alright, back to you, Sam,” Cai ordered a few moments later.

  “Yep,” She said as she removed a square panel about the size of a shoe from the backpack she was kneeling beside. To Mei’s surprise, Sam lifted her eye patch to get a better look at what she was doing in the dark, exposing her red, illuminated iris.

  “Triggerin’ distraction,” She said as she engaged the small explosive she’d gone and set up on the west side of the property while the rest of them pretended to handle the area’s plumbing.

  They didn’t hear a thing, but they all tried, waiting as Sam started packing the device back into her bag.

  “Did ya do it?” Lev asked.

  “Yeah,” She said.

  “We didn’t hear anything,” Garett muttered.

  “Cai said small explosive. It get dey attention, don’ worry,”

  It didn’t take long for them to notice two torches in the distance, making their way to the West side of the perimeter. They weren’t sure how many guards may have left, but Cai presumed it was safe to continue, and Sam got to work cutting through the fence. She took a moment to set up the exothermic cutter, using a small oxygen tank, a portable power system and a drill-looking device with a tubular rod at the end of it. It didn’t take long for her to start melting away at the fence. It was loud, and each of them tensed up as it began hissing when it touched the steel of the fence, but after a minute of cutting, she disengaged the device. With a small push, a square-shaped entrance fell to the inside of the property

  “Tadaa,” She said as she lifted her welding mask.

  “Good job,” Cai said as he entered the property. “On me,”

  Each of them followed suit, and Sam packed her device away. The yard was expansive. With room to fit one or two apartment blocks between the fence and the house. Fortunately, there were no security lights in the yard, and they slowly made their way towards the house, stopping on occasion if a security guard was in the area or pacing back and forth, watching their zone. None of the guards noticed them, and they stopped at a small hedge that surrounded the swimming pool.

  Beyond the pool was an outdoor area with chairs, a table and lots of light. They’d stopped for about three minutes, watching as a guard stood beside a glass door that led inside. While they waited, they noticed that one of the two other guards would sweep the area every thirty seconds. The second guard would come around the right side of the building, whilst the other would come from the left. The guard who came from the left stopped to share a cigarette with the guard posted by the door, and they continued to watch them for another two minutes.

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  “What da plan?” Lev asked.

  “Three guards, six shots to take them out,” Cai said, “That’s not doable.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Garett disagreed.

  “Too risky, and the window with all three of them is too small. We’re also too far for these blasters,” He shook the one in his hand, “Low powered, remember?”

  “They’ll probably hear the shots too,” Mei added.

  “If we take out the one guarding the door, we’ll have thirty seconds to post up at either side of the wall and take out the other two when they arrive,”

  “We be cuttin’ it close, no?” Sam asked anxiously.

  “It’ll be tough,” Mei agreed.

  “It’s our only shot,’ Cai said as he continued to watch their behaviour.

  “Garett, you take the shots on the guard at the door. The moment G fires, we move, understood?”

  They all nodded, “Lev, you take the guard at the left wall, I’ll cover the right. Sam, get that door open as quickly as you can. Mei, disable the interior alarms.”

  “Copy,” They all said in unison.

  “The moment the sweepers turn their corners, you take the shot.”

  Garett nodded, standing up in the darkness with a confidence that made Mei anxious. It was extremely dark, and unlikely that the guard would notice him, but standing up like that sent a shiver down her spine. Garett stood with his blaster raised and aiming down the small, iron sights.

  “Three shots,” Garett said, “Just in case.”

  They all stayed silent, watching as the two guards shared their cigarettes, their muffled chatter and laughter occasionally echoed through the bushes. As they held their positions, and Garett remained fixed on his target, the guard walked back to the left of the building and walked out of sight.

  “Firing,” Garett confirmed.

  “Wait!” Cai stopped him right before he pulled the trigger.

  The guard from the right-hand side walked around the corner.

  “They desycned,” Lev worried.

  “Window just got smaller,” Cai said, still calm.

  The second guard walked back around the right-hand side, and Cai leapt over the hedge. “Fire,” He ordered, and in an instant, Garett fired his shots. The rest of the crew immediately followed suit, leaping over the hedge and staying out of Garett's line of sight as each blast consecutively flew between them. The brief bursts of light caught the guard's attention, but he quickly fell to his knees and then to the floor.

  Mei’s arm switched to its blade, briefly splitting apart and collapsing just as she arrived at the still-breathing guard groaning on the floor. Three shots weren’t enough, but the guard was incapacitated by the time Mei and Sam arrived at the door. Without hesitation, Mei slit the guard's throat, and in a continuous motion, she swapped her blade back to her hand. Lev took the left wall and arrived three seconds before the guard turned the corner. He grabbed the guard by the neck, pulled him close and started choking him out.

  When Mei looked over her shoulder, Cai was already sheathing his knife with the third guard's body on the ground and dragging it around the wall. Mei accessed the house's security through the internet, and she had a clear read on the laser triggers peppered throughout the different rooms. Using the rootkits, she swiftly disabled them, uploading them through the connection she’d just made as she arrived at the door.

  Her chip allowed her to do some speedy coding, but she always preferred to prepare as much as possible beforehand. She already knew the security system they were using, thanks to Cai’s data, and she was aware of its internet dependence. Likely as a means of sending the signal to the security at the gate, where the control room was. The cameras were dependent on the power, so she wasn’t worried about the control room having eyes on them anytime soon.

  _DISABLE_VALTECHSECURE

  _DEPLOY.SH_ALARMD

  _UPLOADING… 65%

  “I’m in,” Sam said, as she put away her lock-picking tools.

  “Wait,” Mei raised her hand, “Don’t open it yet,”

  _UPLOADING: 70%

  Garett arrived, posting up beside the wall just before Lev and Cai also gathered around the door.

  “We ready to go?” Cai asked.

  “Almost,” Mei said.

  _UPLOADING… 77%

  “Eighty percent,” She added.

  With each moment that passed, she felt the delay in her upload. It was taking longer than expected, but she knew the coast was clear and that the adrenaline rush of the moment made it feel longer than it probably was.

  _UPLOADING: 81%

  “Fuck me, this is taking long,” Garett tapped his foot.

  “No rush,” Cai said, “We covered our bases.”

  His words rang true and gave everyone an extra dose of chill as they waited. The last job Mei did wasn’t this tense, but most of the jobs they asked her to do were rather simple and low-pressure. She hated the idea of the odd jobs, but when the time came, she did find them to be a bit of a thrill.

  _UPLOADING… 84%

  “Once we’re inside, we’ll need to get to the third floor, that’s where the master bedroom is. We’ll go room by room and take out any guards that are on the second floor. “

  “None on da first floor?” Sam asked.

  Cai shook his head, “Just the alarm, set up to cover entry.”

  _UPLOADING: 91%

  “Ninety percent,” Mei called out.

  “Lev, you take point, I’ll be right behind you, followed by Sam, Mei, then Garett will cover our six.”

  _UPLOADING: 94%

  “We’ve completed the hardest part,” He added to reassure them, “Let’s not fuck it up now.”

  “Any more doors?” Sam asked.

  “Not that I know of, but that’s why you’re behind me. Just in case.”

  _UPLOADING: 97%

  “Mei, how’s the upload coming?” Garett asked.

  “Almost done,”

  “Everyone, stay focused and be on alert. Drinks are on me when this is over.”

  _UPLOAD COMPLETE

  _ROOTKIT DEPLOYED

  “Kits online,” Mei said as she swiftly swiped through the code on the screen of her chip to verify, “Alarm is… disabled,” She said, wiping the screen away from her field of view.

  “Perfect,” Cai said as he gave Lev two taps on the shoulder, “Let’s move.”

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