Chapter 25: Kidnapping I - Chameleon and Gecko
Chameleon adjusted his mask and signaled with his hand that the coast was clear.
The streets were empty this late into the night—everyone had gone to bed by now, or were partying far away. He and his partner Gecko dashed out of the bushes and into the hedges that lined the academy dorm building’s walls.
He looked around one more time for people and nodded to Gecko. His partner nodded back and threw a grappling up with practiced ease while he continued to keep watch. The hook wounded around the balcony railings of one of the dorm rooms with a faint clink.
The two of them froze at the noise, waiting to see if anyone heard the commotion. When nothing stirred in the night except for the chirping of crickets, Gecko twirled the rope, looping it around the hook for extra stability. If the hook slipped from the railings, it will catch on the line instead instead of falling/
Gecko pointed up. The line is secure, he signed, miming pulling on the rope.
Got it. Chameleon went first, tugging on the rope to test it instinctively despite his partner’s assurances, and began to climb. The balcony was designed to easily hold against the weight of a person falling onto it to prevent an accident, so it had no trouble supporting his height. His special gloves gripped the rope strongly—even if he let go, he’d have to first slide his hand up to uncatch his gloves before he fell.
Their target’s room was up on the third floor of the building, and he easily scaled that height in seconds. He flipped over the railings, landing silently. A moment later, the rope pulled taut while his partner climbed up, joining him on the balcony shortly after.
While Gecko checked the balcony door, he checked the cameras.
He looked up at the corner of the ceiling where he knew from scouting that there’d be a surveillance camera. It wasn’t hidden at all, so their team had hacked it beforehand, replacing its feed with looped, pre-recorded footage. The camera’s lights were blinking in a specific pattern: on, off-off, on, off, on-on, off.
For as long as the camera maintained that programmed sequence, they were safe from prying eyes. There hadn’t been any backup cameras either.
There was a faint beep and a click from Gecko’s side as the balcony door’s electronic lock retracted its latches. They circumvented it easily with a copy of the appropriate passcard. Just like that, they managed to get access to their target’s home.
All that was left to do was to capture their target and get away without anyone noticing and they could call the mission complete.
Chameleon was satisfied with their progress so far. This had been one of the easier jobs, which is why they sent him and not one of the people more suited to the job. His specialty was disguise, not kidnapping.
Their mission this time was simple: kidnap Annabelle Florent, alive only. If they had to make the choice of killing her or leaving her alone, they were to escape without harming her.
The higher ups had told him that if he killed the target, he and his partner could consider their lives forfeit.
Chameleon wasn’t worried though—he was good at his job, and this one was easy. Security at the Arvent Mech Institute was garbage.
It also helped that their target’s stature was also a lot smaller than most, meaning that even if something went wrong, she’d be easier to subdue, not to mention easy to carry when they made their getaway.
Chameleon and Gecko quietly shoved open the door and let themselves into the dark dorm, their special clothes and shoes canceling out any sounds they might have made. He held up two fingers, recalling information from their briefing. Second room.
Gecko signaled to show that he heard and they stalked up to the door. They didn’t open it immediately, though. It would be a disaster if the target just happened to be still awake and she screamed.
Instead, Chameleon pressed a hearing device against the wood and listened closely to the amplified noises.
After listening for a while, he shook his head, disappointed. The target’s breathing wasn’t slow and shallow like it should have been had she been asleep. Awake. Wait.
Mask, he signed, pulled up a small foldable mask from his kit. In return for its compactness, it was uncomfortable and hard to breathe in. With some reluctance, he put it on.
The Gecko produced a gas mask and pulled it over his face.
With the help of his partner giving him a boost, Chameleon accessed the nearest air vent and tossed a gas canister in. With a low hiss, the canister began to release its soporific payload.
The climate control unit wasn’t too far away either, so he connected it to his comms. With his comms as a connection, a specialist back at the base began to override the unit’s operating mode, changing it to air circulation and disabling the chemical agent alert at the same time.
In seconds, the air inside the dorm soundlessly became filled with the sleep-inducing gas. Thanks to their masks, Chameleon and Gecko were unaffected, but the gas was fast acting. Both the original occupants should be asleep by now even if they weren’t before.
The only problem was that the effects didn’t last very long, so they had to act quick.
Another session with the hearing device at their target’s door told them that their target had fallen asleep.
Door not locked.
As quiet as he could even though it didn’t really matter now, Chameleon eased open the door and slipped in, his partner close behind. For the first time, they saw their target in the flesh. All the previous times had been through videos and photos in their briefing.
He and the Gecko looked at each other. Target’s identity confirmed.
Their target was snuggled up against a large stuffed animal, dressed in an immature set of pajamas, barely covered by her blankets as if she had kicked them off.
She was the very image of a young child.
Although she looked innocent, however, the two of them knew her identity well enough: daughter of the ruthless Vesmelda Florent, who was notorious in the underground community. With that woman as her mother, there was no way that Annabelle wasn’t twisted inside as well. Appearances were deceiving at times.
Chameleon shivered as he thought about the girl’s mother. Her appearance was deceiving as well: a beautiful woman with gentle looks, but deep inside her was a calculating, callous queen of the underworld.
He really didn’t know what the higher ups were thinking, accepting a mission targeting the daughter of the devil herself. Whoever ordered this mission was probably suicidal or a big player like Vesmelda herself. He just hoped that being the one to actually perform the mission didn’t end up in the devil’s crosshairs.
Heaving a great sigh, Chameleon beckoned to his partner. Together, they circled the bed on either side. First, he produced an adhesive tape and stuck it on his target’s mouth. Now even if she woke up, she wouldn’t be able to cause too much of a fuss. With the threat of her crying out gone, they were much more free to do whatever they want.
Gecko quickly tied their target up, bounding her arms behind her back and her legs together. He took off her comms while he was at it.
To finish up, he rolled her up in her blanket and tied that together. The end result was a girl wrapped in a bundle, massing a bit more than fifty kilograms.
It was easy to carry the bundle between the two of them and they quickly moved to the balcony. He was the stronger of the two of them, so while Gecko tied their target to him, he prepared for a difficult climb.
Ready.
Chameleon nodded and took a deep breath. He wanted to get this over with quickly. The rope and balcony will probably hold, especially with Gecko partially supporting the weight, but he didn’t want to tempt fate.
Hand over hand, he climbed down, his arms shaking. Climbing with just under fifty kilograms of extra weight on his back was not something he had trained for. His occupation as a disguising infiltrator never demanded such rigorous activities.
Cursing under his breath with each movement, he finally made it down. Gecko came down too, much faster than he did. It only took a moment for Gecko to retrieve his equipment, and they were off.
The hard part was only just starting. Gaining access to the target was the easy part, escaping was more difficult, especially burdened with an extra girl. For that, they prepared several escape routes.
Tunnels? Gecko signed.
Chameleon hesitated. The abandoned old subways and its network of maintenance tunnels were the safest, but also took the longest since they had to go on foot. He considered the other options, but quickly discarded them. The risks were too high and depended too much on a specific timing.
He cursed again. Looks like he was going to have to lug his load around on foot all night.
Tunnels.
Ugh sweaty author blob... maybe there is a market for that?
Come on...
Really...?
The next chapter should be interesting with that title