Chapter 97Extraordinary Execution

Kai and Valerie were already there when we arrived. They just sat patiently in the alley behind the wall, speaking softly to each other, looking horribly out of place with their pale skin and good looks against all the garbage and faded brown colors of the walls. Khuna giggled a little as she probably noticed the same contrast I did.

"There you are." Valerie welcomed us with a smile, her voice almost like a whisper. She looked quite different, the makeup and the wig doing a great job. Instead of her beautiful long black hair, a short blond and slightly curly wig. Also, using light and dark makeup she'd changed the shape of her nose, eyes and lips. I noticed it wasn't just a normal wig either, but one where the edge of the wig can be made to blend in with her skin. Impressive.

"Waiting here long?" Khuna asked softly.

"No, we just got here ten minutes ago." Kai replied, he threw thin latex gloves to both of us. I only noticed now they were already wearing them.

"We don't smell and our skin doesn't flake like normal. We shouldn't leave any trace if we wear these." He softly added.

Khuna and I both put them on and smiled to each other.

"Are we all ready?" I asked.

All three nodded. In silent agreement we jumped over the wall to our goal, the side entrance. There were two things wrong, no cigarette butts and it wasn't open. It wasn't a problem as such as we did have the access card. But it was odd nonetheless. Kai was just about to run the card through when I felt someone coming to the door.

"Up" I whispered softly, pointing to the roof.

All four of us jumped up there as quickly as we could and we were just in time. A guy in a lab-coat came outside and stretched, yawning. He didn't appear to want to smoke. Very lucky for us he chose this moment to take a breather. I jumped down on top of him and knocked him out. No noise, he never saw me.

All was going well, I shouldn't have hurt him too much, I only wanted to get him unconscious and not break him. I motioned for the others to come down silently. We stood there in front of the door around the guy on the ground. All thinking on the next steps, but I knew what to do.

I nodded to Valerie and Kai "Tie him up and get him inside, close the door behind you and make sure he doesn't wake up. Khuna and I are going for the guard."

They nodded and got the monk's robe out of Kai's backpack. They ripped it slowly in long strips. Good enough for tying someone down very nicely. Khuna and I headed inside and I led her to the front desk. We kind of had to hurry as the cameras were still on and the guard might see us.

Slightly lucky. He wasn't behind his desk but probably away doing his rounds. We stood still and listened.

To the left. The long corridor toward the kitchen. Smell of coffee like a clue in the hall led us to a guard making a cup of coffee for himself. Silently we walked up behind him and knocked him out, Khuna catching his cup. The coffee from the cup hadn't even touched his clothes, almost empty. A small puddle on the floor all that remained. She cleaned it up using a bit of paper and we dragged the guard back to Kai and Valerie. Though I could have lifted him on my own, it was far easier to carry him by his legs and arms with the two of us.

Back at the side-entrance Kai and Valerie had strips of the cloth ready for us to tie up the guard. They'd done a great job. The brown material was very peculiar and would at least raise some suspicions between the two groups. Good for us, good for the children.

After taking their access cards we put them in a broom closet that did have some minor ventilation. They would be quite alright until they were found by the next shift. We put a closet awkwardly in front of it. Someone from outside should immediately notice it, and those inside wouldn't be able to escape easily.

Check.

"Your turn." I whispered to Valerie.

She walked upstairs using the guard's access card, to slowly wake the children and talk to them, to get them to follow us. My eyes followed her until she was out of sight, I didn't want a whole group of panicked children running around screaming here. She did have a warmness to her though. It was one of the most difficult parts of my... our plan. I sincerely hoped she could do it. I had faith.

In my softest voice, I said; "Do your thing." I winked to Kai and he went off downstairs, taking our copied card with him.

"Let's do drugs." I smiled to Khuna and took her with me to the labs.

The layout of the building was simple enough to get around and all well thought out. The kitchen between the labs and the recreational rooms downstairs. The children upstairs. We even passed a crude infirmary as we headed into the labs. They probably didn't want to have anything happen to the children they didn't do themselves.

The labs were quite advanced but not very big. We had little trouble getting to the drugs however, the card from the medical staff very useful here. The source chemicals were in an interesting place though. In a small sealed, laminated glass room that was only accessible with a key. But it was no problem for us to destroy the stuff inside. They left the thermostat outside. The terminal for the environmental controls of the rooms was easy enough to access.

Truly brilliant security.

I just put temperature on full and humidity to nil. A crazy thought made me change the rest of the settings randomly to make it look like someone just wanting to break in using these controls and had just fiddled around with it.

There was bleach lying around in a cupboard and we used it to spoil the drugs as we washed it through the drains. It took us some time to get through their whole stock, but it was worth it. Behind us we could almost feel the small room heating up. It was probably imagination as the room looked very well isolated.

So far so good. Let's see how the rest was doing.