03 Like Black Smoke

The operation balances on the edge of a knife as Ying-Tai enters the lair of the League's supreme leader, Arliss Ross. However, danger lurks at every turn, and a nasty surprise is yet to come.

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

The author of the Exodus series is intentional about avoiding profanity and explicit sexual content. However, this episode does contain scenes of violence that some listeners may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. An explosion of pain from the sudden twist of his neck left Lars with a searing burn from his jaw to shoulder and severe dizziness.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Witch!

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Tried to kill me! His thoughts raged. Good thing I popped my neck. He'd subjected his neck to extreme turns and routine popping of the joints to keep the muscles and tendons supple and loose. Through hazy thoughts, he remembered this wasn't the first time someone had tried to break his neck. Lars brought his hand up to spasming muscles and massaged. It may not have been the first attempt to kill him by breaking his neck, but it was the worst abuse his neck had ever been subjected to. Demon witch is strong! He turned his head tenderly back and forth, testing and trying to clear his head. If she'd applied just a tad more strength, I'd be dead right now, he realized. Too bad for her. After several more minutes, lying there, allowing the muscles to relax, he felt better. He gently shook his head back and forth, making sure the muscles didn't tighten up. Mild dizziness persisted, but he shook it off, pulled himself out of the side duct, and ascended the shaft like rising magma in a volcano. Ying Tai cut up the thing while he rested in a horizontal duck. He gestured with hand signals, signing that they had arrived at the two hundred and twentieth floor of the building. He looked below Ying Tai, and with more hand signals asked, Where's the rest of the team? She signed back. She moved close to Fang and leaned over to whisper in his ear. She grabbed his head and with a sudden twist of her arm snapped his neck. She laid him down and slipped up into the dark ascending duct with just the hint of a whisper of fabric. At the two hundred and thirty third floor, she pulled herself into a smaller horizontal duct and slithered to the first ceiling vent. Looking through the vents grid, the monoptic screen in front of her left eye displayed her elevation, compared to the floor twelve feet below. An internal command linked the holo imager device with her monoptic screen. Another command adjusted the sensitivity. Seven flashing yellow lights prowled above the penthouse's floor. Seven more watchdogs, she thought. With finer adjustments, a blue pulsing light appeared on the screen. The target, Arlus Ross. The supreme leader of the ELN's Emeralpa operations, and target of Chinyao's ire, lay asleep in a large bed behind a long room dividing wall. Gotta move quickly, she thought. Without hesitation, she removed the vent cover and readied the circuit disruptor. From the monoptic she located the seven hovering sentries orbiting the penthouse space. Here's where it gets tricky, she thought of the method Lars had used to disable the sentries without being detected. If they detect any movement, building alarm will trigger. After disabling the first sentry, ten minutes was not a lot of time to shut down the remaining six sentry watchdogs and assassinate Ross. Can't afford to waste a second. She slowly extended her head barely into the ceiling opening. The twelve foot vantage for the floor proved somewhat helpful, allowing her to see most of the penthouse space below. She spotted three sentries within close range. Neural signals flashed across nerves and between synapses as she adjusted her reflexes and reaction time. A quick check of the circuit disruptor showed the settings in the same place Lars had left them. Perfect. A sentry moved into her line of fire. She paused until it had passed almost out of sight when another sentry came into her field of view. She fired at the first and then aimed the disruptor at the next. Both devices froze in midair, green light dimming. She noted the time on the monoptic screen and mentally commanded a stopwatch to appear, showing a countdown in the lower right corner. Another sentry came into range and she zapped it. The three electronic watchdogs hovered four feet above the floor. She shifted positions and looked down from the opposite side of the vent. A sentry came into view. The disruptor fired, and soon it hovered motionless, like its fellows. One more glided into the line of fire and she disabled it. Five down, two to go. The monoptic display showed the other two sentries behind the dividing wall in Ross's sleeping chamber. She dropped from the vent, landing silently on the plush carpet. She moved to the dividing wall and positioned herself next to a cabinet. Her left eye checked the time on the tiny screen.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Six minutes and twenty-seven seconds.

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She raised the disruptor and waited until one of the sentries approached close to the wall.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

One more to go.

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She turned around and crept to the opposite side of the wall and waited for the sentry to swing into view. Another invisible beam from the disruptor and the last sentry hovered motionless, rendering penthouse security useless for the next six minutes. Like black smoke, Ying Tai entered the bedroom of Arless Ross, slipped next to his bed and withdrew the katana strapped to her back. The highly polished steel blade hissed softly, slipping from its sheath. Like silver fire, it reflected the ambient light. She placed the smooth blade inches above Ross's neck. Remembering Chinyao's specific instructions, she rotated the blade so the smooth, broad, cold surface lay against Ross's neck. Wait! she said in a loud voice. The monoptic screen read.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Five minutes and seventeen seconds.

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Glittering black snake-like pupils opened. He looked up at her black-clad figure standing over him, face unreadable. A message from Qin Yao. She hissed. His eyes widened at the sound of her boss's name. But before he could speak or sound an alarm, Ying Tai withdrew the katana with a sudden slash. Ross's eyes flew open. A clean slit appeared across his throat, and a second later blood flowed. A whispered rasp came from Ross, but he could make no sound loud enough to alert anyone with his trachea, jugular veins, and both carotid arteries severed. She watched the life quickly ebb from a Merope's supreme league head. The pillow and sheets thirstily absorbed the gushing dark crimson flow. She turned from her handiwork and moved back out into the office area.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Two seconds.

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He glanced around the large penthouse office space and found no evidence of King Tai. On his way up the duct, he encountered her handiwork, the corpses of his former team members. Seeing his comrades with broken necks served to stoke his raging thirst for revenge. Soon he and Feng surely wouldn't miss their weapons, and considering how they met their fate, he was sure they would approve of how he planned on applying them to their assassin. His neck still didn't feel quite right, and he kept experiencing blurry vision. A movement along one wall caused him to pull his head back up into the duck. She's coming out. He grinned. Won't she be surprised? Lying motionless, he watched as Yung Tai walked into view below him. He unconsciously jerked his neck to the side. And far below, the lights from the city stretching into the distance.

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Time to go.

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She reached behind and felt for the impeller boots, making sure they were still securely attached to her belt, and headed for the opening in the ceiling. Before conscious thought entered her mind, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. A chill raced down her spine. Something's not right. She increased her auditory perception sensitivity, stood still, and listened. The air in the room seemed to close in. She summoned additional strength and attuned her reflexes. She swung her head from side to side, scanning the office while poised, directly below the vent opening. As she prepared to leap up into the opening, a familiar popping exploded in the silence. She threw her head back. A crushing weight fell from above. Almost flattened. She spun out from under him. Didn't think you'd see me again, did ya? He landed on his feet, facing where she'd rolled. Thought I was dead. You a vicious stream of profanity poured from his mouth. Good thing I keep my neck congestion. He popped his neck for emphasis and thrust his right hand forward. Thanks, gun. The small black weapon was almost entirely hidden by his meaty grip. She saw the flash, heard a sharp, and felt the bullet strike her left shoulder. Her reflexes exploded, and she leaped back as Lars emptied the magazine. Missing as she backflipped across the office and took cover behind a large desk. Jinya, put you up to this. Lars continued to pull the trigger, but the gun only clicked. She withdrew the katan and sprang onto the desk. Sword held ready. Lars dropped the useless gun and drew Sung Hee's two long knives from behind his back. Not the only one skilled with blades, he growled. Ying Tai's shoulder burned fiercely. She sent neural signals, building a hasty pain barrier, jumped to the floor, and prepared to attack. Before she advanced, Lars charged across the floor, blades swinging like propellers. Ying Tai ducked and rolled to the side. As if reading her mind, he followed and the razor sharp blades flew at her. A warning flashed on them on optic screen.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Two minutes.

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Running out of time.

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She rolled across the floor, barely avoiding the slashing blades. Lars kicked with his foot and struck her in the back as she rolled. Pain shot up her spine and a gasp of air exploded from her mouth. Almost blind with pain, she swung the katana, felt it bite flesh and bone. If the building alarm system hadn't detected anything up to this point, it now couldn't help but activate as Lars let out a thunderous bellow of pain. Lars sank up against the desk, groaning and bleeding from the dash in his eye. Like a runaway freight carrier, Lars bolted forward, Nai was whispering at deadly something. She deflected this powerful attack with a katana, steel blades ran loudly against each other in the quiet office. Pinhouse security, be here soon. A loud alarm began buzzing. Her enhanced ears heard shouting from outside the office and a mechanical hum. Pinhouse elevator. She ducked behind a couch near the window. Lars at the furniture tossed it aside. It banged against the window and meantime darted to the side. Lars smiled grimly, shifting his weight to his good leg. He growled and peeped at her, both knives swinging. She dodged another slash from her hobbling opponent, then thrust the sword forward, felt familiar resistance as her blade met flesh and bone. Lars looked down as Ying Tai yanked her sword from his stomach. He looked up in horror as she swung the katana high, lopping off his head. The head rolled off onto the floor, leaving behind a bloody trim as Lars's body collapsed in a heap. Cover from that. With a grim smile, Ying Tai sidestepped fountaining blood from Lars's severed, carotid arteries, slung her sword, and ran back to the ceiling opening. She squatted below the opening and sprang straight up. The door to the pen was burst open. With both hands, she grabbed the edge of the duct and pulled herself inside and from the back to the main shaft. Gunfire blasted. The ceiling started to trick and she was bullets gripping through the door. She raced forward. Miraculously, she avoided being hit by bullets and arrived back at the main channel. She pulled the impeller boots from her belt, strapped them on, hung her feet over the edge, turned on the boots, and jumped into the blackness. The large duct went straight down. She splayed her arms to provide some resistance and keep her balance. Bile-wired night vision provided some sight, but past a certain range below it was dark. She shot down the duct, rapidly gaining incredible speed. The monoptic display tracked her altitude. As the altimeter read 3,310 feet, something grabbed at her upper left arm. Glancing up, she caught a glimpse of an object wedged into a corner of the duct. Before it disappeared in the darkness, she knew what it was. Thanks Katana. Her left arm was gone, cleanly severed by a trap Lars must have left for her. Pain, hot and fierce, shot into her as she imagined Lars's bellowing laugh in the hell she'd send him to. Blood pumped out of her brachial artery, painting the duct in the long streak. She sent nerve signals to stunch the flow as her head grew light.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

2870.68 feet.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

The severed arteries continued to pump blood, although not as much. But the bullet wound in her left shoulder began to bleed again. Blazing pain announced itself in earnest.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

2,328.82. You're halfway terminal velocity. 1,847.12 feet.

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A floating feeling filled her head as the wind's shriek passed. She shook her head to clear it. Blood continued to pump. She cursed Lars for the trap he'd sit and fame for the sword Lars had used.

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1,043.62 feet. 12.73 feet.

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The walls of the duck moved further away as its size increased the further she fell. Her head spun. She felt drowsy. Summing. She shook her head and felt something whack against it. In her fuzzy vision, she saw her severed arm above her head. Maybe you're gonna attach it. She reached for it. The sudden movement and imbalance caused her to flip, and she slammed into a side of the dock. Her vision went black as she felt the shattered remains of the temporal transducer slip from her head. Stupid. She berated herself. The monoptic screen began to dim, but she could still see the altitude. She knew if she couldn't get the boots underneath her quick, she would hit bottom at about 300 miles per hour. She also knew at this altitude, the sudden resistance the boots would encounter could thrust her knees up into her chest. She let go of her severed arm and reached out with her right hand to correct her fall. She shoved her feet under her and prepared for the jolt. The sudden resistance from below thrust like a battering ram. She cried out as she felt her right leg shove violently up, shattering her pelvic socket. At the same instance, her left tibia and fibula snapped from the sudden breaking of her fall. Excruciating pain shot into her head, and she sent neural commands to her tortured body. The injuries overwhelmed her biowired enhanced capacity for control and endurance. The left arm pumped out blood again. Somehow she managed to keep her weight centered over her feet, and her speed diminished. She looked down, her left foot bent at an awkward angle, and the impeller boot shoved her against the side of the duck, decreasing her speed further. Her plummet slowed, and she stopped, hovering inside the shaft, with impeller boots shoving excruciatingly against shattered limbs. She tried to assess the injuries. The duck seemed to spin. Hearing became distant and thoughts fuzzy. Her head felt as if it had detached itself and was floating above her. The small dark space spun around her. Somewhere, bleeding continued to wet her clothing and run down her side. Unrelenting agony radiated from her legs, stump, and shoulder. She moaned. Her vision grew dark and blurry. She thought she saw a small point of light moving along the side of the duct. It traced a line. Right angle. She thought to herself, probably a square. The square was incomplete when she succumbed to blackness. Moonbound is a pulse-pounding sci-fi thriller from the Exodus series by Orson T. Badger. If you crave rebellion, high stakes heists, and lunar warfare, this science fiction audio drama will leave you breathless. Read the entire Exodus five book series. Available wherever digital and physical books are sold.