Here's the second part of the Chess Pieces saga - admittedly, I retooled this originally into a BadAssKandy piece I wrote some years ago that's still on the forum - however I'm reposting it for continuity purposes.
Enjoy
Mark
****
Data Recovery
Half a dozen sentries patrolled the perimeter of the installation, each one a highly trained Pawn in the White organisation. They were alert, skilled and dedicated but none of them were prepared for what was about to happen.
“Bishop to Pawn One, you have a go.” The older woman known only to the operatives as The Black Bishop observed the outpost from a distance through a series of devices linked to the monitors in a large room in an abandoned building a few kilometres away. Infrared, night vision and various other, more exotic forms of surveillance were at her disposal, as well as the camera network inside the target building. No part of the operation would go unrecorded for future evaluation.
Seconds after receiving the signal from their commander three young women quickly moved to their final positions, their steps purposeful and graceful. Each woman wore a tight-fitting black outfit, which left only their heads visible in the dark of the night. Erin, a tall, athletic blonde was the first to make her move.
A sentry was making his way round his patrol route, weapon shouldered. Erin slipped silently from her hiding place in the nearby undergrowth and moved behind the unsuspecting man. Matching her steps to his, she drew closer until she was within striking distance. In one quick, practiced move she reached out, grabbed the man’s head in both hands and twisted. There was a dull crack and the man went limp, slumping back against Erin who dragged his corpse back into the bushes. The attack had taken less than ten seconds.
“Pawn One to Bishop,” Erin whispered into her radio, “target one is down.” She moved off in the direction of the building.
On the opposite side of the compound Mia Yeung had already disposed of her first sentry with a fatal kick to the head and now raced across the open ground to the wall of the main building. Her powerful legs propelled her high into the air as she neared the wall, allowing her to grab hold of the thin pipe that led down from the roof. She reached the top of the building in no time at all and easily pulled herself onto the roof. There was a sentry on the other side, scanning the surroundings through the scope of his sniper rifle. Mia snuck up behind him and brought her hand down on the back of his neck. He slumped forward and toppled over the edge, landing heavily on the ground below. Mia smiled – there was no way he would have survived that fall. “Pawn Two to Bishop,” she reported, “target’s eliminated. Moving onto phase two.”
The dim light from the interior of the compound’s main building silhouetted the team’s next target. He was vigilant, but not alert enough to see the figure crouched near the fence at the edge of the compound. Gemma reached into her belt and removed a long, thin tube, raising it to her lips. A quick puff of her cheeks sent a poison dart into the guard’s neck. He barely had time to register the stinging pain it caused before the fast-acting toxin did its work and he toppled forward, dead before he hit the ground.
A quick reload and Gemma aimed again, this time at the corner of the building to her right. Right on cue another sentry rounded the corner. A second later he too felt the sting of a dart in the neck before slumping down against the wall. Gemma put the blowgun away and moved towards her entry point, radioing in as she went.
The final sentry was lounging against a tree, his rifle beside him on the ground. Erin had managed to work her way round behind him and she stood poised to strike. “Hey,” she softly called out, raising her foot. The man turned instinctively and Erin lashed out with a powerful kick to the man’s face. He was flung back and landed in a heap, fragments of his broken nose having fatally penetrated his brain.
“Pawn One to Bishop. Phase one complete.”
****
The Black Bishop watched the three operatives move into position around the main building. Everything was ready. “Black Bishop to all Pawns: proceed with phase two.”
****
Mia gently removed the cover from the air conditioning vent that ran along the ceiling of the building’s interior. After a moment listening she detected the sound of an approaching target. She braced herself against the sides of the vent and waited. A man in a suit walked past below her. When he was directly beneath her Mia lowered herself down and clamped her thighs about his head. His hands clawed at her legs but Mia was too strong. She lifted herself slightly, forcing the man up onto his toes. Then she twisted her hips and moved her thighs in opposite directions, breaking the man’s neck. He stopped struggling, his hands flopping down from Mia’s thighs. He slid to the floor as Mia released him and dropped down into the corridor. Two minutes later she had safely hidden his body in a nearby store cupboard.
Gemma, meanwhile, had taken the more direct approach. She used a side entrance to gain access to the first floor where a single enemy was working late in a darkened office. Gemma watched the young woman – a low-level data analyst – as she typed away at her computer, cross-referencing her data with a printout on her desk. The woman had short dark hair and was wearing a conservative business suit, the jacket hanging on the back of the chair in the warm office. Gemma advanced on her, drawing a needle-thin blade from her belt. With lethal efficiency she covered the woman’s mouth with her gloved hand and stabbed the blade into her side. The woman tensed, tried to scream and then relaxed, her eyes rolling back into her head. Gemma gently rested her victim’s head on her desk and then slipped out of the office to find her next target.
Erin’s job was to get to the computer mainframe and steal the data from it. A single, bored-looking guard sat at the door, looking away from Erin. She sprinted towards him, using the element of surprise. Too late, the guard noticed the tall blonde and tried to bring his weapon to bear.
A quick kick sent the weapon spinning away down the corridor. Using her momentum Erin followed up with a knee to the man’s stomach. He gasped and slumped forward face first, struggling for breath. With a smile Erin raised her foot once more and brought it down on the back of the man’s neck. His body jerked at the impact and then stopped moving.
Erin punched in the code to the mainframe room that another of their agents had “acquired” from a computer technician. The door opened and Erin prepared to complete her mission.
Mia had been given the final task of eliminating Anna Monorova, the facility’s director – a dark-haired woman in her mid-thirties. Anna held the current position of White Chancellor – one of the highest ranks someone could attain within either organisation before they were considered suitable for movement up to becoming a Royal piece. She was undoubtedly field-trained but her dossier indicated that she was more of a book-smart type of an operative than street-smart and should be no match for the highly skilled operative such as Mia. After searching the building, the Pawn found her in the executive office on the top floor.
The glass-fronted office afforded Mia a good view of Ms Monorova as she sat behind an ornate desk and shuffled through a large pile of papers. Relying on her speed and superior skills Mia burst into the room and covered the ten feet between the door and the desk in no time at all. Anna had time to stand up before Mia’s foot connected solidly with her chest, sending her crashing into the wall.
Acting on instinct, Anna quickly rose to her feet and drew a knife from a sheath under her skirt, slashing it about in a wide arc to ward off her attacker. Mia was caught off-guard and only her quick reflexes saved her from being disembowelled by Anna’s wild swing. Instead the knife snagged her belly, drawing blood and a grunt of pain from the oriental assassin. Anna never got a second chance. Mia stepped in close and grabbed the older woman’s wrist, twisting it deftly. Anna screamed and dropped the knife, her wrist broken and now useless. Her screams were cut short, however. Mia brought the edge of her hand up into Anna’s throat, severing her windpipe. Wheezing pitifully, and with a faint trickle of blood coming from her lower lip, Anna fell to her knees and then pitched forward as she slowly suffocated at her assailant’s feet.
Clutching her wounded stomach Mia moved to the computer and took a disk from a pouch on her belt. She inserted it into the computer and waited. An electronic chime indicated the download was complete. Mia removed the disk and radioed in: “Pawn Two to Bishop, mission complete.” Stepping over the now-dead body of the White Chancellor, Mia headed for the exit.
****
The team rendezvoused at their command post – a small single-room building a mile from the perimeter of the facility – with Mia arriving last. The Black Bishop looked up as she entered. She was in her late twenties, which was old for her profession, and her perfect figure was dressed in a simple black business suit, as befitting her position within the hierarchy. Her long blonde hair was tied back, giving her face a cold, tight edge to it. She watched Mia sit down across from her, her cold blue eyes showing no trace of emotion. She took the disk and inserted it into her computer. Her screen filled with information. Operative’s names, aliases, locations, mission details and much more scrolled across the display. Now she smiled.
The three operatives sitting opposite her visibly relaxed at this sign of emotion.
“Good work ladies,” The Bishop said, looking up from the computer. “Enemy casualties?”
“Total,” Erin replied, smiling at the recollection of her night’s activities, “no-one survived.”
Abruptly, the Black Bishop stood and walked round the table. She looked down at Mia’s belly and cocked an eyebrow. Mia shrugged and smiled weakly.
“You should see the other woman,” Mia said, laughing off the pain.
The Black Bishop sat back against the table. “Does it hurt?” she asked.
“Not much, I’m OK,” Mia replied.
The Bishop lunged forward, the fingers of her right hand formed into a rigid beak-like cluster. She struck with deft precision, jabbing into Mia’s throat. The injured agent hardly reacted to the lightning-quick attack. Her hands were halfway to defending herself when her windpipe snapped. Her legs kicked reflexively, her eyes widening as she realised she couldn’t breathe. She flailed in her chair, clutching at her throat in desperation.
The Bishop straightened up and looked across at the other two women. They shrank back from her, fear in their eyes – eyes that kept darting back to their dying comrade who was gurgling and wheezing noisily.
“Let this be a lesson ladies,” The Bishop announced, “Failure, no matter how slight, will not be tolerated. Your missions must be perfect. No flaws. You’re dismissed ladies, go home. Your field training is now complete. We will contact you with details of next assignment once we have fully evaluated this mission.”
With more haste than they thought possible after a tough mission the two remaining women hurried away, passing Mia’s now inert body on the way out. Neither gave her a second thought after they had left and returned to their hotel rooms. Secretly both couldn’t wait for their next mission.
