The cabbie took me to my Apartment Complex. The queue for the Landing Pad was two rows long, which mean I’d have to wait a while before landing, and with the shitstorm, I just saw, I had little patience to wait.

The cab hovered over the street, afterburners spooling as loud as it could, but not loud enough to shatter the windows of the surrounding car.

I swiped my creditstrip against the machine, paying the toll and also the fee for reckless parking.

Surlington Avenue was as busy as usual. Cars leaving and going at a moments notice whilst people stalked the streets minding their own business.

I dropped from the car and sped down the road, catching sight of my Apartment Complex in its beauty. Eighty floors of glass, concrete and steel. The overall design of the building was as simple as it comes. Rectangular.

As I darted towards it, the sun’s rays reflecting from the glass above, poured onto me, hitting me in the face as if it were trying to send me a message. The guard hut on the left side was shut, but I knew he was in there.

I sped past him as he slept as if nothing had gone wrong. I made a sharp left after the hut, pacing through the garden feeling my soles seep through the grass as I passed the underground parking entrance to my right.

I stomped past the flowers, then climbed the small flight of steps, then planted my hand on to cold glass for my ID scan to be recognised.

“Kaiden Cypher ID Confirmed.” Said the machine.

The lobby for my Condo Complex was well light, with a chandelier webbing down from the ceiling. It had an array of diamonds and crystals, spreading its light throughout the entire room, ensuring no corner was left unlit.

The ambient sound of water splashing in the background with a thick scent of orange fluttering into my nose. To the left was the coffee dispenser, which was before the six chair set and a small coffee table that was nestled into the middle.

The centre of the room had a circular rug, which was embroidered with zigzagged pattered, which matched the walls on the right side, which you could hardly notice, thanks to the artificial trees that were planted in the ground.

Above the trees, a waterfall used to water the plant and provide the entire room with the ambient sound of water.

I stomped my way towards the security desk, which was on the far right of the room. I couldn’t see the security officer’s face, as the desk was too high, but knowing the asshole. He was probably streaming some new show or, watching the Tridents lose another game.

“Wenro,” I said gruffly, startling the bastard. He kicked his feet off the desk, jumping up with his heart in his mouth, looking at me shocked. “Mr Cypher! I didn’t know you were back!” He said.

“…I don’t care, but I need you to do me a favour,” I said cooly, trying my best to keep calm

“What’s that?” He answered, reserved.

“…I need to see the surveillance footage for my room.”

“Sure thing,” Wenro said, nervous.

Wenro bent over, pulled his chair up and began typing away at his holopad. On his right, was a Rubik cube, coloured white blue and purple and a stress ball above that. To his left, a translucent bowl with bits of rice, onion and chicken left in the bowl.

Wenro smiled nervously. I didn’t know if it was my face or scent, but I could tell. I made the security officer, uncomfortable. Not like I cared, I paid this bastard to ensure my wife and daughter were safe!

He finally pulled up the footage and we skimmed through, watching as no one came down the hallway. “Doesn’t seem to be anything wrong here Mr Cypher,” Wenro said. I clenched my jaw, snapping the side armrest for his chair.

Fright resonated into Wenro eyes, making him look like a pup who’d done something wrong in front of his master. He did, I thought bitterly, you were supposed TO WATCH OUT FOR MY FAMILY! YOU’RE BEING PAID EXTRA CREDITS FOR THIS SHIT.

“Did you experience any technical difficulties?” I snarled.

“No.” He answered.

“Everything was fine?”

“Yes.”

I turned from Wenro, not answering then darted towards the elevator, which was on the right. “Is something wrong Mr Cypher?” He asked me, right before I pressed the elevator button. “Everything,” I said, not looking back.

The elevator trip was short, roughly fifteen seconds. When the door slashed open. My eyes were met with beaming lights spraying into the elevator. I stepped out and made my way to the apartment.

I typed in my code and entered it. The room was a perfect reflection of what I saw in the video. Nothing had moved, nothing had changed, but most importantly. No blood. Shin-Lee’s still alive, I thought.

My mind wasn’t there to check for blood, because I didn’t know what to do after watching the video, but thankfully…she was ok. I hope.

I stormed through the kitchen running towards the bedroom, just in case I’d been tricked with a stitched video, but no Shin-Lee wasn’t there. I ran out, then checked Hannah’s room…nothing.

My knees gave way, and I collapsed on her bed, squeezing her sheets as the tears poured from my eyes like the rain on a Sunday morning. Ever-present with no resistance.

I tried to hold the tears back, but with the cherry flavoured scent of Hannah’s room, flooding into my nose, reminding me of her…all I could do was cry. My baby’s gone I groaned, to myself…feeling as my muscles stiffened and loosened each second I lay there. MY BABY IS GONE!

◆◆◆

After leaving a flood of tears on my daughter’s bedsheet. I finally pushed myself up, feeling as though twenty boulders were on top of me, stopping me from moving.

I tried my best to move, but my body just wouldn’t allow it. The window on the left, had pen marks, showing a picture I never noticed. It was a child’s drawing with scribbles scattered across the entire window. I don’t what it was at first, but when I noticed the small person, standing between two similarly drawn people of varying heights. I knew immediately what type of drawing it was.

It was Hannah-Lee, standing in the middle between me and her mother. ‘Dad’ was written below the drawing on the left, whilst ‘Mom’ was written below the drawing on the right, and then ‘Me’.

“I’ll kill you if you hurt her Akatani” I whispered, feeling my voice crack. “I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!”

I crawled from my daughter’s room to the kitchen. I had no strength in my body. My legs felt like anchors, whilst my arm felt like paste. Despite that, my cybernetic arm…did its job as I pulled myself breaking all the tiles as I got to the kitchen.

Once I yanked the door free. I aimed for a bottle of water, and shot my wrist towards it, only to break the glass casing, and leave a hole in the fridge door. Shin-Lee’s gonna kill me I thought, then her image popped into my mind, smiling with her curved lips and angelic smile.

The cold vapour of my fridge trickled out, I felt its frosty grasp caress the back of my Furtiven Suit. Then, beads of water dropped from the broken glass, splashing across my neck, then slowly ran down my back, making me shift in my spot, barely.

I pulled the bottom drawer open, fished my hand into fruit and vegetable draw, then ripped an apple free, then wolfed it down feeling as sweet-acidic savoury flavour rushed down my throat, relieving my body of its thirst.

After wallowing in my self-pity for a few minutes, the strength to stand was finally back, but barely. I crept to the kitchen counter and scrapped the data chip from off the table and walked into the living room.

I opened up the sidearm of the couch and slotted the data chip into the slot. As the television pulsed on, a white screen appeared displaying the contents of the data chip. One file with a generic name. I scrolled to it, using the micro-sphere that came with the couch. Then pressed it.

The file opened up as a video showing a static screen momentarily, then Akatani appeared on screen with a glum smirk flashed across his face.

“Is this on?” He said to the screen, knowing full well it was working. “It seems I finally have your attention Cypher.” He said coldly. “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to find out who you are? Months…and lots of money. It was worth it though! What was it you were?” He added looking up at the camera. “right Infiltration Specialist or whatever the fuck the Federation calls dogs! None of that matters. What matters is…I have your Alien of a bitch wife and that scum of shit daughter.”

“I’m gonna break your neck” I growled, squeezing the leather on my couch.

“You probably wanna kill me for that comment. Hell, I’d kill me too, but let’s save that for later. You want them back right? Well, you are in luck…I have a job for you, payment, your family…alive. Usually, I’m sure you’d negotiate, but I doubt it, I have what you want…and you have the skills to get what I need. So make a decision…and when you do, you can contact me here.

A GPS locale popped on the screen;

Latitude: 56.3371

Longitude: -2.7901

I committed the coordinates to memory, and Akatani pulsed back into existence. “…oh, right. I don’t how long you’re gonna be fucking gone, by this timer here.” He added, by pointing down “…is life. If you don’t answer before it gets to Zero, your wife and daughter or dead.”

The timer pulsed into existence and my heart sank within my chest instantly.

Minutes Left

33:23

SHIT!