Red Valkyrie - Chapter 3, Corporate Ladder
24 Sep 2021Nathan Crest
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Red Valkyrie
Chapter 3, Corporate Ladder
A duo of corp-sec guards were standing outside the maintenance closet. Next to them on the floor was an opened duffel bag, showing firearms and ammunition inside. With a puzzled look on his face, one of the guards tapped repeatedly on his wrist comm-link.
"Alarms are going off everywhere, what did you do?"
The other man shrugged, "I don't know, I just reported this bag, that was it."
"Isn't this kind of an over-reaction to finding a bag of guns?"
With a grunt, the corp-sec crashed heavily into the maintenance closet door, incapacitated. Shocked, the remaining guard quickly maneuvered his AR-50 to point at the assailant. Red Valkyrie reached out and grabbed the barrel of the assault rifle with one hand, abruptly stopping its motion. The man tried one more time, shifting his body weight to tear the gun away. It stayed immobile as if it was caught in an industrial vice grip.
Julia shook her head, "That's not going to work honey."
Reaching in, Red Valkyrie picked the guard up by the neck, and slammed him into the wall. Bones and wall-composite alike cracked under the impact, and the man slumped to the floor.
Behind her the office workers were screaming and scrambling to escape. Shoving through the people, Big Jay and Mimi finally caught up with Julia.
"Jackson, we got the goods."
"Okay, great, there should be explosives in the bag, set them at the north-west corner of the building. I've locked them in."
The corner office below on the 80th floor belonged to the regional manager Laura Esposito. She was on the fast track to promotion and had weekly meetings with their target, the CFO Peter Thalin. Peter was never shy about taking full advantage using his position within the company, and in fact had been caught multiple times by his wife before. His own office was already bugged and watched by Mrs. Thalin. Now these special meetings took place in the offices of those climbing the corporate ladder instead, which happened to be less secure and worked in the favor of the Diamond Riders.
The explosive charges blasted through the floor with a shower of composite building material. Julia and her team jumped down amidst the dust and debris. Laura was partially undressed with tears streaking down her face, and desperately trying to contact corp-sec. Peter's shirt and pants were unbuttoned, and was ineffectively typing the override code into the door lock and pulling on the handle.
"Nice to meet you Mr. CFO and Ms. Corporate Lady," Julia greeted them with a smirk on her face. Big Jay stood right behind, with a Manticore Intimidator casually resting on his shoulder. Mimi dusted herself off, and winked at the CFO struggling with the door.
"What? Uh look," Peter stammered, "Tell my wife I am so sorry, and I will never, never, ever do this again. Look, I'll fire her right now, immediately!" He stabbed his finger toward the regional manager, as if this was her fault.
Laura sat down on the floor, and started sobbing uncontrollably.
Giggling, Julia replied, "Oh my, you thought your wife sent us?" The three Diamond Riders looked at each other and started laughing.
The expression on Peter's face changed as it dawned on him what this was truly about. He backed away sliding along the wall, "No... no, I'll double what they paid you, triple it!"
"Ooh, triple, how exciting."
"Yes, yes, anything you want! I have money, I have a lot of money!"
"Perhaps you don't know me Mr. CFO, I am Red Valkyrie." Julia continued with a smile on her face, "Do you know why 'Red'?"
Peter looked on, his mind dominated by fear. He had already slid into the corner, yet his arms and legs still pushed him backward, as if he could vanish through the walls.
"It's not because I have red hair, oh no Mr. CFO. It's from the blood of those I've killed."
A bullet entered then exited the cranium cavity of Peter Thalin.
Laura fainted.
Mission accomplished.
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Next Chapter This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. |