Hello, everyone, just a few quick things.
I did not make these characters up, Edietic and 989 Studios did. The story, however is my own work. This takes place after Syphon Filter 3. This is my first fan fiction, so I'd appreciate any comments/criticisms you may have. Feel free to email me or leave a review. Thank you for reading, and enjoy!*************************************
Lian Xing, with a final check of her climbing gear, repelled gracefully down the side of the headquarters for a highly respected and successful pharmaceutical company. The company was at the forefront of humanitarian programs to provide expensive AIDS cocktails to underdeveloped countries. But the Agency had reasons to believe that ARC Industries had a shadier side. That they where the new distributors of the Syphon Filter virus which had been showing up again in localized areas of those same underdeveloped countries. And Lian was here to find proof.
She had scouted out the building, posing as a secretary, for two weeks. Now she was going to pay back that director for all the times he'd tried to grab her ass. She counted glass panels down to the proper floor, then over to the correct office suite. Then she cut a hole in the glass with a laser cutter, waited for the edges to cool, and slipped through the hole, hands first, and fell noiselessly to the floor.
Rolling into a crouch, Lian drew her weapon, a silenced 9-mm, and surveyed the area. Perfect. This was almost going to be easy. She'd learned on her reconnaissance that this specific area of the building would be undergoing an overhaul to the security system, and it would be temporarily offline. Lian, always the suspicious type, thought the security guys would have posted a watch in every room, but evidently they had enough confidence in their encryption codes to not worry about anyone getting into the director's computer.
Too bad for them, she had already hacked it.
Weapon still in hand, Lian padded across the cheap carpet floor to the large desk and sat down in the big executive style chair. Before she turned on the computer, she pulled the speaker plug out of the back of the PC. Nothing would be more embarrassing then being caught by the Windows start-up jingle. Now she pushed the power button, then slid the disk she brought with her into the CD-ROM drive. She had the BIOS boot to the disk and executed the program. In two minutes, she was in.
Now she plugged into the fire wire port a small, portable storage device and proceeded to download the entire hard drive. Five more minutes, and it was time to cover up her entry. Lian pulled a small flask out of her pack, set it down on the floor next to the power outlet the computer was plugged into, and shot it with her gun. The entire area erupted into flames, and the fire alarms immediately went off and the suppression system kicked in. Not that it was going to help. The chemical burned rapidly and completely, and it was damn near impossible to put out the fire until it had burned its course. The fire would destroy the computer and any evidence of her tampering.
Lian pulled herself back out of the hole in the glass and reattached herself to her climbing harness. Now it was time to destroy evidence of her entering the glass. She pushed away from the wall with her legs, then stiffened them and let them crash back into the glass. A few more swings, and the window shattered. Smiling to herself, she climbed back up to the roof, gathered her climbing gear, and waited for the stealth chopper to pick her up. Hopefully, she got what they needed.
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On the forty fifth floor of a neighboring office tower, Mara Aramov lowered her nightvision binoculars and smiled. Logan and Xing were playing right into her hands. She had made sure that Xing would be able to get the information, of course. The files themselves were still encrypted, but Mara had faith in Xing's ability to eventually crack the codes. She was one of the best hackers in the world, after all.
Back in '99, when Mara and Rhoemer captured Lian for the first time, Aramov thought she was nothing more than a computer geek with a gun. Now, after seeing Xing fight the Syphon Filter virus and a prison full of fully armed guards at the same time, Mara had more respect for the younger woman. She could see why Logan liked her.
Logan. Just the thought of him made her blood boil. No one crossed Mara Aramov and got away with it. Ever. She would make him pay for the Girdeaux's death and for the headache he had caused her for the past several years, both for being a general pain in the ass and shooting her in the head twice.
Aramov pulled herself out of her own thoughts and back to the task at hand. She had a plane to catch, and Logan and Xing would have to wait. She would've loved to take care of Lian now, when Logan would live long enough to feel the pain of her loss, but Mara wasn't stupid. She knew that Logan would make sure she never left Seattle alive if he found out his precious partner had been killed. It would be better this way.
Convinced, she put her binoculars into her backpack and made her own exit. Yes, this was going to be fun.
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Gabriel Logan woke with a start, hitting his head on something in the process. He blinked twice then glared at the object that was above his head. A desk lamp? Right, he'd spent the night at the office. He had wanted to be here in case Lian got into trouble. Finally, regaining his senses, Gabe rubbed the last traces of pain from hitting his head and stood up and stretched.
He immediately realized that falling asleep with his head on his desk hadn't been a very bright idea. Every muscle in his back was tight from the extended hours in the awkward position, and they were complaining of their mistreatment. Gabe found some over the counter pain killers in his desk and went down to the break room for some water.
What time is it? he wondered, looking around for a clock. Then he remembered he had a watch. Damn, I need some caffeine. 0436. Lian should be home soon. Even though he knew that he would've been notified if anything had happened to her on her assignment, he was still a little worried about her. And it wasn't just about the job either; Gabe knew full and well that Lian was capable of taking care of herself. She'd seemed somewhat… distant lately, and he really wasn't sure how to ask her about it. Maybe I'm just not used to not working with her as closely as I used to.
At any rate, now was not the time to worry about it. Drinking the last of the water in his cup, Gabe went in search of coffee. Of course, the damn coffee maker was empty. This is shaping up to be one hell of a day he thought coldly, mumbling curses as he prepared another pot of the disgusting but much needed liquid.
Ten minutes later, Gabe finally had some caffeine running through his veins, and he thought, at least for the moment, that everything was going to be okay. That didn't last long. As soon as he sat back down, his cell phone rang. The noise made him jump, and he spilled scalding coffee down his right hand. He swore some more, put down the mug, and ran to the sink to rinse his hand off. Then, realizing that that annoying ringing wasn't inside his head, he fumbled for his phone, finally found it, and answered.
"Logan."
Colleen Smith, the weapons master's, annoyingly cheerful voice responded. "Good morning, sir." What business did she have being perky at 5 in the morning?
"Yeah, what is it?" Gabe answered gruffly.
Colleen, reading his tone, did her best to curb her natural enthusiasm. "Sir, Agent Xing just got in. I thought you'd want to talk to her." Was there something suggestive in her tone?
Gabe chose to ignore it and simply said, "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."
"Okay, boss, see you in a few," she responded, in her best attempt at a neutral tone and hung up the phone.
Gabe sighed, grabbed the remnants of his coffee, and headed for the elevator. Yes, this was going to be just a terrific day.