Read Online Agent Hill: Powerless by James Hunt - Free Book Online

down with every piece of hardware she could carry. Both Bryce and Mack gave her a look up and down. “What?” she asked.
    “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Mack asked.
    “To get our HQ back,” Sarah answered. “I’m not letting those bastards steal my chair. Do you know how long it took me to get one with the right butt grooves? That thing was just starting to feel comfortable.”
    “HQ is compromised, the satellite link is down, and all our operatives are in blackout mode until they receive orders from their support agents,” Mack said.
    “So let’s boot up the backup servers and go kick some ass!” Sarah said, gesturing to the two of them with thumbs up but not receiving the same level of enthusiasm back. “C’mon, guys, work with me here.”
    “The backup servers are connected to the main power grid,” Bryce said. “If we turn them on, then Global Power will see the influx of energy used on the grid, and we’ll be right back to where we started.”
    Sarah looked over at Mack, who was still gazing out the window, oblivious to everything they were talking about. “Mack.” He quickly withdrew the blinds and looked over at the two of them sitting over the kitchen table. “What are we supposed to do?” Sarah asked. “Just sit here until Demps decides to turn the power back on?”
    Mack shook his head, shaking out whatever thoughts had entered it. He took a few steps with his head down, rubbing his forehead, mumbling something to himself. Sarah elbowed Bryce in the shoulder, and he flinched. “He’s doing his ‘something big is about to happen’ walk.”
    “I don’t think that’s an actual thing,” Bryce said, rubbing his shoulder.
    “There is another satellite server location,” Mack said. “It’s completely off the grid. No one knows its location except for me.”
    Sarah gave Bryce a playful shove, and Bryce raised his eyebrow. “Son of a bitch, that is a real thing,” he said.
    “Where are the servers?” Sarah asked.
    “Alaska.”
    “You couldn’t have picked someplace a little closer?” Bryce asked.
    “Road trip!” Sarah exclaimed, jumping between the two of them. “I call shotgun.”

 
    ***
    The cuts and bruises along Ben’s face hadn’t healed. The lack of medical attention, food, and sleep made sure of that. Not that he could see or feel anything anymore anyway. He’d lost himself within the dark recesses of the room, where no light or hope could enter. He’d slipped into the icy-cold hands of despair. He’d accepted the fact that he’d never see his family again, never hear his kids’ voices, and never hold his wife in his arms. The only thing left for him here was pain.
    The metal door to his cell squealed open as his face was greeted with the artificial light of the hallway outside. Ben was only able to make out the dark silhouette of a man towering over him. He curled further into himself as two pairs of hands grabbed him roughly and picked him up then placed him on a stretcher.
    Ben’s face glazed over at the ceiling above him as he was carried down a hallway. The cuts along his face had grown infected, oozing yellowish liquid. Pieces of decayed, dead flesh hung from the wounds, infecting the surrounding skin. His lips were cracked, dried, dehydrated. He moved his mouth fruitlessly, trying to form words that his voice wouldn’t let him utter and the guards carrying him wouldn’t care to hear anyway. Some type of new torture awaited him at the end of this journey. Some new form of disfigurement. His children’s faces flashed in his memory. What little water he had left leaked from the corners of his eyes and created a single stream down the side of his face, quickly soaking through his skin like water on a dry riverbed.
    The ceiling finally stopped moving, and Ben felt himself being lifted from the cot and transferred to the cold steel of another surface. A shadow slowly encroached over him, blocking out the light above. He couldn’t see the