T R Cameron [Cameron - Covert Ops

This book is a work of fiction.

T he matte black multifunction ARES watch on her left wrist emitted three soft pulses, and Kayleigh pushed herself away from the computer terminal. Three a.m. Damn. Im working too much. Her basement apartment was dark and only the glow of monitors spilled faintly into the quiet nothingness around her. She stood and stretched, balanced on her toes, and raised her arms high above her head.

One of the things that had appealed to her about this particular cellar was its extra height, which she concluded meant the habitable space was not an afterthought but part of the original design. They probably had a mother-in-law they wanted to stash down here or something.

She laughed quietly as she moved toward the open center of the giant room that formed the center of her living quarters, surrounded by functional spaces and a bedroom. Her bare feet enjoyed the caress of the plush carpet beneath them, and the slight breeze of the houses air conditioning raised bumps on her flesh where the loose shorts and Ramones T-shirt didnt cover it. The back of her neck was protected from the draft by the scrunchie that gathered her long blonde hair. If tomorrow were an office day, shed feel compelled to head to bed. But since it was the start of the weekend, she had plans that should prove to be far more entertaining.

Kayleigh opened the metal cabinet that ran from floor to ceiling on one wallidentical to those the BAM Pittsburgh agents stored their gear inand withdrew her gaming rig. The Virtual Reality goggles shared the basic code with the popular models on the consumer market, but she had done a great deal of modding. Nothing that would inappropriately tip the scales in multiplayer combat, of course, merely much-improved aesthetics to create a more engaging experience.

She slipped the eyewear over her head, cursed as the strap pulled at her hair, then pressed the button to pair them with her comm earbuds. Once shed attached the motion sensors to her ankles, she flicked her feet to seat them properly. The modified joysticks were the last things she withdrew from the cabinet. Her preparations complete, she turned to face the center of the room and spoke the activation phrase with an appropriate clipped British accent. Engage.

The virtual representation of the space materialized in her display as the system detected the markers that set the action boundaries and created a pulsing circle in the middle to designate the home location and starting point.

Kayleigh paced the square boundary around the room to remind herself of where it was. To warm her legs up, she threw gentle sidekicks and front kicks and bounced a little with each step. She stalked to the center and twisted her hips, rolled her neck, bent over to touch her toes, and straightened with a predators grin. Launch Quake.

The snarling guitars and synthesizers of the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack coursed through her like electricity as the game searched for the private server run by one of her college friends. The arena appeared as her character spawned with a trusty Super Nail Gun in her hands. Most players preferred to get close and mix it up, so she chose the role of a distant sniper. The spikes didnt do much damage individually, but the weapon held a large number of them and boasted an impressive rate of fire.

The countdown appeared for the next round and she glanced down to admire her avatar, which was the result of some significant time investment. Shed contributed to the code that altered the original game to allow what she considered proper resolution on her friends server, and it showed in her characters looks. Her electronic self wore knee-high boots, shiny black leather pants, and a matching corset with shining steel accents. A half-jacket with mid-length sleeves covered her shoulders and fingerless black leather gloves clasped the weapons grips.

She had selected Scarlett Johanssons face from the Ghost in the Shell film, mainly to taunt everyone she played with as general hatred for that movie was almost universal. Worse, shed topped it with live-action Harley Quinns multicolored coif, complete with ponytails. In short, the entire image was calculated to rub salt in the wound of anyone she defeated.

The round began and she paced through the basement play space and turned when required to march toward the center. The setup was customized to her specifications. It had taken some getting used to, but she liked the actual movement that accompanied her gaming over simply pressing a button to walk her character forward. She crouched behind a set of boxes marked with the NIN logo and peeked around it.

There, in the far distance, stood an enemy player. His avatar was modeled after one of the characters in Street Fighter, and she smiled in recognition. He was a tech shed worked with at ARES DC. Everyone who had access to the private server was connected to her professionally or personally within a few degrees of separation, given that she knew the owner and had invited several of her former coworkers to join. She sighted carefully on his feet since the nail gun climbed with recoil and pressed the trigger to stitch him with metal spikes from his toes to the crown of his head. He fell back and out of sightnot dead, but definitely damaged.