Hector had obtained access to the assembly center, just not in the way he’d hoped. His fingernails dug into his palms. Frustration bubbled up into his face. Resting his head against the elevator’s rear wall, he took a deep breath.
“Just let me make one call,” he said. “I can clear everything up–”
“There’s a comm device in the holding cell area,” snapped the sergeant.
“This is ridiculous! You have no idea what you’re doing! I’m here to help!”
The other two soldiers at his side snickered until the sergeant cleared his throat. He turned to Hector. “I’m sure our special ops buddies’ll have a great reason as to why they put the warrant out on you. Ask ‘em about it. But in the meantime, do us a favor and keep your trap shut.”
The elevator slowed. A subtle, male voice announced, “Second Floor – Security Barracks.” The door opened up to a long, rectangular room lined with bunk beds. The two soldiers flanking Hector latched onto his upper arms and dragged him into the barracks.
To their left, down the length of the room, an unmarked exit led farther into the assembly center. On their right, a directional sign noted the doorway to the holding cells. Directly ahead, opposite the elevator, a third door was marked “Subassembly Access.”
The sergeant suddenly stopped and grumbled, “Where’re Park and Rayburn? Shoulda been here by now.”
He brought up his troop information screen on his datapad. The grid revealed two green dots. Both of them showed up at the opposite end of the barracks. The sergeant’s head swung around. He frowned.
“Park! Rayburn! You here?” he called out. Then, he spoke into the datapad. “Run a status report on Park and Rayburn.”
The datapad’s female voice recording reported, “Private First Class, Brandon Park. Status: Deceased.”
The sergeant snarled. “I don’t have time for this–”
The sergeant took two purposeful strides down the lines of bunk beds. Then, without warning, he stopped as if hitting a brick wall. His hands fell to his sides. Three long seconds ticked off the clock. And then, he fell face first into the steel floor.
