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<P><JC><B>CHAPTER NINE: Falling
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<P>"Like I said," Jock began, pointing straight ahead, indicating a low helipad structure encased in a perimeter of chain link fence, "I've been here before. Many times. I could describe every room, every security terminal. The only thing I can't give you is an easy way in. They've got it bottled up." He fidgeted suddenly, closely pondering the situation. "I think- ...The best way would probably be through the back door, and there's only one of those. That'd be the cargo gate. Trucks come, empty their loads, helicopters bring stuff out." He pointed to one corner of the building. "You can't see it from here, but it's around there."
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<P>Dominic lifted a pair of binoculars (that he'd stripped from a body at the UNATCO Headquarters) up to his eyes. He could make out several figures standing or patrolling around the compound. He also caught sight of short, metallic silhouettes - They slid across the freshly wet pavement on treads, navigating their preprogrammed path in an endless loop.
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<P>"Security bots?" Dom asked, turning to Jock. Everybody was there, the six of them. Jock and Alex were particularly uncomfortable ever since realizing they were still bugged, and by now, probably tracked. Brian said nothing, only followed. Jess kept to herself. She consistently looked at Dom like a stranger on the street. That sort of empty gaze, the thin recognition of another human being. As though she were merely imagining something she had misplaced. Nothing more.
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<P>All of them were lingering in the shadows of a portside warehouse, where on one side they had sight of the blackened silhouettes of the sleepless city, and on the other, expanded the flat, rippling expanse of ocean. Straight ahead of them was their targeted helipad. It, too, was on the coast.
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<P>Jock answered Bishop with his gaze still fixed on the structure ahead. "Yeah, they have bots. And not just the little ones you see around the place. Those ones have bigger brothers, but they're all locked away unless an alarm goes off. And then there's the bad-ass of the bunch." 