Free Code Breakers: Beta by Colin F. Barnes

right?”
    “Always.”
    “Good. I’ll message you over the VPN. Let’s keep things quiet from now on. And wait for me here. Let me scout the place out first. Are you cool with that? You’re on my side, right?”
    “Of course. I...”
    It seemed like he wanted to say something else. Words hung on his lips, but went unspoken.
    Sasha didn’t think too much about it, couldn’t. She needed to stay focussed on the task: get to the hut and find a way in. She flashed him a quick smile, turned, and dashed like a panther across the open road. Fifty metres and four seconds later, she was at the door of the hut. The key-code panel was still warm from the assassin’s touch.
    When she inspected the nine-digit keypad more closely, she noticed that dew from the cool evening air had settled on the buttons—except for the ones recently touched. A few drops remained on some of the buttons, indicating a downward direction. She took a deep breath and followed the pattern, pressing each number in turn.
    For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened, but then there was a buzz followed by a clunk within the door’s mechanism. She pulled on the handle slightly to test it. It opened. She sent Malik a message via their VPN.
    – I’m in. I’ll update you shortly.
    The hut was dark and smelled of grease and burnt matches. She took a small OLED torch from an interior pocket of her suit, clicked it on, and investigated further.
    At first there was no sign of where the assassin had gone. At just three metres square, the interior only featured a counter attached to the rear wall, above which hung a board with hooks, presumably to hold keycards. She saw no other obvious way out. Sasha tapped her foot on the floor, searching for a hollow sound. It felt and sounded solid. Even the flat ceiling showed no obvious exit points.
    As she stood there, pondering, a stream of rising cool air blew across her face. She knew cold air didn’t rise. There must be... She knelt down and ran her hand across the surface. She detected the barest of bumps, a tiny crack in the floorboard. She traced around it until she found a small indentation. Taking a knife from her belt, she placed the tip in the shallow dent and prised it upwards. A mechanism clicked, and a segment of the floor opened.
    The stench of mechanical engineering wafted up from the tunnel beneath: oil, grease, rust, sweat, and the acrid flavour of a foundry. It was a familiar scent to her; she’d often visited the engineers and mechanics back at Criborg. Some of them lived most of their lives in the facility and carried the scent around with them like their own brand of cologne.
    Once inside the tunnel, she tried to send Malik an update, but the place was EM-shielded; their VPN lost its connection. She was alone. She considered going back to get him, but this was her mission. Besides, she just wanted to scout the place out. As soon as she had some intelligence, she’d go back with a full report. Thinking of this, Sasha took a small head-mounted camera with an infrared module from a utility pocket on her belt and placed it on her forehead.
    Beneath her feet were the twin trenches of a tramline.
    She followed, stepping quietly and deliberately, feeling her way through the tunnel.
    A full fifteen minutes had passed. It felt like walking on a treadmill and not actually getting anywhere. She bent down to inspect the floor’s surface. Like the corridors in Criborg, the tunnel was entirely without features. Every step the same.
    Until at last, at the very end, she thought she noticed a light. So far away it appeared no larger than a thumbnail. But with every step it grew larger. And then she was jogging, pulled towards the light like a beacon, unconsciously wanting to be rid of the dark and go into the light.
    She regretted it instantly. The light flashed, blinding her. She turned away, shielding her eyes. Now the tunnel lit up all around her, stunning her to a stop. She spun around, trying to get her