Unit 7

After shooting Morrison, Jack could only hope he'd survive. He stole a motorcycle that was parked in the garage and fled away. Jack probably had a little less than half an hour until The Government was alerted once the rescue unit came after Rose and Greg and found Morrison in the garage. There was one place he had to go before disappearing.

Jack rode as fast as he could towards his small apartment downtown. Luckily, their assignment had left him 15 minutes away from home, since their target was a major lab in the Capitol. It was still raining, as if it never stopped raining in the heart of the world. Jack was used to it, and he never was very fond of the sun.

He parked the motorcycle in the alley right next to the building's entrance and went up. Once inside his apartment, Jack packed everything he could that was of use: moneycards, regular clothes, his identification card, a handgun with some ammunition clips (his handgun of choice was a GLOCK 19A), more ammunition for the M47S he was carrying with him, his tekphone, and some other basic supplies.

Jack felt extremely tempted to open the drive on his computer and look at Valerie's file, but he knew he had no time. In approximately 7 minutes, the Government would be right where he stood. He packed everything into a black backpack and left.

Back on the street and riding again, Jack had the basic supplies he needed to survive the hunt for some time, and now his goal was to open and read Valerie's file and see for himself what it contained. He headed to a neighborhood close by and stopped at a very small building, containing only five floors. He typed four numbers into the telecom display at the entrance of the building and a voice answered: "Yes?"

"It's Jack, I need help," he said. There was a brief pause, and then the door opened with a distinct metallic sound.

Jack took the stairs to the fourth floor. When he arrived, the door opened and the man who had answered the telecom calmly said:

"Come in Jack, take a sit," as he kindly pointed to a black metal chair at a small wooden table.

"Thanks, Woz," answered Jack.

Woz was in his 50s, but still had vigor in him. He had medium-length white hair and a white beard with specks of grey in it. His face was rough, full of markings, but there weren't any deformities or big scars. Cutting straight to the chase, Woz asked:

"What happened, Jack?"

"I'm afraid I don't have much time, and neither do you," he answered briefly.

Jack had removed his suit's helmet and was looking Woz straight in the eyes across the small table. Woz looked at Jack for a moment, then answered:

"I suppose it was inevitable."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, a bit confused.

"You being chased by the Government," sighted Woz as he closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"How do you know that's what I was going to..."

"Why else would you need my help, Jack?"

Jack let a defeated smile get away and nodded. Woz continued:

"First things first, we need to remove your trackers from the suit and your arm."

Woz stood up and walked over Jack, stopping right behind him and starting to poke at the armorsuit around the back of the neck. He opened a small compartment and after a few seconds looking at it, he reached for a very small metallic stick inside one of his drawers. Woz started working on the chip while Jack sat there silently. After around 40 seconds of nothing more than the skilled clicks of Woz, the chip was out of the armorsuit and in his hand.

"The arm is going to be a little bit more cumbersome. Remove the armorsuit over there while I prepare," he said, as he threw the chip on the floor and smashed it with his boot while on his way to the bathroom. There he picked up a small medkit and swiftly came back to Jack ready for the procedure.

"Thanks for doing this, Woz," said Jack. After a short pause, he completed: "I know you won't be able to live normally after this". 

Woz was already preparing Jack's arm and didn't seem like he was paying much attention, but as he started cutting the skin he calmly answered:

"I wasn't very fond of the life I'm having, to be honest. I was thinking of leaving, but never really had anything or anyone give me that much-needed push to do so. Seems like your problem was the push I needed, whether I was ready or not."

Jack didn't answer because of the pain the cutting caused, but he didn't have to withstand it for long. As skilled as Woz was, the deed was done in a moment.

"Alright, now you're clear," said Woz after sewing the wound back up and adding another chip to his boots' crushing collection. "Thing is, they've already seen your last location by now, so we don't have much more than 5 minutes to get out of here. That means you've got around 30 seconds to tell me the details and disappear," he explained.

Without skipping a beat, Jack answered concisely:

"I found out that tonight's assignment was to gather Valerie's file. Apparently, she's alive and with them, and I had to read that file. As you know, aside from the agent that is in charge of verifying the integrity of the file, unit agents aren't supposed to know what's in it. I couldn't let that kind of information get away because of that, and I took this as my own push to get out of the unit. I didn't want to do it this way, but I was put on the spot tonight."

Woz had listened intently for the seconds it took Jack to explain the situation. Then Jack added:

"I had to shoot Morrison and Rose. She's fine, but I don't know if he'll make it."

For a moment, a mix of surprise and fear passed over Woz's face. All his quiet calmness had vanished for a split second, and Jack had noticed the subtle and brief change.

"I've heard enough," Woz said, back to his usual manner. "Take one of my laptops from the cabinet if you don't already have one with you and take it, there's no time to read the file here," he added as he stood up and swiftly started packing his own backpack.

"Thanks Woz," Jack answered as he safely tucked the first laptop he could grab into his backpack. "Where will you go?" he asked.

"To the mountains, for now. I'll be reachable once I think I'm safe. I'll get in touch with you when that happens," answered Woz. "And you?" he inquired.

"Underground."