Page 10 - Demo

2030-JONE
I Assault on the Mark
It was a typical balmy night in the city. The birds were slowing their chirping as the crickets took over. Lights in the city displayed a rainbow spectrum. Like a funnel they went from bright- est in the center getting dimmer at the periphery. Exposure to the air in the city gave everyone their own personal mini-shower. Mosquitoes struck intermittently as night slowly lowered its veil on the city. As time slipped toward the witching hour, a black van appeared heading north on Foxboro Lane. It stopped abruptly on Reginald Street. It turned right on red and moved steadily, stopping about the center of the block attempting to look normal. The streets were only sparsely occupied as most pedestrians made their way to their nightly destination. The van paused as if sur- veying the area where it had stopped in this quiet neighborhood.
Just as suddenly as it had stopped, the van door swung open. A lone black clad figure rapidly emerged and disappeared in the shadows. Moving past the sidewalk the figure slipped quickly between two homes. His name was Seige, leader of Task Force Talon. He moved south very silently and quickly between homes in the area. Like a black flash fading into darkness, he was head- ing toward his position. He suddenly jammed his hand into a tree and paused silently in pain uttering no sound. His body absorbed the pain and released it with curse words silently hiss- ing from his lips. “Damn, it’s a lot easier planning on paper than negotiating terrain in reality,” he reminded himself.