Agent Hill: Reboot by James Hunt

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    Grimes stepped over the rubble, careful of any overhanging pieces that could crush him. Mangled heaps of equipment and steel lay about. The back wall of the building was still mostly intact, but the roof had collapsed on the ground. A pile of rocks and beams ten feet high sat in one of the factory’s corners. Grimes looked at the top and noticed that the structure canted inward. He placed one foot on the rocky hill and ascended to the top, being mindful of any sliding concrete rolling behind him.
    “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Mallory asked, keeping a safe distance from the potential rock slide.
    Grimes maneuvered around top of the indention, testing the center with his foot. He pushed one of the center rocks hard and felt it sink, and the rest of the rocks on top of the pile shifted with it. His legs wobbled, and he whirled his arms in circles to keep his balance until the shifting stopped. He glanced at Mallory, and the two exchanged a nervous laugh.
    “Nothing like a close call to make you reevaluate your decision-making process,” Mallory said.
    “There’s something underneath here,” Grimes said, still walking the perimeter at the top. “The rocks didn’t spread out at the bottom, they just disappeared underne—” Before Grimes could finish, the rocks shifted again and collapsed. Pieces of brick, steel, and concrete thudded underneath him as he did his best to keep the rocks from smacking his head. The sharp edges of the jagged formations around him cut into his shirt and jacket. His arms, legs, and back smacked into the rubble. Once the rocks finally settled, he lay at the bottom, his body sore from the tumble, and he was staring at the sweaty, red face of his partner.
    “Christ! Are you all right?” Mallory asked, reaching his hand down and helping him up and out of the pit.
    Grimes brushed the dust and debris off himself, nursing his left shoulder and elbow slightly. The collapse had revealed a shaft underneath the cage of a mangled service elevator. Mallory looked down the crack in the side with a flashlight then kicked a rock into the space, and they both listened to it clang all the way to the bottom.
    “How far does that thing go down?” Mallory asked.
    “Get a cleanup crew here as fast as possible,” Grimes answered. “And you get Sarah Hill’s picture into the national databases, but do not send it to local police or media outlets. We’ll use the facial recognition software to find her. If her face comes across a public camera or security check, I want to know about it.”

 
    ***
    The red ring twirled in a tight circle on Rick’s desk. The sunlight shining through the window caught the ruby and flashed red across the room like a lighthouse. Rick watched the ring spin in a trance. Just before the ring lost its momentum, Rick gave it another flick, which reignited another invigorating spin, continuing the flash of the ring’s ruby. Rick plucked the ring from the desk and rubbed the metal between his fingertips. A thumping pounded on his door. “Enter.”
    Heath stepped inside holding a stack of folders. “Hill’s already taken out three board members. Finley, Dunst, and Kipp are gone.”
    Rick picked up the files, flipping through the reports and scanning the pages haphazardly. “She can go after as many board members as she pleases. They don’t know anything. They never knew anything.”
    “Sir, I haven’t been able to dig up a lot of information on our GSF mole,” Heath replied. “The only thing I’ve found is a name and a very modest bank account. I’ll be the first to admit, however, that I’m not specialized enough to fully break through the level of computer security needed to get a detailed scope of that man.”
    Rick looked down at the ring, still performing flips under the skin of his fingers. The faint scent of metal filled the air underneath his nose, and he held up the ring for Heath to see. “Do you know what this is?”
    Heath examined