Mission: Possible
The red clock numbers read out 3:42. She heard the papers being delivered to the apartment next door, soon the little boy would wake up and deliver the papers to the rest of the building. Alex knew she had 20 minutes before she had to log out to get enough sleep to be able to get though her jobs and class tomorrow. She reached for her coke and after taking a drink she rubbed her eyes and focused to the screen. She was in one of her favorite places, the RCMP database. Alex never did anything ‘hacker like’ when she got it, she just read, the uni-bomber, and the woman in jail for manslaughter, it was interesting, and her photographic memory paid off. Her clock turned 3:59 and she turned off her computer. Walking to her room she fed her fish and turned off the lights. Her alarm was set for 7:30, and she promptly fell asleep.
The amazing thing about Alex was even though she hated getting up she never need more that 3 hours of sleep, and awoke to the sun streaming through her windows before her alarm went off. The next morning was no different. After grabbing a shower and checking the weather she slid into a pair of green combat shorts, a blue strappy top, white socks and hiking boots. Her red hair she left as it was already drying into its natural curls. She grabbed a glass of orange juice, threw a can of coke into her bag with her books and left to catch the bus to campus for her 9:00 class.
30 minutes later she was sitting in her favorite classes Physics 312, the physics behind explosions and shock waves. Alex was the only girl in a class of 30, but she didn’t mind after proving herself on the first day the guys treated her as equals. An hour later she went to biochemistry, then to Organic Chem.
At noon she took the bus to her first and favorite job at the shooting range. She got there and her boss told her it was quiet and she could “shoot for a bit” if she wanted. Alex’s eyes lit up as she stashed her bag behind the counter grabbed her ear defenders and her favorite gun the Colt M1991A1.
Lining up she shot four clips into the center of the target before she realized she had an audience. She blushed bowed her head and took her place behind the counter. The people Alex liked most came here, Michael who was here almost as much as she was. She even like the ones which tried so hard to impress her but couldn’t hit anything to save their lives. All to soon Alex realized it was 5 and her next class was at half past.
Back on the bus across town to her psychology class. At 6:30 she was at the gym to teach a judo class to little kids, then to her second job at the Purple Pitt where she worked as a bartender. Upon arriving she had a shower and put on a short black skirt and tiny T-shirt. Alex was pretty and she knew it but she was modest, she only knew because always got lots of tips. The guys in the bar loved her because she was tough, pretty, could pour a good drink and was a redhead. It was a Tuesday night so the Pitt closed at 10, Alex counted her tips as she waited for a ride home with bouncer.
At home she cooked dinner as she started her homework and by one she had finished all the reading, her photographic memory was a big help with assignments. Alex’s life was always that busy running from one place to another. She had a handful of friends most of which were guys, her only female friends were at the Pitt and even they were a bit jealous of her. She was single by choice, she had more than her share of guys chasing her but none of them could keep up with her and they would just try to hard.
Soon she was online chatting it up with a guy called the Jolly Roger. It was pretty cool for her, she hacked his computer after reading his website and it had impressed him. Her handle Scarlet Switch became well know after that. And the Jolly Roger and she had become friends. Handles were to protect hackers (computer), and phreakers (they’d make Alexander Graham Bell jealous) real lives and identities from that on the web. The Jolly Roger and Scarlet Switch were no different; they never said anything about real life and it worked well like that. Alex learned so much from him from contact explosives to red boxes. She had a wealth of knowledge that she could apply, and she knew it. What she didn’t know is what she wanted to do. She was restless. So she could steal free long distance from pay phones, so what? She switched to the database and read for a few hours before going to bed.
The next day was weird, Alex slept till her alarm went off, that never happened, she got dressed and grabbed her daily orange juice and coke except it was a diet, in her box of regular. She headed to class, but only her first one was in session that day. She headed to the range early; Michael was already there talking to a couple of men that she had never seen.
“Alex” he called when he saw her, “want to play William tell with me?”
Alex smiled; and stuck out her tongue, that was his way of challenging her and he was her only source of competition. He was almost as good as she was at shooting. They lined up; the way it worked was 6 clips, 2 minutes, the one who centered the most won. She pulled her hair into a fast braid and loaded her first clip. Michael motioned the men over as starters. Alex was ready her body tense, she slipped her ear protectors on and nodded her ready. On the “Go” she shot and loaded all six in 1:45 and had them all neatly clustered in the middle. Alex was so involved she didn’t notice the men nodding and taking careful note of her work. When finished it turned out Alex had won again.
“Good try” she laughed “Drop by the Pitt tonight and I’ll let you buy me a drink.” He said he would then mention he had to run to a job interview. Alex was disappointed, she wanted to spend more time with him, but she would never show it. She waved as he jumped into his mustang.
Alex went to the desk, when the two men appeared on either side of her.
“Gantley and Garnham, may we speak with you for a minute please?”
Alex was afraid, these people look official, and she nodded though and forced a relaxed look.
“Yeah, over here” She pulled out a piece of her trademark yellow gum and popped it in.
“What can I do for you boys?” She asked in the same way she would talk to drunks at the bar.
“If you were to think of law enforcement” Alex paled a little, “We would be the Uncle no one ever talks about.”
“Right,” Alex said cocky as always, “Does this mean you have a point?”
“Yes we do, we know about you and your talents. What we do is put people in places that we need to watch, but we need smart, talented people who fit in.”
“Okay, so what was your point?”
“We want you to work for us”
“Right, you are telling me that you are from a top secret organization and you want me to work for you?” Alex put a sarcastic stress on Top secret. “Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t, but if you are at all interested in our offer, tonight after you finish at the Purple Pitt Michael will be waiting for you, if you want to go with him and he will explain everything.”
“Michael works for you?”
They just smiled, pulled on their sunglasses and walked out the door. The rest of day flew by and towards the end of her shift at the Purple Pitt she made a trip the ladies room to ready herself. She strapped a holster on her right thigh under her skirt and her knife in the small off her back. She went out and finished her shift. At 10:00 she grabbed her leather jacket and backpack and walked outside, there was a bit of a breeze but it was warm. There was a roar and a motorcycle appeared around the corner. She sighed that’s what she wanted, the bike pulled to a stop in front of her, and the driver pulled off his helmet.
“Michael” she gasped surprised.
“One of the benefits of working with these guys” he said with a grin. He threw her the extra helmet and she slid on the bike tightly wrapping her arms around his chest.
After pulling back onto the road they raced into the night. It was too loud and windy to talk so Alex had some time to think. What if this was all true? She would get to use her skills legally, now Alex was excited. She threw back her head and watched the stars above. Exiting the city limits they drove along the highway for half an hour, then before they reached the next city Michael took a right and exited into an industrial area. Stopping in front of a trashed building, he got off the bike Alex followed.
“Just remember” he said “Be honest, they know everything anyway.”
He opened the door and inside was very modern and technological compared to its surroundings.
“So you decided to come,” Garnham greeted her.
She gave a wary half smile and followed when he motioned. After a couple of steps he turned to her
“Weapons please.”
She handed him her knife and he raised an eyebrow, as another male appeared next to him. Alex rolled her eyes and slowly pulled up her skirt to remove the holster and gun. “Thank you” Garnham said motioning to the younger man next to him. He shoved her up against the wall and expertly ran his hands along her body. When he lingered to long on her chest she grabbed his hand and within seconds he was on his knees.
“Alex” Graham growled warningly.
“He was trying to cop a feel,” she said letting the younger man up.
“Well handled” Graham turned from her and started to walk though the Facility.
Alex felt like she was in a James Bond movie: there were weapons and offices and karate classes all over. He led her to a meeting room where Gantley, Michael, the man who searched her and a few others already sat. Graham motioned for her to take the empty seat next to Michael.
“We have been watching you for sometime now, you have the attitude and the skills we need. We have a mission and Michael….”
“Mission?” she snickered “I think you have me mistaken for a bloke named James Bond over there in London England.”
Michael silenced her with a glare and the speaker continued. “And Michael needs a partner. We won’t lie to you, it’s difficult, dangerous, and you may be killed….”
“Sounds good, I was bored anyway”
“Alex!” Michael threatened.
“Alex” Graham asked “Short for Alexandra?”
“Nope, short for Alexander, when I was born my dad wanted a boy, he got me, but treated me the same that’s why I’ve had combat training since I was little.”
“Parents, you keep in close touch with them?”
“Not unless you believe in ghosts, my mum and dad are both dead” Alex answered flatly.
“I think you will work, please go with Gantley we will explain pay and some of the other policies and explain the mission.”
Alex nodded and left the room. Michael walked around to the original speaker, “So?” he asked.
“She has an attitude but, she will do really well.”
A few minutes passed in silence, then they heard an outraged “What” The two men ran to the door, and Alex burst in,
“Do you know what the mission is?”
Michael smiled “Think you can handle it?”
“A two person hit on the dictator of a country with biological warfare and save the world? Absolutely!”
After training for a few days as Alex didn’t need much more, and informing her jobs that she was taking a vacation Michael and Alex arrived at the airport on Michael’s motor bike under the assumed names LiAnn Skylar and Austin Dakota a boyfriend/girlfriend touring couple.
“So anything else?” Graham asked. Michael shook his head no.
But Alex put on a sickly sweet smile and said “Yeah, I have a question, when do I get a Ninja like his?”
Michael grabbed her hand and pulled her though customs. Graham watched them go, his usually serious face breaking into a smile as he chuckled.
Once in the air Michael handed Alex a paper, on it were written things for her to know about the area they’d be in.
“Um” she leaned in close to him and asked, “Where is our equipment?”
“Some of it’s already there and if you want a laptop it’s in my travel bag.”
She smiled and he grabbed it from the overhead compartment. It was great she could use the plane phone lines. Michael got up to use the bathroom: she watched his retreating figure and decided to learn more about her partner. He wasn’t Canadian like she was, so she hit the FBI database with passwords Gantley had given her, not that she needed them, and she just wanted to feel professional. Soon enough Michael’s files filled the screen, he was born in 1984 making him 25, he grew up in New York, and his parents had died when he was 11. In one of the foster homes where he spent 2 years the family knew martial arts and that’s when he started training. “What ya doin’?”
Michael asked announcing his presence.
Alex closed his file, “Umm, checking my e-mail” she replied trying not to sound guilty.
“From the plane?”
“Yeah, I hooked in the hard line through the plane’s phones”
“Nice touch, anyway I’m going to get some sleep”
Alex laughed watching him try to fit his 6’2” frame between the seats. She then actually checked her e-mail; there was a message from the Jolly Roger about a new ingredient for his latest explosive concoction. Alex shook her head wondering how this guy was still alive. The cabin lights dimmed, so Alex plugged in her Discman and shut her eyes. She woke-up with a headache that only came with the lack of caffeine. She got the flight attendant to bring her a caffeinated beverage. As soon as she had drunk half the can she felt better, looking at the movie screen she set her watch to match the time that was flashing across the screen. With in an hour they had landed, and they collected their bags.
They caught a cab with much effort and took it to one of the nicest hotels in the city. They walked in hand and hand giving the illusion of a touring couple. At the front desk they checked in and received the key,
“What do you think Red, shall we check out our room?” Alex looked a Michael in confusion, Michael tugged on her red curls, “I thought I suited you.”
Alex smiled “That’s great, on both.”
She had never really had a nickname before.
They walked to the elevator and on the way up Michael leaned in and whispered in to her ear “first we check the room for anything.” Alex nodded, tossed her hair and giggled. Michael winked at the elevator man. On the floor of their room their bags were tossed as they searched from top to bottom, the entire while talking about what they would see and tour in the city. Once they had scanned the room with bug detectors, Michael told Alex the rest of the equipment was the Embassy. They decided to walk to the place where the dictator worked at the political offices a few blocks from the hotel.
They wandered down with a camera, and Alex posed for several pictures, but wasn’t in any of them. They made note of the surrounding buildings, and signed up for a tour of the offices the next day.
Along the walk back to the hotel Michael asked, “Is what you read enough of do you want to know more?” Alex stared at him.
“I saw you reading my files Red, Why?”
Alex blushed and lowered her eyes. “I was curious about you, I’m sorry”
“How about you just ask from now on, quid pro quo, you want to know, ask.” And nothing more was said.
Back at the hotel Alex developed the pictures while Michael drew and accurate map of the surrounding area, with street, ally’s and buildings labeled. They decided to participate in some of the hotel’s social activities to make the tourist thing more believable. That night was a formal dinner/dance at the hotel’s ballroom. Alex found herself putting more effort than usual in getting ready. She had a long shower and wore her favorite matching bra/panties, leopard print. She pinned up her hair, with the occasional curl left down, and then she put on her short black dress, jewelry, and did make up. The look on Michael’s face as he offered her his arm made it all worthwhile.
They went down on the elevator and stayed light while finding out what they could. One the elevators back up Alex’s mind was working a mile a minute. Michael had been so protective having a hand on her arm or on the small of her back always. At first she thought it was part of the act, but his hand was still there. The elevator dinged and they walked back to the room, once inside Michael dropped his hand and walked to his “side”.
“We better get some sleep Red.”
Alex rolled her eyes and kicked off her shoes; she pulled out her laptop. Then she sunk into a chair dress and all, as she started calling up blueprints of the buildings and maps of the city. Little did she know but as Michael pretended to be asleep he was watching her work. Eventually she logged out and went to sleep. The travel time had messed up her internal clock; she slept for a full six hours. Upon ordering room service Michael and Alex were ready for their tour of the parliamentary offices.
Alex rolled her eyes their tour guide was such a ditz, she was obviously hired for appearance. But she was giving them the information they needed. Alex listened carefully, taking every the guide said and locking it into her long-term memory.
“Welcome, the tour will last about 2 hours, please follow me. This building has 32 floors, and for the past 15 years has been used as the political offices. Our President works on the 16th floor, towards the center of the building. An interesting fact is all the glass on that level is bullet proof and there are 16 guards on that floor as well as 14 on the levels directly above an below. There are also 10 guards on the ground floor and 6 on the roof at any given time. The elevators all have closed circuit camera’s and there are both motion and laser detectors. We have one of the most high tech security systems in the world.”
The tour guide giggled and Alex shuddered.
Alex and Michael took careful views of the lobby and surrounding area’s they passed though a few metal detectors. The tour guide continued talking, Alex listened carefully and Michael snapped pictures. An hour later they left the building and stepped into the bright sunlight. Alex headed straight for the hotel and a bottle of painkillers.
“My head hurts, I haven’t remembered that much in a long time.”
“You did great Red, and when you feel better we will head over to the embassy and see what we have in the way of equipment.”
Alex nodded tossed back two Advil and followed it with a glass of water.
“Kay, let’s bounce”
At the Embassy a man named Phil lead them down to the basement, and in a back room under lock and key was their stuff. Alex’s eyes lit up as Michael opened each of the cases: personalized sniper rifles with scopes, assault riffles, 2 of her favorite colt defenders. Clothes, rope and harnesses occupied a locked case. In another there were laptops, explosives, wire and knives. Alex felt like she had an early birthday, in a small box she found several fake identifications incase they were needed. Alex grabbed the climbing equipment,
“I haven’t done this in ages, I gotta practice.”
“There are some cliffs outside the city, we’ll go tomorrow”
They worked side by side taking an inventory and repacking the cases. The time flew by, and the only time they realized how late it was, was when Michael’s stomach growled. Alex heard the sound and started to laugh. Not wanting to insult him she tried to cover her mouth. He noticed her
“You think that’s funny?”
he asked. Alex nodded her head, her face turning red with the effort of trying not to laugh.
“Yeah?”
He launched himself at her pining her to the ground and tickling her until she screamed
“Uncle!”
His revenge complete he lay on his back next to her.
“You scared?” he asked.
“Not really, you?”
“There is a saying that: if one is not worried about something and others are then they have no idea what’s going on, what does that say about us.”
They lay there in silence for a while, thinking.
“If we are prepared though, ready for anything we’ll be fine.” Michael said
“Let’s not think anymore tonight, I’m hungry and can’t work on an empty stomach.”
Alex cut in, not really wanting to think of what could happen to her.
“Let’s hit a restaurant on the way back to the hotel, sound good?”
Two hours later the duo was back at the hotel with the climbing gear, and full. Some serious work then started, Alex printed the blue prints for the buildings, and Michael grabbed the maps. They lay out a huge piece of paper and started plotting the map out to accurate size. They made the entire thing then covered it with a laminate. It was now ready to plan on. They each selected a dry erase marker, then noticed the time. Even Alex was tired; it was 2:00 am. They carefully rolled up the map, which covered most of the floor of their giant suite, and had about 3 city blocks drawn on it. Soon after they were both asleep.
The next day, they rented a motorcycle from the hotel, and drove out to the cliffs. The road was cut into the side of a mountain that ran for 60 feet down into the ocean and about 80 feet on the other side to the top. Michael pulled the bike into a pull out. They pulled out all the climbing gear an each checked every piece twice. Satisfied Michael set an anchor, it could about 250 kg or more. They both harnessed, Alex went first, and securing herself to the anchor she slowly stepped off the edge, and began repelling towards the ocean. She dropped quickly and effectively, overall she kept it neat, at the half waypoint she stopped and climbed back up.
Back up with Michael he suggested they climb up on the other side of the road and absiel from the top. Alex climbed first setting double anchors every 15 feet. It was a long climb, when they reached the top they saw a sheer cliff off the other side, about 30 feet high with a ledge at the 20 mark. Absieling is the reverse of repelling, where repelling is feet first, Absieling is like a controlled nosedive. Michael went first brining himself to a controlled stop at the bottom, flipping just in time to place his feet against the ledge. Alex went next, then the two took turns until they were confident with both their own skills and those of the other person.
When they finished they sat at the top looking out over the ocean in silence. Soon it started getting cold and windy, so after repacking they repelled back down to the motorcycle. Michael first and Alex right behind. Back in the city they parked in the hotel’s parking, and headed up to their suite.
With the news on in the background they started planning out using their map. Suddenly Alex realized what wee was hearing on the news.
“At the end of the week, the president will be taking a 3 month break, and hiding from the public during this time.”
The newscaster continued. Alex stopped listening
“Did you hear that?” she asked. “It means our timeline was shortened…”
Michael nodded seriously “we have three days.”
Work became serious then; they needed to decide many things from using distractions of making a quiet hit. For fear of the dictator fleeing with any explosions, they decided on a quiet hit with explosions to cover their exits.
“Just an itty bitty boom, enough to set off fire alarms,” Alex said.
Time passed quickly and soon their map had everything plotted out on it from entrances and exits to back up plans.
It was really late or early depending on how you looked at it. Alex looked over at Michael who appeared to be absorbed in some papers.
“God, he looked hot when given the givens” she thought, “but no, Alex your life is complicated enough. So are you going to be a good girl or?”
Alex sighed and pulled off her sweatshirt, revealing her tight ‘Lara Croft’ tank top. Michael definitely took note, but tried to remain calm forcing himself to keep his eyes on the paper. He couldn’t believe how beautiful and down to earth she was, she was perfect and it scared him, that’s the reason he’d been keeping her at arms length. She got up to grab a soda
“You want something?” she asked. Michael worked his jaw.
“No I’m good for now.” She stretched as she turned her back to head towards the mini kitchen; Michael caught sight of a tattoo. He got up and followed her,
“I didn’t know you had a tattoo.”
“I got it when my mum died, she’s now free like the dove.”
“Can I see?”
Alex turned and allowed Michael to life up the back of her shirt up. He took a sharp breath as quietly as possible, Alex smiled when she heard this, and she loved this red bra. He traced his fingers along the out line of the dove. She trembled under his touch. He leaned his head next to her hear, and lightly bit the lobe, she turned her head and caught his lips with hers. Alex’s brain was yelling at her to stop, but her body was not listening. They were both finding it difficult to breath, Alex turned facing him, wrapping her arms around neck, running her fingers through his hair. He pushed her against the counter, running his fingers up and down her back, she dropped her head to his neck, and started pulling off his T-shirt, her lips briefly losing contact with his body and she pulled the shirt over his head. Michael’s fingers ran over her perfectly toned body. Their lips met again, Michael started lifting up her shirt. She pulled away, her face 5-cm from his.
“What the hell are we doing?” she asked. “We have a hit in,” she looked at the clock that read 3:30 am “in 29 hours, we can’t be doing this.”
“But we want to” Michael lifted her up setting her butt on the counter ledge.
“We have to stop, finish planning and sleep.”
Alex said wrapping her legs around his body and brought his head close to hers again. They started kissing again.
“No, not now”
Alex forced her lips away from is, and slid of the counter.
It took all her will power to fix her shirt and walk towards her bed. Trying to look as though she was okay, she slid in and closed her eyes. Michael knew better though, picking his shirt off the floor, he had seen how unsteady her walk was.
“Good Night Alex” he said shutting of the lights and taking his place of the couch.
Both of them had decided to sleep as much as possible. Alex awoke at 10 that Tuesday, and went looking of her caffeine fix. There was a vending machine down the hall, Alex dropped her coins into the machine, and took the coke that dropped out. An hour later she still had her headache that came with stress, she went to the lobby drug store and bought two boxes of caffeine pills. Back up in the room she tore into one, and swallowed two with a big glass of water. Then hid the rest in her bag, she didn’t want to get involved with stupid arguments with Michael. She knew what she was doing, was always in complete control. Her body was shaking she slid to the floor waiting for the caffeine to kick in. She sat with her knees tucked to her chest, watching her hand shake less and less.
By the time Michael woke at noon, she was fine, stretching and doing yoga in the center of the room. Michael watched her stretch her body into all kinds of interesting positions, before going to the bathroom for a cold shower. At one, they rented a car instead of a motorcycle, drove to the Embassy and picked up all their cases, and took them back to the hotel room. It got dark fast because of all the pollution and it was dusk at 4 in the afternoon.
The President always worked late on Wednesday’s, therefore making it easier as they could use the hazy darkness. They started putting equipment into their bags. Alex had to pack light, she was the one doing most of the flying. She set aside her colts, as they would be on her person. Into her bag she put the explosives she made, a change of clothes and a laser glasscutter, as well as other useful items like one of the fake identifications. Michael filled his with the assault riffle, Alex’s laptop, extra clothes, rope, binoculars, the ID, and knives. They made sure their identical Omega watches read the same time to the second, and checked their radios.
Then they pulled out the map and reviewed one more time, they had 1 hour to get in and out, there was no margin for error, they had to know where to be when and an escape route for every possible scenario was accounted for.
They ordered and ate in silence, both focusing really hard on getting the other out mind; they couldn’t afford being distracted and knew it. They both went to bed early, Alex getting up before Michael, as always, taking her caffeine pills, and slid them into her back for that evening, she couldn’t afford to start shaking. The air was tense as they started to prepare for that afternoon. Both of their minds were focused on the tasks, only straying slightly with the smell of the other’s perfume or after-shave. They dressed watching each other looking for flaws or mistake, first was tight black leggings, and a long sleeved shirt, overtop for them both went business suits. They both strapped on their weapons out of sight and the watches went on next. They carefully checked the climbing equipment. It was then time to move out, they put on their radios, and gave one more quick check, it was 5 by 5.
The duo left the hotel and walked down the street, pointing out tourist sights and laughing. The walked to the business building next to the political offices, darkness was starting to fall. They entered the building; there were no metal detectors or cameras in this building. The entered the elevator and rode it to the 18th floor, where they exited to the back room on the side of the political office. On the blue prints, there was a small room they were planning on using it had a window and the fire escape led from it. It was 4 and most of the people had left, they walked through without a problem. The room was a photocopy room, they entered and locked the door behind them, Michael used the binoculars and started watching the roofline of the offices, and he counted all 6 of the guards.
Alex pulled off the suit she was wearing, and put on the harness and gloves. Michael stepped on the fire escape and secured the end of the rope. Alex had to jump the 8-foot gap to the fire escape on the other building. She tensed herself in the dark, Michael used the heat sensor binoculars to watch the guards, and right on schedule they began to switch and Alex jumped. She caught the grate at a bad angle and pulled her shoulder; Alex bit her lip till the blood flowed to keep from crying out. She secured the rope, and began to lower herself down the two levels to the 16th floor. She felt the weight on the rope change as Michael slip his bag down and unhooked the rope from the first side and made the jump himself.
Alex braced herself on the outside of the building, slowing inverting herself. She hung like this for a minute, then lowered down, saw the room was empty, and nodded to Michael, who in the mean time secured himself and started lowering down. Alex felt the blood rushing to her head, as Michael opened her bag and passed her the glasscutter. Silently it cut through the bulletproof window, using suction cups to remove the class piece. She slid through the opening, her feet landing silently on the floor. She accepted the bag as Michael passed it to her.
As Michael removed the ropes from the outside of the building, Alex pulled out her laptop, plugged it into the wall and hacked into the security cameras. After recording 15 seconds of each of the area’s they were going to be in, she placed them on a play back loop. The picture wasn’t going to change; Alex checked her watch they were on time. The motion detectors were not an issue as they would not be on till more people left the building. After putting the lap top back away, and putting their bags on, they started to move. Alex eased open the door to a security guard walking by he stopped and started to open his mouth. Alex placed a finger on her lips and raised an eyebrow seductively, her other had pulling up her T-shirt, the guard approached her curiously. She withdrew into the room an the guard followed, as soon as he was out of the hallway she grabbed his hand pulled it behind him breaking it at the elbow and wrist, broke his jaw and had him on the floor. The duct tape she had in her bag became useful them. Michael watched the door and hallway while she worked.
One guard, they only had thirteen left to avoid. Moving into the hallway they made their way towards the target’s office. When they were there, Alex threw Michael one of her colts, and screwed the silencer onto the remaining colt. She stood at the door while Michael went in first. The President/dictator/target, however he was to be referred heard them enter, his head flew up his shocked look turned to one of fear, as he opened his mouth to scream or beg. Michael shot once to the head, matching Alex’s one to the heart. They turned know this part was critical, and they were slightly behind. The elevator doors were to the left of the office; Michael went first Alex following close behind. On the elevator they stripped out of the black tight suits and gloves, back in the business suits Alex set charges all over the elevator, they left the used weapons, clothes and gloves on the floor as they stepped in to the lobby.
The security started to approach them. The doors started sliding shut, as the guards reached them and asked them to stop. Just then the elevator doors met in the middle, causing an explosion. All hell broke lose, Michael pulled Alex towards the front door and onto the street. The guards were shooting at them. On the street people were running out of many of the buildings and in the distance fire truck sirens could be heard.
“That was a little boom?” Michael asked as he walked down the street.
“So I made it slightly bigger, it was effective hey?”
Police passed them on their way to the hotel. In the hotel they repackaged the weapons that were unused, and there map and drove back towards the embassy.
At the embassy they dropped the cases and outside they destroyed the map. They were going to stay at the hotel another day before leaving. On the way back to the hotel they passed near the political offices, they were stopped by the police who now had road blocks set up all over the city. “Smile” Michael joked, his voice tense as he rolled down his window.
“Where are you driving from” the man asked.
“The Embassy”
“Where are you going?”
“Back to our hotel, is there a problem?”
“Don’t ask me questions, please continue and don’t leave the hotel again tonight”
Michael started rolling up the window. Alex relaxed and looked out her window in time to see the guard she had duct taped being loaded into a military ambulance. Alex sank into her seat too late as his eyes met hers and widened with recognition.
“Michael, we go now!”
Michael started rolling forward; the police's gloved hand reached to stop the closing window. “Relax” Michael told her.
“This Car from the hotel?”
“Yes”
The man let go of the window and Michael drove away “See no problem”
“That guard saw me….”
“I doubt it”
“Michael we have to get out of here”
“We can’t, we run now we look guilty, although I hate being a sitting duck, especially unarmed.”
Alex reached behind her and grabbed her backpack and reached inside, pulling out two M1991As.
“Found them at the bottom of one of the cases” Alex admitted sheepishly, “I hate being unarmed.”
“If I wasn’t so grateful I’d lecture you about packing”
Alex smiled, they continued back to the hotel, a little more at ease. Back in the room they packed up everything for the flight the next morning. Alex dropped her bag, as she went to pick it up she noticed her hand was shaking. She grabbed her pills and headed to the bathroom. Closing the door she took 2 as her knees started to shake, she sank to the floor waiting. Within 5 minutes she was okay to walk. As she passed the window she noticed something that made her heart drop. A man dressed in black from head to toe in black crouched next to a garbage can and was using military hand signals. Grabbing her pack and Michael’s hand as she ran through the suite she managed to say, “We’re checking out”
Michael grabbed his bag that was by the door and together they sprinted down the hallway. They heard the explosions as they reached the Emergency stairs. Pulling open the door to the stairs they heard men running up them.
“Up?” Michael nodded his agreement.
They ran up two flights of the stairs, when they noticed a haze wafting down. Smelling it they both started choking and coughing. They made it up one more flight of stairs before stumbling out of the stair well and into a main hallway. They noticed people running out of their rooms. Alex and Michael entered an empty room they made their way to the window. Throwing it open, the duo climbed out onto the ledge. Fortunately the hotel was old and the brickwork was spaced enough to climb. They were two floors from the room 18 from the ground, so they went up. As soon as they reached the roof guards spotted them. Drawing their guns they each took out a man. Then they sprinted across the room and planed to jump from the roof to the upper level of the hotel’s parking garage. At the edge of the roof Alex started shaking again, the adrenaline had interfered with the caffeine intake.
“Pills, front pocket bag” Alex managed to get out.
Michael pulled out the packages and pushed two into her mouth, and pulled her to her feet as the sound of the guards came closer. They stood on the rail, Alex still trembling; there was a six-foot gap and a one-story drop.
“We’re aiming for the green car.”
“I can’t”
“We are”
Michael jumped, they landed on the hood of the car, Michael absorbing the impact and trying to shield Alex by pulling her on top of him. They slid down the hood to the ground gasping for breath. Michael completely winded noticed the bruises forming on Alex, and imagined what he must look like. He knew that they had to keep going the large dent in the car would point out where they were if they stayed still. Alex was sitting her knees drawn to her chest. Michael pulled himself up, “We have to keep going.”
Alex looked at him blankly. Michael pulled her to her feet and leaned into her face.
“Snap out of it!”
Nothing.
“Pull it together”
Alex heard this and blinked a couple of times, she stretched to see what damage was done.
“For awhile I thought I was dead, then I realized you were there and it couldn’t have been heaven.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. Michael was weak with relief; he pulled her to her feet and turned to grab their bags. As soon as his back was turned, Alex tested her shoulder it was bad she was going to need ice and pain killers soon and she knew it. Forcing a smile at Michael she said, “No rest for the weary, Let’s roll”
They ran throughout the parkade looking for an open car or perhaps keys or if they were really lucky both. On the third floor they noticed a man getting off a motorcycle,
“You thinking what’s I’m thinking?”
Alex asked. She pulled her wallet,
“LiAnn Skylar, Interpol, we need your bike.”
She said flipping her wallet open and closed. He looked worried and handed her the keys.
“Interpol will compensate you,” Michael added as he got on the bike.
“Good thing the general public is stupid and over influenced by Hollywood,” Alex whispered into Michael’s ear as she got on behind him. They roared throughout the rest of the parked. As soon as they hit the street they were being shot at,
“These guys are getting pesky” Alex yelled.
“Humor later, How are we going to get out of here?”
Alex closed her eyes and brought a picture of the city to her mind. She opened her eyes and looked at the street signs.
“Next Left” she yelled in his ear, the men were gaining on them and loading weapons “and pick it up”
They made the left losing several trucks in the process, “Okay 2 streets and then a right” Alex led them into a more densely populated area.
Michael made the turn, the military vehicles and after a few more turns they had lost them. Alex had Michael pull into an ally. At the end there was a motorcycle club. They parked behind a Dumpster and entered the bar. Michael grabbed a table at the back, while Alex made her way to the bathroom.
She looked at herself in the mirror, she loved those red curls, but it had to go. It will grow back she told herself, as she pulled out a pocketknife with scissors and started cutting. With in minutes she had 3 inches of hair, she sighed as she threw the pieces into a garbage bag. On the way out she noticed cleaning supplies n the floor. The bottle of bleach caught her eye;
“I always wanted to be a blond.”
Leaning over the sink she poured the bleach throughout the short hair and rinsed it out. She ran her fingers through her neatly shorn heir, and looked sadly at the garbage can full of her hair,
“It’s only hair, It’ll grow back” she told herself again.
She found Michael slumped over the table. “Michael,” she shook him gently
“I know you’re tired, but we gotta keep going.”
He didn’t move. “Michael, Michael” her voice was rising.
“Wake up”
Alex went to grab is shoulder her had brushing his hair in the process it was wet and sticky. He was bleeding from a very large gash on his scalp. She hadn’t noticed due to the low light in the bar.
“This is not good, don’t panic you can fix this”
Alex was talking to herself, she walked up to the bartender.
“My friend is hurt pretty bad”
“So? Take him to a hospital”
“We can’t”
“What’s a chick like you doing with a guy like that?”
“Actually you should be asking what’s a guy like him doing with a chick like me? Are you going to help or not?”
Alex knew this was a risky move, but sometimes the local gang brought one of their injured to the Purple Pitt, where her boss would help them out. Often the bar had medical stuff for such occasions. The bartender nodded
“You got guts, yeah these two will help you move him”
Two men next to the bartender helped to move Michael to the back room where they set him on a pool table. They also helped Alex to gather what she needed distilled water alcohol, gauze, tape, a lighter, and needle and thread. Alex first sterilized the needle with the lighter, then rinsed Michael’s scalp with the water. His eyelids fluttered. Stay asleep she prayed silently.
“I need a razor” One of the two men handed her one from his pocket, carefully she shaved the area around the cut. Rinsing it again she pressed gauze on it.
Alex threaded the needle, “Hold him” she said. When the men had a firm grasp, she removed the gauze poured the alcohol over the wound and began to stitch his head closed. The full 6 inches of wound took 1 hour to sew shut. When she finished she covered it with gauze and taped it down.
“Please be okay” she prayed aloud as she cleaned up. The two men left telling her the bartender would be in later. Alex climbed onto the table and placed Michael’s head and upper body in her lap. She sat like this for hours. The bartender came in when the bar closed at 3 am.
“Sorry about the crap I gave you earlier”
“It’s okay, I know the drill”
“George” the man introduced himself
“Alex” she said knowing it was better not to lie, “and this is Michael” she pointed to the still unconscious man.
“You know that I don’t want to know why you are in trouble” Alex nodded “But if me and the boys can help at all, we’d be glad to.”
“We need to get to the airport”
George shook his head, “No good, the police have corded off a 36 block area around the political offices, even if you could get out of that the nearest airport is closed.”
Alex shook her head, the worry apparent in her eyes.
“But,” George continued, “if you can clear the police blockade, I can have someone meet you outside the city with a truck and get them to take you to a privately owned airstrip."
“As soon as he gets better we’ll go. Thank you”
George left again and within half an hour Michael opened his eyes. Looking up at her he said, “Now that’s a sight for sore eyes, Nice hair”
Alex wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry from relief, so she did neither, and quickly brought him up to speed on what was going on, then left to find George to hopefully get clean clothes and food. He provided both, as well as more clips for their guns.
They prepared to leave quickly, “One thing” George said “Your going to need to prove to my truck driver that you’re from me”
“How”
“We all have the same tattoo”
“No” Michael said “Absolutely not"
“Chill” Alex looked at him coolly, then turning to George, “Of what?”
George extended his arm showing small letter near his elbow. Looking closer she saw it said: that which nourished me destroys me.
“I’m game, be right back Michael”
“Alex,” Michael said getting up
“Finish packing, I don’t know about you, but I want to get out of here alive!”
Michael acknowledged this with a noted as she left the room. Soon they were ready and said thanks to George.
The duo grabbed the motorcycle and Alex directed them to a slummy area of the 36 blocks, they came to a chain link fence where the guards were.
“How far is the truck from here?”
“About 2 kilometers” Alex answered
“Feel like a run?”
“I can, but you shouldn’t”
“I want to get out of here alive” Michael mimicked her
“Michael?”
“Yes” he answered innocently
“Shut up”
They waited until the guards walked the other way, before vaulting the 6-foot fence and running into the woods. At first they ran in silence matching watch others pace. As they reached the 1.5-km mark Michael asked, “You think they’ll figure something is up?”
“Let’s hope not”
They kept going and soon the sun started rising over the horizon. The sky was lightening as the pair ran to a highway pullout were a truck was waiting.
“Jerry?” Alex whispered loudly
A gruff looking man appeared from around the side of what looked to be a military supply truck.
“Who want to know?”
“Alex and Michael”
“Prove it”
Alex extended her arm showing the tattoo. Jerry nodded and showed his. He them motioned Alex and Michael into the back of the truck. They climbed inside, and onto a mattress that was covered in blankets.
“What no central heating system?” Michael asked
Alex started laughing; not so much as he was funny, more from relief and exhaustion. They both needed to sleep but couldn’t relax. They sat together; Alex tucked under Michael’s arm, her head on his chest where she felt safe. It wasn’t often she could do this, usually she was too tall for most guys.
“You know what?” Alex said “I was scared, and now I want to talk, pretend I am normal, you know?”
Michael understood perfectly, “Let’s have an information exchange, I’ll tell you something, you tell me something, this for that, a new quid pro quo.”
Alex smiled and tucked into him closer. He wrapped a blanket around them. “You start,” she said.
“Well as you know I grew up in New York City,” Alex blushed, and Michael squeezed her gently to let her know he was teasing.
“My dad was a lawyer and my mom a banker, they both worked long hours and by the time I was 12 I was riding the subway all over the city alone. That’s what it was like, here’s your house key and subway pass have a nice day. My parents were shot riding the subway to my school play, I blamed myself for the longest time, I had wanted them there so badly, I was selfish.”
“It wasn’t your fault"
"I know that now but then I was angry and felt guilty, I took it out on the people in foster homes. I was shipped around for a long time. Then one family instead of passing me off taught me to control my anger. They also taught me other skills…. When they were killed I swore to myself I would do things to help people, my foster father worked with Gantley, so when I told him what I wanted he recruited me. What about you?”
“ My daddy wanted a boy, when I was born, he rarely did things with me. I was dying to get his attention; I dressed and acted like a boy. The day a kid in my class pushed the tease of my being a ‘tomboy' too far and I beat him up pretty bad. My dad then realized he’d been neglecting me from then on we did things together, he taught me how fight, shoot and climb. A friend of his taught me explosives and lock picking?”
“What about hacking?”
“Oh, when my parents died in a fire I was told I need a hobby…..”
“Right….that’s some hobby. Hey Alex what’s your favorite colour?”
“Green, yours?”
“Blue”
“Movie, food, sign?”
“Matrix, pasta, Virgo, same question?”
“Steel Magnolias, pasta, Scorpio”
“Steel Magnolias?”
“I was just checking to see if you were listening, actually I always like Groundhog Day”
“The typical American male movie”
They lapsed into silence watching the starts disappear and the sky torn from dark to light blue through a rip in the canvas covering the truck.
“You think we are going to get of this okay?”
Alex asked after awhile
“I hope so” Michael answered “I hope so”
The truck made a right turn and continued traveling down a bumpy gravel road, after a few minutes the truck slowed and stopped. Jerry came around to the back “The police are set up ahead, you’ve got to get out here – you’re only 15 minutes from the landing strip.”
“Thanks” Alex said and her and Michael climbed wearily out of the truck
“Guess they noticed after all” Michael commented ruefully.
The jumped into the bushes and started heading towards the sound of generators, they heard Jerry’s truck backfire, and the shouts of the police, then the sound of gunfire. Alex turned to go back, Michael grabbed her arm and pulled her through the underbrush away from the noise. The next thing they saw was a flash as the truck blew up. Alex stopped “we caused that she whispered” Michael couldn’t let her stop now, “we are almost there”.
Within minutes they were on the makeshift runway, where they met their pilot, who also sported the tattoo. As they were climbing aboard the plane from the far end of the runway the police appeared shooting madly.
“We gotta go” Michael told the pilot “like now!”
They dove aboard the already running plane and within seconds were in the air. “We did it!” Alex said when they hit the air; they left the troubled airspace and landed at the next major airport. Soon Alex and Michael were on a plane home. Upon arriving back at their own airport they met Garnham, who after seeing them said “Get back on the plane, you got finish up!”
“What?!?!” Alex screeched
“The general has taken over and is threatening to release their warfare on every developed nation in the world, we have the cure for the disease here, this vaccine will kill all the virus. You have to break into the labs, which are in a different part of the country and destroy both the virus, plans, and finish off the general”
Alex rolled her eyes towards Michael “Either tell me he is joking or pinch me cause I must dreaming.”
Michael grabbed her arm and they headed back through the airport.
“This wasn’t one of the choices”
Garnham yelled after them “There will be fresh equipment there, by the way what the hell she do to her hair?”
Michael kept a tight grip on Alex so she didn’t run back and strangle Garnham.
“Why do I feel like I should be hearing round 2 followed by a bell?” Alex asked when they were back on the plane.
“Because we are returning to a country we left less that 12 hours ago while being shot at”
“Oh right, silly me I forgot” Alex glared at Michael
Michael started laughing “What would I do without you?”
“As far as I can remember Michael you haven’t had me”
“There’s always the mile high club” Michael suggested.
“Nope, think of waiting as incentive to get in and out of here alive and quickly. And if you are really lucky and the population of the world depends on us.”
Alex refused to ever let Michael have the upper hand.
After arriving at the airport, LiAnn and Austin, had a totally new appearance, the latex masks were uncomfortable but lifesavers. They were able to walk by guards that were looking for Alex, the woman with the red hair and that woman with the blonde hair who resisted arrest.
They had to go to the biological labs, which were about 500kms from the city where they started. They rode a bus filled with locals. The trip took 8 hours. Michael and Alex found themselves in a small town, a village really; the only reason it was in existence was to support the factories and labs in the surrounding areas. The pair checked into the hotel that had already been booked from them, the owner of this hotel was part the their agency. Their equipment was on the floor of their room. It was pretty much the same stuff except there was morphine, a few vials of a purple liquid and many syringes.
Alex rolled her eyes and went to her bag; she needed that pain control for her shoulder and the caffeine to ward off the on coming headache. When Michael had his head turned she grabbed the morphine, a syringe, her caffeine, and headed off to the bathroom. Pulling off her shirt she saw her shoulder was mottled, bruised and extremely tender. Alex had taken some medical classes back in first year, so she knew how much morphine would numb the pain without knocking her out. The caffeine was there to keep her alert. She found the vein and with perfect precision filled the syringe, as she pushed the point of the needle through her skin into her vein she heard Michael calling her name.
“Be out in a sec” she called pushing the plunger.
He knocked on the door,
“Open it now!”
“Back off, I’ll be done in a sec.”
Pulling the syringe out of her arm and taking 2 for her pills she swallowed and was reaching for her shirt to cover her arm when Michael kicked in the door.
“What the hell” Alex screamed at him.
“Where’s the morphine? you can’t be….”
Michael trailed off when he saw her shoulder. Looking around he picked up the syringe, morphine and pills,
“Put on your shirt we need to talk”
Alex pulled on her shirt and stormed after him to the table in the room. She sat in the chair one leg tucked underneath her, on knee up and her chin resting on it.
“When did you total your shoulder?”
“Getting into the political offices”
“You didn’t mention it”
“High pain threshold”
“I guess I understand the morphine then, how much you take?”
“5 cc’s” Alex’s answers were short, clipped and to the point making it clear she was very unimpressed with the interrogation.
“The pills?”
“Caffeine, it’s a legal substance”
“Why are you taking them”
“You saw what happens if I don’t, don’t be asking stupid questions”
“How long has that been happening?”
“A while”
“When we get out of here, we are getting you some help”
Alex glared and opened her mouth to speak. Michael cut her off
“I know I know, you don’t need help, but we’re going anyway”
Alex closed her mouth again, then thought, “Why do you care?”
“How can I not?” Michael asked, “how can I not?”
“We are only friends though, that’s it.”
“For now”
They left it at that. They wanted to go home and to do that they had to finish. So they pulled out the blue prints of the medical lab.
“Let’s go through the front door, kill the bugs and the bad guys and then get out.”
“Good plan, who do you think you are? Rambo?” Alex snickered then though for a minute. “Wait that might actually work, look here”
“Told ya” Michael smirked.
“Yeah, well I am going to sleep I am exhausted”
“Alex, it’s 2 in the afternoon”
“Yeah and I haven’t slept in over 72 hours”
“Oh right, you weren’t unconscious”
Alex smiled then curled up on her side and slept. While Alex slept, Michael planned out the entrance and exit. He was working well focused until he turned to check on Alex. She had uncurled and was now lying on her back, her covers kicked off and arms reached over her head. Her tank top had ridden up exposing her tanned, sculpted abs. He watched her sleep, realizing exactly how much he cares about her; not like a brother or a partner either. Michael was afraid, he had only fallen in love once before and he had his heart ripped out, when she left him after informing him she had been cheating on him. It had hurt and he had avoided getting too close to people since. But this hadn’t really been his choice, she was thrown into his life and he couldn’t help himself: her energy, humor, wit, smiles, everything about her made him glad to be alive. He desperately hoped that their fling at the last hotel had been more than that. He wanted it to be so much more. He signed; he had been day dreaming. Looking at the time he noted that he needed sleep as well. He stretched out on the couch, his legs hanging over the end. Soon exhaustion and fatigue took over and he fell asleep.
Early in the morning Alex woke, she looked at the clock 3 am. She couldn’t see Michael so she pulled herself off the bed she found him on the couch.
“Poor guy” she whispered to herself, getting a pillow and blanket off the bed. Ever so carefully she lifted his head and tucked the pillow underneath, then covered him with the blanket. She care about him too much, she remembered his lips on hers with a smile, too bad that was just a “roll with another pretty girl to him” she thought to herself ruefully. She sighed and wandered back to her bed so continue sleeping. Michael opened his eyes, readjusted the pillow.
“U2 was tight, love throws ya but doesn’t stick around to break your fall, but it is the sweetest thing.”
The next morning they woke up, ready, alert and with all the thoughts and feelings from the night buried deep inside. They dressed and grabbed the equipment they would need: weapons were colts with laser sights, the vials of the purple liquid and the other thing they might need. Alex grabbed a few of her explosives. They took a jeep that had been provided, through Garnham, to them. They parked in the parking lot, and walked to the lab doors,
“Should we knock” Alex asked with a grin while attaching C4 to the door and putting an electrode into it.
“I think they should know we are here”
Michael replied with a grin as they backed up and down behind a wall. Alex crossed the wire and touched them to a battery. There was a flash, then a boom; Alex and Michael could fell the heat. They sat sniper style, and picked off the uniforms as they came rushing out of the smoke.
“We’re here,” Alex said in a singsong voice, as they stepped over the bodies they had dropped.
They both reloaded as they walked thought the outer area of the building. They came to a glass door leading to the labs. It was a key card lock. Alex stepped up reached to the corners of the door and slowly brought her fingers down toward the center.
“They lock a glass door? And these guys are scientists”
Alex said, pushing on the middle of the door.
“What the hell did that do?"
Michael asked drawing his gun. The door cracked and shattered, Michael watched open-mouthed.
“All glass plates have a weak point, you just have to find it”
They ran down a long corridor of offices and into the lab. Alex went first yelling, “Nobody moves nobody dies”
Michael was right behind her with “Act now on this limited time offer”
They motioned all the men to the middle of the room, and Michael started pulling out rope. Alex grabbed Michael and they backed up, Alex dropped something there was a boom and the men all fell down.
“Smart as Einstein, legs to die for and she carries her own stun grenades, the perfect woman.”
“Save it” Alex said as they split up.
They put the petri dishes with the level 3 viruses into the autoclave, and hit sterilize. They walked from cage to cage and injected the monkeys with the cure. At the far end of the lab, there were the human test subjects. These people were in various stages of illness. The worst ones were coughing and had strange marks on the backs of their hands and behind their ears. Using rubber gloves, Michael injected the purple liquid and Alex the morphine. These people would die anyway but at least they were no longer infected or in pain. The scene was terrible and it disturbed Alex very much, these people didn’t even have names, just numbers. The scientists were starting to wake now. Alex and Michael explained to them they that no longer had to work. They were all glad, as they had been stolen from their homes to do this horrible work.
“One thing” Alex said, “Where is the General?”
They all got silent and looked at each other. Alex growled and grabbed the closest scientist,
“I just saved your life, but I can break a bone a minute if you prefer. In 3 hours you’d be a rag doll except rag dolls don’t feel pain, and you will.”
“The military base.”
“Thank you”
Alex smiled and her and Michael walked out knowing these people would not harm them.
“Military base, now I am supposed to break into a military base? This just keeps getting better and better.”
They drove to the bast and stopped when the guard waved them down. “We are here to see the general, we have some information for him”
Michael announced.
“Can I tell him who’s here?”
“Skylar and Dakota”
They guy disappeared to talk on the phone Alex got out of the car, walked to the guard booth, kicked out the guards knee and keeping her gun trained on him picked up the phone.
“General?” she asked
“Who the hell are you?” he asked
“Skylar, LiAnn Skylar, and it you’d benefit you very much to talk to us”
“Yeah why?”
“We know who killed your president”
The line went quiet, then “That’s not even been announced on the news yet: I’m in the 4th building on your left, hurry up”
Alex put down the phone, “sorry about that” she said to the guard, gagging and binding him with tape.
“Make sure you get that knee looked at.”
Alex walked back to the car where Michael was attaching silencers to their guns,
“He’s waiting for us.”
Alex refilled her pack with explosives as Michael drove to the building.
They got out of the jeep and walked into the building.
“He won’t touch us till after he thinks he has his information”
They walked into the office; the general looked at them
“Skylar and Dakota? Please sit”
“Thank you no, we are only here for a minute” Michael said drawing his gun.
“What the hell are you doing? You’ll never get of here alive”
“Alex, set up please” Alex started setting up charges, placing them around the room with an unchangeable time of 5 minutes.
“So you want to know who killed your president, that bastard of a dictator” Alex asked.
“We did” Michael pulled the trigger. The man fell backwards, Alex and Michael left the room, Alex heard the man call her name. She didn’t like people suffering
“Go start the jeep, I’ll be out in a second”
She cautiously approached the man, her gun drawn to finish him.
“Skylar, it’s about the virus, it’s spread through body fluids”
“Your point? why are you telling me this” Alex asked confused
Alex felt two arms tighten around her, she lost her gun. “So I could catch a killer,” the person holding her said. Alex stopped her panic instinct.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I would be General Malek, Did you really think I was going sit here and have people I don’t know tell me information”
Alex stopped listening; she had less than two minutes to get out. The man grasping her kept talking. Alex needed to get out. She pretended to struggle, the general laughed, pulled a knife and held it to her throat. Alex faked a feint. Knees buckling and she sagged backwards into her captor. Unprepared for the weight change he dropped the knife and re-adjusted his grasp, while mumbling about “pitiful women.” Alex brought her leg over her head kicking him in the face, she heard the crack of his nose breaking. She grabbed his gun from his belt, she shot twice, he went down grabbing her shirt in the process. He didn’t let go and Alex had to get out, she pulled her shirt off and turned for the door. While Alex was struggling, Michael was getting worried, his training kept him from reentering the building but sitting outside watching the time tick by was killing him. Alex saw her gun on the way out she grabbed it and started running, she had 15 seconds to clear 100 meters. She sprinted down the hallway and hit the door as she heard the first boom, she flew out the door and got to Michel and the jeep ad the fire engulfed where she had been standing moments before. They couldn’t get out the front gate with their jeep, the entire base was on alert. Soldiers came running towards them. They split taking opposite sides of the ally. Together they took out the men.
“I need a bigger challenge” Alex yelled cockily
“We are out of ammo”
“That’s a good start”
“We weren’t supposed to be attacking a military base, but it’s okay I think we got them all”
“Michael” Alex yelled. He won’t be able to turn in time she realized the man behind him raised his gun.
“Down” she screamed.
He hit the ground, Alex shot the last bullet they had, the man aiming at Michael went down. Michael looked up as the building behind Alex exploded. What he saw made him understand the concept of Hell’s Angel, or maybe Angel of mercy that was ready for a fight. Alex her blond hair all spiked from water and sweat, arms raised gun pointed at the fallen man, chest heaving and muscles shaking lightly with the exertion. She was only wearing a sports bra and running pants. The fire burning the building, matched the one in her eyes. The flames behind her giving her a visible aura. Time slowed down as she walked towards him, he could have sworn at that point he saw wings, white ones tipped with black. He shook his head and everything returned to normal time and vision.
“You okay?” she asked when she reached him.
“Yeah, fine” he said in amazement. “Nice shot”
“Did you expect anything else?”
He grinned “You got any bright ideas on how we are getting out of here?”
“I’ve always wanted to drive a tank”
Alex pulled Michael up and together they ran for the hanger where they had seen the vehicles. Running in Michael said “They seem to be fresh out of tanks, but here I have lovely jeep in that ever styling military green.”
Another building exploded half the base was on fire. “I think it’s time to go, like now!”
Alex said as she climbed in, Michael followed suit. She pooped the clutch and they roared out of the hanger. They picked up speed as they raced across the base. Michael looked around in the jeep.
“Look” he grabbed something off the floor, “Hand grenades.”
They drove toward the front gate. Michael pulled the pin, and held the grenade, together they counted as the mental gate closer. “one, two, three four” On four Michael released the grenade.
It hit the fence and exploded, they drove through the wall of fire and off the base through a newly made hole in the gate. Alex let out a catcall. They abandoned the jeep outside the town, well Alex made Michael get out while she put a rock on the gas and pointed it off the bridge. They walked the rest of the way to the town, in the hotel they packed up, showered, and dressed as tourists. They caught the next bus out and within 12 hours they were in the air towards home.
“Now what happens?” Alex asked
“We have to go back to the Facility to debrief, and get medical exams”
“Medical exams?”
“They check us out make sure nothing serious or permanent has happened.”
“Perfect, they are going to love my shoulder” she said sarcastically.
“Alex..” Michael was cut off as the man to the left of Alex on the isle seat started coughing.
“Are you okay sir?” Alex asked.
He looked at her eyes sad, and nodded. He started coughing and scratching the back of his hand. He got up and moved towards the bathroom.
“Michael” Alex said slightly panicked, “remember how one they cages with people in it was empty? And the others said one of them had been allowed to leave?”
“Yeah?”
“Well I thought they meant that he had been allowed to leave before the testing.”
“Yeah so”
“That man had the marks on his hand”
“Not funny Alex”
“I have never been more serious in my life. Do you have the purple stuff with you?”
“I have one vial left”
“Grab it and come with me”
They made there way down the plane isle in the direction the man went. They heard violent coughing in the bathroom. They found a stewardess and asked for her to makes sure that all the people on the plane remained in their seats, and asked if they had a private place. The stewardess pointed them in the direction of a little room with a curtain. Alex pulled on her gloves and knock on the bathroom door.
“Let me help you sir”
She heard a quiet “Go away,” thought the door
“I know how to cure you,”
“No you don’t know one does.”
“Patient 1145369, they let you leave you couldn’t understand why, you didn’t think you had been infected.”
The door opened, the man was looking terrible. “We can ease your pain and stop the spread of the infection so other people won’t have to suffer this. I don’t think you will live though.”
Alex believed in laying all her cards out, the man considered what she said and nodded. Please follow me, she led him to the room where Michael had the injection ready. They monitored the man for the rest of the flight. He soon fell asleep, Alex doubted he would ever wake. She let out a long sigh looking at him. This person was innocent, she was sad yet happy at the same time, she had helped to bring down the men who brought this one the poor people. Then there was her partner, she really like him, they worked so well together, she knew that liking him was a problem. It not like he cared about her in anyway other than a partner or friend, he was so stupid. She saw they way he talked to the stewardess, he was flirting. Michael watched Alex’s bowed head wondering what she was thinking. That stewardess had been flirting him, but the thought of even touching someone that was not Alex was foreign to him. He loved her so much, but had no indication that she felt anything towards him. The plane landed, a stretcher came in and took the man off the plane.
Michael and Alex picked up their carry on bags. Garnham was waiting for them, they approached cautiously this time. He greeted them with “Well done.”
They smiled at each other. Garnham went with them to get their bags. As they were walking towards the front of the airport Garnham handed Alex keys, she looked at them. “What?”
“Your new Ninja” he said seriously
“Awesome” she flung her arms around his neck.
“Alex, you can’t hug hi….” Michael started to say as Garnham hugged her back.
“By the way kiddo I like your hair”
She smiled at him, “Meet you two back at the Facility?”
Garnham nodded, Alex handed her bag to Michael, “Take this back for me?”
He nodded still in disbelief at the scene that had unfolded in front of him.
Alex ran to the parking lot, there is was a black Ninja with red flames, it was a beautiful bike. She threw on the helmet, and sped out of the parking lot. It was great the wind whipping by her face, nothing in the world could bring her down, not a guy, not a job, not the future or the past, she was free and nothing could change that! All her stress, and emotion from the mission disappeared as she nudged the needle past 130, nothing could hold her back. Knowing she was somewhat far ahead of Michael and Garnham she went for a bit of a joy ride, she cruised past the beach, getting looks of jealousy from the girls, and appreciation from the guys. When she finally decided to go back to the Facility, Garnham’s black Rolls Royce Seraph was just pulling into the parking lot. She pulled up next to them, and yanked her helmet off. Placing it on the bike she then followed them inside, while self-consciously running her fingers through her short spiky hair. They walked up the stairs and were led into the group debrief room.
“Two dead bodies” Garnham started
“You mean us?” Alex asked in alarm
“Don’t tempt me, there were suppose to be two dead bodies, instead there are more than 10 and a military base that is half gone and...”
“We used all measures that were appropriate and we that were needed.”
Michael interrupted to defended them, Alex shook her head to silence him too late. It seemed that only she got away with interrupting him.
“I dislike being interrupted,” Garnham pulled a gun “Dead or alive, what to do? what to do?”
“He’s joking” Michael assured Alex.
Garnham winked really fast at Alex and pulled the trigger.
“Ahhh” Michael hits the ground,
“I’m sorry, sometimes I just need to let off a little steam,”
“Sure I understand some people jog, you shoot at your employees.”
The rest of the debriefing was pretty uneventful compared to that. When it was over, they separated for their medical exams, Alex passed hers with flying colours, her should they told her needed ice, and they prescribed some painkillers. Besides that and a few bruises she was in perfect health. Alex exited the health area of the facility, to look around and find Michael again. As she walked past the shooting range, the man who frisked her at the beginning caught up with her.
She turned “Didn’t I cause enough pain the first time?” she asked.
“I came to apologize for that, but I mean can you blame me?”
Alex looked at him and raised an eyebrow
“Good looks and lack of ethics, which reminds me those are my favourite traits” Alex flirted back.
“I like what you did with your hair”
“I had to cut it to help us hide out, red hair really sticks out, funny that.”
Alex self-consciously started running her fingers through her hair again.
“Cody” the guy reached out and took her hand out of her hair to shake it. “Don’t cover it, the hair looks good”
Alex blushed, which surprised her.
“Incase you are deaf and or haven’t been paying any attention at all, I’m Alex.” She said trying to cover up her blush.
Michael approached, he was upset, that guy was macin' on Alex and she was blushing.
He walked up quickly, “I’ve been looking all over for you. We can take off now.”
Cody recognized the signs of jealousy in Michael, could it be that he had fallen for his partner, he decided to milk it for all it was worth
“Can I call you?” Cody asked Alex.
“Sure, I guess, umm do you need my number?” Alex fumbled over the words.
“Nope, I’ve already got it doll” Cody smiled charmingly at Michael, blew a kiss at Alex and walked down the hall.
“Wasn’t that the guy’s hand you tried to break?”
“Yeah, my bad – Oh well he seems to have gotten over it, Anyway so we are free until the next one?”
“Something like that”
“What about your medical?”
“I have to go there next.”
“What’s wrong, bud you do know that Garnham wouldn’t have actually shot you”
“That’s not the problem.”
“Then what’s up, tell Alex all about it”
“I was just wondering something.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, what happened before our first hit, what was that?”
“I don’t know, you tell me?” Alex heart stopped he was bringing it up, maybe he cared
“Never mind forget I said anything” Michael turned heel and walked off quickly, Alex tried to follow but quickly got lost in the maze of hallways.
She headed towards the medical area to see if he had made it there. She though she heard him. “Michael?” she said walking into the Medical area. There he was, she had heard him, although she was surprised she could because attached to his face was the beautiful, leggy, blond nurse. She stood there, opened mouth, Michael almost immediately felt someone watching him. Seeing Alex, he pushed the nurse away, Alex turn and ran, not wanting him to see her tears. It was too late, Michael saw the pain he caused, the nurse was still wrapped around his waist. “Alex” he called, trying to untangle himself from her “Alex wait.” He made it in time to see her motorcycle leave the parking lot. He felt like a jerk, turning to go back to Samantha the nurse, she found him with Cody. God he hated that guy.
Alex drove like a bat out of hell, willing the hot tears that were blurring her vision to stop. She was angry for so many reasons, she allowed herself to hope, and then was angry as she cried, she hadn’t cried since she was a little girl, since her parents died. Maybe it’s just me, Alex thought, Maybe it’s something in me that turns people away. All she knew is it was a lot easier when she just didn’t give a damn. Alex took her bike's needle way past 150 and didn’t even slow when going by the cops, she would lose them in no time, she did and arrived at the shooting range to announce that she was back. She signed up for a shift, on the way out the back door she noticed Michael’s Mustang in the parking lot. What his he showing his new bitch his hang out? Alex was in a brutal mood.
She decided to drop by the Pitt before heading home, it was a good time to let loose, she didn’t have to work and could crash in the back. Her boss so glad she was back, he was more than willing to let her stay the night in one of the back rooms. Alex started drinking, and unlike what would seem to fit her personality she was a very cheap drunk. After two Vex, she was ready to start body shots, and much to the humor of many people there, she has going in search of the perfect guy to take the shots from. The guy she found was more than happy to oblige having a very drunk and extremely hot girl use his body for the sugar shot. Alex was a controlled drunk though, she never did anything she would regret, she just had fun! When Michael arrived, to see if he could find her, she was dancing on the bar top with the girls she worked with.
The girls seeing Michael gave Alex a bump landing her in his arms. She glared at him “Where’s the blonde?” Michael ignored the question,
“Let’s get you home.”
“I don’t want to leave, here I am having fun.”
“I bet, then come talk to me for a minute”
This Alex could agree to, “Let me get my jacket”
“The one you are wearing?”
“Shut up”
They walked out of the bar, and along the street, Alex leaning on Michael for warmth. Michael started talking as soon as he could,
“I don’t do well alone, when I thought you were going to reject me I freaked out”
“Yeah and you sure found a replacement fast”
“But that’s the problem, it felt wrong, having anyone with me that wasn’t you is wrong”
Listening to Michael talk in combination with the cool air, was sobering Alex up really fast.
“So what is it you are saying? Speaks slowly so I don’t misunderstand”
“Alex, I really like you, and want to spend all my time with you on and off missions.”
Alex kissed him, he wrapped his arms around her. She pulled back suddenly,
“If you think this means I’ve forgiven you for dragging me on to that military base, you are sadly mistaken”
“Yeah well if you think I am forgetting that you let Garnham take a shot at me, you are sadly mistaken”
“Touché”
Alex wrapped her arms around his neck, he pulled her close, and they finally kissed knowing exactly what it meant; it was an awesome kiss in that over the fence out of the ball park kind of way.
Michael whispered into her mouth, “Garnham wants us to report tomorrow morning”
“He can wait….”
Fin.