Claudia cringed at the anger seeping through the other woman’s voice, but held off her reply as she swung the car sharply around a corner. The back bumper clipped a fire hydrant making a sickening thud accompanied by the screech of metal. “Would it suffice to say the information on that disk is valuable?” she asked, swerving to avoid an oncoming car as she maneuvered their escape vehicle into the other lane.
“As valuable as our LIVES?!” Parker barked in disbelief. Claudia winced visibly and shook her head.
“It contains data -more specifically, a program- which will catch Fox’s corporation up on two years worth of research, leveling out the competition.” The Chrysler accelerated further with the black sedan hot in pursuit. “It’s capable of placing Fox Hunt Inc. back on top of the pack. He’s lost serious ground in the past six months, and that disk will buy him a little time. I wish like hell I’d gotten it back from him though. I can’t believe that bastard! If he only knew what I went through to get that intelligence!” Claudia seethed with rage. “Hold on!” she cried defiantly, barely giving Parker time to heed her advice as she slammed on the brakes, swerving off the road to the right. The sudden stop jolted them forward sharply in their seats. “I had to create an entire sub program just to decode the encryption!” The sedan went flying past the clunker, the screech of it’s tires filling the air as it ground to a halt, preparing for a u-turn. But Claudia had already maneuvered the car back onto the street, hauling ass for places unknown to Parker. “I love what I do, but this sale REALLY tested my patience!” Her brow furrowed in ferocity, she turned down a series of side streets, one right after the other.
“Do you make make threatening clandestine rendezvous a habit?!” came Parker’s next question. The petite redhead made a dismissive noise in the back of her throat.
“Not usually. I can’t decide what pisses me off more: losing the disk or the fact that Buzz neglected to inform me that Fox employs thugs!” Claudia slowed the pace a bit, as Parker pivoted in her seat to risk a glance behind them. Nothing. “You can be sure that was the last time I do business with him. He’s obviously labeled me ‘expendable’ which makes me positive he already has another hacker lined up.” The dark alley yawned at their stern, the sedan no longer in sight.
“I don’t think you have to worry about losing face.” Parker stated, surprised at the amount of anger evident in Claudia’s eyes. “Fox is dead.”
“What?!”
“Who’s Buzz?”
“The...the guy who set me up with Fox. A referral of sorts. Fox is dead?”
“What do you care? He tried to kill you!” Parker retorted as she shot Claudia a withering look, her voice laced with irritation. The car pulled to a stop, shrouded in the shadows of the alley, seemingly safe for the time being.
“What now?” Claudia asked, diffident nature snapping back into place. Her eyes swept nervously across the buildings on either side of them, desperately trying to assess their location.
Parker was gazing at her with an unreadable expression on her face, not bothering with a reply, unnerving Claudia to no end. The woman made her down right uncomfortable. Gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles, Claudia rested her forehead the rim. There was only one option which came to mind. “I’ve got to get out of my apartment.” she sighed. “I have to go back to collect my equipment first, though. It will only be safe for-” she glanced at her watch, “-another three hours. Six, if I’m lucky.”
“And if you’re not?” Parker questioned, gaze boring boldly into Claudia’s.
“I’m screwed.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Ten minutes later, the Chrysler pulled up in front of the brick building in which the pair had met a mere hour before. Claudia felt her heart constrict with apprehension and the animal instinct in her which shouted for her to ‘get out!’....and fast. Swallowing with difficulty, she stepped from the trusty vehicle, gathering her keys in hand. Silently, Parker followed. The woman’s presence at her back was oddly comforting, given her earlier performance at the pier. Claudia had never had someone come to her defense before, and the knowledge that this mysterious character had, spoke well for her.
The apartment was just as they’d left it, everything -including the deadbolt- intact. Shoving the keys deep within the recesses of her pocket, Claudia gravitated to the monstrous terminal. “I’ve got to get all this packed up...” she muttered to herself, delving amongst the wires, switchboards, and electrical maze, instantly forgetting Parker’s presence.
“What can I do? I don’t know if I can be much help.....” Parker interrupted.
“Oh.....You’re staying?” Claudia emerged from the mess clutching an external disk drive, her curls more disheveled than ever.
“I can’t very well leave you here alone.” the other woman pointed out rationally. “You almost got killed back there. You think you’ll be able to handle them when they eventually find their way here?” one finely sculpted eyebrow raised in question.
“I....I could stay with Cricket....” Claudia hazarded, not sure what to make of the offer, yet too frightened to outright refuse. Again, Parker said nothing. She seemed to have an uncanny habit of setting Claudia on edge, just by capturing her in that brazen, daring stare of hers. Biting her lower lip, Claudia nodded. “Where will we go?”
“Texas. What do you want to pack?” she asked, gesturing with a sweeping arm to the unkempt surroundings.
Claudia shrugged. “I don’t really care. There’s a duffel bag beneath the bed you could shove some clothes in. I don’t have many personal items or material documents. Everything is on disk. Right now, I’m just concerned with the terminal.” Turning loving eyes back to the desk which housed her computer, her attention was once again focused elsewhere. Adeptly, her fingers began pulling plugs, wrapping cords, and disassembling. Parker watched for a few moments, shaking her head as Claudia shoved several greasy cartons of Chinese takeout onto the floor, their remains spilling into the corner.
Claudia heaved a sigh of relief as she felt Parker leave the room, taking with her those cold, calculating, brown eyes which seemed to cut her down to the core. Intimidating wasn’t a strong enough word to describe this new entity in her life.
The center quickly disappeared, each piece packed strategically into a box. The dismantling didn’t take long, and soon Claudia was stretching masking tape across the box flaps to hold them in place. Parker must have heard the unmistakable sound of the tape unrolling because she soon reentered the room lugging a large green duffel. “Anything else?”
“No, that’s about it. Oh! Wait a sec......” Claudia snatched a mesh bag hanging from the back of the computer chair. Moving quickly, she shoved various items into it’s depths. Ripping diagrams, memos, and sticky notes from the walls, she hastily stowed them within the purse. Moving into the tiny kitchen, she pulled a drawer from it’s tracks then dumped it upside down into her bag, oblivious to Parker’s smirk regarding her packing techniques. Opening a cupboard, Claudia withdrew a Colt Commander and several boxes of cartridges. She turned to face Parker.
“Now I’m ready.”
“Good. Let’s get out of here.”
The sun had long ago set, leaving the city bathed in shadows. Wrestling the box which held the terminal’s contents, Claudia began to head for the Chrysler once again.
“That’s not a good idea. They probably know your car and have tails scouring the city for it.” Parker interrupted logically. Claudia’s eyes widened.
“Then how do you propose we get out of here?”
The darker woman shrugged, her gaze shifting to a small gray Honda which sat parked across the street. The lights in the opposite building weren’t on, indicating there would be no one to miss the car for another eight hours at least. Claudia followed her line of sight, inhaling sharply. “We can’t take that person’s car!” she exclaimed. They weren’t common thieves, after all. Parker looked at her like she was crazy.
“Oh, because that would be stealing?” she taunted. “What exactly do you call what you do with that computer of yours?” a challenging note in Parker’s voice rang through the air.
Claudia tossed an affectionate, albeit reluctant glance at her beat up battle partner parked at the curb. She was going to miss that hunk of metal. “I’ve got a lock picking kit in my bag.”
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