#2 Shades of Gray: From Moscow, With Love Read online

  Chapter Three

  Picking Up From Where We Left Off

  Present time...

  October 22...

  Friday...

  12:56 P.M...

  Noir...

  Hellenistic Sector, Commercial Vicinage...

  Katharine's view...

  A dim light illuminates a back alley as I glance around a corner of an old brick building and peer at the end of a deserted road. A ten foot chain link fence surrounds the back entrance of our destination. The wind blows a newspaper along the bottom of the barrier, changes direction, and flattens the debris against the diamond mesh. The newspaper flaps in the breeze before the wind tumbles it further down the road. I look within the fence and see a S.C.M. sitting in a guardhouse. He's reading a Guns&Knives magazine and drinking coffee, and every ten minutes or so, he looks up from his reclined position. I imagined this place having better security as I glance at a scrap piece of paper; it's the address the hologram Theresa Griffin gave us. I sigh, disappointed with the defense and the rundown appearance of the building. It has to have some information about the Pandora Project. I couldn't have gotten my hopes up just to find a load of crap.

  Kimberly stands beside me and peers through night vision binoculars. She wears her all black work outfit consisting of thin gloves, a tank top, jogging pants, running shoes, and a zipped up hooded sweatshirt. I'm wearing my usual white t-shirt, a gray-black athletic jacket, and gray-black pants.

  "What do you see?" I ask her.

  Kimberly's view...

  "Considering who you are, I thought you would have super vision," I tell her, referring to her being the Pandora Project.

  I reluctantly partnered with that strange woman four days ago, and I'm still uneasy about the collaboration. There's something about her... There's something I can't put my finger on. Hades! I hate this. I was told she's the Key, but never what she was the key of. I glance up from the binoculars, thinking about the Rogue. It claimed that she was organic-mecha, a robot that can completely pass as human. I think that would be worse than being some sort of messed up human experiment, and considering the organic-mecha dilemma, I can't trust her or her motives for wanting to partner with me, not that I ever trusted her.

  Katharine's view...

  Seeing the mistrust in Kimberly's face, I know the snide remarks are her way of keeping herself at arms length. I don't know if she'll ever believe in my sincerity to help her. I glance at her again. Maybe something else is putting her on edge. It could be what the Rogue told her, and if that's it, she has to see me as a freak. No wonder she can't trust me if she thinks I've been deceiving her.

  I examine our time together so far, and I know one thing, our partnership's going nowhere.

  I finally answer her, "No, I don't have super vision. All I see is the soldier."

  "There's nothing else to see," Kimberly says as she hands me the binoculars.

  I peer through them and look to the S.C.M., the guardhouse, and the loading dock behind the small building. He wears a dark green uniform, and his shoulder patch has the Sphinx Corporation Emblem with the Council's Crest. On the top part of the large building is written, Etna Toys Distribution Station Bravo. The S.C.M. confirms it. This place belongs to the Council. We just need to figure out what sort of place it is. I hand the binoculars back.

  "Let's go to work," Kimberly tells me as she places the binoculars in the knapsack, removes a metal object, pulls her gun from a shoulder holster, and screws the silencer on her PPK.

  I ask, "What are you doing?"

  Kimberly's view...

  "For Ares' sake! What does it look like I'm doing?" I snap as I glance at that woman.

  I don't see anything special about her. She's plain looking with hazel eyes and short brown hair, but maybe that in itself is a disguise. I just can't figure out if she's a weapon or one truly messed up person and why one of the departments in the Sphinx Corporation wants her. All I know is if she's important to them, they won't let her go so easily. Maybe I should end our partnership before it causes me anymore grief. I can't let anyone live who knows I'm the Phoenix. Anonymity is life, so I shouldn't wait too long.

  I consider it a few seconds more and decide if I want to investigate the building, I'll need that woman, so I'll allow her to live a little longer until her negative points outweigh her usefulness.

  As if my actions are a normal everyday thing, I point at the guard with my gun and answer her stupid question, "I'm going to take out that S.C.M. and go into that building. I'm going to see why this address was in the file labeled the Gorgons."

  Katharine's view...

  "You can't," I say, keeping my voice down, so not to alert the S.C.M. "Killing's wrong. Sheez... Everybody knows that."

  "For Ares' sake... Of course it's wrong," Kimberly whispers. "But how else are we going to get in? Hades! I can't believe we're arguing about this. Actually..." I see and feel her anger increase as she takes a step towards me and states, "I can't believe I'm letting you stop me from doing what I normally do." She pushes me up against the wall and tells me, "Now listen... I'm a Closer and this is what I do."

  She releases me, starts around the corner, but then I grab her arm, and she turns and glares at me. I feel her stare bore right through me as if it's a laser. I want to shrink back and run away, but I stand my ground.

  I release her wrist and say, "That doesn't make it right. Please, don't kill him." In a gentler tone, I add, "There are other ways."

  Kimberly scoffs my idea as if it's too childish, then she points toward the corner, and demands, "Show me then." She dares me as if it's some sort of game, "Show me how you're going to get us in without him sounding an alarm."

  "Watch me," I reply as I take on her challenge. "Maybe you'll learn something."

  I remove my single strap backpack, open it, and pull out a Gel-Taser; it's a device that resembles a mini TV remote. I also remove a dog collar and then drop the backpack to the ground. I tuck the oblong silver Gel-Taser in my back pocket, walk around the corner, and start whistling.

  "True! Here boy! Come here! Mommy's looking for you. True!" I walk right up to the gate and speak meekly, "Excuse me."

  The S.C.M. sees my approach, so he puts his magazine and coffee down, grabs the XM8, and comes out to the entrance. He keeps the assault rifle at the ready and peers through the chain link fence.

  I act hopeful as I question, "Have you seen a dog?"

  He relaxes his grip on the XM8 as he answers me, "No, I haven't seen one." The S.C.M. eyes me, and must decide I'm not a threat, and slings his assault rifle. He removes his cap and runs his hand through his short hair as he suggests, "Maybe you should try around Joe's Diner. His dumpster attracts hungry animals."

  Back at the corner...

  Kimberly's view...

  I can't believe it. That woman walked right up to him. I let my amazement fade away. It doesn't matter if she's able to talk with the soldier without setting off any alarms. The real question is if she can get us in.

  At the fence...

  Katharine's view...

  I glance at the dog collar, then back to him, and say, "I don't know where the diner is located. Could you give me directions?"

  "Yeah. Hold on." He goes back into the guardhouse and comes back with a Hellenistic Sector, Commercial Vicinage map. The S.C.M. points to the paper. "We're here. Joe's up there. First, go back down the alley you came up, then..."

  I step closer to the fence, scratch my mid-back, and slowly remove the Gel-Taser, and with my thumb, I flip off the safety at the bottom of the weapon that's below a large red button, palm the small device, and move my hand to the fence. I carefully aim, press the red button, fire a green jelly string through the diamond mesh, and hit the man in the neck. The end of the gel substance clumps on impact, it forms an acorn size circle, and adheres to his skin, and the rest of the string dangles still attached to the Gel-Taser. I press the large red button a
gain as the S.C.M. grabs at the string, and 1,500 volts surged through the jelly. He cries out, convulses, and falls to the ground unconscious as I look around, making sure no one saw me, then I hit a blue button that recoils the string. I set the safety, tuck the Gel-Taser back in my pocket, and climb the fence.

  Back at the corner...

  Kimberly's view...

  I can't believe it! She actually did it... I holster my gun, run up as that woman buzzes open the gate, and I hand that woman her bag. I'm still quite amazed. I thought she would get captured. I might have lost out on finding out what's in the building, but the Pandora problem would have been taken cared of.

  "Have you done this before?" I ask as I help her drag the man into the guardhouse.

  "Actually, a couple of times," she replies as she takes his keycard. "He'll be out at least two hours." She places the Gel-Taser in her backpack and the keycard in her back pocket.

  I glance at my watch and say, "Let's get inside and see what we find." A little impressed by that woman's tactics and excited to continue our game, I add, "See how far we can go without killing someone."