Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Running Parallel

The electricians hover van sat inconspicuously along a random side street. From the outside the cab of the van looked empty. Hovercars of all shapes and sizes were parked up and down the street, allowing the van to blend unnoticed into the background of city life. Miles of steel and glass stretched up into the sky above the streets, casting the road into partial shadow, though shafts of light from the sun reflected from the rising wall of glass.

"There she is."

"It would have been a bitch to track her down if you didn't know where she was living. Adam mused, peering through the small viewfinder and out onto the street where the woman was making her slow way up the sidewalk. She was petite and curvy, with short black hair and a small button nose, cute like a teddy bear or other stuffed animal. She certainly looked like the kind of woman that children would lov, and beside her walked her young daughter, no older than five or six, holding her hand and skipping over the cracks in the sidewalk.

"Don't look now, but I think I've found her security." Ramirez said.

"Where."

It was Desmond that answered, "There are two of them actually, one of them is across the street, the big guy in the white T shirt. The other one is more obvious, the dark woman in the blue button up." Adam swiveled the viewfinder around identifying both of the targets easily. He might have been able to guess that the woman was a bodyguard, but the man probably would have slipped past his notice. Then again Adam wasn't an expert in surveillance, espionage, tailing, or investigation of really any kind. He was as bad as a laymen and worse, having been tainted by all the dumb movies he had watched in his lifetime.

"Just two guys?" Maverick said, pushing Adam out of the way to take a look, "We could take them in our sleep."

Behind them, Sunny cracked hummed an agreement. After being the saint of Anin for the past few years, her well of confidence was deep. Not many people in the galaxy could have beaten her in a fight, and certainly not a few dollar store bodyguards.

"Mav, Ramirez, you two feel comfortable taking out the bodyguards. Sunny and I would do it, but I think that we would be more easily spotted." He turned his head to look at Desmond, "You should get your wife and daughter, they will be less suspicious of you than they would be of us, and more likely to listen."

Desmond nodded once in agreement, as they all began shifting in their seats.

Adam donned his hat again, and sunny pulled the hood of her massive sweatshirt up over her face. In Adam's opinion, it was not a good look for her. In his opinion clothes weren't really a good look for her, and that wasn't just the salacious side of his brain talking. Drev were powerful in your face sort of creatures designed to kill and to look good while doing it. Putting a Drev in sweatpants and a sweatshirt dangerously approached being some kind of sin.

There were some exceptions of course, as he did like her open fronted silk robes, but those accented her powerful form rather than hiding it.

Now she looked like a potato wrapped in tinfoil, all lumps and bumps.

Maverick pulled a beanie on over her hair, the colored blue and pink stripes at odds with her personality. As always Ramirez managed to look annoyingly good, in whatever he was wearing. It was good to send him out for this, people like to give pretty people the benefit of the doubt. No one would suspect a pretty boy of poison.

Desmond leaned forward in his seat watching as the crowd ebbed around them.

"Now." He ordered.

Adam wasn't sure what made Desmond convinced that now would be the right time, but the three of them exited the back of the vehicle, and looking around Adam didn't see any reactions on the passing crowd. He and Sunny remained in the back of the vehicle, peering through the viewfinders and watching as Maverick and Ramirez made their way up the street. Ramirez was making conversation with himself as if he was on some sort of Call.