Look out for the <>!
DarlaH
I watched Auggie run down the hall of our office a few days later. His shirt slowly came untucked with every step he took and it brought a smile to my face. Knowing that he was coming to see him, I quickly closed all documents on my computer. I refused to let him see what I was working on.
I had been looking into bugs for a few days now. I kept try to find some kind of clue that would lead me to the next step but so far I had come across nothing. All the dead ends I was running into was leading me to believe that I was actually loosing my mind.
Of course computers didn't talk. How could I be so stupid into believing that they would talk to me?
Auggie leaned against my cubical wall and smiled widely at me. "So, I know something that you don't want me to."
I frowned, as panic took hold of me. Did he know what I was spending too much time researching about computer viruses'? "What?" I asked, fear thick in my voice.
"You went clubbing in New York," he said casually.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. That wasn't the worse thing he had found out about me. Auggie kept so many other deeper darker secrets about me that this wasn't anything to be concerned about.
"I was in charge of tracking you. Relax, I'm not going to spill the beans. But seriously, watch out, if any other person saw that, they wouldn't cover for you. You should know that by now," he lectured me as if I was a small child. I knew that Auggie didn't see me as incapable, but sometimes he did let things slip out as if he did. Regardless of his tone, he was right, going to the club was reckless.
I nodded. "I know. I'm sorry. I owe you." I don't know how he did it, but he always watched out for me, even when I wasn't watching out for myself.
He smiled lightly. "I know," he said then turned around and walked back to his office.
I let out a chuckle, knowing that he was going to hold that over my head for a while. I probably would have to pay him back in food and that was a price I was willing to pay. With no one in sight, I turned back to my computer and started to work again.
Week's passed by with no new leads about the virus or the word B26. By now, the memory of the talking computer was failing to be a driving source for my research. I was just convinced that this was a joke to help me loose my mind.
It wasn't until I was walking down the halls when I found a key bit of information that was so obvious that I felt incredibly daft. As I walked down the isles, I noticed that every cubical on my floor was listed as B and because that it was numbered 1 though 82.
I felt my heart race in my chest as realization hit me. B26 was a cubical, here. That was why the computer talked to me, because we were on the same floor. I rounded a corner and walked down isle as my eyes scanned the numbers on the cubical walls. B30, B29, B28.... suddenly, I found it. I stopped right in front of the old dusty B26 cubical, and smiled.
I looked around myself, making sure no one was around. Seeing that the coast was clear, I walked into the cubicle and I sat down in the old dusty chair in front of the computer. I blew off the thick layer of dust that was on the screen and imminently, letters started appearing on the screen.
"It took you long enough." It typed out.
I frowned at the screen. So it had sass. I typed back quickly to the screen. "What do you want from me?"
"That bug that you fixed is only the beginning. There is a group working in the CIA that's trying to bring it down from the inside."
I frowned. On the other end of this screen was some stranger that was saying some serious things. If they believed that the CIA was crumbling, why did they want me? If this group was such a threat, my grandmother had to have known about it already. "You're lying."
"Think Annalise, why would I lie about this?"
I shrugged at the computer as if he could see. There were so many reasons why they could lie. But in the back of my mind, I feared that maybe they was right. "What do you want me to do?" I typed.
"I want you do stop them before it too late. I can't talk much longer," the letters on the screen said as they started to flash, just like in New York. I wondered if this would shut down the whole floor's computers again. "Look in under the desk. There's a file, it'll tell you what you need. Don't trust anyone..." then suddenly, the screen turned off.
Without wasting a moment, I looked under the desk and sure enough there was a file taped to the bottom of it. I grabbed it and looked at it as wonder took me like a vice grip.
Who ever was talking to me could get into this floor. They worked for the CIA but if they worked here, why did they need someone to do their dirty work? Suddenly I was worried that I was getting into things that I didn't understand. This was obviously a prank or not my battle, so why was I even engaging in this?
I looked at the folder feeling that it was small and light. Even though concern did eat into me, I clenched the file in my hand and walked out of the cubical. Once I made it to my desk, I sat down and shoved the folder in a drawer then locked it.
"What are you doing?" Toby asked, standing in the isle, looking at me with curiosity.
I wonder how long he had been watching me. I forced a smile. Tell no one. "Nothing."
"What did you put in your drawer?" he asked casually.
I shook my head, refusing to tell him anything about this. Whatever was in there, needed to stay away from any eyes. If everything checked out, I wouldn't tell him anyhow. This was my shinning moment and I wasn't going to let Toby take that from me even if we were dating. "It's nothing Toby. Just drop it."
He frowned as he kicked his dress shoe into the carpeted floor. "Ok, well, your grandma needs to talk to us."
I sighed, already knowing that this would be a long day. All I wanted to do now was go home and look at the case, but that wouldn't happen for another five more hours. "Ok," I said as I got up from my seat and followed him into my Grandmother's office.
As we walked into her office, I looked at the little red haired lady behind the large desk, making her appear smaller then she actually was. Her glasses, sliding down her nose and her face screwed to the side in deep thought. I have seen this face time and time again. I gave a cough, knowing that if I didn't, she would stay like this until her thought was finished.
She looked up at me and gave a small smile, as if to welcome us into her room. "It is clear that you two work well together."
I held my tongue. That was one way to say it. At least someone thought so. But I was finding out quickly that I did not want to work with Toby on missions. He was pushy and had a short temple last time. I didn't want to relive that again.
"That being said, you two have a mission," she said getting up. "I want you to go to Florida. Your flight will leave today at 3:30. You'll help out with an exchange of money between some Italian gang member and one of our guys," Gram said then continued to dive into details that I knew would be on the file she would give us.
Before long, I was back home, already packed, waiting for Toby to pick me up. I held the file that I got from the B26 office cubical in my hand as my heart raced. I had been waiting for the moment for what felt like a life time but as I looked at it, a part of me was too scared to open it.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to unsee the things in the file and once I opened it, there wouldn't be a chance to go back. I sighed then without thinking about it any further, I opened it.
In the folder there were two pages. One with a man's face on it and a small report stating some facts. His name was Raffaele James, he was 6' 4" and 27 years old. He was Washington state and he just left the CIA a year ago.
I looked at his photo in detail, wondering if I had seen him before. His brown curly hair reminded me of a poodle slightly and his brown eyes seemed to twinkle kindly at me.
The next person on file did not look as friendly. Her dark blonde hair hugged her face, framing her eyes that appeared to say 'leave me alone'. Her name was Lucy Sanders and she was 34. The file addressed that she was fired from NYC base two weeks ago and was not seen since.
The last bit of information was a note that read;
This will get you started. These people worked for the company within the CIA. If they are still alive, they can help you. Last I knew, they were in Florida.
Best of luck,
B26
How cute, he named himself. As much as I wanted to smile at that, I knew this was not a laughing matter. I was beginning to think that B26 knew everything about my life before I even knew it. If I was going to continue on this little side mission, I needed figure out who this B26 was and if he could really be trusted.
Before I knew it, I was in at the CIA base in Florida with Toby by my side. I looked around at the small base and felt slightly claustrophobic. It was tight with little light coming into the building.
We quickly met with the lead director in the base who was a lean tall lady. She told us the details that she could provide and insisted that we take her intern with us who was a pencil pusher.
As I looked at the small man I wondered why we were taking him. He looked inexperienced and scared. If we were working with the mob, we didn't need people that would run at the face of fear. I wanted to express my concerns but remained quiet as the director continued to give us information.
In a matter of an hour later, Toby, the small man, and I found ourselves sitting in a bullet proof car, in a dark alley, waiting for the exchange to happen.
Toby tapped a beat on the steering wheal as we tried to pass the time. The mod was late and we wondered if they would actually show.
"When they come. I want you to follow my lead," the small man said to me with worry in his voice as we drove.
I frowned at him. I wasn't sure if I wanted to follow someone so nervous as him.
"I have met with them before. They know me," he added. "And Toby, I want you to stay in the car. You're the get away driver." I watched a slowly he became more comfortable with what would happen next. "Annalise, you'll come out with me. They already know I have a partner, it's time for them to meet you." He said and got out of the car.
Silently, I followed his lead and got out with him. I looked around the small alley with wooden boxes on either side of us. It looked like a shipment area.
I took a seat on one of the boxes and pulled out the phone to pass time. I watched again as the man started to become more nervous as the time ticked on. He started to shake slightly as he paced the road. "Calm down," I said to him, finally having enough.
He stopped and frowned at me as if he knew something I didn't.
Suddenly, black car came into the alley way. It stopped and five men came out. I quickly assessed all of them, and realized that if something turned sour, we couldn't take on all of these on our own.
Lastly, my eyes fell upon the man caring the brief case. Realization hit me like a brick wall as I looked at Raffaele from my file. I would recognize his eyes anywhere. I felt my heart race. I had to get close to him. I turned to our small man, who looked like he would have a melt down at any moment and whispered, "I'll do the trade off."
He nodded in silence as he handed me the case full of cash.
I nodded at Raffaele as if to tell him I was ready for him. Then together we walked forward, closing the gap between us. In the middle of the two cars, we stopped to face each other.
"As you can see it's all here," Raffaele said as he opened the case. I looked into the case and saw a few small files.
"It's all here too," I said as I showed my case. It looked like there was at least $20,00 dollars in there. "Raffaele?" I whispered.
His face turned white and suddenly his cool disappeared. "I don't go by that name any more," he whispered back at me as he looked at me with fear in his eyes.
"I need to talk to you. Do you have time so we can meet afterwards?" I asked, hoping he would agree. "I don't want trouble. I just want answers."
He frowned as he chewed over my words for a moment. "The road down from this has a great café shop; the best food is at nine," he said quickly.
I nodded as I head a gun go off, from what side, I have no idea. But I watched as everyone pulled out guns. I swore. My gun was in the car. With no way to defend myself, I grabbed a case and ducked behind some boxes. Toby looked at me and tossed a gun my way. I caught it then peered over the boxes to see who was shooting.
Surprise shook over me as I looked at the driver from New York, Fabien. I shot at him and watched as he dropped his gun. He cursed and shook his hand; I got his gun, not him. I frowned at him as I tried to make sense of why he was here.
More guns started to go off, and I could hear sirens in the distance, no doubt coming for us. We had to get out of here. I scanned the area for our temporary partner and found him rocking back and forth in a corner. I sighed loudly, knowing that I would have to get into the line of fire to get him.
I stood up and shielded myself with the case in hand. I ran to him and shouted, "take my hand!" He took it without hesitation and together we ran into the car then sped off.
"That couldn't have gone any worse," I yelled as I sat in the back seat of the car, trying to catch my breath as Toby got onto a main road.
"Everything was going fine, until that happened," Toby said driving away, speeding past stop lights and signs to get as far away from that scene as possible. "Did you get the right case?"
I looked at the case and opened it. It had money. It was our case. Disappointment crashed over me. All that work was for nothing. I failed. Once again, I would be the bunt end of the joke. "No," I mumbled looking at the cash.
"It's ok. I'm sure we can try it again. Plus under pressure, it was hard to get the right one," Toby said kindly, although we both knew he would have been able to get the right case.
"Toby, was one of the shooters Fabien from New York."
He looked at me through the rear view mirror with a frown. "I don't know. I didn't have a clear view."
I frowned. He thought I was crazy. "I'm almost positive it was Fabien," I pushed. I wasn't loosing my mind. I know what I saw.
All of a sudden our temporary partner interrupted our conversation by saying, "You've been shot."
I looked at him with a frown trying to understand what he was talking about. He looked like he was going to faint. For pity sakes where did we find this guy?
I followed his gaze to my arm, it looked like bullet grazed it because some of my sleeve was ripped and blood was dripping down my arm. "It's just a nip, it's fine," I shrugged. It wouldn't be the first time I got shot and it wouldn't be the last.