…
Before that night, Stone had never ridden in a vehicle controlled by a human being. He braced himself with the handle hanging from the ceiling at every turn and stop. Jeremy let out a few laughs, watching the anxiety twitch and make itself visible on the young man’s face along their journey.
“You know, tensing up makes you more likely to get injured, if I do actually have a wreck.”
“Well,” Stone gripped the handle tighter, turning his hand completely white, “then don’t wreck.”
“Guys, wish you could see this boy right now -- looks like a scared cat,” Jeremy announced to the others listening in, trying to lighten the somber mood before the mission.
“It’s a shame I’m missing everything!” Debra shouted after a quick and short-lived giggle over the chat.
Jeremy muted himself from the channel and motioned to Stone to do the same. He reluctantly loosened his grip on the handle long enough to do so with the appropriate hand gestures.
“What’s up?”
“I just wanted to ensure that you wrote a note.” Jeremy’s voice became grim, suddenly, as the smiles and laughter melted from his face, “You know, it’s happened before. Pretty recently, as you may have heard. We sent a man out to the clinic in Five Points. He wasn’t successful, but he did what he had to do in order to protect us and our secrets. He didn’t leave anyone a note.”
“Yeah. I already wrote one. Debra agreed to handle it for me if anything happens.”
“Did you write her one as well?”
"Yeah. Told her where to find it in my instructions."
“She’s really enjoyed your company, bud.” The words warmed Stone’s uneasy and fearful heart. “You’ve been a great help taking care of her.”
“She say something?” Stone wanted to hear more of it, as a new sense of his own mortality introduced itself to his previously invincible nineteen-year-old mindset.
“She said she would’ve lost her damn mind had it not been for you, but she didn’t have to say anything, really.” Jeremy glanced over at the young man, his face displayed a new expression of calm as he stared out the window. “I could see it in her face -- smiles and that brightness in her eyes I haven’t seen in a long time.”
“I’m in position,” Eddie notified over the chat, interrupting their private discussion.
The statement capsized Stone’s ephemeral smile, causing his lips to tighten downward as he watched streetlamps and the cozily lit mansions of Mountain Brook pass by too quickly to savor. The idea that everything could end shortly brought memories of his family to mind. He even began to reminisce about Michael fondly. Memories of the care and support he so freely gave when they needed him most. The ride to their destination wasn’t long enough. No matter how long it took, it could never have been long enough, even if it had taken a thousand years to get there.
Unable to truly grasp the deeper implications of what he was about to do, Stone surrendered his entire life and future to the mission. Anything and everything is bound to happen, he thought, his entire body full of dread. It’s just a matter of the odds. We’ll probably all be dead before sunrise. Even if everything goes as planned, I seriously doubt everyone will make it out safe and sound.
“You good?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Stone shrugged.
“It’s always a bit freaky first time out. Trust me, what you’re feeling is normal.”
“You think we’ll be having breakfast later this morning?”
“Yes and it’s gonna be warm,” he smiled and added, “I think it’s nothing. Just pretend you are who you’re claiming to be.”
“Huh?”
Jeremy reached over to him and jerked on the sleeve of his IT uniform, “Pretend you’re this guy…Donald,” he said as he turned Stone’s fake ID badge, “just a typical nerd trying to make sure STORK runs smoothly in the morning.”
“You think that works?”
“Works for me. Think like a professional actor would. I mean, seriously, why would Donald ever fear getting caught? He’s just a new temp, shadowing me, learning how to upgrade network switches. He’s got nothing to fear. Biggest thing on his mind right now is what he’s going to have for a snack or drink once he gets done.”
“I guess it makes sense when you put it like that." Stone took his advice to heart, wishing Jeremy would have offered it sooner -- much sooner. He harbored his doubts about whether it would work; but, imagining who Donald was did take his mind off of all the little ‘what ifs’ plaguing his thoughts. The respite from anxiety and dread evaporated the moment they pulled up and parked alongside the back of the clinic.
The back of the building was the only ugly part of the sleek, aesthetically pleasing clinic. Like many things in life, the ugly parts were carefully hidden away from the public. The architect created the front façade with glass and rustic wood beams salvaged from repossessed homes. It had a perfect mix of old and new. Despite the beauty projected out front, cinder blocks built up the backside. The paint and trim were heavily weathered and neglected too. Moss grew upon the ground beneath it, stretching its tiny green and black hairs up along the walls where rain typically poured down the sides, eroding the mortar here and there. Stone caught sight of a man, sitting still as a mannequin, through one of the building’s windows. It made his heart race when he realized the man was one of the security personnel.
…
“We're in position," Jeremy growled over the chat. The words rang in Stone’s ears, terror and dread washed over him in waves. "How much longer for you Frenchies?"
“Three minutes for me, monsieur,” Clement declared, his accent seemed much heavier over the Auris, something Stone never understood.
“I am pulling up to Glen Iris this instant.”
“Nelson, you sure you got this?”
“Absolutely, sir.”
“What about security cams?”
“They’ll only see that sleeping security guard. Everything will be looped. Glen Iris and Woodlawn both have guards that have been walking around. They’ll be a little tricky, but I can corrupt those files if a loop won’t do.”
“What about the guard at my clinic?” Clement asked.
“She’s been in the restroom for the past thirty minutes. I’ll let you know once she’s on the move.”
“Est-elle séduisante?”
“No comment, Clem.”
“How much longer until you’re on site, Clem?” Jeremy’s impatience began to surface.
“I’m here now, monsieur.”
"Alright, let's not waste any time with nonsense. Nelson, unlock those doors for us and make sure there's no alarm set."
“Already done, sir. You are all clear to go.”
“Alright, Stone,” Jeremy started. He threw his arm through the sleeve of his jacket, putting it on before opening the van’s door to the blistering cold wind, “You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Just remember why we’re doing this.”
The two of them hopped out of the vehicle and met each other at the back to open its doors and retrieve the devices hidden within Frisco boxes. There were only two boxes and each package only contained two bombs. Jeremy taught Stone the payload of each one, and that four of them would deliver more than enough punch to level the building. Stone unloaded a hand truck and the two men stacked the heavy boxes on it for transportation.
“Remember, just play it cool Donald.” Jeremy unmuted his Auris, “We’re headed in, now. Let’s get it, boys.”
Stone felt safer, rolling the hand truck from behind. He felt as if his entire body was shaking, although it wasn’t quite as noticeable as he imagined in his mind’s eye. He convinced himself that Donald was just shivering from the cold. That he wasn't nervous. That he had no reason to be so.
Jeremy opened the door and the light from within pierced his pupils as heat flooded out from the building. The sudden warmth lifted his spirit ever so slightly and he followed close behind Jeremy.
; “Leave the network switches there, we’ve gotta go sign in.”
“What? Sign in?”
“Yes, Donny,” Jeremy said in character, his voice lacking its usual accent and then Stone understood what was happening, “whenever a technician arrives on site, he or she must promptly sign in at the front desk and notify any security personnel present.” Jeremy winked at the camera as he passed by, knowing that Debra was watching him.
The guard remained motionless as they approached. Once they got closer, beneath the overhead lights of the kiosk, they could hear snores and quiet breaths from the slumbering security guard.
“Sir? Excuse me, sir,” Jeremy said, nudging him softly against the shoulder.
“kchuuuuuugh…shhueeeee…kchuuug-kchuuug…shhhueeee.”
“Um, David? Excuse me?” Jeremy nudged harder, startling the guard awake.
“Huh? Who’re y’all?” the guard asked angrily as he jumped to his feet, his hand whipped out a self-extending baton. Stone’s heart nearly stopped at the response, his teeth gritted tightly, and he believed the mission may have already failed.
Jeremy held his composure, not the least bit bothered by the guard, “Sir, we’re just IT support. Here to upgrade the switches. There've been complaints that the internet's been really slow at several clinics and corporate scheduled us to install new hardware tonight.”
“Oh,” the oblivious guard grunted and nodded his head, still shaking off his drowsiness, “I wasn’t informed of anything.”
“TPMs, what are you gonna do?” Jeremy forced a chuckle as he began to sign his pseudonym.
“TPMs? I’m sorry, what’s that?”
“Oh, you know,” Jeremy had given a lot of thought to the jargon he’d use, playing his part very well, “technical project managers -- they’re supposed to coordinate these things, but they sometimes forget to tell anyone.”
“Oh, yeah, I got a boss like that.” The security guard took his place back in his seat. “Y’all going to be long?”
“Thirty minutes tops, hopefully,” Jeremy tapped the sign-in sheet, reminding Donald to scribble on it, “but you know these things can be tedious sometimes.”
“Alright then, y’all just let me know if you need anything.”
Stone had never signed his name as Donald Holsomback, so he simply wrote the letter D and H followed by a cloud of convincing twirls and twists.
“Will do, sir!” Stone said, his voice cracked from his prolonged silence. He immediately began to feel relief at the simplicity of it all. If it hadn’t been for Jeremy’s smooth character delivery, he would surely have failed.
The two Zealots headed down the dimly lit hallway and again began to roll the boxes towards the networking closet at the other end of the building. Nelson directed them to the correct door and did the same for the other teams.
Once Jeremy and Stone entered the networking closet, unlocked remotely by Nelson, they began opening the packages with box-cutters. The bombs were beneath packing peanuts. Stone thrust his hands into the packing to feel around for the devices. He gripped the hard, unmistakable shell of the first device and lifted it out of its resting place.
“Alright bud, let me show you what’s next.” Jeremy pulled a cable out of his backpack and connected it into the front side of the bomb. “It’s as simple as this. Place that end of the cable into one of the slots on the network switch there.” He pointed to the flat blue box blinking rapidly with data passing through it, some of which was Nelson’s presence. "Debra, can you establish a connection to the device?”
"Yes, we have a connection."
“I concur,” Nelson supported, “because I can quite literally feel its spark on the network.”
“Hey there, don’t get weird on us, Nelson,” Eddie’s twangy voice came over the chat.
Stone began searching for the second device, relieved to be closer to done. He couldn't believe how lightly everyone seemed to take the situation. They all chuckled and joked over the chat between check-ins with Debra and Nelson. Clement continued making vaguely sexual remarks about the guard that had greeted him, some of them entirely in French, others a mixture, supplemented with English pronouns. Nelson attempted to provide translations to his every word, until Jeremy silenced him.
…
A hard knock came upon the door of the network closet after some time and Jeremy opened it without hesitation, revealing everything that they laid out before them. Stone froze with fear, his eyebrows raised guiltily, and eyes widened as his companion greeted the oversized man from the security kiosk.
“Need something?”
"Ah, no it just gets lonely working here sometimes. Everything going smoothly for y'all here?" The guard looked dumbly over the opened boxes and raked over the bomb in Stone's hand. Stone gulped, as he reached to plug the device into the switch.
“Yeah, all’s well. Just about done here.”
A sudden stiffness grasped Stone’s lower back, his heart sped up and pumped fresh adrenaline through his veins under the lazy gaze of the guard. This is it. We’re gonna have to pull the plug, his thoughts began to run wild once again, declaring doom and gloom to every fiber of his being. We’re dead. I can’t believe it. We’re done for. It’s over for us.
“I see, I see. Say, what are these things anyway?” The guard stooped to pick up one of the brick-shaped bombs and held it within his hands. He read the network switch’s sticker aloud as he looked over it, “Frisco...”
Jeremy had already reached the peak of his basic IT knowledge, most of which was dated by a decade or two. He interrupted the guard, “These are just network boosters for the switches. Switches still good and not quite obsolete yet, so they sent us in with these little guys just to speed things up a bit.”
“Ahhh, interesting. Never knew nothing about computers and what not. Think one of y’all could take a look at my computer while you’re here?”
“You mind taking a look for me, Donny?”
“Uh,” Stone’s forehead seeped with beads of sweat, “yeah, I guess I could take a look.”
"You don't have to if you don't have time, I understand," the guard’s tone took on a sheepish character as he interjected.
“No, he doesn’t mind. He’s a rookie. Little new to the business -- needs the exposure.”
“Ah, sounds good to me.”
Stone followed the man out of the closet and went to assess whatever hellish nightmare needed troubleshooting. Jeremy informed the group and continued about his work, quickly connecting the next two bombs to the network.
“How’s it going in there, Donny-boy?”
“All’s good. Just clearing some caches.” The guard had a wonderfully entertaining browsing history on his workstation.
“Alright, I’m just about finished up in here. I have one more to connect and we’ll be outta here.”
The other teams were nearing completion as well, all slightly behind the Mountain Brook team because they were all single man teams. Clement was running a little behind, due to his flirtation with the female guard. Debra scolded him for it sternly over his Auris until he promised to quit.
"We have a connection to all four devices, Jeremy. Great job."
“Okay, I’m just cleaning up now.” Jeremy quickly managed the cables with his roll of Velcro and made sure they were neatly tucked away. It doesn’t really matter, though, he thought, tiring of the struggle, “it’s all going to be a mess in the morning anyway.”
He stepped out into the hall, propped the closet door open and stacked the boxes onto the hand-truck, before wheeling it down the hallway to find his apprentice finishing up his work on the guard’s computer.
“Looks like that about does it.”
“Well, thank y’all. I’ll be sure to send a complimentary email to y'all's boss and let them know what a good job y'all done here tonight."
“Don’t worry about it, Jeremy,” Nelson’s voice whispered into his ear, “no email will ever be received.”
“How kind of you! Tell them to g
ive Donald here a promotion while you’re at it.” Jeremy laughed as he shook the balmy hand of the guard.
“Hey, you’ll go far, young man,” the guard smiled also shaking Stone’s hand, and continued, “if you keep up the quality work.”
The guard’s smile deeply struck Stone, as he looked into his cheerful eyes framed with smile lines and his friendly face. The silent thoughts that invaded his mind almost knocked him over. David hasn’t done anything to me. He’s wishing me luck and I can tell he means it sincerely. He might be a husband. He might have a kid -- a kid designed by the STORK lab and purchased like a commodity, but what more is expected of a man these days? The guard then gave him a fatherly pat on the back while he walked them towards the hallway and gave them a final farewell and, oddly, a blessing for the rest of their shift. Stone bit his tongue as he almost did the same,” Have a nice night,’ he wanted to say, but couldn’t because he knew they were disingenuous words.
…
Once outside, the wind immediately tore at their faces with its bitter cold kiss, rendering their cheeks a rosy color. Jeremy threw open the van’s door so Stone could toss the hand truck in the back. Stone let out a sigh of relief once inside the van, free from the stabbing, icy wind.
“We’re headed home, boys,” Jeremy declared over the Auris, laughing -- a laughter more of relief than mirth. He turned the key in the archaic ignition and cold air blew on their faces before it the heating unit warmed.
“Awesome! Great job, guys,” Debra cooed.
“Man, I’ve got to have a smoke,” Stone announced to no one in particular, already holding his lighter and rolled cigarette in hand. “Please. Please say I can smoke in here.”
“Hey, you deserve it. I’ll crack the window for you.”
Stone’s frosted window descended ever so slightly and once the heat started to blow on full blast, the windows defrosted rapidly. He covered the flame to light the cigarette. Its sweet sensation filled him almost immediately as the nicotine entered his brain like a welcome party for a job well done. He celebrated interiorly, at least for a moment, until he remembered his grievances. The guard, whose worst sin was likely his lonesome browsing history, had possibly never harmed anyone. He likely had a family of his own. His wedding ring sparkled in Stone’s memory.
Sowing Season Page 22