by M. V. Kallai
“I assumed that.”
“Listen, starting tomorrow, you and I are on a new assignment together. I don't know the details but I can guarantee you aren't going to be happy with the situation. I need you to trust me, no matter how weird my actions are. Please know that I am on your side. They've got my hands tied but I will do everything I can to get you out of here soon.”
Camden raised his eyebrows in disapproval at Ganesh and unwrapped the plate in front of him and attempted to eat. They sat in silence for a few moments and then Camden pushed his plate away. He was hungry, but not for cold leftovers from a military kitchen. Plus, it was too uncomfortable to chew.
“Get me the hell out of here, Ganesh.”
Ganesh lowered his voice even more and leaned in to Camden's left ear.
“Who is Ari?”
“My driver...lives in my building,” Camden whispered back.
“Shh shh...ok, I got it. Get some rest, Camden. I'll be back in the morning.”
Camden rolled his eyes a little and returned to the cot as Ganesh left the room.
**********
Ari lay in bed next to his sleeping wife and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. Outside his window, lights from transports passed by at regular intervals. His wife had come home complaining that she was almost mauled in the hallway by two men and she was also concerned about a woman in the elevator who apparently had a key to Camden Riles' flat. She considered Camden part of the family and was offended that she didn't know about someone who was close enough to him to have a key. So, naturally, she assumed the worst and wanted to go up and check on him ...to make sure he wasn't being robbed or something. Ari didn't know who the woman was either, but knew it wasn't safe for anyone in Camden's flat right now. So he lied and told her that Camden would introduce his new friend soon and she shouldn't worry about it. But now, he had this woman to worry about. He also had to figure out a way to get past this constant surveillance long enough to find the case Camden had left in the transport before the government decided to search it again. Not tonight though, the moons were too bright in the sky. He tossed and turned a while longer but it was no use; he was not going to be able to sleep. He got up quietly and returned to the couch in the living room to try and think some more.
**********
Mace Magner sat alone in a dark dingy basement bar near his home. He rolled up his sleeves and ordered his second glass of ale. It had felt good to beat up on Camden today. He and Colonel Ganesh were potential threats to the weaponry unit and since the latter outranked him, his violence against Camden satisfied him as much as did his end of the day drink. General Pike had warned him that there might be some opposition to the project placed within the unit, but it was their job to identify and contain any threat. Ganesh was deemed opposition as soon as he accepted the position in the unit because he had been involved, voluntarily, with several peace-promoting efforts throughout his career. And because his meetings were being loosely monitored, Camden Riles had been identified as a potential suspect when the biomer theft was committed. Mace downed his ale and ordered another. He slunched over the bar and rested on his elbows, letting his posture fall for the first time today. What a glorious war General Pike would start when the weaponry division released their biomachines. The primitive areas of the west didn't know how to use the resources their land contained and Mace believed, like so many others in the government, that any habitable land should be reserved for the technologically advanced.
**********
Dana scurried behind Lee Tripple, back and forth from the main lab, to a storeroom that gave her the creeps. She quickly learned how to maneuver the specimen cart with one hand and her hip so she could write notes with her other hand at the same time. Lee had a tendency to mumble to himself under his breath and Dana had a hard time understanding a lot of what he said. Every few minutes, Dana would clear her throat or make noise with the tubes and the cart to remind him that she was there, and listening. Once or twice she asked a question, but this seem to throw his workflow off and frustrate him, so she just took to writing every word out of his mouth that she could understand.
Once all of the tissue samples had been properly labeled and put away, Lee took Dana back into the main lab.
“While I prepare the next solution, you will clean up in here. The technicians usually come in to do this, but you are not ready to work in the mixing lab yet,” Lee said to her.
“Oh, okay, then. It will give me a chance to learn the lab so I can navigate more smoothly from here on.”
“Yes. Good idea, then.”
Dana giggled at Lee's surprise at his own thoughts.
“When you are finished, we will have tea in the lounge area and you will sign a clearance contract pertaining to the nature of the work performed here,” Lee said and then turned and left her alone in the main lab room.
Dana smiled at him as he walked away, but he did not see. She took a deep breath, tired from the already long day and looked around the room. If she knew where everything belonged, this job would take her at least two hours but this was new territory, so she estimated up to four hours to put this lab in immaculate condition and she had to pee.
**********
Camden’s head pounded out the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It was the only thing he could hear in his dark cell, which made it all the more painful. He couldn’t fall asleep though he wished for nothing more. He watched two shadows on the ceiling for a while…they were unmoving. As he turned over the events of the day in his head he grew more and more angry with Ganesh. He had betrayed him. Left him here to be smacked around by that asshole Magner. Ganesh seemed to be on Camden’s side, but he outranked Mace. I’m being set up. Camden thought. They want something from me. It was true that Camden had not accepted a government contract in a very long time, but to be caged like an animal…wasn’t Ganesh’s style. Yet, here I am.
Camden shifted his position on the uncomfortable cot and turned his thoughts to his wife, Rosa. This was something he didn’t allow himself to do very often. No matter what memory of her he chose to think about, it always ended up with the same one…the phone call; that terrible call about the accident where he lost his beautiful Rosa and his sister Anna in an instant. Regardless, Camden needed her tonight and brought her warm smiling face to the forefront of his mind.
**********
Dana reached the kitchen area of Lee’s lab before he did. She had done a meticulous job at cleaning the lab and she was ready for that cup of tea. She wandered around a bit looking in windows and found her way to this room. It was rather nice…and comfortable. On the far side of the room was a door that led to a shower area with bathrooms and closets. She was especially pleased to find this room. In the main kitchen area was a big round table and in the corner was a green puffy chair that was inviting her to come and curl up in it. She resisted the urge and started poking around the kitchen. The food in the fridge was in need of meeting the garbage can and a bag of bread on the counter was beginning to mold. Wow, maybe Lee doesn’t eat. She thought as she started disposing of things. She found the cupboard that held the tea and put a fresh kettle of water on the stove. While she waited for the water to boil, she wandered down the hall in the other direction. On the right was a storage closet with brooms, mops, and other cleaning supplies. On the left was a room that intrigued her. The door was locked, but from peering in the small window, she could see that it was an office, a lavish one. So not Lee’s style, she thought. There was a dark brown leather couch on one side of the room, a coat and hat rack on the other. A plush rug covered most of the floor and an elegant desk sat in the middle of the room. Hmm. I bet this is where Professor Camden Riles works when he is here. She felt butterflies in her stomach at the thought. The whistle of the teapot startled her and she returned to the kitchen area.
She heard a door close from somewhere in the building and then Lee’s footsteps approaching. She set the table for two and sat down hoping to be praised for her first day’s w
ork. Lee came in and sat down. He was carrying a brown folder with Dana’s secrecy contract. He helped himself to tea and pushed the folder toward her.
“Read this with thoroughness, then sign,” Lee said to her. Dana began to read and Lee took out his electronic notebook and entered his latest thoughts. Dana wondered what Dr. Tripple thought of her but didn’t dare ask. It would make him uncomfortable. She decided to assume the best since he was technically sitting and having tea with her. When Dana completed her contract, she started to clean up the table. Lee continued working and mumbling to himself.
“Dr. Tripple?” Dana confronted. “Is there anything else you would like me to do tonight?”
Lee looked up at her.
“No, no. That’s all. You can go for the night.”
“Thank you. What time shall I arrive tomorrow?”
This question threw him for a loop and he scrunched his eyebrows together. He hadn’t thought of that.
“Um. Well I will be here all night. I guess I will be ready for your assistance at approximately 5:45.”
Dana gulped and repressed the initial shock from her face. That was less than four hours away!
“I will see you then, sir. Have a good night.”
“Yes. I will see you then.”
Dana walked out onto the street. She lived fifteen blocks from Tripple Laboratories and the walk would give her a chance to decompress after her first and extremely long day with Lee. The moons were bright in the sky tonight, but it was very chilly out. She buttoned up her coat and put on her gloves. The streets were mostly empty except for a few people like her, working late and some homeless, usually from the west and without the necessary skills to survive in this high tech city.
“Excuse me. Excuse me, Miss!”
Dana turned to face the voice, alarmed by someone calling out to her at this hour.
“Hey,” she said. “You’re that guy from the interviews earlier.”
“Yes. Hi. Sergeant Bearden Leitner.” He was surprised she remembered him. “You got the job with Dr. Tripple.”
“Yes, I did.” She lifted her nose in the air a little. “What do you want? I’m sure nothing good at this time of night. Are you stalking me? I can defend myself.”
“No, no, you’ve got it all wrong,” Bearden chuckled. “I mean, I do want something from you.” Dana gasped and backed away.
“No, not what you are thinking. I’m not going to hurt you. I need your help.”
“My help. What could you possibly need from me? And what makes you think that I would help you anyway?”
“I don’t know, I was just hoping you would, I guess.” Bearden flashed a smile at her.
“Hmm…well, you can ask, but just know up front that I will not do anything that may jeopardize my position in the lab.”
“What if it were a matter of life or death for Dr. Tripple’s best friend?”
“Camden Riles?”
“Well, I see you’ve done your homework on Tripple.” Bearden sounded impressed.
“Of course I have,” she said matter of fact. “What’s going on?”
“Let me buy you a cup of coffee and we’ll talk.”
“Make it a burger and I’m in, Sergeant”
“Call me Bearden.”
“Let’s not make this too personal, Sergeant, I’m going against my better judgment here.”
“Please…um…”
“Dana Hanks.”
“Please, Miss Hanks.” Bearden smiled again. “This is important.”
“Fine, there is an all night café a few blocks from here.”
“Thank you,” Bearden said as they started walking together. “So, what was it like?”
“What?”
“Working with Dr. Tripple…your first day.”
“Are you making small talk, Sergeant”?
“Yeah, maybe I am…and it’s Bearden!”
“Well, Bearden, It was amazing. The lab is brilliant!”
“Tell me about it.”
“No way! Obviously, I can’t.”
“Is Dr. Tripple as weird as they say?”
“Dr. Tripple is misunderstood. That’s all,” Dana snipped.
“Sorry. Didn’t think you would take that personally.”
Dana stopped and squared to look Bearden in the eyes.
“Stop acting like you know me or that we are on a friendly level. The only reason that I am here with you right now is on the chance that what you told me might be true…and I’m starving…but don’t think that I am going to blindly believe anything you tell me. This is just me giving you the benefit of the doubt.” With that, she turned and started walking again. Bearden did a skip to catch up.
“Whoa,” he said. “You are not nice. But that’s ok. I just need your help tonight. We don’t have to be friends.”
“Fine. Good. Here’s the café.” She pointed to a building on the right with the lights on. The two walked in and Bearden followed Dana to a small booth in the far corner. Onlookers might assume they were young lovers out for a late night rendezvous.
**********
Enira awoke to darkness in a strange room. She tried to call out, but the drug she was forced to inhale earlier that evening had stifled her voice. She was only assuming it was the same evening that she was grabbed in the elevator in Camden Riles’ building. A tear rolled down her cheek, and then another one. A few seconds later she was sobbing like a baby, terrified out of her mind. For the first time in a long time she wished for her husband to be at her side, rather than her lover, Camden. She huddled her body into a ball and tried to breath slowly. Then fear began to make her body shake and she wished to be unconscious again.
**********
Mace Magner stumbled into his home from the bar and went straight to his drab basement and turned on his computer. He entered his military codes and accessed the personnel database for scientists at his unit. He found Sergeant Bearden Leitner’s home address and jotted it down on a scrap piece of paper. There had been an interesting message left on his office line earlier that night from the young sergeant. Mace had his office messages automatically forwarded to his mobile device in case there was any news about the biomer theft. He about fell off his barstool when he heard Leitner’s voice asking him for help and that he had some information that he shouldn’t have. He planned to visit him at his flat before work, which would start in a few hours, so they could have a conversation under the radar. He marched back upstairs, took a two-minute shower and went to bed for a short sobering sleep.
**********
“You want my job!” Dana said after swallowing a large bite of her burger.
“No…well…yes…but no. I need you to get this to Dr. Tripple.” Bearden waved the envelope in her face containing the letter that Ganesh wrote.
“What do you take me for, an idiot? I think we are through here, Sergeant.” Dana started to get up and Bearden grabbed her wrist.
“Just sit back down and read the letter. I know you don’t know me, believe me I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t important.” Then he mumbled, “It’s not like you are good company.”
Dana glared at him but sat back in the booth and held her hand out. Bearden folded his arms across his chest and sat back, too, and stared at the ceiling while Dana read Ganesh’s words to Lee Tripple.
“Are you really willing to do this? If you get caught, you will be a traitor to the government.” Dana asked after a few moments.
“No, not really. But what choice do I have? I didn’t ask to be in this position.”
“This letter is why you came back in to the lobby today. Had you read it then?”
“No. I was just trying to follow orders and deliver it to Dr. Tripple.”
“Well, this complicates things doesn’t it?”
“Does that mean you’ll help?”
Dana put her elbows on the table and massaged her temples.
“Well…what choice do I have now?”
Bearden let out a nervous chuckle and the two looked e
ach other in the eyes for a moment; conspirators in the night.
“Dana. Oh good, you’re here early,” Lee said when Dana walked back into the lab. “Let me show you what I am setting up so you can monitor the…”
“Dr. Tripple,” Dana interrupted and caught Lee off guard. He stumbled over his own feet and his glasses slid sideways on his nose. “I have to tell you something urgent. I’m not here early because I never went home.”
“That doesn’t seem urgent.”
“No, not that. I met someone in the street when I left a few hours ago, or rather he met me.”
Lee looked confused and frustrated.
“He had a message for you, from the government.” She held out Bearden’s letter but he didn’t take it.
“It’s about Professor Riles, Dr. Tripple, I think you should read it.”
One day with an assistant and Lee’s world was turning upside down. He snatched the letter and walked to his sterile office. Dana followed at his heels. Lee read the letter at least three times before he looked up.
“Dana, I believe that Professor Camden Riles has stolen something from the government. It would appear that it has just become our job to get it here to the lab…whatever it is.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“And yet, I am.”
“Of course you are. How can I help?”
Lee scratched his head so that his hair tangled and stuck out on one side. His glasses were still sideways and he mumbled something under his breath.
“Speak up, Dr. Tripple. I can’t help you if I can’t hear you.” Dana was so tired that she was no longer able to monitor what came out of her mouth. Lee didn’t appear to care, which made Dana suddenly feel completely comfortable around him.
“We must get to this Bearden Leitner and bring him in right away. Can you reach him? While you do that, I will get one of Camden’s people from out front to find out who Ari is…I have heard the name.”