by Nathan Pedde
“You’re a spy. I’m a spy. Trust is a currency hard to come by.”
“I think I understand. Do you have a plan in place for this situation?”
“Do you?” Des asked.
“I do. Except that it involves me going home, and I obviously can’t do that.” Elsie was silent for a moment. “Do you have a plan?”
“Yes.”
Des pulled a key out of his pocket and opened a compartment. The compartment was hidden by the charging unit, and not standard on the bike.
“Does Cooley know it’s there?” Elsie asked.
“Nope,” Des said.
In the compartment was a vacuum-sealed bag of clothes, phones, and a few other items hidden from sight in the darkness of the parking garage.
Elsie reached in to grab the bag.
“Don’t,” Des said. “Not yet.”
Des pulled out a printed picture from his wallet. The image was altered. It showed the compartment and its contents, but nothing else. No bike, or where it was taken or anything.
Des studied the compartment and the picture. After a few moments, he put it down on top of the bike. Des reached in and grabbed a small device sitting on the bag. He turned it on, and it hummed. He waved the device in the compartment.
“The compartment is clean,” Des said.
“A scanner?” Elsie asked.
“Yes. This is something that I stole from my spy schoolteacher while he wasn’t looking.”
“Won’t you get in trouble?”
“Maybe,” Des replied. “But I know he knows that I have it. I’m sure the device itself is bugged with some type of tracker.”
Des then waved the device over Elsie, and it squealed with a low volume noise. Des then did himself.
“We are both bugged,” Des said.
“Would Cooley-”
“Of course, he would have,” Des said. “Did you see how fast they abandoned us back there?”
“That doesn’t mean—” Elsie replied.
“Then why are we bugged?”
Elsie looked down at herself. “Collars, shoes?”
“All of it. We both need a complete wardrobe change, including underwear.”
“Do you have clothes for me in there,” Elsie asked.
“Yes.”
“How do you know my size?” Elsie asked.
Des stared at her with his head tilted to the side.
“Right,” Elsie replied.
They both took turns changing behind the bike while the other had their back turned. The clothes were nondescript black pants and a boring white shirt. Nothing fancy or exciting. While Elsie was changing her clothes, Des was tempted to look back at her. There was part of him that thought he could get away with just a little peek. In the end, he didn’t and forced himself to stare straight ahead.
After they had changed, Des and Elsie piled their keys, phones, wallets, and other items on the bike. Des pulled out the Neuronet earpiece and put it in on top of the pile. Elsie did the same. For a moment, he wondered what to do about the earpiece from Mr. Smith.
“Pin Shooters as well,” Elsie said. “If we are going to do this, then we need to do it right.”
Des nodded, putting his pin shooter on the pile. “Fuck.”
“It is just a pin shooter,” Elsie said.
“It’s not that.”
“Then what?”
“In the spy school, the teacher gave us a small earpieces for an assignment.”
“Hide and seek or follow the leader?”
“Hide and seek,” Des said. “Except there is only one person who hides, and the rest seek.”
“You can’t stay hidden for too long?”
“No. I’m the poor sap who must hide. However, that isn’t a problem. I have a good spot ready for us.”
“Then what is the issue?”
“I need to destroy Mr. Smith’s earpiece. However, if I do, I will be disqualified from the assignment and maybe the class.”
“A class can be retaken,” Elsie said.
Des reached his ear and grabbed at the small device. It was too small, and he couldn’t find it.
“Shit,” Des said, “where is it?”
“Let me see.”
Elsie looked at his ear.
“I don’t see anything.” Elsie said. “There are devices that’ll hide like that. You can throw a tracker on a person, and they’ll never know no matter where it is.”
“Shit,” Des said. “I have no choice now. Hopefully, it isn’t compromised.”
Des reached into the compartment and pulled out the last six items. Two wallets, two phones, a set of keys, and a can.
He handed one of the wallets to Elsie and pocketed the keys.
“What is in the can?” Elsie asked.
“It is a foam fire-starter,” Des said. “It’s used for industrial applications. I used to haul these around in my old factory job.”
“I see,” Elsie said.
Des sprayed the bike in the foam, covering the entire bike head to toe in the foam. Des placed the can on top of the foam-covered hover-bike.
“Now what,” Elsie said.
“The main ingredient of it is sodium,” Des said. “And how does concentrated sodium react with water?”
“No idea,” Elsie replied.
“It explodes.”
The foam quickly hardened solid. A white sheen glistened in the dim parking garage lighting.
Des walked away from the bike. He picked up a rock from the ground, and threw the can up in the air. It soared and hit a sprinkler head. Water gushed out of the sprinkler.
“Run if you don’t want to get wet,” Des said.
Des and Elsie ran from the bike as the parking garage’s sprinklers turned on one after the other.
The foam on the bike exploded, erupting in flames. The foam burned brighter and hotter the more water went on it, turning the scooter into an unrecognizable hunk of plastic and metal.
Dripping from the water, Des ran into a stairwell then up the small stairway. Elsie followed close behind. Water poured down the staircase, soaking him thoroughly.
“Now what,” Elsie asked as they ran.
“You’ll see.”
Des ran up to the fourth level, which had water gushing out of the sprinklers.
“You didn’t think this through.” Elsie shouted behind him.
Des turned to Elsie, “I didn’t think hitting one would release them all…” Des’s voice trailed off. Elsie had her arms wrapped around her chest, the sopping wet, white shirt was semi-transparent.
“Or you did think this through?” Elsie said. “Would you like a look? You could have just asked instead of tricking me like this.”
“I’m sorry, Elsie,” Des said. “It was cheap, and money was tight—”
“Liar.”
Des turned away from her, walking through the parking garage towards a back corner.
“Come on,” Des said. “We can argue about it later.”
In the corner, dripping from water was a two-seated hover-bike. This bike was a pale green color, and a couple helmets were attached to the bike.
Des pulled out the keys from his pocket. He pulled out a small key and opened a similar compartment as last time. Only a tracker-finder scanner was in it. Des did a quick scan of the bike.
He turned to Elsie, who had her arms wrapped around her chest. “I’m going to have to ask you to move your arms to the side.”
She glared at him as she stuck her arms to the side.
“You could have at least packed me a bra,” Elsie said.
“I didn’t think—” Des stopped himself from finishing.
He was going to say that he didn’t think that she needed a bra, she wasn’t very endowed.
Keep your mouth shut, Des. Before you die by Elsie and not whatever is after you, Des thought.
Des ran the scanner over her wet clothes. He kept his eyes on the scanner. When the scanner went over the front of her chest, he got an eye full of the pair of round
peach-sized breasts.
When he finished, he handed the scanner to Elsie, who quickly scanned him. They both came out clean with no tracking devices.
Des put the device on the ground and stomped on it a couple times. He then kicked it across the vacant parking garage.
“You’re very thorough,” Elsie said.
“Thank you,” Des said. “I’m trying my best.”
Elsie grabbed a helmet, passing the second one to Des. “It’s almost like you had this sort of thing planned.”
“What do you mean?” Des said.
“My plan was for myself,” Elsie said. “It assumed I wasn’t taking anyone with me.”
“I have two escape plans,” Des said. “One for only me and one for both of us.”
“Really?” Elsie asked.
“Yes. Now let’s get going. We have more misdirection to do.”
Des and Elsie got on the bike with Elsie on behind him. She wrapped her arms around his chest. He felt her wet shirt and the shape of her breasts beneath them.
He spiraled down the parking garage through the pouring water from the sprinklers. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the burning hover-scooter, still burned brightly, despite the liters of water.
Des sped away out of the parking garage and down the road. He hoped no one saw he and Elsie were both soaked. He hoped the darkness of the night would hide details from people.
A fire truck sped toward them, its sirens and lights blazing. Des pulled over to the side of the road as the vehicle sped past them. It was going to the parking garage he had just left. Des pitied them as they would have troubles with fire.
Chapter Seven
Des picked up speed, leaving the parking garage behind. He counted the time as it ticked by in slow motion.
After Alix was arrested months ago, he put together this plan. The question came to his mind: what to do if everything fell apart? He saved his money, the pay, and bonus for bringing down the saboteur and bought the hover-scooter and the added gear. It took him all month to put it all together.
Driving down the road, he wondered if he made the correct decision all those months ago. Now, he mused, it was too late.
“Where are we going?” Elsie said.
“I’m wandering,” Des said.
“Wandering, why?”
“A hunch,” Des replied.
As he approached the border road of where the Teal Sector met the Gold Sector, he noticed it. A line of black vans. However, these weren’t the sleek models Cooley had. These were tall and bulky, fitting a half dozen of the modified construction robots into them.
Teal Sector was a residential sector, while the Gold Sector was where they refined Jupiter’s gas into ship fuel. Between each area, a border road ran along. They were the only straight roads in the station. Everything else weaved around the different sectors. The border roads were eight lanes wide going one way and eight lanes going the other.
In front of Des, in the Gold Sector, was a large refinery building. It blocked his path for twenty blocks on either side of the road. His plan was to drive the long way around the station, in hopes his pursuers wouldn’t catch sight of him.
Des turned left onto the road and followed it up. The black vans stayed where they were.
Elsie squeezed onto him tighter as they passed one of the vans. Des looked sideways in hopes he could see who was driving, but he was going too fast, and the van was dark.
“Why did you have a plan with just me?” Elsie said. “What about Cryslis and Cooley?”
“That doesn’t matter,” Des said.
“Doesn’t matter?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“What about-”
“If the situation was different and it was me with either of those two,” Des said. “I wouldn’t be doing this.”
“Why?” Elsie said.
“Because this is a last-ditch effort,” Des said. “If we get found here, then I have nowhere to go.”
Elsie was silent again as Des turned into the pungent Gold district. The station administrators always commented the sector smelled like money. Des thought the station smelled like rotten eggs and cabbage.
He kept to the speed limit. He had no intention of becoming a target to the Station Guards. The last thing he wanted was to get arrested.
As he drove past the entrance to the refinery, someone in the station spindle figured the station needed some water and turned on the tap. Water poured from the spindle toward the spinning outer hull. In effect, it started to rain. Still wet from the parking garage, he didn’t get much wetter. He did know Elsie would get angry at him for giving her a white shirt.
Des didn’t see sign of the enemy. No signs of black vans, robots, or any vehicle following them. No one paid much attention to two teenagers on a late-night drive through the colony.
After he got out of the Gold Sector, he entered the Grey industrial sector, with its large factories and odors. He passed through the Purple Residential Sector, then he went through the Orange Agriculture Sector. He drove through the sector fast as the roads were all straight. The Pink Commercial Sector was still lively with people, the pubs and night clubs still open. He entered the Farming Sector Pair. The Brown and the Yellow Sectors.
Des didn’t understand why they didn’t make the two sectors, one.
After two and a half hours on the hover-scooter, and driving 140 kilometers, Elsie rested her head on Des’s back.
“Don’t get used to this,” Elsie said. “I’m still mad at you.”
Des sighed, turning his bike up a dirt road in the middle of the yellow sector. On one side of the road was orchards, while on the other was a large grain field. A small cluster of trees was in the middle of a field. Des stopped and opened the gate.
“Why are we here?” Elsie asked.
“Trust me.” Des said. “Drive the bike through the gate, please.”
Elsie did so when she finished, she moved back to her seat.
Des closed the gate and sat on the bike.
“This is somewhere I can hide in,” Des said.
Des drove across the pasture. The grass underneath the scooter flattened for a moment as he raced across the field. Des got to the cluster of trees and glided the bike between the trunks. On the other side of the trees was a large, old, rusted fence. In the middle, was a tear in the metal. Des glided the bike through space, turning it around to face the way they came in.
Des got off the bike and stretched his legs.
“Where are we?” Elsie asked, getting off the bike.
“This is home,” Des said. “For now.”
Des set his helmet on the bike, and Elsie followed. He flipped a switch, and the bike disappeared. In its place was a bush.
“That isn’t something you can buy in the store,” Elsie said.
Des smiled, walking further into the trees. Hidden among some older trees was a set of metal doors. The doors were slanted and opened by pulling them up like cellar doors from an ancient Earth Flick about farming and tornadoes.
He pulled the door open with a heave, revealing a set of stairs winding down into the ground.
Des climbed down the ladder to the landing. Beside the ladder was a door built out of heavy wood. Des pulled an old-style key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, opening it and entering the room.
He flicked an old plastic light switch, and a single light turned on in the middle of the dirty, empty space. The room looked like an old basement of some kind. An old couch sat to one side, while a small kitchenette to the other.
It was a small storage room in a basement long forgotten about in a house which was no longer existed. Des converted it into his fall back location, the place to run to when there were no other places. Piles of supplies were stacked in a corner, while a small computer sat to the other side. The door to the rest of the basement was at the other end of the little room.
Des walked up to a shelf. On it was another tracker-scanner. The scanner was a little large
r than usual, made from haphazard parts. He walked around the room sweeping the scanner over the surfaces. The scanner beeped and hummed, but it didn’t squeal.
“We are clean here,” Des said. “I’m going to check the back rooms.”
Elsie nodded as Des left the room with the scanner in his hands. He closed the door and took a deep breath. He was more stressed than he’d like or care to admit.
Des walked down the small hallway. Four small rooms ran off it with a little hatch sat on the floor at the end of the hall. Des made his way scanning the corridor and then each of the rooms. Each room was empty of everything. Caked to the ground was a layer of dust and dirt from years of neglect.
Des didn’t think he would find anything here, but he scanned it anyway. After he was done, he turned off the tracker-scanner. Still holding onto the device, he walked up to the door.
Elsie was sitting on the sofa, her head in her hands. The sounds of sobbing echoed in the room.
“You alright?” Des asked.
Elsie jerked upright, her face a wash of tears.
“I’m sorry,” Elsie said. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“That word doesn’t mean how you think it means,” Des replied.
“What word?”
“Fine.”
“I’m fine,” Elsie said. “How are you not? Your brother’s been kidnapped. Your life’s been turned upside down.”
“I don’t know,” Des said. “I’ll probably fall a to pieces later.”
Elsie stood up, stomping over to him. Her fists were clenched into balls, her eyebrows dug deep trenches across her forehead.
“What about Susan?” Elsie said. “And my family? Did you have a plan for them?”
“I can’t be responsible for—”
“Shut up.”
Elsie reached up, and for a moment, Des thought she was going to slap him across the face. She grabbed him from behind his head, kissing him on the lips. Angry, passionate energy evaporated from her as she melted into his arms.
“That is for pulling me along and getting me out of harm’s way,” Elsie said.
“You’re welcome—”
Elsie kicked him squarely between the legs.
“That’s for not thinking about my family,” Elsie said.