Fighting (20 page)

How
did
that
happen?

I
don't know what Ethan saw on my face, but he didn't say anything.  He just
looked back to the stars.

All
this talk about love was making me nervous so I checked the clock and said,
"Time for bed." 

I
stood up and went back inside the studio and he followed.  I waited on him to
gather his things and then we walked down the stairs together. 

Ethan
and I were crouched behind a tree with our backs pressed together, eyes slicing
through the foliage around us.  I checked my gun and felt Ethan tap my shoulder
twice.  I turned and felt him do the same.  I kept my eyes on the area behind
and beside of him and knew he was doing the same with me. 

"We
need to move," he whispered.  "Sitting ducks."

"Circle
around the perimeter and meet back at the rendezvous point," I whispered.

He
nodded his head once and we lifted from the crouch we were in.  The forest
floor was covered in leaves and pine needles that hid little sticks that threw
just enough sound to alert our enemies of our presence, so we crept silently on
the sides and balls of our feet in stealth mode.  I constantly scanned the
trees and surrounding brush, keeping my hearing attuned to the noises around
me, listening for any anomalies.  I went east and he went west, on the hunt for
the enemy. 

I
heard a noise to my left and froze my movements before darting behind a tree
and listening for it again.  I waited but didn't hear it, so I scanned the area
thoroughly and when I found nothing, I started jogging again.

I
caught sight of tracks that seemed fresh enough that I didn't dismiss them, but
they suddenly stopped when a bed of rocks appeared directly to the right of
them.  They must have stepped on them to eradicate their foot prints.  I
followed the rocks a bit farther, my focus bouncing between them and my
surroundings, until I suddenly stopped in my tracks. 

I
slowly dropped to a crouch, balancing on my feet so as not to leave any knee
prints, and zeroed in on my target in the tree.  I stayed perfectly still and
watched him from a distance.  He didn't move from his spot for a few minutes,
and I knew I needed to meet Ethan, so I stood up and moved out. 

I
kept him in my sights while keeping my eyes open to the ground.  I crept along
until I made the rendezvous point and waited on Ethan.  He arrived within
moments and I made hand signals for him to come directly to my location.  He
appeared by my side and shook his head in the negative, meaning he found
nothing and no one.

I
tilted my head toward the occupant in the tree and whispered, "Two
o'clock, tree climber."

His
eyes scanned the trees and stopped when he focused on the target.

"What's
his viewing range?" he asked, thinking out loud.

"Limited
because the foliage is so thick that high up.  He shouldn't be able to see
beyond a few hundred feet, and he only has perfectly clear viewing range of
maybe a hundred foot radius," I whispered.

He
nodded his head in contemplation.  "He chose his location as either an
early warning system or a decoy."  He looked at me.  "I don't want to
split up again."

"Right. 
He's too high to silence, so he's probably a look out.  And since he's
protecting the others, they'd be at his back, confident that he'd be covered
from that side.  He's facing seven o'clock," I said.  He looked straight
up at the limbs above us.  "He would spot us or hear us if we climbed
anywhere near him," I said.

He
suddenly cocked his head to the side, eyes focused on something not too far in
the distance.  "Something's off."

I
felt it, too.  Something wasn't right.

His
eyes flashed wider and we stood up and looked at each other at the same time. 
"Trap," we both said seconds before two bodies dropped from
surrounding trees. 

I
instantly dropped to a knee and took out the target behind Ethan's back as he shot
over my head at the one behind me.  Blue and green paint splattered across
Oliver's chest and he threw up his arms in defeat.  My target down, I didn't
hesitate to round on August behind me and verify that she was down before I
slammed my back against the other side of the tree trunk and held my gun in
front of my torso vertically, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.  We huddled
together to minimize our chance of being seen.  He peeked around the edge and
swung back into me.

"Tree
climber still visible," he whispered.

Spencer
was still in the tree and by now, he definitely knew what direction we were in,
if not our specific location.

"I'm
going to circle around and approach from the rear.  You stay and cover
me," he whispered.

I
confirmed and darted forward to a fallen log that was the perfect height to
crouch behind and lay my gun on, keeping Spencer in my crosshairs.  Ethan moved
so quietly, even I couldn't track him and I knew what route he was taking.

Spencer
was still nestled in the limbs, scanning the forest floor alertly.  His head
cocked suddenly, as if he heard something strange.  He picked up his gun
cautiously from its resting place on his leg and made to point it in the
direction he heard the noise.  I could see Ethan creep closer, taking his time
to stay covered and quiet.

Spencer
looked out, searching for movement in his field of vision and, airing on the
side of caution, fired two warning shots in Ethan's general direction.  I ran
ten feet in the opposite direction and shot two warning shots of my own toward
him.  I was too far away to make a kill shot, but I wanted to throw him off of
Ethan's position.  I kept running in a wide arc to the right, constantly moving
and shooting every few seconds, letting him track me and return fire.  I got
him turned around and distracted him so much that Ethan was able to creep up
beside of him and tagged him twice in the ribs. 

Spencer
cried out from pain and surprise as I jogged toward Ethan.  He jogged toward me
and tossed his gun to me unexpectedly.  I stopped and caught it just as he
dipped his shoulder down and shoved it against my stomach.  Startled, I cried
out as he wrapped his hands around my legs and lifted me up on his shoulder. 

"Alex
and Ethan, for the win!" he yelled out, celebrating.

I
burst into laughter as he twirled us around enthusiastically.  He sat me down
on my feet and took his gun back.  His eyes were dancing and I'd never seen him
smile that openly.  I was just as wired as he was, still feeling the thrill of
the chase and the triumph of the win.  Spencer and Ollie sulked, walking toward
us slowly, but August was just smiling at us. 

 Ethan
slung his arm around August's shoulders and began the trek back to the
compound.

"How
awesome were we?" he asked.  He wasn't exactly gloating.  He was just
excited and wanted an instant replay. 

"You
were good," she smiled.  She looked at me and said, "Good teamwork. 
Totally thought we were going to get you.  We let you see Spencer, but me and
Ollie hid and waited patiently, knowing you would spot him eventually."

"Not
bad," I said.

"I
like climbing trees, but I couldn't see much that far up," Spencer said,
two steps from complaining. 

Ethan
glanced at me and winked, knowing that I estimated his viewing range
correctly.  We breeched the perimeter of the forest and found Brooks lounging
in a chair, reading a book.  He looked up at our approach.  He noticed who had
paint on their chests and who didn't.

"Another
win?" he asked Ethan.  He nodded and Brooks said, "That's three wins
in a row for you two.  You two make an excellent team."

"I
don't want to hear it, Brooks," I said.  I held my hand up and shook my
head.  "I don't want to hear how you somehow singled me out in the
bookstore and magically knew I'd be the perfect partner for your best fighter. 
I don't want to hear about how wise you are and how you always have the
answers.  Save that for when I'm having a bad day, not a good day."

Everybody
chuckled and walked inside as he stood up to follow. 

"I
didn't find you in the bookstore.  Did I never tell you that?"  I quirked
an eyebrow and lowered the aim of my gun to the ground, walking with him. 
"I was on the way home from the store, and I stopped in a shop for a
coffee.  I was standing at the bay window, sipping my drink and watching that
couple fight.  I saw you approach and then hover and I almost dismissed you
except that I could tell you were listening to their conversation.  And then I
was amazed to find that not only did you help the lady out by stealing the
guy's wallet, but you were really good at it.  I followed you to your car and
got your license plate number.  I looked you up when I got back to the
compound, and you were there for the rest."

"Have
I told you lately how creepy you are?" I quipped at him. 

"Have
I told you lately how right I was about you coming here?"

"What
did I just say about saving that speech for later?  You need better
timing," I said.

"And
you need better insults."  I stopped and turned around slowly to look at
him.  "You keep calling me creepy.  It's starting to hurt my
feelings," he grumbled facetiously.

I
patted him on the shoulder in a consoling manner.  "The truth hurts, my
man.  The truth hurts."

I
walked into the classroom for my private tutoring with Brooks and sat down in a
seat to wait for him.  He was running late, and when he finally did walk in, he
was holding a folder.  He sat down across from me and looked at me blankly.  I
didn't know what was up or if I was in trouble, so I mirrored his body language
in apprehension.

"You've
been here for a few months, now," he said solemnly.  "You've been
thoroughly trained in hand-to-hand fighting, weapons, computer skills, social
engineering, driving, and deception.  You're a better thief, and you've grown
as a person.  You know when to empathize and when to compartmentalize.  You
know when to rally and when to give up and walk away."

He
pinned me to my seat with a fixed stare.  "And you have officially been
approved for field work by yours truly," he said.  

Then
he smiled.  I inhaled deeply in relief.

My
smile was hesitant when I asked, "For real?"

"For
real."  He dropped the file folder in front of me and my interest was
piqued before I even opened it up. 

"Martin,
Cain and Gates," I read aloud.

"They
run a website that offers easy access to the general population's personal
information for the right price, making it super easy for identity thieves to
clean innocent people out of their checking accounts, savings, credit cards,
everything.  Several families were so devastated that they lost their
businesses and homes."

"These
guys what?  Hack?"

"They
hack, swindle, steal, whatever is necessary to get the information they need
and then post it to the site for paying members to access."

"So
what's our objective?"

"Well,
we could simply have Ollie shut down the website, but websites are not like
buildings.  Websites are extremely easy to buy and build, especially if you
have all of the information and designs stored elsewhere.  Servers are what
power the website, they store and regulate the information.  We're going to
destroy their servers and their backup servers so that they not only lose all
of the information they're hosting and sharing, but their website simply won't
even function on a basic level.  And then we're going to target Vasquez, Cain
and Gates.  They'll go down before their website can go back up."

"Ah,
so we kill their servers and what, hand deliver them to the cops?" I
asked.

"Something
like that," he said, smirking. 

I
followed him to the kitchen, where the others were inspecting a blue print that
was spread out across the table. 

"She
can go in here, and then come out on the other side of the building,"
Ethan said, sliding his finger across the paper.

"Hey,
hero.  Ready for your first op?" Spencer asked.

I
put my arm around his shoulders and said, "Guess we'll find out.  When do
we go in?"

"Tonight
at night fall," Brooks said.

Well,
that was quick but hey, roll with the punches.

"Cool."

"Come
on," Ethan said.  "Let's get the gear and then we'll go over the game
plan."

*****

I
crawled along the air vent and unscrewed the grid so that I could drop to the
floor of the hallway below.  I concentrated on my task but still marveled at
the voices I heard from the ear bud that Brooks gave me before I entered the
building.  Brooks and Ollie were in a van parked outside of the building, FBI
style.  Ethan was in the middle of fucking up the air conditioning under the
guise of a maintenance man.  Spencer was waiting in a car at the front of the building,
waiting to drive us away in style.

"Servers
produce a ton of heat," I heard Ollie's voice say through my wireless ear
bud.  "So much that they require several system fans and the air
conditioning in the room to be very cold to combat the heat.  Ethan is working
on the air conditioning as we speak, so that it will malfunction and the
temperature will slowly rise and it will become very hot.  The USB drive I gave
you will distribute the virus I wrote that will disable all of the system fans
on our target rack.  With the servers being used constantly, it won't take long
before they overheat and stop working altogether."

"Will
they catch on fire?" I asked.

"Maybe. 
Mostly though, the equipment will melt and become useless."

I
dropped to the floor from the ventilation shaft and landed in a crouch,
scanning the area for anyone nearby.

"I'm
in the hallway," I whispered.

"Get
it done, do it right," Brooks said.

"You're
clear and I put the cameras on a continual loop, so if anyone's watching,
you're invisible," Oliver said.

"Sweet,"
I said.  "I'll stop and get a box of doughnuts for the top notch security
guards."

I
flew to the server room door and knelt before the doorknob.  I grabbed my lock
pick set from my pocket and set to work.  "Picking the lock now," I
muttered.

It
clicked open and I swept inside the room quickly and shut the door behind me
very carefully, quiet as a mouse.

"Fifteen
seconds," Ollie said.  "You're getting really good at that."

I
smiled at the room full of whizzing server banks.  "I do aim to
please."

"Okay,
you're going to look for the bank of servers that are labeled C-62.  You'll
need to pick another lock on that door, and then insert the USB drive I gave
you."

I
walked slowly through the several rows of equipment cabinets, scanning the
labels.

"There
has to be a fail-safe though, right?  I'm not about to be doused in CO2, am
I?" I asked suspiciously.

Ollie
laughed and said, "Ah, you know your science!  Good call but no, I
disabled that remotely already.  Ditto with any alarms, silent or otherwise, to
alert the systems administrator of any changes or activate any
fail-safes."

"Where
is he now?"

"
She
is currently in the break room, chatting up August about some fashion
designer's fall line," Brooks said.

"Air
conditioning is offline," Ethan said.  "Returning to the van."

It
was strange hearing him talk and having no one to look at.  It sounded like he
was right beside of me. 

I
popped the door open on the first cabinet and stood back to look at the column
of stacked equipment.  I skimmed over the buttons and ports and found the right
one.  I plugged the flash drive in and waited.  Seconds later, the loud
whizzing sounds stopped along the entire row of server cabinets.

"Silence,"
I reported, astonished that that's all I had to do.

"Eat
shit and die, home wreckers!" Ollie cried out.

"How
long you been waiting to say that?" I asked him.

A
pause.  "A while," he said sheepishly.

I
chuckled and heard Brooks say, "Feel free to leave anytime and not get
caught when the fire alarm is tripped."

"Oh,
right."

"Your
pathway should be clear of cameras and personnel for the next ten
minutes," Ollie said.   "Down the second hallway, the first door on
your right should be the stairwell."

"Damn,
I almost feel like I'm on a tour of the city or something."  I walked
through the stairwell door and looked over the hand rail.  "Tell me again
why I have to jog down twenty five stories of stairs."

"Because
the elevators are locked down at night except for one, and it's right by the
main entrance and at the security guard desk.  These stairwells are wired for
fire emergencies, not security.  They'll let out to the main area on the ground
floor at the very back of the building," Brooks said.

"Also
they would notice if the elevator camera showed an empty cage when the elevator
lights activated, tracking the levels you were passing," Ollie added.

"Yes
ma'am," I heard Ethan say.  I could hear vague chatter and then Ethan
said, "Actually my shift just ended, but I can tell my co-worker to report
to your wing of the building.  No problem."

I
started down the stairs and asked Ethan, "Where is the original
maintenance guy?"

"Unconscious."

I
laughed softly and commented, "He's not going to wake up naked, is
he?"

"Almost,"
he said.  "Skivvies."

"I'd
pay for someone to walk in while you were undressing another man while he was
unconscious."

"Funny,"
he deadpanned, unamused.

My
boots echoed slightly on the stairs as I flew down the stairs and to the fifth
floor.  The building we were in rented floors to different businesses, meaning
one floor could operate twenty four hours a day, and the next could be regular
nine to five.  Because it was near ten o'clock at night, all of the employees
on this floor of the building were all at home, leaving it completely empty.  I
exited the stairwell and went straight to an office that Ethan had stashed my
change of clothes in.  I changed out of my black jeans and shirt and into a
gray pencil skirt and a white button up shirt.  I pulled my hair from my
ponytail and let my waves cascade down my shoulders.  I spotted a pair of thick
black rimmed glasses on the desk of the office and impulsively grabbed those to
wear, popping the lenses out and tossing them in my bag.  I pulled the I.D.
card Ollie had made out of the pocket of my jeans and clipped it onto the waist
of my skirt.  I exchanged my boots for a pair of black dressy flats and packed
all of my clothing and boots into my laptop bag. 

I
dropped down to the second floor and poked my head inside of the break room. 

"There
you are!" I called out, relief drenched in my voice.  "Been looking
for you everywhere."

August
and the system administrator turned to look at me as I strode into the room. 
August stood up and said, "I got bored."

"Sorry
Michelle, I didn't think I'd have to work this late," I said to August.

"It's
okay."

I
looked at the system administrator and held out my hand.  "Charlotte
Jones, big sister."

The
woman shook my hand and said, "Maria Hall, nice to meet you.  Michelle
here was just telling me all about your trip to Paris last year."

"Oh
yeah?  That was a fun trip.  I hope she didn't talk your ear off!" I
said.  Maria shook her head and I looked at August.  "You ready to go
home?  I'm exhausted and I have to be back here at eight o'clock in the morning
again tomorrow."

"Yep,"
August said.

I
looked back to Maria.  "It was nice to meet you.  Maybe I'll catch you on
the elevator sometime."

"Sure,"
she said. 

She
gathered some paperwork and stood to leave as we exited the room and down to
the elevator.  I looked right at both of the security guards as we walked out
the front door and waved at one of them like I knew him. 

"Hey
Frank!" I called out cheerfully.  "How's Tina doing?"

His
eyes widened in confusion and slight panic as he said hesitantly, "Oh, hey
. . . you!  Yeah, she's doing great, thanks for asking."

I
smiled and didn't stop walking.  "That's great.  Have a good night!"

The
front doors closed behind us and Ethan said, "Told you it would help
knowing his wife's name."

"Yeah,
yeah," I mumbled, knowing he was right.

August
and I climbed into the car with Spencer and we sped off into the night. 

"Pairs,
huh?" I asked August in amusement.

She
shrugged her shoulders.  "I always wanted to go," she said.  "So
Michelle went with her big sister, Charlotte."

She
was flippant about it, but I couldn't help but notice a certain look in her
eyes as she said it.  Like she really did want to go to Paris and she thought
the only way she would ever get there was by pretending and then living that
lie.  I had to wonder how it was she got so good at grifting at such a young
age, and I felt sorrow at the thought of her lying her way through her
childhood.  It sounded like a lonely way to grow up and that was definitely
something I could relate to. 

"Alex
will take August one day," I said.

She
smiled weakly like she
wanted
to believe me, but knew better than to get
her hopes up.  I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and she put her head on my
shoulder as we headed to the compound.  After a few minutes of riding in
silence, I spotted Brooks' van on our tail. 

"Ethan,
you get out okay?" I asked.

"That's
sweet," he said through my ear bud.  "You were worried about
me."

"I
was just worried that lady would maul you in a closet and we would never see
you again," I said.

He
chuckled and said, "Oh, she was definitely checking me out."

"Probably
didn't even have a problem that needed fixing at all," Spencer said.