AN: Sorry this update has taken so long. I hit some writer's block with this and when that happens, I tend put the block story aside and work on other stories. In this chapter, there is a reference to a chemistry test M has to take. I don't really know much on chemistry so I simply got the test question from a beginning chemistry college website. If anyone knows anything about chemistry and the question is a little too advanced or can't be answered without lab work instead of on the computer, I'm sorry. Please forgive my inaccuracies. Now, on with the next installment. Thanks to everyone who reads, please be sure to review it and let me know what you think.
After packing and a few hours sleep, M found himself sitting on board of one of the private jets employed by the CIA. For a Boeing, it was small. Its seating space was anywhere from 21-140 people, 21 being the most comfortable number. But, he found this to be one of the perks of life with the agency. If anything, he received luxuries here he didn't get at the station. He grinned staring at the little cup in his hand; the cappuccino machine in the back corner was always a nice touch.
Currently, he was sitting at the front of the plane in the private dining area. The walls were a crisp white. The floor was covered in an area rug that was decorated with a tan geometric pattern. The table he sat at was a dark oak and sat six people comfortably. He was sitting at the head of the table so he could look out the window. Presently, he had the entire table occupied. His computer, papers and a map were scattered about the wooden surface.
M was just finishing up with his chemistry test. He stopped for a brief moment and allowed himself a break. Grinning, he slid his now bare feet over the carpet, the hem of his jeans rubbing along the floor. He pushed up the sleeves on his white knit sweater and leaned forward to stare out the window. Clouds stretched out toward the horizon, meeting with the blue Atlantic below. His little break was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Enter," he said without even looking up.
"You almost finished?" Jake indicated towards the computer as he walked into the room.
"Yeah," M sighed. "I just finished this last problem. Now I just need to send it back to Caitlin."
Jake sat down and crossed his arms. In his blue sweatshirt and old denim jeans, he looked nothing like the part often portrayed in the movies. "Easy or hard?" he asked as he sipped on a cup of coffee.
"Well," M began. "Based on the formula she gave me, the NO bond length in O2NCl, the nitrogen is the central atom, is 1.20 Å. The NCl bond length is 1.84 Å. The NO double bond reference length is 1.21 Å, and the N-Cl single bond reference length is 1.75 Å."
Jake felt his brain go numb as M continued talking.
"So with the information above, I have to write appropriate electron-dot formulas for this molecule, then predict the geometry of this molecule, predict the hybridization at nitrogen, and explain the NO bond length." M looked up at Jake and laughed at the confused look on his friends face. "You got all that didn't you?"
"Uh, yeah," Jake answered. "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight." Jake shook his head for a minute to try and straighten out the strange facts M had just pushed into his brain.
"Done," M blurted out. He clicked on a button, sending his test back to Caitlin and shutting the program down. "What now?"
Jake slid the map over as M put his laptop back in his backpack. "We'll be in Paris around 8 PM. Alex is going to pick us up here." Jake circled a spot on a detailed map of the city and the surrounding countryside. "He's kept a watch on Mai, so I'll get her tonight and bring her back to our hotel. Now here," and he pointed to another area on the map. "Is where Keisling was last seen. We'll start our search there."
"Do we know he was kidnapped?" M asked.
"Not for certain no," Jake shook his head. "Why? What are you thinking?"
M scratched at his chin and thought for a moment. "Judging by the look on Keisling's face in those last photos, I'd have to say he knew he was being followed. If he knows we're coming, he could just be hiding until we get in contact with Mai."
"Good point," Jake agreed. "We'll see what happens when I pick up Mai. Your bike, my car, and the dummy car are all at the hotel. It's going to be dark when we land so you shouldn't have any trouble sneaking in. We'll leave a window open for you." Jake promptly put the map off to the side and pulled out another of France and its neighboring countries. "Now, as far as the rest goes, I think it would be best if we split up. You can take Mai on your bike and cut across country and head north." He looked up at the young mutant. "You remember where the safe house is?"
M nodded yes.
"Good," Jake went back to the map. "Take her there and lay low for twenty four hours. I'll take Keisling and head south. We can meet up in Luxemburg after that. I don't want this taking anymore than 36 hours. I want to go in, get them out, and be back in the air in a day and a half. It's only 236 miles from Paris to Luxemburg so don't get in a hurry and draw attention to yourself."
"Gotcha. I'll start on Keisling and Mai's passports when we get to the Hotel." M tapped on the table as he thought. "Alex got all the supplies we asked for?"
"Yeah. Was there something specific you needed?"
M grinned wide. "I always thought Mai would make a good brunette."
Jake shook his head and laughed. Looking at his watch he sighed. "We've still got three hours before we land," he hated long waits. "You can catch up on some sleep if you want."
"No," M shook his head and pulled out the notes on the virus Keisling had concocted. He had printed them out earlier so he could look at it in its entirety. "I still don't think this is making sense, even if it is only part of the make up of the disease."
"How?" Jake leaned forward, his curiosity now peaked. The last thing he wanted to know was that the good doctor had created a medical monster.
"Well," M pointed to a visual diagram of what had now been termed the Keisling virus and then pulled out a picture of a diagram of the flu. "See, this virus parallels the flu in make up. It causes all the same symptoms but it's more aggressive."
"How aggressive?" Jake asked. His tone deepened with seriousness.
"If the flu was Pee Wee Herman, Keisling's is more like Schwarzenegger." M sighed. He only understood a portion of this. Caitlin was the expert on medical knowledge, not him. "The jump it makes from showing the flu symptoms to the more forceful stage is almost instant. It just starts tearing down the body's cellular structure. It shouldn't do that, at least not according to Keisling's notes. If I'm reading them right anyway." M palmed his face and tried to ease the tension he was feeling.
"Listen," Jake put a hand on his friends shoulder. "We know we're not looking at the whole thing so let's not jump to conclusions. Once we get Keisling we'll have access to all his notes and then we can look at the complete make up of whatever he came up with. If you're still not sure about what you're looking at, send it to Caitlin." Jake looked over at the young mutant. "Get some rest. We've got a lot to do when we land."
M nodded, put away the printouts and stretched out in the chair, trying to get comfortable. Within a few minutes time, he was fast asleep.
The sun had already set when the plane had landed. No one paid attention to the small Boeing. The private strip allowed for utmost secrecy. When they got there, M and Jake looked out the window to see Alex already waiting.
Alex, like Jake was in his early thirties. He had jet black hair and a few freckles on his face that made him look younger than he actually was. That was an advantage for him when it came to certain areas of subterfuge. Jake and M had worked with him on several occasions. So much so that they insisted on working with him whenever they were sent oversees to the European area. Now, Alex was waiting on them, a black range rover parked at the end of the landing strip.
"Yo Alex!" M called as he hopped down the steps of the plane, several duffle bags in his arms. Enthusiastically he tossed one of them to the other agent.
"Hey M," Alex answered back and tossed the bag into the back of the vehicle. "How's life in the states?" He walked back over and took another bag, this time from Jake.
"Booooooooooring," was M's reply. "The only time they let me out is when we have work to do. Any other time," he climbed into the back seat of the vehicle. "Its study and train, study and train."
"Hey!" Jake protested and looked back. "I took you out for sushi just last week."
"He still eats raw fish?" Alex chuckled and started up the vehicle. "There is something seriously wrong with you," he looked at the green face in the rear view mirror. "You do know that don't you?"
"Whatever," M brushed off the comment. "You get everything we needed?"
"Yeah," Alex confirmed. Carefully he kept his eyes on the road as he drove away from the air strip and towards the city. "Mai has been staying in a small hotel just a few blocks from where we're at." He made a right turn and looked briefly at Jake. "I left a note for her at the front desk that an old friend was in town and to be at the café next door tonight." Slowly the agent drove down a small city street, carefully steering the vehicle down the narrow roads. "You should be able to meet up with her there and then bring her back to our hotel."
Jake nodded and stared out the window. He wanted to be sure they weren't being followed.
"As for you," Alex continued and looked at M's face in the rear view mirror. "I got all the stuff you wanted and picked up a bike for you. It's not the fastest but I figured since you might be going through the mountains, you would really need one made for cross country."
"When you say 'not the fastest" M looked concerned. "How slow are we talking?"
"Don't worry," the human chuckled. "You can still do 75 with it." He continued driving, moving further into the center of the city. "I got everything else you asked for so you should be able to set up shop while Jake is out getting Mai."
M nodded and stared out the window. The remainder of the drive was spent in silence; all three figures making mental notes of where they were, who was around them, and possible escape routes should something go wrong.
After a twenty minute drive, the black range rover pulled into the underground garage of the small hotel. Grabbing as much of their gear as possible, Jake and Alex walked around to the front of the hotel and checked in. Quietly, M made his way out to the side and kept to the shadows of a small space between his hotel and a neighboring building. Waiting patiently, he looked up and scanned the area. A small creak and light flicking on caused him to look up expectantly.
Without a word, Jake let a rope fall out the three story window. Quickly, the teenaged mutant grabbed his gear, stepped out of the shadows and scaled the wall of the small building. Reaching the top, a firm hand latched onto his and helped to pull him in the rest of the way. Stepping inside, M took a second or two to make notes about his surroundings.
Just inside the door was a small end table decorated simply with a table lamp and a phone. The area in front of the door was open with an area rug covering the hard wood floors. On the opposite wall, next to the window was a fireplace, a small brown leather couch facing it. On the wall to the left of the fire place were two doors, each leading to bedrooms with a private bathroom. On the other side of the room was a round dining table that sat four.
"Not bad," M muttered, nodding his head. Casually he threw his duffel bag onto the leather couch. "Remind me to thank our travel agent later."
"What were you expecting?" Alex looked up from emptying a black bag. "The Ritz?"
M's eyes perked up a bit and he got a sneaky grin. "That would be nice," he smiled and turned to the table to unpack his backpack. "Make the arrangements would you?" he glanced over his shoulder to his two companions. "Oh and reservations for dinner as well."
A small pillow hitting the side of his head was his only response.
"Alright guys," Jake looked up from his stuff. "Behave will ya kid?" Jake pulled out a black leather jacket and a black ball cap. Putting on the articles of clothing he walked over to couch and dug through one of the duffel bags and pulled out a black attaché case. Withdrawing numerous items he walked over to M. "Here," he held his hand out to the mutant at the table.
M was busy setting up a digital camera and small printer, hooking the two items up to his computer. Looking over he saw Jake handing him a small pistol.
"I packed your Berretta," he looked at the smiling mutant. "Two extra clips as well."
"Thank you sir," M said emphatically. He reached over into his bag and pulled out a holster. Threading his belt through the holster, he slid the gun into it and positioned it on his back. The clips he placed into a pocket on the outside of his jacket. "You headed out?" he asked as continued with his previous job.
"Yeah," Jake admitted. "I'll be back within the hour." Jake looked M in the eye. "Alex will stay here with you while I'm gone."
"I don't need a babysitter," M growled, not even looking up from his work.
"I know that," Jake answered in an exasperated tone. "But do you plan on answering the door if someone knocks?" He stared at M, waiting on the young mutant to talk back. "As far as the front desk is concerned, this room is occupied. I don't want to give them any reason to think differently." Again, he waited. This time M just nodded in agreement. "Good," he slapped his friend on the back. "I'll be back soon."
Alex waited until Jake left and walked over to M. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he muttered softly. "Just edgy," he looked up. "Sorry."
"No problem kid," Alex sat down next to him. "Here," he passed over a bottle and looked at the screen. "You about got the work visas finished?"
"Just about thanks," M grabbed the bottle and took a drink. "Just need to add the photos and we're done."
Casually, Jake made his way down the stairs to the front door of the hotel. Zipping up his jacket and adjusting his ball cap, he made his way out into the cold night air. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and took a left and began walking down the cobblestone streets of the city.
It only took a few minutes for Jake to make the short walk to Mai's hotel. As expected, the young blonde was sitting at a small café table, her long brown coat wrapped tightly around her. Quietly she sipped at a coffee and glanced around her area. She jumped a moment when she felt Jake's hand on her shoulder.
"It's Jake," he whispered in her ear as he stood behind her. "Just smile."
Mai did as she was told and Jake walked around to the opposite side of her table and sat down.
"You okay?" Jake asked, his facial features still maintaining a grin.
Mai nodded yes and sipped at her coffee.
"Good," he nodded and leaned forward to whisper to her. "Finish your coffee but don't rush." He glanced to the side quickly and then looked back at Mai. "We're being watched but don't worry about it." He reached out and gave her free hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Should we go?" Mai asked, her voice nervous.
"No," Jake replied. "Like I said, take your time so it doesn't look like we know we're being watched. When you're done, I'll take you back to the hotel and then we'll find your father."
"He's hiding," Mai whispered as she took a final sip of her coffee. "I can tell you where he is."
Jake nodded and stood up, extending his hand to Mai. "C'mon," he told her. "Let's get you out of the air and then I'll go get your dad. You can tell us where he is when we get back to the hotel."