Chapter 7:
An hour later, with my arms covered in Band-Aids and my hair now unevenly chopped, the bag was finally removed from my head and I breathed fresh air for the first time in a while. The hands were small and delicate, so I guessed it was April who was unwinding the cloth wrapped around my eyes while I took out the ear and nose plugs. They were serious about the sensory deprivation thing.
I rubbed my Band-Aids, knowing that the excess of samples taken and the inevitable requests for more upon my return were all my own fault. If only I could keep my mouth shut for once.
But no. I had to mention to him not to get his hopes up because the agency science division with their recruited team of elite scientists using no-expense-spared, cutting-edge equipment couldn't figure me out, he probably wouldn't either. I could actually see the 'challenge-accepted' light go off above his head. Oh well. It wasn't as if I hadn't been through all this before.
We were in an alley off the intersection that I'd requested. They'd wait for me here. This was a close as I dared leading them, but maybe that was a mistake. It had seemed like a much shorter walk in my head. I was trying to move fast and was already out of breath. Stupid healthy New Yorkers with their ability to walk forever without breaking a sweat. Why didn't I work out more?
Finally. I'd arrived. My momentary relief evaporated with a sudden realization. No key. Right. It was in my clothes. Which were destroyed for public safety. Well crap. Now what?
Ok. I was an intelligence agency operative. Sort of. I could figure this out on my own. I'd better be able to. I couldn't even call anyone for help. My phone was still back…wherever, being decontaminated. All I knew about the journey was that at some point I had to climb a metal ladder.
Let's see. The door looked pretty solid. Not breaking through there. The walls were brick façade over cinder blocks. No busting through. Bars over the first floor and basement windows. Well it was New York. I guess that must be typical, but not really helpful.
Hmm. The second story windows didn't have bars. How did I get up there? And avoid being seen in all this broad daylight full of people? Well there was a fire escape along the front of the building, but that didn't really solve my broad daylight problem. It also didn't help that my bandaged arms and hair, which looked like I'd chopped it up on a bad trip, kind of made me look like a junkie. This was not going to end well for me. Maybe if I was really quick.
There was another problem. The ladder to the bottom of the fire escape wasn't really designed to be accessed from the street level. Probably to stop people from doing what I was about to attempt. Well, I could try stacking stuff under it to reach it. Yeah, that would be quick and stealthy. Also, what was I supposed to stack? There was nothing here.
What did I have on me? I checked the pockets of my, or I should say Casey's pants, and hit pay dirt. Twenty dollars. It was an emergency. I hope he didn't mind donating it to the cause. If he did, Kade can always reimburse him when he wasn't a monster-bird.
I peeked into the alley beside the building that I was trying to break into and lucked out again. There was a drunken bum wrapped up in newspaper. I approached and poked him with my toes until he looked up at me blearily.
"Hi there. I could use your help."
He started to lie back down.
"Give me a boost to the fire escape ladder and I'll give you twenty dollars."
His eyes snapped open with interest and he nodded. Who said I couldn't be resourceful? It was a good idea. Or so I thought.
Fifteen clumsy, smelly minutes later, I had a hold of the bottom rung of the fire escape ladder. With another push from my boozy friend, I finally managed to pull myself fully onto the ladder. I threw the twenty down to him and he clutched it gratefully to his chest, scurrying down the street.
Well, I was up. Knowing it was a bad idea, I took a momentary break after collapsing on the first level of the fire escape and looked around. There were people walking past, but no one was paying any mind to me. Nobody cared. Wow. Well that worked for me.
As quietly and inconspicuously as possible, which was not very, I broke the window. It was hard to be inconspicuous when you need to take off your shirt and wrap it around your hand to avoid being cut. The important thing was that I got the window open and despite a few strange glances, it still didn't seem like anyone could be bothered to report me. I loved New York.
Once inside, I was at least familiar with the safe house. I quickly rushed off to the basement and typed in the code to the safe. Thank God I'd paid attention to that. Grabbing the whole stack of manila envelopes within, I decided to risk a few minutes to find a convenience store bag from our last food run. I didn't feel like spilling everything and, knowing me, I certainly would.
After carefully placing the files in the plastic bag, I opted to leave out the front door and began walking back to Casey and April. Behind me, I could hear sirens growing louder and louder. Maybe someone had reported me after all. Hopefully we didn't leave anything incriminating there. I knew Kade's rifle was still on a rooftop somewhere. He'd probably be pissed about that when we fixed him.
I tried to be nonchalant, whatever that looked like, on my return trip in case police were looking for a person of my description. Fortunately, I made it back without incident.
Casey looked bored. "Took you long enough."
April looked edgy. "Did you get them?"
I guess waiting for forever in an alley was not as fun as it sounded. I held up the bag, grinning at my success. Casey just grabbed it from me, while April covered me up again. So much for the kudos for doing a great job. Oh well.
