I'm awakened the next morning when my hand slides under the pillow and feels the cold steel of the pistol. My mind immediately starts cycling through yesterday's events: Mystery Lookalike Chick in Starbucks, etouffeé for lunch, my wonderfully orgasmic session with Master, and the troubling discovery when I arrived home. The anger I felt last night returns with a vengeance. I mean, shit, I couldn't even enjoy my afterglow because some mofo decides to put me in her crosshairs and I have no fucking clue as to why.
The alarm clock says 5:30 so I might as well get up. Today will be very busy; I've got my session with Claude at seven, then a cohort meeting at eleven. After lunch I want to go to the shooting range and get reacquainted with my pistol. Some time this evening or tomorrow I need to go to a computer shop and see what I can set up for remote monitoring of my apartment. Along the way I also need to talk with my neighbors. All this, and I still have work to do for my classes and thesis.
After yoga and yogurt I head to the gym. It feels weird to be carrying the gun with me but I'm not taking any chances. When I see Claude I ask him if we could do some kickboxing. He's an Olympic-grade athlete in the sport and right now I think kickboxing would be very useful to me. Even though I'm packing I don't want to use the gun unless I have to.
He's surprised but very amenable. Last week our sessions were all cardio and weight-training so this will be a nice change of pace; he cuts the cardio and weight-training to fifteen minutes each and spends a half hour teaching me the basics of kick-boxing. It's quite grueling but it really feels good to have a physical release for all the anger I've been feeling since yesterday afternoon. We've only touched the basics but I'm looking forward to learning more.
As I put the key in the lock of my apartment door I hear my neighbor's door open. Aaron's a med student who keeps odd hours so I take this chance to see if he's seen anything weird around my place.
"Hey, Aaron, how's it goin'?"
"Same old, same old, med school's kicking my ass. How about with you? I gave you a shout out when I saw you leave on Saturday but I guess you didn't hear me."
"Saturday? Are you sure? I wasn't here Saturday."
"Really? That's weird. If it wasn't you, it was someone who sure looked like you. Of course, I only saw her from the back but she had the same long, dark hair and her build was the same as yours. Something going on?"
"Yeah, someone was in my apartment while I was gone over the weekend.
"Oh, shit! Did they take anything?"
"Not that I could see. You've got my cell, right?"
"Sure do. What do you need?"
"Just give me a call or send me a text if you see her again, would you please? I'm going to be gone weekends for the next couple months so if you'd keep an eye out for anything strange around my place, I'd appreciate it. I notified management to get the locks changed and I'm looking into some sort of video surveillance but even though your schedule's crazy, just knowing you're looking out for me is a big help."
"Sure thing, Severine. Say, my brother, Zack, works for a company that sells security equipment, maybe he can help you."
"That would be great! Text me his contact info and I'll get in touch with him."
"Will do. Good luck with catching whoever it is. If you feel the need, you're welcome to stay at my place."
"Thanks, Aaron, I hope it doesn't come to that."
"Gotta run. Let me know what's going on and if you need anything else."
"Later, Aaron. Thanks again!"
He bounds down the stairs and I go into my apartment. It doesn't feel like anyone's been here but I do a walk-through just to make sure. It's empty, and again I feel a mixture of relief and foolishness. I can't wait until the locks are changed and the video surveillance is in place. I hate feeling like I have to check my home for intruders every time I walk in the door.
After a quick shower I grab my laptop (and gun) and head to Starbucks for a mini-breakfast, schoolwork, and some other tasks before my cohort meeting. It's a beautiful day, so with latte and breakfast sandwich in hand I take a table outside. My first order of business is to call my mom. With all the bullshit yesterday, I forgot our weekly Skype session.
She and my dad are both doing fine but she's getting more and more concerned about the wildlife in the Gulf being harmed by the oil spill. The really strange thing she mentions is that she got a call from Tonty Juju yesterday evening; Tonty was checking with her to make sure I was okay. I felt a shiver run down my spine when she said this but I think I did a good job of hiding it. That's the down side to Skype – it's much more difficult to hide your feelings.
After our call I check my email and see a response from the building management telling me they'll change my locks tomorrow morning. They give me a time window of eight to noon so I call Claude to see if we can bump up our training session a half hour. It's no problem for him so I change my calendar to reflect the time change and add an alarm to make sure I get up in time.
Finally, the last thing I do before I start schoolwork is to make an appointment at Champion Arms in Kent to use the range. They have a slot at two-thirty so I put it in my calendar. As I'm doing that my phone buzzes; it's a text from Aaron with info for the shop where his brother works. Hooray! It's in Kent too, so I can do both in one trip.
As I'm sitting there with my head bent over my phone, Erika sticks her head in, looking up at me. "Teebs?" she asks.
I jump back, startled. "What the fuck, Erika!"
"Sorry, just wanted to make sure it was you," she says as she straightens up. "Didn't want to embarrass myself like I did Saturday."
"What are you talking about? How did you embarrass yourself Saturday?"
"I saw this chick sitting here just like you are and from the back she was a dead ringer for you so I snuck up behind her, covered her eyes with my hands, and said 'guess who?' When she said 'I don't know' I realized it wasn't you. I was totally embarrassed and apologized all over the place." She plops down on the chair across from me and spreads her stuff out on her side of the table. "But even when I saw her face there was such a strong resemblance it really creeped me out."
"What did she say?" I ask.
"Oh, she told me it was no biggie but then she started asking all sorts of questions about you."
"What!?"
"Yeah, and I knew she didn't know you 'cuz she pronounced your name SEVver-in, not sevREEN like it's supposed to be."
"What did she ask you?"
"Lots of weird shit, like how long did I know you? Did I know where you were? Do you have a boyfriend? When I wouldn't answer that shut her down. When I asked her name, she said it's not important; she told me 'I'm nobody.' I remember those exact words 'cuz it sounded so strange and she had this bizarre affect when she said them. What's going on, Teeby?"
"My apartment was broken into over the weekend."
"Oh, shit! No!"
"Well, technically, it wasn't broken into because whoever got in had a key; she didn't break anything to get in. But someone was definitely there and left me a message."
"What message?"
"She took my dvd of Play Misty for Me and left it very conspicuously on the cocktail table. I haven't watched that movie in months so I know it wasn't me who left it there."
"Oh, man, that's scary. You sure it was a woman?"
"Not positive but yeah, pretty sure. The chick that looks like me? I saw her here last week and again yesterday morning in the Pike Place Market Starbucks. I'm being stalked, Erika."
"Fuck, Teebs, you don't need that shit. That's awful."
"I know. And just so you know, I'm carrying." I see her face drop; I'm well aware of how she feels about guns.
"Aw, Teeby, you really need to do that?"
"Yes, Erika, I do. Until this is dealt with for good, I want to be able to protect myself." I can tell by her expression that she's not happy but she knows better than to argue with me about this. "Besides, I've taken other steps – I'm having my locks changed and I'm going to talk to Aaron's brother about setting up some surveillance in the apartment."
"Aaron has a brother?"
"Apparently. He works for some kind of equipment shop in Kent, which works out well because that's where I'm going this afternoon to do some target shooting. Do me a favor. If you see Ms. Nobody again would you please let me know? I think it's time to confront this chick. But enough of this, how are you doing?" Erika goes on to tell me about her weekend and after that we dig into the case studies we're working on with the cohort.
The cohort meeting took longer than usual, mainly because we scheduled visits to the families of the case studies we're working on. It took some finagling but Erika and I managed to get scheduled together and also managed to exclude the obnoxious Bella.
So after a quick lunch I'm on my way to Kent to do some target shooting. It's quite a haul down the 405 and I'm doing my best to stay within the speed limit. I'm watching the traffic around me and notice that this black Audi SUV has been behind me for quite a while. The driver is a buzz-cut guy wearing sunglasses. When I take the exit for Kent, he takes it, too and when I pull into the parking lot for Champion's he also pulls in.
He parks in a space one over from me and we get out of our cars at the same time. He's wearing a well-cut suit and looks like some kind of Fed. He sees me looking at him and gives me a brief nod and a small smile. I'm astounded when he heads for the door to Champion's and holds it open for me. He waits behind me at the counter while I get my ear protectors, goggles, targets, and ammo. As I walk to my lane I hear him order the same things and as I'm getting everything ready I see him doing the same thing in the next lane.
This is all so very odd but I try hard to put it out of my mind for now. I came here to practice and I need to concentrate on that, seeing as the meter's running. I set up my target at twenty-five feet and start taking shots. It's been a while and I'm a little agitated so at first I'm all over the place but after a few minutes I start to concentrate and soon I'm hitting the target closer and closer to where it should be.
After about fifteen minutes I take a break and watch Mr. Suit next to me. He's shooting a Walther PPK – how very James Bond – and I'm even more convinced that he's some kind of Fed, especially since he's having no problem whatsoever hitting his target, even though he has it set at seventy-five feet.
I go back to working on my accuracy and by the time my session is done, I'm feeling pretty confident that I can accurately hit someone who's entering my apartment uninvited. I haven't set the target beyond twenty-five feet since a twenty-two isn't worth much beyond that. This is more for close-up self-defense; I'm not practicing to be a sniper. I do notice, however, that Mr. Suit is now practicing with his target at a hundred feet and is doing a damn good job.
When I leave Champion's, Mr. Suit doesn't follow me out and I'm somewhat surprised. I get in the car and head over to the surveillance shop. I find that it's really not a shop, it's headquarters for a firm that sells surveillance equipment, obviously a big firm since the offices are rather nice. I walk in and ask for Zack; he comes to the lobby a couple minutes after being paged.
We go back to his office and I explain what happened and what I want. All I need is a camera system that will monitor my apartment, run over my wifi, and is accessible over the internet so I can check it periodically. Ideally, it would notify me if there's an intrusion while I'm away. Zack tells me that the firm he works for provides these services to commercial clients but he can personally set something up for me that should be relatively inexpensive. He gives me examples of some options and we set up a time for him to come to my place tomorrow morning; that's when my locks will be changed so I might as well take care of both things at once. I thank him and head out to my car.
It's been an exhausting couple of days and right now I just want to relax. I decide on a nice, leisurely dinner at the neighborhood pizzeria. I know it's early but I'm planning on a full course meal: wine, salad, pasta, dessert, and espresso. As I drive back up the 405, I'm looking around me as usual and I don't notice any cars that seem to be on my tail. As I pull into the parking lot I check around me again and don't see either Mr. Suit or Ms. Nobody. Maybe, just maybe, I can enjoy my meal in peace.
After a couple of glasses of pinot grigio and a huge plate of cheese ravioli, I'm enjoying tiramisú and cappuccino when my Blackberry buzzes. There's an email from Master.
From: Christian Grey
Subject: Additional time
Date: May 17 2010 06: 33
To: Severine M. Thibodeaux
Ms. Thibodeaux,
As per paragraphs 12 and 14 of our contract, I would like you to make yourself available this Wednesday evening at six-thirty. Meet me at Escala and I will give you further instructions.
If you have a conflict with that time, please respond immediately; otherwise, I expect to see you then.
Christian Grey
CEO, Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc.
I wonder what this means; it's hard to tell from the message what frame of mind Master is in. As if I didn't have enough to worry about, for the next forty-eight hours, I'll be thinking about what he has in store for me.
