* * *
December Continued
Golda was parked in what had become her accustomed spot when Alyx pulled into the garage at her apartment building. She drove past them, parked, turned off the engine, and just sat there for a moment to gauge the mood of the men within the ugly tan van. Neither was very happy or thrilled at being here instead of back at the office to debrief and get this day over with. Grabbing her bag she got out of the car and walked over to them.
Sliding open the side door she climbed into the van and closed the door with a solid thud. Darien sat slumped in his seat radiating a false boredom in an attempt to disguise the anger he felt at her. Hobbes turned in the seat wanting only to know why they were here.
As if voicing her thoughts Hobbes asked, "All right, kid, we're here. Could ya tell us why?"
"'Cause you guys are more likely to listen to me without the Fish breathing down your necks." Alyx was careful to keep her emotions inside and to treat the situation like any other work one. No matter how difficult that was turning out to be. "Kirkland isn't involved. Not directly anyway."
"So now its Kirkland?" Darien sneered as he turned about to see her through the open doorway dividing the front of the van from the rear.
"Cool it, Fawkes." Hobbes snapped. "What ya got kid?"
Alyx pointedly ignored Darien. "Couple of things. He was involved with the project and it was something big. Is something big, rather. The Official is correct that the project reconstruction in the new lab is a cover. But he had nothing to do with the explosion."
"That's one. What else?" Hobbes didn't question her, yet. He wanted all the info before he began poking holes in it.
"There were four guys at the lunch that were very suspicious of me." When Hobbes frowned at her she added. "Not me specifically. They would have been suspicious of anyone Kirk... Geofferies had with him. They were also markedly different in mindset." Alyx wasn't sure how to explain it, especially since the impressions were all emotional.
"How?" Hobbes prompted.
She closed her eyes and let the key impressions scroll through in her mind. "Lots of little things. Very structured, very controlled, and very similar to each other." She opened her eyes to meet Bobby's. "Reminded me of you in some ways. Chivalrous is the only word I can think of that fits."
Hobbes nodded. "Good catch, kid."
Darien looked confused. "Huh?"
"Fawkes, you wondered what lab techs would be doing with guns. What if they were military personnel?" Hobbes asked him.
"Well, hell. Miramar is right there, it could be. Do we know if Novadyne has any government contracts?" Darien asked after a moment to juggle all the pieces together for himself. And he knew Hobbes had been a Marine in another lifetime.
"No idea, but I bet Eberts can find out for us." Hobbes turned about and started the van. "I'll drop you off later, kid, okay?"
"Fine with me, Hobbes." Alyx settled back in the seat and tried to tune out the two men before her, who began arguing softly as they made their way through the late evening traffic and to the Agency.
Eberts dashed off to his precious computer once he had been given his marching orders concerning the possible government, and perhaps more specifically Marine, contracts Novadyne might have. Alyx had grudgingly spoken to the Official, making it clear she was still angry with him, but bending enough to allow the necessary information to be exchanged.
"When are you seeing him again?" The Official asked rather brusquely, making it appear he had far more important things to do on a Sunday night.
"Tomorrow, for dinner at his place." Alyx answered and contained the sigh at the combined reactions of all three men. "Which brings up another point. I believe he has data on the project at his place. Disks stored in a locked cabinet in his office."
"And?" The Official prompted.
"And if you think the data is that important, you might try accessing it while he's busy tomorrow." Alyx's mood was swiftly deteriorating, even after the rather pleasant afternoon she was getting tired. Tired of trying to hold out the emotions of those around her, tired of pretending to be something she was not, and just plain tired. Wanting to just lie down and stare at her ceiling in the darkness for a few hours. To be alone with her thoughts and no one else's for a change.
"You know his schedule?" Hobbes asked already considering the idea.
She shook her head. "He said he was working a half day and would pick me up at my place at six. He's a twenty minute drive from the penthouse in good traffic. Maybe ... maybe you can get in and make copies while he's meeting me?" She suggested with some reluctance.
"That's a forty minute window and she can warn you once they're back at his building." The Official tapped the desk with his fingers. "Not a bad idea. I'll make sure Eberts has the equipment you need. Miss Silver..."
"I have classes all morning. You'll have to choose another rat to run your maze." She was surprised when that earned a laugh from the man behind the desk.
"Which ones this week?" Hobbes asked in curiosity.
"Hand to hand weapons and Diplomacy." Darien answered softly and Alyx turned about to look at him.
"That's right. A fun and interesting week ahead for me getting beat up and bored to tears." Alyx wasn't surprised Darien had remembered. They tried to work their personal schedule about her classes and whatever work happened at the Agency. Juggling all the facets of their lives to steal a few minutes a day alone with each other. It reminded her of her last couple of years of college and for an instant she was undecided as to whether or not that comparison was a good one.
"Which means I have to go. I have to hit my place in the morning before the classes." She got to her feet. "Meet here after lunch to exchange info?"
The Official nodded. "That should work. Eberts should have everything we need by then." He waved a hand in dismissal. "Good night."
"Night, Chief." Hobbes offered up as they left the room together. "Come on, kid, I'll drop you back at your place." He then turned to Darien. "Dinner? On me."
"Sure. My place in an hour. I'll get the beer." Darien offered, knowing he was gonna need a few of those beers for himself.
"Works. I'll be creative." Hobbes moved alongside Alyx as they made their way down to the parking area behind the Agency.
"Not too creative. I don't do raw fish." Darien had opened the driver's door as was leaning on the roof looking over at the two of them. "You wanna join us?" he asked of Alyx.
"No thanks. I am well and truly wiped." she explained, which was indeed true. However, she could tell he was still fighting with himself over his reaction to her and Kirkland and she did not need an evening of that at any time.
He was surprised to feel both thankful she'd turned him down and upset about it. "Oh, suppose you do have to rest up before your big date tomorrow."
She ignored the harsh tone of voice and simply walked around the van and climbed in, piling shield upon shield to get him out of her head for just an hour. "Can we go, please, Bobby?" she requested plaintively.
"Sure, kid." Hobbes got into the driver's seat and started Golda, not wanting to try and figure out what has his two partners sniping at each other this time. "Kid..."
"Not now, Bobby. I just need some time alone." Alyx interrupted in a voice that was so quiet he almost didn't hear her.
"All right, but just remember he's being a jerk because he cares about ya." Hobbes said in a low voice, betting she was working on one of her headaches. "I don't wanna see ya get hurt over this either."
"Thanks, Bobby, but it's not me I'm worried about." Alyx rubbed her cheek without realizing it. "Geofferies really likes me." she snorted softly at herself. "Likes Maddy, that is. If we end up hauling him in, how do we deal with it? He's not likely to stop calling for dates if he is innocent."
Hobbes tapped the steering wheel. "Well ... I ain't sure. Its not often that the perps we bring in are innocent." He glanced over at her and realized she was really concerned about this. "You like him too?"
She shook her head. "Not that way. He's the job and nothing more. But that doesn't mean I like screwing with his heart. When Maddy vanishes..." she trailed off not quite sure how to explain this.
"You don't want him hurt." It was obvious that she had yet to build up those calluses on her emotions that were necessary for the job, not yet able to distance herself from the work, and he knew it would take time.
"No, I don't. I'm using him, Bobby, and it bothers me more than you could ever imagine." Alyx admitted with great reluctance. She was not in a mood for a lecture from Bobby on the "realities of the situation."
"If he is innocent, like you say, we'll work it so he never knows. Okay?" Hobbes was more than willing to work with her on this and it must have surprised the hell out of her based on the way she whipped her head about to look at him.
"You'd do that?" Alyx sounded just as shocked as she looked.
"Try to, at least. Look, kid, you damn well know it ain't gonna be peaches and cream, but if Geofferies had nothing to do with blowing the lab and killing those two, then yeah, we'll do what we can to work the situation." Hobbes said with no hesitation and listened as she sighed in relief. "And here we are at your doorstep." He pulled into a tow-away zone and turned to face her.
"Thanks." she said as she opened the door and slipped out. "For everything."
"No prob, kid. Get some rest." he waited until she was inside the building before pulling away. His mind already on what strange, yet edible food he could pick up for dinner.
"He's on his way out Fawkes." Hobbes said into the microphone as he watched Geofferies drive off in his classy black Beamer, heading for his rendezvous with the kid. "The clock is ticking."
Getting into the building had turned out to be a bit trickier than they expected, there was both a doorman outside and security in the lobby, so Darien couldn't just stroll in. He'd have to wait for someone else to exit or enter and slip in with them while invisible. On top of that Eberts had only been able to track down the very basic security for the apartments. It was a sure bet that Geofferies had his place upgraded; never mind what extra security he might have on the disks themselves. Alyx had only been able to give them a rough location of the secure safe.
Not even she could pull off asking, "Oh, snuggle-bunny could you perhaps give me the combination to the secure safe you keep the Novadyne project disks in?" Which Hobbes had said, with all the appropriate sound effects and facial expressions. Alyx had been practically rolling on the floor with laughter while Darien had just glared at Hobbes. Even the Official had chuckled a bit and Eberts had actually cracked a smile.
The very same Eberts who was currently shifting uncomfortably in the seat next to Hobbes in what he could only think of as an intentionally annoying manner. "Eberts, I have duct tape and know how to use it."
Eberts frowned. "I like this situation no better than you, Robert, but in the event the disks are encrypted, which is the most likely scenario, I will, hopefully, be able to decrypt them in the allotted time."
Hobbes rolled his eyes and turned back to the building. "I know why yer here, Eberts, just sit still for it." Before Eberts could comment he spoke into the mic again. "Where you at Fawkes?"
Musak wafted across the headset, which told Hobbes his partner was currently riding in one of the fancy elevators heading up to Geofferies' floor, was most likely not alone and therefore not able to speak aloud without blowing his cover. Fawkes made sure to share every painful and mangled note with him during the long ride up to the twenty-fourth floor of the building where he was finally able to escape the confines of the little moving box.
"C-three, C-three." Darien muttered in Hobbes ear. "Ah, here we go."
The off-key whistling was intentional by Fawkes and Hobbes knew it, but that didn't make it any less irritating. "Move your ass, Fawkes. The meter is running."
"Tick-tock. Tick-tock." Darien intoned as he got the door open and slipped inside. He dropped the quicksilver and moved to the code box while pulling out the gear he might need from his satchel only to find it currently disarmed. Apparently the good doctor didn't think running out to pick up his date required he turn on the alarm.
He wandered through the place looking over the items and making note of their potential value out of habit. He also noted the various bits of security that were just as disarmed as the door alarm, making things way too easy for him. He also noticed the romantically set dinner table, and the meal that Geofferies had slaved away at. It looked like the guy was a chef in his spare time, for he'd created a meal to rival some of the more expensive restaurants in town. Not that Darien would actually know, not having visited many, hell any, of the classier places about town.
Swiping a roll out of the basket he headed for the office that was down the hallway and opposite the luxurious bedroom that he glanced at as he strolled by the open door. The office on the other hand was not open and, in fact, had a rather impressive electronic lock on it that was enabled.
Pulling out the items he had planned on using on the main system he put them to use on the office lock instead. After removing the face of the lock he inserted a couple probes, then attached alligator clips to the correct spots. He then let the little handheld number generator go to work while he chewed the last bite of the roll.
"How we doing, Fawkes?"
"I'm doing just fine, Hobbesy." The lock clicked and Darien smiled, stood and turned the knob to open the door. He gave the room a quick once over before removing the wires and reattaching the cover to the lock. The plan was to make sure there was no sign of his entry to keep Geofferies from getting suspicious and perhaps raising a ruckas before they were ready to move.
Inside the room he looked over the impressive array of computers, file cabinets and what had to be odd souvenirs from his work. Bottles and plastic encasing bits of unknown substances, pictures of him with various other people, mostly other lab coat types. Though there was one of him with what had to be his parents in full cap and gown that reminded Darien of that photo he had of Kevin and his aunt and uncle.
That was not a similarity he wanted to think about right now. Did not want a reminder of the fact that Alyx was probably far more suited to his brother, never mind this Geofferies, intelligence-wise than she would ever be with him. That she could have a least a chance of a normal relationship with the man. Something she would never have with himself.
"Fawkes, need a sit-rep. Eberts has ants in his pants." Hobbes suddenly muttered in Darien's ear, knocking him from his mental musings.
"Umm, gimme a sec." Darien spun about looking for the cabinet Alyx had described.
"That's about all you have. The kid called to say he was there, ahead of schedule. You have maybe fifteen minutes tops." Hobbes informed Darien, who groaned softly.
Finally he spied the cabinet at the end of the loveseat in the room, doing double duty as an end table. "Found it." He opened the decorative exterior door to reveal a complex locking mechanism on the real door of the safe. However, he had been keeping up on the latest toys designed to keep thieves at bay and recognized this one. With a grin he keyed in a very special and expensive code — a code that was worth every penny of his carefully hoarded money — and swung the door open.
Inside were stacks of CD-Roms and he had no idea which ones might be the ones they needed. "Hobbes there's about a hundred pretty silver coasters in plastic cases in here. Which ones am I after?"
Darien listened to Hobbes consult with Eberts before he had an answer. "Kid said to watch for the word Fish Hawk. Whatever the hell that means."
"Gotcha." Darien acknowledged and pulled out a pile of disks to go through. Eventually he found about a dozen of them, which he set to one side while placing the rest as neatly, as possible back inside the safe. "Got em. About a dozen of the suckers. Have Eberts walk me through the process."
There was some muffled arguing and then Eberts was on the headset. "Darien, there is no way you can copy a dozen disks in the time allotted." There was the sound of the mic being yanked away at the other end and more arguing. This time it was Hobbes' voice. "All right, just bring them down and we'll check them out here."
"You sure?" Darien double-checked even as he slid the laptop back into the bag and started packing the CDs in as well.
"Yes," he hissed. "They're back and on their way up. Move yer ass."
Darien glanced at a clock set on one of the bookshelves and realized he had indeed blown all his time sorting through the damn disks. "Crap."
*Move it, bub.* Suddenly floated through his mind. *And don't steal any more rolls.*
Darien chuckled as he got to his feet; he'd been considering doing exactly that. "I'm on my way out." he told Hobbes as he kicked the decorative door shut and slung the satchel's strap over his shoulder. He was out the office door and making it sure it was locked in a flash. Unable to resist the temptation he dashed into the kitchen and swiped another roll before heading to the front door.
*Damn it, Dare!* Alyx all but bellowed into his mind making him wince slightly.
He was about to open the door to sneak out when he caught sight of the alarm system. It was a pretty good one, but also one he was familiar with. Pressing a few buttons in quick succession, he had it set and knew it would go off about forty-five seconds after the door was open, provided Geofferies didn't notice it had been set, of course.
The sound of a key turning in the lock was Darien's cue to disappear and he was out of sight by the time the door swung wide and Geofferies ushered Alyx into his humble abode. She glared over at where he was leaning casually on the wall next to the door munching on the roll and wearing a huge grin at the surprise he knew was to come. He slipped out just as Geofferies turned about to shut and lock the door.
Darien was halfway to the elevator when the alarm went off causing him to chuckle aloud.