It had been four days since Warren and I had done anything worth mentioning. We'd basically been lying low and avoiding any possibilities of running into anyone that might be connected with Miami's criminal underworld.
Things were…quiet. We just sat around and did nothing; we talked, watched TV (laughing at the ridiculousness of some of the action movies), and…well, that'd be about it.
I wasn't happy but I wasn't where I didn't want to be either. I still had this burning anger deep down inside, this burning that lusted for more of my enemies' blood…but I ignored it. Focused on Warren and what I needed to be doing; I couldn't just suddenly lose control and go berserk and run off into the streets shooting everyone…(even though, at times, that's what I felt like doing).
Yup…four days. They seemed to last forever but when Warren found it, time quickly made up for its loss. He was going to go down to the lobby and ask for something and, when he opened the door, there was a silver suitcase on the floor. Just lying there. Warren immediately whistled; our warning system.
In a second we had our guns ready and Warren glanced into the hallway. "No one," he whispered back at me. I stepped forward and started walking around the hallways, checking the whole floor while Warren examined the suitcase. Everything was clear…but I had chills. And when I had chills, that meant that something was wrong and my instincts were warning me about something.
I returned to Warren, who had taken the suitcase inside our room; I closed the door behind me and asked, "Think it's a bomb?" He shook his head no and said, "If it his, it wouldn't go off by remote. I'd have to open it to set it off; this is a titanium case."
I sat down next to him on a couch and look at the suitcase, now lying on a coffee table. Warren looked like he was thinking and I asked, "Think it tracking beacon or something like that?"
"No; the gangs in Miami are just brute, not tech-stuff. They don't go for stuff like that…I have an idea though." About ten minutes later, the suitcase was lying in closet with a string attached to the switch that opened it; the closet door was closed, the string going under it and to the other end of the suite, where we sat. If it were a bomb, it'd have to be a big one to get us.
Warren pulled the string and—nothing happened. Our eyebrows rose and we started to get up…Warren said; "Now we hope that isn't a remote bomb…" We slowly walked through the suite to the closet and, eventually, opened the closet door, bracing for an explosion…there was none.
Instead, there was a hoarse, chilling voice that said, "Ah, they have finally concluded it was safe."
I looked down at the suitcase to see an antenna sticking up from part of it, a camera looking at me and Warren and a laptop with a person's face looking at us. "The infamous Warren and Asazi; you two have made quite a stirring since your return to the streets of Miami."
I frowned…there was something about that voice, it seemed familiar even though I had never seen this man before…and yet, now that I thought about it, he seemed hazily familiar too. I shook off the feeling and realized how he was talking to us; the antenna was transmitting his image into the laptop and our's, from the camera, to him. A nice setup for some old, freaky-looking guy.
He had gray skin, a rather hideous color; had some kind machine on one of his eyes and he seemed like the kind
"Who are you," I asked without hesitation. For a moment he looked stung but he quickly recovered and said, "Your ally, should you choose to accept. I am looking for accomplices in my eradication of the pointless crime and violence that the human race endures by other humans. I want to better humanity by destroying the bad part of it.
"I assumed that deep down, that's what you, Asazi, have returned to Miami for. Warren, I also assume, would like to fight by Asazi's side…are you…interested?"
I looked at Warren as he looked at me. We both seemed to know what the other was thinking. He replied, "Hack back into the laptop in an hour; we'll know then."
The gray-skinned man made a little bow and the laptop switched off. How'd he control that computer, was my first reaction, my second was back to business. We put the terminal on the coffee table and then sat on the couch and talked.
"What do you think," I asked.
Warren shrugged, saying, "If he was good enough to find out where we were then he had to've been good enough to already kill us…I think, note the word 'think', that he's for real. As to how he got that ugly, I don't know."
I laughed and said, "There was something about him, something that I've seen before. I don't know where but I'm sure it'll come back to me soon."
"So should we go for it," he asked.
I thought about it and said, "Yes; if he betrays us then we can just kill him anyway."
Warren nodded, "Alrighty then."
And we waited for the anonymity to return.
-_-
The screen suddenly flickered and the computer's fan started to whir as I looked up at it. I glanced at the clock; it had been exactly an hour and the man's face filled the screen. "Greetings Mr. Warren and Ms. Asazi. I presume you've reached a conclusion…?"
Warren and I had fallen asleep and I awoke him. "Yeah," he said, as he woke up. "Uh, first we need to get a few things straight."
We do?, I thought.
"And they would be…," the man replied, as if ready for anything Warren could throw at him. "What's your name," Warren asked.
"Ah yes, proper introductions. Forgive me for being so naïve towards such simple matters. I am known as Dr. X and, before other inquiries, let me say that we will be on a…need-to-know basis. We shall never meet in person. I will be funding and equipping you with anything you so need and/or desire and paying you for the use of your remarkable abilities."
That kind of says it all I thought, but Warren knew otherwise. "How are we supposed to work together if we never see each other?"
"Through these," Dr. X said and something jumped from somewhere inside the suitcase. I lurched off the couch, thinking that it was a weapon but I was obviously wrong. It was a tiny, purple mechanical bug with green legs. "Say hello to the first of many of my inventions. This is a Trilibug. We will be working through these most of the time…I believe you'll find them quite…useful."
I climbed back onto the sofa. Getting jumpy Asazi…I've been cooped up too long.
"So," Warren spoke, "we are basically going to be working for you. What kind of work, exactly? Missions or something?"
"Ah, Mr. Warren,
you are precisely right. I have
connections all over Miami and know the hideouts of every gang and target that
we'll be…handling. 'Missions' as you so
call them wouldn't be a far off statement…"
Warren looked at me as if asking, "You
cool with all this?"
I said, "Let's do it."
Dr. X looked like he wanted to sing or something. "That's excellent! The trilibug here has your first task—," the machine suddenly cast a hologram across the suite, "—which is the reconnaissance of a certain part of Miami. It's the only one in which my other operatives haven't been able to penetrate but I think that your skills exceed theirs extremely. The details are with the trilibug; just hit the button on it to show you everything you'll need to know. Good luck. Oh, and before I forget, if you ever need to contact me, just turn on the laptop and I should be with you in moments."
The screen switched off and the trilibug went dormant.
Warren looked at me, and then at the clock, then back at me…, "Should we start tonight or wait until tomorrow?"
I looked at him and smiled. "I think that you should give me a little something before anything else."
He smiled and then kissed me.
-_-
I woke up at three-thirty in the morning and got ready for the day. Warren and I had fallen asleep yesterday afternoon in hope of getting started early this morning. After a short break, the no-longer-retired Asazi is back, I thought with a smile. And now I'm getting paid for what I'm doing.
After a quick shower, I found the trilibug and flipped the switch that 'Dr. X' (what a name…) told us to for the details. Immediately there was a holographic layout of Miami's ghetto and urban areas. Dr. X's voice came from the trilibug, obviously preset, "I need you to gather as much information as you can this area—," a box spiraled down onto a certain area of the map, "—but be careful because the people that claim this area aren't the typical gang." The picture of the map suddenly zoomed up to the ground and, acting like a car, started driving slowly along the streets.
As X's voice spoke, I studied the vicinity for hiding places in case of emergencies. Rather suddenly, the tour of the neighborhood stopped and a picture of a young man appeared. X was saying, "This is Blake Hahn. He's twenty-three and amazingly smart but his priorities lie in…problematic areas." The guy's face was very attractive, with hair parted down the middle and glasses that made him look intelligent. He had blonde, dyed hair and a tattoo of what looked like a person's face on the left side of his neck. "He's, like I mentioned earlier, extremely smart; his aptitude lies in strategy and tactics and he's an excellent sharpshooter.
"If you see him, you are already being followed and probably about to have a confrontation. He usually only comes out into the open when he knows he's safe."
I studied the face. It was icy, smart but…underneath the coldness you could see the hurt. There was pain in his eyes and face.
The hologram switched off and X's voice said, "I trust you already have the right paraphernalia for this particular vocation; if not then—," a piece of paper with a key tied to it protruded from the trilibug and fell to the floor, "—use this key for supplies. Instructions are on the paper. Please get as many pictures of every angle you can in the vicinity. Good fortune."
The trilibug went silent.
I woke up Warren and said to him, "We have work to do."