Dared – Glad you're liking it. Hope this next part does not disappoint!
Gabriele – Love that handle of yours. Wanna hear about Franks dramatic recovery? Bwahahahahah. Who said he'd recover – well at least not in this time line… Can anyone say Backstep!!!
Hope you enjoy this new installment. Have to say that I'm having a blast writing this. - Chi
Chapter 2 - Voices
When they walked through Frank's favorite townie bar, Olga could almost see the stresses of the day melt from Frank's face. Early in the night, the sawdust spread on the floor still had the sweet scent of fresh cut wood. Not so early though that the bar had not assumed a smoky glaze. Frank took in an audible breath and slapped both hands on his chest like a farmer enjoying the clean smell of a freshly tilled field.
Donovan and the others looked happy enough just to head to the bar for a cold one after a long day. Ramsey looked around with a sour glare and looked like he was checking for a stool at the bar that did not have any gum stuck under it. He'd be sorely disappointed. Olga smiled gently to herself.
It was early enough that Parker had no problem with finding a pool table. Donovan brought three beers over and handed one each to Parker and Olga. Donovan and Parker had been friends for so long that, just as at work, they didn't need to communicate in order to reach their objectives. Olga took the St.Pauli Girl Donovan offered and noted the odd name of the beers that the other two were drinking.
"You two are drinking a beer called Old Rogue." Olga looked at Frank with an amused smile. "Isn't that advertising your aspirations in a too obvious way?"
Frank took a long drag from the dark liquid and gave Olga a very good impression of a piratical leer.
Donovan elbowed his friend, laughing, "In order to be an old Rogue you probably have to successful as a young rogue. Frank. Your scorecard with the ladies has been marked with goose eggs now for quite a while."
Frank's leer dissolved into a pout that strikingly resemble the face of an eight-year old that had been told that he could not go out and play with his friends until he finished all his homework.
In a mildly whiny tone, Frank looked over and replied, "Even the best surgeon needs some cooperation from the patient for a successful operation." Frank looked at Olga with an amusingly accusatory glare. Donovan laughed and Olga simply rolled her eyes.
"You may be forgetting, Mr. Parker, that some surgeries are completely elective on the patient's part."
"Ollll - ga!"
Even as Parker was finishing his protest, Olga noticed that his eyes darkened and his stance took on the look of a tiger coiled to spring. With her back to the room, Olga could not see the threat that had put Frank on alert.
Approaching the trio near the pool table, a man with disheveled hair and obviously agitated with his hand pointing in the group's direction. 5'8" or so, with mousy hair and rumpled fitting clothes, Parker and Donovan towered over the guy. Donovan thought that he recognized him from the base. Pete Something, he thought - some low-level tech from the Research department that was forever scanning for clues to events that had impact on their adventures. Donovan was puzzled. What beef did this guy have with us? Donovan was willing to bet their paths rarely ever crossed.
Raising a shaking finger at the three, the agitated man glared accusingly at three members of the Backstep team.
"What you do goes against God's will. You thwart the grand design and I cannot be apart of this evil campaign any longer. He told me that I was the tool He would use to stop you."
Frank was still on alert, but it was obvious that this guy was a nutcase. With the pool table between them, Frank tried to relax his stance to come across as non-threatening. This guy sounded like he knew exactly what they did at Never, Neverland. Could that be possible? Frank couldn't place the guy. If they could just get out of this situation without violating the secrecy of Backstep... Holding his hands spread and palms up, Frank tried to reason with the guy.
"Look pal, why don't I buy you a beer and we sit down over there and talk about these messages that you've been getting?"
Ramsey was coming out of the bathroom and stopped suddenly. The bar was unnaturally quiet and everyone's attention was focused somewhere across the room over by the pool tables. Dammit, Ramsey thought. Parker! He's over there and he's probably the cause of whatever trouble that is catching everyone's attention.
Now visibly shaking, the irate man backed up a step from the table and away from Frank and the others.
"He said you wouldn't listen, the lost ones never listen once they start on the path to do the devil's work."
"Whoa, we work for Uncle Sam. Sure, he may take to big a chunk of your pay check, but we're the good guys – remember?"
Frank tried, but there seemed to be no calming this guy down. Obviously, he knew something about Backstep. Frank needed to shut this guy up before they had a more serious breach of security. Catching Donovan's eye, Frank sent an unspoken message. Donovan nodded almost imperceptively in agreement. But any actions that they had planned were brought up short when events took an ugly turn.
His voice cracking with stress, he yelled suddenly, "Y..you…Your not taking me seriously."
Olga was frightened. Menace was pouring from this man toward them in waves that almost seemed visible to the Russian scientist. Suddenly she was scared for Frank. She reached out a slim hand and rested it on Frank's arm. The muscles under her fingers were as hard as steel. Frank felt it too. Something was wrong and in one more moment they would all see how wrong it would get…
TBC…