by Shadoe Masters
Burt lead the way around an outcropping and spotted a bungalow near the water. The sounds of laughter and music floated over from beyond the bungalow. He looked down. The tracks lead toward the bungalow. "What the hell?"
Tyler came up behind him and looked at the ground. "What?"
"The tracks," Burt said. "They lead to that house. You'd think someone would have noticed..."
"Maybe they did. Let's find out." Tyler lead the way to the bungalow. He started toward the music, but Burt stopped him.
"The tracks lead over this side."
After one last longing look toward the sounds of laughter, Tyler followed him.
The trail wound through the rocks behind the bungalow and, eventually, down to the beach. There, Burt lost the trail in the signs of human traffic.
He turned to Tyler to find the young man had left him in favor of the beach party by the water. "May I remind you we are on a mission?" Burt said when he'd caught up to him.
"I remember," Tyler said with a smile. "We lost the trail. I'm going to question the locals and see if they might have noticed anything." His ever-so-reasonable expression changed to a grin as he headed straight for the nearest pair of bikini-clad blonds and struck up a conversation.
Burt seethed impatiently.
Tyler noticed the shape of Burt's eyes and directed his conversation toward their mission. "We're actually looking for a... an exotic pet," he finally explained. "From... Australia."
"Oh! Orange?" the one in the red bikini asked. "About this high?" She held her hand up to her waist.
"That's the one!" Tyler said with one significant glance toward Burt. "Have you seen it?"
"They looked like costumes," the woman in the blue bikini said. "We thought they were part of the thing at the hotel."
"Hotel?" Burt demanded.
"That's the way they were heading." She pointed up over the tree line. "Looked like someone with a couple of kids, I thought."
Burt and Tyler looked where she pointed. Just above the trees was the last six stories of a high-rise hotel.
"The Echo Bay Resort," the woman in red supplied. "They've got a big sci-fi convention going on there this weekend."
Tyler and Burt exchanged a horrified glance. "We'd better inform Twitchell," Burt said.
Twitchell wasn't hard to find once they entered the resort lobby through the revolving glass doors. He stood dead square in the middle of the lobby, hands on hips, like a mastiff demanding a meal. After a quick threat assessment of the lobby, Burt quickly closed the space between them, leaving his companion behind.
Tyler had been distracted before they got out of the truck.
First, it was the blue woman in the flowing, nearly-transparent gown of the same color that crossed their path as they parked in front of the hotel. Then the scantily-clad woman painted green he'd followed through the glass doors. After that, he found himself surrounded by women wearing all kinds of bizarre outfits. There was a woman in a white diaphanous gown with hair piled high, and, he thought, fangs. Then he saw an orange-haired woman wearing nothing more than a series of straps placed strategically across various points of her body. He watched her cross the lobby, waiting for the inevitable slippage that somehow never happened, until an amazon in black leather crossed his path, smiling alluringly. He grinned in return, smoothing the hair back from his forehead and resettling his 51's hat. By the time he found his voice, though, she'd disappeared into the crowd. A pair of women came toward him dressed in some kind of militant-looking costume that allowed their breasts to spill out of the open centerpiece almost entirely. He lost interest when he found their faces were made up to resemble Quasimodo. He smiled at the woman in the lace body stocking who caught his eye. She smiled back, but didn't stop. Another woman replaced her in his view. This one, like her, was dressed in a body stocking, but filled it out a little too well with more-than-ample curves. Eyes wide, he looked away, and caught Burt and Twitchell both staring in his direction, waiting, it seemed, for him to join their conversation. He reminded himself to stop gawking like country-come-to-town and joined them.
"How are we supposed to find these creatures with all these people around?" Burt demanded. "We'll have to clear them out."
"No way," Twitchell replied, equally belligerent. "Do I have to remind you that this is supposed to be a top secret operation?"
Burt scanned the lobby, clearly frustrated. "How are we supposed to tell the creatures from..." He gestured around the lobby at the colorful costumes and outlandish makeup. "... from this?"
"Not my problem," Twitchell replied. "With the costumes some of these people are wearing, the two of you. And apparently there's some kind of Planet of the Apes club here this weekend, along with the rest of the weirdos, so who'll notice the animals? I did manage to get in touch with the guy in charge of this little circus for you," he offered, pulling out his little notepad. "They don't allow guns here, even fake ones, so the animals shouldn't bother the weirdos. I got special permission for you two, though. He told his people you guys are part of a thing called a 'live action role play event', whatever that is. But anyway, the security people will think you're just playing some kind of game, so they'll leave you alone, and there's some kind of weirdo rule about not interfering with one of these event-things, so the rest of the weirdos won't bother you either."
"Thanks, Twitch," Tyler said. "That's a big help."
"No problem, that's why I'm here." The sarcasm was lost on Twitchell. He pulled some laminated sheets with dogtag chains attached from his pocket and handed them to Burt. "You'll have to wear these."
Burt took them. "CIA Supergame, EchoCon Four," he read out loud and shot Twitchell a puzzled frown.
The DOI man shook his head. "Badges for the convention and this 'live action' thing," he explained. "It'll keep the rest of the kooks off your back about the guns. Apparently, they know what it means." He took a moment to glance around the lobby himself. "I'll, uh, I'll be in the bar. Let me know when you're done." He turned and left as Burt and Tyler exchanged disgusted looks.
"I just don't see how we can--"
But Tyler cut him off with a raised hand. "Hey, didn't that scientist say they had a lower body temperature?"
Burt nodded. "He did."
"They give us anything that'll track that?"
"No..." Burt said, but his expression made it clear he had an idea. He pursed his lips while pondering a moment more, then shook his head. "I've got something that'll do the trick, but I'll have to go back to Perfection for it."
"We'll lose at least four hours that way," Tyler protested. Then he snapped his fingers. "Why don't you just have Kylie bring it?"
"No!" burst out of Burt's mouth, then he paused, frowning at Tyler, and finally nodded. It was the best solution. He just hated giving out the codes to his bunker. But at least Kylie knew where everything was. He'd just have to change the codes again when he got back...
Tyler handed over his cell phone and he dialed. Then waited while Jodi got Nancy and Nancy went to find Kylie. He didn't think she'd ever get to the phone. When she finally came on the line with her usually cheery "Hi Burt!" they went through the usual arguments when he complained about her lack of timeliness until Kylie cut him off.
"What do you want, Burt? Or did you just call because you missed me?"
Burt took a deep breath. That woman... "I need you to bring me some things. That scanner Jasper rigged up for me when he was in the valley last time, and those infrared goggles I just got in. If you--"
"And I'm just supposed to drop everything to fetch and carry for you?" Kylie complained.
"Yes. Now if you'll get something to write on, you'll need the codes for my bunker." He switched the phone to his other side to get out of Tyler's hearing, but realized that wasn't really necessary. He'd already found two half-naked women to talk to and was paying little attention to the matter at hand.
"I don't need paper," Kylie was saying.
Burt rolled his eyes. "You know you'll just forget once I hang up," he told her.
"No, I mean, I don't need the codes."
The hairs on the back of his neck came to attention. "Why?"
"H-7-B-G-4-A," she recited. "Right?"
"And how in the hell did you know that?" he demanded, his voice harsh.
"Well, you know how you always shield the keypad with your body?"
"Yes. Standard Operating Procedure..."
"You don't do that anymore," she said. "And... I peeked."
Burt stared at the phone while the chaos around him faded into the background. How could he have let down his guard to such an extent?
"You all right?" Tyler said, beside him.
Burt focused on his face with difficulty, then turned his attention back to the phone. "Who else knows?" he demanded.
"Just me, Burt," Kylie told him, affronted. "Do you think I'd blab?"
"No, I..." He tried to remember if anyone else had been out to his bunker that he might have allowed to capture his security codes. Maybe everyone knew. There could be a serious security breach...
"Burt?"
Kylie's voice, shaking him out of his reverie. "You'll have to hurry," he said, businesslike again. "Every minute counts."
"I'm ready to go, Burt. Just waiting for you to hang up."
He did.
Burt closed the phone with a snap and handed it back to Tyler. "She'll be here in a couple hours," he said. "Meanwhile, we should scout the hotel and get a search grid mapped out. We'll start with the service corridors downstairs, I think."
Tyler nodded and started toward the back of the hotel.
Burt stopped Tyler with a hand on his shoulder. "Do you know my codes?" he asked.
"To your bunker?" Tyler stared at him. "Are you kidding? You make me wait at the top of the stairs until you've got the door open."
Burt shook his head. That woman was corrupting him...