Not Quite Dead – Chapter Three
Taya Guevera
Alec smiled at the girl who's nametag read Fiona and nodded at something she was saying. He'd admit that flirting wasn't something that he found difficult, hell, it was a natural talent, but it wasn't difficult to pay attention to the girl walking behind Fiona at the same time either. Manticore had created the X5's to be attractive, but sometimes you just had to give them extra credit. Max for example. She was one of the best looking Manticorian females he'd seen in a while, and from the looks of it, Eva was on the same page as her.
"So, you're American?"
He heard Fiona ask him.
"Ah yeah."
"Cool. Whereabouts are you from?"
"Washington mostly."
"Just visiting Australia?"
"Yeah. Looking up some relations and that."
Fiona nodded and looked away. Alec thought that had this been in Seattle, he wouldn't have minded grabbing her number. Someone to keep him company on a lonely night, but he was there with a job to do. He took the table number she offered him with a flirtatious smile and a wink before glancing at the girl behind the coffee machine and walking to a table near the door. Keeping an eye on the door, he mentally went over the information that Logan had given him before he left Seattle. The last picture they had of her didn't look anything like the way she did now and, as it turned out, most of that information had been useless. It was only due to Logan's Eyes Only contacts that he'd gained some leads.
Eva seemed to be extremely settled in her life here. Family, friends, a stable job. She was a lot taller than he'd expected, but then again, he'd kind of pictured someone Max's height. From a rough guess, he would say that she was 5'10". She had an athletic/slim build, blonde hair and dark green eyes. The blonde hair looked natural enough, but from the file, it was stated that her natural hair color was more of a red color.
Although, with her skin color, the blonde seems to work quite nicely. Alec thought to himself before his phone rang.
Watching him over the top of the coffee machine, she watched as he answered his cell phone, but still kept an eye on the door. Sure, he was good to look at, had a nice voice, great eyes and an easy smile, but there was something about him that made her stay alert. Then again, it could just be her nerves talking. She was so worried about what her parents would say. She wondered whether they would ring her and leave a message or whether they'd come in to her work and make a scene.
Finishing the order, she grabbed a saucer to put the latte glass on to as well as a teaspoon along the side before spiking the order and taking it out to the table. Her hearing picked up a little bit of the conversation, but not enough to know what they were talking about. The closer she got, the quieter he spoke before ending the conversation and smiling at her.
"Here's your latte Sir."
"Call me Alec."
Raising an eyebrow and smiling slightly, she said,
"Okay, Alec, here's your latte."
"Thanks," he said looking at her name badge, "Mischa."
"Welcome"
As she turned to walk away, she heard him quietly ask, "What time do you finish?"
Turning around again, she said, "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Smiling again, Alec put two sugars into his latte and stirred it.
"I was wondering what time you finished here today."
"I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I finish in 2 hours."
Shaking her head, she allowed herself a small smile as she went back into the kitchen. Even though she was made to be attractive, it was still nice to know that people thought so.
The next hour went fast, their lunch rush running into the afternoon one but Alec stayed at his table near the door. The earlier phone call had been from Logan. He'd just gotten word that White had figured out the area where Eva was working so he was staying to make sure that the next hour was uneventful. For both of them.
From behind the coffee machine, Mischa watched as Alec kept looking at his watch before turning and smiling at her. Smiling back, and slightly embarrassed and being caught, she paid more attention to her job. 30 minutes before she was rostered to finish, she heard Alec quietly clear his throat. She looked up from her cleaning and saw two men, dressed in suits, walk through the door. Ordinarily, they wouldn't have been out of place. But they were wearing grey trenchcoats over the top. Maybe it was her military mind that picked it up, but she knew right away that something was wrong.
Slowly moving from behind the coffee machine to the food cabinet, Mischa kept cleaning, although now her attention was on the two gentlemen slowly walking towards the back of the store. Because the shelves were about 1.5 meters tall, she could clearly see both of them standing there. Using her enhanced hearing, she heard them talking, but obviously, not to each other. Swallowing, she glanced at Alec, who'd stood up and was looking at her with what looked like concern in his eyes. Why was he looking at her like that.
"You need to leave. Now." He said quietly. A normal person wouldn't have been able to hear it, but her hearing, care of Manticore, made it so she could. She nodded and walked into the kitchen.
"Fiona!"
"Yeah?" her workmate and friend called out from the freezer.
"I know I'm not supposed to finish for another 30 minutes, but something's come up and I need to jet. Is that cool?"
"Sure. You've always got my back when I need to leave early, so this time I got yours. On tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Open."
"See you at 11am then."
"Bye."
Putting her apron on the hook near the door, she grabbed her backpack and helmet and used the back door to leave the store. Getting her keys out of her bag, she slung it around her back while she zipped up her jacket. Looking across the road, she saw her bike sitting there. It was only a few steps away, but the guys in the store would see and hear her leave. Leaning up against the wall, she looked around for another way to get away from the store. She didn't know who these people were, but she wasn't exactly going to roll out the welcome wagon for them.
Alec had gone to the counter and got Fiona's number, keeping up the appearance of being another normal guy, doing a normal guy thing before slowly leaving the café. He assumed that Eva had taken the back door, and was probably waiting around the corner, trying to figure out a way to get to her bike before the guys in the store figured out that she wasn't there. Guessing asto which wall she was behind, he turned right about 20 meters down from the café.
"That's your bike over there right?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"Don't worry about that. Give me the keys. I'll get it. Is there another way out of this alley?"
"Yeah, about 3 blocks that way."
"Go there, and I'll bring the bike to you."
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because the guys in your store aren't the good guys. Get going."
Wondering who the hell he was to be telling her to do this, she quickly ran to the end of the alley way and waited for Alec to bring her bike to her. Standing there, but continuously glancing around, looking for both Alec and the guys from her store, she talked to herself.
'Well, Mischa, this is good. You're supposed to stay alert all the time. You never know who knows where you are. Just because you're in Australia doesn't mean you can let your guard down.'
Hearing the unmistakable sound of her bike's engine, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Alec turn the corner and join her in the alleyway.
"Get on. We don't have much time."
"What's going on? Who are they and who are you?"
"Just get on the damn bike, and I'll explain it to you at your place. Because they know where you work now, they probably aren't watching the house as closely. You'll have enough time to grab what you absolutely need before I take you out of here. Understood?"
She wordlessly got on the bike behind him and wrapped her arms around his body. The ease in which he rode her bike made her think that he either had one of his own, or at least he'd ridden a lot before. Alec ignored the feeling of her arms around him as he eased the bike back onto the road and towards Eva's house. They didn't have much time.
Pulling the bike into the driveway, Alec quickly turned the bike off and got off, Mischa not far behind. Following her to the door, he watched the road for any signs that White and his men were around. Not seeing anyone, he followed her into the house.
It was nicely set out, showing that she was doing well for herself. Along the walls were photos of friends and family, and a few pictures of her and a guy, obviously her boyfriend. While he left her to throw some things together, he looked at the all, taking in the happy look on everyone's faces. It would have been nice to have a life like this one.
Hearing her coming out of, what he assumed, was her bedroom, he turned to face her, holding a picture of her and a guy in his hand.
"Boyfriend?"
Glancing at him, she put the bag on the table and muttered, "Ex."
Nodding in understanding, he placed the picture back on the wall and turned around again. Mischa went to the phone and checked her answering machine. There were no messages.
"Expecting a phone call?"
"Not like it's any of your business, but yes."
"Maybe from the parents? Wondering about that package you left for them?"
Forgetting that she didn't know much about this guy, she quickly moved towards him and threw him against the wall, her arm across his throat.
"Now, who the hell are you? Who are they? What does this have to do with me?"
Alec had to smirk at her moves. She was definitely X5. She blurred like the rest of them, and had the extra strength as well.
"Well, someone I know, whom I'm sure you know as well, told us that you didn't die in '09. So I came to check it out."
"This person have a name?"
"Donald Lydecker."
A stunned look came over her face, and her arm slackened, allowing Alec the moment he needed to push her away and get across the room.
"You're Manticore aren't you?"
"Right. At your service."
"Look, you can stow the smart ass comments. And you can go back to Manticore and tell them that I'm not coming back."
"Woah, I'm not with Manticore anymore. Didn't you hear? They're gone."
"Right, so Terminal City isn't their new base of operations?"
"Trust me, it ain't Manticore. You live better at Manticore."
"Right. So, you obviously know who I am."
"You're originally X5-766, but you were re-designated after '09 as X5-391. "
"Yeah, some crap about using me as an example to others."
"I'm 494. Or Alec, as I go by now."
"494. I knew someone who was 493."
"Ben. My twin. I know, I hear it all the time"
Walking to another bedroom, Mischa opened a cupboard and took out a couple of pistols as well as a knife.
"Well, Alec. Now you've found me. Mind explaining who the guys at my work were?"
"In Seattle, there's a group of people called The Conclave. They're all about selective breeding to enhance the human species blah, blah, blah… Anyway, one of their guys, Ames White, is an agent with the NSA. He's decided that it's his Calling to hunt down every Transgenic in the world and take them out. Even though your file was hidden deep within the database at Manticore, they've managed to do what we did. And that's figure out that someone got away."
"How did they know where I worked?"
"I've been following you for the last 2 days. This morning, they were following you too. I'm assuming that they got their information from somewhere cos we lost them before you got to work."
"That's why you know about the file."
"I was there when you left it. I also checked it over to make sure you were who we thought you were."
"What did you do with it?"
"I checked with my contacts, and we decided to leave it there for your parents. If that's what you wanted to do, hell, it's your decision."
"Good. I feel so bad that I've had to lie to them for this long."
"But you're worried about how they'll react to the news."
"Yes. You can't understand what it's been like to have this life. To have the friends and family I've had. We never knew that this sort of life was possible when we were at Manticore."
Picking up her bag, he put it over his shoulder. Gesturing for her to hurry up he said, "You may have to consider that they're the source that gave those guys the info on where you worked."
Mischa strapped the knife to her belt and put the gun in her backpack.
"I refuse to believe that. "
Looking at the time, Alec knew that if they stayed any longer, they risked detection by White.
"We've gotta get moving now. Now they know you're here, you're not safe. You'll have to come with me."
"To?"
"Back to Seattle."
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