Kess awoke to the annoying beep of her alarm clock and reached out lazily to hit the snooze button. Something didn't feel right - the nightstand seemed shorter than usual. Confused, she sat up and looked around. That's when she remembered that she was at Third Echelon HQ. The nightstand, the bed, even the clock wasn't hers. They had given her her own tiny apartment within the headquarters until she could find an apartment of her own in town. It was small, but it had everything she needed - and she wouldn't have to sit in rush hour traffic every day to get to work.
She slid out of bed, took a quick shower and out of habit went to poke through the fridge. There was nothing in there, of course, so she'd have to go to the cafeteria. She made a mental note to try and squeeze some grocery shopping in when she was off duty. She slipped into some olive cargo pants and a black t-shirt, combed her hair into a presentable shape and headed for the cafeteria.
When she got there, she was surprised to see that it was surprisingly bustling considering it was 7am. The smell of brewing coffee and bacon was in the air. There was a grill where a cook was frying up eggs, bacon and sausages and a case on one counter full of muffins and bagels. There was a small line of agents waiting to pay for their food. Kess chose a bagel with cheese from the case, grabbed a paper cup and poured herself some coffee from the carafe on the hot plate beside the muffins. She paid for her food, then plunked herself down at one of the tables and began to eat, still half-asleep. She drowsily watched people go in and out the door while she chewed her bagel. I wonder what they do here, she thought to herself. Some people were in suits, some were casually dressed. There were a few people in military fatigues. Then a man came through the door wearing almost the same clothes she had thrown on, only his cargo pants had a camouflage print. She looked up and a feeling of mild disgust came over her when she saw his face.
It's that jerk, Sam. Goddamn it. I hope he doesn't see me. she held her coffee cup up so it was half in front of her face. Sam went over to the grill and waited to be served a plate of sausage and eggs, then poured himself some coffee and took his place in line. He looked around casually, then spotted Kess. Fuck. Kess looked away quickly, pretending she hadn't seen him. She took a slurp of her coffee and burned her tongue. I hope he just gets his stuff and leaves, she thought. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him begin to walk in her direction. Ah, shit.
Sam took a seat opposite her and nodded at her. "'Morning," he said flatly.
"G'mr," Kess mumbled into her coffee cup. She took another sip of the searing coffee and forced a little smile at him. She wished it would cool down so she could finish it and get out of there.
Sam cut his sausage in half and stuffed one half in his mouth. He chewed slowly while staring at her, one eyebrow raised. Kess pretended to see a hair on her bagel and pick it off.
"So," came Sam's deep voice, "You ready for your training exercises today?"
"Yep," Kess said, trying to sound like she was completely confident. She absentmindedly brushed crumbs off her shirt, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Huh," Sam said in a consescending tone, then ate the other half of his sausage, still staring at her. She had a brief impulse to dump her coffee over his head, and probably would have if he had been some stranger. But unfortunately, she had to work with him, and instead chewed on the lip of her cup.
"You're not wearing any makeup today," Sam remarked.
Kess was a little surprised at this comment and looked up at him briefly. "No, I'm not."
"You could use some. You've got big circles under your eyes."
That son of a bitch. Under the table, Kess balled up her paper napkin and squeezed it as hard as she could. "I'm tired," she said, trying not to let it show how much he was pissing her off.
"Are you, now. Better pay extra close attention, then. This stuff is easy to screw up if you're tired." He took a sip of his coffee.
Kess twisted the hell out of the napkin under the table. "I'll be fine," she said, and downed the last sip of her coffee. She stood up, chucked her garbage in a nearby bin, and headed for the door.
"Whatever you say," she heard Sam comment as she walked away. She gritted her teeth and kept going. As soon as she got don the hall and out of earshot, she let out a frustrated growl. "Fucker. Asshole. Who does he think he is?" she hissed to herself. "'You're not wearing makeup. You could use some.' I'd rather have circles under my eyes than the crow's feet he's got. Pompous bastard." She turned a corner and nearly collided with Lambert, who was carrying a cup of coffee. He halted in his tracks and the jolt sent the coffee in his cup slopping out and all over the front of his sage-coloured shirt.
"Oh, no. I'm sorry." Kess apologized. She looked at him worriedly.
Lambert looked down and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. This seems to be my curse lately. I think tomorrow I'll wear a brown shirt." He sighed. He pulled a couple Kleenexes out of his pocket and patted at the stain. "I need to try to clean this up. Why don't you go meet Grim for your first exercise - it's almost 8 o'clock anyway. Let yourself get comfortable while you wait for me, and we can start when I get back."
"Sounds good," Kess said, "Where do I go?"
"There's a computer hub in area 3E. Go through the doors and it's 2 rooms down on the left. There's a building map on the wall just by the washrooms down here – you shouldn't have any trouble finding the room."
"Thanks. See you later." Said Kess.
She looked up the map by the washrooms and was able to find the hub pretty easily. When she walked in, Grim was already there, typing furiously on her laptop.
"Hi," Kess greeted her.
Grim looked up. "Hi! Sleep well?"
"Yeah, but not enough. I had some coffee but it hasn't kicked in yet."
"I figured you were tired. You've got big dark circles under your eyes." Grim commented.
Kess grimaced. "I know. I ran into Sam in the cafeteria this morning. He was the first to point that out."
Grim frowned. "Uh oh. Was he a jerk to you again?"
Kess crossed her arms and stared at the wall. "Unfortunately."
"Try not to take it personally. You're not the only person he's acted like this towards."
"From the way he acts in general, I wonder if he likes anybody." Kess exclaimed.
Grim smiled. "Well, I hear he loves his daughter an awful lot."
Kess looked at her in amazement. "Daughter? You mean someone could actually stand him enough to sleep with him?"
"Yeah - one second. Let me pull up his file." Grim typed for a few moments, then read on the screen and said, "While Sam was working on an American Air Force base in Germany during the 1980s, he met and later married Regan Burns in 1984. She died from ovarian cancer in 1989. They had one daughter together, Sarah, born in 1985."
A feeling of pity came over Kess. "He lost his wife to cancer…that's terrible. I didn't know."
"He doesn't talk about it," Grim stated. "Sam has a heart, Kess, it's just been scarred and he's put up a tough barrier to protect himself. Be patient with him, and he'll lighten up."
Kess nodded. I hope it's soon, she thought.
"You should know that he'll be observing your performance today. It was the only way that he'd agree to take on this mission with you."
Kess sighed. "Well, if he sees proof that I'm capable of this, maybe that'll influence the way he treats me. But I'm going to be self-conscious with him breathing down my neck."
"Try to pretend he's not there. If he tries to make any smartass comments I'm sure Lambert will take a strip of his hide."
Just as Kess opened her mouth to respond, Lambert walked in. He had a damp spot on his shirt now, but had managed to get most of the stain out. He nodded at Grim, then turned to Kess and said, "Well, Kestrel, we'll get started as soon as Sam-"
"Here," said Sam's voice. He had appeared in the doorway.
"Damn, but you're quiet, Sam. Alright, let's get started then. Grim?"
Grim smiled and turned her laptop towards Kess. "I've hidden and encoded a document somewhere in Third Echelon's test database. It's up to you to find and decode it, Kess. All I'll tell you is that your name is in it, and you've only got 1 minute to hack in before the computer sets off an alarm."
"Ok….I'll get on it." Kess said. Grim got up and motioned for Kess to take her seat. Kess sat and pulled up the OS command line. Dammit…I hope I can do this…let's see, first gain admin access… She typed rapidly and the system began pinging random port numbers. Kess leaned in and scanned the numbers flashing across the screen, watching for the appropriate ones.
"I'll bet you $20 she can't do it," she heard Sam whisper from the corner of the room.
"Fisher, one more comment like that and I'll dock your pay," Lambert hissed. Sam shut up.
That sonofabitch! I wish I could…Fuck! Missed the last number! The distraction had broken her concentration. Come on, bring it up again…the sequences flashed by.
"10 seconds," Grim announced.
Dammit, Dammit… suddenly the last correct number came up. Got it! I hope I got all the right numbers…92 60 27 68 81…As quick as she could, Kess typed in the full sequence. The computer made a sound of recognition, and Kess let out a sigh of relief.
"You beat the clock, but you're not done yet," Grim said with a half-smile.
Kess searched the hard drive and found the administrator's folder. She searched for her name and one document appeared. She opened it up… Shit, that's right, it's encrypted…what's the key for this one again…She thought for a moment, then pulled up the command line again and typed a code, then re-opened the document. A simple text message appeared:
GOOD JOB KESS!
"Phew!" Kess said. She smiled broadly and sat back in her chair.
Lambert stepped forward and shook her hand. "Well, I'm pleased. Grim?"
"She did fine," Grim said.
"Sam?" Lambert asked, raising his eyebrows at Sam.
Sam, who was leaning against the wall with arms folded against his chest, looked at Kess and gave her a half-smile. "You did all right, kid."
Kess smiled back at him briefly before dropping her gaze. Those green eyes of his were so unsettling, like he could see right through her.
"Alright Kess, we'll take a coffee break, and then I've got a job for you making some modifications to Sam's assault rifle." Lambert said. 'Come back here in 15 minutes and then we'll go down to the workshop."
"Thanks. I could use another coffee." Kess said appreciatively. She headed out the door and towards the cafeteria. As she walked off, she just couldn't shake the feeling that those green eyes were watching her closely…
Chapter 3 coming soon!
