Chapter 33
That nagging feeling hadn't gone away when Ruby woke up late the next morning, but at least she felt well rested. After a shower, she got dressed and knocked on the door between the rooms before pushing it open and stepping inside. Blinking in the darkness that shrouded the room, it took her a moment to locate her friend, buried under layers of blankets in her bed.
"Izzy!" she sang out as she picked her way across the messy room. "Get up, sleepy head!"
Reaching the window, she threw open the curtains and raised the blinds, letting sunshine flood into the room. Izzy didn't move or respond. Ruby stepped over to the bed and hopped on it, intentionally making it bounce violently.
"Come on! Wake up!"
"I'm awake already," her friend said from the couch.
Ruby stopped bouncing on the bed to look at the other woman. Izzy was still in the clothes she wore yesterday and had deep, dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't slept at all.
"Izzy," Ruby breathed, scrambling off the bed to go sit by her friend. "What's wrong?"
Big tears dripped from Izzy's eyes and she shuddered with a sob. Without a word, Ruby enfolded her in a hug, whispering encouraging words as she cried. Ruby had never seen her like this. Izzy was always the strong one. She was the one that held Izzy every time she cried about slights from her father or coworkers. Whatever it was, it had to be really bad.
Eventually, Izzy stopped sobbing and just lay against her, clutching her tightly.
Smoothing her hair back, Ruby told her, "whatever's wrong, we'll get through it together, just like all those times I broke down."
Izzy shook her head and mumbled something Ruby couldn't understand. Pushing her friend away enough to look into her face, Ruby urged her, "just tell me."
Izzy sat up straighter and looked around for something to blow her nose on. Ruby got up and went to the bathroom and brough back a roll of toilet paper.
Blowing her nose then wiping her eyes, Izzy avoided Ruby's eyes. Ruby waited patiently.
"I'm sorry," Izzy eventually sniffed.
"Don't be. I've done this enough to you, I owe you a few. Well, maybe more than a few," she smiled.
The two friends sat on the couch in silence; Izzy trying to compose herself and Ruby giving her the time she needed.
Finally, Izzy took a deep breath and, focusing on her hands clasp tightly in her lap, said in a small, quavering voice, "I've fucked up, Ruby. Big time. And I don't know how I'm going to get out of it."
"We'll figure it out together," Ruby assured her. "We always do."
Izzy shook her head miserably, "No, not this time."
"Nonsense," Ruby reached over and took her by the hands, carefully unlacing them. "We are a team, you and me. Always. We are an unstoppable force. There's nothing we can't overcome."
Izzy looked up and gave her a weak smile, "yeah, we are, aren't we?"
That was much better, Ruby thought as she smiled brightly in return, "you betcha! Now tell me what's going on."
Her friend shook her head, "I want to tell you, but I can't. Not yet." she seemed to make up her mind and stood up, pulling Ruby with her. "There's something I have to do first."
Ruby started to protest, but Izzy cut her off, "trust me. I will tell you and we will get through this, just give me an hour or so."
Ruby studied her. She was sure she could coax Izzy into telling her, but what harm would an hour make?
"Promise?"
Izzy nodded, "promise. Meet me back here at a quarter till 11:00?"
Why such a precise time, Ruby wondered. "Okay. Maybe I'll go see Bruce and see why he's been hiding from me since we got back."
"That's a good idea," Izzy smiled and pushed her gently towards the door. "I'll see you in a little while."
Ruby allowed herself to be pushed, sighing when the door shut behind her. She was worried about her friend, but Izzy had promised to let her in on the big secret and she just had to trust her. She was almost as worried about Bruce's absence, though. It was time to go hunt her man down.
Bruce had just stepped out of the shower when the knock came at his door. He was supposed to meet Bucky and Fury in the control center to put their plan into motion in less than an hour, but he had hoped he had enough time to go check on Ruby beforehand. He hoped this wasn't something that needed his immediate attention. Since he'd been back on campus, Fury had kept him buried under work, giving him barely enough time to sleep. He'd been up way into the morning hours last night and had slept in this morning.
Going to the door, he flung it open, "this better be important…."
He stopped at the sight of Ruby standing in front of him.
"Sorry for interrupting. I can come back la…," she started.
"No, no," he hurriedly assured her. "I thought it was someone else. I was just on my way to see you."
She looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow, "in nothing but a towel?"
He started to hide behind the door, then realized how stupid that would be. Instead he gave her a grin, "I hear the chicks dig this look."
That earned him an eye roll as she stepped forward, forcing him to retreat into his room. Shutting the door and leaning back against it, she gave him a sexy smile.
"It looks good on you."
Damn, she looked good too, he thought.
Taking two steps forward he placed both hands on the door and leaned down to kiss her. She rose on her toes to meet him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her lips were soft as she kissed him back. He could do this all day long.
"I missed you," she said softly, pulling back.
"I missed you too." He leaned his forehead against hers, "Fury has me running ragged."
"You want me to have a word with him? Let him know that he needs to make sure you have time for me?"
Chuckling, he ducked down for another kiss, "I'd pay money to see that."
Ruby gasped against his lips when he picked her up and walked over to his couch with her. Lowering both of them onto the couch so that she lay across his lap, he wrapped his arms around her to hold her close. Bucky and Fury could wait.
Sometime later, both were breathless. Ruby's shirt and bra were pushed up, exposing her breasts, her hair a tumbled mess around her face, and her lips swollen from kissing. At some point, she had straddled his lap and his towel had fallen open so that her light pants were the only thing between him and her. The heat of him scorched her core and she longed for her pants to be gone also.
He looked up at her with a bemused smile, "I'm never going to get anything done today at this rate."
Barely brushing her lips against his teasingly, she whispered, "is that a bad thing?"
She felt him tense under her before he answered slowly, "yeah. There's something important happening today. In fact," he gently pushed her back to look at her face, "there's something I need to tell you."
She searched his face, but only saw worry. "What?" she asked warily.
"It's about…," he began, but the lights in the room blinked off and the emergency lights came on, bathing the room in a red glow. Outside the door, the wail of an alarm pierced the air.
"Oh, shit!" He picked her off his lap and dropped her on the couch beside him before jumping up. Going to his closet he yanked the door open and grabbed the first pair of pants he found and hurriedly started pulling them on.
"What's going on?" Ruby scrambled off the couch and went to the door.
"No!" he grabbed her and pulled her away. "Look, I don't have time to explain, but you need to stay right here."
"You know what's going on, don't you?"
"Ruby, I need you to trust me. I promise I will tell you everything once this is over, but I don't want to have worry about you. Promise me you'll stay here?" he pleaded.
She wasn't happy about it one bit, but what could she do?
Nodding, she told him, "I'll stay. Just be careful and come back as soon as you can."
Ushering her out of his way, he opened the door, and peered outside. Before he rushed out, he pressed a quick, hard kiss on her.
"Lock the door behind me and don't open it again unless it's me."
Watching him disappear down the hall, clad only in a pair of pants, Ruby's heart thudded painfully. She reluctantly shut the door and turned the lock. Sinking back down on the couch, she steeled herself for the wait. Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes. She hoped everyone was okay.
Her eyes popped open, "Izzy!"
She was supposed to meet her friend back at the dormitory. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was nearly 10:30. Bruce had made her promise to wait here, but she could just as easily wait in her room. She just had to get there but was sure she could make it if she stuck to the edge of the field and avoided anything that was going on out there.
Going to the door, she unlocked and slowly opened it. Outside, the alarm had gone silent and the hall was empty. Resolutely, she stepped out into it and shut the door behind her.
Izzy calmly approached the server room. The hall was empty, so this was her chance. Turning the handle, the door opened, letting the artic chill of the room blast her in the face. Laura had been true to her word, at least.
Slipping inside, she blinked against the bright lights, orienting herself. Five sets of heavy metal shelves filled the room, each filled with humming electronics. This was the brain of the campus. She wondered why it wasn't more heavily guarded. Sure, it was in the middle of the main building of the compound, what could be a more secure location? But it still didn't feel right.
Too late now, she told herself with a shrug. Now that everything was in motion, she felt clearheaded. An idea came to her. If she could pull this off and kill Frankie as ordered, maybe instead of going to the extraction point, she should meet Ruby at her room like she promised. She could come up with some story to tell her friend. And maybe tell Fury about Laura? That was a possibility. Offer up Laura as a distraction. Seemed plausible. If Laura told them she was an agent also, who would believe her? It was worth considering. But first things first. Where the hell was Frankie?
Just then, she heard the door open. Peering around the edge of a rack, she saw Frankie and stepped out into the narrow aisle between the shelves.
"It's about time you showed up."
"I got here as soon as Laura turned me loose," Frankie told her with a flip of her ponytail. "Where's the device?"
Izzy held it up. In her other hand she had her ace in the hole. She pushed the button on it. All around the compound, the tiny pebble-like devices she had scattered around activated, sending out waves of interference and noise. Immediately, the security system picked up dozens of signals. The computer reacted as predicted by activating the alarm system. The server room was doused in darkness for the seconds it took for the emergency lights to engage. Outside, alarms blared, alerting every one of the danger. Izzy smirked. They would be busy chasing ghosts for a while.
"No!" Frankie lunged at her, grabbing her arm in a tight grip.
She swung around to strike the other woman, but Frankie released her and backed away, hands in the air.
"That's the diversion," sighed Izzy.
"You could have warned me," Frankie snapped.
"Come on, help me figure out where to put this thing."
Calmly, she turned her back on Frankie and started searching for the perfect place to place the listening device. Her handler hadn't given her more than a vague idea of what to look for. The server equipment was packed with cables, but she didn't want something too noticeable. Someone familiar with the equipment might spot it right away if she wasn't careful.
"It has to go into an output or input cable?" Frankie asked from further down the aisle.
"Either."
"Here, I found a good one. It's hidden behind this bundle and tucked behind the frame."
"Where?" she asked.
"There," Frankie pointed and stood back to make room for her.
Izzy had to lean down and stick her head and shoulders in the gap between the warm box and the shelf, but she saw what Frankie had found. It would be perfect.
"Oh, I see it," she said. Now for some acting, "I don't think I can get to it, though." She stood back and held out the device to Frankie, "here, you do it. It just snaps around the cable."
Frankie took it, "okay. Why don't you go check the door and make sure nobody's out there? That way, we can make a run for it once I get this installed."
Perfect, she thought and nodded, "okay, but hurry. We don't want to miss our ride." She turned to do as Frankie suggested.
"No, we don't," the other woman muttered.
Instead of going to the door, she circled around the shelf to come up on Frankie's other side. As the woman extracted herself from the shelf, she raised the gun.
"Glenda says hi," she delivered the message.
Unexpectantly, Frankie lunged for her, swinging wildly with both arms. One struck her arm with the gun just as she pulled the trigger, the other jabbed something painfully into her ribs. The world exploded with the noise of the gunshot and the pain in her ribs. The gun, forgotten, tumbled to the floor as she doubled over, blind with pain.
"You fucking bitch!" she hissed through her clenched teeth.
Her vision returned just in time to see Frankie go for the gun on the floor. Swallowing her pain, Izzy jumped at her, sending both of them to the floor. Fortunately, she landed on top. She tried to punch Frankie in the face, but her aim was off, and she only landed a glancing blow. Frankie grabbed her by the hair and tried to use it as leverage to pull her off. Thinking quickly, she brought her elbow down, aiming for the collar bone, but missed and hit her in the meaty part of the shoulder instead. Frankie gasped and let go of her hair, giving her a chance to go after the gun that lay just out of reach.
Frankie bucked under her and pushed her off, trying to beat her to the gun. Both women grappled, kicked and pulled hair as they fought to get to it. Out of nowhere, something hard and sharp jabbed her in the ribs again, near where she had been hurt the first time. Oh, God, it hurt! Had she been stabbed? She kneed Frankie in the face as she instinctively tried to curl into a ball to protect her middle.
Frankie had her by the pants, trying to drag her away. Panicking she started kicking wildly and reached for the gun. She felt in with the tips of her fingers and blindly grabbed it as she slid away to come face to face with her adversary. Without thinking she clubbed Frankie in the nose with it.
Frankie grabbed her in a tight hug, making it impossible for her to get a good shot off. Again, they struggled on the floor as Izzy tried to get into a position to use the weapon. At one point, Frankie got the upper hand and had her hands pinned above their heads. If only she had a better angle.
She traded the gun to the other hand and tried to turn it in Frankie's grip. Her finger slipped into the trigger guard and the gun fired without warning. She froze in shock as fire erupted at the base of her shoulder and her arm lost its strength.
Frankie shoved away from her and ran from the room, leaving her alone.
The gun clattered to the floor as it fell out of her hand.
