Chapter 3
After Nicky left, Pam tried to stay awake but quickly succumbed to the exhaustion and her full stomach. She slept better than she had in months. She had felt uneasy for a long time. Now that she knew people were watching her in her home and following her everywhere she could understand why she was jittery.
Suddenly Jason Bourne snapped awake and looked around. "What happened?" He tried to touch the coffee table and his hand went through it. "Damn…" Suddenly he looked to his left and saw Pam's eyes snap open in alarm. "What, can you hear me too?"
Pam had been deep in REM sleep when suddenly she snapped awake, having heard something. She saw that Nicky had silently returned at some point. She was curled up in a fetal position on the love seat staring at the lights on the Christmas tree. "It's okay Pam," she whispered. "It's the kids upstairs opening gifts and playing, it's 5am. Go back to sleep…"
Pam closed her eyes but couldn't go back to sleep. Every so often she would open her eyes and see that the girl was still starring at the tree, as if she would never see another one and Pam suddenly wondered if either of them would. On that note she knew sleep was now futile, Pam slowly got up and stretched, "Coffee, tea, coco?"
"Coffee…"
"So, how did your visit with your friend go?"
Bourne's head jerked up at this, "Friend? Jesus, what did you do Nicky? Where did you go?"
She shrugged, "Fine."
Jason turned to Pam, "Come on… pry. We need to know what's going on."
Pam began, "Don't you think… It was risky to contact someone?"
"Of course it is. We are going to do it again today. We need ID's."
Bourne snapped, "You can make those!"
"I can make the ID's and passports but it's riskier for me to put them in the system. A friend can get us birth certificates, credit cards, credit scores, tax records… a whole history. All of them legitimate looking and all in the national system. I used to be able to do it all but I don't have the access to that."
"But, anyone you know will be under surveillance."
"Pam's right. This is nuts."
"He isn't CIA though, very much the opposite. He is…very… quirky. He is very antigovernment. I have never actually met him either, just someone I know from the web. We can trust him."
Pam reared her head back, "He is one of those 9/11 conspiracy guys isn't he?"
She laughed, "Probably. Look, I think it's your best chance. I have ID's to fall back on. You don't."
Bourne scoffed, "Well then set her up to meet the guy. Let her risk it…"
"I can't let you go alone," Nicky said matter of factly. "You helped Bourne get the word out and we owe you for that…"
The three of them stood in silence for a long time. "Okay," Nicky said at last, "let's have a big breakfast, pack some Chinese for lunch and wipe this place down. We need to leave everything as we found it. We can't come back here…"
The two women went to work cooking and then cleaning the apartment. After making sure that everything was exactly as they found it they left and Nicky put the mail back in the mail box on the way out. "I took it so if an asset checked; they wouldn't know the apartment was empty, like I did…"
They hailed a cab and they drove around the city for an hour, pretending to site see. They left that cab and hailed another one and took it to a store front. After exiting the cab, Nicky took them down an alleyway to the rear of what appeared to be a catholic church.
Bourne stated expertly, "This is the same church as yesterday… You were really vetting the place when you came here?"
She walked past the church and to an apartment building. She walked down a narrow flight of steps in the back and pressed a buzzer on an intercom. They heard the buzz from within and heard faint movement beyond the door, but nothing else happened. She pressed the mic button, "Come on, it's me Nicolette!"
*Silence*
"Hayden, don't make me do it…"
*Silence*
Nicky sighed as both Pam and Jason raised eye brows in tandem, "It is I, Nicoleodeon, who has come to the gates of the Crystal Castle seeking Gordoor: the Immense and Indefinable. I come here to pay homage and tribute to his Lordship and seek the safety and solace of his fiefdom."
When she turned to face Pam her face was scarlet with embarrassment, "Longest code in process ever…" She shifted back and forth not unlike a small child that needed to go to the bathroom.
A voice crackled over the intercom, {I have the flu…}
"Sorry to hear it, I have my shots though. Come on let me in… It's cold out here!"
{I'm sick…}
"No… no, no! I did the greeting thing. Come on…"
{I have all day Nicky…}
Nicky blushed more fiercely and cleared her throat. She whispered into the speaker, which just drew Pam and Jason closer to her. In a sing-song voice she intoned, "Sweet kitty… soft kitty…."
{I can barely hear you! Sing louder…}
"Sweet kitty… soft kitty…. little ball of fur… Happy kitty… sleepy kitty… Purr Purr Purr…"
{Where did we first meet?}
"The Un'Goro Crater!Oh my God! Let me in damn it!"
They heard a second male voice say, {It's her damn it. I'll let you in Nic…} as they heard a long series of locks being opened.
A short but stocky man was on the other side of the door; he couldn't have been more the 5'5 and both women, who were on the steps, towered over him. "Hey you!" he greeted warmly and they hugged deeply. "Sorry about him," he waved his hand dismissively. "He isn't in a good mood. He is twitchier when he's sick…" Noticing Pam for the first time, "Oh, who is your…" and suddenly he went ridged and his eyes widened, which looked ridiculous behind his thick Buddy Holly glasses."Does he know she's here?!"
Nicky shook her head, "I need to get her ID's in the system and her out of the country…"
From inside the room the other voice called, "Well let her in. You can try in vain to fornicate with her later; I have to get to work!"
The little man grimaced knowing the onslaught to come and ushered them in and took his sweet time relocking the ten locks on the door.
Nicky rounded the corner and greeted the strange looking man, "Hayden…" she nodded. He looked more like a praying mantis than a man: being very tall and skinny and there was something about his face added to the mystique, his large wide set eyes and very narrow jaw perhaps.
"I wish I could say it was nice to meet you Nicolette, but you are quite aware of the ubiquitousness of our modern world. Meeting in person is hardly…Wait who goes there?" he queried at seeing Pam.
"This is…" Nicky began.
He gasped, "That's Pamela Landy! You brought a CIA mole hunter into my inner sanctum! Have you been replaced by a pod person?! What the hell are you thinking…?"
"Our inner sanctum, I pay half the egregious rent…" the little man corrected, passing the two women.
Pam looked the tall man up and down; he was dressed in a silly looking knitted hat that was yellow and orange, a superman shirt, green jeans, and pink rabbit slippers. Over the ghastly outfit he was wearing a quilt that he had draped about him. He was clutching a tissue and his nose was cherry red from blowing it.
Nicky must have been sizing him up as well, "Love the skull cap. It's Jayne's from Firefly right? Did you order it online?"
He looked appalled, "Heavens no. My Memaw made it for me for Christmas."
Pam interjected, "What does that mean, Memaw? The girl said that last night…"
Nicky tried to keep him from speaking but failed as he shouted over her, "It's a Southern colloquialism. It's a term of endearment for ones Grandmother… specifically your maternal grandmother."
"Oh," Pam muttered suddenly feeling old.
Jason paced around the large room which once served as the coal room for the old apartment building and was now the basement. Computers, TVs, monitors, and wiring covered everything. Most of the furniture looked worn out and had probably been thrown out by at least two owners. There was an old military bunk bed in one corner and a tub, sink, and toilet in the other. Both had pull curtains surrounding them similar to hospital beds. Comic book and movie posters covered the walls and toy ship models from Sci-Fi movies hung from the ceiling on wires. "Are you sure about this guy Nicky, he's real twitchy…" he said slowly.
"Hayden… Look," Pam said calmly. "We need your help, we are both burned…"
"As you should be for being in bed with the devil… You reap what you sow ma'am…"
Nicky interjected "So you're just a bunch of talk? All this crap in here," she waved a hand to all the superhero and Lord of the Rings posters around the room, "your clothes, the passwords, it is all just a game to you. You're a poser of the worst order. You are nothing like Superman," she poked his shirt, "hell you aren't even Aquaman."
Landy smiled knowing what Nicky was doing. Pam tilted her head and looked down on him as she threw in, "Hell, he isn't even the little chimp that used to schlepp around with the Wonder Twins!"
He recoiled in abstract horror, "Gleek? Leon, she said I was SubGleek!"
Leon laughed and replied, "He gets upset when he is spotted straight off."
Pam continued on her rant as though no one had spoken, "So, two women come to you," there was a fraction of a second of a pause where she adjusted her wording, "who are in peril and you would turn your back on us Hayden?"
Bourne made a "pfft" noise and laughed loudly, "Nice move Pam, I like you… you're alright."
"Why is she calling me that?"
Nicky laughed, "I didn't say Hayden Pam; I was saying Hey 'Den.
"His name is Den?" she scoffed. "Remind me to choose my new name…"
"I'm right here and no, she is truncating my name to Don and then mispronouncing it because she knows it annoys me…"
"So, your name is Donald?" Pam inquired.
"I said truncated; not abbreviated. My name is Gordon not Gorden. For the record I never said I wouldn't help, I was merely asking what you were doing here… I could've helped you through my emissary," he motioned to Leon.
Nicky and Bourne said simultaneously, "Emissary?"
Leon stoically clutched the lapels of his hoodie in his best rendition of Lincoln, "It sounds like a promotion from 'minion', so I'll take it…"
Nicky held up a bag, "I brought you Hot and Sour soup, extra hot sauce on the side, an extra fortune cookie, and three packs of soy sauce…"
He craned his head and tried in vain to sniff the air through clogged nostrils, "Extra tofu?"
"Yep…"
"It's a start… give me…" he said as he snatched the bag and suspiciously eyed it's contents."It's getting cold. What do you need?" he said as he unpacked the food.
"Here's our paperwork, we need them in the system with full work ups, credit reports, bank accounts, the works…"
He flipped through the stack and absently eyed Landy as she paced the room, but she was cautious not to touch anything. "What do you offer as far as trade?" he glared at her from the corner of his eye.
"My Warcraft account for starters…"
Leon stumble backwards, "Nicoleodeon? You're trading him Nicoleodeon? Is it too late for an annulment of our WoW vows?"
Bourne looked at them back and forth, "Wow Parsons… I knew you were a geek, but this is wholesale intervention time."
"…and?" he pressed.
"Gordon, come on!" Leon pleaded.
"An integrated laptop and CIA token ID generator…" at which everyone's mouth fell open.
Bourne hissed, "That's treason Nicky…"
She shrugged at them all, "It's all I have. What are they going to do shoot me twice?"
He held his head high, "It's not enough…"
"I have money…"
"I abhor currency, you know that…" he said proudly.
She frowned, "I have this…" She took a necklace off and held it out with a shaking hand.
He leaned in and looked at it, "A diamond ring?" Everyone else turned or leaned forward to look. Bourne strode over from the far side of the room and looked at it. "Did James Bond give you that?"
"No," she said flatly.
'Liar,' Landy muttered so low only Leon heard her.
"Yes, I did." Bourne said having a flash of a memory from when he purchased it.
"No," she reaffirmed. "He never got the chance…" she said with a trembling voice.
He reached out his hand and took the ring and looked at it, "I'm sorry Nicky, but no…"
She frowned and shoulders and head sagged as a week's worth of despair fell upon her. She had been trying to hold it together and was beyond frayed nerves. Bourne blurted in his ear, "You asshole!"
"No, I'm sorry…" he continued, putting the necklace carefully around her neck without touching her skin."I could never take anything from you… You should know better Nicky Parsons! I just wanted clarification on exactly how dire the situation is. It seems pretty dire!"
"Oh it is…" she nodded vigorously.
"So, I trust this isn't going to become a routine?"
"No… I mean yes. No? "
"Well this many IDs will take me around three hours…"
"Three hours?!" Pam scoffed.
He reared his head back in offense, "This many ID's takes time. Not only credit, but medical and legal histories too. There must be blemishes or they'll see through the rouse."
Pam held up her hands in surrender, "Okay sorry… Better get started, then."
After an hour everyone, including Jason, grew bored and he often left to patrol the outside of the building. Pam asked to borrow Leon's bunk and was snoring almost immediately. Nicky was quietly discussing an old text based murder mystery game made by the makers of Zork that she could never beaten called Deadline. "No," Leon told her, "you couldn't beat it because you didn't buy it. No one bought games back then. The manufacturers came up with a crafty means of copy write protection. They had items and clues in the box with the game that made it solvable. It was impossible otherwise… I can tell you the killer was…"
"Don't you dare!" she said loud enough to rouse Pam.
He laughed, "I was just fooling around. Here I put it on disc for you along with photos of the inserts and an emulator."
She nodded, "Thank you. That game drove me crazy."
"Well now you'll have something to keep you busy in all the seedy motels and during long layovers."
She nodded to Gordon who busy hammering away at two different keyboards at once with the ethereal Bourne watching him like a hawk and offering advice here and there, "How good is he really?" she whispered to Leon.
Gordon answered loudly, "Good enough to break into SAC NORAD with an Apple 2."
Bourne looked impressed until Leon scoffed, "It was one terminal and it was in 1982!"
"Both of with are irrelevant," he said smugly.
"The guy's password was 12345…"
"Also irrelevant… also not my fault… Well the CIA cyber crimes division does use me for tech support…"
Leon laughed, "Okay that is true and very funny… He uploaded notepad Help files into selective folders with tips on how to run their systems in a more efficient manner… He included a helpline number if they needed assistance. They call him daily now."
"Ughhh," Pam protested and groggily sat up.
Leon watched as Nicky took off her wig and rubbed her scalp. He looked at her bald skull and nodded to it. She smiled, "No. This time it's a fashion statement. I think I will wear it to Comic Con as Lieutenant Ilia slash V-ger."
"Well you would win best in show…"
"Here ladies… your first set is complete."
He handed Nicky two packets and Pam one and they busily started going over the details. Nicky was reading over the last of her background and was about to object to having been the owner of someplace called 'Fox Tales,' then saw her name was Gillian Fox and laughed. It sounded like the name of a strip club but was actually a bookstore. "Great name Gordon. Gillian Fox as in: Gillian Anderson and Fox Molder? You know you're not the only person that's seen…" but she interrupted when her laptop chirped.
She jerked it open and her worst fear was realized as she saw the blip of her pursuer only a block and a half away. "Shit! We're burned, everyone out!" Nicky shouted as she slammed her laptop bag and jammed it into her bag along with her ID's. Everyone looked on in a mixture of disbelief and horror as she ran to the door and started undoing the locks.
Gordon grabbed his laptop bag and handed it to Leon, "Get this out of here. I'll catch you later at our Tuesday spot. I have to burn it down…" He took the bag and his without questioning and shoved Nicky out of the way and started fooling with the dozen locks.
Bourne tried to grab Nicky's forearm out of habit, but passed right through it. "Come on, you're wasting time…" Nicky finally shouldered the rear door open and yanked Leon by the arm, "Move! Pam, go with Gordon- get out of the country… This one is after me, not you. Good luck…"
As soon as Nicky and Leon were outside, Gordon flipped one circuit breaker and Pam heard a humming and saw small metallic objects fly towards the center of the room; he had activated a super magnet of some kind. He flipped a second breaker as he whispered, "Sorry my precious…" as a massive electrical surge coursed through the desktops, servers, and mainframes.
"Over here, my ride is over here…" Leon insisted as he led Nicky around a corner.
She bolted around the corner and saw the ancient pale blue Vespa scooter and scoffed, "You're kidding right?"
Bourne goaled her, "No, this is good. This is perfect, you better drive though…"
Leon reared his head back as she snatched his keys, "She may not look like much but she has it where it counts…"
Nicky jumped on and motioned him to get behind him. She cranked it up as he jammed his helmet over her head. "They're looking for you," he explained. He clutched onto her for dear life as she accelerated down the alley and blew through both cross streets and continued following the alley and took a right at the next street.
"Where are we going?" he yelled.
"Anywhere but here…" she hollered as she searched for anyone following them and saw no-one. The others weren't as lucky.
As Nicky made her way up the narrow steps and onto the Vespa, she had no way of knowing that for the second time in the past two months a former employee was watching her through a high powered scope. Paz Carrasco saw Nicky's face and he slowly lowered the unfixed optic he was using as a monocular. He raised it and looked at her again unnecessarily, "What are you doing here…" he wondered aloud as he saw his actual target ascend the stairs. He knew someone was helping Landy, but his new handler had believed Bourne to be involved. He was just supposed to be following Landy for now, until he found a way to make her death look self inflicted.
Looking down at his GPS device he saw that the locator he had placed on Landy had just died. Nicky had missed the fact that Landy still had her gun, everything else had been discarded. Paz had loaded a fake bullet inside the clip and had been waiting and watching. Last night he had been afraid that the gun had been discarded in the apartment and then he realized the ruse.
The punk bar allowed them separation since he couldn't follow them and he hadn't fallen for the limo decoy. If he hadn't place the tracer on Landy he would've thought that he missed her somehow. He was placed in a holding pattern all night. If he went to check on the apartment, he would expose himself and almost assuredly be walking into a trap. He knew someone else was in there and he knew it wasn't Bourne. He had seen a women start to climb on onto the fire escape before changing her mind and going back in. He couldn't tell who it was from his vantage point, but knew the girl was too young and skinny to be Landy. He had been in the freezing cold for hours and finally relented and broken into an apartment in a caddy cornered building.
When he had first met Nicky Parsons he had been momentarily surprised by her age. His appointment listed her name as Nicolette and he had been expecting a motherly figure and found a kid sister. Alexander Conklin had chosen her with great care. He had thumbed through hundreds of applications and held a dozen interviews all with the singular intent on selecting the applicant least likely to appear as a threat to the men she would be commanding. He knew she would upset one of them sooner or later and wanted someone that the agents couldn't help but like.
Paz debating on whether he should check in with his handler for further instructions. He knew that he should, but he also knew they would tell him to eliminate them both. At that moment he knew that Conklin's plan had worked; he had no desire to kill Nicky Parsons, but he couldn't help her either. He was already on thin ice for not shooting Bourne, he had lied and told them that he had Bourne cornered and was going to bring him in alive.
As Paz mulled his options, he was one small revelation away from figuring out that his employers had sent someone else to dispatch Nicky, knowing that he would likely refuse. They had sent the asset that had troubled her the most and viewed her, as well as most women, with disdain.
Nigel Ward waited on the motorcycle parked at the far end of the alley and checked his watch waiting for the bus to get here. He had discovered the tracking device while wiping down the van when he returned it to the work site he had stolen it from; they would never know it was gone. He had hacked the beacon to work both ways, allowing him to locate the receiver. He then put it on a bus a mile away and raced to get to Nicky's location, he knew she would have a proximity warning on it and wanted to flush her out. The bus would pass in front of the building and he was waiting on the cross street to the rear of the alley, expecting her to leave out the back.
When he saw her blow past him on the Vespa he laughed the ridiculousness of her getaway vehicle. He waited until she was a block away and turned right before he raced to the end of the block and then turned right, following her at a great distance.