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Standard FF disclaimers apply.
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I Need You. Urgency
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She was getting home just before the sun rose. Again. This surveillance job was brutal. Thanks to agent Vapour, who she had yet to meet, she had been on this 'job' for over a year now. Trudging up the stairs to her small apartment, Kara wondered again, just how she got roped into this assignment. Wiggling the old key into the ancient lock, she finally got it to turn and she pushed the door hard with her shoulder to open it. The building may have all kinds of structural issues, but it was full of an old world charm, so she told herself that she liked to overlook the little problems, like the door sticking.
She had always wanted to live in Europe, she had actually jumped at the assignment that brought her here. She loved the architecture, the aged stained stones that the buildings and bridges and fences were made of. At first she had loved strolling the markets and enjoying the bustle of the older ladies on their daily shopping trips. There were shops that had chocolate that was like nothing she had ever had before, she would open the door and just breathe it in before walking up to the antique glass counter and trying something new the being displayed on the silver tray with the glass dome. And then there was the smell of bakery down the street. They were pulling hot bread and pastries out of their ovens about the same time she was done with work. It had all seemed so unique, and almost magical.
But now that she had had the experience, she was ready for a change again and would be glad to go back home. Kara backed up against the door to push is closed and quickly turned to set all the locks that she used when she was at home. The apartment had come equipped with a chain door guard as the only security measure. The other three locks she now engaged were her own addition. They would be her gift to the building when she left.
Her purse dropped heavily on the coffee table and Kara dropped onto the quaint overstuffed arm chair, propping her feet up next to her purse. She had been on her feet all night long and she was exhausted. For just a moment she closed her eyes and wondered if she could just fall asleep here in the chair. But she was also hungry, so she dragged herself up and made her way into the kitchen. With the kettle heating, she moved to the bedroom to change her clothes to something much more comfortable. She kicked off the crepe soled shoes and pulled her blue cotton dress up over her head, dropping it into the laundry basket.
Just as she pulled on her tank top, a shrill whistle from the kettle called her back to the stove. Kara slipped on her shorts hurried back to the kitchen to make some tea to go with the leftover casserole that she now popped into the microwave.
Twenty minutes later, she was fed and ready to file her report on the man she worked for. Code name Wyvern. The man was too careful. For an entire year, Kara had been cleaning his office. Every single inch, and he had not given up any usable information. Today had started to be not much different, it was getting depressing, until she realized that he was actually getting a bit sloppy.
It was not much, not anything that anyone else would notice, but Kara had found two things that might mean a break in the case. In his pristine office, the man had finally left a fingerprint. Kara found it on the front of the bottom drawer. She carefully lifted it before she had to wipe it away. And then she saw a crumpled paper in the shiny black lacquer waste paper basket. Up until now, she had only ever had to dust the thing. He had never thrown anything away before. It made her wonder what had happened to the man to make him this careless all of a sudden.
Now she downloaded the images that she had taken of the print and the discarded paper. Maybe someone at HQ would be able to find something useful in the few scribbles that she had discovered there. After her report was sent, Kara crawled into bed to get some badly needed sleep.
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After the huge pep talk that he had given himself, Karl was not sure whether he was upset or completely relieved that he was not going to have to meet with the Gentleman X after all. Somehow the man found out that Ed was now at the offices in New York.
A short, curt message had told Karl that his services were no longer required. It was mildly insulting in tone, but Karl decided that he was glad that the guy was gone. As a matter of fact, he had to be nearly to the States already. According to the message, he was going to show up to the meeting with Ed in just a couple of hours.
He had apparently sent the message to Karl as an after thought. Not even considering Karl as a real contact. Yes, he should be offended, outraged even, but truthfully, he couldn't be happier about the change. Whether or not he had assumed the position of the man in charge of Ed's little team, Karl was never comfortable with it. He did everything that he could to get Ed and Leo back from the kidnappers as much to relieve himself from that duty, as to save the men from harm.
He had pushed himself to be heartless administrator who had come to steal the information from the scientists while they were still recovering. Talking to Brian Taylor, acting the part he thought that he had to, in order to help Ed with his plan had been one of his lower moments. But he certainly never saw himself as inhumane and ruthless as Terri had shown himself to be. Offering to give up the serum in it's most dangerous and uncontrollable state was insane. In order to get his share of the money, Terri had no conscience, he did not care about what could happen with it in the wrong hands. Now he had to wonder if Ed would have done the same thing. Karl knew how focused he had been on saving the company. Was he only interested in getting rich off of it too?
Suddenly Karl felt ill. He cursed the whole world. This is not what he ever thought he would be doing, not in a million years. 'How had it all come to this?' he wondered over and over again. Ed was his friend. He was Jaspers's friend too. They were just a bunch of kids that had grown up together, not world class spies playing cloak and dagger games with dangerous chemical weapons.
His sigh was heavy and filled with gloom. He was not cut out for this. He was just a lowly administrator, assigned to make sure that all of the requisition forms were properly filled out and submitted in the right order. He couldn't be in the middle of this mess for one second longer. Karl stood and left his office. He marched right down the hall and knocked on Richards door.
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The shiny cart smoothly glided along the industrial grade carpet that covered the entire 5th floor. Ella was having a hard time getting Gene and Brian, or even Tom to come to her, so instead she brought the meals to them. Without their noticing, she had a table brought in and set up next to Gene's corner of the room. Several chairs were also placed around the table and the food was served before the men looked up to see what it was they were smelling.
Seeing their looks, Ella smiled and invited them to come and eat. She was glad to see that when it was easily accessible, they could find few minutes to drag themselves away from their research. Didn't do a whole lot for her ego, she thought with a chuckle, but at least she knew that they were getting the nourishment that Bobby had ordered. She shrugged, she would take what she could. Rave reviews of her culinary skills were not required every time. She was nearly laughing when she walked away. She wondered how long it would take for them to realize that she had left some dessert for them on the cart.
Not even the meal, however, could keep the discussion about the formula from continuing. Brian was itching to get into a lab, but for now, he was exploring every possible solution that he could to make sure that the calculations for the serum were correct. It had been the last thing that he had discovered early that morning in the lab, before Ed and Leo showed up. For three frustrating hours he had tried everything he could think of to stabilize the serum.
The irony was, that the solution to the problem was in it's simplicity. That was what Brian had discovered that day before the kidnapping. In it's pure form, the batrachotoxin is deadly and since there is no known antidote, it is too dangerous to use effectively. But added with another natural toxin, the effects can be controlled. This bit of information had been accidentally scattered on the floor of the lab, and gathered up by Maria.
Brian remembered that moment, when everything came together. He had carefully noted his findings, and then he looked around. It was time to celebrate this breakthrough, but the lab was empty. He was alone. For the first time in his life he actually felt alone. He hated the feeling. All he could do was try to shake it. He immediately examined all the reasons why he had felt that way.
He had become accustomed to working with Tom, sharing his discoveries and challenges with him. That was one reason. That and the fact that he had found the answer to the project that they had been working on for so long. Those were logical excuses. But he knew that something had changed in his life forever. Even before the ordeal of the kidnapping, he knew that he was alone and lonely.
Gene was a genius. Brian had no problem recognizing a fellow scientist, complete with his obsessions over the most minute details. During the meal Gene continued to ask his questions. Tom watched with amusement as Brian patiently explained how he had come to his initial conclusion about the possible uses for the poison found in the Pitohui birds. Gene's eyes grew wide when Brian flat out told him that he touched the poison and felt the effects for himself. He knew that there was no antidote for this poison, and that it had not been determined how much of the toxin was needed to cause the effects. Brian could have become paralyzed or could have gone into cardiac arrest as it attacked his nervous system. He knew that it was not unusual for scientists to experiment on themselves, but in Gene's opinion, it could always be more dangerous than helpful so he avoided it himself.
Brian was amused at Gene's reaction, he had known of the dangers and made sure to use only the smallest amount on himself, but he did not reveal that part of the story quite yet. Instead he described the effects that he had felt. First there was the tingling, almost itching feeling. Then he felt numb, and it had fascinated him. When he discovered that his fingers had become paralyzed, he may have been slightly concerned. But the dosage had been so small, that the effects did not last very long. He regained the use of his fingers and suddenly thought of the operation that had been performed on his father not long before.
After a back injury, they had had to operate on his father's spine. In the logical and scientific discussion that they'd had afterward, Brian's parents told him that the operation itself, even though it was in a vulnerable and delicate location, was not the largest risk of this procedure. The worry that the surgeon faced was the potential spasms that occurred when some of the nerves were stimulated during the operation. Any movement at all and he could have become permanently paralyzed. The anesthesia did not provide the necessary immobilization that would have been preferred. But they had to do the best with what they had, because there was not anything else available that they could use.
Fortunately, his father survived the operation without any devastating results. But the idea had been born. Brian wondered if there was any way to use the toxin in a medical procedure like his father's. What if he could find a way to provide a safe and temporary paralysis of the affected area to aid in the effectiveness of the operation. Thus preventing the catastrophic damage that could be done if the patient moved.
This idea took a while to gel, but when he turned his focus on it, Brian was excited at the possibilities. So many operations were done with the patient under complete anesthesia. That was always a risk. What if the procedures could be done with local treatment, thus avoiding the dangers of being 'put under'. Additionally, his research showed that many people were actually allergic to the common forms of anesthesias that were now in use. Most of them did not know it until they had adverse reactions to it on the operating table. His serum could avoid all of these dangers.
Though it had become his mission, his studies and research revealed the possible problems that would occur with the abuse of such a substance. Brian may have been a bit naive in some things, but he was not stupid. He intended to patent it in the formulation that would not be a danger to anyone. He kept the bulk of his research and notes locked up, thanks to Tom and his insistence that they always find a place to hide it when they were not in the lab. Brian was in full agreement that it was best kept from those who might be corrupt enough to misuse what was intended for humanitarian purposes.
It was a good thing that Tom trusted all of the men here. Brian had no problem sharing his studies with Gene, as he was talking one scientist to another. But Tom was well aware that there was a segment of the world's population who only used things for their own gain. He had been so diligent all this time, keeping the research carefully hidden from those people. And yet, at the same time that he was hiding it, he had been baiting people with it. That was how he had found Ed Aslak at Humelik. Sending out the information about Brian's research had done exactly what Tom had needed it to, Ed had walked right into his little trap.
Tom was fully aware that the Humelik company was not responsible for the actions of one person. It had been a perfect storm of conditions that led Ed to do what he did. Neither Ed nor Tom had any control over the economy or the accident that killed the president of the company, but Tom was not averse to the idea of using them for his purposes. He had followed the key players in the arms dealings for several years before he got close enough to identify one of them. He was convinced that this was the connection that they needed to bring down the whole structure. Through Ed, they had been able to lure the monster out of his lair. They had nicknamed the man Wyvern for his deceptiveness and savagery in getting what he wanted. The man was slick, they had assigned an agent to watch his office, since no one could ever get anywhere near his home. But even agent Knight had come up with next to nothing for her efforts.
They needed a break in the case. Wyvern was going to meet with Karl soon. If he went away from that meeting with the formula for the bastardized serum, they were all in big trouble. It was time for Tom to visit Hector. He was waiting on some communications from several people. He hoped to have some answers waiting for him.
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A large umbrella was propped up in the pristine white sands on the beach. Seagulls screeched high overhead and the roar of the ocean was surprisingly calming. She reached over to grab her icy tropical drink. Drops of condensation were rolling down the sides of the tall glass. As she lifted it, the slippery glass slid out of her hand and tumbled on the ground, spilling its contents that immediately disappeared into the sand. She sighed, and suddenly another drink appeared in her outstretched hand. This time she brought the straw up to her lips and sipped the deliciously cool beverage. Her next sigh was one of perfect contentment.
The screeching of the gulls startled her, they seemed closer, the sound getting louder and louder. The lulling sounds of the water on the shore turned into a low and menacing growl. Kara sprang up in her bed and realized that the growl in her dream had actually been her own reaction to hearing the incessant buzzing of her computer connection. Similar to the old AOL dialup, the sounds of her link to the outside world were almost as annoying.
"What, what," she mumbled as she got out of bed, glancing at the clock to see that she had only had a few hours of sleep before this interruption. Unconsciously and completely out of habit, since she was not fully awake yet, she walked over to the coffee table where the equipment was. She put on the headset and opened the message. "Knight here, sir," she said as professionally as she could muster without having the rest that she needed so badly.
Kara was silent for the next few minutes, listening to the person on the other end of this connection. She nodded her head a few times, even though no one could see her. And then she drew her eyebrows together in a scowl. After another few minutes, she spoke.
"I think I have something for you. Give me a minute," she said. Removing the headset, she moved over to the kitchen table where the light was better. Smoothing out the crumpled paper she had stolen from Wyvern's trashcan, she laid it on the table and covered it with a clean sheet of paper. With a sound of disgust escaping from her lips, Kara mumbled as she started scribbling on the paper with a pencil.
"All the fancy schmancy equipment they have and it comes back to a technique that I learned in Kindergarten," she said under her breath as she watched the image from the page below emerge on her paper. Just like it had in grade school, the lead concentrated in the grooves left behind from what had been previously imprinted on the page underneath. How many of these 'secret codes' had she sent to her friends during all of those boring parts of her classes. Still, it amazed her to see what she had just uncovered.
She quickly moved back to her headset in the other room. "The meeting has been changed," she said with urgency in her voice. "There is an address that looks like it is in New York City... and a timeā¦." She listened impatiently for a moment and then interrupted the speaker. "I don't care what the technician said," she huffed. "I can see it, and it says that the meeting is tomorrow." Her frustration now showing in her voice as well as the exigency, she finally spoke up one more time.
"You have the fingerprint, you know his identification now. You check to see if his passport has been used in the past ten hours. And then get back to me." Kara ended the connection and flopped down on the soft couch. She was too far away to do anything now. The man she had been watching had moved right out from under her, and she was as frustrated at herself for not seeing it coming, as she was at the guys at HQ who didn't want to listen to her.
As tired as she was, she knew there would be no getting any sleep now. Her orders would be changing very soon. She was no longer needed here. So she got herself up and showered. Within an hour or so, she was ready to go. Everything she needed was packed in a regulation khaki green duffle bag, with the exception of her small computer that was still linked to the satellite internet. Kara sat in her favorite chair and stared at it until it came to life with that awful sound.
"Yes Sir," she said. The conversation had only lasted a few minutes. She had her new orders. The equipment was quickly packed away and Kara headed to the base. In a few hours she would be on an army transport plane, on her way home, and reporting back to the office in DC.
Taking one last glance around, she mentally said goodbye to this place she had lived in for the past year. She threw her duffle over one shoulder and picked up the large trash bag. It was almost sad, she thought, that she could disappear without a trace so easily. Kara shrugged her shoulders and closed the door. She did not have to tell anyone how lonely that thought had made her. Nobody had to know how lonely she had been for the past several months. This was her job and she was good at it. For now that was all that mattered. For now that was enough. She tossed the garbage bag, and the last year of her life into the big trash bin behind the apartment building. And she was gone.
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A/N: For those of you that might not be aware of it, I have published an original novel, a romance. Breathless in Misty Falls can be found at Amazon dot com, where you can get a sneak peek of the first couple of chapters. I invite all of you to go and check it out. I hope you enjoy it. :)
Sandra St. James
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