Three, Two, One
The four friends sat around the coffee table where pizza boxes lay empty. Three sets of eyes stared at the man who was in charge of the timing.
"Okay," Pete said, looking down at his watch as the second-hand swept around to indicate the hour. "GO!" he said and there was a scrambling to get the envelope with their name on it and open it. For a brief time, there was dead silence as each read their instructions. Eileen was done first. Then the others would point to a word on their pages and ask her what it was because Helena's script proved to be very challenging.
"Discreetly," she said to Steve. "Contingency," she said to Pete. "Without error," she translated for Claudia.
"Oh sure, no pressure at all. OK, so it seems we're duplicating the refractory program around Central Park," the techie said.
"Security will set up a perimeter with the help of the NYPD," Pete said because he happened to know the person in charge of that operation.
"I think this is big," Eileen said. Her letter was very short – and contained no instructions. Instead, it thanked her for always believing in Bering & Wells.
"What does yours say?" Steve asked Eileen.
"It says to go with you," Eileen said and looked at Claudia.
"OK then, Operation Eagle in the Park has begun," Pete said and drew quizzical looks from his friends. "See? This is why we need code names. We wait for the last minute and then you guys don't like what I come up with," he complained.
The operation had been set in motion days before. Helena took no chances and appointed several people to the various parts – most of them didn't even know what they were working on. It was all coming together tonight.
Even Bridget, who worked on setting things in motion, didn't know what the final event was. She had learned never to assume that she knew what was going on in Helena's superb mind. She was just happy, in the end, she could deliver what Helena wanted – or was it demanded? It was an opportunity of a lifetime to speak to the President of the United States on behalf of a client. Now if Bridget could avoid being investigated by Homeland Security, the FBI and the CIA, she'd consider it the premier deal of her career.
In the meantime, the two lovers walked hand in hand on their way home. The buzzing sensation in Helena's pocket was actually the welcomed signals that she was expecting. She walked up Central Park West with Myka, her smile and confidence growing.
"It looks as if the concert ended," Myka said because the street was void of crowds that usually spilled out at the end.
"It had better be," Helena said not thinking and then smiled to cover it up. There wasn't an official in New York who hadn't been notified that the concert was to end promptly at eleven PM and the crowd control was to empty the park immediately. Only one person could oversee the NYPD's part in all of this and she was nothing short of spitting fire until she heard who it was for.
"Oh this ought to be good," Jane Tierney said of the elaborate plans underway by orders of the Mayor. It wasn't until she was ordered to work in tandem with the security team of Wells Corp did Jane realize who this was all for. She was surprised to find out that Pete didn't know much more than she did.
By midnight, everything was set in place in the park. Pete stood next to Jane as he donned his night vision goggles and then screamed when he turned and saw the expression on her face up close.
"Really?" she asked, but had to admit he looked adorable in them.
Claudia and her team sat in a van and operated the sensors that refracted any incoming digital equipment. The park became a no fly zone. There was only one more thing to put in place.
When Myka and Helena returned to the townhouse, Myka peeked into the living room and saw the ice bucket and glasses prepared. She told Helena she would be right back and went upstairs to their room. Helena went into the library to check her messages. As she expected, everyone was at their station. Looking at her Rolex, Helena was now on countdown.
There were certain things set in place now that could not be undone.
Myka was on her own time schedule. She was upstairs frantically searching for something that she was sure was right in her desk drawer – except now it wasn't.
"Darling?" Helena called upstairs and Myka jumped.
"Be right there." She didn't want Helena walking into the living room. "Stay right there," Myka called down as her hands rifled through drawers. Finally, she put her hand on it – and grabbed for it. Skinny jeans were not the best choice she realized as she tried to shove the object into her front pocket.
"Darling?" Helena called again, looking at her watch. What the devil was Myka doing, she wondered. And why now?
"Right there," Myka yelled as she ran into the closet room and tried to find more loose-fitting pants. She whipped them off the hanger and fell over trying to get out of the tight fitting pants she was in. "Oouff," Myka yelled as she fell backwards, her legs tangled up in the pants leg. "Coming," she yelled from the floor.
Within seconds, Myka was up and dressed and taking a few deep breaths before smoothing out her blouse in the new outfit and pushing the item into the pocket.
"Helena…," Myka whispered in the softest voice to herself as she thought about what she wanted to say.
Now Helena was pacing the front hallway. She had given almost everyone involved explicit instructions on the importance of timeliness. She had threatened Bridget Cummings more than once. Even when Bridget explained that everything had been accounted for, but that Mother Nature hadn't returned any of her phone calls, Helena said – 'leave her to me'. Bridget had been kidding, Helena wasn't. Fortunately for Mother Nature and most of Manhattan, the rockets that contained pellets of drying material that once released into the atmosphere could absorb one hundred times their weight in moisture, did not need to be activated.
The only one disappointed with that was Pete who would have been in charge of pressing the buttons to fire the rockets.
Myka's planning had plenty of room and flexibility. Helena's had none. So when Myka came slowly down the stairs, Helena took a deep breath and searched for patience. After all, the object of her deepest affections was coming towards her.
"You look – ravishing," Helena said as Myka walked into her space and drew a deep breath of Chanel for good luck. Not that she needed it, she reminded herself.
"Let's go," Helena said and Myka found herself facing the opposite direction from where she wanted to be.
"Go? Where? No, I want to go….," Myka tried, but Helena was gently, but definitely, pulling her toward the basement.
"I want to show you something," Helena said, and opened the door.
"But Helena, what do you want …can we go upstairs?" Myka tried to get a word in as they descended.
"Yes, we can as soon as I show you this," Helena said and finally let go of Myka's hand. Lights were flipped on and Helena stood in front of the large door that Myka had seen the very night before.
"Your transit system?" Myka asked because as curious as she was, right now she didn't care.
"Yes," Helena said and pressed her hand into the security panel.
A loud whooshing sound came from around the door when it opened. Now Myka's curiosity got the better of her, in spite of her brain reminding her she was on a mission with no stopovers. She walked closer and could see what appeared to be a Lucite-like enclosure that housed two white seats, one behind the other. The door slid back and Myka could see controls in the front, similar to a car's.
"Your carriage awaits," Helena said, holding her hand out for Myka.
"Helena, this is – wow," Myka said so taken with the structure that she was distracted. Totally distracted. She stepped forward and into the enclosure. "You built this?"
"I designed it myself," Helena said proudly and sat in the seat in front of Myka. In order to use the least amount of space, the seats were one behind the other in a single row. Helena pressed a button and the door closed and the tram started to move. Myka felt like she was in a mini see-through monorail.
"Wait!" Myka said remembering she didn't want to go anywhere. "I need to go back."
"Soon darling," Helena said as more buttons were pressed and the car traveled forward. Myka looked outside but it was all dark and she had no idea where they were headed. No sooner had they started though, than they stopped.
Oh good, Myka thought. It was a short demo. The carriage stopped and the door opened. Myka could feel the cool air outside as Helena stepped out onto a small walkway and extended her hand out to Myka.
"Where are we?" Myka asked unable to see around her in the dark.
"We are on the precipice, Myka," Helena said. She reached out and grasped Myka's hand tightly. "I want to show you something."
"O…..K, but I ….," Myka said, full of patience because that came easily to Myka, especially when it concerned Helena.
"It won't take long," Helena said because she was aware of the exact time frame she was working with. Myka followed behind Helena, who led her along the path until they came to a small elevator.
"Are we back in the house?" Myka wondered out loud because she was losing all her bearings now.
"Not quite," Helena smiled and entered behind Myka. The small elevator seemed to travel up a few floors and stopped. Helena's pressed controls and a wall in the elevator folded back and a staircase appeared. Myka looked up and the top of the elevator slid opened and they were looking up at the sky.
"Helena?" Myka asked, but the Brit held her hand out for Myka to go first. Myka climbed the steps and felt the warm night air surround her as soon as her head poked through the opening. She looked around and stepped out onto the grassy ground. Helena followed her and pressed buttons that made the artificial turf slid back over the opening. When Myka looked down, she could no longer tell where the opening ended and where the ground began.
"You built a transit system to sneak into Central Park?" Myka asked because that was where she was standing.
"It is only the first stop of many," Helena said with pride of her design.
"Why are we here?" Myka asked and looked around. She had a sense that they were in Sheep Meadow, the quiet open field where hours before, hundreds of New Yorkers enjoyed the concert. Now there was no sign of them ever having been there.
"I believe we are here for many reasons," Helena said coyly – in a rather existential way. She took Myka's hand and walked her farther to the center of the grassy area. Myka looked at the tall buildings that surrounded them, lights from apartments glowing here and there.
"Can we go back now?" Myka asked remembering her plan and the champagne. The ice would be melting by now.
"I want you to see something," Helena said taking Myka to the middle of the field. "Do you remember when I asked you to pick a star in the sky when we were in the Keys?" Helena said.
"Yes, I chose Aldebaran," Myka said, looking up to see if she could locate it. It would be next to impossible to see it in the wash of the Manhattan skyline.
Unless of course, you requested that residences and business in the neighboring streets participate in the "Skies in New York". Pamphlets had been distributed to the masses in the buildings surrounding the park, asking them to voluntarily shut off all their lights so that the darkened area would afford New Yorkers a rare glimpse of the stars at night. A sizable donation to the Hayden Planetarium meant Helena received their endorsement which made it quite official.
Helena continued to walk as she held onto Myka's hand, guiding her as she looked up into the sky. It was hard to see with the glare of the lights. Helena looked down at her watch and silently counted backwards, "3, 2, 1" – and the park darkened.
As they were scheduled to.
"Helena, there's been ….a…..blackout," Myka said, worried they would be in total darkness now. Helena waited and tiny lights illuminated the path they were on. Myka looked down at the ground and saw small white lights lining a path in the grass.
"You were saying?" Helena asked and stopped.
"There….," Myka said, looking at the dark buildings off in the distance.
"I think you were looking up," Helena said gently trying to get Myka to focus.
"What? Oh yes, I was looking for …," Myka said accepting that Helena knew what she was doing, because after all, she was Helena.
"Aldebaran," Myka said, smiling and pointing to the star.
"Yes, there it is," Helena said, standing next to Myka now, shoulders touching and holding her hand. "Myka, I have a confession."
"You do?" Myka said, smiling at the twinkling body in the sky that they now shared.
"I tried to purchase it, but they would not allow it," Helena said, her tone tinged with only a shade of the annoyance she had shared with the International Astronomical Union when they refused her request. They explained that no one could actually purchase a star and organizations that offered to do so, were doing it without any legal authority. Countless hours were spent on the phone with the members as Helena implored them to rename the star. Nothing worked though and Helena decided she had to become more creative.
"You tried to purchase Aldebaran?" Myka said, totally and utterly amazed. She had been worried Helena was going to purchase the private island they had vacationed on, but never the star they gazed at. She smiled to think she had underestimated her lover.
"Wow Helena, I thought maybe you were thinking of buying a piece of earth. I can't believe – that they said no to you," Myka finally said because that really was the most shocking part of all of this.
For Helena, too.
"Ah yes, but I was not to be refused," Helena said, walking with Myka along the path. Myka could see that the lights continued through the meadow.
"You are just so sweet for trying, Helena," Myka said, pulling the Brit in and kissing her.
Helena didn't have much time to spare – even for inviting kisses.
"Thank you," Helena said, breaking the kiss. "Myka, it is all for the best. Why rename something that pales in comparison to you?" Helena said.
"Thank you, Helena," Myka said and was certain the ice in the bucket was all but melted now.
"So I contacted NASA," Helena continued and walked with Myka.
"To complain?" Myka asked, because when Helena didn't win, she didn't let go.
"To offer my services," Helena said seriously.
"Of course," Myka said feeling like she was losing the HG Wells Jeopardy category badly.
"The other day, NASA launched the Mosaic Yagi Kilohertz Analog System, a space probe that is superior to the Pioneer 10 and is headed straight for Aldebaran," Helena said.
Myka frowned and repeated the name. "You named the probe after me? "
"I named it for the person who owns it. It is your spacecraft Myka that will travel the heavens," Helena said.
Myka looked up at the sky and then back at Helena.
Mortals had stars named after their loved ones. Helena built the spacecraft to reach them for hers. .
"Oh Helena," Myka said, kissing Helena fully. It was actually perfect timing, Myka thought. "I want to tell you something…" she tried.
"Soon darling. You see your spacecraft is about to send back a message and we are here tonight to receive it," Helena said, the excitement in her voice rising.
Helena was on a tight schedule.
"Do we have any Eagle sightings?" Pete said into his wristband walkie talkie.
"We're not supposed to," Steve said back.
In spite of the message back, Pete scoured the area in front of the barricades that were placed around the inner perimeter of the park.
"At least she picked the middle of the night so we didn't have to explain to the general public why we were closing off a public space," Jane said to Pete.
"Roger that," Pete said into his communication device, even though Jane was standing right next to him. She smiled at how cute he was.
"So you guys don't have any idea what this is about?" Jane asked again, hoping Pete would reveal something.
"No, we didn't get any more info than what I told you," Pete said truthfully. Everyone assumed that Helena and Myka would emerge from the townhouse and walk into the park.
"Well hopefully, your Eagle will show up soon and we can get this show on the road," Jane said, yawning.
No one knew it –but the show was about to begin.
And it was going to be spectacular.