***
“What were your names again?” he asked.
“I’m Milos,” the tall brown-haired shifter replied, reaching up to scratch the short beard on his face.
“I’m Andre,” the blond with finger-length hair said dully. “You’ve asked us this three times now.”
“I know,” he said, adjusting himself as best he could in the tight confines of his rental truck. “But I’ve never met either of you before.”
“Actually, that’s not entirely true,” Andre said slowly.
Ajax looked at him in the rearview mirror, his expression telling the other shifter to elaborate.
“You tossed me into the bar,” Andre said with a shrug.
“Oh.” Ajax smiled awkwardly. “Sorry about that.”
“Misunderstandings happen,” Andre replied. “We were both just doing what we had to do.”
“Right. Well, good to be on the same side with you now.”
Ajax meant that. The two shifters had been waiting for him at the back door to Route Fifty, right where Flint had promised they would be when they called him the next day to let him know they were ready. They hadn’t said much at first, but they had done as he needed without asking too many unnecessary questions. Now that they were waiting for the next phase, he felt comfortable taking time to get to know them a little better.
Staring out the window at the brick wall so close he could probably touch it, Ajax wondered if he had made the right choice. The three of them were sitting in the big black rental truck which was currently parked in a very tight alleyway nearby the building they had left the day before. Huge buildings loomed up on either side of them, older apartment buildings ten or twelve stories each. They blocked out much of the sunlight unless the sun was directly overhead, and right now in the early afternoon there was a bit of a shadowy gloom already beginning to descend into the tight space.
It wasn’t his location that bothered him. It was Arianna’s. She was exposed. Vulnerable. He was too far away to be able to come to her aid if she got in a bad way.
Ajax took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly to try and calm himself.
“She’ll be okay,” Milos said from the back seat. “She’s tough.”
He smiled. “She is that,” he agreed. “I still don’t like it, though.”
Andre shrugged. “We couldn’t do this if she wasn’t here. We stand out too much.”
Ajax’s reply was cut short by the hiss and crackle of the phone on the dash. They had hooked Arianna up with a Bluetooth headset to her phone, and her voice came across it now at last. She was out in a disguise scouting the building for them, trying to see what kind of things went on, if there was anyone going in or out, etcetera. It wasn’t a big building; it only had three stories, made in ultra-modern fashion with sharp clean corners and little in the way of frivolity in the design. Blackout windows covered all the sides, preventing them from seeing inside.
“No signs of any guards,” she told them. “In fact, all I’ve seen is a big transport truck—kind of like the one that brought us here—leave the underground parking.”
That bit was interesting. Not many buildings could accommodate big rigs into their underground parking. Knowing that this place could gave them an idea of what to expect down there.
“How long ago was that?” he asked.
“Perhaps two minutes ago.” The reply came right away. “I was just getting into position then.”
“Is there a gate to this underground parking?” he asked.
“No. Nothing. It’s the strangest thing,” she said. “There might be a gate in the roof, but if there is, they just keep it open by the looks of it. They must not have much in the way of security concerns.”
They’re about to.
“Okay, move to the right side of the entrance and prepare to hop in the back seat. We’re going inside,” he said, reaching forward to turn the key. The big V8 engine roared to life, the noise bouncing off the alley walls.
He rolled the truck forward to the busy street ahead, waiting for an opening before turning right into the traffic. The building was two blocks ahead on their right.
“There,” Milos said, leaning forward in his seat, finger pointed as he spotted Arianna.
“Got her,” Ajax said, slowing to a halt.
Andre reached over and opened the door as they slowed. Arianna moved swiftly and jumped in next to them. Ajax kept going straight, until the last second when he turned sharply. They disappeared from the street, following the tunnel downward. It sloped slowly, and they swiftly realized that the underground of the building was larger than its street-level footprint.
“I bet the building itself is empty and just a shell for all this,” Ajax said as they observed a decent-sized cavern approximately two stories below street level. The ramp leveled off and to their right was a parking area. It could easily fit two big transports, including room for them to turn around, and several dozen vehicles. Right now it was almost empty. There was a cargo truck backed up to what appeared to be a loading dock, but they couldn’t see anyone around it.
“This looks like a good spot,” he muttered, backing the truck into a spot that was mostly obscured from view by big rounded concrete columns that supported the roof.
So far, no commotion had been raised.
“I don’t understand,” Milos said, confused. “How do they not know we’re here?”
“I haven’t seen a single video camera,” Andre said, echoing his friend’s feelings. “Who builds a place like this and doesn’t install cameras?”
Ajax shrugged. “I don’t know, and that’s the problem. We don’t know a damn thing about this organization. It could be as simple as they don’t want any records of their existence, at all.”
“Wouldn’t they have guards then, who could at least see people like us?” Andre asked, popping the door open and getting out slowly, eyes watching the rest of the cave even as he talked to those still in the truck.
“You’d think so,” Milos agreed.
Ajax tuned them out as he turned to Arianna, who was now climbing into the driver’s seat and adjusting it for the size difference between her and its previous occupant. He smiled as the seat went way forward and up.
“A truck looks good on you,” he teased. “You should come to the country and we’ll get you one.”
Her eyes turned to focus on him and there was no humor in them, just worry. “You come back to me, and then we’ll discuss my bright purple pickup,” she said, a tiny smile breaking through her mask of seriousness.
“I promise,” he told her. “If you have to hightail it out of here, blast the horn several times and just go. Don’t wait, just go. Okay?”
This was the part of the plan he dreaded most. Leaving Arianna alone in the cavern in their getaway vehicle with a hope and a prayer that someone wouldn’t spot her before they could return with Benjamin, if he was still here.
“I know the plan,” she told him with that same strange sense of confidence that he hadn’t picked up from her when they first met.
He leaned forward and kissed her, one hand snaking around the back of her head to pull her in tight. She inhaled deeply at his touch, leaning into the kiss after a moment.
“I owe you another one of those when we get back,” he told her, stepping away from the truck.
“Go,” she urged, then pulled the door closed as softly as possible.
Ajax took another long look at the beautiful woman he and his bear knew they wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and took off at a jog with the other two shifters, heading for the loading dock and the interior of the complex.
Now if only you could work up the courage to tell her how you feel…