Guise, p.25
Guise, page 25
Darwin nodded.
“Come on in,” he said, unlocking the door.
“Thanks,” she said, following him inside.
“Look,” he said, turning to face her. “I’m sorry. Sorry for yelling at you. Sorry for throwing my phone at you. Sorry for storming off like a child. Sorry for all of it.”
“It’s okay,” said Patience. “You are trying to deal with a number of life-changing things and haven’t had any time to process any of it. I can’t begin to imagine the stress you are under. I’m kind of surprised you haven’t lashed out sooner.”
“Thanks, but I still feel like an ass,” said Darwin, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that you were a right awful git?” she asked.
“I don’t know if we need to go that far,” he answered, giving her a small smile.
“Then, how about I tell you to stop being a big girl’s blouse, ovary up, and deal with things?”
“How about we forget the whole thing ever happened, never speak of it, and move forward like it didn’t happen?” offered Darwin.
“Are you ready to go?” asked Patience, folding her arms across her chest.
“No,” responded Darwin. “I just got back.”
“Well, while you were out doing, who knows what to who knows whom, I was getting the last of the equipment we will need and am ready to go.”
Darwin blushed and looked away from Patience.
“So,” she continued, deciding to let his reaction go. “How about you throw some clothes in an overnight bag and we hit the road?”
“Okay,” he said, heading to his bedroom. “I still don’t understand why we can’t just do whatever it is here?”
“In a word: security.”
“You said that before,” replied Darwin from the other room. “I just don’t see how your place is any more secure than mine?”
“You will,” she answered. “Besides, people know to look for you here. They won’t know to look for you at my place.”
“But if they can’t find me here, won’t they think of looking at your place?”
“Well, Mr. Mendelson,” said Patience, coyly. “Are you saying that people would expect to find you with me?”
“I’m saying, why don’t we just go to a hotel? If we need to be away from people, isn’t that a better alternative?”
“A hotel would be fine if we just wanted to go somewhere to have uninterrupted sex. However, we need to do more than that and we need to do it in a secure location where we can be assured of not being observed.”
“So, it is a privacy thing more than a security thing.”
“No,” corrected Patience. “We need both. We need to not have our activities observed. Privacy. We need to be able to let our guard down and concentrate on what we are doing. Security.
“Besides, my place has the rest of the equipment we’ll need, meaning we have less to transport, and the bed is more comfortable with a nice, sturdy headboard.”
“How long are we planning on being gone?” asked Darwin distractedly, stepping out of the bedroom.
“Just a couple of nights,” replied Patience, taking a seat. “I’m not certain you have the stamina yet for more, but we’ll see.”
“Right,” said Darwin, moving back into the bedroom. “I’ll need to call Bob to watch Otaku.”
“No,” said Patience.
“What?” said Darwin, stepping back into the living room.
“Part of the security is not telling people you are going anywhere,” explained Patience. “Telling Bob you will be away kind of defeats that.”
“But Otaku will need food and water and he has medicine he needs to take on Thursday.”
“We’ll take him with us,” said Patience, moving to the kitchen.
“Are you sure?” asked Darwin.
“Positive,” she replied, starting to pack supplies for the cat into a bag.
“You’ll be okay with a cat in your place?” asked Darwin, following her into the kitchen.
“Not a problem,” she said. “He can have the run of the place. Well, not the bedroom when we’re working. A girl has to draw the line somewhere.”
“You hear that, boy,” said Darwin, picking up the fluffy cat that had just strolled into the kitchen. “We’re going on a road trip.”
Darwin headed back to the bedroom, chatting with the cat in his arms.
Patience shook her head and searched for Otaku’s medicine. Finding it, she added it to the bag. She figured she could use plates and bowls at her place for food and water. That just left the need to supply Otaku with a cat box and litter. She found the litter but decided the cat box was something Darwin could deal with.
Darwin came out of the bedroom holding two bags. One was a small overnight bag. The other was a soft-sided carrier with a protesting Otaku inside.
“Sorry,” apologized Darwin, setting the overnight bag on the couch and the carrier on the coffee table. “He’ll calm down in a few minutes. He just does this when you first put him in there.”
“Good to know,” said Patience. “Now I won’t have to find a cat ball gag to match yours.”
“Right,” agreed Darwin. “He’ll be fine. Just let me dump his box, toss it into a bag, and we can go.”
“I do have a question,” said Darwin from his office.
“You’ll have scheduled breaks,” said Patience. “Otherwise, it is probably best just to leave you tied to the bed.”
“Won’t these Invaders be watching your place? I would think they would have you targeted as much as me?”
“I’ve identified their surveillance,” said Patience, shaking her head ruefully. “We’ll lose them on the way.”
“But don’t they know where you live?”
“I am certain they believe they do.”
“So, I guess it comes back to my original question. How is your place more secure than mine if the enemy knows where you live?”
“I have security precautions in place,” said Patience. Seeing Darwin only half paying attention, she continued. “Besides, the force field on the other side of the moat filled with lava swimming space alligators should keep them away.”
“As long as you are certain,” he said, coming back into the living room with a large trash bag. “I think that is everything,” he said, looking around.
“Are you sure,” asked Patience. “Did you pack a toothbrush? Lubricant? Condoms? Not that you can use those - they would interfere with the process.”
“Toothbrush, right,” said Darwin, disappearing into the bedroom once more.
Patience sighed.
“You want me to take some of this stuff out, or would you just like to drop my pants, bend me over, and give me a good spanking right here?” she asked.
“No need,” said Darwin, emerging from the bedroom with a small toiletries bag. “We can do it in one go.”
“I’m certain we can,” agreed Patience with a laugh.
“If you can get the cat stuff, I’ll get my bag and Otaku,” said Darwin.
“Just a minute,” said Patience, holding up a hand.
“What?” asked Darwin.
“We need to give our chaperone time to run for the border.”
“What?” asked Darwin again, perplexed.
“We can go,” said Patience after a minute.
Together, the two picked up everything they needed from Darwin’s condo and headed down the stairs. They took the bags to Patience’s car and placed everything in the back seat. Darwin made certain that Otaku was comfortable, before getting in himself.
“The man they hired to follow you, has a bad habit of leaving his surveillance to get fast food,” she explained. “So, we just waited for him to go before leaving. With luck, he’ll come back and think we’re still inside.”
“Won’t he notice your car is gone?”
“Maybe, but I doubt it. He’s supposed to be watching you, and from what I have seen, he isn’t too creative when it comes to doing his job.”
They pulled out of the parking lot.
“Here,” said Patience, handing Darwin his phone.
“Thanks,” he said sheepishly, taking it.
“No worries.”
They headed toward downtown.
“So, where are we going?” asked Darwin after a couple of minutes.
“My place,” replied Patience.
“I know that. I was hoping for something a little more specific.”
“Like an address?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Didn’t we just get done talking about security?”
“You can tell me. I’m going with you.”
“In which case, you don’t need the address do you?”
“Okay, okay. Be all mysterious. I’m surprised you didn’t blindfold me.”
“That’s later,” quipped Patience, stopping by the security gate for a private parking garage. She watched Darwin open his mouth to make a clever rejoinder out of the corner of her eye. Thinking better of it, he closed his mouth and kept quiet.
They pulled into the garage and drove up to the third floor. Patience parked next to a nondescript, grey SUV.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s transfer everything.”
“What?” asked Darwin, getting out.
Patience walked over to the SUV and unlocked it. She placed the bags from the back seat into the SUV. Then she went to her car and opened the trunk. She grabbed a cardboard box and carried it to the SUV, while Darwin transferred his bag and Otaku to the new vehicle. Going back, she pulled an overnight bag out of the trunk and locked her car.
“Get in,” she said.
Once they were both in, she backed the SUV out and started driving through the parking garage.
“In case you were wondering,” explained Patience. “I share an apartment with two other people in this building. They know I do private investigating so have odd hours, and sometimes don’t show up for days or weeks. It’s a good cover if someone is trying to locate me.”
Patience pulled into a service tunnel that connected to an adjacent parking garage. When she emerged, she headed for the exit.
“My actual home is located elsewhere, obviously,” she continued. “And it is under a different name.”
“I’m surprised you don’t have, yet another house set up to do this whole shell game thing again.”
“Do you know how expensive that would be?” she asked. “The only way I can afford the one in town is because I have roommates.”
“Oh, right,” agreed Darwin.
They stopped at a light. As they were sitting there, the traffic camera flashed as a car raced through the intersection just after the light turned red. Patience waited for the intersection to be clear before pulling through.
“What about traffic cameras?” asked Darwin. “Can’t they track you that way?”
“Hollywood would have you think so, but the reality, is that unless someone was doing a dedicated search and had a ton of resources, they couldn’t do that. Besides, this SUV is equipped with some modifications like an obscuring film on the windshield to foil cameras.”
“Is it a special photosensitive polymer that distorts our images so we look like other people?” asked Darwin, leaning forward to stare at the windshield in awe.
“No,” said Patience. “It’s a tinted film with a polarizer. Like sunglasses. Makes it darker inside so you can’t get a good picture.”
Patience laughed as Darwin sat back, dejected.
CHAPTER 35
“Aurelia Darklight?” asked Darwin.
Patience plucked the utility bill from Darwin’s hand and placed it back on the table by the front door.
“I like it,” she said, defensively, stalking into the house.
“A little distinctive, isn’t it?” he asked, following her. “I would have thought you’d go for something more low profile.”
“Like, Jane Doe? Sally Everybody?”
“Well, no,” he said. “Just a normal name.”
She stopped and faced him, placing one hand on her hip.
“Do I look like a normal woman?” she asked.
Darwin looked her up and down and swallowed.
“No,” he said with more sincerity than he had intended. “Not at all.”
“Thank you,” said Patience, turning away to hide her unease at his assessment. “Besides, can you see June Cleaver living in a place like this?”
Darwin thought about the exterior of the house he had seen as they had driven up. The modest yard was surrounded by a four-foot-high, wrought iron fence with menacing points atop the pickets. A massive oak dominated the right side, the left was an overgrown riot of lawn, shrubs and flower beds.
The house was an amalgamation of Mansard and Victorian styles with lots of gothic elements. The sides were a dark grey with charcoal eaves. Blood red tiles covered the roof and midnight blue was used as accents at windows and doors.
They had parked in the street because the garage was being used as a construction zone.
“More like Morticia Addams or Lily Munster.”
“Or Aurelia Darklight,” said Patience, feeling vindicated in her choice of alias.
“Where should I put Otaku?” asked Darwin, changing topics.
“You can let him out here,” said Patience. “Any rooms I’m working in, have the doors closed so he’s safe.”
“Great,” said Darwin, setting down the carrier and opening it. Otaku darted out of the carrier and froze. He looked the strange place over. Deciding he needed to act casual with people watching, he strolled across the floor and vanished behind a dark green sofa.
“Let me give you the nickel tour,” said Patience. She walked him through the first floor and then up a back staircase to the second. She showed him a guest room he could use. Her room was two doors down. Most of the other rooms had closed doors. One staircase to the third floor had the door locked, another led to a set of five closed doors. Finished, they descended by the main staircase to the first floor.
“How long have you been here?” asked Darwin.
“A couple of months,” said Patience. “I know, it needs a lot of work, but the price was great and I just fell in love with the look of the place. Besides,” she added, leading him over to a front room, “It came with this.” She slid open the double pocket doors with a theatrical flourish.
The room beyond was hexagonal and three stories tall. It had large stained-glass windows on two walls of each floor. The other walls were covered by elaborate built-in shelves. An iron spiral staircase led to all three floors. Each level had a brass railing around the top with a stout rolling ladder attached.
“Just imagine what a library this will be,” said Patience with wonder in her voice.
Darwin slowly turned in a circle, mouth agape.
“Wow.”
“I will take that as approval,” said Patience, happily. “However,” she said, her tone becoming serious. “We didn’t come here to admire the architecture. We have work to do, but before that, let me show you some of the security.”
She led Darwin out of the library and down a short hall. She unlocked the door and ushered him inside. The room had racks of electronic equipment along two walls. A third wall held a sizeable desk with a couple of computers and several monitors. Patience headed over to the monitors.
“First and foremost, we have the advantage of no one knowing where we are. Secrecy accomplishes so much more than any defenses you can put into place. However, relying on being hidden is not a good idea. That is why there is integral surveillance being built into this place.
“Basic surveillance system,” she said, indicating the shifting displays on one of the monitors. “There are cameras covering all of the outside. Inside cameras are in the halls as well as some of the rooms. None in the bedrooms so you don’t have to worry about your privacy. There are also your standard detectors - motion, IR, UV, that sort of thing.”
“Remember the shield I installed in your condo? Well, we have a larger model installed here along with a few booster units to ensure complete coverage. The house, and everything in it is basically a psychic blind spot. What’s more, the shielding is such that you can’t locate us by looking for a null. Think of the shielding as more of a shroud that mimics ambient background noise and makes us look just like it.
“Along with this, are some drones patrolling the area. They are more sophisticated than the quad fliers you can buy in a hobby store. They provide a random presence on an isolated system in the very unlikely situation that the main system is compromised.
“There are some other features that I won’t go into, but I think you’ll agree, this place is a little more secure than your condo, yes?”
“I am impressed and convinced,” said Darwin.
“Thank you,” said Patience with a little bow.
“I am also hungry,” he said, rubbing his stomach. “Is there any chance this impressive abode has an equally impressive refrigerator filled with yummy food?”
Patience looked away from him, embarrassed.
“Sadly, the kitchen is still in a state of chaos,” she said. “Mainly because I’m a lousy cook of anything but breakfast, so I am putting off doing it.”
Darwin laughed.
“That is not nice,” said Patience, wounded.
“No, no,” said Darwin, trying to control his laughter. “I don’t think you understand. Finally, there is something that you are not outstanding at.”
Patience smiled and joined in his laughter. Getting themselves under control, Patience led Darwin from the surveillance room, locking it behind her.
“How about I go and get us Chinese,” she said. “There is a local place not too far away that makes some dim sum that you would not believe.
“In the meantime, you can unpack, settle in, and maybe get a shower. There is only the one working bathroom right now so we have to share.”
“Sounds like a plan,” agreed Darwin.
“The bathroom is on the left across the hall from your room,” she said, heading for the front door. “I know I probably don’t have to tell you, but I will: Stay inside. Inside you are safe but step outside, and you might not be.”
