| "Time Passing" | ||
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"Time Passing" New York City, Lower Manhattan May 8, 2008 1500 hours Paige sat alone in Baz's idling truck. She turned her cell phone over in her hand and absently debated on calling Kihn or not. They were parked in an alley way, those kind seemingly only found in the City or in movies, behind Club Samovar and about a half a block away. The alley was littered with trash bags, a majority of those establishments near by being restaurants and clubs, that left tangled smells of various foods and who knew what else wrapped up in the dull black plastic things. She watched, for a moment, a rather large brown rat negotiate his paws through one of those large dull black bags and pull out what she believed to be a chunk of meat. She cast her eyes away fighting the nausea that immediately crept into her throat. She flipped open her phone and input the ten digit phone number that belonged to him. A check of the watch and soon she would go looking for Baz. He had assured her it wouldn't take longer than fifteen, but to come if it lasted more than twenty. That was ten minutes ago. She sighed as her thumb passed lightly over the green send button. She did not press it though, she wasn't quite ready yet. The 'being watched' feeling had left Baz, thankfully, and that may have had to do with the fact they were tucked away in the alley. She didn't know, couldn't be sure about anything except that she still felt It, somewhere on the edges, still far enough away as to not stress her completely, but perceptible nonetheless. The street could not be seen from where they parked, only doors dressed in faded paint that claimed the particular establishment they belonged to. There were at least five of these doors that she could tell, that lined the alley, before an eight-foot brick wall stopped any progress between this one and the next. All the garbage cans and boxes that were loaded up in front of the wall told her two things: that trash pick up day was not today; and it would be easy enough to scale should they need to escape. She glanced back to the phone as it waited patiently for her to press the green button. If someone had wanted to follow them, and the only one she could think of was her stalker, he would have to be pretty adept at climbing roofs, because, at the moment, from the rooftops was the only way her and Baz were going to be seen. She leaned against the drivers side door and pressed the side of her face to the window straining her eyes upward. The roof top. She wondered if they could use that to their own advantage? Avoid going into the club at all? She sat back in the seat again...6 more minutes and she would go after him. She looked up into the alley again to see the carnivorous rat gone, only a hole in the bag with some unidentifiable 'things' hanging out left proof he was ever there. Or she, she reminded herself, it could have always been a female. She sighed then pressed the green button. She put the phone up to her ear listening to it ring once...twice... "Schweig." Her brow furrowed and her mind lit up a picture in cell phone green and black, the numbers she had memorized off Kihn's phone. Could she have gotten something so simple wrong? Maybe she dialed wrong. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I must have dialed the wrong number." How was that even remotely possible? "Paige, it's the Snowy Owl. They gave me a new name..." the voice said. Sounded familiar. She shook her head slightly. "What?" she barely managed out. How could she have known that? He had never introduced himself as such, had never corrected her when she used Kihn. "This is an insecure line," he said flatly. She almost laughed, what did that matter? "I don't give a flying fuck if the whole world is listening," she said evenly. "Why did you come to my apartment last night?" It almost hurt, just asking him because she didn't know what would be worse...a lie or the truth. That, and she wasn't quite sure she'd be able to tell the difference once one was presented to her. "To speak with you," he answered after a pause. "Are you all right?" She heard nothing by way of concern in the tone of his voice. "Who sent you?" she continued ignoring the question. "Sent me..." She could here the classical music in the background now just registering. He's debating over lying to her! She could almost hear the arguments: Over here on the Pro Side: lying to Paige won't be that bad, hell, she's used to it. Besides, what's one teeensie little lie? Right? And over here on the Con Side: well, that's no way to treat a 'friend', friend, go out on a limb, tell her the truth, it might get you somewhere. "Gray expressed concern and gave me your address." Not a lie, the voices stopped immediately in her head as she narrowed her eyes and opened the window. Not a lie...but not the entire truth either. So, if he hadn't told her his new identity or why he was there... "And he told you to do what?" There was a significant pause this time. She knew he was searching for the right words walking that fine line between truths and half-lies. "He asked me to check on you. Paige, you know you are in danger. You are an operative, a good one. Trust your instincts," he said to her. There he goes again with his advice, she thought, like the whole 'be the willow' thing. He had yet to apologize for THAT, and he clearly didn't see anything wrong with it. That really got on her. She felt the anger rising � how could she have been so stupid? Check on her? She didn't need a babysitter... "Uh huh, well, I've got everything under control, contrary to what you may believe, so you don't have to 'intervene' anymore on my behalf. Really, I wouldn't want you to have to go out of your way or have to be nice to me," she let the sarcasm clearly be heard, "since you're all about 'honesty' nowadays." She depressed the red button to end the call not waiting to hear his response if he even had one. She was disgusted with herself, once again using her heart instead of her eyes to navigate the darkness. She traded believing Kihn had sought her out for nothing other than gaining her friendship again for a few hours sleep. "I don't need a babysitter," she said quietly to the phone. Only when you're breaking the primers, she reminded herself, only when you can't protect yourself. She shivered then checked her watch, three more minutes and she would go after Baz. "Three minutes," she sighed closing the phone, "can be a very long time." She clenched her hands into fists until they finally stopped shaking then got out of the truck. Her boots made tiny crunching sounds as she stepped on glass. She studied the ground for a moment...why did that sound so familiar? "Let's go," Baz said as he suddenly appeared from around the corner. "C'mon," he gestured again sprinting to the other side of the truck. Paige got back in and slammed the door, "what's going on?" she asked as Baz expertly negotiated the truck backwards out of the alley. "One of our rabbits is leaving the warren," he said as he waited a moment. "Something happen?" he said looking at her, "you look spooked." "Which one? White or Red?" she asked fastening her seatbelt and ignoring his question. The White Rabbit was Sara, the innocent of the two; the Red Rabbit was Alexei, the dirty one. "The White Rabbit," he said glancing over at her before moving into traffic. "Got a nice little something with her as well." Paige arched an eyebrow, "you are my favorite spy boy." Baz barely looked at her, "yeah, all the chicks tell me that," he answered. Paige rolled her eyes as they parked down the street from the back of the club. "Two more exits," Baz said quietly, as if the two people by the black caddy they were watching could possibly hear him. "Got lots and lots of juice going in that place. Makes for easy surveillance and Simon's gonna have a field day." Paige watched Sara, holding an envelope and what appeared to be a flower arrangement, Gerber daisies actually, she thought as she identified them. The woman was not aware of them, not aware of anything Paige realized as she looked more intently. Sara was totally oblivious to her surroundings, not, Paige told herself, not someone who had had the training they had had. The other one, a man she did not recognize but set to memory, opened the door as Sara got into the car. The man slammed the door and got behind the wheel. "Oh, these are always so much fun," Baz said as he intently watched the caddy pull out then pulled out behind them. Paige responded flatly, "follow the White Rabbit." Return |
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