Alternate Earth Pt. 06

The man across the counter looked large but intelligent. He wore his black hair cropped short but stylishly, matching the fashionable professional look he was going for with his well tailored, modern cut black suit with a blue pinstripe, French cuff shirt and gold and classy, gold and blue tie, complementing his blue eyes. He was large and obviously fit and the suit accentuated his fitness. Looking at him, even Stephen was intimidated so he touched Emma reassuringly on the small of her back as he walked up.

"Can I help you," he asked.

"Did a man come in here earlier and drop off a flash drive?"

"I'm sorry, but we can't share that kind of information."

"I see. I take it that means he did. See TJ is a colleague of mine and we have a pretty important presentation tomorrow. I just need to get something off the drive and then I'll hand it right back." It was obvious the guy was lying.

"I'm sorry, sir. I just can't do that. If you can get your friend that dropped it off to come back in, I can give it back to him. I'm willing to stay open if it's that important."

"That won't work. He's gone out of town. Can't you just let me get the information I need? It'll only take a second."

"I'm sorry, but it's store policy, sir. Not even the manager is allowed to override it except in extremely rare circumstances."

The two went back and forth, the other man growing increasingly more agitated but managing to keep his cool. Stephen had a bad feeling the entire time he was talking with the other man. No matter how smooth and professional the man acted, Stephen suspected he was talking to someone who wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. The whole story about the colleague and the presentation felt like an act too. Thinking about it, Stephen was almost sure it was about what was hidden on that flash drive.

Emma left shortly after the store closed and Stephen stayed to finish locking up. Before he left, he thought some more about both strange events and the more he thought about them, the more unusual they seemed. He grabbed the disk he made, locked up the computer equipment and then locked up the store before heading home.

When he got to work the next day, he wondered how hung over he really had been the day before. The computer area wasn't locked and there were disks sitting out on the counter. He was almost certain he had straightened up before he went home but didn't really think anything of it.

After a couple of hours, when Emma didn't show up for work, he started getting a little worried. Stephen tried calling her mobile but it went straight to voice mail, which was even more unusual. Telling one of the other guys in the Geek Squad to watch the desk, he drove over to her house to check on her. The house was locked up and it looked like no one was home. Stephen had no idea where Emma could have gone to keep her away from work without at least calling so he was immediately worried.

Over the course of the day, he continued to try calling her, finally calling Sarah on her business trip to tell her about it. She called him back after about two minutes, equally worried since she couldn't contact her sister. She quickly told him she was on her way home and hung up. Stephen had a very bad feeling and it got even worse when he ran into Anna when he got home.

Anna was in her yard doing some trimming and she waved when he drove up. He got out and walked over to her to ask her if she'd heard from Emma.

"No," she replied. "Why?"

"Emma didn't show up for work today and she's not at home."

"What?"

"She wasn't at home when I checked and the phone is going straight to voice mail. Sarah can't even get in touch with her and we're a little worried."

"Tell me anything unusual that happened to you in the last 24 hours." Anna's demeanor went from pleasantly casual to deadly serious in a blink. The change unnerved Stephen.

"Well... There were these two guys..."

Stephen told the story of the thumb drive and told her what he thought. Anna latched onto the idea and immediately began asking questions that seemed odd to the young man. At the end of the story, the petite woman asked about the thumb drive. Stephen said that it was probably still in the back of the Geek Squad section where his projects were kept. She immediately asked if he'd seen it since he put it up. When he said no, she looked at him for a minute before speaking slowly.

"Stephen. I want to see what is on the copy you made of that hidden partition."

"I can't, An—"

"Stephen," she said, cutting him off. "I need to see what you found and I need to see it now."

Her demeanor had become so fierce that it scared him a bit, brooking no debate. Agreeing, he told her to follow him inside. Less than two minutes later, they were looking at it on his computer. Anna didn't speak as she examined the files, seeming to give cursory glances to some and studying others in great detail. Stephen wasn't sure what she was looking for but something in her attitude told him not to bother her.

"Take me to see your work area."

The statement was obviously not a request so Stephen led her to his van and drove her back to his store. He was burning to ask her questions but he was a little too intimidated to really even speak to her. Her normally laughing, good natured attitude was replaced with something almost frightening. Describing her as intense would have been like calling Mt. Everest a little hill.

No one questioned her when she followed him back into his area to look around. Quickly, he realized that the flash drive was gone and it wasn't just misplaced. Anna grilled him about everything he could remember about the night it was dropped off. After he answered what seemed like the same question the hundredth time, she gave a curt, "leg's go," and walked out to his car. In the car, he finally worked up the courage to ask her what that was all about.

"I think they snatched Emma when she was leaving and took her car so we wouldn't realize it, then used her to get back in and take the pin drive after you locked up."

"But I'm the only one with keys and the code."

"Stephen, they didn't need her to get past your security. They needed her to show them where you would keep the drive so they got the right one."

"Oh. Then we need to go to the police!"

"Stephen, that's not a good idea. I'm guessing that these people aren't the type to worry about the cops and it would only make things worse for Emma."

"Then what are we supposed to do?! Anna!" he exclaimed when she didn't answer him right away. "What the hell are we supposed to do?"

"We aren't doing anything. You're going to give me the disk and lay low for a week."

"No. Emma's out there and I—"

"You what? You think you know what to do when smugglers are protecting their operation? You think you or some local police can break this thing when they have a hostage and reasonable suspicion that their operation is compromised?" Anna was staring intently out the front windshield at nothing as she spoke. "These people had an inside leak that went wrong. They're obviously a sophisticated organization and now they're covering their tracks and using Emma as insurance. If we go to the cops, they use her as leverage, probably taking her outside the country with them to make their getaway. The best thing we can hope is they leave her somewhere locally when they move their operation."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"What's the worst thing."

"They question her and use her to find their leak."

"Shit. Uh, Anna... how do you know this stuff?"

"It's complicated."

"Complicated? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, just take me home."

They rode the whole way in silence. Stephen could feel the tension in the car warring with the menace coming off Anna. There was something about her that scared him and, for the first time, he was looking forward to getting away from her. As they drove, he started worrying that he had done something to piss her off but was too worried about it to apologize for some unknown offense.

"Stephen," Anna said slowly as he turned onto their street. "Does anyone else have keys to your house?"

"No. Why—"

"Keep driving."

Stephen wasn't stupid. He saw the odd van parked down the street from his house and was pretty sure he saw something in the windows. They had only been gone maybe ten minutes so it was pretty obvious someone had been watching the house and saw him leave with Anna. They obviously thought it was a date or something and that they would have plenty of time.

Stephen had driven three blocks when Anna told him to pull over and park. When they stopped, she told him to follow her as they crept around into her back yard. Quickly, Anna let herself into her back door and told Stephen to stay there in the dark living room before disappearing into her bedroom. Moments later, she was spying out the front window with a pair of large binoculars. As dark as it was, Stephen was wondering what she was looking at until he saw the slightly green glow coming from her face, realizing that they must be night vision of some kind.

Stephen tried to see what she was looking at but the only thing he finally saw was the van creep slowly forward two houses and then turn its lights on and drive away. Relieved he was about to turn the lights on and ask Anna what to do when he realized she hadn't moved.

"Anna," Stephen said. "Didn't they just leave?"

"No."

"But the van—"

"There's still someone in your house."

"What?"

"Look," Anna said slowly. "They probably found the data you copied still on the disk you left in your computer. I should have said to take it but I didn't think about it. For that, I'm sorry. I won't make that mistake again. Regardless, they know you saw something and now they're waiting for you to get home so that they can Kill you."

"K—kill me?" Stephen was shocked. For a moment he could barely speak. "B—but... are you sure? I mean..."

"They already know what you know and hostages are more trouble than they're worth, believe me."

The matter of fact way Anna said that made his skin grow cold. His vision swam before his eyes and he plopped down on the couch. At the sound, Anna realized what she had been saying and took a moment to calm herself and be a little less abrasive. She had forgotten she was dealing with someone who's worst experience had probably been a bully or two. Silently she chided herself for not giving him a little more slack, given the circumstances.

"Hey," she said in a much kinder tone. "Everything will be ok. Just wait here."

Anna disappeared deeper into the dark house and Stephen was immediately scared out of his wits. He half got up to follow her until he thought someone might see him move so he froze where he sat. Holding his body rigidly still, he was frozen in panic as he finally realized that someone was waiting at his house to kill him. His body was shaking as he sat alone on Anna's leather sofa, waiting for her to come back into the room.

She had only been gone for maybe five minutes but to him, it felt like hours. When she finally walked back in the room, she was dressed all in black. It took him a minute to realize it but she also had a pistol on her hip and another in her hand, screwing a long tube on the end. Stephen was so taken aback by her appearance that he totally forgot his very rational fear.

Taking a moment to really look at her, he gawked openly at the tiny woman. Instead of the shorts and tank top she was wearing earlier, her entire 4'11" frame was covered in black. She had changed into a black, long sleeve shirt that conformed to every curve of her shapely, toned body, a pair of black, military style cargo pants, and black combat boots. She wore black gloves and a black skull cap that hid her waves of auburn hair. On her head was a harness and obvious night vision monocular that Stephen remembered seeing in movies and the Call of Duty Black Ops video game. Some sort of pistol was strapped to her thigh and an empty shoulder harness was probably meant for the pistol in her hands.

"Stay here," she said quickly, not giving him a chance to recover from his shock before she disappeared out the back door.

Immediately after the door shut, he realized what she was going to do and moved to the window in disbelief. He watched intently out the window for nearly twenty minutes, seeing no sign that anything was happening. Jumping at the sound of the back door opening, Stephen spun to see Anna standing there. He hadn't even seen her cross the street. The pair stared at each other for a moment before Anna spoke.

"I called a clean up crew. They'll be at your house in a half hour. Don't go inside until they've left."

Stephen stared at her in disbelief. This was something out of a bad movie. He was hallucinating, he was sure of it. He had never done drugs so he thought someone must have slipped him something as a joke. This had to be a bad trip.

"Wait!"

Anna stopped and turned back towards him expectantly. She knew he was coming to grips with what happened and would eventually realize that she had killed someone (3 someones actually) in his house and have to deal with that. She was certain he had questions that he didn't know how to ask and she had no idea how to answer them. She wished she could just knock him out, rescue Emma, put him in his bed and let him wake up the next morning thinking it was a bad dream but that would only buy her an extra day or two before Emma would talk to him and she would have to disappear. That's the part she had hoped she would never have to do.

Looking at him try to figure out how to ask the first question, the thought occurred to her to just tell him everything and ask him to keep her secret. Just as quickly, she was assaulted by a thousand reasons it was an incredibly stupid idea.

She knew that anyone who got close to her was immediately at risk, especially if they knew. If Stephen let any of it slip, his life would be forfeit and anyone who found out could use him against her. He could make her life really complicated, as could Emma when she finds out. She didn't even know if she could trust them! No, the best idea was to just disappear without a trace.

Even though she knew exactly what she should do, looking at him struggle to come to grips with his new reality was nagging at her. She cared about him and couldn't just leave him to his fate. Even if she disappeared, someone might track her to that house and he still could be tortured for information. It might even make things easier if she had someone to confide in. She began picking apart her mental defenses until, staring at him, she realized something. As stupid and dangerous as it might be, she wanted him to know. She wanted both him and Emma to know.

The thought of Emma sobered her and she realized that, even though it had only been a few seconds, she was wasting time worrying about telling her friends about her work and trusting them with this secret. Her cover was blown already. It really didn't matter what she decided to do tomorrow if she didn't rescue Emma tonight.

"Stephen," she said sharply. "I know you have questions but Emma is in danger and we don't have time for that now. I'll tell you whatever you want to know but right now I need you to pull yourself together."

He reacted almost as though she had slapped him. He immediately snapped out of his shock and stood, walking over to her. It was strange that, in that moment, he seemed taller than she remembered. Even though he stood almost a foot taller than the diminutive woman, she had never really thought of him as tall until just then.

Without a word, he nodded and she led him back into her walk-in closet. Opening the false floor, she climbed down into a hidden basement and flipped a light switch. When he finally made it into the basement and his eyes registered what he was seeing, his jaw dropped. Standing in a hidden basement under Anna's house, Stephen found himself surrounded by a scene out of a spy movie.

In a hidden room she had built below her house, Anna kept the tools of her trade, which included a huge arsenal and a massive amount of ammunition. Stephen stood in awe as he stared at a wall full of weapons, consisting of four very different looking sniper rifles, nine different assault rifles, most he recognized from call of duty, a row of twin pistols, five pump shotguns, a huge drum fed automatic shotgun Stephen recognized from The Expendables, three different machine guns, and a compound bow.

Tearing his eyes away from that wall, he froze as he turned to the far wall and stared at stacks and stacks of military ammunition cans which had to contain tens of thousands of bullets for the various weapons on the wall that had so entranced him a moment earlier. The sheer amount of ammunition almost distracted him from the three huge guns leaning against the far wall behind the green metal ammunition boxes. The first was the most recognizable weapon in the world, a true, real-life minigun. The weapon had six barrels and was easily almost as big as Anna. Next to it was another extremely recognizable weapon, a .50 caliber machine gun, the two of which, Stephen was absolutely shocked to find in the possession of the small woman he thought he knew. The last was a weapon that had a barrel far too thick to fire anything other than grenades, but resembled the .50 caliber machine gun, making him wonder if it was the automatic grenade launcher he had heard about. Turning to the final wall, Stephen saw all kinds of gear and clothes either hanging from the wall or tucked into spaces cut into the wall. He saw numerous holsters, stacks of folded black clothes, radios, optical devices, glasses with all kinds of lenses, and even various types of body armor, similar to things Stephen had seen worn by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, only black.

Stephen vaguely heard someone speaking to him as he stood gaping at the gun nut's wet dream he found surrounding him. When he realized that Anna was trying to speak to him he came back to his senses. He didn't even know where to begin but she obviously recognized the look on his face and began speaking before he could even think to ask any questions.

"Do you know how to use one of these," she asked, handing him a silenced assault rifle.

"Um, k—kinda."

"It's a silenced Heckler and Koch MP5K. There's a round in the chamber with 25 rounds in the magazine. The safety is on and the lever is here. Put it to the middle position for single fire and all the way back for auto."

"Uh... ok..."

"This is an E.O. Tech," she pointed to the sight. "Just put the red dot on the target and pull the trigger. Here's a thigh strap with four more magazines. When this one runs out, drop it with this button and slip the new one in. Charge it with this handle and pull the trigger."

"Ok..."

"Woah," Anna exclaimed as he grasped the handle. "Don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot and don't point it at anything if you're not going to shoot it. Here," she moved his trigger finger along the bottom of the gun where the trigger popped out. "Run your finger along here until you're ready to shoot. Just move it to the trigger and squeeze. Okay?"

Stephen nodded as he stared at the assault rifle, dumbfounded. Of course, he recognized it from Call of Duty: Black Ops, but he never thought he would see one in real life, let alone hold or even fire one. He looked to his other hand, holding the strap with extra ammunition and was even more mystified to imagine he would shoot the weapon enough to need to change magazines. Anna realized how this was affecting him realized he would need something to snap him out of it.

"Stephen," Anna said softly, getting his attention and looking him in the eyes as she continued. "Emma needs us. I need you to snap out of it. You can freak out later."