Chapter 40 James
James
“I thought you said it was a warehouse,” she says, lowering her voice. We’re backed up against a side wall, tucked into the
shadows. “This looks too sleek for a warehouse, and the zoning is strange. Why is it so close to a residential area?”
“It’s not a regular warehouse,” I quietly remind her. “It’s a place where you can buy things in bulk. It’s a warehouse, but
it’s also a store.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” she whispers.
We’ve already done scans of the perimeter, checking exit doors and escape routes. The place is massive, ringed by an even
more massive parking lot. My comms indicated that the building had been locked down, but looking around now I can see the
building is no longer properly surrounded. The dispersion of our troops to the hospital has fractured our power out here.
We spotted only a few soldiers on our initial checks; whatever manpower we might’ve had has now been severely diminished.
Rosabelle was right; something is wrong.
It’s way too quiet here.
“They store stuff, in the warehouse,” I explain to her, “but it’s also a business. People come through during the day and
buy things.”
“From a warehouse?”
“Yes,” I say.
“Why?”
“Because it’s cheaper,” I explain.
“So there are groceries inside?”
“Yes.”
“Perishable groceries?” she asks. “Like milk and eggs?
“Yeah, but also couches and chairs and lawn mowers and stuff.”
“Really?” She frowns. “That’s so strange.”
Rosabelle, I’ve learned, likes to do a lot of recon.
She likes to make lists and maps in her head. She solves for contingencies constantly. I don’t analyze things as much as she
does before I barge into a new place, and it’s been fascinating to watch her brain work.
She’s literally always thinking.
“Is there anything flammable or explosive inside?” she asks.
“Definitely. There’s a full kitchen in there.”
“They sell kitchens?”
“No, they sell pizza,” I say, then hesitate. “Well, actually, they also sell kitchens.”
Now she turns to look at me, her eyes wide and gleaming in the starlight. “What?”
“And hot dogs. And ice cream. You can also visit an eye doctor and get a pair of glasses.”
Her shock dissolves almost at once into frustration. She rolls her eyes at me and whispers, “Very funny.”
“I’m serious.”
“I’m trying to get real information out of you,” she says. “And you’re just making jokes—”
“I’m not joking,” I insist, trying not to laugh. “I’m completely serious—”
“You’re laughing at me.”
“I’m not,” I say, forcing the smile off my face. “I just— Look, I promise, one day, when this is all over, I’ll take you to
one of these places myself and you can see it all with the lights on.”
Now she pauses.
“Hot dogs and kitchens and eggs and an eye doctor?” she says, uncertainty flickering in her eyes. “Really?”
“And wedding rings. And birthday cakes. And a pharmacy. You can even buy flowers and a casket.”
Her uncertainty disappears; frustration is back in full force. “Why are you making fun of me?” she says, sounding wounded.
“I’m asking you serious questions and you—”
“I’m not making fun of you,” I say, a little desperately now. “I swear, Rosabelle, I’m not making fun of you—”
She lifts a finger to her lips, telling me gently to shut the hell up. She then nods over her shoulder at the unlocked back
entrance we identified earlier.
We’re just yards away now, and everything is weirdly, creepily quiet. No footfalls; no gunshots; no shouts or echoes. I have
no idea what to expect when we get in there. We might be walking into nothing.
We might be walking into a shitstorm.
Rosabelle does another visual sweep as we go, one that I’ve begun to recognize as her search for cameras. I’ve already told her that the few security cameras have been obviously dismantled, but she has a hard time believing there isn’t more surveillance.
I never thought I’d agree with her on that.
“How stealthy are your stealth drones?” she whispers, studying the darkened sky as we make our approach. “I’m not sensing
anything.”
“They’re fairly undetectable,” I say. “Their cloaking abilities were developed by alchemizing the DNA sequences responsible
for activating invisibility. We built the mutated genetic codes directly into the machines.”
She stops and turns to face me, eyes wide with astonishment. “You can do things like that?”
“Well, we’re working on it.” I grimace. “Some of the drones are small enough to refine, but honestly, we thought we’d be further
along with these kinds of things. We’re always diverting time and resources to keeping things afloat—constantly starting over.
We’ve lost some of our best scientists to sudden, unexplained deaths.” I shoot her a look. “Entire laboratories with years
of research have mysteriously gone up in flames overnight.”
“Spies,” she says.
“Yeah, but our labs are locked down—the security measures are serious. I don’t know how—”
“James,” she says, frowning. “When I say spies, I’m not talking about strangers and new arrivals; I’m talking about people you already trust, people you’ve worked with for years.
These are people you think you’ve already vetted, people with spouses and children, people you’ve shared meals with.
People you think you’ve known your entire life. ”
I stare at her, the weight of this hitting me like a sledgehammer. “You think our own scientists are sabotaging us?”
“Yes.”
“That—makes so much more sense.”
She sighs. “You’re not actually that naive,” she says to me. “Your biggest problem is you’re too optimistic.”
“You think that’s my biggest problem?” I raise my eyebrows at her. “Can I tell my brothers you said that?”
Her mouth curves into a smile and lingers, and it feels like possibly my greatest achievement.
I want this job. I’d be good at this job.
I want to take care of her. I can make her laugh. I could make her happy.
Hope diffuses inside my chest as she turns the handle, and I’m delusional enough, even now, to imagine a world beyond this
moment. I’m already dreaming of the fragile hours and soft minutes we fight for; the quiet days and peaceful weeks so many
of us are willing to die for.
Life, paid for in blood.
Adrenaline floods my body as Rosabelle crosses the threshold. I follow close behind, my eyes sharpening as we move from darkness
to darkness. I scan the shadows as we advance, lifting my gun, listening for movement. The eerie quiet unsettles me.
Confuses me.
We haven’t made it more than a few feet into the building before I hear her scream.