“Sweet.” Ian said. He held out his hand for the Slinky-key as Lila had mentally dubbed it.

He examined both parts of the key and snapped off the key part from the bottom half of the Slinky. Inserting it into the entrance lock, Ian opened the door and they began walking up the hallway to the elevator.

After arriving at the third floor with a quiet ding from the elevator, Lila cautiously poked her head out and tugged Ian’s arm to get him to walk with her to the stairwell. “Remind me again why we’re walking up from the third floor instead of taking the elevator.”

She looked at Ian for clarification.

“Because it’s far easier for people to wait outside the elevator doors since they would expect us to come up that way instead of walking.”

“What people?” Lila asked in a frustrated tone of voice. “We still don’t know who’s behind this. If it were in the Soviet days, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see our comrade KGB friends waiting inside the door for us.”

They paused outside Room 432 and Ian once again snapped off a key-containing piece of plastic from the upper part of the Slinky. “Pretty handy, actually.” He murmured. “I’ll have to remember this if I ever have to hide a key in plain sight. Who‘d ‘a’ ‘thunk’ it.” He joked to break the tension.

Ian motioned for Lila to stand on the hinge side of the door and he bent low as he inserted the key into the lock and turned to knob. Pushing the door open slowly, he kept to the side. “Welcome.” They heard the voice and immediately recognized it was the box delivery person from the restaurant.

Lila and Ian looked at each other warily. “To quote you, WTF.” Lila said so only Ian could hear.

“Come inside,” The dark haired man – Charlie, as Lila had nicknamed him – motioned them to have a seat on the plush couch. They eyed him guardedly and took a seat next to each other, but not too close in case they needed to separately dive for the door.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here. By the way, good job on figuring out the key. I’d heard from some friends that you were skilled at your jobs, and now I know they were not lying.” He spoke with a slight Central or Eastern European accent. “You do not need to know who I am, but I certainly know who you are. Your exploits are well known in my field.”

“And that would be?” Ian lifted an eyebrow.

“That is for me to know…” The corner of the man’s mouth turned up in a small smile.

“And us to find out.” Lila finished for him. “You have us at a disadvantage. Perhaps you could fill us in.” She pointedly looked at her watch. “After all, as you say, we are such well known and busy people.”

“All in good time,” the man replied.

Lila barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. This whole evening was turning into a bad 1960’s spy flick.

“So what’s with the dosimeters,” she said crisply.

“What if I were to tell you that Fukushima is not the only radiation leak going on right now.”

Lila began to look interested. “I would say that I’m not surprised.”

“That is good because it is so.” Charlie paused, “I know Ian has worked with nuclear disarmament, and that you have a stellar record in the science world.” He addressed the last half of the sentence to Lila. She waited for the other shoe to drop.

“And?” She once again prompted him impatiently.

“As you know, the Los Angeles area has become quite a hub for the space industry. While this brings lucrative contracts, it also presents opportunities for those wishing to push the limits of science.”

Lila began to look interested. “Are you referring to El Segundo?”

“You are good,” Charlie praised. “Yes, there’s been quite a lot of research into the space time continuum.”

“You’re talking ‘Beam me up, Scotty’ stuff?” Ian asked mockingly.

Lila gave him a reproving look.

“What? We’ve already got the shirts.” Ian said innocently.

Charlie continued. “There’s been a mishap at one of the research facilities that has led to unintended consequences.”

“People died, you mean.” Ian said tightly.

‘Unfortunately, yes.” The man looked aggrieved. “Sergey and Anna were two of our best employees.”

“I’m really not interested in getting involved with Russian security services,” Ian stated flatly.

“This is a special case,” Charlie spread his hands beseechingly. “Your employers detailed you to us on special assignment.”

Ian looked skeptical. “And why wouldn’t they have communicated that to us directly? Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?”

“It’s a delicate situation, as I’m sure you understand.”

“Screw this.” Ian stood to leave.

The man pulled out a small 9 mm pistol. “Please, stay for dessert.”

“Perhaps we’ll stay a bit longer.” Lila tugged at Ian’s sleeve and pulled him down beside her on the couch. She slid her arm underneath his jacket around his waist and placed her hand over the holster strapped to his back.