Articles with Charlie

Halloween Surprise, pt. 8/30

stormclouds
Stormy night

“Okay, so that’s a bad thing,” Lila said halfheartedly.

“Yes, and the worst part is that we have very little time to delay the catastrophe.” Sergey pointed to Ian and Lila. “You two are familiar with things that go bump in the night and this is definitely going to be a big bump.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Lila asked.

“We need you to go down to the research facility and spend the night there to give us a reading on the situation.”

“You want us,” Lila gestured to herself and Ian, “to spend the night at someplace that you think is the source of the next disaster of the week?”

“Exactly.”

“Sure, why not?” Lila got up from the couch and once again moved toward the door. “Can’t be worse than the place we used to live. Ghosts wandering up and down the stairs and hiding out in the attic.”

Ian nodded. “What’s the address?”

Sergey handed Lila a piece of paper on which he had written a series of numbers followed by the address of a parking garage.

“What’s this?” Lila pointed to the numbers.

“It’s the access code for the building connected to the parking garage. Take the elevator to the third floor. You’ll need to enter the first code at the elevator, and this second code at the access door to room 331. Also, you’ll need these.” Sergey produced a couple of ID badges with their names and photos.

“Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you.” Lila commented as she tucked the badges in her handbag.

“We like to be prepared. We could only hope that such dedicated professionals would be willing to take the case and run with it.”

“Well, luckily you were right.” Lila looked at Ian. “Let’s go.”

Charlie remained by the couch and Sergey walked them to the door. “Good luck to you,” he said gravely and shook each of their hands.”

Lila walked into the stairwell and shook her head. “We are so trusting.”

“Trust, but verify,” Ian stated as he dialed his supervisor. “John, we just had a conversation… Really. You’re sure?” He hung up. “Before I even had a chance to say anything, John told me to take as much time as I need to help ‘our friends.’ Very strange.”

Lila looked down at the address with surprise. “I know this place. It’s where I did a summer internship when I was in high school.”

“You were already an intern in high school?” Ian asked incredulously. “You were a go-getter.”

“I was very advanced.” Lila grinned. “It’s a small contractor who works on special projects. They’re close enough to the Air Force Base to be convenient, but far enough away for deniability.”

They made it home quickly, then took only enough time to feed Pearson and pack up some treats and hot drinks for their evening’s adventure/sleepover.

They parked at the garage and made their way to the elevator, punching in the series of numbers given to them by Sergey. The elevator opened directly into a small room with a guard sitting at a desk. “ID’s,” he said in a bored voice.

Ian and Lila both handed over their badges and the guard buzzed them through a thick metal door.

“Ladies first.” Ian waved his hand for Lila to precede him through the door.

“Gee, thanks.” Lila said dryly.

“Hey, you wanted to do this,” Ian pointed out.

Lila led the way hesitantly through the entrance and they slowly strolled down the hallway looking for room 331.

”Smile, you’re on camera.” Ian murmured so only she could hear.

“I know,” Lila smiled. “I saw the display on the guard’s desk.”

Finally reaching the door, Lila entered the code and received a red flash on the keypad. Trying the door, it refused to open. “What the…” she began to gripe.

“Try it again,” Ian encouraged her. “Breathe.”

Lila once again pushed the series of keys and this time the small keypad light flashed green and unlocked with an audible click. Lila pulled down the handle sharply and pushed open the heavy door.

Halloween Surprise, pt. 7/30

ahead
What lies ahead…

Gently dragging the pistol from its holster, Lila glided it down Ian’s back and smoothly pulled it up in one motion to aim at Charlie.

“I think we’ll be going now. Not that it hasn’t been tons of fun.” Lila said lightly.

“Wait,” the man said. He put down his weapon and held up his hands as if to show he was harmless. “There is something I must show you before you go.” He gestured to the back of the apartment where the bedrooms lay.

“Oh, no. I’m not falling for the old ‘check out my etchings’ routine. If they were so great you’d have them hanging in the front room.” Lila began edging back toward the front door until she backed into something solid. Looking up, way up, she saw the man pictured on the dosimeter. “Sergey?” She looked accusing at Charlie. “I thought you said he was dead.”

“No, I said he was one of our best employees,” Charlie reminded her.

“Fair enough.” Lila agreed. “Still, that doesn’t explain what he’s doing here. What’s really going on?” She directed the final question to Sergey and passed the pistol to Ian who had moved to her right. He held it loosely in his hand, prepared to use it if necessary.

Sergey moved around her left and sat on the armchair kitty corner to the couch. “Lila, you’ve heard rumors about the experiments at El Segundo. I heard you say that while I was waiting in the kitchen.” He grinned suddenly. “I really was going to bring dessert, by the way.”

Lila looked cautiously toward the kitchen area. “What, bullet surprise, or perhaps brownies a la Chernobyl?”

“Tiramisu, actually.” Sergey motioned. “I can get it if you’d like.”

“Let’s hear what’s really going on,” Ian said. “Then we’ll decide if we’re playing along.”

“You are familiar with the concept of world line?” Sergey looked expectantly at Lila.

She nodded. “Spacetime, which is divided into the future, past, and what we think is now, but can actually be the past. Like if we’re standing there staring at the sun, we’re actually seeing it as it was eight minutes ago because light takes time to travel.”

“Correct.” Sergey nodded. “We think we may have found a point in spacetime where we are able to see images from the future, but they are very,” he paused, “disturbing.”

“Disturbing how?” Lila pushed for details.

“Like Fukushima,” Sergey said, referring to the nuclear reactor disaster that occurred in Japan. “Only 100 times greater.”

Halloween Surprise, pt. 6/30

adventure_sunset1
As the sun sets, the adventure begins.

“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.