Сергей Редькин – The Queen of the Two Moons (страница 10)
“What was that?” we heard a male voice say. We started running.
“The wind got inside through the ventilation system,” Consuela said, still blocking the view. “Let me go and check.”
“I’ll do it,” the male said, and we heard some rattling noises of a keyring.
“Come on, Bruce.” Consuela was not giving up. “Just stay in your office and I’ll let you know if anything’s up.”
Marco punched the code, and the door opened. In a matter of a second, we were out.
Two centers to go.
The next place on the itinerary was in the center of the city, a three-hour drive from our research and training facility. The lab with viruses was on the top floor of a skyscraper that belonged to one of Dolion’s powerful allies, an extremely rich oil tycoon. It was much trickier to get in, but we also had a person inside, who was in fact one of the security officers. We had to wait for his shift to do the job, which was three days away.
Marco suggested a short vacation. Just the two of us, away from missions and the lab equipment. I thought it was a great idea. After confirming with the team that it was okay, we drove to the ocean shore to get some salt air in our lungs. It felt great to be out, not to think about “work” for a few days. The work part wasn’t hard, but not thinking about our past was much harder. Marco and I had agreed not to bring up268 the subject of our lost partners unless it was absolutely necessary.
When we were facing death in the other world, we’d made a pact to be together no matter what. We’d felt like we owed it to Beth and Mark. They’d sacrificed their lives so that we could live. Human nature, however, is a complicated thing to control. Your heart and your mind do not get along well all the time. I could not help but start comparing subconsciously269 when I looked at Marco. It was amazing how these parallel realities could create identical and yet different people. I wondered if he felt the same way but did my best not to ask him. So, it was a bit of a surprise when Marco asked me if I ever thought about the other Marco.
“I don’t mean to sound jealous or anything, but I sometimes think about Beth. I kind of feel guilty every time I do that, though.”
We were sitting on an old bench a few meters away from the ocean. A couple of seagulls were circling in the sky waiting for someone to throw a piece of bread at them. There were not too many people around on the pier because it was a weekday afternoon, and it was a bit windy. I snuggled up to Marco to keep warm but had to sit straight to look at him in the eyes.
“You shouldn’t feel guilty,” I said. “You too?”
“Yes, I also think about him… sometimes. It’s just we agreed not to…”
“Right. I didn’t want to talk about it, but this place reminded me of the time when we didn’t have to run or eliminate things, you know?”
“Totally,” I said and took his hand in mine. “We should talk about these things.” “You think so?” He looked straight in my eyes.
“I do. There should be nothing unsaid between us. We’re in constant danger as it is, and we might not have too much time, you know?”
“So, truth all the way? Cross your heart?” He stretched his pinky out for a pinky-swear. “I cross my heart.” I smiled and shook his pinky with mine.
“You know what? I just remembered what we used to say as kids when we piggy swore.” “You mean
“Make friends, make friends. Never ever break friends. If you do, you’ll catch the flu, and that will be the end of you!”270
“Wow, that’s brutal.”
“Kind of scary if you think about it. I just realized it.”
“Do you, um, want to talk about Lizzy?” I asked him after a short pause.
Marco looked at his watch thoughtfully. “Maybe not now,” he said. “I just wanted to know how you’d feel about it if I did.”
“I’d be fine with that.” I snuggled up back to him.
I would love to write more about our holiday. It was wonderful, but short. We had a couple great meals (sea food, white wine, and some long-forgotten mind-blowing271 desserts) and nice walks along the shore. I loved every second of it.
We were back to “the office” on Saturday morning and we were incredibly happy to know that Consuela wasn’t in any danger. The people from Paws of Love attributed272 the virus’s death to some unforeseen natural causes. Go glove!273
“Are you guys afraid of heights?” Albert asked us during the next mission’s briefing. “I am,” Marco said and looked at me. “You?”
“I’m not really,” I said, but then remembered that Mark hadn’t been. We had some crazy trips, involving extreme hiking and roller coasters. I suddenly felt a nag274 to ask whether Beth was but thought better of it. “Why do you ask?” I asked Albert.
“Well, I’m afraid that we’ll have to drop you off
We did.
“A helicopter ride, before you ask anything,” he continued. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see the night city from above.”
So, we were slowly turning from superheroes into
Meanwhile, Albert was getting into details on how we were going to fly to the place and “fast-rope”275 out of the aircraft onto the roof of a skyscraper. James, the contact guy, was going to disable the security cameras on the roof and unlock the doors. We would have only one shot at this, and James was to leave with us after we were done. To make sure we would not fall off the rope, Albert showed us a few videos of the technique of using a thick rope to slide out of the helicopter. He showed us the heat- resistant gloves we would use to protect our hands from the heat of friction276 while descending.
As I was listening to what we were about to do, it occurred to me that it all sounded as natural as planning to go shopping – something I used to discuss with my girlfriends only six months ago. The thought distracted me for a minute, and it made me miss the life I had… but surprisingly not that much. Was there a way back to what I used to be? Would it be possible to return to the old ways, knowing what I knew now?
“Lizzy?” Albert’s question returned me to the parallel-universe reality. “Do you have any questions?”
“I’m good,” I said and looked at Marco. “Do
“It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Hop on the chopper, wait until the pilot gives the signal, jump on the roof, do the thing and leave,” he said.
“We’re both good,” I said to Albert and looked at Marco again. “Do you also say ‘chopper’ on Two Moons?”
“No, Albert just used it. We call helicopters
“Whatever you guys call it, you should be on one in two hours, so let’s get ready,” Albert said.
The car ride to the heliport took an hour. There, we found a private small black helicopter, ready to take off. There were two people – the pilot and the assistant. When I got inside, I realized that I had never been in a helicopter before. I suddenly felt a bit nervous, took Marco’s hand and held it tightly. Marco nodded and smiled.
“I’m sure she knows what she’s doing,” he said, pointing to the pilot, who did not identify herself and was quiet during the flight.
The assistant went through the descending procedure with us to make sure we knew the drill, which we had not actually done before. When he finished, we saw the skyscraper and heard the pilot’s signal to get ready. I started to hum the theme soundtrack from
The assistant opened the side door, checked the thick rope that was attached to a bar on the fuselage of the helicopter. He found it satisfactory280 and with the palm of his hand upwards he gave us a sign to get on our feet and get ready to slide. I went first. The helicopter was hovering281 a few meters above the roof, and I clearly saw the H sign in the middle of the big circle on the roof. The sliding took a few seconds, but it took my breath away. It was both scary and exciting. I was humming my song even louder when I stood on the roof, holding the rope for Marco. He joined me momentarily. We gave a thumbs up to the assistant and started to run towards the exit door where we saw James waiting for us. As we entered the building, James shut the door, muffling the sound of the helicopter flying away. He was wearing his black security uniform, complete with a walkie-talkie282 and a handgun in a holster283 on his belt.
“We’ve got three minutes,” he said. “No talk beyond this point.”
We nodded and followed him downstairs. The lab was two floors down. As we were running down, I put the glove on and activated it. I was getting better and faster at it.
Our target was the in middle of the floor and it had no windows that we could use to get inside. So we had to take corridors with motion detectors to get to the door of the lab, open it and do the job. It was good because I could not imagine either Marco nor myself climbing the wall and making holes in the glass with some laser cutters.