Chapter 01: Here We Go Again

Detective Monroe’s trip to St. Claire had been the motivation Alexa needed to get her head back in the game. After returning home to Brooklyn Heights he’d reported on Gavin’s state of mind and while it wasn’t ideal, it was a necessary evil. She needed to know Gavin would not be tormented with the ‘what ifs’ of her disappearance so he could move on with his life. At least this way, he had something to mourn.

Alexa pressed a button on the temple of the night vision goggles she wore and they took on a golden, amber-colored glow, collecting the soft rays of moonlight on the deserted rooftop. Bypassing the alarms and picking the locks had been the work of minutes.

The building was not guarded, except for a sleepy rent-a-cop in the lobby. For a company that provided security and protection services to hundreds of businesses worldwide Alexa expected more. Apparently, the Weapons, Enforcement & Transportation Division wasn’t concerned about the possibility of someone breaking into their offices. That was their mistake.

Sliding down the row of cubicles like a shadow, she chose a desk on the far end of the room away from the windows. The desk was cluttered with papers and envelopes and sticky notes plastered one side of the tiny space. A mug sat half-full with cold, stale coffee beside the keyboard and the keyboard itself had fingerprints left behind in some sticky residue; doughnut she assumed.

She slipped the goggles atop her head and flipped her earbud in place. “I’m in,” she whispered to her partner on the other end. “Now what?”

“Insert the flash drive and I’ll take it from there.” A nudge of the mouse brought the computer screen to life and she plugged the drive into an available USB port and waited. Her eyes paused on the desktop background as a small task bar appeared on the bottom right of the screen. 

While Kasper was at work locating the information they needed on the company, and leaving a little spyware of his own creation behind, she stared at the deep blue ocean breaking over the white sandy beach. The tanned bodies of a couple glistened in the sun as they lay side-by-side in matching loungers. They appeared happy as they sipped their margaritas and stared off into the distance.

Was it time? She had enough money stashed away in plenty of untraceable accounts to allow her to live out her days in comfort, if not opulence. Maybe it was time to walk away. What was she fighting for? These days that question became harder and harder to answer. Life slipped by like sand through a sieve and all she had to show for it was a string of broken hearts and a target on her back.

And then there was Gavin. Life felt so simple with him. Sure she’d been living a double life but that always seemed like background noise when they were together. He had a way of making her feel like the only girl in the world. Fuck, she cussed herself as she once again found herself thinking about him. Kasper had suggested they take a weekend off from planning and spend some time enjoying themselves. But their trip to Vegas she mostly spent pining over Gavin and wondering how he was coping with the loss.

It was by some miracle she was able to pull herself together long enough to get back to work. And work was what she needed to focus on now. The WET team had not been subtle when they’d introduced themselves at the Stark mansion. The shit that went down after that was equally as worrisome. And Alexa knew it was only a matter of time before she and Kasper were staring down the barrel of their gun once again. “Damn it,” she heard Kasper growl through the comm. “I think I’ve just figured out why security is so lax at their building.”

“Don’t tell me the master of all things electronic just found a system he can’t crack.”

“It’s firewall upon firewall upon 256-bit military-grade encryption. There’s no way I can remote hack this thing.”

“So what are you saying, K?”

“I’m saying if we want a shot at getting to these guys I need to be in there where you are.”

“Well stop talking and shimmy your ass through the sky roof.”

“Yeah this will require more than a moonlight B&E. I need access to their server room which…”

“Let me guess, you can only get to when the office is at its busiest.”

“Bingo.”

“Awesome. Well, in that case, I guess we need to start planning our next identities.”

“I’m way ahead of you. Tomorrow, WET will be introduced to two new employees for their Research and Development department,” he replied while the clicking of keys fired off in her ear. “Now. Why don’t you ‘shimmy your ass’ back through the sky roof so we can get back to the hotel? We have a long day ahead of us.”

“So what’s the plan?” Kasper asked, scanning his employee ID at the door before slipping through the turnstile and into the lobby.

“Get to the server room, plant your little bugs and get out. I don’t want to be here any longer than we need to. In speaking of…shit,” she whispered over her comm. Alexa drew the attention of a guard standing behind the gate. “This is not what we need.” He waved her through to the security imaging area, removed her badge, and proceeded to give her the once over with a metal detector.

Kasper paused near the elevators and nervously watched her body scan from a distance. Observing other employees entering the building earlier, they believed getting in would be as easy as a simple ID check. Neither of them had counted on a full-scale security clearance that included a weapons search.

“Good morning,” he said, instructing her to spread her arms and legs. “Are you new here?”

“Well, kind of,” she replied with a smile as he looked down at her badge. “I just transferred. I’ve been working in the Defense Analyses Group in Des Moines for the past 3 years,” she said, feeding him a line Kasper whispered in her ear.

“Melanie Walker,” he said her name, looking up at her with a smile. “New in town? Got tired of those harsh Iowa winters, huh?”

“I do love the sun. I’ve been hoping to get to the beach but, it’s not happened since I’ve arrived. Work, work.”

“Oh what a shame. This time of year is perfect for picnics, barbecues and trips to the lake.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Well we do get plenty of rainy days too but, it’s not so bad if you don’t mind getting wet.” He again smiled but the implication was not lost on her. The device beeped as he rounded Alexa’s front and Kasper held his breath as he tried again. Same result. “Hmm.”

Damn. Alexa was acting as their mule, sneaking in the tools they needed to complete their job. Not to mention she never went anywhere without her own protection. They could not risk a manual pat down. Thinking fast, Alexa leaned forward and whispered against the guard’s ear, “Labia ring.” The man looked at her a moment. A slow-forming smile crept on his face and he nodded then moved the device in front of his own hip. The detector mimicked the earlier ding.

“Prince Albert,” he said with a wink and sat the device on the counter beside him. “You’re clear.”

“Thank you,” she said, retrieving her briefcase from the floor.

“Hey, if you’re interested, maybe you and I could get together sometime. I could take you around town, show you the sights. Maybe we could hit up the beach.”

“That sounds nice, Officer Butler,” Alexa responded, flirtatiously nibbling on her bottom lip.

“I’m Randy.” I’ll bet he is, Kasper commented as the guard introduced himself. “If you ever need anything just give me a holler.”

“Thanks, Randy,” she smiled, trying to hold back her laughter. “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

“Looks like someone’s making fast friends.”

“Yeah, lucky me,” she sighed and did her best to ignore Randy’s eyes on her backside as she walked away. “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Kasper chuckled as she finally joined him near the elevators. “The server rooms are at the end of the hall. I gave us both clearance to enter the personnel areas BUT…”

“Nothing for the server room itself?”

“There was a small snag with that. See, only employees who’ve had a fingerprint scan can enter the server rooms and scans are only given to employees working here for five years or more. So…I was kinda hoping you could work that magic of yours and ‘convince’ someone to let us in.”

“You mean you want me to flirt with someone to get them to open the doors?” she asked.

“It worked with the guard,” Kasper shrugged and hid a smile behind his hand.

“Better plan, why don’t we just kidnap someone instead?”

“Whatever works best.”

Kasper hid himself in the corridor leading to the server room while Alexa hung out in the hall appearing busy as she waited on an employee to walk through. “Heads up, I think we’ve got someone,” Kasper said, monitoring movement in the adjacent office.

Alexa checked her cellphone, pretending to send off a text and loudly stomped her foot when the server technician entered the area. “Shoot!”

“Uh…hello?”

“Hi,” she said, looking up with a timid expression.

“Is there a problem, Miss?”

“Kinda. This stupid phone keeps kicking me off the network. I’m trying to send an email from my company address but it’s saying ‘could not connect to the site.’”

“Well perhaps I can be of assistance,” he said flashing a smile and motioning towards his badge that identified him as a technical engineer. “What error code are you getting?”

“Um…5312…6? Not sure,” she giggled and stepped closer. “Maybe you can have a look?” She started handing over her phone and pretended to drop it, making the technician scurry to pick it up before it hit the ground. The moment his head was in range, Alexa brought her knee up and connected with his nose, knocking him out cold. “Oops.”

Kasper reappeared beside her and helped drag the man’s unconscious body towards the biometric sensor. And while Alexa propped him over her shoulder, Kasper pressed his hand into the scanner. The doors opened with a whir and Alexa sat the technician around the corner, just out of sight of passersby. “How much time you need?” she asked, standing guard near the door as Kasper located the main data hub.

“If I can get into the network with relative ease, it shouldn’t take longer than five minutes.”

“Good luck,” she said, setting the timer on her phone.

Kasper nodded and dropped to the floor in front of her. Reaching a hand up Alexa’s skirt, he felt around until he found the small pouch strapped to her thigh. “Geez, buy a girl dinner first. What would Randy think?” she joked and fixed her skirt as he went to work.

Kasper pulled open his laptop and quickly navigated through the network. “Ok, in three minutes we should have everything downloaded.” Alexa nodded and turned her attention back out the door. All was quiet, which worried her more than her previous entrance into this place the night earlier. It was almost too easy.

The progress bar on Kasper’s screen crept to 60% and K announced the one minute mark but still she found herself unable to relax.

The moment the download reached 99% the locks on the server door bolted shut. An alarm sounded above them and Alexa suddenly realized why getting in was so easy. “Shit!”

“Uh…Kasper, please tell me this is standard protocol!”

“I don’t think so, A. I’ve just been kicked from the server and that ain’t all. We’re locked in and I’m fairly certain security knows exactly where to find us!” 

<----Previous -- Continue---->
<----Back to Season 3 Recap