Color Me Grey: Book One of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles (13 page)

“
What do you think happened?” he
asked.

“
I think someone stuck their nose
somewhere it didn’t belong,” I said.

“
Hmmm,” he said again.

“
Where’s Mom?” I asked. I knew he
wasn’t going to come right out and say anything and I didn’t want
to either. He always had a way of getting me to tell the truth,
eventually.

“
She’s taking classes for something or
other,” he said. “She’s been busy while you were gone. I think
she’s going into business for herself. Trying to sell her
woodworking. I was skeptical of her creations at first, but it
turns out she’s quite artistic,” he said with a smile.

“
Well, that’s good,” I said. “I suppose
I better let you get back to work. I just wanted to let you know I
was home. Love you,” I said as I walked out the door.

“
Yep, me too.” The word
love
rarely passed his lips.

I walked back to my place and went inside. I
decided I’d kill some aliens on my computer for a while, then I
played some cards. I had missed technology while I had been away.
Soon it was getting late so I went to my room, glad to be able to
sleep in my own bed again.

Morning came and I was showered and ready to
go when Mr. Black pulled up the driveway. I met him outside and got
directly into the SUV. We drove back to the gym where we had been
the day before. I felt the eyes on us as we walked up to Helix.

Mr. Black said to him, “Same as
yesterday.”

Mr. Black taught me several new moves. We
battled each other for most of the morning without a break.

Then Mr. Black said, “I’m going for lunch,
you keep practicing.” With that he was gone. I was left standing
alone in the middle of the mat. Helix came over to me and said,

“
Ole’ Mr. Black don’t bring women in
here. What are ya, his new girlfriend?”

“
No. I work with him,” I
said.

“
So you single?” he asked.

“
No,” I lied.

“
Too bad, you’re damn nice to look at.
Let me round ya up some sparring partners. There’s lot’s that want
to try their luck with you,” he said waving over a couple of
people.

Soon the mat was surrounded by the entire
gym. They weren’t just watching, they were standing in line. I
guess they didn’t appreciate a new comer, especially my size,
coming in and showing them up. I took them down one at a time. Some
got in a few good shots and by the time I noticed Mr. Black
standing and watching with his smile on, I was sore. I still had a
few butts to kick but he walked onto the mat and escorted me to the
waiting bags of fast food.

“
You’re getting better,” he said as he
handed me a burger. “Just remember, don’t get hit. You’re not big
enough to take the force some of these people put out.” With that,
he started eating.

In between bites he said, “We’ll go running
and you can come back and finish up the rest of these guys
tomorrow.” We finished our lunch and took off to go for a run. We
ran until late afternoon and then he took me home.

When I got home I found some books lying on
my couch that hadn’t been there before. I picked them up and a
piece of paper fluttered to the floor.

I retrieved the paper and read it:

Ms. Grey,

I thought these books might be of assistance
to you. Enjoy.

The books spanned several topics including
one on the art of stealth and one on yoga. I sat down and began to
read.

I woke up on the couch the next morning and
readied myself for another day at the gym. Once there, I finished
off the rest of the crew waiting to get in their shots and then Mr.
Black and I worked out together for the rest of the day.

When Mr. Black dropped me off at my place he
said, “Take tomorrow off to let your muscles relax a bit. We’re
going to have a big swim and I don’t want you tired before we
start. I’ll be here Friday morning to pick you up. Be ready.”

*****

I woke at the break of dawn Friday morning. I
checked outside for Mr. Black but he wasn’t here yet. I took a
shower and dressed. Still no Mr. Black in the driveway.

I paced around the house for a while. Finally
I decided to fix myself something to eat. I still didn’t have much
in the house for food and I didn’t dare walk to Sal’s and miss Mr.
Black, so I put peanut butter on some saltines and drank a glass of
milk for breakfast. I got up to look for signs of life in the
driveway. None yet and the sun had been up for at least an
hour.

Okay, calm down, I told myself. I took a few
deep breaths, closed my eyes and sat on the floor. I put myself in
the lotus position, you know the one…where you sit with your legs
bent at the knees and put your feet on top of your legs. I kept my
eyes closed, but my ears were tuned for sounds on the driveway. All
quiet on the front and I was beginning to relax when the phone
rang.

I got up and answered it. “Hello?”

“
Good morning.” Mr. White’s voice came
across the line. It was quiet and sexy.

“
Good morning,” I returned. “Where’s
Mr. Black?” I asked.

“
He’s to have you here around nine so I
would imagine you have some more time to relax. “ He said. I heard
a hint of amusement in his voice. “I see the books are being used,
especially the one on yoga.”

The cameras! I had forgotten about them. How
could I have been so stupid!

“
When are you going to take the cameras
out of my place?” I asked. I tried not to be too abrupt, but
failed.

“
So you found them?” he replied, more
like a statement than a question.

“
Yeah.” Like duh! “I found them the day
after Army Boy and you attacked me.” Again, a little too abrupt. I
took some deep breaths. “So when?” I asked with more control of my
voice.

“
When I get around to it,” he
replied.

“
Thank you for telling me when to
expect Mr. Black,” I said and hung up. Then I promptly turned
around and gave one of the cameras the bird. I had an urge to go
straight to my room and slam the door but I resisted and sat back
down and resumed trying to relax. While I sat there all I could
think of was how stupid that had been. How immature. The last thing
I wanted to do was lose my cool in front of Mr. White. Well, I had
stopped myself from flipping off all of the cameras one at a time.
That was the only good thing I could think of about what I had just
done. I sat for quite a while with my thoughts, but eventually I
got off the floor and went to the couch and started to read. Not
any of the books that had been left on my couch though, I was
protesting.

Mr. Black finally showed up and we headed to
the office. We went straight to Suite 73. I felt silly for what I
had done earlier this morning. I also was pretty sure it wasn’t
always a good thing to hang up on your boss. I had been nervous
about the job before, but now I was nervous about seeing Mr. White
and what he might say. I hadn’t told Mr. Black about the early
morning conversation because I had felt like an idiot.

We walked into the office and Gabriella was
not there. I figured her work schedule must be flexible. Mr.
White’s door was open so we went straight in. Mr. White was at his
desk and on the couch was Mr. Brown. Mr. Black and I each took a
seat in one of the chairs closer to the desk.

Mr. White looked at me with a glint of
childishness in his eye and that cocky half grin on his face. I
looked back to him with a semi-pissed off look. I was mad at him,
but had in reality been glad it had been him who was doing the
surveillance.

“
Ms. Grey, Mr. Black,” he greeted
us.

Both Mr. Black and myself gave him a small
nod. Mr. Black was starting to rub off on me.

Mr. Brown sat leisurely on the couch, with
his arms spread over the back. He was kind of cute, but I still
hadn’t gotten over the remarks he had made before. I looked to him
and he smiled at me. It was an infectious type of smile,
impish.

“
Alright everybody, let’s get down to
business.” Mr. White said. “Mr. Brown will fly you two to Florida
where you will get a hotel room and wait. We’ve been told the
target has been planning a cruise on his yacht. He won’t be leaving
international waters and that’s where we come in.” He looked to Mr.
Brown. “When I receive confirmation that his yacht is underway, I
will contact you with the exact coordinates of the drop.” Mr. White
turned to Mr. Black and myself. “You two are to board the yacht and
seize the target.” He handed a manila envelope and a small silver
case to Mr. Black. “When you acquire the target you are to get him
overboard and wait to be picked up by Mr. Brown.” He looked at us
all one at a time, “Is this clear?” he asked.

We all nodded and stood to leave. I waited
until Mr. Brown and Mr. Black had started for the door. I somehow
felt I needed to follow them out and not lead them out. I was
making my way to the door when Mr. White said, “Ms. Grey will catch
up. Ms. Grey please take a seat.” Shit, I thought.

I sat and Mr. Black shut the door behind him
as he left. I hadn’t been alone with Mr. White since the day of the
interview.

“
I just wanted to wish you luck,” he
said. I was flabbergasted. I thought I was in for it. He continued,
“If you follow Mr. Black’s lead and you really are as quick a
learner as he says you are, you’ll be fine.” He had a soft smile on
his face and a look that I thought might be concern. Nah. I got up
to leave and he added, “By the way, that kind of sign language is
frowned upon.” He had exchanged the soft smile for a devious grin,
just when I was beginning to like more than just his
looks.

I left the office and both Mr. Black and Mr.
Brown were waiting at the elevator for me. Mr. Black wore a
questioning look but Mr. Brown was grinning again like that day in
the elevator.

“
He wished me luck,” I said. Oooh,
sometimes I made myself so mad. Why did I say anything? It wasn’t
any of their business. I had been so much more composed before I
met this gang of men. What had my life become?

I thought about that during the entire flight
to Florida. I had been pretty well off before I decided to spice up
my life a little over a month ago. I thought about what I would be
doing right at that moment if I hadn’t quit my job as a data
processor and was glad that I had fallen into this.

Things had always come easily to me my whole
life, but this was a challenge. Chief Slade had worked me hard, or
so I thought. Mr. Black had worked me until I had wanted to die,
but I had enjoyed it.

We got checked into an obscure motel several
hours later, all three of us in the same room. I thought I had
heard Mr. White wrong or it was a slip-up when he said
a
hotel
room
but I guess not. The room was definitely
nothing special. It had an unpleasant odor of many different
bodies. There were two double beds with orange bedspreads shining
up at us. I immediately went to the bed closest to the bathroom and
claimed it. The two men were going to have to sleep together.

We had left our equipment in the chopper and
it was just the three of us in the room with one bathroom, two beds
and one TV. I had never been very good at waiting. I got bored and
usually ended up pacing, and a few hours later I found myself
getting an annoyed look from Mr. Black because I was doing just
that, pacing. He had been reading what was in the manila
envelope.

I sat on my bed and said, “Sorry. I can’t
help it.”

“
Yes you can,” he said, emphasizing
each word and went back to reading. I looked at Mr. Brown and of
course he was wearing that perpetual smile of his. I bet he slept
with a smile on his face.

“
Someone at least find the remote,” I
said getting up to search for it myself. Mr. Brown stood up and
handed me the remote saying, “Here ya go.”

I snatched it and said, “Thanks.” I turned on
the TV and sat watching for almost half an hour before Mr. Black
handed me the manila envelope and said, “Memorize these, then we’ll
go over the plan.”

I opened the envelope and took out the
paperwork. Inside I found several pictures, each with descriptions
underneath, but no names. Above one of the pictures was the word
TARGET.
He had a dark complexion and looked to be either
Hispanic or Indian. I memorized all the faces and descriptions then
I came to the floor plans of the yacht. Mr. Black began to explain
exactly how he wanted this done by pointing to places on the floor
plans.

When Mr. Black had finished with the details
he asked, “Any questions?”

“
Who is this guy and why are we picking
him up?” I asked.

“
Terrorist.” He answered both of my
questions with one word.

The rest of the evening was nerve racking for
me, and the two men were not enjoying my company at all. Finally
Mr. Black said, “Calm down, Ms. Grey.” I decided now would be a
good time for me to get ready for bed. I went into the bathroom and
shut the door.

I started the shower and heard voices in the
main part of the room. Neither one of the men had spoken other than
to tell me to quit being annoying since we had arrived. I quickly
undressed and stepped into the shower and listened at the wall. I
could hear pretty well. One of them said, “Now tell me why we have
to all be in the same room.” Mr. Black, I think.

Then Mr. Brown said, “Malone wanted it that
way.” Malone meaning Mr. White.

“
I don’t get him lately,” Mr. Black
replied.