Color Me Grey: Book One of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles (3 page)

This reminded me of the times Chief Slade had
screamed at me in a mock interrogation. Was that what this was, an
interrogation, not an interview? Weird. I set my mind to be
interrogated just for fun and practice. I put my small knowledge of
yoga to use. I tried to slow my heartbeat and listened to myself
breathe. He was just sitting there with an inquisitive look on his
face directed toward me, like he expected me to say something.

Chief Slade had yelled and screamed at me
that you DO NOT speak until you are spoken to. I didn’t dare speak
even if this wasn’t an interrogation. I felt the fear that Chief
Slade had told me about, but I had never felt it with him across
the table. My dad was paying him so he wasn’t all that scary. He
might smack me a good one in the back of the head, but he would
have never drawn blood or broken bones. This guy was different, he
had that look. I hadn’t noticed it before because I was so
infatuated with his rear end and mysterious looks. But I noticed
that wild look now. I could tell he wasn’t just mysterious, he was
dangerous. If this really was an interrogation, I was lucky that I
hadn’t sat before I was told to do so.

As the minutes ticked by my fear grew but my
gaze didn’t falter. Mr. White didn’t even blink. It seemed like
hours had passed. ‘This is pretty strange,’ I was thinking when he
said, “Good. Now, Ms. Stanton, what branch of the military were you
in? I didn’t see it listed on your application.” The dangerous look
was still there but pushed a little deeper than it had been just a
moment before. His eyes were still dark and boring a hole into my
soul.

I was still afraid to talk but I managed to
tell him, “I’ve never served in the military, sir.”

“
Where did you train at?” he asked with
raised eyebrows. The dangerous look wanted to return but he kept it
subdued.

“
I was lucky enough to come from a
family with means and I received my training at home from Chief
Slade, sir,” I replied.

This brought a look of surprise that was
quickly suppressed. “Is that so? I served under Chief Slade myself.
I didn’t know he’d gone into the practice of servicing the civilian
sector.”

The last sentence was spoken with a hint of
sarcasm and disbelief. This wasn’t going too well. I got the
distinct feeling he was looking at me as an enemy and not a
potential employee.

“
I’m sorry, sir,” I said. “My father is
affiliated with the Navy. That’s how and why I was lucky enough to
be a student of Chief Slade.”

“
Your father would be…?” Again with the
eyebrows.

“
Admiral Robert S. Stanton… sir,” I
replied. I hadn’t been involved with my military training for some
time and was a bit rusty and actually had never been perfect. Maybe
this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“
Admiral Robert S. Stanton? Now that’s
very interesting. Didn’t he leave the service before he reached
Admiral?”

“
Yes and no, sir. I’m not sure as to
his exact title, but I do know that he is and has been for some
time now a commissioned Admiral, sir.” What an idiot I was. I was
twenty-four years old and I didn’t know what my dad did. Why didn’t
I know? I had never really questioned it before because I had never
had to explain it, I guess. As soon as I got home I was marching
straight over to his house to ask him what the heck he did for the
government!

“
I see.” He started to look through the
mountain of paperwork like he understood and the fact that I didn’t
have a clue was explanation enough. “Have you ever been employed to
work a job like this one?”

“
No, sir. I don’t believe so. I’m still
a bit unsure as to what this job is though, sir,” I repeated trying
not to sound insolent.

“
You will know what it is when and IF
you are hired to do the job,” he said in a matter of fact
tone.

I nodded my head once to show that I
understood. The fear was beginning to subside a bit. The dangerous
look had wanted to show itself again with the mention of Chief
Slade, but the mention of my father sent it deeper and that put me
at ease, somewhat. Good ole’ Daddy, watching out for me from
everywhere.

“
Thank you, Ms. Stanton,” Mr. White
said by way of dismissal. “I will be in touch within the week one
way or the other.” He gave me a small smile and my fear of him
disappeared. How did he do that? He was GOOD. Definitely fantasy
material.

I stood up from the chair, said thank you and
walked out of his office, shutting the door behind me.

Gabriella jumped at the sound of the door
shutting. The worried look still on her face.

“
Wow! I thought you would have been out
of there long before now.”

“
Why, how long was I in there?” I
asked.

“
An hour and a half,” she said with
disbelief. Then she got a sly look on her face and said, “What did
you
talk
about?”

I was still in a daze with the news that it
had been an hour and a half and didn’t catch her implication. I
said, “He just asked me about my training and my father.”

“
Oh, honey,” she said. “I think you’ve
been traumatized.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I’m fine. Just surprised,” I said. “This is not what I expected.
He said he’d be in touch within the week to let me know one way or
the other.” I shrugged.

“
What? He will let you know one way or
the other? Sweetie, you have the job. I’m almost sure of it. He
never contacts people that don’t already work for him. He has me do
it. Either that or you made one hell of an impression.” “Yeah,” I
said. I was still in lah-lah land as I walked out the door and got
onto the elevator. I got across the shiny marble without a thought
of my panties being seen by anyone and got in my car. I was home
before I knew what had happened.

What a rush. I can’t remember the last time I
had so much fun. Yeah, I was scared out of my mind, but it sure
beat data processing! I didn’t care whether or not I had a job
working for scary, sexy Mr. White or not. I would find something to
do. I just couldn’t go back to sitting in front of the computer all
day.

This called for a celebration so I took a nap
with a plan of going to the coffee shop later this evening to catch
up on gossip and then maybe onto the Skylight later.

*****

I woke up around 6:30 PM, a little later than
I had planned. I could get something to eat at Sal’s Sandwiches,
next to the coffee shop when I got there. I changed my clothes into
celebrating clothes. I poured myself into a pair of jeans and put
on a shirt that showed cleavage. I decided I wanted to go all out
so I let my hair down and curled the ends of my hair in to give it
a little more volume.

7:00 PM. I could get to the club and get a
good seat to watch people if I just got a sandwich and went
straight to the club.

I got into my car and thought about it before
I pulled out of the driveway. I might want a drink. I could call a
cab while I was eating my sandwich then I could have a drink if I
wanted to. Any excuse not to drive. I got out, relocked the doors
and started to walk to the sandwich shop. I looked down and
considered changing out of my high-heeled boots, but what was the
point. You had to sacrifice to look good and I was going to
sacrifice my feet tonight.

I was walking the length of the driveway and
noticed a dark car parked not far from the entrance. As I got
closer I could tell what kind it was. It was a black Crown Victoria
with generic rims and tinted windows. I couldn’t see inside but had
a feeling there was someone sitting behind the wheel. Most days I
might not have even noticed the car but today was strange and my
senses were heightened after my interview with the peculiar Mr.
White.

I decided that I was being paranoid but still
picked up my pace to the sandwich shop about a mile away. Just as I
thought, the car stayed put as I rounded the corner of the estate.
I began to think of the day’s events and my decision to quit my
job. Maybe I shouldn’t have quit. That wasn’t a very responsible
thing to do. Mom and Dad had been harping on me to be more
responsible before I got the data processing job, now they were
going to start up again. Oh well, maybe I would get this new job
and surprise them.

The inquisition at White and Associates had
worn me out and I had forgotten to walk over and ask Dad what
exactly it was that he did. I had asked him before but he had never
given details and I wanted details. No more, “A little of this and
a little of that,” and answering my questions with questions of his
own.

I had walked a couple of blocks toward my
destination when I spotted a black Crown Victoria parked a block
away in front of me. It had tinted windows and generic rims and the
same license plate. The license plate was nothing special, I just
notice these things from time to time without knowing that I did
it.

I promptly turned around and hiked back to
the guesthouse to change my shoes. I was pretty sure I was being
followed but by who and why was a mystery. I had my thoughts, but
they seemed unfounded. No matter how strange the interview was I
didn’t think they would waste time following me around. Who did
that kind of thing anyway? White and Associates, that’s who. That’s
what Gabriella said, surveillance, recovery of people and property
and breaking into banks.

What had I gotten myself into? I should have
just walked out. Granted, I was thoroughly enjoying myself
wondering what was going on and trying to figure it out, but I
still wasn’t sure that constantly watching over my shoulder was the
kind of life I wanted to lead.

As I was marching home I toyed with the idea
of staying home for the night, but by the time I got to my door I
was determined to see this through. It wasn’t in my nature to back
down, even if it was in my favor to do so. You know the saying,
“Curiosity killed the cat.” I thought of that often but I was still
alive. My curiosity always prevailed over my good sense. This time
was no exception. I felt I could take care of myself as long as I
knew what I was dealing with.

No matter how curious I was, I was always
careful. I chose to call the cab from the safety of my place
instead of the open payphone at the sandwich shop or my personal
cell phone.

The wait for the cab would be about fifteen
minutes so I figured I’d call Sal’s Sandwiches and place an order
so it would be ready when I got there. I could eat it in the cab on
the way to the club.

With any luck, the person in the car would
follow me in there. He or she would be easy to pick out in there
because I should know everyone else. New comers to the Skylight,
that weren’t with a regular, stuck out like a sore thumb.

I heard a honk out front so I quickly put on
my running shoes and stepped out into the night. I couldn’t see the
end of the driveway from my front door so I didn’t know if the
black car was waiting for me again or not. I kept my eyes open for
the few minutes it took to get to Sal’s but no sign of the car. I
was a bit disappointed but relieved at the same time.

There was nothing unusual at Sal’s either. I
paid for my turkey club and headed back for the cab waiting
outside. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the black car parked in
the lot up a bit from where I was standing. I got in the cab and
asked the driver to take me for a ride before he dropped me off at
the Skylight.

“
No problem, Ms. Stanton,” he said. I
had obviously used this taxi service before. I suppose that’s why
my Mustang was still in pretty good shape. Other than back and
forth to work I didn’t drive often. I preferred to walk if the
weather was good and my destination wasn’t too far or I would call
the cab company so I could pay more attention to the
scenery.

I wanted to make sure the Crown Victoria was
really following me and not just cruising around in the
neighborhood. That happens from time to time. I live in a very nice
side of town and people sometimes came just to see how the other
half lived.

The Crown Victoria pulled out of the lot just
as we rounded the corner of the block and headed our direction. I
kept my eyes open and saw it several times, sometimes in front of
us, sometimes parked in a lot that we were passing. It was almost
as if there were black Crown Victoria’s with the same plate all
over the place.

When we finally came to rest in front of the
Skylight I looked around and saw my admirer pull into a spot down
the street. I paid my driver and crept out of the cab. I walked
inside a little faster than I normally would have and then caught
myself just inside the door. I stopped and took a deep breath,
smoothed the front of my shirt and walked down the dimly lit
hallway to the main area.

The Skylight had been a warehouse before it
was changed to a club. The owners had added a gigantic skylight
directly above the dance floor, hence the name. The building was
set up almost like it was two different businesses. When you first
came in the door you were confronted with the bathrooms on the
opposite wall and a mediocre hallway extending about fifty feet to
the main bar area. The two extremely large bathrooms took up a
quarter of the building’s length and most of the width. As soon as
you emerged from behind the old time swinging doors at the end of
the hall, you found yourself in a mix of loud people, loud music
and strong drinks. They had quite a large round bar situated toward
the middle of the building. The bar was surrounded by tables and
then at the end of the building was the dance floor and stage that
always had a live band. Along one side of the building were
high-backed booths that afforded couples more privacy than they
should have in a bar. Give people enough to drink and they will do
a lot of things they really shouldn’t do. I usually steered clear
of the booths but thought tonight might be the night for me to sit
there.