The Nightmare: Episode 1

Episode 1: Misdirection

Street corner - Sunday, January 7 5:49 pm

‘Excuse me, miss!’ A man’s deep voice rang out through the heavy crowd, but only one girl turned.

‘Hmm? What is it?’ The pretty blonde turned around to face her pursuer.

‘You’re a dancer, aren’t you? Ballet . . . yes, I do believe that I saw you at the theater one time. Quite good, if I do say so myself.’ He smiled at her, extending a hand.

She accepted the gesture, but warily. ‘If you don’t mind me being blunt, here - what do you want? I’m in kind of a hurry.’

‘I have a business proposition for you, actually.’ He nodded toward a café that was just up the street from them. ‘These rush hour crowds are murder; why don’t we go somewhere that we can talk?’

‘Look, I don’t know what you want but it’s already sounding a little shady, so could you just cut to the chase? I’m not stopping anywhere with you, because that could just prove dangerous.’ She narrowed her eyes.

‘Very well, I suppose.’ He was very clean cut; his dark red hair was combed back neatly and he had on a suit that looked to have just been bought, and not for cheap, either. ‘I was wondering if you would be interested in pulling off a little. . . heist for me.’

‘What?’ She stared at him, genuinely shocked. She had been expecting something rather different. ‘I don’t steal.’

‘Not for twenty-five thousand dollars?’ He raised an eyebrow, grinning coolly. ‘Anyway, it’s an easy gig. You’re not even taking anything that they can’t make more of.’

‘T-twenty-five thousand dollars?’ She spat out. ‘That’s more than I make in a year!’

‘And depending on how you do with this job, there’s more where that came from.’ He nodded slowly as his offer sank in, and a look of comprehension flashed across her large amber eyes. ‘Should you get caught, I’ll take full legal responsibility.’

She didn’t say anything for a moment - she just chewed on her lip nervously. Finally she swallowed heavily and spoke, ‘So, what do I have to do?’

Terry Mansbridge’s office - Sunday, January 7 6:21 pm

‘You answer to me, and me alone right now. Nobody else will be giving you any orders, so if someone tries to tell you that I’m giving you a message through them, it’s a load of bull shit.’ The man, now identified as Terry Mansbridge, led the girl into his office, passing her a folder full of papers as she sat down. ‘Everything you need to know to complete this mission will be in that folder, so don’t lose it. Scope the place out tonight - the address is written on one of those pages - if you feel you need to. I would recommend it, actually.’

‘I, um . . . I’m not sure that I can do this. I mean, I want the money, but I don’t have an effing clue what I’m doing.’ She sighed, leaning back in the new leather chair and flipping through the pages of the folder.

‘Nonsense. It’s practically written out as a play-by-play for you; there’s blueprints in there and everything. All you have to get is one little disk for me, and you’re done. You get twenty-five grand just like that.’ Terry rolled his shoulders and crossed his legs at the ankles, and surprisingly it relaxed the girl quite a bit to see him so calm, even if she knew it was probably an act.

‘So what do you mean, ‘scope the place out’?’ She inquired, becoming mildly more confident in herself, considering he was placing so much trust in her.

‘I don’t know; go there, head inside, take the tour.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s a research building, and they’re open to the public on weekdays. You’ll probably feel better if they take you through it.’

She nodded, and he gestured toward the door.

Hesitating for only a moment, she stood to leave. ‘So . . . do I come to see you tomorrow, then? Before the actual job?’

‘Come to this building and ask for me at five o’clock.’ He replied, and looked as though he would say something more when the phone rang, and he waved her out.

Terry Mansbridge’s office - Monday, January 8 5:03 pm

‘I can’t do it by myself. There’s no way.’ The girl told him decisively the next day, when she came to his office.

‘I’m sure-’

‘I can’t do it.’ She cut him off, groaning a bit in frustration. ‘I don’t have a fucking clue what I’m doing, and that place is enormous.’

‘I saw you dancing. You move like a shadow; security cameras wouldn’t even be able to detect you! Trip wires? No problem! Do you know how hard it is to find someone with your skill?’ He sounded exasperated, and straightened his tie out of nervous habit.

She just shook her head resolutely.

Terry Mansbridge looked put off, but only for a minute or two. ‘Fine. I’ll call up one of my other . . . employees.’ He pressed a button on the phone, and picked up the receiver. It was only a moment before the girl heard a muffled ‘Hello.’ on the other end, and Terry began to talk. ‘Darlene? Get Fox up here, ASAP.’

‘Fox?’ The girl raised an eyebrow. ‘Who’s that?’

‘One of the best.’ Terry replied simply, leaning back in his chair.

They waited there for only a few minutes before the door opened, and a man who could only possibly have been described as ‘tall, dark and handsome’ strode in confidently.

‘You rang?’ He pulled of a pair of authentic black Oakleys to reveal a set of sly green eyes.

‘I did. I need you for a job tonight - you free? Relatively simple, but if you need a bit of quick cash. . .’ Terry shrugged.

‘Terry, I could retire comfortably at twenty-five; what makes you think I’m in it for the money?’ Fox grinned, before suddenly noticing the girl who sat across from his employer. He cocked an eyebrow in her direction. ‘Who’s the chick?’

She made the tiniest of indignant noises at his objectification of her, but otherwise kept silent.

‘She’ll be coming with you tonight. Her name’s . . .’ Terry paused for a moment, as though looking for a word. ‘Shadow.’

‘Ah, shit, Terry - you’re giving me a rookie again, aren’t you?’ Fox groaned, glaring a bit. ‘Forget it, I’m out.’

‘You can take that ego and shove it, Fox.’ Terry snapped, losing patience quickly. ‘You’re going with her and you know it. This is the last one, I swear.’

Fox turned to the girl now known only as Shadow, and growled. ‘Don’t fuck up, or I’m leaving you behind.’

‘We’ll just see who gets abandoned.’ Shadow said, overconfidently.

‘Just get the job done, will you? And jeeze, Fox; stop being such an ass.’ Terry waved the both of them out of his room. ‘Shadow, Fox will show you the ropes, if his narcissism doesn’t get in the way, that is. You can work the specifics of the heist out on your own. Fox - take her down and get her suited up and briefed. Darlene will give you the file.’

The two of them shouldered their way out, snapping at each other all the way down the hall.

Technological research building - Tuesday, January 9 12:19 am

Several hours and rather a lot of fighting later, Fox led Shadow to the west side of the building.

‘We’ve got a way in through the service entry,’ He told her, pointing to the gray side access door, ‘but I’ll have to trip the key; it’s coded, if I remember correctly.’

Shadow still wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about half of the time, but she supposed that it didn’t matter. All she cared about was getting in, getting the disk, and getting paid.

‘Once we’re inside, we can’t talk anymore - not unless it’s absolutely imperative, ok?’ Fox warned her, grabbing her arm and leading her over to the steel door. There was no handle on it; just a key pad that was well hidden amongst the square gray bricks that made up the majority of the building’s exterior. ‘You remember what you’re supposed to do, right?’

‘Yeah, yeah, just get on with it.’ She hissed. ‘It’s bloody cold out here.’

Fox glared at her a bit, but nodded none the less. He turned his attention toward the key pad, his fingers flying over the numbers so quickly that Shadow could hardly tell what he was even doing.

Within moments, the door clicked quietly, and fell open a few inches. Fox grinned proudly, opening the door just wide enough for the two of them to slip in, and then closed it behind him.

He led the way, weaving through the endless hallways and up several flights of stairs as though he owned the place.

‘Have you been here before?’ Shadow whispered, nearly inaudibly.

Fox nodded. ‘Twice. Don’t talk anymore - you can ask me all the questions you want after we’re done.’

Shadow submitted, resigning herself to following along quietly.

It wasn’t all that long before Fox stopped, and very suddenly. ‘You memorized the way from here like I told you to, right?’

She nodded. ‘I think so.’

‘I’m waiting here. Terry’s got you on a training mission, doubtless. He wouldn’t want me to baby you all the way.’ Fox waved her away, down the hall. ‘Remember what you learned today, ok? If something goes wrong, run like hell for the back door; it just pushes open, you don’t need to do anything. I’ll probably be gone already, but don’t worry because I’ll wait for you a couple blocks north of here, deal?’

Shadow nodded uncertainly, turning away from him and rounding the next left that she came to. She had studied those blueprints until her eyes hurt, but she was still unsure of herself. It didn’t help that she couldn’t use a flashlight, in case security cameras caught her.

She hugged the walls, having to go past two cameras and one laser alarm trigger. She understood now why she had been clad in form-fitting black clothing.

After turning the wrong way at least three times, she finally found the office numbered 327, and knelt by the handle. It took her longer than she had hoped to pick the lock, but eventually she got in.

The disk was locked in a drawer that was on the bottom lefthand side of the large mahogany desk that resided in the room. Shadow was relieved to find the desk unlocked, and the disk safely inside.

She reached one gloved hand down to get it, closed the drawer, and left - making sure to lock the door behind her.

Shadow was more confident finding her way back to Fox than she had been on the way to the office, but she still went down one wrong hallway, if only for a few steps.

Fox was waiting for her, leaning up against the wall calmly.

‘I got it,’ She held up the clear package, revealing the disk inside, ‘Just like I said I would.’ She looked a bit conceited, but Fox just grinned.

‘Perfect. Let’s ditch, then. You know the way back?’ He noted her blank expression, and lead the way back down to the service entry.

‘So, how did I do?’ Shadow asked him eagerly as they slid the door closed behind them. ‘I mean, I definitely could have done better, but for my first time?’

‘You only made one mistake.’ Fox suddenly had a knife in his hand, and was pressing it up against her throat, pinning her to the wall. ‘Trusting someone you didn’t know from a hole in the ground.’

Shadow swallowed, causing the knife to dig into her skin. ‘I didn’t figure you for a murderer.’

‘I didn’t mean me,’ He said, still with the knife to her throat. ‘I meant Terry Mansbridge. You just stole from good, honest people. You should never steal from good, honest people.’

‘What? I . . .’ Shadow gave him a confused look, grabbing his knife-holding wrist while she kicked him away. She knew that he let her, though.

The knife disappeared, and he gave her a stern look. ‘You didn’t figure me for a murderer?’ He laughed. ‘I’m an assassin - I kill for a living.’ Shadow looked shocked.

‘I’ve been pretending to work for Terry Mansbridge for a long time. Oh, he seems nice enough - almost fooled me, too, but not quite. He’s one of the ones it’s ok to steal from. Crooked through and through.’ Fox growled a bit on the last sentence, and Shadow knew there was something more to the story that he wasn’t telling her. ‘Come on; he probably knows where you live. Drop that off at his office, and then you’re coming to stay with me.’

‘If you’re warning me about not trusting strangers, then why the hell am I going with you?’ Shadow protested.

‘Because believe me, if I want you killed, you’re in trouble.’ He laughed. ‘So come on; go get paid, and then get out. You’re screwed over enough already, so you might as well come work with me.’