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It was a dark, cold night. torm clouds could be seen steadily building on the horizon. There was no moon so the streets where dark, only dimly lit by the old gas lamps that hung from rusted polls. Already the wind was picking up, blowing my hair about my face and sending a chill though my body as it seeped though my jacket. Pulling my arms around me, I began to shuffle from foot to foot. He was late...as always. I should have guessed tonight wouldn't have been different, yet I still seemed to find my self slightly surprised. This was a big job and it taken us both months of planning. Scoping out the building and researching every detail until we were both sure nothing could go wrong. It was hard to believe after all our efforts he would be late for his own gig... What if some thing had gone wrong?.....I peered down at my watch trying to make out the time....01:38am. That meant he was 38 minutes overdue and still the ticking of the clock went steadily by. "Damn you, Lemon," I growled to myself. Scanning around, I looked for any sign of him but the street was bare aside from parked cars and rubbish bins. Cold droplets of rain began to fall from the sky signalling the early arrival of the forecast storm. Looking up I swore. If I didn't find cover soon I would be soaking wet and in no mood for what I still had in store for the night. Spotting a tree's thick overhang of branches I ran towards the shelter, making it just in time for the heavens to open up, Lightning flashed angrily overhead, making me count the seconds until the crash of thunder.. 1.2.3.4.5.6.7... "BOOOOOOOOOOO!" came a loud voice in my ear. Jumping at the sound I spun round ready for attack! My arm lashed instinctively, smashing into the unknown person and sending them sprawling to the floor. "What the fu..... Tiny what the hell was that?" Looking down I saw Lemon in a heap on the floor. "You hit me!" he accused, looking slightly shocked . I felt a smile start to play at my lips. "What did you think I was going to do? You scared me to death!" I told him as I held out my hand in more of a peace offering then anything else. "That's no excuse," he whined, wiping himself down. Ignoring him, I picked up the bag he'd dropped when he fell. "You're late," I said, handing him his things. Lemon's face sobered instantly. "There has been a change of plans," he gritted out though clenched teeth. "What do you mean a change in plans... what happened?" Lemon moved towards the wall and lent against it. He looked so tired. His normal carefree looks were etched with stress. "They must have gotten wind of our plans. The item was moved late last night." I stared at him in shock, hardly believing what he was saying even though I knew it had to be true.. "Tell me?" I said, my voice thick with concern. Lemon sighed deeply. "I got a message form September Falls an hour ago saying that Cammy had received Intel from the Order. Someone had managed to hack in to our mainframe. BT blocked them before they got too far into our systems, but most of the damage had already been done." My heart sank. "What did they get?" Lemon spread out his hands.. his eyes looked pained. "Honestly Tiny, I don't know... as far as anyone can tell they got enough to make them change their security codes ." Wiping my hands across my face I moved forwards, leaning against the wall beside him. "We will need to get everyone on bored... Sifi, ZZZZ, Apples... the whole crew." Lemon nodded his head in agreement. "We also need to bring in the others as well, send out an SOS see who is up for this," I continued, looking out at the dark deserted street.. "So..." Lemon said, nudging my arm playfully with his. "What do you want to do now?" I turned to look up into lemons mischievous eyes and smiled brightly. "Why Mr. Bond, let's do what we do best!" Lemon raised an eyebrow. Kicking off from the wall he moved to stand in front of me. "And that would be what, Miss Pussy Galore?" he asked, deepening his voice like that of the real Bond. Taking hold of his hand I pulled myself forwards and gestured out to the street in front of us. Tilting my head I looked him in the eyes and smiled even more brightly.... "Set fire to the rain of course!"......... TO BE CONTINUED !!!!!!! The compound was alive with bustling people when we first arrived back. News of the hacking had spread like wildfire coursing through the air. The once peaceful warehouse was now alive with activity. Lemon was seemingly all over the place, trying to be everywhere at once. He and BT spent most of that day glued to either the computer screen or the phones, yet alas we were no closer to finding out what had happened or why... "Dont look so glum " came the sound of a friendly voice. I turned, a smile already sat upon my face, " Idiot" I breathed out in relief at seeing his mop of dary hair and chocolate coloured eyes. Walking forwards i embraced him, falling in to his arms. wishing the night would just hurry up and end. "Hey, you can call me Sifi here, you know... I like it when you do that," He said cheekily, hugging tightly. "I heard the mission didn't go to plan!" he added after releasing me from his arms. I laughed humourlessly. "Thats and understatement! I doubt it could have gone worse" Sifi chuckled.. " I wouldnt say that!" he smiled, a mischievious looks playing in his eyes. "A little bird tells me you knocked lemon on his ass. I trust he had it coming?" "Yeah. He tried to give me a heart attack" "Well then," Sifi said, wrapping his arm around me again, "he deserved it. And I suppose he's had his punishment, and doesn't need any more from me? Shame." I reached out to tickle him for that last remark, but he danced out of reach. "You is a cheeky sod" "Would you have it any other way?" was the grinned reply. The lights pulsed twice and the PA system crackled into life. "Team leaders to the comference room. We have an update on the situation. Team leaders to the Conference room immediately." September Falls' voice filled the complex and the activity paused while those called delegated their tasks and headed over to see what the new information was. I breathed out a sigh. The message was meant for me, as leader of the primary field team. Sifi knew it too and his face fell as I turned to leave him standing there. BT was already sitting there waiting for the meeting to start, talking quietly with Apples. ZZZZ was missing, but Sneha was in his place so he probably wasn't coming. That only left me, but here I was. The front wall screen came to life, and the silhouette of our fearless leader looked out onto us, waiting for me to take my seat before starting. "Thankyou for being so prompt, people, but lets dispense with the pleasantries and get right down to business. BT's team has uncovered some telling evidence already regarding our electronic intruder. Now as you have probably heard by now, we were pretty severely hacked not long ago. We operated a total shutdown to disconnect from the outside before we lost anything important. The diagnostics that have been run have shown fairly significant damage to our mainframe, but most of it seemed directed specifically at our current project. We don't yet know how much of our data was taken, but we have to assume that anything that's been erased has been stolen. Several files remain that the shutdown protected mid-theft, though, and this is where Cammy found our main lead." The side of the screen opened into a popup window showing a significantly corrupted file, most of the information reduced to meaningless junk. "Now what do you see there?" asked the silhouette. "Useless information. They did this while they copied it?" Apples was the first to speak up. "True, but that's not what I'm getting at." Sneha gasped as she saw the answer. "But CW... the corruption... It's PINK!" "Exactly. Pink. We're not sure precisely what this means yet, but at least we know someone who can tell us. Which brings me to the next assignment. I'm sorry to have to send you out again right after you just got in here, Tiny, but I think your team is up to it." "Yessir, CW sir. Just tell me what I need to do!" The figure on the screen reached to one side and pressed something that we couldn't see, and the printer by BT buzzed to life. "Take your assignment there and get it done. Meeting adjourned." The screen clicked off and I took the printout with me as I hunted for my partner. It didn't take long to find him, apparently selling ice cream to everyone. "So she didn't uppercut you, What was it she actually did do to you?" Si fi was questioning lemon about the little accident my fist had made with his face, but he broke off his questionning as they saw me approaching. "Hey there Tiny! I was just trying to find out exactly what it was you did to our Lemon here on your mission, but I don't think I'm getting anywhere" Si fi managed to smile innocently enough that it was almost impossible to believe he was up to no good. "Stop that, you idiot. We have another mission to do so leave my partner alone! C'mon lemon, we gotta go." "Need a lift?" enquired the idiot as he helped himself to more icecream while Lemon was distracted with reading our mission brief. I sighed, but was secretly glad he'd asked. "Yes, now you mention it. I think that'd be best given our timeframe. Know where this is?" I borrowed back my orders from Lemon and passed them to Sifi. "Hmm." He squinted thoughtfully. "Yes, I know the place. Let's go!" * The three of us peered out of the car at the neon-lit building we had arrived at. It looked like a converted cinema built in the 30s, but clearly wasn't used for that any more. Deep in Soho, at this time of the night, the street's pavement was lined with hookers with the occasional druggie slumped in a corner or wandering along eyeing up the ladies (well, most of them were ladies. Probably). The car was starting to attract attention, so we got out and made our way towards the building. Hearing a series of metallic scraping and clinking I looked back at the car, which was now encased in an impregnable shell and looked a lot like a giant woodlouse. Sifi was grinning at me like an idiot. "I loved Batman Returns!" was his only explanation before we passed through the threshold into the very lap of luxury that was our destination. I didn't press the matter. Lemon whistled appreciatively. "So this is the famous Ryytz Grandee. I've always wanted to see what it was like." Catching the disapproving glare from me he quickly added, "But it's very pink. Too pink. I wouldn't want to come again..." "Up there," Sifi indicated to a doorway marked [No Entry. Authorised personnel only]. "CW authorised the mission, so that means us too, right?" I nodded. Beyond the door was a corridor that was clearly newer than any of the original architecture, which was lined with more doors. It took barely a moment to choose which one we needed though. It was a pink almost brighter than the neon signs that illuminated the street outside! Clearly it was the right place, too, for beyond it was the man we were here to talk to. Reclining on a bed with one arm lazily stretched over his head, with the other busily typing away at the keyboard of an impressive looking computer was the half-naked figure of an undeniably sexy hunk of a man with the pinkest hair I'd ever seen. He sat up suddenly as we entered. "Who are you? Why are you here?" he demanded, then frowned. "How did you get in here?" he added. "Well there weren't any guards, if that's what you mean. But that's not important. And neither is who we are. We need your help to find someone, and we need it fast. May I borrow your computer there?" I didn't wait for an answer, just sat in front of the computer and shoved the topless sex god to one side with the effortless ease of someone who's done it many times before and doesn't stand for any nonsense. I plugged in a small USB flashdrive and opened up the image of one of our corrupted files for the bemused but helpless club owner to peer at. "Now, Mr. Gguyy, think hacking. Who do you suppose could have done that?" He looked closer at the screen, and took the controls to zoom in on one section which he examined for a few moments. "It couldn't be.. Do you see the way it looks like it spar..." he trailed off and frowned fiercely at the image. "but why would he leave..? I know who did this, yes. Pass me that pad, I'll write everything you need to know. But it doesn't make sense..." Sifi ignored whatever pad was being waved at and produced his own from a thigh pocket, and a pen too. He flicked through until he found a blank page and passed them over. Gguyy wasted no time as he scribbled notes and a couple of diagrams, or maps. He handed the pad to me and nearly pocketed the pen before sifi swiped it back, baring his teeth. Well it was a pretty nice pen, I'd noticed. "I drew you a map there, how to find the place once you get to the address, cos it's not easy to find and isn't a real address itself. And there's a rough sketch of inside, but you probably won't need that. It's the security panels that are important though. You need to type in the right codes or the place goes into lockdown. I only know the two ways in, that's what I gave you..." I looked at the scribblings, and yes that's what was drawn and written there. Satisfied, I handed the sheets to Lemon and returned the pad to Sifi. Lemon examined them too, and nodded to himself, then had a thought. "Wait. Before we go, just clear this up for me. Which of these are capitals in the codes?" Ryy leaned over and pointed, "The first 'i', and these 's's, then that 'e' and the 'o'. It's all the first letters of the words. Very easy." "Ah right, I see. Thanks." Lemon handed me back the piece of paper, and I took Sifi to one side for a moment. "Can you take care of this? We can't afford any more security breaches at this stage." Nodding, Sifi tossed his keys to Lemon. "You wanted a car? I guess that means you're driving now. I'll keep our friend here company and make sure he doesn't make any calls tonight. Now go on with you two, we haven't got a lot of time!" Lemon's eyes lit up as he snatched the keys out of the air. "Whoop whoop! Imma buy you a pint when this mission's over, idiot! You NEVER let anyone else drive!" Grinning widely, he ran outside to get behind the wheel and wait for me. * Lemon drove like a maniac. I hoped he knew where we were going, but the way we careened through the streets, weaving through the pedestrian zones and losing all those police cars that started following us for some reason, I could only assume he'd been watching the Transporter movies again. But we arrived, and in one piece somehow. It was something of a mansion, though it clealy had no business being in the middle of London. It looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out how. But it was the address that Ry had given us, and so we had to go in to investigate. "Are you sure this is the right address?" Lemon asked, peering though the tinted windscreen. I looked down at the piece of paper in my hands. This was most definitely the place we wanted. "Yeah, it's the right place." I sighed deeply. A strong feeling of deja-vu took over my body. Shaking my head I exited the car and shut my door gently. "Come on Lemon, lets get this over and done with" The outside of the building had a victorian gothic theme to it, with demonic statues clinging to the side of the masonary. The windows looked bleak and gave me the feel of going back in time. A shiver ran up my spine and I had to shake my head to clear my mind. A low whistle sounded next to me. "Whoever lives here sure knows how to do dramitic," Stated lemon walking up the short gravel drive to the large oak doors. "Should we knock?" he asked, hand already fisted and in place. "Not if you want them to know we are coming. We're trying to be stealthy, remember?" Lemon knodded and pulled back his hand. "Any ideas how we are going to get in?" He looked at main door again. Taking a step forwards I ran my hand over the edge of the wooden panelling. There didnt seem to be away in. But then, this did have a very American feel to it, and judging from the movies... I tried the handle, and it was unlocked! Far too easy, but we had a job to do so I lead the way inside. |
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