Sasha, Not Aleks

twelve - decoy

CORALINE 

The argument is still going by the time that I arrive to where he told me to meet him the next day, the warehouse trip underway.

"I did more research," I open with, walking over to his dark figure illuminated by an overhead streetlamp, "we won the space race."

He rolls his eyes, approaching from the other side of the parking lot, "you did not win the space race."

"It ended because the Soviet Union disbanded however-"

"Disbanded?" He raises his eyebrows, stopping about four feet in front of me.

"Collapsed is a better word."

"Sure," he nods for me to continue on my hypothesis.

"Again, Sash, we won because we hit the final goal of the space race."

"In no way was landing on the moon the final goal of the space race, in fact, it was only about getting artificial satellites into space, much less humans to the moon."

I narrow my eyes at him, putting my hands on my hips, "we won the space race."

"You're so stubborn," Sasha sighs, copying my position, "the Soviets won the space race with constant effort and a multitude of achievements that outweigh the dramatic event that the US put on to hopefully salvage their image in a losing battle."

"You tried three times to launch a Moon flight and didn't the third one explode?"

"Just admit defeat, Cora, I can't argue about this with you all day, it'll inflate my little Russian ego to see you struggle to come up with a way you might've won the space race."

I shake my head, turning toward the building we're standing on the side of, "you're the most annoying person I've ever met, Sasha. It's a well known fact that the US won the space race."

"Oh, I'm annoying, I'm not the one that brought it up, I thought we'd let it rest last night while reviewing the plan for this but you had to go and bring it up again."

I swear under my breath, "so, the building?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Where did you park?" I get a thought, looking over at him, "you're not in your gear."

He shakes his head, "I brought my truck, it's parked up the street about three blocks. You?"
"I live nearby, I just walked about a mile to get here."

"Oh my god, Cora, just ask if you need a ride."

"And sit in a car with you while you try to rub in that you won a race you definitely lost? No way Jose. Plus, I didn't even think about it."

He rolls his eyes and turns back to the building, "this door is the best way in, I showed you that yesterday, but now I'm rethinking."

"Why?"
"There has to be a window that'll make this easier and make the alarms less likely to go off."

I shrug, "where's the alarm box?"

"No idea."

"So you're useless?" I walk forward toward the door, leaning forward and peeping into the crack, then up the side, then over the top, then down the other side. Sasha watches me with confusion and then amusement when I whip out the penlight I keep in my pocket, shining it into the crack of the door.

"What are you doing?" He asks, walking forward to meet me at the door.

"No wires are attached to this thing, it's not alarmed."