M.A.I.D.S. [season 1]

Episode 15: Teeth and Ambitions

M.A.I.D.S. Episode 15 – Teeth and Ambitions

The next day Adam woke up, showered, enjoyed vigorous lovemaking with Pandora, showered again (this time with her), all before breakfast.  A quick and simple meal of buns and jam preceded preparations to leave their sequester in the Batcave.  The house would remain behind in the safety of the underground lair.  Adam had a vehicle stashed in the exit tunnel, and he would be able to access it half an hour before the far end of the exit opened.  This would enable him to load weapons and supplies into the vehicle.

The plan was simple:  the group would pick up the high-speed roads north, passing through Montana into Canada.  They would pick up a flight to Copenhagen from Edmonton International Airport, then to India from there.  Monroe, Ben, and Sotiria would ride first-class, Adam and Pandora in coach.  Once in India, Adam would tell them the next move.

Adam, Monroe, Ben, and Sotiria would ride in Adam’s car, while Pandora would scout ahead on her monocycle.  Pandora would be armed and armored, while the others would stow their armor in the car’s storage compartment.  Adam did not have an extra suit of armor for Sotiria, but all four of them wore magnetorheological fluid combat jackets for protection.  Sotiria was given a pistol for protection, although she was not trained in firearms. 

“Everyone ready?” Adam asked after going over the plan.

“It’s simple—too simple for FIST to anticipate,” said Ben with approval.

“Exactly.  Canada’s too obvious, and flying a commercial airliner lacks my usual creativity,” said Adam.  “They’ll never expect me to do it.  If I know my bosses, they’ll be looking for us to split up, taking flights out of California and Denver.  It’s time to shake things up.”

“How are we gonna ship our shit?” asked Monroe with a broad gesture to their weapons and armor.

“Easy,” Ben interjected smugly.  “He’s Adam.  Even though he’s an enemy of FIST, they’re not gonna go straight to the government.  That would be way too much bad press.  FIST will try to take care of this in-house first.  By the time they get the Global Government involved we’ll already be in India.  FIST can’t go there unless it’s a sanctioned op, and CROW isn’t nearly competent enough to find Adam before he gets…well, wherever we’re gonna hide out.  Basically his name buys us a free pass to a safe house in India.”

“Pretty much, yeah.  I have a contact at EIA who owes me a favor, so he’ll make sure our gear gets on board.  After that, all bets are off,” Adam agreed.  Their conversation was interrupted when a tone sounded in the Batcave, followed by the opening of the near door.  Adam’s getaway car, a modest four-door affair done up in a nondescript black, hummed to life.

“OK, it’s time.   Monroe and I’ll load it up.  Pandora, get your monocycle on line and ready.  Ben and Sotiria, you two double-check the car—it’s been down here for a spell.  Ben, you’re driving.  We roll out as soon as the second tone sounds.”

Adam’s orders were carried out without question.  Monroe, Adam, and Pandora had the benefit of military discipline and training, while Ben was an old hand at picking up and moving at a moment’s notice due to his career choice.  Only Sotiria lacked relevant experience, but she was able to quickly perform preventative maintenance checks on the car with the aid of a manual.

“You’re bringing Robobot?” Adam asked Pandora when he noticed she’d loaded the service bot in the car.

“Yes.  I want to run some more tests on it, and I cannot very well do that remotely,” she replied sweetly with a quick kiss.  She held Adam tight for a moment.