West of Nothing

44. Food Cart

The identity of the mole was a persistent mental itch. It was right there beneath the surface of Mason's thoughts, but each time he tried it to claw it out, he only came away feeling raw and frustrated.

He looked down at the platform where all three spiderbots were still as black stitches, Alpha and Beta in the bell and Charlie still in his jar. How many more were out there waiting to be found?

He reached for a baby carrot, realized he was out. Carrots weren't half bad so far as vegetables went. They were about the same size as cheese puffs and had a satisfying crunch despite the waxy texture. After his hypoglycemic episode, they were as close to corn chips as he was going to get. Lip-Fuzz was really slacking today. She usually topped off his bowl before it reached half empty.

He caught Lip-Fuzz's attention as she was wheeling her food cart up the aisle and motioned to his bowl. A rare flash of annoyance passed across her face, but then she nodded and grabbed a big bag of carrots from the bottom tray. She came over and leaned across his shoulder to pour some out.

Mason crunched into a fresh carrot. He couldn't bring himself to accept that someone on the team was a traitor—yet who else could have come so close to stealing the X-Bot? HotDamn was the obvious choice. He had been the one to throw the party that had cleared out the Bridge, creating the golden opportunity, and he certainly wasn't above lying and deception. But he was almost too obvious; the major would have eyes on him like a hawk. Gabby had the hacking skills and Skunkworks the inside track. Doogie had the pterodactyl. Could he be using it to spy on him somehow? Okay, now he was grasping for straws. There must be some clue he was overlooking.

It all hinged on someone finding out his password. But how was that possible? He hadn't told it to anyone and, as a mashup of anime characters, it was virtually un-guessable. Could someone have seen him enter it? Maybe whoever had hacked into the security cameras had managed to record his keystrokes. That would take some serious video enhancing though, given the dim lighting and poor angles. It would be a hell of a lot easier just to look over his shoulder. But surely Mason would have noticed someone hovering over him. The other team members mostly kept to their own stations except Shouter, who was no longer a suspect.

Mason reached for another carrot, his hand stopping just short of the bowl. Oh, shit.

He glanced up just in time to see the double doors closing behind Lip-Fuzz. Her body shape, hunched forward as she leaned into the cart, roughly fit the contours of the figure he'd glimpsed dashing through the door.

Of course it was her! It was all so obvious now. She was able to move freely around both the Bridge and Storeroom and probably had after-hour access too. She was always reaching around Mason to refresh his snacks, and the way he munched his way through Fritos, she could have easily observed him entering his password. In fact, she might have picked up his new one already. She was probably just biding her time until the next opportunity came along. It wouldn't be so easy this time though, not with the guards and all the added surveillance. But she did have one thing working in her favor. There were three spiderbots now, increasing her odds of getting her hands on one. The two in the bell weren't going anywhere, but Charlie's jar was conveniently travel-sized.

With a start, Mason recalled the coffee carafe that had been sitting on the Table of Requirement when the new X-Bots were brought in. It was taller and wider than the jars lined up beside it. What had it been doing there? It usually sat on a smaller side table. A short while later, he had heard someone complain about it being empty, and she had gone back in to swap it out with a full one. Dammit! Had she just pulled off a heist right under their noses?

Mason jumped up and bolted for the doors. They had barely cracked open when he burst through and barreled right into the back of Lip-Fuzz. The food cart was halted in the hallway and one of the guards was helping himself to a styrofoam cup of joe.

Lip-Fuzz gave Mason a puzzled look. "Can I help you with something?"

"I wanted to try one of the green smoothies."

"You don't like those."

"I feel a craving. Maybe it's the carrots." He reached across the food tray to grab one of the forest green bottles. As he was pulling his arm back, he clumsily knocked over the coffee carafe on the left. It fell to the carpet with a heavy thud and began to leak oily liquid. The closest guard jumped back, spilling coffee down his chest.

"I'm so sorry!" Mason apologized. "I'm such a klutz. Here, let me clean that up." He reached for a roll of paper towels and somehow managed to knock over the second carafe. This one fell with an even heavier thud. No coffee came out, and it was now clear it had never held any. A false bottom popped off, revealing the base of a wire-reinforced jar from which a red eye looked out, enlarged by the glass.

"What have we here?" The coffee-drenched guard squatted down for a closer look.

Lip-Fuzz backed away, glancing around like a cornered animal. "I wouldn't advise running," said the second guard as he drew a pistol with a fat, stubby barrel. A taser? Without taking his eyes off her, he pulled his earpiece close to his mouth and began speaking under his breath. A door opened down a side hall and there was the sound of hurried footsteps. More guards arrived.

The guard with the taser, a square-jawed Cuban with eyes black as bullet-holes, was not a typical grunt. Still talking into the earpiece, he directed the new arrivals with chop-like motions of his right hand. Lip-Fuzz had her hands secured behind her back with a zip-strip. Meanwhile, a pair of guards was dispatched to the back entrance to the Storeroom. They emerged from the Bridge a few moments later with a man struggling between them, also with his hands bound. Of course she had an accomplice. How else would she have known where and how the spiderbots would be delivered? Both captives were led away.

"Should we hold onto this as evidence?" Coffee Stain held up the jar with the spiderbot.

"Give it to him." Bullet-holes chopped his hand at Mason. "Excitement's over here, pal. Thanks for the assist. Now you should get back inside to your people."

As Mason re-entered the Bridge, all eyes were on him. "What just happened out there?" Corny asked.

"I think I just foiled an attempted burglary," Mason said.