Under My Skin

Under My Skin - Part 61

8:14 P.M – The Luvor

The secondary rendezvous ended up being the back of a spacious janitorial closet on the fourth floor of the hotel. Reese locked the door behind them and flicked the overhead light, blinding Will for a moment.

"Are we there yet?" groaned Louis, his body wriggling under Will's hand.

"Yeah," said Will. "We're here."

"Then get me the hell out!"

Will rolled his eyes, had Reese help take his jacket off, and took Louis out of his vest pocket. Once he set Louis on the ground he stood back. Within seconds Louis was back to normal size, and not happy.

"That sucked," said Louis.

Will handed over his sunglasses. "Worse than going down my throat?"

"No, but close. Here's your stuff back."

Behind them something cracked. Reese laid a crowbar on the nearby shelving unit and pulled a box out of the broken drywall.

"Okay," said Reese as he set the box down. "We've got extra bullets, a penlight, a knife, rope, tape, plastic bags, a first aid kit, and schematics of the Luvor."

"Where did all this come from?" asked Will as he put on his gun holster.

"I put a fake panel here while you guys were rigging the ballroom earlier today."

"And we thought you were goofing off," said Will.

"You did?"

"Mostly Beni," admitted Will.

"Go figure. I'm thinking ahead and Beni calls me lazy."

"Paranoid is more like it," grumbled Louis as he took off his bowtie and shoved it into a pocket. "We need to get to the twentieth floor. I don't suppose we can take the fire exit like Palmer did."

"Doubt it," said Reese as he laid out the blueprint. "The fire escapes for every floor have an alarm on them. You open one of those doors and it will go off, drawing security."

"Then how did Doctor Palmer manage it?" said Louis.

"He probably had the exit for the twentieth and first floor wedged open so the latch wouldn't catch and reset the alarm," said Reese. "I wouldn't hope to use those ways again."

"So we go up the old fashioned way, stairs," said Will.

"Or elevator." Louis looked to Reese. "Keep an eye on Kara, but meet us back here in twenty minutes. We'll relay through Cetz if we need backup. Once we get the BT and the virus we're out of here."

"Good luck guys," said Reese.

Louis and Will slipped out the door, looked around, and made for the elevator. The furthest up it would go was the fifteenth floor. It would have to do. Once the button was pushed Will noticed Louis glaring at him.

"What did I do now?" asked Will.

"How is your hair still... doing that slicked back thing?"

Will grinned. "Do not question the ways of the Force."

Louis threw up his hands. "Really, you have to pull out the Fanboy card now?"

"When else am I going to use it?"

***

8:17 P.M. – Watch Base Two

More pieces of the mystery device were found as Watch Two combed over the stairwell where Franklin was found. They were sent to Grant for further analysis, but the more pieces he put together the more confusing the puzzle became. When Cetz came around for an update he had only questions to report.

"The more I look at this thing the more I believe it's just a scanner, albeit a very advanced one," admitted Grant. "How advanced I can't tell yet.

"And if that thing helped the intruder get in here broke then they wouldn't have been able to escape back down to the garage. So this isn't our mystery device. Damn," muttered Cetz. "Well, what do we know?"

"Forensic analysis confirmed that it was held and used by Agent Thomas Ian."

"So we find Ian, we find Doctor Massaru." Cetz tapped his headset, another call coming in. "I need to get to the garage. Keep working on it and call me if you find something out."

Grant nodded and returned to the table of shattered electronics. There was something almost familiar about parts of it, he just didn't know why.

***

Three different threads of conversation coming through his headset at once and yet Cetz still kept track of them. Rachel was keeping updates on Franklin, Olivia and her team scanned the feeds from the Luvor for the two missing agents as well as the surrounding area around the base, and in the background he heard Reese rejoin the party, looking after Kara. Through the Sky Sprecht headset he heard nothing, hopefully that meant everything was okay... or another fault with the system.

And Zachs still had yet to call back with an update. The bastard.

In the underground garage Beni, still in her white dress and heels, manhandled the limping Doctor Palmer out of the van and into the waiting hands of Watch security.

"Take him to Med Tech to be processed," instructed Cetz before he turned to Beni. "Think you can get back to the Luvor in twenty minutes?"

"Me and stop signs have an understanding; they don't get anywhere near me and I don't run them over."

"Good enough now get moving." Beni was back in the driver's seat before he finished the sentence. Cetz turned back to the elevator. Once he checked up on Olivia he would have a little chat with Palmer. And then he would have to give an update to Watch One about the still missing Massaru.

And he needed a damn coffee.