Deadly Paths

by Jack Parker

  Grace threw her headset back on and into place, barking into the mic.

  "The fuck is going on with Mako? Why is he leaving his wedding? Where are his partners?"

  "We don't know director!" said a frantic female accent from one of the cold northern states. "He just up and walked out once his trio hit the Celtic reception in ballroom three! Surprised the hell out of us! What should we do?"

  "Find him, you idiot! Get him back on his mission and make sure he knows that MANTA or not his ass is so gone if he doesn't . . ."

  Grace paused, shoving an operator out of the way and operating the camera screen controls from the computer herself.

  "Wait . . ." Grace mumbled, not really talking to anyone but herself anymore. "Wait, yeah I've got him. He's entered the Catholic reception."

  Grace zoomed in on screen number three so everyone in the control room could see, provided any of them were even paying attention. Mako slinked through the crowd and entered the Grande march, taking the hand of a random but pretty wedding guest as his escort for the dance. What the hell is that Russian buffoon up to? Grace thought as she studied the wayward contestant.

  "Oh good!" said the woman on the other end of the mic cheerfully.

  "No, not good!" Grace snapped. She tried to compose herself, keeping her voice even so her field crew would listen and actually do what she needed for once. "Look, just contact Kyle and the other administrators of that group and get them to redirect Mako. He probably wants to screw around and mess up Nova's mission or something, he seems to have it in for her after the interviews, but let him know he can't do that this round quick as you can."

  "Right away ma'am!" said the still cheerful woman.

  Grace turned to find half the room staring at her. The other half, the MANTA side, was trying to look busy reigning in their player and avoiding eye contact at all costs. Grace had to laugh. The sound confused the tech who's computer she had commandeered. He opened his mouth cautiously, asking the question on several of their minds.

  "What's so funny, Director?"

  Grace smiled at the young man, and shaking her head walked back towards the stairs to the upper office. She laughed again before announcing to the whole room, leaving them befuddled. There was no need to tell them she found such cheerful people to be hilarious.

  Chapter Eighteen

  A grand march was no place to try to accomplish Spy Game objectives, Mako reflected as he ducked through the tunnel of outstretched arms formed by most of the guests in the main hotel ballroom of the Grande Chapel Hotel and Casino. Mako managed to keep a good promenade on his much shorter Japanese dance partner, a pretty young thing he had selected upon making his way here from the wedding reception he was supposed to be scouting out.

  She was having an easy time of it, making her way through the human tunnel next to him without having to so much as stoop, while his knees were aching. At least the camera would have a hard time spotting him until they got to the end of the tunnel and had to assume their position. The music was an awful sounding polka, being played by a DJ up on an elaborate stage. It was an arrangement of noise that Mako found to be much too cheerful.

  It was a pity that Nova was somewhere behind him in the line making her own way through this ridiculous group dance. He would very much have liked to use the device he had in his right trouser pocket on her now and get that bit of business over with. Still, even if that objective could not be completed, there was another more important matter to take care of before the authorities of Spy Games caught up with him and forced him back into that ridiculous Star Wars reception.

  The fact that there were no specific instructions not to deviate outside of the assigned mission was working in Mako's favor, however the overall rulebook for the game said you were never supposed to leave or deviate from your own mission. Even as a MANTA agent there were boundaries as to the directions a contestant could take, and options of the evil organization he had sided with for the game were often just as scripted as the Agency missions. His two other teammates were no doubt even more confused than the crew of Spy Games right now, but a simple communications glitch excuse should pacify them later. Mako estimated he had about five to seven minutes to achieve his objectives in this ballroom before someone dragged him back, maybe ten if he could stay out of site of the accursed cameras that were posted all over the place for any length of time.

  He emerged at the end of the long tunnel and stood. He had to bend forward slightly to make an archway with his dance partner. It was all very uncomfortable, but he smiled at the young girl and even bobbed to the music a little, pretending to have fun. A traditional Russian wedding would have been so much easier to tolerate than this. Dancing was so much more free spirited and of course the music would be much better than polka.

  This ballroom was far more majestic than the reception hall he had just left. It was all probably just a matter of taste, but the large wooden dance floor, magnificent chandeliers of gothic silver mixed with dazzling crystal and a ceiling trimmed in gold gave off the impression this was a royal ball right out of the Cinderella fairy tale. Overhanging balconies where onlookers could view all the dancing from a bird's eye view only added to this sense of grandeur.

  His secondary target went by him, and as she did, only the slightest bit of recognition crossed her features. Nova and her partner Robin passed through the rest of the tunnel without so much as a second glance. She knew he was here now. That could not be helped. There was little chance of surprising someone like her on this show, someone with that look of combat experience and suffering in her eyes, though he would have liked to stay anonymous for a few minutes longer. All that mattered now was that she did not get in his way.

  * * *

  "Heads up Charlie," Victoria murmured. The sound of her hushed voice would carry from a microphone hidden in the blue collar that went with her dress. "Your old friend from the last mission has decided to join our party."

  "Mako?" Charlie exclaimed, and Victoria couldn't avoid wincing from the ring in her ear. "Is that legal? He's leaving his mission."

  "Doesn't matter right now," Victoria said. "He's not a problem yet, just so long as we keep tabs on him. Are you in position?"

  "Almost."

  "Robin?" Victoria asked casually as she made it to the front of the line at the bar and pointed at a bottle of red wine for the tender to pour.

  "It's been a long time since I've danced a waltz," Robin said. "I almost feel like just letting you take the lead."

  "You're doing fine silly," a muted girlish soprano giggled.

  Robin was evidently dancing with someone. Hopefully, it was a bridesmaid, or better yet the maid of honor. The mission called for talking to the wedding party in order to piece together two important pieces of information—a secure elevator pass and a decryption key.

  Victoria nodded in satisfaction to no one in particular as she sipped the wine glass and searched the tables of mingling reception guests. The bride and groom appeared about ready for the cake cutting, and it would be some time before she would have a chance to get near Jessica. Fortunately, even though she knew she was working with two MANTA agents, they had thus far been willing to follow her way of handling this mission, which was to send Charlie up the stairs in the main ballroom and down a hallway which would lead her to a secure elevator.

  The avatar had briefed in the mission overview that this secure elevator would require some type of passcode, keycard, or even a retinal scan to pass into, but whatever truly bypassed security was unknown. Once the elevator was accessed, Charlie would have to take it to the secure floor, where she would somehow use a decryption code to access the files from a computer terminal.

  Victoria was counting on the likelihood that the other teams would wait until they had all the information before sending team members upstairs. Sending Charlie ahead without the codes was risky, but could give their team an advantage in getting the files first. More importantly it got Charlie out of the way. Mako entering the picture complica
ted things dramatically for her. Before his arrival she had only needed to worry about moving Robin far enough away for her so she could make her move on Jessica, but now . . .

  "Mako just cut in with my dance partner," said Robin's voice in her ear, interrupting her thoughts. Damn, So much for Mako trying to be subtle, she thought.

  "Damn it. Did you get anything from her first?'

  "I can't be sure, the response to the coded question was very cryptic. I'm not even sure if she was part of the game or not."

  "Well?" Prompted Victoria, who strolled over to get a better look at the cakes as the bride and groom took their places behind the large layered wedding cake. "Spill. What did she say?"

  She stayed behind the rows of gathering guests, observing the bride in particular, who looked like she was very much having the time of her life as she smashed cake into her new husband's face. Jessica seemed to be thus far unaware of her presence, but Victoria knew that was not likely to be the case. If there was another trap set for her here, she would have no choice but to walk right into it.

  "She said, 'I love this reception. Mine was outdoors and it rained sheets.'"

  "Yeah, that is a wee bit cryptic. Doesn't surprise me on this show. Remember our mission clue is, 'The correct key makes the mission possible."

  "Right, so aren't we looking for them to say something about a key?" asked Robin.

  "Try the maid of honor after the cake cutting is done," Victoria instructed. "I'm going to find out what Mako is up to."

  "Uh guys?" It was Charlie. "Little problem."

  "What's up, Charlie?" Victoria asked, strolling away from the nonsense with the cake and downing her wine glass as she sought out Mako.

  "The elevator has two orange banded guards. What do I do about them?"

  "You'll have to take them down. Go ahead and get it done."

  "But that will start a five minute countdown clock with the game controllers," reminded Robin. "If we don't get the data in that time, we'll be shut out by security and lose!"

  "Then we'll have to act fast!" Victoria hissed impatiently. "We already have the first hint. Now let's move!"

  Guards with orange "Spy Games" bands were part of the game and could be "taken out" by a number of methods, just like Carlo's goons in the previous round. The bands were necessary wherever there were real security guards in an area, even though just about every method of taking out guards for the game was completely harmless.

  Victoria spotted Mako making his way toward the front stage, where a group of live musicians had begun to set up. She adjusted her bosom to make sure ample cleavage was showing and smoothed her dress, then marched forward. There was the sound of short struggle in her ear, and a small pop like a Champaign bottle being opened.

  "Got them both," said Charlie.

  Victoria noted the time on a lavish grandfather clock up against the wall and continued across an open dance floor.

  "What you use?" asked Robin.

  "Lipstick gun. One guy I had to mock-spar with. He yielded. Nova, are you sure about this?"

  A group of live musicians had replaced the DJ on the stage during the cake cutting. A cellist, pianist, and violinist, began to play Mozart's Waltz Favorite. Couples gathered to dance, and she had to weave her way the rest of the way across the floor. Mako was nearly to the stage, she would be to him in another six steps. Just need to scare him into leaving. Victoria thought.

  Mako turned and saw her, a bushy eyebrow raised in idle curiosity at her approach. Someone grabbed Victoria lightly by the wrist, turning her.

  "May I have this dance?" a pleasant male voice said close to her ear. She glanced up, it was one of the groomsman. Tall, and somewhat surprisingly, American, he was alright to look at, especially in the three piece tuxedo he was wearing. Victoria kept forgetting sometimes that she was on a game, and the information the game was trying to give her had a tendency to seek her out, rather than forcing her to collect it all the hard way like in the real world. She smiled back at him.

  "I'd be honored," she said, shooting Mako a warning glare over the man's shoulder. Mako smirked, then turned without looking back and climbed up onto the stage. She caught a glimpse of him going over to the pianist to whisper something into his ear before she was whirled away into the waltz. The balding pianist nodded and pointed up to one of the balconies, all while playing. The cellist and petite young woman playing the violin paid the exchange no mind.

  "I'm at the key terminal," said Charlie in her earpiece. "It works like any normal password entry I've seen, but I don't understand what half of this means. They only have certain letters and the words normal, sharp, flat, major, minor, falsetto, double, arpeggio . . ."

  "Those are musical terms," said Victoria.

  "What?" asked her confused groomsman. She reached up and pressed the back of her collar like she was scratching, turning off her mic for a moment.

  "I just love this type of music, don't you?" she asked the man. He grinned and nodded. Victoria smiled, but felt frustrated. She needed to be done with this dance. The clock was ticking. Robin continued to speculate in her ear.

  "So are we supposed to be talking to those musicians?" he wondered. "Mako just talked to that piano guy."

  Victoria couldn't answer. If she could, her response would only be to say she wasn't sure. She hoped Robin had tabs on Mako, because she had lost him completely in the waltz. Then again, Robin could very well be working with Mako on whatever he was up to. She concentrated on the groomsman, asking the coded question.

  "So, how are you enjoying the festivities to this point my dear?"

  The waltz ended, and a new song began. The groomsman kept ahold of her, asking nonverbally to keep dancing with a smile. Damn. He had not answered her yet. The trio of string artists began to play something beautiful, something haunting, and in a moment Victoria realized it was Beethoven's fifth, but dressed up with a song she could not quite place. The young violinist stood and began to dance while she played. She was dressed a little oddly, not in a gown or formalwear like her two companions, but white pants adorned with gold thread in the form of the peculiar shaped F-holes of a violin, and a sky blue blouse that tapered down into an attached skirt of the same color that only covered her rear quarters. After a second or two, Victoria realized she was staring, and turned to accept her dance partner's offer of a second dance.

  "I'm sick of all this insincere," said the groomsman at last. "So I'm going to give all my secrets away."

  Victoria felt her brow furrow. She jumped a little at Charlie's voice in her ear as she tried to figure out the meaning of what the man had said. He spun her.

  "Guys! Four minutes! What do I put in?"

  I'm going to give all my secrets away. Secrets. Secrets! Victoria had placed the haunting romantic melody—Secrets by the group "One Dimension".

  "I'm sorry," Victoria said sweetly to the man. "I shouldn't have started this second dance. I really need to use the facilities. I'll be back!"

  "Of course, said the man with a little knowing smile."

  Victoria scratched again and activated her mic.

  "It isn't just the musicians," she said to her partners as she headed for the restrooms, "but the songs they are playing. I just got a second clue. My dance partner named a line from the song the group is playing, and the first clue was about raining sheets."

  "That's right," said Robin. "Musical sheets. So we are after their sheet music! But which do we grab?"

  Victoria entered the bathroom. There was no reason to stay, but she had to play her part. Besides, it was up to Robin now to get the third clue, and she had a job to do. Victoria began to tie up her hair, preparing to strip off her dress and operate completely in her stealth suit. There would no doubt be a limo ready to pick up the bride and groom soon, and if Victoria could slip away just long enough to reach it, while staying off camera . . .

  "Three minutes!" screeched Charlie in a low voice. "Hurry!"

  The door opened behind her, and Victoria ducked into a s
tall.

  "Oh come on out, Kingsly dear." said a poisonously sweet voice. "You don't have to hide from someone who could be your sister. I'm the bride after all. You should share in my joyous occasion with me and I haven't even gotten to talk to you yet. Such a shame."

  Victoria drew her gun from its holster, retrieved its silencer from a Velcro strap on her leg, and twisted it into place. She switched off her voice mic and stepped out from the stall in a shoulder width stance, pointing the weapon at Jessica's head. Jessica was alone. It was almost too good to be true, and probably was, but it occurred to Victoria that maybe there were cases in the real world where the information really did just fall in your lap.

  "Oh my!" Jessica mocked, pretending to gasp and placing her hand over her mouth. "Are you sure you aren't on camera? That looks dangerous."

  "Can it!" Victoria snarled as she took two steps forward, holding the weapon steady. Even in a bridal gown Jessica was sure to be very dangerous, having plenty of places to hide those knives of hers. "You think I'm an amateur? Bathrooms are off limit areas. And now you're going to tell me what you know. What's Carlo trying to smuggle? Where's it going to?"

  Jessica laughed and walked over to the sink to lean on it for support from her mania. It was an eerie sound that echoed off the pinkish white tile walls of the restroom. Victoria pulled back the hammer of her pistol.

  "You think this is a joke? I will end you here and now . . . sister. You're not my only lead. Tell me what I want to know. I don't have time to waste with you. "

  "No, I know," Jessica said, appearing to compose herself. "I know. But you see they really haven't told you anything have they?" Jessica pursed her lips. "I suppose this is all well above your paygrade. No way they would tell someone like you about these weapons."