Guardians of the Portals

by Nya Rawlyns

  “What are they calling themselves, Dad ... surely not ‘Greyfalcon’? That would be a little too much, wouldn’t it?”

  “GFI, hon. Incorporated, real nice tax-paying citizens. Hired themselves a whole stable of accountants and lawyers, some legit even. Dun & Bradstreet, Better Business Bureau, the works. They even have bank holdings.”

  “Money laundering?”

  “Nah, it’s a real bank, with genuine assets. Makes them a ton of capital. Don’t know the details on the other. Never asked.”

  “How do you know that Kieran will be there?”

  “I don’t. And I couldn’t ask for him, neither. That’d tip them off that I was up to something.”

  “But you think he’ll insist, won’t he?”

  “Yeah, I’m the one that got away.” He poked at her right hip. “With your help, I might add.”

  “Well, you’re lucky I was home. And even luckier it worked. I’d never tried that little trick before.” The shield had held just long enough for Jake to roll out of the way. She’d stared hard at Kieran, praying for a flicker of recognition in his eyes, but he’d given her a blank stare before bolting out the door. That he’d left her unharmed gave them both hope that it might not be too late, that their half-assed plan stood a chance in hell of working. She had trouble bringing herself back into the moment as Jake droned on.

  “Anyways, the top brass will want to know what I’m offering. They’ll figure I came across some skeletons in the closets and want to play let’s-make-a-deal. They leave me alone and I forget what I know.”

  “That’s not exactly a strong bargaining position.”

  “Huh, I know that, girl. Wasn’t born yesterday. All we need is to get in the door.”

  “What makes you think he’ll come along with us?”

  “Oh, he won’t. You can be sure of that.”

  “But we’re family, Dad. Why not?”

  “We aren’t, baby girl. Not anymore. They’ve made him a better offer.”

  “It could get nasty, Dad.”

  “I’m planning on it.”

  “Maybe, if I talked to him? We used to be close. You know how he’s always been with you.”

  “Yeah, well...” Jake pointed at an industrial park entrance off to the left. “Turn here.”

  Caitlin circled the nearly empty parking lot. She pulled into a space opposite the main entrance.

  “Should I leave it running?”

  “Nah, but leave the keys in. Just in case.” Jake placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Forgetting something, Lieutenant?”

  “Shit, right. Give me a minute.” Caitlin scrunched her eyes shut and willed the transformation. This time it phased much faster as she already had a template to work from. “How’s it look, Gunny?”

  “Smokin’ hot, babe.” He exited the vehicle and smoothed his jacket. He waited as she made her way around the front of the vehicle then barked a sharp laugh.

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “Wus.”

  “Kick ass with style. Flats. These I can run in.” Caitlin swung the sniper rifle strap over her head and settled the weapon at her side, one hand resting casually against the trigger. She got in line slightly to the right and behind her father.

  At the front door, Jake paused as two guards opened the doors and waved them through.

  “The elevators are to the left, sir. Uh, ma’am.” The nearest guard, shorter than Caitlin by an inch, pinned his gaze on her chest. Caty leaned forward ever so slightly to let him get a good look at her cleavage. Jake watched with interest, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

  They followed the second guard to the bank of elevators and waited for the doors to slide open on a sigh. Jake entered while Caitlin spun around and carefully backed in. She noted with interest that the rent-a-cops allowed them access while still carrying their weapons. That meant a virtual army would greet them when the elevator doors opened. Her dad was counting on curiosity and past association to smooth the way.

  Jake glanced at the bank of buttons and barked, “Floor?”

  “It’s pre-programmed, sir.” With that the guard backed away and the doors slid shut. Jake made a slashing motion across his throat. Caitlin nodded. They would be under surveillance though she wasn’t able to pinpoint a camera lens or microphone. At that point it was irrelevant. The elevator shushed to a halt and the doors slid open.

  Caitlin walked out first and lifted the rifle, spun in a circle, then unstrapped it and laid it carefully on the floor. She nodded and slowly backed away from the weapon, hands in the air. Jake walked out next and removed his shoulder holster. He set it next to the rifle and patiently waited while two men thoroughly patted him down.

  “This way, sir.”

  They followed a three-piece-suit down a lushly carpeted hall lined on each side with glass-fronted, well-appointed offices, heavy with mahogany and the veneer of legitimacy. Two guards flanked them with two more following. No one drew a weapon, just friends here.

  The Suit paused at an ornate wood door, keyed in a six-digit sequence and led the group into a small conference room. Jake’s eyes scanned the heavy drapery panels spaced along the entire edge of the right hand wall that likely hid a shielding system of some type. She watched as he mentally ticked off three video cameras and a barely discernible exit panel on the far wall. She’d made the discoloration the same time he did. It either led to a safe room or—they hoped—a private elevator for quick and silent egress from the building. Jake had thoroughly studied the building’s specs when he’d been a welcome guest and had observed certain anomalies. If he was right, one of these bolt holes would be close enough for them to use and having one right in the room was a stroke of luck.

  “If you would care to sit, I can see to refreshments.” The Suit pulled a thickly padded leather chair out for Caitlin who hip-swivelled over and sat with exaggerated slowness. Every eye in the room stared with unabashed lust as she crossed her legs and arched her back, straining the narrow strips of black leather across her breasts.

  Preferring not to sit, Jake took up position just behind his daughter, and waited. The four guards held their collective breaths as she gathered the mass of red hair and lifted it, then let it tumble forward again onto her shoulders. The Suit returned with a decanter and glasses.

  “Ma’am?” The young man handed her a glass. She stroked his wrist with an index finger. His pupils widened with shock, and he nearly dropped the glass. Caitlin smiled and grasped his hand, steadying the glass. Satisfied, she gave the entranced young man a brilliant smile and settled back with her drink. Jake waved his away. He visibly tensed when Caitlin inclined her head toward the door.

  Kieran and a short, barrelled-chested man entered the room. Caitlin almost lost control over her glamour. Kieran, at six-foot-two, had always had a muscular, athletic build with a broad chest and military demeanour even before his tours of duty. He’d let his black hair grow out and it hung in lank strands about his thin face. He had a scarecrow quality, twitchiness in his movements, and a glazed expression that she prayed came from some sort of glamour and not from what she most feared. Her father gripped the back seat of her chair, and she could sense the vibrations as he took in his son’s wastrel appearance.

  The older man spoke to his guards with an odd accent that Caitlin couldn’t place. “You may leave us, wait outside.” Dressed in casual attire with Dockers, boat shoes and a cashmere sweater, he looked as if he’d just come off an evening sail on the Bay. Kieran wore loose-fitting jeans and a plain black tee shirt, his shoulder holster empty, but she was sure he had one or more weapons cleverly concealed on his person. She couldn’t read him, body language, eyes, mouth—nothing radiated—his wasted body in lock-down to the drugs or whatever they fed him to keep him in line and loyal.

  Kieran paused as he scanned the room, his eyes resting briefly on her, assessing before moving on to settle on his father. He opened his mouth to speak but his capo waved him to the opposite side of the tabl
e and motioned for him to sit. Caitlin thought it made for an odd tableau. The two principals stood at attention while their lieutenants, and nominal body guards, lounged at their leisure in plush seats.

  “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure, Mr. O’Brien.” The capo nodded toward Caitlin and flashed a bright smile. He had small even teeth, with thin lips, verging on cruel, and a sculpted handsome face at odds with his height and build.

  Jake ignored the man and spoke to Caitlin, “You, over there!”

  She rose languidly, leaning far over to push away from the table and sauntered away from her father to stand by the door. Jake nodded approval. Had she opted to use the wall with the suspected hidden door, they might have bought the farm right then and there.

  Jake spoke first, “I didn’t expect to see you, Knutr. You honor me.” Caitlin blinked at the odd formality to her father’s tone of voice, so at odds with the way he normally spoke that it set her on edge.

  Knutr had turned his squat frame at an angle to the table, allowing him to keep one eye on her Amazon persona and one on his adversary. He patted Kieran, staring off into space and seemingly not paying attention, and responded, “But the honor is all mine,” the voice jovial and directed entirely at her. Uncomfortable at the raw lust in the capo’s eyes, she had to force herself to shift her hips as she took an exaggerated breath. At that point even Kieran broke out of his daze and stared mesmerized. She had their undivided attention.

  Caitlin hoped they’d move this along. She wasn’t sure how long she could maintain the façade without draining her energy reserves. Her role had two main components—as a distraction so that Jake could figure out how to incapacitate the capo, and as a deflector for when the bullets inevitably started flying. That both GFI men were armed to the teeth with lethal weapons was a given. Their subterfuge rested on convincing the capo that he indeed held the upper hand. So far, it seemed to be working.

  Caitlin struggled to maintain her concentration as Jake and the capo engaged in stilted pleasantries. She ticked off the minutes, aware of her father’s increasing agitation. The delay could only mean one thing—Knutr had more in play than what was evident in the room.

  It always amused her that when the bad guys got confronted with the forces of good, instead of just shooting them dead and going on with whatever they could be doing, they prevaricated and left the proverbial door open for “The Great Escape”. The vision, almost like a movie set, materialized as her glamour disintegrated into a new paradigm. Distant voices provided a pleasant background hum as she wove the fabric of her imagination.

  Even Kieran’s gasp of “son of a bitch” wasn’t enough to roust her from the compelling interplay that held her in thrall.

  Jake’s sharp slap on her face finally broke the spell. “We’re leaving now.”

  She grunted, “The capo?”

  “Taken care of. Now move, girl.”

  “Kieran.”

  “By the bolt hole. He’s out cold. Come on. Shake it off.”

  She whispered, “I’m sorry, Dad. I lost control over the glamour.”

  Jake worked frantically at the hidden panel and finally managed to pry it open enough to grasp it with both hands and tear it away from the wall. An elevator door slid silently open to reveal a five-by-seven foot box, barely large enough to fit all of them inside.

  “Grab his feet. We’ll drag him in.” Jake grabbed his son’s shoulders as Caitlin lifted his legs. The boy felt light as a feather. Jake spoke what she was thinking, “I hope to hell we’re not too late.”

  Caitlin squeezed into the narrow space and Jake punched a button as the door slid shut. Just before it closed completely, an alarm sounded at a deafening volume. Jake cursed and pressed the stop button before the elevator could move.

  “What are you doing? Don’t we need to get to the ground floor or something?”

  “I’m thinking, girl. Be quiet a minute.”

  Caitlin looked down at her brother. “What did you do to him?”

  “He’ll live. Listen to me. Forget about him. We need to get you out of here.”

  “Me? No, we came for Kieran, that was the deal. It’s all of us or none of us. I’m not leaving without him.”

  Jake grabbed his daughter’s shoulders and shook her hard. “I can’t carry him, not even the two of us can do it. They’ll be waiting at every floor for us to pop out. Leave him, kiddo. He ain’t worth it.”

  “Dad!” she sobbed as Jake punched the open button. The door slid silently ajar to an empty room. He reached around to the console, hit a button and backed away as the door once more closed, leaving Kieran in a crumpled heap in the elevator.

  “He’ll be our distraction now. Come on. We’ve gotta go.”

  “Where? There’s nowhere to go!”

  “We ain’t down and out yet. Come on, we’re going up to the roof.”

  Caitlin moaned a long drawn-out “Nooo!” as her father half carried and half dragged her down the hallway to an exit door leading to a stairwell. The ear-splitting clanging made talking impossible.

  He yanked the steel door open and ushered her through. She glanced down, her instincts screaming for escape toward the familiar but Jake hissed, “Up!” She took the stairs as fast as she could. Jake stayed behind her, offering assistance when she faltered. She wasn’t sure she’d make it to the top before her legs gave out or her lungs burst. Fit was one thing, fleeing for your life added a whole other level of difficulty. And she hadn’t a clue what they were supposed to do once they made the roof of the ten-story building.

  Jake elbowed past and barrelled through the safety door then skidded to a halt. The distant sound of a chopper on fast approach, and muted sounds of shouting from below, competed with the thud of her erratic heartbeat and the pounding of blood through her veins. It was pitch black on the roof but her father stepped confidently to his left and sought out the A/C unit and ventilation system. He used his hands to feel along the smooth metal until he found a door fastened with an ordinary Yale lock.

  “Open this.” He handed her a key while he stood watch. She quickly unlocked the door and stepped aside as the flimsy metal door swung open.

  “What’s this?” Caitlin had to shout in his ear as the din had increased exponentially.

  “Your way out, girl. Come here. I need to get you suited up.”

  “Please don’t tell me you’ve got one of those parachute things in there.”

  Jake looked at her with an odd expression and laughed out loud.

  “Fuck, why didn’t I think of that?”

  Chapter Five

  “Dad, I’ve got a problem.” She swivelled her head, keeping watch but the rooftop remained clear, for now.

  “Shush, girl. I’ve got my hands full. Need to concentrate here.”

  “I didn’t change completely!”

  Jake asked, “Whadya mean, you didn’t change completely? You blew it in there. That damn brother of yours made you while you went off into la-la-land.”

  Caitlin yanked at her fine, straight hair and quickly ran a hand over her nose and mouth. She wriggled her shoulders, confirming what she’d suspected but hadn’t had time to think about in their mad dash up the stairwell. Now that she had to stand back and watch her father make preparations in the dim ambient light from the parking lot floods, with the noise of a helicopter on fast approach, and a small army in the parking lot ten floors below them in full search mode, time slowed and her perceptions came into sharp focus.

  “My clothes. They didn’t change!”

  She leaned over and felt the slick leather straps glide across her small breasts, no longer binding her tight. The only thing keeping them in relatively the same place was an ornamental silver pin that anchored the pieces of leather together between her breasts. If she moved quickly, the straps slipped off to the side or toward her navel and she was left with no foundation garment. She had no other word for what the strange attachments could possibly be called.

  Jake grunted, “Well, make ’em change.
I’ve got a tangled length of line here and I can’t see well enough anymore, so for God’s sake shut up for a coupla minutes while I work it out.”

  Caitlin mumbled, “Shit,” and turned to watch the approaching chopper. It had yet to turn on its high-powered floods; once the pilot did that, her dad would see just fine and they’d be perfect targets.

  “Let me help. My hands are a little more flexible than yours.”

  Jake flipped a length of line back to her, then knelt awkwardly and fished a metal box out of the innards of the storage closet. He opened and removed something that glinted briefly in the ambient light. The solid snick of a magazine being loaded into a weapon and the chink of metal-on-metal rang loud and clear as the waves of shouts from Greyfalcon’s militia faded briefly. The ‘pfft-pfft’ of the chopper dissipated as it dropped below rooftop level, obviously landing somewhere in the parking area. Jake motioned her closer. He looked like he had a plan, one she wasn’t going to like.

  “Come here. I’m gonna put this here harness on you,” Jake explained as he strapped a climber’s harness onto her thin frame, “and then I’ll anchor you to one of the pitons I put in place awhile back. I’ve got ’em on every floor except the first two. Figured I could survive a two story fall easy enough.”

  Caitlin spat out, “Not now you couldn’t,” trying for levity but the worry and uncertainty came across as surly and spiteful. Before she could apologize her father hissed, “Don’t you give me lip, we don’t have time. You listen and listen good.”

  Stammering, “I-I’m...” she failed to find the words to cover her anxiety.

  “Never mind that. Before the chopper goes airborne again and lights us up like a Christmas tree, I’m going to create a distraction.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that, Dad.”

  “You’re not supposed to, girl.” Jake moved in close and spoke into her ear, “Over to my right, other side of this A/C unit, round the corner, is the main parking lot. They’ll be keeping a close eye on the van, expecting us to make a break for it at some point, if we can. They’re not dumb. They’ll have figured out we’re on the roof and they’ll send a team up the stairs, if they ain’t already on the way. The chopper will light us up and herd us to them.”