Whitney opened the case to the security code box. She punched in the numbers from her Screen and the soft sound of a ringing bell came from inside the house. Whitney twisted the silver knob and pushed the door.
The front room had a small round table that appeared to be ivory with three metal chairs around it. Whitney walked down the straight hallway. There was a bedroom on the left and further down on the right she found a living room with black carpeting, green couches and an orange recliner.
Other than the odd color scheme, Whitney didn’t think it looked much different from a rental property on earth. Trent put their small cases in the bedroom and the two sat down on the couch.
Trent collapsed on the couch with an audible sigh. “Finally get to sit down on a comfortable couch.”
Whitney pushed him over and curled up with a big pillow that matched the light green fabric of the couch. She searched her armScreen for Roxelle’s gang and found Glint Chesswell’s file.
“Okay, so that guy owns that bar and he owns a diamond mining company too. That’s the one Roxelle works for too. It seems like we just found out that he is in on this diamond heist but why would he steal from himself?”
She searched around a little more on her device which worked much like the internet for finding out information.
She announced, “Here we go. This diamond mining company has four co-owners that they call sponsors. What, are they trying to get them to stop drinking or something?” Whitney chuckled. “I guess the word owner implies that they own the being. Who knows? I would guess he is going to screw over the other sponsors.”
Whitney kept thinking she had to unpack and get settled in, but they had barely brought anything with them. They also didn’t have to worry about food because of the pills, which might explain why there wasn’t a kitchen on the property.
“Ozzie said that they were all crooked, so that makes sense. I can’t believe we fell into this thing on the first day in the first bar we go to.”
“I know. It stills seems crazy, but we still have to be accepted in and we don’t even really know if this is the Soro Exxo plan. They could have all kinds of criminal activities going on. We might have to use this to somehow get into the other plan and disrupt their takeover of our friends’ planet.”
Trent and Whitney snuggled up on the couch and fell asleep for a few hours. A shrill sound woke Whitney up. The piercing hum was coming from her forearm. She opened the armScreen and a thumbnail picture of Glint Chesswell showed up.
She sat up and smacked Trent. Whitney said, “It’s Glint calling with an answer on whether we got into the crew or not.”
5
She tapped the image and it expanded to cover the entire screen. Glint’s voice came through her speaker. “I talked to the crew and they want to meet you. Why don’t you come back to the bar at 14 diaz? Does that work for you two?”
“Yes,” Whitney and Trent said, almost in unison.
Glint, “Great. I’ll see you then. Don’t be nervous. In fact, drinks are on me.”
“Thank you.”
Whitney did some quick calculations on her Screen. “That gives us about an hour to get down there. The commute wasn’t very long during the day. It might take longer because it will be night, but if we leave in about a half-hour, we should be on time.”
Trent yawned. “Then allow me to freshen up and we can go meet this band of thugs.”
Whitney started to look at the quick files on the people involved in the heist.
Harrins Lowry-B4576T: Werelion with a wide, unhealed scar under her left eye and several missing teeth. Talks in a purr. Dark eyes and painted nails.
Boggle Ritby-N9834H: Short, firm woman with blue flesh, purple eyes, close-cut blond hair and walks with a limp from a bad knee injury.
Marlowe Reed-R3498B: Silver-tinted being whose mouth is in the middle of his neck, instead of the bottom of his face like almost every other being. He has a dead left eye with a clouded surface almost blurring out his blue iris. Bright red hair.
Oswell Hawkins-C7483R: Extremely tall, reddish-brown male with no hair. Skinny being that walked awkwardly due his gigantic size. Two thumbs on each hand. Flat nose, emerald eyes and tiny ears.
Mimick-H3452A: Half-Droid. Robotic arms and legs. Turquoise fleshed male being with robotic eyes, a forearmScreen and long, black hair, swept across his head, occasionally covering his red eyes. Talks in a monotone and supposed to have lowered emotions. Thick eyebrows and a hairy chest.
Jazemore Ideny-G4566T: Short and thick bodied. Very close friends with Roxelle. Purple fleshed being with long black braids. Her current job gives her the ability to be a Code BREAKER.
Glint Chesswell-V5973D: Roxelle’s Sponsor. Tall, thick man with ashy white skin that he tries to cover with an artificial golden glaze that only smears in concentrated spots to look ridiculous. Slicked back thinning black hair in a ponytail and a long beard and mustache.
Whitney went back to the home screen and got ready to go to the bar. She and Trent wore tight, silver spandex suits with blue striping down the arms and legs. Whitney thought they looked ridiculous.
Even though Whitney had ordered another hoverCab to pick them up, a droneCab pulled up and came to a stop. The droneCabs drove on the street instead of flying. The black car shaped like a station wagon didn’t have a driver.
Trent got in the passenger door and Whitney hopped in the back. A monotone voice asked, “Are you ready for passage?”
Trent checked with Whitney to make sure she was in. He answered, “Yes.”
The driverless car pulled out on the road and headed into the city. The car whipped around the bends and reminded Whitney of most of the cab drivers in the big cities. The wagon pulled up in front of The Buzzed Being and Whitney paid the fare.
The bar’s automatic door opened and a cloud of smoke poured out. Whitney caught a big whiff of a cherry scented tobacco and it reminded her of the pipe her grandfather used to smoke. Even being on a strange planet, many light years from earth, there was a similarity that sparked a vivid memory. Small universe.
The bar was packed full of different life forms, which intrigued Whitney. She noticed several cigars and pipes being smoked near the pool tables. The bar was almost at capacity and the droid bartender appeared to have his hands full.
Whitney spied a few beings that matched the descriptions of some of the conspirators. She tried to be nonchalant as she and Trent headed for the end of the bar near the entrance. Glint came rushing over to them.
“Welcome back. I wanted you to see this place when there was a little action going on. This will also give you two a chance to have a few drinks first to loosen up. What are you two having?”
Whitney looked at Trent. “Same thing?” Trent nodded in agreement.
Whitney said, “We’ll have a Star Seeker and a Twisted Craft please.”
Glint smiled, which didn’t make him look much better. His busted brown teeth were in serious need of attention. He said, “Good taste. I’ll be out to get you around close. Don’t leave.”
A female server with ivory white skin and red hair brought out the drinks in a matter of moments. Whitney stood on the end of the bar, which gave her a good view of the rest of the place. She could have sworn she recognized Mimick and Oswell Hawkins. She was positive she had spotted Harrins Lowry and Boggle Rigby.
The server kept bringing fresh rounds of drinks that the couple didn’t even have to order.
“Let’s be careful and slow down our drinking. Remember the probing we’ve already received.”
A huge woman ducked to get through the entrance and everyone in the bar seemed to shift their attention to the new patron. The purple-fleshed being with long braids pushed her way through the crowded floor and found a seat in the middle of the bar.
The black eyes convinced Whitney that Roxelle had just walked past her. She was even bigger in real life than the measurements indicated. She weighed about twice as much as Whitney who still carried some of the baby weight.<
br />
“Did you see her?”
“Yep. Try not to stare.”
“I’m not.”
“You sure about that.”
“Anyway, she’s pretty intimidating, huh?”
“I guess. I’ve dealt with some pretty big hard asses so I’m not scared. Hell, you’ve dealt with some pretty rotten crooks too. Just think about how you were nervous going into those situations. She can’t be that bad.”
Whitney had a few more drinks and kept scanning the alien bar. She thought it was like the street scene from The Usual Suspects. It seemed like a few people among a big crowd were making secret eye contact with each other. They were all the aliens that Whitney was keeping track of.
The siren rang for last call and the bar started to thin out. Only about five or ten people remained and Glint came out from the side door.
He approached them and said, “I’ll be with you two in just a few moments.”
Everyone else went into the side door and Whitney and Trent were the only ones in the bar except for the workers. They stood next to the bar in a nervous silence and listened to the murmuring of the employees.
Glint finally returned and waved them over to the door. He led them down a hallway and into a room with a long rectangular table and about a dozen chairs around it. Roxelle’s gang occupied most of the chairs.
An unnerving silence followed and Whitney tried to remain calm. The alcohol helped but it was also making her sweat in the tight spandex outfit.
Roxelle stood up and walked around the table to stand directly in front of her. Roxelle kept eye contact the entire time. Her all-black eyes were freaking Whitney out. The alien towered over Whitney, who tried not to shake in fear.
6
The silent stare-down continued for an uncomfortable thirty seconds before Roxelle’s thick lips finally started to move.
She said, “What do we have here?”
Roxelle ran her fingertips up Whitney’s midsection and gently squeezed her breasts. Whitney backed up and said, “Excuse me.”
Roxelle shook her head and walked back to her seat. “No good. She’s going to freak out on us. We need someone who isn’t going to flinch when someone touches them.”
Whitney defended herself. “I’m sorry. I’m not used to people feeling me up before they introduce themselves. I’m not going to freak out during this job.”
Roxelle said, “This job, this job, what do you know about this job?”
“Nothing yet. Just that we were being considered.”
“Oh yeah, almost forgot about your little lover boy over there.”
“Why are you so hostile?”
Roxelle got up again and started to walk around the table. “You want to know why I’m so hostile. How bout I show you, instead of telling you?”
Glint stepped in front of her. “They’ve been swabbed. They are perfect for this mission. Why are you so against this?”
Roxelle ground her teeth and spoke without opening her mouth. “Cuz I don’t like this mouthy bitch.”
Glint suggested, “Why don’t we put it to a vote? Not that we even need to, considering we don’t have any other options.”
Roxelle sat back down. “Let’s vote. Just remember that we can find someone else. Probably someone that can shoot too. This is for the watch position.”
Glint smiled. “Alright, who wants them in?”
A few hands went up and Whitney took a quick count. Mimick, Boggle, Glint and finally Oswell’s hand slowly went up.
Roxelle instantly objected. “Only one of them can join.”
Glint asked, “Why?”
Roxelle said, “Because I said so. This was my gig from the beginning so what I say goes. You two are going to have a shoot-off to see who’s going to come on this mission.” She looked at Glint. “Is everything set up in the basement?”
Glint answered, “More or less. It could be ready in a few minutes.”
Roxelle turned her attention to Whitney and Trent. “You two ready to do some shooting?”
7
Whitney jumped off the last two steps and landed on the smooth stone floor of the basement of The Buzzed Being. Glint led them to a virtual shooting range. Roxelle handed Whitney a replica of a plasma blaster and Glint went down the alley to set up the shooting screen.
The owner turned the power on and came back to join everyone. The screen had a human on it, which made Whitney a bit uneasy. She wondered why the target they preferred was a man who looked like Trent.
“You get three shots. By that point you should have the sights aligned. We’ll start with a still target.” Glint showed Whitney the imaginary line where she needed to stand and backed away.
Whitney looked through the sights of the gun and lined it up over the target’s chest. She squeezed lightly and a red beam streaked across the shooting alley and hit the screen. She had missed over the man’s shoulder with the first shot.
Whitney took a deep breath and tried to remain still as she lined up the next shot. She held her arm steady, lined up the shot and pulled the trigger. The red beam nailed the target right in the heart. Whitney smiled and turned around. The crew appeared impressed until Roxelle spoke up.
She said, “You still have one shot left, you know?”
Whitney responded, “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Whitney pivoted, aimed the white pistol and fired. The red beam blasted the exact same spot on the digital target.
She turned around with a wide grin and handed the gun to Trent. She stepped back with the rest of the crowd. Trent took his time lining everything up before he finally fired. He hit the target in the abdomen.
Trent aimed again and squeezed off two consecutive shots that ripped into the heart of the digital target.
Roxelle still sported a sour face. “Alright. Maybe all is not lost. Glint, give them a moving target.”
The owner went back down to the target screen and reprogrammed it. He came back with a remote control in his hand. He said, “When I press this button, the target will slide across the screen like this.” He pressed the button on the remote and the male target moved across the screen from right to left.
The digital man who looked like Trent disappeared off the other side of the screen. Whitney took aim and waited. The target reappeared and Whitney got off three shots. The red lights zoomed toward the target and all three plasma replicas hit the man on the left side of his chest.
Trent excelled with the moving target too and the couple appeared to be gaining some respect as Glint kept increasing the speed. The two humans continued to pepper the chest of the digital man. Roxelle and Glint started whispering to each other.
She said to Glint, “I don’t care. You tell them.” Roxelle grabbed the gun from Trent and took a few shots.
Glint announced, “You two are in. Let’s hope we don’t need it, but that shooting will come in handy if we do. Better to have and not need than need and not have.”
Trent and Whitney smiled at each other. She wanted to kiss her man, but wasn’t sure how it would go over with the crew. She didn’t know if they preferred the members to be independent so she just pinched his side playfully.
The crew returned to the meeting room. Nine beings sat around a table covered with sketches of the diamond warehouse and its surrounding areas.
Roxelle pointed at Trent and Whitney. “You two, listen up. We’ve all been over this plan a thousand times so stop me if I am confusing you. It’s all very simple. We are going into the warehouse. We’re going to tie up the living guards and deactivate the computerized weapons. From there it’s just taking the diamonds out and getting them on the escape craft.”
Roxelle turned a few of the sketches toward Whitney and Trent. She pointed with a long purple index finger as she spoke. “You are the numbers four and five on this diagram. You two are going to be stationed behind this company sign outside the warehouse. If anything breaks out, shoot anyone you are sure about.”
A couple of her cohorts laughed and Roxelle shot a stern l
ook around the table. “I’m not joking. Just don’t shoot anyone sitting at this table. Everything should run smoothly and nobody should get hurt. This should only take a short amount of time and then we will have a planet of our own. We’ll send you back to Earth 43 whenever you want.”
“So that’s it?”
Roxelle nodded slowly. “That’s it. Just keep a lookout. If anything happens, you fire away and send us the emergency text so we know to get out of there. Like I said, it should never come to that.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
Glint warned, “Don’t take this duty lightly. All our safety will be relying on you. No pressure.”
The door flew open and crashed against the wall. A purple female with shaved ivory hair stood in the open doorway. She wore a tight golden suit with black leather boots up to her knees. She had a cat-like face and her tight jaw and gray eyes sang a song of anger.
Her deep voice bellowed, “What the hell is going on in here?” The woman was intoxicated and reeked of a body odor that smelled like cumin. “There they are.” She turned her attention to Whitney and Trent.
Whitney checked around to make sure the woman was referring to her.
The short woman, who wore a red belt above her thick hips, walked over to Whitney and Trent. “You two thought you could rip me off and get away with it?”
Whitney’s entire body thumped with her heart. She had no idea what this woman was talking about. “I’m sorry, are you talking to us?” She pointed a thumb at Trent.
The woman bounced up and down, laughing. “Now you’re going to play stupid. You thought I’d forget. You thought I’d forget what you looked like. Stupid humans.”
Trent stood up and Whitney followed suit. He said, “Look, I don’t know who you think we are, but…”
“Shut up,” the woman screamed and reached behind her back. She seemed to be wrestling with something until she produced a Plasma Blaster pistol.
Cosmic Diamonds (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures Book 4) Page 5
