Always a Catch

“So, what’s the catch?” Linna tossed the loose bangs of her deep purple pixie cut from her hazel colored eyes, which stared intently at the woman across from her. The woman, Allie, was smaller than Linna, with a tight braid of her brown hair spun into a bun on the back of her head.

Her gray eyes met Linna’s and she smiled with a shake of her head. “Ms. Linna, there isn’t always a catch. I assure you, the job is easy. We’ve even provided the equipment you’ll need for it.”

Linna’s gaze was drawn to the case that Allie revealed from behind her desk. It was fairly large, at least three feet tall and four across. Luckily Allie kept her desk fairly clean, so it wasn’t disturbing anything there. She sat it on the desktop, and pushed it across for Linna to inspect.

Linna quickly flicked open the latches, and popped the case open. It revealed, sure enough, a slew of different pieces of equipment, from night vision goggles, to a grappling hook, and even a powerful ranged stun gun. That was, she noticed, the only weapon in the briefcase. She eyed Allie with skepticism again, and Allie simply nodded.

“That is all you will need. The warehouse isn’t large. We assume it’s due to them wanting to keep their research closely wrapped and unnoticeable.”

“Then how did you notice it?” Linna interjected, and Allie replied without missing a beat.

“A man on the inside. As you’re aware, Germotech has its feelers everywhere. We have a man inside every large, small, national, global, underground - you get the point - researching group known and unknown.” Allie’s smiles grew, and the crows feet on her eyes crinkled happily. “It’s our job, of course.”

Linna studied her for a few more minutes, then closed the case in front of her and rose. Though her doubts still lingered, she nodded her head, and said, “Alright. I’ll get started, then.”

It was a fairly cold night. With her mask down, Linna could see her breath. It made no difference to her, however, so paying no mind, she pulled the pliers from her belt and began to clip away at the chain link fence at the northeastern corner surrounding the warehouse.

While she was cutting, she studied the outer walls of the building. And it was, as Allie said, fairly small. It was twenty thousand square feet, with a few garage doors scattered across the sides. Some were open, Linna thought, as to make it seem like the warehouse was abandoned. The doors that were closed also showed no signs of there being life inside.

“Seems Allie wasn’t kidding,” Linna whispered to herself as she clipped the last link, pulling it free of the fence and hiding it within the brush she’d hidden herself in. She compared the map Allie had supplied her with again with her location and the east wall, and confirmed roughly where her entry point would be.

Despite no obvious signs of any surveillance, Linna kept low as she sprinted across the open field to the first garage door against the wall. It was closed here, and Linna had a suspicion that the closed doors were the entry points she needed.

She hugged the wall, edging her way toward the window on the door to peer in. To her frustration, she couldn’t see anything. In fact, she was nearly positive that the glass had been covered with something to prevent outsiders from seeing inside.

Not going to waste time on the doors, then, Linna thought, and now pulled the grapple hook from her belt. She looked side to side, to be sure no one had noticed her, and then aimed at the lip of the roof. The shot was silent, and the hook itself made no sound until it securely hugged the wall with a sound of confirmation - “ting” - of metal on metal.

She tugged the rope roughly a couple of times, to ensure she wouldn’t pull the hook loose, then began to scale the wall. It took only a few seconds for her to make her way up and over the lip, and she gathered the rope and rested it with the hook on the rooftop.

Linna looked around, and noticed there were only five vent openings on the roof of the warehouse. It struck her as weird, and was one of the things that made her wary of the job when Allie had first shown her the layout. But, she was already here, and nearly inside, so she bee-lined for the vent the map designated her entrance.

It was settled roughly above the center of the building, and as Linna inspected it, she discovered the vent cover was missing. The pit she had felt during the debriefing was returning, but she shook it off as a mere coincidence. The sooner she finished here, the better. She slunk her way into the vent opening, and carefully stepped down so as to not make any noise. It was a tight fit, even for her small frame, but she was able to slide her arms and legs to keep from making too much sound.

The map told her to move south from her point, then turn west. The warehouse had no vent access in that area, oddly, and it didn’t even connect the one closest to it - which was only about thirty feet from it. All the same, Linna continued her advances, and soon enough, the turn presented itself to her.

As she continued through the vent, she began to notice that there was no heat moving through the vent. She paused, pulled her mask down, and blew out her breath. It was still visible, even though she was inside now.

Again, the pit returned, but she pushed forward against the doubt, knowing that it could trip her up. Besides, she was almost done as it was, and she could put all of this behind her.

Only a little further ahead of her, she could see the vent cover leading into the building. She peered in, and saw the room splayed out below her. There was her objective - the beakers and vials of the…well, she didn’t know what was in them. She never knew, she just retrieved it.

And she was used to that, she’d always been used to that. So why was she having such deep doubts now? Even then, she had something eating away at her on the inside. Perhaps it was that the job was so easy. Maybe it was because she was given everything she needed, and wasn’t using her own equipment.

The nagging didn’t stop until Linna took a deep breath and forced herself to begin moving the vent cover into the room. From the opening, she could see all the walls and corners of the room. There was one door leading in, and the walls were fitted with a couple of windows on the west and east side, though Linna could see nothing from them.

Another breath, and Linna let herself down into the room, landing on the floor next to the table that the beakers were on. She pulled her backpack off and pulled the containers from inside and began transferring the contents of the beakers into them.

The liquid was actually quite beautiful, swirling around in bright, almost luminescent colors. After the fourth beaker, a scent began to fill the air. Linna sniffed a couple of times, recognizing the smell. Is that…Kool Aid?

Linna sniffed the fifth beaker, and her brow furrowed. “What the hell…?” She said to herself, and just as quickly as she finished, she heard a response.

“Try it. It’s quite delicious. If you like the stuff, at least,” a male voice filled the room, and Linna dropped the beaker in surprise. It shattered across the floor, prompting the voice to speak again.

“Oh, now what a waste. That’s fine, you’re the one who has to live with it for the next few months…roughly,” the voice trailed off, the clicking of a keyboard replacing it.

“What the hell do you mean? Who are you?” Linna responded in a panicky voice, glancing all over the room for a sign of who was speaking, or maybe even an escape route. She felt beyond trapped, almost sure there wasn’t a way out.

“My apologies, perhaps I shouldn’t be the one to explain this. Please bring your attention to the door in the room,” the voice said, and it, as well as the typing sound, ceased. Linna’s eyes shot to the window of the door, and in the glass there was a familiar face.

Allie.

“What the hell-”

“Let me explain. I’ll keep it simple,” Allie said, with the same smile she’d given to Linna the day before. “You’ve been working for us for a while now, Ms. Linna. What is it, five years now? You’re simply exemplary, you follow orders with no question and no deviation. Your results are always perfect, and you seem to genuinely enjoy your work.

“But, you’ve been injured a few times now. A concussion first, which kept you out for a couple of months. The cut you received to your ribs a year into your tenure, which healed quickly, but still left you out of the job for a month. Then, when you broke your leg, compound fracture, which lost us six months of productivity from you. You just got back from that one six months ago.

“After your last mission, we saw you started limping again. It seems you’re still feeling the effects of the injury you suffered. And that isn’t good.”

“So what, you’re concerned about me?” Linna snapped, throwing her arms up in the air. “I don’t need a vacation. I’ll get over it. It just gets a little sore sometimes.”

“Oh no, we weren’t planning a vacation or some time off for you, Ms. Linna,” Allie’s smile widened, and the crow’s feet almost seemed to dance with anticipation on her eyes.

Linna squinted at Allie, trying to get a read on her. Then, it all hit at once, and Linna’s eyes grew wide.

Allie could see the understanding on Linna’s face, and she nodded, “Good. It seems we are on the same page. Your testing will begin tomorrow. As for tonight, please be sure to get good rest. The ‘Androfication’ process can be quite strenuous on the system. It will be easier on us if you survive for as long as possible during it.”

Linna sprinted to the door, driving her fist against the glass, trying to break it. On the third punch, a pulse of electricity blew from it, sending Linna sprawling onto her back, out of breath.

Allie shook her head, her face one of disappointment. “You may not like this, Linna, but please do have some tact. I will see you again in the morning.” Linna leaned against the counter behind her, catching her breath as she watched Allie disappear. There was the sound of static, before Allie’s voice filled the room.

“Oh, Ms. Linna. I do have to apologize for one thing. I told you there wouldn’t be a catch to this mission. That was a lie,” Allie’s voice was filled with joy, and Linna could feel her laughing, even though the room had slipped back into silence again.