Chapter Twenty-three
Brownstone Street
October 24...
Sunday...
8:41 A.M...
Nile Sector, Commorance Vicinage...
In a large cage beside the Bes Hotel, birds in a rainbow of colors chirped to an artificial morning. The hotel built a glass and steel aviary next to their main building so guest could walk out of the lobby into the center of a mock rainforest, and several lamps generated the sun of the Light Side. One of the upbeat regions of Noir, the upper-class part of the Nile Sector called the Commorance Vicinage, produced a wealth of hotels, fine restaurants, high class shops, and large residential properties. Business people and retail employees filled the sidewalks as they made their way to work, and children played along the well lit streets. A few dogs barked as their owners took them on walks, and a white Commercial Class He-Zeppelin glided over the brightly lit city. The helium-filled airship's twin engines roared, cutting through the thick atmosphere. Oxygen cells fed clean air directly into the intake valve, keeping the engines running in the polluted sky. A message in green neon letters ran across the He-Zeppelin's side. Buy Valhalla Water, the liquid from heaven. It comes from the purest source, underground springs in Iceland. So Buy Valhalla Water, H2O of the gods.
Cars and trucks drove up and down the busy Brownstone Street in front of the Bes Hotel, and Kat got out of a taxi and walked up to the stoop belonging to Melissa's address. The house was across the street from the hotel. Earlier, she had taken a hover train to reach this part of Noir. Kat noticed a black van with dark tinted windows parked near Bes and panicked. She needed to get a hold of her paranoia. The Council and the Factory could no longer track her, so it was just a van. No one was after her, and Kat nodded as if she convinced herself and moved to the front door, keeping an eye on the van. She removed the white Bible from her bag and rang the doorbell.
Before anyone answered, Stephanie walked up behind her. "Hello again." She wore a similar outfit as before, but this time the smiley face had a bullet hole in the center of its forehead, and blood trickled down from the cartoon wound.
"Hello," Kat replied.
Stephanie noticed her suspicious gaze and tried to divert her mistrust by asking, "Are you also here to see Preacher's sister?"
Across the street...
Two men in white uniforms and caps exited the black van, went to the rear of the vehicle, and opened the two back doors.
On the stoop...
"Yes, I've come to see Melissa," Kat replied, feeling a bit unsettled around Stephanie; their meeting before and now seemed too much of a coincidence.
"Me too." Stephanie glanced up and down the street, spotted the van, and turned back to Kat. "Can't wait to see Chuck again."
Kat corrected, "Chad."
"Huh?" Stephanie was unsure why she seemed irritated.
"His name's Chad," Kat said as she glanced over Stephanie and saw no evidence of any weapons on her person, but she did carry a bright yellow backpack large enough for several.
"Right, Chad."
Across the street...
The two men unloaded a large rectangular crate as another black van pulled up behind the first. Two more men in white uniforms exited the second vehicle.
On the stoop...
A security camera mounted on the wall above them turned to get a better view of them as a man spoke through an intercom, "Can I help you?"
"I'm Kat. I'm here to see Melissa and Chad."
After a few minutes, a bodyguard with a blond ponytail and wearing a black suit opened the door. He looked so much like Argus he could have been his twin, and their resemblance unsettled Kat. A second bodyguard with brown, wavy, shoulder length hair stood behind him and had his gun drawn. The second bodyguard was one of the ones from the funeral.
The first bodyguard the one who looked like Argus pressed the button on his earpiece. "Johnson, Andrews here. There are two female guests at the door. One's named Kat." Andrews nodded as he listened and turned to the other bodyguard. "Daniels, Ms. Odin says to let them in."
Daniels held a metal detector wand and turned to Kat. "Lift your arms please." He ran the wand up and down her body. "Are you carrying any weapons?" The metal detector beeped as he ran it over her bag.
Still stunned by their resemblance, Kat stared at Andrews for a few seconds. He looked so much like Argus; it was almost uncanny. She turned to Daniels and answered, "Yes, I have a weapon; it's a gun." Kat motioned with her head to her back. "It's in my pack."
"I'll need you to hand it over before I can let you in," Daniels said.
Kat removed her backpack, pulled out the Beretta, and handed the gun to the bodyguard.
Daniels took it and put the weapon in a drawer of an entry table. He locked the drawer with a key and placed the key in his pants pocket, and then Daniels looked to Stephanie. "Lift your arms." He ran the wand up and down her body. "Do you have any weapons?" The wand detected no metal.
"No, nothing," Stephanie answered.
"I need your bags."
They handed the packs over with no objections.
Andrews pointed to Kat's hand. "What's that?"
"A Bible. I brought it for Melissa."
"I didn't know she was religious." Daniels holstered his gun and held out his hand. "I'll need to see it." He flipped through the book and handed it back to her. "I'll need to pat both of you down."
"Of course." Kat slightly lifted her arms.
He frisked her then Stephanie. "They're clear."
Andrews pressed the button on his earpiece. "Johnson, we're bringing the women into the house."
"Follow me." Daniels led them down the entry to a white and black checker tile living room.
Ahead of them and to the right was a staircase leading up to the middle of an open second floor. On the left, a large sectional white leather couch in the shape of a C stood in front of a huge TV.
Chad looked up from a video game and ran to Kat and in his excitement, he kicked a baseball glove to a metal bat he'd laid by the TV. "You came!" Chad wore a gray hooded sweat shirt and jeans.
She wrapped her arms around the excited boy. "Is Melissa here?"
"I'm here." She walked in from the kitchen, drying her hands on an apron. Melissa wore a light gray dress with a flower pattern.
Kat smiled at Chad. She was so happy to see him again. Kat walked over to Melissa. "I brought you this." She held up the book. "It was Preacher's. I think he would want you to have it."
Melissa looked to the worn leather cover and stared at it for a few moments. Sadness shown from her eyes, but there was something more, and she took a step back. "No."
Katharine's view...
Her reaction bewilders me, and I wonder if I see hatred in her expression and if so, what is it hatred of? Preacher's killer or Preacher himself?
End Katharine's view...
Melissa took another step back. "I think you should keep it. He would want you to keep it." She nodded as if that was the solution. "Yes, you keep it."
Katharine's view...
Either way, I don't care.
"Thank you," I tell Melissa.
I place the book against my chest, grateful I have something of Preacher's, so I'll never forget him.
Stephanie's view...
I look to the book with interest. Pandora must have really loved the guy; too bad he's dead, he could have been useful.
End Stephanie's view...
Melissa acted awkwardly, still looking at the book, then she noticed Chad, and her expression changed as she asked, "Anyone for chocolate chip cookies? They're hot out of the oven. I know it's a little early in the morning, but it's a special occasion."
"Yeah, me!" Chad yelled, dashing into the kitchen.
Melissa looked to the bodyguards. "Andrews... Daniels... What about you two?"
"No, thank you," they both answered.
Melissa turned back to the women. "Co
me on, ladies. Before the boy eats them all."
The three women walked into the kitchen, and the heavenly aroma of baking dough and chocolate hit them. Melissa's little girl and Chad sat on barstools around a rosewood granite island. The island was in the middle of the large kitchen with matching tile floors. The third bodyguard was bald and stood off in the corner, and he also had been at the funeral. Kat sat next to the boy as Chad and the little girl dunked their cookies in glasses of milk. Stephanie watched them then sat beside Kat.
"Would you like coffee?" Melissa asked the women. "There's a fresh pot."
"If it's okay. I'd like to have milk," Kat said.
"Sure." Melissa turned to Stephanie. "What about you?"
"Coffee," she answered. "Black."
"Coming right up." After some time, Melissa placed a small glass of milk in front of Kat and a mug of coffee in front of Stephanie, and then Melissa set a plate in front of each of the women and grabbed a metal sheet pan from the stove top with an oven mitt. She took a spatula, removed a warm cookie from the sheet pan, and placed it on a plate, and she repeated till each of her guests had two.
Kat watched Stephanie pick up the cookie, dunk it in the coffee, and bite into it. Her blue-green eyes widened.
"Mmm..." Stephanie swallowed. "This is good."
Katharine's view...
I continue watching her. Preacher's sister has a security detail, and then a horrible thought crosses my mind. Could she be after Melissa and not me?
I take a bite of my cookie, stare at the granite counter too preoccupied to enjoy the treat, and then say, "You don't know me very well Melissa, but I hope you don't mind me asking. Why do you have bodyguards?"
End Katharine's view...
Stephanie perked up also interested.
Melissa turned to the children. "Chad, why don't you take Bonnie up to her room to play while I talk with Kat."
"Yes, Melissa. Come on, Bonnie. Let's go play in your room."
Melissa waited till the children left and heard them walk up the stairs, and then she placed the sheet pan and spatula on the counter. "My contract with the Valhalla Corporation is in dispute." Melissa sat on the barstool next to Kat. "You see, I'm a chemist and after my ten year term ended with the corporation, I left. One year after that, I started a new job and developed a formula, and Valhalla claims they are entitled to anything I may have started while in their employment, but I never began work on this formula until I started my new job. The corporation I work for now, Isis, sent these bodyguards to protect me and my family until the delegation in court is over. Valhalla has no legal claims, but Isis fears they might convince the Assassins Guild to send a Closer after me, so I have these men here till the matter is settled." She looked up at the ceiling. "This place isn't my house but a safe house."
Kat looked to Stephanie who downed another cookie and then turned back to Melissa and asked, "You said today was a special occasion. What is it?"
"Yes. Oh, no. Did you forget?"
Kat had no clue. "What?"
"It's Chad's birthday."