THATS SO 80s - Steve Harrington

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

The next day rolls by, I leave Steve and Dustin to search for any Russian-looking men in the court, while Robin and I are in the Scoops Ahoy, Robin was listening to the secret message a few more times through headphones while being at the front of the counter.

Erica Sinclair, Lucas's sister, stands there with her group of friends as I'm leaning against the breakroom counter, reading a magazine. Robin has her back to the girls as Erica dings the bell constantly.

I lifted up Robin's headphones so she can hear me, and she gives me a look. "Ro, please get it to stop." I point to Erica, she was annoying as hell.

Robin turns around. Erica gives Robin a phoney smile, looking at the samples. "I'd like to try the peanut butter chocolate swirl, please."

Robin gives her back a phoney smile and a chipper attitude. "No. No more samples today." Robin declines. Erica had been coming in all morning.

"Why not?" Erica asked seriously, looking rather pissed.

"Because you're abusing our company policy," Robin replied smugly.

"Where's the sailor man?" Erica demands, trying to look in the backroom.

"Sorry, he can't help you," Robin tells her. "He's busy."

"Busy with what?" Erica asked, annoyed.

Robin smirks. "Spycraft."

Erica then leaves with her group of friends, leaving us in peace. "Ugh, thank God. Hey, Ro, can I have a free sample?"

Robin gives me a look. "You can have my free ice cream. What do you want?"

"Strawberry, please." I requested and she makes me one while muttering the words of the secret message under her breath. She hands me the ice cream and I began to lick it. "Hmmm—Hey, someone's at the door."

Robin nods and goes to the back, opening the door. A man in his 30s was there, from LYNX Transportation. He's wearing a dark blue uniform with the name LYNX Transportation on the left breast and a dark blue cap with the name LYNX on the front. He's carrying a medium-sized box.

"Delivery for you." The man says.

"Thank you," Robin says, accepting the package. Robin sets the box down before accepting the man's clipboard and pen and then signs her name for the delivery. Her attention is drawn to the logo on the man's uniform.

After signing her name, she hands him the clipboard and pen but doesn't take her eyes off his cap. "Have a nice day." The delivery man politely tells her.

"Yeah, you too," Robin says, clearly in thought. The delivery man leaves and Robin peers out the Scoops Ahoy's back door. "Silver cat? Silver cat!"

She jogs past me and I paused licking my ice cream. Steve and Dustin arrive in time from their so-called mission. "Hey, guys, you're not gonna believe who Dustin thought was a Russian." Steve smiled and his smile faded when Robin exits Scoops Ahoy, a look of certainty on her face as she leaves.

"You did too." Dustin accused, looking at Steve.

Robin cuts in between the two bickerings and rushes out of Scoops Ahoy. Robin runs in and steps on the bench in the Star Court mall. "A trip to China sounds nice!" She tells herself loudly, looking down at her notepad. "If you tread lightly..." She glanced around, eyeing Kaufman Shoes. "If you tread lightly..." As Steve, Dustin, and I approached her, she continued to mutter to herself.

"Uh, Robin?" I asked, a little concerned for my friend. "What are you doing?"

"I cracked it." Robin grinned down at us.

"Cracked what?" Steve asked.

She hops down from the bench. "I cracked the code."

︾ 

It was around 9 o'clock and pouring down with rain. Two heavily armed guards, both male, tall and fit, wearing all black unmarked uniforms watch as a transport truck reverses into the docking area.

Dustin, Robin, Steve, and I are on the roof overlooking the loading dock. Dustin is observing through his binoculars.

"Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman," Robin tells Dustin over the rain.

A man in a yellow raincoat was whistling, is rolling a handcraft stacked with three boxes. The top two are labelled: Imperial Panda.

"They're with the whistling guy," Dustin informed us.

The whistling man's yellow raincoat has the LYNX logo imprinted on the back. The man stops. "What do you think in there?" Steve asked.

"Guns?" Dustin suggested.

"Bombs?" I asked, squinting at the rain falling in my eyes.

"Chemical weapons?" Robin tried.

Another guard was standing nearby, he was not smiling. It was all seriousness. "Whatever it is, they're armed teeth," Dustin says.

Steve wiped the rain from his eyes. "That's great." He sarcastically says.

One Guard uses a keycard to unlock a set of solid steel double doors. They open. Another guard stands nearby and the whistling man awaits with his cart to get into the building.

"Hey, what's in there?" Robin asked, pointing to the room.

"It's just more boxes," Dustin replied.

Steve reaches for the binoculars. "Lemme check it out."

Dustin refuses to give up the binoculars. "No, I'm still looking." And they began to struggle over the binoculars, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Just give Steve—" I tried to fumble for it, but it slipped out of my hands and a loud crash was heard. I cringed. I bet this caught the attention of the guards. We're so screwed.

"Duck!" Dustin whispered and we all took cover behind the roof's ledge. Steve and I clutched onto each other's hands out of instinct. We both looked at each other, the rain falling down on us. Steve squeezes my hand.

"Stay here! Watch the door!" I heard a guard had snap.

"They're coming," I whispered harshly.

"What do we do?" Dustin panicked and I looked back over at the exit door on the roof that lead down.

"We go down." Crouching, I ran across the rooftop and made a dash for the door, Steve, Robin, and Dustin following me.

We managed to get back inside all drenched and wet before the Russians got to the roof and we make our way through the back entrees of Scoops Ahoy.

"I think we found your Russians," Robin says hurriedly.

"Me too," I murmur, my hand clutching onto Steve's.