Nesert

1.22

The Air Force clearly wanted to contain Nes to as small of an area as possible and acquired a small house close to campus for the two young women. Within walking distance also meant there would be no reason to entrust Nes with a car, a freedom that also carried quite a bit of risk. She laughed to herself about all the precautions. She could steal a car if she really wanted to get away. At some point she may have to teach them a few lessons on their inability to restrict her without her consent so they'd stop wasting resources on guarding someone who couldn't be guarded.

As they walked through the nearly empty house with its scuffed wood floors and the faded outlines of where rugs had lived for decades, Nes could pull up memories to imagine what it had looked like freshly built. Sekhmet had renovated a few old homes, enjoying the restoration of old things. Nes could understand that desire better now. It was a need to bring the past back to the present, to pull her memories along with her, to assure herself they were still there.

She caught Hailey's eye, but the new lieutenant clearly just saw an old house with peeling paint and broken kitchen cabinets. "I could have been living on campus if it weren't for you. Now I'm stuck in this dump."

"So very sorry. Next time I'll request a mansion west of here." She drenched the comment in sarcasm, but inwardly smiled, knowing she did actually own a rather large home not too many blocks away. Sekhmet had enjoyed mingling with the intellectual crowd of the various universities at times and had built a house here in the late 1800s. Nes hadn't been there yet, but the memories were vivid and she wished she could do her studying sitting in the leather chairs of the wood paneled library, listening to the logs crackling in the stone fireplace. Still, this small house had windows and sunlight and that had become a luxury for someone who'd been living underground or in the dark of space.

Nes turned to the Air Force captain who had brought them to the house from the airfield. "How bugged is it?"

"Excuse me, Miss?"

"I just want to know where I can be naked without causing a stir in an unmarked van parked somewhere or one of the houses close by or wherever it is that you've set up shop to keep an eye on me. Seems like it would be fair to notify Lt Hailey as well."

The smaller woman's face went pale and the captain crossed his arms. "We're actually set up in the garage on the back of the property and you're welcome to come see where we have cameras. With the firehouse next door, it shouldn't look very odd when they change shift."

She smirked and took a deep breath. "I'm glad we'll all have such a nice cover for men coming and going." Firemen? Next door? Were they trying to get them killed?

Nes twisted and took off at a brisk walk towards the back of the house, heading out through the patio doors and across the backyard. Initially she couldn't see any access into the garage beyond the main overhead door, but she noted the trampled bushes on the far side and shoved her way through the brush to locate a mostly hidden entrance. She barged in abruptly and found two officers sitting at desks and surrounded by various screens.

The men turned to her unsurprised and she noted that she could see Hailey and the captain coming across the yard on one of the monitors.

"Hello, boys."

"Miss Saeda," they greeted her in unison.

She grabbed a chair from along the wall and placed it between the two of them and crossed her legs. "So, where will you be spying on me?"

"Our cameras are only on the outside of the house, Miss."

"And microphones?"

"Our job is simply to watch your comings and goings."