Passage of Winter

Making contacts

The internet was an impressively useful tool. Ann learned quickly, including the existence of the dark web and how to access it. This unsavory part of the electronic superhighway was even more useful, allowing her to monitor the global underworld, directly and indirectly, and to put out feelers. She didn't know a whole  lot of people anymore and there were even fewer who she wanted to talk to, but she did know a few key individuals who'd been harmed by Hydra, a partner, or a knockoff clone. The quality of news coverage had gone downhill, she felt, and managed to find a few worldwide sources she felt were trustworthy. Even state-run media were helpful, in that she could at least track what repressive governments were telling their people, but it was harder with the so-called 'free press.'

She had a list of things to do; she didn't trust her memory, so she wrote things down. She'd been very surprised to find that fountain pens were still available--ballpoints tended to leak all over her, for some reason, and the ink was sticky and unpleasant--but displeased to find that the quality of paper, like the news, had declined. She had to pay more to get paper that would hold up to the fountain pen ink, but it was worth it. Writing with the pen, a cheap Platinum Preppy, was calming as the ink flowed across the page. Observation of people on the street showed that small devices, which she'd learned were called smartphones, were popular and also allowed her to access the internet to an extent. Hydra personnel had had them, but nobody had explained to her what they were or what they did, and she wasn't permitted independent contact with the world outside the organization, so she had to learn. She'd aged some of her currency artificially to avoid notice, and bought herself an iPhone, a popular model, as well as a laptop from a different manufacturer. Avoiding loyalty to specific things had been drilled into her training in the OSS. Be adaptable, be flexible, and don't make habits.

She also found at least short-term housing. Hydra had a secret underground bunker off the disused but beautiful City Hall Station. Located in the southern tip of Manhattan, the station had been closed right after World War II. The 6 train still went through, but it was closed, aside from tours a few times a year, and quiet and secure. The lighting fixtures still provided illumination, and skylights let in natural light. There was power and water in the bunker, so things could be--and had been--a lot worse. She knew the location of all the bunkers and facilities HYDRA had on the east coast, and she'd had enough access to the facilities to get in and report to her handler if something went wrong. She accessed this bunker easily, promptly eliminated all other biometric data, and changed its status in the system to "discovered and closed," and severed it from the HYDRA network. It was as secure as she could manage, and she changed all the internal cameras to only her access. She unplugged her laptop from the ethernet cable each time she went offline for security.

It was pretty nice, for a secret underground fascist facility, but then it had been meant as a refuge for upper-echelon HYDRA officers and a reasonable bevy of minions. It had a big kitchen, bathrooms, a private suite meant for whoever could claim the highest rank, a large room with bunk beds, a complete and well-equipped gym, a small shooting range and supplied armory, conference rooms and additional offices, an executive office with an exterior office space for lower ranks, an impressive library, and a general purpose room. She closed off the common bathrooms, the bunk room, and conference rooms and offices, keeping to the kitchen, the private suite and office, library, and shooting range. The general purpose room was mainly used as a place to drop her coat since there was no coat closet. In the private office was a large safe with a truly obscene amount of cash, in many different denominations--dollars, pounds, and Euros.

She took some of that cash and went shopping.

The bunker hadn't been used since the early 2000's and needed to be cleaned and restocked. At the hardware store--another dazzling big box store--she bought hasps and padlocks to secure the disused rooms and show if access was attempted. The kitchen was well-stocked with equipment, so all she needed was food, once she'd figured out how to plug the refrigerator in again. She heard about a place called Walmart, which did high-volume business, good for her, but there were a lot of security cameras and some very odd people shopping there who other people took pictures of. So she went to Target instead. Many times. The first trip was for food, cleaning supplies and personal care products. She had made a list. She went to a different one for fresh bedding--the mattress was still ok but the pillows, blankets, sheets, and the towels had mildewed in their storage cabinet. She was working her way back to sleeping on a soft mattress again. And she may have picked up some throw pillows for the armchairs in the library. And a couple of quilts and small knit blankets. The bunker was concrete, cool year round. Another trip for more clothing options, but not too much, and nothing she'd regret if she had to leave suddenly.