Twenty-Nine Cozy Bears

24

The area the library offered occupied the second floor of the three level library, and sat off the main floor, separated by fire doors and solid walls. A notice on the door advised that it was illegal to lock those doors, as the official posted emergency routes took advantage of those directions. Alek and his Major walked the emergency routes, and took the stairs enclosed in the back wall down to the Emergency Only doors at the bottom, whose advisements warned that an alarm would sound if opened. Alek tested this claim. Leyla was able to find someone to reset the alarm a few minutes past an hour later. This was sub-optimal but within Fixit latitudes.

No fire trucks arrived.

No police of any flavor.

They were given several dirty looks by passing students, as if disturbing the study and peace were somehow his fault. A few worried looks were expressed as the time for second prayer drew nearer.

Cleric Reza estimated that it would be a full week before the area would be ready for the desired functions.

The man brought his equipment, and took over one of the smaller offices near the back of the labyrinth that would be their lab. Large doors on the second floor guarded these backrooms of the library, where original manuscripts and costly duplicates found the care they needed before shelving. This repair and inventory part of the operation would find temporary space or simply cease for the time his team trained in their offices. The location allowed for privacy, and ease of monitoring of the curious.

"It won't be a target," Alek offered.

"No?" the man asked. "What leads you to that optimism?"

Alek smirked, "I come off the shelf this way."

Alek chose a spot across the common area from the Major, with a nice window nearby, and began unpacking.

Once his equipment was in the office he commandeered, much of the tension which had steadily increased since that morning, unwound itself from the Major's bones. He had his element at hand. Everything else would come to order, just like in those courtroom Who-Done-Its. All he needed was a woman to scream from some shadowy area.

"Found you. Is this something you do often?" Sara said, as she breached his sanctum – or what would be his sanctum in an hour – and put her hands behind her back. "Play hide and seek with your support staff?"

"Please keep your hands where I can see them," he said, his voice even, and carried by a matter of fact tone.

"My..? My hands?" she stuttered, while turning as if to view them, and judge for herself whether they were threatening. Stopping mid turn, she faced him once more, a slight blush on her cheeks from acting like a girl.

"It's not too much to ask, is it?" he pressed.

She pulled her hands out from behind herself and swung them once before letting them fall feckless to her sides. "Is that a hacking technique? Keep people on edge?"

"Apologies if that is what I am doing. My only true purpose is to not be shot in the back."

"You've decided I'm a good candidate for that?" she asked, her face carefully set in a neutral expression.

"Not any more or less than anyone else around here. Well, actually, the people I have not met yet would be higher on the suspect list." As he spoke he pulled out two laptops from the large box in the center of the room and retreated to his desk again. One of the laptops was about seventeen inches and thin as a razor with an eloquent surfacing. The other was much thicker, a couple of inches at least and heavier, bespoke by the comparative sound it made clunking on the desk. The heavy one went to the left side of the desk surface with the eloquent one taking up the right and center.

"Suspect list?" she asked, folding her arms in front of her.

"Used when managing crime," he responded, but his eyes were only for the eloquent screen he opened up and powered on.

"Is there a crime?" she asked, her expression changing to show low levels of amusement.

"If I'm around, then crime is around. You could say, I'm crime."

"They told me you were Russian."

"Same thing, really."

They were interrupted by loud noises out in the main room the offices encircled. A moment later Luca moved past the open office door, pulling behind him a garbage can. A garbage can full of computer equipment. Luca rolled the plastic container into his office, and despite Narges' objections, he closed the door.

After some conversation with Narges, Luca arrived at his Major's door with a salute.

"Captain?" the Major offered.

"Permission to go my separate way for the next two days, sir," Luca said, while lowering his arm."Unless something has changed," Luca offered him.

"No, I'm even tempted to offer four days. The cleric was quite certain of his full week requirement before we can get started*,* but there is plenty to do. Call though. Check in. Maybe something will work out in your favor — that is, if the visit is going well.

Switching into Persian he asked, "Will Narges be staying with you?" his voice loud enough for both Sara and Narges, standing nearby, to hear.

Luca looked to the pair of women. Sara offered, "She will go home at the normal hour, but will return to him each day, as we have been assigned."

The man rolled a shrug with his shoulder in a conciliatory manner, " Well, you don't need a cover Luca, just don't discuss the assignment here."

"Sir," Luca said, and offered the salute.

"Alright, see you Saturday."