Dead Drop Gorgeous

5. Evan, Katja

Evan had met up with some of his friends while walking home from school. He had been out all day walking around downtown and night was beginning to fall quickly now that winter was on its way. They were on the swings in the park when he'd walked past and they decided to walk home as a group. By the time Evan had reached his street it was only him and James. He liked James, he had known him since they were both 5 and had been best friends since. He joked a lot, though and sometimes acted braver than he really was, but they all joked about it. Down the road from them was an old abandoned building. It looks like someone had been in there tonight and left the lights on. Probably some vandals or something.

"Hey, Evan, I dare you to go into that abandoned building down there," James joked.

"Yeah, sure, and while I'm there why don't I just ask the murderer to come out and kill me?" Evan replied.

"Aww, come on, I'll give you a twenty if you do it!"

Hmm, that did sound good. He could do with the money. Besides, all he had to do was go up to that room where the light was on and come back down and he was pretty sure there wouldn't be a vicious murderer waiting for him, surely somebody would have spotted someone like him going in? But maybe he shouldn't be so quick to say yes... oh screw it, it couldn't be that hard.

"All right, but wait outside for me, OK?" Evan said.

"Don't worry, I will! I will!"

They walked further on down, past the turn for Evan's street, to the building. As they got closer, they saw that the blinds were closed over the windows. He had started to feel a little nervous and that certainly didn't help.

"Well, off you go!" James said, pushing Evan into the alleyway. "Through the fire exit!"

Evan walked onwards, it was dark and slimy, he was afraid of slipping and crashing into the bins and possibly attracting police attention. At the opposite end where the alleyway met another street he thought he saw a woman about to walk down towards him, but she pulled away quickly. Probably nothing, just the darkness making him see things. The fire exit was a heavy door, rusted over the years and made the loudest creak that Evan had ever heard as he opened it. It was deafening!

~

Who was that person going into the warehouse? Katja thought. She had ducked behind a bin near where she had walked in and sat looking up at the windows. It must be an enemy and if it was they would turn the lights out as they left. This was to mock the agent coming for the drop, telling them it had been intercepted. It was also handy for both sides though, since they knew what to do next. People from each side watched Katja walk into the alleyway, people from each side watched Evan walk into the alleyway. Maybe it was a caretaker? Katja glanced at the brick covered in chalk. No, this was definitely meant to be her drop tonight. She took a deep breath, stood up and began to approach the door.

~

The metal stairs shook and clanged as Evan walked up them. Nearly there, he thought. In and out and then money! He thought to give the signal to James by walking up to the window and waving out through the blinds. There were two doors. The one to his left was boarded up and the one to his right was lying ajar. Light shone through in a neat line. He pushed it open and set foot into the room. Pipes stuck out of the walls, the equipment they were attached to long gone. There were marks on the walls where machines had sat. You could tell because they weren't able to paint behind them so they left the original colour there. Navy blue against the cream of the room, not the nicest, but it's not like anyone else would be in here.

But then something really caught his attention. In the middle of the floor sat a small metal cube. On the top face was an arrow pointing towards him, probably showing how it should be opened. He approached it and inspected it more. It looked well used. Scratches all over it, hardened mud here, carvings of letters there. He tried to read what had been carved into it when his mobile rang. It was James.