Access Denied

8. Unfinished Business

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Carlos asked Nicole, slightly skeptic of what her reply would be. It was Monday morning and they were out of the assigned safe house, driving to another Government registered safe house in Winchester, Virginia to Nicole's cousin, Carson Harvey's house.

After they had returned from the tracks, the weekend had been spent trying to evade whoever might have known where to them find them. On the way to the safe house, they had changed their route three times and ridden in three different cars and one bus.

'One can never be too safe', Flynn told specifically to her, reminding her that this was a secret mission. But Genevieve was used to this. She was used to running and hiding. Granted she ran from authorities and not dangerous, well-placed people who could be potential enemies. She had to run every time after she had stolen something.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nicole's voice reached an octave higher in annoyance. She was sitting beside Flynn on the front seat, navigating the way to her cousin's house. "Are you implying that I, Nicole Harvey, am direction-ally challenged?"

"I didn't mean—"

"I'll have you know that all my bombs meet their designated place and destruct wonderfully and if I were you—"

"But—"

"—I would sleep with one eye open." Carlos tried to explain himself but she had already turned to Flynn, telling him to turn left. Soon, they were standing in a small neighborhood in front of a simple two storey house. It was surrounded by a large green lawn with one too many sprinklers.

Flynn walked back to the trunk to take out their bags. Nicole had a small smile on her face as she watched Carlos step on the lawn to Carson Harvey's residence. Her smile grew wider when the yellow flag on the mail box, stood straight. The latch on the mailbox flew open and small missile head speeded toward him. He barely dodged it when it self-destructed in the air. Nicole grinned wildly, "I'd hate to say this, Carlos, but I told you to keep an eye open."

When the sprinklers rose from the ground, Flynn turned to Nicole, asking her 'what the hell was happening'. Nicole replied with a simple shrug. "This isn't a top listed Government safe house without a reason."

Just when the sprinklers were about to spray the liquid—which Genevieve was sure was not water—the front door creaked. A man stepped out with a gun close to his chest but when his eyes landed on Nicole, he relaxed. 

He stepped out of the house and crouched down, removing the welcome mat from its place. His fingers felt around the wooden floor until they stopped at what they were looking for. 

He yanked a floorboard open and pulled something a red lever downwards. Genevieve supposed that it was a control panel of sorts because all the simmering sprinklers lowered into the ground and the mailbox closed as the yellow flag came down.

"I specifically told you not to step on my lawn, Nic!" he shouted as he slid the doormat to its original position. He waved his hands around as he stood, "there was a glitch in the system and now I'm going to have to fix it all over again."

Carlos carefully placed a toe on the lawn, as if testing the temperature of the water before diving in. His shoulders relaxed when he found nothing happened. Exchanging a brief glance, Deaton and Flynn moved forwards as Genevieve and Nicole followed behind. Once they were on the porch of the house, the man's eyes found Nicole.

"You're early," he spat. "And I thought I told you that I would pick you up at the curb."

His face was set in a scowl and Genevieve believed that it always was. His messy brown hair was a contrast to the frizzy red hair his cousin had. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that looked like he had barely thrown on for the courtesy of opening the door for the people who had interrupted his sleep.