LADY OF IRON

• 14 •

~ In the face of probability, leap at possibility ~
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The song that played on the car stereo befitted the situation Nessa found herself currently in. Volume low enough to solely be heard in the car, she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel shaking her head to the music. The beat contributed to her exploratory mood as she sung the words like an affirmation of what to come.

"The dog days are over, the dog days are done. Mhmhhh mhh mhh hmm mhmhhh.." She hummed softly and collected the binoculars on her thigh lifting them up to her eyes.

With a slight squit of her orbs, she peered in the direction of the tallest building on the block. A car slid to the entrance of Silver Reed to drop the back left occupant and proceeded around the building to the parking. The seventeen storey silver piece of architecture beheld her eyes when she first parked on the other side of the road, away from view of prying guards.

The magnificence of the structure itself caused a smile to spread across her lips for the last time she saw it, her younger eyes cared not for the aesthetic please. When she first moved into the area she avoided that part of town like a plague.

It served her no good walking by the mouth of the beast and getting eaten— metaphorically that is—before she put her plan to work. The building had to be the most risque place for Nessa in the entire country.

Now, it had to be done.

She picked up a file from the pile on the seat to her side comparing the face of the man by the revolving door, he looked around before walking in. She put the name to the actual person but the sharply dressed individual was not her current target. And the wait continues.

Nessa became so used to these hidden ventures that the adrenaline induced fear formerly inured to, reduced to a bubbly excitement. . . A thrill. Courting peril induced a rush.

However, the danger could not be downplayed, her mind and body remained alert keeping a keen mindfulness of her surrounding. Nessa flipped the file closed and transfered it to the back seat where the rest lay. She eliminated them, one by one, as the bearers of the faces inside walked in.

Nessa shifted in the car seat a bit uncomfortable from sitting in the same position close to an hour. Rubbing her temples, she refocused on the entrance recalling her meeting from the day before that prompted this unplanned visit to spy on the board members of Silver Reed.

Late in the afternoon she sat in a diner sipping on coffee awaiting Marcus to join her. Although she preferred tea the cup served to her by the friendly waiter kept her busy, loathing every sip of the frankly bad beverage. Having tasted good coffee once or twice, the liquid in her cup merely resembled dirty water in comparison and tasted far worse.

An inviting pie rested on the counter—behind which a woman served take away customers— in a glass jar like a centerpiece but the courage to order anything else failed her. It's inviting appearance did not guarantee great taste.

A small number of people were present in the place, still a couple of hours before the evening rush. A figure appeared at the front stopping beside her and slid into the booth opposite Nessa.

"Ghost." Marcus smiled using her anonymous hacker name.

"Alkemist." She reciprocated in a half smile glad she didn't wait long. Pushing the ghastly coffee away she went on, "any problems."

"None, you know I'm good at what I do." He reached into his bag and retrieved a large folder.

"The best." Nessa took it and put it in her own bag so swiftly and smoothly if anyone had been watching they easily missed the exchange unless, they possessed a keen eye.