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Sliding into the vacant desk, the dark haired man set his cup of coffee down and glanced around, running an absent hand through the silver speckling that dusted his hair. The floor was busy, boffins scampering to and fro, noses buried in tablets or actual paper printouts. Ashe shook his head at that. Geeks always seemed to use either the very latest and greatest or the oldest thing possible. He was pretty sure he heard a typewriter clacking away somewhere in the cubicle farm that was missing the cubicles. It wouldn’t entirely surprise him if there was also a ditto machine buried somewhere too. He sighed.
This had almost been too easy. The Security guard hadn’t really looked at the badge he swiped. Mallory would not be pleased. He closed his hazel eyes for a moment.
“Oh, hello! You must be the new guy. Welcome to Technical Support Services.”
Turning, he pasted on a quick smile and offered a hand. The other guy didn’t accept it. “Yeah, I mean yes, I’m Tarasovich. Found my desk easily enough.”
“Lou Germaine. Welcome to the branch.”
“Oh, hello. You must be the new guy.” A new voice said. Ashe twisted around, not having heard somebody come up behind him. He blinked and winced. The young man in front of him was wearing a god awful lime green sweater thing and red and yellow striped trousers.
“Hi. Yes. I’m Ashe Tarasovich. I’m your new computer tech?”
‘Welcome to the branch. I’ll let Lou get you settled in. Luckily we are in a lull right now.” The kid said, pushing his glasses up with an absent knuckle as he fumbled with his tablet.
Uh oh.” Lou murmured, looking past the other guy.
He watched as the messy haired kid accepted a paper cup from a smiling woman. He watched the kid take a drink, grimace and mouth something ‘sugar swell’ perhaps? The kid then turned and walked away, headed deeper into the farm.
“Not good.”
He glanced back over at his cubicle mate. Lou was already on his tablet swiping one of those pen stylus’ across the board. Lou actually tilted it enough for Ashe to read. He suppressed his snort. This was the best that the famed “Q Branch” had to offer? He’d infiltrated without even so much as a hassle.
## Jenna just gave him sugar swill. ~ L ##
## Is Marli sick today? ~ A ##
## Yes. ~ L ##
## Should I bring chocolate? ~ A ##
##Sweets in general would be a good idea ~ L ##
## On my way. ~ A ##
Suddenly every screen, including the overheads switched to ancient DOS font. He read the message and snorted.
HERE THERE BE DRAGONS
“God damn it, Jenna!” Lou yelled. Ashe twitched violently away from the noise. Lou only shrugged.
A faint “Sorry!” drifted up from somewhere in the back.
“Hey Lou.” A third voice called. Ashe and Lou both turned towards the voice. A blond dressed in a white tee, dark dress slacks, and motorcycle boots was walking down a set of metal stairs, pastry and a white cup of some sort nestled in his hands.
“Alec. He’s around somewhere.”
“Marli sick? That’s odd.” Alec murmured, gaze flicking up to the screen.
“Yeah. And Jenna fed him sugar swill. Not a happy boffin.” Lou grinned. Alec leaned past Lou and set the cup and the chocolate doughnut on the desk.
“James? You know the Quartermaster will skin you if he realizes you are walking around with that.” Alec said as he straightened up. Ashe turned.
A blue eyed man in a crisp, navy blue designer suit stood with a gun cradled in his hand, green lights winking faintly and pointed directly at Ashe’s head. His hazel eyes widened.
Then the press of a muzzle against the back of his head registered.
“Up. Slowly. One wrong move, and I will paint this desk with your brains.” Alec growled at his back. He kept his hands out realizing suddenly he was pinned between two armed agents.
Coming to his feet, he kept his attention fixed on ‘James’. Watching as the man glided out of his path, gun never wavering, Ashe drew a shallow breath. He walked forward when the hand at his back pushed him in that direction.
He watched as the boffins watched him and Alec move through them. He felt the hand at his back slide down, brush his waist and then slide back up. James drifted out of his line of sight, but he wasn’t about to turn his head to keep him in sight. Not with a gun digging into the base of his skull.
They got to a table in the middle of the room and in a clear patch of ground. He registered the table seconds before he was slammed down on top of it.
“Thank you, Double-oh Six. Do feel free to check him for weapons, Double-oh Seven. Do be polite about it.” That was the voice of the kid. The muzzle pressed harder into his skull. New hands roughly pulled, patted, and dragged over his body.
“Clear, Quartermaster.” James said once he had pulled a gun from his left ankle and a knife from his right sleeve.
“Let him up, Alec. Welcome to TSS, Double-Oh One. Do tell Mallory we had you pegged in less than thirty seconds, and your two accomplices are lying knocked out to your left.”
Ashe blinked. That kid was Quartermaster? He could barely dress himself. Or perhaps he could dress, but he had no sense of what went together. He turned towards James.
“Gun?”
“End of the day. Same for the knife. Oh? And if you ever walk in here again with intent to get to the Quartermaster for nefarious reasons? Even being sent by Mallory will not save you. Alec and I will escort you out.”
Ashe turned and then paused as he realized every single eye was trained on him. He shrugged off James’ hand and stalked away, gliding through the boffins. He met Lou’s eyes and raised a brow.
“Double-oh One? What did you do with the Tech you replaced?” The Quartermaster’s voice cracked out behind him. He turned against James’ suddenly returned grip.
“Second floor janitor’s closet.”
“James? Do retrieve him. I’m certain Alec can escort him out.” The Quartermaster called.
“Yes, Q.” Both men responded, Ashe shook his head.
Alec’s hand landed on his shoulder, digging into a nerve. Ashe glared.
“TSS does some of it’s own internal security. You also played right into their hands. You only got past the guards because you had the right ID. You set something off in Jenna, which is why she walked up to Q.”
“That entire interaction was scripted?” Ashe asked right before the doors swung shut behind them, separating them from TSS.
“Yes. There is no Marli if you were wondering. Now, let’s go introduce you to the Gunny. He is going to love you.” Alec’s grin turned sharp and bloodthirsty. Ashe had a moment to wonder what had changed before a fist buried itself into his stomach and he doubled over.
“Never. Hunt. The. Quartermaster. Or it will be the very last thing you do.” Alec hissed before he walked away, leaving the newest Double-Oh doubled over in a corridor.