Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer rules apply. Oh, and the newspaper building portrayed here actually belongs to a bank whose name rhymes with "kitty". Please don\'t sue me, guys!
Ikimashou!
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Chapter 5: Breaking News
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It wasn\'t two minutes after Annette hung up that a pick-up truck pulled up under the overpass. The vehicle had seen better days...or maybe better decades, as it was quite old looking. The driver, a heavy-set man with thin jet-black hair and horned-rim glasses came around and gave Annette a big hug.
“Nice to see ya again, Blondie!” Mike\'s breath reeked of tobacco, but the reporter was used to it. The dishelved man took a look over Annette\'s shoulder. “Who\'s your friend?”
Annette broke away from Mike and did a proper introduction. “This is my friend Naya. Naya, this is Mike...he knows a lot of people who know a lot about a lot of people.”
“That\'s a lot of information to know. Pleased to meet you, Mike.”
“Oh yeah, a girl with a firm handshake!” Mike tested Naya by squeezing her hand a little tighter, and she was more than up to the challenge. “You don\'t get that too often...I like her already!”
“Sorry...I\'m already taken,” Naya deadpanned.
“Is that so?” The truck driver looked at Naya and then at Annette. “Ah-ha! I was wondering how long it would be before my little girl here would finally come out into the open!” His laugh echoed in the overpass.
“Knock it off, you two!” Annette\'s face was redder than the surrounding bricks. “It\'s not like that at all!” She ignored Naya\'s giggling and turned her attention back to Mike. “I need you to get us into the building...is everything ready?”
“Does this answer your question?” Mike walked back to the truck and pulled back a tarp that covered the bed of the pickup.
Even Naya had to admit to the brilliant simplicity of the plan. “I love it. Almost as much as I love her!” She gave Annette a big hug, sending Mike into another fit of laughter.
The reporter, however, was not amused. “I wonder if I can get a reward for turning you in!”
- - - - -
Capt. Armbrister\'s SUV sat in front of his daughters\' school, as the owner of said vehicle was waiting for them to exit. Seeing such a car parked there was not a rare occurrence in itself, as many parents were waiting to give their offspring and their friends a lift. What was strange was that none of them had military plates.
A set of matching redhead girls walked leisurely with a couple of friends, but they stopped short upon seeing the van.
“Tell me that\'s not what I think that is,” the first girl said.
“Alright...it\'s not what you think it is,” her twin said, not missing a beat, “...but it is.”
One of the girls\' friends, a tall, scruffy-looking boy, gave the girls an odd look. “Whoa...is that your father? What is he, like, a general or something?”
“More like a captain...or something.” Jane was the brighter of the twins, both in personality and academics. Her cheerful banter meshed well with her high marks, making her popular with both teachers and students.
Jenna was more of the physical side of the set. A star in atheltics and drama, she tended to keep people at a distance until they proved their trustworthiness. “Him being here means one of two things; either something terrible happened to Mom, or he got fired.”
“Ignore my gloomier half, Chet”, Jane said to their friend. “It could just be he has some free time and wants to see us.” She grabbed the boy by the arm and strode happily towards the SUV.
Jenna\'s dour expression darkened a couple shades. “Right...and that free time usually coincides with Halley\'s comet, doesn\'t it?”
As the trio approached, the captian stepped out of his vehicle, arms wide to accept the hug that always came from Jane. “How\'re my girls doing?”
The smilier twin didn\'t disappoint. “We\'re fine, Dad, and happy to see you! Is Mom okay?”
“Or does she even know you\'re here,” Jenna added.
Capt. Armbrister nodded. “Yeah, she\'s fine...and I\'m okay too. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
Jenna kept her distance, as always. “You didn\'t have to pick us up, y\'know. We have these things called \'legs\' that can take us where we need to go...especially since we don\'t live far from home. They\'ve been working fine so far.”
Her father just smiled. “Let\'s just say I\'m giving those legs a rest, then. Get in the car.” Jane didn\'t need an invitation, as she was already in the front passenger seat. Armbrister noticed Chet standing by the car, the boy\'s eyes checking every inch of the vehicle. “You need a lift?”
Chet\'s eyes lit up for a moment, but one sharp glare from Jenna put that light out in a hurry. “Nah, I\'m good. I\'ll take the bus.”
“Suit yourself, kid...see you later!”
Chet watched the car pull away and sighed. “Good thing she\'s not in the army, man!”
- - - - -
The offices of the New York Courier were housed in a tall building overlooking the East River from Long Island City. The jade-green glass exterior made it stand out like a shaft of crystal among the many industrial-era lofts and warehouses that surrounded it. Though the area is in the middle of a rennaisance, the Courier Building was considered the spark of such a rebirth, even if it was built more than 20 years ago.
An old, weather-beaten pick-up truck pulled up to the delivery entrance, the driver honking his horn once to alert the guard on duty.
“Hey, Mike! What\'s happenin\', man!” The middle-aged man came out and gave the hood of the truck a good solid bang.
Mike rolled down the driver\'s side window. “Not too hard, Lenny! She\'s on her last legs as it is, y\'know!”
“So what brings you out here today? Ain\'t you usually in Williamsburg fixin\' all them \'yuppie\' joints?”
“Yeah,” Mike said wearily, “it\'s a shame what they did with the place. Almost all the character\'s gone now. They even took down Serpico\'s building, man. Might as well be the Village.” He glanced behind him, and remembered why he was here. “Oh yeah, I gotta fix the sealant on a couple of windows upstairs. Even new building suffer from wear and tear...”
“Yup, just like us!” Lenny let out a chuckle. “Oh well, don\'t let me keep ya...I know how these guys get when you don\'t do what they asked you to do yesterday!” He went back to his station and raised the caution barrier, allowing the truck access. “By the way, we got some new kids in security today. Just tell \'em I said you\'re okay, alright?”
“Thanks, Lenny! You\'re the man!”
Lenny turned on the speaker. “You got that right!” His laugh filled the loading bay.
Mike drove the truck into a dark corner of the bay, then got out and removed the tarp. “You two weren\'t doing anything under there, were you?”
“What would possibly make you think we...” Annette caught herself when she realized Naya had an arm around her...in order to keep her from rolling into some of the equipment placed in the bed of the truck. She flushed and extricated herself from Naya\'s grasp.
“I tried,” the white-haired fugitive remarked, feigning dismay, “but there\'s only so many positions two people can perform in such a tight space...no matter how flexible she is!”
“Will you stop that!!” Annette let out an exasperating gasp. “Besides, you\'re the flexible one!”
Both Mike and Naya stared at the reporter in mock surprise. “Speaking from experience, I see!” If Mike\'s leering grin were any more lecherous, he\'d have been locked up on the spot.
“No! Wait...I mean, it\'s \'cause she\'s...well...ah...leave me alone!!”
Annette wanted to crawl under the truck, but her two friends wouldn\'t let her. “Come on,” Mike said, grabbing two pairs of coveralls from the passenger seat of his truck. “Let\'s get you two upstairs!”
The blonde looked at her companion, then shook her head in dismay.
Naya had a hard time muffling a giggle. “Don\'t worry...the \'make-up sex\' will be terrific!”
“Just. Shut. Up!”
- - - - -
“You sure you want to tell him now, Ma\'am?”
Constanza was beside herself. She knew Cortez would skin her alive if she told him the results of the chase. Yet orders were orders, so it had to be done. “Hey, we did all we could do. He can\'t fault us for that. We were just outplayed.” She inhaled deeply, then let the air out of lungs in a long, slow breath. “Alright...let\'s get it over with.”
- - - - -
To say Cortez was upset would be an understatement. The man was trying his best to keep his composure, but that slender thread it was being held by was quickly fraying. Having to deal with the local police was always a headache in and of itself. Add to that the fact that the news helicopters broadcasted the car chase to the entire city—and the chances of it going viral increasing by the minute—and Cortez was ready to bite the head off of the first person who said \'boo\' to him.
“Owl Unit reporting.” Fortunately for Constanza, her \'boo\' came via radio.
“Please tell me someone has those two in custody and that they\'ll be here shortly.”
“I...I can\'t do that, sir.”
Cortez\' voice was a few decibels under roaring. “Didn\'t the auxiliary van follow the taxi and apprehend them?”
“Well...yes. Unit LI did manage to stop the taxi, but when they investigated, they found only the driver. The other two managed to leave unseen. They are interrogating the driver as we--”
“SILENCE!!” Cortez\' last thread of composure had finally lost its last connective fiber. “Where did this incompetence come from? Did everyone suddenly forget what it is they were supposed to do?? How are we being outsmarted by a neophyte reporter and a damn cat?”
There was silence on the other end for quite awhile, then Constanza returned, hoping a change would help. “Sir, we do still have people at the Courier Building, as well as in the surrounding area. They won\'t be able to get into the building without someone noticing.”
“Right, just like they weren\'t even supposed to make it off the damn highway!” Cortez wanted to throw the radio, but a flash of reason reminded him that he needed it...even if it was to hear bad news. “The next time I hear from you, I want to hear that the Stanhope girl and that lab experiment she\'s running around with are caught; otherwise I don\'t even want to hear static from your radio! You got that?”
“Got it, sir...Owl Unit, out!”
Cortez let out a primal scream, then grabbed his head—he had forgotten about the migraine that was now pile-driving his brain.
- - - - -
The trio of workers stepped out of the service elevators on the 30th floor of the Courier Building and were about to step into the main hallway when Mike put a hand up, halting their progress. A security guard had been coming in their direction, when his radio beeped.
“Unit 30, come in!”
“Unit 30, all clear.” The man took a look around, then turned down a side hall. Mike waited until he disappeared, then waved the two women along. The three of them made their way into the front office, where the receptionist addressed them.
“Welcome to the Courier. Can I help...Annette? What are you--”
“Shhh!” The three overall-clad visitors panicked for a moment. “I need to see the Chief. There\'s something I gotta talk to him about, but I\'m not supposed to be here.”
The receptionist took a minute to scrunch up her face, then just shook her head. “What the hell, it just fits in with the rest of the weirdness here today...”
“What do you mean by that?” the reporter asked.
“Well...” The receptionist leaned forward, and the other three followed suit. “The security guards were all given a sick day...they\'re replacing them as we speak! I don\'t think they\'ve gotten to the video surveillance yet, so if you\'re going to see the Chief, you better hurry!” She pressed a button on a small console. “Your two o\'clock appointment is here to see you, sir.”
“Let her in, Sandy!”
“You know where to go, Annette. Good luck!”
Everyone waved to the receptionist, then went through the large glass double-doors emblazoned with the Courier\'s masthead. Sandy paid special attention to the woman with Annette. “Hmm...I wonder what her story is?”
The trio walked down the aisle seperating the sea of desks until they came to another door, which swung open. The editor-in-chief popped his balding head out from behind the door. “Don\'t just stand there! Come in! Come in!!”
Annette let Naya go in before her, but stopped Mike at the door. “Thanks for helping us, Mike, but I can\'t get you mixed up in this anymore than you have to. The less you know, the better.”
Mike gave Annette a hug. “I gotcha...\'protecting sources\' and all that. No problem...besides, if what that secretary said is right, you\'re gonna need a diversion to get out of here. I\'ll wait out here.”
“Thanks, Mike...you\'re the man!”
“So I\'ve been told!” he said with a laugh.
- - - - -
Lenny sat at the guard station listening to his usual soul music, when a series of sudden raps on one of the windows got his attention.
“Hey! What\'s the problem?”
A man in the same security uniform came up to the door. His face was expressionless, but his stance told Lenny this guy meant business. “I\'m your replacement. You\'re off for the day, company orders.”
“Oh really? Nobody told me about takin\' no day off!”
“That\'s why I\'m here,” the man said icily. “Leave now. Come back tomorrow.”
Lenny saw the man wasn\'t going to budge an inch, so he relented. “Oh hell, as long as I\'m still getting\' paid, it don\'t matter to me!” He left the office, tossing the keys to the new guard. “Don\'t mess with the radio! It\'s hard to get that station down here!”
The other man just nodded and went straight to his work. Once Lenny got around the corner, he pulled out his cell and called Mike.
“Looks like gettin\' out\'s gonna be harder than gettin\' in...hope you\'re prepared!”
“Not to worry, Lenny...it\'s all good!” Mike took a look back at the busy office and wondered what was going on that needed this kind of attention.
- - - - -
“So,” Editor-in-Chief Choi bellowed as he plopped himself in a chair behind his desk. “What\'s with the overalls?”
“Camouflage,” Annette answered. “We had a bit of a problem getting here.”
“We didn\'t have any trouble,” Naya corrected, “but our pursuers ended up...stuck in traffic.”
Choi shook his head. “Let me guess...that little high-speed chase on Queens Boulevard...”
The reporter bowed her head sheepishly. “Yeah, that was us.”
“Great!! We could use an first-person account of the story! Everybody else had to use news footage...you were actually there! Tell me, what was it like?”
“Ahem.” Naya mocked clearing her throat. “If you don\'t mind, we have a lot to talk about, and not a lot of time to say it.”
“Ah! Right, right...” Choi turned his attention to Naya, but not before glancing to Annette and pantomiming to her to make notes of the chase. “So, your name is...uh, Attaturk, right?”
“Yes. Naya Attaturk. It\'s my given name, though I\'m sure my parents didn\'t give it to me. I\'m sure they would\'ve chosen something we could actually pronounce in our own language.”
“Which is...”
“...difficult for you to comprehend.” Naya gave Annette a dubious look, and the reporter nodded emphatically. “What matters is, I wasn\'t born as a human...I escaped from my so-called \'handlers\' and now they\'re trying to re-capture me. I wish to expose them and their deeds before they find me.”
This time it was Choi\'s turn to give Annette the same dubious look Naya had done earlier.
“It\'s all true, Chief. She\'s not making this up.”
The questions came in a torrent to the chief editor\'s mind. But like any good reporter, he knew there were only a few questions that were essential to any story—who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Naya saw the wheels turning in Choi\'s head. “To save time, and to save your brain from frying like hers did,” she said, pointing to a protesting Annette, “here\'s the short-list version. I was born a cat; got adopted by a covert testing facility, who then fused my genes with human DNA; went through lots of trauma during the transformation stage; went to school as a human child; got two degrees; escaped from their overseer; tried to find as much information on them as humanly possible—pardon the pun—and then contacted your paper. Is that enough information for you to start your story with?”
The editor\'s glazed eyes suddenly came back to life. “Wait...you were a cat first? Then became a human?”
Naya looked at the editor in disbelief, then turned to Annette. “You sure you two aren\'t related?”
The blond shrugged her shoulders, then her eyes lit up. “You left out the part about the Chimera...that was crazy!”
“Ah, you\'re right! I almost lost one of my lives playing in traffic like that! It was fun, though!”
While the two women shared a laugh, the editor was still trying to sort things out. “Quite an interesting story you got there. The only things missing are aliens, guys in black suits and flying monkeys.”
“Oh, there was a monkey,” Annette added with a smile. “It was one of those helper monkeys, but she\'s okay. She was just having some issues with her owner, right Naya?”
The white-haired woman\'s laughter dissipated at the mention of the little primate. “I don\'t know about that. That thing made me feel quite uncomfortable.”
Choi couldn\'t bring himself to believe the tale told by the women in front of him, but at the same time they did risk their lives to get the story to him...if what they said was true. “So, who are these people, and what do they want from you?”
Naya sat up in her seat and took on a serious countenance. “The go by the codename The Zoo. Let\'s just say you\'ll never hear of them. They are a group that the government outsources to do things we would otherwise consider inhumane or unconstitutional. Think of some of the things Hitler was rumored to be doing back during World War II, or what we were doing in places like Tuskeegee and Montauk...well, they\'re following in what those people were doing—only with better, scarier technology that actually produces results.”
Choi took a moment, then prepared his next question. “How long has this been going on? And how is it that no one knows about it...especially today?”
“As far as I can tell, it\'s been going on for at least ninety years, but it really ramped up after the 1970s. In fact, Camp Hero in Montauk was one of The Zoo\'s hotspots. That place has been literally buried so deep in the sand that the people who live there are the only ones who even know about the rumors.” Naya took a deep breath before she continued. “Believe me when I tell you, The Zoo is alive and well...in places all over the country, and in places you\'d least expect.”
“Like the power plant by Brooklyn Bridge Park,” Annette chimed in.
Okay, Choi thought. These things do happen; you might not hear about them at the time, but they always seem to pop up years later, long after anyone can do anything about them and the people involved are either killed or died of old age. “So why are they after you? Okay, there\'s the obvious reason that you know about them and could expose them. Fine, I get that; but you could have told anyone. Why tell us?”
“Trust,” Naya said nonchalantly. “Like I told Annette, it\'s a matter of trust. All of the other large dailies are owned by corporations that have ties to The Zoo, whether financially or politically. Your paper has no such ties, so you don\'t have to worry about burying stories that might show supporters or board members in an unfavorable light.” She then turned to Annette and gave the blond a big smile. “Besides, your reporters have gained a reputation of standing behind their stories and their sources without compromise. An admirable trait I\'m sure they learned from their editor-in-chief.”
“Thank you for the compliment,” the short editor said with a slight blush. “But I\'m going to need more than an impromptu interview in order to put the name of this paper behind such a wild story. We need hard facts; data that supports your claims. What proof do you have, other than your sheer existence, that is?”
“She could transform back into a cat!” Annette was as wide-eyed as a grade schooler waiting for a magician to pull out another rabbit from his top hat.
Naya cut off Choi\'s request before the man could even make it. “No, let\'s not do that—it usually ends in a chase and all kinds of trouble. Instead, I\'ll just give you what you need.” She then turned to the now-frowning reporter. “If you don\'t mind, can you reach into your coat\'s left pocket and give him the flash drive?”
“The what?” The blond reached into her pocket, and sure enough, a small black plastic stick rattled around among her loose change. She fished it out of the pocket and examined the little device. “How did that get in there?”
“I put it in your pocket when I first met you...in case anything happened to me. This way, you would\'ve had the information one way or another. I must say I was disappointed when I saw you didn\'t have a computer of your own.”
“Excuse me for not being tech-savvy!” Annette snapped, sticking out her tongue. “Besides, someone doesn\'t pay me enough to get one.”
“Why do that, when you have one here...that you don\'t use!” Choi reached out a hand for the drive, but Naya took it first.
“You can\'t use it yet...there\'s a certain security protocol that has to be unlocked first.” She opened a small hinged part of the drive, and stuck her tongue inside it. “Biometric code. Only someone with my DNA can unlock it, and there\'s only one other person who has it. Otherwise it\'ll release a virus that not only fries your computer, but every server it comes in contact with.” Naya handed the device back to the editor.
“Devious,” Choi said with a smirk. “Is there some password I should enter?”
“No...just stick it in, and it\'ll do the rest.”
The editor did as he was told, and his computer screen suddenly became flooded with information, as one window after another popped up with data files, blueprints, photos, spreadsheets...all of these were blocked by a large black screen with “THE ZOO” in plain block lettering. An empty text box appeared under it.
“Oh,” Naya said with surprise. “Looks like you need a password after all. I guess they changed things a bit since I left.”
“What do we do now?”
“Enter the password, of course!” Naya left her seat and walked around the desk to face the computer. “Type in \'66nyaorru99\' and wait ten seconds before hitting \'enter\'.”
Annette gave Naya a quizzical look. “What does \'nyaorru\' mean?”
“It\'s a feline quote that doesn\'t exactly translate well in English. Let\'s just leave it at that, okay?” Naya\'s blush gave the reporter the hint.
Choi typed in the password and waited. Naya timed the wait, then pressed \'enter\' herself. The black screen disappeared, and was replaced with a \'welcome\' screen, complete with accessible menus.
“Pretty friendly, once you get through all the doors,” the editor remarked.
- - - - -
“Owl Unit reporting!”
Constanza\'s urgent voice riled Cortez from his nap. The pounding headache he had was less severe than it had been a half-hour ago, but he feared it was about to regain its intensity. “Go Owl Unit, and for your sake, you better have good news!”
“Good and bad, sir. The bad news is that we\'ve been hacked. The good news is, we\'re pretty certain the target was the hacker. We have her and the yellow tag surrounded in the Courier Building. We didn\'t have enough time to shut down the power before the hacking attempt, but we know where she is, and are awaiting orders to apprehend her.”
Cortez smiled for the first time in hours. “I\'ll take a win where I can get it. The hacking mess is Armbrister\'s to clean up, not mine. Go in and bring both women back to the power plant...no need taking them someplace else and giving them more information than they probably have already. Oh, and be sure to wipe out every computer and server in the building. Can\'t be too careful!”
“Will do, sir. Owl Unit, out!”
- - - - -
“It\'s a good thing this computer doesn\'t have a webcam attached,” Naya said warily. “Otherwise we\'d be watched from their end. As it is, they already know someone\'s here, so it\'s best to get what we need and get out.”
“How do they know?” Annette asked.
“They started tracking the ISP as soon as the password was entered. I had to wait ten seconds for the ISP scrambler to kick in. All I need is one file...” She clicked on a link, and a download window appeared on the screen. “...and we should be done before they can descramble the scrambler.” As soon as the file was done, Naya closed the site and disengaged the drive. She then opened the computer\'s DOS window, typed a few codes in and hit \'enter\'. The images on the screen swirled toward the center, as if they were going down a drain. In a minute, the screen returned to normal.
Editor Choi\'s jaw dropped. “What did you just do? I had a lot of files on that thing!”
Naya waved him off. “Not to worry. I just flushed the last session, as well as any trace that I was even online. All your files are safe, I assure you.” She gave him the drive. “I\'m going to give you an address I want you to mail it to. Send it via your mailroom as soon as possible. Don\'t use it on this computer—hell, don\'t use it at all...not unless you want a lot of guys in black suits knocking on your door.”
“How am I supposed to get the information out of it, then?”
“Once the drive reaches its destination, the information will be delivered to you. Like I said, there\'s one other person who can open that drive, and if I\'m right, she\'ll give you all the information you want and more. By that time, the people who are after us will leave you alone.”
“And you wonder why I don\'t have a computer!” Annette joked.
The editor couldn\'t resist one more question. “Um...In your human form, do you retain any part of your cat features? Like, do you have cat ears?”
Naya rolled her eyes. “What is this fascination with humans and cat ears?? You don\'t see cats trying on human ears, do you?” She turned to the editor and lifted the bang over her left right eye. “This, and the patches of color on my back and sides. If you want to see them I\'d be glad to oblige, but I have a feeling we won\'t have that kind of time.”
Choi looked at the golden eye surrounded by pitch-black skin, and nodded in approval. “Fair enough.”
Naya suddenly felt skittish, like something was about to happen. “We better get out of here before it gets crazy.” She moved around the desk and grabbed Annette\'s arm, lifting the girl out of her chair. “It\'s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Choi. Please do your best with the information—and don\'t let anyone shut you down for any reason. Trust me, there are many people who want to know what\'s going on...it\'s up to you now.” With that, she bolted out of the door, practically dragging a wailing Annette behind her.
Choi looked at the drive, then decided he\'d better hide it in case someone came looking for it.
- - - - -
Mike had been ogling the receptionist for the past few minutes. Judging from the smile on her face, Sandy seemed to be enjoying the attention. No words were spoken, but they did seem to make a connetion, and that was good enough for now.
That lovey-dovey atmosphere was disrupted by the sudden rush of air from the offices, followed by Naya dragging Annette behind her. The white-haired woman dumped the blond in front of Mike. “Time to go...as fast as we can.”
“Yeah, but...” Mike and Annette said in unison, albeit for different reasons.
“No buts...we have to move!” Naya was out the door first, Annette running behind. Mike took a look at Sandy, who tossed him a ball of paper. He opened up the note and smiled, extending his pinky and thumb and putting his hand near his head. Then he joined the other two women, leaving Sandy alone in her happy thoughts.
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End of Chapter 5
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