Saturday, November 20, 2004

Drag racing Taxis - Ian (27)

I had a lot of questions for the two men argueing in the car, but I knew enough to keep my mouth shut. After a while, though, things started to get pretty heated, so I decided to change the subject. Plus I really wanted to know.
"Where exactly are we flying?" I asked.
"No idea," said Greg.
"Afraid I can't divulge that," said Marcus, "You'll know soon enough,"
"Bermuda," said Virgil.
The others both turned and looked at him, Marcus with what would have been a glare except that he had to immediately turn back to the road so he could drive, and Greg with a sort of intrigued look, with one eyebrow cocked.
"I'm reasonably confident that's our first destination. I couldn't tell you the second, but I'm willing to bet a non-refundable plane ticket that the first is Bermuda,"
"How did you figure that out?" I asked.
Just then, we lurched forward as Marcus slammed on the breaks. A taxi had swerved in from the other lane and cut us off with no warning. Marcus barely slowed down in time to keep us from rear-ending him. I could tell he was trying very hard not to swear.
"Well, that was rude of him," said Virgil.
"And stupid," said Greg.
I'm gonna explain this next part as best I can, but keep in mind I hadn't had my license very long so I wasn't incredibly familiar with the whole driving thing. Here's how I remember it. There was another taxi in the lane next to us, and the two looked like they were racing. Whenever any space opened up, the one in front of us would try to slip in, but then the other guy would speed up to fill the gap. This went on for several miles until we got to a stoplight. The taxi in the other lane tryed to speed up to fit a gap, but he didn't see the light turn red. The car in front of him stopped suddenly, and he rear-ended it.
When the light changed, we sped on through, still behind that taxi. We followed it all the way to the airport, and we didn't lose it until we turned into the parking garage.
I know it seems weird for me to go into that much detail about something like that, but it get's pretty important later on. Trust me, you needed to hear it.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Together Again - Virgil (26)

I never liked Greg. He was always the first to screw things up. It was his fault that my first mission went awry. Accidents happened. Objectives were lost. Hopefully he'll do better this time.
"Thank you very much for the ride, Greg, I appreciate it."
"Cut the crap, Virgil, you know very well that your appreciation has nothing to do with our compliance. What are you doing here? Alive? And don't expect to be 'out of our hair' as soon as you'd like."
Quick. Harsh. Fool. "You act as if you don't appreciate my, shall we say, ressurection."
"Like Hell, I appreciate it, you deserted us!" he snapped.
"I've always liked you Greg, you get right to the point. I suppose I did disappear, but it's all for the better. As for my livelyhood, you don't really think I could have died in a car crash, did you? I'm disappointed, I thought you would have figured it out. You know how the facade works, or at least that it works, and you know very well how I drive."
"Hence me behind the wheel." Greg looked confused. "What are you getting at?"
"The facade shows exactly what people expect to see. With the way I've driven in the past, it's amazing to think that no one has expected to see a giant ball of flame before."
A look of realization quickly twitched through Greg's eyebrows. Marcus was silent as usual. Ian was quiet thus far. Smart kid. He might have some promise after all.
"So, I'm curious; do you know any more about your mission than the other recruits? I understand you've been chosen again."
Greg flinched, and was silent for the rest of the ride. Either he realized what he had reveiled to me, or he was embarrased. I'm going to assume the latter. It's going to be a long mission