Pop Goes the Weasel

Taylor contemplated the day’s work as he got into his car. He whistled as he saw the time light up on the car’s clock. 3:28 in the morning. This has to have been, the busiest day of my life. He stifled a yawn as he started to back out of the parking lot. I didn’t even get to buy some more coffee, with all this excitement. No pick-me-up in the morning. Oh, look at that, it already is morning. I wish I could just take the next couple of days off and sleep. After driving idly, letting his mind wander, for a few minutes, Taylor’s compassionate nature got him thinking about the mysterious Agent X again. After a few minutes of debating, he finally decided to give Nick a call. I’ll just make sure he got home safely. For all I know, he could have fallen asleep behind the wheel and rear-ended an old lady. Taylor let the home phone ring until the answering machine picked up and then tried Cartwright’s cell phone. No answer. He must be really out of it, or in serious trouble. Oh, come on, Will. Paranoia is setting in from lack of sleep. Nick’s just really tired like me. Probably didn’t even bother to take off his shoes before he plopped into bed. Uh, then why do I feel like I should check on him? Alright, I’ll just do a quick check and make sure. I won’t even get out of the car. Just see if his car is there and leave. Taylor changed his direction for X’s apartment complex and reached it in a couple minutes. Great! His car’s not there! It doesn’t mean that he’s not okay, but where else would he be this late? That’s when he saw the car. I recognize the license plate from the hotel. It was parked close to us when we were getting Matthews. I remember because I studied all the cars to make sure nobody was in them watching us. Taylor slammed his fist into the dashboard and started dialing his cell phone.
“Come on. Pick up,” he muttered to himself.
“Taylor?”
“Astor! Are you still at work?”
“Yes, why?”
“I think Mayhem found us.”
“What?”
“I just stopped to check on Cartwright. His car’s not here, but somebody else’s is. Somebody from the hotel we were staying at.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. We’re going to have to move Jean sooner than we thought. They might even have guys coming to get her now.”
“I’ll get a team ready for transport. You don’t want to go home Agent Taylor, not if they have guys at Cartwright’s.”
“I don’t plan to.”
“No, I know what you’re going to do; but you know as well as I do that going in there alone is like wrapping yourself up and giving an early Christmas present to Mayhem. Wait for backup.”
“You know as well as I do, Astor, that if Nick is in there, a five-second delay could mean death for him. I’m going in now.”
“Be careful.” and with that Astor hung-up.
“Don’t worry. I will.”

**********

Jean had decided to get some sleep and had successfully done so for the past half-hour. Now, her beauty sleep was interrupted by her cell door opening. After she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, Matthews saw two guards walk into her cell.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We’re moving you early, Miss Matthews. We just got word that Mayhem sent off a crew to come get you. Follow us to the van. The rest of the transport crew will be waiting there.”
Jean followed the men into the corridor and followed them toward the end of the hall. They were three-fourths down the corridor when the door at the end opened up and out stepped a distinguished-looking man with a bullet-proof vest on over his shirt, followed by five more guards. The guard on the right of the distinguished man took out his gun and shot the two guards next to Matthews.
“That wasn’t Tom of Kevin,” he said.
“Now it’s nobody,” said the distinguished man. “Miss Matthews, are you all right?”
Jean nodded her head, not knowing what to think.
“Good, Lansky, you said Tom and Kevin were supposed to be here?”
“Yes sir.”
“Can I see your radio?”
“Yes sir.”
“Control base, this is Astor. Give me whereabouts on Tom Lyndon and Kevin Lassiter.”
“Roger that. Security cams show Lyndon and Lassiter posted right outside the cell door of jail block A.”
“That’s impossible. We’re standing right in front of where you say they should be, but we are the only ones here.”
“Sir, I don’t see you or your team showing up on the cameras. Something is wrong with the—There! Right there! It’s a loop sir. No telling what’s in that hallway.”
“I want this place on high-alert. We don’t know how many enemies could be in here. Some might be dressed like our own. We already killed two in here. Search the premises and find the source of the loop.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Astor,” Jean said, “the men mentioned a van outside with a transport crew.”
“Control, send men outside and look for a van that’s not supposed to be there.”
“Roger that.”
“Alright men, our job is to get Matthews out of here. Lansky, is—.” Before Astor could finish his sentence, the power turned off, sending the corridor into darkness. A few seconds later, a faint humming sound could be heard as the lights turned back on, dimmer than before.
“That would be our back-up generator,” Lansky said. “They must have gotten into our power grid.”
“Let the games begin,” Astor said.