“Like a job?” Kale asked, glancing at her momentarily, before looking forward on their path. “Well, as soon as I graduated, I joined the Navy,” she told them. “I was a Navy brat. Both my parents served. Well, Dad was a Marine. I felt like I had to. Like a family right of passage thing. I served four years. Thought I’d end up at NCIS, but the Secret Service snagged me. Something about my service record and testing scores making me a perfect candidate.”
“Secret Service over Naval Criminal Investigation?” Birdie asked. “I’d have picked the one where I didn’t have to wear a suit,” she smirked.
“Secret Service sounded more dangerous,” Birdie replied. “Also, less incompetent.” She immediately shook her head at the choice of wording. “Not… not that NCIS is incompetent. I meant that Secret Service was more ‘all business’, and I needed that. I couldn’t tolerate people who weren’t there to work.”
“I understand,” Birdie nodded, though Kale wasn’t looking at her. “I spent a lot of days wondering how some guys made it into the DEA.”
“Oh yeah,” Kale glanced at her again, before stopping at another hatch door. “I almost forgot you were with them before you were a beat cop.” She pulled open the hatch and looked at them both again before heading inside. “Most of our agents were beat cops in their former lives. Not that they usually need any more experience to work on the island.” She let the others in and closed the hatch behind them. “But it’s difficult sometimes, being one of the few who takes things seriously.”
“Sounds like my last job,” Birdie smirked.
“Sounds like why I work alone,” Brian chimed in.
Kale made a small sound that might’ve been a laugh. “Alright, this is it,” she said as they walked through a set of double doors. Birdie and Brian took a look around. It wasn’t exactly small, as it’d been described to them. But it definitely wasn’t very complex, either. It looked like a super-sized storage unit; rows and rows of metal shelving, filled with storage containers. In front of it all was a small table that was covered in papers and looking very much like a work area. The chair, however, was empty. Kale seemed to have been expecting someone there. “Of course,” she mumbled to herself.
“This looks like something out of a science fiction show I used to watch,” Brian commented as he looked around. “The place where they stored all the files of information and evidence on conspiracies they were covering up.”
“Oh, I know what show you mean! It does!” Birdie agreed, then looked to Agent Kale to see if she understood. But the agent’s face was expressionless and unamused, glaring a bit at her. The smile dropped from Birdie’s face. “Sorry.”
Kale turned toward her comm. “I need a weapon’s expert in O.S,” she spoke. “Anyone who can be spared. Preferably Maverick,” she added.
A moment passed in silence, and then a scratchy voice sounded over the speaker, “I hear you finally want a piece of ol’ Mav.” Laughter could be heard on the other end. Kale swiped a hand down her face. “What can I do you for, Agent Kale?”
“I need someone to take a look at the Defectors’ weapons that were confiscated today. There may be some sort of modifications that can slow regeneration.”
“Sounds like we’ll need forensics then, too. No weapon’s gonna slow down our re-gen time. Not unless it’s biological.”
“Then assemble a team, Maverick,” she replied. “I’ve got agents down and we don’t have time for it.”
“I’ll get it set up. Be there within the hour. Just make sure I have clearance this time, will ya?”
“You’ll be cleared. Kale out.” She seemed glad for the discussion to be over with. She looked to Birdie, “Do you need a break?”
“Um…” she hesitated.
“I need coffee,” Kale told her. “I should eat, but I need coffee. And it looks like we’ve got some time.”
“I know a place,” Brian raised his hand.
“There’s only one place,” Kale shook her head.
“Oh. Oh yeah.”
FOUR
“How long do we need to do this underground thing for?” Birdie asked as they sat down with their coffee in the cafe that she’d been in earlier that day. It was strange knowing it was underground. She was grateful though, at least, that the windows were covered in copper-colored blinds, hiding that there was nothing but more evidence that they weren’t top-side. Her claustrophobia was starting to kick in a little.
“I’ll be advised when the media is finished. Military is sent here on top-secret orders for clean-up.”
“How will they explain the plane being here?” Birdie asked.
“Emergency landing, most likely. They’ll tell the public that the plane was flying to Fort Myers, encountered technical problems, and crashed here. None of us can be top-side for it. It’s an exposure risk if there’s anyone out there that could recognize one of us.”
“Just think,” Brian chimed in, “If you were home watching the five o’clock news and you saw me walking around in the background,” he smirked.
“Yeah,” Birdie shook her head. “I’d fly out here in a heartbeat, just to make sure I wasn’t crazy.”
“Exactly,” Kale replied. “We’ll have to stay under until the wreckage and bodies are cleared. It could be days.”
“Oh,” Birdie looked down into her mug of coffee.
Brian appraised his sister from where he sat beside her. Her suddenly tense form was a clear warning of what could come. He put a hand on her back, even though he knew she didn’t like accepting this kind of comfort. Brian wasn’t the kind of guy that followed rules that didn’t make sense to him. “Hey, it’s totally okay,” he told her. “It’s like an ecosystem down here. There’s fresh air.” He looked over at Kale who had a brow raised in question. “She’s claustrophobic,” he explained quietly.
“I am not,” she retorted. “I’m just…”
“You start to panic in confined spaces. You’re claustrophobic, Birdie,” Brian repeated.
“I can handle it.”
“You can handle it in small doses. But not knowing how long you’ll be in one, you start to freak out.”
“Are you trying to get me to punch you in the face, right now?” she looked at him incredulously.
Brian smirked, “Better angry than scared.”
“I’m not scared,” she pushed him.
“You don’t let yourself show it, but you are so.”
“You can feel free to shut the hell up, any time now, Brian,” she glared at him, and he raised his hands in surrender. “Seriously,” she looked over at Kale, “It’s not that big a deal.” She looked back down at her coffee, trying to fight off the feeling of embarrassment. “I’m going to use the restroom,” she told them as she got up from the table.
Once Birdie disappeared behind the bathroom door, Kale noticed that Brian seemed to regret having given her a hard time. He folded his hands around the warmth of his mug and peered into it. “I was just trying to get her to focus her attention on something else,” he said. Kale wasn’t sure if he was thinking out loud, or explaining it to her. “To keep her from getting panicked,” he continued. “I mean, I’m not claustrophobic, but being down here makes me feel that way after a while.” He looked up at her with an awkward half-smile. “I imagine everyone does.”
“I don’t,” Kale replied, raising her brows. “I find it rather comforting, actually.”
“Comforting,” Brian looked at her from the side, skeptically.
“It’s safer under here,” she argued, neither of them seeing Birdie coming back from the restroom now. “The bomb on the plane, for instance, wouldn’t have been able to penetrate this level. Also, there’s no reason to fear being in this particular confined area. It’s larger than most cities, for one. Its construction is pure genius; not requiring electricity in order to function. In fact, there are several backup energy sources that keep it running. It’s highly unlikely that they would ever all fail.”