“And there's just one more thing I need to show you.” Shari spoke excitedly going to search for something in the piles of boxes, computers and other weird objects that covered her workshop. Victorious, she returned with a large black suitcase which she handed to Shamal. The woman was surprised that the object was a lot heavier than it looked and she put it down on the floor.
“What's inside?” Shamal asked eyeing the suspicious looking suitcase that had just been handed to her.
“Oh... this and that... you don't need to know now. Use it only in emergencies. Oh, look at the time, I have to finish something. Glad to see you Shamal, come by another time.” and with that, Shamal was politely kicked out of the office. With the suitcase in hand, she returned to the elevator and then to the long drive back to her apartment.
~
BOOM!
A distinguishable explosion sound could be heard from the 7th floor of a flat in the Mid Childan Southern residential district. The neighbours took no notice of said sound as they had become used to them in the years, that they had become a common occurrence. If only it weren't the middle of the night...
“Oh no, not again...” Shamal sighed as what was supposed to be a cheese soufflé turned out into something with a shade of brown and some black, and a very crispy texture. Comparing her result to the picture in the book, she concluded that it was a failure and threw it in the trash can. Microwaving something from the fridge, she ate her dinner and made a mental note that she had to go to the grocery store once again.
~
The following morning Shamal received a call from Hayate to meet up with 003 and 004 who were going to assist her with her mission. Thus, Shamal was walking through the Central Municipal Park towards the meeting spot with the other two Agents. The woman was walking slowly, admiring the nearby nature, the chirping birds and the blooming trees She noticed the little girl with her arms spread out, running without a care on the road towards her.
Who then fell down.
Shamal advanced to the little girl and offered her a hand to help her get up, but the little one, with tears in her eyes, refused it and got up all by herself, before breaking out a cry like scream:
“Mama! A weird person is trying to take me!”
The mother, an actually young looking woman with a side ponytail came running towards the source of the cry. Hugging the little girl, she then dusted the accumulated dirt from the fall, then looked at the trench coat, sunglasses and fedora hat wearing woman in front of her.
“Please excuse her.” she said, then grabbed her daughters hand. “Come on Vivio, let's go.” And with that, she sped from the site with the speed only a mother trying to protect her child could achieve.
Speechless, Shamal continued her silent walk through the park. A quarter hour later the end of the park was reached and Shamal already spotted the cafe where she was meeting her two fellow Agents.
Anybody seeing those two would have sworn it was nothing more than a father walking with his daughter, if it weren't for the obvious different facial and bodily features. One would also mention the fact that they were roughly the same age. One was a tall and muscular, white haired man with dark tanned skin. Near him, walked a short red haired girl with a large red hat on her head.
“002.” the man stated plainly taking a seat at the same table Shamal was sitting at. The girl joined the two at the table.
“003, 004.” the woman greeted in return.
“Meh, stop it with those already. It sounds suspicious. Zafira, tell her what we've found already so we can move on.” the red haired girl announced annoyed. The man only shrugged.
“We have been supervising a possible contact to get to the main people of the operation.”
“A buyer?”
“And an unofficial worker. Apparently, the drug deal is just a cover set up. The real thing they deal with is weapons. Big and hot weapons.” Zafira put a file on the table and pushed it towards Shamal. On the piece of paper was a picture of a man with short hair and a large grin on his face, along with other written info. “This is Vice. Also known as 'The Helicopter Guy'. He ships some of the stuff, but he's not in the business directly. He thinks he's shipping Baby Bottles. He's got a contact somewhere who tells him from where to get the load and where to take it. That's your objective.” Zafira pointed at a small shop with an alleyway next to it, from across the street. “Every day at 5:36 he goes to that shop and buys an ice cream. He then takes a turn through that alley way, before heading out to meet his contact.” Zafira took his file back after Shamal looked over it, then the two agents got up from the table and left as if nothing had happened.
Shamal put her glasses back on her face, and headed towards the suggested stop. She leaned against the wall near the alleyway and buried her face in a newspaper.
5:36. A man with short brown hair was calmly eating a large ice cream cone that he had just bought from the local store. With the same calm and carefree expression, he walked through the alleyway. Shamal leaned around the corner to follow the man. Another man came from the other side of the alley, the two met, shook hands, Vice seemed to receive something that he put in his pocked, then each of them went on. When the man was away from the site, Shamal turned around the corner and shouted after Vice. The man turned around perplexed at the call.
“Sorry, you're not my type.”
In less than a seconds notice, the pistol labeled Klarer was taken out from the womans coat and a single gunshot send Vice to the ground.
“Oh no, I missed." Shamal stated simply with a voice as if she had just got a loser ticket in the lottery. During this time, Vice was squirming and yelling, clutching his bleeding leg.
“Who is your contact?”
“I don't know what you're talking about!” Shamal approached Vice and showed him that she still had bullets in her magazine. She then pointed the gun towards his torso and waited.
“No! Wait! Don't Shoot!” Vice screamed as he realized that even a child wouldn't miss from that distance. He tried crawling away, but the gun barrel just kept following his movement with precision. He gave up.
“I'm.... I'm to meet her at this bar tonight.” Vice took out a note from his pocket and handed it to Shamal. “10:30. Look for a woman with long pink hair. I don't know more, just leave me alone.” Shamal hid the gun back in the coat and Vice started limping towards the street after getting up and leaning against the wall.
Shamal turned around and started walking towards the address in the note...