Storm Chaser: Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Elena paced the living room. Her headache was back and her hand was wrapped tightly around her cell phone. Scenarios raced through her mind and ended up snarled in a giant mental traffic jam. Was Kiera being watched because of her? Did Jonathan suspect that she was a pilot and so bugged her apartment on the grounds that it might prove useful? Did they think that because Kiera kept her mail when she was out of town, just as Elena kept hers that they were good enough friends to share secrets? Elena thought about Kiera’s nervousness in the presence of Smith and Jonathan. Did Kiera have something to hide? Did Jonathan suspect her of something completely unrelated to Elena?

“Who knew?” she said to herself as she paced, “The world might not revolve around me after all.” Elena stopped as a though hit her. Was Kiera working with Jonathan? Elena turned the thought over. It was possible but she didn’t think so. None of her mail was opened, Kiera wasn’t suddenly asking questions. She had lived here for over a year before Elena moved into the building so she hadn’t followed her here. Elena looked down at the phone and thought about the bugs in her own apartment.

“Kiera’s place might not be bugged, but then again it might be. And Jonathan could just be a perv with a secret crush. I suppose everything doesn’t have to have diabolical motives.” Elena scrolled through her contacts list to find Kiera’s cell phone number. She pressed the call button. The phone rang twice before Kiera picked up.

“Hello.” Kiera answered, the sounds of traffic filtered in around her voice.

“Kiera, hi. It’s Elena,” she began, even though she knew caller id had already announced her.

“Hi, going out of town again so soon?”

“Well yes actually,” Elena said with a laugh. “I’m leaving this Friday. Are you at home right now?”

“Um, no I’m on my way there actually. Is something wrong?”

“Possibly, would you mind stopping by when you get in?”

“Sure, no problem.” Kiera answered.

“Great, I’ll see you then.” They said their good byes and hung up. Elena took off her coat, put her cell phone on the charger and changed into a faded pair of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. She wiggled her bare toes on the wooden floor boards and decided socks were in order. She tugged out a pair from the drawer and was walking back towards the living room when Kiera knocked. Elena let her in. Kiera unbuttoned her coat and looked at Elena with a slight frown of concern as she sat on the couch to pull her socks on.

“So what was the matter,” Kiera asked taking a seat next to Elena on the couch. “You had a concerned tone.”

“Yeah,” Elena said. “Do you remember the two military men who keep popping by?”

“They are hard to forget.”

“The younger one, do you know him?”

“I only met him when he was asking questions, why?” Kiera’s frown deepened.

“I was hoping you did,” Elena said. She took a deep breathe and took the verbal plunge. “When I came home a little while ago I used the back stairs instead of the main stairwell.”

“Because it is closer to the garage.”

“Yeah. Well Jonathan was in the hallway and he didn’t see me because he was looking only at the main stairs.”

“The back stairs are easy to overlook if you don’t know they are there or don’t use them a lot.” Kiera said nervously. “But they are visible from your doorway.”

“But not really from yours.”

“Mine?”

“Yeah, he was going into your apartment. He was in there about ten minutes or so.” Elena looked at Kiera’s face and caught a brief flash of something that looked a bit like panic skitter across her face. It was gone almost before Elena could identify it.

“Why would he go into my place?”

“I don’t know,” Elena said shaking her head. “I know they are trying to find out more information about me. Maybe they thought you knew something that could help them.” Elena braced herself for questions about the smuggling information she had supposedly been working on with Smith. The questions didn’t come. She could tell Kiera was thinking a lot but had a feeling she was not likely to hear those thoughts. Elena mentally shrugged. It wasn’t as if she weren’t keeping secrets as well.

“Then wouldn’t they just ask me more questions instead of going into my place?”

“That would be the polite thing to do.” Elena paused. “I found several electronic bugs in my place.” Kiera looked startled but Elena pressed on. “A friend gave me one of those detection wands. I’d be happy to help you go over you place to see if any were put in.”

“Bugs?” Kiera said softly. “Like they didn’t think I would tell them the truth about you?”

“More than likely,” Elena said. Kiera looked relieved and Elena wondered what her neighbor was hiding.

“You could help get rid of them?”

“Sure. It’s the least I could do since they invaded your home because of me.” Elena still felt guilty about that. Even if the military was watching Kiera for other reasons, she was still the reason they had been in the building. Elena got the bug detector and the two women went to Kiera’s apartment to begin their search. Spin followed them over and watched amusedly as Elena began waving the magic wand of detection over things. Kiera absently stroked the kitten while she watched. Elena felt a bit silly with an audience but continued anyway. Kiera’s apartment had a lot more life in it than Elena’s and she found herself somewhat envious.

After 5 years Elena had picked up a few knickknacks here and there but the entire apartment was mostly utilitarian. Kiera’s apartment contained much more life. Plants were arranged on windowsills and in stands where light would hit. Kiera had one of the apartments with a balcony, which Elena didn’t have and she envied the small container garden Kiera had created. Tomatoes hung down from an upside-down plant stand, herb sprouted from various brightly colored pots. In the center of it was a small table with two chairs. In consideration for the outside temperatures Kiera had a movable glass enclosure that turned the balcony into a small greenhouse.

Elena had to admit she would never have been able to keep all of the plants alive. Even without piloting she was gone more often than not. Spin mewled, calling Elena’s attention to the giant fish tank against the wall. Small silvery fish darted around while larger ones swam leisurely, looking like gemstones in the overhead lights.

“Those are not for you,” she warned the cat. Spin paid no attention to her and continued watching the fish. Kiera laughed.

“The lid is on tight, she can’t get in,” Kiera told her. Elena continued her search. In the end she had three of the same metal roundels she had found in her apartment. Both women stared at the bugs.

“Well then,” Kiera said. She walked to the kitchen and took out a zip lock back from one of the drawers. She took the three bugs from Elena and slipped them inside. To Elena’s amusement she then added a scoopful of blue gravel from a bag she kept in a cabinet under the fish tank. Kiera squeezed all the air out of the bag, zipped it closed and opened the top corner of the fish tank. She dropped the bag into the corner of the tank and watched it slowly drift towards the bottom. The little bit of air still trapped in the bag kept it floating slightly above the bottom. The little silver fish darted away from it like flashes of light and slowly one or two approached it, darting around to investigate this new addition to their undersea world.

“I wouldn’t want the metal to leak into the water which is why I didn’t just drop them in alone,” Kiera explained. “Do you think that will do?”

“Yeah, I don’t think they will be able to hear much.”

“Good,” Kiera nodded. “Thanks.”

“No problem. And if you ever want to do another sweep.” Elena waved the wand in the air.

“Oh trust me, I will be calling. After all it’s the bugs you don’t find that you have to worry about.”

“True,” Elena answered, thinking she might want to make a routine of sweeping her apartment and businesses for bugs. She inwardly sighed. ‘Yet another thing to add to the to do list,’ she thought. She and Spin left Kiera’s apartment and returned to their own. After the warmth and vibrancy of Kiera’s it felt a little cold. Elena shrugged off the sensation.

“After all,” she told Spin while she took leftovers from the fridge and began to heat up dinner, “Even with all the time in the world I couldn’t keep one of those plants alive. I have the anti-green thumb.” Spin meowed and watched the plate containing the chicken make its way from the counter to the microwave. “I wonder if that is a super hero power?” Elena mused.

She had visions of herself in a mask and cape with an outfit containing an ex-ed out green thumb as a logo. The outfit looked more like a child’s pair of footed pajamas than a cool spandex affair the comic books would have given her. She shrugged.

“Oh well,” she said. “Seems more like a super villain thing than a hero. And that is too much work.” She set her plate on the table, pulled out the two books Alexandro had given her and began to wind her way through the ins and outs of guild politics while she ate.