Spy Journal 3.0 Filtering the web for you

Drenched in sunlight the afternoon slipped away for Kat and Robin. The sound of the crashing surf was lulling and the gentle breeze whistling in the dunes was intermittent. Occasionally the girls would roll over and reapply their lotion. Both were content to lie lazily around with out having to focus on their studies or other cares. At around quarter to four they rose, dusted errant grains of sand from their bronzed limbs, packed up their belongings and sauntered back to the surf club.

There were plenty of people now sitting around on the balcony under sun umbrellas drinking and watching the surfers and swimmers. As they stepped into the cool clubroom the girls had to pause to flip their sunnies up onto the top of their heads and let their eyes adjust to the light.

Greg was still behind the bar serving customers. There were now a good number of people sitting around and standing at the bar. Greg was kept busy serving for the next 5 minutes until he could sneak away, hang up his apron and come round the front of the bar.

"Whew" he gasped in mock distress and pretended to mop his brow. "That's busy today. Care to join me for a drink?" he asked.

Robin agreed instantly and Kat nodded also.

"What'll it be ladies, drinks are on me."

Robin and Kat made their requests and Greg ordered the drinks and then turned to the girls. "What's the plan for tonight?"

Robin answered first with a laugh, "Nothing planned, let's just take it as it comes. Are there any live bands on here tonight?"

"Not here," Greg replied. "But the tavern up the road does. Do you want to go there?" The surf club tended to attract regulars, while the tavern was more of a tourist trap and was unpredictable.

Kat opened her mouth to comment but in that instant her communicator beeped loudly using its most strident tone. Kat looked alarmed as she thumbed the head set in her sunglasses frames, and her friends watched in shock as the alarmed look on her face grew.

Kat turned away from the noisy bar and walked out into the foyer so she could hear better. Robin and Greg followed a pace behind, Robin clutching Greg's arm. "Something's obviously wrong" she said.

Greg nodded. "Look's that way. Let's just wait and find out. We may have to put those ideas for tonight on hold."

Robin was talking now, asking a couple of questions and then listening. Her friends saw the initial look of alarm had been replaced with a less serious worried look, but were still concerned for her.

As she disconnected the call Robin immediately took her friend by the arm.

"What's wrong?" she inquired with a concerned tone.

"Amy, our tribe cleaner is dead," Robin answered flatly. "Chris found her, he was attacked by the same person but escaped. Mum and Dad have been called home but haven't arrived yet. That was the detective. The enforcers have been there all afternoon, but he hasn't been able to call me before now. I am going to have to go home sorry guys."

"Hey nothing to be sorry for," Robin replied. "I will come with you if you'd like."

Greg chimed in. "Do you want me to drive you?"

"No, thanks for the offer though. No look, you two go and have fun tonight. It sounds like it is all under control. I will miss Amy though, she was fun."

Greg looked relieved but Robin still looked dubiously at her friend. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Kat made an attempt to brighten up her smile and look less worried, but it wasn't very convincing. "Yes I am fine. I can drive home by myself and my parents will be there by then. You two head on out and enjoy being on your own."

Robin still didn't look convinced. Greg downed the remainder of the drink he was holding and left it on a table in the foyer. "Someone else can pick that up. Lets go." He shouldered his bag and started walking to the door. Kat and Robin followed his lead and the trio stepped out into the carpark and the bright sunlight once more. Greg and Robin walked Kat to her car and watched as she put in her bag, lowered the top and drove off.

"It just goes to show you can't trust those tribies." Greg proclaimed.

"What makes you think it was a tribesperson?" asked Robin.

"Who else would want to kill one? Certainly none of our people would. They have nothing we want." Greg's understanding of human nature was shallow and at times Robin was frustrated with her boyfriends rather bigoted views. She tried to make light of it now as she didn't want to cause an argument. "I am sure the enforcers will work it out in due course."

"You watch and see, they will find the varmint quick enough. It's just a pity they won't execute them, but waste money locking them up."

Robin did not want to talk about it so she turned her pretty face up to Greg's as they walked to his car. "Let's not worry about it eh, we have all night to ourselves now."

"You're right." Greg was distracted from his line of thought as she had intended and instead bent down to kiss her full lips. Robin pressed her body into his and all thoughts of murdering tribesmen vanished from his mind as she returned the kiss with passion.

Eventually they broke the kiss, but remained embraced. They resumed walking arm in arm to the car.

"Let's give the tavern a miss. I feel like going out for a nice meal instead. Lets head back to our place for a shower and then I will take you out and treat you!"

"You’re on!" Robin acquiesced as the two lovers reached the vehicle. They separated briefly to enter from opposite sides and then as Greg started the car up, she resumed the contact with a hand resting on his leg.

"Let's have a great night and not worry about Kat. She will be fine."

"Agreed." and with that Greg slipped the car into gear and they headed off.

Jord waited in line. The whitefaces had lots of these feeding places, but unlike the tribes they wouldn’t let you just turn up and eat. If Jord went to another tribe (although he never had) he knew he would be immediately welcome and could get a feed. However here the whitefaces wouldn’t let the tribe cook their food on a fire in the meeting place ever since the big fight. Instead they gave food paper to the tribe and told them to come to the whiteface’s feeding place. You gave them the paper and they fed you. Jord had worked out early on that no paper meant no food.

He was still amazed at what he could see. The bright colours and lights were completely strange to him. Usually he came to this place just outside the meeting place using sound and smell as his guides, or with someone to help him. Now he could see and the short walk was a totally immersive experience. Now he was experiencing the visual feast that accompanied the sounds and smells he usually was aware of. He came to the front of the line and requested his usual food. It was thrust across to him with a brief command, “Pay”.

Jord handed over the wad and the whiteface behind the counter took it, peeled of a few notes and passed the rest back.

Jord savoured the food; relishing eating something he could see for the first time ever. He felt suddenly liberated and on a whim decided to go exploring rather than return to the meeting place. He wandered through the city aimlessly wondering at the sights. The people looked so different from how he imagined them, especially the women. Most people were dressed in business attire and were walking purposefully to unknown destinations. Most people also completely ignored Jord, except to curse if he was in their way as they walked quickly and he shuffled along. Old habits died hard.

Another thing that amazed him was the beasts. The growling and whirring noises they made were not animal as he had originally thought. He decided they were mechanical and made of the shiny metal stuff. People were getting in and out of the beasts. As he walked along a large beast came alongside him and stopped. People poured out and when the entrance way was clear another line of people started filing in. Jord decided to join them. As he got to the entrance way an enforcer stopped him. Taking his arm he guided Jord away from the door. Jord couldn’t explain why but he was annoyed.

A sudden thought crossed his mind; he could try the invisibility function. Flipping the hood up he looked at the icon and waited for it to expand. The world flickered briefly and then came back with the glowing images visible in the edge of his vision. Stepping back up to the doorway he climbed in unobstructed. Walking down the narrow aisle between the seated people he found a niche where he could squat out of the way.

With a lurch and a growl the beast started moving and everything Jord had ever known began to fade away behind him. Completely unworried and relaxed Jord looked around at the view through the beast’s multiple eyes.

The tinny voice sounded again, monotonously repeating the same mantra. Chris did not dare speak back, but the fact that someone was there was comforting. The sound of heavy boots tramping across the kitchen floor came as a sudden loud noise as the intruder, who must have been standing still all this time, suddenly started walking.

Chris quietly placed the phone on a shelf behind his back as he pressed himself against the shelves. He raised the bottle over his head and waited for the pantry door to swing open.

But the boots retreated back down the hallway towards the entrance. Chris let out a long breath and then realised he had been holding it. He picked the phone back up and pressed it to his ear. The voice was still repeating its message.

“Hullo,” he whispered.

The voice stopped instantly. “Emergency Operator,” she now spoke more animatedly.

Chris continued, “I need help, I may not be able to talk for long.”

“That’s ok,” she responded. “Help is on the way. Can you tell me what happened?”

Chris blabbered out, “Amy is dead, they attacked me, tried to smash the phone, bashed me, I’m hiding…”

“Calm down, one thing at a time please,” The Emergency Operator interrupted.

My name is Claire and I will help you as much as possible, but I need good information.”

“OK” said Chris.

“Now, there is a dead body?”

“Yes.”

“An intruder?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

I don’t know I only saw one, there could be more, they made a mess…”

She interrupted again. “Are they still there?”

“Yes,”

Is there anybody else in the house with you?

Chris spoke urgently and in as low a voice as possible.

“No. There is only one intruder that I know of. They attacked me and knocked me out. Our cleaner has been killed and butchered.” His voice cracked as he said this.

“OK, where are you in the house? I have blueprints here” The voice remained calm.

“I am in the pantry off the kitchen.”

“OK, sit tight there. Help will be there in a few minutes.”

Simon had watched the patio area and through the windows into the family room for over 2 minutes now and seen no sign of movement. He risked sneaking closer and slid open the sliding door. Stepping into the room he quickly moved across to the archway to the kitchen and risked a look around. No-one there.

Simon looked around the kitchen. All looked normal. There were a couple of unwashed bowls on the bench. He saw a odd shaped piece of plastic on the floor and walked over. Picking it up he realised it was a battery cover off something. He read the manufacturers label and realised it was from the phone. As he was looking at the plastic cover a voice speaking caught his attention. It was very quiet and he couldn’t place its location. It almost sounded like a radio on very low volume.

He heard it again. This time as he strained to hear he caught the sound of a male voice whispering. “There’s someone in the kitchen now.” The voice was indistinct and muffled but it was definitely coming from the pantry. Simon stepped over to the pantry door and whispered “Chris?”

There was absolute silence for a few seconds then the pantry door cracked open. “Simon! Quickly, in here mate.” Chris opened the door wide and dragged Simon in by his shirt sleeve.

As the door shut and the gloom enveloped them Simon whispered hastily, “What the heck is going on? And is that your cleaner outside all chopped up?”

“Shhhh” Chris warned. “There is someone in the house. They already attacked me once.”

Simon asked “What are we going to do?”

“Wait for the enforcers. They are on their way.”

“I know” Simon replied, “I talked to them too.”

Suddenly a tinny voice broke through their conversation. “Chris are you there?”

Chris held the phone to his ear. Simon passed him the battery cover he was still holding. Chris took it as he listened carefully to the operator. Then he turned the phone over and slid the cover on as he relayed the message to Simon.

“They are outside now They are going to come inside in the next 2-5 minutes. We are to keep our heads down and stay in the back of the cupboard. They may use gas and weapons if necessary.”

The two lads hunched down in the back of the cupboard and waited.

About 3 minutes later the door was opened and a burly enforcer in armour stood there. He gestured for the two boys to follow him and turned and left toward the front door. As they followed him they saw enforcers everywhere with weapons drawn standing beside doorways, or running in pairs. All of them were in constant communications with their team. The enforcer hurried the two boys out the now open wide front door that had been forced open.

Outside they were passed to some other technicians who took them straight to a van parked out in the street. It was black and had no windows apart from the front section where the driver sat. After the technician spoke on his comms unit a door opened from the inside and the boys were ushered inside.

The inside of the van was crammed with electronic gear. Several monitors displayed views of the house both inside and out, obviously from enforcers helmet cameras. 3 technicians sat watching the screens and issuing commands to the teams inside.

“Did you get him?” Chris asked excitedly.

“Not yet.”

The room started to buzz with comms traffic and the technicians ignored Chris and Simon as they answered and directed the operation. Chris noticed that one screen had the floor plan of the house on it. He watched another screen curiously as the enforcer wearing the camera flung open the door to his bedroom. He could see the weapons muzzle being poked around the doorway. There was no-one there.

All clear responses started to come through on the comms units. Chris watched as one screen showed the patio area. As the camera wearer headed toward the end of the patio and around the hedge onto the lawn where he had seen Amy’s body he held his breath.

In total surprise he exclaimed “Where is she?” and “What’s that?” as he saw nothing where she had been but a round black mark. Small tendrils of smoke drifted upward and as the camera cam lower to view the patch, Chris could see that the grass had been burned completely away. Even the dirt was scorched.

The van rocked as an enforcer entered. He looked commanding and he spoke first to the technicians. “Status?” he asked.

“All clear, zero hostile, zero hostage, zero bodies.”

“Good job, start packing up.”

“You two, come with me.” And he crooked his finger at Chris and Simon and beckoned them. Turning on his heel he strode from the van without a backward glance to see if they were coming. Simon followed immediately, but Chris turned back to the monitor, puzzled, and hoping to see more from the lawn. But the monitors had gone dead and the technicians were starting to shut systems down.

Chris hurried from the van and caught up to Simon who was walking behind the enforcer toward the house.

Walking back into the house was completely different. Now there were technicians with cameras and equipment everywhere. The big enforcer turned down the hallway toward the kitchen. Reaching the kitchen he stopped and turned back to Chris and Simon. “Which one of you is Chris?” he asked. Chris stepped forward. “Me.”

“This is where you were attacked.” It was a statement not a question. “Yes,” Chris volunteered though he felt his answer was unnecessary.

“You were thrown to the floor there”, he pointed at the middle of the floor, “before hiding in the pantry right?”

“Yes” responded Chris. “What about Amy, and did you capture the intruder?”

“We have found no-one and in fact have found no evidence of any bodies.”

“What happened to Amy? I saw a black circle on the grass on the monitor in the van.”

“Who is Amy?”

“She is our cleaner. I found her on the lawn all chopped up. There was blood everywhere. Now she’s gone.”

“Come and show me.” The enforcer stepped to the side to allow Chris to go first. Carefully stepping around the technicians who were checking for fingerprints and other forensic evidence Chris led the others to the patio. A technician opened the door for him with gloves. Chris walked around to the end of the patio and to the lawn beyond the hedge. There were a number of technicians around the black circle and now Chris could smell the acrid odour of burnt flesh and blood. There were still some tendrils of smoke coming off the blackened earth.

“She was here.” Chris pointed to the circle. “But she wasn’t all burnt up.”

The enforcer spoke to a technician briefly.

Coming back to the boys he said “There is no evidence of blood or any other human material in the burnt area or around on the grass. Who was Amy?”

“She’s our cleaner” Chris responded testily. “I already told you.”

“I will need to find out who she is,” the enforcer responded. “We will do a database search on her and then try and locate her.”

Chris was flummoxed. “I saw her body,” he said. Simon piped in, “So did I.”

The enforcer looked concerned for the first time.

“We have contacted your parents and your father is on his way here now. We will get details from him.”

Kat and Robin arrived at the surf club not long before lunch. As they pulled into the carpark Robin checked to see her boyfriend’s car was there. Kat parked and put the top up before looking the car. Shouldering their beach bags the two girls sauntered out of the heat and sunlight into the cool dark surf club.

Greg worked behind the bar most days and today was no exception.

“Hiya sexy” he called out to Robin as he saw the girls. Robin waved and the two girls walked down to where he was working and sat on bar stools in front of him.

“Hey gorgeous” Robin replied.

It was their standard form of greeting and Kat had never observed them break it. The two had been going out for over 3 years now having met while in school. Greg was a year older and had been around the beach all his life. The job at the surf club was a means of bankrolling his passion to be an iron man. He trained everyday at the beach, and then worked behind the bar for around 6 hours or so. He had already won a number of junior titles and last year had hit the big time. Here he was a small minnow in a big pond, but already he had gained a rising star award in his local club as well as getting increasingly improved results in the national events. Robin didn’t share his athletic skills but was his most passionate supporter. Kat had come along several times to the local races, though had not attended any away events.

Greg poured the two girls a drink and took a pause from his labour of stacking glasses and refilling fridges. He leaned on the bar in front of them and Robin leaned over for a kiss.

Kat felt an instant pang of jealousy, not over Greg, but the fact that she was boyfriend less. She grudgingly admitted to herself that having had Mario as a boyfriend would have been something she would have enjoyed, but not now. Boys confused her. They either were coarse vile creatures who repulsed her or they were absolute spunks who made her weak kneed and blushing like Mario had. She envied the easy familiarity that Greg and Robin shared. Their camaraderie she mused was the attribute of the relationship that she desired the most. She had never experienced that with a boy. Robin told her frequently she was too intense and to loosen up.

“Kat” she heard.

She snapped out of her internal reverie to look up and find Greg and Robin watching her amusedly.

“She’s pining for Mario” Robin laughed good naturedly digging her friend in the ribs.

“I am so NOT pining” Kat responded indignantly.

Greg laughed out loud, his melodious voice echoing through the empty taproom.

“Robin told me,” he said. “You looked a million miles away.”

“I was,” she admitted. “Hey lets get some lunch from the bistro Robin. We can leave this hunk to attract the ladies in here.”

“Humph!” Greg snorted. “Lady cockroaches and blue rinses oldies are all we get in here this time of day. Not til the nippers arrive after school and all the mums come in here will it get busy. What are your plans for the day?”

Robin ticked off on her fingers, “Lets see, lunch, sunbathe, spy on gorgeous hunks on the beach, chat up sexy barmen and get them to take me home after they finish work, and the rest can’t be mentioned in front of young ladies.” She giggled as she reeled this off with a pointed finger at Kat as she said the last bit.

It was Kat’s turn to snort now. She followed on with her own list, “Lunch I agree, sunbathe yes, hunks on beach yes but not any old lowlife barmen for me. Diamond rings, Gucci dresses and fast sports cars are a must and they must have a penthouse overlooking the beach.”

“You don’t want much do you Princess Katarina,” he mocked.

“Grrr,” she responded and playfully swatted his cheek.

He caught her wrist and then held her hand up to his face pressing his lips to the back of her hand in a mocking imitation of chivalry.

He turned serious as he released her hand.

“It’s not what’s in the bank account that you should be chasing Kat but what’s in their heart. Don’t worry you will find the man of your dreams one day. Now get out of here you two, you are keeping me from other customers.” He waved an expansive hand toward the rest of the empty room. The girls laughed and got up to go.

Robin asked “See you at four?”

“Count on it” replied Greg.

The two lasses grabbed a sandwich each from the bistro then headed down to the beach where they chose a spot to spread out their towels. Slipping off their mini skirts they sat down cross-legged on the towels next to each other to start spreading suntan lotion. As they massaged it in Kat looked over at Robin and asked suddenly, “You’re going to marry him aren’t you?”

Robin looked surprised by the question but answered immediately, “The second he asks me!”

Kat stopped rubbing lotion and looked down at her blanket glumly. “What am I doing wrong?” she asked. “Why can’t I find a nice man?”

Robin looked concerned not hearing this sort of emotion from the normally sunny natured Kat.

“Your man will come Kat” she responded, gently laying a hand on her friend’s arm. “Just hang in there and don’t fall for any more smooth talking snakes.”

Kat agreed and the two girls lay down, tipped their hats over their faces and basked in the sun.