Mason squinting his eyes at the wall then stumbled upon a stunning realization. The red river served as a kind of optical illusion hiding a secret door to the building. The red paint perfectly flowed and rippled like a river obscuring the cracks of the door, and incredibly enough, what appeared to be the graffiti alien’s mouth was actually a cleverly obscured doorknob!
Realizing as much Mason muttered, “Damn—their hiding in plain sight. that’s what they are doing.”
Benton not yet making the connection asked, “What—what are you talking about?”
Mason then informed them, “This is a freaking door.” Worrying that someone might pop out at any minute, Mason realized it would be better to do some surveillance first as he ordered, “Come on let’s take cover!”
Benton nodded, and the three of them went back into the shadows of the alley, and finding a dumpster Mason barked, “Alright let’s get in.”
Raina staring at the dumpster almost thought it was a joke, “You are kidding, right?”
Mason was not. He vigorously shook his head, “No I’m not. We can watch from inside.”
Benton then peeked into the unit, “Don’t worry! It’s empty! Trash day was today—looks like they already picked up.”
Raina muttered, “Lovely…”
Grabbing a hair tie and quickly tying her hair behind her head she remarked, “So now I’m dumpster diving? Just what the hell was I thinking when I signed up for this kind of work?”
Mason came over and clumsily reached for her waist, in an attempt to hoist her into the dumpster, telling her, “Come on Raina—it’s not that bad. Let me help.”
Raina surprised him however, by expertly knocking his arm away as she insisted, “Forget it Mason—I can get in myself.”
Mason was impressed with the fashion in which she had used her forearm to knock his hands away, he knew that this was a taste of her finely-honed martial arts ability.
Realizing he had met his match, Mason acknowledged, “Alright, that’s fine Raina. Go ahead.”
Raina then stepped on top of a crate and impressed all of them with her finesse as she leaped like a cat right into the dumpster. Mason and Benton were a little less artful as they basically grabbed the top of the rusty trash bin and hoisted themselves over.
Raina staring at her teammates as they stood across from her in the belly of a dumpster that smelled like a mixture of beer and rotten tomatoes asked, “Okay so now we wait?”
Mason pointing to the ventilation crack in front of them that gave them a full view of the hidden graffiti door, informed her with what amounted to an old military motto, “Yeah Raina—it’s time for us to hurry up and wait.”
ABOUT 20 MINUTES LATER. The group getting frustrated in their smelly confines were about to call the whole thing off, when suddenly they saw movement. A man with dark hair and mustache, dressed in an expensive Armani suit came into view as he hurriedly made his way down the alley and straight to the hidden door.
Mason seeing the sight, remarked, “Well—it’s not like you see that every day. Someone dressed to the hilt sneaking around the back alleys in the seedy side of Brooklyn.”
The group then watched as the guy opened the door and was greeted by a man with a big thick beard, and dress that seemed to indicate he was perhaps Mideastern in origin.
Seeing this, Benton added to the commentary, “Ah—and it gets even more interesting….”
The well-dressed man then went into the door and the Mideastern looking fellow shut the door behind them. Raina suddenly thinking of Kyle and how distraught he was to think his facts had been wrong, told Mason, “Hey Mason—we better report back to Kyle what we found out.”
Mason not really feeling like it, asked, “Is it really necessary?”
Raina gave him a look that meant business however and ordered, “Just tell him.”
Mason giving in to her demands, put Kyle through on the commlink. “Hey Kyle! You there?”
Seeming to hesitate for a moment, Kyle answered in a subdued voice, “Uh—yeah. Yeah I’m here.”
Mason then informed him, “Well—you remember how I told you your lead was wrong?”
Kyle already defensive answered, “But it wasn’t!”
Mason laughed, “Alright boss you win. You were right after all! We found them! The bastards are here just like you said!”
Kyle feeling tremendously vindicated by this turn of events, joyfully shouted, “I knew it! I knew it!”
Mason knowing that time was of the essence however, sought to cut through his chatter, and asked, “How’s your satellite data? You got a lock on this place?”
Kyle affirmed, “Yes—yes I do.”
Mason answered, “Okay good, because we’re going in.
16
On the Inside
Standing right in front of the hidden door and hoping to God that they don’t have hidden cameras somewhere—the group was preparing to break in. Benton putting one of his specialties to use, had worked a long metal needle through the old-fashioned locking mechanism of the door and successfully picked it.
In what had become almost routine for Mason, he flung the door open as Benton barreled through with gun drawn. Seeing that he was inside a dimly lit warehouse, Benton quickly ducked behind some wooden crates and then motioned for his comrades to quickly follow him.
Mason looked to Raina and hissed quietly, “Ladies first.”
Raina muttered, a slightly less then genuine, “Thanks…”
As she darted into the building and ducked behind the same crate Benton was using for cover. Mason then made his way inside, carefully shutting the door behind him, before he joined Benton and Raina behind the crates as well. Mason staring out at the sheer expanse of the structure muttered, “Only in Brooklyn could a whole warehouse be hidden in plain sight with no one even knowing it was there.”
Mason then informed the group, “Alright, I’m going to go solo and see what I can find out. Raina you stick with Benton and go in the other direction. We can cover more ground in teams of two.”
Raina scoffed, "Teams of two—sounds more like you think you are
