It seemed to the two men that the plane landed almost too abruptly. A few minutes before, both could have sworn they were still at least a few hours from their destination, thousands of feet in the air, and in the next couple of seconds, they coasted into their gate, stopping smoothly before the airport.
Silently both men stood and gathered their few belongings and together they walked into the terminal.
As they marched, one of the men seemed keen to get to where he was going. He walked with anticipation and a bounce in his step that seemed strangely out of place with his partner’s equally fast but more purposeful pace.
As the more joyful man walked, his brisker partner looked on in silence. He was deep in thought, almost as if he were wondering how he and his identically dressed partner had gotten to this small airport in America, trying to catch a cab that would take them to Virginia Beach.
As they loaded into the car, he realized that their current situation had been an inevitable downfall that had started exactly three years ago. He stopped at that thought. Three years ago was a place he did not want to live through let alone think about ever again.
Taking a breath, he stopped mid-sigh as he saw his joyous partner staring at him intently.
“Are you alright?” The joyous man asked in slightly lilted English.
Most would have been unable to place this accent of his, but he knew it was only due to the many languages they spoke. Various pitches they mastered had left them with a unique dialect only a few had, let alone could recognize.
As the quieter man stared at him pondering this, his partner stopped mid stride and stared at him, worry covering his face as he took longer and longer to answer.
Realizing this, the brisk man answered him curtly.
“I’m fine.”
The joyful man stared at him for a few moments before accepting his answer and getting into the car.
As they drove, the joyous man stared out the window and despite his smile, there was an evident disdain that he knew only his partner could recognize.
It was disdain for what they were doing: Going to a sleepy surfer town to pick an evident backwoods beach hippie to join their cause.
Three years ago he would have never seen it coming. He stopped at that however.
Out of respect for his partner he tried not to think about three years ago. At that he glanced at him, but he was staring out of the window steadily, watching the changing scenery perhaps. It was interesting the cheerful man thought. A metropolitan area slowly disintegrating into worn wooded beach houses as they approached the coast. It loomed closer and closer and the cheerful man’s stomach clenched.
Nerves? No. He did not get nervous. It was what he could only call reluctance.
He did not want to find this Aira Devens but according to his Commander, if he didn’t he and his partner would be forced into early retirement. A retirement he knew would consist of nothing more than being locked down and forced to watch others try and fail to take his and his partners place.
“She should be heading to work now. By the time we arrive, she’ll be well into her shift,” the brisk man said.
“So?” The cheerful man asked.
“So, who will cover her shift when she leaves?”
“Does that matter?”
“No, I was just curious,” the brisk man answered.
The cheerful man smiled at that. Those particular questions were what made his partner and himself such a good team. He would ask the questions most thought would not matter, and they usually didn’t, but every once in a while, those questions that didn’t matter helped them complete an assignment.
They drove on in silence and as they approached the town the cheerful man’s look of disdain returned. Broken and dirty were not the words he would use to describe this town but it was halfway and just a step further there. Cars with worn paint from the sea air rested on cracked concrete. You could see the grasses crawling through the stone as if trying to recapture its territory. He supposed the sight was romantic. Picturesque even, that nature was slowly reclaiming this beach town until it vanished into the ocean, existing no more on land.
As they both looked on, they passed a sign telling them that their exit was approaching, both sat straighter as their driver branched off to the right. They turned onto a worn road and entered a shabby town filled with a vast array of people. Old and young alike walked the roads, mostly in bathing suits and laughing.
From the other side of the glass the joyous man watched as they carried on their lives with not a care in the world. But that wasn’t true he thought. They had cares. That old lady is probably worried about her mortgage and whether or not it will be paid before she moves on. And that young kid is probably stressing himself out about college and the fact that he spent all of his summers surfing when he should have been studying.
He smiled at that.
They looked on as they pressed forward. A shopping center appeared and the cab driver pulled up to the entrance of the surprisingly large mall. The brisk man leaned forward and paid him while the joyous man was already out of the car and stepping towards the doors.
As the brisk man approached him, he pulled out a phone and placed a call.
“A car at the mall. Yes.”
He hung up and was already redialing while the joyous man waited patiently.
“Yes, this is Blaine Walters at Walters and Co. We were hoping to speak to an Aira Devens about her upcoming trail for attempted homicide. She’s in? Excellent. We shall arrive shortly. Please excuse her to speak to us, I’m afraid that for her safety it would be prudent for her to leave and not return as we have much to do in pushing forward with her case…. You shall. Thank you. One more thing, please, I’m afraid I must ask you not to tell her of our arrival. I don’t want to scare her. She might run and that would not be of any help to her or her family.”
The brisk man by the name of Blaine hung up as he considered the glass doors. He and his partner stood shoulder to shoulder at the same height. Identically dressed in completely black suits with tanned matching faces he knew they would enlist stares, but they had no time to worry about that. The sooner they got Aira Devens out of the country, the sooner they could begin their real task.
The joyous man seemed to be thinking the same thing because he suddenly reached forward and pulled open the doors. Together they walked into the cold air as the door clicked shut behind them...
The store she was in was both bright and cheerful the brisk man thought. From the outside they could see her clearly, and the man Blaine stared at her. Like her file said, she was a tall toned five foot, five inches with curly black hair that fell to the middle of her back. Grey eyes had stared blankly at him from the photo they’d been given. Her years of playing soccer had paid off because she was not thin, but toned. He had studied her movements, her posture, her facial expressions, committing it all to memory.
She did not see them, but they had full view of her. She had worn seemingly broken eyes that stared at the computer in front of her. Her skin warm hued and especially darker from living on the beach coupled with her clear gray-green eyes and curly black hair cast a startling contrast from the tanned sun-bleached people around her.
“Well,” the joyous man said.
“Let’s go,” the brisk man replied.
They pushed the door open and Aira Devens looked up at them.
“Hello,” she said smiling a soft yet forced smile. Blaine stared at her silently and noted that in the store her eyes were not only grey but also had hints of green and gold that had not come up in the picture.
“Aira Devens,” the joyous man declared. He walked up to her desk and slid an emerald green card in front of her.
“You are in a lot of trouble.”
The brisk man stepped forward as she stared at his partner with bitterness.
“Walter and Co. We’re here to talk to you about your case. I think you had better come with us.”
Aira Devens looked at him for a moment before picking up the card and feeling a stab of fear. She glanced back and saw her boss nodding at her.
“Go, kid. I’ll be right here. Wave if you need me,” he said.
She nodded and stood, grabbing her things, she watched the identical men walk away for a moment before slowly following.