Chapter Text
Running, she was running, and when she finally, finally got to the door she didn’t have her key. So she pounded and pounded on the door, hoping there’d be someone to let her in even though she lived on her own. On her own, she wanted to be on her own, and she lived as if she were on her own, while the others bound together and ran into the valley of death like in the poem she’d read. Someone was coming, she had to get in, she pounded and pounded and nobody came…
“Easy,” a voice came from nowhere but still nobody answered the door and someone was coming. She tried to pound louder but somebody was holding her fists, and nobody was opening the door.
“Please, please,” she begged. The hands that held her fists moved to her face, holding it firmly and making her listen.
“You're okay, Angie,” and the hands smoothed her hair back and lifted her (lifted? from where?).
Dragged into the waking world, she still couldn’t leave the other behind. “No, no it’s not,” and she erupted into terrified gasping, “it’s not, it’s not, they’re coming for me…”
“Nobody’s coming, you’re okay.” Finally she was drawn into someone’s protection, solid arms and hands and heartbeat, and she let herself be pulled all the way into the real world as fingertips lightly traced along her face. Still and steady, someone had held her like that before...
“Tyler” Angie wailed suddenly as if she’d been dropped abruptly out of another world into the dark.
“I'm right here,” he assured her in a calm voice.
“Someone’s coming,” she panted, “I gotta get in.”
“Relax, you just had a dream.” Thinking for a minute about what she was wrestling with, he changed his approach. “I won’t let ‘em get you.” That seemed to help. Tyler managed to sit them both up. She’d put up quite a fight, and the struggle in that damn miniature bed had almost knocked them both to the floor.
I won’t let ‘em get you. She trusted that voice, but needed more. “Promise me, promise…”
“I promise, nobody will get you.”
Tyler saw was she was focused on his face at last and knew where she was, and who was with her, but she still looked terrified.
“I won’t let anybody get you,” he repeated firmly. He held her steady, her forehead almost touching his, so she had to look him straight in the eye.
As her panic subsided he lay down again still hugging her closely. Hell, there was no other way for them to lie in that stupid little bed anyway, though generally speaking he didn't mind all that much.
God, now he'll really think I'm psycho. She was embarrassed and uneasy; it was the first time anyone had witnessed her secret fears in full flight. Well, maybe not the first, but the first time anyone had paid attention. David had never noticed, or at least hadn’t acted like he had even during the last most threatening days.
(“Davy, I’m worried. What if they come for us in IT? You know how they 'question' people.
“It’ll be fine. Nobody’s being taken that didn’t break the law.”
It sounded a little strange to her. David never tried to comfort her, he only said that things would be “fine”, as if he knew. But how could he? The laws kept changing so fast.)
When she'd caught her breath Angie asked, more than a little sheepishly, “So am I crazy enough to send you tearing off into the night?” She was absurdly relieved when Ham tightened his embrace.
“Not a chance.” Sensing her awkwardness he smiled against her cheek and added, “Besides, Gooder’s on watch… if he saw me running bare-assed out of your room I'd definitely have to kill him.” He knew she wouldn’t laugh, but felt her relax just a bit. God bless wiseass, he thought, and waited until her breathing settled down before he loosened his grip. He didn’t ask her to tell him about it.
“Thanks,” she whispered shakily against his shoulder, “for not asking.” Too much to explain, too many things she didn’t understand herself.
“I know all I need to, Angel.” He turned onto his side, cradling her against him. “Go back to sleep.”
Angie lifted her head to look Tyler in the face, to make absolutely sure he knew she was being serious.
“Really, don’t leave, okay? I mean, not without telling me.” The few nights they'd spent together since the trip to the cabin he’d risen before sunrise and left without waking her. She didn’t want that this time; the dream had left her too shaky.
“Not a chance.”
“Anything new to report?” Julie asked.
All existing plans and projects had been discussed. The infiltration of the new food processing plant had been successful; the newly reconfigured pass creation system had worked to everyone’s relief. Unlike the invasion of the medical center press event that had been designed to reveal the true nature of the Visitors, the latest operation had allowed a different set of rebels to enter and engage in subtle reconnaissance, assisted by some members of the 5th column headed by Donovan’s contact Martin. They were gathering information to determine the general design of the processing centers, to identify common weaknesses so other resistance cells could be informed and multiple attacks could be coordinated. Otherwise processing would simply shift to the next nearest center until repairs were made.
“There’s a new development in the general infiltration plan,” Caleb announced. “Angie and Maggie have come up with something.”
“You all know I have solid connection with a member of the Visitor Youth Corps.” Everyone was too well aware of Maggie’s unique sacrifices to do anything but nod at the euphemism. “Well Angie and I have been talking about it, and we think that it might be a good idea for her to find a way into the Visitor establishment, and do a little sightseeing in their computer systems.”
“They’ve taken over the central L.A. library, and are using it as a central IT headquarters for the region,” Angie explained to everyone with a nod of thanks to Maggie, who had found this out from that jerk Daniel. “And they’ve dumped most of the original employees.” She deliberately skated over the concept of “dumped”. “So we figured that there might be a way for me to get in. I have solid experience in library database management, and no traceable history.”
“Do you really think they’ll just accept somebody on second hand say-so?” Donovan asked, as if he already knew the answer. "And what good will a list of book-readers be?"
“I figure they have the all the employment records they wanted from Boston before they ‘rebuilt’ it. And nothing else, because I had nothing else going on that would have been noted so they might assume I was just another drone. I got out, and the Resistance didn’t. Everything else went boom. That’s better odds than most in favor of not being suspect. And the database can be a handy back door to other areas, trust me on that,” Angie advised him in a flat voice. The others considered this.
“How you going to get in?” Tyler wanted to know. Tyler and Farber were, of course, included in the daily strategy meeting.
“Social connections… better low-level than high. Maggie’s connection probably has some of those connections, someone like him with more ego than security clearance. Best way to get in is low, because nobody much will be worried about what you’re doing. I’d be able to check things out, see where the weak spots are.”
“And nobody would notice you ‘sightseeing’?” Donovan had more doubts than the average paranoid case.
“I know how to be very careful, and I’ve learned enough to know how to fly under the radar when looking for the basics.” She smiled at Willie, who smiled back. “Inside advantage.”
Donovan accepted Angie’s proposition. “Okay.” He wasn’t all that secure with the plan, but the basic idea was good and they had few options.
Julie nodded in agreement and asked, “Everyone agree this is something to work on?”
More ayes than nays.
“Okay, next up,” Donovan announced. “We’re getting low on ammo and explosives, and Tyler has contacts in Mexico. He’s suggested we get a few people to go down to …” he looked at Tyler, whose expression said, “what?” “wherever, and pick up some supplies. Working connections any closer than Mexico would be too risky right now.” As usual Tyler and Farber were dispensing details on a need-to-know basis, which meant Farber would drive and Tyler would issue orders as things progressed. Better than nothing.
“Termites, or ordnance?” Angie inquired with a wicked eye toward Chris and Ham. He’d told her about the old training metaphor that Farber had brought up after the pass operation. Everyone but Farber and Tyler (who offered a predictable smirk) was clueless.
“Ordnance,” Chris assured everyone as if they had doubts, “we leave at dawn tomorrow, contact tomorrow, back by late the day after.”
”What can you get?” Elias wanted to know.
Tyler gestured expansively, looking like a used car salesman, “Whatever ammo your hand weapons need. Rockets for the shoulder launchers, launchable grenades, a batch of C4,” he would have continued but Julie cut him off.
“All we need for now, anyway. Okay, anything else?”
Robert raised his hand halfway, and awkwardly. “News from the lab is no news. Nothing definitive yet to fight the Visitors.”
Sighs and grumps all around, until Caleb declared, “Well like everything else, we just keep on keeping on.”
As the meeting broke up Tyler approached Angie and Maggie, who were getting ready to discuss their plans in more detail.
“So where you gonna make these ‘low level social connections’?” he asked.
Maggie shot a look at Tyler. “Catch you outside, Anj,” she said and with a nod to Tyler she left.
Angie offered Tyler a cool look. “Sorry, you asked what?”
“I said, where you gonna make these connections?”
Keeping what's it to you? to herself Angie answered, “Wherever we can. Maggie’s gonna tell this Daniel jerk that she’s got a friend new in town, true, who’s got a background in db management, also true, from Boston, true again. And looking for a job, true.”
Tyler cocked an eyebrow. “And looking for a new friend.”
She rolled her eyes. “You think it won't work?”
“I think you’re new to this game. ‘Friends’ can get a lot more complicated than shop talk or a job offer. And they’re not necessarily gonna be polite about it. Or human.” Deep cover was something he knew well, and it seldom went exactly as planned even when it did work.
"C'mere, will you," Angie led Tyler out to sit on a bench in the sun, hoping it would lighten his attitude. “That’s what I’m counting on. Look, the Visitors have closer access than the humans, even at low security clearance, right? And the best thing I can find is a connection to lower level db, which will give me a starting point to suss out their system architecture, and gauge back-door access to other more sensitive areas..." she saw his eyes were starting to glaze with impatience so she cut to the chase, "So if this Daniel jerk knows a data geek, and why not because entry level is entry level and geeks seek geeks, there’s my in.” Angie paused for a minute, taking in Tyler’s expression. Cautious, doubtful. Not, thank god, jealous, which both of them would choke on. Still, she didn’t want him to think she was being naïve about this. “I know what Maggie’s had to get into. That’s another reason why I’m looking at one of them. Less hormone risk. She’s gonna help me out, Tyler, I’ll be fine. And we’ve been doing some extra weapons practice, I've gotten pretty good with a disruptor.”
Raised eyebrows. “You’ve been a busy lady.” He didn't have to wonder why she hadn't mentioned it; she wanted him out of her face when she was learning anything to do with "his line of work".
“Hey, I’m learning fast, “ Angie shrugged. “So you leave tomorrow.” Angie had kept the shoebox-sized quarters she’d shared with Ruby. Nobody saw any reason for her to move out, and she had a teensy bit more room since Ruby’s belongings had been “recycled” to benefit the rest of the rebels. They all knew she’d have wanted that. And knowing Angie now had a bit of privacy Tyler had come to her intermittently, including the night before when he’d intervened in her nightmares. She added with forced casualness, “Where to? Mex City?”
“Oh, I thought we’d swing by the Baja first, catch a few waves,” his words were spoken matter-of-factly, but his expression said, duh. Angie responded with a smirk that said, fine. As they’d been able to say more to each other, they’d found they needed to say less.
Now came Tyler's dropped-head raised-eyebrow look. “Don’t worry, we got a map, and a compass, and a big bag o’ trail mix.”
“And every thug south of the border on your payroll, no doubt.”
“And a truckload of explosives,” Ham reminded her.
“But you’ll only have ‘em one way. Got enough slingshots and rocks?” She wasn’t covering concern with humor; she honestly didn’t worry much about him during any operation he had control of.
A casual shrug. “A few. But don’t worry, we’re all stocked up on lamps.”
At that she whacked him on the arm. “That’s getting pretty old and tired, Tyler.”
He stared into the distance for a second. “Aren’t we all...” Then he snapped back into focus. "Can't say I like the sound of that 'back door' stuff, though..." A flicker in his eyes told Angie he was being a wiseass. Again.
She shook her head in disgust. "You're a pig, Tyler."
There was the smoothly wicked smile and a sly wink for good measure. "Y'can't fool me, library lady, you're wild for us bad boys."
She'd have snapped back, but that wink completely undid her. The new, more intimate, buttons he'd found to push really seemed to entertain him. Angie sighed dramatically and got up, turning to look down at him.
"What am I gonna do with you, Tyler?"
The wicked smile turned subtly, undeniably suggestive as Tyler stood and took a step closer. "Try and come up with something by tonight." With a lecherous flick of his eyebrows he turned and walked away.
Maggie appeared out of nowhere to continue their planning discussion. She watched Tyler as he strolled away.
"Christ Angie, he must be a handful."
Angie hoped the blush set off by Tyler's parting shot was fading. She rolled her eyes and confessed, "You have no idea."
Maggie was still watching Tyler cross the compound. "I don't think I want to, but I admire your guts. Okay, let's get some coffee and we can decide when and where to introduce my 'lonely new friend' to Daniel's asshole buddies."