The zipper opened again. This time I was ready. I wasn’t really but its better to insulate these occasions with a presumed confidence and clarity lest the mites of insecurity suck out the gooey survival chemicals from my basal ganglia. I always hear it first. The soft metal peeling percussively in a space that always feels like a zone somehow in the center-back of my skull.
I was in the Plexicorp copy room, 44th floor of the Mezzer Snatch Building, looking through the office supply cupboard for bulldog clips to keep my need-to-grow-out bangs from obscuring my vision. It was early Monday, so not a lot of bustle yet in the padded pod labyrinth. As far as anyone was concerned, it looked like I was there to water the plants. But I'd left my squeaky caddy, a significant accessory for my ruse, down over by the jumbo parlor palm.
A jar of miscellaneous slipped through my fingers and hit the taupe berber, scattering pins and pencaps across the floor. I knelt down to pick up the mess and that's when I heard the voice.
Don't get up, I'll come to you, it said in a chalky drawl, an accent i recognized, something we call Dust In The Rafters. My cargo shorts were riding a little high in my cat-cow position and I felt somewhat exposed but I knew not to overreact. I knew to think first and say-do later. So I waited here pretending to survey the polyester plane for errant tidbits when a smallish man in oversized coveralls skittered around the color printer gorilla style, wide eyed and flush, his coloration possibly a side effect from whatever vehicular forces brought him here.
Hello, I said nodding with faux calm and pleasant tone. Quite an accomplishment, I remember thinking considering the peculiar presentation and odd time signature of the sweating visitor.
I don't have much time, the man said, now inching their rivulet pocked face closer and closer to mine. My hair still annoyingly covering my left eye, I tried to blow it out of the way to glimpse his complete visage but ended up sputtering saliva on to his now uncomfortably familiar nose. He slow blinked to indicate his disapproval but thankfully nothing else. Follow me, he whispered swinging his head toward the copy room exit.
I followed behind, both of us still on all fours. We crossed the main open design corridor and hand-kneed our way into the auxiliary boardroom, where we took a quick break at the leftover snack basket.
Gotta stay sharp, he said, tapping his temple with one hand and passing me a granola cluster with the other.
I asked why we were still crawling around to which he frowned, cocked his hand like a gun and gestured a couple of rounds in my direction. The pantomime was clear enough. I didn't pursue it any further.
We found better cover by the microwave counter in a corner nook with no windows where we stood up to avoid any suspicious looks. More people were burbling into the office and humming around their desks now. I saw him eyeballing my cart down the west wall where a red laser dot hover-waved over my spritzer.
They're on to you, he said plainly, pretending to hit the buttons on the microwave panel making beep boop noises like he was fingering the interface.
I should explain, while I was hired by Verdant Ventures–Corporate Plant and Flower Specialists, it was no longer than a week on the job when I got a surprise visit at my home by some dark, nefarious agents looking to recruit me as a corporate espionage operative. I was perfect they said and i’d be lying if I didn’t feel a little flattered by the attention.
My assignment, to deploy and retrieve hidden cameras and recording devices in the corporate air purifying greenery seemed easy enough and I didnt see the harm in a little peek and pry especially since I was paid generously up front in cash.
Now, this opportunistic decision seemed a little more complicated and the hefty compensation made more sense as danger pay. Someone wanted me eliminated.
What should we do?, I asked feeling stuck like my sneakers were frozen to the floor.
He held up a one minute finger and navigated to the cart ducking behind employees and matching movements in a smooth choreography I can only imagine was part of his laser avoidance training. Training for what? I couldn't imagine.
Returning with my caddy, tools and watering can, he motioned for me to get underneath. So i sat on the lower shelf, while he shed his outer layer, revealing a tight fitting bodysuit. The coveralls, he draped around the cart like a curtain concealing my presence and rolled me away toward the elevators.
Someone must've seen our bizarre performance because I heard them asking if we needed any help, with a friendly query that belied their polite suspicion but my chauffeur was not phased and merely shushed and answered with an over-enunciated, SURPRISE! like I was the big reveal at a happy retirement party.
Again, I could feel the stop start and spin of his evasion ballet, this time with me swirling with him in dizzying circles. The 44th floor was swarming at near full capacity now, leather feet stepping around me across the neutral weave like we were crossing an ambient ballroom. The mumble-chatter occasionally broken by anonymous bird-like cackles, I listened for any sign of what may be next.
Ding and ding. Two elevators announced their arrival. Two more gangs of ascendant dancers alight on the scene. More murmurs, more birds. I can feel them rush past me, my indigo veil still obscuring my presence.
Suddenly, I feel a deliberate and determined push and I roll forward. The light changes and the company din slips into the background. Somethings wrong, so I pull down my cover just in time to realize I am in an elevator alone and my accomplice is across the way in another elevator.
He makes a strange gesture, interlocking his fingers in two circles and nods both up and down, then sideways. It's an affirmation and warning. Our doors both close simultaneously, the air pressure changes and I distinctly hear the sound of the zipper again. Closing shut.
This is unsettling and that opening and ending. Must be quite unnerving, not to mention, dizzying.
How eerie! Very gripping Jon :)