Episode 1: Carter… Nick Carter
Part 3
Sliding across the floor, Nick entered another room — quite too fast, as his foot slipped on a greasy rag on the floor, sending him flying into a table towards the center of the large room. Located on one of the lower levels, it had metal walls decorated with technological devices.
Nick got up casually with a sheepish grin, brushing off his black slacks as if the incident had never occurred. He heard a chuckle from across the room, and his gaze shifted towards the source. Ahh, next in line to question. It was someone he would never suspect, but one thing he had learned in his career was never to rule out any possibility.
Standing by a large device hidden by a gray plastic cover was a young woman, only a few inches shorter than his own six-foot frame. Her golden hair was pinned up casually, with just a few tendrils framing her doll-like face. It was the head of the Science and Technology Department at Himitsu Takana, Professor Pearl. Not her real name, but an alias intended to keep her safe, as with the others.
Her blue eyes stood out as she smirked. “Smooth, 00Carter, real smooth. I bet that one is a real hit with the ladies.”
He leaned against the very same table he had fallen against as she came over to him, heels clicking upon the steel floor. This room was the home for many of her creations. She and Nick had trained together, but while he’d gone for the coveted 00-rank, Professor Pearl had opted to continue with her love of science. She created gadgets to help the agents carry out their missions. Each member of Himitsu Takana had a custom-made secret weapon that Pearl had tailored to their unique personality.
Still, she and Nick had random talks at times and had remained friends. Sometimes they even went on missions together if her expertise was needed. That hadn’t happened since… his last mission, however.
It then clicked what she had just called him. “00Carter?”
“You’re the one who hates being called 008, even if it is your rank.”
He stood closer to her now, just taking her in. “I want 007, but that’s always taken by the British man who never ages.”
“And it always will be.”
He moved closer, but stopped at her next words.
“Hold it. K wants you upstairs.” She smirked. “Probably because of your adventures today.”
“All is necessary for the mission. Speaking of which, where were you at 1400 hours today?”
“Where I’m always at, Blondie, here.”
“Do you have anyone to substantiate that claim? Have you been near the red-jeweled object at any time today?”
Professor Pearl crossed her arms as she just gave him an odd glance. “You’re insane.” She laughed, despite her firm stance. “And no to both. No more questioning, or K is going to end up down here, which won’t make any of us happy.”
“I’ll need to speak to you for further questioning.” His eyes scanned the room. It was clean, with no sign of the stolen object anywhere. The best evidence so far was back in Jay’s office.
She laughed again and pointed to the door. “Go before he makes you a janitor for Lancy. Come back down here after you’re done. I have something to show you.”
He raised a brow in interest. “New project?”
“Possibly. Now get going.”
Nick headed out and towards the elevator at the end of the hall. It would lead to K’s room. He was the only possible suspect Nick had not questioned yet. Although unfinished, he doubted his favorite scientist had anything to do with it. Agent K had been in Jay’s office earlier.
So now this was it. The head honcho of Himitsu Takana. Kevin Richardson, better known by his first initial, K. Nick pressed the button and stepped into the elevator in anticipation. Finally, the mission would be resolved.
“Dun… dun dun dun… dun dun dun…” He looked down at his phone as “Eye of the Tiger” continued to play. As soon as he saw the name “Grandma” scroll across his phone, he mentally beat himself in the head. How fast was he supposed to walk? That was definitely the last person he wanted to hear from. No milk and cookies for him today.
As he opened his phone, it screamed, “CARTER… MY OFFICE… NOW!”
Nick slowly drudged out of the elevator and down the hall. His shoulders sank, and his hands started to sweat. Why was it that K always made him nervous?
Maybe it was the recurring dream he had when he had first joined the agency. In the dream, K was really an evil robot that had laser beams hidden behind his eyebrows. Or it could be that K was the only father figure he had other than Jay.
Nick shrugged his shoulders; it was probably the laser-beam eyebrows.
He knocked on K’s door and peeked his head in.
“Hey, you wanted to see me?” Nick said happily.
“008, sit down,” K replied without his eyes leaving the papers in front of him. He paused while Nick sat down.
“Have you been watching too much TV lately?”
“What?” Nick asked as he scratched his already messy head of hair.
“My agency is not ‘Law and Order’ or one of those cop shows you like watching. You cannot dance around here, harassing my employees for your ‘precious’.” He used his fingers to quote ‘precious’ and continued, “This is not dress-up time; this is a job. For most of us, a life. If you don’t want to act serious, then you can go back home and play with your Barbies.”
“Maybe if you would give me a real assignment, I wouldn’t have to make up my own. I’m tired of sitting around, watching everyone else have all the fun. Besides, my precious is precious to me, hence the name.” Nick started to giggle and roll his eyes but quickly stopped when he saw K’s eyes glare down at him.
“Look, you weren’t allowed to go on missions after what happened. You should have put your time to use and worked with Grasshopper.”
“Are you kidding me? Grasshopper creeps me out. Come on, what does ‘A true fighter is like a dog, not only because he can smell fear, but because he can piss on whatever he wants,’ mean, anyway?”
“I don’t know, but this has nothing to do with him. I have an assignment that I was thinking about giving to you, but only if you stop all this ‘precious’ nonsense.” K pulled a tan envelope out of his drawer. The letters ‘Confidential’ called to Nick a lot like beautiful women did. He felt his mouth water as he nodded and grabbed the envelope.
“Now, go back down to Pearl; she has what you’ll need to complete your mission.” K sat back down and returned to the paper scattered about his desk.
Nick stepped out of the room with a smile on his face. He started to walk down the hall, then turned back to K’s office to ask him something. He opened the door and found K’s back facing him. As he turned around, nothing could prepare Nick for what he saw next.
Cheese.
Gooey, melted cheese hung out of his mouth and onto his chin. Not only was there cheese on his face, but his mouth was full, and a box was in his hand.
“YOU!”
“That’s right — it was me. I’m surprised it took you so long. You knew I didn’t have breakfast this morning. It had been sitting on your desk for fifteen minutes.” K chuckled as he finished chewing.
Nick grabbed the almost empty box and held up the lone piece of crust. The only thing he had left of his pride and joy.
“I can’t believe you would steal MY precious! You, of all people, know how important it is to me!”
“008, it’s a pizza. Get started on your mission, or I’ll give it to JC.”
“Fine, you might have won this battle, but the war is not over.”
“Yeah, whatever,” K said as he propped his feet up on his desk.
Nick turned to walk out of the office with his eyes ablaze when K called to him. Nick turned his head.
“Oh, and your precious was ammmmmazing…” he groaned as he licked his lips; though rare, K had his moments of humorous mocking.
“Hmmpphh…” Nick stormed out of the office — the nerve these people had. He pushed the envelope into his pocket and turned toward the stairs.
When he came back down from K’s office, she was waiting for him, like he knew she would be. He could tell by the smirk she wore that she had known he was finally getting an assignment before he did. Not surprising. Pearl usually saw everyone in the entire agency at one point or another since she was the person to see for the fun toys.
She talked to everyone but trusted almost no one. That guardedness was something Nick could relate to and was one of the reasons they were close. Smart and sassy on the outside, Pearl had another side, veiled purposely by her brilliance. Few got to see the girl behind the curtain, but one of the last who had… well, that was something he didn’t need to think about.
She grinned as she leaned against the quite odd-shaped object still hidden by the gray cover. “Like what you heard?” Her voice was calm, almost cold, but Nick could detect the caring nature in it.
“I finally got a mission.”
“Thank Jay for that. He and I were talking yesterday. He came by so I could give him his new personalized weapon… laser gun hidden within his sunglasses.” She chuckled. “He wears the damn things often enough – may as well make them a weapon. Anywho, we talked. You came up in the conversation, and we both knew it was time you saw some action again. He can’t keep your status on hiatus forever just because of one mission…” A pause. “… that wasn’t your fault.”
“That’s debatable,” he replied as he stood next to her, trying to see if he could guess what her new project was.
“It wasn’t.”
“You’ve been saying that since the beginning.”
“And I mean it; you know that.”
The older blond agent smiled at her. They’d been friends since the beginning. “Thanks.”
Her soft cherry lips curved into an impish grin once more. “Besides, who else could deal with your ghetto booty as much as me and not have sex with you?”
He laughed to himself. “Yet, Kitana.” Rarely did he ever use her real name unless he was trying to make a point. This was one of those times.
Pearl raised her brow as she shook her head. “C’mon, Blondie… unless you’re keeping 00Carter…?”
“Hell yeah, I’m keeping that!”
“Well, let’s see your new toy then. I’ve been working on it since your forced leave started.”
He raised his brow at her in surprise. That long? “Really??”
“I needed to focus my attention on something.” A simple reply with a shrug was all that most people saw. Nick knew better but let it go, not wanting to discuss it himself just yet.
“So let’s see it. You haven’t given me my special toy yet.”
She giggled. “Well, you’re not going to complain about that anymore after this.”
“Will too.”
“Only if you’re a brat. Now pull the cover off.”
“This big thing?”
“Just do it, Blondie.”
He turned away from the other door on the other end of the large room. Due to her creations, her room connected to the agency’s garage via a large hidden door in the wall that would open with the right press of a secret button. He smirked back at her as he grabbed the plastic sheet. “You’ll be saying those words with a different meaning to me someday.” He yanked it off, tossing it aside, forcing Pearl to duck down so it wouldn’t hit her.
Before him was the sophisticated item, something he never thought Professor Pearl could dream up. A sleek 1953 Hudson Hornet, the onyx paint on the car’s exterior shimmering under the fluorescent lighting. Obviously modified, of course. Instead of the insignia of the car brand on the hood, there was a silver, gothic-styled skull, more his style.
Pearl held a simple remote and, pointing it at the car, turned it on, revving the engine.
“This is mine?!” he exclaimed, close to shouting.
“Better not crash it unless you have a death wish. I’ll have Red save you just so I can kill you.” Another press of a button, and the doors opened. “Take a look inside.”
He got in on the driver’s side, while she sat in the passenger’s seat. She pointed out each modification as she spoke. “Mapping system, homing system for any tracers you put on anyone. Tracers connected to the car are in the glove compartment. Auto drive mode, in case you need to load ammo, but set a location on your computer screen here… before taking your hands off the wheel. The headlights turn into automatics, fully loaded, with the button hidden on the left side of the stick shift. The remote I have in my hand can auto-drive if you need to lead a person astray. Med kit is in the trunk, equipped with the standard toxins and cures supplied by Red.”
“I can see why you’ve been busy. Holy shit.”
“Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment. There’s a handheld that’s the guide to working the car tucked under the mats on the floor.”
He reached down and pulled out a matching handheld with a little skull on the top matching the car. “Any–”
“No games. By the way, the remote and car only answer to you or me. It needs a thumbprint before starting up once you lock it. Precaution reasons. Don’t need anyone stealing my baby.”
“Our baby.”
“Whatever.” She laughed to herself softly as she pushed a golden lock of hair away from her face. “Oh, PLEASE… go through that before trying any tricks.”
“Got it.”
Pearl’s hand shifted his head so that his gaze met hers once more. “Promise me. This thing could get you killed otherwise.” It was unsaid, but Nick knew how that would affect her. Especially after what had happened last time.
“Promise.”
She grinned as she pressed a button on the roof of the car. Shelves appeared above their heads, each with several varieties of weapons to choose from, except one, which looked to be a watch. She grabbed it and handed it to him before pressing the button so the shelves would go up again.
“This is our way of communication. That watch links back to my handheld or headset, depending on what I have on, so we can keep in touch if need be. It’s also able to decode anything and is a laser in case you need it. Oh, and it’s a homing beacon for us, in case someone finds the one K placed on you.”
Nick looked it over with a grin as he put it on his wrist. When he examined it more closely, his smile immediately fell. “The time is wrong.”
Pearl wore a sheepish look as she watched him carefully. “Well, that’s the thing. It doesn’t tell time.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “A watch that doesn’t tell time?”
“Shut it. I had it do so many things; I had no memory left for it to tell time.”
Nick kept snickering. “Watch that doesn’t tell time; how handy.”
“Don’t make me take your toys away.”
He placed his hands together below his chin and gave an angelic pose; his ocean blue eyes shifted upwards. “I’ll be good.”
“Heh. Okay, and this thing drives like a normal car as long as it’s not on auto.” She stepped out of the car, handing him his remote and shutting her door. “Have fun on your mission.”
Immediately, he turned on the radio, which, much to his liking, came with its own personally programmed iPod, and Nirvana began to play. He rolled down the window and leaned his head out as Pearl opened the door between her laboratory and the agency garage. “I’m gonna ride you like I am your baby one day!”
Giggling, she just rolled her eyes and tossed him a black jacket with leather at the elbows and zippers at the chest, waist, and cuffs of the sleeves. “In your dreams, 00Carter!”
Nick caught it, then sped through the underground garage, inconspicuously emerging aboveground near the highway. Out of Pearl’s sight, he tossed the handheld into the backseat; as long as the car drove, he wouldn’t need it for much anyway.
After driving down the highway for a few miles, he pulled to a stop in the middle of the desert. The wind began to blow wildly about him, tousling his sun-kissed hair. Finally, a mission.
He pulled the envelope out, opened it eagerly, and began to read what he was about to face next…
***