More Than the X Can See

Chapter 22

The rental SUV was parked backwards, front facing out at Angel, Logan and Nathan as they left the elevator. Nathan keyed the button that unlocked the doors and the vehicle’s driving lights flashed and horn honked, echoing against the cement walls of the dim parking garage.

“Drive,” Nathan said to Logan before tossing the keys to him. Logan caught them deftly with a raised questioning eyebrow. Nathan gave an almost imperceptible nod that Logan replied to with an acknowledging grunt.

“Why don’t you let me drive?” Angel asked with a smile, “I’m probably more familiar with this area than either of you.”

Nathan opened the back passenger door and motioned for her to get in, as he said, “No.”

Angel hesitated before entering the vehicle, “Why not?”

“Get in,” Logan ordered with a growl from the driver’s seat.

Nathan closed her door and got into the front passenger seat, his door slamming shut with the force of the truck shooting forward as Logan put it into drive and hit the gas.

Trying to attach her seatbelt in the moving vehicle, “Are we in that much of a hurry?”

“Time,” Nathan said.

“Going to be a quick meal then, isn’t it?” she asked sarcastically.

“No, we’ll take as long as you need,” Nathan replied.

“Then why are we going so fast? And you guys better fasten your seatbelts before the cops see you’re not wearing them or they’ll tag you as easy money,” she advised.

At the entrance/exit of the parking garage, the man in the little security booth gave a small wave and smile as they passed.

“You think his co-workers alerted him that we were leaving?” Angel asked out loud after she waved and smiled back at the guard. “He wasn’t paying attention when we arrived.”

Logan grunted, but Angel saw one side of his lips draw up in a smirk as he turned to check the street for access while putting on his seatbelt.

“Go ahead and go, Logan,” Angel told him. “It’s a one way street and there’s no one coming on the other side of that double parked UPS truck.”

Logan glanced in the rear view mirror and said, “Thanks,” before he pulled into the street.

“Now do you see why it would’ve been better to let me drive?” she asked.

“Do you know how to detect and get rid of people who are following you?” Nathan asked rhetorically before he continued, “The media’s attention is on Warren right now and if they do any checking, they’ll realize that Gulogulo is part of the X Corporation, too. I wouldn’t put it past one of them to try to follow us and find out what we’re doing.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” she replied, “We’re just going to lunch!”

“That’s what we want them to think,” Nathan said picking up a manila folder from between his seat and the center console. “Don’t forget this is a working lunch.”

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. She concentrated with her senses and noticed two vehicles pull away from curbs behind them. Nathan might have been right about them being followed. As Logan drove, she made a note of the two vehicles, one was a van filled with metal and plastic equipment and four people inside, two in the back and two in the seats up front. The other vehicle was a sedan with only one person, the driver. She felt another vehicle leave the Worthington garage, but she lost her ability to make out any details on it as Logan turned their SUV around a corner and several buildings blocked her direct contact.

“Damn,” she muttered.

“What?” Logan asked, his superior hearing picking up her voice.

“I think a car left the garage, but I can’t be sure,” she explained. “You turned the corner so now I can’t track it.”

“We’re only a couple blocks away,” Nathan said, “I thought you could sense that far.” He was pleased that she’d taken to heart what he’d just said about them being followed and that she’d immediately started looking for pursuers without him having to ask.

“When we turned the corner several buildings worth of concrete and iron blocked me from making out any details. I’ve already picked out a car and a van that might be following us, but the vehicle from the garage is a normal car. I’m not sure about make and model. We’re moving, they’re moving and there are a lot of cars moving along the same route not to mention people on the sidewalks. It makes it more difficult to concentrate with so much distraction. It’ll be easier if and when we get on the freeway.”

“A car and a van?” Nathan asked.

“Where are they?” Logan asked, his eyes scanning the vehicles in his side and rear view mirrors.

Angel turned and looked out the tinted rear window. After a few moments, she said, “The car is blue and behind that green family van with the lei hanging off the mirror. The van … Oh, crap,” disappointment crept in to her voice, “I thought it was a news van. It’s over on the right behind that red sports car.”

Nathan flipped the sun visor down and pulled open the flap to reveal a cosmetic mirror. He angled it to see out the rear windows. “What made you think it was a news van?” he asked.

“There’re four people in it and a lot of equipment. Two in the front and two inside the van sitting next to the equipment,” she replied, “but it doesn’t have any markings that I can see. It sort of feels like a news van, but it’s just a white commercial van.”

“Keep track of them,” Nathan commanded. “Tell me if they’re still on our trail when we get on the freeway.” She nodded and sat back in her seat, closing her eyes to better concentrate on her scanning sense.

A few minutes later, her eyes still closed, she said, “Uh, Logan, you need to get into the right hand lane to get onto the freeway.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nathan responded, “he knows what he’s doing. Are the van and car still following us?”

“Oh,” dawning comprehension on her face. “Yes, they’re still there, but so are a few other cars. I think one of them might be from the garage.”

“Jus’ keep track, Darlin’,” Logan said with a glance in the mirror.

“I am, I am,” she replied, her eyes had never opened.

Logan continued driving and eventually encountered another entrance to the freeway, which he took. Nathan looked back at Angel, miniscule movements of her head and her eyes moving beneath her eyelids telling him that she was concentrating on the vehicles surrounding them. He waited.

“Definitely the van and the car,” she said opening her eyes, “plus another car and possibly a truck.”

“Shit!” Logan exclaimed, grip tightening on the wheel. He glanced at Nathan, “They can’t all be dirt diggers.”

Nathan nodded with a grimace and looked into the backseat at Angel. Watching her face, he noticed, her eyes were closed and her body relaxed, moving with the vehicle as it dipped and swayed where the shocks didn’t cushion their movement along the pavement. A faint expression of concentration dipped her eyebrows along with the ever so slight movements of her head, turning first this way and then that as she scanned the vehicles around them. “Where are they?” he asked.

“The truck is coming up on the left to pass us,” she said. “There’s only the driver and he has a cowboy hat on.”

Nathan saw an older model truck move up on the driver’s side, it was a dirty, serviceable brown Chevrolet and looked like it had been on the road longer than it should. The driver was a middle-aged man with darkly tanned, leathery skin. Dark hair and sideburns were barely visible beneath a light colored cowboy hat. He was relaxed with only one hand on the top of the wheel. As if feeling the eyes upon him, he turned to look briefly at the occupants of the Ford Expedition and then returned his gaze to the road in front of him.

“Can you tell if he has any weapons on him?” he asked her.

Her eyes snapped open and peeved, she said, “You like to make life difficult don’t you?”

“Just do it,” he ordered.

“If I get a migraine, it’s your fault,” she replied before closing her eyes again.

He watched her face go through many facial expressions from annoyance to alarm to consternation.

“He’s … he’s got a gun and a couple of knives, but he also has a badge,” she said finally. “He’s wearing a phone thing … a … what’s the term? A wire.”

“Can you tell what type of badge?” Logan asked.

“I’m trying,” she replied. “I can barely tell what it is, but I can already tell you it’s not a cop’s badge. It’s got some weird design on it, the whole thing is like a bird with its wings spread.”

“SHIELD,” Logan said with a smirk and a glance at Nathan. “Chuck’s already told ‘em we’re here by now. Only a matter o’ time ‘fore they tried to find out what we were up to.”

“You think it’s SHIELD?” she asked. “The writing is smaller … maybe, I guess it could be.”

Nathan sighed, “We’re to meet with them tonight. You’d think they could wait.”

“Not Fury,” Logan replied, a smile creeping onto his face.

“I thought Bridge was in charge,” Nathan said.

“He might be in charge, but he’s not calling the shots,” Logan replied. “With a situation like this, Fury’d take over. He just had Bridge contact Chuck because he had to go through legal channels to make us all,” his voice turned sarcastic, “one big cooperative team.”

“Do you guys still want me to watch him now that we think he’s a member of SHIELD?” Angel asked from the back seat.

“Would you recognize him if he shows up later?” Nathan asked. When she didn’t answer right away he looked over his shoulder and saw the same look of concentration on her face. “Angel?”

After a few more moments, she said, “Now I will.”

“You’ll be able to tell it’s him even if he shaves or changes his clothes and armament?”

“I won’t say I’ll be one hundred percent,” she replied, “but I’m fairly certain I’d recognize him. If we get within ten feet of each other, without metal between us, I’ll be able to guarantee it.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside the brown truck, the earpiece in the cowboy’s ear came to life, “Hey, Chevy! You still following the three little pigs?” The masculine voice used a false Mexican accent to pronounce the name of the driver.

The man in the cowboy hat thumbed the switch that allowed him to reply, “Yeah, just passed them. And stop calling me Chevy.”

Laughter over the earpiece, “Okay, Chevy, you passed ‘em. What’s the sitch?”

“I don’t know,” uncertainty crept into Chevy’s voice, “Wolverine kept checking his side mirror and Cable was looking at me when I passed them. Are you sure they’re not—”

“What the hell? What did you do? We’ve got no ‘path readings here.”

“Nothing! I ran through the mental list just like you told me. Even if he did try to pick something up, he should’ve gotten Average Joe vibes.”

“You must’ve done something wrong if they’ve sniffed you out already.”
There was the sound of voices in the background, but Chevy couldn’t make out the words. “I’ve done everything by the book. Are you getting any readings right now?”
There was a slight pause and then, “No. Cable’s not using his powers.”

“What about the girl?”

“Nothing.”

“You got any info on what she does?”

“Not yet, they’re playing hush, hush with her. Saying that it’s NTK only.”

“Need to Know? Shit. What the hell is she?”

“We got a poll going,” the voice on the radio offered.

“What’re the options?”

“Mental, Physical and Other.”

“Other?”

“Whatever doesn’t fit the first two, personally, I’m siding with Other. Cable’s Mental and Wolverine’s Physical. Xavier doesn’t usually double up. From what I hear there’s still some debate about her having joined them. Seems she might be a lamb running with wolves.”

“Hmmmm,” Chevy looked at the red Ford in his rear view mirror, “What’re the odds?”

“Right now five to one Mental, fifteen to one Physical, and forty to one she’s Other.”

“Pretty long odds.”

“Well, she’s showing no obvious Physical mutations and Other mutations ARE fairly rare.”

“Have you seen her?”

“She has a decent DMV pic.”

“Better in real life.”

“Thank God! I can’t standing looking at Wolverine’s ugly mug for long.”

That got a laugh from Chevy, “Yeah, me neither. You want me to pull off or keep going?”

“We’ve got no readings to say they’re on to you so stay ahead of them and radio in when they turn off. We’re going to fall back.”

“Sure, and put me down for Physical.”

“Roger!”

The radio went silent once again.

Inside the white commercial van, a young blonde man in his mid twenties pulled a headset off his ears and rested them on his neck before turning to the two older, militaristic looking men in the front bucket seats. “You hear that? Put Chase down for Physical.”

“Will do,” the passenger replied, pulling a small notebook and pen from his breast pocket.

The remaining man in the van was an Asian with short-cropped black hair and brown eyes. He was watching a set of gauges and making notes on a clipboard, obviously a technician of some sort. “Who was looking at him?” he asked.

“Wolverine and Cable. You want me to play it back to verify?” the blonde replied.

“No, I’ll synchronize it with my readings later to prove Cable wasn’t using his abilities.”

“You think it might have something to do with her?”

“Probably,” the tech wrote more notes down, “I can’t calibrate the equipment to scan for mutations I don’t know about.”

“You sci-tech guys are probably looking forward to tonight. What with forty or more paranormals arriving that you can scan and monitor for a few hours.”

The tech shook his head with a grimace, “Not us grunts, we’ll be pulling forty-eight hour shifts to compile all the data. It’s going to be a Bitch.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Angel found a parking space for them within half a block of The Fez. Nathan dropped quarters into the meter for two hours, more than enough time for what they needed. As she led the way to the restaurant, Nathan fell into step beside her while Logan followed.

“So the van and two cars?” Nathan began.

“Yes,” Angel replied. “And I think the truck might be back, too.”

“You’re still keeping track?”

“Yes,” she repeated in a worried tone. “The van just turned onto the street behind us, coming this way.”

Nathan noticed the shop they were approaching, “You need to buy clothes.”

“What?” she was surprised by the change in topic, “No, I was going to stop at my house and—”

Logan caught on a lot faster, “There’s a shop in front of you. You need to buy new clothes.” The last was said as an order.

“O … kay,” she said slowly. Her eyes caught sight of the display in the window of the clothing store and a big smile lit her face, “It’s your credit card.” She headed into the store and immediately started checking the clothes on the first rack.

By the time the van passed the clothing store, Logan had pulled out a cigar and was in the process of lighting it. As he snapped the lighter shut, he said around the cigar, “You had the long term girlfriend.”

Nathan practically growled and headed into the store. He was surprised to find Angel with several pieces of clothing over her arm and sorting through a rack against the wall. “The van?” he asked quietly.

“What about it?” she asked, pulling the clothing to the side so she could see the color and design.

“Who was in it?”

“I don’t know. Both of you told me to go shopping,” she lowered her voice, “You didn’t tell me you still wanted me to keep track of all those vehicles.”

Nathan’s eyes grew wide and he took a deep breath, looming over her, “Don’t tell me that you stopped—”

She lifted up the clothes in her arms, holding them out to him. Raising her voice she said, “Here. Take these.”

He looked at the clothes. They looked like dresses and pants in blues and greens. He was surprised that she’d picked out quite a few clothes in under five minutes. “Angel,” he began.

“Don’t stand there like a … SHIELD,” she said, emphasizing the last word. “I needed to do some shopping. Take these to the register. I just have to pick out some khimars and I’ll be done.” She shoved the clothes into his chest until he raised his arms and took them from her.

He realized she’d been joking with him at first, acting the ditzy blonde. She’d cryptically told him that the men in the van had been more SHIELD agents. He should have known they’d have sent a team to follow Wolverine and Cable, one normal human, no matter how good the training, wouldn’t be able to keep up with them.

The word ‘khimars’ circled around in his brain as he observed Angel stop at a rack of scarves and then it came to him. It was the name of the headscarves that Islamic women wore to cover their hair. He quickly looked around and saw he’d sent her into a small ethnic store full of women’s Arabic clothing. The displays in the front window had looked like dresses, but now he saw that they were caftans, ankle length flowing gowns with long sleeves.

A plump woman, wearing a tan, embroidered long tunic and matching pants with her hair covered in a matching scarf or khimar approached Angel and asked if she needed any help. Nathan heard her ask about pins to use with the khimar and the woman told her they had a display near the register. Angel picked up the khimars she’d chosen and followed the woman to the display.

Nathan walked over to the register and dropped the clothes onto the counter. Expecting Angel to be as quick about picking out the pins as she had the clothes, he dug a credit card out of his wallet. He wasn’t disappointed as the two women joined him at the register within moments.

He looked out the front window and saw a small cloud of smoke float up. Logan was still in position, waiting and watching for an attack. They weren’t taking any chances with Angel. Although she’d told him that the van held more SHIELD agents, it could just as well have been a group of Friends of Humanity terrorists looking to score a hit. They didn’t need to find out how long her regeneration would take for her to recover enough to continue her mission of scanning the Worthington buildings. While he got her out the back door of the store, Logan, having the fastest healing ability, would have been able to take any damage they dished out and still be ready and able to continue their mission within a few hours. The less the local Police knew about their activities, the better.

Angel taking the credit card out of his hand drew him back to the situation at hand. He glanced at the digital display on the back of the register and grunted. A few hundred was worth the peace of mind. If she didn’t figure it out he wasn’t going to tell her why they’d sent her into the store, he doubted Logan would either. He signed the slip of paper the clerk handed him and took the receipt, placing it and the credit card back into his wallet. While he placed his wallet back into his pocket, Angel grabbed the handles of the bags and with a polite smile and farewell to the clerk, started for the front of the store.

“That was fast,” Logan commented when she stopped next to him.

“You should see me during Christmas,” she smiled.

Logan stood straight from leaning against the wall and peeked into the bags. In a low voice he asked, “You still tracking?” At her nod he added, “Anyone get out? Following us?”

In a whisper she replied, “The man across the street looking into the used bookstore is the driver of the blue car. No badge or weapons, but he does have a small digital camera, a tape recorder, a PDA and a cell phone.”

Nathan came out of the store behind her, “You want to put those in the truck?”

“Sure,” she said and they headed back to the SUV. “All the vehicles are parked now,” she said quietly. With a motion of her head towards an opening between buildings, she said, “The other car is in the alley, the driver should be turning the corner in a sec. No badge that I can tell. A gun, a knife and a cell phone. I THINK there’s another gun and some sort of rifle in the trunk of his car.” To anyone who had been watching the two men next to her, they didn’t seem to react to her announcement, but she could tell in the bunching of certain muscles along their arms, backs and legs that they were on the alert.

The man with no badge rounded the corner. He was a short, thin Caucasian man wearing a dirty white Giants baseball cap over light brown hair, sneakers, baggy blue jeans and a black t-shirt with “WTF?” in large white block letters. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number while he casually glanced up and down the street.

While Angel placed her purchases in the SUV, Logan asked, “Abort?”

“No,” Nathan said, “Continue to the restaurant. Looks like the punk is our only worry at the moment.”