Quiet Shadow

 

Quiet. It shouldn’t be so quiet, but it is. How can a city be so quiet? Deep in the recesses of thebuilding a door shut. Subtle, but there. Finally. A few minutes later a man exited, turned right,and began walking north on 5th Ave. Bet he’s heading to the Library. The man moves quickly,not many people out on a night like this one. The Polar Vortex had brought the city to a stop. Afew were venturing out into the sub-zero temperature, but most were inside. Taking shelter fromthe wind and cold. The man stops and fiddles with his coat. “Nice, he gets a nice warm CalvinKlein Plaza Overcoat and I get a TALOS”, thinks his shadow. He moves forward again, slipping slightly on the ice, but staying on his feet. His hands are buried deep in the coat’s pockets anda scarf covers his mouth. A black fedora tops his head. The shadow moves quietly and swiftly,flitting along the street like a wraith, constantly behind the man, watching his every move. He hits another patch of ice and slips barely catching his balance this time. “Careful, it’s too soon to be out of the game”. He stops again and checks the ground in front of him a little closer. “Now what is he looking at? “ He moves along, but at a slower pace. The shadow follows after a moment, then kneels at where he had slipped.

“I don’t see anything, a patch of ice...Ahh, wellyou are the smart one”. The shadow moves, this time not directly behind the man, but above.

“Love this equipment.”

The man moves along 5th Avenue walking past the library. He turns left at 42nd and walks to Broadway. “Where is he going?” The shadow moves ahead of him and settles in the darknessprovided by the Newsweek building at 42nd and Broadway. The man turns right onto Broadway heading north again. He glances at the windows of a building and stops in his tracks. He turns around and seems to be searching for someone or something. He moves his right hand deeper into the pocket of the coat as if gripping something, looks around again, then turning back to the north he begins moving faster along the sidewalk. He turns east on 43rd Street, crossing it and entering the Casablanca Hotel. He nods to the attendant on duty, crossing the floor to the elevator. Upon exiting the elevator, he walks down the hallway, stopping at a door, entering it, and closing the door behind him. He locks the door and removes the overcoat. In the right pocket he removes a Walther P99. In the left pocket, he removes a small package. The reason why he had been in that building. He smiles and walks to the bed, flipping on the lights and the tv. He glances out the window and seeing nothing unusual on the street below, he turns his around, smiles again, and falls on the bed

The shadow watches this with interest across the street, hidden within the frame of the building.

The man doesn’t move. The shadow touches the side of the cowl and the vision is magnified.

“Hmm. What in the world happened?”  Then a figure is seen slipping down from the room above.“ Fascinating” 

The new person descends quietly into the room and checks the man. Moving swiftly, the person goes through the man’s clothing, and the furniture. The individual picks up the package, pockets it, and slips back up to the room above. All this took less than 3 minutes and the shadow took it all in. “Okay, now who are you?” Moving quietly across the street on a zipline, the shadow watches this new person closely outside the window. The thief(murderer?) grabs some items, packs them in a small backpack, wipes the room, and walks out of the door.

The shadow waits to see which way the person will go once leaving the hotel. After an hour has gone by, a woman leaves carrying the same backpack. She is wearing a heavy coat with a bright yellow scarf around her face. The shadow taps the balaclava: “We have a problem.”

A voice answers back.

“Yes, we’re seeing everything. Follow her. We’re sending people to check on Overcoat”

“Understood”

. The shadow moves quietly above the woman. Suddenly, the woman stops and enters a vehicle which pulled up next to her. It leaves silently going in the opposite direction.

“Damn!”

 The shadow drops to the ground and runs after it flitting through the street almost invisible to others. The car moves slowly through the snowy and icy streets until it rolls to a stop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The woman steps out and walks toward the Cathedral. The shadow moves stealthily toward the car and slips a small tracking device on it; then crept around to a spot hidden in the penumbra of the famous landmark. A disembodied voice says:

“Knightwraith, Overcoat is alive and conscious. He’s complaining of a massive headache. Be careful.”

“Will do.” Knightwraith answers back. “I’ve attached a tracker to the car. We are at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.”

“Good. We’re picking up the signal. Anything else?”

“No. She appears to be waiting for someone.”

“Keep the monitor on. No more surprises are needed tonight”

.”Understood.”

The woman moves toward the door of the Cathedral, then stops again. She lifts a hand and gestures. Another figure walks toward her. Knightwraith watches closely as the two talk. Then the woman shakes her head and turns to leave. The second person grabs ahold of her and suddenly, the woman seems to fighting back. She pushes away from the other and runs toward the car slipping and sliding over the ice. The other lifts an arm and suddenly, she crashes to the ground. Her partner in the car starts to come to her, but falls as well.

“What the hell is going on?”

The two on the ground react with spasms then lay silent. The new person, a man of slight height, shakes his head, goes to the woman, grabs the package, and walks away. Humming a tune as he goes.

“Did you see that? “ Knightwraith asks.

“Yes”

. Wait. Do not follow. Zobel Wulfe will take over.”

“Understood. Is Zobel nearby”

“Right across from you and moving after this new person. Go check on the woman and her friend. If they are alive, we will bring them in for interrogation”

.“Alright.” Knightwraith walked over to where the two bodies lay in the snow. Already a slight covering of snowflakes was gathering on them. Knightwraith knelt down and touched the pulse of the woman. Faint, but still alive. Then turned and checked the other. This one too.

“Needimmediate extraction.”

“It will be there in less than one minute”. Time to come in Knightwraith. It’s getting to complicated out there.”

“Yeah, and cold. We need to figure a way to have a heat and cooling system in this.”

A van pulled up in front of the Cathedral.

“What’s the matter, Knightwrith, can’t handle the

cold?” asked a man with a hooded down winter coat on.

“It’s a little chilly for this outfit.”  Knightwraith answered back. “Now if I had on a coat like yours, Drake, I’d be comfy cozy!”

Drake laughed and teased: “I don’t know, you look pretty hot in that outfit”!

“Very funny! Now don’t you start being a sexist idiot!”

Drake chuckled at that remark.

“Don’t worry about that. It will never happen. Too many idiotsrunning around being jerks. Me, I prefer to be reinforcing good taste and the ability to know the difference between being a jerk and cultural.”

Knightwraith tilted her head, stared at him, and then proclaimed, “Nice bit of double talk there. I’m surprised you aren’t running for office!”

“I just might do that! Maybe a small beginning, like oh, a School Board position.” Drake looked thoughtful for a minute.

“Hmm, it might be a good idea!”

Knightwraith shook her head and pulled the coat on he handed her.” I take it that Dark Wolf is hunting.”

“Oh yeah, You should have seen how he jumped out of the glider when it zipped past. He hit-the ground running and kept on going with the two other wolves at his heels.” Drake answered her.

“Talk about the dangers of a wolf pack, those three looked ready to strike at the prey rather quickly”

.

Knightwraith nodded. “ If I hadn’t seen what that guy did to these two, I would pity him. But,  I hope Dark Wolf catches him fast. Way too weird of a guy to be wandering around the streets of the “Apple”

.Drake turned toward her and agreed. As the four other personnel loaded the two bodies in the van, Knightwraith, read through the information she was receiving on her focal hud. In short order, the van pulled away disappearing into the whiteout of a winter’s blizzard and leaving no marks of ever having been near the Cathedral 

Now coatless Knightwraith shimmered into invisibility as she moved through the falling snow picking up the traces of the man and the three wolves.  She lifted up off the ground following the tracks, smiling as she moved quickly.  “ Time to help the wolves bring done the bad dude with an emp.”