The Marradith Ryder Series Part 7
Three men walked into the LessCost Superstore.
They wore expensive suits and ties. Their shoes gleamed. The eldest of the trio, a man named Syd, wore his long white hair pulled back in a ponytail. His sunglasses obscured his pale eyes. Though in his late sixties, Syd’s chiseled face showed only fine lines, mostly around his forehead, when he frowned. When he spoke, his deep, soft voice betrayed his British upbringing. It was the hardness, the immobility of his expression, that showed true age.
His comrades were two Americans, both in their thirties.
Bruce was a muscular blond with green eyes and short, curly hair. In his past, he traveled to Asia twice a month on business, an international attorney by trade. He knew several languages and had contacts in every corner of the globe. His final trip to Japan had put him in contact with a group of associates that called themselves Urufu.
The Japanese word for wolf.
The third man was Will. He was a black man with fair skin and close-cropped hair. After graduating MIT, he was unable to rid himself of his favorite obsession; cracking computer code. His greatest achievement was hacking into a computer system for a black ops agency within United States intelligence. As he prepared to flee his home, fearing an arrest warrant from the FBI, he was confronted by members of The Circle.
“Can I speak to the manager?” Syd asked a cashier. She smiled and said yes. It took a few minutes, but the young woman came back with a surly, balding middle-aged man.
As he approached, another cashier, a girl named Yesenia, told him that she was leaving for her break.
“We’re too busy for you to leave right now,” he grumbled.
“Well that’s just too bad,” she shot back. “I’m an hour overdue, and I am taking my break.”
She took off her blue apron and shoved it at him.
“Don’t bother coming back,” he yelled after. She ignored him and marched angrily out to the parking lot.
“Sorry about that,” he turned to the men. “I’m Ted Brown, the dayshift manager. What can I do for you?”
Bruce stepped forward, lowering his voice and giving the man a patronizing smile. “We need to see your surveillance videos from last night.”
“Well who are you people?”
Syd took off his sunglasses and put his hand on Ted’s shoulder. “You understand. You will take us to them, yes?”
Ted nodded. His hands fell to his sides. He showed the men back to the surveillance room at the very back of the store.
“That never gets old,” Will said to Bruce, and they shared a chuckle.
Syd turned and hushed them with one harsh look, like disobedient children.
There was one security guard in the room. “Russell, take a break,” Ted said.
The security guard looked suspicious, but he followed his boss’ orders.
“Handle that,” Syd told Bruce, gesturing for him to follow the security guard.
Will made himself comfortable at the controls, flipping back and fourth through the footage from the interior and exterior cameras. His eye caught a movement in the dark parking lot. The time was tagged for the previous night, at 11:25 PM.
“What the hell is that?” he asked.
Syd leaned closer for a better look. They were looking at an image that appeared like a small cloud of fog, moving at lightening speed in the corner of the screen.
“Will, rewind that back and stop when I tell you…..now.”
They caught a clear image.
“There you are, Miss Marradith,” Syd sighed appreciatively.
Marradith seemed aware of the camera. She looked up, turning her palm.
The outside camera went black.
“Oh no she didn’t! Tell me that girl did not do that.” Will said.
“Just watch.”
Once inside, the cameras there caught hold of her image. As she passed they went out, one by one. A camera in a far corner did catch a shot of her as she stood at the register.
“I can capture this image,” Will typed, fingers flying across the keyboard. Bruce appeared in the doorway a few moments later, apparently having completed business with the security guard. “Take Ted here to the managers office and have him give you every receipt for last night. Miss Ryder was here, and I want to know exactly what she bought.”
Will was still watching the footage. “Well, one pair of those sneakers she bought are men’s. I’m sure honey’s feet aren’t that big.”
When Bruce was gone, Will turned around and asked, “What is this girl?”
Syd cupped his chin in his hand. “Wouldn’t we all like to know?”
***
Syd, Bruce and Will left LessCost after an hour of pulling surveillance footage, receipts, and emptying the manager’s cash box. Their work went smoothly; they were uninterrupted.
The very last thing that they did was make sure that the security monitor system was completely blown out before exiting the store.
Some twenty minutes later, Ted Brown went into the storage space behind the gun counter.
There he found a clean, shiny automatic riffle. He loaded it, caressed it, and thought back on all the things he’d never have to do again. Only vaguely remembering the things that Syd had whispered in his ear, Ted walked down the aisles of the store, testing out the merchandise.
___
© 2009 Lori Titus
Lori Titus’s The Marradith Ryder Series appears in episodes on Flashes in the Dark. Many of her short stories appear on MicroHorror.com, DemonMinds.com, and Shadeworks.org. An upcoming story will also be featured as a pod cast on SFZine.org. For more information see her at http://www.myspace.com/talesforthedark.
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March 17th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Marradith certainly has some powerful enemies! Then again, she’s pretty powerful herself. Nice update!