The airplane smelled expensive. Whinney's old second-hand leather sofa had smelled of leather, but not in the same way these seats did. When compared to her old messy apartment, or even the simple, functional HQ building, this plane was like a tiny palace. The plane had it all: wooden paneling, snack food, and even soda. Whinney hadn't realized how much she'd missed cola. She was chugging it down like this was the last chance she'd ever get. Elijah was taking the rare opportunity to smoke a cigar. Whinney looked at him, huge cigar in his mouth, and set her can down.
"You look ridiculous smoking that thing. It's way too big. You should stick to your cigarettes."
"No way. I'm only allowed these during missions, and they're so much better than the crap I usually smoke. I used to smoke them with Dolion before and after assignments."
Whinney imagined Dolion with one. That made sense to her. He looked like the kind of guy who was born in a suit, hair slicked back, cigar in mouth, just waiting to be lit.
"Dolions like twice your size, he wouldn't look strange with one. You're too skinny for cigars."
"He's not twice my size, he's like a head taller'an me at most. And by the way, I'm not 'bout to be judged by someone who's downed half a gallon of pop in half an hour."
"Pop? You call it pop?"
"Yeah, pop. Or 'soda' or whatever. Either way, you're indulging and so am I."
Couldn't argue that. She had nothing against the free entertainment. He looked like the whimpiest mobster ever.
"Whatever, you go girl. Anyway, what's up with the headquarters? Why's it shaped like that?"
When they were walking to the airplane earlier that morning, she'd seen the outside of the building for the first time. The building was huge, at least ten floors, not counting what was underground. The exit was situated in the middle of the building at the bottom of the five-story-tall window. She hadn't noticed from the inside, but the building was pyramid-shaped, fully covered in black sheet metal, and capped with gold in a way that caught the sun spectacularly. An impressive building, but for what must be some sort of secret base, it was the very definition of conspicuous. A great black pyramid that towered far above the surrounding fir trees. Weren't there people whose hobby was scouring Google Maps for weird stuff? That place would stick out like a sore thumb. She thought the S.O.F. was worried about leaks.
"The pyramid is a religious thing. It represents God somehow."
"Won't somebody notice it? It's not exactly well hidden."
"What do you mean? It's in the middle of nowhere."
"Well, sure, but that's hardly enough to hide it. There are satellite maps, ya'know. I'm pretty sure I got there by car, so there must be a road that leads there, too."
"Huh? In that case, I'm not sure. There's gotta be something keeping people away. Maybe they blur it on maps."
"Do you know where in the country the HQ is? We could probably check it out."
They had both been given phones to use during the assignment. The phones were somewhat restricted in what they could do, but if they could access the internet, they could see if anybody knew about it.
"I doubt we'll find anything. There are people whose only job is scrubbing the internet for anything related to the S.O.F. nonstop."
"Aww, you're no fun."
"We could try if you want to, just don't get your hopes up."
Whinney sat back and popped another can of Coke. She drank and looked out of the window. Far beneath them, she saw farmlands and forests. Fields of grain that seemed so small to her from their altitude. from the ground, those fields must appear to go on forever. The plane flew over a small town. Whinney couldn't tell which of the infinite number of similar towns this one might be. Hundreds of tiny little people living their normal lives down there, worrying about normal stuff. They were all just like her, or rather, how she'd been about a month ago. A month? Hard to believe, really. If somebody told her it'd been a year since she was arrested at her apartment, she might've believed them. The nameless little town reminded her of St.Eli, where she'd lived all her life upuntill now. There was probably a little café down there, just like the one her mom ran. She could imagine her dad in his rusty pickup driving down that anonymous main road. She sighed, thinking back. Where were they now? What were they doing? Dad might still be in bed, hungover probably. Her mom would already be hard at work. She missed them.
The plane ride took about two and a half hours, and they touched down in Denver, Colorado, at about 9 AM. By then, the cabin air felt thick with the smell of tobacco. Whinney was burping uncontrollably from all of the carbonated soda. She'd grabbed another six cans for the road. They stepped off the plane and saw two black cars roll up beside them. They stopped, and two men in the same style of black suit they were wearing stepped out.
"Local agents.", Elijah explained
"Why would they call us in if there are agents here already?"
"They're not special, no influence. They collect information and provide support, that's it."
They met the men by the front car. They looked like total men in black clones, wearing sunglasses and stern expressions, standing like they were all important. Elijah took the car keys from the one on the left, shook his hand, then took a step back to stand side by side with Whinney. The agents walked back to the second car, stepped in, then drove off without ever saying a single word.
"You know how to drive, Whinney? You wanna take the wheel?"
"Why? You can drive."
"I can, but I'd prefer not to. Didn't get a ton of sleep, and I don't really like cars."
Whinney smirked and giggled at him.
"Alright, passenger princess. I'll drive."
She nabbed the keys and sat down in the front seat. The drive from Denver took them over six hours, including stops to eat and go to the bathroom. They stopped at Burger King to Whinney's dismay. All Burger Kings smell the same, all their burgers taste the same, and Whinney hated it. Elijah apparently loved Burger King, and she'd never seen him look so alive as he did while scarfing down his Whopper. The silver lining was the paper crown Whinney took before they left.
"I get to choose what we have for dinner. I need something seriously good to get this BK taste out of my mouth."
She burped again and recoiled at the taste and smell. Elijah side-eyed her.
"Would you cool it with the burping? Geez."
When they rolled into town, they were both pooped from the drive. Beautiful landscapes surrounded Ouray. Waterfalls, meadows, and woods, all of which Elijah, who'd fallen asleep, missed entirely. The roads were winding with sharp drop-offs, so Whinney had to slow down while driving. She wasn't actually that used to being behind the wheel of a car. She had her license but had only ever borrowed her dad's car, and only few times at that.
Looking out of the window, she really wished they had time to stop at some of the local attractions. Switzerland of America, whatever that was supposed to mean. She nudged Elijah, who opened his eyes skeptically.
"I wasn't sleep'n. What? We there yet?"
"Will we have time to check this place out before we leave? There is a ton of cool stuff around here, but since you weren't sleeping, I'm sure you saw that"
"I was resting my eyes. Huhmmm... Maybe, if we're quick."
"Man! Look at those mountains! Hope would love this place. She told me she used to go on hikes and stuff all the time."
"I'm not doing that. If you wanna go hiking, you'll have to go alone."
"Naw, I wanna go check out some of these waterfalls."
Elijah nodded, then closed his eyes again.
"Dude, there's no point in sleeping now. We'll be there in like five minutes."
The town itself was comprised of a Main Street, with several avenues sprouting from it. The houses were mostly brick with occasional splashes of white, wood, or, in some daring cases, actual color. While not particularly eye-catching, it felt calm and homey. The houses seemed to be made to fit in naturally with the scenic backdrop, the red mountains over the red brick. The hotel was at the corner of Main Street and 6th Avenue. Whinney parked the car on the street next to the building. The black vehicle certainly didn't blend in among the others. It wasn't flashy, but it appeared to be expensive, and the windows were tinted black. Whinney knew nearly nothing about cars, but she could recognise quality when she sat in it. When the pair stepped out, people were watching. Why they weren't allowed normal street clothes was never explained. It wasn't as if a secret organisation had to keep up appearances for the public. Actually, the opposite should be true. It felt counterintuitive to her. The suits did look very professional; maybe the point was to stand out.
"Whinney, take the Burger King crown off for cryin' out loud. You're drawing attention."
Oh, maybe the suits weren't the big thing then.
They got their hotel room keys and went up to their room. Suite #7. Two separate bedrooms, yellow painted walls, and one TV per room. Whinney threw herself on the first bed, found the remote, and turned the TV on. Elijah stood beside her.
"There's no time to lie down and watch TV now."
"I'm not gonna watch, just gotta feel the bed and check what channels we got."
"Right... Gotta... It's about half past three, so I'm taking a shower. If you wanna take one too, we have time, otherwise we should puthergoin'".
Should what? She did feel sorta sweaty and gross after driving all day, so a shower sounded nice.
"Ait, you go ahead."
Elijah showered quickly, brushed his teeth, and put on some deodorant. He was clearly an entirely different beast while on assignment. He usually didn't do any of those things unless absolutely necessary, something that Whinney had noticed early on but had chosen not to comment on. She showered when he was done, put on fresh clothes, and then came out.
"We got a company card, right? Can we buy stuff for ourselves with it? Dolion said something about being able to buy candy as long as it wasn't confiscated."
"Depends on what you're buying. Money's not an issue, and we're allowed personal expenses. Whatever you bring back will have to be approved by Aeshm, and I have no clue how strict she is. You could try to bribe her."
"She'll probably take whatever I bring back from me, just to prove she can. She gets a real hard-on from exercising her power."
She thought back to Aeshma's groping hug back at her office and felt a lump forming in her throat.
"Really, she can be sorta' weird sometimes, but she really seems to like you."
Whinney clenched her fist.
"Maybe a little too much"
She broke the conversation off and got her suit jacket and shoes on, leading Elijah to follow suit.
Once they were all ready to go, they left the hotel and exited out, onto Main Street.
"How do we know where to start?"
"Since the ritual most likely took place in the forest, we should talk to the people working on the trails. It's never a bad idea to check in with religious authorities and libraries, as well. Based on the file, there was a series of disappearances about a year ago."
"So the police?"
"I don't like talking to the police. They always ask awkward questions. Besides, we can request all of their files from the S.O.F., and the files already stated that the police never found them."
"Alright, where do we start?"
"I think we should start over there."
Elijah pointed at a building across the street, a little café called Mouse's Chocolates and Coffee. It looked way too cute for someone like him to go there.
"There? What are we gonna find at a cafe?"
"Coffee."
Enough said.