5 - Cincinnati
Shane opened his eyes, the sound of his phone ringing off the hook giving him a mild startle. He turned to look at the alarm clock resting on his bedside and let out a momentary hiss.
His phone rang again and he reached for it, a mild grunt escaping his lips.
"Aaron. It is three in the morning. Choose your next words carefully."
"You need to come in this morning. " Aaron's disgustingly giddy voice laced the statics in Shane's speakers. I've been looking through the files we got from Neurospark and—i think this is deeper than we think it is."
Shane rubbed his eyes. "Is that it?
Aaron's confusion was palpable through the speaker. "Yeah?"
"You called me at three in the morning just to tell me to come in to work?"
"Well—shouldn't I have?"
"Let's just say it's a good thing I don't have your neck here with me." Shane replied. Without waiting for Aaron to say anything else, he hung up the call and threw his phone back on the dresser. As his head landed on his pillow, he started to pray silently for his sleep to return.
An amused expression crept onto Hera's face when her eyes caught Shane walking into the warehouse. Even slightly from afar, she could see the tired look on his face. He was walking towards her, a white cup of coffee tightly wedged behind his fingers, and a bit of stagger to his step.
"Well, you're here early." She said, shuffling her feet across the cement floor. She was just about to climb down the shaft but waited for Shane to join her.
"Did Aaron call you too?" Shane asked, taking a sip of his coffee and stopping right before her.
"No. He texted me. Asked me to come in this morning." Hera replied, her voice floaty and casual.
"Jesus." Shane whispered slightly rubbing his forehead.
"What, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"
"I didn't wake up. Thanks to Aaron and his stupid phone call. I couldn't go back to sleep after taking it. Now I'm only running on three hours."
Hera scoffed. "Well, can't relate. I slept like a baby."
"Rub it in even more. Why not?"
Hera reached for the tarp covering the opening and pulled it off. She went in first with Shane right behind her. They both climb down the ladder and headed to the only other room underground.
"We should have a name for this place." Shane muttered, dusting off specks off sand off his shirt. "That way, I'll be able to have an address for my Uber driver."
"Funny." Hera replied, her voice clear and floaty. "I think Headquarters is fine."
They both walked into the room, their eyes settling on Aaron, whose back was turned to them and face turned towards a giant computer screen. A giant pair of red headphones covered his ears.
Shane shrugged. "I personally prefer Warehouse."
A mild grimace crept on Hera's face and she turned to look at Shane one more time. "Warehouse?"
"You know," Shane continued. "Because the unit is inside a warehouse."
"Clever." Hera replied, her voice as plain as possible.
"Guys!" Aaron's voice penetrated the space, his giddy eyes turning to them and a giant smile on his face. "I am so glad you're here."
"Couldn't tell from your voice." Shane responded, heading towards one of the empty chairs closest to the giant screen in the room.
A mild frown crossed Aaron's face and he turned to look at Hera.
"Don't even ask."
"Anyways, I was looking through all the files we got from Neurospark all night and—"
"All night? You were here the entire night?" Hera asked, staring straight at him, a confused expression on her face.
"Somehow, I'm not even surprised."
"Look, that's not the point. The point is that I found something. Well, some things." Aaron continued, turning his swivel chair back to the screen before him. "There was a ton of unnecessary stuff in here but I was able to narrow my search. I mean, I didn't exactly know what we were searching for in particular. When I asked the General, all he said was you'll know when you see it, which honestly was probably the vaguest thing I've ever heard in my life and I was at the—"
"Johnson!" Hera called, her sharp voice freezing words in Aaron's mouth. "What did you find?"
As Aaron opened his mouth the speak, the door to the room pushed open, revealing Thompson, taking off his shades in the doorway. He walked in gently, his eyes pressed on each person in the room.
"Good. You're here."
"Penelope Garcia here was just about to tell us something." Hera mentioned, throwing a slight nod to Aaron.
Aaron threw her a dirty look, his mouth hiding even dirtier words, but before he could let any of them out, Thompson interrupted once again.
"Great. Let's hear it."
"I found a locked file." Aaron continued, turning to look at the screen. "All the files in here were open, except this one. I've been trying different methods to unlock it but I just couldn't. I mean, we won't know what's in there unless we bring in whoever made the file."
Thompson nodded. "Well, that won't be possible. What other options do we have?"
"We wait until I figure something out." Aaron mentioned.
Shane rose from his chair and moved closer to the screen along with others. They watched Aaron drag his mouse cursor to the file in question. Thompson stared at it and read out the file's name, almost like the words were new to his mouth.
"The Watchman."
He exchanged confused expressions with others. "What the hell does that mean?"
"I have asked myself that exact question over and over last night."
"Wait." Thompson mentioned, turning his head away from the screen and to Aaron. "You were here all night?"
"Exactly what I said." Hera shouted, a hint of vindication in her voice.
"Can you not—scream so loud? My head's pounding."
"But that's not all." Aaron continued, his voice drawing their attention back to him and to the screen before him. "So, I found something else."
He opens another file containing architectural drawings and labels.
"Are those blueprints?" Hera asked.
"Blueprints to an unmarked facility in Cincinnati." Aaron replied. "I looked it up on the map and it wasn't labeled. It's there though and I found it."
"Why would this be on the Neurospark server?" Hera asked, standing straight and staring at the screen.
Thompson let the gears in his head turn. Could this be what the NSA wanted him to find? This and the locked file?
"Well, I hacked into the nearest power station to the building and it's been drawing an insane amount of power. Like power-up-a-time-machine amount."
"So something's going on there." Thompson said, his voice low.
"And whatever it is, has to be powerful enough to be drawing such amount of power." Shane responded, drinking the last of his coffee before turning to look straight at Thompson.
"What'll it be, General?"
"Uh—" Thompson replied, rubbing his forehead "Johnson is there anyway you can look into this facility remotely?"
"I can't. Like I said, it's unmarked. I can't find any interior picture of the facility. Not a single one. And honestly, the blueprints aren't enough to go on" Aaron replied again, his opened palms showing his helplessness. "And I've been looking—"
"All night. Yeah we get it." Shane replied, rolling his eyes.
Thompson let a moment of silence pass, ignoring the looks Aaron was giving Shane in the moment before shrugging.
"Then it settled. We have to go check it out."
Aaron cocked an eyebrow. "Wait, are you saying—"
"Yes, Johnson." Thompson replied. "Yes. Pack your bags, We're going to Cincinnati."
