Color Me Grey: Book One of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles (26 page)

“
Well, all I need is for you to keep an
eye out for me at the Skylight,” I said.

“
What do you mean?” he
asked.

“
I’m on this job and I’m supposed to
meet a guy there. If he’s who he’s supposed to be then there should
be no problem, but if not, there may be some other people around I
would need to know of. You know everyone there and I thought you
could let me know if there were a lot of different faces in the
crowd before I came in.”

“
Yeah, I could probably do that. What
kind of job is this?” he asked.

“
I can’t tell you any details, but I
can tell you it’s extremely important,” I said.

“
I don’t mind helping you, but the guys
you’re working for is a different matter,” he added.

“
Well, this is mostly for me. It’s a
job I’m on, but I have personal ties to it. Does that help?” I
asked.

“
A little. You’re going to have to tell
me all about it later though. Do we have a deal?” he
said.

“
Sure,” I said. “Thank you. I really
appreciate this, Colin.”

Before I hung up Mr. Black came up to me and
told me he needed to pick up Colin and bring him to the office to
be instructed on how to do this right. He also wanted to set him up
with a wire of some kind so it wouldn’t be obvious that he was
communicating with anyone outside the building. I told Colin to
expect Mr. Black some time soon. He wasn’t too happy with being
chauffeured around but finally agreed on it.

Mr. White had been in the other room talking
with Mr. Red. A few minutes after I finished speaking with Colin he
hung up the phone and motioned me back into his office. Mr. Black
had gone to retrieve Colin so it was just Mr. White and myself
after I shut the door, closing off Gabriella. Being in a room alone
with Mr. White had gotten a bit easier since I had spent a few days
with him at the cabin, but it was still stressing for me.

I took a seat in front of his desk and he
told me what information I needed to get from, Abdullah Salah, the
informant and probable relative of The Lion. It was pretty simple
if he was on our side. I should have no problem getting him to come
in to talk to all of us. Mr. White or Mr. Red would handle him
then, but if he wouldn’t cooperate I was going to have to ask the
questions. I was going to have to determine for myself which side I
thought he was on. Mr. White told me several things to watch for to
establish whether or not I thought he was lying to me. The
instruction on subtle interrogation lasted until Mr. Black returned
with Colin.

They both walked into the office with sour
looks on their faces. Colin came up to me and we hugged. He said,
“This guy has no sense of humor. He doesn’t say much either.”

“
He’s more of an action, not words type
of person,” I said with a smile to Mr. Black. His expression didn’t
change though.

“
Petty Officer DeLange,” Mr. White
acknowledged Colin with a nod.

“
Malone,” Colin said back with a bit of
contempt, deliberately leaving out any title before the name. I
hadn’t told him Mr. White’s real name, so I’m guessing Colin either
finally remembered or had known all along. There must have been
something that happened between these two I didn’t know about. I’d
have to try and weasel it out of Colin later.

The rest of the afternoon was spent schooling
Colin on what he was to do inside the Skylight and getting him
fitted for both audio and video devices. Then it was my turn. I
wouldn’t let them tape it to my chest like they had with Colin
though. I watched carefully on how they put it all together and
went to the bathroom to do it for myself. We did a check on both
Colin’s audio and mine and we were both hooked up correctly. Mr.
White had pulled out a jacket for Colin to wear that had a camera
in one of the buttons.

Mr. Red had set up the meeting for early
evening so the bar wouldn’t be too busy and the band wouldn’t be
playing yet. Time was closing in when Mr. White said, “Mr. Black,
you will drive Petty Officer DeLange to the club. I want you in
position before I send in Ms. Grey.” Mr. Black nodded
understanding, his cooler-than-cool look had returned. I hadn’t
seen that look for a while, but it was reassuring.

“
How am I supposed to know who the guy
is?” I butted in.

“
He says he knows you and he will
approach you,” Mr. White said to me. “Colin, I want you to make a
check into both bathrooms before you go to the main part of the
bar,” he continued.

“
The women’s too?” Colin
asked.

“
Yes, I want to make sure there aren’t
any surprises. This is for Alex’s safety,” Mr. White
said.

“
Alright,” Colin said, but I could tell
he was uncomfortable with the thought of having to go into the
women’s restroom.

Mr. Black and Colin left and Mr. White went
over my role again. I just needed to go in and grab a seat at the
bar and wait. After a few minutes of reviewing the plan Mr. White
and I left the office to the car garage below. A dark van was
parked and waiting for us. Mr. Blue was in the drivers’ seat. I
hadn’t seen him since the day he picked me up to go train at the
cabin the first time.

“
Mr. Blue,” I greeted him.

“
Ms. Grey. How are things?” He was
professional but there was a quality of familiarity to his
greeting.

“
Not bad,” I said and got in. Mr. White
sat in the back with what looked like a small television station. I
saw the inside of Mr. Black’s SUV on one of the screens and assumed
it was Colin’s video feed.

The van sped off toward the Skylight and I
kept my head turned to watch the show unfolding on the screen. Mr.
White had turned up the volume and Colin was talking a mile a
minute. Every once in a while he’d pause to see if Mr. Black would
say something but he never did. Mr. White then said into a
microphone, “Mr. Black would you please tell him to quiet
down?”

I heard Mr. Black’s voice say, “With
pleasure. Petty Officer, I have been instructed to ask you to quiet
down.”

“
Are they listening already?” Colin
asked.

“
To every word,” Mr. Black
replied.

We pulled into the parking lot of the
Skylight. There were a few cars parked outside, but it was just a
fraction of what would be there in a few hours. Mr. Blue found us a
spot with no trouble and I was about to get out when Mr. White
stopped me.

“
Wait. I’m not satisfied yet.” He had
been watching Colin’s movie unfold. He kept his eyes on the screen
and said, “Looks like everyone’s in place.” Then into the
microphone he said, “Mr. Black, grab a seat by DeLange so we can
speak.”

Before a minute had passed I heard Mr.
Black’s voice, “In position.”

“
Have Colin start pointing out the
regulars along with the new people,” Mr. White said.

Mr. Black instructed Colin and the camera
started to pan the room. He stopped at every face including the
employees. Colin knew the names of most of the people in the
building. If he didn’t know the names, he knew the faces. He came
to Mr. Brown and I heard Mr. Black tell him to pass him up. There
were two other men he stopped the camera on in different places
throughout the building, but was told to by pass them as well. I
assumed it was the two other partners, Mr. Red and Mr. Green. One
of the men was a scrawny looking type and the other was quite
handsome. I wondered which was which.

“
All right, Mr. Black,” Mr. White said
when Colin finished scanning the room. “Have Colin watch the door
and report any new customers. I will send in Ms. Grey in a few
minutes.” He switched off the microphone and looked to me. “Are you
ready?” he asked me.

“
Yep,” I said straightening my
shirt.

“
I have something for you,” he said and
reached into his pocket. He pulled out a beautiful necklace with a
golden angel for a charm. I was surprised. Why would he be giving
me a necklace?

“
Move your hair,” he said and reached
over to fasten the necklace around my neck. “Now, make sure you
keep this outside your shirt so I can see what’s going on,” he
added.

I felt stupid. I’m glad I didn’t open my
mouth. He switched on another screen and my video signal was coming
through fine, I could see the back of his head in the monitor.

“
Okay, it’s working. Now head in and
sit at the bar. We just have to wait now. If Salah doesn’t show in
an hour I’ll have Mr. Black escort you back to the van.”

I stepped out of the van and walked inside. I
was nervous but I couldn’t let it show. I got to the bar and took a
seat. Anthony was working, yuck. He came up to me and said, “What
can I get for ya, babe?”

“
Just a Coke please,” I said, maybe a
little too nicely.

He walked away and came right back with my
drink. “I haven’t seen you around for a while.”

“
I got a new job that takes me out of
town,” I explained, making sure I wasn’t too friendly this time. I
didn’t have any feelings for this guy. Not any good feelings. I
didn’t hate him, but I really didn’t want to involve him in my life
in any way.

“
So, you must miss me. You haven’t sat
at the bar for a long time.” He got a sickening grin on his
face.

“
Nope. Just felt like sitting at the
bar tonight,” I said.

“
Yeah, right. That’s why you haven’t
even gone over to see Colin yet. I know you and you want
me.”

How disgusting this guy was. I couldn’t
understand what I had ever seen in him. “Don’t start with me
Anthony. I’m not interested in you
at all
,” I said through
clenched teeth. I reached down to adjust the camera. I most
definitely didn’t want it falling into my shirt.

“
Look, you’re fidgeting,” he said. “You
used to do that when I would make you nervous.”

“
Anthony,” I said, trying to contain my
voice. “Leave me alone and wait on your other
customers.”

“
Do you want to check out the booth
over there?” he asked trying to look sexy. “It’s early enough I
could get away for a bit.”

“
Yeah,” I said with fake enthusiasm.
“It would only take a second too.” Then I gave him a vapid
smile.

He expanded his grin to try to lure me away
from the bar then it finally registered that I had just insulted
him. The smile dropped from his face. It was priceless.

“
You’re a bitch,” he said.

Mr. Black was right behind me and had put his
hand on my shoulder. “Alex,” he said in an ominous voice, “is this
guy going to be a problem?” Then he shot an evil look to
Anthony.

I smiled and said, “Well, Anthony? Are you
going to be a problem?”

“
No,” Anthony was quick to answer. “I’m
sorry, Lexi. I didn’t know you were here with anyone.” Then he was
gone to harass some other poor girl at the opposite side of the
bar. Some men never learn.

“
I could have handled him,” I said to
Mr. Black “But that
was
fun,” I added.

“
Don’t mention it,” he said and walked
off to stand where he could see the entire room.

The good-looking man I had seen in Colin’s
camera was also at the bar situated not far from me. He had been
watching me since I sat at the bar. He was quite handsome and held
himself above the rest of the crowd. This must be Mr. Red, I
thought as I gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

He nodded back politely and gave me a smile
that would have melted any woman in the room. He didn’t quite have
the allure of Mr. White, but he was definitely not an eyesore. I
located Colin and looked for the other man that had been caught in
the camera when I was in the van. I couldn’t find him though.

The bar stool I had chosen gave me a good
view of the door and soon I saw a man walk in that didn’t look like
he belonged. There was an air of familiarity to him though. He came
straight to the bar and sat next to me. My stomach did a flip. Was
this Abdullah Salah?

“
Lexi Stanton?” he said.

“
Yes,” I said.

“
You don’t recognize me do you?” he
asked.

“
No, I’m sorry but I don’t,” I
replied.

“
Your father and I have been friends
for a long time. I’ve been to your house a few times but not for
years.”

“
Mr. Jones?” I asked surprised to
remember his name. I barely remembered him, but I knew Dad had
helped him out years ago with something.

“
Yes,” he said with a smile of relief.
“Your father has always been a good friend to me and I want to
help.”

“
What do you mean?” I asked.

“
I’m Abdullah Salah. You were too young
back then to know what was going on, but your Father helped me to
get myself settled here in the United States,” he
explained.

He had a foreign look but no accent of any
kind. He spoke like he had been born and raised in my
neighborhood.

“
Are you connected to The Lion?” I
asked.

“
He’s my cousin,” he said with a hint
of revulsion in his voice. “I am glad to find you here. I was
afraid my cousin had found out I had been relaying information to
your father.”

“
Would you be willing to come into our
offices and speak with my partners?” I asked.

“
Will you be there?” he asked, looking
around.