NOUS II

Haley glided along in the dark, and if anyone had been able to see her, they would have sworn she was floating.

She jumped the fence in two quick movements: a running jump and cling to the fence and flip over, feet first, which landed her crouched on the other side.

As she go up, she adjusted her leg again and checked Chameleon. She reached her right hand up to her eyes and adjusted her Vision, peering into the dark as if it were noon.

"Knight."

She turned quickly around and made out the subtleties of another figure in his own Chameleon. He came toward her and she remained motionless, but every muscle was tense.
"A'Lo co-pa-naah," he said.
"Shin-go-trraa," she answered.

And they both relaxed.

"What have they got for us tonight, Knight?" he asked her.
She motioned with her head to the side of the building. He followed her. From Chameleon, she pulled out a roll of parchment from one of the compartments in her right thigh.

"Here," she pointed. "57. Male," she glanced up at him. "You move around the perimeter. I move in."
"You'll get him from the front."
"Yes."
For a moment they stared into each other's eyes and then, as if it they hadn't been there at all, the each disappeared in separate directions as they moved inside through vents in the cement alongside the building.

Haley moved quickly, forgetting about Mac, her small body fitting through air shafts no one over twelve would be able to make it through.

Then, she saw it: Destination. Simon Packsar sat with his back to her, pouring over stacks of papers.

Silently, she twisted out the screw of the vent and let herself in, then put it back into place just as noiselessly.

She was gliding along the outskirts of the room when she noticed Mac poised upside down on the ceiling above her.

She put a finger to her lips and sensed Mac smile at her, then moved directly in front of her subject.

There, she reached out a hand and released a paper from the bottom of its pile so that it floated to the floor.

"Damn it," Packsar muttered and got up to retrieve it.

He made it to the other side of the desk and bent down to pick it up. Only when he had straightened back up did the Black Knight move.

"Don't move."
"What? Who's there?" he said, looking around.
"If you use your eyes, you can see me."
"What is this? Some kind of joke?" he said, still peering around the room.
"I'm here!" she yelled, turning off her ChamSuit.
He looked at her, dressed in black, coming up to no more than his elbow.

"Why, you're nothing but a child," he said.
"Aye," she said. "Eight. Seems like you've got some years on me. That would be, thirty-nine, wouldn't it?"
She saw Mac protesting this conversation on the ceiling abover her but shook her head just enough for him to notice and for her subject to fall oblivious.

"What is this?" he asked again.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I like to know people first. And to let them know what's coming while looking them in the eye."
"What is this? How did you get in here? Does your Daddy work here? You have to leave now."
She shook her head and he began to back away.
"Don't move. Look at me," she said and stared him in the eye.

She had a way with staring at them, so that when their eyes locked into hers, they noticed nothing else. As he stared into her dark brown eyes, he didn't see her lift the 9mm to his chest.

It was over in a moment and two pulls of the trigger. Simon Packsar fell forward like a collapsing tower, a look of surprise mixed with concern on his face.

"Now," she called up to Mac.

And they were gone, slipping out the door and through the building until they walked out the front door and onto the courtyard, then out the gate and onto the street.