Surveillance new resurrection tale

“My eyes always hurt looking through this damnd thing” he though.

George squinted at the blurry mix of blue, orange and red displayed on the vans video screen. He sat back in his chair smushing his fingers into his eyes. The dark interior of the surveillance van lit only by the video monitors was beginning to give him a head ache. He sighed and bent back to the feed. Using the small joystick which sat beside him on the collapsible shelf, he zoomed in on the house in the video. The outline of a person began to take shape and gradually sharpen as the image expanded. George watched them walk around the house’s kitchen appearing to prepare dinner.

“Why do these people always eat so late?” George thought, his own hunger beginning to resurface after being quenched by fast food several hours before. He reclined in his chair and called out, “YO! Anna, you have any more of those snack bar things?”

“No, I don’t because you ate the last one before dinner,” Anna replied with an annoyed tone. “And didn’t you say, ‘oh don’t worry I won’t get hungry later’ as you shoved it down your face.”

“ok, ok, I’m sorry and yes I do remember that,” he said shooting her a grin. Her eyes, accentuated by the shadows inside the van, shot him an intimidating look and he quickly turned back to his monitor. “What is it with her,” he thought. “She is the gentlest person I know, but with eyes that could stare down a bull.”

George turned back to his monitor and refocused the camera on the kitchen. The oven radiated heat and George toggled his joystick about the downstairs to reacquire the human figure. He passed over the living room and zoomed in on a bright spot in the center of the house. Slowly the outline of a bathroom came into focus and then the image of a space heater.

“Huh, must like it cozy in there,” he supposed as he zoomed out the camera to get a full picture of the house. George looked at the house, searching for a heat signature the size of a human. His heart rate began to increase as nothing alerted his eye as to where his target might be.

“Shit!” he muttered under his breath. “Shit, shit, shit, shit!”

“What are you muttering about?”

The voice sent chills through George’s body.

“I’m afraid I can’t find the target.” He said quietly.

“What was that, I can’t hear you.”

“I lost her.”

“What!?”

“I lost visual on the target.”

“Great well now we……”

The voice was interrupted by a banging on the side of the van. George and Anna both spun to the door, drawing their weapons in one movement.

“Hey I found you, aren’t you even going to let me see your stupid faces?” a woman’s voice sarcastically called from outside the van. George winced and looked over at Anna who mouthed, “idiot.”

“Sorry,” George mouthed back and stepping forward he opened the sliding door to reveal Fatimah “Effy” Workwise standing before them with arms crossed. Even in the dim light Anna could feel her eyes piercing their souls as she scanned them up and down. Effy gave them an annoyed sneer.

“Ok, what do you want? You guys have pretty good equipment here so I’m guessing Alpha-9?”

“No.”

A voice from the back of the van answered. The way it sounded made George and Anna’s skin crawl. From the shadows in the back of the van a young man emerged. Effy raised her eyebrows as he exited the van and stood in front of her. He looked to be in his twenties with brown hair and an athletic physique. Effy almost let a contemptuous smirk cross her face until she met his eyes. They board into her own in a way very similar to the way she scrutinized other people’s souls. It was all she could do to maintain his gaze with her own, locked into a strange sort of staring match.

“Then Alpha-1 I presume?” she asked with a firm tone.

“Not exactly, same abilities but a lot more expendable,” the man replied with a smile that looked warm and inviting but sent a chill down her spine. Whoever this was she wanted to be rid of him very quickly.

“Well then why are you here?” She asked.

“I don’t think I properly introduced myself, I’m officer Hardman.” The man let the words role out of his mouth as if they where at a party with drinks instead of standing on a dark street in front of a surveillance van.

“We are here to monitor your transition back into a Foundation operative. You where gone for 9 years so its understandable there you might have some rust on the old gears.”

“Listen Ass hat, I don’t care who you are, but I don’t need monitoring,” Effy retorted. “I’m one of the best if not the best operative in the Foundation so who thinks I need help “re-greasing the gears?” “I discovered you watching me the moment you arrived this morning.”

Hardman just stood there his expression never changing from its calm demeanor. “Oh Effy, we have been watching you for the last three days. By the way I think whole milk would be a better option than that soy milk you bought yesterday. Much better flavor.”

Effy’s composer never changed but her mind raced back to the grocery and the refrigeration isle.
“The woman who dropped her gallon of orange juice, that was the crow in the van and the man buying peaches in produce, he was the idiot next to her.” Her mind raced through her memories trying to locate a point where she might have seen Hardman.

“Honestly, the only reason they pulled you out of retirement is because you have knowledge about the program which would ‘apparently’ take too long to explain to someone new,” Hardman stated in a with another warm grin.

Effy stepped up to him so her face was only inches from his.

“Get the hell out of here,” she said, her voice dripping with malice, “Or next time I’ll just put a bullet through each of your fucking heads as my hello.”

With that she turned and walked back into the house. Hardman watched her go his expression never changing from its placid state.

“Well I think we have over stayed our welcome, let’s get moving shall we,” he said turning back to George and Anna. They both nodded and began packing up the van. Hardman shut the sliding door and walked to the driver’s seat. Effy watched from her Livingroom window as George joined him in the passenger seat and the van revved to life. It slowly pulled away from the curve and began driving down the road. Effy watched it quickly disappear into the darkness before pulling out her phone and dialing a number.

Back in the van George let out a huge sigh of relief. He slumped back in the passenger seat and looked over at Hardman.

“Kevin I don’t know how you do it but damn dose it scare the shit out of me!”

“Ya I think I pissed my self a little while you and Effy where having that wonderful chat,” Anna added shoving a wad of toilet paper into her pants.

Hardman just stared off into the road ahead, his knuckles going white from his grip on the steering wheel. His face was bathed in sweat and he could feel his hart hammering in his chest.

“let’s just drive in silence please,” he asked in a shaky voice. “Anna call in to command and tell them we are coming back with three days of observations.”

Anna nodded and moved back to the communication equipment in the rear of the van. George shot Hardman a puzzled look.

“Kevin are you alright?”

“I will be in a few minutes George it just takes a tole on the body to keep that kind of composure when you know the person in front of you could kill you in a second and there really isn’t anything you can do to stop them.”

George nodded and returned to watching the road pass by them as the van drove through the night. Behind them Anna’s voice spoke into stillness.

“Base this is Alpha-3, we are returning home.