Lost Pirates 2 - Chapter 6

Changing had gone smoothly, finding a spot behind some dumpsters in the alley next to the mall, and soon they were on the move again. They had a different look and a destination. Oddly, they now looked like Frank had always imagined Hollywood actors in their method acting madness would look like when hanging out at night clubs. Pirate clothing of this century had less of that old school frilly look to it, and more of a punk rock vibe. He could dig it, even if the pants were way too tight. Somehow cowboys pulled it off, so he figured he’d manage. 

It only took another five minutes of walking before they stopped at an intersection with a view of the Space Needle rising high above, that strange pirate flag flapping in the wind. There was the building directly behind it, Rick the Dick’s headquarters and, at least for now, our best chance at finding the compass he’d stolen. Frank had one that Rose had kept hidden, with the red stone that had fallen out during the scuffle with Rick, but they would need the other two stones to put a stop to the man and the way he’d changed the world. 

The plan was simply to walk in and figure it out as they went. It wasn’t like they were professional burglars or heist conmen or whatever. They were mere pirates. That said, Frank knew a thing or two about working his way around these buildings. His mother had worked a corporate job most of her life, and when he was young he’d get to spend days with her at work from time to time, often sneaking off to explore. The secret was to meander past some desk where a guard had been lazy enough to leave out his key card, and there was always a guard who did. Almost always, anyway. The other trick wasn’t as easy, but involved waiting until someone exited a door you wanted to go through, and be waiting with an item to slide in and block the door before it closed. Neither was genius, but they’d either have to work or they’d figure out something else. 

To Frank’s surprise, neither was an immediately doable, because a security guard stood at the entrance to the elevators. Frank led the way, but as soon as he saw the guard, kept walking past the doors and around the corner. 

“What now?” Rose said, having seen the guy too. 

Esmerelda put a hand on the hilt of her sword. “Take him out the old fashioned way?” 

Frank frowned, still put off by the idea that they now lived in a society where sword and guns were not only allowed to be carried around, but now seemed to be the norm. “No. Thing is, they might be expecting us.” 

“And we don’t even know if it’ll be here.”

“If he’s here, it’ll be here.” 

“Hey,” Keisha said, and she nodded to a back door that was opening. 

The group froze, then Frank glanced around, looking for something to lodge in the door. Dammit, as much as Seattle had fallen apart, it sure was clean. Not a single discarded can or even a rock for him to use. His hands went to his body next, remembering he had no wallet, only the compass. 

Rose made eye contact with him and shook her head. “Don’t you dare.” 

Instead, she had another idea. As soon as the door was open, she stepped over, looking seductive, ready. Frank turned away, not wanting to see this. Only, a woman emerged, wearing a pants suit and pulling out a packet of smokes. 

“Get her, tiger,” Keisha said and shoved Frank forward. 

“Shit.” Frank came to a stop next to the woman, grinning awkwardly. “You know those things will kill you.” 

The woman glared at him. “Swords, bullets… I choose my poison.” 

She took a step away from the door, and Frank decided he didn’t have time for this. He lunged forward, grabbed the door, and shoved it open. “Go!”

“Fuck.” The woman lunged, but Esmerelda was there behind her, cutlass out and slamming her in the back of the head with the hilt. The woman collapsed, out cold, as Rose grabbed her and dragged her in through the door after them. 

Of course, there were two workers lounging right there and shooting the shit. Both stood at the sight—two large men. 

“We have a problem?” Frank said, very aware of how he, this lanky guy with three women, would look going up against these two. 

But neither was armed, and the team wasn’t being shy about brandishing their weapons. 

“No, they aren’t going to give us any shit,” Keisha said, pistol in the air. The door clicked shut behind them and one of the men flinched, then both of them took off. 

“What if they tell someone we’re here?” Esmerelda asked. 

“It won’t matter.” Frank was already on the move. “After the event at UW, I imagine they’re already on the alert.” 

They found the stairs and quickly started up, though Keisha pointed out they didn’t know what floor they were going to. 

“The top,” Frank explained. “A man like Rick? It’ll be the top.”

“The… top.” Rose growled. “Of course, it’d have to be the fucking top, and me in heels.”

“You picked them out,” Frank reminded her. “Sorry, but we don’t exactly have time to go back to the mall.”

She glared, but kept going. 

While they were only three-inch heels, Frank had to imagine that wouldn’t be pleasant. He wondered why she didn’t simply remove her shoes and try without, but hey, who was he to say anything. 

“This is so fucking stupid,” Keisha pointed out. “What happens when we’re caught? This whole thing falls apart and we’re fucked. No?” 

“We have two options,” Frank replied. “Way I see it, we can try and risk letting everything keep going like this, if we fail. Or, we can do nothing, and we definitely fail. Either way, this is our best shot.”

Esmerelda grunted. “I’d argue, say we need to come up with a plan. You’d think with a time travel device, we’d have all the time in the world.” 

“Except that it’s the enemy who has the device.” Rose panted, taking a breather. 

“Exactly. Meaning every moment we waste is more time for him to time-fuck us.” 

“I don’t want to imagine that,” Frank cut in, trying to be funny. All of them looked at him like he was an idiot, and he shrugged. 

Finally, they reached the top floor. Pausing at the door, Frank leaned against it to take a glance. But the door wouldn’t budge. Of course it was locked. 

“On it,” Rose said, stepping forward. She analyzed the door, took her sword, and jammed it into the area where the locking mechanism would’ve been. 

“That’s not going to wo—” Frank started, when her blade made a cracking sound and the door popped open. 

“How the fuck do you break a cutlass?” Keisha asked, looking at the now semi-snapped blade of Rose’s. 

“Dammit,” Rose said, looking at her sword and propping open the door with her foot. “Not Helga.”

“Helga?” Frank asked. “The sword’s name was Helga?”

Rose chuckled. “Why not?”

He nodded, sure. Taking a peak through the door, he noted that they were still in a back hallway of sorts. They worked their way out of the stairwell, following the hall with white walls and blue carpeted floor to find another door that led into a main hall with a conference room, several visiting rooms, and one main office. 

A man was in there and Frank pulled out his pistol, ready, but then ducked back. “Just a janitor.”

“So the compass might not even be here.” Keisha leaned past him to have a look, her breasts brushing against his arm in a way that caused him to glance down at her very much revealed cleavage. She caught him looking and grinned. 

“No,” Rose hissed. 

“What?” Frank glanced around, confused. 

“No time for you to have a quickie in the enemy’s office. Sorry.”

Keisha blushed, pulling back. 

“I’m not—that wasn’t even what…” Frank stared, flabbergasted. “Is that any way for a grandma to talk to her grandson?”

Esmerelda laughed. “You know you were thinking it. I saw the look in your eyes.”

“Not when my grandma is around.” 

“But if I weren’t?” Rose arched an eyebrow. When he couldn’t respond, she laughed. “Thought so.”

A sound of a door clicking came, and Frank glanced over to see the janitor leaving. Rose was kneeling a moment later, motioning to her ears. Frank wasn’t sure what she meant, but then saw the headphones on the janitor. He wouldn’t notice if there was noise, and so Frank went for it. He held out his hand for her broken sword, timed it right, and tossed the thing across the carpet. 

It rolled and he thought maybe he’d missed, but then the edge of it stuck in the door, just barely, before it closed. 

Score. 

Rose was looking at him like he was an idiot, but he didn’t care. The janitor was gone, in the elevator, and they were ducking around the corner again until the elevator doors closed. 

“I don’t think the door had a lock,” Rose said. 

Frank scoffed. “Sorry, but… not all locks are as obvious as the one on the stairs. You forget, this is my time.” 

She shrugged. 

“It was an impressive toss,” Keisha noted. “All clear.”

Frank gave her a nod of thanks for the compliment, watching Esmerelda as she darted forward, pushed open the door, and indicated a locking mechanism. 

“Fine, good call,” Rose admitted with a pat on his back. 

“Hey, I figured it made sense. His office—if there’s a chance the compass is in here, he’d have it locked up.”

“Meaning he also probably has it in a safe or something.” 

Frank frowned, realizing she was probably right. He worked his way over to the desk, to the bookshelves behind it, looking. There was one book among the others that stood out, its cover facing them and with an image of a World War II fighter plane on it. 

The fucker was mocking them, Frank realized. Like “Here it is, come and get it.”

Not being the type to back away from a challenge, Frank opened the book and stared at the compass. There it was, sitting in a cutout area meant to hide it. 

He had it! Holding the compass high, he turned to his team, grinning. “It can’t be this easy, can it?” 

Rose frowned. “Maybe?”

“In the movies there’s always this really elaborate scheme.” Frank ignored the curious glances from Esmerelda and Keisha at his mentioning movies again. He was going to have to really set aside some time to update them on that—probably with a good run through of all the classics. The Princess Bride, Jurassic Park, all the Harry Potter movies, of course. But for now, he simply grinned at the sight of the compass in his hand. “Maybe reality can cut us some slack, though?” 

“Doubt it,” Rose countered, but nodded at the thing. “Give it a go and find out.”

Frank did so. A light turned on, but it wasn’t a holo-screen or anything fancy like normal. Simply a light on the face of the compass that read, “Fuck you.”

“Oh, shit.” He turned it over to retrieve the stones inside, then tossed the compass against the wall so that it shattered before hitting the ground. 

“What’re you doing?” Rose shouted. 

“It was a fake,” he explained, turning to look for their next move. It wasn’t going to be their choice though, because just then the nearest door opened, two security guards stepping through. A glance back showed three coming from the other direction. 

Not only was it a fake, but the whole situation was a damn trap. It wasn’t like they’d really expected otherwise, but still… damn.