I Don't Eat

01: I Don't Eat

Dr. Day moved through the Cal Poly chemistry lab with precision, eliminating any remaining evidence of her presence over that past 8 months. It would be the last time she would be in the lab, her assignment was nearly complete. She had a few loose ends to tie up and she was ready to move on to a new "skin."

As she stepped out of the lab into the hallway she nearly collided with Dr. Saxe, a young faculty member. "Hello, Dr. Day." Dr. Saxe smiled warmly.

"Dr. Saxe." Dr. Day stared at Dr. Saxe, flat expression.

Dr. Saxe shifted nervously, subtly testing social waters. "So, a small group of us are meeting for drinks. Would you like to join us?"

Covered up in a lab coat, hidden behind glasses, dark hair pulled back, and with no makeup, her colleagues could still see that Dr. Day was quite attractive in an nerdy and unassuming way. Those who approached her were often surprised by her lack of awareness of her understated beauty and her socially awkward behavior. Her Emtional Quotient was relatively stunted, even more so than the average Ph.D. in chemistry. She tilted her head slightly, "I don't drink."

"Well, there's food too Dr. Day." Dr. Saxe grinned at her.

Dr. Day nodded, "I understand. I don't eat. With people."

Dr. Saxe started to chuckle but Dr. Day's eyes were unwavering and he realized she wasn't joking. "Oh, okay then. Maybe next time?"

"No, thank you." Dr. Day stepped past Dr. Saxe leaving him stunned.

----

It took months of reconnaissance and trust-building within the chemistry department at Cal Poly as "Dr. Sarah Day" before Jane was able to forward her operation. "Skinned" as a brilliant chemist, Jane's operation was coming quickly to an end. For over a year the government had been hearing the chatter of new technology that would soon come onto the market that would revolutionize biochemical warfare.

Once the black ops arm of the government discovered the origins of the research and technology, California Polytechnic State University, Jane was sent in to determine who was involved and eliminate the threat. Her recon led her to Dr. Jeffrey Mars's work. A chemist specializing in biomedical nano delivery systems. Jane discovered that Dr. Mars was developing a new technology that would revolutionize the delivery of weaponized biochemical pathogens using nanotechnology. He was selling his research to the highest bidder.

Even after she discovered his intent it took her two additional months to determine that he was the only threat to national security and had no accomplices working with him at Cal Poly. To be thorough she continued to gather data on his contacts. All of Dr. Mars's work was localized, encrypted, and secured. But, the government techs are exceptional and they issued all the necessary hardware and remote transmitters necessary. Jane discreetly placed all the tech within his office and computers. The end result revealed all the data and information they needed.

Two weeks prior the bodies of undocumented workers were found in a cargo container with all the chemical markers of Dr. Mars's work. He was going to be moving fast now that the human trials were underway. Recon was over, the US government couldn't risk the exchange of his information to foreign or domestic threats just to allow Jane more time to gather data on his contacts. She had run out of time.

Jane moved quickly and quietly in the small office. She began to systematically wipe out files from the office hard drive and cloud storage. After the initial deletions, she inserted a USB with a viral worm that was sure to destroy all the data beyond repair. The university technicians' only resolution would be to wipe clean all of the software related to the chemical research.

She gathered handwritten files, notes, journals, and a small digital audio recorder that Mars thought were hidden and secure. His own personal insurance policy. Once Jane was certain she collected all items containing any information that might be of value or dangerous, she exited the office and returned quickly to her car driving 15 minutes outside of campus. She parked two blocks away from Dr. Mars's home and moved with silent determination toward her target.

Without making a sound, she entered the home of Jeffrey Mars. She made her way to his small home office, opened his laptop, and repeated the "cleaning" process. She left his backpack and briefcase but collected handwritten logs and notebooks from his desk. Otherwise, she left the room untouched, laptop now seizing from the worm.

As Jane moved upstairs she passed his 11-year-old daughter's bedroom. She couldn't help but glance into the room. She followed the girl earlier in the day to her mother's home but she wanted to see that the room was empty and that Anna was still at her mother's house. Jane did not like to carry out wet-works with collateral damage so she often checked, re-checked, and checked again on small details.

She entered Dr. Mars's bedroom and saw him sleeping soundly. He was snoring softly and Jane considered him for just a moment wondering how he became the man he was. In a fleeting moment, she had the same thought for herself but then focused.

Jane pulled out a small, single-use dropper developed by the government's finest biochemists. The system was extremely delicate and deadly. Jane carefully snapped back the seal and used steady hands to keep the poison contained for just a few more moments. Once the chemical was introduced to the skin it would be absorbed and processed quickly into the bloodstream. The chemical concoction would perfectly mimic cardiac arrest and heart failure.

She smoothly dropped the liquid at the edge of Dr. Mars's hairline, just behind the ear. She watched as his body seized and he woke up in pain and confusion. He did not see her standing in the dark corner of the room. She took no pleasure in this but also had no regrets. The man's greed and work had taken lives, if gone unchecked, it would have taken many more.

She walked out of his home 15 minutes later. The next day when he didn't show up for his classes or to his lab, the local authorities would find his body when they went out to check on him.

Jane vacated her apartment in San Luis Obispo in under 45 min. She exchanged all her data and packages at a drop point and was on a flight back to Washington D.C. within 12 hours. Once her plane landed she made her way to her Georgetown row house just outside of the historic district.

Jane crossed the threshold into her row house. In the past five years, her government work had paid her well. Her home had rich, dark hardwood floors, exposed brick, and was well appointed and updated. She sighed in a moment of reflection and wished she could spend more time here enjoying the space. She wished her home felt a little more warm and welcoming. But, those were not luxuries she could afford. Her home was spartanly decorated. She never used the formal dining table, opting to eat meals at the kitchen bar. When she was home she did get some limited use of the deep leather sofa and matching chair that sat across from it in the "library corner."

Jane moved upstairs, dropping a hard-sided Tumi suitcase and a slim briefcase on the bed. She began transferring all of her clothes into a canvas laundry bag to be taken to cleaners for professional treatment. She left about two-thirds of the clothes she used at Cal Poly in a dumpster a few blocks from her apartment. Once she was done with a "skin" she opted for a new start, figuratively and literally. She shed all emotional and material baggage.

She opened her briefcase and pulled out a handful of various identification cards, credit cards, and cash all sealed in a plastic bag. She would return those the next day when she returned to the "Post Office." After she stored the two bags in her closet she opened a small safe built into the floor. Inside there were a number of additional forms of identification including driver's licenses and passports, a handful of credit cards, about $75,000 in cash, a Beretta 92 semi-automatic pistol with 3 magazines, a key ring with 5 small keys, and a 20GB thumb drive. Jane reached in and withdrew her personal identifications for tomorrow's debriefing. Her "exit plan at home" was duplicated in a small public locker somewhere in Washington D.C. as an emergency backup.

It was 9pm before Jane stepped out of her business attire, dark grey pencil skirt, and tapered cut button-down blouse and into her shower. Her stomach was rumbling but she could not wait any longer to wash the last remnants of "Dr. Sarah Day" from her body. Jane stood in the hot water letting the water fall over her 5'10" slim and deceptively strong frame. She moved the soap over her body and pulled a loofa over her skin scrubbing away the smell and "feel" of her last assignment.

Looking closely at Jane's skin one would see a handful of small, fading scars on her upper right arm, left chest just below her collarbone, along the left half of her flat stomach, and on the outside of her left thigh. Aside from these wounds of her trade, her body was supple yet strong, toned, and soft in all the right places.

Jane stepped out of the shower, wiped the steam off the mirror, stared at the woman looking back at her. She removed contacts, changing her soft brown eyes to a sharp cool blue-grey. She towel-dried her shoulder-length dark hair and pulled it back into a high ponytail. Jane was a classically beautiful woman, she had flawless skin, symmetrical and defined facial features and men and women alike tend to be drawn into her eyes and lips. She had no piercings and no tattoos and body markings that could be used to identify her. Her beauty and her ability to highlight or mute it gave her a district edge in her career and her superiors knew this.

Changing into jeans and a sweatshirt she donned a pair of black-rimmed Rayban glasses with lenses that did nothing to improve her 20-15 vision and walked out the front door into the cool late April air to pick up a late dinner.