"And we have gas masks?" I asked.
"Yes for both illusion and disguise."
"Good. You ready?" I turned to Keith as if I hadn't just talked to him a few minutes ago.
"Yeah."
"Be careful. We'll keep you up to speed by comm," James said.
"Right," Keith said. I followed him out of CTC and into the parking lot where the black van and two SWAT guys, Jake and Owen, were waiting. Jake, who looked to be in his early twenties, was tall and wide shouldered with reddish brown hair and hazel eyes. Owen, a middle-aged man was lean with sandy hair, and dark brown eyes.
Keith opened the doors and I climbed in. There were slat seats along both sides of the van. The containers that looked similar to the ones that were in the warehouse; were in the middle between the seats. The containers were about three feet long and a foot wide, and with eighty pounds of fake powder in each of them it wasn't going to be easy lifting or moving them. And with my injury it's going to be even harder. Cyrus was sitting down on the right hand side of the van, hands and ankles shackled. I sat on the opposite side of him and Keith climbed in and sat beside me. Jake shut the doors and ran to the passenger's door and hopped in. Owen started the van and drove off. It was dark, except for the streetlights, and quiet there hardly any cars on the road this late.
"All right, Cyrus, let's go over this," Keith said.
"Go ahead, Agent Shepard, I'm listening." Keith went over the plan with Cyrus.
"Afterwards, I will receive my immunity and be free to return home?"
"Yes."
Cyrus nodded.
Keith moved his arm to his side and placed his hand in mine. I interlaced my fingers with his and leaned against him.
"It's a good thing we don't have to climb those steps." He said quietly.
"Why's that?"
"In the eighth grade I did a report on the Monument and do you know how many steps there are?" I shook my head. "Guess."
"Um, I'll say 792."
"Very close 893 steps."
"Phew, then I'm glad there's an elevator."
He laughed quietly. "Me too . . ." He scratched the side of his face. "So it's almost tomorrow which means, I have less than 24 hours to plan our date and quite a few of those hours I'll be sleeping. So, I hope you won't be disappointed if isn't perfect."
I leaned in close and whispered in his ear. "It doesn't matter what we do, as long as I'm with you." He smiled and squeezed my hand.