Chapter Thirteen: Stakeout

(The Case Of The Missing Lifeguard, Pt. 5)

***

In hindsight, maybe staking out the loading dock for Russians in the pouring rain was a bad idea.

Water soaked Valerie's shirt even through her raincoat and blinded her vision. gravel clung to her knees—knees that were getting sore from crouching. And she was cold—being out in the rain meant Valerie was all but frozen to the bone, even in summer. The only consolation was that at least Robin, Steve, Dustin and Rowan were commiserating in her misery as they looked at the locking docks. Actually, maybe not Rowan—when Valerie looked over to Rowan, she could swear Rowan looked almost... comfortable. Like she found home in the storm.

But Valerie pushed it down. Not when she had bigger problems to worry about—like why they were all here freezing their asses off.

Down below, at the loading dock, a pair of black-uniformed men were standing in front of doors. At first, Valerie would think they were all security guards—if not for the guns they were holding.

That was enough to tell Valerie those guys were Russians.

"Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes!" Robin shouted, as loudly as she dared without attracting attention from down below.

Valerie watched as Rowan gave a thumbs up as Dustin peered through his binoculars. Steve squinted, wiping rainwater out of his eyes as Valerie did the same, hating the way it dripped into her eyes and blinding her vision whenever it did.

"Just our luck to have a storm," she grumbled.

She looked over, hoping to see faces of agreement—only to see Steve side-eye Rowan as she gave a small shake of her head. Valerie frowned, the sense of something more about Rowan—that Steve knew about—increasing. But why? What secrets did Rowan hide?

Valerie's ruminations were cut short by whistling and Valerie saw a guy in a yellow raincoat wheeling out boxes branded with Imperial Panda's and Kaufman Shoes' names and logos.

"They're with that whistling guy! Ten o' clock," Dustin reported, pointing to the guy. Almost like clockwork, Rowan snarked, "Yeah, I can see him. Hard to miss him with that bright yellow eyesore of a raincoat."

"What do you think's in there?" Steve questioned as they all looked at it.

"Guns. bombs," Dustin listed.

"Chemical weapons," Robin suggested.

"Death machine blueprints?" Valerie put in. Maybe that was her inner Star Wars fan, but there were Russians in Hawkins working out from within the Starcourt Mall. Anything seemed possible.

"I have no idea, but whatever's the hell in there is nothing good," Rowan said, her mouth twisted.

"Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth," Dustin observed—not like Valerie needed a reminder as she again looked at those guns. Guns that seemed to be military style.

What was in those boxes that the Russians had to be using guns like that to guard it or whatever they were doing?

"Great," Steve said sarcastically, eyes screwed shut from the rainwater. "That's great."

A noise sounded and shock pummelled through Valerie as the doors opened, the whistling guy wheeling the boxes into a room that had even more boxes in it.

"Hey, what's in there?" Robin queried, pointing to said room.

"It's just more boxes," Dustin replied.

Yeah, no shit, Valerie thought as Steve reached over to grab the binoculars, saying, "Let me check it out."

Dustin whipped around, keeping a firm grip on the binoculars. "No, I'm still looking.

"Lemme see it."

"Hang on!"

Valerie pinched the bridge of her nose as the los idiotas grappled for the binoculars and Rowan grumbled, "For God's sake, Henderson, give Steve the—"

Whatever Rowan was about to say next was silenced as a loud, banging noise sounded—silenced all of them as down in the loading dock, the guards reached for their guns.

"Fuck!" Rowan hissed as Dustin shrilled, "DUCK!"

Valerie didn't need to be told twice, pressing herself against the wall, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm in her chest, mumbling, "Dios, por favor, no dejes que nos atrapen, ruega a Dios. Miera, no deberíamos haber hecho esto. Oh Dios, por favor no  dejes que nos atrapen y mueramos." 

A hand grabbed her shoulder and she looked over, seeing Robin there as she murmured, "We're not gonna die."

Valerie looked at Robin, swallowing before she nodded. Trying to believe it because of Robin.

"Guys, we have to go! Now!" Dustin hissed, reminding Valerie of the threat as Dustin scrambled to his feet and made a beeline for the roof entrance they came through. Valerie and Robin were right behind him, and soon were Rowan and Steve, narrowly escaping as they retreated into the safety of the delivery corridor. Valerie's pulse was thrumming through her ears, and it felt like any second a Russian would come in and they hadn't escaped, as the stakeout made this even more real, if the code didn't already.

Mierda.

When it felt like they were safe, Robin turned to Steve and said, "Well, I think we found your Russians."

"You think?" Rowan muttered back as Valerie looked over to her. Seeing Rowan's and Steve's hands linked together.

Valerie decided not to call that out, focused on getting back to Scoops Ahoy. 

Because they had found Russians. Russians were here, in Hawkins. Actual, legit Russians, in a town that hardly seemed anything but normal if you ignored the deaths and disappearances, doing whatever they were doing with those boxes in that room.

They just had to figure out why—and how to get into that room without them all being killed.

***

Well, this was fun

I love the chaos of the stakeout scene—Scoops Troop is literally so fun to write. And yeah, Valerie, Russians aren't half of the things that are/have happened in Hawkins...

And we had a little Roberie moment! Trust me, there will be a lot more

Next chapter should be soon, and be back with the trio—and finding out some more things...

Spanish translations:

Los idiotas: Idiots

Dios, por favor, no dejes que nos atrapen, ruega a Dios. Miera, no deberíamos haber hecho esto. Oh Dios, por favor no dejes que nos atrapen y mueramos: God, please, don't let them catch us, please, God. Shit, we shouldn't have done this. Oh God, please don't let us be caught and die

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!