Running with Secrets

Untitled Part 37

If time were any constraint, there was no such thing as constraint. As promised, Jerry had his job finished in just over an hour after he assessed the needs of Sally's apartment. He had to go to his storage unit no too far from their places and that is what added the extra time.  Before Sally left for work, with the man who had sat in the car all night long, he promised to help her learn how to get things going. He explained that he'd leave it operating for her, then teach her how to use it, because NextVector Securities used a relatively new technology, and took some getting used to.

"Thanks, Jerry. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome, Sally." He said. "Now remember," he added, as he wired some cameras and alarms together, "I'll leave this all on while you're gone, but you have to remember to stop at my place when you get off work, or the police," he stifled a chuckle, "will be all over this place in a matter of minutes."

Sally rolled her eyes. "I'll be sure not to call a meeting of my nearest and dearest then." She smiled up at her neighbor. A true, grateful smile that met her eyes. She paused at the door as Jerry let her out. "Maybe he's not as bad as I've been thinking all along." She thought, followed by the resolve to be kinder and not as sarcastic.

*****

Captain Vanderson was in a meeting with the other officers who were involved with the shootout at the warehouse, including Michael Paul, and Diaz and Graham, who set Kristin up with her new identity, when Kristin arrived.

"Sorry I'm late, Sir." Sally began. "I am having a NextVector system installed at my place and I had to be there to let the tech in."

She earned herself looks of awe from some of the men in the room. Michael Paul just looked at her with elbows on the table and fingers tented. He remained silent for now. She didn't notice him at first, for he was clean shaven with a fresh, updated short haircut that was curly on top and wearing a new suit, not unlike the suits Johnston would wear, only his fit him better. He no longer looked like a vagrant.

"NextVector?" Captain Vanderson replied. "Aren't they--"

"Top of the line everything." Another man finished.

"How'd you get so lucky to get one of those?" Captain Vanderson asked, clearly in awe of her sudden jump in price bracket.

Sally smiled as she leaned down into her chair, "It turns out, I know a guy." She said, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "Please, don't make me indulge any  more information. I promised I'd keep the guy's identity private."

One of the other men in the room, who knew all about NextVector blew out a whistle as Graham looked at her and said, "I don't know how you did it, but it's hard to get a hold of them. If I hadn't landed this job," he paused and looked at the captain, "Which I love, by the way, I'd be hounding the CEO himself, instead of HR. But no one knows..." He eyeballed Sally.

Sally tried to keep her smirk to herself as Captain Vanderson recalled the meeting to order. They had to debrief the exchange that took place at the warehouse, and account for all that happened. Michael Paul continued to look at Sally throughout the meeting, making her uncomfortable.

Toward the end, Sally spoke. "I don't really know what I'm doing here, Captain, other than I aided and abetted, but I have to ask," she looked around the table quickly, mentally noting the names of all the people in the room, except one. She turned to the sharp-looking man. "I don't know you. You obviously know who I am, but I'm at a loss." She shrugged her shoulders.

Captain Vanderson and the man smiled at each other while the man adjusted his chair then looked back to her. "This, Sally," the captain looked pleased with himself, "is Detective Michael Paul."

Paul looked at her as her astonishment set in. "Big change, huh?" He quizzed as he lifted his own thermal cup to his lips, mimicking her movements.

"You look very different. Your reputation proceeds you, Sir. I can't say much for your costume." She rose her hot chocolate as if to toast him before she sipped from her cup. It made her feel uneasy to see the actual person, instead of a character before her, knowing what he is capable of.

The meeting continued and there was only one question left. Pallet Man said that the negotiator ran in another direction after they left the warehouse, and he didn't know who he was. No one had seen him before and no one involved knew his name. Captain Vanderson had another meeting, with his informant and had to leave early, but the rest of them stayed to talk through the things that had gone down.

There was much discussion between all the parties in the room after Captain Vanderson left about how the operation went down and how the dummy in the morgue would be the make or break for everyone. They had to ramp up the vigilance and hope the dummy would throw him off and he'd move on.

*****

Halfway through the morning, Heath and Kristin had hardly said anything to each other, instead spending their time in comfortable silence. Heath carried their bags down to the car and returned to the room. It took him two trips. They didn't have to check out until eleven, so he opted to let her watch the rest of the movie.

As they sat on the couch, Heath propped his feet on a chair to rest his laptop on his legs. Kristin rested her head on his shoulder and laughed as they finished the movie, then they checked out of the hotel to continue their journey.

*****