Game of Patience

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Phillips' alarm went off. He touched the screen of his phone to stop it. The tune rang through his head for a few more seconds after he killed it. He looked at his watch and swore.

Half an hour. That's how long he agreed to sleep for. Wares had ordered him to take a nap, he said he needed an alarm to wake up but he didn't know how to set one on his phone. He should have asked to check once she had set it.

He had been asleep for an hour. A lot could have happened in an hour. He threw off the blanket and looked around Wares' office. He didn't know why he expected to see her here with him. What would she do? Watch him to make sure he slept? He walked over to the door and tried the handle, it wouldn't open.

"Wares! Unlock the door please."

He banged on the door. He couldn't believe she locked him in.

"Wares!"

He heard footsteps approach. He stepped back from the door and waited for it to open. Wares stood in the doorway in a black trouser suit.

"Nice nap?"

"I said half an hour."

"And I thought you needed more. It's going to be a long night."

"What have I missed?"

"Well go see Jak in the lab. She should be getting the DNA results back soon."

Phillips thanked Wares as he left office. He yawned. Once this was over he was going to have some lay-ins, maybe some movie days with Brooke.

The lift music was infuriatingly cheerful as always. He wanted to reach through the ceiling and rip out the wires to the speaker. But he didn't want to waste any energy, or get yelled at by Wares for damaging property. So instead he imagined it. How the wires would feel as he yanked them out, the sound of the speakers going silent. It wasn't as satisfying as actually doing it though.

The lift doors opened and Phillips walked out into the lab. Jak was listening to her usual playlist of showtunes and humming along while watching the computer.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"What have you got for me?"

She kissed his arm and pointed to the screen.

"Mark Twin. The guys whose blood we have. Convicted criminal, muscle for hire. He is currently wanted in connection of five on going investigations. Turns out our girl Brooke stabbed him with his own blade. Her fingerprints and his are on the handle."

"That's our marker. She lead us to one of the guys. Spencer might be good at covering his tracks, but let's hope Mark makes an error."

"That chance is slim, but least we know the names of two of the people. Brooke said there were three men. One left to find. Has he rung you recently?"

"Not since the second call telling me I'm running out of time. We track him to a basic area, but we can't get past that. He turns the phone off after that. He's got to have someone good with technology with him."

An email flashed up on his screen and he pressed it before it disappeared.

"Oh no. I've got to see Wares."

He ran out of the room and into the lift. He didn't care about the tune, he needed to move fast.

He opened Ware's office door and saw her standing by one of the filing cabinets.

"We need to go into room four."

She didn't need to ask what for, she moved quickly. As they moved through the building Phillips called the rest of the team, including Jak to the room.

The door opened and they walked in. This room was usually for important video calls only, the room could be air locked from the inside meaning nothing could move out of the room. Vents in the wall filled it with clean air, but no one could break into them. Anything said in this room stayed in this room. It was unhackable.

Phillips waited for the team to arrive before locking the room. He waited for the mechanics to full silent before speaking.

He handed his phone over to Knox and Jak, who hooked it up to the huge screen. Bold letters sat on the screen. "To Phillips and team."

They sat in the chairs and waited for Knox to press play.

Spencer's face filled the screen. It was a pre recorded video.

"Hello Phillips. You failed to bring me my microchip. You see all I managed to get off of it was a few useless facts, like the Reid's address. I mean I couldn't go in it when they were alive. Too many alerts. But I had a bit more time to get past the security since it's empty. Nice little place. No microchip though. Then one of my team managed to uncover the fact that they gave it to you. And that lead me to their daughter. Who knew that they would trust you with a microchip and their daughter? I mean result right?"

He stepped back. Brooke was laying on the floor. He stepped in front of the camera again.

"She's sleeping now. Powerful medication that we are keeping topped up until it's time. So tick tock. You have one and a half hours to bring the chip to me. Keep your phone on you, I'll be video calling you when the time is up."

He walked over to Brooke's face and lifted it up. "Pretty isn't she." He placed his finger on her lower lip and moved it. "You were meant to protect me, like you were meant to protect your wife and kid." He said in a high pitched voice.

He smiled, showing his teeth and walked back to the camera. "Time's ticking old man."

The video cut out and was replaced with a timer.

"Pierce! You drive. We'll work out what we're doing in the car."