It was nearly noon when the burner phone rang. She was sitting on the bed tailor style and he was in one of the recliners. She grabbed the phone and answered.
"Rafferty"
"Got it. Put it in my office dropbox."
She hung up the phone.
"Your appointments are starting to materialize. Apparently, whatever you did yesterday is starting to pay off."
"I knew it had worked when you told me the IAD guys had packed up and left."
She grabbed the laptop, turned it on and was soon logged into the department site. He watched over her shoulder as she was looking through her dropbox account. She pulled up a document.
"Jesus Steve. How the hell did you convince these people to give you their private phone numbers."
"Fear is a wonderful motivator"
She rolled her eyes at him.
"What now?"
"I start making calls and setting up meets."
"Do you think that's wise. I mean, if one of these people is behind this thing, won't you be a sitting duck."
"I think the word you are looking for is bait."
"You mean to make yourself the target."
She slid off the bed and then slid into his lap in the recliner.
"I don't like that idea very much."
"It's the only way I can figure to smoke these guys out. They have already demonstrated a desire to get me out of the way. If they try again and I can take down who ever makes the try, then we can take down the whole thing."
"You mean we can take them down."
He looked at her.
"I mean I can take them down. You don't need to be anywhere close to this."
"I am your partner."
"Still. This has the potential to get really hairy. I have been there, you haven't."
"Steve. If you try to put me off on this I will call Stu."
He looked at her.
Why were women so fucking complicated
.
"Ok, but you do exactly as I say."
"Yes Sir."
He swatted her on the ass and stood her up.
"I have to get on that phone. When I am done with it, we toss it and start using the other one after we forward the calls from the old one to the new one. We will pick up a second one this afternoon."
She looked at him incredulously
"Where did you learn all this stuff."
"I like to watch James Bond Movies."
Several hours later he sat at the desk in the hotel room and looked at the notepad. He had arranged meets with the board of directors of the Dashwood group. They were arranged for different places at different times and on different days. He wanted enough time to get everything planned properly.
The meets happened in high profile high traffic public places, yet they offered a bit of privacy just by their very nature; parks, shopping malls, amusement parks, the zoo. They all were part of his plan. He had a bit of shopping to do, but that would go quickly. He turned to Rafferty.
"We need to go shopping."
She grinned!
"I am good at shopping."
He grimaced.
"I bet you are."
As she walked by she thumped him on the back of the head.
"Ass."
As they drove down the parking garage she asked directions.
"Where to first."
"The sporting goods store just down the street."
She followed him around. She watched as he picked out a pair of walkie talkie radios with headsets, a hunting jacket, a floppy brimmed hat and several pairs of shades, all in different lens colors and styles. He also spent quite a bit of time selecting several different knives.
Back in the car she finally had a chance to ask.
"What the hell is all that for?"
"The radios are for what they are for. The jacket and hat are easy to use disguises. I will be buying a few more things at the thrift shop. The knives. Knives are backups. When all else fails, a sharp blade always works."
She realized that he was preparing for a battle.
At the thrift shop he picked out a long raincoat, several different styles of sports coats, some shirts and a sweater. He suggested that she get some different clothing that she could discard in a hurry if need be. She picked out 5 different outfits that seemed to meet with his approval.
Back in the car she looked at him.
"Now what."
"The rental car place at the airport."
She looked at him strangely.
"Look. By now they know this car. Mine is toast, literally. We need wheels that no one knows. We park your car in the long term parking garage and then rent two cars."
She nodded. It did make sense.
Within the hour they were headed back to the hotel. He was driving a black SUV and she was behind the wheel of a sporty sub compact. He had spent the time on the drive to the airport unpackaging the radios and putting batteries in them and testing them. Each of them now had one on and an earpiece fixed firmly.
Rafferty, can you hear me?"
"I got you."
"Good. We are going back to the hotel, up the garage to the top floor again and then back to the room. I will brief you on this first meet when we get there."
"Roger."
He winced as she used the police standard radio jargon. When they were back in the room, he tossed his purchases toward the couch and missed. They piled into the floor in a heap.
"Aren't you going to hang that stuff up?"
"Nope, I want it to look lived in."
He sat down and began to unbox the knives. They were all self-opening models He checked each one to make sure it operated flawlessly. One went into his back pocket, one in the jacket pocket he was wearing and he handed her one.
"Practice with that until you can open it in the dark upside down with your left hand. When you are comfortable with it, keep it somewhere you can get to it with your off hand."
She nodded and began working the knife. He watched her. She was surprisingly adroit and it took only a few minutes until she was working the knife expertly with both hands.
"Ok. Here is the setup for the first meet. It's in the park across the street from city hall at noon. That means there will be a shit ton of people out eating lunch in the park and walking to and from lunch. I will be on the bench across from the fountain. There is a bench surrounding the fountain. You will sit on that bench facing me. You are my eyes behind. You can see everything coming from behind me. I can see everything coming from behind you. If you see anything suspicious you simply say "trouble" on that radio and I will immediately head toward you. Meet me half way and we will deal with whatever you saw. I will do the same for you."
