CHAPTER 9


   It was the last thing that Leslie had expected. Then things went from strange to just plain bizarre. She did it anyway and for a quick moment she even questioned the sanity of working for the CG. If things were going to be like this all the time she could see a resignation in her future. There were certainly a lot of jobs out there that paid a hell of a lot better than this one. It was just a sad truth that whoever said, crime does not pay, was just a sad and pathetic sap that was incompetent at whatever he was doing. Still, Leslie figured she would give them a little more time. It could be fun after all.
She parked her car under some trees in the park. He was pretty easy to spot. It was not that he was leaning up against the front fender of his car, there were others doing that. It was more in how he was dressed and, for the short time that Leslie had known the man, she had never seen him dress all that differently than he was now. She skipped up to him and with a huge grin she asked, “gee I didn’t know you trusted me this much, Norm. I thought I was like on probation or something.”
Where Leslie was being quite cheerful, Norm was his usual angry self, “yeah well that’s Barbara’s bullshit. I know you can handle yourself.”
“Nice to know,” Leslie was beaming, “so you really do trust me now?”
“Hell no,” Norm told her. So far he had not paid her much attention. Leslie noted that the guy was fixated on something way over on the other side of the park. He had a pair of binoculars and would take the occasional peak. When he finally did make eye contact he told her, “but you can handle this. Think of it as a test.”
Leslie acted a little more seriously, “Ohhh-Kay, what do I have to do?”
He handed her the binoculars and then pointed down the hill towards the running track. He then told her, “see if you can make out anything significant out there.”
It took her all of five seconds to spot what he had to be talking about and then say, “that’s Barton out there, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Norm replied as he made himself more comfortable and then crossed his arms. His basic sneer remained, “tell me. When you’re running a surveillance, what is one the big thing you look for?”
Still with the glasses over her eyes, Leslie told him, “that’s easy. You look for any change in patterns and routines.”
Norm waved his hand towards the running track, “see anything unusual about this set up?”
Leslie actually looked away form the lenses for a second and thought about it. Then she answered, “yeah, he normally runs the driveway every morning. He came to a park and he’s running on a track this morning.” She went back to looking.
“Exactly,” Norm said as if he were not really all that impressed. Personally, he was not sure that he was but, at least this girl gave better answers than he would have probably expected from anybody else.
“So,” Leslie said as she kept watching Jake jog around the distant track, “he does know we’re here doing this, right? I mean, is this the test?”
All Norm said was, “whatever you want to call it.” Norm looked over his shoulder and back down towards the other end of the parking area. The stations four by four was still sitting where Jake had left it about a half hour ago. When he finished running he would probably come back up this way and pick it up. What Norm was wondering was, could Jake notice Leslie? The girl was pretty good at blending in. Norm knew that he would get spotted in a hot minute.
Leslie, still watching with the binoculars, became excited and sounded like she was a cheerleader as she told Norm, “think I just spotted another change in routine.”
Norm got off his butt and tried looking without the aid of anything. It was a good distance so he asked, “what happened?”
“Um,” Leslie said, “would you call hopping the fence on the far side of the track, then jumping in a waiting car, a change in routine?”
Norm exploded, “goddamn it! Is there any sign he made us?”
Leslie handed back the binoculars since there did not seem to be any reason to use them any more, “I don’t know, unless you count the bird he shot me as he rode off.”
A few choice words escaped Norm’s lips as he stomped around. When he calmed down he began to rub his chin and think this through. He then realized he did have one card to play. He had an extra key to the stations car. Jake was going to have to come back for it, wouldn’t he? Norm looked back to the white four by four and then he blinked, rubbed his eyes, and took another good look. It was gone! How did he get back over here so fast and get it? That was impossible! It was time for another round of choice words.
Leslie was far less emotional about it, “did I pass?”
Norm had to settle down before he could think about it some more. He quickly asked, “you did get the make of the car, right?”
Leslie was practically glowing as she turned her nose up at Norm, “that’s a rookie question Norm.”
“Did you!?”
“Of course I did,” she told him. Then, when he was getting antsy she told him, “course it doesn’t really matter because I got something even better.” Leslie knew when she had someone on the hook and she loved the reeling in part better than all the rest. That was the fun after all, “had a sticker on the door. It belonged to A.N.T. news.”
Norm’s eyes bulged. Then he realized the significance and suddenly felt like he now had one up on Jake. If nothing else, he had gathered his first bit of useful intelligence today. The only problem with that was what he mumbled to himself, “Jake, you stupid muther…”
Leslie interrupted him and was quite giddy, “this is kind of fun Norm. What’s next?”
“Next for you is back to the station,” Norm told her.
Leslie wanted to pout but, what little of it she did was only for show and she knew it. Norm was clearly the stubborn type. So much for the non boring day. When she finally walked in to the commissary, at the station, she began reevaluating her dread of the situation that involved a moody red head that kept dreaming up new sequences of buttons to push for no apparent reason.
Cal was busy at his desk. Leslie was starting to wonder if the guy ever got up from there. This time was a little different though. Everybody at the station was gathered around and watching his computer screen with great interest. Even the dog had finally gotten up off his pillow and was trying to nudge his way in to the little circle.
It was Garcia that looked up first and saw Leslie standing there holding the screen door open, “get in here and close that door girl. You letting them vermin in.”
As Leslie complied it was Bob Johnson who spoke next, “where have you been?”
“Errands,” Leslie told them as she walked up and peeked over Garcia’s shoulder. She then noted, “I didn’t think the Longhorns were playing Valley until next week.”
“Naaa,” Garcia told her, “this game is better.”
Leslie noticed that Amy was kind of holding back and looking nervous. For that reason, Leslie figured that the red head would be the best one to ask or, in this case, Leslie just pointed to the computer screen and gave the girl a ‘what gives’ look. Amy seemed agitated but, she did answer, “Norm called us. He wanted us to look over the feeds on the Alpha News Tap.”
So that’s what his game was. Leslie took another peek at the screen and noticed they were concentrating on the stories by one specific reporter. Leslie wondered if this Jessica Walsh was the driver of the get away car. Then Leslie noticed that she was being intently watched, more than the video screen even, by Amy. It was not that big of a deal since the girl had been doing it ever since they started sharing the comwatch. This time, Leslie could not help but suspect, it was a little different.
Leslie decided to head off Amy by asking, “why can’t he just do this on his own phone?”
That seemed to divert Amy’s attention for some reason. Leslie had only meant it to head off the question but, she would take a diversion which was even better. Amy said nothing and that included answering the question. It was Cal who did that, “cause it’s Norm we’re talking about. He barely knows how to answer his phone.”
Bob wanted to laugh at that, “he sure knows how to make calls when he’s got a hair up is ass.”
Garcia acted offended, “come on Bob. This is Norm we’re talking about so give the man his due. That can’t be true.” Then Garcia finished his thought by saying, “cause Norm’s always got a hair up his ass.”
“Point,” Bob replied.
“Whoa,” Calvin said as he reached for his headset and slipped it on. He silenced everybody in the room as he began placing a call with his computer screen. He then let out, “think I found what he’s looking for here.”
Bob was a bit surprised, “isn’t that our car?”
Amy seemed very monotone today, “that’s the one Jake usually drives.” After she said it, Amy did give Leslie a look that could be interpreted as ‘nasty’ but, Leslie chose not to take it that way. She simply shrugged and said, “I have no idea gang. I just work here.”
On the screen, the reporter was standing in a parking lot with quite a bit of activity going on. As Cal pulled up an icon to place his call he hesitated for a second and thought that the activity he was seeing was kind of familiar. Then he saw a girl in a short pink skirt, carrying a big tray, pass behind the reporter. What was even more interesting was that this girl was on roller skates.
Cal held off dialing and just asked, “is that where I think it is?”
Jessica Walsh spoke into the camera and confirmed Calvin’s suspicions. She gestured to the stations four by four and said, “and as you can see behind me, even Colonial Government agencies have gotten in on the act. Your government wants you to know that the streets are safe. As you can see, this Foo King Restaurant, sight of the recent car bombing, is open for business and judging by all the cars, I’d say it’s just Foo King great. For A.N.T. This is Jessica Walsh reporting.”
Leslie’s face distorted to the point of looking painful. She then asked, “she really gets paid to say stupid shit like that? I’m in the wrong line of work.”
Everyone’s attention turned to Cal as he yanked the headset off and held it a good distance from his head. He had obviously gotten Norman on the phone since they could hear the miniaturized sound of crackling profanity coming out of the speaker.  When it slowed, Calvin finally put the headset back on and, after a very short conversation, one in which he could barley get a word out, Cal thumped the icon and closed out the call.
Then he said to everybody, “Gar, you and Amy get the extra keys and go get our car. It’s at that…”
“Yeah I know,” Garcia said. “It’s the one up at the end of the L-5. One question though. What’s Jake going to do for a ride? For that matter, what do we tell him when we pick it up?”
Amy raised a finger and meekly asked, “has something happened to Jake?”
“Guys,” Cal told them with his own frustration plainly evident, “you know as much as I do right now. Just go get the car, ok?”
As they turned out of the driveway and onto the hard top, Garcia looked over from behind the steering wheel and asked the very silent Amy, “so what’s up your ass today?”
Amy did not appear to take that question so well, “could you have been a little more crude, Garcia?”
“Yeah,” he shot right back, “but that don’t answer the question.”
Amy’s eyes widened and then suddenly she grabbed the huge bag that served as her purse. Garcia often thought that she had stolen it off some bag lady from downtown. Amy furiously pushed her way through an assortment of junk and then she slapped her forehead and with great frustration she kept going, “shit! Shit! Shit!”
“What?” Garcia was a bit concerned.
Amy exploded, “I didn’t know I was going out today! My badge, my ID cards, my whole wallet is sitting on my nightstand!”
“Oh Jesus,” Garcia replied. “Every time Amy. Why is it there’s always something going on with you.”
Amy was on the verge of a meltdown now, “never mind Garcia. We’re just going to pick up a car. It’s not that big of a deal.”
After they drove for another ten minutes, Amy noticed they were making the wrong turn. She pointed right when Garcia was turning left. Then Amy asked, “the L-5 is that way. Where are we going?”
“Your place,” Garcia told her. “If you going to be out here with me, you’re going to have what you’re supposed too. It’s not far out of our way.”
Amy winced, “you sure?”
“I’m doing it ain’t I?” He then went on by definitively stating, “and Amy, make sure you got your gun too, ok?”