Day 1 1340 Hard Rock Cafe
>"Ok, Vanessa, you're with us. Leo and Martin, you take Tom's car," >Jordan said.
>"Where is it?" Leo asked taking the key tom handed him under the table.
>"It's the blue Honda parked next to me," Jordan said, "Jim and Zenya, >you'll take the other Taurus. How long should they wander for?"
>"I'll give you each indirect routes to take. It should take about an >hour to get there," Tom said.
The rest of the lunch came, and the agents ate, while discussing the routes the two cars should take to Tom's house.
"My house will be empty. You can just go in and wait for us." Tom informed them, sliding his house keys across the table to Jim. "Try not to wake up the whole neighbourhood though. Some of the men there have children, and they are very observant regarding the presence of strangers. "
The agents nodded their head.
"We'll try to come back as soon as possible. In the meantime, try not to do anything drastic." Jordan added.
Tom paid for the bill and Jim and Zenya left the group first.
"Be careful." Jordan told them before they left.
"I always am," was Jim's reply.
After five minutes, Vanessa, Jordan and Tom stood up and walked out, leaving Martin and Leo.
"Five more minutes," Leo told the new agent, and then continued with his drink as if he had not had a care in the whole world.
*******
Day 1 1410 Car Park
By the time Tom, Jordan and Vanessa reached the car park, the other Taurus was already gone. They looked around the whole car park, and there was nobody within sight. Vanessa passed the car key to Tom, and he got in through the driver's side. Jordan joined him at the front passenger seat.
"Where are we going?" She asked as she cast a last glance at their surroundings, and then entered the car.
"Fitchburg. Enjoy. It is going to be a scenic ride."
Tom drove out of the car park, and took a west-leading road.
Almost immediately, Vanessa began to develop this obession with looking at her nose with a pocket mirror she took out of her pocket.
"I had rented a little cottage there for the past few months, under an assumed name. All the important things are there. The landlady is a cranky old woman, which means that she don't tolerate any mischief on my side, which also means that she will not let anyone suspicious near her house."
"You win some you lose some." Jordan commented.
"Have to agree on that."
There was silence after that, and Tom turned on the radio to some country music, and sang drunken-sailor-style along with it. Tom saw Vanessa's weird expression in the mirror, misinterpreted it, and tried to explain.
"Bad habit. Singing kinda keeps the worries away, for a while."
She frowned deeper, then looked again into her mirror.
"I would prefer a new toy," she declared. "Can I have your gun, Jordan? Now?"
"Why? Not satisfied with your Smith and Wesson? A new gun needs alot of paperwork. I just cannot give mine to you."
"Call it emergency. The last time I tried to shoot at a car with my toy, it just create a few scratches. This time round, I want to get the job done. The grey Ford, two cars behind. I think it had been following us for the past 5 minutes. Don't turn back and look. Just use the side mirror."
Jordan looked. Two cars behind, a grey Ford trying to be as discreet as possible. The driver was male, with sunglasses. No passenger.
"You sure he was following us?"
"You really thought that I was interested in my nose? He had been hiding in that position for quite some time. Always at least two cars behind, always in the same lane. I started to notice him when we switch lanes two times and he followed. " She quoted the license plate. "From Washington. Interesting."
"Is there anyway we can shake him off?" Jordan asked Tom.
"Not much, traffic is not that heavy, and this is a highway afterall. All the roads which branched off are busy roads too. You sure he's a treat?"
"I don't think so. There is no passenger. Which probably means that he only had orders to tail, but not attack. If there is no other backups, that is."
"No rural roads? No anything?" Vanessa asked, looking into her mirror again.
"Some when we are about to reach Fitchburg, but it will be too late. He will know where we are heading even if he did not continue to follow us."
"I see. Tom, can you do me a favour? Switch to the left lane when I told you to. " She then stretched out her hand towards Jordan, who looked at her with his eyebrows raised.
"Your gun."
"You sure? There are quite a number of vehicles on the street." He said, but handed over his gun.
"Like what Tom said, its now or never. Traffic is not that heavy anyway."
"Be careful."
"You getting Papa bear on me?" Vanessa asked with a smile on her lips, as she released the safety catch of Jordan's gun and lied down on the back seat. She then quietly opened the right door by her side, just a slight crack, which she controlled with one hand, and began to adjust the position of the gun.
"Tom please."
Tom signaled, then turned the steering wheel left.
As expected, the Ford slowed down, then signaled and switched lanes.
Barely a second later, Tom and Jordan heard a sharp pop, and then the screeching of a car as the Ford went wild, turning a wide circle, 180 degrees clockwise, nearly colliding into a car behind. Horns blared, and the driver came out of his now-immobile car, staring at the fleeing taurus, unable to do anything.
"Job well done," Vanessa praised herself as she closed the door and shifted herself back into a comfortable sitting position. "We can continue now."
"Who are you performing that bravo act for?" Jordan asked, slightly mad at the risk she had taken, as he took back his gun. "Why can't you just shoot from the window?"
"Bravo act? What do you want me to do then? That is the only way I can aim for his wheels without hitting any other car. If I shoot from the window, I might hit something else, and do you want FBI or CIA to retrieve the bullet and then sue you for hitting a civilian? The bullet just grazed his front wheel, and I am sure that by the time a search is being organised, any evidence would be tossed miles away by the other vehicles."
"I have to agree that what she said made sense, Jordan." Tom admitted.
"I know." To Vanessa. "Try not to do this often okay? I don't want any of you taking unnecessary risks."
"Yes Papa bear."
Jordan had to smile at that one.
Ten mintues later, they drove by a large signboard that read
Next to the population figures, someone wrote in white paint 'babes' which was cancelled out by red spray paint and corrected as 'aliens'. Jordan wondered if it was an omen.
Regards,
Lee Sau Woon aka SA2 Vanessa Lee