"We are supposed to keep a low profile remember? Don't you think that the two of us stand out when we walked together?" She asked her partner, who was one feet taller than her, and still clad in his (what she called) 'FBI uniform'.
"All right," Jim said finally. "We'll meet again when we landed. I'll try to rent a car. You'll be careful?"
"I always am," she informed him.
He did not believe her.
Jim was browsing around the airport. Looking casual was not his strong point and being in his suit didn't help. People of his physique had little business in suits, he'd always thought. Anyway, he was milling around the crowd of people. He was as sure as possible that he wasn't being followed and he could still just see Vanessa going up to a newstand for a paper.
Despite the crowd, Jim felt utterly alone. It was at times like these that he usually thought about his parents and wondered how his brother was doing. He was trying to keep his mind on business, though. He kept an eye out for pursuit, but he was confident that there was none.
Time was drifting past slowly, the highlight of which was the worst cup of coffee he had ever tasted in one of the airport eateries, decaf of course. At last it was time for a flight call and Jim proceeded to board the plane.
At the end of an uneventful flight, Jim rented a Taurus (surprise, surprise!) at the airport and went to the entrance to wait on Vanessa.
"OK, Vanessa, where do you want to go today?" he smiled.
"I think the first thing you should do is pick up some casual clothes," she said, eyeing him incredulously. "Then we'll head over to the Carter family home."
They made a brief stop at a clothes store, Jim returning to Vanessa in a pair of black jeans and a pale orange shirt. He stood outside the car for a moment.
"Will this suit you?"
"You'll do I suppose," Vanessa smiled. He cleaned up quite nicely, she thought.
"Alright then, let's go the see the kid."
They arrived at the house of Sgt. Carter's family.
When they arrived at the door, a young man answered.
"Mark Carter? We're the F..." but before Jim could finish the sentence the young man had run towards the back.
"I'll get him," Jim said as he took off. "Talk to the mother."
He chased the youth down a back alleyway running along the row of houses, but he was closing all the time. He sure was glad he'd changed into something more suitable. He caught him.
"No, please!!" The young man was pleading, terrified. "I didn't do anything!!"
"It's alright, son. I'm with the F.B.I. Look," Jim said as he showed him his badge. "I'm not going to hurt you."
He seemed to calm a little. "What do you want?"
"You posted something to a friend of mine. A gizmo of sorts. I want to know where you got it from."
Mark Carter did not look relieved. "My Dad left it before ..." he tailed off. "He left a note to me, telling me to wrap up the thing and a note he'd written a send it off."
Not only had he answered too quickly, but Jim already knew Sgt. Carter had not written the note.
"Why are you lying to me? We know you're Dad didn't write that note." The young man began to look scared.
"Look Mark, I don't know what's going on, but the man you posted that thing to was a friend of your Dad's. He called us to help him find out about the thing and to try to find out who killed your Dad. I'm trying to help you, Mark."
He looked as if he trusted no one. "Are you on the level?"
"I swear to you Mark, I'm one of the good guys. I've almost been killed twice trying to unravel this thing and I'm still here. I want to help."
Mark's indecision seemed to be eating him up. It was obvious, though, that he wanted to let it out - he just had to trust Jim enough.
"Alright. I'll tell you what happened." He continued after a short pause for breath. "Just after Dad died, I kinda went to pieces. I started doing some stupid stuff - drugs, stealing cars. One day these two guys catch me in a hot car. They said they wanted something from me. If I didn't help, they'd make sure I went to jail. I couldn't do that to Mamma."
He looked at Jim who nodded. "It's OK Mark. I lost my parents too. I did a few stupid things." 'Like join the army,' Jim thought.
"Yeah. They said they'd get in touch. After a while, I thought they'd left me alone. I was wrong. Anyway, they gave me that thing and a note. I posted it for them."
"Would you recognise these guys again?"
"I don't know. It was always dark when we met. I was scared. I don't know..."
"That's OK." Jim thought it would have been pretty useless even if he could.
"There was one thing, though. The cars they drove had no plates."
Now that *was* interesting. Who were these people, and why give them something only to try and take it back? It didn't make sense.
"Alright Mark. I'm sorry I scared you. I just want to find out the truth."
They went back to the Carter home where Vanessa was just emerging with Mrs. Carter who seemed very concerned about her son. She rushed him inside and Vanessa and Jim went to the car.
After telling her everything, Jim asked Vanessa for the low down on the mother.
"Not much to tell. Mark's been through a bad time and has been withdrawn since his Dad died, but he doesn't talk to her a lot. She doesn't know anything."
So the two agents headed back for Boston, only a little wiser, but with too many questions unanswered.
NRPG:
Who are the plateless drivers?
Did renegades give away the device and the real guys want it back? or are they working to some grand agenda?
Respectfully submitted,
FCO Lt.(jg) Olivier Patru, USS ORION NCC-1997, Starfleet.
Special Agent-2 Jim Reaper, X-Files Division, FBI.
Ar'Aman Bowright and Darar, Daere Warren, DragonLands.
Mc'Key and Vasleth, Geode Warren, DragonLands.
aka Peter Shillan.