Case of the Mouse Trap Legend

by Jean Marie Wiesen

  I bent down and replied, “The store has cameras both inside and out and I won’t be outside, I’ll stand inside the door. Does that put your mind more at ease?”

  Adelaide patted my hand, sighed and replied, “Yes, it does. Now, go to work and keep the imposter away. I’d like all of us to go home and watch the Mets this evening.”

  “Will do and while I’m gone, Adelaide, why don’t you tell Mario what the name of the clinic stands for. I believe he’d appreciate the irony,” I replied.

  As I was walking down the aisle, I turned in time to see Adelaide push Mario’s hand away as he attempted to help her up out of the chair. I would thank him later on for being such a great help to us both.

  I kept my word to Adelaide and did indeed remain inside the door, but close enough so I had a visual of the angle of approach, regardless of which direction this attacker chose. While standing there, observing foot traffic, it occurred to me Kang Kim’s reasoning behind going after Adelaide might be as simple as positioning us to take our eyes off their main target—the B2 Spirit. What they failed to recognize was our dedication and team unity in our mission to protect the Spirit outweighed any efforts they’d shown thus far in stealing her and it made us a far greater and more formidable force.

  Chapter 33

  While I waited for the gang to rescue Adelaide, I wondered how involved Twist was with Jelly and her cohorts and if she would follow through on the threats she’d made in regard to his mother. If I took Jelly’s lineage seriously, it would indicate she was capable of anything. When I coupled her actions of detonating bombs with a disregard for whether or not children potentially lost their lives, it gave me pause. Twist risked an awful lot by keeping us informed.

  I continued to consider the possibilities, and silently expressed gratitude for Mario who had saved Adelaide. At the moment, he was monitoring the store’s security system to track each and every person as they approached the store’s entrance on foot and by vehicle while his assistants filled prescriptions. If he spotted anything suspicious, he would text me. I didn’t dare check my watch in case I missed something crucial. I estimated the time of my contact with Greg and the time it now was and figured they ought to be arriving within minutes. In the meantime, I worked on breath control to calm my nerves. I’d no sooner begun the process when I observed a black Tahoe ease into the driveway and roll into a parallel parking spot with the main road. I kept my eyes on it for a few seconds, and then spotted Reggie’s black Denali pull into the driveway near the Tahoe, but Reggie drove straight to a parking spot at the front of the store.

  I grabbed my cell phone from my jean’s pocket and called him.

  He picked up right away. “Laura, why are you calling me, I’m here and I can see you right inside, at the door?”

  “Reggie, before you get out, check the parallel spot, behind you. Right, the one out by the sidewalk. There’s a black Tahoe parked there and I have a funny feeling about it—it could be them. No one has gotten out of it since before you parked, and it’s going on two minutes.”

  “Okay Laura, is this your gut talking?” Reggie asked.

  “Yes, it is. Most people park and get out, they don’t sit there.”

  “All right, Crosby gave me the high sign—he and Kai are going to go and check it out. It will keep whoever it is busy while we get Adelaide out of there. I don’t suppose there’s a back door to this place?” Reggie asked.

  “There’s a small loading dock. I’m guessing it leads into the employee area, where the restrooms are,” I responded.

  “Where’s Adelaide now?” Reggie asked.

  “In a private conference room, at the back of the store,” I answered.

  “It has possibilities, but we don’t know the layout. Give me a second,” Reggie said.

  “We could always put her in a shopping cart and cover her up, since we don’t have much time,” I suggested.

  “You and Mike have been hanging around each other for far too long. Speaking of which, he, Greg and Grady just drove into the other driveway, and there goes the Tahoe, speeding off. Damn! They nearly hit Kai! Did you see it, Laura?” Reggie gasped.

  I almost dropped the phone and thanked God simultaneously while I watched Kai backflip over the row of hedges separating the parking lot from the sidewalk.

  “Surfer Boy’s got mad skills,” I said, breathlessly.

  “They sure as hell don’t teach those moves at Quantico,” Reggie agreed.

  My phone chimed with a text from Mario asking if the people in the parking lot were the ones we needed to be concerned with. He said Adelaide was antsy. I texted him back and said we had it under control—said I’d keep him apprised of the situation.

  A number of people stopped in the parking lot to ask Kai if he was okay. One man said he’d gotten the license plate number and handed it to Crosby and told him he ought to call the cops. Crosby said he couldn’t agree more, thanked the man and told him he would. The man said if he needed a witness, he’d be happy to give a statement and wrote down his phone number. Crosby thanked him again and the man went on his way. I didn’t move from my position until Greg entered the store and gave me the all clear and only then did I take a full breath and run outside to give Kai a hug.

  While we were hugging, the tears flowed and Kai softly whispered, “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

  “It didn’t look like it from my angle,” I replied in between sobs.

  Kai put his hands on my shoulders, as he brushed away some of my tears. He kissed me lightly on my cheek and ever so lightly on my lips. He whispered in my ear, “I love you, Jensen.”

  “I love you too, Kaapana,” I whispered, in return.

  “Ah, my original Hawaiian name. I don’t often hear it. We have a job to do, so quit crying, I’m fine.” Kai stepped back and patted me on the shoulder.

  I wiped my eyes and said, “You’re right, we have a job so let’s go and get these guys. By the way, I don’t suppose you got a look at them, did you?”

  “No, they had hats and sunglasses on, but there were four of them,” Kai replied.

  “Four? Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Ask Crosby, why?” Kai inquired.

  “If there are four, then the doc who tried to give Adelaide the wrong drug, which would have killed her, was with them, making him the fourth,” I answered.

  “Wrong drug? What are you talking about?” Kai asked.

  “I guess in all the confusion Greg didn’t have a chance to tell you. Adelaide texted me this morning and said she was feeling horrible and asked if I would take her to the walk-in clinic—she’s got a horrific cough, as you’ll soon hear. I picked her up and brought her over to Soundview Urgent Care, where there’s a new doc,” I explained.

  “That place sucks,” Kai commented.

  “You figured out the acronym?” I chuckled.

  Kai traced out the letters in the air and laughed along with me. “I hadn’t thought of it until now, but I’ve heard terrible things about the place. So what did this doc do?” he asked.

  “We arrived and checked in and the receptionist said we would be seen by a new doc, and right away it made Adelaide nervous, but she went along with it. She said she preferred seeing someone and getting started on antibiotics, immediately and following up with her regular doc first thing in the morning.” The rest of the crew had gathered around me to listen in on the story. Greg signaled for me to keep going. “The doc appeared to know what he was doing, sort of. I began to doubt him a bit when he failed to do what I thought ought to have been a complete exam on her. He only listened to part of her chest and didn’t check either her ears or her nose. He was very quick about writing her a prescription without first looking up her records on the computer.”

  Greg grinned and said, “Once an EMT, always an EMT. You’re getting to be quite observant, Laura. Please go on.”

  I nodded and said, “We went into the pharmacy and spoke with Mario, her regular pharmacist, who said he couldn’t fill the prescri
ption due to her severe allergy to Penicillin, even though the prescription was for Amoxicillin—it’s in the same family. He said it could kill her and that’s when I called you.” I glanced at Greg.

  Mike stood back with his arms crossed and a wide grin spread across his face.

  Greg looked at Mike and said, “Mike, you’ve got one smart partner here; she did everything by the book and I mean everything.

  “What I can’t figure out is—what do they want with Adelaide? Unless they’re attempting to distract us from our main mission: protecting the B2.”

  I raised my hand.

  Greg looked at me and said, “Laura, you don’t have to keep doing that, if you have something to say, say it.”

  I nodded and said, “While I was waiting for all of you to get here, I was thinking along those lines, if they went after Adelaide, and God forbid harmed her, in their minds it would be enough of a distraction for us to back off of our training exercises and they could simply step in without any interference and fly out of here with the Stealth.”

  Greg shook his head and stated, “They don’t know us very well—we’re quite capable of handling more than one thing at a time. We’re a diverse team.”

  “They’re not too smart,” Grady agreed.

  Crosby handed the paper he’d been holding to Greg and said, “No surprise, the plate on the Tahoe comes back as a rental and the address is a P.O. Box. Oh, and Laura, happy to see you’re progressing with the process of theories.” He grinned while everyone else groaned.

  Greg sighed and said, “Well, let’s go rescue Adelaide and get her out of here before she goes nuts.”

  “I’m guessing she already is,” Grady replied, “she’s been closed up in a tiny room for close to an hour.”

  We all silently looked at each other.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I brought her, I’ll go get her. How bad can it be? On second thought, maybe I’ll call and see if Mario can bring her out.” I called the store and they switched me over to Mario, who profusely thanked me for phoning. He said as much as he adored Adelaide, he desperately needed to get some work done, but it was impossible with her there. He said he would be more than grateful to walk her out along with the over-the-counter medicines he’d found for her.

  Within seconds, I found myself standing near the store entrance, all alone waiting for Adelaide. Everyone else had scattered and was already inside the vehicle they’d arrived in when Adelaide exited the store with Mario close behind. He said his farewells and waved to me. I thanked him and said I looked forward to seeing him soon.

  Reggie put his window down and greeted Adelaide as did Crosby and Kai. Greg, Mike and Grady did the same from their car while we made our way to my car. Adelaide mumbled the entire time about being locked up in a closet and how it was elder abuse. She said she was going to file a report against all of us, until I reminded her we’d saved her life.

  She stood upright prior to getting in the car and shouted, “If any of you ever do anything like that to me again, you will pay a high price, do you hear me?” She glared at Reggie and Greg as they put their windows up, turned to me and said, “Please get in and take me home.”

  I quietly got in my seat and wondered how much I ought to tell her when I saw a text from Greg asking if he could speak with Adelaide. Gladly, because otherwise this was going to be a miserable ride back to her house and we were happily anticipating the preparation of a meal for her and watching the Mets game. I texted back, immediately and asked Greg if he was going to handle the situation with Adelaide by phone or in person. He returned my text and said he felt brave enough and up to the task of dealing with her in person.

  “Adelaide, we’re going to leave in a minute, but first Greg wants to have a word with you. I believe he wants to explain why there was such a delay in getting you out. And, here he is.” Greg appeared on her side of the car and knocked on the window. Adelaide complied by opening the door.

  “Hi, Adelaide,” Greg said, with a note of cheer in his voice.

  “Hi, yourself,” Adelaide responded.

  Greg cleared his throat and said, “I’m very sorry you were in the conference room for so long.”

  “It’s a closet,” Adelaide retorted.

  “Okay, I’m sorry you were in the closet for so long, but it was for your own safety.” Greg was bent down with his hands on his knees.

  “Go on, I’m listening.”

  “The doc who saw you at the clinic isn’t who he said he was, Adelaide. We believe he’s after you along with Jelly, Cho and Viktor,” Greg said.

  Adelaide pushed her glasses up on her nose and asked, “Why in the world would they be after me? They don’t even know me, it doesn’t make any sense.”

  “On the surface it doesn’t, but if you go deeper, as Laura did, it makes a lot of sense. They’re after the B2, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get her, as we’ve all seen. This is one diabolical group—all you have to do is look at who Jelly’s uncle is,” Greg said.

  “You won’t get any argument from me—the man is a nut job. I don’t care if he is the leader of a country, he’s still crazy,” Adelaide agreed.

  Greg let out a laugh. “I’m glad we agree, Adelaide. I think it’s safe to say attempting to steal the Stealth from an Army Air National Guard Base with only four people, thousands of people in attendance for an air show, plus hundreds of armed military is slightly insane, wouldn’t you?”

  Adelaide peered out through the windshield for a moment, turned back to Greg and replied, “Not really. When you consider it, it’s a very simple plan with great cover and four people would blend in wonderfully with such a large crowd.” She blinked a few times waiting for Greg’s answer. “So why is it they’re after me?” she asked.

  Greg straightened up and answered, “I’m going to let Laura answer your question while you two are driving back to your house since she’s the one who mostly came up with the scenario. You gave me a couple of things to contemplate while we shop for the dinner we’re going to cook for you, pre-game.” Greg closed the door.

  Adelaide tapped the dashboard and said, “Strange man, but interesting. Please take me home, I need a nap. You can save the explanation for after my nap if you don’t mind, it’s been an odd day.”

  Without a word, I backed out and headed in the direction of the Eagle’s Nest, our nickname for Adelaide’s home and wondered if indeed we could protect the B2 Spirit.

  Chapter 34

  Adelaide and I enjoyed the car ride back minus the radio, only the sound of the wind as it passed through the open windows. Kai had his head out of one window, as he sniffed the air while Koa had his snout partially out of the other. After the morning we’d experienced, my stomach stopped churning when Adelaide’s barn came into view. I realized I hadn’t given much thought to her theory of the air show providing cover for the foursome; instead I’d focused on our dwindling practice time on the shooting range as the countdown to go time had begun in earnest.

  I pulled up to the front door, exited the car, let both Kai and Koa out and went straight to Adelaide’s front door to allow Chloe to greet her mom. Past experience had taught me to never attempt to assist Adelaide, unless she requested it. Chloe was beside herself with joy as she jumped and leapt around in circles outside the car. She quieted down, sat and waited patiently for Adelaide to swing her legs around and inch her way up with the aid of her cane. She coughed a bit as she walked up the steps and held onto the doorframe for a brief second, then stepped inside.

  Even though I tried to not follow too closely behind, she said, “I can feel you breathing down my neck, Laura. I’m not going to fall now that I’m in my own house. Would you be a dear and please get me a cup of tea and bring it in to my bedroom? Oh, and would you mind putting a spoonful of honey in it, I think it might help with my cough along with the medicine Mario gave me.”

  “Not at all. I’ll put the water on right away and speaking of water, I’ll change Chloe’s right away while I’m thinking of it,” I s
aid as I went into the kitchen with the bag of medicines and placed them on the counter. While preparing Adelaide’s tea, I could hear her in her bedroom, opening and closing the closet door.

  I had finished making her tea, exactly as she had requested when she appeared in the kitchen dressed in a bathrobe with her nightgown underneath and fuzzy slippers on her feet, looking quite drawn. She pulled one of the stools away from the counter, sat down and said, “I think I’ll have my tea here and you can tell me the story now before I go in and have my nap. I’d like to be fully rested for dinner and the game.”

  I nodded and pulled up another stool opposite her and set down the cup of tea I’d prepared for myself and related to Adelaide all the events while she had been in the conference room. Each time I referred to it as a conference room, she corrected me and reminded me a more accurate description was a ‘closet.’ When I described the Tahoe nearly hitting Kai, she came close to tears knowing he’d put himself in danger to protect her.

  I reached across the counter and placed my hand on her arm and said, “Adelaide, it’s why we had to keep you in the, um, closet, until it was safe for you to come out. This is a serious situation. I don’t know how A. Twist knew they were coming after you, but he did. Or how he knew Jelly’s cousin was at the clinic, but again, he did.”

  Adelaide sighed and took a sip of tea before saying a word, and then she spoke softly, “I can’t wait until Saturday.”

  I smiled. “Friday, the show begins on Friday.”

  Adelaide grinned. “One less day to worry and one extra day to celebrate; I like it.” She finished her tea and said, “I’m going to take my nap now so I will be properly rested to thank Surfer Boy. You’ve got a good one there, Laura, don’t let go of him.”

  “I don’t plan on it, Adelaide.”

  I finished my tea and took all the pups out into the yard while Adelaide napped and while I waited for everyone to arrive. I tossed a tennis ball down the hill and waited to see who would get to it first. The next challenge would be: Who out of the three would bring it back to me. Chloe usually ended up chasing the two puppies back and forth between the barn and the house, and the ball never made it to me. It didn’t matter—the fun was in watching them run and after the events of the day, I needed the down time.