Lightning Chasers

by Cass Sellars

  Parker’s eyes got huge. Sydney kissed her soundly and continued, “Not great sex but good enough for twenty-two. I learned a lot in a year and a half, mostly what not to look for in a relationship. Truth be told, how to not get in a relationship to start with. And it was a bad one, not at first, but certainly later. It was a bad place to find myself. Nothing I would ever even consider being in again, and certainly not with her. However, had it not happened, I would not have spent many years picking up strangers in a bar.”

  She took a breath and winked at the now decidedly less pouty Parker. “And I wouldn’t have needed to meet my lightning and change my evil ways.”

  Sydney slid a finger down the charm at Parker’s neck and smiled. She’d presented it to her last December at the Pride Lounge, a place Parker had rarely gone at all and Syd had rarely departed from alone.

  “You’re too damned charming for your own good, you know.” Parker’s eyes watered at her lover’s heartfelt speech. “I don’t think I can let you go out alone anymore—it’s too dangerous for us mere mortals.”

  Syd smoothed a hand over her shoulder. “Now who’s being charming?” Syd whispered huskily. She moved Parker’s long hair behind her shoulders as she locked her eyes onto Parker’s. “I couldn’t imagine being in a relationship last year, but thanks to you, I can’t imagine not being in this one. I love you more every day and don’t forget it.” Syd kissed her on the end of her nose and then on her cheek. “I can’t breathe when you’re hurt or sad or even just away from me for too long. Darcy Dean is my past, my very distant, unpleasant past. Don’t let her manipulate you because only then does she have someone to play her little game with her.”

  “You’re mine,” Parker declared soundly, the jealousy fading away.

  “That I am.” Syd kissed her again. “Now, hold on to me so I can prove it to you five or six times.”

  Parker laughed and snaked her arms and legs tightly around Syd’s torso as Syd swept her off the counter and down the hall to bed, slapping off lights as they went.

  * * *

  Chief Jayne Provost reclined naked on the fine cotton sheets of the best hotel in Silver Lake. She turned lazily to pick up her ringing cell phone from the nightstand. An over-Botoxed face grinned up from the contact display.

  “Good afternoon, sir, to what do I owe this pleasure?” She knew exactly why he was calling and she rested her head back on the upholstered headboard while he spoke, stroking the sheets with the palm of her newly manicured hand.

  “Well, this is really just a formality, Jayne, but after my glowing recommendation and your last panel interview, the committee has made its decision. Welcome to the company, Chief Provost. We’re very lucky to have you.” He rattled off her new title as she pictured the lake view through her new office window.

  “Thank you, the pleasure will be mine. Shall I assume a formal offer letter will be sent?”

  “Already on the way, Jayne. The sooner we can wrap this up, the better.”

  Jayne knew he was eager to claim his platinum retirement package and start enjoying his freedom. “I shall turn in my resignation as soon as I receive it, then. I imagine there will be some press coverage. Just a heads-up. Have a great weekend.” She ended the call and smiled.

  “Looks like we can quit meeting at hotels, Luke. I got the job.” Her smile was more like a satisfied smirk when she imagined her powerful new role and pushed her twentysomething companion back into service between her legs.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Hi, Mia. It’s Parker. Do you have time to talk for a minute?” Parker cradled the phone on her left shoulder as she cleared off her desk. She noticed the clock read six thirty p.m. and a renewed wave of fatigue found her.

  “Hi. Sure.” Mia’s voice was much stronger than the last time Parker saw her, but she still sounded weary.

  “How are you?” She listened carefully.

  “Compared to what?” Mia attempted a laugh but her words sounded angry. “Sorry, I mean, I’m okay, I guess. I took vacation from work until I can get things organized. I just can’t imagine moving without her…doing anything without her, Parker. I still don’t even know where I’m going to go.”

  “That’s kind of why I was calling. Don’t feel any pressure to say yes if you don’t want to, but Syd and I discussed it. I practically live in her loft now and mine’s vacant. I just redid it last year, secure building, fully furnished, on Meridian Street, close to town, and right across from Sydney’s in case you ever needed anything or wanted to talk. Only if you’re interested, that is.” Parker stopped for a breath as she realized the words had come out like a hard sell she didn’t intend.

  “Wow. Okay. That’s…I mean, wow.” Mia seemed to be trying to adjust to the idea. Or perhaps guilty for leaving the home she had shared with Sandy.

  Parker was still stunned that Sandy’s family had acted so insensitively. She wondered if Mia was looking for an excuse. “Mia, you won’t hurt my feelings if you say no or want to live somewhere else. I wasn’t trying to pressure you. I just wanted to put the offer out there.”

  “No. Sorry. I just didn’t think that I would feel okay about moving, but this kind of feels okay. Like the next step, you know? It’s not as scary if I’ll be near friends, maybe. Are you sure?” She sounded relieved.

  “Very. I can show it to you whenever you want. Take your time and think about it. We aren’t putting it out for any other offers right now, so you can sleep on it, okay?”

  Parker had packed her briefcase and now rode down in the elevator grateful that her cell signal had held steady on the trip down to the parking lot. Throwing her briefcase into the trunk, she was happy to be finally steering toward home.

  “I told her mom I would be out by the end of the month, so maybe I could even get away earlier.”

  Parker thought about how Sandy’s mother had discounted their relationship like college roommates splitting up at the end of a semester. The sooner Mia could be away from them the better.

  “Sandy is in every square foot of this house. I need to go but I feel like I’m holding on to her too tight. I know moving will never stop me feeling like this, but maybe I can do it a little better from a distance.”

  Parker steered her black Audi convertible into sparse late-evening traffic and was grateful to make the light at the corner. She could almost feel the sadness as Mia talked. “You have my number, Mia. Syd and I will be here for you if you need us, okay? You just let me know what works for you. There’s no commitment either. If you decide you don’t want to stay, you can just tell me. You’ve been through enough for right now.”

  “Thank you. Tell Syd thank you, too, okay?”

  “Sure. Let me know when you feel up to it.”

  “Thanks, Parker. It means a lot.”

  She made the final turn into her parking spot and noticed no light from the windows of the loft. She collected her briefcase from the trunk as Sydney’s text scrolled across her phone.

  Going to run the errand with Mack. Be back soon.

  She replied, Please be careful. I don’t like this. No cowboy stuff.

  Don’t worry. I love you.

  Let me know as soon as you’re done. I love you.

  Parker dialed Jen as she walked up the steps.

  * * *

  Syd finished the text and returned her phone to her back pocket. Mack drove Darcy’s car while the blonde reclined in the back.

  “Let’s just get the damn thing and get out.” Mack exhaled the words.

  “Agreed.” Syd no more wanted to be this far outside the law than Mack did.

  “I never realized how completely uncomfortable this car was in the back seat. I’m glad no one’s trying to make babies back here.”

  “Really, Dean? That’s what you’re thinking about right now?” Syd shook her head and glanced into the side mirror to monitor anything behind them. The streets were deserted—no one usually spent a Friday night in the industrial part of town.

  “What else should I be thin
king about, Hyatt?” Her seductive tone grated on Syd as she thought about how the exchange would have made Parker feel.

  “Can we focus, please?” Mack cut off the barely civil banter. “Darcy, as soon as we get out, you drive over to the side but keep the engine running. Watch for anyone suspicious driving or walking. Keep the doors locked until you see us. Okay?”

  “Got it. You guys don’t really think anyone will be there, do you?”

  “Doubt it,” Syd grumbled. “But we don’t know what may be going on in there, so we have to expect anything.” She noticed Mack was staring intently out the window. “You okay?

  “Yeah, but Jenny’s panicking. I just want this over with.”

  “Parker isn’t overly fond of this either. In and out, let’s just do this fast.” They both pushed on thin black latex gloves.

  Mack drove slowly into the dark grid of warehouses and extinguished the car’s headlights. Syd scanned for ambient light at or near any structures as Mack stopped behind an adjacent warehouse visible only to the train tracks.

  This wasn’t the first unorthodox situation she and Mack had been in together, and somehow the trust they shared was inexplicably instinctive. Mack had come through for Syd when Becky was holding Parker hostage last year. Good instincts and Mack’s quick response saved Parker’s life that night. Syd knew Mack trusted her as a de facto partner.

  They bailed from the car and ran in a crouch until they stood at the side of the square metal building. Mack pointed at the door. Though Syd had been prepared to force the lock open, she found the door unsecured. Syd knew that also meant someone else could already be there, but she was still grateful they wouldn’t have to do any breaking before the entering part of their questionable endeavor. Mack drew her weapon and nodded Syd through the door in front of her.

  The space was dark but for the street lamp shining through a plexiglass vent window near the roof. Acutely aware of the circumstances that brought them there, Syd thought of a fallen officer’s last watch that had gone so wrong as she moved into the shadows. Mack checked the lot once more and moved in behind Syd allowing the door to all but close. Syd and Mack scanned the empty space when Syd pointed to the floor where a red tag was lodged.

  Mack nodded and looked over the warehouse for anything else that might tell them who had been there the night Sandy was killed, or since. Syd snatched the red tag up by its edge and signaled by waving the item in front of her and dropping it into a bag. Mack quickly rescanned the building for anything else useful before jerking her head toward the door, signaling back to Syd for them to get out.

  They stepped from the door and pulsed a penlight to signal Darcy to pull across the lot. The sound of a shot pierced the silence and glanced off the metal of the warehouse wall. They both dropped to the ground and crouched behind the shadowy corner of the building. Weapon leveled in the direction of the shot, Syd squatted on her heels with her back pressed to Mack’s.

  “Wait until Dean pulls around closer,” Mack whispered to Syd. No footfalls followed the shot, no more noise at all.

  Darcy coasted and circled to a stop. Syd followed Mack in a run for the car, each jerking open a car door.

  “Go!” Mack ordered. Darcy left the lights off until they hit a main thoroughfare.

  Syd glanced at Mack in the back seat. “Shall we assume that was a warning or a coincidence?”

  “I think we should assume a truck backfired in the area, don’t you think?” The caution was clear in Mack’s voice. Darcy didn’t seem to be listening and apparently hadn’t registered that the noise was likely a gunshot.

  Syd laid the plastic bag with the pallet tag on the center console and turned on the center lamp. They tried in vain to read it.

  Mack said, “Let’s wait until we get back to the studio, it’s too faded.”

  “Agreed.” Syd texted Parker, On our way back.

  A quick reply came: So glad. ILY, Jen’s here with me.

  Syd held the phone up for Mack to read and she nodded. “Darcy, head for my place, okay?”

  Parker and Jen met the trio at the front door and Syd locked it behind them quickly. Once inside, Mack produced the red tag which was dusty and faded but, under bright light, clearly stated the date of manufacture and XC9023, Silver Lake, VA, CacheTech, Inc. Syd knew they were closer but none of it made sense yet.

  Syd photographed it with a pay-as-you-go phone and sent it to an anonymous email address Mack had set up. The address wouldn’t be impossible to find, but someone would have to know where to look, and she had made sure it wouldn’t be obvious.

  * * *

  “Hi, it’s Gilbert.” The man shifted his backpack as he perched on a railroad tie overlooking Logan Street. “You, uh, wanted me to call if there was any visitors out here.” He liked having a phone and wondered if the nice man would let him keep it. He already said he could have the gun and all the bullets. He felt safe sleeping under the overpass for the first time since he left the halfway house in North Carolina a few months ago. He had made a pillow from his duffel bag and slept with the weighty pistol beneath it.

  “What’d you see, Gil?”

  “Some people. They were driving a four-door car, a dark color I think, and two people got out an’ went into that building that you told me to watch. I was watchin’, sir.”

  “I appreciate that, Gil, you did a great job,” the man offered in an encouraging tone. “Can you tell me what they looked like?”

  “Well the one drivin’ had pretty long blond hair, so I think that one was a girl. The other two had short hair but they kinda didn’t look like guys. Big, but not like a guy. I know that don’t make much sense, but it was dark. You kinda just get feelings about stuff, stayin’ out here, y’know?” Gil was struggling to explain. It would have been nice to have pictures but he wouldn’t go back there again.

  “Dark hair?”

  “I think so but it was real dark, sir.”

  “That’s okay, I think I know what you mean. You did good, Gilbert.”

  “Can I keep doin’ it? Watchin’ for ya and have this phone?” Gilbert was desperate.

  “Anything else you want to tell me?”

  “Um, well, I didn’t mean to but the gun went off when they were there. I didn’t mean to shoot the gun, I was holding it and it just went off. It was sort of funny to see them run.” Gil laughed.

  “Yeah, I’ll bet. Hey, I’ll bring ya some food next time I’m around that way. You did a good job.”

  Gil’s information seemed useful. He couldn’t have cared less about the burner phone he had given Gil. The minutes would run out eventually and no one could trace it back to him since he had paid cash at some random convenience store. The gun had been bought from a junkie in an alley, probably stolen, but that wasn’t his problem either. He didn’t spare Gilbert another thought after they hung up.

  * * *

  “We need to get inside CacheTech or at least get to someone on the inside.” Mack addressed the huddled group as they reviewed notes from the past few days. “Someone who can tell us if this pallet tag is a coincidence or if it actually belongs to product.”

  “Can we get a list of their employees from anywhere?” Darcy looked at Parker and Jen. “I know HR is in your wheelhouse.”

  “We might not need to if we just want to see a sampling of some employees.” Jen pointed to Parker’s tablet and she passed it over. “I look at people’s previous job history and company colleagues all the time on LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social media sites when we’re hiring. We just need to search for people who list their company as CacheTech or CTI. Then I can see if their profile is accessible. You can’t imagine what some people put on their public profiles.” Jenny looked serious as she scrolled through potentially relevant matches.

  “Okay, on Facebook, I have two warehouse associates, an admin, accounting, inventory manager, inventory clerk, warehouse manager.” She swiped through the results. “The accounting woman is locked down, can’t even see her friends.”

&nb
sp; “She’s less likely to give us any information if she’s that conscious about privacy, anyway,” Mack ruminated.

  “The administrative assistant works for the meetings director. She’s wide open but she probably wouldn’t be part of the knowledge base from that department anyway.”

  Mack rubbed Jenny’s shoulders while she worked.

  “Warehouse guys…but you run the risk of them knowing nothing or being part of it.”

  “I’m thinking that whoever would be in this would need some higher-level knowledge about controls,” Syd offered.

  “Surprisingly, not always. A major electronics retailer lost a ton of money in one year, all because one warehouse employee took a small bribe from a vendor. Between the two of them, they managed to siphon product and payments of nearly fourteen million before they were caught,” Jen said as she clicked on another profile.

  “I stand corrected.”

  “Status changes every Sunday morning…” She skimmed quickly and read from the page. “Finally done, ready for my two day break.” She clicked another warehouse clerk’s profile. “This guy is partying every Sunday night and posts about sleeping until noon on Monday. So it looks like maybe the warehouse doesn’t work on Sunday and Monday.” Her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, mentioning bits and pieces about each employee she found. Darcy dragged her chair closer to watch the operation.

  “Warehouse supervisor. I would guess that someone in his position would either be involved or totally oblivious, so probably not useful or too risky, right? Anyway, no pictures to show.”

  Parker mouthed “I love you” to Syd because she felt it, and because Darcy was sitting too close to her lover.

  “Inventory could be sticky. The team presumably would count and report up to management. At least that’s how it should work. If they’re part of it then they could be fudging numbers and no one would know. When I was at Sexton Building Supply that’s how it worked, anyway. Once you knew what you were doing, you would simply ghost count what you knew was missing every time.” She kept scrolling and clicked on the inventory manager’s page. “Here we go. Here’s a Taylor Westin.”