by Mike Ryan
“The university?” Malloy asked. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I know it’s a little bit of a distance, but that’s where I was when Ms. Hendricks met up with me this morning,” Jones responded. “I’d just finished a lecture with my class and was in my office when she came over and persuaded me to join her little adventure today.”
“And what about you, Ms. Hendricks? Where would you like to go?”
“Oh, you know what, might as well drop me off along with him. Like he said, I met him at the university, so my car’s still there,” Mia answered, playing along with the charade that Jones invented.
“If that’s too far a drive, you can drop us off anywhere,” Jones said. “I’m sure we can manage on our own.”
“The university’s fine,” Malloy replied.
Malloy did as they requested and drove to Temple University, dropping the pair off near the front entrance of the campus on North Broad Street. Once Mia and Jones got out of the car, they thanked their driver for the ride and bid him adieu. As they started walking, Mia sought to clarify what Jones was doing.
“Just follow my lead,” Jones stated.
“What are we doing here?”
“I told them I was a professor that taught here,” he said as they walked toward the entrance.
“Why?”
“I couldn’t very well tell them the truth. I can’t say for certain but I get the distinct impression that they’re going to attempt to follow us wherever we go.”
“Oh. Why would they do that if they’re letting us go?” Mia wondered.
“To attempt to find out more about Mike. There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding him. They want to know how he operates, who he associates with, who else is involved,” Jones explained. “They already know you’re somehow involved and I believe they highly suspect that I’m somehow involved as well. I just don’t believe they know how close we are or what our roles are as of yet. But that will change rather quickly if we don’t lose him and lead him back to our homes.”
“So I can’t go back home?”
“I think they already know about you. I believe I’m the one they’re interested in.”
“So what are we gonna do?” Mia asked.
“We’re going to lose him.”
“How?”
“Very carefully.”
Once Jones and Mia entered through the front doors of the campus, Jones took a quick look back to see if Malloy was starting to follow them yet. He wasn’t though, as he had yet to get out of his car. Malloy didn’t want to get too near them and tip them off to his presence and make them nervous. But he knew he had to move soon. With how busy of a campus Temple was, and with several exits, it wouldn’t take long to lose the pair amongst the crowd. As soon as Jones and Mia walked through the doors, they made a sharp right and continued looking at the car from a window.
“How long are we gonna wait here?” Mia asked.
“Just until he moves.”
“And then what?”
“Once he comes in through the front, we’re gonna slip out the side and then run across the street,” Jones told her.
“Why? What’s there?”
“Just a café. We can then watch a little more carefully and with some distance between us. He’ll wind up searching this building for us and come up empty. Then when he finally leaves we can go back to our own places.”
Just a few seconds later, everything that Jones had said, started happening. Malloy got out of his car and started walking up to the main entrance. As soon as he did, Jones hurried Mia along, rushing over to a side door. Once they exited, they clung to the side of the building, Jones peering past the corner of the building to get a look at the entrance to see if Malloy was still there. They would have to make their move quickly. North Broad Street was an extremely busy road and if they had to stand there for a few minutes to wait for cars to go by, and Malloy happened to look through a window and see them, their plan would go for naught.
“We’ll wait for a red light and then dash across,” Jones said.
“Ready when you are,” Mia replied.
Another thirty seconds went by before the light changed to red. With the cars stopped, Jones and Mia left the side of the building and raced across the street, just ahead of a few cars that were turning onto the street. They quickly raced up the steps into the building across from the main campus and turned into the café. It was a crowded place but Mia immediately found an open table nestled right up against the window. They instantly headed for it before the seats were snatched up, giving them an excellent view of the street and Malloy’s car. Mia had a few dollars on her and got each of them a coffee while they waited. Plus, after all they’d been through, they figured they could use a boost of energy from it.
“Is this what you and Mike do all the time?” Mia asked.
“Well, not quite. At least from my perspective. Mike is usually the one in the field and having to deal with all the cloak and dagger stuff,” Jones told her. “It’s very rare for me to be the one doing this. I’m usually in the office doing computer work, running down leads and such. Working behind the scenes.”
“How do you guys do it? I mean, it’s exhausting. How do you guys not break down?”
Jones smiled at her. “It’s just something that you do. Every day you learn and just try to twist every situation so that it favors you. In any case, for your doubts, you appear to be holding up well.”
“I guess being an ER nurse trains you to think quickly and not get rattled,” she replied. “There’s no time to be nervous or scared. Otherwise, people can die rather quickly.”
“This isn’t that much different to be honest. Mostly quick thinking, quick reactions, knowing what you can do and what you can’t. One wrong turn could be your last.”
“I dunno, this is different I think. Even in the ER, you’re dealing with other people’s lives, but you’re not dealing with your own. When Simmons had us back in that building, and even in that apartment, I really thought we were going to die. I didn’t think we were ever going to make it out of there alive,” she said with a sense of sadness.
“One thing about this job, profession, whatever you want to call it, you can’t dwell on what almost happened, or what should’ve happened. In the end, all that matters is what did happen and how you learn from it, how you move on.”
“Even from Mike’s standpoint, I can see how it can wear a person down. Doing this all day, every day, I guess I can finally see why he is the way he is sometimes. Why he sometimes seems distant.”
Jones thought about continuing the conversation and replying on Recker’s behalf, but decided against it. He obviously knew that the job wasn’t the only reason his partner was distant at times. But Jones didn’t think it was his place to tell Mia that the other part was what happened in his previous job. Or about Carrie. That was Recker’s choice to tell if he ever decided to do so. Twenty minutes had passed and Mia was beginning to wonder how much time they were going to give Malloy until they moved on.
“Do you think he knows we’re here?” Mia asked.
“I think we’d have seen him by now if he did.”
“What’s taking him so long?”
“It’s a big building,” Jones answered. “I’m sure he’s just being thorough.”
“Maybe we should go now,” Mia suggested.
“No. We’ll wait for him to go first.”
“What if he actually is over there waiting for us. Suppose he did see us come over here.”
“Well then we’ll outlast him. We’ll wait him out. If he’s still here in another hour or two then we’ll have to assume that he knows we’re still here,” Jones replied. “I really don’t want to leave, though, until we see him drive away.”
Malloy checked the main campus, and all the buildings and doors he could access, as well as the outside perimeter of the building in his search for Jones and Mia. He looked for an hour but they had successfully evaded his pursuit. He figured they must’ve slipped
out somewhere but continuing to look would’ve been a worthless cause, he thought. They could’ve been just about anywhere at that point. He walked back to his car to call Vincent with the news.
“Look, there he is!” Mia excitedly yelled.
“Shh,” Jones replied, reminding her they were in a public place.
Malloy sat in his car for a minute, just taking one last look around before he called his boss, hoping he wouldn’t get chewed out for blowing the assignment.
“Sorry, boss. I lost them,” Malloy reported.
“Where?”
“Jones told me to take them to the university.”
“Main campus?” Vincent asked.
“Yeah. On Broad Street. They got out, went in the main building. I tried to follow them a few minutes later and they were gone.”
“Smart. Taking you to a busy and public place. Jones’ doing no doubt.”
“I should’ve been on them tighter than I was,” Malloy sorrowfully said.
“It’s OK, Jimmy. I’d still call this a successful day regardless of what happened there. Get back here so we can start preparing for Recker’s arrival,” Vincent told him.
“I’m on my way.”
Jones and Mia looked on intently as Malloy sat in his car for a few minutes. As Vincent’s lieutenant drove away, the pair started to breathe a little easier, thinking that they could finally get rid of him and find some peace after a long and trying day.
“Time to go?” Mia eagerly asked.
“Now it’s time to go,” Jones replied.
Mia started to get up but then quickly sat back down. “Umm, one small problem that I hadn’t thought about yet.”
“What’s that?”
“Our cars aren’t here,” she told him.
“I guess we’ll just have to take public transportation then.”
Mia nodded before realizing the next problem they had. “OK. Uhh…one more thing.”
“What?”
“We don’t have any money.”
Jones patted down his shirt and his pants. “I left my wallet in the car before going in to the apartment.”
“And I just spent my last couple dollars getting us coffee,” Mia said.
“I guess the only other thing we can do is…well, two things.”
“Which are?”
“One, call Mike.”
“He’s like eight or ten hours away, isn’t he?” Mia asked.
“Yes.”
“And the other?”
“Beg,” Jones answered.
“There’s one other option,” Mia told him.
“Walk?”
Mia shook her head. “No. My father’s wealthy.”
“Yes, I know. But I don’t see how that helps us now,” Jones replied.
“We don’t talk to each other a whole lot. But he wouldn’t leave me stranded. I’ll call him and tell him to send us a cab.”
“Prepaid I hope.”
Mia smiled. “Relax. I got this.”
Mia went up to the counter and asked to use a phone, explaining the situation to the person who worked there. Sympathetic to her problem, they handed her the phone. A few minutes later, Mia returned to the table.
“How’d you make out?” Jones wondered.
“Cab will be here in about twenty minutes. He gave them his card number and told him to charge the total to him.”
“Excellent. Did he wonder what the problem was or why you were here?”
“I just told him I came up here with a friend and the car broke down so we needed a lift home,” Mia answered. “Like I said, we don’t talk much, we don’t have much of a relationship, but he’ll help me out with something if I need it. Especially if it comes to money.”
“Must come in handy,” Jones said.
“Eh. I suppose. I only ask favors of him if it’s an emergency. Other than that, I don’t really need anything from him.”
“Even his love?”
“To him, sending money is showing his love,” Mia replied. “That’s how he shows affection.”
“Well I guess in this situation, we should just be thankful for that.”
Chapter 10
Vincent had waited a little while before calling Recker to inform him of everything that had transpired. He wanted to wait until Recker got closer to Philly until he told him that he was holding Simmons at the same warehouse where they met before, the warehouse where Recker passed on the chance of evening the score with Mario Mancini. Recker didn’t need to wait the additional time, though. Not since Jones and Mia had been released.
After getting picked up by the cab near the university, Mia was dropped off first, taking her straight to her apartment. Jones instructed her not to go anywhere, except for work, until she heard from either him or Recker. Just in case Vincent had someone staking out her building, Jones didn’t want her to be put in danger again until they could figure out their next steps. Jones was also fearful that someone was already there watching her apartment. Just in case that was true, and someone saw them pulling up in the cab, Jones instructed his driver to drive around aimlessly for a half hour. He periodically looked back to see if anyone was tailing them, and though he never noticed anything, he didn’t want to take any chances.
Jones had the cab driver drop him off at a shopping mall so he could use an ATM to withdraw some money. If someone was tailing him, not only would he lose them in the crowd at the mall, he could take a different mode of transportation out of there. After withdrawing some money, he walked to the other end of the mall towards the bus stop. Noticing an increasing crowd of people, Jones assumed the next stop wasn’t too far away. He didn’t even care where the bus was going. He’d get off wherever it stopped then call another cab to take him to his final destination, the office. Within five minutes, the bus rolled in and Jones boarded. It’s first stop was about ten minutes away, across from a gas station and convenience store, near another strip shopping center. Once he got there, the cab ride back to the office would only be another ten or fifteen minutes away.
After an hour of successfully dodging a real, or imaginary, surveillance tag, Jones finally got back to the office. Once inside, he immediately went to work on the computer. Right away, he pulled up the cameras on one of the screens that he had installed six months prior to that. He had nine cameras installed, one at each end of the building near the corners, one near the entrance of the Laundromat, two near the back entrance that led up to the office, as well as two that overlooked the entire parking lot. He scrutinized the footage for the next hour, hoping he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, or any unforeseen visitors. Luckily, it appeared to be like any other night. Quiet. Once he was satisfied that there were no more signs of trouble, he grabbed one of his backup phones out of the drawer to call Recker and let him know that he and Mia were both safe. Recker’s phone was on the seat between his legs, and when he heard it ring, eagerly picked it up even though he didn’t recognize the number.
“Yeah?”
“Mike, it’s me,” Jones replied.
“Jones, you all right?”
“I’m fine. Mia’s fine too.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m back at the office. Mia’s at home.”
Recker let out a sigh of relief, finally putting his mind at ease, knowing that his friends were safe and out of danger. “Vincent released you?”
“Yes.”
“I called him to see what he could do. I knew I couldn’t get there in time,” Recker told him.
“Understandable.”
“I wonder why Vincent hasn’t called me yet,” Recker stated. “He said he’d call me when everything was done. How long ago did you get out of there?”
“Probably two or three hours now. I’m sure he has his reasons. He isn’t one to let much go. Very thorough.”
“You talk to him?”
“Yes. Quite in depth I might add, too,” Jones said.
“What about?”
“Mostly questions about you. Before he
released us we had an extensive interview, mostly about my knowledge of you.”
“You didn’t tell him anything, did you?” Recker asked.
“Of course not. I told him I was a history professor at Temple. I’m not sure he really believed that but he didn’t really press me too much on it.”
“If he didn’t press you then why do you think he didn’t believe it?”
“Well, it was more how he asked than what he actually said. It was more like everything he said had a double meaning or a deeper meaning behind the actual question,” Jones answered.
“He was probing you?”
“In a way, yes. He already knows you have a connection with Mia. There’s no way around that. She had your phone number to contact you. There’s no denying it. But I stuck to the story that I was just a friend of Mia’s and didn’t know you. I didn’t have any identification on me for them to check so there was no way for them to prove otherwise unless I slipped up, which I did not,” Jones explained.
“But he was still inferring that you knew me?”
“He definitely was. What do you think the meaning behind the questioning was? Mia said he did the same to her.”
“He’s digging for information on me,” Recker replied.
“But why? It’s not like you’re an unknown to him anymore. I mean, you two have done several business transactions already.”
“I’m still somewhat of an unknown to him. He knows what I do. He doesn’t know how I do it, how I get my information, who else is working with me, who I know and associate with.”
“So you think he wants to know all the fine details,” Jones said.
“That’s Vincent’s MO. He needs information, craves it. He won’t make a move for or against anything without having all the facts.”
“You think he’s planning something against you?” the professor wondered.
“No. Not right now at least. But what if something happens between us a year from now? He’ll want to reach into his back pocket for that little black book of knowledge that he has on me. He’ll want to know if he gets into a battle with me if I have anyone else with me so he can guard against all angles. If he thinks I’m a lone wolf and work alone, he only has to worry about the front door. If there are others, he’s gotta guard the back door, side door, and every other entrance point you can think of,” Recker explained.
