Paradox

by D. L. Line

  “Well, yeah, I kind of assumed that. What then?”

  “Hang out here for half an hour or so, then head out and take Denny with you. I don’t think she will wait around for you, at least not conspicuously. She doesn’t exactly blend in on this campus, and I doubt she wants to be seen. I think the best plan is to just take Denny to our house. Bobby and I get relieved at six, so depending on where we are at that point, I should be home by seven, seven thirty at the latest. I’ll bring Bobby with me, and we can move on from there.”

  Denny still seemed unsure, so she held up a hand. “Um, Agent McKinnon? What if she follows me to your house? I figure she must want that drive pretty bad if she broke into my apartment looking for it.”

  Terri tried to offer what little comfort she could. “Well, Bobby and I will be following her, so if she tries something aggressive, we can take care of her then. I’m hoping that if she sees you with someone else that she’ll just back off and try to meet up with you later. Sound okay?”

  Denny agreed and Terri turned her attention toward Jen. “How about you? Can you do this?”

  “Pfft, piece of cake.” Terri watched Jen’s bravado fade as she added, “I mean, you’ll be right behind us, right?”

  “Yes, we’ll be right behind if she follows you.” She stopped and spoke into the microphone on her watch. “Bobby, did you get all that?”

  “That’s an affirmative, Agent McKinnon. I’m parked behind the library, so head on over that way and we’ll get ready to go.”

  “Understood.” Terri checked around the room to make sure everyone was on the same page. “Okay, Denny. Make your phone call and I’ll head out the loading dock.” Terri got up, slid the USB drive into the pocket of her jeans, and reached around Denny to retrieve her jacket from the back of the chair. Shrugging back into it, she spoke quietly toward Jen, “I’ll see you at home.” She started toward the door, but turned back and stopped, adding a small, “Thank you.”

  Jen answered with a slightly puzzled look on her face. “For what?”

  “For always being there for me.” She offered Jen a small kiss on the cheek, which was returned with a warm smile. “I’ll see you both at home.”

  She pulled the office door closed behind her, leaving Denny to her task, as she headed out the back door to try to fix things with Bobby.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Faith snapped her phone closed, and for the second time in the last two hours, she was pissed about the call. Denny was unavailable for a while, but she had ended the conversation with, “Maybe when we’re done, I’ll give you a call. It might be late though.” Faith had assured her that the late hour was not an issue, but there was something else. Something that Faith had heard in Denny’s voice. She sounded nervous. Yeah, that was it. Denny was scared, but she wasn’t sure why. Denny hadn’t seemed nervous the last time they talked. Actually, she pretty much only seemed brainless and well fucked, but that was different from this.

  Faith opted to stop musing in her head. “Nothing I can do, right?” She sat down on the steps of the building and lounged back on her elbows, then sat back up, digging in her pocket for another Marlboro. It was a nice warm afternoon, and she really didn’t have to be anywhere. Plus, there were plenty of college kids to watch to pass the time, so there was no rush. Maybe Denny would happen along, and she could get all this over with and get paid.

  She took a long drag off her smoke and watched the students walk by. They were a colorful bunch, all decked out in their primary colored T-shirts from wherever you went these days to buy a new shirt that looked old, and what the fuck? Doesn’t anyone own a real pair of shoes? Well, flip-flops are cheap, so that could be explained. She made a mental list, dividing the students into three groups for easy sorting. One, there were the brand name kids who shopped at the mall. Their colorful T-shirts had the name of the store emblazoned all over the front. Two, there was the Old Navy crowd, similarly dressed, but the store logo told Faith they were probably on scholarship or had loans to their eyeballs, so mall shopping wasn’t on their list of things to do. The third group cruised along in raggedy-bottomed jeans and sweatshirts, looking like they had just rolled out of bed. She bet they smelled like a distillery too.

  “Hold on. What’s this?” she said as she sat up to watch someone that didn’t fit any of her three lists.

  Faith took a quick mental inventory of the, wow, the gorgeous babe in the leather jacket. Actually, it was the only leather jacket, well, besides her own that Faith could see. “Black leather, standard button-fly blue jeans, fabulous ass, black shoes... wait...” Faith looked all over the campus. Lots of flip-flops with a decent pair of running shoes mixed in here and there, but no black shoes. Wait, not only black shoes, but black oxfords. Who was this? Faith spoke, softly so no one else could hear as the woman with the chocolate brown hair walked past her. “Turn your head, hot stuff. Let me see your face.”

  As if the gal in the leather jacket could actually hear, she turned her head in Faith’s direction, revealing exactly what Faith expected she would see. A pair of $200 Ray-Ban sunglasses. That wasn’t a college student.

  “That’s a cop, maybe even a Fed,” Faith spoke to herself again. No matter how much they tried not to look like cops, she could always spot one. Just fucking great. “Well, let’s just see what that’s all about.”

  Faith took one last drag off her cigarette and flicked the butt out into the middle of the sidewalk, offering a quiet, yet insincere “oops” to the two frat boys that she’d almost hit as they jumped aside and glared at her. She got up, straightened her jacket, and began walking in the same general direction as the cop, heading toward her motorcycle that she’d left parked illegally in the faculty parking lot.

  *

  Terri’s earpiece came to life as Bobby checked in.

  “Terri, if you read me, signal, but do not reply.”

  As requested, Terri pulled her left hand out of the pocket of her jacket and offered Bobby a subtle thumbs up, held close to the front of her body.

  “Roger that. Terri, she’s up and right behind you. Head into the library so I can see where she’s going.”

  Terri made a quick right turn and ran up the steps to the front of the library. Another dozen or so strides and she pulled open the door of the building, quickly scanning the area for a place where she could look outside and not be spotted. A Ficus tree right next to the door was the closest thing to cover that Terri could find. She ducked behind the large potted plant and signaled Bobby.

  “What’s up? Why did you want me to come in here?”

  “Just a hunch. I watched Ms. Slutbomb cruise you as you passed her, and I wanted to see if she was actually following you.”

  “Cruise me? What are you talking about?”

  It didn’t take Terri long to notice that Faith kept walking past the library, apparently not following anyone. She pulled a branch out of the way in order to keep an eye on her.

  “Yes, Agent McKinnon, cruising you. Her attention never left your butt as you passed her. You turned in her direction, and then she got up and followed. She’s still on the move, so maybe she’s headed to her bike. Come on out, I’ll meet you on the north side of the building and we’ll head back to the loading dock. I’m parked back there.”

  “Roger that.” Terri scooted out from behind the Ficus, pushed open the closest door, and stepped out into the bright sunshine. She spotted Bobby towering over a boxwood hedge and waving to her. It had to be tough to be sneaky when you were six foot five and built like a linebacker.

  Bobby gestured toward Faith crossing the faculty parking lot. “Keep an eye on her while I go get the truck. I’ll be back in a minute. Hey, you’re okay, right?”

  “Yeah, Bobby, I’m fine. Sorry about all that back there, but I got a lot of information. I’ll tell you everything when we’re back in the truck.”

  Terri watched Faith pull on her helmet, climb astride the bike, and twist the key to start it up. Once Terri heard the engine, she slid out from her
spot on the side of the library, and started to make her way toward the back of the building. Removed from her vantage point, Terri could only hear what was going on, quickening her pace as she heard Faith pull the bike out and gun the engine to roar toward the exit of the parking lot. Terri broke into a run toward the van as Bobby backed it out, turning it to bring the passenger side door to bear, offering her direct access. She yanked the door open and jumped in, feet barely clearing the ground as Bobby threw the transmission into drive and gave the truck some gas.

  Bobby pulled around the side of the building and into the parking lot. Terri shrugged into her seat belt, juggling the receiver in her lap as she tried to get organized. Faith leaned the motorcycle hard to the left, cutting off a guy in a silver Honda Civic, who honked his horn and flipped her off. Bobby waited for the Honda to get moving again, pulling the van in behind him on Nebraska Avenue. Terri checked the receiver, noting that the transmitter on the bike was still working. “She’s heading for the circle. Stay with her.”

  “I’m on it, Terri. Where do you suppose she’s going?”

  “I have no clue. Where do you think she’s going?”

  Bobby shrugged and kept driving, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. Terri knew that the slow pace of the Honda in front of them frustrated him, but he focused on traffic as she watched the receiver in her lap. According to the GPS map on the receiver, Faith had entered Ward Circle, following the counterclockwise loop, eventually making the right turn to get onto the main drag, Massachusetts Avenue. The motorcycle was increasing the distance between them, so Terri urged Bobby on.

  “Bobby, she just made the turn for Massachusetts. You need to smoke this guy in the Honda.”

  “I know that, Terri. Just watch the receiver, okay?”

  She was a little surprised by his terse reaction, but waved it off. “Sorry, Bobby. Just drive.”

  She held on tight to her seat belt as Bobby turned the van hard to the right, skirting in between the Honda and the curb. His actions were greeted with a honk of the horn, and as Terri noted in her side view mirror, another extended middle finger from the understandably agitated Honda owner. Once clear, Bobby could follow traffic around the circle and make the right onto Massachusetts.

  The speed of the traffic limited Bobby’s progress, but Terri quickly noted that it would be a similar concern for Faith. She was so engrossed with her musings about traffic lights that she almost missed it when Bobby started talking again.

  “Sorry about the... you know, the snapping at you thing back there,” Bobby said quietly as he slowed the van to stop behind a short line of cars, waiting for the light to change.

  “What? Oh, no big deal. What’s up with that?”

  As the light turned green, Bobby craned his neck in an apparent attempt to look for the motorcycle, and started driving again. “Just... well, this whole thing is getting a little intense, and I’m worried about you.” She started to interrupt him, but he held up his hand to stop her. “I know, we can have this whole big heart to heart over a beer sometime soon, but you...Terri, I thought you were done with the whole girly freak out thing.”

  “Hey,” she shot back, a little miffed. “I wasn’t being girly. I was concerned.” She looked down to check the receiver one more time, noting that Faith was still headed toward the downtown.

  “Concerned? You looked positively frantic.” Bobby kept driving, giving the van a little more gas to squeak through the intersection at the National Cathedral on the yellow light.

  “I thought you wanted to talk about it later.”

  “Fine, whatever. Later is good. Tell me what you found out from Jen’s grad assistant.”

  “It was just like I thought. The babe on the bike, her name is Faith, by the way, hired Denny to hack into something. Denny got the goods this morning, but had to leave for class, so she called Faith on the way. I guess she decided to take a chance and look for the information while Denny was gone.”

  Bobby looked around to get his bearings and slowed down a little as he entered the short loop in front of the Naval Observatory. “So what was she looking for?”

  Terri shifted in her seat and pulled the USB drive from her pants pocket. “She was looking for this.” She held the drive up high enough so Bobby could see it without the risk of sideswiping any parked cars. “And there’s some serious shit on here, believe me.”

  “What kind of shit?”

  “The kind of shit that the Homeland Security people showed us last year. There’s a bunch of stuff on here about third world diseases and what looks like a recipe to cook up some kind of nightmarish bioterror soup.”

  “What?” Bobby shot back. “Bioterror soup? What the fuck are you talking about?” He slammed on the brakes as he mistimed the yellow light and had to stop.

  Terri put a hand out to brace herself, juggled the receiver, and said, “Easy there. We’ve still got her on the GPS.”

  “Yeah, but bioterror soup? God, doesn’t anybody just make chili anymore?”

  “I promise that I’ll make you a pot of chili, but we might want to stay on Faith for a while first.”

  “Okay. Good idea, but I’m going to hold you to that pot of chili.”

  Terri watched back and forth between the GPS receiver and the road, as Massachusetts opened from two lanes to four lanes, allowing for the greater traffic demands of Embassy Row. Faith continued her beeline down Massachusetts, headed back toward Dupont Circle. Bobby’s focus on his task allowed Terri a couple of minutes to contemplate Faith’s destination. Maybe she was just going back into town, or back toward her starting point in Southeast. Speculation without information always struck Terri as an exercise in futility, so she gave up wondering and returned her attention to the road and all of the brightly colored flags flying from the embassies lining both sides of the street.

  Terri checked the GPS. Nothing different, but as she looked up, she could see Faith changing lanes, and mentioned it to Bobby. He waved it off. “She’s been doing a little of that, but I think she’s just impatient. It’s easier to see her since the lanes opened up.”

  Terri understood impatience. She was feeling a little of that herself, and Bobby’s continuous drumming on the steering wheel told Terri that he was reaching critical mass as far as his own impatience was concerned. They cruised steadily toward Dupont Circle and points yet unknown.

  Looking down as they passed over Rock Creek Parkway, Terri longed to make the stop at home. She was sick of the van, fatigue and impatience were taking their toll on her mood, and she really just wanted the day to be over. Traffic inched along, and they followed like lemmings. Since they were about a quarter-mile behind the motorcycle, Terri turned her attention to the receiver as Faith turned right into Dupont Circle.

  “She’s in the circle, Bobby, and looks like she’s...oh, wait. She just made the right onto Connecticut. Where the hell is she going?”

  “I am so ready to be done with this shit. The slutbomb on the bike, the traffic, and it’s...” He hesitated, checking his watch. “Great, it’s almost four thirty and we’re on a path for Connecticut Avenue during rush hour. That’s just fucking great.”

  “I’m right there with you, Bobby.”

  As they pulled around the edge of the circle and made the right onto Connecticut, Terri could see brake lights up ahead, a line of three or four drivers forced to slow as Faith applied her own brakes, slowing just enough to make a right turn. Terri checked the GPS to note the street, pointing it out to Bobby as they approached.

  “Bobby, four streets up, turn right.”

  “But that’s a one-way street. That crazy bitch just went the wrong way down a one-way street. What the fuck?”

  “Well, according to the tracer, she took that right, then a left after a block and now she’s slowing down. Maybe that’s where she’s going to stop. Head onto the next street that goes the right way, and make your turn.”

  Bobby did as instructed, turning right at the next corner. He proceeded slowly down the quiet
residential street, Terri urging him to go even slower as he approached a four-way stop at the next cross street. She checked the receiver again, but quickly raised her head as Bobby asked, “What the hell is she doing?”

  “What?” Terri stopped and stared, unsure of what to think about what she was seeing. “Oh, shit.”

  There on the corner, sitting on the bike, with one foot on the ground to keep it upright, was Faith. If it hadn’t sounded so completely ridiculous, Terri would have sworn that she was waiting for them. After Faith flipped up the visor of her helmet, she raised her right hand and waved. Just a simple wiggle of the fingers in greeting, but Terri couldn’t believe it, as she let her mouth hang open in disbelief. It only got worse. Faith closed the helmet visor, pointed directly ahead with one extended index finger, released the clutch, and took off like a bat out of hell.

  Terri looked toward Bobby, the open-mouthed look on his face telegraphing his disbelief at the nerve of this woman. The reality of the situation seemed to take hold, like a kick in the head, Terri urging, “Go, Bobby, go,” as he stomped roughly on the gas pedal and squealed around the corner.

  “How the fuck...?”

  “How should I know? Just don’t lose her now. This is bad, Bobby. How did she...”

  “I knew it. Shit, I knew it.” Terri made a quick visual scan of the next intersection. Faith leaned the bike hard to the left and headed back out the side street toward the rush hour traffic of Connecticut Avenue. Bobby followed, Terri hanging onto the upper bracket of the seat belt to keep from coming out of her seat as a result of the hard left turn.

  Terri settled back into her seat as she watched Faith out the front window, leaning the bike hard to the right, totally disregarding the red light, to pull back out onto the main drag. “Shit, Bobby...red light.”

  “Fuck it,” he shot back through clenched teeth. “Hang on.”

  Terri did just that, again grabbing the seat belt with one hand, bracing herself against the side of Bobby’s seat with the other as he slowed enough to make sure that he wasn’t going to plow into another motorist. The receiver slid off her lap, forcing Terri to juggle it with her feet as she tried to keep it from crashing into the floorboards of the truck. “You knew what?”