by Dave Daren
I blinked and looked up at the man with a gracious smile on my face despite the alarms that were sounding in my head.
“Is there something I can help you with?” I asked and worked to keep any sort of concern from my tone.
To my left, the other security guard, a shorter, older-looking man with hair so blond it practically looked yellow and the same wide set to his posture Brody carried, shifted on his feet. His hand rested on his belt, and I didn’t much care to look down to see what exactly his belt held.
The larger guard reached out to curl a hand around my shoulder. It felt like the sort of thing you’d do to a child to steer them in a different direction while they misbehaved in public. It was no more pleasant to experience as a fully grown man than it had been as a kid.
“Excuse me?” I repeated myself and took a step back to break the guard’s hold on my shoulder. “Is there something I can help you with?”
I kept my voice even, level, and cool as I straightened my jacket and jutted my chin out with my eyebrows raised.
The guards exchanged a look that I couldn’t decipher, but whatever it said didn’t seem to bode well for me. I kept a smile on my face despite the worry that gnawed up my spine.
“I’m here to see Dr. Torres,” I said. “We spoke earlier on the phone.”
It wasn’t a lie, technically. I was there to see Dr. Torres, and we had spoken on the phone earlier in the day. I just didn’t think they needed to know the specifics of that phone call.
The shorter guard guffawed.
“No, you ain’t,” he informed me.
I didn’t like his tone or the way he took a step closer to me, but the larger guard nodded in agreement.
“Archer Landon,” he said my name, and it wasn’t a question.
I swallowed as I realized that if he wasn’t asking, it meant he already knew my name and knew my face. It meant that they’d been waiting on me to arrive.
This wasn’t good. I didn’t waver, however, and I kept my spine straight and my head held up high to meet the larger guard’s eyes despite our height difference.
“That’s me,” I quipped. “Is there a sign-in sheet I missed last time I was here? I’d gladly sign it this time, if you’ll just let me pass through.”
It was obvious they didn’t intend to let me in, but I had to try anyway. I craned my neck to glance over the guard’s shoulder, as if by some perfect twist of fate, Dr. Torres would be in sight. But this wasn’t a movie, and Dr. Torres was nowhere to be seen. I shifted back on my feet to look between the two guards who kept me pinned in the doorway.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” the older guard said with a heavy sigh as if this whole exchange was taking a toll on him, and he was the one being blocked from entering a damn building he had every right to enter.
The smile on my face flickered for a moment.
“I’m not making this any harder than either of you,” I replied. “I need to see Dr. Torres. We spoke on the phone earlier.”
Each word came out of my mouth with a purpose, but neither guard seemed willing to budge. The two exchanged another concerning look, and I could practically see their patience for me wearing thin.
“You are not allowed in the building, Mr. Landon,” the larger guard said. “We received orders to prevent you from entering, and you need to leave.”
He didn’t leave much wiggle room for me to try and talk around, but I intended to try anyway.
“Can I ask why I’ve been barred from entering a government building that my tax dollars help fund?” I questioned with a pleasant tilt of my head. “Have I threatened someone? Did I steal government property?”
Part of me, a large part of me, really, knew that I wasn’t helping the situation, but the situation already couldn’t be helped. I knew I’d need to find another way to talk to Torres, but I couldn’t help but swing a bat at this hornet’s nest for my own pride’s sake. I never claimed to be a perfect man. The guards, however, seemed less than enthused at my grandstanding.
“We’re going to need you to leave the building, Mr. Landon, or you will be forcefully removed,” the older guard said with the threat clear in his tone.
If I were a younger, more reckless man, I would have said “or what?” And, admittedly, as an older, more cautious man, I still wanted to say it. But, instead, I gave both guards another magnanimous smile before I lifted both my hands in a show of surrender and took a few easy steps backwards until I felt my back press against the glass door.
“Lovely speaking with the both of you,” I said with a purposely charmless smile on my face as I stepped back out into the suffocating Houston air.
I kept my composure until I turned around to walk back to my car. Only once my back was to the front doors and the guards peering through them did I let my face darken and the smile drop. Shit.
Things were worse than I’d anticipated, and I had to figure out a new plan. I’d expected to at the very least be allowed into the building, and then I’d planned on finding Torres in his office, and then I’d figured I’d be kicked out, but I’d at least expected to be able to get a few sentences out to try and convince him otherwise.
I glanced over my shoulder toward the doors after I made it back to my car. Could the guards see me from their post inside the building? I tried to remember the specific viewpoint they had from just inside the doors, but I hadn’t looked over my shoulder after stepping inside. I just had to go on faith that they wouldn’t be able to see me lingering in the parking lot.
My new plan was, admittedly, less elegant than my previous attempt of rational debate that would, if all went well, lead Torres to coming back onto my side. Instead, I was now going to surprise him in the parking lot. From my vantage point at the rear end of my car, I had a perfect view of the front doors.
To my knowledge, there wasn’t any sort of secret back exit that Torres could take to try and leave without being seen, but then again, I wasn’t an expert on the architecture of the EPA building. I had never been a gambling man, but I was going to have to put all my chips in on this plan.
I shed my suit jacket and tossed it onto the trunk of the car before I sidled up next to it, my long legs dangling down past my fender. I rolled my sleeves up to my elbows and glanced down at the clock on my phone. I didn’t know Torres’ exact schedule, but I had to assume he would be taking a lunch break soon. If he didn’t, I’d just wait out until the end of the day. I didn’t care how long it took me, or how long I was stuck sitting in the sweltering heat, I’d struggle through it if it meant I got the sort of answers I needed to help the people of Piney Crest.
Luckily for me, however, I didn’t have to wait for hours on end. After about thirty minutes of staking out the front door while I sent messages to Brody to let him know how my little mission had gone that all went unread, the front doors swung open.
It wasn’t the first time they’d opened since I’d taken up my post, and like every time before, I had cut my eyes up to see just who was leaving the building. But, this was the first time it had been just the person I was looking for.
Torres had his head down, and he stared intently at his phone as he briskly walked from the front of the cinder block building into the parking lot. From my distance, I couldn’t make out if he was walking quickly out of fear, or if that was just his usual pace. He was dressed in a similar plaid button-up to the one he’d worn a few days earlier when we met for the first time, except this shirt was green as opposed to blue.
I slid off the trunk of my car and quickly started to make my way over to him. I worked to stop from attracting attention to myself because the last thing I needed was to spook Torres even further and lose any shot I had of speaking to him.
I fell in step behind him and realized that he wasn’t just looking down. He was on the phone with someone, with an Airpod in one ear as he chattered to who I could only assume was his wife about dinner plans. I slowed my pace to leave a healthy enough distance between us so that he didn’t hear
my footsteps over his phone call.
Torres appeared to have parked on the side of the building, which was another small blessing for me. Not only could the security guards not see me, but the area was blessedly shaded. I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up with a sunburn after my ill-planned outdoor stakeout.
“Alright, I love you-- okay, yes. Okay, I’ll see you in a few hours and, yes, I’ll stop at the store. Alright, goodbye,” Torres said to whoever was on the other end of the line.
He reached out to the handle of his Prius. Before he could pull the door open, however, I darted out from where I’d been following him to grab at his arm.
Torres jumped like he’d been shocked and let out a shout of surprise as he whirled around to face me. The look of panic on his face only grew worse as he realized who I was.
“Dr. Torres,” I began before he could protest or scream or do something else that would jeopardize the situation any further. “I need to talk to you.”
I panted as I worked to catch my breath, but I was still doing better than Torres. His heart seemed to be jackhammering in his chest, and I could have sworn I could see it beating through his shirt. His eyes were blown wide behind the wire rims of his glasses. He glanced around, but he came to the same realization I’d planned on.
He was trapped between his car, the sedan parked next to him, and the building behind him. The only way out was through me. I didn’t want to frighten him, but I couldn’t think of any other way to talk with him.
Torres didn’t say anything for a moment as he cut his eyes around. It took me a moment to realize where he was looking. A shiny little security camera blinked at the top of the building.
He continued to stare at me with wide eyes, as if willing me to understand. I gave a nod so small I hardly moved my head. I didn’t move my hand from his arm.
“I can’t talk to you,” he whispered.
His lips barely moved as he spoke, and he looked truly and legitimately afraid, but not of me.
“Please,” I tried. “We need your help.”
I didn’t dare look back up at the camera again, though I did start to wonder how long I had before the security guards appeared around the side of the building.
Torres took a shaking breath, but at least he didn’t look toward the camera again, either.
“You don’t understand, Archer,” he hissed. “Abraham Knox isn’t the sort of person you want to mess with. If you keep poking around, things are just going to get worse, for everyone.”
I fumbled for the right thing to say, but every plea I could have made seemed to be coming up dry. Torres met my gaze and gave a nod so discreet I barely noticed it. He mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’.
“Get off me!” Torres shouted without any warning.
I was so startled that I jumped. He shoved my chest, not hard enough to send me stumbling, but hard enough that I knew to take a step back. This was a show for the cameras, and we both knew it. Torres yanked open his car door before he looked back at me one more time.
“I wish I could do more, but I’ve got a family to look after, too,” he whispered. “Best of luck, Archer, but you need to get out of here.”
And with that, he slammed his car door closed and peeled out of the parking lot.
He left me standing there with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This all clearly went higher up than we’d thought. If Knox managed to bribe the EPA laboratory up in Houston, who else had he bribed to bury his secrets?
I stood in the shade for a while longer as I tried to process everything that had just happened. I could have laid on the ground right there as I tried to parse through the information that threatened to overwhelm me. I could only hope that Evelyn and Brody had experienced more luck than I had that morning.
According to the watch on my wrist, it was just past two in the afternoon. If I didn’t hit any rough patches of traffic, I could be home around six to regroup with the others to create a new sort of game plan. I sighed and started my trek from the shaded side of the parking lot back to where my car was parked.
I was grateful to see my suit jacket still draped across the trunk, as I’d forgotten to take it with me before I’d jumped up to chase after Torres. I sighed and yanked it off. The fabric was hot to the touch, just like everything else in the godforsaken parking lot. I was almost afraid if I stayed outside any longer, I would melt into the asphalt like a discarded wad of gum.
I pushed my hand through my sweat-dampened hair as I squeezed back up to my door, my jacket slung carelessly over my shoulder. I paused and felt a furrow crease my brow.
A note was tucked under my windshield wiper.
Chapter 9
I froze as I stared at the folded sheet of lined paper shoved under the edge of the wiper blade and watched as it ever so faintly fluttered in the breeze. I didn’t reach out to grab it, but instead looked around the sea of cars in the parking lot.
I didn’t see anyone else outside at all, just plenty of empty cars and stretches of blisteringly hot asphalt. I turned my focus back to the note. Someone had to have slipped it there while I ran off to follow Torres, because I’d been sitting on my trunk the rest of the time I’d been outside, unless the note had been placed there while I’d gone inside.
Was someone watching me? The thought chilled me to my core, but, unfortunately, it didn’t surprise me. I suddenly didn’t feel safe standing out in the parking lot any longer. I leaned over to carefully unwedge the note from under the windshield wiper. The paper was practically cool to the touch. This clearly hadn’t been outside long.
I didn’t open it, not yet. Instead, I unlocked my car and slipped inside as I nervously gnawed at my lower lip. Once I was situated in my seat, I made sure to lock the door again.
I gave another cursory glance around me to my surroundings just to make sure someone hadn’t suddenly materialized before I carefully unfolded the note. I smoothed it with my palms against the flat of my steering wheel.
In large, neat print, was a single, shocking sentence.
KNOX ILLEGAL WASTE DROP TONIGHT @ 8 PM.
Below the sentence was an address that I didn’t recognize, but if I had to bet anything, I’d have put all my money on the fact the alleged dumpsite was upriver from Piney Crest. I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up at attention. I read the note again, and then a third time as if I could have missed something in the meaning the first time.
I had a thousand unanswerable questions buzzing around my head at once as they all fought for a position at the forefront of my mind.
Who had written the note? Who had placed it under my windshield wiper? Why would someone leave this for me? Was someone watching me? Had someone been following me? Could this information be trusted? Was I in danger? Was it a trap?
I stared at the note so long I felt my vision go blurry. I took a quick picture of the note and nearly blinded myself with the flash of my camera. I didn’t have time to screw with the settings however, so I just dropped the phone back into my lap before I tucked the mysterious note into my glove compartment.
I looked around the parking lot one more time before I carefully navigated out of my spot. I felt like some sort of knock-off James Bond as I stared in my rearview mirror as if I would see someone pull out to follow me. I might have been an amateur at espionage, but I had the sinking feeling that the people keeping their sights on me were not.
As I pulled onto the road, I realized it probably wasn’t safe to go back to the office, not if I was being followed like I suspected I might have been.
I blindly reached into my lap to unlock my phone. I gave a quick glance down to hit Brody’s contact and brought the phone up to my ear as I listened to the rings.
It only took three before Brody picked up.
“Archer,” he greeted. “Sorry, I just saw your messages. Any luck at the EPA?”
He didn’t sound hopeful, and I couldn’t blame him. I slowly crept to a stop light and flicked on my turn signal. I had no real clue
where I was going, but I had time to figure that out.
“Uh, yes and no,” I replied and then swallowed hard. “I was kicked out of the building before I could talk to Torres, but I managed to catch him in the parking lot. Knox locked everything down here. I’m not sure how he did it, but Torres looked like a ghost when I approached him.”
Across the line, Brody swore.
“Shit,” he hissed. “That’s not good. If Knox has ties to the EPA, this goes higher than we thought.”
I could practically see Brody worrying his fingers along his jaw. I gave a sort of desperate laugh myself and then gave the man the rest of my news.
“Oh, it gets more interesting,” I promised as I turned onto a new street. “After I got back to my car, I found a note someone shoved under my windshield wiper. Apparently, there’s supposed to be an illegal chemical waste drop tonight at eight. The address looks like it’s just upriver from Piney Crest.”
I let the bomb drop and listened to the silence on Brody’s end of the line crackle. It took a few seconds before he responded.
“A note?” He questioned, and I could hear the same incredulousness I felt in his tone. “Archer, anybody could have left that there. How did they know it was your car? Are you being followed?”
He sputtered out all of the questions I’d already considered, and I still didn’t have an answer to any of them.
“They could have seen me as I walked into the building,” I admitted as I glanced in my rearview mirror again. “And I also waited on the trunk for nearly an hour as I watched for Torres. Anybody could have seen me.”
For some reason, I didn’t think any of that information was going to reassure Brody, because it certainly didn’t reassure me. Brody gave a heavy exhale, and I could almost hear the reprimand he wanted to give me.
“So, someone could have been watching you,” he repeated my own thoughts aloud. “Where are you right now?”