by Alec Peche
“What's happening?”
“The water cannon knocked him down on the sand and as he lay face-up, I dropped two green dye balloons on him. He's just laying on the sand and hasn't realized that he's covered head to toe in bright green dye and my drone is safely back behind cover so he won't even know where the dye came from. He'll probably think it came from the cannon.”
“Is he still laying on the sand? Maybe you should call the police,” Ariana suggested.
“No it will take them too long to get here and besides I added something new to the dye. I've been experimenting with something at the warehouse. I inserted tiny particles into the dye. Those particles have different optical properties meaning they absorb light differently and that makes them traceable. So now the dye he's wearing will glow in the dark and it will allow me to track John O'Ryan.”
“Damian, you're so brilliant! What are you going to use that for commercially?”
“I'd plan to sell it to the shipping industry so companies could know where their boxes were, but the problem with that idea is that I'd need to make a new dye formulation for each package. Now that I'm working on an old case with Natalie on a child abduction, I'm thinking that it would be good to sell it to parents so they would know they could always find their children. I'd do a tattoo of some sort that would expire every five years or so. Beyond a certain age, the child wouldn't be tracked. It was just something I thought of in the last few days after reading about the two-thousand kids that go missing each day.”
“Has he got up and left your island?”
“Yeah, he tried washing the dye off in the bay water, and ended up smearing over more of his body,” Damian said with laughter in his voice. “He's shivering and huddling behind the windscreen on the boat as he heads toward San Francisco.”
“Good. I didn't know you were working on a child abduction. How old was the child abducted?”
“Five, and Natalie called me about the case just as I was researching Hermione's poster. I had a few seconds of panic when she began describing the abduction thinking it was going to be Hermione, but then when she got to the age and the fact it was in San Jose, my heart rate settled down.”
“I can imagine. I think I'm going to talk with the police here about John O'Ryan. Perhaps they can get a read on what he's been up to and how I should protect myself.”
“I think that's a good idea. I'll share some video from my system that you can share with the police so they know what to be on the look-out for.”
“Is anything that you did illegal?” Ariana asked.
“I don't think so. John's not injured and he violated my private property despite the warning signs. Mostly outside of your presence, I think they'll be amused to know they're looking for a lime-green man. Imagine that “be on the lookout” for notice.”
Ariana laughed, “Thanks for helping me look at this situation with humor.”
“You do have your alarm system engaged? Perhaps you should move over to the island tonight.”
“I do have a good alarm system. Why don't you come here and we can take your evidence with us to the police tonight? Hermione is in school, then soccer practice for another ninety minutes or so. If you come immediately, that gives us an hour to speak with the police. I'll call them now to warn them we're coming in to make a report.”
“Okay, I need to gather some equipment and download my security videos and perhaps I'll bring a sample of the green slime.”
“Are you tracking John now?”
“No, it takes a special device and I have to grab it off the shelf. He hasn't come back towards my island, that's all I know. Once I get my boat headed toward your dock, I'll turn it on to see what he's up to.”
“Damian, thanks and stay safe. See you soon.”
Ten minutes later, he had all the equipment packed and in his speedster, he aimed his boat at Ariana's dock, then spent some time tracking John O'Ryan. He looked like he was steering straight at Angel Island, which meant he was likely heading to the harbor at Sausalito. Good, that put him closer to the Belvedere Police. At some point, his tracking system would have two targets as surely some of the green slime would roll off his clothing and skin and onto the boat, but he'd be able to distinguish the two signals as the boat would likely remain parked for a while. Minutes later he was at Ariana's house dropping his overnight bag and some equipment, and they were off to the police station to make a report.
Chapter 6
Ariana and Damian arrived at Hermione's school a few minutes late and found her sitting on the wall next to the three arches that marked the entrance to her school. When she saw both of them in the car, she walked to the back seat door and opened saying, “What's up?”
“Can't we both pick you up from school on occasion?” Damian said.
“You don't usually do that. Is there a problem with that poster about me?”
“No, sweetie you're in the clear on this one. I had a single date with a man about ten years ago. He stalked me and ended up doing time in prison. He just tried to break into Damian's house, so he's staying the night while we figure out what to do.”
“Why did you go out on a date with such a bad person?” Hermione asked.
“Because I didn't know he was such a creep. This was before I met my husband and I was using a website to find someone I might like. We had one meeting at a coffee shop and I knew within five minutes that I didn't like the guy, and so I cut the meeting short and walked away. Except he followed and the stalking began until he was arrested. Let that be a lesson to you someday if you use such a service.”
“What did you do to him Damian? Did you blast him with your water cannon?” Hermione asked remembering the time she'd operated the cannon to keep some prison gang members from reaching Damian's house.
Damian grinned and said, “I did as he was leaving, then while he was face-up on the beach, I dropped a water balloon with green slime on him. I've improved the slime so that it contains micro-crystals that can be used for GPS. The Belvedere police are tracking him now. He parked the boat at the Sausalito marina, and if he approaches Ariana, he'll be arrested.”
“You should lecture in my science class. Your stuff is so much more interesting than what they're trying to teach us in those textbooks.”
Damian's heart warmed at the thought of Hermione wanting him at her school, but he said to her, “I don't think your teachers would appreciate me teaching hundreds of kids how to make green slime that they can use to track each other. I'd probably go to jail for morally corrupting youth.”
“Yeah, you probably would,” Hermione said with a sigh. “So what's our plan to defend Ariana?”
“Speaking of morally corrupting youth, we're not expecting you to stand in front of us with a wand casting a spell against my stalker. It's more an added layer of awareness about him since you're close to me, John will be threatened by you; that's how stalkers are,” Ariana said.
“I hope the police arrest him soon, and this will be a non-issue,” Damian said.
“How long does your green slime work?” Hermione asked.
“The dye stains about a month and I'm not sure about the micro-crystals. This is an experiment for me.”
“Any guess as to how long it will last?” Ariana asked.
“The dye stains the skin layer and so you have to wait for the skin to slough off for the color to fade. The microcrystals aren't part of the skin so they could disappear as soon as the guy takes a shower I suppose. I really don't know how the crystals will interact with human skin. The good news is that the dye is on his face and hands so he'll have to wear make-up or a ski mask to hide the color.”
“Do you have a second device to track him or do only the police have the tracker,” Hermione asked.
“I have a tracker and he's on the other side of the Bay at the moment.”
“How did he find your house?” Hermione asked.
“I don't know. I was going to search my boats for trackers, but I was in a hurry to get over here, so I
didn't search any of them.”
“Can you check the boat at Ariana's dock now?”
“Yeah I will,” Damian said as Ariana pulled into her garage. Once they entered her house, he sorted through his duffle bag looking for his bug detector. Hermione followed him outside to watch.
“How does that work?” she asked playing fetch with Miguel while watching Damian.
“I left my cell phone inside the house because it would interfere. I turn off and unplug the sonar I use for this boat. Then this detector seeks out radio-frequency waves and the closer it gets to a source, the more it beeps. Here you use the detector, after I unplug the sonar,” Damian said handing her a device about the size of a large cell phone, but thicker.
Damian unplugged all of the gadgets on his boat and took out their batteries. Then watched Hermione as she turned on the tracker and began searching the boat. He called out to her, “If you find something don't touch it as I might be able to get a fingerprint off of it. I'll just pry it off and drop it into a baggie.”
She nodded and followed the beeping to a storage box under the seat. She picked up the cushion and opened the lid. She took out the life-preservers that Damian stored there and found a metal transmitter underneath. She pointed it out to Damian and said, “Want me to run in and get some salad tongs to pick it up with?”
“Good idea!”
Hermione came back with the specified kitchen item and picked up the metal device and dropped it into a baggie that Damian was holding out and asked, “Is it still transmitting now?”
“Should be. We'll cover it in a few layers of aluminum foil once we get inside. Whoever owns this tracker will have it's last known location, but after I'm done looking at it, I'll take it with me to a meeting in San Francisco or Redwood City this week and leave it there.”
“This is pretty cool stuff. Can I get a job with your company this summer? I like this science stuff you do.”
Damian had a flood of emotion hit him with Hermione's question. Pride, humility, awe, love, and pleasure. Swallowing he said, “Sure we'll work something out. We have to get you a boat safety class so you can commute to either my island or the Richmond Marina. Ariana and I will teach you and make sure we feel safe having you cross the Bay on your own.”
She rolled her eyes at this, but Damian just smiled knowing they were back on normal footing despite the stresses of John O'Ryan and her poster. It was all he could wish for as a parent at the moment.
Ariana was working on dinner and smiled at the last words she heard after they came through the door into her house and added, “The Bay is huge with lots of traffic at times, we don't want you plowed under by a ferry. You can be pulled over by the Coast Guard and asked to produce identification that proves you are sixteen. Then you'll have to get from the marina to the warehouse. You turn sixteen in May so you may have your driver's license to get from the marina to the warehouse, but then you'll need a car. So I think that if Damian doesn't give you a ride to work, that you'll need to take a car service as I can't see buying you a car to leave at the marina. We'll have to talk about the whole car thing as we get closer to your birthday. Lots to figure out.”
Hermione nodded with excitement and then asked, “How soon before dinner? I've got loads of homework tonight. I hate the start of each quarter as the teachers seem to pile on the work at the beginning.”
“About thirty minutes,” Ariana replied and smiled as she watched the teenager heft her backpack and head to her room.
Damian smiled at her departure and gave a brief thought as to how comfortable he was in Ariana's home with these two women. He wouldn't call himself a lucky man given his history, but he was a content and happy man.
“I'm going to go check your security system and I might add some motion sensors to your dock. There's a tracker in my boat and the only way it could have gotten there is if John O'Ryan was in his boat and dropped it my boat while it was parked at your dock, so I'm going to study your dock for ideas of how to prevent that in the future.”
“Maybe once John is captured by the police, our lives will be calm again.”
“Perhaps, but I haven't figured out Hermione's poster yet.”
“OMG! In my fear over John O'Ryan, I forgot about Hermione's poster. What did you find on that today?”
“Not much, but I want to take a look around your land while I have daylight. I'll tell you about it when I return.”
Gathering a few tools and with Miguel at his heels, he went back outside to look at the security system he'd modified a year ago when someone had been trying to kidnap Hermione. He felt like it would do its job to protect the women inside, but he wanted to check that all points were working and look at her dock. Then he thought again about the system and wondered how her stalker had known to take a boat to Ariana's dock to track any visitors rather than be caught by her security. He promised himself he would check the history on her system when he returned to the house.
Minutes later Ariana was opening the software screen on her computer.
“I was here on Monday of this week and Monday and Thursday of last week, so John O'Ryan had to have seen the boat one of those days and acquired his own boat on one of those days. Let's ask your system to show you all disturbances in the past week. You have it on all the time, right?”
“Ah, ….no. I usually only turn it on before I go to bed,” Ariana admitted.
Damian wasn't that surprised. Hermione had not been threatened for several months and the man that had caused problems was permanently out of the country. Ariana tended toward the reckless side, so he could see her getting lax with her alarms.
“Not to scare you, but this John fellow could have been waiting inside your house. In fact, he might have searched your clothes and stuff.”
Ariana shuddered at that thought and watched Damian run a report looking for motion on Ariana's property. She added an alarm to her phone to check that the security system was on. The first fifteen or so movements that Damian viewed were Ariana leaving or arriving home, or a delivery man. There was the odd animal that set it off – a squirrel running across her property, then finally he landed on a picture of John O'Ryan knocking on Ariana's front door. The intruder waited to see if anyone opened the front door then he pulled out the same pick set that he had at Damian's house and proceeded to let himself in.
Ariana let out a quiet string of expletives upon watching him enter her house and search it.
“I'm going to copy this activity and forward it to the police. I think that between the video of my house and yours that they have more than enough grounds to arrest him as well as seek the help of other police jurisdictions to capture him. Where was Miguel? I'm surprised he didn't greet Mr. O'Ryan.”
Ariana was mortified watching John search her drawers and closets and even sniff the pillows on her bed.
“I had taken him to the groomer that day, thankfully. After dinner, I'm heading out to the store to buy new pillows. I can't sleep on those tonight. I swear I'll use that alarm system diligently from now on just to keep perverts like John O'Ryan out of my house. I've seen enough, you can keep watching while I finish making dinner,” Ariana said in an angry voice that Damian had never heard from her.
He paused the video while watching her actions in her kitchen, then looked back down and hit play. It was probably a good thing she'd stopped watching as he was curious about what the intruder would do with Hermione's room. If Ariana was livid over watching the man in her bedroom, Damian knew she'd blow a gasket if she saw John in Hermione's room. As he predicted, John entered Hermione's room. He uttered an expletive under his breath as he watched the man take a small picture frame containing the photo of the three of them taken at Emirates Stadium in London where they'd watched Arsenal play soccer. John O'Ryan pulled out his cell phone and took a picture of the picture frame. He sped up the video after this now intent on finding out if there any other visits and there were not. Checking the date and time of the man's visit, Damian noted he'd been here at Ariana's
house while they were at Hermione's soccer try-outs. It was also when John dropped the tracker in Damian's boat. So, John had seen the boat return to the island and to the Richmond marina. He saved the footage and forwarded it to the Belvedere police and dialed the number of the officer that had taken their report.
“This is Officer Christopher Woodrow.”
“Hi Officer Woodrow, this is Damian Green. I just forwarded you video footage of John O'Ryan breaking into Ariana Knowles house. Have your officers made an arrest yet?”
“Not yet. Your green slime substance has sloughed off everywhere. The man used the outdoor shower at the marina and the men's bathroom to change into clean clothes. The address he gave the harbormaster for the boat rental belonged to a hotel and he was not a registered guest. We followed the signal to a second hotel where he showered and changed clothes and packed his belongings. With each washing, the signal has been weakening. Our latest tracking has him entering Muir Woods National Park. As you can see it's getting dark and the heavy tree cover is further distorting the signal. There is no camping inside the park, but he could be going through the park to the beach or just be planning on staying hidden.”
“I know the green dye color will stain him for about a month, but I've no experience with the GPS micro-crystals and it sounds like since they don't adhere to the dermis layer of his skin, that my signal may end with his next shower. I think it's supposed to rain tonight and that will rinse away whatever he's sloughing off, although I think it's too cold to stand out in the rain and let that cleanse the dye off his skin. He placed a tracker on my boat and followed the GPS signal to my home so he may be aware that he's omitting a signal himself with the technology he has.”
“Sausalito PD has a canine dog that we'll use in the morning, the woods are too dense and the weather is too lousy for a search in the dark,” replied Officer Woodrow. “Unless he leaves the woods and shows up at your house tonight, I don't think we'll have any new news overnight.”
Damian relayed the information to Ariana as he set the table for dinner. Once the three of them were eating, he told Hermione of his plans to visit San Francisco in the morning to find the owner of the cell phone.