Lauren, “Well, it’s been twenty-one hours, and–”
Hinton, “What do you mean, twenty-one hours; since what?”
Lauren looks at Agent Pratt with a slightly concerned expression. It appears she has made another rookie mistake, nearly divulging that the president is in seclusion—information that is limited to the Service, and of course the NSA.
Agent Pratt rescues her saying, “Twenty-one hours since our team has been on this assignment, and my boss is pushing to end this.”
Hinton looks as Lauren and says, “Okay. Well, what do they want?”
Lauren, both relieved and annoyed, “Oh, nothing, just that they’re recalling all the NSA team at six p.m., including the materials experts; the bomb team is outta here, and they are asking that we downsize the detail to just you, me, Reese, and Levy, for a one-to-one ratio.”
“One-to-one?” says Hinton; “what about the Phelps lady and Mary?”
Lauren, “They want to cut them loose.”
“Special. And so that means no one’s on perimeter.”
“Yeah, they’re saying we can work with local authorities.”
Hinton nods his head and says, “Lovely.”
Looking disappointed, Lauren follows with “I know.” The mood of success on this case has definitely begun to wane.
Pratt then says, “Look, there’s only—how many hours left of this, seven?”
Lauren says, “Closer to eight.”
Pratt thinks a moment and then says, “I tell you what, I’ll stand perimeter ’til six, as ordered; then I’ll make a slow, slow exit, maybe get a bite to eat here in town, and then mozy up the highway ’round seven thirty. How’s that?”
Lauren looks him in the eyes and says a very grateful thank you.
Hinton whispers to Lauren, “A twenty says that if it were just me looking sad, he would have packed up without a second thought.”
As they walk over to the first car (with James, Joanna and Mrs. Phelps), Lauren cuts her eyes at him with the slightest hint of an amused expression on her face. She replies, “In any case, do you want to bring everyone up to speed or shall I?”
“Never take a winning pitcher off the mound.”
“I’m gonna guess that means me.” He simply nods. Slipping into the front passenger seat of the first car, she says, “Okay, so far so good.” She speaks to everyone, making a point not to have her gaze linger on James alone. “I’d like to get everyone into the Market house for a little debrief and some instructions.”
James, on the other hand, cannot keep from looking at her face, and into her eyes every second he can. Undistracted, she continues politely requesting them to take a seat in the living room, not to answer the phone, or pickup any phone messages, or go near any of the windows. After communicating the same info to the second car, the family and Mrs. Phelps and Mary are brought into the house from the left sides of the vehicles so they are never clearly in view from the street.
Once the family is safely inside, Agent Brown says his goodbyes and heads out. Shortly after his departure, the bomb squad packs up, and with that, all other agents who were in town for the pursuit of Calvin Stone are gone. Agent Levy remains out front of the house in the remaining Secret Service vehicle, Agent Reese takes a position at the kitchen/back door of the house. Sandoval goes downstairs to clean up behind himself and, to the best of his ability, leave the place as he found it. Since he is among those to be transferred off this detail, he is trying to get to the FBI New York office and then home this Sunday as early as he can.
Hinton will be the only remaining FBI agent on the case. He goes down to assist Sandoval and to collect on his bet. “Hey, good job today. Take care.”
Sandoval, “Same to you. And I guess you’re just gonna stiff me on that Jackson you owe me.”
Hinton laughs, “Owe you? Hey, I just felt bad, stickin’ it to you twice and was gonna let it go!”
Still packing up, Sandoval says, “Whattaya mean?”
“Well, I figured you already figured that I spent the stakeout in the Phelps home, while you were out freezing your cojones in your truck.”
“Oh, yeah; that was crappy. But that’s why I enjoyed scarfing up your breakfast this morning.” He motions to mimic eating and winks at Hinton. “Besides, I figured an old dude like you couldn’t hack it outdoors on a real stakeout any longer.”
“On a chain around your neck!” blurts out Hinton.
“What?”
“You heard me, you keep your wedding band on a chain around your neck.”
“Ala! How did you figure–?”
“Look at your tools; neat, organized, that’s not a guy who loses track of stuff. You don’t wear any jewelry on the job, but you said you normally use a collar bar, so that tells me that your dress code is high. With the way you talk all lovey-dovey ’bout your wife, there’s no way you would leave home without your wedding band; so it was just a question of how to have it with you, but not risk leaving it in the wrong undercover clothes, or chance it getting scratched up in a pocket somewhere. And since electricians are generally careful about metal on their hands– Anyways, it has to be on a chain.”
“Bravo, Don Alberto.” Says Sandoval, as he reaches into his shirt to reveal the wedding band dangling on a gold chain. “Okay, here’s your twenty, and I’ll hand it to you as soon as you tell me what you meant by once bitten, twice shy.”
“How is that a deal? You owe me the money whether I tell you squat!”
“Aw, c’mon! It’ll make explaining to my wife why I don’t have the twenty I was supposed use to have to pick up the dry cleaning easier.”
“Oh, good grief! All right, give it here.” He takes a deep breath and says, “When I was about your age—You know what the phrase means, right? Once you’ve been hurt a certain way, you’re twice as shy, or cautious, about that way in the future.”
Still putting stuff away, Sandoval says, “Yeah, I got it.”
“Well, my partner and I worked off and on with another team, a guy and a girl. This girl was perfect. To make a long story short, we started seeing each other, on the hush, you know? I was doing pretty well at the bureau, and they made me an area super—kind of a junior bureau chief. She was working on a case that was kinda a high profile sting, so I nosed into it. Now, ever since I was a kid I’ve had a nose for when someone’s lying to me. So Friday rolls around, her case is coming to a head, and I’m talking to the bureau chief outta– Well, I’d rather not say which office, but I asked him if he had background checks run on all of the locals on the case. He said yes, but my gut said no. At any rate, I saw her that weekend and popped the question!”
Sandoval now stops his packing and just stands listening. He can sense that this story doesn’t end well.
“It was the best weekend of my whole life. She said yes, and … you know. She didn’t wear her engagement ring, either—we weren’t sure how the chief was gonna like us working in the same office and all. But–” his face dons a curious, almost nauseated expression as he says, “that Monday she didn’t report in—neither of ’em. They called and told me that she and her partner had been gunned down and I had to come into work.”
Sandoval stands there in shock, “Wow!”
“Took me all of four hours—four hours—to check and find the dirty cop that gave ’em up. The researcher on the project was only checking the leads, not their partners, assuming that if one was clean.” He takes a deep sigh. “Once bitten, twice shy. I always check who I’m teamed with now. It’s nothing personal.”
“Sure. Wow, man! I’m sorry.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it; I haven’t told that story for a long while. It was overdue.”
“Wow, I’m gonna squeeze the crap outta my wife when I get home!”
His expression causes Hinton to smile. Turning to leave he says, “You do that.” As he proceeds upstairs, he turns back and says, “Hey, that was a load you gave me earlier, wasn’t it?”
“What?”
“About the
twenty being for your wife’s dry cleaning, that’s a lie, right?”
Sandoval looks at him and smiles a little and says, “You’ve still got it!”
• • •
Meanwhile upstairs, Lauren has everyone in the living room. She tells them the status of the case. “Okay, first let me tell you the good news. We are certain that Calvin Stone was, at the very least, the only worrisome member of a team trying to kidnap Joey.” Everyone is stunned but hanging on to her every word—James, most of all. “From what we’ve found, we can tell that he or they had about three plans to carry this out, all three of which we have stopped.”
Joanna says, “Thank God;” and they all begin to talk about why Joe.
Lauren continues, “If you’ll wait ’til I’m done to discuss this among yourselves; there are a few more things to cover.”
They quiet down and make apologies for interrupting.
Lauren, “Well, as you were no doubt wondering—why Joey? I’m sorry but I’m not allowed to speculate, but as I mentioned earlier, we have reason to believe it has something to do with Joey’s predictions of nine years ago. We—the Secret Service—were alerted to this by various means and are dedicated to seeing to your safety. This means that we must insist on the following rules.” Lauren’s cell phone begins to ring, but she quickly checks to see who’s calling and silences it. “So, first and foremost, you’re all well. The Market family has each been paired with an agent who you will remain buddied up with until we depart. Joanna, you will be with me, Hinton is with Joey, James will work with Agent Reese, and Mr. Market you are with Agent Levy.”
James’ face registers his disappointment.
“The exceptions to this are few. You’ll have privacy in the rest room of course, and if you are in a group, as we are now, your agent is free to attend to other matters. Is everybody clear on this so far?”
They all nod, and otherwise acknowledge their agreement.
Lauren turns to Mrs. Phelps and Mary and says, “Now Mrs. Phelps, you are actually released from this project, you and Mary, but as a favor to me, personally, I would like to ask you to stay with our little group through dinner.”
Mrs. Phelps answers, “Oh? Oh, that’s not a problem. Mary needs to run some personal errands, but I can stay. I usually don’t do much of anything at this time, anyway—other than a nap.”
Lauren, “Well, perhaps we can arrange that.”
Joanna says with a smile, “Yes, yes, we can accommodate you, Mrs. P,” rekindling the warmth that her family has felt towards her over the years.
Lauren continues, “In closing, there are still two document recovery team members here; and, we are hopeful that they might still discover Joey’s ellusive journal. When– Should they locate it, they will leave to analyze it, immediately; otherwise they will leave with the four of us at eight p.m.. Between now and then, we will watch over you, continue to conduct interviews to see if there’s more to be learned about the predictions, then; at that time, we’ll pack up.” Then, looking squarely at James, she says, “being sure to provide contact information so we can stay in touch.”
At long last James can breathe again. He takes a deep breath and smiles. Robert is well pleased with the circumstances, and ready to simply slip out of his church clothes and read the paper.
As Joanna gets ready to take Mrs. Phelps to a guest room for her nap, she notices Joseph’s quiet disposition and says, “Joe? What’s going on with you?”
Preoccupied he says, “I, um, I’m not sure. Something seems … I don’t know Mom, my mind just seems to be racing.”
“Okay,” she says, “I’ll check back with you in a minute.”
At that point, Sandoval emerges from the basement, officially the last agent who has been ordered off the case that is still around, he says his goodbyes. “Well folks, that’s it for me. It was nice meeting you all. If you look downstairs I’ve cleaned everything up. And hey, the burn smell is already beginning to fade.” The family thanks him for his service, shaking his hand heartily.
Joanna separates from Mrs. Phelps for long enough to give him a hug and whisper, “God bless you for all you’ve done for our family.”
He whispers back, “Keep the faith; he is the one who has and will keep your family safe.”
Last but not least, he meets Hinton at the door and shakes his hand and says, “You’re a great agent, sir, it’s been a privilege, and I would love to report to you someday.”
Hinton smiles, “Thank you. I don’t do mushy, so, vete a casa, tómate un trago, y hazle el amor a tu esposa.”
Sandoval laughs heartily, “So you’re a mind reader too?” The men part, and Sandoval gets in his electricians truck and drives off.
• • •
With his departure, Agent Pratt moves to the kitchen back door when Lauren accompanies Joanna and Mrs. Phelps upstairs. As she leaves the room she glances back and catches James eyes upon her.
Joanna asks Mrs. Phelps, “Are you sure you don’t want to get a change of clothes?”
Mrs. Phelps, “No, all I need is a robe perhaps. I’ll slip out of this dress and stockings and I’ll be asleep before you know it.”
As they walk through the upstairs hallway the two materials experts are deeply immersed in an open floorboard they have flipped up in Joseph’s room. Lauren and Joanna both take notice and glance at each other while proceeding on with Mrs. Phelps into the upstairs guest room.
As Mrs. Phelps disrobes Lauren notices her sleepy face looking somewhat downcast, which reminds her of something she had been meaning to tell her, “Mrs. Phelps, when I first came into your home, I noticed you looking at me with a puzzled expression. Do I seem familiar to you ma’am?”
Mrs. Phelps, “Yes, you certainly do. I’ve been thinking that from the first time I saw you!”
“Well, ma’am, you have seen me before; it was a few days ago, outside of Denver.”
“Oh?”
“At a funeral ma’am.”
“Oh, ohhhh. Yes, yes. I thought I saw someone who I didn’t recognize, and it was you! Yes! Wha– Why? Um, was that a part of this?”
“Yes ma’am, I was checking on some factual data related to this case.”
“Ohhh, okay. Well, you certainly are thorough! Thank you for relieving my bewilderment.”
“You’re welcome ma’am.”
Joanna and Lauren return downstairs, quietly shutting the door, as Mrs. Phelps seems to have already drifted off to sleep. As Lauren heads for the far end of the room where James is, Joanna walks over towards Joseph, which brings about the most suspicious and concerned expression on his face. She says:
“Joey, what is with you?”
But almost in a trance Joseph says, “I think that I am having the most incredible sense of déjà vu ever.”
“Really?” says Joanna who is actually a little relieved.
“Yeah, only it is still going, including what you just said!”
The large sitting room accommodates everyone nicely, Agents Pratt and Levy are out back and in front respectively, Mary, in preparation for leaving to run some errands, is in the guest bathroom, but Agent Hinton is sitting in the chair closest to the front of the room, Joanna takes a seat on the sofa next to Joseph, who has Agent Reese on his other side. Across from them Robert is in his chair going through the newspaper, and at the far end of the room James leans against the wall behind Joseph’s favorite chair near the TV. The only other person not there is Mrs. Phelps, who is upstairs resting, and, of course, the materials experts who are searching upstairs.
Lauren, who felt James’ eyes on her all the way down the stairs, and from the moment she entered the room, works her way over to him, and figuring that Hinton and Reese had the room well covered, she asks him:
“Mr. Market, would you mind stepping into the kitchen a moment.”
James smiles a little and says quietly, “Far be it from me ma’am to deprive you–”
“Get in there!” says Lauren, and the two go through the dining room int
o the kitchen.
Hinton makes note of their departure; he has something he needs to discuss with Lauren in private himself.
Entering the kitchen, James takes a few steps towards the center of the room and turns around and looks at her. Just inside the door she says, “Okay, so now you know the whole story. What do you think?”
“I think I’d like to see you when this is all over.”
Taking a step closer to him, she says, “Okay, you mean like a date?”
“Definitely.”
Looking at him, she says, “Okay, so, do you want my phone number or something?”
Taking a step closer to her, he says, “Don’t I already have it? Isn’t the one you gave me on the flyer correct?”
She takes a step closer also—now they’re just a foot or so apart. “Oh, that’s right. It is for now, but if you don’t call me in about a week that number will be switched off.”
He hums the theme to Mission Impossible, “Daa-da, da-da-daa-da;” which makes her laugh. James looks at her, and moving slightly closer says, “I haven’t heard you laugh since you became an agent.”
Suddenly, feeling a little self-conscious she looks down and says, “I was always an agent, James.”
He lifts her chin so he can see her face and says, “I think you know what I mean Miss Bennet,” a reference from Pride and Prejudice, which brings a big smile to her face, and she laughs again.
• • •
Meanwhile back in the living room, Joseph has another strange reaction, “Mommmmm.”
Joanna, “Yeees?”
“That laugh, coming from the kitchen? That’s apart of my déjà vu, also!”
Joanna’s comfort with the situation begins to wane as she asks, “What about what I’m saying now?”
“Uh, huh,”
Agent Reese listens in as Joseph says, “And Agent Lauren and Jimbo are going to come into the dining room through the swinging door.” Even as he is saying it Lauren and James enter the dining room.
“Oh, my God!” says Joanna.
The Journal: A Prophecy, A President & Death Page 34