Extreme Heat Warning: A Shallow End Gals Trilogy, Book Two

by Graybosch, Vicki

  Roger yelled for Paul to stay with Ray. He told the nurses to have security lock down the hospital, and he took off looking for anyplace the guard could have gone. Local PD had been called in, and after an hour Roger returned to Ray’s room. Roger looked at Ray and said, “I think some pretty powerful people are worried about what you might know.”

  Ray looked pale, “I’m not a field agent. I’m a geek. I’m not into this rough stuff! That bug can be boosted over cell phones.” He looked at the blank faces of Paul and Roger as he held up a small wire, “I disabled it. Not cheap equipment! They could be anywhere that has cell phone towers and listen. They don’t need to be close. I think I want to be wherever you two are.”

  Roger got Ray’s personal information and called the local field office to send people to Ray’s home and check things out. About thirty minutes later they received a call that Ray had definitely had company and most of his computers were gone. Roger relayed the information to Ray. “Damn. Damn! I’ve got years’ worth of special programs on those computers!” Ray was sitting on the edge of the bed. “They went to my house? Now what?” Roger felt like he needed time to think. He asked two state police troopers to watch Ray. Paul and Roger found their way to the hospital cafeteria.

  Paul got himself two cups of coffee and a small roll. Roger got a carton of milk. They sat at a brightly lit table, next to a window, far from the rest of the cafeteria crowd. They watched as security and local cops passed the doorway and crawled through the parking lot. The whole place was on high alert. Paul took a bite of his roll, swallowed, and said, “I think Thor has a point!”

  Roger took a swig of his milk, “What’s that?”

  Paul smiled, “How do I spend so much time around you?” Roger and Paul both chuckled. Paul knew seeing Ray relatively healthy went a long way toward restoring Roger’s momentum.

  Roger’s phone rang. It was the Director. Roger had called the Director earlier and told him about the bug and the unknown guard. Now he listened for a while, said “Thank you, Sir”, and then snapped his phone shut. He looked at Paul and said, “Our guard was a spook. After the bombing he stayed with Ray to protect him. Left when he saw us arrive. No info on the flowers, and none of the nurses could remember when they were placed in there. The Director says they are currently negotiating which agency gets the bug. Everybody wants these guys.”

  Roger asked, “What do you think of taking Ray with us? If the doctor says he can travel.”

  “I was thinking about how strange it sounds, but New Orleans may be the safest place for him.”

  Roger was nodding, “I think so too.”

  Earlier in the day Ellen had told us to locate Mambo, Jeremiah, and Jeanne and get to know them to increase our ability to locate them by aura. We decided to find Jeanne first. She knew both Jeremiah and Mambo, and we could get information from her that might help us with them. We found Jeanne standing in a bookstore by the front window. She was pretending to look at books but watching a man who was sitting across the street, on the sidewalk in front of Mickey’s Bar. He had a saxophone across his lap, and he looked like he was sleeping.

  Mary said, “I am trying to read her thoughts, but I am just getting mumbles.” Teresa leaned in closer to Jeanne, I accidently knocked a couple of books from a shelf. The loud bang made Jeanne jump.

  Linda looked at me, “Why don’t you just sit down somewhere?” Fine. I summoned a chair and sat above them.

  Teresa said, “She is wondering what that guy is really doing across the street. Mathew Core’s building that our guys are going to use is right next door to this bookstore. She thinks that guy is spying on what is happening over there.”

  Just then we saw a very good looking man stop and talk to the saxophone man, and they both went into the bar. Teresa said, “She doesn’t like this. She wants to know who that is.” They waited about ten minutes, and the good looking man came out of the bar.

  Jeanne put the book back on the shelf and walked across the street. Mary asked, “Are we going in?”

  Linda looked at her, “Yeah, why?”

  “I just think I’m going to change clothes is all.” I thought Mary looked fine, but the short set she put on was really cute. She had a visor hat that said Mickey’s Bar.

  “How cute!” I said, and made a hat for myself too! It really helped with the glaring sun. I elbowed Mary, “You should have been a fashion designer instead of an elementary teacher! That short set really rocks!”

  Mary answered, “You know, I thought seriously about that at one time. My mom…”

  Linda interrupted us, “Can we do ‘This is your life’ after we check out what is happening in here?” Geesh.

  We went in just as Jeanne was smashing the guy’s head into the bar. Okay, this chick isn’t messin’ around. We all flew in and made a protective circle around her. Teresa was ready for action, but Jeanne had everything under control.

  We hung around for a while and found out the guy was named Tourey. He was a CIA undercover agent who actually lived in New Orleans. He was watching the building to see if anyone else appeared to be watching the building. He knew the FBI was moving in. He had watched the raid earlier. Jeanne didn’t give him any information. She got an address for him, a contact phone number, and asked if they could call him if needed. She apologized for roughing him up and left.

  Linda captured his address and phone number on her memory card, and we followed Jeanne to her car. We all got in her back seat, so we could listen to her thoughts for a while and try to get a stronger handle on her aura. She drove around some of the most beautiful neighborhoods, very slowly. She went down a few alleys, and we heard her think, “I know his house is around here somewhere. I remember an alley and a wrought iron fence. She laughed at herself, “That describes half the houses in New Orleans.” she drove a while longer and then started out of town toward the swamps. We could tell from the Swamp Tour signs we were very close. Jeanne pulled into a dirt drive that curled around for some distance before opening up to a small shack of a house with several outbuildings. An old red pickup was parked by the shack, and a large flat bottom boat was tied to a log at the edge of the swamp.

  An old man walked from around the corner of the far shed. He raised his hand in greeting, and Jeanne smiled. She liked this man. Teresa shouted, “That’s Jeremiah!” Cool, now we don’t have to find him. We watched them walk toward the boat and sit on two stumps near the swamp edge. Jeremiah was skinning minks.

  “Ugh!” We all said at the same time.

  “How gross!” Mary said as she put a hankie to her nose. Matched her outfit. How cute!

  Jeanne pulled a knife from her boot and started helping him skin. They made small talk for a while, but we were all more interested in the swamp. I kept looking into the water between the marsh grasses looking for snakes and alligators. Teresa yelled at us from about thirty feet into the swamp, “You guys! Come here!” We all flew over to see a whole family of alligators sunning along the bank. Even a couple of itty-bitty ones.

  We all said “Awwww.” The mommy rose up, opened her mouth, and made a terrible noise. She slammed her tail a couple of times on the ground and was looking right at us! Shit!

  “She can see us!” I screamed as I flew back to Jeanne and Jeremiah.

  Linda yelled at me, “Come back and talk to them.”

  What? I flew back and looked at Linda, “Do what?”

  She answered, “See if you can talk to alligators.”

  “You talk to the alligators.”

  Mary said, “Let me try. Hello, we think your children are adorable.” Nothing.

  Then the big alligator said, “What are you?” We all figured he was the dad.

  Mary swallowed and said, “We are angels. We won’t hurt you.”

  The other large alligator said, “Go away.” Don’t have to tell me twice.

  We all flew back to Jeanne and Jeremiah. “They just aren’t real sociable,” Teresa said. “Now we know we can talk to them.”

  Jere
miah looked at Jeanne and said, “Are you ready to go see Mambo?”

  Jeanne answered, “Yeah, and I want you to show me where you think I was sent into the swamp.”

  We all looked at each other. Teresa said, “An adventure!” Oh goody goody.

  I was starting to feel hot and buggy, “I think I’m sweating. Do we sweat? I didn’t like to sweat when I was alive, and I’m not real happy now.”

  I no sooner said that than Mary squealed, “Al! Oh My Gosh, it’s Al!” We all turned around. Al Roker was standing behind Jeremiah and Jeanne as they were loading the boat.

  “Hi Gals! Did I hear someone request a refreshing breeze?” His big smile appeared and a cool breeze started blowing over us…. awahhhh…. Mary was a huge fan of Al Roker. She couldn’t stop giggling.

  Al said, “You know this is hurricane season. I’m trying to decide if we are going to need one to help you gals, or maybe stop one to help you gals. Who knows? I think we can at least lower the temperature some and have a small storm threat while we sort this out.” He looked at me, “And a little breeze.” I said thank you, and he disappeared.

  Mary was beside herself! “Oh my! I can’t believe it!”

  This unbelievable stuff was happening with a fair amount of regularity lately. I was starting to wonder what would truly surprise me when a large knife slashed through my chest. Jeanne had thrown it right through me at a large snake crawling down a tree branch right behind Jeremiah. Jeremiah looked behind him. “Thanks, that one was poisonous,” and kept loading the boat.

  I looked at Teresa, “Did you see that?” Teresa nodded. Jeanne went over and yanked her knife out of the tree. The snake was about four feet long and fell to the ground motionless, in halves. Okeey Dokeey.

  Jeremiah picked it up and threw it into the swamp. “Snack time for the gators. We ready to go yet, or you wan’ to kill somethin’ else?” Jeanne chuckled and joined him in the boat.

  “I work for the FBI, Jeremiah. I don’t want you to worry about me.”

  Jeremiah chuckled, “I figure you be somethin’. And it be a lot more ‘en FBI. I’d be more worried about the other guy after watchin’ you with that blade. You shoot too?”

  Jeanne answered, “Yes.”

  Jeremiah adjusted the patch on his bad eye, shook his head, and said, “My daddy would never have believed this. You just give me fair warnin’ if’n I ever piss you off. I only got one good eye you know.”

  Devon and Rebecca had gone to a couple of stores in the mall and were walking towards the exit. Devon had actually enjoyed his time with Rebecca. He saw a jewelry store and said, “Why don’t we pick out some earrings for you as a memory of our shopping trip?”

  Rebecca squealed and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “How wonderful! Thank you!” She ran ahead of him and was looking through the case. The merchant was pulling out a display for her to look at closer. Devon noticed she had picked out the smallest stones in the store.

  He smiled to himself, “Why don’t we look at these?” he said to the merchant who readily moved down the case. They were now in front of the nicer earrings.

  Devon let her pick out a pair and told her to wear them. He paid the merchant and put the box and receipt into his pocket. He would need them in a few days when he returned them. She wouldn’t need them after she was dead.

  Thor, Nelson, Manigat, and Frost all boarded the FBI jet for New Orleans. When they were settled, Thor asked Frost, “Are those the transactions Roger wanted you to review?”

  Simon Frost was sorting a huge pile of papers and answered, “Yeah, there’s a ton. Want some?”

  Thor looked out the window of the plane and said, “Bring a couple over here and show me what you look for.” Then he looked at Nelson and Manigat, “You guys might as well learn something too. I have a feeling Roger will need all of us to get through the data in this case.”

  The center of the jet had a table that folded down, and they all sat around it. Frost handed them each a stack of papers and said, “Ray Davis, the IT guy that got bombed this morning, sent this cheat sheet to Roger as being account numbers of particular importance. We should look for patterns between accounts. Here are the codes you use for the international transfers. I have numbered the tops of these pages. There are three hundred and forty seven of them. I suggest you write your findings on a separate piece of paper. These may be the only copies we ever see of these transactions.” They all looked at each other.

  Thor said, “Something in here is important enough to kill federal agents. This is probably the map to a lot of dirty secrets.” They all quickly became engrossed in their work.

  Thor looked at the stack in front of him. This morning he would have cried if someone asked him to do this. Now he felt a fire in him that had been gone for some time. He looked at the other agents concentrating on their task. This was a damn good team. Roger had put him in charge. Roger had faith in him even after…Thor’s phone rang. It was Roger. “Yeah,” Thor listened a while, shut his phone, and noticed the team was looking at him with anxiety. This must be what Roger experiences about twenty times a day Thor thought. “Actually good news, Ray is in good enough condition to travel, and Paul and Roger are bringing him down here. Someone searched his home, took his computers, and planted a listening devise in his hospital room.”

  Frost said, “The good news must have been he’s in good enough condition to travel. The rest of that sounded pretty bad.”

  Thor nodded, “You deal with what you’re dealt.” He laughed to himself. Roger had just said that to him an hour ago.

  Ellen had summoned a pet carrier for herself and was waiting in the FBI jet when Roger, Paul, and Ray boarded. Roger had been wondering how he was going to manage without Ellen. He looked at the carrier and said, “Hey, you beat me here! Did they treat you okay? Do you want out?” Ellen just curled up with her back to the carrier opening. It was all just for show, for Ray, to explain how she got to New Orleans, so she decided to take a nap.

  Ray, who was obviously surprised asked, “That’s your cat? You take it on field assignments?”

  Roger put his finger to his lips, “Shhhhh. She doesn’t think she’s a cat.”

  Ray looked at Paul who just shrugged. Ray shook his head and looked for a recliner type of seat. There was one in the back, and he asked Roger if it would be okay to rest his eyes a while. Roger said, “Please, you probably should still be in the hospital.” Ray waved him off, and they heard him snoring within ten minutes.

  Paul whispered to Roger, “You know, this is how those rumors start about crazy bosses.” Roger held his hands up like “What can I do?”

  Paul had lowered a table and had brought out the notes from Ellen’s conversations with Kim. Ellen appeared next to them on the table. Roger and Paul both looked back to Ray who was sound asleep. An earpiece appeared, and Roger put it on. He looked at Ellen, “I suppose I should call Kim?” Ellen winked.

  Roger called Kim, “Hi, I’m at the casino. Ellen called and said Paul needs to hear Ashley’s thoughts.” Roger said, “Are you sure?” Ellen winked. “Okay, I’m giving Paul the earpiece.”

  Paul’s eyes got big, “Me?” Then he said, “Kim?”

  Kim answered, “Ellen wants you to hear Ashley’s thoughts.”

  “Okay.” Paul looked at Roger who just shrugged. Ellen was gone.

  Paul heard Kim say, “She is worried she made a mistake. She doesn’t want to get into trouble. She has a friend, a guy named John Barry who she sent to New Orleans to find and kill Devon. He has already arrived there. She doesn’t know how to reach him to stop him. The number she had for him has been disconnected. I think that’s all.”

  Paul said “Thanks,” took the earpiece off, and looked at Roger.

  “Ashley hired a hit man for Devon. Now she wants to stop him, but she doesn’t know how to reach him. His name is John Barry. She thinks he’s already down there.”

  Roger rubbed the side of his face, “That’s all we need. John Barry is a retired spook.” Roger looked at P
aul, “Call Ashley. See if she won’t just confess to you. Maybe she can remember something that will help us stop him before he ruins his life, hers, and our case!”

  Paul noticed the earpiece had disappeared, and Ellen was back in her carrier. He dialed Ashley, “Paul? I have been thinking about calling you. Are you all right?”

  Paul said, “Yes. How are you holding up?”

  There was a pause, “Paul, I think I made a terrible mistake, and I don’t know how to fix it.”

  Paul sighed with relief. Ashley was going to tell him, “And what mistake is that?”

  A nice looking man in his fifties sat on a stool in the sidewalk bar at the Marriott on Canal Street, watching the people walk by. The bartender, Julie, asked him if he wanted bourbon. He answered no, and asked her how far he was from the police station. She drew him a little map and told him to cab there. It was too hot to walk, and he didn’t want to walk through some of those neighborhoods. He thanked her, went outside, and hailed a cab.

  The cabby dropped him off and said, “You want me to wait? Not that easy getting a cab to come here.”

  He chuckled, “Seems like it would be pretty safe in front of the police station.”

  The cabby said, “Not the fares you pick up! Deliveries are fine.” He told the cab to wait. He walked up the wide staircase and marveled at the beautiful architecture of the building.

  He approached the desk sergeant and asked, “Where is your homicide department?”

  The desk sergeant frowned at him, “Who wants to know?”

  He answered, “Retired CIA, John Barry.”

  The desk sergeant buzzed someone, talked for a minute, and told John to take the elevators to the third floor, and turn left. John thanked him, found his way to the office, and opened the door. It was utter chaos. John could tell in a glance they were woefully understaffed.