"The Coffee House Spy" 11

Emily stared at the small square drive in her hand; why was it hidden in Sir Harry’s collar? It didn’t look like a chip used for tracking. She contemplated how she could see what was on it, but it wasn’t the size of her phone’s external storage drive or her computer’s. It looked specific to some kind of device she didn’t have.

She knew the dog’s owner would be able to answer her questions and considered making a phone call, but should she alert him to the fact she’d found it? She wasn’t sure she could trust him and didn’t know what he’d do about it. She’d have to wait until he came home to question him.

She tucked the small drive into the plastic pouch inside her note pad, where she kept extra pens and paperclips, and zipped it closed. She reopened the manuscript she’d been editing and tried to concentrate on it and ignore the discovery.

“Chapter three, only seventeen more chapters to go,” she said with a sigh and held her fine, red tip marker over the first page, ready to strike at any typo or grammatical error she found.

 

The room grew dark as the sun set and Emily reached up to adjust her desk lamp, turning it to the highest setting. She absently turned the page to begin Chapter ten but Sir Harry’s snoring filled the room to a distracting decibel; it was hard to ignore it.She smiled down at the sleeping dog and put down her red pen. It was getting late anyway, and she hadn’t had dinner. She put her pen away and her eyes were drawn to that square drive in the pouch again.

Why was it stitched into the dog’s collar? If she were hiding something in such a clandestine way, it’d have to be something she’d want to keep a secret.  So did the drive hold a secret…was it a top secret? Like something a spy would have to hide? It was a strange way to hide something if it wasn’t a secret, so it had to be hidden for a covert purpose.

Emily’s imagination took her into a noir film, complete with shadowed characters in fedoras with hand guns hidden in trench coats. She chuckled at her active imagination, but something was up with that dog’s owner and it felt very cloak and dagger.

She looked at her small desk clock and saw it was a quarter after eight; should she risk a call to Brent? She had no idea where he was or what time it might be there, or if she should tell him what she’d discovered but she picked up her cell phone and considered making the call.

She was scrolling through her contacts for Bent’s number when she heard a noise that sounded as if it had came from her living room; her heart skipped a beat.

Sir Harry’s eyes opened, his ears went up in alert and he rolled to his feet. He crept to the bedroom door and sniffed at the space under it, and the hair on his neck and back stood up.

When Emily saw that reaction, she knew the dog had detected something troublesome but oddly, he didn’t bark. It was as if he knew he had to remain quiet. He was a well trained dog but Emily wondered what he’d been trained for? Did his behavior fit the role of a spy dog?

She heard another noise and barely held back a scream; this time it sounded like someone was rattling the door knob on her apartment door. Someone was trying to break in!

Emily opened her bedroom door and peeked out, to her relief she saw there was no one in her living room, but someone was trying to open the door. She picked up her large purse and threw her note pad and computer into it before she slung it over her shoulder and motioned for Sir Harry to follow her; he dutifully did.

They went into the kitchen and she opened the window, expecting to have to hoist the dog onto the fire escape but he leaped out the window on his own, and landed lightly on his paws on the metal flooring. Emily was grateful for his agility and followed the dog onto the fire escape. She closed the kitchen window and, with the dog in silent communication, they slowly crept down to the next floor below.

The light was on in the kitchen of that fourth floor apartment and she peeked inside, but the room was empty. She saw no sign of her odd, new neighbor, but tapped on the window hoping he was home. There was no response. She tried the window and to her relief found it wasn’t locked. She crawled through the open window and Sir Harry leaped in gracefully behind her.

“Okay boy, stay quiet. I’ll go find our bird-watching neighbor,” she whispered to the dog and closed the window, locking it for safety.

Emily stepped into the living room and found all the lights were on but her neighbor wasn’t in that room either. That left the bedroom as a possibility. She certainly didn’t want to catch him in there; who knew what he slept in…bird pajamas? Or none? Ewwww, either way it wasn’t appealing to disturb him in there, but she had no choice; she’d have to. She needed his help, someone was in her apartment.

She walked towards the bedroom door but something on the desk in the corner of the living room caught her attention; it was an open computer screen. She stepped closer because it appeared to be showing a live feed of her hallway, the video was panning from her apartment door to a portion of the hallway outside of it.

Emily stood in shock; a creepy feeling prickled along her nerves. Her strange neighbor was spying on her! Was he a stalker, a voyeur…a murderer? Her heart pumped harder, her palms sweat with fear; she needed to get out of his apartment, but another thought froze in place.

Was her odd neighbor the one breaking into her apartment right now?

She stood in indecision, not knowing where to run, when on the screen her apartment door opened. Emily's eyes went wide when a large man peeked out into the hallway; he looked surreptitiously both ways before stepping fully into the hallway and closing the door behind him, and it wasn’t her neighbor. She has no idea who the man was.

She quickly grabbed her phone from her purse’s side pocket and opened the camera, aimed it at the screen, and took his picture. She had no idea why anyone would break into her apartment but her intuition told her it had something to do with that dog collar, and since this neighbor was watching her too, he could be involved in it too, or just a weirdo. Either way she had to get out of here before he found her here, but she didn’t want to run into that man leaving her apartment either.

Emily crept back to the kitchen and opened the window. She motioned Sir Harry to take a leap up first and he did, then she followed him out. They made their way back up the metal stairway to her apartment.

She’d decided, she was going to pack a few things for her and Sir Harry and get the hell out of there!

*

The three agents were attired in the night watchman uniforms that Grace had supplied them with. They’d parked a few spaces apart from each other in the employee parking area of the storage warehouse and placed their coms in their ears.

“Time,” Brent said.

“Nineteen hundred hours,” Thies replied and heard a like response from Stacy and Brent.

“Do we go in one at a time, or all together?” Stacy asked into her com.

“We don’t want to look like the musketeers; we’ll go in a few minutes apart.” Brent suggested.

“And we don’t want anyone to think we know each other either,” Thies warned.

“Right, these watchmen are loners, no connections, no loyalty,” Stacy recited.

“No loyalty we know of,” Thies corrected.

“True. Our coms are working and we’ll stay connected, keep the communication open at all times,” Brent instructed.

“Do we know if the warehouse is rigged to jam signals? We’re parked next to each other so this distance is good for reception but can we be sure inside?” Stacy questioned.

“We’ll test it. When you get to the employee door, I’ll say something into the com and you flip your hair back if you hear it and when you step-”

“What like a teenage girl flirting?” Stacy scoffed, interrupting Brent’s instructions but when Thies chuckled at her response, she added, “I think Thies should go first and flip his hair back.”

“Fine, I don’t mind going first,” Thies said with another chuckle and stepped out of his car before anyone responded. He walked to the employee door and heard Brent’s voice clearly through his com.

“Dog on your left.”

Thies responded by smoothly sliding his left hand through his hair and Brent knew he’d heard him.

“Okay; see you inside,” Brent added.

Thies punched in the access code, opened the door and went inside.

Brent waited several minutes then said, “Time?”

“Same bat time,” Thies whispered; his humorous response carried to both Brent and Stacy and they knew their coms worked inside.

“Stacy; you’re next.”

“Okay.” She stepped out of her car and walked towards the warehouse entrance but before she got there she heard Brent in her ear.

“Slow down and let the tail go in first.”

“What’s with the dog anecdotes?” She whispered just as another watchman sidled up to.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you here before,” he said looking her up and down and smiling before adding, “That figure, I’d never forget.”

The deep timber of this Romeo, watchman’s voice annoyed her, but she had to force a friendly smile and play nice.

“It’s my first night.”

“Great; I can show you the ropes.”

“I think I’ll be fine” she said flatly.

Romeo stepped in front of her when they got to the entrance and punched in the code. When the door clicked, he held it open for her.

Stacy shook her head. “You go on in; I need a minute.”

Romeo hesitated looking at her oddly, assessing her.

“Are you nervous…?” He read her name tag.

“No,” she said with a casual shrug, “I just want to get in a smoke before I’m locked in for the night.”

Romeo guy smiled with understanding.

“I get it; I quit a few years back but I remember that nicotine need; I’ll see you inside.” He winked at her before he went in.

Stacy sent a frustrated look Brent’s way even though he wouldn’t see it.

“Thanks for the heads up,” she mumbled into the com.

Brent chuckled, “No problem, but I knew you’d handle it; nice job…do you need a cig?”

“Funny, but now I have to wait out here for a minute or two so you may as well go in before me.”

Brent said nothing to her as he walked up to the door, punched in the code and stepped inside.

Stacy waited another few seconds before she did the same.

A desk clerk made her sign in next to her name and then handed her the equipment she’d need for the night watch and a badge with her first name typed on a label and stuck on it.

Persephone, she grumbled the name silently. She owed Thies big time for that one!

 

The foreman was a muscled, military, drill sergeant type and barked their assignments to them in a no nonsense voice.

Stacy lucked out; she was assigned the hall on the second floor that led to the storage room where Brent’s brother’s stuff was locked away.

Brent was given a hallway patrol also on the 2nd floor and Thies was assigned to the main hall on the first floor, where they were assembled.

The main hall was a large circular room with seven large, bank vault type doors sealed in the walls. There were alarms on each one and camera’s visible at every angle. Thies wondered what they held inside, to have this much security.

“Are you clear on what you’ll do on patrol?” The foreman barked the question as he handed each one a paper. The paper held specific instructions for their assigned area.

“Yes sir.” The night watch team replied in unison.

Stacy looked at the paper the foreman had given her. It had a map of the hall she would guard and it showed twelve locked storage units. The instructions bulleted the responsibilities, to periodically check the locks, listen and watch for anything suspicious and to report any discrepancies to the sergeant immediately over the walkie-talkie they’d all been given.

Stacy looked at Brent as he looked up from his paper. They telegraphed their good luck in their assignments. She’d be passing Brent several times as they made their interconnecting rounds on the second floor; he’d been assigned to the adjacent hall.

“You’ll take your break as noted and at that time only. You’re to call me before you go; I will cover your area during your break. Now, if you’ve no questions, you can follow the map and head to your areas.”

Stacy raised her hand and the foreman gave her an exasperated look.

“This isn’t kindergarten you can speak up.”

“What if nature calls? Where’s the ladies; I don’t see it on the map?”

The deep frown said the question didn’t sit well with the sergeant-type foreman, nor did he appreciate the stifled chuckles from the other guards.

“It’s down the hall from the main entrance and to your left, but if you need to leave your post to visit it you must call me first. And that goes for all of you; is that clear, no one leaves their assigned area?”

The guards nodded and mumbled a firm, “Yes sir.”

“Good, now go!”

The group of nine trudged off with guns in holsters, flashlights in hand and eyes alert as they veered off in different directions in the four story building. There’d be two guards stationed on each floor and one on the main level.

 

Stacy felt a chill when she turned down the long hallway, as if eyes were on her but she didn’t see any cameras to warrant the feeling. There were alarms on the doors and with two assigned guards watching at all times it was secure, in this case by her and Brent, but still, it was standard procedure to have cameras, but there were no cameras in this hallway and for a security facility that was odd. Whatever was being held on this floor, in these rooms, was not being video recorded, not open for scrutiny of any kind, a secret storage area.

“You got camera’s Brent?” She whispered into her com.

“Yeah the usual amount why?”

“None here,” she whispered back.

“That’s odd…very odd.”

“I know, and maybe I got this patrol becasue they think I’m the least likely to find it suspicious.”

“Hah; little do they know,” Brent chuckled.

“One hour,” she whispered.

“And counting.” She heard both Brent and Thies reply.

Stacy walked to her post but still couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her and soon she knew why.

“Psst, hey cutie.”

The voice of that Romeo guard reached her and she hid her annoyance as she turned to find him leaning against the far wall of the hallway.

“Want to sneak a smoke?”

Romeo said with what he thought was a persuasive smile.

Stacy shook her head.

“No; I’m good for now but shouldn’t you be at your post…Roger?” she asked sweetly, reading his name tag.

“Yeah, I’ll get there; I’ve got two more flights to climb but I saw you veer off and thought I’d see if that spark I felt was mutual?”

The thought of sparking with him made Stacy’s skin crawl; he was too polished in his approach and she responded harsher than she’d meant to. “Sorry, the only spark I got was from my match lighting my cig,” she replied honestly, but through her com she heard Thies warn her.

“Don’t threaten him Stacy. He’s a creep but you have to be nice, for now…just know I got your back.”

Stacy swallowed her genuine feelings and tried to walk back her words.“Hey, I’m sorry, that was a bit sarcastic but I just came off a bad relationship.”

The explanation seemed to appease the rebuffed Romeo’s ego.

He gave her another assessing look.“Got it; I’ll give you some space,” he said with a nod before he walked away.

*

Stacy looked at her watch; it was time to put their plan in action. She stepped over to the room that held Russ’s stuff and turned her back to it. She slipped a key mold into the lock and waited for it to set before turning it; she held her breath until she heard a distinct click. She removed the now solid key from the lock and slid it into a secret side pocket in her uniform.

“Door’s open,” she said into her com.

“We start,” Brent replied.

Stacy called the foreman on her walkie.“Hey chief, nature’s calling,” she told him.

His annoyed sigh made her smile.

 “It’s not a good time,” he snarled.

Stacy knew from Grace’s observation of the facility that at this time of night the foreman was receiving in other security items into the facility; he couldn’t leave the dock.

“I’m sorry but it can’t wait.” She’d made her voice quiver with impatience.

“I’ll have the other guard on that floor cover your area but radio me when you’re back.”

“Got it chief,” Stacy said in a chipper tone that elicited another annoyed grunt from the foreman.

“I’m in,” Stacy whispered in her com, “Foreman s going to call Brent to cover my area.”

“He just did; I’ll be there.” Brent responded.

“Yeah, but you’d better watch out for that Romeo; he worries me,” Stacy whispered.

Two minutes later she was joined by Brent.

“Okay, walk to the restroom but take your time.”

“Will do,” she promised and handed him the molded key before walking off towards the stairwell.

*