"The Coffee House Spy" 4

Emily poured more wine into her glass and stared at the man casually lounging in her home eating pizza. She didn’t know a thing about him and she wanted to know his story, especially the reason why he ran.

“So before I agree to dog sit for you,” she said narrowing her eyes on him, “I need to know why you ran out of the coffee shop leaving me with your dog."

Brent gave her a sheepish grin. “There was someone looking for me and I didn’t want them to see me or see you with me; it would have complicated your life if they had.”

“Why, who was it?”

Brent gave her the right amount of dramatic expression and confessed, “My ex-girlfriend and to say she’s possessive is an understatement.”

“She’s stalking you?” Emily asked in astonishment.

He nodded. “She is but I'm sure, given some time, she’ll give up on me. Now you see why I didn’t want to involve you and why I had to leave the way I did?”

“Huh, so all of this secrecy was because of a crazed girlfriend?”

“Yes; a very jealous girlfriend,” he stressed, picking up his wine glass and taking a liberal sip for effect.

“I’m sorry; I guess my imagination went pretty far out there when I thought you were up to something cloak and dagger.”

“Like a spy?” He chuckled but his eyes remained serious.

“Okay now that sounds silly but you have to admit, coming into my apartment by fire escape was weird too, and also a little suspicious.”

“I suppose, but I had to be sure she didn’t see where you lived; if she’d followed me.”

“Hmmm, and you thought by climbing up four flights of a fire escape you wouldn’t be seen?”

He grinned. “I climb in stealth mode.”

“Like a spy?”  She teased.

He chuckled. "So, now that you know the reason I left as I did, will you keep Sir Harry with you?”

“If I do, won't your girlfriend know your dog, if she saw me walking him?”

Brent shook his head and scoffed, “Not likely, Harry didn’t like her so I had to keep him locked in the guest bedroom whenever she was over, she didn’t see him, or pay him any attention.”

“Ever…?”

“Maybe once but trust me, she wouldn’t recognize him from any other chocolate lab unless I was the one walking him.”

“Okay, I suppose I can keep Sir Harry here while your away,” she agreed and picked up her phone, “But we should exchange numbers if I have to reach you and I'll need the number of his vet too.”

“Of course,” Brent agreed and took her phone to add his number to her contacts. Then he pretended to add her number to his phone; he’d already had that listed under dog sitter with no name, to keep her safe.

“As for a vet,” he said as he handed her back her phone, "I haven’t found one so feel free to go to whomever you choose; if you need to.”

“Then I’ll need your address to set up a client profile.”

“Why don’t you use yours for now, since I’ll be away and he’ll be here with you? When I’m home again, I’ll change it.”

“I guess I can do that,” she said but her suspicions were back, “and just a curiosity, are you going to use the hall door when you leave?”

“If it makes you feel comfortable that I’m not a spy, I will.”

“Good,” she said and her apartment buzzer rang. She looked at him in surprise. “I can’t imagine who that could be?”

“It’s probably the supplies I ordered for Sir Harry,” Brent said with a shrug.

“Oh, you were pretty sure I’d agree to watch him?”

“Not sure, but hopeful,” he said with a boyish smile.

Emily gave him an annoyed expression; he was good looking and she was sure he knew how to cash in on that face, but she didn’t like that he thought he’d had her figured out.

“You know I can still say no and make you cart whatever is coming up the stairs back home with you.”

“I know, but I hope you won’t,” he said with sincerity as the buzzer rang again.

“I’ll let them in,” she grumbled turning away from those pleading blue eyes.

“Thanks and I’ll call you tomorrow before I leave,” he promised as he stood up and walked with her to the door.

“Do that; I may have more questions to ask before you leave.”

“No problem,” he grinned at her, “And Emily, I do appreciate your kindness to Harry and me," he said softly then winked and walked out of her apartment.

Her brow furrowed as she buzzed in the delivery, wondering if she’d made a mistake.

 

Emily stared at the cart overflowing with grocery bags the delivery boy had wheeled into her apartment. Just how long did Brent intended to be away? She wondered.

The delivery boy emptied the bags from the cart and lined them up on her kitchen counter.

“Well, that’s all of it,” he said.

“I should hope so,” Emily whispered and went to tip him, but he refused to take it.

“No need for that,” he said with a bright smile then walked out of her apartment; he’d already had an extra hundred dollar bill in his wallet courtesy of the man who'd ordered those groceries so he wouldn't, in good conscience, take anything more for the delivery.

 

Sir Harry knew by scent that there were treats in those bags for him and whimpered impatiently before sitting down next to the table.

“Okay, I’ll dig a treat out for you,” Emily promised the dog but it wasn’t just treats for Sir Harry in the bags she unpacked.

There were fresh meats, vegetables,eggs, bread, and an assortment of fruits and cereals.

“This is unexpected,” she said to the dog, as she put the perishables in her small refrigerator, “I’m not even sure my fridge can stock all this.” Then she reached into another bag and pulled out a large bag of organic doggie treats, "“I’m guessing this is what you were waiting for?” She teased

Sir Harry wagged his tail and whimpered as she ripped the bag open. She tossed a bone shaped treat to him and he caught it in mid air and immediately devoured it.

Emily laughed then looked back in the bag and pulled out a large bag of chocolates.

“Now I don’t think these are for you,” she told the dog placing the bag on the counter and reaching back into the bag for the last item. It was a box that held a glass coffee carafe, one that would fit her coffee maker perfectly. Emily's eyes widened but her smile grew positively angelic. She didn’t care how he knew she’d needed it; she was just glad to have it in hand.

“Okay, Harry; I know we’re roommates until your owner gets back but this,” she said holding up the carafe, “has made it a beneficial friendship.”

Sir Harry tilted his head then gave her a quick lick on her leg before trotting off into the living room to take a nap on his couch bed.

*

Brent walked into the apartment and flipped on the lights to find Stacy sitting in an easy chair by the window, but he wasn’t surprised to see her there.

“How’s it going?” he asked as he took off his suit jacket.

“I haven’t seen anyone suspicious;” she told him, “so I think our cover is safe.”

“Good, and thanks for keeping an eye out.”

“No problem; so are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You weren’t yourself before, kind of introspective, not what a partner wants to see.”

Brent shrugged. “You’re right I was off; still am.”

“Care to discuss it?”

Brent tossed his jacket on the couch and nodded.

“This assignment has me off kilter and not just because of the misstep in the coffee house, or entangling an innocent.”

“Then I’d say, get you priorities back on track.”

“I don’t know if I can Stacy; something’s been bothering me from the start of this.”

“What?”

“Why are we sitting on this?”

“The cufflink…?”

“Yeah, it’s got the microdot, we verified that, so why aren’t we meeting a courier and handing it off? Our job was successful and now we’ve been given this new case, so why not end the last one?”

“I don’t know,” she said giving him a sharp look, “But they must have a reason why it’s not safe to hand it off yet.”

“Well, it’s making me uneasy. I don’t like it.”

“I get it and, if I had to be honest, it’d struck me as odd too.”

Brent gave her a searching look. “Do you think we’re being set up?”

“No, I trust our contact.”

Bent wasn’t so sure he did.

“Usually I do too, but I’m not so sure this time. You know it wasn’t the usual information drop we got; we’ve always had a predetermined end zone in the file.”

“You’re thinking of going off cover aren’t you?”

“I’m thinking about it; would you go with me?”

“Let me call first; maybe it was just a breakdown in communication.”

Brent nodded. “Go ahead.”

Stacy took out the burner phone from her purse. She hit the preset number in it and it rang through three times then she hung up and dialed back in. That was the process. It should have been answered on the second call in; it wasn’t.

Stacy closed the phone and her eyes told Brent everything he needed to know.

“We’re being set up,” he whispered darkly.

“It feels like we might be,” she said and shut the overhead light switch casting the room into darkness except for the dim stream of light coming in from the street light outside. The room was in shadows.

They both stepped to the window, one on each side of it, and shifted the drapes to allow a tiny opening they could look out.

“I don’t see anyone,” Stacy whispered from her side.

“I do; there’s someone in the shadows just off the east corner and their vantage point is clearly this building, but I can’t tell which apartment their watching.”

“Maybe it’s Dirk; maybe he did see you at the coffee house and followed you.”

“No, it’s too short to be him.”

“It could be one of his goons,” she deduced.

“No, this guy is in shape; they aren’t.”

Stacy nodded at the fact. “So how do we play this?”

“You stay here and cover me.”

“Okay,” she agreed and had gun in hand in less than a second and stepped into his place at the other side of the drapes. “Okay, I see him and you’re right he’s not one of Dirk’s gang. Go on, I got you covered.”

Brent quickly donned the disguise, including the fat suit then walked down the stairs with his gun hidden in the roll of fat around his belly; this time he was glad for the pudgy physique.

He stepped out into the cool night air and nonchalantly lit a cigarette making it appear to be the reason he’d stepped outside. His face was turned away from the corner but his peripheral vision easily followed the man’s shadow as it cautiously took a step back then turned to retreat.

Brent sat down on the stoop and tapped the left side of the thick glasses turning them into high powered binoculars, with night vision.

He watched the man walk half way down the block and get into a dark sedan. The car had a driver behind the wheel and they drove out of the space and turned left at the corner. Brent zoomed in on the license plate and clicked a picture, but knew it’d probably turn out to be a fake. He was sure now this was the building the man had been watching, he just wasn’t sure if he’d been made.

He ground out the cigarette and went back inside to tell Stacy.