Chapter Thirteen “Places, Everyone!” #6
“Except Jeremy began to notice things and began to ask questions,” Fergus noted.
Izzie jumped in, “Regina told me that she tried to look up Jeremy’s personnel file to get a family contact name, but his was gone. Sounds like it was deleted.”
“There appears to be a lot of whys that need to be uncovered,” Myra said.
“I have another one,” Kathryn jumped in. “I was supposed to meet with Janet Turner today at four, and when I got there, I was told to come back tomorrow.”
In unison, everyone asked, “Why?”
“My point exactly,” Myra said.
“Let’s review what we know.” Myra went down the list:
In Florida:
Jeremy Sykes. Questions missing drugs. Tells boss.
Gets fired. Gets run off the road by a dump truck.
Accused of carrying morphine in his car.
No personnel record of him at Sunnydale.
Izzie’s office is bugged and has CCTV. Charles and Fergus need to find a way to deactivate it without drawing attention so Izzie can dig deeper.
Edith Clayton. Possibly connected to owners or higherups. Fergus and Charles will check. Seems to be the boss.
Looking for possible investors. Need to keep following the money trail.
In Arizona:
Theresa’s bizarre story about her aunt. The woman.
The ring. The presumed body bag in the middle of the night.
Kathryn gets turned away on her first day.
Both Florida and Arizona police give Maggie a nothing sandwich regarding the accidents.
Maggie huffed. “Figures I’d get a nothing sandwich.”
“Annie and I have our appointments with the client relations managers at our respective future domiciles,” Myra said. “Maggie, visit Jeremy again. See if you can get him to tell you some names of people he’s dealt with.”
“Roger.”
“There are a lot of loose ends, but at least we have a few things we can pull on. Let’s recon again tomorrow evening. Same time?” Charles asked.
Everyone nodded. “Good. Izzie, keep your head down. We should have a hack for our best hacker by tomorrow evening,” Fergus said.
“I’ll do some checking on Edith Clayton and her relatives.”
“Alright, everyone. Stay safe. See you tomorrow.” Myra said.
“Mind as you go.” Fergus ended the video call.
Yoko went across the hall to Izzie’s studio. “Got a min ute?”
“Sure. What’s up?” Izzie opened the door wider.
“I know this might not sound like a good idea, but I think I might go over to Sunnydale later and check out the dump trucks.”
“You’re right. It does not sound like a good idea.” Izzie went over to the sideboard. “Can I get you anything?”
“Tea?”
“That I can do.” Izzie plugged in the instant water pot. “Chamomile? Peppermint? Ginger?”
“Peppermint. Thanks.” Yoko curled up on one of the love seats. “Hear me out.”
“Oh … kaay …” Izzie’s skepticism was loud and clear.
“The new section does not have electricity. I know the utilities are going underground, and I did not see any poles where they could mount CCTV. Right now, it’s piles of dirt with survey stakes.
The trucks are parked along the back of a fenced-in yard.
I could easily scale it. Check for dents, scratches. ”
“It’s a dump truck, Yoko. It’s bound to have dents and scratches.”
“Don’t be a party pooper. I’ll take photos, upload them, and let Charles and Fergus have the photos analyzed for damages that are inconsistent with normal duty, wear, and tear. And check to see if there are marks that are consistent with a collision.”
“I have to admit, the second half of your plan is brilliant. It’s the first part—the breaking in part—that concerns me.”
Yoko straightened up. “You’re kidding. Breaking into a fenced-in yard concerns you after everything else we’ve done?” Yoko’s eyes expressed her surprise at Izzie’s caution. “Scaling that fence and getting off a few photos is like taking a nap in a hammock. Easy, breezy.”
Izzie poured the water into two cups. “Maybe you should clear it with Annie or Myra. Just so they don’t think you’ve gone rogue.”
Yoko nodded. “You are correct, my friend. I hadn’t looked at it that way. I was simply trying to move things a little faster. And I hadn’t thought about it during our call. There was a lot going on.”
Izzie nodded, picked up her phone, and made a three-way call to Myra and Annie.
“Hey. What’s up? Everything alright?” Annie asked hurriedly. Myra asked the same question.
“Yoko and I are on speaker. She has an idea she wants to run past you.”
“Shoot,” Annie urged.
Yoko explained what she had in mind. “I got a good look at the surrounding area. I think I can pull it off in less than ten minutes.”
Myra was the first to speak. “I have every confidence in your ability to do this, but we know very little about this operation.”
It was Annie’s turn. “How about this. Izzie, you drive Yoko to a spot where you won’t be seen, and Yoko can get back and forth easily. Yoko, is that a possibility?”
“Absolutely. There are groves of trees at the end of the property. A service road runs along it.”
“Alright, then. Have at it, girls. And remember”—at this, everyone joined in with: “Be careful out there.”
“Ping us and let us know how it went,” Myra said.
“Will do, and will upload photos as soon as I take them,” Yoko replied.
The call ended with Yoko bouncing to her feet. Izzie issued a word of warning. “We haven’t seen this place at night. We don’t know if there is a motion detector somewhere. A trip wire?”
“That’s what night goggles are for,” Yoko replied.
“Where are we going to find night goggles at this hour?” Izzie questioned her.
“Dear friend. How you underestimate me.” Yoko sipped her tea.
“You brought night goggles with you?” Izzie smirked. “Why am I not surprised?”
“And I brought a backup pair. Just in case.”
“Just in case what?” Izzie closed one eye and tilted her head.
“Just in case I needed a night-shadow buddy,” Yoko jested. “Too bad Maggie’s plane doesn’t get in for another few hours. She’s going to miss the fun.”
“We could wait for her,” Izzie suggested.
“I’ll send her a text. See when she’ll be back.”
Maggie was dozing on and off in the lush passenger seat of the Gulfstream jet. She was stirred awake by the buzzing of her phone. She had to think where she was for a second before realizing she was on Annie’s plane. The next thought was, which direction was she headed? Back to Florida, right.
“Hiya. What’s up?” she yawned into the phone.
“Mag, when do you think you’ll get in?”
Maggie checked the time. It was almost eleven. “What are you guys doing up so late?”
“We have a mini mission for the mission,” Yoko said.
“Details, please.” Maggie always liked to get to the point right away.
“Izzie and I are going to break into the yard at the warehouse. I have to get photos of the trucks, and there is no way I could do it during the day. Too many eyes and too much movement.”
“You plan on doing this tonight?”
“That is the plan.”
“Can you wait for me? Better to have two sets of eyes on the lookout.”
“How long will you be?”
“We’ve started our descent. Let me check with the pilot; hang on.” Maggie picked up the intercom phone. “Hey, Roger. What’s our ETA?”
“Midnight.”
Maggie returned to the phone call. “We land at twelve; then it will take me a half hour to get to the apartments. So, say twelve-thirty-ish.”
“Great. We can wait,” Yoko said.
“Cool. As long as I have a bag of chips waiting.”
By the time Maggie met up with Yoko and Izzie, it was almost one in the morning. She knocked on Yoko’s door. “What time zone am I in?” she asked, looking slightly dazed.
“You are on the East Coast. In Florida,” Izzie assured her. “Have you gotten any sleep in the past two days?”
“I think I had a nap on the plane.” Maggie stretched. “I’m okay, really. Flying back and forth on Annie’s plane sure beats sitting in a car on a stakeout overnight.”
“You have a point,” Yoko agreed.
“So, what’s the plan?” Maggie looked around the room. “I asked for chips.”
Izzie handed her a bag. “This has to last you for the next two hours.”
Maggie shook the bag. “I think I can manage it.”
Yoko continued as she unpacked the black bodysuits and the night-vision goggles. “I brought several pairs of these”—she handed one bodysuit to Izzie and one to Maggie—“but only two pairs of night goggles. The two of you can decide which one wants to be the getaway driver and who wants to tail me.”
Izzie looked at Maggie. “Will you fall asleep in the car if we leave you there?”
“Possibly.” Maggie stifled a yawn.
“Then it’s settled. You will go with Yoko. The adrenaline will keep you on your toes.”
“Okey dokey,” Maggie replied. She began to undress and slipped the ninja-looking suit on. Izzie did the same. Yoko was already in full night-crawler garb.
“Uh, shouldn’t we be wearing something over this so we don’t look too out of place?” Maggie asked.
Yoko handed Maggie a sarong-type wrap. “Tie this around your waist. You act like you’ve never done this before,” she teased.
“Just a little out of practice.” Maggie grinned.
Izzie slipped on an oversized T-shirt, and Yoko pulled on a pair of overalls.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready!” Maggie and Izzie held up their hands for a high-five.
Yoko peered through the peephole of the door to check that there was no one in the hallway.
She pointed to the security camera above the elevator, then pointed to the stairs.
The three quickly slipped out and followed her lead.
Once they were on ground level, they exited through the parking garage door.
Yoko opened the rear hatch of the SUV and tossed her gear into the car, while Izzie took the front passenger seat, and Maggie got in the back.
Yoko was the designated driver, since she was the most familiar with the layout of the outer perimeter of the property.
They drove down the main road, then turned off when they came upon the construction site entrance. No gates, no personnel, no lights. At the moment, there was little to be secured. A NO TRESPASSING sign was the only deterrent, and for these women, there was no such thing.