Chapter 9 Coordinates #3
“No yoga today, Sasha. Coffee with Tanisha instead,” Nicki announced as they got into the car.
“Yes ma’am,” Sasha said, and drove to where Nicki had instructed.
She got him an extra-large frothy something, to keep him occupied while he waited for her in the lobby of the cellular company that Tanisha worked at.
Nicki met Tanisha in her break room.
“I’m so happy to see you,” Nicki said, handing Tanisha an equally suspicious, overly decorated coffee.
“You OK, girl? You sounded like you were worried about something over the phone. No one ever visits me at work!” Tanisha said cheekily, happily taking the fancy coffee.
Nicki looked around the break room as a fellow colleague had just left. They were alone.
“Tanisha, I need a favour. It’s a big one,” Nicki said plainly, with an expression that was losing hope by the second.
“What is it? Is everything OK with Tyyyyler?” she asked teasingly.
Nicki blushed. “Yes, he’s great. It’s actually his brother. You remember him? Tommy?”
“Sure do. I don’t know which one is hotter! Ha!” Tanisha answered.
Nicki smiled, then went back to a serious face.
“Tanisha, Tommy is missing. No one knows where he is. He was last in California, according to his phone GPS that Vinnie tracked, but that was a couple of weeks ago and it’s like his phone location is off or something. He hasn’t been communicating at all, and I’m really worried about him.”
“Oh, no. Well, did something happen? Why would he just disappear like that?” Tanisha asked.
“Well, the whole riding out on the motorcycle thing for days at a time is normal for him, but not for this long. He hasn’t called or anything! But also…” Nicki drifted off.
“Yes?” Tanisha pried in between sips.
“Something did happen. He was upset when he left. And I’m really worried now. So…” Nicki paused. “I was wondering if you could… run his number and see if you can find him? Where his cell phone is?” Nicki finished delicately, wincing with her shoulders up to her ears.
Tanisha shook her head. “Oh, honey, you know I can’t just do that. Those kinds of searches we only do for the police, in life-or-death situations, or for cell tower search warrants. Did you contact the police?”
“No… we didn’t. It’s not a police issue.
It’s more of a… broken heart issue. Please, Tanisha, please!
If you could just run his cell phone one time through the system, to just close in on the area where he is in California.
Maybe there is a hotel nearby… or a house he is staying at.
I can then go there just to make sure he’s OK and convince him to come home, please! ”
Tanisha looked deep into Nicki’s begging eyes and saw her worry. She sighed.
“Do you have a piece of paper? To jot down the number?” Tanisha asked quietly, looking back at the closed door of the break room. “I don’t want to put it in my phone.”
“Of course! Thank you, Tanisha, thank you!” Nicki dove into her purse for her notepad as fast as she could.
She scribbled down Tommy’s cell phone number and passed it to Tanisha.
“Now look. I could get fired for this; it’s a breach of people’s privacy if I don’t have a police warrant or a report number. If they audit me, I’m screwed!” Tanisha whispered.
Nicki nodded nervously. She opened her mouth to offer a hesitation but Tanisha interrupted.
“But what you have done for that Center and my son is more than I could have ever hoped for. So, I am willing to do this once, and only once. Got it?” Tanisha shifted her head lower with her motherly eyes, inspecting Nicki’s face.
Nicki jumped over and hugged her friend excitedly, nearly spilling her own coffee.
“Now listen, this is very important,” Tanisha said with a warning.
Nicki listened intently, nodding her head. Ears perked.
“What’s going to appear when I run his number through our system, are the coordinates of the closest cell towers that his phone had hit, even if his location is off.
If he even made any phone calls or received any, the cell towers will show up.
They can be as close as a couple hundred yards, but you will have your work cut out for you.
If it hits in Los Angeles, for example, then good luck, girl, you’ll be going door-to-door in a one-mile radius for a whole month looking for this guy!
But that’s all I can do. Coordinates only. One time,” Tanisha said.
“OK, got it. Thank you so much Tanisha, truly,” Nicki said.
“OK, I’m going to go and see what I can do. If anything even comes up, I’ll text you,” Tanisha said.
They hugged goodbye.
Nicki headed back down to the lobby nonchalantly to meet Sasha, waiting for her. She acted all cool and casual, trying to hide her excitement of the new found hope.
They arrived back to the Compound and Nicki ensured she had her phone with her and on full volume.
In the meantime, she checked in with Tyler who told her that the gun-run went well, and they would be heading back tomorrow morning.
In between sweet nothing texts with Tyler, a text message came in from Tanisha.
Nicki’s heart did a back flip as she opened up the message.
He’s not in California. He’s in Montana.