Please read and enjoy. Oh, and if you enjoy, would you please leave a comment? It would brighten my day! Try to guess what will happen next!
"Where's Tara and Sue?" Bobby asked as he looked around the bull pen at 8:00 on a Tuesday morning. He had just gotten back from an interview. He needed help from the team's two secret weapons-Sue's lip reading and Tara's wizardry with technology. However, neither of them were at their desks. This was unusual. Bobby frowned.
"Oh, sorry, Bobby. They are out right now. Tara had to conduct an interview and Sue needed some meds for a headache, so they decided to kill two birds with one stone and went together. Do you need them urgently? You could call," Lucy, their helpful rotor, informed him.
"Nah, it'll wait." Bobby sat down at his desk. He saw his friend Jack sitting at his desk, unwinding a paper clip while staring at Sue's desk.
"Mate, she's not even here and you can't stop looking over there," he said under his breath to the fellow agent. Jack started and looked embarrassed. Bobby chuckled at his friend's flushed face.
"Oh, laugh, Crash. Wasn't it just this morning that you missed the majority of a briefing because you were too gawking at a certain tech girl?" Jack retorted. Bobby stopped chuckling and turned away. He had hoped that no one had realized how zoned out he was during that briefing, but apparently he had been wrong. His phone rang just then and he answered it quickly, glad for the legitimate distraction from Jack's knowing grin.
"Manning."
"Bobby." Tara's intense whisper immediately arrested his attention. "Turn it on speaker phone and get the team to listen to me."
"Everyone, Tara's on and wants us all to listen. Something's up," Bobby called. The other agents, along with Lucy, quickly congregated by his desk. He pressed the speaker phone button so Myles, D, Jack, and he could hear Tara's news. There was a commotion in the background. It sounded like women were yelling or knocking against glass. The men stood taut, ready to leap into action. Tara quickly whispered her message.
"We are at 17th Corner Natural Pharmaceuticals and something strange is happening. Don't talk. I've got my phone hidden. Sue is safe - she isn't with me. I am locked into the pharmacy with four other people. I saw a man outside - he may have had a gun in his coat; I couldn't tell - and he locked the door and no one can get out. You've got to get someone to us soon. It is weird and I don't like it. Send someone quickly, please. I can hear a hissing from the window. What is that? Oh, there is a tube and it is blowing air into the room. Hmm, it smells...sweet. Um, I'm not feeling...quite...right. What...?" Tara suddenly cut off.
"Tara?" Bobby asked.
"Shh!" Lucy motioned to him. "She must have her phone of speaker phone. Someone might hear you."
"We've got to..." Myles started, but he was interrupted by Tara on the other end of the phone. She was laughing.
"Tara, is this a joke?" D demanded. No answer except for more laughter. Bobby frowned. Something did not sound right about her laughter. He had heard Tara laugh a lot, but this seemed strange, almost hysterical.
"Is she joking? Is it April Fool's or something and I missed it?" Jack asked the others, concern in his face.
"Nope, and that does not sound like the normal Tara," D stated, his brow creased in worry.
"Is there a normal Tara?" Myles asked sarcastically, but he was checking his gun as he did so and heading toward the door. "Anyone know where that pharmacy is?"
"I do," Lucy volunteered. She started giving directions. Bobby turned back to the phone.
"Tara?" He could hear a door open in the background and a man's voice say, not unkindly, "This is a robbery. Please hand over all of the money." Bobby felt as if his heart had frozen still, then thawed. A polite robber? He heard Tara's hysterical laughter and winced, praying that no gun shot would muffle the call. It did not, but the next worst thing happened. The line went dead.