Act Two: To Trust or Not to Trust

It's been over a month and we still haven't come up with any new leads Fillmore thought at his desk during the after school shift. He continued to mull. We don't even know if The Pentagon is a group name or a single person's alias. The Pentagon cards haven't been showing up either, so either way the Pentagon is laying low before the National Convention comes to town. At least we know their target is the Project Trust program that Vallejo gave us some more information on. Fillmore exclaimed "Disco" as he snapped his fingers.

Ingrid looked over at Fillmore from searching through the database of the Pentagon Case on her computer. "Fillmore, what is it?"

"I think I've got an angle," he replied. "Let's go talk with Vallejo," said Fillmore as he got up from his desk.

As Ingrid and Fillmore walked into Vallejo's office, they saw Randall Julian sitting in front of the Assistant Commissioner's desk. Julian smiled and said, "Fillmore good to see you again, and you too Officer Third."

"Nice to see you too. Are we interrupting anything important?" Ingrid replied.

"No," Vallejo responded. "It's actually good timing you two walked in here. This information pertains to the case you two are on. Shut the door and have a seat." Fillmore closed the door behind them and followed Ingrid over to where Vallejo and Julian were.

Randall Julian started his story. "I was at the school district's art competition yesterday. I exited out the back door while everyone was cleaning up after the event. I overheard some voices in the alley that I came out at. They talked about meeting up with some guy to get a payment for a job they have to do. By the time I had got to the corner, they were gone, but one of them had dropped this." At this point Julian held up a business card that had an all too familiar pentagon symbol on it.

Fillmore raised an eyebrow before he replied, "Did they say where or when the meeting is supposed to be?"

"It will happen during the bocce ball game tomorrow. They talked about a boat, so I think it might occur near the docks."

"Thanks Julian, by the way how did you do at the competition?" replied Ingrid.

"I earned second place. Anyways it was great I could repay you Fillmore for helping me get back to being a true artist. After all you two did ask me to keep my eyes and ears open." With that, goodbyes were exchanged and Randall walked out of the office. Before Fillmore or Ingrid could leave, Vallejo spoke up.

"I thought I told you two to keep this quiet."

"Relax Vallejo, we just asked people we knew to keep an eye and ear out for things dealing with the Pentagon. Enough people know about them now. We didn't mention anything about the convention," replied Ingrid.

"Okay Third. One last thing, what did you two want when you walked in here?"

Fillmore replied very seriously, "I have an idea to flush the Pentagon out, but it's risky. I'll tell you more after we listen in on that meeting Julian just informed us about." Turning to Ingrid, he said, "Let's go get Anza and Tehama, so we can set up our plan for tomorrow."

As the pair of officers walked out of Vallejo's office, the assistant commissioner was left thinking, a risky plan? What is going through your head right now Fillmore?

Tehama and Anza sat on the balcony of the lighthouse overlooking the lake by Z High School. Ingrid and Fillmore were on a grassy knoll closer to the docks. While Tehama and Anza had their sashes on, Fillmore and Third didn't so they would give themselves away easily. While each pair watched and waited, Anza asked Tehama, "So Karen, are we still on for tonight?"

She smiled as she replied, "Assuming this stakeout doesn't turn up anything that will take long to process, yes we are. What was that dish you were making for our date tonight Joey?"

"Brasato," he replied smugly.

"That's right, I love that dish. You made it for our first date about nine months ago."

As the support pair continued their conversation, on the ground below on the grassy knoll below Ingrid and Fillmore passed time in their usual style.

"Would you rather eat a roasted scorpion or some grilled frog's legs?" asked Fillmore.

"Hmm, I'd go with the frog legs," replied Third. She continued, "Okay my turn, lizard soup or rattlesnake meat?"

"You're getting better at this." After pausing Fillmore replied, "I'd try the lizard soup."

At that moment, the soft churning of someone paddling in water could be heard. Ingrid and Fillmore looked towards the center of the lake and saw a hooded figure in a rowboat. Fillmore whispered to Ingrid, "I can't tell who it is with the hooded sweatshirt."

"I can't tell either, but hold on," she replied. Ingrid asked on the radio, "Tehama, can you two see anything in the boat?"

Tehama replied, "Anza says he sees a plastic bin in the boat. He can't tell what's in it, but it's something orange."

Ingrid and Fillmore looked at each other. Fillmore whispered, "What could that be?"

Ingrid replied," It depends. There is only one person in the boat. Is it someone dropping off the payment like Randall said? Or is it someone picking up a payment and just has something orange in the boat?" As Ingrid finished talking, she noticed a light reflecting in Fillmore's glasses. Turning her head she noticed that the person in the boat and used a mirror and the reflection redirected the light to Fillmore's face.

Tehama's voice came over the radio, "I can see at least five people sneaking up on you from five different directions. You two need to get out of there now!"

"Dog, looks like this stakeout is a bust," Fillmore said dejectedly.

"Never mind that, let's get out of here," Ingrid said in a low voice as she got up. Fillmore quickly followed. As they approached the bottom of the hill, one figure came into view. Fillmore recognized him and whispered, "That's Theo from the waferitas case back at X."

Before Ingrid could respond, they heard Theo shout as he looked over at them, "HEY I THINK I FOUND THEM!"

Ingrid and Fillmore took off at a full run in the opposite direction. They quickly shifted directions as two more figures came into their view. As Fillmore and Third were trying to elude their pursuers, Anza and Tehama were trying to figure out what they could do to help. While Tehama kept her radio in hand, Anza was looking through the binoculars. By this point, Fillmore and Ingrid had reached the edge of the Z High School's sport complexes. They turned down an alleyway between the main gym and an equipment warehouse. Before they could see the end of the alley, Tehama came over the radio with a panicked tone, "Stop! You got some people approaching you from both sides of the alley." Looking around, Fillmore saw a small nook where the wall of the equipment warehouse made an L. He quickly pulled Ingrid, so the two of them were in the nook.

"Fillmore this probably isn't going to work," Ingrid whispered. She continued, "If they look in this nook, we're caught." As the footsteps of their pursuers got louder, she could see a look on Fillmore's face indicating he was trying to think of a Plan B. They both saw a shadow coming into view on the ground in front of them. Ingrid suddenly felt Fillmore grab her and spun her around. Before she could ask him what he was thinking, he pulled Ingrid into his body and kissed her. It briefly registered with Ingrid that the attempt was to act as a couple making out in a hard to be seen spot. Only very quickly, it stopped being an act. Ingrid was thoroughly enjoying the sensation of Fillmore kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held his head so she could deepen the kiss. Fillmore in return wrapped one arm around her back with his palm gently holding her head, while his other arm wrapped around her waist.

Theo heard some rustling as he came to the center of the alleyway and met Nicky Larkin and the people who were giving chase with Nicky. Nicky turned to see two figures making out in a nook in the outside wall, but couldn't clearly tell who they were. Nicky, almost shouting, said, "Hey did you two see anyone come through here. HELLO, CAN YOU HEAR ME!" The couple gave no indication that they were even aware of his presence. They were too enthralled with their current activity to notice or care.

"Come on Larkin," Theo said. "They obviously were oblivious to anyone who came through here." As the group left stumped as to where their prey and disappeared to, Ingrid and Fillmore were oblivious to the fact that their pursuers had gotten to within a couple of feet of them.

Up in the lighthouse, Anza and Tehama had watched the whole thing through the binoculars they had with them. "That was some quick thinking there by those two," said Anza as he dropped his binoculars. Upon not hearing Tehama give a reply, he looked over to see her still looking through her binoculars. Picking his binoculars back up, he looked through them again. Then he said in surprise, "Whoa, they're still at it?"

"I have a feeling that wasn't part of the plan, but I don't think either of them is exactly thinking about the plan right now. That is, if they are even thinking," Tehama replied.

"Think we should radio in and let them know the coast is clear?" Anza asked.

"We probably should, but I don't really have the heart too. Especially since they were like the only people in the safety patrol to let us be when we started dating. Granted they aren't dating, but I think that might change soon."

Anza just nodded as he smirked.

Both Fillmore and Ingrid started to regain an awareness of their surroundings at the same time. They quickly, but awkwardly stopped kissing. Man I feel like I just crossed a big line there. We're friends, but I should have thought to ask or at least explain it first, thought Fillmore. He stuttered out in a whisper, "Uh, sorry about that. I should have asked first."

Trying to hide the rising blush in her face, Ingrid looked at her boots and whispered back, "I figured out pretty quick what the plan was. It's okay, really." Who am I kidding? That was more than okay that was…that was…

Tehama speaking over the radio, "I think you two are clear to get back to Safety Patrol Headquarters."

Ingrid grabbed her radio and replied, "Thanks Tehama."

Anza added with a hint of teasing in his voice, "We'll meet you two back there. Oh, by the way it's been clear for about three or four minutes now, but we thought we would play it safe and wait a little bit before we called you two."

An awkward aurora could be felt in the air around Fillmore and Ingrid. Fillmore broke the tension and said, "Well, let's get back to HQ." The pair realized Fillmore still had his arms wrapped around Ingrid. As Fillmore let go, Ingrid felt her legs give a little and put her hand against the wall to steady herself. "You okay?" Fillmore asked with concern evident in his voice.

"Yeah, it's probably just the adrenaline rush wearing off," she replied between breaths. Fillmore looked at her questioningly. Ingrid breathing mellowed as she continued, "Really I'm fine let's get back to the office. We've got a lot to do since this whole operation was a bust." Fillmore nodded and the pair started to head back to the Safety Patrol Office.

"So after all that we got nothing?" asked Vallejo as Fillmore and Ingrid were sitting across the desk inside the assistant commissioner's office.

"Unfortunately, I have to say yes. This Pentagon seems to be very careful. We only have a single lead," Ingrid stated.

"But that lead gives us a shot to catch them," Fillmore added. Vallejo looked at Fillmore questioningly. Cornelius continued, "We know what their next major target is; the Project Trust program."

"Fillmore, are you suggesting we should jeopardize the project being stolen to catch the Pentagon?" Vallejo asked as his voice volume started to rise.

Fillmore stared down Vallejo and said, "No, we only make them think we will. When does the program get here to Z?"

"It should get here about a few days before the convention. What are you thinking Fillmore?"

"We get it delivered here ahead of schedule and securely store it somewhere. Then at the time it's supposed to be delivered, we stage a stakeout. In addition we have some patrollers go undercover as deliverymen so if the stakeout misses the Pentagon, we can spring our trap on that level too."

Vallejo asked, "Seems pretty solid, so why did you mention earlier that it's risky."

Before Fillmore could reply, Ingrid spoke up, "The information about Project Trust has already been breached so there is a leak somewhere. When the actually delivery happens early, we can't have very much security. If this early delivery gets leaked, we would have reduced security to compensate for a foe that already has the upper hand of surprise."

Vallejo leaned back in his chair as he looked up when he placed his hand on the back of his neck. After a few moments, he sat straight up and looked over at his best two officers. "I won't give you the go ahead yet. I will bring this up at the next commissioner's meeting and we'll go from there."

"You've got to be joking Vallejo. To not attract attention, we would only be able to assign two officers. This plan is foolish!" exclaimed Andy Walnut.

The head commissioner Floyd Mitchell added, "We couldn't assign any commissioner either like we would for a regular escort case. That leaves the six in your office who know about Project Trust, despite the fact they shouldn't since the program's creation was going to be announce when it arrived it on its normal schedule."

"Those six only know because a leak of information had already happened and my two best officers found out about it. You should be thankful they brought it to my attention so we would at least know the hot water we're in." Vallejo replied as he pointed back at Commissioner Mitchell.

Andy Walnut retorted, "Two best officers? The pretty genius girl I can buy, but your ex-delinquent relies way too much on improvisation and the skills from…"

Before Walnut could finish, an obviously irked Vallejo cut him off, "I said those two were the best and I mean it. I've seen some great ones too. From Robert Chestnut to Wayne Leggit, but those two are willing to risk just about anything to crack a case."

"Settled down Vallejo," spoke Floyd. "This program was designed by two former safety patrollers that are currently in college. You spoke of Robert Chestnut, but this program was designed by the wonder twins Chuck and Chippy Chestnut. Those two solved more cases than anyone. The program's basic premise is to understand an officer's strengths and weaknesses and pair them up accordingly to compensate. This pinnacle of knowledge from the best officers ever shouldn't be put at risk because two officers have a risky plan."

Vallejo calmly but coldly replied, "The question should be are you willing to risk it being stolen because we do nothing?"

Breaking the thick tension in the room, Principal Folsom spoke, "I'm not going to risk something this big being stolen on my watch, especially with us hosting this national event. I'll make the contacts to get it delivered here early and let you three know when. If this whole thing fails, I will disband the safety patrol. After all what good would the safety patrol be if the delinquents know the safety patrol's strengths and weaknesses?"

The head commissioner hung and shook his head. "Fine, but as Walnut said the most we can commit and give this plan a chance at succeeding is probably two patrollers at the most. If you trust your 'best' officers that much, then I guess those two will be officers you choose Vallejo?"

Vallejo actually smirked as he said, "I wouldn't want anyone but Fillmore and Third."

As Ingrid and Fillmore walked away from the school at the end of the day, Ingrid was going over in her mind the conversation her and Tehama had while Fillmore was giving Anza a hand with some library overdue notices.

Tehama looked over and thought she saw Ingrid staring absent mindedly in front of her as Third propped her head on her hand. Following Ingrid's line of sight she saw Anza and Fillmore working on some library overdue tickets. Smiling to herself, she walked over to where Ingrid was. When she got behind and a little to the side of Ingrid, Tehama said in a low voice, "I guess Fillmore is a good kisser?"

Without thinking Ingrid dreamily replied, "He's fantastic." Ingrid blinked as she realized what she had said. Looking to her left, she saw Tehama just grinning at her. Before Ingrid could say anything, Tehama just nodded at Ingrid and walked back to her desk.

Ingrid's flashback was interrupted by Fillmore asking, "Ingrid, are you sure you're okay?"

Ingrid shook her head and asked, "Yes, why?"

"Because I asked you what time I should come over tonight and you didn't answer"

"Anytime should work." Ingrid then quickly stammered, "Wait! Why are you coming over tonight?"

Both of them stopped walking as Fillmore stared at her for a moment like she had lost her mind. He casually answered, "My parents left for that cruise today. I think your dad took them to the airport while we were at school today. What did you think I meant?"

"My mind pretty much went blank." Ingrid replied.

"Well at the least we can start looking at how we want to plan this delivery," Fillmore said.

"Right, sounds good," Ingrid replied. As they started walking again Ingrid thought I really need to get it together. I haven't been able to keep my thoughts together for very long since that kiss; that wonderful…wonderful kiss.

Meanwhile Fillmore was in his own thoughts. I think I've really made her uncomfortable with that kiss a few days ago. She hasn't been the same around me since. I enjoyed it but dog did I ever put our friendship in limbo. Heck if I haven't been keeping myself so busy with this Pentagon case, I'm not sure if my mind would keep from wandering back to that moment.

It was about eleven o'clock that night as Fillmore and Ingrid were looking over a map of Z High School. For the past four hours they had thought about advantages and disadvantages of different delivery points on the school grounds. Ingrid yawned and leaned back into the couch as she closed her eyes intending to just rest them for a moment. She instead quickly fell asleep. With her body relaxing into slumber, she started to lean over to the side. She stopped when he head came to a rest on Fillmore's shoulder. Feeling her head resting on him, Fillmore looked up from the map and saw that Ingrid had fallen asleep. He couldn't help by softly smile at her as he could hear her breathing by his ear. I guess she's out for the rest of the night he thought before he yawned himself. He stretched his neck a little to try to wake himself up, but found his eyelids closing on him as he yawned a second time. Not wanting to wake Ingrid so he could get up and head to the guest bedroom, Fillmore leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes. Soon he too was fast asleep.

Ingrid started to stir as the morning sun started to shine through the living room windows. As she slowly gained awareness of her surroundings, she froze when she realized that she and Fillmore had slept on the couch all night. At some point during the night someone had even thrown a blanket over the couple. Looking over at the clock she saw that is was about six thirty. At this point, Fillmore's arm, that had been on Ingrid's back, dropped down to around her waist. Ingrid rested her head in Fillmore's shoulder as she thought we must have spent the whole night together. Both of us must have been out cold. I feel so relaxed and rested though and right now, this just feels so…so right. She smelled some coffee being brewed in the kitchen. Begrudgingly she pulled herself away from Fillmore and went into the kitchen. To her surprise she saw her sister standing by the coffee maker. Startled, Ingrid stammered out, "Hey sis. When did you come home? Why are you home?"

Areilla smiled as she retorted, "Wow Ingrid did you forget? I told you that I was hired to work in the research lab next to the university Dad works at, so I moved back to town. I'm staying here until I can get my own place."

"Crackers, I forgot all about that. Things have been busy between a case at school and the National Safety Patrol Convention coming up."

Areilla poured a cup of coffee for herself and looked over at Ingrid to ask if she wanted some. Ingrid shook her head to answer the unspoken question. The sisters sat down at the table and Areilla spoke. "I take it the map you and Fillmore were looking at has something to do with that case you mention. Both of you were fast asleep when I got here around midnight."

"I'm surprised you didn't wake us up so we could head to our beds. Fillmore is staying with us while his parents are attending some cruise."

"Dad told me about the cruise. As for waking you I did try. When I shook you, all I got in reply was a whimper as you curled into your partner. At that point he put his arm around you and I just didn't have the will to wake you at that point. So I threw a blanket on you two and went to the basement bed to sleep since I presumed Fillmore had the guest bedroom."

Ingrid blushed as her sister talked about curling into Fillmore and whimpering. She got up to start a cup of hot chocolate for herself. Ingrid stirred her cup as she sat back down and managed to say, "You don't seem to be too surprised. I would have thought the scene would be a little weird at least."

Areilla rolled her eyes and said, "Riggghhht. Fillmore, the one you came to me asking if I had any good books to help someone whose pet had died. The guy you talked to on your radio when we were all sick. A few days later when you still had that cold he brought you some books and that Happy Kat Crowbar you had been saving for."

"They were only Dr. Seuss books. Fillmore joked that since he couldn't figure out books I haven't read, he just gave me some light hearted children's books," Ingrid interrupted.

Areilla retorted, "Which are the only children's books you have kept after reading them once. Not to mention this was the only friend you made since Mom died, that actually came to this house to see what was troubling you around Mother's Day. It was the first Mother's Day we since we had moved here and Fillmore already noticed something subtly but deeply troubling you. You may not have noticed it, but you're not as gloomy as you used to be since you became friends with him. I wouldn't even be surprised if he will wind up being your first kiss someday."

On Areilla's last sentence, Ingrid unceremoniously spit out the hot chocolate that was in her mouth. There was nothing she could do to prevent the huge blush on her face as she stared into her mug as the memories of the kiss her and Fillmore shared in the alley came flooding into her mind. Ingrid's head jolted up as Areilla playfully jibed, "From your facial expression, I guess I should have spoken of your first kiss in the past tense" Ingrid looked at the sister who she shared so much with and respected immensely. Areilla added as she got up from the table, "Don't worry; I'll leave you two be for it to workout however it's going to work out. Well I need to get to the lab and you two probably need to get to school. Late."

As Areilla walked out of the kitchen, Ingrid looked over at the clock and saw it now read seven o'clock. Well I guess I'll go wake Fillmore up. We need to be at the school by eight thirty to meet with Vallejo and the other commissioners to lay out our plans.

A cool breeze blew on the full moonlit night. Fillmore stood at the front of the school as a car pulled up. The front passenger window rolled down, and an adult figure asked, "Are you Cornelius Fillmore?" Fillmore showed the man his Safety Patroller ID. After checking the ID for authenticity, he handed Fillmore a flash drive. "That drive has all the data for Project Trust on it. We weren't told why we were delivering it early, but you better keep it safe since it's leaving our security."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure it stays secure," Fillmore replied. The window on the car rolled up and the car drove off. After it was out of sight, Fillmore put the flash drive in his pocket and said on his radio, "Ingrid how's the path to the vault location looking?"

"No movement anywhere along the way for the past hour. I'll keep watch from here as you go and let you know if I see anything," Ingrid responded from the roof of the school.

As Fillmore made his way past the front of the school, heading to the side door, he heard on his radio, "Fillmore wait"

"What is it Ingrid?"

"Someone's moving from the docks towar.." THWACK

"Ingrid? Are you alright? What happened?" Fillmore said. Drawing Fillmore's attention was another voice. One he didn't recognize, but had an echo effect to it.

"I think it's time for The Pentagon to start giving some introductions. I'm One. Now hand over the flash drive Fillmore."

Fillmore looked at the man demanding the flash drive. The guy was simply dressed in a brown hooded sweatshirt with a hockey mask over his face. Fillmore smirked and replied, "Keep dreaming baby, cuz you getting the flash drive. Well that's not happenin'."

As One lunged for Fillmore, the safety patroller quickly side stepped him. One quickly recovered by using the school's wall as a floor for him to step on to make a quick turn. With One's back to the wall, Fillmore said, "I can see this is going to be a little difficult."

"I get a compliment from the man who was the best. I guess I've improved my skills over the years."

Fillmore raised an eyebrow, but didn't have much time to ponder as One charged at him. Using some of the self-defense skills Fillmore learned over the years, he was able to block One's punches. Fillmore quickly used one leg to trip One. Picking himself off the ground, One readjusted his facemask then turned to face Fillmore. "If I can't take it from you, maybe I'll just trade you for it."

Fillmore chuckled and replied, "Really? What makes you think I would trade it to you?"

"I guess I should introduce you to my gal. Two is right behind you. Don't worry; I won't try to steal the drive while you look. We already have the upper hand."

As Fillmore turned around he thought, Two? I guess the Pentagon is a group then. Probably five… His thoughts came to a halt as he saw another cloaked, hooded figure with a hockey mask. As Two spoke, a feminine voice with an echo could be heard. "So what's more important to you? That drive or your partner?" she asked as she held an unconscious Ingrid by the back of Third's black dress.

Fillmore gritted his teeth as he tried to think a way out of the current jam. He reached into his pocket.

"I guess you've decided to hand it ov…"Two started to say. She stopped as she realized Fillmore had taken out his safety patrol badge and threw it like a Frisbee at her. It caught her so off that it hit her directly in the hockey mask.

At the same time Fillmore's badge was flying through the air, One came from behind Fillmore and almost grabbed him. Without turning around, Fillmore threw his head back and hit One in his hockey mask. In the time it took their hockey masks to break and fall to the ground, Fillmore had managed to grab Ingrid around her waist carry her so there was some distance between them and the two Pentagon leaders. In turning to look back at his adversaries, Fillmore could not hide the surprise in his voice. "Sonny Lombard and Penny Madrid, I never thought you two would sink so low as to take another person as a hostage."

Penny replied, "If the payoff is big enough sure, but you haven't understood that for years."

"Not since he decided to go to the other side. I'll give my girl here credit though, she had the same temptations you had Fillmore, but she stayed true to herself, unlike you. O well, since you messed up, I get to have the best girl in the world as a girlfriend" added Sonny. He continued. "But back to business, I believe you have something we want. Face it Fillmore, you can't get escape the two of us if you have to carry your unconscious partner."

As Fillmore held Ingrid in one of his arms, he replied, "Just watch me." Fillmore pushed the door to the school in as he ran into the school. Sonny and Penny ran in after him. As Fillmore ran he thought, okay Fillmore you got lucky that the door that was left unlocked was close by. Now how am I going to shake those two and keep Ingrid safe?

"He just ran into the auditorium," said Penny as her and Sonny were still in hot pursuit of Fillmore. As the pair came into the auditorium, they stopped at the entrance and looked around for where Fillmore might be hiding with Ingrid. Sonny called out.

"Face it Fillmore, you're trapped. The doors leading outside are going to be barred shut right now. The only way for you to get out is to come out the way you came in." As Sonny and Penny listened for any movement, they heard rustling backstage. Sonny motioned with his hands for Penny to stay by the doors as he went backstage to find Fillmore. He started to slowly walk to the stage, checking the aisles as he went to be sure Fillmore wasn't hiding in them and the rustling backstage wasn't some decoy.

As Sonny was shouting, Fillmore was backstage trying to think of a plan as he held Ingrid in his arms. Looking to his left, he saw some of the sacks used as weights for various plays. Turning his attention back to Ingrid, it was clear that she was still out. He stroked her cheek with his hand as he softly gazed on her face. His eyes narrowed in determination as a plan came to him. He gently picked Ingrid up and went over to the sacks. This better work thought Fillmore as he made the preparations for his plan.

By this point Sonny was about halfway down the aisle to the stage when Fillmore ran from behind the curtain to the edge of the stage with a lasso he made from some rope backstage. As Sonny started to run towards him, Fillmore threw the lasso and latched onto two chairs in the balcony seating to the left of the stage. Fillmore jumped off stage and started to climb up towards the balcony.

"I guess we just recapture his partner," Penny stated from the back of the auditorium.

In seeing the Project Trust flash drive on a lanyard dangling from Fillmore's wrist, Sonny replied, "No time, hurry up and get to the balcony doors. You can cut him off up there." After he was done saying that, he jumped onto the rope Fillmore was climbing on and started to follow.

As Fillmore reached the balcony, he looked down to see Sonny about half way up the rope. I can't drop the rope without injuring him. Best use this time to get some separation. As soon as Fillmore exited the doors leading from the balcony to the hallway, he saw Penny running up the stairs. Fillmore ran the other way until he saw a column connecting first floor to the railway he was running on. Using that column to slow his descent, he got back to the first floor. At the last moment, he ducked as he saw a hand from into his peripheral vision.

Sonny went completely over Fillmore and landed about five feet from him. "I thought I had you there. Running down the steps Penny came up seemed like a good way to catch you off guard."

"You know you're finished once I make my report at headquarters tomorrow," Fillmore replied as he surveyed his surrounding as he planned his next escape route.

From behind him Penny spoke. "That is presumptuous of you. I don't think you're going to make a report after you've been capture."

Fillmore quickly bolted to his right as Penny and Sonny both converged on Fillmore to try to snag him. Sonny managed to knock one of Fillmore's shoes off, so Fillmore started to run with only one shoe into the next hallway. As Sonny and Penny pursued him, they saw him bolt into the music room. When they entered the room after Fillmore they dodged Fillmore's other shoe as he threw it at them to buy a few seconds of time. Fillmore escaped out the window. The Pentagon pair quickly climbed out after him.

As they climbed out they saw Fillmore running into the Miniature Golf Course. Fillmore, having spent some leisure time playing the Z High School Mini-Golf team, new the layout very well. As he was close to the eighteenth hole, he saw something that immediately gave him an idea. That will work perfectly, he thought.

Fillmore had started to put some decent distance between him and the Pentagon pair. He looked back to see them wandering through the golf course looking for him. He thought hmm maybe I didn't need to hide it after all. Especially if thos…WHACK. Fillmore never saw the figure that struck him from behind as he fell unconscious to the ground.

Ingrid groaned from her headache as she opened up her eyes. Before she could take in all of her surroundings, a soft feminine voice said from behind her, "Ingrid, you're awake." Turning towards the voice Ingrid saw Rita and Linus Santiago. Rita was by Ingrid's side quickly and placed her hand on the safety patrol officer's shoulder as she said, "Take it easy. Linus and I found you hidden amongst the stage weight bags when we came in to do some rehearsing this morning. You have a pretty bad welt on your head, so we contacted the school nurse. Hopefully she will be here soon."

Ingrid blinked a couple of times to try to clear her mind. She looked around the room and saw that she was in the backstage area of the auditorium. Ingrid promptly remembered the events of the previous night before she was knocked out. Crackers, I must have gone from being unconscious to sleeping. But who knocked me out? Why go through the trouble of moving me here to where people were more likely to find me instead of on the roof? Did the person who got me get Fillmore too? Ingrid's thoughts were broken by Rita waving a hand in front of her face.

"Ingrid the nurse is here. Why don't you let her check you out? Then maybe you can tell us what happened."

"Not sure how much I can tell you, but Linus can you get in touch with Vallejo and get him over here while the nurse looks me over. I'll need to go over some stuff with him."

"Sure Ingrid, I'll give him a call now," Linus replied.

Ingrid hung up the phone at her desk. It had been about two hours since Linus and Rita had found her hidden inside a weight sack in the auditorium. Now I'm starting to worry. Areilla just said Fillmore never made it back to our house last night. I at least explained why I didn't come back, but what happened to Fillmore? Vallejo's in his office right now talking with the other commissioners. I've told them all that I remember, including someone heading towards Fillmore before I got knocked unconscious. Right now, we don't have a lead and I have no idea where the database is. This is definitely not going well. The door to Vallejo's office opened, drawing the attention of Ingrid and the rest of the officers to the door. The Head Commissioner Fred Mitchell and Commissioner Andy Walnut walked out of the office without saying a word to any of the safety patrollers. Vallejo spoke up after they had left.

"Everyone, I want your attention. I have an important briefing." He solemnly spoke. "This morning everyone here was told about Project Trust and the classified case Fillmore and Third had been working on. As of this moment, the whereabouts of both Project Trust and Fillmore are unknown. Even worse, this foul up somehow has already made its way to the school's newspaper reporters. As far as reporters go, all questions should be redirected to one of the commissioners. From what little information we have, there are two possible explanations. Walnut's safety patrollers are tackling one of those possibilities and we are going to handle the other. As of now Third, Anza, and Tehama are conducting a missing officer search. Bishop and O'Farrell are on backup duty. The rest of you are to keep an eye out for clues and let them know ASAP. You will be informed of Walnut's progress by memo starting tomorrow." After taking a breath, Vallejo sternly said, "Third, Anza, Tehama, Bishop, and O'Farrell, I need you all in my office, now."

The group headed into Vallejo's office as everyone else started to get back to work. After everyone was in the office and the door closed, Frank asked, "If we're handling a missing officer case, do you mean that Walnut's office is approaching this as…"

Vallejo interrupted, "Yes Frank. Fillmore is being looked at as a rogue officer."

"This is a joke Vallejo!" Ingrid almost shouted as he slammed her hands on Vallejo's desk. "Fillmore's probably out there risking his neck waiting for some backup and he's being treated like…"

"That's enough Third. As much as I don't believe Fillmore went rogue, it is plausible that he stole Project Trust. There's no motive that we can think of, but someone knew where you would be staking out. There was knowledge of the time and location of the dropout and Fillmore hasn't turned up today either. As tight as information of the transfer was kept, all the details of the operation were known and planned for. The operation was suggested and planned out by Fillmore. He had a prime opportunity to manipulate things to his advantage to get Project Trust and now lay low until he gets all the data he needs from it."

Ingrid clenched her right fist, but before she could speak, Tehama close her own hand around Ingrid's. Tehama asked Vallejo, "So when we find out where and why Fillmore is missing, we'll clear his name right chief?"

"That's my hope. It was hard enough to convince the other two commissioners to contribute enough manpower to both probabilities. The only stipulation is that all your work on finding Fillmore has to be on a volunteer basis, which is why I assigned you all. I don't think anyone here has any objections, right?"

Seeing smirks and heads shaking 'no', Vallejo continued, "Alright then. Just watch your backs. Things are going to get really messy until all this is straightened out, so make sure you all go by the book on this."

With that Vallejo dismissed everyone back to their desks. Ingrid was the last one leaving, but stopped when Vallejo called, "O, Ingrid."

Turning her head she replied, "Yes?"

"Don't run yourself ragged on finding him. You'll have a better chance if you keep yourself rested," Vallejo advised with a soft tone.

"Yeah…thanks," Ingrid replied some uneasiness. She went back to her desk to start planning out the investigation.

The next morning Ingrid walked into the office and went over to the hot cocoa machine. As her cup filled she thought, I have definitely had better sleeping nights. After the cocoa kicks in I'll get back to work on trying to find Fillmore. Scouring my lookout post, the auditorium, and the last place I saw Fillmore from my lookout all turned up nothing. Ingrid walked over and sat down at her desk and turned on her computer. As she sipped her cocoa she started to smell something burning. Looking under her desk by her computer, her eyes went wide with what she saw. Ingrid quickly dove out of her chair towards Fillmore's desk. BOOM!

Everyone in the office had turned around as they heard Ingrid jump from her chair and saw her desk consumed in an explosion of snow cone ice.

Andy Walnut tossed the case folder onto Vallejo's desk. "I think this will rule out your theory of Fillmore being a missing officer, Vallejo. That delinquent's fingerprints were found on the bomb pieces and trigger mechanism that blew up Officer Third's desk. The prints matched up in the electronic database." Commissioner Walnut turned to Fillmore's search party and said, "I wanted you all here so you understand you don't need to put yourselves in anymore danger. Fillmore knows you tendencies and next time one of you might actually get hurt. I'm sure our Head Commissioner agrees."

Fred Mitchell spoke up saying, "I want to be clear that none of you are expected to continue trying to clear a guilty man's name. There's no point in it."

Ingrid cut in with a harsh tone, "except everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Fillmore's probably being set-up."

"Evidence is easy to plant, but I don't think you can plant fingerprints," Mitchell replied. "Go ahead and read the case file, that one is a hard copy for this office anyways." As he started to leave the office, Ingrid coldly retorted.

"At some point you just have to trust people, and I'd trust Fillmore with my life."

"It might just be that if you keep trying to find him," Mitchell replied cautiously. He left the room followed by Commissioner Walnut.

Ingrid broke the eerie silence that had fallen upon the room. "You're going to let us continue right Vallejo? Vallejo? Say something already."

Vallejo ran his hand along the back of his neck. "Those fingerprints are pretty damaging. I have to say that I have my doubts now but, I did say this was on a volunteer basis. So if you guys want to continue, you can."

"Alright then I'll get going. I'll just have a look at the evidence they process from my desk and…"

Vallejo interrupted, "Ingrid, I'm going to let you guys continue, but I am going to have to go by the book on this. Unless you guys show me how something can clear Fillmore, I won't be able to let you use much of the office's resources. I can't go wasting funds just because I believe in my officers. I have to prove it on paper to those who can have doubts, so they can believe too."

Ingrid's face was a strange mix of gloomy and steadfast determination, "I get it. Since my desk is busted, I'll just use Fillmore's since he's out." As she walked out the door, Ingrid thought don't worry Fillmore. I'll get this figured out. I'm supposed to be the smartest kid in school. Trust me, I'm not going to stop until I find you and help solve this case.