Thankies again for the reviews! They made my day.
Jag Lady, i hope your comment about my descriptiveness is a good thing. : & that since you mentioned it, i just might include everybody's love-to-hate IAB agent.
All right. So the chapter with the rest of the characters is in progress right now. It'll be up by the end of tomorrow, so if you're still interested in this story of mine, come check back once in a while tomorrow to read the next chapter. I can assure you that this is indeed a Ryan-centered story, with a lady-friend to be his Valentine a little later. This little part just needs to be inserted in to make everything make sense. Bear with me, please! So, without further ado, enjoy.
7:58 AM
The mystery man looked to his left and then to his right. He walked briskly up to the front desk, not worrying about making too much noise.
Taking two whiffs of the surrounding air, his smile grew wider. He rubbed the lenses of his large black glasses to make sure he wasn't hallucinating… he wasn't.
Carelessly he dropped the box he had been carrying on the floor. He completely forgot about his mission in the next minute, and suddenly began tip-toeing to his left. It seems he had lost his ego-powered bravery as he repeatedly searched for a camera or a witness that would record the worst crime he had committed to date. Good, good. Nobody in sight. Time to do my thing. He was nearing his destination, and at the same time savagery as well as extreme desire flowed through his bloodstream.
For extra security he canvassed the crime lab's foyer, and after reassuring himself that no one was watching, jogged to the leftmost side of the receptionist's desk. He hadn't done this in a long time, and he sure as hell wasn't about to get caught.
Mission accomplished, he thought as his hands swiftly grabbed the object of his instant craving. A red-frosted heart-shaped chocolate cupcake. Come to papa. The tasty pastry was just inches away from being in its rightful place (which was in his hungry mouth) when –
"Hey you!"
--
7:58 AM
Just minutes after he had dozed off to sleep did Wonderboy open his eyes for the second time in a span of 15 minutes (it was actually 12 but there was no need to be exact; he wasn't about to pull a Wolfe – at least, not this early in the day).
Nonetheless he knew that he would never be able to fall asleep again for a while. With this in mind he stood up, stretched his arms and back, let out a long sigh and exited his humble abode.
The distance from his lab to the locker room was relatively far, but he was glad for the exercise. After all, watching the camera surveillances from three convenience stores without taking more than a 5-minute break was bound to leave him with a trucker-butt. And since the bathrooms were on the way, a trip there wouldn't hurt either.
Cooper found the men's bathroom with ease. He had been working at the Miami-Dade Crime Lab for a number of years, so even without his contacts he failed to enter the wrong bathroom. He stood in the urinal stall closest to the door and let loose, simultaneously cooking up another dirty plan he liked to call 'Dan-Plans' (sure, the name needed work, but he was too busy thinking of outrageous Dan-Plans to even care.)
A smile crawled on his face, both from relieving his bladder from cans upon cans of Red Bull as well as his new scheme. Step 1: Wait for my lady-friends to have to go to the john. Step 2: Take out contacts and walk in the bathroom, thinking that it's the men's. Step 3: Hope that they'll buy my act and that some of them will be changing their clothes... and not in the stalls.
Okay, so it was probably the dumbest plan to any other person, but to Dan Cooper it was genius. Foolproof… Absolutely the most hare-brained scheme ever. No, scratch that; wouldn't wanna be insulting the rabbits. But it could happen, right? They get dirty from a crime scene and want to change into clean garments outside the stalls…right?
He absentmindedly zipped up his pants and flushed the urinal. He returned to the real world when he heard the water draining the remnants of his Red Bull. Seeing his blurry reflection in the mirror, he realized that he couldn't recall how he had gotten from the urinal to the sink, but shook it off like he did the water from his newly-washed hands.
Leaving the bathroom, he once again walked in the direction of the locker room, where he retrieved his back-up contacts. He was so close to being able to see again when he unexpectedly remembered something that was vitally important: he had forgotten to sign the report he had given to Wheeler, the newbie. So he placed his contacts back in their cases and practically sprinted out of the locker room.
"Wheeler! Hey, newbie!" Cooper continued to shout down the halls and survey each glass-walled lab for the night-shift scaredy-cat. Squirt's probably hiding from his supervisor.
"Where are you, dude?" He whispered to himself as he gradually slowed down to a jog. Come on, show yourself. If anybody else sees that incomplete report, I am so out of here.
The 'blind' lab tech almost gave up when he saw a green blob standing at the front desk. If I remember correctly, Lenny was a green blob too. He retreated to his sprint.
"Hey you!"
The man turned around, eyes wide. Total deer-in-headlights look. At that moment the cupcake frosting had scraped onto a piece of paper that was beside the plates of cupcakes.
He feared that he was caught red-handed, literally. Immediately he remembered that he was a deliveryman and that he indeed had a reason why he was at the crime lab.
"I've…been looking for you." He replied as he took the clipboard from underneath his arm and held it out in front of Dan while he cupped the stolen pastry in his other hand. "See, I'm here because of this box that's addressed to this place…." His voice faded until Cooper could no longer hear him talking. He made no sign that he was even listening to the deliveryman as his eyebrows frowned and his nose sniffed.
Do I smell cupcakes? He inhaled deeply. My nose never deceives me. He treaded slowly and waited for the sugary smell to become stronger. Seconds later he was in front of the plates with a full-toothed grin. I make the K-9 unit look amateur.
"… and I just need you to sign this, sir."
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'sir'?" Cooper reached into his lab coat pocket and took out a pen.
Signing the paper, Cooper failed to see that it had been a proof of delivery that he was John Hancock-ing. He also missed the cupcake the man had taken, given that he was practically blind without his contacts.
But the man didn't know and he didn't mind. Once he had finished signing he could actually get away with taking a free cupcake.
"All right, here you go."
He took his clipboard back and looked down to make sure he had signed at the right spot. The signature looked like chicken scratch, but a signature's a signature. He was about to inform the other man where he had put the box when he looked up and saw that he was alone in the foyer once again.
The deliveryman left the crime lab, and almost made it out of the property when he tripped on a rather massive rock. On his way to the concrete ground he released his hold on the cupcake, resulting in a small splat! a few feet away from where he fell.
Damn. So close.
I hope that the first couple paragraphs got you on the edge of your seats. So who thought the guy was Wheeler & the box was a bomb? Hehe. Just to let you know that what was happening to the deliveryman & Dan was going on at the same time, up till the point when they meet.
Also, i made up a lot of stuff here. 1) i have no idea what the floor plan of the crime lab looks like. 2) i'm not sure about the proof of delivery paper is what it's actually called. 3) i don't know if dan does wear contacts.
You know the drill. Clickie the review button & leave your thoughts, pretty please.
