~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sara thought about the note. It was Monday, and the dinner "meeting" was on
Wednesday. She was in a particularly vengeful mood toward Irons, especially after John's death.
It meant that she had two days to figure out a plan to gain revenge against Irons... 'A simple
spook? No, too childish. And he'd never fall for it, anyway. Threaten his life? No, he's a billionaire
with a lot of enemies... He's probably used to it. Oh, forget this. I need inspiration... Maybe I'll just
ask Jake. He's usually full of ideas for practical jokes, except he's too scared to use them.'
She gave up on the master plan for a few minutes to return to what she had been doing --
paperwork...
..............................................................................................................
Andie handed a large stack of paper and a case file to Matthew.
"What's this for? Why are you giving me all of the case research?" he asked.
"Because I'm transferring soon, by Wednesday actually, and I figured that you'd wind up
taking the case after I leave. You might want to familiarize with what we ahve so far. You might
need to ask me some questions while I'm still here. You don't want to start over from the
beginning, do you? Especially since we uncovered a good lead from that one witness..."
"Need any help cleaning out your desk?" Matt offered hopefully.
"Nice try, rookie. Start reading."
'How does she always see right through me whenever I try that?' he thought. Then he
followed orders and started reading the case file.
While he organized the disheveled pile of paper she had thrown on his desk, she
rummaged through the top drawer of her own desk. She pulled out a bunch of paper, which she
tossed in the trash, a PDA, a camera, a stack of notecards, a paperback book, and an odd
assortment of pens and pencils. 'Hey, I was looking for that camera...' she thought. Anything she
decided to keep went on top of her desk while everything she wanted to toss was promptly
thrown into the wastebasket. One wadded up ball of paper made a perfect shot.
"Three points!" Matt cheered.
"Thanks for the support, but don't you have something better to do than sit around and
watch what I'm doing?" Andie asked.
"Yeah. Stare at the clock and wait for noon. I'm starved! And there's still a half-hour to
wait before lunch break!!"
"I know. I wish I could fast-forward and reverse time whenever I wanted... That'd be
great, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah. I'm just waiting for some self-appointed genius to invent a time machine... They've
done just about everything else."
"I better get back to work on this desk. How did I ever find anything in this mess?"
"I don't know. Why are you asking me?"
"Because you share an office with me and you're also the only other person around to
ask."
"Oh."
..............................................................................................................
Sara put down the pen she had been writing with. She had finished the paperwork, so
she got up and filed it. Then she looked up at the clock and sighed.There was still half-an-hour
until lunch! 'I still have half-an-hour to wait? Not fair! Oh, well. Is my CD player still in here?' She
started rummaging through her desk.
"What're you doing?" Jake asked.
"Looking for something."
"Obviously. What are you looking for?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Jeez! I'm just asking a question! What's wrong with you today?"
"I haven't had enough coffee and I didn't eat breakfast."
"That explains it. Why didn't you eat breakfast? Cereal, bowl, milk, spoon, eat. That
easy."
(Mako-chan Wolf's blabbering: yes, I know that was one of Sara's lines, but it applied to what they
were saying... the characters are taking over!! Well, at least it's not my muses...)
"Shut up, rookie."
..............................................................................................................
Andie was on the last drawer. In there, she uncovered her CD case (which had been long
forgotten), a binder, a notebook,and a flashlight. Then she picked up her bookbag from the floor
and proceeded to stuff anything she wanted to keep into it. By the time she was done, her
bookbag was too full, her desk was very empty, and the wastebasket had a pile of discarded
paper surrounding it.
"Why do you always have a bookbag?" Matt asked.
"How else am I supposed to carry stuff on a motorcycle?"
"Sell the bike and buy a car, then."
"Sell my Ninja? Have you lost it? Have you gone insane from too much paperwork?
Telling me to sell my bike is like telling Toby Keith to sell his guitar!"
"Uh... I think I'll back off and shut up now..."
"Smartest thing you've said all day... I think by now you know that it doesn't pay to get me
angry, then be the only other person in the room." She looked up at the clock. "Four more
minutes."
Matt looked up at the clock, too. Three more minutes of torture before they were set
free... 'I'm hungry...' he thought. As if to punctuate his sentence, his stomach rumbled.
"So you're hungry too?" Andie asked, gaze never wavering from the clock.
"Yeah. I wish time went faster..."
"Never wish away your life." she quipped.
"But you said the same--" Andie glared at him. "Never mind..." he finished.
"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One... FREEDOM!"
Andie cried, tossing yet another ball of paper at the wastebasket as she ran out of the office. She
stopped, turned around, walked back into the office, picked up her helmet and her jacket, and
walked back out again, as if nothing had ever happened when noon came.
...............................................................................................................

Short, I know. But it's probably still longer than chapter one! If you want more, review. If I don't get
off this computer soon to feed my muse, she'll wind up clawing me to pieces... Before you ask,
my muses include a German Shepherd named Dinah, a Guinea Pig named Daisy, and a normal
human being, whose name I shall not mention for security reasons... Oh, forget that! Her name is
Mia... And, thanks to Eli for the reassurance!! :)