Thanks for the review! Made a little, maybe too small to notice change.
The cell phone hit the floor when she dropped it as she hit the break, squealing to a quick rolling stop, she made an illegal U-turn and hit the accelerator. The black Charger hadn't slowed, continued on the pursuit.
"Mare! Hello?" Stan bellowed into the phone when he heard the thump. He paced back and forth in his office, running his hand over the top of his pate. He looked up when he heard the elevator doors open. Marshall. Not now Inspector!
He cursed under his breath and walked to his door, closing it; he knew that if Marshall saw the door closed he would respect his privacy. That was the type of person that he was and one of the many things that Stan was glad for, especially at the moment. He couldn't afford to have both inspectors on the run, not yet anyways.
Mary headed for the highway again, if she was going to go fast, it was better to have free access to the highway. She couldn't risk civilians out on the streets.
Once she hopped back onto the highway she looked down to grab the cell phone, only to find the passenger seat empty, it was on the floor, she cursed loudly this time, reaching down and trying to keep the car from swerving dangerously. "Shit!"
She reached down and picked it up, trying not to hit anyone as she drove like a madwoman, "Sorry about that Stan, but I definitely have a tracker on me. I'm going to have to lead them out of Albuquerque."
"Wait! Don't you dare hang up on me or you'll be confined to your desk for the better part of this year!" he bellowed through the phone, trying to get her attention. Wincing at the thought that his bellow would let his Senior Inspector in on what was going on with his partner.
"Fine, these people are gaining on me," she said through clenched teeth, she looked through her rearview mirror and tried to make them out in the car.
From what she could make while she cut cars and semis on the highway was that it was a black 1970's Dodge Charger, which she begged the question. Why are they not right behind her? If it was a powerful car, why were they trailing behind her, following her? Damn, they are purposely following me to get me as far away from the city. They want to corral me! Shit, shit, shit…Are there more outside the city waiting on them? Me?
"I was on my way out of town on the damn vacation you forced on me, Pearson called and asked for a favor. I really didn't want to do it, but I thought having Pearson owing me would be worth the time. So, she changed my flight, I flew out to Indiana to meet up with her in person. Anyways, she asked me to locate her son, I literally drove-with a vehicle she provided-around the better part of the US of A, until I tracked him down in New Orleans. Shot an asshole-with Pearson's permission-got her kid back, end of story," she rambled as quickly as she could, not going into too much detail. She hated going against her promise, but at the moment her life along with Marshall and Stan's lives could be in jeopardy.
"And your ribs?" he asked harshly.
She sighed loud enough to sound annoyed, she didn't want her mentor to know that she had gotten caught off guard, "I got kicked"
"By the guy you shot?" he persisted.
"No"
"What is your next move?"
"I got to find the tracker, the only way they are tracking me is through my person, and I remembered taking away Pearson's kid his cell phone. I mean, I advised him to shut it off, which he did because I took it from him. But that's the only way they can track me, hold on," she threw the cell phone on the passenger seat again. Opening her glove compartment, she rummaged through it until she felt the cell phone she remembered throwing in there a few weeks when she found it in her bag. Found it!
When she finally managed to pull it out, she put it on her lap and tried to pry it open. Damn it, come on, come on…She looked up at the rearview mirror and saw them way closer than she was comfortable. She stepped onto the accelerator harder, making her Probe shake at the strain she was putting on it.
"Okay, I got it," she announced as she put her cell phone to her ear and held it with left shoulder, her right hand on the steering wheel, at the same time her left hand holding and trying to pry open the kid's cell phone open. She finally managed to pry it open and carefully took the battery out, there right on behind the battery, she found the tracing device. "Hey Stan, I found it."
"I'm guessing on the cell phone?" he questioned with a resigned sigh, she could almost picture him standing in his office, his hand on his waist as he tried to figure out a plan.
"Smaller than my pinky nail," she informed as she saw another chance to get off the highway without her tail. She immediately closed the chipped cell phone and put it between her thighs as she threw hers onto the dashboard. Taking the opportunity she pulled the stunt from before and they took the bait, this time they followed suit. She saw them get off the highway as she kept on going.
Mary smirked and swerved to a stop onto the shoulder, she saw them over the bridge as they hopped back onto the highway, as the entrance was right across from the exit. She put the car in reverse and stepped on it, turning to the exit as she cleared the divider.
"I lost the tail, but only for a few minutes. Look, I need to find a way to get you the chip, maybe you can run it and find out how long they tracked me. If they know what I do," she didn't finish in remorse, she could get transferred to another WITSEC office, or simply within the Marshal service. She closed her eyes at the thought of losing Marshall as a partner, she shook out of her reverie and sped away from the highway, trying to get a head on the two goons.
"Mare, where are you? Is there a store nearby?" he asked curiously as a thought entered his mind.
She looked around and saw a gas station with a store, "Yeah, there's a store on the gas station, why?"
He groaned in partial relief, "Do you think you have enough time to get off and find foil paper?"
Mary caught on as her brain recalled a fact Marshall had once spewed on a transfer, Did you know that you can stop a chip trace with a simple piece of foil paper? "Damn, why couldn't I recall that fun fact."
She ended the call as she stopped right in front of the store and jumped out of her car with Glock holstered, she stepped into the store and looked at the attendant, she didn't want to waste any more time and asked, "Where's the foil paper?"
The pimply faced kid behind the counter looked up at her and his eyes widened in appreciation, partially confused, "Fo-foil pa-paper?"
"Yeah, the foil paper, where…is…it?" she annunciated slowly as she scowled at the kid.
He pointed to the second aisle and she ran towards it, taking the foil paper in hand, she walked by the kid thrusting her badge in his face as she ran out of the store.
She jumped back into her car and squealed out, getting a glimpse of the black Charger hot on her tail. She made a quick right as the car was coming down the street, traffic was on her side for once. The goons couldn't make an illegal U-turn because of the median on the middle of the street. That gave her time to use the foil paper and test the fact first hand.
Her cell phone went off and thinking it was Stan, she answered it, "Okay, I got the foil paper. We're about to test this fact."
"Foil paper? Fact? What are you talking about?" Pearson asked rapidly, not understand what the inspector was rambling about.
Mary pulled the cell phone away from her ear, like it had burned her, she looked at the LCD screen and saw Pearson's name on it, "Pearson, what did your kid have to say about this?"
She opened the foil paper box and pulled out a big piece of the foil paper, she held the cell phone with one ear, holding the steering with her forearms, as she held the box in one hand and ripped off the excess foil paper. Throwing the foil paper box to the floor of the passenger seat, she folded the paper a few times, waiting on Pearson to talk.
"He…he said that Hurst is just part of a bigger problem. That he was actually glad that you came to his rescue," she said in her son's defense. But Mary knew that Pearson didn't believe her son from the way she emphasized the word.
"Where are you?" she barked into the cell phone, she was beyond pissed at the kid. That little chicken shit is going to find out what sort of torture I promised him.
There was silence as Mary took out the tiny chip from the cell phone and put it in the middle of the foil paper, she folded the foil paper over the chip a few times.
Finally, "I'm in DC, why?"
"Well, because I'm going to have to find my way around your neighborhood soon and find out exactly what your son knows about this chip and the assholes tracing me," she spoke through clenched teeth, pissed that she had gotten caught up in this hell.
Pearson sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll send you my address as soon as you drive into DC."
Mary pulled her cell phone away from her ear and looked at the LCD again, the call had ended, "Witch!"
She looked around and drove aimlessly, trying to stay close to enough traffic, she hoped the goons would think twice before trying something against her. She saw a parking lot a few miles down and drove in, she parked her car opposite of the entrance. Getting off she ran over to the entrance and waited to see if the goons followed her or if the foil paper had indeed done its job.
Marshall was about to sit when he heard Stan's bellow, he frowned and thought to go and find out what was going on. But his office was closed which meant the Chief was most likely on a call. He smirked at the thought that he was yelling at someone besides Mary.
At the thought of his partner, he looked over at her desk and found it empty. He frowned again and sighed sadly as he sat behind his desk. After a few minutes, he decided to call her. He placed the call and it went straight to her voice mail, again he thought that she was probably with a witness, he ended the call and logged into his computer.
Soon after he began to fill out his paperwork and was looking down when he heard the Chief's door open, he looked up and frowned at Stan's agitated state, "Hey Chief, what's wrong?"
Marshall immediately thought it could be a new witness or possibly a breach of an old one, in full Marshal mode he stood up and started to think strategic moves.
"Nothing, don't worry about it." Stan didn't even look at him, walked by Marshall and pushed through the security doors, into the elevator.
He narrowed his eyes, stood staring after Stan and sighed deeply, frowning he sat back down and leaned back. He thought that had been strange, even for Stan. He reached for his cell phone and tried to call Mary again, but again it went to voice mail.
"Come on, Sunshine, pick up your cell," he murmured as he tried her number again, going to voice mail again, he decided to leave her a message, "Hey, I've been trying to call you, but it keeps going to voice mail. Call me."
He ended the call and ran his fingers through his hair, blowing air in frustration. He hadn't enjoyed lunch with the Detective, not after Mary had sped away from him. Something that left a bitter taste in his mouth, and an ache in the pit of his stomach.
Shaking his head he looked down onto his desk and saw his paperwork still waiting on him. He pulled up closer to his desk and began scribbling, trying to finish enough of the paperwork before he went to visit one of his witnesses.
TBC
