Thanks for the reviews! By the way, the fact about the foil paper is actually true.
Mary had waited patiently an hour before she made her move, she briskly walked back to her car and hopped in, glad that the foil paper worked. She reached for her cell phone and saw she had a voice mail, she frowned and thought that she must've received it when she was on the phone with either Stan or Pearson, she pressed the voice mail icon and waited to hear the message. "Hey, I've been trying to call you, but it keeps going to voice mail. Call me."
With a heavy heart she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, I can't call you, not right now. You'll hear it in my voice that something's wrong and try to come after me. I need you safe, Marshall.
She ended the call to her voice mail and pressed her speed dial two, connecting her to Stan, "Did you pay for the foil paper?"
Knowing her too well, she knew he was trying to lighten the mood, too much seems to have happened in such a really short time, "No, I was in a hurry."
She couldn't believe that it had only been four hours since she first saw Hurst walking on the diner's parking lot.
"Are you trying to find ways to get fired?" he asked impatiently, but understood the urgency to take the foil paper without taking the time to take out her money and pay, waiting for her change alone would've taken enough time for the people following her to catch up.
"No, I'm sure shooting your partner for no apparent reason, would be reason enough to get me the boot," she said sarcastically.
"So, I'm guessing it worked?" he asked.
Still on Marshal mode, she kept watch on the activities of the parking lot, "Well, it's been little over an hour since I put the chip in foil paper and parked in a three floor parking lot. So far, no bite."
Stan leaned back on his chair, feeling a little relieved that the foil paper had worked, looking out at the empty desk of his Senior Inspector, "Alright, how long before you get here?"
Mary closed her eyes again, knowing the hard part was about to begin and sighed, "I'm not."
"What do you mean, you're not?" he roared, "You must be out of your mind."
"Not necessarily, but I do need to find out more about these two goons," she explained.
Stan stood up and began to pace, shoulders hunched with a hand on his waist, "You need to explain that to me. What are you planning? How are you going to find more about these people? This people are dangerous! What part of that don't you understand?"
Turning the car on, she got out of the space and kept her eyes open for the black Charger. She got out of parking lot and still she kept watch for any suspicious activity. Not seeing anything suspicious she rattled, "I'm going to drop the foiled chip someplace safe, and you need to get someone here as soon as possible to retrieve it."
"NO! You need to bring your little ass back into the office and bring the chip yourself, you hear?" he screeched, not aware that Marshall had just walked into the office.
Marshall heard the yelling again and decided this time he would find out what was going on, with Stan acting weird and Mary still not behind her desk, something that didn't go unnoticed by him when he walked into the office.
Stan turned, his face red and his pate sweaty, he looked at Marshall and turned away from him, hiding his eyes. He knew how insightful his Senior Inspector was and if he got a few seconds of his eyes, he would know something was amiss with his partner.
"I have to go," she muttered angrily into the cell phone, "Once I've located a safe place for the chip, I'll let you know."
Mary hung up and drove aimlessly further away from the highway, she pulled up the maps on her blackberry and searched for a good hiding spot in plain sight. From the look of it, she had been heading east for about an hour or so. She was in Moriarty, NM which suited her fine, far from her Marshall and Stan, suited her just fine.
Taking turns driving between small residential streets and major intersections, she decided the best way to get to DC was to fly out. She knew it would take her longer to get to ABQ International airport through the street, but she couldn't risk going back onto the highway. She drove east towards the I-25, thinking about plans to catch those goons and feeling stupid for falling prey because of a tiny chip.
Right before she reached the airport, she decided to make a last call to Stan to get the information he was trying to give her about the goons. She needed to know as much as she could about them, she wasn't afraid of them leaving Albuquerque. No, she knew the dark man would not easily forget that she had shot him, he wouldn't leave until he exact revenge against her.
Mary pressed speed dial two on her cell phone and heard it ring, "Where are you?"
Marshall stood just inside Stan's office with hands on waist, looking at the older man hang up the phone on the desk. He collapsed on the chair and frowned up at Marshall, still not meeting his eyes, "What are you doing in here?"
"Well, I heard the yelling earlier and I come in after a witness visit and find you yelling once again, you seemed…upset," Marshall drawled at the Chief.
"Upset is putting it mildly," Stan shook his head, "Nothing I can't take care of."
He nodded in agreement and then nodded towards his partner's desk, "Did Mary take off again, or did she never come back from lunch?"
Stan looked up at Marshall and frowned, "She's busy and won't be back today."
Frowning at his boss, he asked curiously, "Problem with a witness?"
Shaking his head the older man groused, "Personal problem."
"Personal problem? A Jinx and Brandi personal?" he questioned, confused and hurt that she hadn't called him to confide in him, he was accustomed to her calling him with family or personal problems.
"I don't know," he muttered looking at his computer, typing a few things.
"I called her and she still hasn't gotten back to me, must be a big personal problem," he mused his thoughts out loud, aware that his boss wouldn't look at him, which begged the question, where's Mary?
"Probably busy with her personal problem. Look, Marshall, I'm kind of in the middle of something here," he gestured towards his computer, looking at the inspector through the corner of his eye.
Marshall nodded, "Oh, okay, I…um…have paperwork to finish before going home."
"Sure, sure," the older man agreed as he walked out of his office, sighing in relief. He hated keeping Marshall in the dark about Mary's extra-curriculum activity during her supposed 'vacation', and now with Mary planning on running and trying to figure out things about the goons that followed her, on her own. He was definitely going to have a coronary with those two.
His phone went off and he looked over at Marshall, sitting behind his desk, he looked up as Stan picked up his extension, "Where are you?"
"It doesn't matter, tell me about these dangerous people?" she asked pensively, evading the question, trying to figure out how bad the people following her were.
Stan leaned back and kept a watchful eye on his Senior Inspector, knowing exactly where he was at all times, he didn't want to risk him finding out about Mary's problem, not a the moment.
"Like we agreed before, Hurst is small fish in the rather large ocean he's swimming in. A very well known associate of his, is a tall dark man, heavily muscled with a crew cut, thick eyebrows, narrow nose, possibly mixed. That one, you have to be careful, he is known for torture, the DA just haven't found enough evidence to back it up." he informed her sighing in frustration. "Name's Renegade Johnson, AKA 'The Butcher', that alone should give you a mental image."
Mary knew he was talking about the tall dark man from New Orleans, which she let him know, "Yeah, sounds like the guy in New Orleans, the one I shot."
"He's the one you shot? Good God, of all the people...this is going to get worst then I thought," he tried to keep his voice as low as he could without giving Marshall enough to put two and two together.
"Yeah, I know…" she trailed off as she drove into the airport long term parking lot.
"There's a few others, but the most dangerous ones are still in prison long term, basically the man you shot has been smart enough not to leave any traces behind," Stan kept rubbing his pate furiously, he paused when he saw Marshall stand up, walking around his desk and going to the kitchenette.
Marshall walked to the kitchenette to be closer to Stan's office door, he was ashamed to admit he did it to be able to eavesdrop on Stan. He inwardly groaned and pulled his cell phone out, Mary still hadn't called him back.
He debated whether to call her again or not, but decided against it, pocketing his cell phone again as he drank his coffee, walking back to his desk. He chanced another glance towards her desk and shook his head. Are Jinx and Brandi giving you trouble again? Why haven't you called me?
Setting his pride aside he pulled his cell phone out again, pressing speed dial one, "This is Mary, please leave your name and number."
He sat back on his chair and looked over at Stan's office, he couldn't pinpoint what was going on, but he knew Stan wasn't acting like himself. He would swear that he was keeping something from him. Did Mary tell you her personal problem?
"Hey Mare, you still haven't called me. Stan told me that you had a personal problem? Look, just call me to let me know you're not speaking to me, if that's the case," he questioned and challenged her at the same time, ending the call, he threw his cell phone into his desk drawer. Marshall could only hope that she would give him a call back just to be mad at Stan for letting the cat out of the bag. She hated people talking about her.
Stan saw Marshall talking on his cell phone and asked her, "He's asking your whereabouts."
Mary didn't have to ask who, she automatically knew it was Marshall and she felt like a heel, they were partners and she was keeping something very important away from him. Something that she believed he should know, his life could be at risk.
She muttered angrily, "What do you suggest I do? Let him in on it? The shit is about to hit the fan, Stan."
"To tell you the truth, I can't really tell you what to do. This ball is in your court, you make the calls," he responded heatedly, "I still think you should bring the chip yourself and we can all put our heads together to figure it out."
"Come on, Stan, I can't just come back with the risk of them coming over there. For all we know, they tracked me over there and are waiting for me to come back. I can't do that to you or Marshall," she argued back.
Stan could understand her argument, but it could all be just speculation at the moment, "That begs the question, where are you?"
TBC