A/N: It's been quite a while since my last update. Things are a little busy down here, but here's some more.

oOo

In the garage they had a toss who would share a ride with Howie.

'Ah, Jack it's been a long night, I like to have a few minutes of rest', Bobby said.

'We'll let fate decide. Head or tails?'

'We're flipping coins now?'

'Looks like we do. Now what'll it be?'

'Flip first then I'll decide', Bobby offered.

Miles cleared his throat. 'Ehm, we might best be on our way. So if you gentlemen could hurry up a little?'

'Yeah, like I mean, they won't wait for us, ya know', Howie added.

'I know, we just haven't figured out who gets the honor of your presence', Jack said.

Howie furrowed his eyebrows. 'For a second there it sounded like you guys don't want me on your back.'

'Whoever gave you that impression', Miles said softly.

'What if I made a choice?', Howie offered. 'I like Bobby, but he's too much to handle sometimes.'

Bobby's eyes went wide. 'I'm too much? Mate, get a grip on reality. You're like a Highball cocktail they decided to shake up, rather than stir gently.'

The tiny man pulled a face. 'Ya see, that's what I mean. All this Austrian comments I can do without. Skip the flipping, I'll go with Jack.'

'Can anyone tell this Drongo, it's Australia?'

'Austria, Australia, what's the difference', Howie shrugged his shoulders.

'Apart from one vowel and one consonant, I'd say a few thousand miles.'

Jack looked at Howie then at Bobby. 'So no flipping?'

'Nope.'

oOo

In the car, Jack frowned a couple of times with Howie's unrelenting chatter. Does this guy ever know when to shut up...

Howie got hold of the radio, when Bobby radioed in. 'Yeah, this Special Agent Howie Fines, we read you loud and clear', he quacked, and held the 'talk' button pressed. 'This is the part where you should say, Over or something right?', he said to Jack, who rubbed his hand over his face. 'Eh, Howie...'

'Hey, is this thing dead or something, I'm not getting contact.' He started to touch some buttons on the panel.

'How 'bout not touching anything? ', Jack said reaching for the radio. 'And you got to release the button to receive.'

'Turn right here', Howie said when they were driving down E street near Union Station.

'I thought you said we had to be near the US Postal Service Main Office.'

'Yeah, Rhode Island and 5th NE.'

'I suggest we turn left, then', Jack said turning left on North Capitol Street.

'Good thinking, I like that', Howie said not discouraged at all.

Jack started to grin, luckily Sue handled him normally. She had at least some calming effect on this guy, who always seemed to run in hypermode.

oOo

They found the container standing on a parking lot. Waiting for someone to come and collect it. Jack, Howie and the others got out of the cars.

'You think it's still inside, whatever 'it' will be?', Miles said.

'Possible, yes. Likely, no', Jack replied.

The container seemed untouched, but the seal had been broken, and fixed rather clumsily.

'It has been opened. The seal is fixed, and by the look of it, rather hastily', Bobby said.

'We'll break it too.'

'Allow me', Howie said, stepping forward.

'Oh not you, Mate. You're no Fed.'

'I'm helping ya, don't I?'

'That doesn't mean you have the same privileges.'

Howie stepped back, sulking.

Miles broke the seal, pulled the handles to unlock the doors, and opened them.

oOo

Inside it was rather dark, apart from the first few feet who were lit by the daylight. They pulled out some flashlights. There were boxes, crates stashed inside. By the look of it, how the boxes were standing it was clear something was moved.

'Looks like we're too late', Miles said.

'Something is hauled out', Jack agreed. 'If only we could find out what.' They began searching for any clues of what had been inside. Looking for anything left behind that might give them a lead. But they found very little.

Miles and Bobby came out of the container.

'Other than all sorts of appliances, some plastic stuff I can't recognize and some boxes containing rubber rings there's nothing', he said. Jack pursed his lips, searching around the container did not reveal anything either.

'Hey! You!' They looked around. A man, somewhat corpulent, approached.

'I suggest you guys beat it, unless you like to have lunch with five-o', he yelled looking angrily.

'We might just do that, I like their choice of donuts', Bobby responded.

'You think you're funny?'

'Yeah, we're really funny within the Bureau.'

'Listen, asshole...'

'Special Agent Asshole, to you', Bobby said and showed his ID, the others did too.

'Oh...I, eh...', the man began to stammer.

'I think we haven't introduced each other properly, don't you agree?', Jack said.

'Sorry, I thought you were stealing stuff. I'm Robert Marlowe.'

'Well, mister Marlowe, mind telling us what you're doing here?'

'I work here, I'm the facility manager of DC's Public School Transport Branch over there.'

He pointed at a building down the street, a bus just drove away from the parking lot.

'I saw you guys busy here.'

Jack looked at him and then at the building. 'You don't happen to have any surveillance camera's pointing in this direction, do you?

'You bet we do, that's how I spotted you.'

'Then we would like to have the tapes of the last 48 hours.'

'I don't know if that's possible...'

Bobby frowned. 'It's always possible, mate. You just have to try.'

Marlowe seemed to hesitate.

'Let's rephrase that', Jack said. 'We want the tapes. Otherwise I'm forced to book you for obstruction.'

Bobby lifted one eyebrow. 'What'll it be? Going home at five, or enjoying the Bureau's nick?' Marlowe looked from one to another.

'Don't you need some sort of subpoena then?'

'No, just handcuffs', Bobby replied.

oOo

Marlowe decided to play along and went to CCTV room and got the tapes.

'I'm afraid we used these pretty much. They're practically worn out', Marlowe said handing them the tapes.

'How's the image?', Jack asked. Marlowe shrugged his shoulder. 'Like there's snowfall in DC 24/7.' Jack sighed. 'They have these tapes on bargain sale at RadioShack', he said. 'Never bothered to get some new ones?'

'Hey, listen that's not my turf. We have a limited budget', Marlowe protested.

'But your mother gives you pocket-money doesn't she?', Miles quipped.

They left.

Outside the building Jack dialed Tara's number.

'Williams...'

'Hey, Tara, we have some CCTV tapes, but they've treated them pretty rough.'

'Let me guess, you want me to polish them again.'

'Don't bother about guessing, we'll be back within record time.'

'Dump Howie on your way back, will you?'

Jack began to laugh. 'I'll try.'

The Bullpen, J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building

935 Pennsylvania Ave NW, 01.15 PM

They came in the office, Tara looked up from her beloved computer.

'Hey, guys. Did you manage to get rid of...', she couldn't complete her sentence for Howie's voice came echoing through the hallway.

'...I'm telling you, unsaturated fat is better for your health...'

Jack shrugged his shoulders apologizing. 'Guess we didn't.'

Howie walked in, in his hand a box of donuts. 'Okay this time it's on my tab, but you owe me for this. And the tip I gave ya.'

'Don't worry, Mate', Bobby said and took out a donut. Miles too couldn't resist, Jack standing in line. 'Save the cream-filled', Tara said getting up quickly.

'Best beat Sparky then', Bobby said munching away his strawberry-jelly one, trying to dig out another. D. slapped him on his hand. 'Easy, easy, I was heading for that one.'

'Hey guys, really. This is repugnant', Howie said watching them eating.

'What?'

'That's a three syllable word', Miles said.

'I know, but my brain just can't put together the face and the phrase used into one frame', Bobby said.

'Okay, so I do know some fancy words. I wasn't always a hustler', Howie said.

'Why am I not convinced?', Bobby replied.

'Because you're prejudiced. That's why.'

Bobby rubbed his hand through his hair. 'Give me one reason.'

'You can't handle the truth.'

'That's a line from a movie, mate. Nothing high-brow about that.'

'I know, A Few Good Men', Howie said. 'Which happens to be a great movie, by the way.'

'Well, I'm still not convinced.'

'I wanted to quote Oscar Wilde, or maybe John Steinbeck, but the words failed me.'

'That's why you all should leave these matters to the ones who have a Harvard degree', Miles interrupted.

oOo

The tapes were of awful quality and Tara was trying her best to get the image more clear, get rid of the 'snow' and the shaky recording.

'They're pretty roughed up. The poor little things', she said emphatically.

'Are they useful?', Jack asked when he walked over.

'As long as you're not demanding DVD quality it'll do.'

'What if I do?'

'Then I suggest you find someone else', she replied while she ran her fingers over the keyboard entering streams of commands. Jack just watched her, not even trying to understand what she was doing. 'I'm sure you'll manage without me.'

'Give me another half hour.'

oOo

Meanwhile Lucy waved for Jack's attention. 'Sue just radioed in.'

'What?...'

'MSN, you know, chit 'n chat', Lucy offered.

'What, something wrong?', Jack asked worried.

'No, just to tell Troy is driving her nuts. She's not allowed to do anything.'

'I know, my orders', Jack said smiling.

'Well best explain then', she said and gestured to her computer.

'Don't you have to work on it?', he asked. Lucy shook her head.

'I'm going to get some refreshments from the vending machine, you can use the time while I'm away. Just don't get carried away.'

Jack sat down at Lucy's desk and clicked on the MSN icon. He clicked on 'Sue' in the address list. Hey, Sue. How are you? It's Jack, he typed and waited for her to respond.

Hi Jack, what are you doing at Lucy's computer?

Checking if you're okay.

I'm okay but Troy is driving me nuts. I'm practically held hostage in my own house.

Lucy told me J

You know something more? No need to add smilies, I really hate this.

Sorry, love, he's just following orders.

Your orders...

Yup.

You're not my mother, you know that?

Nope, but I want you to take some rest. Speaking of which: how's your stomach and head?

Much better, although I feel a headache coming down my way because of you-know-who.

That bad?

Worse.

LOL

Nowhere near LOL, I can assure you.

Tara waved for his attention. 'Tape's ready.'

I gotta go, Tara has surveillance tapes digitally re-mastered. See what's on it.

What case?

Ours We found the Hanjin 350 container on 5th street NE, and seized some footage with, hopefully, the men who unloaded it, last night.

Good luck, are you coming over tonight?

You bet.

I can't cook anything.

I'll order something. You into Chinese?

Sure, see you tonight.

Bye, Sue

Jack?

Yes?

I love you.

I love you too, see you tonight.