A/N: Well, well, a post at last. It's been nearly two-and-a-half months ago since the last update. But A Tale of Christmas took priority, a choice I do not regret to be honest.
But, this one is far from over yet, there's a whole lot more coming. Albeit this story is less poetical as the story mentioned above, it has it's own good sides to it. And it's own attraction. And it would be a shame to leave it 'open'.
N.B. A slight modification: fs in signed lines means the name following that abbreviation is actually fingerspelled.
oOo
The gathered crowd burst out in cheers, but the couple didn't react. When they parted, Bobby couldn't help but ask. 'Why, Spark, you becoming deaf? We made a hell of a noise...'
'Yes you did,' answered Sue. Bobby's jaw dropped, along with several others.
'You heard us?'
Sue chuckled. 'Are you kidding? With that noise?'
Bobby looked confused. 'You really heard us?'
'I heard something. When noise is loud enough I can hear it, as long as it's above my decibel threshold. That doesn't mean I know what it is, but I know there's something.'
'You knew we were screaming?'
'I figured, since you provoked us to become intimate,' Sue said with a devious grin. 'And I know how men can get...' she added with a wink to Lucy and Tara.
'I don't understand. I thought deaf was, well, deaf,' said Bobby.
'Well, the degree of deafness varies from person to person. It depends on a whole variety of circumstances just how much, or rather, how little one can hear. Standing right behind me yelling would probably help too. So there is nothing like 'standard deaf'. And furthermore, it varies from day to day. On a good day, you can hear a little more than on a bad day.'
'So today is a good day?' asked Bobby.
'Well, it started good, went a little downhill just a while ago, but it's on its way back,' Sue said smiling. She turned to face the others.
"THANK YOU" she signed to everyone. "Thank you for the precious gift you've given me today", she said as she signed, "It's really hard for me to leave you, but what I hope to find is so precious I don't want to risk losing it."
'Mind you, I'll be here as often as I can, making sure you keep functioning,' she added with a wicked grin.
oOo
She sat down at her desk, smiling. The warmth was something she was going to miss the most, and their genuine efforts to understand her world. She looked around at everybody, as they began returning to work, smiling at her when their eyes met. I'm really going to miss this...
Then she saw the envelope on her desk.
She picked it up and with a paper-knife she opened it.
Her heart stopped when she saw what was inside. The paper-knife dropped out of her hand and landed on the floor with a sharp ping. That made Jack look up. 'Sue?' He saw how all color had drained from her face, she seemed transfixed. He jumped up and rushed to her side.
Her hands were trembling and she nearly jumped as he touched her arm. 'Sue...!'
Then he saw what she was holding. Photographs. Not one but several, in full color, they showed Sue leaving her apartment with Levi, walking in the park, getting into her car, and out. Outside of the Hoover Building. There were pictures of her talking to Lucy, and the others. And there were photos of Sue with Jack. Holding hands, talking, and kissing.
'Holy shit!,' said Jack.
His exclamation made others look up.
Just before he was about to touch the pictures, he stopped. Think Jackieboy, Fingerprints. 'Anyone have any examination gloves nearby?'Myles came over holding a box. Jack put on the gloves. He examined the photos over and over again. Muttering under his breath. 'What's up buddy?' asked Bobby as he rose out of his chair. Jack didn't react, just kept looking at the pictures.
'Oh, fuck,' was Bobby's reaction as he saw the pictures Jack was holding too. 'I think we're getting close, and this is their way of telling us,' said Myles, Jack just nodded.
'It's a very gripping way of telling us to back off or else...' said Jack.
'I can understand that,' said Bobby. 'But why focus so much on Sue?'
The look Jack gave him, made all his hairs rise. 'Oh, god, don't let it be because...' Jack just nodded. 'It explains a lot that has happened, Bobby.'
They looked at Sue who hadn't really paid attention to their conversation and had missed what they said. But even so, she probably knew why just the same.
Sue hadn't said anything, nor had she moved. She stared at her computer screen. What should I do...they're everywhere I go... She looked up at Jack and saw his solemn expression. I'm scared, Jack, I hate to admit it, but I am.
oOo
Then, in the left lower corner of her computer screen something began to flicker. A little side window opened from Hamilton Relay: it said Incoming Telephone Call. It indicated it was on her 2 Line VCO telephone. Absently she answered it. 'Sue Thomas, could you hold?...' She pressed the button for a conference call. She dialed 7-1-1, when the CA answered she told the CA only to translate the caller, not her and she had the CA call her TTY number. When it ringed, she typed 'GA' again and 'conferenced' the caller.
The letters flashed across the screen as the caller was translated immediately into text.
'You got an envelope mailed to you today, you already opened it?'
Sue's breath stopped short as she read the lines, feeling how her stomach knotted.
'Who is this?' she asked.
'That's not important. Did you open the envelope?'
Sue didn't know whether she would answer, instead she asked again 'Who is this?' That had Jack and Myles alarmed. They turned their attention on the blonde as she was reading the lines on the screen, displaying its sinister message.
'We could have made our move long ago,' the screen read. 'It's very dangerous out there, especially for someone like you.'
Sue bit her lip, trying to prevent that she would begin to cry. 'Why...?' was the only thing she could say, her voice trembling.
'Because dumb deaf bitches like you are easy to take down.' By then Jack grabbed the receiver.
'Who are you, you son-of-a-bitch...' But he heard no voice, instead the letters were once more flashing across the screen. 'You must be Jack Hudson. And it is no use to try and hear my voice. Read this carefully: Back Away from this case. If not, the deaf bitch will go first, then you...'
Jack was about to say something when the screen read 'SKSK'
'What's that?' he asked Sue, but she wasn't paying attention. Then the CA ended the line too.
He turned to Sue. He took hold of her hand.
"fs SUE, YOU OKAY?"
She shook her head. Her eyes were moist as she looked up to him. "fs JACK, ME SCARED ME"
He squatted down her side. "ME KNOW, ME SCARED SAME-SAME"
"NOW, WE DO WHAT WILL?" she continued signing. "They already nearly missed me once, what happens next?" Jack shook his head. "I don't know..."
He rubbed her hand with his thumbs. 'What does SKSK mean?' he asked. She frowned. 'I'm sorry, I didn't get that...escape escape?' He signed his question. 'SK means Stop Keying, it's TTY code for saying good bye. SKSK means immediate call hang-up,' she explained, feeling a little relieved she could talk about something different.
Myles tapped her hand to get her attention. He smiled a bit apologetically. 'I would've signed if I knew more, but...' Sue managed to smile a little too. 'That's okay, Myles.'
'Could we trace that call back? Someone has to type the response, right?' Sue pursed her lips. 'I don't know if you could. CA's can never tell anyone about the transferred conversations. They've signed a secrecy clause. You can't subpoena them.'
'What company handles relays here?' asked Myles. 'I have Hamilton Relay', she answered. 'But I doubt they'll cooperate.' Jack pursed his lips. 'Nevertheless we're going to try. Where's their HQ?' Sue frowned. 'Their what?'
"fs HAMILTON, THEM ADDRESS WHERE?" Sue clicked the icon.
It said: Hamilton Relay Services Corporate Offices, 1006 12th St. Aurora, NE 68818. And a number of Voice/TTY numbers, for various states. 'Get the DC branch and give them our request', Jack said to Sue. She pursed her lips, reluctantly it seemed. He saw it. 'Wouldn't you be interested to find out who's behind it?' Sue nodded. 'But I'm also aware of the amount of information you're going to get: zero.'
'Hey, we're the FBI, they better come up with something,' he responded. A flash of irritation shot across her face. 'Jack, do I need to smack you?' she snapped. He looked puzzled. 'Now why would you do that?'
'Because you're annoying the hell out of me for not listening. A CA or Communications Assistant has signed a Confidentiality Clause. In fact, it will even be impossible to know who handled my call even to me. They don't give names, they don't log calls. And most of all: they never give any information to strangers.'
'That sucks,' he said. 'Do they know who was on the other side of the line?' Sue closed her eyes briefly, and let her breath slowly out. Part of her began to feel ever more like hitting him, for being so hardheaded. 'If the caller had identified himself, then yes. But he or she didn't remember? And the CA never requires the caller to identify him or herself. Unless with explicit permission of the caller, nothing gets logged.'
'That means they just put through every nutcase that happens to call?'
'I find your choice of words rather insulting.'
He signed "SORRY", but Sue wasn't paying too much attention.
oOo
He changed a look with Myles. He tapped her shoulder and she looked up. 'It better be because you want to listen instead of jumping to conclusions and being hardheaded. Not to mention being just plain rude.'
His jaw dropped slightly with her snap, but he regained his composure. 'Yeah, I'm sorry I wasn't listening, Sue. But you have to understand I don't like this latest turn of events one bit.' She shook her head. 'Neither do I. But sometimes things don't go the way you want them to go.'
'So a better question would be perhaps, did you hear a voice, Jack?' asked Myles. He shook his head. 'Would be funny if I had...'
Sue interrupted him. 'Not as funny as you think it should be.' She pointed at a modern telephone adjacent to the computer screen. 'If he or she would have called on this CapTel phone, you could've selected the option to transmit the voice.'
Myles and Jack frowned. 'What use would that be?'
'Those phones are not only for the Deaf, but also for the hard-of-hearing, or elderly people, who can still hear voices, but have difficulty in understanding what's being said.'
'But I didn't hear anything...'
'Because they dialed me through my VCO, connected with the TTY.' Jack nodded, something made sense suddenly.
'That's why they did it, they knew with these Captioned Telephones one could still hear voices. That would've given them away.' He paused, thinking about the meaning of the words. It was Myles who spoke first. 'These guys are smart, and dangerous. And that's really unnerving.'
'But we can trace that call, every call here gets logged,' Jack continued. Sue shrugged. 'It traces back to Hamilton, but despite that, I have this feeling the call will turn out to be made from a public phone.'
'Most likely, but the position of that public phone can reveal interesting data too.' He turned to Bobby who had moved closer to them during their discussion. 'Remember what Nico said about this Rakeem Abdul?'
'Yeah, the handy-man of Obanyon.'
'Exactly, try to get as much details about this guy, and I mean the whole shebang. Also remember that any calls from outside The District can tell us something about the whereabouts of Aalbers.'
'Righto...time to take control, mate.'
Myles, also wearing gloves, was looking through the pictures. Sue looked at him, as his lips curled into a smile when he was looking at one photo. She tapped his side. He looked at her.
"FUNNY WHAT?"
He pointed at the picture, showing it to her. It was a snapshot of her kissing Jack. 'Now that's one I would've framed for the bedside table,' he said with a twinkle in his eyes. Sue swatted his arm. 'Are you trying to make fun of all this?', she asked smirking.
'Well... technically no...but...' He began to grin again. 'Did it work?' She nodded, smiling. 'I guess this means your leaving will have to be postponed, Miss Thomas,' he said. 'We won't let you out of our sights. Not as long as these guys are still around. Call it having difficulties in parting.'
He put the photographs back in the envelope. 'Have these checked for prints. Maybe they were dumb enough to leave any, have the lab figure out the manufacturers of the envelope, the photo materials,' he said to Lucy. 'Oh, and don't forget to mention that they can skip screening Miss Thomas' prints.'
Lucy rolled her eyes. 'Kinda obvious, isn't it?'
'Wouldn't be the first time they're about to embark on a manhunt on one of their own employees,' he responded. 'Oh, wait, Lucy...' he said when she was about to leave. She turned round.
'Have them magnified, preferably digitally, the pictures they took can tell us where they were, perhaps what they were driving, reflections that give away things...Photos can tell a lot, once you look past the obvious.'
