"Collins," Walter said with disgust.
"I knew you would figure it out and follow my car leaving the garage. Sorry I couldn't let you see the rest of the footage of where I am. Can't make it that easy," Collins told him.
"What do you really want Mark?" Walter asked him.
"I told you, I want you to suffer in betrayal like I did. And it's coming up soon too." Collins told him.
"There's nothing left to be betrayed over Mark, the guys have all left. It's just me, Cabe and your mole. And once your gone she'll be gone too." Walter told him.
Collins laughed, "Well I am impressed, a little. I figured it would be a couple of more days before you finally got enough of your brains back to figure it out. But don't worry; I'll be scrambling your brains up again in a few days. But you really can't blame her, she was so desperate to save the company she'd built from the ground up with her own hands, she'd spend years developing and researching some really remarkable products. Shame she didn't have a better security system to keep a hacker out."
"Mark, you didn't go to this trouble just to tell me what I already know. What do you really want?" Walter asked again.
"Do you ever miss our work together?" Collins asked.
"Of course I do Mark; we had made some really good progress on some of our ideas. But we'd slip into the rabbit hole and a lot of our work got lost. And because of your actions the others weren't interested in helping which is why we needed them." Walter reminded him.
"We didn't need those inferior intellects, they were a constant distraction. Together we could have accomplished so much. And that's what I am offering you now, a one time chance. Swear to me that you will join me and we go back to how we use to work together and I will end all of my plots against all of them. I'll even help you save Toby." Collins told him.
"You must be suffering hypoxia if you think for one minute I would ever join back with you. No future outcome is worth it." Walter told him.
"Walter, I'm surprised, you aren't concerned with Toby?" Collins asked.
"Of course I am, but he made his choice. And I'm really tired of this game. I am coming for you Mark and you are going to regret ever challenging me." Walter told him.
Collins smiled, "Well I guess, to the chase! May the best man win."
The video feed went dead.
They'd been walking for about thirty minutes when they came up to a convenience store. Cabe smiled and they walked over and entered it. He grabbed some beef jerky and a couple of snickers before they resumed their walk. He handed one of the snickers to Ralph, "I figure you must be getting a little hungry since you didn't eat very much."
Ralph smiled, nodding his head as he opened the candy bar and taking a bite. "Do you know how long they are going to be there? I really hate it when they hang around Mom so long. They just keep her so confused about everything."
"Well we can start walking back to see if you want. I'm sure Allie isn't too far and will step in if they try to confuse her while they are there." Cabe told him.
"I wish Mom could see that what Toby is saying is pure rubbish. Harvard trained Dr my foot. They should pull his license for this nonsense." Ralph said angrily.
Paige nodded her head, "Okay, it sounds like you guys have got this under control so we can bid on them."
"We also figured if there was any real problem we could enlist Ralph's assistance in writing some of the code." Sylvester told her.
Paige stared at him and then the others, "Absolutely not, you're not exploiting my son to do a job you want us to bid on period. Is that understood?"
All three of them looked scared for a moment at her ferocity and nodded.
"Good! If you even hint at such a thing again I'm gone. Do I make myself clear?" Paige continued with heat in her voice.
Again they all just nodded with large eyes.
Paige got off the couch and began pacing around the room, "I really can't believe you guys. Now, how do we want to price this?" Paige asked as she tried to calm down.
"Well we figure Walter isn't going to lower his fee just because he doesn't have so many bodies in his employ anymore. Besides he might start trying to recruit other people to work with him to increase potential jobs he can bid on. So I think we should bid twenty percent under what Walter would normally." Toby told her.
"That's not very ethical for us to use the information we know about Walter against him." Paige fretted.
"Wake up and smell the coffee Dineen, this is business. You think he wouldn't use his knowledge about us against us if he could?" Happy asked.
Paige frowned, "That's not the point Happy, are we going to be okay with just doing whatever it takes to get the job?"
"Paige, we get that, but if we want this business to succeed we have got to use every advantage we can." Toby told her.
Paige shook her head, "Wait, you said the other day that you only wanted this temporarily to help Walter. Now you're talking about making it succeed which doesn't sound like a temporary thing."
"If it doesn't succeed then it won't help Walter, part of it depends on him realizing that there is a better way." Toby told her.
"Wait, you never said anything about this being temporary to me," Sylvester said.
"Guys, you're getting sidetracked. Once Walter's EQ resets he'll see there is a better way and he will come to us and whether we move forward as Scorpion or Centipede it will be with all of us together again and with all of us having a say in how we proceed. Which is what the three of us want and Walter will be more normal emotionally which is what Paige wants and Walter will be happy we're all together again. We all win." Toby told them.
"Grandpa, since it seems like you agree with me on this, why did you let the guys come over to talk with Mom about Centipede Partners?" Ralph finally asked after taking a bite from the jerky Cabe gave him.
Cabe nodded, "Well to be honest, normally I wouldn't have but Walter wants me to protect your Mom and you. I don't know what Collins is going to do and the last thing I want is for your Mom to be out there somewhere without protection. At least at my house there are the security systems and Ted is there until we get back. I figure that should be ample protection until we get back. I just don't know what I am going to do Monday when you have to go to school and she goes to their office. I can't ask Ted to follow you or her and I follow the other."
"Do you really think my Mom and I are in danger from Collins?" Ralph asked sadly.
"I honestly don't know kid, Walter is concerned and that is enough for me to worry. He's obviously got a lot of pent up anger at Walter and since he knows how much you two mean to Walter it's a possibility." Cabe told him as they rounded the last corner to his place.
Ralph stopped as he saw the guys come out of the back door at Cabe's, "Can we wait here until they are gone Grandpa? I don't want to have to talk to them.
Cabe put his hand on Ralph's shoulder, "Of course."
Ted was about to close the door after letting them out when he saw Cabe and Ralph standing down the road a little ways so he just stood there waiting. He saw they started walking again after the pickup moved off down the street in the opposite direction. "Have a good walk?" Ted asked as they got closer.
Cabe laughed, "Not bad, probably was better than if we had stayed here."
Ralph went on in as Ted stepped outside for a moment. "Remember when I told you there was something kind of hinkey with that Toby?"
Cabe's brow furrowed and he nodded.
"I didn't get to hear all of their conversations but some of what I did hear really concerns me. Whenever one of the others seemed to strongly disagree with a course of action I could hear Toby mumble something and say something else and it was like the other person did a complete turn around on the issue." Ted told him.
Cabe stared at him for several minutes, "So he somehow made them see his point with some kind of logic? What's weird about that?"
"That's just it, whenever it happened Toby's voice dropped too low to tell what was actually said and whatever was said was so short, there is no way he could have made a logical argument about whatever it was and they just gave up arguing against it with him." Ted told him.
"Huh, that is weird and a lot more concerning. Wonder if we could somehow bug Paige without her knowing it and record a conversation with him.
"It really makes me think that on video or not if Toby didn't meet up with Collins those four nights and they are putting together everything that's happening. If it wasn't for Happy backing him, I'd almost be willing to bet that he is the one that had been tagging the Garage." Ted told him.
Ted's expression changed, "What?" Cabe asked.
"You know something about the tagging; I could see it in your face just then." Ted told him.
Cabe shook his head, "No, I don't know, but talking with Walter he seems convinced it was Collins doing it. Not anyone else."
Ted nodded but Cabe could tell he wasn't completely convinced in what he told him and rather than try and complicate the lie he just let it lie there as they turned and entered the house.
Cabe looked at Paige sitting on the couch talking with Ralph and as Ted walked back to the bedroom he was sharing with Florence Cabe climbed the stairs and entered his bedroom and found Allie reading. "Hey beautiful," he said with a smile.
"Hey Handsome, enjoy your walk?" Allie sat up on the side of the bed as she closed her book.
"Yea, it was good getting a little exercise. Actually, there is something I need to tell you but I'm not supposed to discuss it. I need it to stay between us and I'll need you to act as if nothing is wrong." Cabe told her.
Allie smiled, "Of course."
Cabe walked over and turned on his little AM radio that he listened to ballgames on when it was late. He sat down beside her and turned slightly towards her and held her hands and he quietly told her everything that happened at the Garage that morning.
To say she was shocked was an understatement. Her mouth opened many times as she tried to give voice to the many thoughts that struck her as he explained. "You're really going to go along with this? Cabe, how can you?"
Cabe nodded, "Technically I don't have a choice. I have no evidence and it would just be hearsay if I tried to arrest her since Walter refuses to testify to what she confessed. I had to tell you though; I can't keep something like this from you."
Allie smiled sadly at him. "I'm so glad you trust me so much and that you don't want to keep anything hidden from me, though maybe in this case it would have been okay." She teased him.
Cabe smiled.
Ralph was enjoying sitting on the couch with his Mom holding him, "Mom, are you worried about Collins?"
Paige looked down at him, "No baby, Cabe isn't going to let him get near us."
"What about Dad?" Ralph asked.
"Well, you've asked him, Cabe's asked him. It's his decision not to be here with us." Paige told him.
"Is it really? Maybe he needs you to ask him. After all it was you who walked out on him." Ralph said with a little anger in his voice.
Paige felt stung by that and she wasn't sure how to respond. "Have you called Drew yet today?"
Ralph jumped up and turned around, "Seriously? You have no logical reason so you just make a lateral jump to a subject completely unrelated? What BS has Toby told you now?"
"Ralph! That's enough young man. Take my phone and call Drew this minute." Paige almost yelled at him.
"Have you even told Dad you are starting this company to compete against him yet?" Ralph yelled back.
"What I have and have not told Walter is not any of your business young man and if you keep this up you'll spend the rest of today in the bedroom upstairs." Paige warned him.
"Fine," Ralph ran up the stairs.
"Ralph, come back down here and get my phone to call Drew!" Paige yelled up the stairs but she just heard a door slam. She sighed and walked over and curled up on the couch.
"So what do you think the real problem is about us with Cabe and Ralph?" Sylvester asked.
"What do you think Sly? Cabe sees Walter as his son and Ralph sees him as his Dad. We walked out on him so they both are going to be upset with us." Toby told him.
"I really miss them; maybe we should rethink this whole thing. The four of us could go over to the Garage and talk to Walter. Surely he'd be willing to make some concessions by now." Sylvester told them.
"Are you kidding? Remember the conch shell fiasco? That didn't even last twelve hours. We want changes that are going to mean something. We stay the course." Toby told him.
Walter's laptop registered three new emails and when he opened them he was surprised all three were interview times for the job bids he had submitted. He smiled seeing one was for Monday the second one was for Wednesday and the third was for Tuesday next week. He smiled hoping that his reputation wouldn't become a problem for these jobs. He knew there were a number of programming services in LA but none of them was as good as he was. His thoughts turned to Paige and he spoke out loud, "Paige I wish you were here, I really miss you."
It was lunch time when he realized he hadn't had breakfast yet and he saw the box of doughnuts Cabe had brought with them on Paige's desk. He got up and walked over and saw a small assortment of doughnuts and he picked the box up and walked into the kitchen and made a half pot of coffee to drink while he ate.