Nowhere To Run
Chapter Fifteen
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Thanks again for the reviews!!! After this chapter, things will finally start falling into place. Hang in there!!
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It was almost 1:00PM before Frank arrived at the Nest. He parked his car, shut off the engine and again paused to review the events of the day. In some ways, things were moving more quickly than he had anticipated. On the other hand, he yearned for this particular case to be over and done with. And in that aspect, things weren't going nearly quickly enough.
He thought through everything that Tom had told him and the conclusions were chilling. Extra precautions needed to be implemented immediately. With that theory, he rummaged through his car looking for a pen and for something to write on.
Inside the warehouse, the other three were busily compiling the facts that they had separately been able to accumulate. Alex and Monica were at the table comparing notes and Cody, of course, was busily typing away at his computer terminal. He glanced up briefly when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.
"Donovan's here," Cody announced having seen Frank pull his car into the lot via their outside security cameras.
When a few minutes passed and Frank still had not entered the building, Cody once again looked toward the monitors showing views of the outside. He could clearly see Frank's car and he could see Frank sitting in it.
"What's he doing?" the tech-op asked more to himself than anyone else, but the other two heard his question anyway. Alex and Monica both got up and approached the computer screen. The three frowned in confusion when none of them could ascertain what their boss seemed to be up to. A few seconds later, Frank exited the vehicle and headed toward the building.
After he entered, Alex was the first to speak. "How'd it go?" Referring to the top secret meeting that he had told them briefly about before leaving late last night.
"About as I'd expected," Frank quickly answered and as he did so, he handed Alex a piece of paper and made a motion for her to read it but not to say anything out loud about it.
This immediately caught the attention of the other two agents and soon they were crowded around Alex trying to read over her shoulders. As each finished reading, their eyes registered what they dared not say.
Before leaving his car, Frank had quickly written down his suspicions:
"Our operation is no longer secretive.
Assume that the warehouse has been bugged.
Carry on with conversation as normal.
Just don't mention that anyone knows where Kate is."
Frank looked at each of his agents gauging their reactions. Disbelief, shock, fear and a tinge of anger. Seeing the emotions play across their faces, he knew exactly how they felt, but could nothing to waylay their fears or concerns.
"So, let's get down to business," Frank commanded. "What do we have on Senator Michaelson?"
The other three agents looked at Frank and tried to convey their apprehension without actually saying anything. Frank for his part was trying to assume a leisurely and casual attitude. He motioned with his hands that it was alright to speak about the topic at hand. Monica was the first to begin her dissertation.
"John G. Michaelson. Born in 1952, he was the only child of Martha and Robert Michaelson, two schoolteachers from St. Louis. Shortly after John was born the family moved east and settled near Providence, Rhode Island."
While Monica started her profile, Cody scribbled a note for Frank on a piece of paper and handed it to him. It simply said,
"Bugs? And if so………jammers??"
He wanted to know that if the warehouse was indeed bugged, did Frank want him to jam the signal with some of his equipment.
Frank read the note and wrote down his reply in turn.
"No…..if we jam the signal then they'll know
that we're on to them."
Cody read his boss' reply and wrote down another question.
"Should I sweep the area?"
Frank paused to consider and then nodded in response. If they couldn't jam the signal, at least it might be helpful to at least know if and where the bugs were.
Cody left the area briefly and returned carrying a device in his hands about the size of a large walkie talkie. He began a very careful and thorough search starting with the area around the conference table and proceeding outwardly from there.
While all of this was going on, Monica and Alex both looked on with interest, but continued with the briefing without skipping a beat.
Monica continued with the profile. "After graduating first in his class from high school, John went on to attend Brown University where he majored in, of course, political science and economics. He received his degree in 3 ½ years instead of the usual 4 or more. He then moved on to Harvard where he received his Masters 2 years later. He chose to stay in Massachusetts after leaving Harvard and quickly made a name for himself in political circles."
"He became a key player in the Massachusetts Democratic party and soon was heading up the campaign for the party's candidate for governor, and the campaign was a monumental success due in large part to John's efforts. He then worked for a short time in the governor's office after the election, but quickly decided that he should run for some type of office himself."
"So he made a play for Boston city council in 1979, and was easily elected. Then in 1984, he decided it was time to run for mayor and was elected by a landslide garnering nearly 80% of the votes. A short 4 years later he resolved to run for governor and again won easily. So at the young age of 36 he was sworn in. It wasn't until the early 90's that his thoughts turned to Washington. Alex?"
Alex then nodded and picked up where Monica had left off. "Right……..he ran for the Senate in 1992 and just narrowly defeated a very popular incumbent. It was a tough campaign and some say that he ended up making a few deals with the devil in order to win the election. The feeling was that he hadn't put enough time in down in the trenches, so to speak, to warrant the senate seat. So he ended up associating himself with a few union officials and large industry lobbyists."
"Up until this point, he had pretty much skated by on his charm and personality, and now that he was in the big leagues, he found out that he would have to dig a little deeper and maybe even get his hands dirty."
"Word has it that for quite a while he could easily be counted on to vote this way or that depending on the influence of those that had basically helped to get him elected. But then rumors started circulating that he might have his eye on the White House, and if so, some of his so-called 'associations' would not be received well by the general voting public. It was then that he started ruffling a few feathers by trying to distance himself from the very people that for all intents and purposes bought his election to the Senate."
Frank had been listening intently to the profile that had been laid out by his agents, and had just one question. "So what powerful players has he turned his back on?"
Alex looked down at the notes in front of her and then raised her eyes to look at her boss. "Mostly, technology and union people. In the tech field, we're talking more bio-tech than anything. Legislation is still up in the air with this new field of study and having a senator who would vote in their favor and influence others to follow suit was helpful. Union, of course is……..well union. The history between politics and unions is nothing new."
"Do we have any names?" Frank asked.
"Not really. A few conjectures but nothing concrete at the moment."
"That seems to be the prevailing answer nowadays," Frank mumbled almost inaudibly.
"Alright. Anything else?" he asked.
"Cody has a run down on Michaelson's financial statements," Monica answered, but seeing that the tech-op was not in the immediate vicinity, she added, "but from what I could see, he didn't turn up anything significant. I believe he was going to go through political contributions next. After he's done that, we may be able to get you that list of supporters."
"Good. Anything else we need to cover at the moment?"
"Nope," Alex answered and then added, "I just need to return a few phone calls from some of my Washington contacts and then I'll fill you in on any new info that they might give me."
"Alright. Good work." He then turned to leave the area and went in search of his young tech-op. He soon found him wandering around the second level of the building.
He could see that Cody was intently watching the device that he held out in front of him. He noticed that he was also holding a piece of paper that appeared to already have some sort of writing on it. Frank approached him as quietly as he could so as not to disturb the younger man. Cody caught his movements though and signaled to Frank that he had something to show him. He handed Frank the piece of paper. On it, he had written that he had indeed been able to find several bugs hidden throughout the warehouse and he listed their approximate locations. 2 were in Frank's office. 3, possibly 4 were hidden around the conference table area. Another 2 or 3 near the computer workstations and still another 3 or 4 scattered around the kitchen and gym areas.
Frank sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes in weariness. Somehow he had hoped that he was wrong. The implications were devastating. Someone had easily gained access to the building overnight. Which meant that they were probably FBI or CIA and it also meant that they had the place already under surveillance as well. And if the building was being watched that meant that he and his team would be watched too.
Frank then took the pen and paper and wrote some instructions down for Cody.
"Can you dismantle, or render inoperative at least a few of the bugs
without raising too many suspicions?"
Cody read the note and smiled. He held up his hand and signaled to Frank that he'd be right back. He then quickly headed down the stairs and returned to the second level carrying a glass of water. Frank narrowed his eyes but, of course, didn't say a word. He followed the younger man into his office.
Frank watched as Cody carefully set the glass on his desk and then returned to scanning the room. He noticed that it was a slightly different device that Cody was wielding around this time. After a few moments, Cody was able to pinpoint the exact location of the two bugs. Both were on the underside of Frank's desk. Cody smiled once more and then began to speak.
"So boss……..do you want to go over those financial statements now, or do you want to wait until later?" As he spoke, he again approached the desk and started clearing just about everything off the top. Frank looked at the younger agent with intense curiosity, but finally figured out his plan we he saw him once again pick up the glass of water.
"Oh………and I figured that if you're going to shutter yourself up in your office all day again, you might need a really strong cup of coffee. Here you go…………oh shit!!!!" And with that Cody spilled the contents of the glass onto the desk making sure to distribute the liquid evenly so that it would run over the edges. Frank watched in amusement as Cody got down on his hands and knees in order to watch the water's progress. He seemed pleased with the result. Cody reached for the device that he had been using earlier and after several seconds of scanning, he finally stood up and smiled at his boss.
"Bugs and water………..just don't mix, gosh darn it."
"You're sure that they're now inoperable?" Frank asked in a near whisper.
"Trust me boss. One thing I know a lot about is gadgets and gizmos." Cody then reached under the desk and removed the devices. Frank stared at them blankly.
"Can you tell by the type or make of the bugs who might have planted them?"
Cody sighed and nodded, "They're one of ours. I mean that they're the type used by government agencies." Frank nodded at the response.
"Do you want me to try to disable any of the others?"
"And how would you do that? By going around spilling coffee everywhere?" Frank asked amusedly.
Cody smiled sheepishly, "I guess even I couldn't be that clumsy."
"No……….we'll leave the others in place for now. Just remember that any important conversations are to be held in this room only."
"Right………I'll let the others know…………in writing of course." And with that, Cody left the office to return to the main level.
A short time later, Alex came up the stairs and knocked on the doorframe to Frank's office. "Got a minute?"
"Sure Alex. Come on in…………..what can I do for you?"
Alex looked around a little hesitantly and gave Frank a concerned look.
He knew why she was hesitating and tried to ease her mind. "It's OK, Cody has thoroughly swept the area. At least this room is free from bugs."
She nodded relieved and then seemed to be searching for the right words to begin the conversation. Frank watched her intently and began to formulate a guess as to why she wanted to speak to him. Jake.
"Alex? What is it?"
She sighed heavily and began to pace back and forth in front of his desk. "I'm not sure how to bring this up, or even if I should." She glanced at her boss and saw the concern on his face and decided to press on.
"It's………….Jake."
"What about him?" he asked innocently.
"I………I haven't been able to get in touch with him. I drove by his place last night and the night before and he wasn't there either time. I have this sinking feeling that he may have done something………..drastic."
"Drastic? Like what?" Frank inquired, pretending not to have a clue about the events of the last 2 days.
"I'm not sure really. He may have just taken off. You know, hit the road and drove till he got tired, but I don't think that's what happened." Frank continued to stare at her and this time didn't respond, so she continued. "I'm afraid he may have………..called somebody about what's going on." And with that she sat down in one of the chairs facing Frank's desk, obviously relieved to have gotten her confession over with.
Frank leaned back in his chair and ran his hand across his chin contemplating what she had said. How much could he tell her? How badly would the truth upset her relationship with her partner.
"I had a feeling that when we hadn't heard from Jake within 24 hours that that may have been the course he'd decided to take."
Alex looked slightly shocked at his admission but then quickly realized that her boss had to have considered the possibility. Frank Donovan was nothing if not intuitive.
She nodded in understanding and then added, "I just thought that I should say something."
"I'm glad you did. I know this hasn't been easy on you. You and Jake are a team and seeing him cut himself off like that had to have been hard."
"Yeah…..well…….we all have to do what we think is best, right?"
"Absolutely," he replied simply. He saw her continue to hesitate and then asked, "Was there anything else? Have you heard from your DC contacts yet?"
"No to both questions. I'm still waiting on a few calls and I guess I'll let you get back to work." She turned to leave and then paused briefly in the doorway. She looked back at him, gave a quick smile and then left.
Frank wondered about the look on her face before she left, but just chalked it up to the general uneasiness of the entire operation.
A few hours went by before Frank was interrupted once again by a member of the team. Cody walked into the office carrying what Frank could only describe as a cross between a walkie talkie and a cell phone. He took the item from Cody and raised one eyebrow in lieu of a question.
"This," Cody began, "is the phone scrambler that I promised you. My own design, of course," he stated proudly. "It can run circles around anything else out there."
Frank had asked the young tech-op to come up with a way for him to communicate with Kate so he wouldn't have to worry about traced calls or overheard conversations. He looked over the device and finally asked, "Won't we need two of these?"
"Ahhh………only if you suspect that the other line may have been tapped or monitored. If there's no problem there, then no, you only have to worry about your end of the transmission."
"In that case, you're right. I'll only need one. Thank you Cody."
Cody smiled and said, "No problemo, boss man. Glad to help." And with that he turned to leave the office.
"Can you close the door on your way out, please?"
Cody waved in response and closed the door behind him. He wondered if Donovan was going to get all lovey-dovey on the phone and that was why he needed some privacy. The idea gave him the heebie jeebies, kind of like listening to your mom and dad get all frisky. Ewwww!
After Cody left, he used the new phone to call Kate. They had set up a system in case of emergency. He would call and let the phone ring twice. Hang up. Call again, letting it ring once. Hang up. And then call a third time letting it ring until she picked up. As he went through the process, he thought, not for the first time, how great technology could be while at the same time cursing all of the advances that made this type of operation necessary. After the third call, he waited for her to answer.
"Hello?" she responded in a slightly nervous voice.
"It's me. Before you ask. Everything's alright."
"Alright? I thought you said that you wouldn't call me like this unless it was an emergency!" she questioned sounding slightly flustered.
"Kate………..relax. I promise you. Nothing's wrong. I'm just trying out this new gadget that Cody built for me."
"Ahhhh……….the scrambler. I hope he's as talented as he thinks he is."
Frank chuckled lightly and then said, "You and me both."
"So why are you really calling?" she inquired.
"Maybe I just wanted to hear the sound of your voice," he responded in a decidedly sultry tone.
"Hmmmm…………not that sounds promising," she answered in the same husky tenor. "Unfortunately, I'm not buying it Donovan."
He sighed and then decided to fess up. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to come over there tonight."
Kate was quiet on the other end of the line and for a moment he thought that the line had been disconnected.
"Katie?"
"I'm still here," she answered quietly. "Just thinking about what you said." She paused briefly before continuing, "They're following you…….aren't they?"
"Probably. I haven't spotted anyone, but I don't want to risk maybe leading them right to you."
"What makes you think that the surveillance has already begun?"
"Two things. One……..the meeting I had this morning almost guaranteed it. And second……….the warehouse is bugged."
"Bugged?? Are you crazy?? What the hell are you doing calling me then? I'm hanging up right now!"
"Kate!! Wait!! It's alright. Cody was able to get rid of the two here in the office. Anything said in the office is secure. At least for the moment."
"Are absolutely positive?" she asked cautiously.
"Positive. You have to trust me, remember?"
"I do Frank. I do," she answered and then quietly added, "I'm going to miss you tonight." Her tone was sad and lonely and he could picture her sitting alone in the big house hour after hour.
Frank groaned inwardly. "I'm going to miss you too, baby. But I just can't risk it. Besides, I think I'm just going to stay here tonight. Guard the place in case they get any bright ideas about coming back to replace the bugs we took out or even worse trying to place video surveillance."
"Probably a good idea. Be careful?"
"Always. And Katie……….." he paused before continuing, "I promise that this is all going to be over soon."
"I'm counting on that Donovan. I don't think I can too much more of being cooped up in this house all alone."
"Right. I'll try to call you later and if I can't, I'll call in the morning."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Good night."
"Good night."
He listened to her hang up and wanted nothing more than to jump in his car right now and speed across town to surprise her, but he knew that things were going to start happening and quickly. He needed to be here. And he needed to be prepared.
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Thursday night -- 11:35PM
Jake walked into the nearly empty bar and surveyed the place. The person that he was supposed to meet wasn't there yet. So he meandered over to the bar, ordered two bottles of beer and then proceeded to an empty table near the back.
As he sipped on his drink, he closed his eyes briefly and thought back over the events of the last couple of days. He'd flown to Washington and had basically given them Donovan and the operation on a silver platter. He winced when he thought about it. He never thought that he'd be able to go through with it, but once there, the questions had been relentless and the information that they had been seeking just flowed out of him. Telling himself that it had to be done, wasn't helping anymore. And now, to make things worse, they wanted his help in actually taking Donovan and the Dawson woman into custody. Not only had he betrayed his boss, but now he'd have to look him in the eye when he figured out who set him up.
Jake lifted the bottle to his lips and downed nearly half the contents at once. *Maybe I can drink myself into oblivion for a while at least.*
As he placed the bottle back on the table he looked up and saw the person that he'd been waiting for enter the bar, he waived and they made their way over to the table.
"Jake."
"Alex. Have a seat. I already got you a drink," he said as he handed her the beer.
"Thanks." She took a big swig and then finally mustered enough courage to ask the question that had been dancing around in her head since he'd called her at home not and hour before.
"So………why am I here?"
Jake sighed, played with the bottle before him nervously and then finally answered.
"I need your help."
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Chapter Fifteen
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Thanks again for the reviews!!! After this chapter, things will finally start falling into place. Hang in there!!
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It was almost 1:00PM before Frank arrived at the Nest. He parked his car, shut off the engine and again paused to review the events of the day. In some ways, things were moving more quickly than he had anticipated. On the other hand, he yearned for this particular case to be over and done with. And in that aspect, things weren't going nearly quickly enough.
He thought through everything that Tom had told him and the conclusions were chilling. Extra precautions needed to be implemented immediately. With that theory, he rummaged through his car looking for a pen and for something to write on.
Inside the warehouse, the other three were busily compiling the facts that they had separately been able to accumulate. Alex and Monica were at the table comparing notes and Cody, of course, was busily typing away at his computer terminal. He glanced up briefly when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.
"Donovan's here," Cody announced having seen Frank pull his car into the lot via their outside security cameras.
When a few minutes passed and Frank still had not entered the building, Cody once again looked toward the monitors showing views of the outside. He could clearly see Frank's car and he could see Frank sitting in it.
"What's he doing?" the tech-op asked more to himself than anyone else, but the other two heard his question anyway. Alex and Monica both got up and approached the computer screen. The three frowned in confusion when none of them could ascertain what their boss seemed to be up to. A few seconds later, Frank exited the vehicle and headed toward the building.
After he entered, Alex was the first to speak. "How'd it go?" Referring to the top secret meeting that he had told them briefly about before leaving late last night.
"About as I'd expected," Frank quickly answered and as he did so, he handed Alex a piece of paper and made a motion for her to read it but not to say anything out loud about it.
This immediately caught the attention of the other two agents and soon they were crowded around Alex trying to read over her shoulders. As each finished reading, their eyes registered what they dared not say.
Before leaving his car, Frank had quickly written down his suspicions:
"Our operation is no longer secretive.
Assume that the warehouse has been bugged.
Carry on with conversation as normal.
Just don't mention that anyone knows where Kate is."
Frank looked at each of his agents gauging their reactions. Disbelief, shock, fear and a tinge of anger. Seeing the emotions play across their faces, he knew exactly how they felt, but could nothing to waylay their fears or concerns.
"So, let's get down to business," Frank commanded. "What do we have on Senator Michaelson?"
The other three agents looked at Frank and tried to convey their apprehension without actually saying anything. Frank for his part was trying to assume a leisurely and casual attitude. He motioned with his hands that it was alright to speak about the topic at hand. Monica was the first to begin her dissertation.
"John G. Michaelson. Born in 1952, he was the only child of Martha and Robert Michaelson, two schoolteachers from St. Louis. Shortly after John was born the family moved east and settled near Providence, Rhode Island."
While Monica started her profile, Cody scribbled a note for Frank on a piece of paper and handed it to him. It simply said,
"Bugs? And if so………jammers??"
He wanted to know that if the warehouse was indeed bugged, did Frank want him to jam the signal with some of his equipment.
Frank read the note and wrote down his reply in turn.
"No…..if we jam the signal then they'll know
that we're on to them."
Cody read his boss' reply and wrote down another question.
"Should I sweep the area?"
Frank paused to consider and then nodded in response. If they couldn't jam the signal, at least it might be helpful to at least know if and where the bugs were.
Cody left the area briefly and returned carrying a device in his hands about the size of a large walkie talkie. He began a very careful and thorough search starting with the area around the conference table and proceeding outwardly from there.
While all of this was going on, Monica and Alex both looked on with interest, but continued with the briefing without skipping a beat.
Monica continued with the profile. "After graduating first in his class from high school, John went on to attend Brown University where he majored in, of course, political science and economics. He received his degree in 3 ½ years instead of the usual 4 or more. He then moved on to Harvard where he received his Masters 2 years later. He chose to stay in Massachusetts after leaving Harvard and quickly made a name for himself in political circles."
"He became a key player in the Massachusetts Democratic party and soon was heading up the campaign for the party's candidate for governor, and the campaign was a monumental success due in large part to John's efforts. He then worked for a short time in the governor's office after the election, but quickly decided that he should run for some type of office himself."
"So he made a play for Boston city council in 1979, and was easily elected. Then in 1984, he decided it was time to run for mayor and was elected by a landslide garnering nearly 80% of the votes. A short 4 years later he resolved to run for governor and again won easily. So at the young age of 36 he was sworn in. It wasn't until the early 90's that his thoughts turned to Washington. Alex?"
Alex then nodded and picked up where Monica had left off. "Right……..he ran for the Senate in 1992 and just narrowly defeated a very popular incumbent. It was a tough campaign and some say that he ended up making a few deals with the devil in order to win the election. The feeling was that he hadn't put enough time in down in the trenches, so to speak, to warrant the senate seat. So he ended up associating himself with a few union officials and large industry lobbyists."
"Up until this point, he had pretty much skated by on his charm and personality, and now that he was in the big leagues, he found out that he would have to dig a little deeper and maybe even get his hands dirty."
"Word has it that for quite a while he could easily be counted on to vote this way or that depending on the influence of those that had basically helped to get him elected. But then rumors started circulating that he might have his eye on the White House, and if so, some of his so-called 'associations' would not be received well by the general voting public. It was then that he started ruffling a few feathers by trying to distance himself from the very people that for all intents and purposes bought his election to the Senate."
Frank had been listening intently to the profile that had been laid out by his agents, and had just one question. "So what powerful players has he turned his back on?"
Alex looked down at the notes in front of her and then raised her eyes to look at her boss. "Mostly, technology and union people. In the tech field, we're talking more bio-tech than anything. Legislation is still up in the air with this new field of study and having a senator who would vote in their favor and influence others to follow suit was helpful. Union, of course is……..well union. The history between politics and unions is nothing new."
"Do we have any names?" Frank asked.
"Not really. A few conjectures but nothing concrete at the moment."
"That seems to be the prevailing answer nowadays," Frank mumbled almost inaudibly.
"Alright. Anything else?" he asked.
"Cody has a run down on Michaelson's financial statements," Monica answered, but seeing that the tech-op was not in the immediate vicinity, she added, "but from what I could see, he didn't turn up anything significant. I believe he was going to go through political contributions next. After he's done that, we may be able to get you that list of supporters."
"Good. Anything else we need to cover at the moment?"
"Nope," Alex answered and then added, "I just need to return a few phone calls from some of my Washington contacts and then I'll fill you in on any new info that they might give me."
"Alright. Good work." He then turned to leave the area and went in search of his young tech-op. He soon found him wandering around the second level of the building.
He could see that Cody was intently watching the device that he held out in front of him. He noticed that he was also holding a piece of paper that appeared to already have some sort of writing on it. Frank approached him as quietly as he could so as not to disturb the younger man. Cody caught his movements though and signaled to Frank that he had something to show him. He handed Frank the piece of paper. On it, he had written that he had indeed been able to find several bugs hidden throughout the warehouse and he listed their approximate locations. 2 were in Frank's office. 3, possibly 4 were hidden around the conference table area. Another 2 or 3 near the computer workstations and still another 3 or 4 scattered around the kitchen and gym areas.
Frank sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes in weariness. Somehow he had hoped that he was wrong. The implications were devastating. Someone had easily gained access to the building overnight. Which meant that they were probably FBI or CIA and it also meant that they had the place already under surveillance as well. And if the building was being watched that meant that he and his team would be watched too.
Frank then took the pen and paper and wrote some instructions down for Cody.
"Can you dismantle, or render inoperative at least a few of the bugs
without raising too many suspicions?"
Cody read the note and smiled. He held up his hand and signaled to Frank that he'd be right back. He then quickly headed down the stairs and returned to the second level carrying a glass of water. Frank narrowed his eyes but, of course, didn't say a word. He followed the younger man into his office.
Frank watched as Cody carefully set the glass on his desk and then returned to scanning the room. He noticed that it was a slightly different device that Cody was wielding around this time. After a few moments, Cody was able to pinpoint the exact location of the two bugs. Both were on the underside of Frank's desk. Cody smiled once more and then began to speak.
"So boss……..do you want to go over those financial statements now, or do you want to wait until later?" As he spoke, he again approached the desk and started clearing just about everything off the top. Frank looked at the younger agent with intense curiosity, but finally figured out his plan we he saw him once again pick up the glass of water.
"Oh………and I figured that if you're going to shutter yourself up in your office all day again, you might need a really strong cup of coffee. Here you go…………oh shit!!!!" And with that Cody spilled the contents of the glass onto the desk making sure to distribute the liquid evenly so that it would run over the edges. Frank watched in amusement as Cody got down on his hands and knees in order to watch the water's progress. He seemed pleased with the result. Cody reached for the device that he had been using earlier and after several seconds of scanning, he finally stood up and smiled at his boss.
"Bugs and water………..just don't mix, gosh darn it."
"You're sure that they're now inoperable?" Frank asked in a near whisper.
"Trust me boss. One thing I know a lot about is gadgets and gizmos." Cody then reached under the desk and removed the devices. Frank stared at them blankly.
"Can you tell by the type or make of the bugs who might have planted them?"
Cody sighed and nodded, "They're one of ours. I mean that they're the type used by government agencies." Frank nodded at the response.
"Do you want me to try to disable any of the others?"
"And how would you do that? By going around spilling coffee everywhere?" Frank asked amusedly.
Cody smiled sheepishly, "I guess even I couldn't be that clumsy."
"No……….we'll leave the others in place for now. Just remember that any important conversations are to be held in this room only."
"Right………I'll let the others know…………in writing of course." And with that, Cody left the office to return to the main level.
A short time later, Alex came up the stairs and knocked on the doorframe to Frank's office. "Got a minute?"
"Sure Alex. Come on in…………..what can I do for you?"
Alex looked around a little hesitantly and gave Frank a concerned look.
He knew why she was hesitating and tried to ease her mind. "It's OK, Cody has thoroughly swept the area. At least this room is free from bugs."
She nodded relieved and then seemed to be searching for the right words to begin the conversation. Frank watched her intently and began to formulate a guess as to why she wanted to speak to him. Jake.
"Alex? What is it?"
She sighed heavily and began to pace back and forth in front of his desk. "I'm not sure how to bring this up, or even if I should." She glanced at her boss and saw the concern on his face and decided to press on.
"It's………….Jake."
"What about him?" he asked innocently.
"I………I haven't been able to get in touch with him. I drove by his place last night and the night before and he wasn't there either time. I have this sinking feeling that he may have done something………..drastic."
"Drastic? Like what?" Frank inquired, pretending not to have a clue about the events of the last 2 days.
"I'm not sure really. He may have just taken off. You know, hit the road and drove till he got tired, but I don't think that's what happened." Frank continued to stare at her and this time didn't respond, so she continued. "I'm afraid he may have………..called somebody about what's going on." And with that she sat down in one of the chairs facing Frank's desk, obviously relieved to have gotten her confession over with.
Frank leaned back in his chair and ran his hand across his chin contemplating what she had said. How much could he tell her? How badly would the truth upset her relationship with her partner.
"I had a feeling that when we hadn't heard from Jake within 24 hours that that may have been the course he'd decided to take."
Alex looked slightly shocked at his admission but then quickly realized that her boss had to have considered the possibility. Frank Donovan was nothing if not intuitive.
She nodded in understanding and then added, "I just thought that I should say something."
"I'm glad you did. I know this hasn't been easy on you. You and Jake are a team and seeing him cut himself off like that had to have been hard."
"Yeah…..well…….we all have to do what we think is best, right?"
"Absolutely," he replied simply. He saw her continue to hesitate and then asked, "Was there anything else? Have you heard from your DC contacts yet?"
"No to both questions. I'm still waiting on a few calls and I guess I'll let you get back to work." She turned to leave and then paused briefly in the doorway. She looked back at him, gave a quick smile and then left.
Frank wondered about the look on her face before she left, but just chalked it up to the general uneasiness of the entire operation.
A few hours went by before Frank was interrupted once again by a member of the team. Cody walked into the office carrying what Frank could only describe as a cross between a walkie talkie and a cell phone. He took the item from Cody and raised one eyebrow in lieu of a question.
"This," Cody began, "is the phone scrambler that I promised you. My own design, of course," he stated proudly. "It can run circles around anything else out there."
Frank had asked the young tech-op to come up with a way for him to communicate with Kate so he wouldn't have to worry about traced calls or overheard conversations. He looked over the device and finally asked, "Won't we need two of these?"
"Ahhh………only if you suspect that the other line may have been tapped or monitored. If there's no problem there, then no, you only have to worry about your end of the transmission."
"In that case, you're right. I'll only need one. Thank you Cody."
Cody smiled and said, "No problemo, boss man. Glad to help." And with that he turned to leave the office.
"Can you close the door on your way out, please?"
Cody waved in response and closed the door behind him. He wondered if Donovan was going to get all lovey-dovey on the phone and that was why he needed some privacy. The idea gave him the heebie jeebies, kind of like listening to your mom and dad get all frisky. Ewwww!
After Cody left, he used the new phone to call Kate. They had set up a system in case of emergency. He would call and let the phone ring twice. Hang up. Call again, letting it ring once. Hang up. And then call a third time letting it ring until she picked up. As he went through the process, he thought, not for the first time, how great technology could be while at the same time cursing all of the advances that made this type of operation necessary. After the third call, he waited for her to answer.
"Hello?" she responded in a slightly nervous voice.
"It's me. Before you ask. Everything's alright."
"Alright? I thought you said that you wouldn't call me like this unless it was an emergency!" she questioned sounding slightly flustered.
"Kate………..relax. I promise you. Nothing's wrong. I'm just trying out this new gadget that Cody built for me."
"Ahhhh……….the scrambler. I hope he's as talented as he thinks he is."
Frank chuckled lightly and then said, "You and me both."
"So why are you really calling?" she inquired.
"Maybe I just wanted to hear the sound of your voice," he responded in a decidedly sultry tone.
"Hmmmm…………not that sounds promising," she answered in the same husky tenor. "Unfortunately, I'm not buying it Donovan."
He sighed and then decided to fess up. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to come over there tonight."
Kate was quiet on the other end of the line and for a moment he thought that the line had been disconnected.
"Katie?"
"I'm still here," she answered quietly. "Just thinking about what you said." She paused briefly before continuing, "They're following you…….aren't they?"
"Probably. I haven't spotted anyone, but I don't want to risk maybe leading them right to you."
"What makes you think that the surveillance has already begun?"
"Two things. One……..the meeting I had this morning almost guaranteed it. And second……….the warehouse is bugged."
"Bugged?? Are you crazy?? What the hell are you doing calling me then? I'm hanging up right now!"
"Kate!! Wait!! It's alright. Cody was able to get rid of the two here in the office. Anything said in the office is secure. At least for the moment."
"Are absolutely positive?" she asked cautiously.
"Positive. You have to trust me, remember?"
"I do Frank. I do," she answered and then quietly added, "I'm going to miss you tonight." Her tone was sad and lonely and he could picture her sitting alone in the big house hour after hour.
Frank groaned inwardly. "I'm going to miss you too, baby. But I just can't risk it. Besides, I think I'm just going to stay here tonight. Guard the place in case they get any bright ideas about coming back to replace the bugs we took out or even worse trying to place video surveillance."
"Probably a good idea. Be careful?"
"Always. And Katie……….." he paused before continuing, "I promise that this is all going to be over soon."
"I'm counting on that Donovan. I don't think I can too much more of being cooped up in this house all alone."
"Right. I'll try to call you later and if I can't, I'll call in the morning."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Good night."
"Good night."
He listened to her hang up and wanted nothing more than to jump in his car right now and speed across town to surprise her, but he knew that things were going to start happening and quickly. He needed to be here. And he needed to be prepared.
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Thursday night -- 11:35PM
Jake walked into the nearly empty bar and surveyed the place. The person that he was supposed to meet wasn't there yet. So he meandered over to the bar, ordered two bottles of beer and then proceeded to an empty table near the back.
As he sipped on his drink, he closed his eyes briefly and thought back over the events of the last couple of days. He'd flown to Washington and had basically given them Donovan and the operation on a silver platter. He winced when he thought about it. He never thought that he'd be able to go through with it, but once there, the questions had been relentless and the information that they had been seeking just flowed out of him. Telling himself that it had to be done, wasn't helping anymore. And now, to make things worse, they wanted his help in actually taking Donovan and the Dawson woman into custody. Not only had he betrayed his boss, but now he'd have to look him in the eye when he figured out who set him up.
Jake lifted the bottle to his lips and downed nearly half the contents at once. *Maybe I can drink myself into oblivion for a while at least.*
As he placed the bottle back on the table he looked up and saw the person that he'd been waiting for enter the bar, he waived and they made their way over to the table.
"Jake."
"Alex. Have a seat. I already got you a drink," he said as he handed her the beer.
"Thanks." She took a big swig and then finally mustered enough courage to ask the question that had been dancing around in her head since he'd called her at home not and hour before.
"So………why am I here?"
Jake sighed, played with the bottle before him nervously and then finally answered.
"I need your help."
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