Two Weeks Later
"Thanks, Simon. I know it's busy at work and you could use our help, but we really need this break."
"Jim, you two have been working non-stop for longer than I can remember. Blair needs an opportunity to spend some time on his own life. I'm sure his department resents all the time he spends with us at the precinct. Anyway, it'll make the others finally do their own paperwork and give them a chance to catch a few criminals on their own."
"Yeah, Sandburg and I both have been carrying you all for years!"
"Jim, if you want to keep your vacation time, I'd leave now."
With a final smirk, Jim walked out of Simon's office, closed the door and made his way over to his desk. Along the way, he said his final farewells, before picking up his coat. As Jim entered the elevator, he felt a chill descend upon him, and shivered. Somehow he knew that the next time he entered this building, he would be a changed man.
After shaking off the odd feeling, Jim went down to his truck and started driving over to the University. Tonight would be the final meeting of Blair's travel group. In the end, it was decided that Jim had enough experience with the rainforests and Spanish, that he would help lead the group to the final destination along with his roommate and his roommate's advisor, Eli Stoddard. Jim pulled into Rainier University, parking in what was rapidly becoming his personal spot. As he entered the building, he ran into a familiar looking student.
"Hey, Detective! Looking for Blair?" the brown haired girl asked.
"Yeah, I just got here. Is he in the meeting room?" Jim asked, finally remembering that the girl, Stephanie, was going to be traveling with the group.
"Yeah, he and Dr. Stoddard are putting together final details before we leave on Thursday."
"Thanks. I'm running a few minutes late, so I should hurry. See you at the airport."
"'Bye, Detective." Jim watched as the girl ran down the steps and into the parking lot. She definitely had a lot of energy that he hoped would help her keep up during the trip.
Jim continued into the building, aiming for the small conference room that he knew he would find the two anthropologists. He paused to buy a candy bar and pop from a vending machine, sure that his roommate would have forgotten to eat lunch, and as it was late afternoon, knew that Blair would need some sort of energy burst soon. Jim walked to the conference room, and paused outside the door, listening to the men within.
"But Eli, if we stay the night in Managua, we can leave at daybreak and still be able to see when we get to our destination." Blair's distinctive voice could be clearly heard outside the door. Even if Jim didn't have exceptionally good hearing, people could hear Sandburg's voice throughout the hall.
"Blair, if we continue onto Leon after we land, we can have significantly more time to explore the area around our camp. I'd rather go as far as we can the first night and be able to press on the next day," Eli's voice sounded tired, like he had been fighting over this topic for too long.
Jim decided that it was time to make his presence known. "Hey. Sorry I'm late, but Simon held me up. Wanted to make sure that we really were leaving town so they could throw a celebration party. He also wanted to know if we wanted part in the betting pool on who would get injured, and when. I told him that we'd already placed our wagers and that we'd be collecting when we got back.
"Oh hey, Jim," Blair responded in a distracted voice. "Did you hear what we were talking about before you came in?"
"Yeah, it'd be kinda hard not to. I could hear you all the way down the hall. What's the problem?"
"Eli wants to continue on as far as we can after we land on Thursday. But I think it'd be better to stay in the city until the next day. Truthfully we don't have that much further to go and I think the students will be tired and to wound up to be able to continue on. We'll be taking the buses to at least Leon, and they are a tiring experience for someone who's not used to them. After traveling for several hours-that layover really gets us-they aren't going to be alert enough to keep an eye on all our luggage and equipment. What do you think?" Blair looked at Jim with his patented puppy dog eyes, waiting for the answer to his question.
"Well, I do think that it'd be wise to stop in the city. I think that we're getting in late enough that we wouldn't be able to take the buses till the next day anyway. And isn't this the first expedition for several of the students? Have they left the country before?"
"Yes, this is the first traveling several students have done. You might be right. Fine, we won't lose that much time, and between the three of us, we can make sure that the camp is set up quickly and efficiently," Eli gave in with good grace and started packing up. "Jim, you got here just in time to drive Blair home. That was the last detail we disagreed on. Everyone's meeting at the airport three hours before hand in two days and I'll see you then. I'm sure Blair can give you the rest of the details."
"Sure, Jim come on, let's go. I'll pay for take-out, don't feel like cooking tonight. I'll tell you the details on the way," Blair jumped up from the chair he had just sat in and started packing up himself. "I just have to stop in my office to pick up some last minute paperwork and few books, and then we can go." Blair started walking towards his office, not checking to see if Jim was following him. "Good night, Eli, see you at the airport!"
Eli paused, chuckled at his student's exuberance, and replied, "Good night, Blair, Jim. I'll see you soon."
Jim responded to the professor and then followed Blair further into the building. After a quick stop at the office, the two got into the truck and, after arguing the benefits of Chinese versus WonderBurger, decided to go for Italian. Blair filled Ellison in on the details he missed at the meeting and Jim decided the group was finally ready for the trip. While not a truly long expedition, only a month long, there were hundreds of details that needed to be decided on before they left; otherwise the whole trip would be one of confusion.
The two men, after dinner, spent the rest of the evening preparing for the trip. Between the two of them, they knew that they wouldn't forget anything. Packing two days before they left also gave them some time to pack anything if they discovered they missed something. The rest of the night was spent discussing the exact itinerary of the trip. This would be more of a data gathering trip, rather than a multi-discipline expedition. The students would be traveling around the country, seeing many of the artifacts and ruins that were available to most visitors. The rest of the time would be spent talking with the natives about fairly recent events in the government and the impact the civil war had on the country. Some time would be spent in the rainforest searching for a lost city rumored to exist that some guerilla fighters had rediscovered in their hiding out in the north. However, Eli and Blair were not expecting to find anything significant in the forest.
"So, Blair, do you think you're ready to go? Got everything packed? Cash, passport.teddy bear?"
"Funny, Jim. I should be asking you the same question. I've packed everything, and my passport is with my ticket. You have everything? Your white noise ear plugs, eye mask, and all that stuff? Once we get into Nicaragua, I doubt I'll be able to replace those things, so you'll have to do without."
"Yeah, I got everything. Don't worry so much."
Blair gave Jim a look at the last remark. "Me? Worry so much? Hello, kettle? This is the pot. You're black."
"So how long did that take you to come up with?" Jim decided that it really was his duty to give his roommate a hard time.
"Like I said, funny, Jim. Why don't we go to bed, it's late and we have a lot to do tomorrow. Night, Jim," with that, Blair headed into his bedroom and fell quickly asleep.
"Night, Blair," Jim went up the stairs and got ready for bed. However, he did not fall asleep as quickly as his roommate. He spent a while going through the checklist in his head, making sure that he had remembered everything. Medicine chest, check. Extra food, check. Extra survival supplies, check. Jim knew that he hadn't forgotten anything important, but with the luck he and Sandburg had on vacation, he knew that before the month was up, they'd need some of the extra equipment he was bringing. With that though, Jim fell asleep and dreamed of a vacation free from drug lords, guerilla fighters and gun shots. He wouldn't mind the lizards though.
"Thanks, Simon. I know it's busy at work and you could use our help, but we really need this break."
"Jim, you two have been working non-stop for longer than I can remember. Blair needs an opportunity to spend some time on his own life. I'm sure his department resents all the time he spends with us at the precinct. Anyway, it'll make the others finally do their own paperwork and give them a chance to catch a few criminals on their own."
"Yeah, Sandburg and I both have been carrying you all for years!"
"Jim, if you want to keep your vacation time, I'd leave now."
With a final smirk, Jim walked out of Simon's office, closed the door and made his way over to his desk. Along the way, he said his final farewells, before picking up his coat. As Jim entered the elevator, he felt a chill descend upon him, and shivered. Somehow he knew that the next time he entered this building, he would be a changed man.
After shaking off the odd feeling, Jim went down to his truck and started driving over to the University. Tonight would be the final meeting of Blair's travel group. In the end, it was decided that Jim had enough experience with the rainforests and Spanish, that he would help lead the group to the final destination along with his roommate and his roommate's advisor, Eli Stoddard. Jim pulled into Rainier University, parking in what was rapidly becoming his personal spot. As he entered the building, he ran into a familiar looking student.
"Hey, Detective! Looking for Blair?" the brown haired girl asked.
"Yeah, I just got here. Is he in the meeting room?" Jim asked, finally remembering that the girl, Stephanie, was going to be traveling with the group.
"Yeah, he and Dr. Stoddard are putting together final details before we leave on Thursday."
"Thanks. I'm running a few minutes late, so I should hurry. See you at the airport."
"'Bye, Detective." Jim watched as the girl ran down the steps and into the parking lot. She definitely had a lot of energy that he hoped would help her keep up during the trip.
Jim continued into the building, aiming for the small conference room that he knew he would find the two anthropologists. He paused to buy a candy bar and pop from a vending machine, sure that his roommate would have forgotten to eat lunch, and as it was late afternoon, knew that Blair would need some sort of energy burst soon. Jim walked to the conference room, and paused outside the door, listening to the men within.
"But Eli, if we stay the night in Managua, we can leave at daybreak and still be able to see when we get to our destination." Blair's distinctive voice could be clearly heard outside the door. Even if Jim didn't have exceptionally good hearing, people could hear Sandburg's voice throughout the hall.
"Blair, if we continue onto Leon after we land, we can have significantly more time to explore the area around our camp. I'd rather go as far as we can the first night and be able to press on the next day," Eli's voice sounded tired, like he had been fighting over this topic for too long.
Jim decided that it was time to make his presence known. "Hey. Sorry I'm late, but Simon held me up. Wanted to make sure that we really were leaving town so they could throw a celebration party. He also wanted to know if we wanted part in the betting pool on who would get injured, and when. I told him that we'd already placed our wagers and that we'd be collecting when we got back.
"Oh hey, Jim," Blair responded in a distracted voice. "Did you hear what we were talking about before you came in?"
"Yeah, it'd be kinda hard not to. I could hear you all the way down the hall. What's the problem?"
"Eli wants to continue on as far as we can after we land on Thursday. But I think it'd be better to stay in the city until the next day. Truthfully we don't have that much further to go and I think the students will be tired and to wound up to be able to continue on. We'll be taking the buses to at least Leon, and they are a tiring experience for someone who's not used to them. After traveling for several hours-that layover really gets us-they aren't going to be alert enough to keep an eye on all our luggage and equipment. What do you think?" Blair looked at Jim with his patented puppy dog eyes, waiting for the answer to his question.
"Well, I do think that it'd be wise to stop in the city. I think that we're getting in late enough that we wouldn't be able to take the buses till the next day anyway. And isn't this the first expedition for several of the students? Have they left the country before?"
"Yes, this is the first traveling several students have done. You might be right. Fine, we won't lose that much time, and between the three of us, we can make sure that the camp is set up quickly and efficiently," Eli gave in with good grace and started packing up. "Jim, you got here just in time to drive Blair home. That was the last detail we disagreed on. Everyone's meeting at the airport three hours before hand in two days and I'll see you then. I'm sure Blair can give you the rest of the details."
"Sure, Jim come on, let's go. I'll pay for take-out, don't feel like cooking tonight. I'll tell you the details on the way," Blair jumped up from the chair he had just sat in and started packing up himself. "I just have to stop in my office to pick up some last minute paperwork and few books, and then we can go." Blair started walking towards his office, not checking to see if Jim was following him. "Good night, Eli, see you at the airport!"
Eli paused, chuckled at his student's exuberance, and replied, "Good night, Blair, Jim. I'll see you soon."
Jim responded to the professor and then followed Blair further into the building. After a quick stop at the office, the two got into the truck and, after arguing the benefits of Chinese versus WonderBurger, decided to go for Italian. Blair filled Ellison in on the details he missed at the meeting and Jim decided the group was finally ready for the trip. While not a truly long expedition, only a month long, there were hundreds of details that needed to be decided on before they left; otherwise the whole trip would be one of confusion.
The two men, after dinner, spent the rest of the evening preparing for the trip. Between the two of them, they knew that they wouldn't forget anything. Packing two days before they left also gave them some time to pack anything if they discovered they missed something. The rest of the night was spent discussing the exact itinerary of the trip. This would be more of a data gathering trip, rather than a multi-discipline expedition. The students would be traveling around the country, seeing many of the artifacts and ruins that were available to most visitors. The rest of the time would be spent talking with the natives about fairly recent events in the government and the impact the civil war had on the country. Some time would be spent in the rainforest searching for a lost city rumored to exist that some guerilla fighters had rediscovered in their hiding out in the north. However, Eli and Blair were not expecting to find anything significant in the forest.
"So, Blair, do you think you're ready to go? Got everything packed? Cash, passport.teddy bear?"
"Funny, Jim. I should be asking you the same question. I've packed everything, and my passport is with my ticket. You have everything? Your white noise ear plugs, eye mask, and all that stuff? Once we get into Nicaragua, I doubt I'll be able to replace those things, so you'll have to do without."
"Yeah, I got everything. Don't worry so much."
Blair gave Jim a look at the last remark. "Me? Worry so much? Hello, kettle? This is the pot. You're black."
"So how long did that take you to come up with?" Jim decided that it really was his duty to give his roommate a hard time.
"Like I said, funny, Jim. Why don't we go to bed, it's late and we have a lot to do tomorrow. Night, Jim," with that, Blair headed into his bedroom and fell quickly asleep.
"Night, Blair," Jim went up the stairs and got ready for bed. However, he did not fall asleep as quickly as his roommate. He spent a while going through the checklist in his head, making sure that he had remembered everything. Medicine chest, check. Extra food, check. Extra survival supplies, check. Jim knew that he hadn't forgotten anything important, but with the luck he and Sandburg had on vacation, he knew that before the month was up, they'd need some of the extra equipment he was bringing. With that though, Jim fell asleep and dreamed of a vacation free from drug lords, guerilla fighters and gun shots. He wouldn't mind the lizards though.