"We couldn't find anything off the phone number. We know WHO we're dealing with, but not where." I said. Nny was sulking in the corner, pointedly ignoring Shmee.
"Ingenious."
"Do YOU know where we can find him?"
"Maybe. He took a piece of my stuffing. He never goes anywhere without it. So I can try to talk to him. It might not work, though. Sometimes when he's extra terrified the link goes dead."
"What are you waiting for?!?! Try it!"
"Okay, geez! One second, please."
Shmee closed one eye, then the other. He hummed a little. It was like watching a séance in the daytime. Only less scary. And the supernatural was trying to contact the living, instead of vice versa.
"Okay, gottem." Shmee said after a moment.
"Where is he?" The bear glared at me.
"I don't KNOW. It's not my job to interrogate the poor kid. I just listen to his horrified rantings for a few minutes, then I get to ask a question or two. I'm a very professional trauma sponge."
"Glorious. What's he saying?"
"Eh… there's a scary man with a gun… scary building, cracks in the walls, light coming through."
"It's open on the east side. The sun's just rising." Nny said from the corner.
"He can hear water. He's ranting about sharks bursting up through the planking. And octopuses. And sea monsters. Oh, shoot. He's afraid of tuna, now, too. Another thing to add to the list."
"He's at the docks." Nny said, grabbing a trench coat off a chair. "Grab the bear, we have to start moving." I grabbed Shmee around the arm, and pulled him off the table. By the time I got my coat and got to the grey car, Nny already had it started. He was looking impatient. But I think he was just pissed that the stupid Bear was helping us. I wasn't exactly dancing cherries either, but, hey, what can ya do?
It was a long drive to the docks. We parked a few blocks away, loaded up on all the sharp things we could carry on our immediate person, and left to stake out the docks.
Three docks were covered. So he had to be on one of the three. One was covered in new aluminum siding. So we ruled out that one. The other two were old wood storage. He had to be in one of those.
So now even though we knew where Squee was, we were still dead. Squee said Gregory had a gun. So we were outweaponed. Nny hates guns, therefore, he had none. And I only killed for blood, guns wasted too much. So all we had were knives. Albeit a large collection of very big knives. Second, this was a perfect strategic position. All he had to cover was the door to the warehouse.
There was a twenty-foot dropoff into the sea. The dropoff started about five feet after the door. So the only way in was the door. Unless we dropped twenty feet into the freezing ocean, swam out, climbed twenty feet up a wooden pole, somehow adhered there while cutting a hole in the floor, and then got in without being noticed. We then had to get an eight year old kid to jump into the ocean, swim back to shore, scale the cliff, and get away. Again all without being noticed.
"We are totally screwed." I said, in quiet awe.
"Yes indeedy." Said Nny.
"Okay, we got a question area." Shmee muttered. "What do I ask?"
"Is there anyone else in the area?" Nny asked.
We waited a minute for Squee to answer.
"No. It's just Gregory." Shmee said, still mentally taking notes. "He's covering the door. He's got a handgun. That's it."
"So he has six shots, then a ten-second gap while he reloads. If he has more bullets."
"Which he might not." I said hopefully.
"Yeah. And Shamu might jump out of the ocean and save Squee, and save us the trouble." Said Shmee sarcasticly.
"You're not helping," I told him. "And how do you know so much about guns anyway?"
"Hey, I watch TV." Said Nny. "It's not like I'm anti-violence." He grinned wolfishly.
"Right." I said sharply "Back to us being screwed. So what do we do? We have ten seconds to work with, providing he misses with the first six shots. We have enough knives to take out the US army. Any other equiptment consists of what we can find on this dock in the next…" I checked my watch. "Twenty minutes."
"That's it?"
"That's it. Unless my watch stopped, in which case we have less than that."
"Thank you, Ms. Optimist."
"Welcome," I replied smugly.
The rising sun sent blood-red hues over everything. I covered my eyes… and got an idea.
"Hey." I said to Nny. "I think I might know how to get him to miss those first six shots."
How do they do it? I can't tell you now, I have to leave. More....on the thirty-first!! COme back for the next thrilling adventure... Please?