SIXTEEN
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The phone buzzed. Sapphire eyed it warily, finding the name and letting her head drop to her desk. "Here we go." She reached out, and without even lifting her head, answered the call. "Yes."
"Not only have you not killed the Green Hornet yet, you've also got yourself on national television."
"Yes boss. But—"
"No buts, Sapphire - you know that. If he's not dead in three days then I'm afraid you'll be going somewhere a lot further south than San Fransisco."
"I understand."
The line clicked.
Sapphire sighed and dropped the phone to her lap, under the table. Then she drew in a very deep breath, and at the top of her lungs, shouted: "Charlie!"
A moment later she heard feet and then the door to her office opened. "What is it, boss?"
She didn't bother sitting up, feeling at that moment that the only thing in the world apart from Charlie that she could actually believe in was the wood preventing her head from finding what she really wanted, which was a hole in the ground that could swallow her up. "We're screwed. The Green Hornet in three days. That's it."
Charlie didn't answer.
She pushed herself up, but realised he had already bolted from the doorway, no doubt on his way to order a hit through every contact in every language he knew. "Well they do say necessity is a great motivator," she sighed.
.
.
The room waited, the eyes of every journalist and member of the front-page crew studying articles, silent replays of footage, and social media impressions of stories.
Mike sat at the head of the table, his elbows planted in the surface, his fingers steepled.
Suddenly a knock made them all look over. "Come in!" Mike called.
The door swung open and Amy looked in. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Amy - yes," he smiled. "I think you know everyone here, right?"
She looked around as she closed the door behind her. "I think I do groundwork for… most people here."
"Have a seat," Mike said. She found an empty chair and sat carefully, feeling apprehension and anxiety try to turn her face red. "First of all," he said, "a big well done for getting that footage. Honestly - Steve here says it's been off the charts this morning. Steve?" he asked.
The man opposite her grinned, lifting an iPad as if people had any idea what the metrics on it meant. "The reactions to the article, to the footage, to the stills we've published in print and on the app? Meteoric," he beamed. "This is the scoop, Amy - everyone is clamouring for copies of your footage so they can print their own."
"Oh, uh… good?" she hazarded.
"It's very good," Mike said. "We understand from the footage that you got in some words with the mysterious drugs people - you were off camera but we could hear some of what happened. This woman… Sapphire, was it?" he asked the table.
Heads nodded. "We have info," a woman down the end said. "The way she was talking about her past in San Fransisco - we've got her. She did work under Chudnofsky like she said, then when the Green Hornet took him out when he totalled the top floors of this building, she consolidated whoever was left. Even Charlie, the man the Green Hornet mentioned - we think he's Charles Peterson, someone who this 'Sapphire' - real name Sarah Fellows - has bailed out a few times for petty crimes."
"You came to us from San Fransisco, didn't you?" Mike asked Amy. "Do you know anything about her?"
"I did filing," she said quietly. "Junior stuff. I'd never even heard of her until last night."
"Ok," Mike allowed. "Everyone - you can all go. Start on your articles, your case-building - we want supply chains, lieutenants, collaborators, dock surveillance, the usual. We have a lot to make of this and I don't want anything left out."
People got up and headed for the door. Amy waited until there was room to move, then pushed her chair out to get up.
"Wait, Amy," Mike said. She paused, and eventually everyone else had left. "Close the door, please," he said. Going over and shutting it softly, she went back to the table and sat. He laced his fingers on the open dossier in front of him. "This is to remain between you and me, ok?"
"Ok," she said warily.
"We have a mole here in the newspaper. Someone has been reproducing unpublished articles and evidence, and sharing it with people who shouldn't have it." He paused. "Would you know anything about that?"
"What?" she gasped, her eyes wide. "Why would they do that?"
"In the past it's been for money," he said. He lowered his voice. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me, when it's just you and me?"
"Like what?" she asked, confused.
"Have you ever…" He paused. "I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but the fact is… I do have to ask you." He looked her in the eye. "Amy De Souza - have you ever shared anything produced or belonging to this newspaper or its media branches that you knew you shouldn't?"
"Me?" she gulped. "No - no, never."
"That's all I needed to hear," he said, looking relieved. "It's not personal. We're asking everyone."
"Oh, well…" She blinked, then stared at the table. "I mean…" She looked up again. "I appreciate you asking first."
"First?"
"Well…" She cleared her throat. "So… can I go?"
"This isn't a formal hearing," he said with a gentle smile. "I just have one more question for you."
"Ok."
"This Sapphire… Did she ever mention who her police informant was? She gives us clues in the footage but we can't trace anyone like that at the moment. If we could get a name, get some evidence that he's on the take, we could run an exposé on that too."
She sat back. "You know… last night I think I'm lucky I didn't drop dead of a heart attack. I don't think I'm cut out for field work," she added quietly. "I don't remember a single thing that happened. When I saw the footage we got this morning… half of it was a surprise to me. I mean… I did that?"
"You did," he smiled. "You even struck the Green Hornet's masked accomplice in the head - quite hard, judging by the way he went over."
"I have like half a memory of any of that," she said. "It was just so fast - I panicked, I think. I just lashed out and—." She shook her head. "I remember the brick or rubble or whatever it was hitting him in the head and I heard him cry out - that was it. The next thing I know…" She gasped. "Wait! I got a close-up!"
"What?" he asked, sitting up with caution.
"Well… we were outside. The Green Hornet was helping the other guy to walk - he seemed a bit dazed. And I thought - well I used my phone, got a really good close-up of the pair of them."
"Have you given the photo to the media department?"
"Not yet - I totally forgot I had it!" she said excitedly.
"Then when you can, find it and send it over," he said with a smile. "Maybe then we can ID them and run a story on that, finally."
"Yes sir, Mr Axford," she said, getting to her feet.
"Well done, Amy. The next time you and Sean decide to cook up some surveillance like this, just bring it straight to me and I'll give you the yes or no on the spot."
"Thank you, Mr Axford."
"It's Mike," he said, waving her off.
She grinned and went out of the door, trying to keep her excitement levels under control as she went down a few floors and found her desk. She sank into her chair, grinning madly.
"That sounded important," a voice said from the partition. She looked up and found Sean's face over the top edge, watching her.
"Oh get this - Mr Axford says the next time we want to do something like last night, we just go direct to him and he'll give us the ok or the no straight away," she grinned.
"Well alright, partner," he grinned, offering her his palm. She slapped it with hers and they grinned.
"And I think I have a fantastic photo of—." She paused, looking round her desk. "Where's my phone?"
"Under all that paper, probably," he said. "You have fun. I'm going back to the team to see what else they can get from the footage."
She picked up her desk phone, pressing the button at the bottom of the pre-programmed list and biting her lip. It rang and rang.
Eventually the line clicked. "Media handling."
"Hi," she said with a grin. "I have a photo on my phone - Mike Axford wants me to bring it to you for processing ASAP."
"Uh… hold on…" A pause. "Best we can do is… after six - we're stacked out."
"But… it's really important."
"And so is everything else we handle. Look, I'm sorry, but we got a few guys off sick over here and we're processing images and footage as fast as we can, ok? We have dead sex workers implicating police officers, suspicious deaths involving catarrh, suspected mobsters face-down in fountains. We really are doing our best."
"Oh no no - sorry. That's fine. I'll drop it by after six."
"Appreciated. Name please?"
"Amy De Souza."
"Amy De… Oh - our footage woman! Cool. Yeah, bring it by after six, please."
"Thanks. Sorry - thanks." She put the phone down, shaking her head.
Rummaging around the Post-It notes and newspaper clippings covering her keyboard, she swept aside the celebration ribbons and congratulations cartoons people had seen fit to deposit on her work surface. A buzzing made her turn to her right and find a wad of paper vibrating to its own beat on top of her printer. She unearthed the phone, finding it was a text message. She unlocked it and the notification made her smile.
'Kato
1 message'
She squeezed the phone and grinned in excitement. Wait till I tell him what I did last night!
She opened the message. Her smile died.
'Cannot tonight. Meet tomorrow?'
She sighed, letting her hand and phone drop to the desk. Tilting her head back, thinking it over, she allowed her excitement to drain away as the reality of it being only Tuesday made itself evident. Looking around, she took in the normal hubbub of the office, the to-ing and fro-ing of everyone working on their scoops, on their little lightning in a bottle stories. Her shoulders sagged as the rest of her deflated with all of her soul.
She looked back at the phone and typed a reply with her thumb.
'Ok. Nothing exciting happening here anyway.' She pressed Send and sat back.
Sean's head popped back over the partition. "Hey."
"What?" she asked, looking up quickly, instantly turning the phone screen down to the desk.
"Don't forget you're invited to watch the ice hockey on Friday at the sports bar," he said. "And… if you're going… can you do me a favour?"
"What's that?"
"Can you see if Linda is going?"
"Oh Sean - I think she's seeing that new guy - what's his name - John."
"Oh. Really?" he asked, his face falling. "She's getting around."
"Maybe she's realising one by one that all the available fellas here aren't worth dating," she said with a shit-eating grin.
He snorted in amusement. "Yeah, maybe." He paused, thinking for a long moment before he shook his head. "Ok… have a good afternoon anyway - what's left of it." He tapped the top of the partition and was gone again.
She turned the phone screen back up and looked at it, then shook her head and set it down on the desk. Picking up all the sheets of paper, she started to organise them into useful and trash piles.
The phone buzzed. She paused, then picked it up and unlocked it.
'Kato
1 message'
She tapped to see it.
'Coffee 4 by machine? Only time today. Bowling tomorrow night Y/N?'
She typed quickly. 'Y & Y.' She pressed Send.
Then she looked at her watch, saw it was going up to three o'clock, and decided to finally tidy her desk - just so she could find the laptop.
A head appeared over the top of the partition and she sighed. "Not now, Sean."
"Have I caught you a bad time?"
She looked up and instead found a woman, perhaps ten years older than herself, watching her with a smile. "Oh! Sorry - thought you were someone else."
"No problem," she smiled. "I have something upstairs - can you take a look at it for me? I meant to bring it down but picked up my coffee cup and forgot the print-out."
"Yeah, sure Linda - hang on." She got up and made sure nothing confidential was floating around exposed on the desk. She snagged her coffee mug as she waved an arm out. "Where to?"
"Upstairs - I'm sure you're no stranger to the top floor," she said. She turned away and started to walk toward the stairs, and Amy followed.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Oh we're playing that game, are we?" Linda grinned. "Everyone's impressed. I mean by all accounts you met the guy in the elevator one morning, and the next thing we all know you're dating him. High-five, and all that - from what people say he's pretty cool."
"Oh," Amy managed, curling hair round her ear. They climbed the stairs to the top floor, Linda leading the way over to her desk.
"Hey Steve," Linda announced.
A pod of three people looked up, waving and then waving again to Amy. "So you want something fact-checked?" Amy asked.
They all looked down again, but Linda fished a piece of paper from her keyboard and handed it to her. "Yep. Is there any way you could get this to me by four today?"
Amy read it slowly. "Hmm... Didn't we do this already? Like… a few weeks ago? Never went out, I don't think. Not sure if it was behind a few security firewalls."
"No idea," Linda said. "If it's already done then just send me the intranet link and I'll cut and paste what I need from the stuff we already have. No sense you doing it again."
"Sure," Amy said.
"And say hello to your man for us," Linda winked.
"Like they live in each other's pockets," Steve scoffed. "Leave her alone, Linda. He's not even in today, apparently."
.
.
Lenore gripped the handle of her bag firmly as the elevator whooshed upwards. "Britt - remember you're here to speak to Mike about this footage - be enthusiastic—"
"He is always enthusiastic," Kato said from behind her.
Britt, next to him, grinned and put his fist up. Kato bumped it without looking.
"—Well yes, but it's all about how amazing this footage is," Lenore went on, "and can you have access to see it for yourself on your laptop - that's the important part. Kato? Get what you need from Britt's office and remember you're on sick leave. You're not here to work, so if anyone asks what you're doing here just say you're picking up a work laptop."
"Right," he nodded.
She turned to him, slipping her bag down her arm to sit at her elbow so she could adjust the shoulders on his t-shirt. She lifted the front of his beanie hat a tiny way and slid her hand under to his hair, teasing it more toward his eyes, making it lie more closely over his temple - and cover the white pad over the stitches. "Do not let anyone see that patch on your head, got it?"
"I know," he protested, putting a hand to his hat to keep it still. "It will be ok."
"Ok - right - ok - I know that," she said hastily, turning to look back at the elevator doors. She straightened up and took a deep breath.
Britt and Kato exchanged a withering glance.
The lift stopped. The doors opened.
Lenore walked out as if she owned the floor, but then had to stop dead as mail cart passed her.
"Sorry," the young lad said, trying to get the cart out of her way.
"No problem," she smiled. "Anything in there for Lenore Case? Britt Reid?"
"Uh…" He bent over the cart, checking the names on the tags. "No, sorry."
"Thanks."
The three of them made for Britt's office at the end, Kato checking his watch. As Britt stopped to unlock the door, a voice called out over the general hubbub.
"Parcel here!" the mail worker called over the open plan office behind them. Heads went up; ears opened. "Lee Ker Der?" he called. "Parcel for a Lee Ker Der?"
Heads turned and people frowned at each other. The party at the door turned to see - Kato took a step away from them.
Amy's head had already snapped up. She turned from Linda's pod, surprised faces watching her. "I'll take it!" she called, waving a hand. The mail lad walked over and handed it to her, then produced a PDA for her to scribble on. She did so, and the man nodded his thanks and rolled the cart away.
"Wait," Kato said, not looking at Britt before he made a beeline for Amy.
"Poor boy," Britt grinned at Lenore. "He's worried she's getting cool presents off a secret admirer."
Kato stopped by Linda's pod and Amy turned to see him. A big grin covered her face and she grabbed his elbow, walking him to the windows away from the pod. She chatted away and offered him the box. Lenore folded her arms as they appeared to talk quite happily while he opened it up. He nodded as he listened to her, pulling something from it - Amy took the empty box off him. He inspected a small black item, turning it over a few times, before he held it up between them, explaining something as he pointed to each end.
Amy grinned, said something that made his face go a little red, and then straightened his beanie hat for him.
"Jeez," Britt sighed. "Get a room already."
Lenore hid a grin. They both watched as Kato handed her the item, his hands going rather self-consciously into the rear pockets of his black jeans. She raised it in one hand, nodding and saying something. He gave her a little wave, then turned and found half the open plan office watching him. He nodded, not making eye contact, and walked back to the door to find Britt and Lenore just waiting.
Britt looked at him - just looked.
"What?" Kato asked innocently.
Britt opened the door and bundled him in, Lenore following to close it quietly behind her. She smiled. "Secret gift for Amy?"
"It's a wifi dongle for her home laptop," he said innocently. "Makes it go from a b/g/n rating to an a/n/ac rating."
"A what?" Britt asked, confused.
"It makes the internet faster," Lenore said.
"So what's with the secret name?" Britt asked.
Kato frowned. "What secret name?"
"The secret name the mail dude was shouting over the office."
"That's not a secret name, that's my name," Kato said, surprised.
"Your name's Lee Ker Der?" Lenore asked, surprised. "I thought it was Kato."
He rolled his eyes. "Actually it is Lee Kie-De," he said, each syllable short. "But no-one in America can say it so they say Kay-Do and think it sounds like Kato. And now it's stuck like that."
Lenore 'oh'ed. "Sorry."
"It's ok," he shrugged.
"Wow that must suck," Britt heaved. "I had to go like three days at a seminar thing and everyone was calling me Brad - drove me nuts." He sat down at the laptop as Kato glanced at his watch, then went round him to the collection of coffee cups sitting on the refrigerator in the corner. "Wait a minute," Britt said suddenly, offended. "How come Amy knows your real name but we don't? We've known you longer than her, dude."
Kato blinked at him. "When I was home all weekend because I had stitches she came over to check on me, and Sunday afternoon she picked up my dry cleaning. She took my driver's licence for ID." He paused. "She is smart like that."
Lenore shrugged in agreement, nodding.
Britt folded his arms. "Not fair, dude," he grumped. "We've known you longer - and I've known you longer than Lenore. I shoulda been told your real name first."
"Like Britt is your real name," Kato scoffed.
"What? It is."
"No, what is the long name?" Kato asked.
"What long name?"
"Well… like Sam in HR - her name is Samantha. People always make their names short," he said. "What is Britt short for?"
"It's not," he said, confused. "It's just Britt."
"Maybe it's Britney and he's too embarrassed to say," Lenore teased, making Kato grin.
Britt huffed. "Whatever."
"So you didn't check my EA contract before you gave it to Sam to give to me?" Kato asked. "My name is on the top - even has the Chinese in brackets for legal stuff."
"I didn't see it," Britt huffed. "I have people for that."
Kato and Lenore shared a glance. "Well," Kato said, "I'm going to the break room."
"Ok fine - Mr Lee," Britt said. "Go enjoy your bagels, Mr Lee."
Kato smiled and Lenore shook her head, picking up a chair to set it close to the other side of Britt's desk. Kato straightened his beanie hat, opening the door and twirling out. Britt rolled his eyes and booted up the laptop.
.
.
Kato bounced down the stairs and paused on the floor for Support and Admin. Seeing Amy's head was not at her pod, he turned and made for the break room.
"Hey - it's the EA. What brings you down to our floor?" came a voice.
He twirled and found a man smiling at him, a pod of people behind him looking similarly interested. "Oh - ah - have to pick up a work laptop," he said.
"We heard you were sick," the man said.
"Doug," someone hissed. It was a woman, who stood up. "Sorry - news travels fast. Are you feeling better?"
"Uh - yeah. It's not sick, it's—. Injury. Stitches," he nodded.
"Sounds nasty," Doug winced. "What did you do?"
"Car fell on me," he said off-hand. He waved and walked into the break room.
Doug turned, speechless. The woman smiled at him, patting his shoulder. "I heard he used to work on cars for Mr Reid," she said. "He probably still tinkers."
Doug sighed, looking toward the break room door. "I could tinker with him. Free of charge."
She giggled. "Find another target, Doug." She paused, seeing someone else make their way to the break room, a coffee mug in their hand. "You were too late."
Doug turned and watched Amy enter the break room. "Yeah."
Amy waved at them all in complete innocence before she rounded the doorjamb, finding Kato at the coffee machine. "Here we are again," she grinned, walking over.
"You lied to me," he said.
"What?" she managed, taken aback.
His turned and looked at her, particularly unimpressed. "You lied to me."
"I - uh - what? When?" she gasped.
"You said nothing exciting was happening today," he said, and now she could see him fighting a smile. "But everyone here is talking about your big scoop last night. So is it not exciting, or did you lie to me?"
"Sorry," she said quietly, looking at her hands. "Just… When you said you couldn't meet today I thought… Well. Never mind."
"So you did lie to me."
She looked up quickly but now he definitely was smiling. She pushed at his shoulder. "Shut up and make me coffee."
He winced, putting a hand to his side. "I am injured and you're being mean to me. You should make me coffee."
She giggled. "Do you hate yourself that much, that you want me to make the coffee?" She moved to the machine anyway.
He waved her out of her way. "Ok ok - I take it back."
She grinned, coming up behind him and popping her head over his shoulder to rest on him as he manipulated switches and settings. "As good as it is to see you today… you shouldn't really be out of bed."
"I need to get a work laptop anyway, so…"
"Wow. Thanks."
"You are welcome - for the coffee."
"And we're bowling tomorrow night, right?"
"Yes. But you will have to bowl for me," he said, lifting her mug from the counter to the plate.
"Why?"
"It hurts."
"Poor boy," she cooed with a grin. He just smiled to himself as he finished her drink. Eventually it was done, and he turned to dislodge her and hand her the mug.
She took it, smelling the rim and closing her eyes. "Perfect."
She opened them again to see he had picked up his empty mug and gone to the sink by the machine. He gave it a good scrub with cleaner and hot water before rinsing it off. We went about setting up new filters and handles.
"Nice hat," she commented, sipping her liquid gold and fully expecting it to burn her mouth but in a very good way. Her eyes smarted but she revelled in the taste. She watched his back, his shoulders work in front of her. "Is this your off-duty look for when you're not in uniform?"
He froze, his eyes wide on the machine. "What?"
"Y'know, when you're not in your office suit."
"—Oh. Yes," he said quickly. "Day off hair."
She giggled. "Well I think it suits you," she said. "You should wear it bowling."
He breathed out, long and relaxed. "I might."
"And I should get back to work," she said, as he turned with his own drink done. She lifted her phone in her other hand. "I have an epic close-up of the Green Hornet's face that I need to get to Media Processing by six."
"A what?" he said flatly.
"Oh my god listen to this!" she gasped. She shoved her phone into the pocket of her waistcoat and grabbed his elbow, steering him across the room and out of the emergency exit. He pushed it open for her to leave first then let it swing shut behind him. "So last night I got that footage, right?" she said excitedly.
"So everyone says."
"Yeah but after that I got a close-up shot of the Green Hornet! Right in his face!"
"What?" he demanded. His fingers loosened on his mug. He gripped it quickly before it could drop hot coffee down him. "How?"
"Well I might have kind of hit the other guy - you know, the one always in black? I think I hit him in the head. It all happened like that," she said, snapping her fingers.
"Really? Wow," he managed, tugging the front of his beanie hat down slightly.
"Yeah - and then when the Green Hornet was helping the guy up I took a photo right in his face! I cannot believe I forgot all about it! But my heart nearly stopped about a hundred times - I don't do field work, I do groundwork - and like it was so exciting but - but - I don't think I want to do that again. That was the first time and I think it's going to be the last time," she gabbled. "Man it was crazy - there was shooting and shouting and the Green Hornet guy and - and - and I got his picture!"
"On your phone?" he asked, wide-eyed.
"Yeah! Look!" She pulled her phone from her pocket, unlocking it. She whizzed through pictures and then turned the phone around. "See! Look!"
He stepped up and stared at it - a perfectly framed, perfectly HD picture of the Green Hornet himself, and right behind his head, a masked accomplice, blood down the side of his face - also in brilliant high definition. He swallowed, taking the phone from her slowly.
"See! How amazing is that!" she squealed. "We actually have a shot at figuring out who they are now!"
"But… you can't see - I mean, they're wearing masks," he said lamely. His eyes bored into the picture in his hands.
"Yeah but with imaging - they have to be able to do that airport biotech thing, right? Estimate cheekbones and eyes etc. from what the picture can give us? I can't wait to see if this identifies them at last!"
Kato looked up at her. Then back down at the photo. "Uh—"
She plucked the phone from his grasp, admiring the shot. She sipped her coffee. "Honestly? I get how exciting it can be now - to be a journalist, I mean."
"But you said you wouldn't do field work any more."
"That's true," she said, her face falling. She locked the phone, putting it back in her pocket. "It's too nerve-wracking." Her eyes went to the grass by his feet as something went through her head.
"I'm happy for you," he mumbled.
She looked at him. "Sorry, what?"
"I'm happy for you," he said, louder. "I mean… this is good for your job, right?"
"It is," she grinned. "Thank you."
"Well… I should go," he said. "I pick you up tomorrow night, for bowling?"
"Yes please," she said, stepping closer. "You go home and rest - don't work too hard on that laptop, ok?"
"Ok."
She smiled and ran a hand down his face, kissing him briefly. "See you tomorrow." She winked at him, then turned and opened up the fire door, letting herself in.
He turned his back to the door and blew out a long sigh. His hand went up to the back of his beanie hat and he thought for a long, long moment.
.
.
Britt sat back from the laptop. "So that's everything we've been up to," he said. "What do you think?"
"And did you see Mike? What did he want?" Lenore asked, looking up from her notebook.
"Right so get this - he thinks we have a mole somewhere in the Sentinel, giving out stuff to other journalists or to bad guys," he said. "On top of that, he's got a mini task force set up to find out who Sapphire's mole in the police department is."
"Ok," she said slowly, things turning over in her brain. "How do they know there's a mole here?"
"Files keep getting downloaded onto media that's not company issue," he said, waving a hand. "Something about the IT department flagging overnight downloads by unregistered users, people using fake credentials to get past security - but using a computer in the office."
"Shit," she hissed. "What have they been downloading?"
"All the stuff we've ever had on the Green Hornet," he said, his head tilting in a knowing gesture. "My guess is they've done it for Sapphire before our meetings so she could get the skinny on the Hornet beforehand."
"That would make sense," she said. "And no-one has any idea who this person is?"
"No. Other than what Sapphire said on the video - they were working for a paper in San Fransisco, then moved here round about when she did."
"I'll get on it," she said, pulling a notebook from her bag and flipping to an empty page. "Did you get access to the footage?"
"Dude, I got all of it," he grinned. "Mike was only too happy to let me have a look at it - he thinks the more of us that see it the better chance there is of someone catching something everyone else missed."
"Is it on your laptop?"
"I emailed you the link for the portal thing for the Sentinel footage file," he grinned. "Mike showed me how."
"And he didn't mind that I had it?"
"I kinda told him I didn't know how it worked, so you'd have to do the playback and everything for me," he smiled smugly.
She nodded. "Believable."
His smiled dimmed. "I lied. You know that, right?"
"Of course," she said immediately with a bright smile. "Anything else?"
The office door opened behind her and Kato wandered in, his hands in his pockets. "Hey," he said weakly.
Britt eyed the defeated slump to his shoulders, the way he closed the door carefully with a single finger as if any more effort would cause some kind of emotion malfunction. "Everything ah… ok? What's up?"
He looked over at him. His mouth worked for a second. Then he sniffed casually but Britt wasn't fooled. "Amy has a picture," he managed.
"Dude she's got footage," Britt scoffed.
"No, Britt - she has a photo she took about two feet from your face last night. We're both in it - close-up, high quality - a perfect shot."
"Shit," Britt sighed.
"Great," Lenore heaved. "Has she already figured out it's you?"
"No - she forgot she had it until this morning. Last night really freaked her out." He put his free hand up in helplessness. "Now I have to do something and I don't want to."
"What?" Britt asked, confused.
"I have to delete the photo from her phone," he said. "If I don't, it will be in the paper and everyone will see it. Someone will recognise us." His hand dropped. "If I do… she will not get the picture to Mike Axford and she will look stupid in front of everyone for saying she had a photo but then she couldn't find it." He waved his hand. "I don't want either of those."
Lenore bit her lip. "Well… we have to do one of them." She straightened her shoulders. "And you already know which one it has to be, right?"
