Chapter 16: A Nice Day in the Park

Amanda woke up the next morning, still laying on Chris' chest. She laid there quietly, riding the rise and fall of her chest. After some thought about the night before, it occurred to her that TARU had been watching them. It light blush covered her cheeks and she pulled the covers over her face. She tried not to let it bother her and closed her eyes to go back to sleep. She felt the bed shift and pulled the cover down to see Frannie sitting on the bed. She pulled the covers back over her face and was greeted with a loud bark. She quickly pulled the covers down and sat up.

"Shhh" she said putting her hand around her mouth. "I'm up, ok. I'm up. Just be quiet" she whispered. Christina turned over on her side and laughed at the exchange between Amanda and her dog. She slowly opened her eyes to meet Amanda's blues staring down at her. "Sorry" she said apologizing for waking her.

"It's ok" she said softly. She brought her hand up to touch Amanda's hair and brought it down to cup her cheek. Amanda covered her hand with her own and leaned down to kiss her. Chris quickly took the reins, flipping them over so that she was on top. She continued their kiss as she snaked her hand underneath the covers and between Amanda's legs, parting her thighs and dipping into wetness. Feeling that she was more than ready for her, she slipped two fingers inside of her. Amanda gasped at the sudden intrusion and threw her head back into the pillow. Her hand came up and she buried her fingers in Chris' thick mane as her head dipped down and her mouth latched onto her neck. They'd both forgotten about Frannie until she started barking at them and pulling at the covers with her teeth. They both laughed at her ploys to get their attention. Chris stopped what she was doing and laid her head on Amanda's chest. Frannie barked again and Amanda rolled her eyes.

"Alright, Frannie Mae" she said silencing her barking. "We get it". She sat on the bed panting and looking at them as if she knew if she got down and left they'd carry on with their activities and forget about her. Chris cleared her throat and sat up, holding the cover up over her chest. It took her a minute to work up the energy before she grabbed a sheet, wrapped it around herself, and scoot off the bed leaving Amanda laying there covered by the blanket. She found Amanda's t shirt and pulled it over her head before heading for the living room.

"Come on, Frannie" she called over her shoulder. Frannie jumped down from the bed and followed her to the kitchen where she got her fresh water and grabbed her food. She went over and filled her bowl then put her food back under the cabinet before walking back to the bedroom and going into the bathroom. She started the shower and pulled her t shirt off and looked into the bedroom at Amanda. She was leaning on her elbows in the bed staring at her through the open bathroom door. Chris stared at her as she stepped one leg into the shower. "Care to join me?" she asked seductively. Amanda thought for a minute about whether she wanted to go into the shower with her. She knew that the perp and the guys at TARU had watched them the night before so they wouldn't be seeing anything they hadn't seen already. She figured there was no need for being bashful now. She climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She walked over and stepped into the shower, immediately finding herself backed against the wall with Chris' lips covering her own. They picked up where they'd left off in bed before Frannie interrupted them. After forty minutes in the shower, not showering, they heard Frannie barking and scratching at the bathroom door. Amanda slid the shower door open and yelled at her to stop. Chris laughed, "I guess we better go take her out now, huh?" she asked kissing the back of her neck.

"Uh huh" she mumbled back. She turned around in Chris' arms and put her arms around her neck, kissing her sweetly on the lips. Chris backed her into the wall again and began kissing down her body until she was on her knees. She lifted Amanda, placing her legs on her shoulders and buried her face between her legs. Amanda let her head fall back against the wall of the shower and one of her hands found its way to Chris hair while the other held onto the support bar on the shower door.

He sat surrounded by monitors displaying the same scene. He couldn't understand what she was doing. What was she doing to draw such a powerful, visceral response out of her lover? What was it about her that was so pleasing? He slammed his fist down on the desk in anger because he couldn't think of anything. He couldn't figure out why beautiful, smart women like Amanda would chose to be with a butchy, dominate, man-wannabes like Christina. This time he wouldn't fail. He would get the answers he was looking for. He was sure that they were the right couple to tell him.

Sitting at their monitors in their private room, the two guys on the morning shift at TARU tried their best not to stare at the screen with a view of the shower. It became more and more difficult as the time passed. They'd now been in the shower for an hour and fifteen minutes. They talked about how they could go on and on for hours if they wanted to. "You know women don't have the same limitations that guys do" one of the techies said. "How haven't they run out of hot water yet?" the other asked. They just sat there, trying not to be nosey while still doing their jobs at the same time. Suddenly they got an alert on the trap they'd put on the set up in the detectives apartment. He'd moved from his cloned IP address and was now a sitting duck. They put a trace on the signal and followed it to an internet café just seven blocks from their undercover pad. They got on the phone to Sgt Benson and told her what they had. While they were giving her the information, they continued their efforts to lock down his personal IP address when they suddenly lost the signal. They tried to get it back but all they got was a signal that bounced from one IP address to another every thirty seconds; impossible to trace. "He must've used the café's wi-fi to connect and then used whatever virus he has to bounce his signal from any computer in the vicinity. We lost him" he said into the speaker.

"But he'll still be at the café right?" Olivia asked into the phone. She'd been eating breakfast with Brian when she got the call and was now in her bedroom, quickly getting dressed as she talked to the TARU guys on the phone.

"Sure, he could be but he also could be anywhere in the area up to maybe a block away in any direction. All he needs is a strong enough router to get onto to the café's network and then he can use other people's addresses to spoof his own. Since they don't use passwords or firewalls or anything because their wi-fi's free, it wouldn't take him much to figure it out" he said explaining things in the simplest terms possible.

"Damn it" she breathed out. "Alright, just stay on it. Call me back if you get anything new". She hung up the phone and made calls to Nick and Fin telling them they needed to meet up to discuss their new developments. Nick had both Zara and Gil and Fin had both of his grandkids so they decided on the park so the kids could play. She agreed and hung up with them to call Rollins and Reyes. She called each of their phones twice and got no answer so she called TARU back and asked where they were. They told her that they were in the shower and from the amount of time they'd been in there they should be ready to get out soon. Olivia understood what they hinting at and hung up the phone. Five minutes later her phone rang and it was Rollins calling her back. She told them they were headed to the park and that they needed to meet them there. She went back to the bathroom where, Chris was standing in front of the mirror blow drying her hair. She shut off the dryer when she saw Amanda standing there with her phone to her ear.

"Olivia, Nick and Fin are going to the park. They're taking the kids to play. You wanna go?" she asked. Her tone of voice told Chris that something was up and they didn't really have a choice in going to meet them.

"Yeah, that sounds good" she said nodding her head. Amanda turned and walked over to the closet as Chris turned the blow dryer back on to finish drying her hair.

"Yeah, we'll be there" she said looking through her clothes for something to wear. "Half hour's perfect. We'll see you then" she said before hanging up and tossing her phone on the bed. She heard the dryer stop in the bathroom and a moment later Christina was standing next to her at the closet. She reached in and pulled a dark gray tank top and black jacket down from their hangers. Then she went over to the dresser pulled out a bra and underwear from one drawer and a pair of black jeans from another. Amanda chose an orange halter, a white jacket and a pair of blue jeans.

"Who knew I'd marry such a girl" Chris said making fun of Amanda's bright colored shirt. Amanda lightly slapped her on the shoulder and finished getting dressed. She called for Frannie to come over to her and she attached her leash to her collar. Chris put her thick, curly hair up into a pony tail and slipped on a pair of gray flip flops before pocketing her phone and keys. Amanda got Frannie's dog bag and threw in a bunch of her toys, her water bowl, a container of food, hand sanitizer and sunscreen then went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water and a bag of her favorite treats. She suggested they pack food take it with them and make it a picnic. "Ok" Chris said with a shrug of her shoulder. They packed a mix of animal meats and vegetarian meats, cheeses, bread, chips and fruits. Christina drew the line at packing any drinks saying she wasn't carrying all of that all the way to the park.

"Fine. You carry the food and the dog bag and I'll carry the drinks" Amanda said. Chris took the two bags from her and Amanda grabbed the drinks and Frannie's leash and they left the apartment to head to the park. It was a perfect day outside; warm and sunny with a nice cool breeze. As they were walking up, the kids saw Frannie and ran over to play with her, leaving Nick and Fin, who they were playing catch with, all on their lonesome. Chris traded the dog bag for the drinks with Amanda and found a picnic table close by. Amanda stayed with Frannie and the kids. She took off her leash and put it in the bag then dug out her favorite ball. The kids took turns throwing it for her run after it and bring it back. After a couple minutes, Liv called for Amanda to come over to the table so they could talk. She slowly walked away, stopping to look back at the kids play with Frannie.

"Amanda, come on" Nick said seeing her hesitation to leave them alone. "The kids will be fine". Amanda took a deep breath and started walking again.

"I don't think it's the kids she's worried about" Chris said under her breath.

"People and their dogs" Fin said getting a laugh from everyone. Amanda sat down at the table next to Christina.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Oh nothing babe" Chris said putting her arm over her shoulder. Amanda looked around the table and they all started laughing again at the same time. Amanda jabbed Chris in the side, knowing that they were laughing at her. Chris put her hand under Amanda's chin and tilted her head back, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. She playfully pushed her away and pretended to pout. "Aww, we didn't mean it" Chris said still slightly laughing.

"Yeah, I'm sure you didn't" Amanda said glaring at all of them.

"Come on, Amanda. It's funny" Fin said. "You worry about the dog like somebody's gonna try to kidnap it".

"Her name is Frannie Mae and you never know" she said. They continued laughing at her only because she seemed really serious. "Alright, laugh it up" she said rolling her eyes. "So, what's the real reason for this impromptu trip to the park?" she asked looking at Olivia. The laughter died down and they got serious about the conversation they were about to have.

"TARU got a hit on the trap they set in your apartment. They traced it to a café a couple blocks from here, only seven blocks from your apartment. They think he hacked into their network and is just using their connection. His signal starting bouncing between IP addresses before they could trace his" she explained.

"Well couldn't we have just gone to the café?" Nick asked. "Maybe he still would've been there". Chris shook her head.

"No, he wouldn't have. He's too smart for that" Chris said. "He's gone to all this trouble to fake his IP address, I don't think he'd sit in public and watch our place".

"Hey, Zara stop!" Nick yelled at his daughter. "You have to share the ball". Amanda looked over to check on Frannie. She was having fun running around with the kids and knew she'd come over to bug her when she was ready for water.

"Ok, so where does that leave us?" Fin asked.

"Nowhere" Amanda said clearly frustrated by this guy. "He's all over the map. His victims lived in different parts of the city. He's given no hints to anything; not where he lives or where he works. This guy has no comfort zone. All we know is that he's tech savvy and hyper-religious".

"Nick" Chris said pulling his attention away from the kids.

"Yeah" he said. "Be subtle, ok. Two o'clock, behind the tree. That's a camera right?" she asked. He glanced casually in the direction that Chris was pointing him in and sure enough there was a man, who fit their perp's description, hiding behind a tree snapping pictures.

"I'll be damned. It is" he said confirming what she saw.

"What do we do?" Fin asked looking to Liv for direction. "We can't take him now. Not with the kids here".

"There's nothing to take him in for. He's just some guy in the park who likes taking pictures of strangers" Amanda said.

"So we wait" Olivia said. "Just keep watching, hope he sticks around as long as Chris and Amanda are here. When he leaves, we follow him. We stay on him until we have something solid to take him in on" she said. They all nodded their heads in agreement.

He kept taking pictures of them sitting at the picnic table, talking amongst themselves and watching the kids play. He snapped picture after picture waiting for that perfect shot to come along. It took a few minutes but eventually he got what he was waiting for. Amanda leaned over and whispered something in Christina's ear and she laughed. They looked into each other's eyes, foreheads touching, laughing together. Snap. Their lips came together in a chaste kiss. Snap. Chris' arm came up around Amanda as she let her head fall to rest on her shoulder. Snap. He took the camera from in front of his face and looked at them through his own natural lenses. He couldn't believe how perfect they were. He couldn't wait to get his hands on them. Just a little while longer for observation and he'd be ready. He continued watching as they got up from the table and went to play with the kids. Amanda got Frannie's Frisbee and showed them how to throw it so Frannie could catch it in the air. He snapped more pictures of them together, with the dog and the kids and their friends. He couldn't tear his eyes away. Eventually they went back over to the table to sit and have lunch. They passed around the sanitizer and helped the kids make up their sandwiches and pick their chips and fruits. Amanda set out Frannie's food and poured water in her bowl so she could sit and eat with them. They picnicked and enjoyed the beautiful day. Amanda, Chris and Nick kept watch since Olivia and Fin's backs were facing where the perp was hiding. He was still there, watching and snapping the occasional picture. They did their best to pretend he wasn't there and enjoy their afternoon in the park. She hadn't taken her eyes away for more than a minute when she realized he was gone.

"Ummm, we lost our special guest" Amanda said. Both Chris and Nick looked up and saw that she was right. He was gone and they had no way of tracking him down.

"Great" Chris said under her breath. "That's just fu…ow" she said when she felt a quick jab in the side. She looked over to see Amanda glaring at her. She realized she was about to drop a bad word in front of the kids. She cleared her throat and decided to keep the rest of her statement to herself. They finished lunch and let the kids play for a while longer before calling it a day. Olivia let them know that she'd be in touch with anything new and they parted ways. Amanda and Chris got back to their apartment at four thirty and decided to take a nap. Chris stripped down to her underwear and climbed into bed. Amanda took off her clothes and bra and put on a t shirt before getting in bed with her girlfriend. Frannie came in and jumped on the bed with them, settling down at the end. It didn't take long at all before all three of them were fast asleep. They woke up a couple of hours later and Chris made dinner for them. They ate and watched tv for awhile, then Amanda sat down to the computer to get their business in order. Chris took Frannie out while Amanda worked so she wouldn't have to do it when she was done. She returned to the apartment just as Amanda was finishing up their books. She saved everything, shut down the computer and turned out the lights before going to the bedroom. She kicked Frannie out of her spot and down to the foot of the bed then climbed in next to her girlfriend to go to sleep.