Going for a Ride..
Tristan was on his cell, carrying on a conversation in a muted, serious voice. Rory went upstairs to the guest room and retrieved her laptop bag. She returned to the kitchen and pulled the computer out. A thumb drive tumbled out and skittered across the table. She picked it up and looked at it questioningly. Tristan was tugging at his hair as he talked when he noticed the look on her face and saw the drive in her hand.
"I gotta go. I'll call you back later." He said to whoever he was talking to. "What is it?" he asked as he walked to her side.
"It isn't mine, but it was in my bag. Maybe this is what the alphabet guys were looking for when they went through my house." She replied, suddenly very serious.
Rory inserted the drive into a port and watched with disbelief as image after image opened. There were files, spreadsheets and photos. Tristan scanned them rapidly, a sense of dread washing over him. Rory scanned just as rapidly, a feeling of intrigue and excitement building. What a story this will make!
"Holy shit" he said softly
"Holy shit indeed." She replied.
The files documented the actions of a group of mercenaries. It appeared to be evidence of irregularities.
Serious irregularities. Seriously illegal irregularities. From what both of them could see they were tied to U.S. agencies… Alphabet agencies...
"Do you think Madelyn was a part of this or did she discover this?" Rory asked.
"I hope it was the latter." Tristan said
"What do we do now? Rory said.
"Did you download this or just open it?" He asked urgently.
"I just opened it." She replied.
"Remove the drive and hide it. Wipe it clean of your fingerprints and put it back into the leather case and wipe that too. Let's try to find out who she was working for." Tristan said decisively. "I know the journalist in you wants to take the files and run with this, but we don't know who we are dealing with. If these people are who I'm afraid they are, you wouldn't last a week, and neither would I. Whoever wants this has already been to your house and they know I am in charge of the murder case."
Rory was silent as she thought about what Tristan just said.
"This is too spooky for me. I am a journalist but I don't have a death wish. How do we go about finding out who this information should go to? If we start asking questions, won't we set off alarm bells?"
"If we ask the wrong questions of the wrong agency the alarms will go off. I'll start investigating from another angle" Tristan gazed out the window and seemed lost in thought.
"What other angle?" Rory asked quietly. "Wait! How about looking at the homicidal subject of an expose who murdered the wrong person?"
"Caulfield?" Tristan asked.
"Yes! You could investigate what ever was found in his crushed up car and forensic evidence on him. If you tie him to the break in and the murder it may be a good smokescreen." Rory said
"Smokescreen for what?" Tristan pondered. "It is a good plan. This angle may draw out the alphabet boys. If the information you gave me about Madelyn looking for a place to live because she just got a new job in DC is just vague enough to make you look clueless we may have a chance."
"Clueless?!" Rory squawked.
"You know what I mean; 'Clueless' as in without a clue. You were out of the country, you only saw Madelyn for a few days when she arrived, then left the country on assignment. Caulfield mistook Madelyn for you. We even thought the victim was you."
Rory pondered this scenario briefly. "The alphabet boys were in my house once it was determined that Madelyn was the victim. If you start to investigate the murder from the angle that Caulfield was the perpetrator and I was the target we may be able to find out who she was working for without asking questions."
"Right! That agency will come nosing around . Maybe we could slip the drive into her belongings. They may want to retrieve her stuff to return it to her family." Tristan added .
Rory thought about what they had just come up with. She was quiet, lost in thought.
"There's just one little problem with this." she said quietly as she roused herself from her contemplation.
"What's that?" Tristan asked. He had a bad feeling about what she was going to say next.
"What if the spooks that were in my house were the bad guys? What if they were after Madelyn and her information. What if she was trying to get this stuff to the good guys? And, lastly, who are the good guys and who are the bad guys?" She asked.
Tristan continued to stare out the window.
"I think we need to get dressed, right now." He said suddenly
Rory knew something was wrong by the tone of his voice. "What is it?"
"A grey sedan just drove down the street…for the second time in an hour. I can spot an agency car at a half a mile." He said grimly. He took her by the arm and headed out of the kitchen.
"Okay, where are we going?" she asked as they made their way upstairs.
"To the station. We'll be safer there. Wear clothes you can run in if necessary. Do you run like a girl?" he asked with a grin
"Run like a girl?! Of course I run like a girl! I hated gym, I have no athletic ability and I could never see the attraction of running on purpose!" She screeched.
"I think maybe we need to take the Beast then." Tristan said
"The Beast! What's the Beast?" Rory asked as she entered her room
"A four wheel drive that could get us through just about anything." He said with a grin.
"Should I be worried?" Rory stuck her head out into the hall as she pulled on her jeans."
"I'm not." He replied with a chuckle.
"Oh shit. I recognize that chuckle even after all these years." Rory mumbled to herself.
"Come on Mary! We are going for a ride!" He yelled as he took the stairs two at a time.
"I not going to like this am I?" she said as she reached kitchen. Tristan already had his coat on and held hers out for her.
"That depends. Do you want to be interrogated by unknown alphabet boys and or mercenaries or do you want to get out of this a quickly as possible." He was deadly serious.
"I'll take Surviving for $200 Alex" she said as she slid her arms into her coat.
Tristan laughed out loud at her answer. Leave it to Mary to throw in a Jeopardy reference at a time like this.
"Some things just don't change, do they?" he said with a grin.
"And some things do" She responded. She turned and looked him in the eye. Tristan wasn't prepared when Rory kissed him.