Paige grinned as she came out of class and saw Walter standing there waiting for her. She moved quickly into his arms and they shared a rather prolonged and passionate kiss.
"Hey, I don't blame you for turning Becky down for him. He's a cutie!" The girl that complimented her legs said as she walked by.
Paige blushed but grinned as they separated.
"Thanks!" Paige called after her.
"What was that all about?" Walter asked, confused.
Paige grinned as she rolled her eyes.
"I'll tell you in the SUV." Paige told him with a wink. Walter took her book bag and she took his arm.
Walter explained he met with Toby over lunch. And told her why as they made their way to the SUV.
"Walter, I think that it is great that you are going to get help from him over this. I'm really proud of you for doing this. I know you aren't big on psychology." Paige told him.
"I'm always going to do my best to do what is right for you and our family." Walter said with a smile as they climbed in the SUV.
"Take us by the hospital to see Dad first please." Paige told the driver who nodded.
"Well, remember the girl I got into it with last week?" Paige asked Walter as the SUV took off.
Walter nodded.
"Well she decided to have an attitude as I walked into class. She called me Ms Priss again so I let her have it." Paige laughed. "Basically I omitted certain facts from what was said Friday and accused her of trying to hit on me sexually. I don't think she'll bother me anymore." Paige told him.
Walter smiled and nodded.
"But I wanted to ask, are you still okay with me trying some of the extracurricular activities?" Paige asked him.
"Of course I am." Walter told her with the best smile he could manage as his anxiety rose.
She went on to explain her encounter with the director of theatrics.
"Paige, that's amazing. And you have such a beautiful voice. You really should try out for the play." Walter nodded.
"Are you sure? I know you worry about experiences expanding my view." Paige asked softly.
"Paige, you can't hold yourself back from what you want because of me. We won't be good if you do. I-I, I can't be so codependent on you that I can't function if you do grow away from me. You won't be fair to yourself if you don't at least try. I know you love me and I will always love you. But whatever it is you want to do, wherever you want to go, whatever you want in your life, I'll do everything within me to make it possible." Walter told her, reminding her of his pledge when he asked her to marry him.
"Oh Walter, I love you so much." Paige grinned and kissed him deeply. "And you might be codependent on me, but Walter, I'm codependent on you too. And I don't want it to ever change. But I do want to experience everything I can, but I have to experience it with you. My life without you, no matter how amazing, will always pale compared to how it will shine just with you."
Walter grinned and they shared another kiss.
10 minutes after Ralph Dineen phone Katherine Cooper:
"Beowulf." Katherine Cooper said simply as Cabe answered his phone in secure mode shortly after 9 a.m.
"I'm ready." Cabe answered quickly.
"Good, I need you to go to the city of the Danes. You'll be meeting privately with Hrothgar at 1 pm. He'll take all of your evidence to the tribunal. By Friday we'll be able to say goodbye to Grendel." Katherine told him.
"I'm looking forward to it." Cabe grinned as he hung up his phone and then switched it out of secure mode.
"You're ready huh?" Nick said as he looked at Cabe.
"Yeah, all the data you guys have been helping to collect on M. I'm taking it to DC to give to Sen. John McCain. He's taking it to the intelligence committee." Cabe explained to him as he pulled his car keys out of his pocket.
"Hang on a moment Cabe. Seriously? It's going down now?" Nick asked excitedly as he stood up.
"Yep, I've got just enough time to be there a little before 1 pm." Cabe told him as he looked at his watch. Cabe stopped and opened the safe he had specially installed in his apartment. He pulled out several files and data chips and put them in a secure briefcase.
"Fine, but I'm driving you then. Man, Rusty is going to be bent. Him and Simone went on vacation this week. And I'll tell you, if I wasn't married I'd have to ask Katherine out. She's so badass." Nick grinned.
Cabe laughed even as he locked the case and locked the case around his wrist.
"I'm okay with you driving, let's get going." Cabe told him as he tossed his keys to him. "And you better hope your wife never hears you say that. She's got a mean left hook."
Nick laughed.
"That she does. I figured our two kids would mellow her out. I think she's even feistier now." Nick said as they walked out of Cabe's apartment.
"I wonder what brought this up now." Nick said as they left the parking garage and moved down the street in Cabe's SUV.
"Not sure, but I wish we'd done this a long time ago." Cabe told him.
"No kidding there. Rusty has been so pissed after all the stuff we found out that M has been part of. I half expected to hear M just vanished or had been found with his neck snapped in some alley somewhere to be honest." Nick told him as he looked out his side mirror.
"Or having been sniped by someone more than a mile away?" Cabe grinned thinking of Simone.
"You know, I don't know if Rusty would have Simone do it so impersonally. I think he'd want his hands around M's neck. After he beat his face in, a few dozen times of course." Nick laughed as Cabe joined him.
"As much as I hate the man, I don't think I'd care…Gone is gone." Cabe told him.
"True that. He's the one that used that kid, the one you like so much right?" Nick asked.
"Yeah. When it went down and Walter found out. His voice on the phone. I could hear the horror he was experiencing as he screamed at me. Asking what I had done. Man, I screwed that up so bad. I should have told Walter after M told me what they had really done with that code Walter wrote." Cabe said as his eyes closed hearing Walter's frantic voice again.
Nick reached over and slapped Cabe's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it man. Thanks to him doing that, it gave you the biggest nail to plant in his coffin." Nick grinned.
As Walter and Toby were sitting down in the park Cabe and Nick were coming off the freeway into DC.
"You keep looking in the mirrors an awful lot." Cabe told Nick.
"Yeah, I'm getting a weird vibe man. Any chance someone could know we're doing this?" Nick asked.
"I wouldn't think so. The security software Walter built for our phones would protect our conversations. They'd almost have to have been watching us." Cabe told him as he looked about.
"No, we'd have seen that. No one sneaks up on us. When was the last time you swept for bugs?" Nick asked as his skin prickled.
"A week ago, standard schedule." Cabe told him.
"Damn it." Nick swore as he hung a hard left around a corner and took off. "Those two cars are definitely following us then."
"Which two cars?" Cabe asked as he looked in the side mirror.
"That gold and tan one that passed us a few miles back on the freeway and that silver one that we passed before it. I'd thought we'd only been passing back and forth during breaks along the drive. They've been taking turns keeping us in sight the whole way." Nick said as he took a hard right.
"I've got three clips on me for my 9. What have you got?" Cabe asked as he considered his options.
"I've got four and my hunting knife." Nick told him.
"Not the best odds." Cabe said shortly. "I do have some extra firepower in the back."
"Yeah but since we are the best, it should be enough." Nick told him.
"Yeah, it would be if I didn't have all the evidence on me and need to be somewhere to hand it off. We can't afford to be in a firefight right now." Cabe reminded him.
"That's true." Nick nodded. "I guess the cowboy in me is still strong." Nick and Cabe both laughed at that.
Cabe's phone began ringing. Cabe pulled it out and saw "Rusty" on the display.
"That's the devil I wanted to see." Cabe said as he hit the answer icon and put the phone on speaker. "Good to see your name."
"Listen up, I want you to continue as you are for five minutes and then you beat tail to Rock Creek park. Take Missouri Ave to Military Rd and take it across the park. We'll deal with the two cars after you." Rusty said.
"Damn Rusty, what the hell man. How do you know where we are?" Nick called out.
"We got word it was going down. We were waiting on you in Baltimore and we've been watching the two cars play cat and mouse with you. And I'm going to put my foot up your ass that you didn't figure it before." Rusty barked.
Nicked laugh.
"We copy that." Cabe told him.
"What were you two doing in Baltimore?" Nick pried.
"None of your business." Simone responded. "Just be glad we were." Simone said before they heard a car door shut and the line went dead.
Cabe looked in the side mirror.
"Where do you think the other car is?" Cabe asked.
"My guess is they are trying to guess where we're headed and to cut us off." Nick told him as he cut down an alley. He doubled back on the next road he came to.
They had to stop at the next light and they saw the other car in the opposite direction on the other side of the light. The car following them was gaining on them.
"This is a bad spot for a gun fight." Cabe said as he got his gun out.
"We're not there yet." Nick told as he watched the light and the car approaching their back end quickly.
The light changed and Nick accelerated quickly. He jerked the wheel to the left and the car coming at them jerked to the right and hit a car on its passenger side and Nick jerked back and continued moving.
"That should give us a little space." Nick smiled.
Cabe laughed as they flew down the street.
As far as Nick could tell the car in the wreck was still at the intersection. But the other car was close to their bumper. Nick turned and they flew up Missouri Ave. The car ahead of them was moving a bit slower and Nick saw the car following them was moving over to the right hand lane.
"Not so fast." Nick said and jerked the wheel and steered the SUV into the right hand lane and accelerated. He kept pace with the car in the left lane. Just before the intersection to get onto Military Rd Nick suddenly accelerated and flew out into the intersection. Instead of turning right as the lane was meant to do he turned left in front of the other car. The driver stepped hard on his brakes and steered the car towards the right.
Nick grinned, having effectively given them a few moments while the car following them got around the other car.
They were nearly halfway through the park when they saw the other car passing the border of the park. Suddenly there was a puff of dust and the car skidded and hit a light pole.
Cabe and Nick both laughed.
"Man, Simone still has it." Cabe grinned.
"That's for sure. I wouldn't want to try and hit a tire of a moving car at close range, let alone from a distance." Nick laughed.
Just then they saw another SUV headed their way on the other side of the road. Nick and Cabe readied themselves but then they saw Rusty driving and waved.
Cabe watched as they passed the west boundary of the park and Rusty stopped and Simone ran out of some bushes and into the SUV. Rusty was quick to whip the SUV around but then Nick turned and they lost sight of them.
As Nick made their way south he turned east to head over to Florida Ave. At one light a car ran the light, turning onto the street they were on and pulled in behind them. They saw it was the car that Nick had caused to wreck earlier.
"Great, they're back." Nick sighed.
"Yeah but not for long." Cabe grinned.
Nick looked back and grinned as he saw Rusty's SUV flying up on them. Nick stomped on his brakes and just as quickly accelerated. The other car hit their brakes but didn't accelerate as quickly and Rusty's SUV smashed into the back of it.
"Oh Nick…" Cabe laughed. "You are going to be on Rusty's shite list for a long time my friend." Cabe continued laughing.
"Got them off our tail didn't it?" Nick grinned.
Thirty minutes later, after parking the SUV, Nick and Cabe walked quickly down the sidewalks to the US Capitol building. They were given passes and shown a map where to go. They found Sen McCain in an office with several members of his security.
"Problems?" Sen McCain asked as he noticed the looks on their faces.
"Nothing that couldn't be handled. But I would still recommend getting these to the committee as quickly as possible." Cabe said as he unlocked the case from his wrist.
One of the agents with Sen McCain stepped up and locked the case to his wrist even as the Senator took the key from Cabe.
"Thank you men for your service today and always." The Senator smiled before they left.
"That was almost anticlimactic." Nick grinned.
"You always gotta push it don't you?" Cabe grinned as they turned and walked out of the office.
"Makes life interesting sometimes." Nick grinned even as his phone rang. Nick pulled it out and saw "Simone". "Hey princess." Nick giggled.
"I'll princess you when I get my hands on you." Rusty said.
"Oh. Sorry sir." Nick grinned.
"Is the package delivered?" Rusty asked.
"Yep, we're heading to the exit now. Do you need us to pick you up?" Nick continued to grin.
"What do you think?" Rusty growled.
Nick laughed as he hung up.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Railman - Toby is definitely in Doctor mode! hehe Paige is certainly capable of making that call herself, but thankfully she's willing to make sure he's okay with it. She did a good job with Becky.
Susan - Oh no! Someone call Toby for Susan! hehe Aww...so glad you really got into it! Ralph definitely is going to have some conflicting thoughts I believe. There is definitely a rat about! So glad you are enjoying the intrigue!
Pearliegirl - Thank you! So glad you are enjoying the "old" stories again! hehe Is shadow writing like ghostwriting? Or did you just mean you had some ideas you want to see turned into a story about our geniuses? I've had a couple of people in the past who have expressed certain story ideas I've tried to write into a future story, like Ralph being Walter's son. Franxine mentioned several times she wanted a story to explain how he could be Walter's biological child. That turned out, but it is difficult because the Muse wants what the Muse wants. But if you want to share them with me or ask one of the other writers, I can certainly add them to the hopper to see if they make an impact.
LouBe - So glad you are enjoying this version of Toby! And I'm glad you liked how he worked with Walter! You might really like some up coming chapters then! hehe Yes, poor Walter. Of course he doesn't want to go to prison or be killed, but he's heart is really worried about what Paige and his family would have to go through if it happened. Walter definitely is encouraging Paige to go for it...as for where the story is leading you...well...let's just say..."*'* ****, **** *****." There is a mystery for ya! lol Well...my first thought is that Paige might have gone a bit too far. I think we'll see though, either way...Chapter 59...Lots more to come! Another 15 chapters at that! lol
To the Adventure! -Tim