"Gentlemen, you've had time to review the PDF catalog from 3C. I notice you were writing down items. What do you want?" Despite himself, Brodie's eyes were twinkling.
"All of it," Malenko growled.
The Chief of the Fire Department, Ken Shamrock, briefly smiled.
Brodie wasn't surprised by Malenko's statement and patiently waited.
"Page six," Malenko finally spoke. "They mention some new technology for vests and body cams. I'd like to see demonstrations of them before I'd commit to that choice."
Brodie nodded. "Fair enough. Chief Shamrock?"
"SCBAs and fire shelters," Shamrock immediately answered. When he saw Brodie's confusion, he explained. "The SCBA's are self-contained breathing apparatuses. The fire shelters are used mainly in fighting forest fires. We've sent people out west during the last three yearly fire seasons. And with all the abandoned warehouses in the Davenport area, I can see a scenario where we could use them here." He tapped his printed copy of the 3C brochure. "This claims a newer technology. And I'd like to see that demonstration as well."
Brodie slowly nodded. "All that you both have chosen are, in my opinion, excellent choices. Probably the best places for demonstrations are at the PD Academy firing range and the FPD training camp. If the two of you can let me know when we can have those places for a half day each, I'll contact 3C to set up the demonstrations." He smiled at both men. "I'll do my upmost to get what you're asking for." He knew both Malenko and Shamrock were thinking the same thing he was thinking. It all came down to money.
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The house sat back from the road with the nearest neighbors over 500 yards away. It was a neighborhood where the residents protected their privacy. So it was pathetically easy to enter the house undetected. The highly touted home security system, which included both interior and exterior security cameras, lasted less than a minute before it was disabled.
The three men walked through the house until they found the home office. Two of the men stood in the darkened shadows while the third sat down at the desk. Unzipping his backpack, he withdrew several items then powered up the laptop sitting on top of the desk.
"You are certain the security company won't be notified the system is disabled?" Black asked.
Jericho smirked and shook his head. "Apparently Gunn didn't want to pay extra for that option." He studied Marko who was dividing his attention between the open laptop and external hard drive sitting on the corner of the desk.
"And there will be no trace of the material being downloaded?"
Jericho knew Black's questions were a reflection that the man trusted almost no one. "Positive. I wrote the ghost program myself, and it's been used on systems a hell of a lot more sophisticated than a laptop."
Black silently nodded. The two man patiently waited until Marko looked up.
"Five more minutes," Marko softly spoke. "He's got thousands of pictures on here."
"What about his financials?" Jericho quietly asked.
"Already got 'em," Marko answered, his eyes on the laptop screen. "He saved his tax returns to the laptop and kept spreadsheets of income and expenditures for the last seven years."
Both men heard Marko's muttered comment of "idiot". Jericho smirked while Black merely raised an eyebrow.
Just past the five minute mark, Marko disconnected the external hard drive from the laptop then connected it to his own laptop and began copying the files onto a flash drive. After a few seconds, he nodded in satisfaction. "Got it." He shut down the laptop on the desk, disconnected the external hard drive and shut down his own laptop.
As he was doing that, Jericho came to the desk and began opening the desk drawers. Finding nothing in them, he waited until Marko had moved away from the desk and opened the lap drawer. Chuckling, he pulled out a 9mm handgun. "Gunn's a real bad boy. No record of his registering any guns." He quickly unloaded the gun then shut the drawer. He looked carefully at the desk then nodded. Nothing was out of place.
Marko hesitantly held out the flash drive to Black who silently put it in his pocket. He was amused that Marko then quickly shuffled away from him. He didn't let his amusement show, however. Jericho was somewhat protective of the kid.
"We'll be at the car. Marko will reset the alarm but leave the cameras disabled," Jericho quietly spoke as he handed the unloaded gun to Black. When Black silently nodded, he shepherded Marko out of the house.
They'd gotten halfway back to the car when Marko suddenly stopped, his face paling in the moonlight. "I forgot to tell Mr. Black I also downloaded his personal calendar."
Jericho grinned. "That wasn't part of what we wanted, but it could prove helpful. Don't worry about it. Roman will be pleased."
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A half our later, Black heard the garage door being raised. He glanced out of the window and saw a sedan slowly entering the garage and the door lowered. He settled against the wall of the home office, almost completely hidden in the shadows. A few minutes later, he heard someone walking down the hall, then a figure was silhouetted in the doorway.
"Don't turn on the light." Black's quiet command was accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked.
The figure froze in the doorway.
Black turned on his flashlight and illuminated the desk. "Sit there."
The man slowly walked to the desk then suddenly opened the lap drawer. He froze when he didn't see his gun.
"I said sit down."
Even in the illumination of the flashlight, Billy Gunn's face paled as he slowly sat behind the desk. He relaxed when he heard the gun being uncocked.
"I'll return your gun when I leave. Unloaded."
"Who are you? What do you want?" Despite himself, Gunn found himself remembering that the former editor of the Davenport Daily had been murdered in his home office…and the murderer never caught.
"Who I am is irrelevant. As to what I want…first let me provide you with the reasons why you will do as I say."
"You mean beside the fact you're pointing a gun at me?" Gunn snarked. He heard the gun being cocked again and stiffened.
"I suggest you moderate your tone of voice. It…offends me."
Gunn held up his hands in silent surrender. He flinched when something landed on his desk. A flash drive.
"Turn on your laptop and access the files on that drive."
Hoping the flash drive didn't contain a virus, he silently obeyed. As the files were displayed, he forced back a groan. Files with the names girls that he'd seduced…many of them underaged. He opened one of the files and saw all the pictures he'd taken without the girls' knowledge with his interior security cameras. He closed the file and stared into the shadows. "These files were password protected!" he hissed. When he heard the other man chuckle, he asked again, "What do you want?"
"Not only were those files uploaded to that flash drive, they were also uploaded to the cloud. So destroying that flash drive and removing the files from your laptop will not help you. As to what I want, I want Wade Barrett out of your station. I want you to make sure he doesn't get a job with any other station in this area. Transfer him far from Davenport."
Gunn's sense of self-preservation prevented him from asking why. Instead, he quietly spoke, "That could take some time."
"Expedite the process. You have three days."
"That's not enough time! You don't understand…"
"Shall I make it 24 hours?"
Gunn nervously swallowed. "No," he quickly answered. "And I'll get those files back?"
"You'll get access to them on the cloud."
"But you'll still have them," Gunn pointed out.
"I suggest you don't give me a reason to use them."
Gunn again nervously swallowed. He heard the man walking towards the door of the office.
"Before I leave, a word of advice. Don't be so cheap on your security. It was childishly simple to gain entrance to your home and to your laptop…and disable the security camera system."
Gunn was startled and instinctively shoved his chair back from the desk when his own gun landed on top of the desk. Gunn sat silently as he heard the man walk along the hallway and the front door close. "Jesus God," he muttered as he wiped his face. He began deleting the files on the flash drive.
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Marko actually jumped when the car door was opened and Black slid into the front passenger seat.
"It's done," Black calmly spoke.
Jericho chuckled. "Did he put up much of a fight about it?"
"He folded like a cheap lawn chair," Black snorted.
Jericho saw Marko huddled in the back seat behind him, his eyes nervously glancing first at Black then out of the window. "By the way, Marko also downloaded Gunn's personal calendar."
Marko's eyes flew back to Black as the other man slowly turned his head to stare at the younger man. After a few seconds, Black nodded. "Good decision." He turned his head to stare out into the darkness.
Both men heard Marko release a long deep breath.
"Stop scaring him," Jericho muttered.
Black saw the grin dancing across Jericho's lips and shrugged. It was what he did.
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Roman silently reviewed Gunn's files as the list scrolled down his computer screen. Finally, he closed the program and studied the three men sitting opposite him. As usual, Marko sat as far back in his chair as possible as if trying to disappear. Black calmly sat and waited for Roman to speak. Jericho had glanced at Marko a few times with amusement in his blue eyes.
"Marko."
Despite himself Marko stiffened and diffidently met Roman's gaze. "Sir?" he almost squeaked.
"I understand the decision to download Gunn's personal calendar was your decision. What prompted that decision?"
"Umm…I noticed that he…uh Gunn…had kept calendars for the past seven years," Marko began explaining. "Probably for documentation if his taxes were audited. I thought it might help in compiling a timeline of sorts." Marko gulped. "Sir."
Roman nodded. "I agree. Another job excellently performed."
Marko looked genuinely surprised. "Thank you, sir!"
Jericho coughed. "Head back to the office, Marko. I'll be there shortly. We can prepare an update on the work regarding the Authority's IT."
Marko quickly nodded and practically jumped to his feet.
"Marko."
The young man froze at the sound of Black's voice.
"Shut the door if you please."
"Oh, yeah…right…of course…no problem…"
As soon as the door closed, both Roman and Jericho began chuckling. Black merely smiled.
'Gotta do something about that boy's self-confidence.' Roman thought. "How soon can we expect Barrett's departure?"
"I gave him three days," Black answered. "When he protested, I asked if he preferred 24 hours." He saw Jericho smirking and continued. "I don't believe it will take the entire three days."
Roman nodded. "Marko's idea of compiling a timeline makes sense. Especially when we gift Malenko with this information."
Black would've preferred a more violent option, but Roman's word was law.