Before going to fetch Ralph from school , Walter had phoned the bank that they would be there at 2.00pm. , to deliver the keys to the garage and pick up a bankers draft for $1250 made out to the realtors name .
Paige made a quick lunch for both of them , by the time they had finished lunch it was time to leave to go to the bank . By the time they had parked the car and walked to the bank it was almost 2.00pm. Walter walked up to one of the tellers and told him of their appointment . The teller left the counter and a few minutes later , a gentleman , who appeared to be in his 50's dressed in a dark grey three piece suit , white shirt and a red and grey striped tie .
" Good afternoon Mr. O'Brian , I am Mr. Buck the assistant manager , would you please follow me . "
Both Walter and Paige followed him to a side office , he sat behind a large oak desk and pointed to two chairs set up in front of the desk . He quickly went through the paperwork with regard to the garage , which he then got Walter to sign , he had Paige sign it as a witness , then he signed it and put the paperwork and keys in a padded envelope , wrote something on the envelope , then put it in the top drawer of his desk . He handed over the bankers draft with a piece of paper that Walter had to sign , this he then put in his out tray for filing later . That little ceremony ended one era , but began a new one . They shook hands then Walter and Paige left to collect Ralph .
Neither spoke until they were seated in the car . Paige again , with a tear rolling down her cheek turned to Walter .
" I am so sorry and no matter what you or anyone else says I still and always will feel guilty of destroying your dream . "
Walter pulled her over to him and gently kissed her on the brow . " Please do not feel guilty it was a combination of a lot of things and mistakes made by everyone . So it definitely is not just your fault . Let us think of today as a new beginning for all of us , who knows with Ralph a member of our team ,his young mind could lead us down ways we have not even thought of and talking of Ralph I think we had better get a move on . "
Paige gave him a half forced smile as she sat back in her seat and fastened her seat belt .
" Ok , lets go . "
Walter smiled then leaned across and gave her a kiss on the cheek .
They arrived at the school just as they were coming out , Ralph had stopped to speak to Daniel and his mom , once he saw Walter's car he said good bye to them and rushed over to his mom and Walter . Once in the car Walter pulled away and made their way to the industrial unit .
As they arrived at the unit they saw Mary standing at the side of her car . Walter pulled up alongside of her car and the three of them got out of the car . Walter already had , Paige Ralph and his own copies of their passport photo 's , so once they had all greeted each other he passed an envelope to Mary .
" I hope these will suffice for the passes . "
Mary took a look . " Yes they seem fine . I have spoken to the landlord and he will rush things through so you can have the keys Friday afternoon . I just need you to sign a few papers . "
Mary told them as she pulled paperwork from her small document case .
The whole thing only took about ten minutes , once the papers were signed Walter handed over the bankers draft .
" Right if you could meet me here again on Friday at the same time I can give you the keys , by then the bankers draught should also have been cleared . " Mary told them .
" Yes that will be fine . " Paige told her .
" Good we can start moving our items from our storage unit over the weekend " Walter remarked .
All was agreed so they said goodbyes and everyone left .
The next day Walter took Ralph to school as Paige wanted to catch up on some of her housework . Walter was back home around 10.00am. a big smile on his face aa he walked through the door carrying a box from one of the best bakeries in L.A,
" I thought we deserved a treat for this evening's meal . "
" Well I am sure Ralph will be more than happy , thank you that is so sweet . " She pulled her rubber gloves off , walked over to Walter and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek , before taking the box from him and took it into the kitchen .
Just as left him , his phone rang , he saw the i.D. showing Cabe .
" Cabe's on the phone . " He shouted to Paige .
" I am on my way back . " Paige shouted back
Walter answered the phone and put it on speaker .
" Morning Cabe , I have put my phone on speaker . "
" Morning Walter and Paige , I thought you might like to know what Katherine's agents have found out about the drive by shooting , that wrecked Paige's car . "
By now Paige was by Walter's side , her both arms wrapped around his spare arm .
" Morning Cabe , wrecked car is correct , the insurance company have seen the car and written it off and given me $9500 ."
" Never mind kid , you should be able to buy a decent car with that . "
" I suppose so but that car meant so much to me , it was the first brand new car I could ever afford . "
" Well a car is really only to get you from AtoB . "
" I suppose you are correct but I tend to be sentimental . "
At this moment Walter cut in .
" What were you going to tell us about the shooting ? "
" Well as the guy at the drug store told us , the people around there are used to the drive by shootings , no one heard nothing , no one saw anything . However the agents were very persistent and about half a mile up the road they found a house with a good security system including a couple of cameras , one that pointed at the street . They took the C.D. and returned to homeland were after a few hours they saw a car fast past the house , at a time that would be just after the shooting . It took another couple of hours but they managed to get the license plate number . From that the agents checked out the owner of the car , four agents went to the address and were met at the address by three bolshy twenty year old boys , they were more than used to dealing with the L.A P.D and did not realize the power carried by Homeland by Homeland .
Once they were all put into the two Homeland cars and every time they opened their mouths , they were told to shut up in such a commanding voice , after a couple of attempts to speak , they got the message that these people were not like the ordinary L.A P.D. Once they were back at Homeland H. Q. , the attitude of the three people , they all started shaking and immediately asked for lawyers . They were quickly told the shooting was being treated as a terrorist attack , as three of the people , who's car they shot up , were government assets . They were all put in separate cells in the basement.
Once Katherine was ready to interview them , they had been left in the cells on their own for two hours . She sent down two of her toughest looking agents down to fetch them one at a time . They roughly almost dragged them up from the cells into the interview room . I was already sitting at the interview room table , when the agent dragged the first prisoner , he literally threw him onto the chair then roughly handcuffed him to the metal bar fitted to the table . The arrogant look on his face began to change to one of fear and sweat began to appear on his brow . He started to speak . " Hey man this is getting heavy for a simple drive by with no injuries . "
Without changing my expression I told him . " If that is what you think , you are in for a big surprise , " I then sat there for about five minutes , just staring him out after about five minutes Katherine walked into the room looking like an angel , the suspect's face then changed from one of fear to one of contentment again , little did he know it was the devil in disguise . She sat down at the table next to me neatly placed three different coloured folders down in front of her , smoothed an invisible grease out of her skirt .
" My name is Katherine Cooper , assistant Director of Homeland . Could I ask you your name please ? " In a sweet almost angelic voice .
The suspect's face broke out in a big smile and he replied . " No comment . "
She stood up and with the side of two fists she bought her arms down and hit the table , she used so much force it seemed to shake the whole table . The suspect pulled back with shock . " Take it easy lady , how can a bit of fun shooting be such a concern ? "
" Because we are treating it as a case of terrorism as three of my Nerd Special Agents were among the people you shot at . In fact if not for their first aid knowledge there was a good chance the person who was shot could have died , he is still on the critical list so he could still die if he does we would change the charge to treason . "
The guys face went pale . " What would that mean ? "
" We can ask for the death penalty . Now you happen to be in the position of being the first I have spoken to . Now a one time only offer , you answer my questions as I ask them and providing they are truthful , I will guarantee not to ask for the death penalty for you .
The suspects shoulders dropped and he slumped into his seat .
She used the same technique with the other two suspects , by the end of it she had all the information she needed . "
Both had been listening intently but it was Paige who was first to speak . " Well what was the information ? "
Cabe made what appeared to be a laugh down the phone . " Ok , young lady take it easy , the best always come when you least expect it ."
Walter with a smile on his face as he spoke to Cabe . " Come on Cabe , stop teasing her . She is pouting her mouth at me and you know when she does that , I get a sort of brain freeze . "
" Ok here goes , first of all she gave all the suspects the same offer , this way she could confirm there stories were the same . To cut a long story short . "
Paige immediately cut into the conversation . " Oh no you don't , the full story including all the bells and whistles . "" Ok , but you had better sit down if you are not already . " After a few seconds he asked . "Are you ready . "
Both shouted down the phone ready '
" That nearly burst both my eardrums . " He said with a laugh in his voice . " Ok, it would appear they were all being paid $500 to do the drive by shooting , normally they would only do it at night , because the locals all knew not to walk around that area late at night . They all answered it was a building speculator who wanted to own all the units and the land around it . They wanted to flattened all the buildings , then change the area into a upmarket shopping mall with apartments built above most of the shops . , they already owned all but three of the units , the drug store , mini market and the empty unity you were due to view that day . How they knew you were due to view is still a mystery , but that is the reason they arranged that one daylight attack to try and put you off from renting and most likely put more pressure on the other two owners .
Katherine decided to put them back in the cells , while she put up an investigation on Bullpit Building Contractors . She put up a couple of her best computer researchers on the job . All they have found out is that the name is correct . "
While Cabe carried on talking , Walter got up and went to his lap top with just a few strokes of the computer keys , he had found out that they were really a holding company for , two building contractors , a lumber yard and a brick ant cement maker . Walter told Cabe this bit of news and while Cabe digested this bit of information , Walter went back to his computer and his fingers again flew over the computer keys in thirty seconds he had the name of their bank , their actual account would take a little longer , plus the name of their attorney's . He quickly gave the extra information to Cabe .
" How did you manage to find this out as quickly ? " A somewhat confused asked.
Paige cut in quickly . " SCS has the best two hackers in the business , all their services available for hire at very reasonable fee . "
Cabe laughed down the phone . " Sweetheart , your business head on as usual , I will pass on this free information onto Katherine . .
" Oh , Cabe before you go , would you and Allie like to join us at Kovelsky's ,on Friday evening to celebrate us getting the keys for our new Headquarters ? " Paige asked .
" That would be great and I am sure Allie would like to be there . I will no doubt be talking to you again before Friday , but if not look forward to seeing you on Friday evening . " With that Cabe cut the call .
Walter turned to Paige a big smile on his face . " I am so proud of your business head . "
Paige gave him a cute smile . " Well it is the best thing I can bring to the table , when the company as two of the top five of the worlds I.Q people . "
Paige went to make a light lunch , Walter stayed on the sofa catching up on a few scientific and computer on line magazines he subscribed to .
Once lunch was finished , they spent some time sitting on the porch talking about the prospect of SCS and wondering were the partitions could be put .
A big smile came on her face and a gleam in her eyes . " I propose the first thing we have installed even if it means a complete new room being built . A shower . "
A big smile came across Walter's face . " Well as two of the three partners of SCS are present , I propose that that the motion is carried . I am not sure if it is possible but I think it should be a wet room , then we could have a large African rain shower head from the ceiling and maybe some side showers coming out of the walls . "
Paige's face lit up . " I was thinking of just the normal electric shower , but I certainly like your thinking . "
She leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek , as she pulled back her phone alarm went off , time to fetch Ralph .
The rest of the week went much the same , however Tuesday Cabe rang again , with a request from Katherine to see if Walter could discover anything more about Bullpit Building Contractors , before she calls in the directors for an interview . She offered a flat fee of $500 plus a bonus if he could come up with a smoking gun .
Once he had signed off from Cabe , Walter went over to his lap top and began working his fingers over the computer keyboard .
Paige walked in just after Walter began his work . " Who was on the phone ? " She asked .
Without looking up or stopping his fingers from working . " Cabe , he wants me to see how much more I can dig up on Bullpit . Katherine as offered a $500 flat rate . "
" Well ok, but in future please do not always accept their first offer . How about I get on my computer and see what I can find out on the subsidiaries . "
" Go ahead and see what you can find "
They both worked through , so engrossed in their work they did not stop for coffee or lunch , it was not until the alarm on Paige's phone went off to alert them it was time to pickup Ralph from school .
By now Walter had printed off more than 50 pages of information , Paige had printed off about as many pages about the subsidiaries , but both felt there was a lot more information out there , but that was for another day .
They picked Ralph up from school , as soon as he was safely seated and belted up , Walter asked a general question . " Any one for Kovelsky's ? "
He got two enthusiastic " Yes . "
Once they got home Ralph did his homework , when he came back into the living room he noticed all the paperwork . " What have you two been up ? " He asked pointing at the piles of pa
Paige began to explain how after speaking to Cabe yesterday , Cabe had phoned again today with a request from Katherine to see what else they could find out about Bullpit Building Contractors .
" Can I help ? " An enthusiastic Ralph asked .
" Well we thought we had finished . " Paige told him .
Ralph gave his best pout and made his best puppy eyes at Paige .
" Well ok, but for one hour and one hour only . " Paige told him in him , in her you will obey voice .
With a big smile on his face , he nodded his head . " I agree . "
Ralph picked up his lap top opened it then began working on one of the firms , his mom had worked on to see if he could delve deeper than his mom .
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Grykon As they will not be living there the down stairs bathroom will be alright , A shower is missing but I am sure that will be a problem that will be solved . Walter's parents certainly seem happy they are back together , not sure how they may behave towards Sly now .
Ms Natural Thank you , Toby is certainly a problem .
Guest Thank you .
Pearliegirl Thank you , still got a long way to go before I begin to feel well , but it is not stopping me writing , yet anyway
Marie Mac Thank you but as I explained to Pearliegirl still a long way to go on the health stakes . Hope you enjoyed this chapter .
LouBe96 Thank you , Walter and his parents seem to be getting on a little better new work place . Paige and a new car . Wait and see
