Hi all, as always, thanks so much for your wonderful reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying the story (nearly all of you anyway!) - I still have the one abusive reviewer who persists, but I've learned that some people seem to derive pleasure from being nasty, so whatever! I still love to read most of your reviews! :)

Mixed Up

For the next two days, Lester, Hector and I continued to chase down leads. Lester and Hector had decided to do a stakeout on the Friday night at the seedy bar where Berghofer had worked, and Bobby agreed to help out. Bobby and Lester would go into the bar together to chat to the staff and customers, while Hector would be there separately as backup if Berghofer showed, or if there was any trouble. I was quite glad not to be involved; from what I had gathered, the place was a major dive, and fights and violence were regular occurrences. Instead, Tricia and I were going to see a movie together!

Morrison and Turnbull were proving elusive as well. Every lead we tried proved useless; either people were unwilling to talk to anyone due to the threat these men posed, or they truly didn't know anything. Possibly both. We had eliminated most leads from ex-employers and associates. Family was tight-lipped, although it was unclear if they did not want to get involved, or if they were protecting either of the men. I suspected Morrison's brother knew something, but Lester had watched him for a full day with no evidence of contact. I guess we could return to him if nothing else gave us leads.

Tonight, Thursday night, Lester, Hector, and I were going to check out the abandoned warehouse where the men had worked last year. I had confirmed that the manufacturer had gone bankrupt, and the building was currently empty. I would be doing surveillance from Carlos' truck with my night-vision goggles, while Hector and Lester were going to try and get inside to see if there was any evidence of the men using the warehouse. I was a little apprehensive about the operation, these were violent men after all, but I was also a little excited. I felt a bit like a private detective or a crime-fighting superhero. Maybe I could be Batgirl to Carlos' Batman? Although I always preferred Wonder Woman, but Batgirl didn't have superpowers, just neat gadgets. So that was probably closer to where I am if night-vision binoculars count as neat gadgets!

At five-thirty, Lester and Hector arrived back at the office from their latest investigation attempts. Hector had brought some pieces of equipment for all three of us – earpieces and small microphones to attach to our clothes at our throats. Lester translated as Hector explained how to use the equipment and showed me how to attach it properly. I tested the microphone and earpiece with Lester in Carlos' office. We would use them to stay in contact tonight. More neat gadgets! At six o'clock, we went out to grab some McDonalds for a quick dinner and then separated to head home, or back to the hotel for Lester, to change for the night operation. We would meet back at the office at eight. I would drive Ranger's truck and Lester would ride in Hector's car to the warehouse.

At home, I found some black jeans and black hoodie sweater. I even added black socks and boots. I felt like I was all dressed for stealth. I put my defensive weapons into my shoulder bag. I wondered if I should put camo paint on my face and laughed at myself. Of course, I didn't own any camo paint. I suppose I could improvise with eye shadow or mascara.

I was sitting at my kitchen table, trying to keep from fidgeting in anxious anticipation, and talking to Rex about the upcoming op, when I was startled by my phone ringing. I looked at it; Carlos. We had been talking every night, usually later before we went to bed, but he knew about the op tonight, so he had called earlier.

"Hi Carlos," I greeted him.

"Yo, Babe," came the honey reply. His deep tones sent a shiver of longing through me. "How are you set for tonight?"

"I'm ready," I agreed. "A little bit nervous but feeling pretty good. I'm going to stay in the truck like a good girl. Just keep watch and I've got my stun gun and defence spray." I knew that Carlos was worried about me being involved. He had agreed with Lester that I should be carrying a gun, and together they had tried to badger me into it, but I had managed to talk him into waiting until he was back in Trenton, and he could work with me to use it. I would have preferred never to carry a gun, but I was coming to realise that I would basically be required to, working for Rangeman. I was not eager, though. The longer I could put it off, the better.

"Please do, Babe," Carlos said with sincerity. "I've told Lester to leave a gun in the car with you as well. You don't have to carry it or use it tonight, but I want you to have it there if you need it. Even just wave it at people to threaten them or get them to back off. These are not nice people, and I worry about you," he added persuasively.

I took a deep breath, trying not to get angry. I was annoyed about the gun. We had agreed I would be ok with the defensive weapons, and this felt like he was going back on that and going around me to get what he wanted. But I could hear the honest concern in Carlos' voice, and I decided to accept it this time. He wasn't insisting I use the gun, after all. "All right, Carlos," I agreed reluctantly, "I'll have it with me in the car."

"Thanks Babe." He sounded relieved that I had not argued with him. We continued to chat until it was a quarter to eight and I needed to leave to meet the others. We said our goodbyes and I drove back to the Rangeman office.

I sat in the truck, watching alertly for any signs of movement or light in the warehouse. Through my night vision, I had seen the shadowy figures of Hector and Lester move silently up to a padlocked side door in the warehouse. Although it was a side entrance, this was the side that faced the street. The main entrance with large roller doors was behind a chain-link fence. To my inexperienced eyes, it seemed incredibly quick for one of them (I couldn't tell which) to jimmy the lock, and the two shadows slipped inside the building, closing the door silently again. I had parked so I could see the two sides of the warehouse with doors. The third side butted up against one of the fences, and the fourth had windows, but no doors. I couldn't see everything, but we would have needed another lookout to see it all. Fortunately, the back wall had no windows at all on the ground floor, only a few high up on the second floor. I doubted anyone would be climbing out of those windows without a very urgent reason, and the old chain-link fence still surrounded three sides of the building. Again, I couldn't see anyone climbing the fence when it would be easier and less conspicuous to simply slip in or out of a door or a gate.

I saw nothing amiss until the side door opened again about forty minutes later. The two shadowy figures secured the door, making it look undisturbed, and slid away to where I knew Hector's car was parked. I waited five minutes, keeping watch on the building, and not wanting to draw any attention, until I moved to start the car and drive to the office where we had agreed to meet back up. At the office as I pulled up, Lester suggested we all go and get a coffee, so we drove to a nearby café that served decent coffee and pie. I ordered a piece of raspberry cobbler and a hot chocolate, while the men stuck to their coffees. The cobbler was crunchy, warm, sweet, and tangy and I enjoyed it enormously. Lester shifted uncomfortably a couple of times at my moans, but I didn't care. It was his fault for not getting any dessert.

The men spoke in low tones, but not so low as to appear suspicious, while they told me about the warehouse. It was apparent that someone was definitely staying in the warehouse, but there were no obvious signs to identify who it was. The men had agreed that they would start ongoing surveillance on the warehouse. When Bobby came on board, they would start six-hour rotations with one of the other men on call if either of the wanted men were spotted. If they were both spotted, we agreed that a larger capture operation would have to be planned.

I asked about surveillance tomorrow night when they were supposed to be watching for Berghofer. I offered to cancel my movie plans with Tricia to take the surveillance at the warehouse, but Lester was adamant he did not want me there alone, without backup. I reluctantly agreed that they would wait to start surveillance on Saturday. Still, I was pleased we finally had potential break on one of these cases, and I hoped it would pan out.

On Friday morning, I sipped my morning coffee as I thought back on last night. Despite what I had agreed with Lester, I thought it was a wasted opportunity not to do as much surveillance today as possible. Lester and Hector were going back to the warehouse early this morning to do a couple of hours surveillance to see if anyone was up and moving before the streets got busy. However, later, they were chasing a lead through another acquaintance of Berghofer's whose name had come up. But we had almost run out of leads, and I had a strong gut feeling that this was the break in the Morrison/Turnbull case we were searching for. I dressed carefully in jeans and a grey hoodie, before making my way to the office.

I worked in the office until one pm, making some calls and lining up building inspections for the Haywood Street building. One of the inspectors had dropped off some forms that he needed completed and signed. I filled in the forms meticulously, before I faxed them through to Carlos for his perusal and signature and waited on his response. When he faxed them back, signed, I put them into an envelope and addressed them for the inspector's office.

At one, I went downstairs and grabbed a sandwich, coke, and a couple of chocolate bars at the deli and drove to a car rental agency north of the Burg that offer cheap rentals of older cars. I ate my sandwich sitting in my own car, before going in to rent a nondescript compact car from the rental agency. The compact was about ten years old, and looked tired, but it was pretty perfect for my purposes. I then drove it back to the warehouse, where I found a park in a similar position to last night and hunkered down with my coke and chocolates to watch the warehouse. I had not told Lester I was doing this; he didn't want me here on my own, but I was too reluctant to leave the warehouse unobserved. I was sure we would find the men here. I just wished we had more people to do surveillance.

After two hours, I was feeling pretty antsy. I had already drunk my coke and eaten one of the chocolate bars, and now I needed to pee. Despite my reluctance to leave the building unobserved, I drove to a nearby Burger King and used the facilities and grabbed a bottle of water, before heading quickly back to the warehouse, feeling a bit more relaxed. I parked in the same spot and settled down to wait again. After another half-hour, I was starting to feel like I would drift off to sleep when a flash of movement caught the corner of my eye. I lifted the binoculars, peering at the warehouse, where I saw one of the roller doors slide up about a foot, before sliding back down again. I could only see the top of the roller door from my position, so I had not seen if someone was entering or leaving. I drove around the block, until I found another position with a clearer view of the roller door and watched with renewed focus for any further movement.

It was forty more minutes, before I saw a figure walk down the sidewalk and slip through the unlocked gate in the chain-link fence. I focussed me binoculars, while trying to sink low in the car so I wasn't immediately visible. The figure was wearing a ratty tracksuit with a hood in dirty grey, and scuffed trainers, but from a flash of the face I saw, I thought it was Morrison. The figure hesitated beside the door, tapping quietly on it, and I saw the door roll up again, about a foot. The figure dropped to the ground, mostly hidden by a pile of junk in the yard and rolled under the door. The door slid down again, and I heard a faint, muffled clunk of a lock or a bolt.

I was so excited! I was sure I had found them. But what to do now? Lester and Hector were off checking the contact for Berghofer, and then getting ready for their bar stakeout, and Bobby was probably finishing up his final day at work. I knew that Lester and Hector would be pissed that I had come back here alone, not to mention Carlos, but I had found them! I was sure of it.

Hesitantly, I thought for a few more minutes, before deciding to see if I could check anything out up close. I wondered if I should take the gun, but then realised I had left it in Carlos' truck last night. I had my defence weapons, though, so I slipped the stun gun out of my purse into the pocket of my hoodie and palmed the defence spray. I slipped out of the car and walked down a block on the opposite side of the road, before doubling back and walking quietly up to the side wall where Les and Hector had entered last night. I listened at the door but could not hear anything. They had re-locked the padlock, and I could not pick it or anything; I'm not MacGyver, people!

I walked further up to the gate that the figure had used, but as I hesitated there, I saw a flash of movement in one of the windows of the warehouse. If they were watching me, I could not go in the yard. They would be sure to see me, and that might scare them away from the warehouse, even if they didn't confront me directly. I pretended to be talking on my cell phone, while I pondered what to do. In the end, I walked purposefully back to the car, and got in to drive away.

I drove back to the rental agency, before handing in the keys and getting back into my own car. It was a bit conspicuous, being bright red, but I didn't want to go back in the same car if they had been watching me. I stopped at a drugstore to buy a cheap, disposable camera, and I drove back to park again where I had a view of the roller door. It was getting late, already well after four o'clock, and I had to meet Tricia for dinner and movie at six-thirty. I took some pictures of the roller door from my car, and waited, hoping something would happen before I had to leave. Finally, at quarter-past five, I heard the muffled clunk again, and slid down in the car seat, holding my camera ready and shaking with anticipation and trepidation. As the door started to slide up, I started taking pictures every few seconds, catching the figure rolling under the door, followed by a second figure, before standing up quietly and rolling the door back down. They didn't seem to lock it from the outside, perhaps they couldn't, but they both headed away from me, wearing similar outfits of sweatpants and hoodies. I took multiple photos until I had used over twenty of the twenty-seven photos on the disposable.

As I saw them disappear, I wondered if I should just wait to tell Lester and Hector tomorrow. But the temptation to investigate the roller door was too great. I slid out of my car, trying to be casual and inconspicuous, and walked quickly across to the fence and slipped through the gate. I walked behind the pile of junk obscuring the roller door and squatted, feeling like there were a thousand unseen eyes watching me and breathing rapidly in nervousness. I took a deep breath and told myself to pull it together.

I took a couple of photos up close, and then tentatively reached out to see if the door would slide up. To my mingled delight and fear, it did. I hesitated again now, I did not want to be caught in the hideout of these men, especially alone. But my innate determination, or perhaps stupidity, overrode caution, and I rolled under the door. I wasn't graceful, I had not realised that rolling was a skill, but I stood in the gloom of the warehouse proper, breathing shallowly and my pulse racing. I quickly rolled the door back down, leaving a crack for a sliver of light to come through. If I shut it completely, I would need a flashlight, which I did not have. I looked around, seeing only dusty pallets and rusting equipment before I moved cautiously further into the warehouse. The shadows loomed in the eerie silence, and I saw to one side the makeshift camp that the men had set up with bedrolls and a camp stove. I wondered if I should search through their stuff but was worried the men could return at any time.

For a second, I wondered what I was trying to achieve here? Hector and Lester had probably stood where I was last night and had probably already seen more than I would. They had probably already looked through the stuff and found nothing of the men to identify them. I knew it was my own stubborn pride that hated being excluded or told what not to do. Lester had told me not to come here alone, yet here I was.

Doing what? Proving I could do it? To whom? Risking my safety, for what?

I had a sudden flash of realisation that nobody knew where I was, and my only backup was busy with other plans tonight. If the criminals returned and found me, I could very well be captured, hurt, or even killed, and nobody would know anything about it until they found my car. It would devastate Lester and Carlos.

Carlos. Would Carlos want me here, alone?

Of I course, I already knew the answer to that was no. And if I was hurt or killed, I would never see him again. I think it was that realisation that finally got through my stubbornness and stupidity. I turned back to the roller door and slid it back up. I peered from under it, seeing nothing, and slid back out. I closed the door back down and exited through the gate, hurrying back to my car. I had risked enough for today. With the photographs, I may have enough confirmation that it was Morrison and Turnbull who were staying here. I certainly had enough evidence for my men to investigate further and help with their stakeouts.

I got back into my car, and realised I was shaking with the adrenaline letdown and a feeling of relief. I sat for a few minutes, just breathing, and sipping my water, trying to calm my racing heart. I decided I would not tell Lester or Carlos about my foolishness in entering the warehouse. I would tell them about my stakeout and show the photos of the men, but if they knew how stupidly adventurous I had been, there would be major fallout. Better to keep my mouth shut.

I ate my last chocolate bar, before I drove off to find a photo developer. I dropped off the photos for processing and then headed home to get ready for my evening with Tricia. I'm not sure if I was anywhere near Batgirl, but I was glad my fighting prowess had not been put to the test. I guess there is something to having backup and safety in numbers.

It has been so interesting writing this story with no clear plan and no outline. It leads me in all sorts of directions and I just find myself writing plot lines and side stories I never would have guessed. It's like I'm on the adventure with you, my readers, and it has been fun! Of course, it also means I don't know where the story is going, or when it will end, so I guess I will just keep writing until it works itself out, or you get sick of it! :D Have fun, and review if you can. Robyn