Chapter 58

After much hugging and kissing, Tom finally got the ol’ girls to let them go.

The trio was soon back in the bus and headed to the coast. Tom had located a boat park about ten klicks from their destination. The Getz had a GPS navigator so he would give the girls the address to the travel park when he unloaded it.

The trip only took about twenty minutes, and Bus was soon coasting onto the boat-park. He found a spot that let him park so that the passenger side was shielded from view but gave Tom room to shift the car from storage.

Tom soon had the car parked beside the bus and restored to its normal size and in top condition. Tom dropped a couple of handy spells on the vehicle to keep it in good repair. He even popped some crystals under the hood to provide better fuel economy and energy for the incantations.

Having experienced Nena’s driving, he added an anti-collision spell for good measure. They would also help since Matte also had to learn to drive a manual (stick-shift). This was a good little car for him to do that in.

Nena and Matilda were soon tossing ports, laptops, and large carry-bags into the rear of the hatchback. It did look like the luggage of two girls going on an extended holiday. Who knows what a girl might need in a week, right?

Nena had already worked out where the travel park was, so she plugged the data into the navigator, and the girls happily took off. They planned to meet up with Tom in about two or maybe three hours to give them all time to stop and buy a few things and then settle in.

Tom shook his head and went to climb back into the driver’s seat when his phone rang.

Tom looked at the screen before he answered.

“Bus, take the streets please as I need to take this call, and we have the time.”

“Yes, Master Tom, I do like looking at the sights when I can,” Bus replied as he started up and navigated back to the highway while Tom grinned at Bus’s answer as he settled into the seat and took his phone call.

“What’s up Rachelle?” Tom asked as he transferred the call from his phone to the bus’s speakers, so it didn’t look like he was talking on it, as the bus traversed the highway.

He hated seeing people talking on their mobiles while driving. That was what hands-free systems were designed for, and he had the best system around since he wasn’t even really driving.

“You’re a son-of-a-bitch,” she spat.

“Why what did I do?”

“Well first, we have been working our fingers to the bone all weekend thanks to your little stunt. Then, you sent the hounds of hell to rampage through the precinct. It has been pandemonium here since about nine o’clock when the Feds turned up again, instead of the usual controlled chaos.”

“They arrested the Chief, Sweeny, Detective Dixon from Narcotics, six other coppers and even Shirly. Carol Miller has been laughing so hard I’m sure she peed herself. She even ordered us pizzas for lunch to celebrate. Guess who is looking for a promotion?”

“Ah, so I guess the Feds acted on the information you, Carol and I sent them. Thanks for following that through Rachelle. And, hey, just think of the money you will be rolling in from all the overtime. You’ll actually be able to afford the rent when you move in.”

“Funny boy; and I’ve already moved thank you very much. I already love the flat and thank you for the fridge full of muffins for the team. They sure made us happy over the weekend. So, how long have you been cosying up with Carol?”

“I haven’t been. I wasn’t sure which side of the fence Carol was on until I realised why she was trying to poach me from Sweeny. Many things just fell into place after that.”

“Her hands aren’t totally clean, but she does try to stay on the right side of the line. So, tell her that things are square between us. She will know what I’m talking about and she will tell you if she wants to but don’t press her, Rachelle.”

“Oh, okay, I’ll pass that on. Oh, you upset the Feds too,” Rachelle giggled. “One dick, actually I think his name is Richard, so Dick is what he is getting while he continues to act like one. Anyway, first he ordered that your computer was to be confiscated.”

“Charley asked why and got told they were going to try to reconstruct your deleted files. He gleefully told them that you always used a scrubber program and that the hard drive had been reformatted, repartitioned and then loaded with the department’s latest copy of our operating system and programs.”

“Dicky was spewing when he learnt this. So, he logged in on your machine and then complained that your program wasn’t even on it. We asked why he wanted it, and he said he needed to go through the case and to add new data to it. So, Lou happily loaded on a copy for him.”

“Then this Dicky-guy started bitchen that someone had accessed classified files because they were already in the program. So, Amanda sat down with him and started explaining some of the cute little features our copy of the program had since we all have clearance to access the files that he was upset about.”

“Like your really cool linking function that automatically links any new documents put into the database to any case in the system that it can be mapped to. I love that new search function too.”