Chapter 10

Bonnie groaned and her arms fell limply away from their bodies. Al got up from the bed and hastily pulled on his pants. He made his way down to the security console, and saw Art Slavens waiting patiently. He buzzed the door open and yelled to Bonnie that it was Art. By the time Art had gotten to the inside door, Bonnie was standing beside Al, wearing one of his old bathrobes.

After saying hello, Bonnie went into the kitchen and started preparing an old fashioned breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast.

"You guys owe me big time," Art said, exuding smugness.

"When Bonnie gets back I'll tell you why."

Art took in Al's bare chest and leered, "I'd have thought you guys would have been up hours ago. You aren't even dressed yet."

"To be honest with you, Art, we weren't paying much attention to the time. It's the first time I've been able to sleep in since I don't know when. Now, get your mind out of the gutter and tell us why we owe you."

Bonnie called them into the dining area for breakfast. After they were seated at the table, large plates of food in front of them, Art started talking.

"Well, guy and gal, you owe me because I saved your bacon again last night. After you guys were already sawing logs, I was doing my job, and it paid off."

Al became suddenly thoughtful, and a glance at Bonnie showed him she felt the same. "Maybe you'd better tell us the whole story, Art." Bonnie offered.

"I decided to hang around a while after you guys went in last night. I went into the warehouse downstairs and found a comfortable resting-place. I had almost dozed off when I heard this tiny scraping noise. I didn't know what it was, but I practically stopped breathing trying to find out where it was coming from. It was near the back of the warehouse, and I was near the stairs, so I decided to wait and see if it came closer. I thought I heard a window opening, but couldn't be sure, so I just waited. Pretty soon, this Japanese guy comes creeping past on his way to the stairs."

Al looked at Bonnie. Her eyes were wide and her mouth looked like she was about to scream. "You mean this guy was actually in the warehouse down stairs?" Al asked incredulously.

"He sure was," Art continued. "I let him get to the foot of the stairs, then hit him along the base of the skull with my automatic. He went down like a sack of potatoes."

"Why was he here?"

"Well, he hasn't said anything yet, but I think it's obvious. He was dressed in black. He had cut a hole in one of the back windows of the warehouse to gain entry. He had a knife, a silenced gun, throwing stars, and a complete set of burglary tools on him. We later found his car on the access road behind the warehouse, and it was stolen. He also had a small can of what we thought at first was Mace, but it turned out to be something far more deadly, and almost totally untraceable in a corpse. I think it's pretty evident that he was planning an early demise for you, Al. I really don't think he expected Bonnie to be here, but he would have done her in as well if he had made it all the way in."

"What makes you think he didn't expect Bonnie to be here?"

"The neat stuff he had in the spray can makes it look like someone died of a heart attack. If you had been alone he would have sneaked in, used the gas, and the police would have hardly investigated at all. Bonnie would have complicated things, but he would have probably staged a robbery gone sour. You have no idea how many people get offed every year when they catch someone doing something they shouldn't be doing. Again, the police would have done a cursory investigation, but due to the case loads of most detectives, it would have been done mostly for show."

Finally, Bonnie couldn't hold herself in any longer. "Not that I care what happened to the bastard, but why'd you hit him, without trying to arrest him?"

"Well, you see, Bonnie my lass, I got to thinking about the two bastards who we were chasing, and how they killed themselves rather than allow themselves to be caught. I didn't want that to happen to this guy, so I slugged him so he couldn't off himself. You see, I was really doing him a favor."

"You say he hasn't said anything yet, but has he called an attorney?" Bonnie asked.

"No, we offered to have an attorney appointed, but he won't even comment on that. He could be out on bail in nothing flat if he got himself a shyster, but he hasn't made any move to get in touch with anyone. Maybe he thinks that whoever hired him'll get him out as soon as he turns up missing, or maybe he's afraid to get out. I don't know what's going on, but it sure is strange."

Al had just opened his mouth to ask another question when the security console chimed again, indicating another visitor was at the door. "What the hell is this," he barked, "Grand Central Station?" he was a little less angry when he saw that it was Linda at the door. He buzzed her in the outside door, then waited until she had climbed the stairs and then opened the inner door for her. He gave her a quick hug, then took her over to where the others were seated.

They have a lot to tell her, about Bonnie being followed the night before, and about the guy who had broken into the warehouse below. Linda looked stunned. "Won't these Bastards ever quit?" she gasped. "Haven't they done enough already? Why can't someone do something about them?"

Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she was beginning to sound hysterical. Bonnie picked up on it at once, moved over beside her, and put an arm around her shoulder. Linda turned toward Bonnie, laid her head on her shoulder, and let out some of the grief she had been holding back. For a while it seemed as if she would cry forever, the sobbing finally began to subside. Bonnie had both arms around her now, and was stroking her back and patting her shoulders.

Al and Art were both feeling uncomfortable, not knowing what to do or what to say. Al opened his mouth to say something, but Bonnie shook her head and he remained silent.

Linda apologized for her outburst, but everyone assured her that they understood. They sat around a few minutes, talking about everything that had gone on, then Al said, "Linda, I'm going down to Modern Electronics in a little while, would you and Bonnie like to go with me?"

Both of the ladies agreed to go with him. Bonnie went upstairs to take a quick shower and then dress. Al waited until she was finished, then showered and dressed himself.

Art, wanted to get back to work, so he excused himself and left while Bonnie was showering.

They kept the conversation light as they drove to the electronics company. When they arrived, Linda said it might be a good time to have a quick company meeting and let all of the employees know what was happening. Al really didn't want to waste the time it would take to have a meeting, but he let Linda convince them the employees would feel better if they knew the company was going to continue doing business, uninterrupted by the tragedy of the company president being killed. Linda went in search of Marge to set the meeting up. Twenty minutes later the entire shift was sitting in the conference room.

They made the meeting short and sweet. Most of the people there already knew Linda and Al. Linda assured them there would be no changes in how the company was operated or in the command structure, except that she would now be president. They all seemed relieved and after the meeting was over most of them came forward to offer their condolences.

Some of them asked why there were now security guards and Al explained this to them.

Linda asked the senior company officers to go with her to one of the smaller conference rooms. When they left, Al and Bonnie went in search of Edison Jones. They found him in one of the labs, and Al motioned for him to come out into the hallway.

Al introduced Bonnie to Edison, then asked, "Well, have you found anything out yet?"

Jones shook his head ruefully. "Not much, I'm afraid. I have an entire crew working on it, but so far they haven't turned up anything."

Al noticed that Jones seemed to be holding something back. "Is there something else bothering you?"

Jones fidgeted for a moment, then said, "I hope I haven't overstepped my bounds Al. You never told me I couldn't, so I called a friend of mine at Mitsutronics."

"Well I really wish you hadn't," Al said thoughtfully. "They might find out we're investigating them and that would be the end of our game. Tell me, what did he have to say?"

"It's not a he. She says she may have something for you, but she wants to be paid for the information." Now, Jones was so distraught he was wringing his hands. "She won't give the information to me. She said she will only deal with you, and I have to warn you, she says she wants a lot of money."

By now Al was shaking his head. "I'm not sure I would trust anyone from Mitsutronics, especially someone who's asking for money. I've learned a hard lesson about just meeting people whenever. The last time I did that it hurt like hell." he argued. He turned and looked at Bonnie. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Bonnie said thoughtfully. "Let's hear the rest of what Mr. Jones has to say."

Al looked back at Edison Jones. "OK, Ed, why should I trust this lady?"

Jones looked more uncomfortable than ever. "Well, you see, she's my cousin. She's a very bright woman, working for a really dumb boss. The only trouble is, she's not Japanese."

Al looked skeptical. "What does not being Japanese have to do with anything?"

Jones shuffled his feet and put his hands in his pocket. "At Mitsutronics, if you're not Japanese, you can only advance to a certain level. All of the upper level management, and all of the high level programmers are Japanese. She's tired of working her butt off so that her boss can get all the credit."

Al glanced at Bonnie, then back at Jones. "How can I be sure you and her haven't cooked up a plan to rip us off for a chunk of cash?"

Jones looked Al directly in the eye for the first time. "I'd never do that, Al. I thought too much of Sam to rip off his widow."

Al glanced at Bonnie again, then nodded. "OK, how do I get in touch with your cousin?"