Chapter 30: I'm a Believer

Rebecca

I woke up in bed suddenly, hesitated for a second then reached under my pillow. My gun was still there. I didn't bother to look for a chair. This had to be the most bizarre series of events in history. "Jimmy" was real. Had I meant what I'd said, would I really work to keep him safely anonymous? Yes, unless he made me do otherwise. Would I try to do this on my own? Not if there was a chance it would hurt Amy. "Jimmy" was right, she had missed too much of her life already. I wouldn't risk the rest of it.

I looked at the clock and it was 5:00. In spite of feeling like I had been up all night, I felt awake and refreshed. I crawled out of bed and stretched. It was going to be a busy day. I got on my running clothes and headed out to wake myself up. Jimmy had said something about running himself sick. So he was a runner too. One more fact to help me if I ever had to hunt him down. <<No, leave it alone, Bex, Amy trusts him and that should be good enough>> If he wanted to hurt me he had certainly had the opportunity last night. Could he really kill someone in their dreams? I didn't ever want to find out. I kept it short, just a quick mile to wake myself up. I promised myself a long workout in the gym at the office. Have to find myself someone to beat up. Maybe it's time I checked Paul's credentials. If he was going to be working with me I needed to know he can handle himself.

Arriving at the office just before 8:00, I checked my messages, email, and 'in' basket. The only thing was a note from Paul dated Friday night. "If I reach you by phone then ignore this, otherwise call.-P." No problem there. Morning brief was at 8:30. I grabbed a bottle of water and headed into the conference room. Rod was going over the morning sheets to get the latest status of ongoing investigations and handing out assignments. Updates were given on those agents not present as well so that everyone would be at least somewhat familiar with any situation that they may be called in to assist on. A general call up like that was something nobody wanted. It generally meant things had gone wrong and someone needed to be bailed out. That generally meant shooting and that was something nobody wanted. He finally got around to me just before the meeting ended.

"You all know Special Agent Rebecca Hampton. I'm pleased to report that she is returned to field duty as of this morning. And for all you slackers who think driving a desk is some kind of a vacation, she already has a case she is looking into. We don't know yet where it's going to go but from what we do know, you better all pray to God it isn't as bad as it sounds. She will be in and out of the office. At her request I am assigning Paul Freeman to assist her with her investigation. Most of the time he will be available to perform his normal tech duties, but when she needs him she has priority over anything else he has going. Keep that in mind if you need to task him something. If it's critical you may want to task someone else rather than risk him getting pulled off your project. Let's get to work, boys and girls.

Paul followed me to my office. "You requested me for this?"

"You heard the man. Yeah, I did. So far you've impressed me. I think you're ready. Don't prove me wrong."

"I'll do my best, ma'am. How was your weekend?"

"Paul, we're going to be working together. It's Rebecca. My weekend was fine, thank you. Amy said hello. I told her to watch her step, that I thought she may have a new fan. Oh, Paul, you blush so pretty. My goodness, you've never even met her."

"I've met her sister. If she can command that level of devotion out of you she must be special. Any thoughts on the McKenzie case?"

"Nothing concrete, I don't want to jump to any conclusions until I've had a chance to read the rest of the reports and maybe do some interviews. Keep a bag packed, we may be heading up to the bay area."

"Yes, ma'am. I've got some files and minor projects I need to clean up so I can concentrate on being at your beck and call."

"That's the spirit. You can bring me up to speed on what you've looked at and we'll start on what you haven't. Any idea when the rest will arrive."

"Got an e-mail confirming it shipped on Saturday, should be here no later than this afternoon. At 3:01 we don't have to pay for it."

I laughed. "That may be the first break we've had."

By noon we had been through everything we had and still nothing new was presenting itself. We knocked off for lunch. We went to a sandwich shop not far from the office, ordered to go and then walked to a small park area not far away; a green oasis in the desert of concrete and asphalt.

"I need something special from you, Paul, a cell phone, un-traceable. Think you can do it?"

"Sure, it's not really that hard. Am I allowed to ask what for?"

"You're my partner; you're allowed to ask anything you want. Just remember the guidelines I gave you before. To answer your question, it's for my source on this case. He wants a way to contact me. Don't bother asking, I won't tell you anything about him at all, nothing. Understood?"

"If you say so, I was wondering where you were getting all this from? I guess you already know that everyone else will assume that your 'source' is involved? Don't bother answering. You're too good an agent not to know that. So why give him what he wants?"