Chapter 31

Special Agent Downs hadn't even given me the full tour of the main floor, when he got a call on his cell phone. I heard his response.

"That's good. I want communication every half hour."

As soon as he hung up, he said, "That was Agent Barnes. She's in position overlooking Black Hawk. Normally we wouldn't be telling you any of this, but there are extenuating circumstances."

"Such as?" I asked.

I was thinking that I wasn't so sure I wanted to really know how much danger Jessica and Theresa might be in.

He answered without reservation, "If I get a call, I'm out the door. It won't make a bit of difference where you're at, or what you're doing."

This was not what I had expected to hear, and for some reason, it struck me as funny.

I couldn't keep a straight face as I said, "So, let me get this straight. If I have the bedpan under me, and you get a call, I'm stuck?"

He could see I found some humor in this, so he chuckled and said, "That pretty much sums it up."

"Then I guess I'd better watch what I eat then," I said. Then my smile dropped as I asked the question I needed, even if I didn't want to hear the answer. "How much danger are they in?"

"Today, most likely, not much. We have to be in place, and any problems worked out, so that tomorrow we're ready."

"Tomorrow?"

"The lawyers will get hold of the conversation that took place, as well as the results from the polygraph. After that, the possibility that things could escalate is possible. We don't know anything at this point and we just need to take precautions. Remember, John, these are precautions. No one is expecting anything, but we need to be in place and ready."

I had one other question. "I thought you'd be using special communication stuff, not cell phones. Can't people listen in to those?"

"I'll let you in on a few things. First these aren't your normal cell phones, and we do have a lot of that high tech gear that you see in the movies. The nice thing about using a cell phone is that everyone does now a days. We blend in and don't stick out so much."

"Now they just need to do something about the cars they give you," I responded with a bit of sarcasm.

We finished the tour and sat around for the rest of the day. Every time Special Agent Downs' cell phone would ring, my nerves went on edge. It was in the late afternoon that Agent Barnes reported that Jessica had walked up the sidewalk and had entered the house. Also there was another girl with her, images had been taken and transferred.

When Special Agent Downs told me this, I asked what that meant.

"Agent Barnes has a very nice digital camera with her. She got pictures of the girl Jessica was with, and they have been sent off so that we can identify the girl."

"You mean everyone who arrives at the lot is going to get their picture taken?" I asked.

"They sure are."

"You know that the place is a business? From what I understand, they get a number of cars in there, in a day."

"That's the good thing about digital cameras. She has at least four memory cards. One can be out and downloading, while she's using another."

"How fast can you find out about the people, though?"

"Adults? Pretty fast, especially as they will arrive in cars. We run the license plate, and then have names. If they match, then it's ok. When they don't, it takes a little bit longer."

"You said adults. What about this girl?"

"Fortunately for us, we have the pictures of the kids from the schools in this town. We originally tried to look for that girl on the bike at the robbery that way. Of course, we found nothing, but we now have those pictures. As long as she lives here, we'll have a match in a few minutes. Do you want to know who your little Jessica is seeing?" he said in a joking, yet taunting manner.

"You bet I do."

He looked at me for a moment, as if trying to decide something, and then said, "Come on, I have something to show you."

Sitting in the car, he asked, "So he doesn't know about us?"

Agent Barnes looked at him, a bit perturbed.

"No, he doesn't know."

"And you don't think he'll wonder? I thought you said he was smart."

"He is. I just don't want to think about that, right now. What I want is to know who that girl was that came home with Jessica."

"You know these people pretty well. I thought you were with John this whole time."

"I do my job," Agent Barnes said, adding her jab where it could count. "Something you need to learn. If you don't know the person you're dealing with, you can be on the wrong side of something ugly."

"Are you trying to tell me..."

He was cut off by the ringing of the phone. Agent Barnes answered and jotted down some notes.

"Fiona Bartenelli?" he said looking at the notes Agent Barnes had written. "That name sounds familiar."

"Yeah, like?"

"I'm not sure. Something about that name though. I think we should check it out."

"Fine. We've got nothing else to do. I'll call the office," she said. "Look, who's that coming out?"