Chapter 223: Eve and Me and Jen Makes Three

There was just too much we didn't know to make a rational decision. The thing I knew was what I didn't know. I didn't know what the structure of the drug business was in Aster or Tryon. It seemed to me that would be job one.

To do that I needed an information sharing arrangement between the dope squad in Tryon, Aster and me. Then most likely I would need DEA to share information on Estavante. Since there was no arrangement in place, it appeared that I needed to setup one and do it on an emergency basis. Of course I had to have some excuse to get me inside the meeting.

The words that sprang to mind were Task Force. The problem was I had no official standing nor did I want any. I just wanted the information from them all, not their bodies on the ground necessarily. Hacking the police computers would be difficult at the very least. But then I had the ultimate computer sitting on a very hard, very straight chair across from my downstairs bathroom. She was doing what I supposed was was robot version of sleeping. At least she was recharging her batteries, which is more or less what sleep does for me.

While Eve rested and recharged, she also got upgraded and received information form her monitoring circuitry. She could do something only huge networks were supposed to be able to do. She could scan large data banks for random entries.

"So do you think scanning the Internet at selected times and places while I am on recharge might help?" she asked.

"Is there a downside?" I asked.

"Very slight, if I wait until my power supply is replenished completely to start, then the energy I use would come from the system. It would not effect my maximum performance when I unplug myself." she said.

"Is there any chance they could trace you back to this location from your random scan?" I asked. "Security is a big deal."

"Ah I see. I can do a couple of things to minimize that possibility," she suggested.

"Get the odds of a trace to 1% or below and then we will do it," I suggested.

While I sat on my combo sofa/bed trying to think who best to share the file with, Eve scanned the local police department's dope files. She was looking for any of the known associates from the Estavante file she had begun to build earlier.

The only things of which I was sure, was that I did not want to live in a Narco Terror state, nor did I wan't get my ass involved with a DEA or CIA operation. That left only one entity to which I could turn for help. As much as I hated it Swamp Thing could arrange something I could not and something our government lacked the balls to arrange.

The problem was I might be aligning myself with one devil to fight another. If Swamp thing sold this to the highest bidder, I could end up working for a different trafficker or even Estavante himself. There were just no guarantees with Swamp Thing.

There was only one person more devious than any of those agencies. The only person who could sort through the political end of the equation was Jennifer. Just a small town country lawyer, she told the politicos when she first met them. Of course Sam Ervin had said that the whole time as he brought down the First US President to ever resign from office. Goes to show, you never under estimate a small town southern lawyer. Mine especially, since she looked so harmless, but was one bad ass bitch.

"Jennifer, are you going to have some time for me tomorrow?" I asked when I had her on the phone.

"Depends is it business or monkey business?" Jennifer asked.

"This is serious shit and it is all business. We need to decide what to do about the missing money from the drug raid." I suggested.

"So now you know what happened to it?" she asked.

"Yeah I know, but it's going to be a lot more than that one drug raid gone sideways," I suggested.

"Then come by the office after your morning walk. I'll work it out somehow." Jennifer said. One thing she knew was that I never cried wolf unless I was up to my ass in snapping teeth.

"Fair enough," I suggested.

I shouted down the stairs, "I'm going to sleep. Monitor the perimeter, If anything urgent happens come get me." It seemed like a good thing for Eve to do, since she couldn't really shut down completely anyway. If she was going to monitor the net, she might as well monitor my on line cameras as well.

I slept very well. I suppose knowing Eve was watching the perimeter as well as scanning for information on our bad guys was a positive sleep aid. I awoke the next morning with shower first thing on my mind. Eve must have heard the water running because she was waiting outside the upstairs bathroom.

"So what are we doing today?" she asked.

"Well. first we are going to find me something to wear. Then we are going to go find me something to eat, since unlike you I need real food. Then we are going to go to the mall to walk, because again unlike you I need exercise. My next plan is to go see Jennifer, my partner in crime."

"Very well, then I suppose I should tag along." she said.

"That would be good. Do you drive?" I asked.

"I learned to drive and to ride a bicycle for this assignment. I have driver's licenses in all 50 states." she said.

"How many hours do you have behind the wheel of a car?" I asked.

"Not more then a half dozen hours total," she said.

"Well if you don't mind, I think you will be the passenger for a while. I will see if I can get you a motorized bicycle. Even though I know from my experience with Lucy, that you can ride under your own power all day."

"Good the motor bike will allow me to conserve on my power consumption." she admitted.

"Yes and people won't be wondering about you biking faster than the traffic," I agreed.