Surprise, Surprise.....

Doyle called on Tuesday. We met yesterday at the Barnes & Noble outside the Menlo Park Mall. He was sitting at a table by the front window off the parking lot, and shot me with a "hand" gun as I crossed from my car. He was having a cup of coffee (I guess) and some sort of danish. He had another cup for me.

"Decaf, just a little milk, and one Equal." He said.
"How'd you know?"
"We monitor you very closely. I told you that. We know a lot about your habits, and different tastes in foods and the like."
"O, OK, so what's this about?"
"I wanted to check in with you, since I missed our last meeting."
Right, you were sick, or so Givings said. How're you feeling?"
"Better, but I'm still a little weak. Don't know if I could run more then 3 miles or so."
"Yeah, right. I'm guessing you wouldn't have any problems."
"Anyway, the People Upstairs had something they wanted me to tell you, and I wanted to see if you had any questions from your meeting with Givings the last time."
"Yeah. I have questions. Givings couldn't answer them, and I doubt you can, too, but I'll ask anyway. What happens when this is all over? Will it matter if I do or don't make the 12?"
"To be honest...I don't know. The People Upstairs never said, and I never asked. I find that it's better not to ask any questions at all. Do what they want and everything runs smoothly. They don't often ask for anything too difficult."
"What do you mean.."too difficult"?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. It doesn't apply to you. Besides, there's some good news."
"Oh yeah? What?"
"Remember that I told you that the 6 months began when I first approached you? That was on August 18th, so the end date would be February 18th, right?"
"I'm aware of that. So?"
"That's 3 weeks from today, right?"
"Again, so?"
"Well, you still have 3 more Events to take care of. So, the People Upstairs have decided to give you until the end of February. That gives you another week to 10 days."
"Yippee. I still don't know if I can finish this. It's not so easy in this weather."
"No, but so far you've been treating Random Events as if you can't plan for them."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, just because it's supposed to be random doesn't mean you can't be ready for it. Lets say that you go to a particular place once a week. Someone would know that, if they'd been watching you. If you were to be the subject of an Event, someone could wait along whatever route you take to get there and, depending on the traffic in the area, stage the Event. Do you understand what I'm saying here?"

I sat there for a moment, thinking. The coffee was probably cold by now. I knew what he was alluding to, and said so.

"Good. Now that you understand, you should never mention to anyone that I told you this. It should look like you figured it out on your own. I've told you of the leeway that the People Upstairs are allowing, so it's time for me to go."

He had finished his danish, and drank the rest of his coffee as he stood up.

"Why did you tell me that?"
"You're carrying around my friends heart, and he deserves to get every break he can. Besides, removing the tracker and getting someone else would be a pain in the ass."

He walked away, and I sat there a while longer. There was a lot to think about, and plan for.