The holiday season has been over for about a week now. I think it went well. The weather was warmer then normal, there wasn't any snow, and I didn't have to travel out of state. All things that I consider pluses. Add to this the fact that I didn't have to hassle with returning anything, and I figure that I came out ahead this year.
For the last week the weather has been more seasonal - colder, and down-right frigid at times. Add in the record wind gusts and the constantly overcast skies, and I could understand how people can get depressed at this time of year. In fact, there were some news reports of a study that the 3rd Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year. I've gone out every day but not for long, preferring to stay indoors.
Today, though still windy, dawned bright and sunny. I'd texted with my daughter, and we'd agreed to meet for lunch so I would grab a quick breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, and maybe hit up a library or two. I decided to drive over to Barnes & Nobles, since I'd gotten a couple of gift cards on Christmas. There were very few people browsing around when I got there.
I didn't have anything specific in mind, so I started in the Discount Book section on the first floor. I spotted a biography of Lincoln and remembering that there was a book out about him being a vampire hunter, I went over to one of the store's computers to see if it was in paperback, and in stock. That's when I first noticed the woman in the brown coat.
I thought she had been glancing in my direction, but she then seemed to get a phone message and walked away. I found the book I was looking for was in stock, and took the escalator to the 2nd floor, and walked over to the Fiction section - stopping first in the Graphic Novels section in case there was something there that caught my eye. Nothing. On to Fiction.
I turned into the aisle where the book would be, and there was the woman in the brown coat. She held a book in her hands, and was looking at her phone again. She put the phone in her pocket and without turning towards me showed me an ID Card from DHS that she held behind the book.
"Keep looking for your book, Mr. O'Neill. Agent Doyle sent me. I'm going to walk by you now, and slip a phone into your jacket pocket. Don't react. Keep looking for your book, or pick one out and look through it. Don't leave for about ten minutes. Agent Doyle will call you on the new phone around 2:00."
She brushed passed me and left. I waited the ten minutes, thumbing through the pages of the Lincoln book but not really reading it, then I left. I resisted the urge to look at the phone till I was back in my car. I checked it out for a while, but I had lunch plans, and drove away.
I got home around 1:00, made some tea, put the TV on, and read the paper while I was waiting. Doyle called at ten to two.
"Hi, Denny. How're you doing?"
"I'm good, Doyle, as I'm sure you know. How're you, and what's with all this cloak-and-dagger stuff?"
"Precautions, Denny. I've spent the last month working with our shrinks and we've come up with a theory and a plan to deal with the Delaware subject."
"You mean Del?"
"Yeah, but his real name is Art Gordon, no middle..."
"Wait a minute..wait.. A. G. are his initials? Craig said you didn't know what those letters stood for?"
"Need to know, Denny. Sorry. I didn't want you getting suspicious of anyone you ran into with those initials. Craig was following my orders. Okay?"
I thought about it for a minute or two, but frankly couldn't find any real reason to be upset about it.
"Yeah, OK, go on with what you were saying."
His name is Art Gordon, no middle initial. He was born with a heart condition, so he spent a lot of time indoors and studied a lot. Mostly mechanics and electronics. Has a PHD and holds several patents. Your typical, quiet guy next door."
"You mean, as in "..he was such a quiet guy."?"
"HA..Yeah. Like that. He was working for the University of Delaware when he had a seizure and wound up in the hospital needing a transplant. That's where we stepped in."
"I'm familiar with the process."
"Right. Anyway, you know that Mr. Jones pushed for him, and it turned out that he's a psychopath, Being a mechanical genius, he's also managed to block our tracking signal and seems to be one step ahead of us. With me so far?"
I said that I was. Doyle took his time, gathering his thoughts, I guessed.
"One of our shrinks has come up with a new theory. She believes that Gordon sent you that newspaper message because he wants your approval. She thinks that he looks up to you as being the first and he wants to impress you. But you haven't been active in months, so he's following you. Watching you to see when you'll do something. And, she thinks that's why he let you see him last month. So you know that he's out there and he's waiting on you."
"Is that why you passed this new phone to me? Because he's watching me?"
"Yes. We didn't want to take any chances with him. He might also be monitoring your calls and texts, and we know he can check you mail"
"Should I be worried?"
"I don't think so. Honestly, if he wanted to do something, he would have already. Our shrink thinks he admires you, but hates us. Whatever."
I paused, and let that sink in.
"So what's the plan?"
"The plan is for you to get back in the game. We believe that he's waiting to approach you until after you stage an Event. He'll follow you until then, and so will we. 24/7. When he makes a move, so do we. Mr. Jones wants this situation taken care of ASAP, and has approved any and all costs associated with it."
"I don't know, Doyle. I haven't done anything in months.I'm not sure that I want to."
"Denny. We need you to do this. He's still out there, and he's still working. Somehow, he's following you, and still able to stage Events in Philadelphia and upstate New Jersey. We need to stop him...I need to stop him."
I thought about it, but what else could I do?
"Alright, I'm in. I know he needs to be stopped. I just don't know where or when I'll do anything."
"That's all I can ask, Denny. If you want to contact me, use this phone. It also has a built in tracker to back up your implant, just in case he gets in contact and blocks your signal too."
He paused.
"We have your back, Denny. Don't worry about it, OK?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Thanks, Denny. I'll let you think about it, and I'll be in touch."
He hung up.
Looks like I was back, again.
