Running Scared, But I'm Confident

New York, New York

Yeung Bao was amazed as he sat in the dark corner of the Food Court with his head in his hands. "Hun Dan, Hun Dan" (bastard, unfaithful mother, asshole) he repeated in an angry tone.

It has to be Thomas Allston; that’s the same dog that was on the video from the compound and the surveillance tape at his home taken before the assault by those three losers.  

Tanner’s computer was destroyed, yet this man knew about the barracks and its location. 

How? How did he know about it? 

​Now, Allston shows up a second time and steals surveillance equipment. 

If the three men from Afghanistan did their job properly, Allston and Crowder would be dead.

Allston must have found the site's location independently of the F.B.I. That is the only explanation unless Allston worked for the FBI.

Allston and Crowder were on camera leaving the site as the American F.B.I. crashed in and killed the two Russians. 

Is it possible that Allston could see the entire contents of Tanner's computer?

Could he know the scope of Tanner's work?

TXT EVE: There is Hamburger in The Fridge. TXT Allston: It Must Be Cold. TXT EVE You could warm it up by smashing it. TXT Allston: The only thing I want to smash is you. TXT EVE: You can hit it any time Thomas, Medium Rare please with A-1 sauce.

Yeung had to be very careful how he phrased a message to the computer exerts back home. He could not set off alarm bells that could harm his new good standing, but he needed to protect China's plan.

He wrote.

I am planning an operation where we need to secure a computer that is not powered. I fear that when I power the computer up, it will signal where we have it. How can I avoid this?

He sent the encrypted message along and waited.

Ten minutes later, Bao got his answer, which was interesting. By placing the computer in a lead-lined bag, it was possible to block tracking signals. 

You can buy them on Amazon, they added.

F.B.I. Regional Headquarters, Chelsea, MA

Wallace Q. Hughes, FBI, was reading a report that someone had just handed him. He held it and said, "Think, Man, Think!"  What does this mean?  

He gets hired by the daughter of a Central Intelligence Agency Officer working at W.L.T.

Three foreign nationals show up at his house to kill him and fail.

We seized a computer owned by Gerry Tanner that does not work.

He gets pulled over by Homeland Security after coming out of the woods at a site that Gerry Tanner designed.

He claims he was looking for woodpeckers.

What does this mean?

Wallace Q. Hughes looked at his phone.  His forehead was turning a shade of purple. His noggin was churning overtime.

Do I drag his ass into Chelsea and become a little hostile? He must know more than he is telling us.  

Do I lean hard on Tanner's daughter or better both of them. Then there is Allston's girlfriend.

Hughes punched a button on his phone and said, "Luce, bring me the file on Eve Crowder in the WLT case." 

​Somewhere On The Shore In New England

Somehow, we both got home around the same time, which is rare. She came in, and I gave her a hug and a pinch.

"I'm making them smashed-up burger things. Bun or no bun?"

"How are you having them?"

"No bun, a little A1 sauce"

"I'll have mine the same way," She asked. "How was your day?"

"Well, as you know, any day I don't get shot or beat up is a good day." Tango and I went into the woods looking for woodpeckers and came out with two advanced Chinese Spy cameras. My egghead friend from M.I.T. is going to take one tomorrow and figure it out."

"That is interesting," Eve said.

"We got pulled over by a Homeland Security guard who saw us coming out of the woods.  " I told her that we were looking for woodpeckers, and I showed her this." 

I showed Eve the picture I snapped of a Pileated Woodpecker, and she laughed. 

"That bird looks like he's smiling at the camera." 

"Did you photoshop that?"

"That's incredible," she said, laughing hard.

I poured Eve a glass of wine and pulled out a box of cheese crackers.

"How was your day?" I asked

"Well, nobody called in sick at the bakery today. I only burned myself in the oven once. The day's take was up 38% from last year, and I got a call from the F.B.I., who wants me to come into Chelsea tomorrow to see an agent who wants to review a few things with me."

"Ohhhh shitttt." 

"Allston, I'm scared."

"They didn't tell me to come with you."

Now I'm trying to see the game here. Did my name appear in some database after I got pulled over? 

I looked at the still bare walls of our new house and tried to think hard.

Were they smart enough to realize I know more than I am telling?

Did they figure out Eve and I were on the site before them?

Did we leave any fingerprints?

"Be careful with them, Eve, and remember that our phones were here the whole time we were there."

"We left no digital fingerprint."

"Do you think they know about the money?" she said

"Money?, what money?" I said

​

​

​