The New York Rangers And The Brooklyn Nets Are Not As Much Fun As Eve.

Northern New Hampshire

It is still sunny but cool, and I only hear a slight wind in the bare trees. We played Walkie-Talkie while heading for the agreed rendevous point.  

About twenty minutes after starting, Eve found a camera in a tree.  

"Allston, this camera is unlike a trail cam you can buy at the Pro Shop. I only spotted it because when I moved, it moved." 

"It looks expensive." She added.

About five minutes later, I came upon a camera as well.  Eve called it; the camera looked unlike anything I had ever seen in a hunting store or a catalog. It wasn't large but was hidden well. I would have gone right by it if I hadn't looked for it.  Also, it panned and followed my movements. 

We don't have the element of surprise, and by now, those cameras zoomed in on our faces and alerted whoever was monitoring them.  Were the people monitoring the cameras close, or were they far away in another country? What kind of response would our intrusion create?

"Eve, let's pick up the pace and head for Point A," I said

I began to think about the sophisticated capabilities Chief Strier alluded to about the dead Russian's communication gear.  These cameras in the woods were advanced. I made a note to myself to take one on the way out.

With each step, I looked in all directions, and I made sure to look backward once in a while.

The ground is wooded and, for the most part, undisturbed. At one point, I found a pile of beer bottles. They looked weathered and old, and I guessed some hunters stopped for a few hundred beers at one time.

As I got close to Point A, an animal ran at me.  Tango jumped up and whined a bit, happy to see me. Twenty seconds later, Eve appeared, and the three of us continued.

As we moved on, Eve said, "Hey, Allston want to make a porn movie in front of the next camera we find?"

I laughed too hard to respond. Eve beat me to the punchline. I was about to ask her the same question.

New York, New York

Larry Fong pulled weekend duty, and he was a little more than pissed.  One of the things he liked about America was their organized sports, and he had two tickets to the Rangers game against Saint Louis at Madison Square Garden for today. They sat in his wallet, unused.

Larry was on call in the shabby basement of a Chinese restaurant that had been on the spot for about eighty years.

Fong had never smelled anything as foul as this room, which sunlight had never hit. All the smells that were once in the restaurant ended up in this basement, where they lingered. Lin, his wife, would not allow him to enter more than three feet into the house with these clothes on. She always knew when he pulled down a shift by the odor.

Positions changed when Major Cheng Bao left his job. Someone moved to the food court to replace the leader, and he then made quick changes. Larry's sudden unscheduled shift was the result of movements.

The rumor everyone heard, "Bao fucked up and was shot.

Twelve hours with the rats in this dark, wet place is a long day, but the job had perks. He has free lunch and unlimited internet in his cubicle. He could watch the Rangers game and The Nets during this shift. Nothing important ever happened.

This dark, ugly, wet, smelly place is the focal point of all New York operations and the New England states. 

When the first four alerts came through, Larry settled in with a cup of Chock Full Of Nuts in the classic blue and white Amphora paper cup.

Larry viewed where the alerts were coming from, and before he checked it, he thought, "Bear Or Deer"?

Nothing triggered four points before; the location is very rural.

The first dinger from a ground thermal sensor near the new construction area indicated an intruder passing by. These alarms go off due to a deer, bear, or coyote.  The next sensor, a camera, would tell the story. Larry hoped for a bear.

The image from the camera appeared in real-time, and Larry looked at a man. No, wait... it's a woman with large American breasts. 

She looked up at the camera and walked toward the tree.  

She had a short dog. 

The woman didn't look armed, so she was not a hunter; this was the first female that crossed this point. 

Every once in a while, they would view a bow hunter, but since the no trespassing signs were erected, visits were few.

He zoomed in on her face and hit a button to take a still shot. The photo zoomed to Beijing for facial recognition.

The woman continued to look up at the camera and smile. At one point, she waved, and Larry started to wave back, but he caught himself and stopped.

Larry then looked at the third point, another thermal sensor. He called up the camera. There was a man.

This camera with the man was pretty far from the one filming the woman.  The man, too, was looking at the camera, and Fong panned and got a good still for the facial recognition squad.

This is beyond a coincidence, and this pissed Larry off. He had to call this in and start a shit storm which required him to be focused on the response. No Nets, No Rangers today.

Larry hit a few keys and then waited for the M.S.S. response.

Larry watched the two leave the points they were first spotted at.

A few minutes later, another sensor and camera alerted, and when the view appeared, the two with the dog were now together. The camera showed them hugging with the dog wagging his tail.

Larry focused the camera on the woman's rear end, which Larry thought "Looked pretty good."

He spotted the pistol in her rear waistband

"Oh Fuck"

Larry hit a few more keys to amend his original report.

It now mentioned  "Intruders with concealed weapons."

It would be a long day, but Larry had to get it right, or he would end up like the boss.

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

Special Agent In Charge (SIC) Wallace Q. Hughes was angry while he held court in a well-lit, lead-lined conference room with eleven other agents. He was on speaker with his bosses in Washington.

"We need to know what the fuck was going on at Welch, Lemerise, and Tanner in New Hampshire.  We got nothing from the dead computers, so I need you to focus on each still-alive employee.  

A little gallows laughter murmured in the conference room because Welch and Tanner were dead, and Lemerise was never mentioned.

"Every shit bird, fucktard, Billy Bob, Ellie Sue employee who ever worked at WLT needs to be questioned hard about what their jobs were."

"It looks like need-to-know information at WLT is compartmentalized. The way we do it."

"We do that when we are hiding cat turds. What are they hiding?"

"Krantz, I need your team to start reviewing every bit of paper left in their office. Invoices, Company memos, lunch receipts, EVERYTHING!"

"Reynolds, your team will take the point on employee questioning." "If any of those fuckers are on vacation or far away, send someone to them, even if it is Aruba."

At the mention of Aruba, everyone laughed and looked at Reynolds.

This would be a long day.