“D oes he always lock the office?”
I’d been watching. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn’t. But regardless, Feng the oppressor was hanging out almost all the time. So just waltzing in to retrieve the card would be under Feng’s watchful eye. Well, so was the UPS truck. Under Feng’s watchful eye.
“You know, pal, we can’t ask one of J.J.’s henchmen to go in and retrieve that chip.”
“We knew that going in. It was part of the problem. You thought the smoke alarm was a good idea, James.” We knew it would be a problem. And I didn’t like the installation crew referred to as J.J.’s henchmen.
I studied the door to office one. Conroy had gone in and the door had been closed for probably over two hours. If he was on the phone, we might have something. But one of us had to retrieve it.
James and I were standing at the entrance to the hallway that led outside. Maybe seventy feet from the entrance to all of the offices.
“Have you kept an eye on his office?”
“Well, not for the full two hours. But I figure if he talked on the phone we’d get some good audio.”
“No one else with him?” James was watching the closed door.
“I didn’t watch the whole time.” There could have been someone who walked in. I’d only seen maybe half the action.
“Yeah. We’re going to have to keep an eye on that office.”
“We’re going to have to do more than that. James, we’re going to have to retrieve the card. This is such a bad idea.” It really was.
James put his elbow in my ribs. I jerked my head in his direction and he nodded to the office one door. Sarah, lovely Sarah, was walking out.
“Whoa!”
James watched as she walked back to her office. “I’ll get that card, Skip. I will. I just thought of a way.”
My selfless roommate. My best friend. Looking out for me. And I knew the real reason.
“Man, can you imagine the video tonight if something was going on between those two?”
My childhood compadre, looking out for me. It was ten minutes till five and if I was going to report to Carol Conroy the next day, I had to get that card.
“I’m going in, sarge.” James nodded to me. I’d half expected the salute.
“What are you going to tell him?”
“We have a problem.”
“What kind of a problem, Mr. Lessor?”
“There’s a technical glitch with the smoke detector.”
“And?”
“This will only take a minute.”
“Okay.” I’d bought into it.
“Wish me luck.” James picked up a ladder that had been carelessly left leaning against a wall. He lifted it over his shoulder and slowly walked toward Conroy’s office.
Feng watched. His eyes were glued to James’s stride. When my roommate arrived at the door, he set the ladder down and leaned into the office. Within twenty seconds Conroy stormed out. He stood outside and scanned the computer room. Once again his eyes rested on me, and with a swagger he started his walk.
I could have walked away. I could have run for cover. But my best friend was putting himself on the line. For the possibility of seeing a steamy sex scene, yes, but it was what we were hired to do. I stood my ground. I had to stall this guy. Had to give James enough time to pick up the last three hours of conversation and action. I was dripping with sweat, but I stood my ground.
“Moore.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I told you this was to be taken care of. In short order.”
“You told me that three hours ago, sir.”
He frowned, and shot me a sideways glance. “This is the second time someone-” he waved his hand toward his office, “someone has interrupted my work. Do you understand this?”
“I do.”
“When I’m in my office, work around me.”
“Sir?”
“Do something else. When I’m out of the office, get Feng. I’ll give you and your partner permission to work in the office. You’re the only ones. Got it? And Feng will be there the entire time. Understood?”
We had access to the office any time he was out of it? Feng had no idea what we were doing. Of course, he didn’t trust us. He’d proven that by putting the GPS under our car. But all we had to do was work on that smoke detector once or twice, take the card out, put it back, and take it out, and my job was finished. Sandy Conroy was giving us carte blanche?
“Understood.”
“Then that’s that.” He brushed his slightly unruly black hair off his forehead, straightened his tie, and took another look around the room. “This will work out much better. Just make sure that Feng is in the office.”
“No problem.”
“I have a lot of important papers in that office. Not to mention documents and files on the computer.”
“I can imagine.”
He looked at me through squinted eyes. “No, I doubt that you can. Anyway, thank you for getting me the smoke detector. We’d be up a creek if that office burned down.”
The guy was thanking me for setting him up. This spy business was just getting stranger and stranger.
“And tonight, can you park your car at Sarah’s?”
James would probably be upset that we didn’t have a smoke detector at Sarah’s condo too. “No problem.”
“Okay then.” He turned and walked toward the reception area and I watched James walk out of the office, ladder under his arm. I hadn’t noticed his T-shirt before.
Live every day like it was your last
Someday you’ll be right.