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PART 4:
CANDID CAMERON



A SHORT STORY
BY K.H. KAYSER & S.J. SLEGER, 2021



Cameron sat in her office, starring on her screen while thinking back the Rodo case. Cholly involved her heavily, made her a crucial part of the investigation and it did her carrer and standing within the police department a lot of good. Cholly was a great influence on her, as was Starling, she was glad to have had these two in her life. The case though...it always left her with a bad feeling, like it wasn't over.

Cameron tried to get in a more positive mind set, which was hard. That was some bad shit she saw in front of her, and it smelled like Cholly is in danger, and she herself, too. She exhauled and than inhaled deeply to ready herself to call Tom.

How insanely obvious it got that there was severe chemistry between the two and that it would lead to more. And she was open to that possibility, she admitted to herself. Absolutely.

She checked out Tom online a little, and he passed with flying color. A decent guy, married the wrong woman, focused on his job now - much like herself at that. Charming, funny but not in a frat boy way, some first signs signs of maturing, which she appreciated after her fair share of disappointments in relationships with the wrong guys.

And yet, all she felt towards Tom just got jeopardized over the last 15 hours give or take...

She picked up her phone and at 11.35 called him, Tom. He took it as expected with calm seriousness, he wasn't panicking but clearly understood. Good man. "...and, Cameron, thank you!" her mind replayed his words, the sound of it, it was reassuring, attentative - sexy, even. But, back to the task at hand, words out, the other side probably heard it all because whatever incriptions she used was no match for these guys. Now time was of the essence. She opened her drawer, then a case she had in it, threw her mobile in it, closed the case and then the drawer, locked it and taped the key on the bottom of her coffee mug. then she grabbed her bagpack and left her office. She went down the hall, into the elevator, three floors down, then to the staircases, four flights up and into the toilet. there she entered a stall, closed the door and took some garments out of her bag. She got changed, left the toilet and took the elevator one floor up, where she went into another toilet. there she entered a stall, took out a burner phone and called a number: "Hey, Chrissy, ready when you are!" Not a minute later, Cameron heard the door open and next a little knock on her stall door. Cameron opened the stall winked at Chrissy and entered the garbage cart Chrissy the cleaning lady rolled in front of the stall. all without a word, and 120 seconds later Chrissy would roll out the cart and into the next toilet, and then another one, and then took the maintenance elevator one floor down, where Chrissy pushed the cart into the maintanace room, changed herself, left the room, locked it and punched out 4 minutes later. Her shift ended as always a little after noon time, today at 12:06.

Cameron was one storey above her office, about 300 feet North West. She got out of the cart, and took out two lap tops from her bag pack. she used one to hack intop the building's survaillance system to see if somebody is coming after her. then she opened another window with which she started the feed of her own surveillance system, which she placed around her office already some time ago, just in case. Good thing she did.


And now she would fucking go for it! She turned to the second laptop and set up a couple of shielding layers, fully aware of them being penetrated rather instantly, and started to deep dive into the band of six...she wanted them, whoever thet are, to panik. she went all in, she searched and recorded even the porn Fourlet, Fullerton, Stoltherer, Clayburn and Hodgin would watch, she downloaded their emails, bank statements, podcast lists, and ebooks. She riffled through their photo albums, and GPS records of their cars, she collected everything of their wife's (four were married) and their wife's lovers (three of them). And while at it, she unleashed a legion of search bots to do recon on PATRICK DOUGHAN, knowing that this would put drops of sweat on the tech department of whichever agency good ole Patty works for.

She only took a break at 14:46, when Tom called her. She set up an unusual shielding umbrella, very new and beta from an Israeli joint she heavily suspected to be working for MOSSAD, which in this case really didn't matter, and then she called Tom back.


After the call, she wondered for a second what that mystery Cunthia could possibly mean when she said "You will get a call tonight, that I need you to take"...ominous...and then she dove right back into her search of the six.


16:15

Cameron considered downloading the school records of their children...but decided against it, birthcertificates was enough of a threat, right?


18:35

These wasps...rich and ruthless...pale and boring...greedy and connected...wait...wtf...WHAT?...that doesn't make any sense...

Cameron paused. What is going on there?

Cameron looked at it, she couldn't believe it. She read it again, and again. Doughan was blackmailing Fullerton...


​




19:46

No doubt, Doughan was blackmailing Fullerton AND Fullerton's wife. Doughan set her up, and filmed her having an affair he arranged. Fucking unbelievable.


21:22

Doughan blackmailed Fourlet, too, and how! Incredible! Doughan forged father Fourlet's last will, and held it over Fourlet's head. Fourlet, investigative journalist my ass, even believed the whole charade out of a bad consciousness, since he did have a rocky relationship with his father. Like, who didn't, you moron?


21:41

Cameron's burner rang, and it wasn't Tom...who the hell could that be?

OH!

Really?

Cynthia's mystery caller?

Cameron picked up "Hi?"

"Hi" said a slightly altered voice "good work, Cameron. you rattled them. they are on defcon 2, now let's give them reason to go nuclear. Put your bots on pause for Patrick and let them search John Fitzgerald O'Malley. oh, and get out of that maintenance closet, they are coming for you in a few minutes.

pick up your things, take the maintenance elevator and go to P2, where you will see Mrs. Redhead in a silver convertable Benz with LA number plates. She will greet you with 'how's it hanging bitch?' and you answer with 'you'll never grow up, doncha'."

"Got it"

"Good, one last thing, Cameron, open your hair and do not wear that wig nor the baseball cap. Unless you like a bullet go through them. Now hurry"

CLICK and dead was the line.


Cameron swallowed hard, she understood that this was the real shit, this was so fucking covert, this guys even fart clandestine.

This was beyond scary.


And, then she saw two guys entering her office...JESUS F. CHRIST...


Never would have Cameron guessed she could get packed that fast. With her hair open she hopped into the maintenance elevator and pressed P2 while her heart was pounding like a sledgehammer. No cocaine could make her that awake, her eyes were on tunnel vision, time slowed down, she couldn't feel her legs.

the elevator door opened and a silver colored convertable stopped right in front of her

"Hey bitch, how's it hanging?" the lady with the weird red hair asked her laughingly.

"You'll never grow up, wontcha" said Cameron and got in the car. Just to stare down the barrel of a 9mm, that the smiling redhead pointed at Cameron..."'Wontcha' you say?"

Cameron was baffled...wtf...oh - DAMN! "I meant doncha and now get me outta here" barked Cameron back at her, to which the lady smiled and then kicked the Benz' pedal hard. They drove out of the parking garage to punk music, the redhead wasn't just good looking but also had very good taste in music, Cameron had to admit. After two corners, the convertible took a hard right into an alley, where the redhead turned off the lights and music. Total silence. Then, after a seemingly forever 40 seconds, she looked at Cameron, index over her lips, gun again in her hand, up and ready but this time not on Cameron. "OK, Cameron, you did well, now walk over to that delivery van over there, knock twice on the back door and get in, they'll bring you to a safe house. Stay alive, girl"


With soft knees Cameron did as told, and to her relief the man and the lady in the back of the van wore FBI vests.


At 22:35 they arrived at a nice upper middle class house in suburban Chicago. Cameron was asked to take a seat in the living room and a lady asked her if she'd like to have a coffe or something "I'm special agent Barnworth, by the way, in charge with your safety for the next 48 hours give or take. Nice to meet you Cameron. You impressed the hell out of people who want you alive and if you ask me, I think you might get poached soon"


The coffee was surprisingly good, and then it all stopped...black...out.




October 13, 07:45


Next Cameron heard that annoying beeping, and her head was so weirdly slow, she wanted to sleep but BEEP BEEP....BEEP BEEP...BEEP BEEP

Cameron opened her eyes, all so blurred...BEEP BEEP...BEEP BEEP...just stop it will you? BEEP BEEP...BEEP and she hit towards the beeping and her eyes gained focus...

"And you're up! Hi there, don't be alarmed, I mean you no harm at all. Quite to the contrary actually, I saved you yesterday. And I made you coffee, Cameron. This time without any tranquilizers and please accept my apologies for that." a voice said to her. Cameron was wide awake now: "who are you, where am I and what's going on?"




"All valid questions, and I will answer them one by one, OK? I can't tell you who I am, but you are at home, Cholly is safe and Patrick Doughan apprehended. Very much also thanks to you, I may say. You did fine work, and overall impressed me and some other people, Cameron. Also, you can stop looking for that 22 you keep under the pillow." with that the man held the revolver out for her, so that she could grab it. "I'll give you the bullets in a minute. I am just a bit careful, as i am sure nobody understands better than you!" Cameron took her gun, and checked whether it really was empty, and it was. The man laughed a little, not mockingly, while watching Cameron check "I like you, not taking my word even at that. Questioning everything, critical mind set, some woulñd say paranoid - I'd say, you should work with us. What do you think, Cameron, would you like to join the big league?" Cameron's head was still drowsy, she looked at the coffee but rejected that idea instantly, fool me once... "you need a moment, I understand. Look, we talked yesterday on the phone, I pointed you to P2 and the redhead, she says hi, by the by. how about I let you take a shower, and wait next door. Again, Cameron, you are safe and so are your friends. If I wanted to harm you I would have clearly done so before when you were out, no? I wait 7 mintes, then I would kindly like to have an answer, dear. my offer is serious." Cameron poured cold water over her face, till she felt better, she didn't want to shower with a stranger next door. 4 minutes later she stepped into the room, where she saw Mr. grey suit with pale blue shirt and dark blue tie on her sofa, sipping coffee and smiling. "tell me about the dental plan" Cameron said "but first tell me which agency we're talking here and just how fast I'll get shot or poisoned or thrown out of an airplane, or whatever James Bond shit you guys do these days" "You don't sound thrilled, and well, that may be a bit my fault, I think. Cameron, we saved you, we saved Cholly, and both of the Sullivans and, maybe even more important to you, we also saved Mr. Surroughs. Good guy, and very much in love with you, if I may say so. Unsolicitated advice, go for it. Now, back to the saving part. I am not at liberty to tell you much, however I know you will try to find it out online. I strongly advise against that, Cameron. Either join us, or stay clear of the entire episode, pretend it all never happened, just a weird dream - can you do that?" Cameron stepped closer to the grey suit und held her hand out demanding "Gimme that mug, if you want that conversation to continue" The suit laughed and relenquished his cup "You got it!" After a little sip, Cameron raised her eyebrow in approval and took a longer sip. The suit placed Cameron's bullets on the sofa table, one by one, forming a neat line. when he was done he looked at Cameron and nodded. "You can take the prints of them and the mug, however, run them wherever you want, they are in no system. They will however make sure you'll get visitors within 6 to 75 minutes depending on your whereabouts. I would recommend it, is what I'm saying" "OK, OK, so you are fucking almighty and all and think that's gonna impress me terribly. OUHHH-HOOOGH, spookyspook. Not working, try giving me something more real, like the initials of your agency, or telling me who these clowns were that searched my office yesterday, or - tell me something about what actually happened with Cholly and these weird wasps and their blackmailing game" "We have four letters, you never heard of us, very few know about us. we work in coordination with all the big three lettered ones and homeland, too. to know about us your clearance must be on a level you never even heard about. If you'd work with us, you'd continue at the Chicago PD, nobody there would know a thing. You'd get a little promotion, that would require you to work more laisson cases, you'd travel more."



Cameron calmly listened, the suit continued "A lot of your cases will be fronts though, and an important part of your job will be contant learning and improving. Not just with us and in-house, we want you to do your own learning. find the latest stuff, keep your ears open and on the ground. we are smart enough to know that we don't know it all. we want curious smart people that keep up-to-date on their own. You fit these requirements, and very well, I may add. Also, we would like you to continue to work with Mr. Chester, who we watch with great joy and amusement. we have worked with him a few times to our absolute satisfaction, I may add, although good ole Cholly doesn't know that - only suspects it. On the surface nothing would change for you. Now, as for risks, honestly, I don't see how your life would be more dangerous through working for us. You are a tech girl, and we would wanna keep it that way. we need no James Bonds. you'll just need to stay paranoid and the moment something smells funny, we talk, cause shit happens. like that whole Doughan mess. It's rare, and folks like you and Cholly stumble upon such heaps naturally, but by working with us you're at least better protected." "Why do I think that you are leaving out something really important here - hmmm, maybe because it sounds too fucking good to be true? Spill it now, or get the fuck out!" Cameron said firmly. The suit got up, bottoned his jacket, nodded a silent but polite goodbye and turned towards the door. "Wait..." said Cameron "just like that? C'mon, you got more, don't be coy, but stop shitting me" Without turning to Cameron he re replied "I don't endanger any of my operatives, you have my word on that. we are a tech outfit, not a Hollywood movie. why risk highly intelligent and expensively trained assets, no? think about it, how dumb would that be...I mean how many people can operate the charon, 5? 3? takes an IQ through the roof and talent that's one in a billion...why risk getting them shot, poisoned or else, no?" "Ahhh.." said Cameron "there it is, your ace up the sleeve - nice!" Cameron clapped three times faining applaus. The suit turned around looked in her eyes, picked the lower corners of his jacket and made a little ballerina bow, smilingly asking "and? did it work?" Cameron was so caught by surprise, she bursted out in laughter... 30 minutes later Cameron shook the suit's hand, the two had an agreement. When he left, Cameron locked the door, went to her coffee maker, looked at the beans the suit left, and she poured herself another cup of the impressive coffee he left behind. she sat down with the cup, drank a bit, took a deep breath and called Tom. "Hi, Cameron! Wow, talk about timing, I was just about to call you. I just got outta here, all's good on our end. I am going to drive to Cholly now, I hear he is fine. How are you doing?" "Well, glad to hear you're all OK over there, and so am I, no worries. Looks like I missed all the action, wanna fill me in?" "Hey, I'd love to, but how about over dinner?" Cameron left a strategic pause for effect... "I mean, only if you're free, I don't wanna..." "OK" she cut in before he'd row back too far "but one condition" "Of course" shot out the relieved Tom "just name it" "Pizza must be involved, and good one, remeber that I am a NYC girl that lives in Chicago!" "Tonight, 8pm at Dino's then?" Cameron nearly dropped the phone...took her a second to regain some cool - how did he know? and tonight? "OK, player - at 8 at Dino's, you're on!"




THIS SHORT STORY IS A PART OF THE LAKE MICHIGAN INVESTIGATIONS PROJECT BY K.H. KAYSER & S.J. SLEGER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © RIPPLEDIP PUBLISHING LLC 2020. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF THE AUTHORS.



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