A State of Grace Pt. 04

"C'mon, before it gets cold!"

The three of us smiled back and headed for the kitchen. As I passed her, Crystal leaned in and whispered, "It looks to me like Kayla has TWO playmates in her age group!"

I shot her a wicked look that she returned with interest. Just before I could take a suitable revenge, though, she slipped away and headed for the stove.

We enjoyed a meal of eggs, bacon, toast, and juice. Kayla was her usual bubbly self, and it was contagious. It's hard to stay depressed and worried about what's going to happen when you're sitting with a happy, cheerful child! I felt my own spirits brighten as I listened to her banter back and forth with Kevin and her mother.

At last, though, breakfast was over. Kevin cleaned up the kitchen while Crystal and Kayla got ready to go home. As they were leaving, Crystal embraced me.

"Things are going to start moving quickly," she said. "The people I've worked with in the past don't muck around, and with the kind of evidence you've uncovered...well, let's just say that the next few days will get really exciting, really fast!"

She pushed back from me slightly so she could look me in the eye.

"I'm not trying to sound melodramatic or anything, but you and Kevin need to be especially careful while all this is going on. Pay attention to what's going on around you at all times. Be vigilant!"

"Do you think we're in danger?" I asked.

Crystal frowned and shrugged.

"I honestly don't know, but this isn't the time to get complacent. There are some pretty powerful people - at the local level, at least - on the list of names that Kevin dug up. A lot of those people will be looking at some very serious prison time if they're charged and found guilty. They might come to feel like they have nothing to lose. And there is nothing more dangerous than a powerful person who thinks they have nothing to lose!"

Crystal hesitated for a moment, clearly having an argument with herself. Then, she heaved a soft sigh.

"It hasn't happened often, but there have been one or two instances in the past when someone has learned that I was the one that provided evidence against them. In those instances, there was some...unpleasantness aimed my way."

She favored me with a nasty grin.

"Fortunately for me, I'm very wealthy, and I have a couple gentlemen on my staff who look after Kayla and I. In those instances, they were able to make sure that the 'unpleasantness' didn't interfere with our lives. They were even nice enough to leave remains for the FBI's forensics team to work with!"

I felt my eyes widen involuntarily at the thought of what she was implying. Crystal will occasionally embellish a story, but she makes it a point never to actually lie to her friends.

"I had no idea," I said quietly.

"You're not supposed to, silly!" she said. "As far as most people know, Mr. Andrews is my personal assistant, and Mr. Cantrell is Kayla's male 'nanny.' Not even Kayla knows that the two of them have other responsibilities, or that back in the day, they used to do very different work! Then there's the doorman at the condo where we live..."

Crystal broke off her sentence, smiled enigmatically at me again, and then looked over her shoulder and waved at a silver Chevy Suburban that was parked a couple houses down from us. As I watched, the driver - who wasn't visible through the tinted windshield - blinked the lights of the vehicle twice. I was gobsmacked. I had no idea Crystal took that kind of precaution. But then like she said, I wasn't supposed to.

"I'm not trying to scare you, Gracie," Crystal said. "I just want you and Kevin to be extra careful. Other than Kayla, you two are the ones who mean the most to me! You understand me, accept me, and best of all don't hold my past against me! If anything happened to you...look, just make sure it doesn't, okay?"

Not sure what to say, I simply nodded my head in agreement. Then I hugged her tightly once more.

"I'll be in touch as soon as the team leader contacts me," Crystal said into my ear. "Until then, just keep your eyes open, okay?"

"I will," I said, releasing her.

"Kayla!" she called. "Come on, honey, it's time to go home. Besides, you and I apparently need to have another talk about how we treat expensive electronics!"

"Uh oh," Kayla said very softly, but with feeling.

Crystal hugged Kevin tightly, then she took Kayla's hand and led her out to their Escalade. As soon as Crystal backed out of our driveway, I noticed the silver Suburban pull out and follow at a discreet distance.

For a while, after Crystal and Kayla left, I wandered the house aimlessly. Kevin and I both spent some time in the basement, working out on the exercise equipment. Then I got my tablet out and surfed the web for a while. By the time lunch arrived, I was going stir crazy!

Kevin made us grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade tomato soup for lunch (he uses Grandma's recipe and it's fantastic). As he served lunch, I looked out the kitchen window at the beautiful Saturday morning outside. Even though the early spring weather was still on the cool side, it was nice and sunny. There wasn't a rain cloud in sight, and there wasn't much of a breeze. It was just about a perfect Saturday morning.

"Kevin," I said after a bite of my grilled cheese. "How about we hit the bike trail after lunch? This time of year, we'll probably have to ourselves."

Kevin looked at me, his expression a silent query.

"I can't stand just sitting here waiting," I elaborated.

"'They also serve, those who but stand and wait,'" Kevin quoted.

"Okay, classic literature lessons aside," I said, tolerantly, "I'm going stir crazy. So how about it?"

He shrugged and took another spoonful of his soup.

"I'm game," he said. "We could both use the extra cardio, anyway."

"That's the spirit!" I enthused.

As soon as we'd finished eating and washing the dishes, we loaded our bicycles on my Jeep and headed for the park. Kevin and I spent the trip in companionable, loving silence. It was the kind of quiet you can only have with someone who truly loves you; someone who is secure enough in their relationship with you that they don't need to fill every second with idle chatter.

As I pulled into the parking lot at the head of the bicycle trails, I saw that I was almost correct. While we didn't have the place completely to ourselves, there were only two other vehicles in the lot. One was a large red pickup truck, the kind with a 4-door extended cab. (I'm terrible with the makes and models of cars.)

The other car was a dark gray muscle car of some sort. It had a spotlight mounted on the doorpost of the driver side that made it look a lot like an unmarked police cruiser, actually. To be completely honest, other than taking note of their presence, I didn't pay much attention to the other vehicles. I parked my Jeep in the usual spot, and Kevin and I got out.

Kevin took our bikes down off the rack while I got our packs out of the back. I put on my light day pack and handed Kevin his well-worn rucksack. Damn, it was heavy, I thought to myself. He took it from me and settled it on his back, and buckled the sternum strap and the waistbelt. Kevin glanced around the lot with seeming casualness, but I knew him far too well to be fooled; he was concerned about something.

"What's wrong, honey?" I asked.

"That dark gray Charger over there," he said back quietly. "It might not mean anything, but it's got a spotlight, dark-tint windows, and municipal license plates. It's practically screaming 'hi there! I'm an unmarked police cruiser!' It could just be a cop enjoying a late lunch. Like I said, it could be nothing at all, but it just feels off to me."

"Ooohhh, your Spidey Sense is tingling!" I teased.

He smiled, but the expression didn't have any real humor in it. Clearly, he was genuinely concerned for some reason.

"Should we pack up and leave?" I asked, picking up on the depth of his concern.

"No," he said, finally. "I can't think of any logical reason why it's presence here is a threat. I guess maybe I'm just feeling a little paranoid, because I spent too much time with...well, you know."

I smiled tenderly at him, and lightly kissed his lips.

"I can certainly understand why you might be a little jumpy," I told him. "In light of everything that's going to be happening in the next few days, it's probably a good thing to feel that way! Why don't we go ahead and do our warm-up lap, and then you can try and keep up with me on the trails, alright?"

"'Try and keep up with you?'" he snorted. "Alright, I accept your challenge, milady! You lead and I'll follow!"

We mounted our bikes and headed for Trail 1. This was the least physically demanding of the 4 available trails. It was basically a big oval. It was wide enough for two people to ride abreast if they wished, and it didn't have any hairpin turns or steep climbs to hassle the inexperienced. It was an excellent trail to stretch and warm up your leg muscles before trying something more demanding.

We did two circuits on Trail 1, then I took the exit loop and made for Trail 4, the most demanding trail. I was feeling full of myself, and I wanted to see if I could smoke my brother out. So, I punched up the speed to the very limits of what was safe. Trail 4 is quite narrow in places, and unlike the others, it does have some challenging switchbacks, hairpin turns, steep climbs, and equally steep descents. It isn't for the timid or the inexperienced rider!

We made two circuits on this trail as well, and I was about to turn us in for a third, but then I heard voices ahead of us. There were two speakers, and man and a woman from the sound of it. They were too faint for me to understand until we reached the head of the trail. Then I could hear them clearly.

"I have no idea who they really are, Hannah, but I'll tell you this much," the male voice was saying. "There's no way in hell that they are who they say they are."

"Why do you say that?" the female voice asked.

To my surprise, I found that I knew that voice. It was Hannah, the nurse from the hospital! As we rounded the corner and arrived at the trailhead, I could see her. She was standing with a tall, well-built man in a muscle shirt and shorts. He was in excellent shape, though he had a truly wicked scar on the left side of his neck and his left shoulder.

There were also two young children, twins from the look of them, on little bicycles. They clearly wanted to start riding and were irritated with their parents' desire to talk instead of getting moving. They also had a pair of beautiful dogs, who were currently lavishing their attention on the two little girls.

"Well for starters, they didn't show us any badge or credentials," the man continued. Then he caught sight of Kevin and I coming towards them.

"Whoops, looks like we're in the way here," he said. "Sorry!"

"I recognize you!" Kevin said from behind me. "You're Nurse West, from the hospital!"

"Oh! Hello, you two! Kevin and Grace, right?" Hannah replied with a friendly smile.

"That's us!" I agreed, returning her smile.

"This is my husband, Chris," she said, resting a hand on Chris's arm. "These are my daughters Brittany and Bethany, and our mangy mutts, Berry and Goldie."

"Hello," Brittany said.

"Mooom! They aren't mangy mutts!" Bethany protested. "Oh, hello!" she then said over her shoulder to us.

I grinned as Hannah rolled her eyes at her daughter.

"I don't mean to horn in on your conversation," Kevin began, dismounting his bike, "But who were you talking about just now?"

"Oh, there are these two guys in black suits in the parking lot," Hannah said with a laugh. "They look like they're the Blues Brothers or something."

"They said they're Federal Agents, but if they really are, I'll eat this bicycle!" Chris rumbled, his eyes dark with suspicion. "For one thing, they're driving a Charger with local municipal plates - not what a Federal Agent would be cruising around in. For another, they didn't show us any credentials or ID."

"What would Federal Agents be doing here in the park?" I asked.

"They said they were looking for someone named Crystal, but they didn't give us a description," Chris replied. "They also said they tracked her here. That was another thing that sounded strange to me."

"Tracked her here?" Kevin spoke up, his tone dark.

"Well, that is what they said," Hannah admitted, giving her husband a puzzled glance.

"Mommy can we PLEASE go riding now?" Bethany asked with a huff.

"Soon, Beth," Hannah soothed.

"You're in the Jeep Liberty, right?" Chris asked.

Kevin nodded his head yes.

"I think they ran your plates," Chris said, "and they apparently didn't like the result."

"Are you two in some kind of trouble?" Hannah asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I don't know," Kevin replied honestly.

He studied the two of them for a moment, then caught my eye. I could almost sense the question he was asking me, and I nodded my head yes.

"We have a close friend named Crystal," Kevin said. "She and her daughter stayed with us last night. I just can't understand why anyone would think she was here with us now. As far as tracking her here -"

Kevin broke off in the middle of his sentence.

"She used your phone," he said very quietly.

"Excuse me?" Chris said.

"Huh?" I said.

"Last night, when she called the...you know, when she made the call, Crystal used your cell phone!" Kevin explained.

"So what?" I asked, not seeing what he was getting at.

"Chris just told us that the 'Federal Agents' told him they tracked Crystal here, but they didn't have a physical description. They're not tracking her, they're tracking you, and I think they're doing it through your phone!"

"I don't understand," I said, though I was starting to.

"They must have been monitoring the house, or monitoring our phones," Kevin said, wiping his forehead. "Or they could've just been doing random sweeps of the local cellular frequencies. They're just radio waves, it isn't hard to intercept them. They aren't even encrypted!"

"But why would anyone care about what you guys are saying?" Chris asked, his eyes hardening.

He very carefully positioned himself between us and his family, and his right hand inched towards his waistband.

"What kind of trouble are you in?" he asked.

Kevin made sure to keep his hands visible.

"We aren't trying to cause trouble for anyone," Kevin said. "I'm sorry you were disturbed, we'll just leave."

He touched my arm, and lead us down the path to the parking lot, walking his bike.

"Good to see you again, Hannah," I said as I passed them. "You have a lovely family."

"Thank you, good to see you too," Hannah replied, concern in her voice.

As we walked, I pulled out my phone and checked it. There were no new messages or missed calls. The signal strength was 3 out of 5 bars. I did note that the battery charge was lower than what I thought it should be. After all, I hadn't used it yet today. I looked at Kevin's back as he walked cautiously down the trail.

"Do you really think they're tracking my phone?" I asked him.

"I do," he replied without hesitation. "I'm not sure when they started doing it, or what the pretense for doing it was. But it seems evident that they are. The fact that that car was here ahead of us tells me they may have been using it as a remote microphone, too."

I was shocked. That had all kinds of negative implications! Literally almost too many to count! I opened my mouth to ask Kevin for more details, but suddenly he held up his hand and gestured for me to stop and be quiet. A second later, I understood why.

"The signal's stopped moving again," came a man's voice from somewhere ahead of us.

"How far?" another asked.

"Hard to say, exactly," the first voice replied. "This damn thing uses the metric system. I don't understand all this meters and kilometers crap!"

"Then what does it say the distance is in meters, or whatever?" the second voice demanded irritably.

"Uh, fifteen meters, I think."

"Oh, for Chrissakes, give me the fucking thing!"

Kevin turned and stared at me.

"Give me your phone, quick!" he whispered.

I handed it to him wordlessly. He took it and put it, along with his own phone, in the tall grass to the left of the path where they couldn't be easily seen. Then he grabbed his bike.

"Follow me, and be as quiet as you know how to be!" he whispered urgently.

He picked up his bike and hurried back down the access trail in the direction we'd just come from. I did the same, staying as close behind him as we could. When we reached to point where the different trails branched off, he took the entrance to trail 4. I followed him for about 100 yards or so down the trail. At that point, he stopped and mounted his bike again, and I followed suit.

Still being quiet, we rode single file for another quarter-mile, then he stopped at the first switchback.

"Okay," he said very quietly. "From here, we leave the trail. If we follow the slope down the side of this hill, we'll come to little spring that will lead us -"

"Straight to the creek," I finished, and he nodded his head in agreement. "Good idea, Kev!"

"Well then, after you, milady!" he said, smiling faintly.

I hopped lightly over the steel guardrail and Kevin handed our bike over to me. Then, he followed me over the side, and we started climbing down. It was a damn good thing we were both in such good physical shape! It would not have been an easy climb in any case, but carrying our bikes with us made it that much more difficult.

It took us around 40 minutes to reach the forest floor. I recognized where we were almost instantly. We were still well inside the treeline, but I could see the edge of the parking lot from here. My Jeep was parked just a few feet beyond the treeline...and so was that Charger! There was another car there now, too. That one was a marked police car from the HPD. The two guys in suits were talking with two uniformed officers. I couldn't hear them from here, but the body language told me no one was very happy.

"C'mon, Gracie, gotta go! Now!" Kevin whispered urgently.

We turned and made for the creek. It was slow going! With the coming of Spring came the renewed growth of brush and brambles. There were also hidden trip hazards in the form of fallen branches and gopher holes. I fell twice. Even the normally sure-footed Kevin stumble a few times. Still, I thought we'd make it alright. Well, I did up until I heard the shouts, anyway.

"Hey, you two! STOP!" came one of the voices I remembered from earlier. "FBI, STOP!"

Neither of us was inclined to stop; in fact, we picked up the pace, now that being quiet was no longer an issue. I was giving the ground in front of me my full attention. Fortunately, Kevin is better at multitasking than I am. He slammed me to the ground and covered me with his body an instant before the unmistakable sound of fully-automatic gunfire roared behind us!

That sound, CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK, cannot be mistaken for anything other than what it is. Fortunately, it was still far enough away that the shooter missed with his burst, I thought. There was a meaty THUNK sound from above me, and Kevin grunted.

"Please tell me you're armed," he said.

"Yes, I've got my Smith & Wesson in my waistband. One spare magazine, too," I said.

I didn't have to tell him that only gave me a total of 16 rounds. He could do the same math and get the same, grim result.

"I have my Kahr and two spare magazines, plus some more loose rounds in my pack," he said with a grunt.

I grimaced up at him.

"Well, if you knew there was going to be a gunfight, you would've brought your AR-15, I know!"

He grinned in spite of the situation.

"Gracie, honey, if I knew there was going to be a gunfight, I'd have stayed home!"