Dealing to a Stranger

584 meters away

"Goddammit! Our runner's out getting breakfast, you two get into cover-alls and park along her usual running route, go! I'll leave a note for Tony, to come when he gets back. I'll take a car and follow her in trail. Goddammit why didn't you wake me up when she got up? Go Goddammit," Lead Agent Allen Dupree barked at Frank and Dave!

They did.

Over half way into her morning's run

There it was again, the same car, crossing an intersection two blocks up in the subdivision she ran beside. A girl sort of knows when someone is watching her. A smart girl, out alone, even in the daylight, should always keep her mind alert to her surroundings. A very smart girl, afraid her boyfriend might be found by the wrong people, watches everything, all the time. She picked up her pace, pushing herself harder. she pounded towards the next intersection right before the road bent around going up the backside of the subdivision. She didn't see the car as she went by the next intersection, she turned her head left before the six foot, and wood fence cut off her view of the intersection. Two streets up the car nosed into the intersection before the fence blocked her view. She pushed up her pace more and rounded the bend, heading up the road that went along the backside of the subdivision, then by the back of her condo about a half mile away. She went up two intersections at a fast pace, her breath becoming ragged. The car was pulled into a driveway about three houses down the block. Someone sat in the driver's seat, she couldn't see more except that his face was turned towards her as she lost sight of the car, as its' back up lights came on right before the fence finally blocked her view. She started sprinting up the road heading for her townhouse. She couldn't make it at this pace. She gulped at the air like a fish out of water. She saw a phone van about 50 yards away, someone was working next to a pole, she slowed some, and then to a walk as she approached the van. She gasped air as she walked by the front of the van, sweat from the run and fear poured off her, she watched over her shoulder as she approached the back of the van.

"Good morning."

Kim turned sharply to the guy working with some cables on the ground, tools lay about on the ground, he smiled at her, he seemed familiar. Kim smiled back and managed to get out a 'morning' between breaths that slowed. The man pushed one of the closer doors to the van closed. An arm reached out of the van and pulled at the other to close it some also. She knew that arm, Dave's tattoo gave it away.

"Is that you Dave?"

Nothing happened for a second or two, then a head came around the front closed door. Dave stuck his head out, saw Kim and smiled a big smile.

"Hey Kim, what are you doing around here?"

Kim's breathing was almost normal again. She glanced back down the road, nothing. She pointed in the direction of her condo, "I live just right over there Dave," she smiled at him. She looked back down the road, a different car turned into the road and came towards them and passed. "Guess I don't feel so sorry for taking your money at the casino," Kim said as Dave carefully stepped out of the van through the far door, then pushed it closed.

Dave gave her a questioning look.

Kim smiled at both men, "You guys work for the damn phone company, makes my casino look like a bunch of slackers taking other peoples money according to my phone bills and DSL fees.

Everybody got a chuckle out of that.

Kim looked back down the road, still no sign of the other car. "So, ya coming over tonight so I can take back some of my phone bill?"

"Nope, can't make it tonight Kim. I have a meeting with my boss to update him on our progress putting in the new fiber optics system. Did tell ole Frank here about this wicked dealer that thrives on taking my money." Dave nodded at Frank, "That's the one I told you about Frank."

Frank smiled at Kim, "Dave, she doesn't look like a money stealing troll with a big wart on her nose, looks pretty cute to me." Frank rose, wiped his hands on the coveralls and extended it to Kim.

"Hi. My name's Frank," he shook Kim's hand gently. "He paints a different picture of you Kim." He looked over Kim, "I can see why, love the suit. We may just run into some problems and have to hang around longer, the view here is pretty nice."

Kim gave him a frowning smile, "Come on over tonight Frank, I think I'll like taking your money as much as I like taking Dave's."

Everyone chuckled again.

"Well, I gotta run, I'm going shopping for some new shoes," she snickered at her joke, she waved at both guys, they waved back as she turned and started running up the road at a leisurely pace towards her townhouse, looking at all the intersections as she passed them, nothing.

50 yards away and growing

"She seemed sort of scared at first, think Allen spooked her?"

Frank answered, "Might have, he spooks me. She acted pretty normal to us though, should we tell Allen?"

"Yeah," said Dave, "But that guy sort of creeps me out anyway. The way he burns extra copies of her naked all the time. I mean she is going to have to go, but I think he has other plans for her before she dies. At first I didn't want to have to be the one, but I'd much rather make it quick than to think about what Allen would do to her first."

"Yeah," both men watched her small, distant form turn into the condo's parking lot, flashing an electric, silver blue with bright red shorts. "Seems such a shame though, I don't think she in all that deep, it's going to guilt by association."

"Yeah," Dave sighed softly, "let's pack up and get back to the apartment, she said she was going to go shopping."

13 minutes later

Dave saw Allen leering at the monitor as Kim finished toweling herself off in the bedroom, he pulled out a disc from the machine and inserted another one.

"She stopped by and saw me by accident, she didn't make us, the phone cover worked good. Told her she could expect Frank to come over tonight."

Allen didn't take his eyes off the monitor, switching to a different pen camera to follow her back into the bathroom. He set a time marker on the player recorder and pushed the burn button. He watched as the camera swung wildly, and was blocked, it swung again and ended up pointing at half a Scope bottle and a wall. Allen switched back to the bedroom camera, making a note to tell Tony to go in as the cable repairman and readjust the cold cream jar as soon as she was verified at work.

"OK Dave, good job. Gives us a wider spread of up close agents. Let Frank take your spot tonight, you get tomorrow, I'll take the next. Keeps Tony out of the loop, he can be our running buddy, she's used to him being there, they have even ran together a couple of times."

"She mentioned she was going to go shopping."

"Hm, wonder where, maybe back to the car dealers. Don't know why she shops so much with them, she has a brand new Mercedes? You guys mount up, you take the north road, Frank south, I'll tail."

"She seemed sort of scared, Frank said, when she first came up, she might have made the car."

Kim came back out of her bathroom with the towel wrapped around her head. She went to the dresser and picked up the necklace, putting it back on.

Allen said, "Damn, I was hoping she wouldn't wear that today, I was going to have Tony go in and adjust the cold cream jar again, hoped we might get a chance to take a closer look at that, she never seems to take it off. Must be important."

Still watching Kim as she started putting on her clothes, "Tell Frank to saddle up, I'll swap to another chase car and tell Tony to get ready to go in and adjust the jar when we verify her at work. Let's go."

CHAPTER 22

Monday the 30^th of October

Sam was still going apeshit with his ring, he kept sending her his initials. She had finally figured out it was his code for his name last night. ... --- ... Almost every hour on the hour, she figured he was telling her he was coming for her. Still, the amulet barely pulsed when she held it, he was still very far away from her. Kim was over watching Missy's kids as Bernie used his new tractor and just purchased combine to clear the feed corn from his fields. It was her first day off on what should have been a two day 'weekend'. She had decided to work her next regular day off for one of the other ladies, so the woman could take her youngsters out to Trick or Treat on Halloween. Charlotte was running around with her necklace on. Kim had been afraid it wouldn't fasten around the child's neck, but it did. I just didn't flash. She had told little Lottie that it was a special, magic necklace that would make her grow up a pretty princess, now she couldn't get it back from her. She didn't worry about the child trashing the necklace, she had hung it one time while digging in a cabinet. The damn thing almost yanked her off her feet when she had tried to straighten back up. It was very pretty and very strongly designed. She chased Mel and Lottie pretending she was a dragon trying to eat the princess and being protected by her white knight, they were happy and she was happy.

586.6 yards away

Frank asked "So, what did Allen say about Farmer John and his family?"

"They found some abnormalities," replied Dave as the two watched the house from a third of a mile away in a stand of pines. "Seems farming pays off pretty good, mortgage paid off mid-January, new tractor, combine, two new Mercedes, a big new boat in June, two whopping big college funds for the kids. If that is normal, I'm in the wrong line of work."

"Think they're involved?"

Dave guessed, "Could just be gifts from the lady, best friends for life, she might have just felt like spending some of that money she got."

"Have they found where that went to?"

"No, but for 173.8 billion they are looking pretty hard. The offshore was closed down 2 months ago, and the Swiss are refusing to do a search for the funds. They say that they were given proof the money was obtained under perfectly legal conditions and for Uncle Sam to go fuck himself. State Department is still working on them, but I'd say the cagy bastard has spread it out all over the damn planet by now. Bet you 20 bucks that they still have it there and don't want to have to give it back. They probably figured we're going to tag the sum bitch, when we do they'll get to keep it till we can prove to them it was illegally gotten. Which we can't, they win either way."

"Will we still pick them up after we bag Big Money and Snow White?"

"Nope," Dave said. "Director Plummer said the FeeBee's get them. He had to throw the FBI a bone for wasting all their manpower on a non-productive stake-out. Also, the orders from on high are now, wound them if you have to, but no killing, and they want them in good working order, if at all possible."

Frank sighed, "That's the best piece of news, throws a monkey wrench into Allen's plans for the woman. He was starting to scare me, the way he watches her and the recordings over and over. That's a sicko motherfucker."

Dave sort of half whispered even though they were the only two agents for over a mile, "Did you see this morning's paper?"

"Just the sport's section."

"Try expanding your mind Frank. A poor hooker was found up on the north side. she had the living shit beat out of her. She's in critical condition in a local hospital. She described her assailant, could have been Allen's double, right down to the wingtip's shoe marks the fucker left on her body. And, Allen left mad after he got the new directives last night, that's one sicko motherfucker."

CHAPTER 23

Thursday the 31^st of October

HALLOWEEN

The amulet was distracting her from her work, she had thought about leaving it in her locker. It had even woke her up twice last night, she finally took it off and put it on her nightstand after sending back 3 squeezes to Sam. She was pretty excited, she knew he was coming for her. Sleep took a long time to take her away to him. The glow this morning was much brighter. She had checked it again before going on-shift and it was hard to tell under the lights in the restroom, but it seemed even brighter. He was coming for her.

The only bad part of the day had been when the leering man had came to her table. She was still pleasant to him, but he seemed mad at somebody, a frown between leers at her. She pulled the amulet from under her shirt when it started to pulse again and let it hang out. Most of the ladies had seen it when she changed into her uniform. Some had even asked her about it, she had told them her grandmother had willed it to her. It didn't matter, tomorrow or the day after she would be with Sam and far from this place, she knew this in her heart.

The Leering Man now had another thing to focus on. He still seemed mad, even after he had won about 6 hands in a row. He had even doubled his bet and played the pair spot twice, winning both times. He sort of frowned at her, then leered at her, then looked at the amulet. This guy was a total nutcase. Still he drank free beer, and never tipped the waitresses. He even had to call them over, they knew he didn't give them a penny in tips and they tried to avoid him, by mistake.

An older man came to her table, she had seen him start to walk by, and then he came back, asking her how to play. Leery snorted at him as Kim explained the rules to the nice man. After he had played three hands it was Kim's break time. The man picked up his chips and stopped her as she left the table.

"Excuse me Miss?"

"Yes Sir," she said kindly to him.

"I hope it is no bother, and I don't want to appear like I am intruding, but could you tell me where you got that beautiful necklace?"

Kim saw the Leering Man watching the conversation. She said loudly enough for him to hear, "It was a gift from my Grandmother."

"I'm a retired jeweler and I have never seen such a stone, may I examine it please?"

Kim was loathed to take the necklace off, but she was happy, she turned some to block Leering Man's line of sight. "It just a trinket Sir, really nothing, a family heirloom."

"Please Miss, may I look at it?"

Kim was kicking herself again, the one damn time she lets it out and this has to happen. "Sure," she said leaning over letting the man examine the necklace.

"Gorgeous," he muttered to himself as he looked at the setting, "exquisite."

He might be retired, but he still had jewelry in his blood, he reached in a pocket and pulled out one of those thingies jewelers look at diamonds and the such with. He took about a minute, cupped his hand over the setting looking again. He straightened up.

"I will offer you 500 for the necklace."

Kim leaned back up, centering the setting. "I'm sorry Sir, it has much more sentimental value than five hundred dollars." She was sort of disappointment, she thought it was worth at least a couple of thousand, Planet Earth Money.

He laughed softly at her, "I'm sorry Miss, I should have said 500,000 dollars. 750 tops, er 750 thousand that is."

Kim tried not to show her shock on her face.

The nice man went on, "It is either the best ruby I have ever seen in my life or the best red diamond, the stone is flawless, perfect. I will give you a million dollars for it, I can have the money within a couple of days," he sweetened his deal, "cash."

Kim took a small step back, "I couldn't possibly part with it Sir."

He looked sadly at her, dug in a pocket and pulled out a business card, "If you decide to sell it, please call me. I will match any offer you receive."

Kim took his card and slid it into her back jeans pocket. "I promise Sir, that if I do decide to sell it, I will let you purchase the necklace, OK?" Kim stuck out her hand, he shook it slowly looking at the setting.

"Could I ask you one other thing and I will not bother you again."

"Yes Sir."

He reached over lifted the setting off her chest, he looked at the front and then turned it over, "How do you get it to glow like that?"

Kim freaked out, she yanked the amulet out of his hand, stared at the stone like she had never seen it before, YES, She cupped her other hand around the setting, 'YES!'. It had a faint glow, it seemed to brighten some, 'OH GOD! HE'S COMING FOR HER! NOW!'.

She didn't even bother to answer the nice man, she turned and fled fast to the employee's locker room where she could hide and look at the stone.

She couldn't tell good, the stall's lights were too bright, she searched for a darker room. She finally resorted to going out into the parking lot, the quarter moon was bright, but she saw the stone brighten some, 'OH GOD, OH GOD,OHGOD!', Sam was coming for her, NOW! She looked at her watch, she was late on her break. She turned and went back inside. Kim took off the necklace and stuffed the glowing amulet in her front jeans pocket.

112 feet and closing

Lead Agent Allen Dupree saw her coming back from the parking lot. He nodded at Agent Mark Shapely giving him a thumbs up as he passed him sitting on the first bank of machines before you could go into the lobby and out the doors. Still on the walkie-talkie, disguised as a cell phone, he gave the standby code to everybody, he could feel it in his bones. He made sure that the objective was to wait till the couple left the casino and take them down in the parking lot. He waited till he was acknowledge by all groups before flipping closed the cell and heading back to her table. He felt the phone buzz his leg, she had reentered the casino. It was just a matter of time baby and your mine. He had even called the two vans to drop their surveillance and come to the casino. He would stuff lover boy in one and stuff Snow White on the way to the airport in the other, screw directives, and he'd screw her too.

3 feet away

He didn't know how she knew, but she knew something. He could tell, she looked up, searching the casino between hands, calling two wrong even. She was excited and so was he, your mine bitch!

11 minutes later

Agent Dupree felt the cell buzz three times, the target was sighted, he felt his dick getting hard.

The cell buzzed twice more, the target was in the casino.

16 seconds later

Agent Dupree saw the target come around a bank of machines and head towards the table. Snow White was shuffling a hand, she didn't see him approach. He sort of ducked some, maybe trying to sneak up and surprise her. Agent Allen Dupree had a bigger surprise, for the both of them. He hit the standby code on the cell in his pocket. His other hand eased the sap he carried in the other pocket out so he could get to it easier if he needed to deviate from the takedown plan.

8 seconds later

The Big Commie Bastard took the second seat, just one away from him, Snow White had just dropped the cards into the dealing machine's hopper, she pulled out the first three set of cards and turned back. She dropped the cards, the stunned look on her face instantly turned into a huge smile.

1 second later

Sam was smiling at her, she felt like her smile went all the way around her head, "Miss me Kim." He said to her?

"You can't possibly imagine how much Sam."

"Are you ready to go Kimberly?"

"Yes Sam I am."

"Just give me a minute, it was a long drive I need a bathroom break and then we leave, OK?"

Sam looked over at the Leering Man, he stuck out his hand, "Hi, my name is Sam."

The Leering Man shook Sam's hand, "I'll let Missy know I'm going to leave Sam, hurry back please. I don't want to miss another second with you."

2.5 feet away from the target

'You're going to be missing a whole bunch of his seconds bitch, forever, but I'll let you have some of mine.' Lead Agent on Site, Allen Dupree pressed the standby code again on the cell in his pocket with his other hand after he let go of the target's hand.