Chapter 2

         Herbie tapped his gloved finger lightly on the table top as he watched the ‘percent complete’ bar increasing.  He was doing his best to ignore his brother’s pacing. His nerves were frazzled enough without having to worry about his brother’s impatience. However, when Waldo passed by one more time and let out his fifth loud sigh in as many minutes, he took a deep breath, turned towards his brother and hissed through clenched teeth, “Will you please stop that! This is going to take as long as it’s going to take and you pacing and sighing will not make the computer work faster.”

         Waldo stopped pacing and walked over to his brother.  Staring at the computer screen he grunted. “Only fifty percent complete?  That’s only ten percent more than it was five minutes ago.”

         Herbie shook his head and rolled his eyes as he spun back around to watch the bar. “There’s a lot of data, and it takes time for data to transfer.”

         Waldo looked down at the size of the disk’s case. “It must be a lot of data if it goes on something the size of a pizza.”  He turned and walked over to the table in the corner of the lab. “You know when you said you needed something big to hide the disk, I was thinking of a shoe box, not a pizza box.” He tapped the empty pizza box with his finger. “Guess it’s a good thing I work for a pizza joint, huh. You were right, we’d look awfully suspicious walking down the street carrying around something that big and so much thicker than a record.  A pizza box makes it look like we just picked up lunch.”

         Herbie glanced at his watch and then back at the computer screen.  Taking a few deep breaths, he reminded himself that everything was going to be fine.  No one was in the office today, and the cleaning crew always did their work very early in the morning.  Yet, as the bar reached fifty-five percent, he couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom.

         Waldo watched his brother pinching his nose, obviously trying to ward off a headache, which he was pretty sure he was the cause of. “Aren’t your hands sweating in those things?”

         Herbie looked down at his latex covered hands. “Yes, but I’d rather wear these,” he waved a hand in the air, “than risk getting caught down the road.  I don’t normally work in this lab, and once the Army finds out that copies of their new, highly top secret software plans have been stolen, they’re going to demand an investigation. Wearing these gloves ensures that my prints won’t be anywhere on this computer.”

         Waldo walked back over and peered at the computer screen over his brother’s shoulder. “Looks like it’s getting a little closer to completion.” He then furrowed his brows as thought came to him. “That’s all the data you have to copy, right? I mean you don’t have more files or something?”

         Herbie shook his head. “No, relax, this is it.  It should be done in the next ten minutes and then we’ll be out of here. Why are you so worried about how long it’s taking anyway? I’m the one who should be worried, after all it’s my company we’re stealing from.”

         Waldo shrugged his shoulders and began pacing again. “I’m just worried that we won’t meet Mr. Birol’s man in time.” Stopping when he reached a table in his path, he turned and leaned against it. “This guy is scary, Herbie, really scary.  I think he might be some kind of Middle Eastern terrorist. He knows things about me, about you, about mom. I already told you that he threatened to kill mom if I didn’t come through for him.”

         “Why didn’t you just go to the police or the FBI?  I mean if this guy is some sort of terrorist, giving him top secret military data isn’t exactly the smartest thing in the world.”  Herbie turned his chair and glanced at his brother seriously. “And how come you didn’t tell me he could be a terrorist before? You told me he was a gangster-type.”

         “Because I knew you’d tell me to go to the authorities.” Waldo looked down at his feet. “I couldn’t do that.  There’s too much at stake.”

         Herbie eyed his brother suspiciously. “Why do I get the feeling that this guy is holding more over you than just mom’s life?” When his brother shrugged and refused to make eye contact with him, he knew for a fact that it was something very serious. “How did you end up getting mixed up with him in the first place? You never did tell me; you just told me that mom’s life depended on me helping you get this software.”

         Waldo sighed and removing his gaze from the floor, looked up but avoided looking directly at his brother. “I wrote a rather large number of IOUs for this poker game…”

         “Waldo, you promised me and mom you weren’t going to gamble anymore,” Herbie shook his head disapprovingly, “especially not after mom had to mortgage the house we grew up in just to get you out of debt the last time.”

         “I know I did,” Waldo glanced at his brother, “but this was a game I had to play in. The stakes were huge, and I figured if I won big on this one, then I’d be able to pay mom back and maybe even start paying you back too.”

         Herbie let out a long sigh.  “So, you wrote these IOUs and lost, right?”

         Feeling very ashamed, Waldo nodded his head slowly. “Yeah, I lost big, and I wrote so many IOUs that I thought I was in real trouble. Then, to my surprise, Big Al, who I wrote the IOUs to, and was most assuredly going to cut my knee caps off, told me that I was square with him, ’cause this Birol guy’d bought my markers.  Only after my initial elation at getting to keep my knee caps wore off, did I realize that no one does something like that for nothing.  That’s when I found out exactly why Mr. Birol bought my markers.”

          “He wanted this software. But how did he know you’d even be able to get it for him?” Herbie asked as he watched his brother fidgeting under his scrutiny.

         Waldo shrugged. “I think he somehow found out that you worked here and figured I’d come to you for help. All I know is that he told me if I got him the software, my slate would be wiped clean.”

         Herbie sighed again and shook his head sadly. His brother was a hopeless cause and, as much as he loved him, maybe he should have just insisted on going to the authorities, rather than stealing the software.  Worst case scenario, he and their mom could have been put in some sort of protection program, and his brother would have ended up spending time in jail, which would probably do him some good.  But now, as he turned his attention back to the computer, and watched the bar slowly nearing the end of the download, he realized that that avenue was no longer an option.  Perhaps their mother would still end up in some kind of protective custody, but she’d be going alone, because both her sons were going to end up in jail for treason.

*****  *****

         Amanda exited the mini-theater behind her sons and sighing, shook her head.  They had just watched a very interesting feature about space exploration and its depiction in the movies.  It was interesting to see how much was real, and how much was actually fiction. “Are you boys sure you don’t want to stay here and eat something.  There’s another show about how much space exploration has advanced in the last decade that starts in an hour.  We could eat and then go watch it?” She glanced from one son to the other, as they turned around to look at her.  If she had known this morning that they would only want to spend two hours at the museum, she wouldn’t have been in such a rush to get out the door earlier.

         “That’s okay, Mom,” Jamie replied as he glanced briefly at his brother. “From the description, it sounds just like something I just saw in school.”

         Amanda glanced above them at the suspended airplanes and then back towards her eldest son. “How about the other exhibits?  According to the brochure, they just added a whole bunch of new items in the astronaut area.”

         Phillip shook his head. “Those exhibits aren’t all that exciting, and besides, we were just here with dad last month.”

         Amanda placed her hands on her hips. “What do you mean you were just here with your dad?  You told me you really wanted to come here today.  If I’d known, we could have done something entirely different.”

         Jamie smiled a bit sheepishly. “Well, we really wanted to see the space movie since we didn’t get to see it last time when we came with dad because it was too packed.”

          “You could have told me all that this morning, or even yesterday.” Amanda sighed. “So you boys really don’t want to eat here?”

         “Nah, the service here is pretty lousy and besides, if we leave now, we could go pick up something and take it over to the park.” Phillip glanced over at his brother. “We could eat at the picnic tables, and since I saw our bats and gloves still in the back of the car from practice last week, I figured that wormbrain and I could work on his curveballs.”

         “Hey, what’s wrong with my curveball?” Jamie glared at his brother. “If I remember correctly, coach said you’re swing needs some work; you keep striking out, dufus.”

         “Fellas,” Amanda scolded quietly. “Enough name calling.  And I think going to the park is a great idea and I can help Jamie with his curve ball and you,” she turned towards Phillip, “with your swings. We can pick up sandwiches, I think there’s a deli just down the block.”

         “Awesome.” Jamie high-fived his brother.

         “Great.” Phillip grinned at his mother.

         “Well let’s head out then.” Amanda chuckled as she started walking towards the exit behind her sons.  No matter how many times she scolded them about name calling and fighting, they were, after all brothers, and in some small way it was their way of showing affection for each other.   She just hoped that, once they got to the park, she could keep them from picking on one another too much and turning a nice day into a nightmare.

*****  *****

         Herbie glanced at the computer when he noticed the bar flashing and struck a few keys on the keyboard to finalize the copy.

         Waldo noticed his brother working back at the computer and his anxiety to get out of this lab and be done with this deed was climbing fast.  Pushing away from the table he’d been leaning on he walked over to his brother. “Is it done?”

         Herbie nodded. “Yeah, can you grab me the pizza box?” He removed the disk from the drive and then carefully placed it in its casing. Turning the computer off, he placed the disk into the pizza box his brother was now holding open for him. “Now don’t drop it, if that falls and is damaged in anyway, the data will be useless.” He then removed the gloves from his hands. “Let’s get out of here before one of the engineers decides he would rather spend their Saturday working.”

         Waldo glanced at his brother with an expression of pure panic. “You told me no one comes in on Saturdays.”

         Herbie shrugged. “They don’t but on the off chance someone decides to do so, I want to be out the door and far away from here. Since my job doesn’t entail working overtime, I don’t have an excuse for being in the office at eleven-thirty on a Saturday.”

         Holding the pizza box carefully, Waldo made his way towards the door. “We’re going out the same way we came in, right?”

         “Yes,” Herbie nodded. “I don’t want to risk being seen by the security guard posted at the front entrance.”

         “Oh, I agree, I just wanted to make sure I knew which way to go when we left here.” Waldo turned towards his brother. “Maybe you better hold this,” he started to pass the disk to his brother. “You’re a much more cautious person than I am.”

         Herbie sighed and then took the box from his brother. He winced slightly at the weight and then stepped aside to allow his brother to open the door for him. “You’re a wimp you know that? You’re not concerned with accidentally dropping the disk; you just don’t want to carry it.  You used to pull this crap all the time when we were kids, you never wanted to do anything, and always found a way for me to do it for you.” Rolling his eyes at the sheepish grin on his brother’s face, he stepped through the now open doorway. Noticing a movement out of the corner of his eye, he came to an abrupt halt.  He looked down the hall, and let out a silent curse. At the other end of the hallway was a man dressed in blue overalls, mopping the floor.

         “What’s the hold up?” Waldo asked his brother when he almost bumped into him.

         “Shhh…” Herbie hissed. “Something’s not right,” he whispered to his brother, “no one’s supposed to be here, especially no one from the cleaning crew.”

         Waldo’s eyes grew wide as he started to step back into the lab. “You don’t think someone knew we were here, do you?”

         Herbie shook his head. “I highly doubt it.  Could be that the cleaning crew was just running behind. Look, let’s just act natural, and pretend that we’re supposed to be here.” He took a deep breath and started walking down the hallway in the direction they’d come in earlier, which, fortunately, was in the opposite direction from the man with the mop.

         Lee watched the two men heading towards the stairwell and, placing his mop back in the pail, began wheeling it down the hallway in their direction. Noticing the large pizza box in the shorter man’s hands, he whispered into his collar, “Suspects are on the move.  Duffy and Johnson, cover the front door.  Brady, I want you covering the back alleyway. I’m covering them from behind.”

         Waldo glanced behind him and noticed the cleaning man was now following them and whispered over to his brother, “We’ve got company.”

         Herbie chanced a look over his shoulder and, sure enough, both the man and his mop were heading in their direction, and he was pretty sure the guy wasn’t just moving down the hallway to clean the rest of this floor, since the mop was inside the bucket and not outside of it. “I think we might want to quicken our pace.”

         Waldo nodded and started running for the door.

         Herbie cursed, he didn’t mean that his brother should start running, but now it was too late.  He sprinted off after his brother, clutching the pizza box tightly to his chest.

         “Damn!” Lee abandoned the mop and took off down the hallway. He pulled his collar to his lips and spoke into the hidden mic, “I’ve been made. Suspects are now running. I’m in pursuit. Duffy, Brady, Johnson, look sharp.” Pulling out his gun, he raced into the stairwell behind the two suspects. “Freeze, Federal Agent.”

         Waldo slowed down just enough to let his brother pass him on the stairs, before pulling out the pistol he’d hidden under his jacket.  “Keep running,” he shouted to Herbie then fired a shot in the agent’s direction.

         “Shit!” Lee fired off a shot down the stairs and then grabbed his leg as he stumbled down to the next landing.  Looking down at his thigh, he saw the blood stain beginning to spread and cursed again. “Suspects are armed, I’ve been hit and can’t continue pursuit.  They have the disk so do whatever you have to. Just don’t let them get away.” He bellowed into his collar.

         “Roger that Scarecrow,” Lee heard Brady’s voice reply in his ear.  Standing up, he steadied himself and gritted his teeth as he slowly made his way down the stairs while the suspects’ footsteps echoed in the stairwell. He cursed again, not because of the pain in his leg, he’d had worse injuries than this, but from the anger welling up inside him.  He wasn’t sure if he was mad at himself for getting shot, or mad at the fact that he was going to have to have his leg looked at, thereby delaying any preparations he wanted to do in order to make tonight a special evening for Amanda.

         “Suspects just entered the alleyway.” Lee heard Brady’s update and then grimaced when gunshots echoed in his ear. “Damn, they got past me, I’m in pursuit.” 

         “Are you coming out of the south or north alleyway?” Lee heard Johnson ask.

         “North”

         “Damn, we’re at the opposite end. Scarecrow, what do the suspects look like?”

         “Both have dark hair.  The taller one is kind of muscular and looks he could give Mr. T a run for his money in the ring. The shorter one’s wearing glasses and carrying a pizza box.” Lee shook his head and hoped that Brady would catch up to them and that Johnson and Duffy could head them off before they got too far.

         “Did you say a pizza box?”

         Lee grunted as he made his way down the next flight of stairs. “Yes, a pizza box. And whatever you do, don’t shoot the box, I’d bet money that’s where they’ve got the disk and we don’t know if they damaged the original software or just copied it.”

         “Copy that, Scarecrow, retrieve the box without damaging it. They’re out of the alley. Damn, where’d all these people come from?”

         “Do you have them in sight?” Lee closed his eyes and all but held his breath, hoping that Brady hadn’t lost them.

         “I see them, but I have to be careful, there are a lot of people around.”
         “Just keep them in sight.  Johnson and Duffy, head to your car and be ready to intercept. And Brady, I concur, let’s try not to shoot any innocent bystanders.” Lee made it to the ground level and headed out the back door.  Since he didn’t have a hope of catching up to Brady and the others, he could at least make it over to his car and see what he could do about stopping his leg from bleeding. He wasn’t going to call Billy until they had the suspects in cuffs, or all hope was lost.

         “They’re heading down K Street.”  Lee heard Brady’s sigh of relief. “There are less people around, should I try and take them down?”

         “Only shoot if you can get a clear shot, and only shoot to hinder their escape, don’t shoot to kill.” Not having worked with Brady very often, Lee hoped that the younger agent was as a good a shot in the field as he was in the shooting gallery.  The last thing he needed right now was more paperwork to deal with because one of the suspects was killed before any information could be extracted.

         “Freeze, Federal Agent.” Lee heard Brady repeat the same thing he’d shouted earlier. Putting pressure on the wound on his leg as he hobbled to his car, he hoped that his fellow agent didn’t meet with the same fate he had. 

         Lee strained his ears, wondering if he’d be able to hear shots being fired blocks from where he was.  Reaching his car, he tapped on the roof, impatiently waiting for a report from Brady. “Johnson, Duffy, what’s going on?”

         “We’re turning on to K now.  Oh no, that doesn’t look good.”

         Lee ran a hand through his hair and then, digging the keys out of his pocket, he unlocked his door. “What’s going on?”

         “Brady’s down.”

         Lee carefully climbed into his car. “Is he moving? Is he seriously hurt?”

         “He’s not moving, and I can’t tell from here how bad it is. We’re just pulling up to his location now.”

         “Any sign of the suspects?” Lee closed his eyes and prayed that Johnson would say yes and that he or Duffy was going off in pursuit; however, he didn’t think his luck was going to be that good.  He was getting tired of simple apprehensions turning into fiascos.  Billy was going to have his head for allowing a shoot out to occur on a public street.

         “Sorry Scarecrow, they’ve disappeared.”

         “Are there any stores or buildings that they could have run into?” Lee asked as he placed the key in the ignition.  Fortunately the bullet wound was in his left leg, so at least he was able to drive. “What’s your location?”

         “We’re on K street, at the corner of 21st.”

         “I’m on my way.  What’s the word on Brady?” Lee asked as he put the car in drive and headed out into traffic. He wanted to get to their location before a crowd started gathering.

         “It looks bad, Scarecrow, really bad.  I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

         Lee let out a sigh.  Billy was not going to be happy about any of this. Picking up his car phone he dialed 9-1-1.  His first priority was to get medical treatment for the member of his team that he was responsible for; his report to Billy was going to have to wait.