Page 25 of Astrid
“I’ll bring it right out,” John said, and turned on his heel, but spun back around, leaned in, and kissed her. With a grin, he gave her a mock salute, and walked away. Astrid laughed as she left the building.
CHAPTER11
Astrid rolledout from beneath the green pick-up truck, and sighed as she looked over at Joyce.
“All set,” she called out to the other woman, and grinned when Joyce came over and held out her hand to help Astrid off the creeper. She jumped to her feet, wiped her hands on the rag Joyce handed her, then brushed off the seat of her pants. After going into the small kitchenette area, she grabbed a bottle of water from the apartment-size refrigerator, and frowned.
“What?” Joyce asked as she came in and poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Do you drink soda?” Astrid asked as she pointed to the interior of the refrigerator.
“No, but Alex does on occasion, and sometimes Ava’s out here. I like to keep it stocked, so she can grab a bottle before she goes out on a mission.”
“Oh,” Astrid said as she drank half her water down, then looked at Joyce with a frown.
“What?”
“Would you mind if I set up the computer for your office?”
“Not at all,” Joyce laughed as she pointed the way. “Have at it, I’ll be putting the rest of the tools away.” They parted ways, and in minutes Astrid lost herself in her work. What felt like minutes later, but she found out was hours later, she looked up when she heard someone in the doorway to the garage office. After stretching, she leaned forward, and frowned when John entered carrying what looked like a plate.
“What’s up?”
“Joyce said she’d called your name several times that it was time for supper, and when you didn’t come in, I fixed you a plate and brought it out to you.”
“But, it’s not that late.” Astrid frowned and looked all around. She had forgotten her watch that morning, and her phone had died hours ago. Not seeing a clock on the walls, she asked, “What time is it?”
“Eight.”
“No way!” She stared at him in shock.
“Way,” John smiled and came forward. He placed the plate on the center of the desk, then pulled silverware from his back pocket. “It’s not much, and I didn’t know what you’d like, but I gave you a little of everything.”
Astrid looked down, and until her stomach growled, hadn’t realized she hadn’t eaten all day, at least not since the omelet she’d had at breakfast. She looked down and saw a hamburger, a hot dog, each in their own bun, an ear of corn, two different salads, and some beans. Not waiting for any condiments, she picked up the burger and took a huge bite, moaning as the taste hit her mouth. After she swallowed, she looked at him with a grin.
“Thank you, you can have my hot dog if you want, I don’t really like them.”
“I’m good,” John said as he sat on a rough-hewn stool Alan had made for the garage. As he looked around, he realized Joyce still needed to do a lot of things in order to get the garage fully functioning. If he knew her, she probably had all the tools organized, and was saving the office for last. He made a mental note to talk to Alex about it later.
“May I ask what had you so engrossed that you didn’t come in for supper?”
Astrid waved her hand in front of her face, because she’d just taken several bites of corn, and waited until she finished chewing before answering. When she could talk, she waved him over, and he came over behind her, and looked to where she pointed to the computer screen. “I’ve set up the cameras, so we can see all four corners of the building at once.” She watched John’s expression, and when he frowned, she held her breath, waiting for him to acknowledge the one flaw she’d pointed out to the others hours ago.
“That’s not good,” John said as he pointed to the screen that showed the back of the building. “Is it?”
“No, I thought I could adjust the cameras to help, but no, it’s not good.”
“It’s too late tonight, but remind me in the morning to go out back and see what I can get trimmed away from the building. We’re still far enough away from the road that no one can see in here as they drive by, so we can afford to get several yards of that foliage cleared, but I don’t want to disturb the wildlife if I don’t have to.”
Astrid grinned as she rose and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” She settled back down and took another bite of her burger as she moved the mouse, and several blinking red dots appeared on a different screen.
“What are those?” John asked as he pointed to them.
“The tracking devices on the Jeeps and pick-ups that we’re to use on our missions. Right now, they’re all clustered together, but I’ve assigned a number to each one, and once they’re on the move, that number will follow the coordinating red dot.”
“Will you have a list of which number goes to which vehicle?”
“I don’t understand?”
