Page 7 of Astrid
“It’s what Alex put together from Stella’s tracking device,” Joyce began. She sat at the table going through several sheets of paper, and sighed as she looked up at Astrid.
“Why don’t you use the program that will help map this out?” Astrid asked, then frowned when the others looked at her like she’d just grown several more heads, and spat fire out of her eyes, ears, and mouth.
“Because, we don’t know what program you’re talking about,” Ava spoke from her side of the table.
“That’s why we need a computer person,” Morgan said from the side of the room. “We have no idea, let along any clue, what is in all those boxes upstairs.” She sighed and studied the other woman. “If I didn’t tell you this earlier, you’ll have complete control of what the computers are for, the programs we’d need to use, and getting laptops up and running for all the operatives. I only ask that you train us on any program that we don’t know how to use, and…” she paused and leaned back in her chair with a sigh, scrubbing her face hard. “If he agrees, until he’s healed, I want Alex, and one other man read into what those programs are for. This way, if we are all out on individual missions and something goes wrong, then we’ll have some backup here at home.” She then went on to describe what had happened to Joyce when she’d been doing surveillance and had run into problems. How Alex had come to Morgan, and they’d finally been able to track her whereabouts.
“Not including the tracking devices we’ll need in the vehicles,” Joyce spoke. “Or the cameras, and whatever else we’d need.”
“I’m in.” Astrid held up her hands to ward off their words, laughing. “And if I need anything for the computers?”
“Make a list, and go get it,” Morgan said.
“I hate to interrupt,” John said. “But I should get back out to the office and help them.”
“No!”four people yelled at once. It was Alex who shook his head, walked over, and placed his hand on John’s shoulder. “The guys said it would be best if you don’t go back out there today. They felt with the day you’ve had so far, you might end up either falling into the wet cement and not being able to get up, or seriously maiming yourself, or one of them.” He softened the blow with a grin.
“What am I supposed to do then?” John asked in frustration?
“Why don’t you help me open those boxes upstairs in one of the offices?” Astrid asked.
“If you don’t want to open them, then take the garbage out after I open them. Maybe between the two of us we can get it all unboxed to see what there is, then I can set things up. If I need to go to the store to pick up any supplies, I’ll take you with me.”
From behind them, they heard several choked sounds, and giggles. Astrid frowned as she turned toward the other women. “What?”
“Don’t you think you should check your tire first? After all, as far as I know, it still has a screwdriver sticking out of the side.”
“Shit,” Astrid said, and turned to John with a glare. “I guess we better see if I can park it in the garage.”
“I’ll go with you,” Joyce said, then grinned when Astrid looked like she was going to protest. “I’ll check the tire out, and if it’s flat, then I can change it for you. Why don’t you have John bring some of your stuff upstairs? You did pick out a room, right?”
“Yes, the peach one on the left side of the hall.”
“Next to the end one, the green one?” Ava asked.
“Yes.” They turned to John and grinned. “Time’s wasting, try not to drop her things in the mud when you bring them in.”
“Ha, ha, not funny,” John said, but as he turned on his heel to go outside, he sent up a silent prayer that he wouldn’t drop anything, or even fall flat on his face, or his ass while he helped unload Astrid’s vehicle. Outside, they unloaded Astrid’s things, and set them on the porch, ready to take inside after they checked out the tire. It turned out that the screwdriver didn’t really do any damage, it had only embedded itself in the tread of the tire, not puncturing it and causing it to leak any air. With that figured out, Astrid followed instructions from Joyce as to where to park her trailer to get her bike unloaded.
“Holy smokes,” Astrid said in astonishment as she jumped out of the Jeep and saw all the vehicles already parked in the garage, and the vast amount of space still left over. She quickly started her bike and grinned as she drove it over and parked it next to the others. After dismounting, she frowned as she looked at the other vehicles. Joyce came up to her to explain.
“You parked your bike next to mine and Ava’s. The other six belong to the J’s and A’s, as well as those pick-up trucks.” She pointed to the area where six gleaming, shiny new trucks sat. Joyce grinned as she continued, “The Hummer is mine, Ava doesn’t have a cager, she only has her bike, the red one is hers, Stella is the orange one.” Joyce paused when Astrid walked over and inspected the motorcycle.
“I haven’t had a chance to go over her yet, I only got her back less than a week ago, then Alex was hurt, and I spent time in the hospital with him.”
“What about those?” Astrid pointed to the less than pretty Jeeps and pick-ups on the other side of the garage. She followed Joyce over when the other woman told her to follow her.
“These are for us to use. I was out only a couple days ago,” she said as she pointed to the red truck, then turned and lifted the sleeve of her tee to show Astrid the back of her arm. “I was being chased, and they shot out my back window. The second bullet grazed me. Tom Erwin, Wyatt’s cousin, and the sheriff of this county, got these vehicles for us. These we’ll definitely need tracking devices for. Something that can’t be tapped into from any other source, if you know what I mean.”
“I do, and I have the perfect model in mind for what we’ll need.” She tapped the side of her head and nodded. “What else?”
“Since Stella had been stolen, I put her tracking device in my truck the day I was run down, and the people left here were able to locate me when I didn’t make it home by the time I said I would be here. I had also mounted one of those cameras you gave me to the front, and we have some great footage. I don’t know what you’d use, but we would like cameras on all of these vehicles.”
“For?”
“We’ll tell you when we get back inside, and show you what happened, but Ava was out scouting and was pulled over by the locals. She used her phone to film the cop as he went back to his car to call her license in. As I said, she used her phone to video him using her side mirror and plain as day, as he was walking back to her, he pulled his club and smashed out her tail light.” Joyce walked them over and pointed. “Then he’d gave her the ticket he'd written up before he broke it.”
“Oh, my god, a cop did that?”
