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KT: I have the bad feeling that Joe is gonna keep digging ...

Originally posted by ChrisW KT: I have the bad feeling that Joe is gonna keep digging ...

Isn't he about 2/3rds of the way to China by now?

Poor Joe...I had a thought about a pregnancy, too...

Joe is having a bad week/month/year... (sigh) Still, our belief in him is unshaken, no? OT, we had elections again in Greece today -- one of the reasons I haven't been very active on the forum, I've been facebooking about politics the whole time.

Originally posted by Daniella T OT, we had elections again in Greece today -- one of the reasons I haven't been very active on the forum, I've been facebooking about politics the whole time.

Huh. I had a feeling you were ripping off people's heads and spitting down their throats....guess I now know why!

Originally posted by ElectricWhite

Originally posted by Daniella T OT, we had elections again in Greece today -- one of the reasons I haven't been very active on the forum, I've been facebooking about politics the whole time.

Huh. I had a feeling you were ripping off people's heads and spitting down their throats....guess I now know why!

You know me so well!!!

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Originally posted by Daniella T Joe is having a bad week/month/year... (sigh) Still, our belief in him is unshaken, no? OT, we had elections again in Greece today -- one of the reasons I haven't been very active on the forum, I've been facebooking about politics the whole time.

I feel for you. I've got both US (next year) and Canadian (next month) elections coming up. Ugh.

EW: Another one that's about to get really interesting.

EW, Jinpei keeps skating close to the edge. For his sake, I hope this is resolved soon! I have to wonder if Nambu's arrest is staged... KT, at least Joe is fully facing what a mess he made of things. At this point, there's not a lot he can do to set things right, but hopefully Nambu will realize what a piece of work Julia is.

I'm just posting this to get it back onto Active Threads....

Oh, dear .. I seem to be behind .. hopefully this will catch me up again! *** Jun glanced over to where Red Impulse had stood and saw him step back into the embrace of the darkness behind him.  Jun crouched down, hiding herself half beneath a desk and rolling the chair in front of her. "Please," Parnell begged, "just a few more days.  It's safe, I swear that to you.  No one else has seen it and no one else could have had access to it.  I just need a few more days." "But if you have it, then why the delay?  Just get it.  The deal was you would give it to me now, tonight, not some unknown amount of days from now.  So you either have it like you said you would ... or you don't and you're just trying to buy time." "I had it ... I have it," Parnell stuttered.  "It's just ... uh ... for reasons I can't go into now, I just can't put my hands on it right this second, that's all.  And besides, it will give you a chance to get the remainder of what you owe me." Jun risked another glance over at the office Red Impulse was and saw him now standing in the doorway once more.  The voices had dropped again, just a hum of conversation.  Red Impulse motioned to Jun to follow him.  Quietly, they made their way back to the stairwell door. They both looked towards the elevators as one of the motors whirred to life.  Without waiting another moment, they went into the stairwell and quickly walked down one flight, just to put a little distance between them and the door. "What's on the second floor?" Red Impulse asked her.  Jun gave him a look. "You mean you don't know?" she asked in mock surprise.  He met her look with one of his own.  "This isn't a game," he snapped. "I know that," she countered back.  "There's nothing there.  Mostly, it's just conference rooms, some small room they call a library, and the cafeteria for those poor unfortunates who are stuck in here all day." Red Impulse frowned into the darkness.  "Did they mention anything about where their labs were?  I know for a fact that they aren't on the same premises as their manufacturing plant, so I was going on the belief they were housed in the same place as their corporate offices." Jun shook her head.  "No, they didn't mention anything about labs.  As far as I know, this is just where all of the paperwork comes to die.  They just showed us where all the different departments were -- sales, purchasing, accounting, human resources, and administration.  But that was it." Above them, they could hear the cleaning people unloading their carts and equipment from the elevator.  The vacuum cleaner whirred to life. "What about the ground floor?" "Just reception area, as far as we were told, and more conference rooms, larger ones where they give seminars and stuff." They stood on the landing for a minute longer in silence.  Sounds of the cleaning people's movement drifted down to them whenever they got close to the stair door,  but mostly there was nothing to hear.  The steel door was doing an excellent job of muffling all but the loudest, or closest, sounds. "Now what?" Jun asked in a whisper.  "We have two options," Red Impulse said.  "We could leave and come back when we know Parnell isn't here or we could wait until everyone leaves." "So we're waiting?" Red Impulse let out a hard breath.  "No.  No, I don't think so.  We don't know how long Parnell will be, especially if he has a visitor, and we don't want to get caught inside the building after the cleaning people leave." "Why not?  Then we wouldn't have to worry about being caught." "You think not?" he asked, the sardonic smile in his voice.  "And what happens when they set the alarm?  Or did they give out the alarm code as part of your getting-to-know-you speeches?" "No, they didn't tell us that," Jun admitted.  "So then we're leaving?" "Yes and no," Red Impulse answered, heading down the stairs.  Jun followed. They found the back door still propped open, only now there were several full bags of garbage just outside of it, waiting to be taken to the dumpsters on the other side of the parking lot.  They stepped over the bags and Red Impulse grabbed one on his way over them.  Jun gave him a querying look, but he did not say anything as he surveyed the scene.  The cleaning people left their van and car in the two spots nearest to the door, but further off, he could see a car was parked under a street lamp. It could have been Parnell's, or his guest's, or it could have just been left there overnight by someone completely unrelated.  From what Red Impulse knew of Parnell, he could say with a certain degree of certainty that it was not one of the cars Parnell owned.  So where was his car?  He highly doubted the man opted to walk back to his townhouse in the dead of night. Unless they were going somewhere together.  That thought put Red Impulse into motion, heading towards the car, garbage bag in hand. Jun watched as Red Impulse unzipped the coveralls and reached into a pocket.  He then walked to the front of the car and deftly ran a hand along the edge of one wheel well, took note of the license plate number and make and model of the car, then picked up the garbage bag and headed for the dumpsters. Without a word, Red Impulse opened the bag, stripped off the coveralls and stuffed it into the bag.  He waited while Jun did the same thing, though she had contend with not dropping the pages she had printed out.  She saw his eyes narrow at the paper, but he still said nothing. Once both coveralls were in the bag, he knotted it closed and dropped it into the dumpster. "Now what?" "Now, we wait."  "For what?" "To see where Parnell goes from here." They each took up a post that would allow them to cover the back, side and front of the building.  Since they knew for a fact that there was no door on the alley side of the building, they did not worry about it.  Jun stayed to the back of the building, with a view of the cleaning crew van and car, the alleyway, just in case someone else came down that way, and the side of the building.  Red Impulse went to the front and side and monitored the street as well. Jun crouched down behind some decorative shrubs that lined the perimeter of the parking lot and she thought she once saw Red Impulse standing behind a tree.  Or maybe it was just a shadow. Or maybe it was her biggest fear ... that they weren't the only ones waiting and watching.  If Parnell was involved with Galactor, then whoever he was talking to would probably have men of his own.  She could not imagine someone being so alone and open like this, especially if Parnell was supposed to hand over something, something that was obviously important to them. Jun wondered what it could be, but before she could dwell on it, movement at the back door caught her attention.  She watched the cleaning people come out, all six of them accounted for.  They were still talking amongst themselves, though they seemed more subdued now.  Two of them quickly walked the remaining bags to the dumpsters while the others got into the vehicles. The door shut and presumably now locked, Jun watched as they drove out of the parking lot, made a right turn onto the street, and drove away.  For some reason, the thought that they were now gone made Jun feel more alone and vulnerable, though she could not have said why.  She focused on the lone car under the cone of light from the lamp for a moment, then shifted her attention back to the building, which remained impassive and dark, with only the two squares of light at the top corner marking Parnell's office giving any indication that there was still someone else there at this late hour. Jun's legs began to cramp and she ached to stand up and shake them out, but she just shifted her weight from one foot to the other instead. Think of something else, she commanded herself.  Don't think about the physical discomfort.  Then she had to laugh at herself, at the fact that she was now using one of the techniques that Masaki had taught them not too long ago while she was here with Red Impulse. Then there was a movement at the back door and Jun's breath caught in her throat.  In the light cast by the parking lights, it was hard to see who had just left, but Jun knew just by height alone that it was not Parnell.  The person leaving was far too tall. And besides, she thought, glancing up at the two windows on the corner of the third floor, the lights are still on in Parnell's office. Jun watched from her position as the person crossed the parking lot to the lone car, opened the door and got in.  A moment later, she heard the engine turn over, the lights came on and the car drove to the street, made the same right hand turn that the cleaning people did, and vanished. Jun straightened up from her hiding spot, shaking her stiff legs to get the blood flowing again.  Then she headed over to where Red Impulse was standing.  He was staring at the building.  Jun followed his gaze. "Did you happen to see who that was?" she asked.  He shook his head. "Too dark and I was at the wrong angle," he answered. "Now what?" Red Impulse did not answer her right away, his eyes still trained on the lit windows.  "We go back to the room," he said after a moment.  "Parnell's obviously not leaving yet and there's nothing to be gained just by following him to wherever it is he goes after work." "You mean like the club?" Red Impulse narrowed his eyes and slid a dangerous look at her.  "Yes, like that place.  And before you even think it, no, we are not going there again." "You're no fun." "You have no idea." Now it was Jun's turn to narrow her eyes at him, but let the argument go as they headed back to the other side of town and their room.

Now to do some more catching up: KT: Joe needs to quit while he's awaaaaay behind! And you gotta wonder if Ryu wasn't sent in as the one most likely to get honest answers out of Joe. EW: There's definitely more to Aradia than meets the eye ... Nambu's arrest does leave lots of room to wonder if it isn't a setup after all ... the plot thickens like gravy!

RIgirl: Oh, I wonder if Parnell is even still alive!