Dead By Tomorrow - Part Two

Part Two

         Rebbecca watch Brady walk away, a noticed that he at least put the card into his shirt pocket. That didn't mean he would call, but it increased the chances. She stepped back out of direct view, should he turn an look back, and continued to watch him for signs of what he might be thinking. Her trained eyes took in everything from his gait to how when he walked he kept his head down, not making eye contact with anybody, but yet she saw that he let little go unnoticed. That was probably left over from his days in the service, she decided. Old habits were hard to break.
         She had to admit, he was not unattractive, and she remembered him being better looking the times she saw him overseas. She shook her head to herself seeing just how one's attitude made all the difference. Yet, there was still something about him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Whether it was something inside him struggling to get out, or something he was deliberating trying to hide. She hoped he'd call, then she could carefully and slowly peel away the layers to see what made this man tick.
         Her cell phone rang. She watched Brady turn the corner down the street then she reached inside her purse for it. She saw it was the office and she flipped it open to answer it.
         “Hello.”
         “Where are you?” said the voice on the other end.
         “Doing the recruiting we talked about.”
         “How's it going.”
         “Just made contact. We'll have to wait and see if he is interested.”
         “If you have to, sweeten the pot.” said the voice after a moments hesitation.
         “I understand. I'll be back in after a while.” She hung up the phone without saying goodbye and walked to her car. She didn't go back into the dealership cause she never intended on dropping the car off anyway.

         Brady waited until he turned the corner down the street before he fished the card out of his pocket. He stepped off to the side to get out of the way of the people walking past. He held the card up and looked it over. Morse Protection Services. It had Rebbecca's office and cell phone numbers on it and other than her name, gave no other information. Probably bodyguards or something like it, he thought. That was something he didn't need right now. What he needed was to just get some unnoticed job position, just stay out of the main stream, you know out of sight out of mind. That would be better for him while he got things straightened out. He looked up and saw a garbage receptacle down the street a little and started to move towards it. He held the card out to drop it in the bin as he approached, then he stopped, not really sure why, and put the card back in his pocket. He stood there for a moment contemplating what he had done. There was something bothering him about the whole thing. Maybe it was an offer of getting back into a similar line of work, one he had been trying to run from. He ground his teeth together a bit. It wasn't like he couldn't handle a job like the one Ms. Webster was offering, after all he'd been trained in protection among other things back during his time with the Rangers. He was afraid that something like this would just dig up old ghosts. He didn't need to start all over again. It was bad enough that he couldn't discuss the things he'd done, the missions that officially never happened. Why am I dwelling on this? He thought. Just throw the damn card away, Brady. He reached into his pocket again, and pulled the card out, this time crumpling it up and tossing it in the bin. He gave a heavy sigh then started walked down the sidewalk in the direction he was already going.
         Behind him, a man who was sitting on the bench waiting for the bus got up and walked to the garbage bin. He reached inside and grabbed the crumpled card, then slipping it in his pocket, turned and followed Brady, but not before signaling to a nondescript car a little further down the street. He quickly switched coats with another man who was walking towards him. After the exchange the second man sat on the bench where the first previously had been.

         Brady had gone nearly 2 blocks before he noticed the tail. The guy who had been sitting on the bench waiting for the bus was now walking about 50 feet behind him. The odd thing was he was wearing a different coat than he had been. There was a corner coming up that is where Brady would lose him. He didn't know what was up but he didn't like games and wasn't about to play. This guy had to be a Fed, FBI probably, and he was being over watched by one or two cars. Brady hit the corner and picked up his pace, He went down 2 doors and ducked into a small Occult shop. He entered and without stopping headed into the back and through the employees only door the guy behind the counter yelling at him. He wound his way through the stocking shelves and found the back door. He went out it knowing he would have only seconds to make his escape. He looked up and down the ally and saw the street on right end so he choose left and sprinted down it until he came to a open door where a truck was making a delivery. He pushed his way inside past the delivery guys and entered the small Mom and Pop grocery store. He ran to the front and out the door that opened onto the street. He looked left and right and saw a bus just letting people on. He dashed towards it and got on paying his fair quickly. He choose a seat close to the door and sat, looking out the windows. As the bus drove, Brady saw the guy who was tailing him come running out of the grocery store yelling into the mike he had clipped into the inside of his sleeve. Brady knew that they would soon realize where he had gone. He would have to switch buses at least 3 or 4 more times to completely loose them, if his luck held out that long.