Chapter 53

 

Office of HHS Actuary Mike Nichols

Rockville, Maryland

Monday 9:15 am, November 9

 

“Maybe I’m still a little drunk from last night, but that lawyer lady from Baker and Jensen looked pretty good this morning,” said HB as he finished removing the tap to HHS Actuary Mike Nichols’ desk phone where the phone wire ran to a wall port.

Erwin shook his head at his colleague’s observation and put a nickel-sized harmonica bug from the other phone in his breast pocket. “You didn’t even look at her face. All you saw was her short skirt and high heels. Hurry and get the PC handled. His secretary said his Monday staff meetings are short, and he’s only two offices away.

“Won’t take a sec. Watch this.” HB plugged a FireWire into Nichols’ Sony laptop and thumbed a command into his handheld device. Twenty seconds later he unplugged. “Let’s go. I have his latest data and removed the beacon.”

“Hmph,” grunted Erwin. “So much for him thinking he could backtrack on us.”

As they left the building they pulled their GSA hats down to cover their faces.

“How did the lawyer lady know he wouldn’t be in his office at 9 am and that his laptop would be there?” asked HB.

Erwin responded, “Lawyer snoops are at a different level. Anyway, she gave us another 500 bucks each so I’m not asking questions. When you work with lawyers, you can’t get in too much trouble.”

“Can I keep the hat and jacket?” asked HB.

“Yeah, but not for wearing in public.”

“Maybe she can get me a smaller jacket. This one’s too big. What’s GSA anyway?”

“General Services Administration,” said Erwin. “They handle space, maintenance, phones, that kind of thing, for government.”

“Sounds boring.”

Erwin looked at HB and grinned, “Not the way we do it.”

They chuckled as they walked to the back of the parking lot.   After sending a short encrypted email to Jackie Best at Baker and Jensen, they drove off in their gray van. The email said simply: “Clear. Awaiting next instruction.”