The Memory Agent & Fool Me Once (3 page)

“Not any state secrets I hope.”
 
Claire muses.

Brent misses the jest.
 
“Oh
no, of course not, it's a note from my wife.
 
Wishing me well today and reminding me of our anniversary.”

“How long have you been married?”

“According to this note, one year, five months and fourteen days.”

This answer surprises Claire so Brent elaborates.
 
“It's a quirky thing, but she likes to
pick random days to celebrate.”

“My Aunt Rita would appreciate that.”
 
Claire smiles as she approaches Brent.
 
She checks under his top button making
sure Brent is wearing a bullet proof vest and then straightens his tie.

“I'd like to say, if I may, that I am honored to be on your team and
working for you.” Brent tells Claire.

“Tell me about the target.” Claire inquires like a professor engaging a
student.

“Riker Reeves.
 
Aged
forty one
.
 
He's
been off grid for three years, ever since he alluded capture after a liquor
store robbery in New Jersey for which his younger brother Duke served
time.
 
Over the last three years
Riker has robbed eight jewelry stores in the northwest in an area between San
Francisco and Seattle.”
 
Brent
declares confidently.
 

Brent continues his assessment of Riker.
 
“His MO is always the same.
 
He enters the store, alone, dressed in a suit, looking very
much like a respectable customer.
 
He pulls a gun on the clerk, commands the clerk to fill a black velvet
bag with jewelry and then handcuffs the clerk in a location where they can't reach
a phone or alarm.
 
During his last
heist he shot and killed Roberta Sherman, the store owner, in front of her
daughter, and then winked at the security camera.
 
The stolen merchandise has never shown up on our radar until
recently which led to the tip resulting in our current sting.”

Claire looks pleased with Brent’s accurate review of Riker Reeves.
 
“Good.
 
Remember never lose your focus.
 
Riker is not only cunning, he's shown he can be merciless.”

Claire hands a pair of
thick rimmed
glasses to
Brent.
 
“Here are your spy glasses,
probie
.
 
Are you ready?”

Brent nods, trying to look confident.

Boutique shops and specialty restaurants line a Northwestern city side
street.
 
Mid-way down the street -
Barkley’s Fine Jewelry Store.
 
Across the street and down about a block, a florist van is parked in front
of the flower shop Blossoms.

Inside the van…

Which is equipped with a state-of-the-art surveillance system, Claire
monitors a computer screen displaying live action images from the jewelry
store.
 
She's fidgety, longing to
be the one undercover and not the one caged up in a surveillance van.

Inside the jewelry store…

Brent,
dressed as the security guard and wearing his spy
glasses, walks around the store.
 
He observes the jewelry cases, doors, and Victoria, the bottle blonde
store manager sporting too much makeup and
Botox
. His
observations via his
spy glasses
are recorded and
displayed on the monitor Claire watches.

Inside the van…

Claire sees what Brent sees.
 
She speaks into a specialized earphone with a connecting
mouth piece
.
 
“Langer, testing, can you hear me?”
 

Inside the jewelry store…

Brent responds.
 
“Affirmative, loud and clear.”

Victoria looks at Brent.
 
He
gives her a cocky "how cool are my spy glasses" look.
 
She's not impressed.
 
She motions to the doorway leading to
the back of the store.
 
“I'm going
to go have a cigarette.”

Duke, shirtless, splits wood behind the cabin.
 
Every muscle in his upper body is defined by hours of
physical labor.

Haley exits the cabin holding a cup of coffee.
 
She moves to the railing of the deck, leans on it, looks
down and admires Duke's fine form and cool tats.
 
“Hey Paul
Bunyon
, I'm ready for
you to rev my Harley.”

Duke ignores Haley.
 
He
keeps chopping wood.

Riker joins Haley on the deck.
 
“Good Morning, baby brother.”

Duke takes a break from splitting wood and looks at his brother.
 
“Morning.
 
When do we roll?”

“All in good time.”
 
Riker
promises.

*****

Days
later, Claire sits in the van monitoring Brent
from the computer screen.
 
She
plays with
a
squeezie
ball
trying to channel her "trapped in a van" energy.
 
From the computer screen, Brent in the
jewelry store tries not to look bored.

“Happy anniversary, Langer.”
 
Claire chimes into her mouthpiece.

She watches Brent smile on the computer monitor as she hears him
respond.
 
“What are we
celebrating?”

“Eleven days,
six hours and thirty three minutes on stakeout.” Claire reveals.

In the woods
near the cabin Duke saws a felled tree, with a handsaw, his muscles and tats
rippling in his sleeveless shirt.

Riker,
carrying a box, joins Duke.

“When do we roll?”
 
Duke
asks with anxious energy.

“Very soon, baby brother.
 
Here, I got something for
ya
.”
 
Riker opens the box.
 
Inside are two wood handled revolvers,
both the same make and model.
 
“One
for me, one for you.”

Duke is skeptical.
 
“What do
we need guns for?”

“Intimidation.”
 
Riker hands
a revolver to
Duke
.
 
“Once we're done intimidating our way to a sparkly pay day,
it's
south we go.
 
Not too far from Mazatlan there's this biker bar right near the
beach.
 
A bunch of our old riding
buddies hang there.
 
Mexie
owns it, remember him?”

“Sure do.”
Duke smiles, remembering.

“He's
gonna
put us up.
 
A new life for both of us.”
 
Riker encourages.

The jeep pulls up near the cabin.
 
Haley gets out and calls down to Riker.
 
“The Moose will be goose tomorrow.”

Riker slaps Duke on the back.
 
“Tomorrow we roll, baby brother. Tomorrow we roll.”

At the end of the day, Victoria and Brent lock up the jewelry store
while Claire exits the van.
 
Claire
peeks around the van watching them head home for the night.

Claire turns her attention to the flower shop Blossoms, it’s still
open.
 
She goes in.
 
The wide variety of
flowers for sale light up the store with color and fragrance.
 

The shop owner assembles a flower arrangement while Claire looks
around.
 
She stops at a table
featuring perfumes for sale.
 
She
picks one up, a perfume that's name is displayed in Japanese characters, and
smells it.

“Hmmm.
 
Such
a lovely smell.
 
Jasmine.”
 
Claire coos.

“That's Forbidden.” The shop owner tells Claire.

Claire is shocked.
 
“I'm not
aloud to sniff the merchandise?”

The shop owner smiles.
 
“Forbidden is the name of the perfume.”

“Forbidden.
 
Sounds
covert.”
 
Claire brings the bottle
to the
check-out
counter.
 
“I’ll take it.”

“That'll be ninety two dollars.”

Claire's eyes widen. “Seriously?”

The shop owner glares a "yes, seriously" at Claire.
 
Claire hands her a credit card.
 
“I'm sure my Aunt Rita will be amused
that I spent ninety two dollars while stopping to relish the beauty and
fragrance of flowers."

*****

The next day Brent looks out the front window of the jewelry store; the
unsettled, dark grey sky portends a sense of foreboding.

“Gloomy out.”
 
Brent says to
Victoria.

“I'm going to go have a cigarette.”
 
She tells him.
 
Victoria heads into the back room and out the back door into the
alleyway behind the store.

Dumpsters line the back alley.
 
It’s a cramped and claustrophobic space made more so by the tall
buildings on both sides.
 
A couple
of different alley veins, like the alleyways in Italy or Boston, wind into each
other.

Victoria lights up a cigarette as she notices a motorcycle parked not
too far away.
 
Duke's
motorcycle.

As she puffs, a gun cocks next to the side of her head.
 
She drops the cigarette and is about to
scream when Riker puts his hand over her mouth.
 
He holsters his gun, takes his smart-phone and shows it to
Victoria.
 
On his phone she sees a
photo of a young boy.

“Is this your son?”
 
Riker
asks.

Victoria nods her head yes.
 
Riker puts the phone in his pocket.
 
He grabs a small black velvet bag from another pocket and
hands it to Victoria.
 
“Fill this
up with as much jewelry as you can and bring it back to me.
 
If you don't do as I say and if you
alert that guard inside, your kid is dead.
 
He's not only dead
,
he will be tortured first
.
 
Got it?”

As tears well in her eyes Victoria nods again.
 
She hurries inside.

Brent still stands by the door, looking out at the street.
 
He doesn't acknowledge Victoria when
she returns, nor does he notice Victoria discreetly filling the velvet bag with
jewelry.
 
When the bag is full
Victoria comments to Brent.
 
“I
left my cigarettes outside, I’ll be right back.”

At the same time in the van…

Claire watches the monitor.
 
Nothing is happening from Brent’s
spy glasses
point of view.
 
She receives a
video call from Whitmore.
 
She
talks to him via the computer monitor next to the surveillance monitor.

“Moose is dead.
 
He was
stabbed to death less than hour ago.”
 
Whitmore relays.

“Shit.
 
Riker's on to us.”

“The stake-out's been compromised.
 
Terminate the surveillance.”
 
Whitmore informs Claire.
 
Claire, pissed, clicks out of the video chat.

She speaks to Brent via her earphone.
 
“Langer.
 
We've
been compromised.
 
The stake-out's
over.”

In the jewelry store…

Brent responds to Claire.
 
“Shame.
 
But I must admit, I
won't miss these glasses.”
 
He says
just before removing them.

In the back alley…

Victoria hands the bag to Riker.

“Thank you,
darlin
'.
 
Oh, and by the way, we don't
got
your son.
 
Fooled
ya
.”
 
Riker
chides.
 
As soon as he's made his
comments Riker saunters - slowly - towards the motorcycle, smiling as he hears
Victoria screaming for help as she runs back into the store.

In the jewelry store…

Brent relaxes, assuming there is no threat.
 
Until Victoria rushes into the store.
 
“We've been robbed! He's outside in the
alley!”
 
She hollers.
 
“He made me do it.
 
He said he had Charlie.
 
But he doesn't.
 
Hurry, he's getting away!”