10:05am
The Farm
Simon had his computers set up finally and he was pleased with his new Ops Center. The Farm has several outbuildings and he and Dante had spent months creating the space below one of the buildings that now housed all of their computer equipment. The rest of the farm remained as it was for the most part and unless you knew exactly how to access the hidden room, you would never find it. They converted the larger barn to a training facility and Dante spent hours each day honing his skills and his body into the perfect weapon. Simon spent countless hours teaching him martial arts, battle tactics, computers, and weaponry. They were isolated enough that they also were able to fashion an indoor shooting range in one of the buildings that backed up to a large hill on the property and Dante is gaining proficiency on many different weapons. He still favors his blow gun and Nikki had spent time with him teaching him about botany and the many different kinds of natural toxins that are available. Simon had used a couple very effectively in the past. Dante had used the toxins on himself in very controlled measures so he could fully understand the effects and when they would be the most useful. The one he found he liked the best was a strain of botulism that rendered you paralyzed while still being able to feel everything at the same time. He tried them all on Tango first before using them on himself, of course.
Dante walked inside the Ops Center after finishing his work out and Simon was busy clicking away at his keyboard, 2 screens flashing code in front of him. Dante’s eyes went straight to the 3rd and 4th monitors that had video of Nikki and the baby on them. Nikki still looked the same, a shell of her former self with tubes and wires poking out all over the place, but the baby was looking better and wiggling around quite a bit.
“She’s getting healthy enough that they are going to take her out of the incubator and see how she does on her own.” Simon said startling Dante. He turned and looked over at Simon,
“Is there any news on Nikki?” He asked with hope in his voice.
Simon shook his head, “No, nothing has changed and as long as she doesn’t get any worse, the doctors are still hopeful that she will pull out of it. Having the baby on top of her injuries from the explosion put an incredible strain on her body, but she’s as tough as they come.” He said trying to put a positive spin on it. Dante looked into his eyes and saw the turmoil and knew that Simon was feeling as anxious as he was. He nodded and regarded the screens in front of Simon.
“Are you getting anywhere finding out who wired your car?” Simon turned back to the screens in front of him, hit a couple of keys and a video loaded. Dante saw that it was an aerial view of the warehouse. A couple of clicks and the image moved to the corner of the lot and zoomed in on the chase vehicle. Dante noted the date on the bottom of the screen was November 12th. That date meant something to him, but before he could think what, Simon clicked a few more keys and the video began playing. The video turned to infrared after dark and at 1:14 am on the timestamp, they watched a figure approach the chain link fence surrounding the warehouse and stop right next to the vehicle. Several seconds later, they saw the figure slide forward under the car. 2 minutes later, the figure slide back and after spending some time fixing the fence, they slithered out of the picture.
Both Simon and Dante stared at the paused image for several seconds and Dante said, “November 12th, wasn’t that right around the time we started moving our stuff out of the warehouse over here?” Simon turned in his seat and faced him,
“Yes, it was. If whoever it was tried to follow us out here, they would have seen my countermeasures surrounding the property and would know that they couldn’t get in here without setting off alarms. I am guessing that they rigged the car figuring if we were moving, that I would move the car eventually.” He turned back to the computer and started clicking keys again. “There are no security cameras at any houses or businesses around the warehouse, it’s one of the reasons I chose that location. Even if there were, it was over a month ago and most security cameras overwrite their storage after a few days or weeks. I don’t think they would have any footage to help us find who rigged the car.”
Dante was feeling frustrated at the lack of progress and let out an exasperated breath. “Easy young padawan, we’re just getting started here.” Simon said with a chuckle. Dante shook his head and headed to the door to go fix some lunch.
“Thanks Yoda”