The Denver Chronicles

Chapter 25

"Josh, how are you?"

A slender woman made her way into the coffee shop, standing patiently in line to order herself a hot beverage.

"Mira," Josh said, nodding as he walked past with a tray of breakfast foods.

He placed the orders in front of patrons and gave obligatory answers to questions before turning back to his friend in line. She stared patiently at the board up on the wall.

"What can I get you?" he asked, sliding behind the register.

"I'll have a black coffee, decaf please."

"You got it."

After he rang her up, he handed his apron over to the assistant manager.

"I'm taking off. See you tomorrow."

The assistant manager smiled and resumed working. Once Mira's coffee was done, Josh handed it to her, and they both left the coffee shop together. The air outside was warm with a nice breeze. Walking in silence, they make their way to a city park, nestled in between large buildings. Finding an empty bench on the far corner, they sit.

"How is she doing?"

Josh sighs, crossing his arms behind his head.

"She is meeting more of them. Today."

"We know. I tracked her this morning. I mean mentally. How is she doing. It's not easy to read her."

"That's because she has the stones powers in her."

Mira choked on a sip of her coffee.

"The stones."

"The very ones. And they are tracking her from Egypt. I went to her room this morning and.."

"You moron! You could have been caught!"

Josh turned and looked at Mira in the eyes. His irises contracted in anger and hers flashed with recognition. She shrunk back slightly, a bead of sweat rolling down her back.

"What did you say?" Josh asked softly.

"N..nothing. I didn't mean that. It's been stressful lately tracking this case is all."

"You are not focusing. Go see Gary after this. He will realign you."

Mira nodded and took another sip of her coffee.

"As far as her emotions. Well, she is all over the place. The man that she still loves in in the shadows. Marcus."

"Crap. I thought our LA folks took care of him?"

"He knows them actually. They researched the organization once for a movie. So it has to be done covertly. I checked into it, and apparently LA is less apt to do surveillance than we are."

"I will talk to the head. They owe me a favor. But once we get Marcus out of the way, then what? What else is she dealing with?"

Josh unfolded his hands and stretched his long legs out, letting the sun hit his face. He closed his eyes and connected to the thoughts in his mind.

"She is having racing thoughts; her mind is pretty scattered. Not unmanageable, but she needs more help than we have been giving her. That's for sure."

"Our protocols are working though, right? At least helping?"

"They are. We need to ramp them up though."

Josh stood and stretched, then touched his temples lightly, rubbing.

"I want the insiders to do more than bump into her. We need to get a tracker on her. I am afraid that the Egyptians are going to be more brutal than they have ever been before. Too much is at stake."