Under Arrest

Chapter 13: Life's a Bitch

       Never did Sharee imagine in her whole life that she’d be in a Mission: Impossible scenario. Even though Tom Cruise got the job done in his adventures, this was entirely a different story. She wasn’t in a movie to begin with.

      There were no safety nets in case she fell.
      There were no safety ropes in case she slipped.
      There were no retakes if she made a single mistake.

      No rehearsals. No bloopers allowed. This was real.

      “I miss you,” Sharee read the text on her phone. Three words to which her answer was composed four.

      “I miss you more,” Sharee’s replied to Carlos. From time to time they’d check on each other.

      “Are you busy? Can I call you?” said the next sms.

      “I am. Maybe later,” replied Sharee. She’s really busy - mentally.

      At the station, Sharee was on the move. She decided to go for the easy one first. It was lunch time, and most officers were out during this period of the day, so it would be easy to run around the file section.

       If only it was still a library where all the files were hard copies. 

      Just last year, the board decided to hire some programmer to make a virtual archive where all files were to be stored. It was a necessary upgrade, because the folders of the latter years were piling up and they needed to maximize space.
     
      Things should be easy now that files are accessible in a few clicks, but no. It’s like trying to win the lottery for those who do not know the password.
     
      Luckily, she knew someone who did.

      Sharee’s too beautiful to just have two lovers at her feet. There existed a Leon Harris, her colleague, who’s been constantly hitting on her since the age of dinosaurs, despite the bad looks he got from Carlos during a party. Sharee didn’t pay him attention, but he’s most likely the one that who could help her at a time like this.

      He didn’t look bad. As a matter of fact, they looked great together. Leon was someone who’d stand out in the least from a clump of men. Granite- black eyes whose stare only looked in the direction of Sharee ever since, his skin was white in complexion. Fashioning a brushed-up hair, rejection was eternally his when it came to asking her out on a date.

      “Hey,” Sharee greeted him as he stood by the bulletin board, looking over some pinned notes, “What’s up?”

      “Oh hi,” Leon was surprised to see Sharee walking up to her, “Just me here, looking at these notices. The town festival’sonly in a few days,” he noticed.

      “Time flies so fast. Wasn’t it just last year when we arrested some drunken minors at the square? I wonder what will happen this year,” Sharee said, keeping the conversation going.

      Sharee knew he had him. Leon couldn’t stop stealing glances at her when he thought she wasn’t not looking. But she was a girl, and girls were good at these. “Yeah you’re right. I remember I was with you when we arrested those kids.”

      “I remember the following morning then. You got a black eye because one of them fought back. Haha.” Sharee laughed.

      “Haha. Very funny,” said Leon.

      “Hey listen, I was wondering if you could help me with something,” Sharee did her thing.

      I knew it. She needs something.

      “Sure, anything. What’s wrong?” Leon replied as he toyed with his ear.

      “I need to know something. But I’ll need to have access to the computer archives. You’re clear to get to them right? Can you give me the password? Just this once,”

      “You know I can’t possibly do tha-”

      “But I really need it. Can you make an exception? Just this time?”

      “That’s against protocol. And if we get caught we’ll be burnt,” Leon refused.

      “Please?” Sharee held him by his arm, “I need it badly.”

      Her magic touch sealed the deal.

      “Please Leon?” her puppy eyes were quick to soften him.

      “Oh…okay…but you better keep your mouth zipped or we’ll be kicked out of the service,” Leon finally agreed, hesitant.

      If Dante and Carlos couldn’t resist her, how could he?
     
      Easy round. Not a challenge at all. Not long after successfully making Leon agree to help her out, Sharee found herself sitting in front of the computer. The cursor blinked as it waited for them to enter the password.
 
“Can you turn away for a sec?” Leon asked.
     
      Sharee looked the opposite direction from the monitor as he keyed in the password. In seconds, she was swimming in names and data.

      “What are you looking for anyway?” Leon’s curiosity finally made him ask.

      “Just some names and their profile,” she replied.

      “What for? Who are these people?”

      “Trust me, the less you know, the better,” Sharee said.

      “Fine. You drag me into something that could ruin my career and all I get is a polite way for you to say mind my own business. Okay,” Leon felt left out.

      “Sorry. Personal reasons,” she told him.

      Done. Sharee looked for a slot to insert her flash drive and copied the files she needed. The files Dante needed.

      “Not a word about this,” Leon said. Sharee was about to say a similar thing but he beat her to it.

      “Not a single word,” Sharee assured him, zipping her mouth. She’s not gonna talk of course. She ain’t stupid.

      Since time immemorial, the female had power over the male. Eve was able to convince Adam to take a bite on the juicy fruit. Delilah was able to extract the source of Samson’s strength and had his hair cut. These are so as the Bible said. Sharee did it again, becoming an official entry to the list of females who triumphed over males. Leon was no match. He was too naïve.

      Sliding the flash drive safe into her pocket, they went out.

      “I assume you know what to do with the surveillance footage,” Sharee asked.

      “Yeah I got it,” Leon was suddenly a very loyal dog.

      “Nicely done,” Sharee said, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek.

      Nothing compared to what Carlos and Dante had. Leon is satisfied with such a meager consolation prize. He had no idea.

      “I need to go to the restroom. Thanks a lot,” said Sharee. She needed an alibi to get rid of him.

      “Sure,” Leon replied. Who was he to complain anyway? But he stopped Sharee on her steps with an overly used question by males trying to get laid, “Hey, do you think maybe we could grab something to eat sometime?”

      “Leon…” Sharee, upon hearing the question he obviously had in mind since she asked him to assist her on this, walked back to him in poise and whispered, “You and me…it’s never going to happen,”

      Honesty was the best policy.
      Truth hurt.
      That’s life.

      After sometime she peeked outside and as she expected, Leon was gone. He must have gone to his mama to cry or hang himself. If he did the first, she thought it’s natural. Dante even busted himself out of jail. The least Leon would do is cry. If he did the latter, well, Sharee knew that he could be a crybaby, but suicide wasn’t in his repertoire.

      All that’s left was the evidence room.

     Sharee let the time pass as she carefully planned her next steps. After dark, she put the plan in motion.

      Snoring at the desk was her fellow officer who’s so fat that he took at least ten seconds to get up from his seat and twenty to get out of his bed. Despite having been given a decent name by his parents, which was Marvin, he’s used to people calling him Panda.

      He only has two responsibilities in the station.

      First, watch over the deposit and withdrawal of items in the evidence room. Second, and probably the hardest, sleep.       

      Sharee almost tiptoed as she came close to the desk. She was right to expect that Panda was slacking off which should make things easier for her. Even the sound of her pulling the screen door as she entered had no effect.

     He must be having a good dream.

      The surveillance data were saved into a single storage, which meant that if Leon took care of the footage in the archives, he would have to erase the feed of all cameras. He wouldn’t have the patience to watch all of it and check in which video they were captured. Hell, there were four cameras in the archives. Leon was there, so even the cameras in the evidence room didn’t bother Sharee at all.

      So what do I need…Sharee asked herself as she looked at the piece of paper Dante gave him.

      Though Dante made it clear that these people he’s scouting on are people who sent him to hell, Sharee couldn’t establish the connection.

      When did all this happen?
      Where did he meet these people?
     
      Had she not brought a flashlight with her, she would’ve been doomed. The evidence room was dark and she couldn’t risk turning on the lights. The only light source was in her hand, and it guided her steps as she trod in between the giant shelves.

      There’s one thing she needed to do besides her primary objective - she had to hurry. Pointing her flashlight to each row in search for what she needs, she made sure not to miss a single box. Surprisingly, as if waiting for her, two of what she’s looking for were placed on the shelf side by side.

      One more to go.

      Walking slowly, she held the two small cardboard boxes with one hand clenched on her side. She expected the last one to be bigger, for the word rifle Sharee waved her flashlight up and down to check for longer boxes were placed elsewhere aside the middle row.

      Footsteps. The darkness ate her as she turned her flashlight off. She heard men talking outside. Adjusting her ears to make out what was audible, she listened.

       “Panda. Hey man wake up,” Sharee could hear the faint voice an officer talking to the guard she was able to bypass.

      “Oh sorry, I must’ve dozed off. Sorry…”

      “Save it Panda. Is someone here?” asked the officer.

      “How’s he supposed to know? He’s asleep!” complained another man in a higher voice.

      “We saw someone in our monitor,” the officer said.

      Sharee knew she’s in trouble. She needed to hide.
      The question was where.
      The answer was nowhere.
      She could hear herself breathe.

      The amount of time she had to think was directly proportional to the amount of time the guards have in order to catch her.
     
      She forgot.
      The surveillance equipment were upgraded as well.
      Night vision cameras were installed lately.
     
      Earlier in the archives wasn’t really a problem. They could talk their way out of it by making up a clever story.

      But her, in the middle of the evidence room, without permit, and mentally unstable for using a flashlight instead of the fluorescents, had no chance to come up with a smart excuse.

      No light.
      No hope.
      No cover.
      No escape.
     
      Of all the ways fate could have chosen to do to make her regret the fact that she was born, the one it chose was to make Sharee’s phone ring in a situation like this.

      Incoming Call: Carlos

      Hands shaking, she ended the call by turning the phone off.

      But it was too late.
      The faint conversation outside stopped.

      She heard the sound of the screen door opening. Beams from two flashlights jumped from wall to wall as two officers walked inside the evidence room. She could hear their footsteps get nearer.
     
      And nearer…
      And nearer…