ARKEN

Surveillance

"Can I trust you'll get the job done?"

Creed stopped in his tracks, "Sir, I know you disapprove of my decision regarding Henry Marsden, but you have to understand where I was coming from."

Kerzing turned to Creed and shook his head, "I don't have to pretend to understand why you chose to spare a dangerous man who killed almost a dozen of our men."

"Sir, regardless of how it ended up, I neutralized Henry Marsden as a threat. Locking him up or killing him, he won't be a problem anymore either way. Now I'd like another assignment."

"You want another assignment? Fine. Specialist Glover is going to run surveillance on a bar."

"Yes, Sir."

Creed watched Kerzing leave and went and found Specialist Theodore Glover carrying several black equipment bags. Glover was an older man, one of the 'old timers' alongside Kehoe, and Recker. Ted Glover was in his late forties, black, with light brown eyes and a broad nose. He had a graying mustache and thick black hair. He was also grumpy as all hell from what little Creed had seen of him so far.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you out."

"Oh, good. You can carry the bags, then." Glover handed the two heaviest bags off to Creed, "Enjoy, let's go."

Glover led the way out into the vehicle bay. On the way out, they were cut off by a guard who quickly got out of their way. She had her hat tucked way down and was staring towards the floor, but Creed didn't think anything of it.

Creed followed Glover to a large gray van, Glover opened the back and put his bag inside. Creed put the two bags inside and shut the doors, joining Glover in the cab as he started it up. Glover backed out and they drove up to the front gate, where they were let through by the guards.

Out on the road they were silent. Creed didn't like the awkwardness of the silence.

"Were you there when they brought Mayberry in?"

"No. I was busy." Glover pushed up his sunglasses. Like Specialist Recker, Specialist Glover wore the high-tech SHADES, the only other pair, as far as Creed knew.

"How are you feeling about things?"

"Look, kid. If you're going to come along and help, that's fine...less work for me, but I'm now missing out on some much-needed quiet time. So, if you could keep the chatter down to when it's necessary, I'd appreciate it."

Creed silently acknowledged Glover's request and refrained from speaking until they arrived at their destination on South Harper Avenue, all the way down in Hyde Park. Glover parked the van between two other cars and pointed to the bar across the street. It looked like a normal bar, a few people came in and out occasionally. The bar was called Scalleri's, and it wasn't what Creed pictured.

"Do you know what we're doing here?" Glover asked.

"Kerzing mentioned we were doing surveillance on a bar, that's it."

"Yeah, right over there, Scalleri's. You see, rumor is this bar is involved in some illicit activities. More than that...we suspect that the owner, and possibly some of the staff, are bio-criminals. We're going to do some surveillance to determine if that is true."

"So, we're just going to watch from the outside?"

"Nope. Since you wanted a new assignment, you're going to do all the heavy lifting on this one. That means you get to go in there and set up cameras and microphones without being caught. Just don't let anyone pay too much attention to you and you should be good."