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Awakenings Chapter 2: Realizations, Page 7

Simone took another slow breath and then another sip of wine.  “Ed, what are you so frightened of?”

Ed sat still for a moment, pale and almost imperceptibly shaking.  He then sipped some more of the Barbera.  “Failure, mostly.  I bit off more than I can chew with this new job.”  He looked over at Joe.  “How does one get a concealed weapons permit in this county?”

Simone’s raised her eyebrows.  “Would you like me to do an I Ching reading?  I have yarrow stalks right here”

Joe nervously glanced down at his watch and then looked at both Simone and Ed.  “Elise’s aerobics class is about to get out.  I need to bring in the other case of wine.”  Joe then stood up.

Ed finished his glass of wine and also stood up.  “I have to back to the winery.  Can we talk some more later Joe?”

Joe answered, “Absolutely”. 

Ed laid down a twenty.  “See you guys later.”

After Joe brought in the second case of wine, Simone asked him, “I have been studying up on my Greek and Latin since you dropped by the other day.  Can I take another look at those notes?”

Joe nodded slightly as he opened the door to leave.  “Yeah, I will bring some more by soon.  Maybe you could call your friend at the University who might be good at translating Latin and Greek?”

Just then Simone’s phone rang and picking it up, she just waved to Joe as he left.

On the way home, after Joe picked up Elise from her aerobics class, Elise told Joe, “Jackie, you know, the owner of the old hardware store, was in the class today and told me that there was a strange thin, old bald gentleman with a strange accent at her hardware store last week asking lots of questions about the Gambaro Family.”

“Probably just an old family acquaintance”.  However, Joe started thinking more about the black limousine that had been following him.  Glancing in his rear view mirror, he did not think he was being followed.

Eric slumped deeply into his office chair as his office door closed.  One of the things he hated about this job since 9/11 was all of the interagency cooperation now required.  This made it harder to hide the little extra payments he got from many of his “clients”.  Having the FBI come to his office today was a little unnerving.  Perhaps some terrorists were trying smuggle in weapons, maybe even an atom bomb into the United States using these cargo containers.  However, the pointed questions that were asked had nothing to do with terrorists.   He opened the cover of his cell phone and dialed.

“Hello, this is Eric.”  Listening for a moment, he stated, “I would like to make a reservation for two at the Tiburon Bay House restaurant for 8:00 PM tonight.”  He listened some more, repeated his name, said a thank you, and hung up.

When Joe and Elise got home, Elise went to shower before starting dinner.  Joe went to his office to check for messages.  The blinking red light was like a beacon in his darkened office.  Turning on the light, he pushed the play button to hear, “Joe, this is Roger, I am not finished running the tests but have already turned up some really nasty stuff.  Someone may be going to jail.   Call me right away.”

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