Play@YSDC

"Yeah," said Hendricks, taking the pistol and holster back and placing them back in the drawer above the false bottom, which he slid into place. "What about the scrambler, Sarge?"

OOC,No, that was the only locked drawer.

"I'm not sure," replied Bill, "I don't know what we can find out from it..." He looked at Hendricks, "Anyone down the station like messing around with electronics?"

"Yeah, I do," said Hendricks. "My partner, Gus Stoker, is pretty good with electronics. Hey, I bet I know what you're thinking, Sarge. You want to put a little listening device in this thing. Then, when Anderson hooks it up and has his super secret conversations with whoever's on the other end, we'll be able to hear and record everything they're saying! Not exactly legal without a wiretap warrant, but I won't tell if you don't."

"Just what I had in mind, though we'll need to get back in here later to get this back in the drawer," said Bill. "You finish up here and I'll go talk to Yeager."

Bill went off to find the Lieutenant. "Hey LT," he said when he caught up with him, "Hendricks got the bottom off the desk drawers and we found this." Bill gave him the device and continued with his explanation, "It's a scrambler - probably military or CIA issue - so Prof. Anderson can make his secret calls. There's an automatic and some ammo in there as well."

"Hendricks reckons Gus Stoker is good with electronics so I'll run us both done there when he's got the desk sorted and we'll see if Gus can't get a signal from this thing when the Prof makes a call. Anything you want me to pick up from the station while we're down there?"

"I'll try to repair the bottom of the drawer," said Hendricks as Bill left, setting to work, but his progress was slow.

"We'll just need a microphone so we can plant a wire inside the scrambler," said Yeager. "Stoker should be able to handle that. If we can get that done tonight, we can try slipping back inside the house. We know Anderson won't be back until morning. Wifey will probably come back at some point, but we can go back in when she's asleep. Then maybe Hendricks can fix that damn lock. If we can set everything back the way it was before we got in, the prof should be none the wiser. If he figures out we've been messing with that drawer, this might not work."

The sound of a car horn came from the front of the house.

"Think that's our cue to leave," said Bill, looking out the window. "Secure the bottom of the drawer and let's get out of here!" He took the scrambler headed off to find Yeager.

OOC,Oops... :oops:

"What was that?" said Bill to Yeager. "Have you got someone acting as lookout?"

"Yeah, that must be O'Hara out front," said Yeager, "letting us know the wife's coming home. Wait here, I'll go get Hnedricks." He hurried back inside. Before long, both of them returned, and Hendricks closed the back door behind him.

"I couldn't fix the drawer in time," said Hendricks. "I tried to hide the damage, but it was a rush job. We'll just have to hope she doesn't go in there or at least doesn't notice it, then come back tonight and fix it up."

"No sweat," said Bill, "You gave it your best shot." He lead the way down the side of the house, looking out for Mrs. Anderson's car.

OOC,How close is the wife's car? Is there time to get to our car before she gets there or are we scooting down the side of the house as she makes her way her way in through the front door? :|

The three of them made their way along the side of the house towards the front. As they neared the corner, they were able to see that a car that wasn't there before, a blue Ford sedan, was now parked in front of the house, and O'Hara's car was gone. They heard the front door of the house opening and closing, so presumably Mrs. Anderson had gone back inside. Sure enough, nobody was out in front of the house. Shortly afterwards, O'Hara drove down the street and parked next to the Mustang, where they all met him.

"I had to pull out and circle the block when I saw her coming," he explained. "Had to be moving so it looked like I had a good reason to toot my horn."

Yeager nodded. "You keep an eye on the house while we're gone," he said. "Hendricks, you'll come back to HQ with me and Sgt. Johns, and we'll give Stoker a call."

"Right, boss," said Hendricks.

"Let's go," said Bill, heading for the car. "Presumably Anderson will be coming home at some stage to report to his backers so the sooner we get the bug planted, the better!"

Police Headquarters, Franklin Square - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7:30 PM - Friday, July 18, 1969

Yeager, Bill, and Hendricks returned to HQ in the Mustang, where Hendricks called Gus Stoker at home and asked him to come in. "He'll be here in half an hour, with his tools," said Hendricks after he got off the phone.

Back at the station, Bill found his thoughts returning to Mary. "Any news from the sleep trials?" he asked, sat on the edge of his desk, his leg swinging nervously.

"They won't start for another half hour," said Yeager, "but Harry should be on his way over there now. I've given him instructions to report in tomorrow morning as soon as they're done for the night."

"Ok," replied Bill shortly. "You don't think we're taking too much of a risk letting the experiment go ahead?" he said.

"I don't see what choice we've got," said Yeager. "Professor Anderson isn't some punk we can toss around - that's his son, if we can find him again. We have to tread carefully around him, especially if he has the connections we think he does, until we get the proof to put him away. Then we can toss him around! Anyway, the first round of experiments went all right, and we've got Harry on the inside keeping an eye on things. He even took the stuff once already, and he's no worse for the wear."

"If he's got those connections, we may not be able to put him away," said Bill. "I've read how those things work. Slush funds, black budgets, those sorta things. It's going on and most people aren't even aware of it..." He caught himself, forgetting again he was a man out of time, mentally reviewing his comments to see if he'd said anything that wasn't common knowledge.

"If that's the case, he'll just have to get shot resisting arrest," said Yeager. "Few people have any loyalty to a dead man."

Bill shook his head, wondering what his future libertarian self would have made of the conversation had he not lived through the last 48 hours. It reminded him of the books he'd read by James Ellroy, with crooked cops and the CIA and FBI trampling their rule of engagement underfoot.

"So, what's next?" he asked. "Once we get the bug in place is their anything else we can do or have we just got to sit and wait?"