Season 1, Episode 10:
Catch Her If You Can
Part 3 of 10
“So,
why are we splitting up for this? Why
can’t we all just go together?” Nick asked – not that he wanted to go with
everyone, but there had to be some reason they were dividing up.
“Here’s
the thing: There have been other thefts
of priceless books in China, Australia, and Peru. We’re beginning to think they’re
connected. We need to go to the places
the books have been stolen from and see if we can find any clues as to who’s
doing this and why. I want you all to go
down to Pearl’s lab; you’ll find out there why we‘re separating you all up into
teams,” K explained.
“You
can’t just tell us now?” Nick questioned. He was whining, he knew, but he wanted to
know.
K
blanched. “If I could tell you now, I
would… Well, that’s not true; I could, but I don’t wanna, so go to Pearl’s lab,
Carter. And quit whining; I hate it when
you whine.”
Nick
rolled his eyes and followed the others out of the room. They made their way into Pearl’s lab,
everyone crowding around Pearl, who was sitting at one of her computer
monitors.
“So,
we’re here to find out why we’re all splitting up to do this mission. What do you have for us, Pearl?” Jay asked,
leaning in close to the monitor.
“Well,
I was able to get into the FBI’s database, lousy security and all…” Pearl
started.
Nick
smirked. “It’s a wonder they’re able to
keep anything a secret.”
Pearl
grinned, before turning back to the monitor. She opened a few folders and pulled up what
appeared to be some sort of passage from something.
Jay
squinted at the writing. “What’s that?”
“It’s
some kind of clue that was found by the FBI inside the National Library.”
They
all leaned in closer, looking at the writing.
HRYTONAHARA
AT,L RPOKARAGAAN,SOLL IEANITARA OINC OTA,A AG-SASNA OA OTAD ALSRI.
'BCNCMMRSNFÈNCII A A MC -TAHD 'PINELADRHDS GSDR I
HIED AR' UGENBN AHARAU RÒGC ULARCAIGACRI ELC.AR INDD I ''IE EGIHO I
ULIN AI EUL ER I 'ADOAHBIEG 'TIHÒD I 'DRSD RSACO-HÀD A ÒA U A I HI
UMRMRIDIIHASEC OA ENTAT OCAA,AU AAARDERAHHRYSLIHA ONCBSI GSEDESAHASI I HRN
'HOSBAAH
Nick
frowned. “What the hell is that?”
“No
idea. I’m not sure if it’s trying to
tell them something, or if it’s just some random whatever. Though I can’t imagine it’s just random… you
don’t just all of a sudden write something out in a different language or code
or whatever without trying to make some kind of point. It looks, though, like the FBI are trying to
connect it back to you, Opal, because there’s no prints or DNA evidence or
anything,” Pearl finished, looking over at Opal. “Do you recognize that language?”
Opal
rubbed at her forehead for a moment before shaking her head. “It’s not a language. It’s definitely a code; the letters are
rearranged. I should be able to break
it, but it’s going to take time.”
Pearl
nodded her head. “So… that’s why you
guys are splitting up. We need one group
to go and investigate to see if there are other clues and the other group to
check out the crime scenes in other countries. We can try to get everything taken care of
faster with two groups, instead of one large group looking into one thing at a
time.”
Everyone
nodded and started chatting amongst themselves.
“We’ve
got Opal, so we’ll work on the clues,” Jay decided. “Opal, how long you think it’ll take to crack
it?”
“It’s
hard to say,” replied Opal. “It’s a
matter of finding the right key, the key to the code. And even once we decipher what it says, we
still may not know what it means.”
“Well,
then I have a thought. K mentioned three
other countries where similar crimes have been committed – China, Australia,
and Peru. Maybe we should both start
investigating the crime scenes, until Opal can crack this thing. We may find other evidence that will help.”
“We’ll
go Down Under,” Nick immediately volunteered. He winked at Styx. “Good surfin’, mate!”
“Then
we’ll start in China,” said Jay. “I’ve
always wanted to get an authentic Chinese character tattooed…” he added,
patting his arm. “You never can tell if
they really mean what the tattoo artists here tell you they mean.”
“Roll
up your sleeve; let me see,” said Opal. Jay
pushed back his sleeve to expose his right forearm. She took a minute to study the three Chinese
characters inked there. “It looks like…
‘crazy bear’?” She raised her eyebrows
at Jay. “Is that what you wanted it to
say?”
He
nodded. “Yep, that sounds right. Good to know.”
“Why…?”
Opal started to ask, but Jay cut her off.
“Everyone
get ready; we leave tomorrow. Nick and
Opal, will you stay behind a sec, please?”
As everyone
else filed out, Nick and Opal looked at each other and then over at Jay. “What’s up, Jay?”
“We
need to get you two in disguise. Opal,
I’ll take care of your look, and Nick, I’ve recruited someone special for you…”
Just
then, Lancy walked in.
“Oh
no…” Nick moaned.
“He
was the first one to volunteer, Nick. He’s
assured me he’s good with this kind of thing. Besides, we need you to look totally different
than what you normally do. Just go with
it. Plus, it‘ll be easier for me to have
someone to help; it‘ll take too long if I have to take are of the both of you.”
Lancy
grinned. “I’m gonna work wonders on you,
Nick. I’ve got so many fabulous ideas and so many different
things we can try. Just look at all the
stuff I brought!”
Nick
sighed heavily, glaring at Jay.
“Feel
free to use whatever you’d like, Jay. What’s
mine is yours…” Lancy smiled.
“Thank
you, Lancybassy; appreciate it,” Jay stated, starting to look through his
beauty supplies, motioning for Opal to sit in one of the chairs.
“Uh,
Jay, do you know what you’re doing?” Opal asked uneasily, as she watched him
pick up a box of hair dye.
“Absolutely. It’s one of my many hidden talents,” Jay
explained, holding the box up against her face to see how the color would go
with her complexion.
“Nick,
honey, you sit right there. We’re going
to start, first of all, with a nice facial scrub and exfoliation, and from
there, we’ll do your hair and clothes and… ohh, I’m so excited!” Lancy
exclaimed.
Nick’s
eyes widened, and he looked over at Opal, mouthing the words ‘help me!’ to her.
She winced, standing, as Jay pulled her
out of the chair and into the bathroom. He
turned to look at Lancy, who was once again staring at him as if he were a
grade A steak.
A
short time later, Nick had been scrubbed, buffed, and polished. His face felt surprisingly smooth and soft,
which was a dramatic improvement from how it normally felt.
“Oh,
you just look too good to not keep this up! I think we should schedule monthly – no, weekly visits. I can come over to your dorm for a full facial
treatment. We can do a facial peel and
eventually work into a body peel and…” Lancy
was practically squealing, his eyes shining.
Nick
shook his head vehemently. “No, no,
that’s okay.”
“Aww,
pretty please? With whipped cream on top?”
“It’s
fine, really.”
“Well…
at least promise me you’ll keep it up on your own, and if you ever need help, or
if you have questions, call me!” Lancy pleaded, licking his lips.
“Uh,
sure. Whatever you say,” Nick stated,
shifting in his chair.
Lancy
sighed. “It’ll have to do. We’ll get started on the hair. Come on, into the bathroom.”
“What
about my hair?”
“We’re
going to change it, of course. Those
luscious locks, anyone would recognize. I’m
just gonna give you a bit of a change, honey, darken it up a bit, frost the
tips. You’ll still be the man we all
know and… love, of course – just a different you. A newer you.
A… mmm… greater you.”
Nick
cleared his throat. “Is this all really
necessary?”
“Absolutely,
sweetie. You just trust Lancy. You’re gonna look like a billion bucks.”
Nick
smiled weakly. “I think it’s a million
bucks. I’ll look like a million bucks.”
“Oh,
no, no, you already do. I’m just taking
it to another level.” Lancy winked.
Nick
sighed.
± ± ±
An
hour later, Nick emerged from the bathroom.
His hair had been colored brown with blonde tips, and in his eyes, he
wore green contacts. He looked at his
clothes; some awful skinny jeans with a salmon-colored shirt and blue tie
completed the look. It looked nice, but
it so wasn’t his style. He adjusted the
fake glasses on his nose and turned to look at Lancy.
“You
look FAB-U-LOUS!” trilled Lancy, doing jazz hands. “They say clothes make the man, but honey,
they haven’t seen you!”
Nick
nodded. “Yeah… uh, thanks, Lancy.”
“I
knew that carnation pink shirt would look great on you!”
“Actually,
it’s not pink; it’s salmon.”
“Well,
well, look at you, Nick.” Jay smiled,
making his way out of the women’s bathroom.
Nick
glared at him.
“I
like the hair, I have to say, and the clothes… well, it looks like you just
stepped off the runway.” Jay nodded his
approval.
Lancy
beamed and clapped his hands. “He does,
doesn’t he? I thought I’d go for
something a bit more modern… more hip. He really does look great.”
“It
takes a real man to wear pink, ya know,” Jay chuckled.
“It’s
not pink! It’s salmon,” Nick grated out.
“Yeah,
sure, whatever you say, man.” Jay
laughed.
“Anyway…
where’s Opal?”
“Right
here,” she said, making her way out of the bathroom behind Jay.
Nick’s
eyes widened. “Whoa!”
Gone
was her dark brown hair, now lightened to a golden blonde and swept up into a
simple, yet elegant bun. Her exotic eyes
were now lavender. She wore a pencil
skirt and blouse; she looked like a lawyer. The kind of lawyer who made you want to file a
lawsuit, just to seek her representation.
“Wow,
you look great,” Nick sighed.
She
smiled. “Well, thanks. It’s not me, but for now, it’ll have to do. You don’t look too bad yourself; I really like
the pink shirt.”
Nick
frowned. “It’s not pink; it’s… ya know
what? Never mind.”
± ± ±
Jay was tired and desperately wanted to be done with this
interview so he could get back to the hotel and finally get some rest. It seemed days ago that K had assigned the
groups, and Lancy had put Nick in that ridiculous pink shirt. The three-hour flight to New York and then
the fourteen-hour flight to Beijing had not made things easier.
Leaning his head forward, Jay rubbed the back of his neck
and sighed in frustration. He had lost
count somewhere along the way, but he was sure this was quite possibly the
thirtieth interview he’d conducted. Whoever
this thief was, they were ballsy enough to steal an item from a heavily
populated building, and it seemed everyone wanted to give their version of what
had happened.
“What did you see?” Leo asked. Jay was surprised at how relaxed and
undeterred he seemed after hours of interviews.
“I don’t know if it’s any help, but I saw a woman sneaking
around doors marked ‘personnel only.’”
Jay sat up straighter, a bit surprised this interviewee spoke with an
American accent. “I brought my Nai Nai here to work out some governmental problems she was
having with the location…”
“Sir, I hate to interrupt, but can we get back to the
woman?” Jay interrupted, anxious to get something from this person that might
actually be useful – that, and Leo had whispered to him during the man’s answer
that this was the last interview.
“Sure, she was wearing a red trench coat and a wide-brimmed
hat. I thought it was strange since, you
know, the weather here is very balmy, and she was inside; everyone else removed
their hat when they passed through the doors – not to mention, it was red, and
she stood out to me, at least.”
“That’s all you can tell us?”
“I watched her go through a door and then appear maybe
fifteen minutes later from the same door.
Her trench coat appeared to be bulging this time. I would have said something, but our number
was called, and my Nai Nai was moving towards the
entrance.” The man folded his fingers
together and sat looking at the two agents.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”
Jay nodded and pulled out his laptop, as Leo dismissed the
man. “Well, that was the most
information we got all day, and it was next to nothing.” Leo groaned, as he watched Jay log onto the
video conference feed with K and Nick. He hoped that Nick would have more to bring to
the table with his investigation in Australia.
“What were you able to determine, Jay?” K’s voice echoed through the interview room
they’d been allotted at the National Library of China in Beijing, from which
the most complete surviving copy of the Yongle
Encyclopedia had been stolen. Written
during the Ming Dynasty in the 1400s, it had been one of the earliest and the
largest general encyclopedias. Still,
tired and irritable, Jay couldn’t help but wonder, What would the thief want with an old encyclopedia written in Chinese?
Out loud, he answered, “The only viable
description of the thief we received has her looking like Carmen Sandiego.”
“Well then, be on the lookout for V.I.L.E henchmen, and
make sure your Almanac is up-to-date,” Nick joked.
“Were you able to ascertain anything different, Nick?” K
said, not missing a beat, unaware of the “joke” Nick had made.
Nick, who had started humming the all-too-familiar “Where
in the World is Carmen Sandiego” theme, cleared his throat and answered, “Jay
got more information with his Carmen Sandiego look-alike then I was able to
get. Nobody saw anything. In fact, nobody knew they were missing for quite
some time, as it appears our thief swapped the originals for copies. It wasn’t until the Archbishop of Sydney,
George Pell, came through with a group of students from the seminary that they
were identified as fakes. We have no
clue how long the originals have been missing.”
“What’s going on with the investigation into Opal?” Leo
asked, unable to keep silent any longer.
“It’s still going strong.
My sources tell me they’ve been investigating every location she’d been
assigned to and checking her travel log with the time line of events as they
know them.”
“Have I moved to a suspect yet, or am I just suspicious
still?” Nick asked with a smirk on his face, obviously pleased that the Untied
States government was inept at even figuring out what to classify him as.
“Be thankful they only see you as suspicious, Nick. Last thing we need is government agents
trying to delve into the secrets of HimTak.
If some of our clients found that out, we would no longer be in
business.”
Jay nodded in agreement. “How’s Brian holding up?”
“He’s doing everything he can to keep himself busy and his
mind off of Opal. There isn’t much he
can do, since the Feds don’t want him to get involved, so the CIA is actually
cooperating, and they put him on a pretty lowbrow case, which is not getting
his full attention; he’s distracted.”
“I can imagine.”
“See what else you can discover. Maybe Opal has made progress. I’ll keep you informed of any changes on this
end. Contact me if you make any
progress.” With that, K signed off.
“He didn’t even say goodbye.” Nick sniffed.
“Goodbye, Nick.” Jay
smiled and severed the connection.
“We should get back.
It’s late, and I doubt the Chinese government will be willing to let us
poke around in the bowels of the library here tonight.” Jay stood up, grabbed the laptop, and cuffed
Leo’s shoulder.
It wasn’t a long trip back to the hotel, but Leo wanted to
stop for some food. Jay couldn’t argue;
he was hungry, and he was sure Opal would be thankful. Bogged down with food cartons, Leo almost
dropped them when he felt his phone vibrate in his pants. Juggling the items carefully, he was able to
pull his phone out and flip it open.
“Hello?” he asked, unsure of who could be calling him now.
“Leo, I got it!” a woman’s voice screeched into the phone.
“Opal?” Leo asked. “What
are you…”
“I figured out part of the clue!” she interrupted, too
excited to wait for Leo to finish his sentence.
“It’s a code, of course, but every code-breaking technique I employed
only came up with gibberish. Well, I was
staring at it with some movie on the TV playing for background noise, when I
looked up to see what was going on and noticed the subtitles were on, in
Chinese!” She paused, expecting Leo to
understand where she was going with this.
“It hit me – the clue is in another
language and encoded! Now that I’ve figured that out, it’s just a
simple matter of solving the code and seeing if the words make sense in any
language spoken.” Opal sighed, pleased
with herself.
“Opal, that’s great, but you used your cell phone?”
“Well, of course; the hotel phone would charge long
distance.”
“Opal, your cell…”
“… is being tracked… shit.”
± ± ±
The J. Edgar Hoover building was just starting to buzz with
activity, but the two FBI agents working on the Ashavari Desai case had pulled
an all-nighter.
They were desperately trying to catch a lead, afraid to go
to their superior to tell him that any trace of the wanted woman had gone cold
after they’d visited Brian Littrell’s residence. For awhile, they’d thought they had a hot
streak and would catch her in only a matter of time, but as the hours wore on,
they were grasping at straws.
“I still think we need to investigate that Carter
kid.” The man wearing a military style
haircut looked up and over at the man lounging back in his chair, fedora hat
over his eyes. “Hank!” the man yelled
out.
“What?” The other
man stretched, allowing the hat to fall to the floor.
“I said I think we need to investigate that Carter
kid.” The Boston accent in his voice was
apparent as he spoke. “I get the feeling
he’s hiding something.”
“Tom, you think everyone is hiding something.” Hank rubbed his nose and searched his desk
for a coffee cup with any of the caffeinated liquid inside.
“…they really scraped the bottom of the barrel…” Tom
mumbled to himself.
“What was that?” Hank asked.
Tom did not answer.
Instead, he busied himself punching something into his computer and
focusing on that. Hank shrugged and went
to the coffee maker, grabbing another cup and a doughnut, a jelly one, taking a
bite and dripping the red jelly down his front.
“Damn...” he muttered, wiping at it pointlessly with his
napkin.
“Shit, I don’t believe this.” Tom started at his screen. “Gotcha!” He sat back and punched more keys on his
keyboard.
“What?” Hank asked, mouth full of doughnut.
“I got a hit on her cell phone GPS. The gal must have turned it on and, even better,
used it without thinking. We got a
hit.” His fingers furiously flew across
the keyboard, honing in on the location of the cell tower that had caught the
signal used by Ashavari’s phone. Hank
watched as Tom’s face moved from stoic to slightly less so; it must have been
good.
“I hope you have an overnight back packed, Hank. Grab your passport; we’re headed ta China.” Tom stood, grabbing the coat off the back of
his chair and making his way to the exit.
Hank continued to sit in disbelief that he was being asked to give up
his doughnut and coffee this early to go to China, of all places. Sensing his hesitation, Tom turned back to the
man assigned to work with him. “They do
got coffee at the airport.”
Groaning, Hank stood and followed the man out of the office,
knowing he was going to regret the actions that had led him to be assigned this
case.
± ±
±
Leo
walked through the lobby of the hotel, a paper bag in his arms, holding the
take-out dinner that he, Jay, and Opal had ordered. He looked closely at every person he passed
by, careful not to draw any attention to himself, but still observant enough to
watch out for any threats. He stopped in
his tracks as he heard some familiar words – although in a mostly foreign
language to him.
“Excuse me, miss, but we’re with
the United States government,” a man’s voice said in broken Mandarin to the young woman at the
reception desk Leo was in the midst of passing. He calmly and quickly walked over to the
nearest of the large decorative columns and hid behind it, still listening in
on the conversation. Leo silently
praised himself for at least beginning to learn Mandarin Chinese, the only
knowledge that helped him discern the words “United
States Government” from the man’s introduction.
“Hello, sir, how may I help
you?” the
girl replied courteously with much smoother pronunciation.
“Have you seen this woman?” the man asked, and Leo could
tell he was showing the girl a picture of Opal.
“No, sir, no girl like that
has been here,”
the girl answered.
The
men sighed, and Leo took this opportunity to pull out his cell phone and call
Jay.
“Jay
here,” the agent answered.
“It’s
Leo. The Feds are here; they’re asking
at the front desk about Opal.”
“Shit!”
Jay muttered, and Leo heard Opal’s voice in the background asking what was
going on. “How did they get here so
quickly?”
“My
guess is they’re field agents,” Leo replied, still watching the agents out of
the corner of his eye. They seemed to be
asking the girl to search the guest database for recent check-ins, with very
limited success. “The FBI has offices
all over the world. All the U.S. office
would need to do is make a call, and the field office could send someone out
right away.”
“So
what’s our escape plan gonna be?”
“I
wouldn’t recommend coming down here right now.
There’s one guy at the front desk, and I think there’s another one going
around asking guests if they’ve seen anything. Not sure how many others could be around
here.”
“Damnit,”
Jay cursed under his breath again, before a solution struck him. “I think I have an idea how to get rid of
them. Just meet us outside and keep an
eye out. We’ll meet you there just after
the agents leave.”
“How
are you gonna-?”
“Just
trust me. We don’t have many options,
and this one has the best chance of working. We’ll be there.”
“Okay…”
Leo replied uneasily. “See you in a
few.” He waited until Jay hung up and
then casually exited the lobby and kept a keen eye out for any sign of his
traveling companions.
± ± ±
Meanwhile,
up in the hotel room, Jay was filling Opal in on the details she missed while
he pulled the bedspread off of the bed and fashioned it into a disguise. Opal watched in amazement as he wrapped it
around her, ripping off pieces that were just the right size and tying them in
just the right spots. When he was done,
she appeared to be wearing a kimono, and after rummaging through the bathroom,
he was able to find the supplies he needed to decorate her face to make her
look like a geisha. Jay then guided her
to the bed, just in time for someone to knock impatiently at the door.
“Kinda
busy in here!” Jay called, whispering a stage direction in Opal’s ear quickly,
so as not to spook her too much when he climbed on top of her, moments before
the door burst open, and two men in suits stood in the doorway. “Jeez, can’t you guys wait a few minutes?!”
“What’s
going on in here?” one of the two men asked, startled.
“Isn’t
it a bit obvious?” Jay replied with a nod at Opal, who widened her eyes to
silently express her surprise. “Look,
unless my watch is broken or something, would you guys mind clearing out? I paid her upfront for the hour, and my time
is almost up. Can you at least let a
fella finish?”
The
men looked at each other and exchanged annoyed looks. “Sorry, sir. Um, enjoy your… entertainment,” the second of
the two men said, as the each tipped their hats and left the room.
“Believe
me, I will!” Jay called, waiting until the door clicked shut behind them and he
estimated they were at least halfway down the hall before he quickly jumped off
the bed, causing it to bounce a bit and Opal to giggle in amusement, as she
removed the makeshift kimono carefully. She
laid it out on the bed and admired it for a few moments.
“Remind
me to call on you the next time I have a wardrobe emergency…” Opal remarked
with a smirk.
“Happy
to help, doll,” he told her, as he pulled back the curtains on the large window
and grunted as he struggled to slide the window open, “but right now, I could
use a hand so we can escape before they figure us out.”
± ± ±
As
they walked down the hall to return to the lobby and resume their line of
questioning at the front desk, the FBI agents laughed at how awkward the
situation was that they had just found themselves in.
“But
hey, man, that geisha was quite a pretty one. Wonder where he found her…” the agent in the
brown hat commented. He gave his partner
a confused look, as he abruptly stopped before getting into the elevator that
had just opened in front of them.
“Yeah,
me too… since we’re in China, and geishas are from Japan…” he said slowly, as
the agents turned to face each other for a moment before tearing down the hall,
nearly passing the door they needed before they stopped and kicked it open.
They
sighed as they saw the wind blowing the curtain. The window was open, the kimono was on the
bed, and the couple they’d had in their grasp for the briefest of moments was
gone.
± ± ±
Opal
thanked Leo as he helped steady her, once she and Jay had reached the ground. Jay was thankful he’d been wearing his
leather grappling hook belt, which he’d used to help himself and Opal repel
down the face of the building quickly. There
was some kind of festival happening in the city, and with a parade going on in
the street below, no one had noticed the people practically climbing down the
side of a large hotel.
“Well,
aren’t you just full of fashionable surprises,” Opal complimented Jay.
“Don’t
ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be prepared and look sexy at the same time,” Jay said with a wink.
“That’s
great, but I think we better find ourselves some new disguises or a fast way to
get out of here before we get caught,” Leo advised. The trio looked around frantically for any
sign of a cab or bus that they could sneak onto and make their great escape,
but to no avail – traffic was blocked due to the parade. Then Opal spotted something right before her
very eyes that was perfect.
“Boys,
I think I’ve solved both of our problems…”
She grinned as she pointed at the long dragon puppet dancing down the
street, at least a dozen pairs of legs peeking out underneath it as the
performers walked it through the parade. They chuckled, as she pulled them along, waiting
until the perfect moment to slide under the creature and use it to march along
to safety.
± ± ±