“We do, brother.We text one another to meet,” said Hiro.
“There are a lot of us, Hiro,” said Cam.
“And we all live within arms’ length of one another,” he grinned.“Listen, I’m not judging any of us.You forget, electronics, technology is our jam.But when we don’t knock on a door and say ‘hello’ or move our feet to gather the teams, we’re missing a big piece of humanity.”
“What’s your suggestion?” asked Luke.
“I’m not sure.Maybe do electronic free days.Not all the time, maybe once a week.The phones, the computers, all of them are shut down unless we’re working on an urgent case or maybe just one person has their comms on during those days.I don’t know.I think we talk about it all when we get back.But we definitely need to do a better job of letting the kids know what’s acceptable and what isn’t.
“Cooper and Quinn weren’t doing anything wrong.We knew they were playing those games on their phones.What we didn’t specify was whether or not they needed to have the game approved for download by us.”
“That’s actually a great point,” said Cam.“I would assume the same would be true for shopping sites, apps to order food or flowers, grocery store apps, although that one doesn’t apply to us.”
“Even educational sites,” said Tanner.“High schools and universities use online sites for everything from studying, taking classes, buying books and materials, and taking tests.”
“It’s a lot to take in and a lot to think about,” said Luke frowning at the men around him and on the screen.“I guess I know why Dad and the others feel left out sometimes.I mean, they’re pretty tech savvy but sometimes they just shake their heads and walk away.”
“It will only get worse.We need to start forcing our younger people, and ourselves, to put the electronics down and look up, look the person in the face and talk more.”
“Well,” smirked Wyatt, “we’ll let you guys work out the details of that, we’ll figure out what’s happening here and let you know.”
“Be careful guys,” said Cam.“If this person or persons are this tech savvy, we have no idea what sort of technology they might have at their fingertips.”AJ smiled at them, nodding.
“That’s what we’re about to find out.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
While they were seated at the hotel waiting to eat dinner, AJ reached into his pocket and discovered the note that the young man at the pentagon had given him the first day.
Meet me @ Tuck’s Bar on W. Washington at 1900 about Anders
“Shit,” muttered AJ.“I totally forgot about this note.What was that kids name?”
“MacGregor.Michael MacGregor, right?” said Hiro.
“Yeah.Let me see if I can find him.”AJ took out his phone, then looked up to see the grins on the faces of his friends.“Yeah, yeah, I know.I just gave Cam and Luke a lecture about this but I need to find that young man.”
“I think I just found him,” said Hiro pointing to the television.
“A young aide working at the Pentagon was found dead near Tuck’s Bar two nights ago.He was shot in the head, execution style.He was unarmed and had not been drinking and was not seen with anyone in or near the bar.So far, there is no motive for the shooting.”
“Damn.Damn, damn, damn,” said AJ.“He wanted to tell us something about what happened to Anders and now he’s dead.That can’t be a coincidence.”
“I’ll make a call to Ham and the others,” said Wyatt stepping away.AJ blamed himself.He wondered how long that poor young man had stood there, waiting on him.
“AJ, it’s not on you, brother,” said Tanner.“If you had shown up, you could be dead as well.We have no idea what happened at that bar or what he really wanted to tell you.”
“Or, I could have helped him and kept him alive,” he frowned.“How could I have forgotten?”
“We were busy, brother.We were all running around trying to figure this other shit out.It’s a horrible thing, for sure.But we also don’t know if it has anything to do with Anders,” said Hiro.
“It would make sense,” said AJ.“Why else would he have handed me that note and asked to meet in that bar?Someone saw it.There was no one else in the hallway but there are cameras everywhere.Someone saw it.”
“Brother, we’ll figure it out,” said Wyatt walking back to the group.“Ham and the others are going to investigate it further for us.”
“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” asked Tanner looking directly at AJ.Hopefully, he could move on, at least temporarily from his thoughts.
“Just what we said.We’ll head up to Baltimore and see if we can’t get some of the guys we arrested the other day, to answer some questions.I feel certain that they’re not doing well in a jail cell.I doubt any of those kids have ever been that far away from their phones for that long,” he said with a serious expression.
