22:57 – Steve quietly rapped his knuckles on the camper’s rear door. Alarmed, Ty dropped his half-eaten sandwich and nearly choked on the large bite in his mouth. Looking out through the curtain, Ty expected to find a police officer or at least a security guard, questioning him about being parked in this shopping center parking lot. However, spotting Steve, dressed in all black and sporting a futuristic headset, Ty opened the door and whispered, “How did you find me, here?”
“Sorry if I startled you, but it wasn’t very hard,” Steve replied, his fingers tapping the infrared headgear perched above his brow. “You being the only heat signature sitting in a cold camper, I approached from the rear to see if it was you or one of our targets standing guard. If I were going to set up a stakeout, this is a spot I would have picked and my infrared set showed you sitting in a position to view the house so I figured it must be you. I’m Captain Steve Thomas (referring to his prior military rank was a hard habit to break since all of his team called him Captain). We met at the press conference the evening the mission was announced. I assume you were informed I would be arriving.” Steve held out his hand to greet Ty. “Has there been any movement?”
“No,” Ty answered, shaking Steve’s hand. “That is, one suspect left earlier in the day, around 15:00, but came back about an hour and fifteen minutes later with what looked like two small bags of groceries. Nothing since then.”
With his other hand Steve reached in and patted Ty’s shoulder, “I really appreciate the assist. Now, we’ll take it from here. You should head home and catch up on your sleep.” Glancing around Ty and seeing the crumpled up assortment of fast food, candy bar and gum wrappers, Steve observed, “Looks like you’ve been on stakeout for quite a while.”