and wait.
A few steps to her left were some stacked crates pushed catty-cornered against the wall. There was enough space for her if she curled up the right way. The small spaces between the crates would give her a possible line of sight and at least a place to point her microphone for the hearing enhancer.
Time seemed to be moving at warp speed as she set up her equipment and wedged herself behind the crates, trying multiple positions in an attempt to give herself the best chance to have a view of the meeting. She knew full well this was all a gamble. Maybe the meeting would be held at the complete opposite end of the mill. Maybe they’d sit outside in a car and never even come in. She knew she needed a lot of stars to align in order for this to work, but she was willing to have some faith. Something out there kept sending her signs to will her forward. She knew she wasn’t very skilled and maybe she made some rookie mistakes, but so far when it counted she’d been successful.
She had done one final run-through of everything and decided she wouldn’t emerge from her hiding spot again until either the meeting had taken place or it got late enough that she was sure it wasn’t going to happen.
Her watch read seven-forty-five and she knew this last stretch of waiting would be the hardest. She refused to let her mind fall into thoughts of Bobby or what would happen if she was caught here. She decided, instead, to think only of old songs she loved and her favorite books. She would fill this time with quiet reflection on things she enjoyed rather than regret and fear.
Not sleeping the night before was proving to be more detrimental to her mission than she had anticipated. The dark, quiet mill was lulling her into an overdue sleep. Time and again she felt her head slipping downward and repeatedly she jolted back up.
When the sound of a key in the door came into Piper’s ear through the headphones of her hearing device she instantly felt the exhaustion fall away. She had never been more awake in her life. She realized she would need to move her head backward in order to get a better view and see who had come in, but she was frozen with fear. She heard the large, metal door slam shut and the amplified noise shocked her ears.
Her fear hadn’t just limited her ability to move, she also found herself unable to breathe, blink, or swallow. It took a full minute for her to realize if she didn’t do these things she might pass out.
The door once again squeaked open and slammed shut, and Piper heard a conversation start up and two hands slap together for a handshake.
“Sorry to take you away from a busy day in court, but you know I wouldn’t have done so if it weren’t critical. The good news is, I think the situation is pretty well contained at the moment.” The voice sounded like that of an older man, not Christian’s, which Piper had heard on two occasions when watching him walk his son home from school.
“I certainly hope so. If not what the hell am I paying you for? Tell me everything.” The judge seemed as aggravated as he had the previous night on the phone. Piper was relieved to know her equipment was working properly. She’d be able to hear the conversation clearly as long as they kept talking at this volume.
“There’s this rookie cop who’s got a little too much free time on his hands and apparently some lofty goals for his first year. Remember the kid who dug up that stuff on Manton and tried to take him down? Well he damn near would have done it if you and I hadn’t intervened. It’s not like we give a damn about Manton, but he was set to have a meeting with our guy that day for some guns. If we hadn’t gotten Manton’s guys off, they would have flipped on Christian. That was a complete nightmare, but I thought we put the kid through the ringer enough to knock him down a few pegs. I guess he’s back at it and interested in your extracurricular activities. He came to me yesterday with a couple of photos of you leaving the motel. He said he hadn’t dug into it enough to give any details yet, but he