Where the Shadows Grow Long

Chapter 17

With heavy eyes, Sydney stared at her laptop. The blinking cursor blurred her vision. The office had cleared out with the search for Danny. Without the background noise to distract her, she began to fight the sleep her body desired. Though her body begged for rest, her mind remained in motion. It cycled to understand the brazen conversation with Travis. His actions and words were not matching up. Her gut told her they were missing something significant. She just couldn't put a finger on it.

Mike passed by the window and raised a full pot of coffee offering her a refill. Sydney silently mouthed 'no' displaying the still-filled cup she had barely touched. He shrugged and disappeared from view. When he volunteered to stay behind, she had anticipated he would want to chat about all his theories. To her surprise, he chose to remain downstairs literally guarding Travis.

Seeing him sparked her memory of his earlier comment on the number of players involved and all roads lead back to Chandler Mason. Chandler wouldn't be able to have much say or control from prison. The idea that there was someone else pulling the strings danced in Sydney's thoughts. But, as more people involved surfaced, the game changed with its now seemingly endless moving parts. Control would have been harder to maintain, as proven by Carter and Danny. What were they all after? As the questions built up, she wanted to have another crack at Travis.

With the thought she scanned the cameras, as she had every few minutes, to study Travis. Mike became her focus as he paced in front of the bored-looking prisoner. He was extremely animated in his gestures. For a brief moment, she was curious about the conversation. She had told him not to engage, but his actions spoke to his rebellion towards the simple order. Travis' mouth moved and Mike became more agitated. With his reactions, she knew she had to go down and remove Mike from the room.

A movement from the outside camera screen caught her eye, interrupting her progress to get up. She squinted to try and make out what was patrolling along the fringe where the light met the pitch black surrounding them. It may have been the exhausting late night, her lack of trust in general, or more the fact the bulky shadow looked like a character straight out of a film noir. She imagined a gangster, with his expensive-looking suit and fedora slunk down over his eyes. She blinked to clear her eyes and when she refocused the figure presented itself as a bear dropping down from its hind legs and began rooting around for a treat. The idea of a bear cruising the perimeter so free made her more uneasy than if it had been an armed man.

"I don't know how she does it," she whispered to herself, thinking of Avery.

Before getting up to intervene with Mike's seemingly one-sided interrogation, Sydney reclined back, stretching her arms over her head. The sound of a door slamming, crashing, and loud cursing had Sydney leaping to her feet. Headed towards the commotion, she drew her weapon. Arms stretched out, gun leading the way, she sidestepped down the stairs. Slowing before the last step, she scanned her surroundings. The heart of the store was dark and silent. Only a small light by the counter illuminated the space. She made her way around, checking every dark corner and making sure the doors were locked. Seeing no one, she turned her attention to the backroom, where Travis was being housed. The small cell occupied a corner of the room, while the rest of the room held a few free-standing shelves loaded with overstock from Paul's store.

Mike's sudden presence bursting through the door had Sydney back on high alert. "Is everything okay?"

"That man's insane."

"I told you not to engage," Sydney scolded, reholstering her weapon.

"I wasn't planning on it but he was all worked up over something so I went in and checked on him."

Sydney remained quiet, unsure what to believe, what she saw with her eyes, or what he was saying.

"He asked about my daughter and if she and the baby were safe." His voice trailed off before it exploded back to life tinged with panic. "How would he know my daughter's pregnant? I need to make sure she's safe."