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Jason watched as Ernie consumed his ice cream and then discretely wrote his cell phone number on the container. He set the empty foam cup on the edge of the picnic table so even the slightest hint of breeze would knock it off to the ground. He then nodded at Tick, stood up, and began walking back toward the parking lot.
“Echo is on the move… the package is in place… standby for pickup… over,” Jason said over his radio to the two detectives who were standing by. Per the plan, Ernie would return to Jason’s unmarked cruiser, which he had just moved to a new spot out of Tick’s line of sight. In the event he was watching, Jason told Ernie where the cruiser would be located after he left Tick.
“Do you think he saw me?” Ernie asked, out of breath, as he entered Jason’s cruiser.
“Not unless he has X-Ray vision. Now we wait...” Jason said as he held up Ernie’s cell phone.
“What if he doesn’t call?” Ernie asked.
“He will, and when he does I’m going to put you on speaker and you say exactly what you said the day before.
Ernie nodded in agreement, beads of sweat dotting his forehead.
Even though Jason no longer had eyes on Tick, his two plainclothes detectives did. While all of the radio communication had been one-way originating from Jason, each of the detectives also had the ability to radio back if necessary.
Jason had instructed them to stay silent earlier just to be safe, but also instructed them to notify him if Tick picked up the ice cream cup.
“Alpha, this is Bravo, copy?” a voice came over Jason’s radio.
“10-4 Bravo, over,” Jason replied.
“Tango is on the move… package retrieved… dialing phone… over.”
“10-4, standby for pickup, over,” Jason said as Ernie’s phone began to ring. The screen read “Unknown Caller”.
Jason gave Ernie a nod, opened Ernie’s well-used flip phone, and pressed the speaker button.
“Hello?” Ernie answered.
“Round two, huh?” Tick’s voice came out of the phone’s small speaker. Jason would’ve recognized that voice even if he wasn’t expecting to hear it.
“Yessir, I appreciate you setting me up with her,” Ernie replied.
“Whoa… I don’t know what you’re talking about, if you catch my drift. I just gave you directions to a nice motel.”
“Oh, right, of course. Do you know if there are any, uh, vacancies today?”
“Not sure about today, but you should definitely ask about December 8th. See what’s available.”
This caused Jason to pause.
December 8th? Why a different date? There must be some sort of significance to these dates.
“Ok, same place, right?” Ernie asked.
“Same place. Enjoy,” Tick responded as he ended the call.
Jason closed the flip phone and picked up his radio.
“Bravo, Charlie, this is Alpha… Tango is ready for extraction, over,” Jason informed the two detectives who were waiting for the orders to arrest, or extract, Tick, on charges of prostitution. Jason found it ironic that Tick was going to be extracted.
Man, I wish I could see his face when they cuff him…
“10-4,” came back over the radio twice, once from each of the two detectives.
As much as Jason wanted to place the handcuffs on Tick himself, he and Ernie still had a visit to make to the motel, where Jason had a SWAT team awaiting orders nearby.
“Are you ready for Act II?” Jason asked Ernie, who just nodded as he gazed nervously ahead.
