Си Паради - Dancing With Shadows

"Bugged? You mean someone’s been listening to us? Why?" Megan asked perplexed. "Who would want to bug us?"

Tony’s brow creased in thought. "I don’t know. I’ve got a bug detector in my bag in the closet. I’ll check the apartment and find out if there are any more, and if there are, where they are. I don’t want to get rid of them yet because that’ll alert whoever put them here that we found them. Once I get done, let's go for a ride. Then we can try and figure it out."

Megan placed her hand on Tony’s arm, delaying her departure. "How did you find out?" Her knowledge of bugs was limited to what she saw on TV or in the movies, but she knew they were not easy to find. She was also angry at the invasion of their privacy.

Tony smiled for the first time since they entered the bathroom. "It turns out that noise we heard was Huggy and Velcro playing with the planter on the coffee table. They got a little rambunctious and knocked it to the floor."

The lines of her face-hardened, and she continued, "I stepped on something when I was picking it up. It was a little ladybug. Something about it seemed odd, and then I realized it had three antennas. The third antenna was a little longer and thinner than the other two."

The irony was not lost on Megan. She mused aloud, "Real clever. A bug in a bug." Glancing up at her partner, she asked, "How did you know?"

Tony shrugged. "I’ve used similar ones in some of my cases. I’ll double check it, but I am sure that’s what it is."

Megan looked off into space, and spoke her thoughts aloud, "Something is going on. I knew it."

Tony placed a hand on Megan's shoulder, the contact drawing her lover's eyes to hers. She smiled ruefully at Megan and said, "I hoped you were wrong."

Shaking her head, Megan said, "So did I."

"I put it back, so watch what you say in the living room. The running water will keep whoever is listening from hearing our conversation even if there is one in here," Tony explained. "The main thing right now is to act normally. Come on. I’ll show you how the bug detector works.

The one I’ve got is nice because it has a setting on it that allows it to vibrate like a pager instead of beeping so if anyone is listening right now, they won’t know what we’re doing."

After turning off the water, Megan followed her partner into the bedroom. Opening the closet door, Tony pulled out one of her suitcases and took out a small accessory bag. Unzipping it, she removed various small devices. Settling on one that looked something like a remote control, but was smaller, she put the other items back in the bag.

Picking up the bug detector, she turned it on to the vibrate setting and watched the red light. It would begin flashing if it detected a bug. The closer it got to the bug the faster the light would flash.

Megan stood out of the way watching Tony. The planes of her face had sharpened and there was no wasted movement in her actions. The few times she had watched Tony at work, she was always struck that this warm loving woman was also a very competent, and when necessary, very deadly FBI agent. Certainly not someone anyone with any sense would antagonize.

A complete scan of the apartment only revealed two bugs, one in the kitchen and the one in the living room. Tony smiled grimly. They knew what they were doing. Not coincidentally, both rooms had phones and most of their conversation took place in one or the other.

Tony and Megan sat in a booth in the back of Diana’s. She was sure they had not been followed, and she was an expert at detecting tails. No one had ever succeeded in following the operative unless she wanted to be followed.

Ordering a Coke and Pepsi respectively, Tony said, "I don’t get it. I think it’s fairly safe to assume I am the target. Coroner’s apartments are not likely to get bugged." She said the last smiling at Megan.

Megan sighed. "Just when I thought everything was back to normal for a change. You know Tony, I could really do without all this excitement," Megan said in a bantering voice, but was actually very serious.

"You and me both. I was willing to write off the accidents even though that guy deliberately swerved into my car. I know you had a feeling about them and I thought it was one hell of a coincidence, too, but I was hoping he could’ve been a drunk or a weirdo of some kind."

"Do you have any idea why someone would want to," Megan paused, unable to bring herself to say kill, and finished with, "hurt you?"

"No. I have gone over everything I’ve done in the past several months, and I can’t think of any reason anyone would want to… bug our apartment." Tony pushed her hair away from her face, and continued, "It has to be a pro. The bugs are very cleverly disguised."

Megan spent each day sifting through evidence and finding clues that were almost nonexistent. Moving the straw around in her Pepsi, deep in thought, the analytical portion of her brain was sorting through everything Tony had done since she met her. An idea began forming in

Megan’s mind.

Tony was watching her partner, worried. She was absently playing with the straw in her Pepsi, her eyes trained on the drink. Tony was just about to interrupt her thoughts, when the hazel eyes met her own.

"What about when we were in D.C. and you talked to Huey? Any possibility someone could have found out about that? You mentioned Huey said you might have to testify. Maybe someone doesn’t want you to."

Tony looked at Megan thoughtfully. Nothing she could come up with made any sense. That was a possibility, even though it was kind of far fetched.

"You might have something there. It’s worth a shot. I’ll call Huey tomorrow. It just seems so extreme." Sighing Tony added, "If it is related to that, they must know the chances of uncovering the perpetrator is very small, so why bother?"

"Maybe there's more to it than you think," Megan said. "I can’t think of any other reason someone would be after you unless it has to do with some case you did before we met."

Tony shook her head. "No. You could be right. On the few cases my cover was blown, we ended up busting all the leaders and they are still doing hard time."

Tony took a sip of her Coke and continued, "We have to remember to act normally when we are in the living room or kitchen. Since the rest of the apartment is not bugged we can talk behind closed doors in the bedroom or bathroom. Now that we know there is a bug, we can use it to our advantage to lure whoever it is in."

"You’re not going to do anything dangerous are you?" Megan asked, becoming even more worried than she was.

Tony saw the worry on Megan’s face and said, "No. I’m just going to talk to Huey first and then Brian. I know I can count on them. I’d like to set a trap with Brian’s help."

Smiling reassuringly at Megan, she continued, "I won’t do anything on my own. But I think we both need to be very careful."

"I’m not the target here, you are," Megan said, relaxing a little since her partner wasn't going to try to handle this herself.

"We don’t know that for sure. I just don’t want to take any chances, ok?" Tony asked, her concern reflected in her eyes.

"Does this mean you’re going to take me to work again?" Megan asked, a small smile forming on her face.

"Yes. If you don’t mind," Tony said, relieved that Megan had suggested this.

"Mind… not hardly. Well, in that case, ok," Megan said smiling, hoping to ease some of the worry from her partner’s face.

TONY DROPPED MEGAN off and headed home. She treated her surroundings with even more care than usual. She thought grimly, there will be no more accidents.

Arriving home, she exchanged the line from the jack to the phone with a 25 foot one and walked into the bedroom. Attaching a scrambling device to the phone, she made the first of two calls. Since phone monitoring was most often done remotely, she had no idea if the phone was tapped and wasn’t taking any chances.