I Woke Up 353 by M.P. Arsent
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"I do hope there is something significant to report today."
"I'm sure Mr Sawyer wouldn't have asked for this meeting if there wasn't."
"Mr Adams, does the name Eugene Hastings have any meaning for you?"
"Not particularly."
I handed him and Dean Evans a copy of what Stan had turned up.
"So it appears that we at least have a motive for both sets of attacks, whether they are coordinated or just a matter of coincidence is still in question."
"With both suspects being tied to the school paper, I hardly think it coincidence Mr Sawyer."
"On that, we can agree Mr Adams. It appears, either separately or in concert, they want to see us both ruined."
"It certainly appears that way."
"Well, you have certainly established motive Dennis, now we have to get some proof."
There was a knock at the office door.
"Come in."
Mrs Humboldt walked in with an envelope in her hand.
"I was just going through the mail and thought this might be relevant to your discussion sir."
I could see the police department logo on the envelope.
"Thank you, Mrs. Humboldt."
Dean Evans opened the letter and read it to himself.
"Seems your vigilance has paid off to some extent Dennis. That second package also contained powdered milk, but they recovered a fingerprint from the wrappings. It was run against their database and the police are currently trying to find the person, who is, apparently, a local troublemaker."
"I wish them luck. Perhaps when they catch the guy he will spill the beans on our friends."
"We can always hope. Is there anything else to be brought up today?"
"Not from me sir."
"Nor I."
"Then let us all get on with our days."
Once we were out of the office, Mr Adams took me aside.
"Mr Sawyer, may I ask where you found this information?"
"It was turned over to me by one of my associates back home. It wasn't stated I don't believe, but I'm sure it was from open-source information."
"I see. You certainly have some resourceful people working for you it appears."
"I'll let them know you think so sir. If you'll excuse me."
I left the Admin building and it was a quick trip to the rec center and a bit of time in the apparatus room.
"Was beginning to think we weren't going to see you today Dennis."
"Had some business that needed taking care of Eddie."
"Funny business?"
"Yeah, I suppose you could call it that."
We both knew what we were talking about I had no doubt.
"Is a resolution in sight?"
"Not at the moment, but I think we're getting there."
I went and worked on my floor exercise and then hit the rings. Seeing as it was an open practice I only did the double dismount. I was still going to save the triple until I really needed it.
I had taken precautions with my locker again today, but when I got back to it everything was in order. So, it was quickly into the showers and I was out the door. I called Karl and let him know I was on my way and then checked the car over once again.
I got back to the apartment without any problems and Karl had supper almost ready.
"So, anything interesting today Den?"
"Just a report from the police department. More powdered milk, but this time they got a print off of the wrappings. The locals are looking for the guy."
"Did they give you a name? It might be somebody that Paul knows."
"They didn't, and I would have been surprised if they had."
"Yeah, I suppose they might think you'd go vigilante on them if you had a name."
We soon sat down to supper and once that was cleaned up hit the books for a while before we crashed out for the night.
Friday and the routine kicked in. Laps had been run and Karl and I were back in the apartment.
"You planning on anything out of the ordinary today Den?"
"Planning on it, no, but we both know anything could happen."
"Yeah, I suppose so. See you after class."
Friday morning so it was off to Freshman English and then Public Speaking, both of which were gotten through with no problem. So it was over to the Student Union and my lunch and bench time.
Bob Watson found me early on this afternoon.
"Hear tell you had a meeting with both the Dean and Mr Adams yesterday. Anything you can tell me?"
"Sorry Bob, there's nothing I can give you."
"I've got nothing new for you either. Where do you think this is going to end Dennis?"
"Hell if I know. If we can prove anything, most likely with an expulsion and a termination."
"That's going to hurt both of them a lot."
"It's called consequences Bob, and they should have damn well considered them before they started anything, if indeed, it is them."
"You have doubts?"
"No, not really, but proving anything will be hard."
"It always is. You want me to keep digging on these guys?"
"If I tell you no and you're not satisfied you're going to keep digging anyway, just be careful."
"Álways try to be. Later Dennis."
I eventually headed over to the Logic class and once that was done with I checked the car over and headed to the apartment. There wasn't anything out for supper so I figured it would be out to Rons tonight.
Karl rolled in at his usual time.
"I see there's nothing going. Rons?"
"Yeah, I thought so."
"Works for me. Just let me wash up a little."
It wasn't long before we were off to Rons, and when we got there it seemed our whole gang had gotten the same idea.
"Well, look who the cat dragged in!"
"Hey guys!"
Everyone was there tonight and luckily they had snagged the biggest booth there was so there was room for all of us.
Our order was quickly taken and our drinks delivered.
"So, what's new with the situation Dennis?"
"Not something I'm going to talk about here Aiden. To damn many ears about."
"Yeah, I suppose."
"Just a couple of weeks to the next meet isn't Dennis?"
"Yeah, two weeks from tomorrow and it's away at Olivette. Someplace we've never been before."
"But you've been up against them before, right?"
"Yeah, they were one of the last ones we had last year. Pretty sure we beat them."
"And you'll do it again this year."
"We can only hope."
Chatter went on even after our food had been delivered until we were all done eating.
"So, what else are we doing tonight?"
"I don't know about you guys, but I'll be spending a good part of my day tomorrow at the rec center, so I'm heading home to crash. But hell, don't let that stop you guys from going out to do something."
"It hasn't so far Den. Suz and I need to stop at the Mall, so we'll probably just cruise around there for a while."
"Aiden, Paul, Cam, and I are headed for the bowling alley. We're all starting to get pretty good at it."
"Good for you. That's something you can keep up almost anywhere."
Karl and I got back to the apartment and hit the TV for a couple of hours before we crashed for the night.
Saturday morning and we took both cars as I was intending to stay at the rec center for a good part of the day. Laps were done and Karl headed back to the apartment and I hit the apparatus room. There were plenty of guys around to spot each other.
I worked all of my routines today, and as it was a scheduled and therefore closed practice, I threw all of my triples. I only wobbled a little on my vault landing.
I had once again taken precautions with my locker. I wasn't going to start getting sloppy now. When I got back, not only was the lock not set to the number I had it set to before, but a hair I had stretched and used my spit to lock in place, was missing.
I went to the Coach.
"Somebody's been at my locker again."
"This is starting to get tedious Dennis."
He went to his office and called security once again. We waited until the locker room was clear and then I started to open my locker.
"Better let one of the security guys do that Dennis."
I just looked at Coach, but gave the guy the combination and then Coach had us all move back a bit.
The officer opened the locker carefully and when nothing happened he threw the door open wide. That was when some kind of white powder came billowing out of the locker.