Tony didn't have to get either a hacksaw or bolt-cutters to open the locks attached to the chains that bound the File Cabinet in his Office....He was already personally acquainted with a master lock-picker who could do the job.
Recalling their midnight ride of a few months ago, when Karen had so skillfully picked the lock of the Gate by the Parking Lot, He led Karen to his Office lair that he previously had only allowed Laurent and Constantinos to enter. He had a hunch that Karen would know not only how to get the padlocks open, but to do so without damage, so they could be used again to re-lock the file cabinet in such a way that it would look like nothing had ever happened.
Karen went right to work on the padlocks, commenting on the papers tacked to the wall with all the markings on them.
"That's a lot of stuff written there....You HAVE been busy", Karen remarked as she popped the first padlock free. "What does it all mean ?"
"Well", Tony said, turning his attention from watching Karen's sexy breasts and firm buttocks while she worked to the large tacked-up chart on the wall, "It's a sort of timeline starting on the day I got here to now, and all the events that took place that I can remember. Up top is when I arrived, taken to the School Office by Ms. Danvers....Here's my first fight.....The clothing scams...Jake cashing the car.....Here's meeting Laurent.....Saving Zoe....The Halloween bombings...."
Karen popped open the second padlock. "What's all the lines mean ?" she asked.
"The black lines are sequential events" Tony said. "The order of the things as they happened. The red lines are possible links of events....Only my guesses for now, but the more of certain events I can link together, the closer I can get to figuring stuff out."
"Yeah ? Like what ?", Karen said, as the third padlock popped free.
"Well...Like this here", Tony said, tracing a red line that went between 'JAKE CRASHES CAR' to 'TRENT SEES JAKE AT DORM' and ending with 'HALLOWEEN BOMBINGS'. "Here, is Jake, Crashing that car from the Autoshop and then disappearing, only to re-appear just a few weeks later and warning Trent not to let anybody in the Dorm....Then just a few minutes later, the bombs go off."
"There", Karen Exclaimed as the fourth padlock popped free. "It's done. Got them all."
"Good work, Sweetheart....I owe you a dinner and a movie", Tony said, as Karen came over to join him. She peered at the giant wall chart.
"Why did you use all those single sheets of paper ?" Karen asked. Why not one big poster ?"
"This way I can move them around and keep them in order", Tony said, "As I remember other things, that way I can add them and keep the chart in sequence."
Karen was studying the charts. "Where's 'Tony Meets Karen' ? I don't see it....."
"Right here", said Tony, pointing to the upper right corner, where a grouping was posted, with corresponding black and red lines connecting them together......
MET KAREN___________KISSED KAREN__________MIDNIGHT RIDE WITH KAREN___________SEX WITH KAREN__________RAN INTO KAREN___________SAVED KAREN FROM BOMB
The latter was connected with a long red line to 'HALLOWEEN BOMBINGS'.
"Wow", Karen said, "Maybe I could help ? There's things I remember, like from the girls talking about stuff at the Dorm."
"Sure, write it all down", Tony said, while opening the drawers of the Filing Cabinet and pulling out handfuls of Files. "Anything might be pertinent......Could be, just some little piece of information will be enough to tie the whole mystery together."
Tony, however had purposely left out two things he never wanted anyone to see.....'SEX WITH PINKY' and 'SEX WITH LOLA'.....Since he didn't figure that information should be written down anywhere, ever. With Lola gone, that secret was pretty much safe....But Pinky was still around, and might blab about what had happened between them at any time. Still, Pinky had been keeping a low profile since their 'Encounter' a month ago, so maybe that secret would also keep for quite a while. Tony suspected that Pinky was maybe seeing (and doing) someone else secretly at this point, and perhaps didn't want their one-time tryst known either. Little did he know that on that guess he would be right.
"What'cha doing, Babe ?", Karen asked as Tony began stuffing all the Files into a large backpack.
"I've gotta take these somewhere else for safety", Tony replied.
"Oooh....Can I come along ?", Karen said playfully.
Tony finished packing all the Files in the backpack. "Not this time, Sweetie....It's too dangerous."
"Dangerous ? Don't be silly !", Karen exclaimed. "Nobody's gonna mess with little ole me."
Tony shook his head. "Not this time...I can't risk it", Tony said firmly.
Karen's mouth turned into a pout. "I can take care of myself, you know."
"I know that, my Angel", Tony said tenderly. "But there's someone else involved with this, whose identity I have to protect, for now....I can't tell you now, but someday, when we solve this mystery..." Here he indicated the postings on the wall..."Then I'll be able to reveal everything."
He went to Karen and embraced her. "If anything were to happen to you, I would just die. I just can't take that risk. I tell you what, I'll take you on my next mission, OK?"
"Well...." Karen said coyly, "If that's a promise....."
"Swear to God", said Tony, feeling a familiar fire burning in his lower regions.
"Well...." Karen breathed sensually, "It's a deal, my big strong man....."
Karen turned her head up and French-kissed Tony deeply. Tony respond in kind, and soon their passions were at a fever pitch. They slid down to the floor, pulling off clothes as they went. Soon, they were engaged in their most heavenly passion.
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