ask for mister black and tell him red sent you - 29. code red

by nick nelson

part twenty-nine of twenty-nine

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by the time barry got to the dispatch office, after his unfortunate encounter with the young woman on wayne street, he had decided to concentrate on just getting through the day. when he got home at night he would consider his options as to his pursuit of his new life. he had also gotten very wet and was uncomfortable in his wet clothes. if there was nothing too urgent waiting for him at the office, he had a dry uniform in a locker there and he would change into it. there was nobody in the office when barry got there, except cary, the dispatcher . barry had always gotten along with cary, although they never exchanged much small talk. nobody knew or seemed to care what cary did, if anything, away from the office, any more than they knew or cared what barry did. it was obvious that cary noticed how wet barry was, but he dd not say anything about it, and neither did barry. “anything code red?” barry asked . “as a matter of fact, there is,” cary replied, and took a medium side package from under the desk and handed it to barry. barry nodded and took it. so much for the dry clothes, he thought. the package was about 8 inches by 6 inches by 4 inches, wrapped in brown paper, and as weightless as if it had been empty. it was addressed in a black magic marker scrawl, and also had one of the company’s red white and blue adhesive labels neatly typed: mr bill wilson 22 juniper lane wilsonville usa the label was stamped “code red - urgent” but the stamp did not obscure the label. “got a plastic bag for it?” barry asked. “it s really coming down outside.” “right here.” barry slipped the package into the clear plastic bag, and with another nod to cary, turned and went back outside. it was raining harder than ever, and a blast of wind hit him in the face. “juniper lane” did not sound familiar. not that he expected any trouble finding it. wilsonville was on the other side of the city but it was still early enough that barry thought his best bet was to drive straight through the city streets instead of getting out on the main highway that circled the city, where there was a better chance of an accident or other holdup, especially in the rotten weather. he put the package in the big glove compartment and set out. the end