"You know as well as I do what the consequences are for backing out," the man replied, "I don’t have the right to let you go, but I don’t have any new jobs for you yet."

"Why do you make me do this," the other voice asked, "I know what’s going on, and I don’t want to continue. They told me who those people really are. What do you have against them?"

"I have nothing against them," the second voice said, "I don’t know why he’s doing this. Why don’t you ask him yourself?"

"I will," the first replied, "and he’s going to give me the answers I want to know. Come on!"

When the last footsteps faded away, Joe stood up slowly and retreated down the fire escape. He looked around for a second and headed to the left.

About ten minutes later, Joe walked up to Vicki’s house and let himself inside. Everyone was up and talking in the living room. Vicki was the first to spot him.

"Where were you," she asked, standing up, "It’s been at least thirty minutes since you left."

"It’s a long story," Joe replied, "but I got some important information for this case."

"Might as well," C. J. said, "We’re already up and awake. I know some of us won’t be able to sleep for a while anyway. What did you find out?"

"I followed the guy to this building. The fire escape led up to a room where I could hear two of them talking. It seems that he’s getting fed up with this business, but they have some kind of hold on him."

"Like what," Vicki asked, "Do you have any ideas?" Joe shook his head.

"Not one," he replied, and told them all he had heard while there.

"There’s not much we can do now," Frank said after Joe finished, "Let’s check out both leads in the morning."

The next morning, the teens split up into two groups. Frank and Joe left to find the building, while Vicki and C. J. went over to ‘Fast Express.’ They all agreed to meet at three at the lake.

Vicki and C. J. headed down in the green van and pulled in front of the delivery place. Four men were out front working. One man looked up as they came in and hurriedly walked up to them.

"Hello," he greeted them, "What can I help you two with?" The girls examined him closely. A baseball cap was pulled down over his eyes and beneath the cap, dark hair was visible. He wore the usual brown uniform.

"Yes, we were wondering who delivered a package to this address," C. J. said, handing him a slip of paper, "Do you happen to know who it was?" The man looked at the address closely.

"I…wish I could tell you," he replied, looking over their shoulders, "but let me see if anyone from the night shift is here." He turned to leave and the girls looked behind them. A man was standing there, his brown eyes watching the counter. He also had dark brown hair. The girls glanced at each other.

"Girls," the man called behind them, "This is Paul. He works the night shift. Maybe he’ll be of help to you."

"Someone delivered a package to this address last night," C. J. said, "We need to know who it was."

"Why do you need to know," Paul asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"We received word that we should be expecting two packages," Vicki bluffed quickly, "We only received one and thought that the other might have arrived by now." Paul grabbed a nearby clipboard and scanned the list.

"It seems that no other package has been delivered," Paul said, "Michael Hudson dropped it off though. Do you want me to get him for you?"

"No thank you," Vicki said, "We probably just heard the information wrong. We’re sorry to bother you."

"Don’t worry about it," Paul responded, "It was a mistake."

Vicki and C. J. turned around and headed back to the van. When they reached the van though, Vicki stopped and glanced in the window of the building. The man who was standing there before was looking out and watching them."Who is that guy," Vicki asked, "He’s suspicious if you ask me."

"And why is he watching us," C. J. finished Vicki’s thoughts, "Let’s not worry about it right now. We need to go meet with Frank and Joe now."

The girls opened the doors and started to climb into the van. A voice stopped them short though.

"You two aren’t meeting anyone," it said, "You’re coming with me so I can ask you some questions."

"What makes you think that," Vicki asked the man, glaring at him silently.

"Because I have this," the man replied, taking out a small but deadly gun, "Will you please follow me?"