"Wire Taps"

"Did you see it?"

"Of course I saw it! Did you?"

"Well, duh. Yes, I saw it."

"What did you think?"

"I thought it was, you know?"

"So it was...?"

"Sort of...I mean...what did you think?"

"I was only half watching, really. I never thought they'd actually show..."

"I know! I can't believe it. Just the other day, I was talking to Janie after Geometry, and I said, 'there is no way...I mean... no way... they are actually going to do that ... I mean, they can't even..."

"Well, they could ..."

"Yeah, they could, but remember what happened to..."

"Uh huh..."

"Well, right."

"Good."

"See you at the thing?"

"Surely."

* * *

Nearby, there was a truck that boldly proclaimed Sinclair Cleaning to be the "Finest of Riverwood's Dry Cleaners...Free Delivery." It was a ruse: Sinclair Cleaning was indeed a fine dry cleaning establishment, but no better than most. Moreover, the truck itself was jammed full of sophisticated audio and video monitoring equipment and two men, one with close-cropped gray hair and a gravelly voice, the other a fresh-faced 22 year old.

"What do you think," said the younger of the two.

"You want to know what I think?"

"Yeah. That's why I asked."

"You want to know if I think these two can do what we were sent here to find out if they were planning to do...what we thought they might...do?"

"Yeah."

"You know what I think?"

"No. You going to tell me?"

"I think the longer I listen to these two, the stupider I get."

"That'll happen," the younger man said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, what's the point, right? We're supposed to be protecting..."

"From this?" the older man growled.

"From this, right."

"You're smarter than you look, kid."

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