Page 19 of S.O.S. Perk

“Are you kidding?” She gave an amused huff. “If anything, it’ll rattle their cages. They’ve always considered me androgenous, so you giving me puppy-dog eyes will confuse the shit out of them, and probably raise my cred. If I know them, as soon as our group leaves the office, I’ll be inundated with questions, which… You know what? Maybe you should do something a tad more overt, like…touch my shoulder, or lay a hand on my back. That will make them nuts.”

Perk laughed, feeling lighter and lighter with every word out of Sloane’s mouth. “I can do that,” he agreed. In reality, he’d give Sloane a little more than that; more than she bargained for. He hoped like hell it didn’t backfire.

“Okay. I’ll see you soon,” she ended.

“Yup. Soon.”

Perk had phone calls to make, and a coffee pot to fill.

****

Within thirty-five minutes, every one of the team—minus Billboard—had rolled in. Del, Prez, Sarge, Wiley, Brent, and Daire.

“Do you know what this is about?” Del asked from the chair at the head of the conference table where he sat guzzling coffee after everyone but Perk had settled. Perk was still standing at the ready to man the main doors and let the FBI agents in when they arrived.

“I don’t. All I know is that it involves a friend of Agent Vessers’, and they want me to go in and do some undercover work.”

“Not very specific,” Del huffed, clearly ready to be finished with what appeared to have been a very long day for him.

“I know, but she didn’t want to fill me in without the whole team present.”

“Well, here we are,” Del gruffed. “And…thanks for making coffee.” He took another massive chug, and sat back, sullenly.

Not so, Prez. He seemed to be in a chipper mood.

“So, Agent Vessers, huh?” Prez questioned with an impish look on his face. “And she calledyouwith this potential case instead of the boss?”

“She calledthe office,” Perk corrected. “And because I’m on phone duty today, I got the heads up.”

“Yeah, but she wantsyouto go in, undercover,” Prez persisted.

Perk shrugged. Prez’s speculation regarding the job and what it entailed was exactly the same as Perk’s inner conjecture.

“I don’t know why she wants me,” Perk responded. “But if you’d rather it be you, I’m sure the Bureau can make accommodations.”

“No. No.” Prez held up a hand. “I see where this is going. Agent Vessers clearly wants to interface with you on this one, and I get it. The two of you were looking pretty cozy at Billboard’s wedding.”

Perk wasn’t going to deny it. As a matter of fact…

“We actually had a lunch date set up for Monday.”

Everyone beamed, including the exhausted Del.

Perk continued. “But that friend of hers I mentioned in regards to the case was going to come along to, uh, assess me I guess. Sloane had to cancel because the woman in question isn’t allowed to know who I am.”

“Interesting,” Sarge piped up. “I like the way this is moving ahead; your interaction with the lovely Agent Vessers. Before she leaves the office tonight, make sure you pin her down onanotherdate to make up for the one she cancelled. Don’t let any time go by before you make it happen. Letting things hang is never a good thing.”

Yeah.Sarge knew what he was talking about. He and his wife Brigid had, a long time ago, become estranged. They’d let years pass before they’d reconnected.

“Oh, I plan on it,” he assured Sarge.

Daire, who had also let four years get by him before he and his wife Jewel had reconnected, nodded his agreement. “If she’s caught your interest, don’t hold back from telling her so.”

Right.That was smart. There was no way he was letting Sloane slip through his fingers.

There was a subtle knock on the main door that Perk had locked, and he hotfooted it out of the room to see several black-suited agents on the other side of the glass.

He pushed on the door, letting them in.

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