Page 15 of S.O.S. Mizzay

Whichwouldbe part of Missy undercover job; diving deeply into Beranger’s life and the lives of everyone in this room before they were allowed anywhere near the case again. If she found evidence that pointed to anyone in particular having gone rogue, that person or persons would purposely be allowed to rejoin the case, but with surveillance on them at all times.

“Calm the hell down, Andriopolos,” Beranger squawked. “Just because you fucked up and let some grunts get ambushed, doesn’t mean you get to point the finger at the rest of us.”

That had Missy seeing red.

Before she could rip him a new one, however, the asshole had turned to address Director Baskins. “Once more, I think putting only one person on Mr. Blue’s safety from here on outisa mistake. And not using all the veteran resources in our department to continue a wider probe into the smuggling ring is short sighted. Permission to be part of Agent Smalley’s ongoing investigation.”

“I volunteer, as well,” his cohort, Agent Oliphant piped up. “There’s no way Smalley and a few newly minted FBI agents can deal with this all on their own.”

“Denied,” Baskins grunted, paying more attention to the paperwork in front of him than the agents’ inquiries before raising his head and addressing the table again. “Anyone else?”He gazed around athisagents while the three from the DOJ stewed; although Missy’s outrage was feigned.

“I can’t say I love the change,” Agent Englewood huffed. “But continuing as we were wasn’t getting us anywhere, so…”

He trailed off, and Agent Fleischerman took up the gauntlet. “Idon’tagree with Agent Englewood. I’m with the DOJ guys on this one. Taking a bunch of people off the case seems counterintuitive.”

Agent Georgio went one better. “I actually think it’ll be the death of the entire case,” he growled.

Agent Tertia, who Missy had labeled a consummate peacekeeper, calmed what looked like it might devolve into a verbal clash.

“Director Baskins,” she suggested, “why don’t you simply run a deeper clearance check on those of us involved? If anything even remotely wonky shows up, you can boot that person’s ass individually instead of giving us all the ax. It can’t be the best use of our combined agencies’ resources to get rid of all hands but a few here at the Bureau. No offense to Agent Smalley.”

Chuck merely grunted.

Baskins held up a hand. “I’m one step ahead of you, Agent Tertia. It shouldn’t surprise you that after the last leak of intel, you wereallthoroughly vetted again. No red flags were raised, which either means you’re all clean, or someone here is very good at scrubbing a profile history. Believe me, I’m not ruling that out.” His face grew stern as he perused the room as if attempting to see into each person’s soul. “No more arguing. My mind is made up. All of you except Agent Smalley are off the case. Does anyone else have anything to say?”

When there were no more overt objections, Baskins grunted. “You’re sure? Nobody is still thinking they know better than myself and DAAG Cavateral?” he asked, eyeballing AgentsGeorgio and Beranger in particular. They’d been the most vocal, besides Missy, for continuing things the way they were.

The pair both shook their heads, as did Missy.

“Good,” Baskins nodded, ignoring their sour pusses. “Now. I want to thank you all for the work you’ve done on the case up to this point. Because of your help, I feel we’ve made some decent headway.”

His eyes said differently, but maybe only Missy was seeing it.

“All of you except Agent Smalley will be assigned to new cases by Friday,” he apprised. “In the meantime, take the next four days off. Relax. Regroup. I don’t want to see your faces in here until the end of the week. DAAG Cavateral concurs with the break for his agents, as well. Do I make myself clear?”

Everyone grumblingly agreed, rose from their seats and headed for the door, but Baskins called Missy back. “Special Agent Andriopolos. May I speak with you a moment?”

“Of course,” she said, with what she hoped was just the right amount of disgruntlement. She flopped back down in her chair, and once the door closed, Director Baskins dropped the hard-ass persona he’d adopted.

“I think that went well,” he told her with a chuckle and a smirk.

Missy looked around the room, nervously. Was their conversation really private? With the shit that had been going on lately, Missy wasn’t letting her guard down.

“Don’t worry,” Baskins assured her. “We sweep my office daily for bugs.”

“Yeah, but… You don’t mind if I…?”

Missy pointed to the table, ducked her head down, and studied the underside of the wooden slab, finding nothing. She then got up and did the same with each chair before sitting herself back down. “We’re clear,” she sighed. “I needed to makesure. Someone could have brought something in with them. We can’t be too careful.”

Baskins chuckled. “I like the way you think. But…are we ready now to talk about our next step?” he asked with a raised brow.

“We are.”

“Excellent.”

He went on to outline exactly what her duties would be from here on out, and how she’d interface with Smalley on the case without anyone else knowing. And of course, despite what Baskins had ordered, Missy would eventually talk the director into letting Smalley in on where she’d be relocating Cobble in the future. Those orchestrations would be convoluted, and would probably need more hands than just hers.

“I also want you to keep an eye on Beranger,” Baskins resumed with a sour look. “I don’t like the guy.”

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