Page 17 of S.O.S. Mizzay

“And we won’t send anyone toward yourcurrentlocation to do a forensics recon until Andy lets me know you’re both away from the area. Then I’ll alert Director Baskins, who’s going to be pissed that you’ve been found again. Once he’s finished chewing my ass, I’ll have him send out a team which will include three of the veteran agents we suspect, and threenewlyminted Feds, to see if they can find any evidence of who was there.”

“This sounds…promising? Getting more new agents involved again?” Cobble pondered.

“A necessary step. We’vefinallygot a suspect in South Sudan whose talking, and everyone in our combined agencies knows it. Because of that, we’ve needed to enlist more people, old and new, in our attempt to dilute the bad guys in the variousagencies with fresh blood. Be careful, Sawyer. You are in more danger now than you ever were before. Whoever is complicit in the States has redoubled their efforts to locate you. Missy is going to move aheadextremelycautiously this time.”

Missy. Andy.

As important as all of the orchestrations were that Chuck went on to outline, Cobble almost missed the rest of what his cousin told him after mentioning his old LT. Cobble realized he’d affected a shit-eating grin as he continued jogging down the street toward the bus stop. He’d paused only once in a dense thicket of bushes to relieve himself, but he was still on track to catch the next conveyance downtown.

Out of an abundance of caution, Cobble hadn’t seen Andy in nearly two years; not since the last time he’d been moved. Hehadseen Chuck, who, after being given the okay to have Cobble’s location, had visited every now and then to cheer him up.

Apparently, they really weren’t trustinganybodythis time, therefore Chuck was putting it all on Andy.

“Andy’s still not on anyone’s radar, though, right?” Cobble asked, keeping an eye peeled as he ducked into the plexiglass bus shelter. Last he knew, she’d been removed from his case, on the books, for caution’s sake.

“She shouldn’t be. We’ve kept her name out of everything here where you’re concerned. As far as anybody knows, her only involvement with you was as your once-upon-a-time platoon leader, and as your hand-holder in the hospital until you were released.”

“Yeah, but her offices, past and present, have to know that she’s still interested in avenging her squad.”

“They do, and that’s why we wouldn’t be surprised if she still has someone sticking to her ass to monitor her travels, but she’s made loud noises about her reasons; how it burns her ass to have an open case on the books. She’s keeping her bitchingabout the deaths within her squad, not leaning at all on you as an individual. It’s our belief that if she is being watched, which we know she was while in South Sudan, the last two plus years of her grumbling after Baskins publicly took her off the case, have semi-crossed her off everyone’s bingo card.”

“Shedidmove me two years ago,” Cobble reminded Chuck, as if he would have forgotten.

“Yeah. But like I told you, we made it look like I was the one traveling to you. And as for now? We’re going to make sure she’s more than cautious. We’ll have Baskins quickly conjure a job that gives her an excuse to fly, then we’ll procure a bunch of tickets for her under several aliases to throw anyone snooping around off her trail.”

Cobble huffed.Yeah.The last thing they needed was for someone to suspect that Andy had known where he was, all along, but he was happier than he’d been a few minutes ago, knowing he’d see her again, soon.

There was still just something about Andy…

He’d spent many hours fantasizing about her over the past few years, and when he’d tried to do some local, casual dating, none of the ladies he took out had held his attention for very long, and none had ended up in his bed.

Not that his libido was shot. He could shoot off in record time while picturing Andy in various states of undress…on her knees…

Cobble cleared his throat. “Back to my living situation being compromised, Chuck,” he pondered. “Can you think of anything that would have revealed my location this time?”

Chuck huffed. “It could be I was followed or tracked last month when I visited.”

Cobble shook his head, even though Chuck couldn’t see. “I doubt that. You took some wildly convoluted precautions.” Chuck had told him about switching from driving to flying, thenback to driving again. He’d also changed clothes and disguises three times, then they’d met in a public zoo, with Cobble in a wig as well.

“But…” Cobble thought back, and groaned. “Wait. You know that letter I gave you to bring home for Mom and Dad? Could it possibly have fallen into the wrong fucking hands?”

They’d all known, for quite some time, that his parents were being monitored in the event that Cobble got in touch. They took the threat seriously, and never called; always making sure not to speak of him to anybody, not even over the phone.

Chuck huffed. “I’ll look into it, but I told your parents to burn that letter after they were through reading it.”

Cobble snorted. “Yeah, but you know Mom. She’s sentimental. She probably decided to keep it, thinking she was tucking it someplace safe where nobody would find it.”

There’d been a few instances where his parents were sure people had been in the house.

“That’s possible,” Chuck pondered. “Did you mention anything in it that would have given away your location?”

“I…” Cobble thought hard. “I mentioned the weather, and how unusual it was; that as I was writing, we were getting three inches of snow in May.”

“Fuck,” Chuck cursed. “These guys who are after you are pros. That’s allI’dneed to know to find someone. A quick look at the Doppler from the day you wrote the letter, and I’d be within a few square miles of your location. Then with a few questions around the neighborhood, at local markets and such…”

“I’m sorry,” Cobble hissed. He’d hate it if he had to stop sending even the shortest missive to his parents. He missed the hell out of them. But if that’s what it took… “This disappearing thing is getting harder all the time,” he lamented. “Don’t worry, though. There’ll be no more slip-ups from me.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Sawyer,” Chuck comforted. “How many times have I trusted the wrong people and put your life in danger?”

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