Page 59 of S.O.S. Mizzay

“I will. But assume it’s a done deal. And not to worry, I’ll make sure Tuck knows not to tell a soul.”

“Good. Now for my second request,” Andy continued.

Del groaned, but playfully. “You’re going to give me gray hair, Mizzay.”

“Nope. That’s your kids’ job,” Andy countered teasingly. “I’m just trying to keep you sharp in your old age.”

“Okay. Fine,” he chuckled. “What else?”

“Once we get into town and have Cobble settled, I need to call a meeting. With your permission, it’ll be held at the SOS offices, with all our people, my old boss from the DOJ, and a short list of agents from the local FBI office.”

“I’m assuming that includes Baskins and Smalley?”

“It does,” Andy confirmed.

“Okay. Sure. Count us in,” Del allowed. “How long before you’re local? I can put all our people on standby.”

“The sooner the better,” Cobble interjected firmly.

Would he rather stay here with Andy and play in their little, remote love-nest for the next week?Yes.But now that the ball had begun rolling, Cobble wanted—equally as much—for things to move forward as quickly as possible.

He crossed his fingers surreptitiously at his side.

If all went well, he and Andy would have all the time in the world to be together.

For the rest of their lives.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Boston…

“Before we get into the nitty-gritty of Mr. Blue’s plan,” Sloane Vessers posed, “who, exactly, are we targeting?”

It was a good question from the very dedicated agent who’d just recently become Henry “Perk” Perkin’s wife.

Missy glanced at a sullen Chuck, seeing if he would answer, but when he simply glowered, Missy ignored him and regarded the other twelve people sitting around the table: DAAG Cavateral, Director Baskins, Agents Tertia and Vessers, six full-time SOS operatives, and two Devons’ brothers who were part time, but who would also be essential to the op.

Cobble had begged to be there, but out of an abundance of caution—and much to his displeasure—everyone had agreed he needed to remain hidden at the bungalow Tuck Devons had provided until everything for their sting was in place.

Missy, because Smalley remained silent, answered. “At the DOJ, we’ve narrowed our possible suspects down to two investigators; Special Agent Beranger, and Special Agent Oliphant. At the FBI office, we have three feasible culprits: Agent Englewood, Agent Georgio, and Agent Fleischerman. Although I know that you, sir,” she nodded toward Director Baskins, “don’t believe Englewood should be on the naughty list.”

“You’re right. He’s been with me for too long. We practically started out together,” Baskins lamented. “Which doesn’t justify my opinion, but I’m going to be really sorry if it turns out to be him.”

Missy gave him a sympathetic nod, but went on to explain why she, Baskins, Smalley and Tertia had boiled things down to just these few bad eggs.

“In the beginning, we were looking at over twenty people in each of the FBI and CIA offices as possible suspects. There was also one in the CIA, but that was resolved, of course, when I caught the actual culprit with El-Umar.” She didn’t have to mention how that had turned out, with the agent, dead.

“We eliminated nearly half the possibilities on the DOJ and the FBI’s rosters during the first five years of the op by checking into their personal lives, money situations, and allegiances. Because of those and numerous other variables, they were cleared. We were then left with a baker’s dozen.

“As more time passed—and we all know how long the ensuing years have seemed—many of the agents remaining were either transferred, retired out, or simply changed vocations. We checked in on them occasionally after they left, and not one has gone on to do anything remotely suspicious, so we crossed them off the list.

“Which leaves us with the five I mentioned. And the reasons they are all still under scrutiny?” Missy looked around, catching each person’s eye. “Every one of them seems to be living above their pay-grade, and I’m not talking chump-change here. They have lavish homes, cars, and habits. They also have travel histories that can’t be accounted forseveraltimes a year over the duration of the span we’ve been watching. And by unaccounted for, I mean they’ve either driven without leaving a trail, flown off the record using aliases, or simply disappeared for periods of time to God knows where.”

“Could theyallbe complicit?” Del asked astutely.

“Perhaps. Which is why, until this point, we’ve hesitated to move forward. We knew when we took out the CIA officer, if we arrested El-Umar and brought Cobble out of hiding totestify, another person or persons might step up to eliminate the threat.”

Yeah.She still wasn’t going to say “murder Cobble”.

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