Page 26

As she knew it would, Andy’s bonus free day with Cobble flew by.

They’d played in bed for a while, eaten a hearty breakfast, gone for a long walk on the shore, then headed back to bed for more fun. After additional acrobatics that had left them both sated and happy, they’d fed each other cheese and crackers, laughing at the crumby mess they made of the sheets.

Sadly, the sun was setting all too soon, and while changing the bed so they could actually use it for sleeping, they began to discuss exactly what would happen the following morning.

“When we get to the office, Wiley will meet us there,” Andy told Cobble. “Baskins will be present along with Georgio and Fleischerman as we discuss plans in ‘secret’ between all of us. We want to give the turncoat or turncoats a sense of security; that they won’t be swarmed by agents if they take action once we’re back at the bungalow.”

Yes. Baskins had said the shore-side property could remain their safe-house, at least for the time being.

Cobble grumbled. “It would make life a lot easier knowing if it’s one or both of them who are complicit.”

“I agree, but it won’t change our strategy. We’ll follow through with our part of the set-up, and hope they execute their big move ASAP. If they don’t, it’s going to be a long few days of keeping tabs on them so they don’t kill us in our sleep.”

Yeah , like she’d let that happen.

“I may want to kill them , having to share a bathroom,” Cobble kidded, to lighten the mood, but his mind was firmly on what would be happening later.

Baskins hoped they’d be making it so easy for the traitor or traitors to think they had the upper hand, that they’d be stupid if they put off an assassination attempt, even for a day.

Andy yawned. “I’m tired, but I’m not sure I can sleep tonight,” she admitted.

“Come here,” Cobble said, pulling her in for an all-encompassing hug. “You need your sleep to stay sharp. So how about I give you a back rub and you can relax, then we’ll attempt to get some shut-eye.”

“You can do that?”

He grinned. “Did I neglect to mention that I took massage classes?”

Andy snickered. Of course he had.

“Sounds good to me.”

She pulled off her T-shirt—which was all she had on other than a pair of panties—and flopped face down on the bed.

Cobble’s magic fingers went to work, finding each and every knot in her shoulders, neck, and back, working the tension away. She’d initially thought to turn their session into more sex, but by the time Cobble was finished, Andy felt so limp, she didn’t think she could move.

“Sorry… Sleepy…” she slurred.

Her eyes grew heavy, her lids drooped. She tried valiantly to rally, but it was a losing proposition.

She was vaguely aware when Cobble pulled the covers up and slipped into bed beside her. She sighed when he gently turned her on her side to spoon with him.

“I love you,” she mumbled, barely able to make her mouth work.

“I love you, too,” he returned. “Now sleep.”

Andy didn’t remember another thing until her alarm rang in the wee hours, waking her from a dead slumber.

She reached for and turned off the offending device, taking time to stretch her limbs one-by-one before turning to face Cobble; whose eyes were wide open.

“Did you sleep at all?” she asked gruffly.

“A little,” he told her with a quirk up of his top lip. “But even when I wasn’t, it was still a great night, being able to hold you as you caught up on your beauty rest.”

“Thanks for that,” she told him, kissing his scruffy chin. “I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to snooze at all, but I did, and I feel really great right now.”

Her hand inched down and found his hardness, ready and waiting.

“Nope. As much as I’d like that. We can’t be late, and we need to save all our energy for what’s hopefully going down later,” Cobble told her with regret in his voice.

“You’re good then? You don’t need a quickie to revive you?” she asked.

“I am, and I don’t,” he chuckled. “I’ve been sleeping with one eye open and taking care of my, uh, business, solo, for years, so I’m good.”

Andy scowled. She didn’t like the thought of him having to resort to his own hand. But she’d done the same. So…him being fatigued was the bugaboo she should concentrate on, considering what they were about to face.

Cobble clearly saw her concern.

“Seriously. Don’t worry about me,” he assured her. “I’m operating at one hundred percent.”

She nodded, unenthusiastically.

****

Reluctantly, Cobble let go of his warm armful of woman and got out of bed.

Andy seemed to take that as her cue as she picked up her phone and scroll. “Still nothing from Chuck,” she told him. “I was hoping he’d have some news for us.”

She began typing, and Cobble headed to the bathroom.

He was a bit on edge, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t excited that the day was finally here. If all went well, he’d almost be a free man.

There was still the trial of El-Umar to consider, but if Andy and her team performed as usual, and the bad element got cocky enough to jump the gun, eliminating the unknown threat today should be a piece of cake.

****

An hour later, after notifying the SOS team that they were leaving the seaside property, they pulled up to FBI headquarters. Andy put down her window and punched a code into the security gate, which opened immediately, letting them into the private lot.

They got out of their car after parking, and Cobble took his first good look at Andy’s old job location. It wasn’t what he expected. There was nothing exceptional about the building that housed the agency. Just another steel and glass edifice across the street from a couple of bland looking hotels, situated on a typical just-outside-the-main-city, office-park kind of street.

He didn’t know why he’d expected something a little more…covert, but the large sign outside proudly proclaiming it the home of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, couldn’t be missed.

It was kind of disappointing.

“C’mon,” Andy urged, as he stood staring around.

“Huh? Oh. Sure.”

He wasn’t going to tell her he was completely unimpressed. If the Director who resided within could close this freaking case, however, that would be enough to change his mind. He’d forever-after hold the slightly-ugly building in the highest of esteem.

They walked through the front door.

After Andy showed some kind of badge to the officer on duty, they continued into a large, ground floor lobby. Cobble looked around curiously at the sparsely furnished area. Everything was gray and black. The chairs were rudimentary, and the coffee tables, glass with no adornment. Nothing remarkable to see, anywhere. Andy seemed oblivious, but of course this was her old stomping ground.

Cobble shrugged.

Entering the elevator, they went up a few floors before egressing, and much to Cobble’s surprise, the space they entered seemed much cheerier. The colors weren’t neutral at all; splashes of reds and golds covered the walls and floor, and there was a steady hum of activity as men and women bustled about. Phones rang, and…

Coffee . It permeated the air, and Cobble took a long, appreciative sniff.

“Can we get coffee?” he asked, coming to a halt. He’d had a mediocre half cup at the bungalow, and there hadn’t been time to stop for any more on the way in.

Andy, however, had started down a hallway opposite the lovely smell when he’d posed the question.

“Hello?” he called out again, still not budging.

“What?” she huffed, continuing her trajectory.

“Coffee,” he stated again, this time loud enough to turn a few heads.

“I’ll have someone bring us some,” she said over her shoulder. “Move it, Cobble. I don’t want to spend too much time here.” She beckoned for to him to follow, and he reluctantly complied. Morning refreshment would obviously have to wait.

Andy walked up to a door that read “Director Baskins”, knocked once, and after a barked response, went in.

A well-toned, older gentleman stood up from behind his desk and came around with his hand extended toward Cobble. “Mr. Blue, I assume,” he greeted. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Cobble accepted the shake. “Sawyer, please, or Cobble,” he replied with a nod.

“Cobble, it is,” Baskins agreed easily. “And these gentlemen are Agents Georgio.” He indicated a wiry man whose smarmy half-smile Cobble instantly disliked. “Agent Fleischerman.” The second of the two men was jacked, and without a change of expression on his chiseled, stoic face, he gave a chin lift. “And over there we have a member of Missy’s SOS team, Mr. Prancingdeer.”

“You can call me Wiley,” the man said, coming forward with a genuine greeting, and Cobble relaxed his shoulders. This man was the real deal, and he liked him immediately.

“How was your drive in, Missy?” Baskins asked Andy.

The two FBI agents attending had no idea where they’d come from, so Baskins kept it vague.

“Traffic-y, but we made pretty good time.”

Now was the moment for Andy to start spinning the false narrative they’d concocted. They didn’t want the agents knowing that Cobble had actually been in town for a while, and had been well established in the place to which they’d soon be heading back.

“We flew Cobble in last evening, and spent the night in a hotel, but he’s anxious to get settled into his new digs and get this over with.”

They were playing this like no one but Baskins knew, yet, where they’d be stashing Cobble, when in reality, the entire SOS team—at least those who hadn’t been tasked with transporting El-Umar—were already setting up in covert positions in and around the bungalow.

“Actually, right now, I’m anxious for a cup of coffee,” Cobble interjected.

Just because things might get dangerous soon, he wasn’t going to give up on a perfectly fine caffeine fix.

“We can make that happen,” Baskins stated with a chuckle, lifting his own to his lips and taking a sip.

“I’ll get it,” Wiley interjected. “You want one, too, Mizzay?” he asked.

Damn. It was comical, the number of names Andy answered to; Andy, Missy, Mizzay. It was a bit confusing for Cobble, but he guessed she must be used to it by now.

“I could go for a cup,” Andy responded.

“Anybody else?” Wiley asked politely.

Georgio pursed his lips and shook his head. Fleischerman grunted.

Okay then. Three coffees, no small talk.

Andy got down to business once Wiley took his and Andy’s orders and left the room.

“Have you heard from Mistah Songen?” she asked her boss of old.

“I have,” Baskins replied. “He and his team got into Logan with El-Umar an hour ago. They’re still tied up with customs, even though I fast-tracked them, but as soon as they’re cleared, they’ll head here, where our terrorist, gold-smuggling friend will join Agent Tertia in our holding area below.”

Cobble almost snorted.

From what Andy had told him, “holding area” was a nice name for the jail in the basement.

Andy grunted. “Sounds good. And now, moving on, I know it had to stay hush-hush until now, but where, exactly, are we putting Cobble?”

Nicely played, Cobble wanted to clap.

“I have the—”

Baskins was interrupted when the door flew open and Chuck walked in. Cobble hadn’t seen his cousin in a number of years, but there was no mistaking the big, gruff man.

“Sawyer,” Chuck boomed loudly, walking in to embrace Cobble. “Damn, it sure is good to see you.”

Cobble felt tears come to his eyes as he gave Chuck a huge hug in return. “You, too, cousin. I wasn’t sure this day would ever come.”

“Wait,” Agent Georgio spoke up. “You two are related?”

Chuck turned with a new sharpness to his face. “Oh. Right. We weren’t allowed to tell anybody in case it jeopardized Cobble’s security, but yeah, we’re blood cousins.”

Cobble noted a grind of the agent’s teeth, but that was the only sign that he was displeased with the revelation. Fleischerman showed nothing.

Cobble was about to let go of Chuck, when his cousin tightened his hold, then leaned in and whispered, “I’m getting close. I can feel it. I haven’t got a name or names for you yet, but I just started working on the third hard-drive, and it looks promising.”

He pulled away, and clapped Cobble on the back. “We’ll need to catch up, once the trial is over,” he stated jovially.

“Yeah,” Cobble agreed. “And maybe you can point me in the direction of a job. I need to figure out what I want to do once I get my life back.” Of course he’d already been offered a position at SOS, but that wasn’t official, and certainly wasn’t for public consumption.

“That shouldn’t be too tough,” Chuck answered. “I understand you’ve been taking classes in just about everything.”

“I have,” Cobble agreed. “Boredom will do that to you.”

He wanted to send a sour look to the two agents, one or both of whom were the asshole who had kept him from normalcy, but he managed to smile at Chuck, instead. “I look forward to hanging out with you again, man, and having a few beers.”

“Beers?” Wiley entered the room with three cups precariously balanced in a paper tray. “I thought you wanted coffee?”

Cobble laughed and judiciously snatched the cup with his name scribbled on it. “Beer is for celebrating when this is all over.”

“Count me in,” Wiley said with a grin, still juggling his load. How much of that fumbling was for show, so the two agents didn’t know how proficient he really was?

“Speaking of which,” Andy interrupted, addressing Baskins, “do we have a trial date yet?” She grabbed her cup from Wiley, and he just managed to save his own from a tumble to the floor as the tray became unbalanced.

Cobble waited for the answer.

Everyone present—and in the know—currently had to act as if Cobble were completely safe, and the next order of business after him becoming settled, was getting to trial and having El-Umar incarcerated for life.

Baskins answered. “We have a preliminary hearing set for tomorrow, but we believe it should go smoothly. In which case the judge says he’ll fast track the actual trial because it falls under a terrorism classification. It will take precedence over most of the cases on his docket. I’m thinking two weeks out, at most,” he speculated.

That sounded good to Cobble.

Two more weeks until freedom.

But they had to get through today, first.