As soon as I closed the door I went for the phone. I hadn’t had time to set up the answering machine yet and I knew McShae had tried to call me a dozen times already. Besides, I felt like throwing the evening’s success in his face. He’d bet me twenty bucks before he left that I wouldn’t have any luck for a few days.
The phone barely had the chance to ring before McShae picked up.
“Talk to me, Caldwell.”
“Caller ID?”
“Cut the humor. I’ve been trying to get hold of you all night. Your boss has called me three times wanting to know where you are. Do you have any idea how bad it makes me look that I have no idea what my partner is doing? Why do you have a cell phone if you don’t answer it?”
This was like being married all over again. “Calm down, McShae, I was working. I went to dinner with Jenna, Trista and Blaine. You owe me twenty bucks.”
I knew he heard the gloating tone in my voice, but he didn’t give me the satisfaction of reacting to it. “How did you pull that off?”
“Trista’s determined to get Jenna a boyfriend. I was out front when she came home from work.”
“Did you find anything out yet?” he asked.
“Why, yes. Over dinner, they just happened to mention they have a friend who’s a terrorist. By the time dessert arrived I had full details about his master plan.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
I could imagine his eyes growing wide when he said that. “Do you really think the FBI would have taken the time to furnish an apartment if it was going to be that easy? The only thing I know that wasn’t in the dossiers is that Jenna is a nut. She seems almost interested one minute and the next she flips out about how this wasn’t a date.”
McShae was silent.
“What?”
“What did you say to her? I mean word for word what did you say to her?”
I recounted the evening to him. McShae was quiet up until the very end and he said, “Looks like it was your turn to fuck up, Caldwell.”
“What did I do?”
“You can’t come on to women like that nowadays. They get caught up in their feminist thing and shut you down. You have to…”
“Why am I taking dating advice from you?” I snapped.
“Because I’m still out there in it. You’ve been off the market for too long and frankly, you need some help with your game. That whole straightforward thing you have going isn’t working anymore.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh?” Collin replied, sarcasm dripping from the word. “Since I had some free time on my hands this evening while I was hitting redial, I pulled your file, Caldwell. Then I made a few calls about you. I know you haven’t been on a real date since your marriage went sour. That also explains why you’ve gone out of your way to be such a dick to me. I’m not your last partner.” After a pause, “I also know this is the first field assignment you’ve had since that whole mess. Oh, and by the way, I saved your ass with your boss tonight.”
“Oh yeah, what did Banks want?” I asked to change the subject.
“You never checked in. She hasn’t heard from you since you left D.C.”
“And?”
“You’re undercover; you’re supposed to check in as soon as you’re in position and at least every 48 hours after that.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I lied and told her that you were staking out Blaine’s club last night and that you were with the mark tonight. I didn’t actually think I was right about the second one.”
“Does she want me to check in tonight still?”
“It’s almost midnight there and I think I was able to pacify her. For now, anyway. Just make sure you check in on Friday and don’t miss anymore.”
“Okay.”
“I’m serious. If you don’t want to get stuck behind a desk for the rest of your career, don’t piss her off.”
“Don’t you think I already know that? Drop it already.”
I was getting sick of his mouth. What gave him the right to check up on me anyway? I was the ranking agent on this assignment. He was lucky to even be with the Bureau.
“Okay then, what’s your next move?”
“I haven’t thought about it. Since you’re the expert on women, do you think it would be too forward to go over there tomorrow and apologize for my behavior?”
“Very funny, but yes. If you make a special trip to her door with some rehearsed apology, she will see right through you,” McShae replied.
“What then? Do I sit around and wait for Trista to fix us up again?”
“Sure. We’ve got that kind of time. Look, tomorrow is Thursday. Go to the grocery store and ‘accidentally’ bump into her. Work the apology into the conversation.”
I was skeptical because it was a rookie plan. I was annoyed because I was visualizing the finger quotes. “Do you really think that will work? Won’t it just seem like I followed her?”
“It’ll work. Just make sure you leave for the store first and you won’t have a problem.”
“Even if she doesn’t think I’m a stalker, we’ll still have a problem with her. You don’t have to deal with her, McShae.”
He sighed. “Fine. You lay the groundwork and get me an introduction. I have no doubt I can get what I need from her.”
“Whoa. I never said I couldn’t handle this.”
“Whatever, Caldwell. The way you’re talking it sounds like you’ve already thrown in the towel. No one will blame you for this. You’ve been out of the field too long to effectively deal with a mark.”
Now he’d crossed a line. “McShae, I guarantee that we’ll get what we need from her.”
“I smell another wager.”
I grinned. “A hundred bucks says that not only will she tell me everything I want to know, but she’ll fall for me in the process.”
“This will be the easiest c-note I’ve ever made.”
We’d just have to see about that.
© 2009, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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