Chapter 27: A Death in the Family

"Security guards at the Waverley Oaks Foods plant surprised a burglar last night. In the ensuing altercation, one guard was injured and the suspect was killed. Names have been withheld pending notification of the next of kin of the victim, and the police are following up leads as to the burglar's origins and the reasons for the break-in."

"Oh, shit!" Jacobson put down his coffee cup. The idiot wasn't SUPPOSED to get himself KILLED! Now what? Sober thought said that with any luck, Raoul was clean, and there would be no repercussions -- IF the boss was properly in the know. He got on the phone.

"Mr. Kemp?"

"Jacobson?" Jason frowned. "Is this bad news?"

"I sent Raoul out to hit the Waverley Oaks plant. He managed to get himself killed. How well covered is he?"

"Fortunately, pretty well. Since he was a muscle specialist, we managed to scramble up his fingerprints with a black woman from Cleveland..."

"Okay. He was carrying bogus Staffordshire I.D. I thought we'd use him to cover our Waverley mole, and then slide him back to back to Mexico -- but he apparently felt like going head to head with the security guards..."

"Shit. I'm gonna have to explain this to his wife and daughter. Good thing they were planning a divorce... I'll let the Boss know."

"Sorry."

"No, seemed like a good plan. But I warned you he was an extremely blunt instrument. Business as usual, I guess. Let me know if this starts to come apart in any way." Jason rubbed his face.

"Will do. We should be fine; he was not around anyone in-house. If he's covered, we're good to go."

"He's covered." Jason hung up. Five minutes later, he was in Armand's office. "There is a problem. Raoul managed to get himself killed."

"He WHAT? How?"

"Jacobson sent him out to waltz through the Waverly Oaks plant to take the heat off of our mole, but he went nose to nose with security and got stupid."

"This is incredibly embarrassing," Armand grunted.

"Yes." Jason paused. "I, uh..."

"I'll do it. Let's wait until Bianca returns home from school," Armand sighed. "You may have to take it a little easy on your woman for a couple of days..."

"Yes..."

Armand frowned. "She'll need structure. Don't back off too far -- you'll confuse her. Just don't get any too stupid." Jason nodded.

Nate had awakened next to Nora -- an amazing occurrence on the face of it. Breakfast had been weird; Nora's folks -- both of them -- had pretended that his being there was the most natural thing in the world... There'd been scads of food, dragged in by two or three people, but neither he nor Nora had been THAT hungry. When they got into Nate's car to go to school, Nate paused until he got out of the driveway, and murmured, "That was..."

"Yeah." Nora had expected a screaming match with Mom and God knew what with Daddy -- but they apparently knew all about Nate's staying over and apparently really didn't care... A servant had come in to awaken them, and nobody even blinked when they showed up for breakfast. Nora was going to have to talk to somebody -- all that stuff? A bowl of cereal was fine...

At school, Mary, Stick and Teddy were on the front steps. Stick was apologetically relating having used the excuse Teddy suggested the night before. "Look, I know it ain't exactly complimentary to either of ya, but it worked..."

Teddy shrugged. "I more or less suggested it; like I said, it's just close enough to be believable, and it takes advantage of the kind of crap that people will believe..." He eyed Mary sidelong.

Mary pursed her lips. "So, basically, the tale is that I'm doing you both?"

"Yeh."

"Well, that's true..."

"I guess the bad part is probably the idea that I'm tellin' you what to do..." Stick ventured.

"Honey, you're doing THAT, too..." Mary tittered.

"Oookayyy, I guess we're good, then..." Stick shrugged.

Nate and Nora came up. Nora asked, "What's up?"

"We're trying out a new tale," Mary replied.

"Oh?" Nate blinked. "Why not -- fuck, never mind. What'd you come up with?"

"Ummm, the gist of it?" Stick replied. "Ted's whipped, and I'm pimpin' Mary for favors."

Nate scratched his head. "What keeps ya from pimpin' her to somebody else?"

Stick hit this and bounced -- you could see it in his expression. But Mary answered. "Two reasons: It's a pre-existing relationship -- Stick's just allowing it to continue for his benefit. And Teddy's no threat."

"Uhhh huh. Well, the good news is that it defines Stick's and Teddy's relationship," Nora offered.

"I ain't thrilled 'cause it says things 'bout Ted an' Mary..." Stick grunted. "But I already tried it out at home, an' it worked."

"You know, it also matches the way you guys called it goin' in," Nate added. "An' it gives you a reason to cover Teddy's ass -- 'cause he's your boy..." He paused a minute. "What about Draper?"

"Draper deserves... the truth." Stick traced a crack in the sidewalk with his toe.

"He can still shit-can you, Man. And he can fuck you for everybody else!" Nate pointed out.

"He's my friend."

"Awright. I'll help." Nate offered.

"Why? You ain't happy..."

"I got used to it." Nate stepped over to Teddy. "YOU make sure you keep this shit in the family!" He whirled his fingers to include Stick and Mary. "I hear about you offering to do what you do outside of Stick and Mary and I'll PERSONALLY arrange for fifteen guys to open up your asshole for business! Get me?"

"O-okay!" Teddy stammered.

"You hafta do that?" Stick grunted.

"I was just making a point," Nate replied, nodding warily at Teddy. "Queer sex is fuckin' dangerous, and I don't want to lose friends."

"I'm not..." Teddy protested.

"It's over, Man. I'm cool if you're cool," Nate cut him off. Teddy nodded, subdued.

Nora was going to call him down, but Nate turned away, obviously finished. "Okay. So. For public consumption, Teddy has a reason to be here. That's important. Makes things generally easier, too." Then he stopped and turned back to Teddy, "You're gonna get shit on, some; other dudes are gonna try to take advantage of ya. This'll give Stick an excuse to watch out for you, 'cause you don't owe nobody else shit -- but you're gonna be the bottom of the totem pole."

Teddy shrugged. "I was never near the top."

"Yeah, cool." Nate ruffled Teddy's hair. Everyone took it for the acceptance it was. "If Draper don't shit a brick, you're golden."

Nora piped up, "There's one problem; if you tell Draper, you're telling Tenisha."

"Oh." Stick looked mildly stricken; a secret that forty people knew wasn't a secret. "Gee, I dunno how bad that is."

"Me either," Mary husked, sharing a glance with Nora, who shrugged. "Maybe we ought to feel her out, first?"

"Awright. Can't take forever, though. Draper finds out from somebody other than me..." Stick shook his head.

"Mary and I will find a way to feel her out and try to get it under control, okay?" Nora offered.

"Got no choice," Stick grunted. "Go for it."

Nora caught Mary's eye, "Third period." Mary nodded. The bell rang, and the five of them split up.

That morning, Armand took a report from Witherspoon about the Tabitha Adams incident. "My two operatives retrieved the video yesterday and made the copy you got. A quick interrogation of the bearer yielded the fact that the individual involved was employed by Pinkham, and that Pinkham commissioned the video and ordered the attack."

"What do we know of Pinkham's alliances?"

"We discussed Pinkham with representatives of the Scarpoletti family. He is unaligned; at best, they have mutual interests. He uses them as drug suppliers, but not as his sole supplier. Scarpoletti is uninterested in prostitution; compared to drugs, the costs of keeping hookers working and out of jail are excessive. Rodday can do what he likes in this area, per Scarpoletti; on the other hand, so can you... Scarpoletti got a look at the video and was pretty amazed, but he admires the technique. When we discussed the conflict of interest, Scarpoletti indicated that if we wanted to squabble over table manners, as he called it, he would stay out of it. We gave him to understand that it was a matter of proper respect for the property of others..."

"Are there any other... issues?"

"No. Scarpoletti would prefer that Rodday survive, and that there not be a lot of turmoil -- but his big dream of being king of the pimps is more trouble than it's worth in Scarpoletti's opinion. Scarpoletti says there are no other relevant alliances."

"Thank you. I'm sure Ms. Adams won't be surprised... Anything on the actual agent?"

"Scarpoletti's people say that the work is consistent with a contractor called Dumbjohn. They have no direct contact; apparently, he contacts pimps directly for employment. He's operated in several local cities; his gift is that he is a wolf in a fine set of sheep's clothing. Experienced hookers can usually smell a cop or anyone trying to set them up -- but this Dumbjohn just gives off vibes that say 'sucker'... He's done several such 'demonstrations' that local pimps then use to terrorize other hookers. Ms. Adams is apparently his most dramatic demonstration to date."

"I see. Is he worth hunting?"

"It would be difficult; he's apparently pretty smart and he has his natural camouflage..."

"Well, he didn't kill her," Armand grunted. "Not even close, actually. Don't waste a lot of resources, but have someone keep an eye out for his work."

"Yessir."

"Is anyone watching the Adams' apartment?"

"Nothing serious, since we're following him..."

"I'm going to put a little heat on Pinkham," Armand mused, "He may suddenly decide to look for Nate. We might want to know if that happens..."

"Good idea, Sir."

"That's it, then -- except I need an independent investigation of what went on in KC."

"Sir?"

"Sorry. We lost Raoul during what was supposed to be a diversion at Waverley. I need a second look -- if Jacobson needs replacement, I need to know it."

"Will do, Sir. I'll activate the local team."

"That's it." Armand hung up, and turned to Jason. "What did you tell Jacobson of Raoul's capabilities?"

Jason frowned. "I told him that Raoul was a very blunt instrument, and that he required supervision. The mission was a fairly straightforward burglary to take the heat off of our mole at Waverley; Jacobson sent him in solo, I think. Raoul was carrying Staffordshire I.D., in case he got caught. What happened isn't clear yet."

"Clarify. Debrief Jacobson fully. We have explanations to make."

"Sir." Jason glared at the floor a moment. "I despised the man, but I did NOT set him up."

Armand eyed him a moment, then nodded, satisfied. "All right. See what happened. We may want details from Witherspoon's people to keep Jacobson's exposure down, but I want to know what Jacobson was up to."

"Sir."

"Do we have a line into Pinkham's?"

"Yes."

"Call him at eleven or so and request a lunch meeting at, say, Andrea's, for twelve-thirty or so tomorrow."

"Sir." Jason moved out, dismissed. The way things were going, having Sharon take over the household would be a blessing...

Sharon was in her sitting room, going over paperwork. Obviously, she was going to need a desk... The employment records that Jason had dropped off after breakfast read more like dossiers -- everybody seemed to have a skeleton in their closet, and some of them were doozies! Apparently, however, Raoul had been the most anti-social of the staff, with the probable exception of Jason himself, whose file wasn't here... Well, with any luck, Jason would be able to keep the tentative one o'clock meeting, and she could attach names to faces. Funny, it never occurred to either her or Jason that she might not accept the responsibilities Armand had thrust upon her...

"Tenisha? Got a second?" Nora accosted the black girl outside their shared third-period class.

"Sure." Nonetheless, she was obviously wary.

"It's about the guys." Nora directed Tenisha over to an area where the tide of moving students ebbed, where Mary joined them.

"What's up?" Tenisha asked.

"Well, we've kind of deconstructed the little group that Nate, Draper, and Stick had going. I kind of wondered how you felt about that."

Tenisha felt her way around the question. Was there a bomb inside, somewhere? "Well, they were always getting in trouble, so from that viewpoint, I'm kinda glad Draper's out of it. But they're his friends... Besides, you two seem to have them under control..."

"Yeah, well, I was thinking that the fact that we don't all run together might be an issue..."

"Oh." Historically, Tenisha hadn't had much in common with the other two -- but then her small circle of girlfriends wasn't exclusionist... "Well, I pretty well know where you're coming from..." Due to the strange things going on Prom Night, Nora had actually lost her cherry to Nate at Tenisha's, and Tenisha was pretty clear as to her motivations. She swung her attention to Mary, "But I don't know a lot about how Mary and Stick are doing -- and there's the Little Teddy Frick thing..." She eyed Mary suspiciously. "You aren't coming off too well, there -- lotta loose talk."

Mary sighed. "It'll probably get worse. It's kind of why we're here."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Look, the situation is... kind of unique. There's stuff about it that it'd be better if most people didn't know. But Stick wants Draper to know, and that means that you should, too. Can we talk at lunch?"

Tenisha thought fast. "Okay. Northwest corner? I'll push off my usual group..."

"Great!" Mary smiled encouragingly. "See you there!"

Mary moved off, but Tenisha snagged Nora. "There's more to this than just a little talk..."

"Yeah. Look, this is a serious thing, involving Stick's reputation. Mary's going to give you a gun and hope you don't point it at her head, for Stick's sake, and for Draper's. You should know that Mary is putting Stick's welfare first, here."

"Okay," Tenisha nodded thoughtfully. "I'm takin' your word for it. See you there."

"Boss?" Flood stuck his head out into the club. "Phone."

Rodday took in the odd look as he got up. "Trouble?"

"Dunno."

Rodday strode into the office and took the phone, "Rodday."

"Mr. Pinkham? Charlene, Armand Wilson's secretary. Mr. Wilson would like to know if you're free to have lunch with him tomorrow?"

Rodday, taken flat-footed, dithered. "I'll need to check my schedule. Where? When, exactly?"

"Do you know Andrea's? We were thinking twelve-thirty," Charlene replied.

"I'll... have to get back to you. My assistant isn't here..."

"Certainly, Sir. When should I be able to get a reply?"

"Uh, an hour or so, I think," Rodday temporized.

"That'll be fine, Sir. I'll call back then."

Rodday eyed Flood. "Why would Armand Wilson want to see me?"

Flood frowned. "Dunno, Boss."

"Send somebody to check out Andrea's. I need to know if it's safe."

"Okay, Boss." Flood started off, then stopped dead at the office door, "What about Whatshername? Tabitha?"

Rodday thought about it. "Nah. Can't be. You DID check, didn't you?"

"I asked around a bit, Boss -- but I didn't go nuts. It seemed like pure bullshit to me..." Actually, Flood's entire investigation had lasted about ninety seconds.

"It's odd -- but I can't think of anything else. See if you can find her kid. We need answers."

"Okay, Boss."

Tenisha was where she said she'd be -- the northwest corner of the cafeteria. She leaned back against the wall as Nora and Mary seated themselves. "Okay, so, what is it?"

"Let's talk about you and Mary. Are there any problems there?" Nora asked.

"Nothin' much negative," Tenisha replied warily, "but nothin' much positive, either." She addressed Mary. "I kinda like the way you think, sometimes -- you're pretty funny. Dating Stick is, well, kind of a mixed thing, I guess. I mean, you're not..."

"Black?" Mary interjected.

"Yeah. And there's Teddy. You come off as kind of a..."

"Slut?" Mary sighed. "Well, I'm aware of that, and if I get my way, it probably won't change..."

"Huh? Why? What do you get out of THAT? Is it true?"

"Well, I guess it depends on your point of view," Mary shrugged. "From mine, I'm in a committed relationship with two boys. And no, it doesn't benefit me -- but it benefits Stick."

"I don't get it."

"Well, this is where we are," Nora interjected. "Mary wants to -- needs to -- tell you, because Stick wants to tell Draper. But either one of you can take this info and hurt Stick bad with it -- and Mary and Teddy into the bargain..."

"Sounds secret." Tenisha watched the other two nod. "Maybe I shouldn't know."

Mary looked at the floor. "You'll no doubt hear it from Draper. We're just -- I don't know WHAT we hope to accomplish. Basically, I'm going out on a limb, hoping you don't feel like running a chainsaw."

"You want me to promise to keep whatever this is to myself, right?"

"Uh huh. And we want to know if you can hang with the group in the face of the cover story."

"What's the cover story?"

"Um, in a nutshell, it's like this: Teddy and I were fucking, because I was trying to rope him in. Stick came in and displaced Teddy, and now he's running things, as far as I'm concerned. But Teddy wheedled him into having me supply him an occasional fuck for services rendered."

"Like what?"

"Car rides, tutoring, general scut work... Whatever comes to mind."

"Huh! That's pretty sordid... That's the cover story? What the fuck is it covering? What's worse?"

Nora and Mary shared a look. "We need that promise, now."

"Okay, you got it. This has got to be heavy..."

Mary sighed heavily. "The actual relationship is a good deal more equal, although the pecking order is about right. But it ignores an additional dimension... Stick and Teddy have a relationship, too -- one that I'm not strictly a part of."

Tenisha frowned, trying to wrap her mind around the concept. "Stick and Teddy are..."

"Fucking. Well, Stick is fucking Teddy, not vice-versa..." Mary cut to the chase.

"Whoa!" Tenisha sat there, dazed. "You mean they're..."

"What?" Mary, stressed, began to show irritation.

"Gay? Queer?"

"Noooo..." Mary controlled herself. "If they were, neither of them would be fucking ME! And they're BOTH doing THAT! The proper term is 'bisexual'..."

"Okay, okay." Tenisha glanced at Nora. "Nate knows?"

Nora sighed. "Yeah, he had a fit -- but the three of them have something different going on here, and he's come around."

"Different?"

"Uh huh. It's a real, three-corner relationship. Each of them gets things they want and need from the other two. It's not equal, but it's apparently stable..." Nora paused, "unless Stick takes a lot of loose heat for being gay!"

Mary nodded. "Teddy wouldn't catch much flack for being gay -- except he isn't -- and I can handle being called a slut, if that's what it takes. But Stick is looking at taking a lot of shit..."

Tenisha nodded. Tolerance for gays wasn't big in the 'hood. The official position was that being gay was a white boy's problem, and anything that contradicted that was... inconvenient... and would be a source of trouble. Similarly, 'bisexual' wouldn't play; you were straight, or you were fucked up -- no middle ground. The fact that a fair population had spent time in various jails and had participated in gay sex, willingly or unwillingly, only seemed to intensify the denial. "Okay. How did this happen?"

"Basically?" Mary replied, "Basically, Teddy got to him first. Teddy apparently gives a helluva blowjob..."

"What'd he do? Walk up to him and offer to blow him?" Tenisha shook her head.

"No, it was more anonymous than that. Ever hear of a glory hole?"

"No."

"Happens a lot in bathrooms, or peep booths at dirty book stores. Basically, there's a hole in the wall; after some kind of signal, a guy sticks his dick in the hole, and whoever is on the other side blows him. Doesn't HAVE to be a guy -- and it doesn't HAVE to be a blowjob -- but that's the general thing..."

"Then how did Stick... ?"

"It's a long story, and I had both hands in it," Mary sighed, "but this is STILL a little public. Later, okay?"

"Okay," Tenisha pouted. "I get it, sorta."

"Is Draper gonna throw a fit?" Mary asked.

"Well, probably. I still don't REALLY understand..." Tenisha shook her head.

"I dunno if I could ever make it really, really clear," Mary replied. "It just sorta happened. I got in after the first round, but I probably could have killed it -- but if I had, probably none of us would be sleeping together, so in the long run..."

"Well, Draper is pretty level-headed; he'll probably pull out. I guess the other question is whether I can hang out with you guys, given the rep Mary's gonna collect from this -- right?"

"Right," Nora confirmed.

"I can do it -- but you've got to tell all!"

Mary chuckled, "I figure I can do that..."

The whole staff was gathered in the formal living room of the mansion. "It is Mr. Wilson's wish that much of the responsibility for day- to-day operations be passed from myself to Sharon, here. For those few of you who might be unaware, Sharon is Mr. Wilson's ex-wife and the mother of his daughter, Nora. This makes her more that qualified to anticipate Mr. Wilson's requirements..." Jason paused and collected everyone's eyes.

"Sharon is not assuming this position as Mr. Wilson's spouse, however. While she will be Mistress of this house, her relationship to Mr. Wilson will more closely resemble that of several others in this room. Mr. Wilson has not yet decided whether he will resume attracting and interviewing prospective mates; until and unless he does, it will be business as usual from the perspective of Mr. Wilson's physical needs for those of you who have catered to them before..."

Sharon sighed. "No doubt I will appear on the roster. Several of you know this -- I recognize a couple of faces -- our physical relationship didn't end with the marriage. Now that I'm here, I expect that it'll be just that much easier for him..."

"I will continue to be available to support and assist Sharon; for the moment, I suggest that we continue with business as usual. You will brief her on any standard policies and procedures that apply to you, and get her input on new situations," Jason instructed.

"Um, speaking of which... Who handles breakfast?" Sharon asked.

"Ah do." Velma raised her hand.

"The layout is incredible, and I wouldn't think of interfering with Armand's input -- but I know Nora, and she was overwhelmed. A little cold cereal, some juice, and coffee -- or one of those bottled latte things -- is fine on a weekday."

Velma wrinkled her nose. "She need hot stuff."

"Well, I agree, but we're going to have to bring her along slowly. A toasted bagel, maybe, and fruit for the cereal, to start? Let's talk about it..."

"... Which brings me to another issue," Jason interjected. "Miss Wilson is Mistress here, not her mother. While Sharon is to be deferred to due to her position, she is staff; Nora is to be dealt with as Mr. Wilson's daughter. There is a subtle difference there; I expect you all to understand it and work within the restrictions involved."

Leticia asked, "What about Miss Wilson's guests?"

Jason stared her down. "Miss Wilson's guests are MISTER Wilson's guests, unless he indicates otherwise. In the case of Mr. Adams, this is clearly the case, as not only does Mr. Adams have an ongoing relationship with Miss Wilson, but he may be in physical danger. His mother is currently hospitalized, and we plan to ensure that Nate does not join her." He glared at Leticia for a moment. "If Miss Wilson's choice in companions offends you due to your spurious commitment to the idea of racial purity, TOUGH! Mr. Wilson has spoken clearly in this matter." Jason generalized his focus. "The preceding being said, Sharon nonetheless holds a preeminent position in this household; the only people for whom she is not directly in the chain of command are myself and Charles, and we are charged to cooperate with her wherever possible. The Wench will continue to be assigned to Sharon whenever it does not interfere with her primary duties or her training for same." He fixed Charles with a glance, "That's direct from Mr. Wilson." Charles nodded.

Sharon shifted her attention to Charles, "Let's talk about that -- I don't want to interfere with her training." Charles nodded again. Sharon addressed the group, "I'll be chasing you each down individually in the next few days; in the meantime, if something needs to come to my attention, feel free to chase ME down. For now, if Jason wants to know about it, I do, too -- and until I get my feet on the ground, things may not be limited to that. Everybody understand? Let's go to work."

As certain male members of the mass exodus headed back to the south wing, Phillippe murmured, "So, that's the little woman..."

Ed felt like he had to say something. "Yeah, well, don't brush her off -- she's tougher than she looks. She's been putting up with the Boss for a long time..."

"Big ass on her..."

"Big talk about how she isn't the Boss's main squeeze to the contrary, you put your hand on that without permission and the Boss will probably cut it off and put you outside the gate to bleed out. You better get your head in the right place, Man."

"I agree," Boris rumbled. "I would be very careful around her, if for no other reason than the fact that Jason will continue to enforce discipline."

"For all I know, the Boss might stake her out next to the Wench next week as entertainment for a barbeque -- but until he does, I'm keeping MY hands -- AND my MOUTH -- to myself..." Ed added.

"What was that with Leticia?" Sharon asked.

Jason grimaced. "She has a thing about black men and white women. But, of course, it's okay for her to chase white guys... That's how she got here..."

"I know. I recognized her, and Consuelo, too, for that matter."

"I don't think Armand has had Leticia for a while," Jason showed his teeth, "She's getting bitchy..."

Sharon tittered. "I don't suppose that Armand just has sex with any of the staff..."

"If he does, it's not often..." Jason showed his teeth again in his characteristic rictus. "I seem to remember that she hates enemas, in particular... Maybe we should have young Mr. Adams administer it?"

"Let's not despoil Nate without Nora's approval," Sharon replied.

"Perhaps yourself, then? Get a feel for how the other half lives? It'd make a fine object lesson..."

"I, uh..." Sharon sputtered. "I don't know if I'm ready for that, yet."

"Think about it," Jason replied. "Leticia needs to be put in her place. If you were to fill her full of water and make her hold it until she tongued you to orgasm, for instance, it would be a powerful lesson, not only for her, but for the others."

"Oh, my..." Sharon didn't want to look closely at the mix of emotions THAT idea brought her. "I dunno..."

" 'Best t'were done quickly'," Jason quoted.

"I don't think I could..."

Jason stared her down. "I think you could." He turned away. "Will there be anything else? I need to make a phone call."

"No, I don't think so."

"I may sequester Inez for a couple of days. Her estranged husband has been killed accidentally, on a company project. It's pretty embarrassing to me and to Armand as it could easily look like one of us ordered it." Jason shook his head. "Stupid bastard."

"Want to talk about it?" Sharon had to deal with the man, daily. Might as well develop a relationship...

"Okay," Jason nodded, thinking basically the same thing. "Do you know the background?"

A few minutes later, they were sitting in Jason's office. "... So Armand sent him to Jacobson in KC. Jacobson apparently saw him as a new face, and decided to use him in a covert op -- but Raoul, being the ass that he was, escalated a run-in with a security guard... Armand wants me to grill Jacobson a bit -- I could use a witness, if you know what I mean..."

"I can see that," Sharon replied. "There is a serious conflict of interest, here..." She waved assent.

Jason dialed and put the phone on speaker. "Jacobson," the speaker announced.

"Jacobson, it's Kemp."

"Yessir."

"What have you found out?"

"I can't get any too close. Apparently, he had a run-in with an armed, alert security guard."

"I need to understand why you sent him in solo -- I TOLD you he was an arrogant fool..."

Jacobson sighed. "Okay, okay, maybe I got too smart for my own good. I knew the guy was in trouble with you guys in the HQ, but he knew too much to just cut loose. I needed a warm body to do this break-in to take the heat off our mole. I figured if he got caught, we could bail him and send him home to Mexico where he couldn't hurt anybody -- so I left an alarm circuit out of the briefing. I didn't think he'd get stupid and try to kill people..."