Chapter 75

"So where do I sleep?" Special agent Mission asked.

"Beats the hell out of me. I guess we could run down to the plaza, and buy you an air bed," I suggested.

"Come on, we can go to the motel where I stayed when I came up last," Mission said.

"I'm not going anywhere. You can find a space to throw down a blanket, you can go buy you an air bed, you can sleep in your car, but I'm staying right here where I feel safe," I was adamant about it.

"Jesus, you are a hard ass," she said. But regardless she went in search of 5feet and eight inches of unoccupied floor space. She had to rearrange the furniture. Even though I didn't have it to spare, I gave her one of my blankets.

"You are agreeable to the fish solution?" she asked.

"With the understanding that the state will notify me the moment that the threat is gone. Also that Warren County Sheriff's office will be held to their contract," I said.

"That's pretty much what we had in mind. By the way, why the hell would you want to force them to hire you. It will have to be a terribly hostile work place environment," she said.

"I might just run for Sheriff," I said with a smile. "Now if you look in that cabinet over the sink, you will find a bottle of Tennessee sour mash sippin' whiskey. Please bring it to me?" I asked. Yes it still hurt to get up and down, and I was seated on the sometimes sofa.

Mission brought two glasses without being asked. I gave it a little thought then decided what the hell, and poured a couple of ounces in each. It would be impossible to replace the whiskey, but she seemed to be worth a drink. The label on the bottle carried the name of an obscure brand of cheap whiskey.

The whiskey inside was anything but cheap. The fifth of a gallon whole sale was more than the whiskey that came in the bottle was retail. The bottle had been sterilized then refilled with the dragon piss. I knew for a fact that Mission had never had anything like it.

"Wow that is strong and smooth," she said of the amber liquid. It was colored with food coloring to look like sour mash whiskey.

"Yes it is, that's why it's called sippin' whiskey," I said.

"But my god that is smooth stuff," she said.

"Too bad we don't have any brownies. Brownies go good with this kind of whiskey," I said laughing. After an hour of sipping on the glass of whiskey my pain was gone. Hell I could have danced I felt so good.

"Sorry about you having to sleep on the floor," I said.

"Don't be it will be like pretending to be a teenager at a sleep over," Agent Mission said.

"Okay, but I'm going to sleep, not tell you how it feels to do it," I said.

"I know how it feels," Mission said giggling.

Then next thing I knew, it was 7AM and I had to pee bad. It was all I could do to hold it, while I found the least painful way to get off the make shift sofa bed. I held onto the walls while I found my way to the bathroom. Thank god there was enough ambient light to see Agent Mission on the floor.

I was both early, and late enough to begin moving around. That being the case I went straight from the bathroom to the kitchen next door to it. First thing I dis was to heat coffee in the microwave and round up a stale donut. I really wanted to go down to the cafe on the square for a bacon and egg biscuit. To do that I would have to climb over Agent Mission. She was between me and the front door. There was a kitchen door but it was behind a tea cart of small appliances and canisters. It was for emergencies only.

With my special cup, I had bought from Goodwill full of hot coffee, I went back into the front room. Agent Mission wouldn't be asleep much longer, if she had managed to sleep through the very loud flushing toilet, and the clatter of my getting the coffee out of the fridge and heating it in the microwave. When I reached the front room with my double sized delta coffee cup, I found Agent Mission sitting against the wall wrap indian style in the blanket.

Her hair looked like shit. Suddenly my terrible short preteen boy hair cut didn't seem so bad. "You want some day old reheated coffee?" I asked.

"Is that's all you got?" she asked as an answer.

"Since I haven't sat down yet, I can get it for you no problem," I said returning to the kitchen. I heated a cup of coffee in the plain porcelain cut painted to resemble an old tin coffee cup. Yeah it came from Goodwill as well and it held almost as much as the Delta cup. "Here drink this," I said.

She took the cup and then she took the half eaten donut out of my hand. "The coffee is good and the donut is perfect," she said.

"Now you have done it. That was the only food in the house that was ready to eat. We are either going to have to go out looking like hags or cook," I said.

"I vote hag look. I have no idea how you are at cooking and breakfast if the day's most important meal," Mission said. "If I remember right there is a decent cafe near here."

"Yeah, Cafe On The Square," I said.

"Wear your vest and carry a weapon, or two," she suggested. I brushed my teeth but skipped the bath since the apartment was cool. It wouldn't be warm enough for me until the sun heated the outside rear stucco wall of the bathroom.

I did dress wearing the Kevlar vest and the .38 upside down shoulder rig. I carried the box opener in my parka pocket, since I wore my running shoes. Running was going to be painful but I doubted that Mission was going to let me ride my bike. That being the case I planned to run to breakfast. Mission could follow along in the car, if she didn't want to run.