SIXTEEN

“Thank god for Emma Krimstein,” Mom said, looking up from where she was chopping vegetables.

I sat at the breakfast bar, slicing bread for dinner. I rolled my eyes. “They’re only clothes, Mom. She didn’t save any babies from a burning building or anything.”

Mom laughed. “She did save me from the torture of clothes shopping with my stubborn only daughter. I think she deserves a medal.”

“I’m not that bad.”

“Yes, you are,” Mom said. She moved efficiently around the kitchen washing carrots and broccoli and laying them out on the chopping board. “I need an Emma in my life. Do you think if I gave her my size she could…?”

“No. I’ve tried. She insists she can only work from the live model. She won’t go and pick out lovely clothes for you unless you go with her.”

“That’s too bad.”

“I know,” I said, stealing a carrot. “The girl does good work.”

We could see Dad out on the patio grilling. He waved at us through the smoke coming off the grill. We waved back.

“Mom, look how happy he is out there. How can you deprive him of this pleasure?”

“Grilling increases the level of carcinogens in food. We eat grilled food at least once a week, Katie. It isn’t as though we never grill out.”

I didn’t push it. At least she let Dad and I have treats sometimes.

“So are you excited about your big day tomorrow?” Mom dumped the chopped carrots into a salad bowl.

“Yeah, I guess so. I sort of wish I knew where we were going though.”

“I thought your father said you were going whale watching.”

“Oh. Right. Yes, we are.” I had sort of forgotten I hadn’t told Mom about the whole date with Alex thing.

“Is there another big event tomorrow I should know about?”

It was too late now to be smooth about the whole thing. “Actually, I’m going out on a date tomorrow.”

“Two dates in one week, Katie?” I believe that as she is my very own mother, she should not have looked so surprised. “Wow. Jaisen must really like you.”

“Actually, it’s not Jaisen,” I said.

“Not only do you have two dates in one week, they’re with two different guys?” Mom, I am sorry to say, started laughing. “Well isn’t that something?”

“Mom, this isn’t funny.” I couldn’t believe her, laughing at me, her own daughter. It wasn’t like it was completely absurd that I would go out with two different guys in one week. I had been on dates before. Sort of.

“Of course not.” Though I noticed she was still chuckling to herself. “I’m just a bit surprised. You’re turning into a regular social butterfly. So where do you know this other fine gentleman from? And what is his name? And why don’t you know where he’s taking you?”

The third degree. Great. Now, I know Alex is a wonderful soulful guy, but I didn’t have so many actual facts to back this up. Like, I knew practically nothing about him. Only that he looked cool, though this probably would not work in his favor with the parents. I don’t think they have “looks cool” high on their list of requirements to go out with their daughter. Actually, it was probably somewhere near the bottom.

“Well, I met him at the Saves the Whales Benefit Dinner.”

Mom nodded.

“He’s a musician and—”

“A musician?” My mother paused with her knife halfway to the cutting board.

“Yes, he’s a musician. Why?” I was sounding defensive, but the sudden disapproving note in my mother’s voice made me nervous.

“I don’t know about this, Katie.”

“What have you got against musicians? Your own son was a musician. Paul was in a band for three years.”

“Exactly.” She turned back to the cutting board.

Damn. Apparently, Paul was not the best person to bring up as a great representative of musicians everywhere. Paul’s “D” was getting everyone in trouble. When in the heck was he going to come clean? Now seemed to be the best time to excuse myself to wash up before dinner.

As I was heading through the door of the kitchen, Mom apparently couldn’t help but shout after me “That’s OK honey. I am sure he’ll be more than happy to answer all my questions when he gets here tomorrow.”

That sounded like a grand ole time, didn’t it?

After dinner, I brought the dishes to the sink and began putting them in the dishwasher.

“What time is Cora picking you up for the movie?” Mom asked.

The doorbell rang. “Right now,” I said.

I kissed her on the cheek, grabbed my purse, shouted goodbye to Dad and ran for the door. Waiting outside was Cora with her phony baloney nice girl smile on her face, until she saw my parents weren’t around and it was replaced by her usual look of disgust.

After a torturous ride in which Cora somehow managed to flirt with every male driver in the tristate area without ever leaving her place behind the wheel, we were in the soothing blue toned locker room at U.E. headquarters. I opened the packet Jacque had dropped off in my mailbox. Inside was a typical “undercover outfit” complete with a trench coat and glasses. Like a trench coat wasn’t going to be conspicuous in southern California in September? It wasn’t even slightly cold out. I put the trench coat in my bag and just changed into the dark shirt and pants that were supposed to go under it. I dressed quickly and turned to see that Cora had slipped into an obscene mini-dress. She was popping out like nobody’s business.

“I thought you were supposed to be changing into your recon outfit.” I slung my bag over my shoulder.

“This is my recon outfit,” she said, barely looking up from the bank of lit mirrors where she was applying a thick layer of makeup.

“So the idea here is that if we get into trouble you come in and distract everyone with your cleavage?” This must have been one of the “special skills” Commander Eckle had been talking about.

“You’re just jealous because for tonight your twosome is now a ménage à trois. It must have been nice to have the gorgeous European all to yourself, but now he has me too.” Cora adjusted her eyeliner.

“Whatever, Cora. I am not the least bit interested in Jaisen. He’s just my partner.”

“Maybe once Jaisen has worked with me, he’ll ask to switch.”

“Maybe he will. That would be just fine with me. Agents with partners don’t move up the ranks as quickly as solo operators anyway.” I adjusted my wig. From what Commander Eckle had said, it didn’t sound like Cora would ever get her own missions and I thought it was unbearably nice of me not to mention it.

“A serious career girl. How nice. I can think of some things that would make being Jaisen’s partner worth moving up the ranks slower,” Cora dusted her cleavage with makeup.

“I’m sure you can,” I said, clipping on my spy cam and mini mic. “I’ll be outside.”

I left Cora gluing on false eyelashes. U.E. headquarters was quiet at night. There were a few agents around, but the Commander and most of the staff didn’t stay this late. I followed the line of wall sconces reflecting off the stainless steel out to the back parking lot.

Jaisen, dressed in his disguise, was leaning against the same car we had been using for most of our missions. His disguise consisted of a wig and dark clothes, just as mine did. I was guessing his backpack also held a trench coat he had decided not to wear.

“Hey,” he said when he saw me. “Cora still getting ready?”

I nodded and sat down on the hood of the car next to him. “Nice to have another girl along, huh?” I said. One who was not completely hostile towards him, I thought, but didn’t say.

Jaisen shrugged. “I guess.”

“Well, you haven’t seen her disguise yet. I’m sure when you do you’ll be more than happy she came.”

Jaisen looked at me oddly. “Really?”

“It’s quite the little number.” I wanted to stop talking about Cora but I couldn’t seem to do it. Even though it made me feel worse and worse, I just kept going. “She fills out Jacque’s outfits quite nicely.” I took a deep breath, willing my mouth to stay shut.

“You look fine.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t look fine.”

“I told you last night you looked great in your disguise.”

“You told me I made a good boy.” I kicked the car beneath me.

“Your outfit tonight is very nice. Much more comfortable than the first night we went out.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I fiddled with the zipper on my pack. “Look, I’m sorry I yelled at you about the ointment last night. It was unprofessional of me. You’re the new guy and you couldn’t have known what was going to happen.”

I looked over to see Jaisen watching me. He opened his mouth to speak but the sound of the door to the building opening caused us both to turn.

Cora, in her very sexy outfit, stepped out of the building. She walked over all slinky, stepped right between us, and got in the passenger’s side door.

Jaisen looked at me, shrugged and opened the door behind the passenger’s door. The backseat. I, one of the two agents officially assigned to this case, was being put in the backseat while the one night tagalong backup person got the front.

I got in and Jaisen shut the door. I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel Cora smiling, as Jaisen got into the driver’s seat.

“So Jaisen, how do you like southern California?” Cora asked, leaning towards him.

I felt like I was about twelve years old, sitting in the back, dressed in boring dark clothes. I banged my heel against the seat and didn’t say a word.

“I haven’t been here that long, but I like it,” Jaisen said and went on to explain how much he was enjoying the nice weather.

I spent the car ride watching two perfect profiles turning to each other alternately to talk. We couldn’t get to Stan Staley’s apartment quick enough for me.

Finally, we were there. We parked a few blocks away from the apartment, a much less glamorous apartment building than Franklin Culpepper’s, and Jaisen and I got out. Casually, we strolled down the street, until we were in the shadows right below Stan’s window. The street was deserted and most of the windows in the buildings were dark. It was around eight o’clock on a Friday night after all. Most people probably had fun places to go. Stan’s light was on.

Jaisen and I both had an earpiece in and a small mic attached to our clothes, as well as an alarm that would signal Cora to put her earpiece in because we had a message for her. I felt like I had gone back to spy kindergarten–a partner beside me and backup a few blocks away? Give me a break. Any spy worth her salt would be out here on her own. No communication devices, no help, no backup. Just you and your subject. That was the way it was supposed to be. Instead I was stuck here decked out in com devices with people all around ready to help me out. The whole thing was messy.

Plus, I really didn’t see how it was going to get us any closer to finding Franklin. He’d been gone now for at least forty-eight hours–how much longer would kidnappers keep him alive? If he was still alive.

Jaisen tossed the tiny bug up to the window overhead and we tuned in our earpieces. The bug stuck, but the line was silent. Then we heard movement. No talking. This could be a very boring night.

Then the phone rang.”Hello?” Stan answered. “Mmm…hmm…” “No, I don’t think so.” “I have a lot of things to do.” “Of course I’m going out, I’ve just been busy.” “Mother, you do not need to monitor my social life. I’m not planning to sit alone on a Friday.” “To the Crow’s Nest.” “In about fifteen minutes.” “Goodnight, mother.”

I looked over at Jaisen and caught his eye. He grinned. I took a deep breath to keep from laughing. Really, I thought by the time you were Stan Staley’s age you didn’t have to worry about mothers. Apparently, I was wrong.

“Should we believe him?” I mouthed to Jaisen.

Jaisen shrugged. “It’s our only lead. I’ll retrieve the bug and meet you back at the car.”

“Did you lose someone?” Cora said in a bored voice from the front seat, as I got into the back.

“No, I didn’t lose anyone. The subject claims to be leaving in fifteen. I’m getting our disguises.”

I leaned forward through the seats and typed in “Crow’s Nest” and “San Martin.” The map popped up on the screen. The Crow’s Nest was right down by the docks.

“Are the disguises we made up on Thursday still in the car?” I asked Jaisen as he slipped into the car.

“Try checking the car’s inventory.”

I exited the map screen and hit “inventory.”

“They’re still in there. Perfect—if Stan recognizes us it’ll add to our authenticity as locals for our mission at the docks on Monday.”

“Possible mission.” Jaisen hit the button for the trunk.

“Nice,” Cora said, looking me over as I emerged from the car in my disguise. “You do slip into a boy disguise quite easily, don’t you?”

Of course, Stan Staley didn’t go to the Crow’s Nest. That would have been too easy. He went to the gas station. He stopped at a liquor store. He even stopped at a twenty-four hour grocery. Each time we debated following him–completely inappropriately disguised, but each time he was back out before we had reached a decision. I argued we were probably missing tons of stuff, but Jaisen said we could still watch and if he did go to the Crow’s Nest it would be better if he hadn’t seen us ahead of time in these disguises. But what if he wasn’t planning to go to the Crow’s Nest at all?

Well, it turned out he was. Planning to go to the Crow’s Nest. Not five minutes after I said, “There’s no way he is planning to go to the Crow’s Nest,” we followed Stan into the parking lot of a seaside restaurant with the words “Crow’s Nest” printed on the sign. Jaisen didn’t say anything, he just parked the car. Why did he have to be so grown up about things? It is perfectly OK to say I told you so. Really.

We waited a few minutes, then Jaisen and I got out, leaving a whiny Cora to her own devices in the car. We didn’t wear our earpieces, only our mics to record info or alert Cora with. Not that I had any intention of ever alerting Cora for any reason.

As we walked through the parking lot, I felt myself slipping into the boyish stride of Shen Li, recent immigrant/young man/dockworker.

“Chun?” I said, hoping Jaisen would remember his alias from the night before.

“Yes?” He answered.

“Good, I was just checking. Don’t forget. We’re the Li’s. I’m Shen and you are Chun.”

“Meí wèntí,” he said meaning no problem and opened the door to the restaurant.