Page 11 of In the Nick of Time
“Or what? You’re going to fire me?”
Now the kid sounded a bit hopeful. As if, ever so slowly, he was realizing that maybe he had no idea what he’d gotten himself into.
“Nope. You’re hired. It’s hard to get fired from SPAM.” Unless you were Rodney, of course, but Doug wasn’t telling Nick that. “In fact, give me your address and I’ll pick you up.”
“Report.”
Just the single word. April’s voice sounded scratchy over the Zoom call. Today her screen showed a shot of Dame Judi Dench playing M in a James Bond flick. Good mood? Or bad mood? To this day, Doug still had no idea.
“It went well. The kid managed to get us there in time.”
“Excellent. Tomorrow you’re heading to Las Vegas.”
Doug chose not to point out he already knew that. He really wanted those retirement benefits.
“Do you have any idea who’s behind this?” Doug asked his boss.
“Rumors. Nothing substantiated. No names.”
Disturbing. Usually, they had at least some idea of who and what they were up against.
“This is wonderful. I love being sent in with a novice agent against an unknown enemy.”
“Are you saying you aren’t up to this assignment?”
“No. I am not saying that.”
Doug glanced at his precious calendar. T-minus one hundred and eighty-two days at this point.As soon as he was done for the day.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“You’ll need Agent Sedgewick.”
Doug ground his teeth. He hated Vegas. It was hot and full of people. And full of people, he added a second time, just to make it three things he hated. He grimaced when he realized what he’d done; Sedgewick was contagious.
“Agent Carroll is one of the missing.”
Dammit. Doug managed—barely—not to pound his fist against his desk.
“Do not let Agent Sedgewick out of your sight.”
“Have I ever let you down?”
There was a certain silence. Yes. He had let the agency down the minute he set down his weapon and refused to take any more lives. Long Shot literally couldn’t miss his target, so Doug had put his guns down forever. If something, or someone, needed to be taken care of, Doug would use experience, skill, and treachery to get the job done.
Never weapons. Never again.
After a decent night’s sleep—becausehe hadn’t killed anyone the day before—Doug arrived promptly at six forty-five a.m. at the address Agent Sedgewick had provided. He didn’t want to knock on the front door of the shabby bungalow, but ten minutes after the appointed time, he was considering changing his mind. Sedgewick was still nowhere in sight.
Doug was about to give in and find out for himself what was keeping the younger man when the door opened and his newest partner emerged. He was wearing the suit from yesterday and inexplicably carrying…
Was that the fucking turtle?
Doug opened his door and stepped out on to the parking strip.
“No.”
“No, what?” Sedgewick said in a way that told Doug he knew exactly whatnomeant.
