“That would be great!” Carli enthused. “Join us! It will only take a second to get the third steak, and we just started cooking, really!”
Bill laughed. His daughter’s attraction to the agent was obvious, both to him as well as to Miller, and he waited a moment, enjoying the man’s obvious discomfort. Finally, he said, “You know, Carli, Agent Miller just told us he was still on duty. He probably only has a couple of minutes to spare.”
“Yes!” Miller agreed. “Just a couple of minutes. Maybe another time, though,” he added quickly when he saw Carli’s dejected expression.
“So, what can we do for you?” Bill asked, knowing already what the answer would be.
“I thought you might like an update on the case.”
“Yeah, we would. Shoot. No, wait, let me rephrase that. I don’t think I like that expression anymore. Let’s try this one: Go ahead.”
Miller laughed. “Remember I told you we had a very young-looking agent from the Albany Field Office who was going to be our decoy during the exchange?”
“Of course,” Bill and Carli answered in unison.
“Well, Agent Adkins played the part of the teenage damsel in distress perfectly.” Carli playfully slapped at his arm and he ducked out of harm’s way. “She acted completely helpless. Nothing at all like Carli,” he added as he dodged another body blow.
“That’s more like it,” she sniffed indignantly.
“Anyway,” Miller continued, “Two men came to gather ‘Carli,’ arriving at the storage area about two hours after our fake Krall tied her up and left her inside. One of the men stayed in the car to cover the storage shed’s entrance while the other went inside to collect their prize. We disabled the man outside the shed as soon as the other one disappeared from view and took the second man down without incident immediately afterward.
“The whole operation went off without a hitch and took no more than three minutes from beginning to end, once the bad guys got there. It was really pretty boring compared to what you two went through.”
“Boring is good,” Bill said simply.
“Absolutely. The best part, though, is that the two men we apprehended were just foot soldiers, hired muscle who have absolutely no interest in taking the fall for their employers. They’re singing like proverbial canaries. We believe we will be able to use the information they are giving us to take down a lot of very bad people.
“Do you remember what I told you in the hospital?” Miller asked Bill. “You know, about more cockroaches crawling out from under more rocks to take the place of the ones we capture?”
“I remember,” Bill said. “And it still ticks me off.”
“Amen to that. And I’m still certain it will happen, eventually. But we’re in the process of knocking a very big hole in this particular venture. It’s going to be a long, long time before anyone can ramp up a similar operation. We owe you a debt of gratitude, not that you’ll ever get it from the Bureau. If my bosses find out I said this, I’ll deny it, but last week, you two saved innumerable young women from suffering lives of untold misery. You should be commended. Unofficially, of course. Officially,” Miller said, grinning at Bill, “what you did—going after a serial rapist-slash-murderer on your own—was foolish and irresponsible and cannot be condoned under any circumstances.” He sounded like he was reading from a script.
Bill laughed. “‘Foolish and irresponsible.’ Now you sound like my ex-wife.”
“Speaking of ex-wives…” Carli interrupted.
“Yes?” Bill said. “Do you have a deep, dark secret you need to confess? Perhaps an ex-wife of your own stashed away somewhere?”
Carli laughed. “No, silly, I was referring to your ex-wife, specifically. You know, my mom.”
Agent Miller began edging toward his car. “This sounds personal. I should probably be going.”
“No, stay, just for another couple of minutes,” Carli begged. “I want you to hear this, too.”
Miller stopped backing up, and he and Bill waited expectantly for more. Carli took a deep breath and continued. “I’ve decided what I want to do with my life.”
“Awesome. But what does this have to do with your mom?”
“I need you to convince her I’m serious.”
“Okay, fair enough. Serious about what, exactly?’
“I want to get into law enforcement.”
Bill smiled as Miller whooped. “Hey,” the agent said, “Welcome to the team!” He gave her a high five. “How soon can you start?”
“Uh, I think I need to graduate high school first. Unless—”
“There’s no ‘unless,’” Bill laughed. “Yes, you need to finish high school. Then, get a college degree. Then, after that, if your goal is to pursue a career in law enforcement, I’m sure we can convince your mom to go along.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Carli said. “She hasn’t stopped hovering since I came home.”
“That’ll change,” Bill said. “You were incredibly, unbelievably lucky to escape with your life, and it’s going to take some time for everyone—your mom especially—to come to grips with what happened to you. But I guarantee that, if you decide you want to dedicate your life to a career in law enforcement, your mom will be just like me: crazy proud, and supporting you all the way.
“In the meantime,” Bill said, “I believe these steaks are just about grilled to perfection. And in light of this big news,” he winked at Miller, “I’d like to extend our offer of dinner one more time to Agent Miller. We’ve got ice-cold soda inside, not to mention coffee, and baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. What do you say?”