Noah came back to the present. He had been sitting in his library for a few hours, reading Swiss Family Robinson with part of his mind, while he was going over the mission with another part. He wasn’t concerned about the debriefing, but wanted to be sure he had the mission firmly fixed in his memory before he got there.
As the sun was going down, he decided to go and grab a shower, so he walked into his room and stripped. In the bathroom, he turned on the shower so that it was hot and filling the room with steam, then stepped into it a moment later.
The tap on the glass of the shower door came as a slight surprise, and he pushed it open, ready for violence if it came his way, but it was only Sarah. “The door was unlocked, I hope you don’t mind.”
She was standing there naked, and he swung the door wider so that she could step inside with him, then pulled her close and kissed her under the spray. They washed each other, and when they were done, Sarah took Noah by the hand and led him to bed. She pushed him back onto the bed, then climbed into it beside him, pulling herself up onto him.
The sun woke them as it came through his bedroom window, and Noah was surprised that he had slept so late. He chalked it up to being comfortable and secure, and decided he must have needed the extra rest. They got up and went to the kitchen and made coffee, but then they both said they were too tired to bother fixing breakfast. They went back to the bedroom and got dressed, then got into Sarah’s car and drove to Kirtland. A couple of fast food breakfast sandwiches hit the spot, and by the time they were done it was time for the debriefing.
They parked in the underground garage, and rode the elevator up to Allison’s floor. Jenny the secretary smiled as they came in, and told them that they were being awaited in the conference room. They went down the short hallway and entered the room, where Allison was waiting.
Neil was already there, and they sat down at the table across from him. Moose showed up only a minute later, and took the seat next to Neil.
“This is going to be one of the most informal debriefings I’ve ever done,” Allison said. “More than anything else, I just want to tell you again what a fantastic job you guys have done. You have lived up to my expectations, and even exceeded them. I’ve been hearing from every department head today, and they’re all saying the same thing.”
Noah raised his eyebrows. “Which is?”
Allison grinned. “That I’m a freaking genius for recruiting you, and then giving you three of our best for your support team. You guys have done more than just carry out your mission, you’ve also made the world a safer place for all of us, and in several different ways.” She looked at Neil. “That little program of yours is pretty exciting,” she said. “I’ve already had other agencies asking if I know anything about all of these drug dealers who are suddenly complaining that their money is vanishing. I’m telling them I don’t know anything, and I want to keep it that way. This is a tool that could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands, and while I may be an egotistical bitch, I personally believe that the wrong hands would be any hands other than mine. We’re just going to keep that our secret, okay?”
Neil smiled from ear to ear. “Yes, Ma’am,” he said. “I’m actually very glad to hear you say that.”
Allison turned to Moose. “Moose, I want to give you a special pat on the back. You went halfway around the world into a completely unknown situation, impersonated an international arms dealer, secured and delivered a fissionable quantity of nuclear material, all without batting an eye, when you were ordered to do so by your team leader. As I recall, just a few weeks ago, you pretty much hated his guts, didn’t you?”
Moose shrugged. “I guess it’s hard to stay mad at a guy who can kick your ass. Besides, I completely understood where he was coming from. We had the chance to get that stuff off the market, we couldn’t pass that up.”
Allison looked at him for another second, then turned to Sarah. “Sarah, I was particularly proud of you on this mission.”
Sarah’s eyes went wide. “Me? Why me?”
Allison grinned. “Because you handled it, my dear. And if you think about it, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Sarah turned pink, but grinned.
“Noah,” Allison said. “You surpassed every expectation I had. That logical brain of yours caused you to see and take advantage of opportunities that the rest of us overlooked. Because of that, the DEA has managed to take almost twenty million dollars worth of drugs off the street in the last two weeks, and we’ve managed to secure nuclear material that could have been used to make more than one small nuclear device. On top of that, we now know who that supplier is, a known antiquities dealer from Egypt. Moose actually carried the material out of that hotel, because it was packed inside an ancient leaden urn.”