I really didn't think I'd get this up until early in the week, but PatriciaLouise worked her magic in record time. As always, thank you!

"Remember Annie said that her section was the one farthest away from the door," Auggie told Stu as they walked into the dark world that was the Dixie Pig.

"I know," Stu said under his breath, "Are you sure we can pull this off?"

"I can pull this off; you just need to follow my lead. Don't forget your cover and we'll be fine."

"How can I forget, I think you did this just so Barber and the gang can pick on me later."

"Me? I wouldn't do that," Auggie mocked as Stu guided his hand to the back of a chair. The two agents sat down at the small table at the back of the room, Stu made sure his back was to the wall so he could see everything in the bar, just like Auggie told him to, "What do you see?"

Stu slid his chair in and surveyed the room, "One bartender, the same one as before. Annie and another waitress, about a dozen bar flies, mostly men and a few trashy looking women."

"Good. Anything else?"

"You're the trained field agent, not me. I'm doing what I can…"

Auggie sighed, Stu was right; he was doing the best that he could.

"Hello boys," A loud voice came from above them. Stu hadn't noticed that Petey had come from behind the bar to their table. "We don't often get strangers in here twice."

"Isn't that how a frequent customer is born?" Auggie asked and smirked.

"Not around here," Petey half growled as the hair went up on the back of Stu's neck.

Vincent Rossabi looked around the Gulf Stream G200 as it made its final approach into Dane County Regional Airport and realized that the CIA certainly knew how to travel in style. He'd been aboard Dick Wilson's plane once and only once and it was nothing like this aircraft. "So Jay, is this how all you spies travel?"

Jai glanced at his companion and sat quietly for a moment contemplating his reply to such a remark, "No we usually fly commercial, just like you."

"Really, you don't seem like the coach type."

Jai was about to respond to the latest snark when his cell phone rang, "Hi, we just got here."

"Another unnamed spook, great," Rossabi said under his breath as he flipped the buckle on his seatbelt.

Liza Hearn stepped out onto the busy Washington D.C. street while checking her bag to make sure that she brought everything that she would need with her. Looking up, she nearly ran into one of her co-workers.

"Great story, Liza." The co-worker greeted her.

"Thanks," Liza said with a smile, it was a great story, maybe one of the best she had ever written outside of the career-making story about Henry Wilcox she'd written a few months ago. Love him or hate him, Henry was good for her career. Her cell phone rang and she punched the screen to answer it.

"You left before I woke up this morning," Ben said sleepily into the phone.

Liza smiled at sound of her new boyfriend's voice, "I know, I had some work to do before deadline this morning. Did you miss me?"

"I always miss you when the bed is empty, when are you returning to make me less lonely?" Ben teased.

"Want to meet me for dinner? Kincaid's?"

"Sure, what time?"

"I have to go to court to cover a story. I might be late, eight o'clock?"

"See you there."

"Listen, we're not here to cause any trouble, we're just passing through town on our way back from a job," Auggie said standing up, "If our money isn't good here, we'll just move on, right Stu?"

Stu stood up following Auggie's lead.

"Sit down," Petey pushed Stu back in his chair and Stu grabbed Auggie's hand indicating that he should sit back down too. "You look like you're ten years old, do you have any ID?"

Stu pulled an old, worn wallet from his back pocket and presented a Virginia driver's license to the bartender. "I'm 23, thank you."

Petey grabbed the license from Stu's outstretched hand, "Heath Stuart, what kind of name is Heath? That sounds like a candy bar."

"It is. My mom went into labor at Kmart when she was getting her chocolate fix." With that explanation, Auggie stifled a laugh, Stu really could think on his feet.

"You're over 21, I can tell that," Petey directed his attention to Auggie.

"If you're looking for a driver's license from me, you're not going to get one. They took it away from me after I got back from Iraq," Auggie waved his hand in front of his eyes for dramatic effect and then extended his hand in the direction of Petey's voice, "Andy Augustine. Now that we're properly introduced, what are our chances of getting a few beers?"

"Annie," Petey called to his waitress across the bar, "First round is on me."

"Rossabi has a car waiting for us, I'll call you when we get to the site," Jai told Arthur as he stepped off the plane onto the tarmac and walked toward the waiting black Suburban.

"Roger Duncan just gave me a revised itinerary," Arthur advised, "The guest list just got larger; we have Chip Langston joining him…"

"No surprise there."

"Bert Barry and Lila Ferguson."

"I understand Barry, but Lila? What the hell does a Kansas senator want with a feel good stop in Wisconsin?"

"Good question," Arthur said thoughtfully. "Judging by this new information, we may have our winner. Make sure the FBI covers all the bases."

"Will do, thanks," Jai ended the call and opened the back door to the SUV and sat next to Rossabi.

"Daddy checking up on you?" Rossabi mocked.

A tingle of irritation went down Jai's spine; Rossabi couldn't possibly know that he was Henry Wilcox's son. "Just my boss. Have you heard from yours?"

"No, my daddy trusts me to play nice and do my job."

"Got an update, Langston, Bert Barry and Lila Ferguson will be at the event too," Jai shared the latest information.

"Really?"

"My daddy doesn't lie to me," Jai said with a smirk, hoping that by 'daddy' Rossabi meant his boss and not his actual father.

"Neither does mine."

Joan walked through the heavy glass doors of the executive office and nodded at Arthur's assistant Julie. "Is he available?" she asked.

"As far as I know," Julie said and smiled at her boss's wife, she liked Joan. She liked Joan's no nonsense approach to her life and her work. The wives of most CIA directors were a pain, but not Joan.

"Thanks," Joan said with a smile and entered Arthur's office. "Auggie and Stu are in place," she said as she set a cup of coffee on Arthur's desk.

Arthur swung his chair around and set his cell phone down and grabbed the cup of hot liquid, he took a deep breath of the heady aroma before taking a drink.

"Long day? It's only noon." Joan sat on the edge of his desk.

"I think we're getting closer," Arthur handed a piece of paper to his wife; "Roger Dunbar had this sent over."

Joan took the paper from her husband and read it, "Does Jai know?"

"Just got off the phone with him, he's in Madison. I can only hope that he and Rossabi don't kill each other before this trip is done."

"You don't like them, do you?" Annie asked Petey as he set the beer bottles on her tray.

"I'm not sure what to think right now," Petey admitted, "They seem nice and all…"

"But?"

"See if you can find out why they keep stopping by."

Annie winked at her boss and nodded understandingly and headed to toward the table where Auggie and Stu were sitting.

"Here you go boys," Annie announced as she set a couple of bottles of beer in front of Auggie and Stu. She made sure to make a little extra noise as she set the bottle in front of Auggie so he would know where it was, "One the house, just like Petey said."

"Thanks," Stu said trying not to make too much eye contact with Annie, he was afraid that he might give away that they knew each other. Fieldwork was harder than he thought.

Auggie reached across the table and found the bottle beer, thinking that he should thank Annie later for that little bit of extra help. "So what's a pretty girl doing in a place like this?" he asked taking a drink of beer.

"I should ask you the same thing."

"We're not pretty, are we Stu?"

"We've got a job up in Harrisburg, just stopped for something to eat before heading home," Stu answered with his part of the cover story.

"So you need menus," Annie looked toward Petey and smiled, "What kind of job?"

"We're consultants," Auggie answered vaguely.

"Consultants? You don't look like consultants."

"Not supposed to, we don't exactly work in the corporate world if you know what I mean," Auggie continued still not sharing the whole story with Annie. She had no idea what their cover story was and that was a good thing.

"Sweetie, how about some service over here?" Another customer called from an adjoining table.

"I'll check back with you in a bit," Annie said and went to help the other customer.

The Federal Courthouse in Washington DC was an imposing building; Liza figured that they did that on purpose, just like every other Federal building in the city. They didn't want you to forget that the government was all-powerful. She climbed the steps and entered the area for the security clearance. Pulling out her press pass, she set her bag on the belt so it could pass through the scanner.

"Afternoon, Miss Hearn," one of the security guards said as she passed through the metal detector, "Read your story on morning break."

"Did you like it?" Liza asked with a smile.

"I did, but I know someone else probably didn't."

"Can't be friends with everyone all the time," Liza took her bag from the belt and clipped her press pass on her suit jacket. "Thanks," she said before heading down the hallway to Courtroom 1A.

-xx—

The former auto assembly plant in Janesville, Wisconsin looked like time had stopped when they ceased making cars three years ago. Jai couldn't imagine why the President, Vice President and two senators would want to make a policy speech here of all places. He looked around the perimeter of the factory, thinking that the Secret Service was not going to like this place. Trees, hills and several adjoining businesses would make it a security nightmare.

"What does your spook brain think about this place?" Rossabi asked Jai, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Glad I'm not Dunbar's people," Jai said thoughtfully, "What do you think?"

"I think this is a load of bull, we should be in St. Louis checking out that expo or maybe even Dallas."

"I thought you thought Dallas was out?"

"I did until I saw this place," Rossabi said impatiently, "Come on."

"Wait, we're not done. Look around, this could be it," Jai turned on his heels, getting a 360 perspective on the factory, "The guest list alone makes this a viable target." Jai headed toward the entrance of the factory.

"Fine." Rossabi sighed and followed him.

"Said they were consultants, working a job up in Harrisburg," Annie told Petey as she stood at the waitress station, "That's all I got before I got called away."

"Consultants, huh?" Petey said thoughtfully as he watched Stu work on his tablet computer, taking direction from Auggie, "Keep asking."

Liza took her seat in the back of the courtroom and took out her notebook, preparing for the proceedings that were about to begin. She felt a whoosh of air from behind her and looked over her shoulder to see Henry and his attorney entering the courtroom. She tried not to make eye contact with Henry as he walked to the front of the courtroom, but she could feel his glare poking a hole through her consciousness. She hoped that her high stakes game of chess didn't bite her in the ass.

"Menus for you," Annie said as she set a menu in front of Stu and Auggie. Stu reached for his menu, but Auggie did not, "I'll be back in a few for your order." Annie began to leave.

"Annie, is it?" Auggie asked.

Annie turned around, "Yes?"

"You don't happen to have a Braille menu do you?"

"I didn't realize…." Annie stammered for extra effect, "I..I don't know, I'm new here…lemme ask."

"And another round…" Stu added as Annie walked away from them.

"What happens if you're wrong?" Rossabi asked Jai as they surveyed the factory floor, "I know my ass will be in a sling."

"Our asses won't be the only thing in a sling," Jai said thoughtfully, "I see a few possible locations," Jai looked around, "Up there," he pointed, "and there."

"Yeah." Rossabi sighed. "Shouldn't we just let the Secret Service do their thing and follow up from there?"

"We could, but that would be too easy." Jai was distracted by something he saw out of the corner of his eye; he headed toward what caught his eye.

"Sorry, no Braille menu," Annie announced when she returned to Auggie and Stu's table.

"No problem, Stu helped me like always," Auggie said and smiled, "I'll have the bacon burger."

"Cheeseburger." Stu stated.

Annie scribbled on her notepad and took the menus from Stu's outstretched hand, "So what kind of consultants are you?"

"Security." "Computer." Auggie and Stu said simultaneously.

"So which is it?" Annie sounded amused.

"A little of both," Auggie answered, still not giving her the whole story.

"What's that?" Rossabi asked as Jai pulled a small camera like apparatus from the top of a crate in the corner of the factory floor.

"Not exactly sure." Jai followed the cords on the back of the item of interest.

"And how did you see that?" Rossabi asked, "Never mind, spy stuff…."

Jai continued to follow the cords and discovered that it wasn't attached to anything, yet. "I don't think this was left behind when the place closed. They're still working on it."

"I'll get someone in here to sit on the place…." Rossabi said pulling out his cell phone.

"And let Dunbar's people know that it's here and to leave it alone."

Annie set a few empty beer bottles on the bar and waited for Petey to finish with his customer on the other end of the bar. After a few minutes, the bartender joined her by the waitress station.

"So?" he asked.

"Still not sure, one says computer and the other says security consultants," Annie stated.

"The blind guy seems like the brains of the operation, keep talking to him."

"Why?"

"Because I like to know who my customers are," Petey said with finality as he turned toward the cash register, pulled some money out and handed it to Annie, "Here, this place is too quiet, put something on the jukebox, Elvis or something like that."

"Order up Annie!" Annie heard Tom call from the kitchen.

The court proceeding was over and Liza hoped that she could slip out before Henry was able to catch her; she began to gather her things from the bench next to her and turned for the door. She was unsuccessful as that she was met by an angry looking former DCS.

"Miss Hearn," he greeted her tersely.

"Mr. Wilcox."

"I'd like to have a word with you." Henry narrowed his eyes and looked down his nose at her.

"I don't recommend that, Henry," Henry's lawyer said from behind the two of them.

"It's okay, Harvey. We're old friends, aren't we Liza?" Henry grabbed Liza's forearm and squeezed it a bit too hard as he led her out the door.

"What's going on?" Auggie asked Stu after Annie set their meals in front of them and moved off toward the ancient jukebox in the corner of the bar.

Stu ruffled his brow, "Not really sure, Annie looked like she wanted to tell us something, but couldn't"

"What's she doing now?" Auggie said through a bite of burger.

"Standing by the jukebox," Stu answered, grabbed the ketchup and squirted it on his fries.

Annie stood in front of the jukebox looking over the song selection; it looked like it hadn't been updated in at least thirty years. There were plenty of songs to choose from, but only two Elvis songs that Petey had requested. She saw the titles, laughed a little to herself and dropped the coins in the slot.

Suddenly the room was filled with an Elvis Presley song.

"I think I know what she's trying to tell us…" Auggie smiled.

"What's that?"

"Listen to the song…"

"Huh?"

"They're suspicious of us. Suspicious Minds."

Stu looked at Auggie with disbelief; you really had to pay attention to everything when you're a field officer.

Henry pulled Liza into a corner of the corridor of the courthouse, fire burning in his eyes. "I trusted you."

"You're a spy Henry, you said to trust no one," Liza replied, at least there were a few security guards and assorted court personnel watching their exchange, she felt relativity safe.

"I read your story today, quite enlightening."

"I thought so too…"

"I will tell you this once and only once. You don't cross me without consequences. And by my count you've crossed me two times." Henry was seething, "This isn't over and when I have authority again…"

"Don't you mean if?"

"When I have authority again, I will make sure that the only thing that you can write in this town is an obituary."

"Is that a threat?" Liza asked.

"I don't make threats, my dear, I make promises. It won't be long now," Henry said backing away from her, "Better get your obit skills ready…."

Thanks for reading.

-M