I was still smiling from Kim's instructions to go to my trainer when I arrived at Clemmie's. All the lights were out, but the front door was unlocked. I slipped inside and prepared for an ambush. I needed to get naked, I decided, and crawl carefully to the bedroom.
A few minutes of exploration revealed that the two naked bodies in the bed were sound asleep. Some ambush. I left them alone and used the other bed.
The room was full of sun and bodies with coffee cups were moving around. I mumbled, "Didn't get much loving, did we?"
"Sit up, we are bringing breakfast."
They looked at my limp equipment. "What were you planning to do with that?"
Breakfast was delayed while a round of body rubbing and licking took place. We all hummed.
The breakfast tray went on my lap, and they wedged in tightly against my sides. Juice and toast went down quickly. With my fingers in her long blond hair, I said to Clemmie, "I think the cheering section should stay home today. This is a coaches' confab. Part of it is Larry having us demonstrate some of the new anti-concussion rules about tackling."
To Susan, I said, "You are meeting Lagerstrom's plane?"
"Yes, and bringing him directly to the organ, as he has requested."
"Sometime this afternoon, I would like to say hello."
"Just stick your head in and if nothing too exciting is going on, we will make the introduction."
"We are doing dinner with him?"
"He asked me to put him up at a place with good room service. Does not like to party until after he plays. So he has a suite at the Hilton."
"Clemmie, we don't want to use the telephone for any of what you have been doing, so maybe you should go out to the mine and bring DR up to date. Is he coming to the Friday night affair?"
"I already talked Susan into going with me as long as we are back before her airport pickup time. Nothing like a sister to exert social pressure."
I slid down flat on my back. "How come you women are always ahead of me now?"
They bounced on me a few times, dressed and left for work. I did the sit on floor routine for a while and showed up in the locker room at nine. Everyone was there, with an air of suppressed excitement. The assistant coach told us Larry would not arrive until the last moment, and went over the sequence of plays with us.
At ten to ten, the coach showed up and looked excited himself. "All right, take it nice and easy this morning. Concentrate on getting the plays demonstrating the new rules right the first time. If you screw up, I'm going to make you repeat."
He paused, "Another thing, we are going to let Buster and Theo loose for a few plays at the end. You saw them in practice yesterday, looking like they had played together for years. I like that. I like that a lot. We have some tough games on our schedule. I've told Theo that the defensive backs are going after him today. No soft balls. If these guys are impressed, I want it to be because every single one of you played your best."
On the way out, Buster said, "Damn good thing we worked against that advice of yours."
The first set of plays was quarterback and half back runs. Buster took some hits, but they were nowhere near his helmet. The other plays went well. Larry only called a halt once, and only because a rule had left a lot to the ref's discretion, and the coaches all wanted a chance to talk with the volunteer referees who were there.
We got to the passing plays. A couple actually involved new rules limiting contact with the receiver. Buster gave me one down the sidelines and our not too bright defender demonstrated he was clueless about the rule. I went down and he was called for interference. Larry took him out.
Buster called a pattern in the flat that required a tackle to lead me through. Worked like a charm. Touchdown.
Buster and the team laughed in the huddle and said, "Let's go for it."
Five passes, five touchdowns. End of session. We walked off the field trying to wipe the grins off our faces. Several of the coaches were talking intently to Larry and glancing at me. Buster and I were waved over and introduced. The guy from A and M said, "Nice work out there, Parsons. You and Buster are joined at the hip."
Buster said, "I hope not," and everyone laughed. After a shower, Buster and I walked out together. I said, "I think we need to cool it. If the media starts talking about a quarterback-receiving back phenom, the whole conference will be gunning for us."
I whispered another idea to him and he smiled. "Right on. They won't know what happened. You want me to talk to Coach?" I said, "If you do it, sounds better. Carlos being my friend, you know."
"Yeah."
When I got to the office, Clemmie and others were in the office atrium. She said to Laura, "Play it for him."
It was a segment from the noon news. A camera had been in the stands. Not game quality, but it was obvious Buster's passes were falling into my hands. Six in a row. Everyone clapped. I blushed. "It's all Clemmie's fault. She beat me into shape."
There were sandwiches and we talked launch issues while eating. Someone was kneeling behind the sofa working my neck and shoulder muscles. A soft voice said, "I'm running out of things to beat you about." I grabbed a hand and kissed it. "What's the news from Greg? What about the old lady?"
"The old lady is named Anita Thompson. She is sweet and happy to sell for a percentage royalty. We didn't tell her about the bad guys, but she accepted an invitation to the Friday dinner and you are going to sit next to her."
"On the other, it's a limited partnership. The managing partner says it is half dead and the investors want a way out. A hundred thousand will do it, he said."
"Tell DR and ask him if that is a good enough deal."
"I already have. He says yes."
"Call Tom and tell him to negotiate the deal."
"I already have. He called back and said it will close in a week. He has a binding agreement with a forfeiture clause effective today to protect us against the publicity deluge."
"Holy shit, why am I needed around here?" I pulled her over the back of the sofa into my arms and kissed her hard in front of everyone. A big cheer went up. Her eyes were wet, but she tried to club me.
"I thought you said we couldn't do this in the office."
I kissed her again, harder.
Karen was in the doorway, gesturing. I headed over. "Follow me and don't make any noise."
Oh my god. He had every register going. The whole building was shaking. The crescendo built and built and abruptly stopped. Karl turned to Susan and smiled. "This might work."
Karen dragged me away. "He made us promise absolutely no interruptions. He has Susan running everywhere in the back tweaking things."
I got her around the corner and pushed the fine body against the wall. "I hope you are happy. I sure am. A lot of people in Tucson are going to be."
She shook on my shoulder. "Theo, it is just an organ, but my god, what an impact it makes!"
Clara was in our arms, laughing and pulling me away to review the gallery placements. "These are fakes for the most important pieces. We couldn't afford many, but they are cheap plated gold. Designed to distract attention from the vault and other hangings."
"Saturday morning, the security people will be here in force, and a roving patrol car going back and forth out front. We have been practicing retrieving the pieces and getting them in the vault quickly. With some security people around this morning, we did it in ten minutes flat."
"God, you are good. One of these days, you are going to have your own gallery."
She bit my ear and whispered, "Theo, nothing is dragging me out of here anytime soon. You fixer of women!"
I escaped to Erica's office. She locked the door and pressed me against it. "How did you know an old woman needed you?"
"Hey, too much old talk. You are as hot as the others. Know where to beat me too."
She laughed and said, "Sit down, we still have visa problems. The district director called me and said the DC office wants another look at Manuel. His temporary will cover him another two weeks and we can get a renewal on that once."
"Any idea what the problem is?"
"Local director says there is some sort of hold on him in Mexico. Wouldn't say what."
"Are Selma and the others back from their buying trip?"
"Tonight. Clara and her people need a chance to price and arrange and catalog them. It's going to be tight, but we can go right up to Saturday morning if we need to."
"Selma needs to talk to Eduardo. If it is sensitive, he will know how to handle."
"I already talked to her. She is staying tonight and sending the others ahead so she can have private time with Eduardo."
Arfed again. What a delicious feeling. I pulled her hair and fondled a fine boob. "I owe you. Manuel is doing a fantastic job at the mine. It would really hurt to lose him. I guess you heard about the theft."
"Yes, you owe me, and yes, I know you have to keep him and his crew on the job. That's what I'm here for, isn't it." Her eyes gave me a hard look but the lips were soft.
"I think you are liking not being an analyst."
She straddled me, forcing my head back so she controlled me. Her tongue licked here and there.
"Don't be a smartass. You are kind and caring and we love you. So there."
I looked at her. "That was supposed to be advice?"
"You can take it anyway you like." She threatened me with her toe. I ran out.
In Kim's office, I said, "Not enough crises. Must be something wrong."
Her phone rang as she was about to answer and she picked up. It wasn't good news. She put it on speaker and I moved over. Clemmie was saying, "Poor DR is out of his mind. He is a desert rat and two SUV's full of agents have him unglued. Something about a DEA order to investigate the property for drugs."
I let out a giant "Shit," and dashed for my office to get Tom on the line. He was gone for the day but Greg was still around. I was shouting into the phone and then calmed down some. "Hey partner, more trouble from the big guys, I think. Local immigration is at the mine going through worker papers and talking about a DEA order to look for drugs. I have a suspicion they are going to find some. Planted by person or persons unknown, but in the meantime, we have a big monkeywrench in our work."
Greg said, "Tom knows the federal prosecutor and can get to him, I think. He is on his way to Phoenix for an association dinner. I think he is going to play the industrial espionage card, but don't tell that to anyone."
I was putting down the phone when Karen came in, almost running. "The organ broke."
"What happened?"
"Something about the air supply. Karl and Susan are trying to reach the people in Missouri."
