We spent what was left of the afternoon ensuring our security system was fully functional. I was fairly sure the two cops didn't know where I lived, but there was no reason to tempt fate. After a thorough check, we only found one motion sensor that had been jostled from its mount, most likely by a passing deer. With the errant instrument restored, I felt sufficiently safe to forego posting a guard.
Flanagan had a dinner date with Raven that night. I cooked dinner for myself and the two girls ... beef stroganoff over noodles with a dark mushroom sauce. Dessert was a freshly baked apple pie which we enjoyed before watching a Netflix movie.
Sixty-nine cuddled up in one of the easy chairs while Janis and I commandeered the couch. Claiming to be cold, Janis leaned up against me with her head on my shoulder and a blanket over her body. As the movie progressed, Janis' head slowly descended off my shoulder, down my chest and onto my lap. Not sure what she had in mind, I gently stroked her blonde locks with my right hand but struggled with what to do with my left. Janis quickly solved my predicament when she guided my fingers inside her blouse.
And that was it. Unlike other women, my gentle nipple massage didn't drive Janis to the edge of orgasm. Despite the obvious bulge in my trousers, she didn't lower my fly and let the monster come out to play. Although I'm sure Sixty-nine could have been easily convinced, when Flanagan returned from his date, he didn't find the three of us on the floor, one girl impaled on my cock and the other on my tongue. And, most surprisingly of all, I still enjoyed myself. Not that I didn't want to do things to Janis' body that would send her into the next galaxy. I did. But that could wait until the time was right. I didn't know when that time would be, I just knew it would happen.
Unless the mayor's stooges, or Popov, or Raven killed me first.
"That's why she invited me to dinner," Flanagan said after his return. "Raven doesn't just want you dead, she wants to cut your dick off and feed it to a bear. She wants to bury you in the sand and let the incoming tide drown your sorry ass. She wants to stake your body to a woodpile and roast marshmallows in the flames. She wants to stand you on a block of ice, slip a noose around your neck and --"
"Okay. I get the point. She doesn't like me, the feeling's mutual. Hopefully you steered her towards something a little less gruesome."
"Of course I did. She's going to put a thirty-eight round into your heart this Wednesday."
"It's only Sunday. Why wait till Wednesday?"
"I need to teach her how to shoot first. Figured it would take at least two days, maybe three depending on how she responds to my teaching technique."
"Wait a second. Aren't Stuffit's goons supposed to kill me on Wednesday as well?"
"They have to kill you by Wednesday. I don't think the mayor would mind if they offed you a day early."
"Well let's see if we can't move up their timetable. I don't like scheduling too many activities for a single day."
***
The next day was a Monday. The first thing I did after my morning run was ask Sixty-nine to update me on Popov.
"He's still in Atlanta," she said. "Or at least his plane is. It's not at Hartsfield, the main airport. They landed at Dekalb-Peachtree which is a small municipal airport northeast of the city."
As much as I wanted to task another Company agent to keep an eye on them, I knew the BBB wouldn't allow it, so I put Popov on a back burner and moved on to the next threat against my life. The two Merryville cops who apparently moonlighted as the mayor's assassins.
"Officers Randy Toody and Fanny Muldoon," Flanagan said, reading from their service records. "They've been partners for the last twelve years, mostly because nobody else in the force can stand being around them. Toody has a reputation for handing out bogus traffic citations and collecting the fine on the spot. He only accepts cash. Muldoon has more excessive force complaints filed against her than the rest of the force combined."
"The woman likes to rough people up?"
"Yep. She was the state's female ultimate fighting champion for three years running. Still would be if she didn't get caught taking performance enhancing drugs."
"So, other than Muldoon's physical attributes, were talking about a couple of fuckups that should have been kicked off the force years ago," I said.
"Exactly. The chief's tried several times, but the mayor keeps overruling him."
"So, what do you think?" I asked. "Take them out now, before they make their move. Or wait to see if they actually follow through?"
"We've got way too much going on to worry about two dirty cops waiting to ambush us. I vote for your original suggestion. Invite them to dinner and eliminate the problem. But before we let them start their new career of handing out parking tickets in Hell, we should see if they have any actionable intelligence."
"Why waste time on an interrogation?" I asked. "I sincerely doubt that they know anything about either the Chinese or the Russians."
"Agree, but my cover for getting on the Merryville police force is that I'm trying to solve a few cold case murders. If I succeed, nobody will ask why I was here. And I bet there's a good chance Officers Toody and Muldoon can help me."
"Okay, I guess that makes sense, but inviting them to dinner?" I asked. "You don't think they'll be suspicious? The new cop asks them to come over for drinks the day after the mayor tells them to kill somebody?"
"Normally, yes. But they already think I'm on the mayor's personal payroll."
"Why would they think that?"
"I was the guy that took Janis' comatose body off their hands after the city council raped her. As far as they're concerned, I'm just as crooked as they are."