Yoko laughed, her eyes twinkling. "How about some Wasabi Prawns, sesame rice noodles with a nice sesame-and-Wasabi sauce mixed with water chestnuts, shaved broccoli, and carrots? A side order of ribs with burn-your-mouth sauce and fortune cookies for dessert. Will that suit you, Kathryn?"

"You bet, but I'd like something a little more substantial than a fortune cookie for dessert. What are the chances of you whipping up a coconut cream pie?"

"One in a million." Yoko laughed. "I'll give it my best shot, but I'll have to keep Grady and Murphy in the kitchen. They will be the culprits I blame for snitching the meat loaf."

"Whatever it takes," Kathryn said as she pulled on her work gloves and left the house with the others.

Murphy and Grady stayed behind when Yoko enticed them into the kitchen with the promise of chew bones.

While the vigilantes went about their business, back in Washington Maggie Spritzer eyed Joe Espinosa in disbelief. "Tell me you're making that up!"

Espinosa grinned. "I swear on Ted, Maggie, and here's the proof!" He held up his minicam and flicked a switch. Maggie blinked and then burst into chuckles when she saw six ninja figures standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. One of them started to jabber in either Japanese or Chinese. Then they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What'd they say? What'd they say?"

Joe just grinned from ear to ear. "They said their work here is done. They just came to say good-bye." Joe couldn't help himself, he guffawed. "They're taking the ancestor's ashes they heisted from the FBI lab with them and will never darken Washington again, and the residents of D.C. can go about their lives. But, they said, if the politicians raise their ire again, they'll be back."

"What?"

"Hey, Maggie, you can't make this stuff up. I don't know who wrote their dialogue, but that's the translation I got. I have no idea what their work is/was, nor do I know what raised their hackles, but they're gone, and we can all sleep peacefully in our beds tonight. How do you want to go with this?"

"Can you put a spin on it that will work for Bert? Then lay it to rest. We have other things to decorate our front page. Get back here as soon as you finish up with. . .uh, the ninjas. Does it go without saying you were the only reporter at the Lincoln Memorial?"

"Yeah, I can make it work for Bert, and, yes, I and about fifty tourists and two cab drivers were the only ones to see all the action. I got their comments. You gonna run with this below the fold, right? The tourists aren't going to forget that experience for a long time."

"You got it. Don't go heavy on the wording, do it with the pictures and reduce the comments to one-liners. You have thirty minutes, Joe."

Maggie loved the word diversion.