Annie’s beautiful kitchen suddenly exploded in a whirlwind of activity. Charles turned the water on in the sink, Fergus started banging pots, while Ted and Espinosa circled Dennis and whispered in his ear. Jack got up and started to pace the long, narrow kitchen, his thoughts on Harry and his immediate problem, along with worries about Little Jack and his upcoming swim meet on the weekend and wondering if he would be able to make it to the swim camp to see his godchild perform. On his third lap around the kitchen, he zeroed in on Dennis, who was doing his best not to laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny?” Jack demanded.

“I think we just came up with a solution to Harry’s problem,” Ted said. “All we—meaning you, Jack—have to do is convince Harry that this is a better solution.”

Miffed that her colleagues didn’t see fit to include her in whatever was about to come out, Maggie snarled, “Well, what is it?”

“That guy on the TV with the pillows. The one who is all over television twenty-four seven. I just saw his newest commercial, and if you buy one of his pillows, you get two more. All for the price of one! Think about it! Harry’s buddies have millions. They could buy hundreds of thousands of pillows and get hundreds of thousands more for free, and Lizzie could handle the export end of it as opposed to trying to buy gold and sneaking it out of the country. This way Harry won’t have to worry about the Treasury Department and the IRS going after him or his buddies. Or them. Buying pillows is legitimate. Everyone sleeps on a pillow.”

All activity in the kitchen came to a standstill as Dennis’s words were processed. Cyrus let loose with two sharp barks, which indicated he approved of the idea. Jack whistled. “Ya know, that just might get Harry off the hook. Good thinking, Dennis. Now, who wants to call Harry with the good news?” There were no takers on Jack’s offer, and he knew there wouldn’t be, so he pulled out his phone and punched in Harry’s number.

“Speak,” Harry said.

Jack sucked in a deep breath. Harry was such a card sometimes. Never saying two words when one would do.

“I have an idea, Harry. As I told you earlier, buying and moving the amount of gold your guys want is a serious problem. You know it, too, and are just being a stubborn ass over all of this. We, as in all of us here in Annie’s kitchen, came up with what we think might be a solution to the problem. You ready to hear it?” Jack sucked in another deep breath as he waited for Harry’s response.

“Hit me!”