“What the hell! When did the Director call you?”

“About six minutes before you did. Listen, Lincoln, I’m late for a meeting. Let’s get together next week for a round of golf. This is not the best place to be discussing any of this.”

“Yeah, sure.” Moss broke the connection and stood still. Who the hell was it in the conference room back at the paper that had the kind of juice to call off the IRS? Who?

Kathryn literally flew into the kitchen at Pinewood, forty minutes late. Lady and the pups greeted her with enthusiasm. She stopped for a few moments to tussle with the dogs before she headed for the war room, where she whooped her pleasure as she waved the slip of paper with Jane Petrie’s information.

“Nice going, Kathryn!” Jack said. “There’s a lot to be said for being at the right place at the right time. C’mon, tell us everything.”

Kathryn was like a runaway train as she recounted word for word what went down at In the Know. “Do you believe that guy? And do you believe all those threats?”

“He is the President’s best friend as well as his cousin from sandbox days. He’s run roughshod over a lot of important people in this town. It’s time he got his comeuppance,” Annie said.

“And we’re just the people who can do it,” Isabelle said, clapping her hands.

“I need two people to go to Paris! Who wants the gig?” Annie asked. Every hand in the room shot upward. “Oh! Well, I guess we’re going to have to draw straws. Who speaks French well enough to get by?” Every hand but Jack’s went down.

“Okay, Jack, you’re it! Pick a partner. I’ll call to get the plane ready. You leave now. Time is of the essence. Myra, call Mr. Sparrow to alert the authorities in Paris and have them pick up Miss Petrie and keep her safe till Jack gets there. On your return, bring the young lady here. You’re still sitting here, Jack. Move!”

“C’mon, Harry, let’s go. See ya, honey,” Jack said, as he blew a kiss in Nikki’s direction. Harry did the same thing to Yoko, who giggled at the look on his face. Everyone in the room knew that Harry was petrified about flying and fretted for days when he and Yoko were scheduled to fly to China.

“What’s next on our agenda?” Myra queried.

“Well, I did my bit,” Kathryn said.

“I’d like to go to the Home Builders Depot to stake out Jason Woods. Follow him and possibly even confront him. I think I can get him to talk,” Dennis said.

“Don’t anyone look at me,” Abner said. “I’m so deep into Lincoln Moss’s business, I can’t do anything else.”

“Listen, Ted and I, along with Espinosa have to get back to the paper. We have a campaign going, and we need to give it some final tweaks. Our Man of the Year contest will hit the paper first thing in the morning. We’re going to be fudging a lot of it, so I’m warning you all ahead of time,” Maggie said.