“Of course,” I say. “You know me. Always OCD about details. The Inked Dragon is a busy place. Lots of suspicious traffic going in and out of there. Would you believe even cancer patients?”

“That’s odd,” he says. “What would cancer patients be doing there? Are the Steel Infidels selling drugs too? As if illegal cigarettes, booze, and guns aren’t enough.”

I hesitate and make it look like I’m thinking hard about it.

“I can’t say for sure. What other reason would the women have for being there? Marijuana for medical purposes would be my best guess. I took plenty of photos and tracked down IDs on a couple of the women if we need to interview them later.”

The two women whose names I wrote down for the report would sooner run over a federal agent with their car than do anything to hurt Sam. One was a good friend of his mother and the other an old high school English teacher. He designed both of them tattoos to cover up their surgical scars. If ATF agents show up at their house to ask about Sam’s tattoo shop, the women will probably shove boobs covered in flowers and dragons in their faces.

“We need to wrap this whole thing up by the end of the week,” he says. “Most of the field agents are in the office today, so go pick a team to help you out. Tell them I said Operation Thunderclap takes priority over everything else they’re working on. My ass is on the line with the suits up at the regional office.”

I’m glad his ass is on the line because Operation Thunderclap will turn out to be a colossal failure for the ATF. Since my ass is technically on the line too, I’ll make a big show of feeling terrible and embarrassed about how things went down when the time comes.

After a few weeks of being assigned grunt work for punishment, I’ll turn in my resignation letter citing personal reasons. They’ll believe me when I say that my elderly parents need more care. In reality, they’re leaving soon for a two-month South American cruise and will be having the time of their lives.

While I unpack the boxes from my car, I give careful consideration to the agents who should work with me. I pick out the three most intellectually-challenged agents in the office and tell them to meet me in the conference room. After dividing the most current audio and videotapes between them, I settle down and pretend like I’m going through the first two weeks of the operation.

Even after knowing that Erik cleaned the tapes completely, I’m still on edge.

All it will take is one tiny slip up.