“I saw two of the vigilantes in Crystal City! I don’t want to tell the FBI how to do their business, but if I were you, I’d send a contingent of agents to check it out. I hate the way those damn women make fools of the fine institution of the FBI. So are you going to do something about it, Mr. Director?”

“I’ll have my agents look into it, sir. Now, would you care to give me your name?”

“I prefer to remain anonymous at this time for purely personal reasons. You’ll look into it, when? Later in the day, tomorrow, next week? Those women are like greased lightning. If they’re here, something is going on. You snooze, you lose. Aren’t you people at the Bureau tired of always being made fools of? You’re as bad as the pathetic Secret Service agents those damn women hog-tied in a Dumpster out there in Kalorama. And then they went to the White House, brazen as hell, and nobody did anything. Where the hell are my tax dollars going these days? You people are pissing them away, that’s where they’re going, and I damn well don’t like it.”

“In other words, is it safe to say you’re going against the females in your family—at this time?” Bert had to fight not to laugh out loud when he heard the man’s response.

“Yeah, it would be safe to say that. I can see where I’m not making any headway with you, but you really need to take care of business, Mr. Director. I’m going to hang up and make some other calls now.”

Bert did laugh then.

The game was on. He felt a small thrill of excitement when he buzzed his secretary and told her to put all calls through directly to him from any and all media.

Next he called in the two agents sitting outside his office, and simply said, “We have another vigilante sighting in the Crystal City Underground. Check it out and report back to me. I think it was just some ticked-off citizen mad at his wife for something, and he’s acting out, but you never know. Those women are wily.”

Joyce Hart, Fox 5’s evening news anchor, picked up her extension a mere five minutes after Bert Navarro’s anonymous caller hung up. She listened to the rapid-fire explanation of the call, her jaw dropping.