by Matt Lincoln
“Well, that’s a relief,” Miranda sighed. “Still, we should be careful for a while. Guys like that don’t usually give up easily. And maybe don’t go around making deals with freaking mafia members in the future!”
“Sorry.” I smiled sheepishly. “Anyway, you wanna help me with these cookies? You can taste test for me.”
“Hell yeah!” She grinned.
I smiled at her enthusiastic response. Regardless of what happened in the future, I knew she would have my back.
39
Charlie
I lifted my glass to my lips and took a long swig of beer. After the long and uncomfortable plane ride, unwinding at a bar with my friends was a welcome respite. I chuckled to myself as I realized how much I’d changed in the past year. The man I’d been when I first joined MBLIS would have never willingly spent an evening drinking with coworkers after a long and tiring mission.
“In hindsight,” Miranda slurred, her gaze slightly unfocused, “the whole thing was really stupid. I mean, who leaves evidence of their own crimes like that? It’s like signing your name at every crime scene, but instead of writing your name, you draw a stupid flower!”
“Celtic knot,” Junior corrected as he took a sip of the brightly colored cocktail that Miranda had ordered a round of for everyone at the table. It had been too sweet for my tastes, so I’d politely pushed it away after just a single experimental sip. Miranda had taken it upon herself to drink it instead.
“Whatever,” she replied, her voice louder than she probably realized. “My point still stands. If he hadn’t been so obsessed with making a name for himself, we might not have caught him.”
“He couldn’t resist the allure of power,” Naomi posited. “Making yourself well-known and well-feared is a good way to obtain control.”
“Too bad he was an idiot,” I remarked. “We didn’t even realize it was a Celtic knot until he told us. Pretty hard to become feared when no one can actually figure out who’s behind the symbol.”
“Too bad they aren’t all idiots,” Naomi huffed. “There are clearly some people within that organization with a modicum of skill.”
“Not enough,” Fiona answered quickly. “Anyway, what happened with the main leader, Finnian Gallagher?”
“He was being kept under extreme confinement when we left,” Junior replied. “I felt kind of bad for him, but it couldn’t be helped since we couldn’t risk someone from his own organization getting into communication with him. Only a select few people were even allowed near his cell.”
“Don’t feel bad,” I grumbled. “The guy’s scum who ran an organization full of career criminals. Seamus also told me that they’re going to ‘leak’ fake information about his extradition and the prison he’ll be transferred to. He won’t be getting loose no matter how confident he is.”
“That’s good,” Fiona sighed. “Even though O’Sullivan was the one behind all the major cases we’ve investigated in the past year, I got the feeling that Gallagher was in a league of his own. I’m glad that he’ll be behind bars now.”
“That’s right!” Miranda yelled. I was so surprised by the sudden outburst that I flinched. “We don’t ever have to worry about running into that stupid symbol again! We did it, guys!”
Her voice was grating, but her enthusiasm was undeniably infectious, and a moment later, we were all toasting to the accomplishment. I grinned as I looked around the table at my fellow agents and friends. This wasn’t just a single one-off case we’d solved. We’d managed to bring down the leaders of a massive organization and stop countless future cases from ever happening. It was a cause for celebration.
Two hours and several drinks later, I finally stumbled out of the bar and into a taxi back to my apartment. I was exhausted, but I felt a thrill of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that MBLIS had managed to stop such a dangerous and prolific criminal. Miranda had been dragged off by Naomi a little while earlier, so hammered that she was alternating between staring silently into space and loudly shouting whatever thought popped into her head. Junior, Fiona, and I had stayed a while longer until I began to feel like an awkward third wheel, at which point I’d excused myself. I’d been sorely tempted to invite the friendly waitress who’d been making pointed glances at me all night back to my apartment, but I’d already made plans to visit Harry the next day, and I was inebriated to the point that it was probably better for me to just head home and go to bed.
I yawned as the taxi pulled up to my apartment building. As I stepped out of the cab and toward the stairwell that led up to my unit, all the stress and excitement I’d been feeling for the last few days seemed to ebb away at once, and my eyes were drooping by the time I unlocked my front door. I kicked my shoes off at the entrance and lazily peeled my clothes off before falling into bed, grateful to be in my own bedroom after so many nights abroad. I thought to myself vaguely that I should probably set an alarm so that I’d be up early enough to head over to Harry’s as I drifted off, but before I could fully focus on the thought, my eyes were already closed.
Epilogue
I smiled fondly as I remembered that night. It was one of my favorite memories from my time as a field agent and one of the first times I felt like I’d genuinely made a significant impact in the world.
I looked up and was surprised to find that every eye around the little campfire was on me. It seemed like everyone had sobered up by then, and even the young man who’d consistently played the guitar throughout the entire story had stopped playing as I drew the tale to a close.
“So, that’s it?” one of the boys asked in surprise.
“Yeah,” one of the girls nodded. “Was that really the end of it?”
“What happened with your partner’s arm?” another boy asked. “Did it ever start working correctly again?”
“What about the mafia?” a different girl interjected. “You never ran into them again?”
“Bro, you seriously didn’t take that girl home?” one of the boys on the other side of the campfire asked, and I burst into laughter. Of all the things to take from that story, of course that was what he focused on.
“Well, that wasn’t the end, of course.” I chuckled at the group’s rambunctious chattering. It felt similar to fielding questions from my own curious grandkids, and I didn’t mind sharing with them. “MBLIS went on and continued solving cases. But solving that case was like closing a chapter in my life. Everything that followed would take too long for me to get into. Oh, Junior was fine, too. He ended up having to take a few months off to have surgery on his arm, but after that, he went right back into the field. As accident-prone as he was, he never considered any other line of work.”
The group broke out into a chorus of chatter as everyone discussed the story. It was completely dark out by now, and I could see the moon shining brightly in the sky above me.
I’d had a good life. There had been struggles and frustrations along the way, but in the end, I was happy with my accomplishments, and I liked to think that Harry was looking down on me now, proud of what I’d managed to do. Even if I’d left that life of thrilling adventure behind, I still had the comfortable life I’d carved out here in this motel, happy with the knowledge that Amber and my grandkids were safe and happy.
That wasn’t to say I was a wizened old geezer ready to drop dead at any moment, either. I still had plenty of life left in me, and if I got to spend the rest of my days inspiring the next generation with stories of action and adventure, then I’d be satisfied.
“Tell us another story,” Austin asked as he stacked marshmallows on top of each other on a thin wooden dowel.
I grinned as I wondered which story to tell them next. I’d spent several years as a field agent, and eventually, I had even become the director of a new MBLIS branch. That became an entirely new kind of adventure, as I was suddenly in charge of a whole team of agents.
Eventually, though, I settled for a story from my early days at MBLIS. There was nothing quite like the thrill of a dangerous
adventure, and I knew that the kids gathered around the fire would be more interested in action than the behind-the-scenes work of a director. I spent the next few hours regaling them with exciting and suspenseful tales of crime and adventure until the stars shining above us melted into the sky and gave way to the early morning sunlight.
Author’s Note
Hey, if you got here, I just want you to know that you’re awesome! I wrote this book just for someone like you, and if you want another one, it is super important that you leave a review.
The more reviews this book gets, the more likely it is there will be a sequel to it. After all, I’m only human, and you have no idea how far a simple “your book was great!” goes to brighten my day.
Also, if you want to know when the next book comes out, you absolutely must join my Facebook group and follow me on Amazon. Doing one won’t be enough because it relies on either Facebook or Amazon telling you the book is out, and they might not do it.
You might miss out on all my books forever if you only do one!
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Special thanks and credit to Moonstruck Covers Design & Photography, the studio responsible for all my What Happens in Vegas covers!
