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  Sarah raised her hand. “Sir, Craig and I have a question.”

  “Go on.”

  “Where are we supposed to build or display our project?”

  “Anywhere in the building or parking lot. If you choose the parking lot, one team will be assigned the back lot, one the front lot, and one a side lot so that you cannot see each other’s project until I come to judge. Any other questions?”

  “Can we use the garage?” Jarrett asked.

  Thayne narrowed his eyes at him. What the hell is he planning?

  “I suppose. It’s a little dark down there but you are free to use the garage if you wish,” Stanger replied.

  Thayne watched Jarrett grin widely and lean over to whisper something in Jose’s ear. Jose burst into laughter. This is so not good.

  “All right, you’re free to start your planning.”

  Thayne grabbed Tim’s sleeve and pulled him aside. “I have an idea.”

  “Great. Cause I sure don’t have a clue.”

  Thayne squatted and put a hand on Suzie and Melissa’s shoulders as the other teams left the conference room. “How do you feel about going into business and then giving the money to a charity?” he whispered conspiratorially.

  ****

  “This is amazing,” SAC Stanger said, six hours later. He was standing in front of a lemonade stand that Thayne, Tim, Suzie, and Melissa had built. It was painted Bluebird royal blue but it had a large cup of pink lemonade painted on the front and the words “Fresh Lemonade 25 Cents. All proceeds to be donated to Wounded Warrior Project.” on a board nailed to either side of the stand at the top. Little Melissa and Suzie sat on chairs behind the stand which was located outside the front door of the building. On the stand was a stack of plastic cups and a pitcher half-full of pink lemonade. The Bluebirds were grinning.

  “Would you like some lemonade?” Suzie asked. She was a pretty brunette with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her hair was cut into a pixie and she had a bright red bow in her hair sticking out from under the beret which she had explained to Thayne was the only color of hair accessory the Bluebirds could wear.

  “Why, yes. Thank you,” Stanger said.

  Melissa poured Stanger a half cup of lemonade and handed it to him as Suzie held out her small hand, palm up. Stanger set a quarter in it and Thayne watched as Suzie opened the square cigar box and threw it in. It was full to the top with quarters. Tim cocked an eyebrow and then smiled.

  “How much have you raised?” he asked.

  “Your quarter makes it $113.50 for the Wounded Warrior Project.”

  Stanger’s eyebrows rose so high it was comical. “That’s impressive. Not only patriotic but All-American too. I am incredibly impressed you managed to work as a team and helped out our vets at the same time.”

  Thayne smiled. “What have the others done?” He glanced at Tim who nodded, obviously just as interested.

  “Yours is the first I’ve seen. If you’d like to accompany me around to the back of the building, we can get a look at what Sarah and Craig’s team have been doing. They’re working in the back parking lot.”

  Thayne nodded and then leaned down so that he could speak to both little Bluebirds. “Keep up the good work. We’ll be back in a little while.” He glanced at the armed guard who stood outside the office and pointed at him. “That policeman will make sure nothing happens to you, okay?”

  “Yes, Special Agent, Thayne,” little Melissa said in her tiny voice. She reached up and patted him on the cheek. Pat. Pat. Pat.

  Thayne reached out and returned the pat on her little head before walking off to catch up with Tim and Stanger. He’d had a lot of fun with the girls today. It hadn’t been a chore at all. They walked around to the back parking lot and as soon as he rounded the corner, Thayne was surprised to see several people who’d stopped to form a semi-circle around whatever Sarah and Craig were doing. They walked up and the crowd parted as soon as they recognized SAC Stanger. What Thayne saw, couldn’t really be put into words at first.

  The crowd looked them over with smiles as they approached and as he caught sight of their project, Thayne heard a gasp from Tim who had come up to stand beside him.

  “What in the hell…”

  Stanger shushed him as he nodded to the little Bluebirds.

  “Oh, sorry. I mean, what in the heck is that?”

  Thayne actually wanted to know the answer to that question himself. One of Sarah and Craig’s Bluebirds stepped forward. She was a pretty little girl with a wide face, chubby cheeks and beautiful almond-shaped golden eyes. When she smiled, she showed her missing two front teeth.

  “Hi, I’m Ellie,” she said. “Special Agent Sarah and Special Agent Craig helped Jenny and me build this depiction of the twin towers.” Every time she pronounced a word with an ‘s’, she lisped through the gap in her teeth.

  “I can… see that… I guess,” Thayne remarked. He cocked his head to the side and stared at the sculpture which stood approximately four feet tall. It had a toothpick American flag sticking out of the top of each tower which were made out of…

  “What the heck is it made of?” Stanger asked. Thayne thought he got a slight whiff of something meaty. He looked at Sarah and smirked at her.

  “It’s made out of Spam, also known as Hawaiian steak, which comes from my home state of Hawaii,” Ellie said.

  “Um, actually, honey,” Craig said, bending down to whisper in her ear. “Spam doesn’t come from Hawaii. It’s just eaten there a lot because it became a food staple during WWII when the US military began using it.”

  Her large golden-brown eyes narrowed and her bottom lip jutted out. “It is Hawaiian steak!” She raised her little patent leather shoe and stomped on Craig’s foot. He yelped and stepped back as Sarah burst into laughter.

  The other Bluebird, Jenny, stepped forward and cleared her throat. She was holding an index card and reading from it. “In fact, the World Trade Center twin towers weren’t built with Spam. They were built with… other stuff.” She looked up with sparkling blue eyes and nodded her head as if that factoid was important to pass on in case anyone missed it. “But they’re not around anymore. Someone knocked them down with planes in 2001,” she concluded.

  “Well, I must say I am… impressed with your ingenuity,” SAC Stanger told the girls. He glanced up at Sarah and Craig. “Whose idea was it to use Spam as a medium?”

  Thayne noticed that the Spam was stacked like meat bricks. A gelatinous substance oozed from between the individual bricks, running down the side of the ‘building’ giving the whole sculpture a slightly sad effect. In the summer heat, the building had begun to smell like weird barbecue.

  “It was their idea,” Sarah and Craig said in unison. They pointed at Ellie and Jenny lightning quick.

  SAC Stanger frowned at them but then he leaned down and patted the Bluebirds on top of their little berets. “You did a very nice job and way to go with the patriotic theme of your team-building exercise. Thank you for helping my two agents today.” The girls both beamed up at Stanger.

  Sarah walked up to Thayne and leaned in close. “What did your team do?”

  “They built a lemonade stand and sold lemonade. In fact, they’re still out front doing it. When we left them, they’d sold $113.50 which the girls are donating to the Wounded Warrior Project.”

  “Awesome!” Sarah said, slapping Thayne on the back.

  “I’m dying to see what Jarrett and Jose are up to,” Thayne said. Sarah opened her mouth to respond when Stanger cut her off.

  “Well, I suppose I can’t put it off anymore,” Stanger said. “Evans and Galvez are working in the building’s subterranean garage. As much as I fear it, I suppose we should go make sure they haven’t found a way to undermine the building’s foundation.”

  Thayne smiled as Sarah c
huckled quietly from beside him. They turned as a group, leaving Ellie and Jenny to pass out plates to the observers telling them that their twin towers were fully edible. Thayne wasn’t surprised to see absolutely no one take a plate and some turn and scuttle away from the canned pork product edifice.

  Thayne, Sarah, Tim, and Craig accompanied SAC Stanger into the building and then took the elevator down to the parking garage. As soon as they walked out into the parking area, they heard the unmistakable sound of dueling banjos echoing off the cement walls. Thayne couldn’t help but grin as he recognized Jarrett’s favorite type of music.

  “What is that?” Craig asked.

  “It sounds like banjos,” Sarah said.

  “Banjos,” Tim said, flatly.

  “Evans’s favorite music,” Sarah replied, shrugging.

  “You’re kidding?” Craig asked.

  “Unfortunately not,” Thayne replied. “At least you didn’t have to listen to it all the way home from San Diego.” He rolled his eyes as the others chuckled.

  “Well, let’s see what trouble he’s gotten into,” Stanger said.

  “I doubt he could get into much trouble with Jose and the little Bluebirds keeping an eye on him,” Craig said.

  “Alas, you don’t know Evans well enough yet, Baldwin. He could get into trouble anywhere and usually does,” Sarah admitted with a smile.

  “I’m beginning to get that impression,” the young Marine replied.

  They walked through the large subterranean garage following the sound of Bluegrass music until they came around the corner. As soon as they did, they spied two lawn chairs propped up in front of Jarrett’s latest acquisition, a Classic 1966 Chevy Nova, with its hood up. Jarrett and Jose were sitting on the folding lawn chairs with their backs to them as the group walked up. A transistor radio was blaring the music nearby. As Thayne’s mouth dropped open, Jarrett raised his hand and gave directions to a small girl who was standing on a stepladder bent over the engine block. She had her hands down in the car and Thayne was pretty sure he could see her twisting something as she blew a particularly large pink bubble.

  “That’s it, Joe,” Jarrett said. “Just give it a little more torque.” He blew a line of smoke into the air and Thayne realized Jarrett was holding a cigar.

  “Okay, Jarrett,” the tiny girl said, her voice just a little muffled as she spoke.

  Thayne couldn’t believe his eyes and had to blink twice when he saw the other small girl squatting in front of Jarrett’s whitewall tires, scrubbing with a sponge. She had her tongue between her lips and was putting all she could into the chore.

  “Good job, mija,” Jose said, “That’s the last one. Looking good!” He was obviously trying to encourage the little Bluebird to get the whitewall clean.

  Sarah burst into laughter which made Jarrett and Jose shoot out of their chairs since they hadn’t seen them walk up. They’d both shed their jackets and ties but other than that, they looked as relaxed and unruffled as they had when they’d walked into the office that morning. As soon as they spotted Stanger, Jose broke out into a visible sweat.

  “What in the hell is going on here?” Stanger bellowed.

  “Sir,” Thayne said, leaning forward. “The little girls…”

  “Oh sorry, young ladies,” he immediately apologized. The two little girls looked at the gathered agents. The one bent over the engine block straightened on the stepladder. She had black grease smudging her face and as she reached up to wipe away a trickle of sweat, Thayne noticed the silver socket wrench she held in her hand. She wiped her forehead and more grease smeared across it. Tiny wisps of hair were hanging in her eyes. The other little girl stood tall but Thayne immediately spotted soap suds in her curls. It trailed down both arms as she smoothed the red ribbon in her hair. She was holding a large dripping sponge and her knee socks were drooping around her ankles. Neither girl’s berets were anywhere in sight.

  “Can you tell me what is going on here?” Stanger shouted. “And put out those cigars and turn off that blasted music right now!”

  “Are those Cubans?” Tim asked.

  “Yes,” Jarrett replied with a smirk. He bent to turn off the radio and stub out his cigar on the garage floor.

  “Boy did I get the wrong partner,” Tim muttered.

  “Darcy!” Stanger was practically growling.

  Thayne watched Tim raise both hands as he tried to calm Stanger down. “That’s cold, Darcy,” he protested.

  “What? I love a good Cuban cigar.”

  “Explain yourself, Evans. I know this is your doing,” Stanger grumbled as Thayne bit his lip to keep from grinning.

  Jarrett dropped his hand to his side, still holding the stub of the cigar as he blinked innocently at his boss. “I’m sure you’ve heard of a classic muscle car, SAC,” he said, proudly. “You can’t get any more All-American than a Classic 1966 Chevy Nova and I just picked up this baby last week. It needed a good waxing and a tune-up.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jose tried to explain, “And you can’t get any more supportive of women’s rights than teaching them how to tune up a classic automobile.”

  “Starting them a little young, don’t you think?” Stanger gritted out. Thayne noticed how he glared at Galvez.

  Jose nodded. “Jarrett and I have been working all day to make sure that our Bluebirds are the best trained nine-year-old mechanics around.” He moved to stand behind Tiffany, the girl with the sponge, placing his hands on both of her small shoulders and putting her between Stanger and himself. Joey blew another bubble and it popped, covering her grease smeared face.

  Everyone watched her for a second and then turned back to SAC Stanger who held both hands at his sides. Thayne noticed they were now clenched into fists.

  “Well, I see what you mean,” Stanger finally said. Thayne figured it was for the sake of the Bluebirds. “I know you young ladies were just following orders and you’ve done a fine job here.”

  “No, this was a team-building exercise,” Tiffany squeaked in a tiny voice. “Do you want to know the top speed for this baby?”

  Sarah snorted from beside Thayne and he had to cover his mouth as he tried not to burst into laughter.

  “No, but I’m quite certain you know, dear,” Stanger said, “Now, since you agents have done such a fantastic job with your team-building exercise, you get to join us up top so that we can have the judging. I’ve decided that everyone gets ice cream.”

  “Swell,” Tiffany said, dropping her sponge in its bucket. Joey climbed off the ladder and hooked her arm in her friend’s. Thayne watched them march up to Jarrett and Jose and fist-bump them both. Jarrett leaned down and patted them both on the head.

  “Great job, girls. I’m super proud of ya and even if you don’t win, just remember…”

  “Semper Fi! Hoorah, boys… Hoorah!”

  Jarrett grinned at the sound of their tiny voices and then glanced at Thayne. His dimples were deeply etched into his handsome face and Thayne couldn’t help but be utterly charmed by him. He shook his head and smiled back as Jarrett walked up and gave him a silent glance. His sky blue eyes were dancing with barely concealed mirth and Thayne’s stomach did a little flip-flop. Jarrett always managed to make him feel like this.

  “You comin’?” Jarrett asked, bending to pick up his discarded jacket and tie. Thayne watched him tuck the cigar butt into a pocket of the suit jacket. He suddenly had the inexplicable urge to take Jarrett’s hand, but he let the thought fade as Jarrett bumped his shoulder with his own. “Come on, darlin’,” he whispered. It was barely audible in the dark garage but Thayne heard it.

  “Okay, Jarrett.” Thayne nodded as warmth spread through every inch of his body. He shook his head, smiled a tiny smile, and followed his lover toward the elevators.

  Chapter One

  “I should have won, ya know.”
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br />   “You’re joking.” Thayne glanced at his partner as they rode the elevator to their office from the parking garage the next day. “You think you and Galvez should have won the team-building exercise because you convinced two nine-year-old girls to wash your new car while the two of you smoked cigars?”

  Several people in the elevator tried to cover their chuckles as Jarrett shot his partner an innocent look. “Why not? I mean, we were able to teach them kids how to turn an American classic automobile into somethin’ even more gorgeous than it already is, while instilling a pride in goods made here at home. The lesson we were tryin’ to send was that those little girls should be proud to be Americans.”

  “While you and Galvez smoked illegally imported Cuban cigars,” Thayne stated flatly. “Yeah, that sounds like Evans logic. I shouldn’t really be surprised.”

  Jarrett grinned at him making the dimples appear even deeper. The elevator dinged and the doors swooshed open as the others in the elevator laughed. Apparently Jarrett’s team-building antics had gotten around the office.

  “Haven’t ya ever thought outside the box, Wolfe?” Jarrett asked. They stepped out of the elevator and walked into the office. All eyes turned to them as they passed. A second later, the room full of agents were standing up and clapping as Jarrett stopped, grinned widely, and took a bow. “Thank you. Thank you,” he said as Thayne just rolled his eyes beside his partner.

  “Come on, knucklehead. You’re a caricature, you know?”

  “There they are! How’s the winner?” Tim asked as they walked up. He was grinning as he high-fived Thayne.

  “You shouldn’t gloat,” Jarrett grumbled. “It ain’t pretty.” He threw Tim and Thayne a dirty look. He’d been giving him a hard time since the day before when he and Tim and their Bluebirds had been declared the winners by Stanger. “You were edged out because ya actually earned money and gave it away to charity,” Jarrett said, “Trust me, sucking up to the boss ain’t gonna make you popular with the cool kids.”