“Same here,” Fredo said. “The whole team is ready to go. Emergency services are on standby.”
Butterflies erupted in her stomach. An entire team of agents was waiting for her, waiting to execute her plan, a plan she thought of last night. What if she hadn’t anticipated something? This could go very wrong.
While inadvisably drowning the stomach butterflies in coffee, she stared intently into Kramer’s office. For his part, he was doing nothing, checking his email and scrolling through his phone like he didn’t have a care in the world. Meanwhile, a SWAT team dressed in black with helmets and goggles and body armor was waiting at her beck and call. At least that’s what she imagined.
Like he was just messing with her, Kramer spun in his office chair and drummed on his desk with his fingers like he was in ametal band. Of all the days for him to be loose and fun! He hit the intercom and said, “Run to the liquor store and get extra bottles of that Beluga Gold Line vodka. I want some in the freezer here. And plenty at the party. And you’re picking up caviar, right?”
“Of course, Mr. Kramer. I’ll get right on that,” she lied. Right now, she had bigger things to worry about than snacks for Orlov.
“Oh, and don’t forget those little crackers.”
She was a big-time secret agent, and it was still about food, the lady with the fanny pack filled with Band-Aids and Goldfish crackers.
“Boo!”
Gabby squealed and about jumped out of her chair.
Carmen started laughing. “A little edgy today, huh?”
Gabby giggled like it was a great joke, as if “boo” was ever a great joke. Carmen was right, though. She was jumpy in the way you get when you’re running on nothing but caffeine and adrenaline. Just a bundle of raw nerves in an office chair, liable to overreact to anything.
Fran clomped over in her orthopedic shoes next. Talk about a woman who could not sneak up on anyone. “Camille, can you help me in the file room?”
Gabby was about ready to explode. Managing her office job and a spy mission at the same time—this was next-level multitasking. Worse than Christmas, almost.
Markus piped up. “Get rid of her. Don’t worry about being polite this morning.”
Fran had the worst timing. “Um, can I do it in an hour? I’m really focused… on this… party planning. Kramer wants so many last-minute things.”
Fran gave her a funny look, probably because it was obviousthat Gabby was doing absolutely nothing but sweating in her chair. That wasn’t a crime, though. Half the employees at eStocks were texting or scrolling the internet for someone to DM.
She glanced back at Kramer, who was still fucking with her. He drew back one of the balls in the Newton’s cradle in his office, six smooth heavy metal balls suspended on strings. The ball he had pulled back smacked the row of balls with a satisfying thwack.
Thwack. A ball hopped.
Thwack. Another balled hopped.
Thwack. And so on.
In her ear, Markus said, “Don’t worry. Valentina is one of the best in the business. I’m sure everything is fine on her end. All you have to do is sit tight and wait for the call.” He must have been able to feel her crawling out of her skin with anxiety.
She wasn’t worried about Valentina. Valentina was competent and probably hadn’t slept on a futon on the other side of a thin wall listening to bouts of chainsaw-like snoring. Burt needed a CPAP machine. She might not be a sleep doctor, but she knew sleep apnea when she heard it.
Her part of the plan was the simplest. All she had to do was stay on her toes and pay attention. Valentina had the arson to commit.
But if she screwed this up… Gabby’s breathing picked up, and she started to sweat. At the feel and smell of her own sweat, she sweated more. How was she going to protect her family? If this mission failed, she had to get them out of town. She could just imagine telling them all to hurry, Burt in his La-Z-Boy withFamily Feuddroning on endlessly, Kyle whining about her iPads and AirPods, Lucas hiding because he thought it was a game, and Granny wanting an explanation for the hasty departure. There was no choice but to leave Burt and tell everyone else they weregoing out for ice cream. She’d take them to In-N-Out and then keep driving.
Just then Kramer stood up and fogged the glass. It was happening.
“Gabby, just breathe. Focus on this and only this. Compartmentalize,” Markus said.
She visualized pulling a big Snapware out of the pantry and shoving all of her worries inside. Because it was a vision, she found the lid without searching and snapped the latches two at a time. Snap. Snap. Smile. She smoothed her hair and tightened her apron.
Fran yelled, “Gabby, it’s your lunch break.”
What the—?
“In a minute, Fran.”
