Page 50 of Mission: Possible

I held my hands up. "Nope. Solomon called before we could get there."

"Man," sighed Delgado, "I'm hungry."

"If this goes well, I'll buy everyone a burger. Now stop thinking about your stomachs," said Solomon.

That was hard to do since I'd been craving greasy carbs ever since the matter came up. "Which house are we looking at?" I asked.

Delgado pointed. "The blue two-story at the end of the block. We spotted the van in the garage around back."

"That was a good spot."

"If you call peeking into two hundred windows and crawling through alleys overgrown with weeds that were being used as mattress dumpsters a good spot," retorted Delgado. "I need to wash my boots."

Solomon looked down at the passenger floorboard where Delgado rested his boots. "And while you’re at it, my car. I wondered what that smell was."

Delgado looked affronted. "You did not think that was me!"

"You know Serena will insist you disrobe in the street rather than letting you inside the house smelling like that," I told him, reasonably sure that would be the case. My sister kept a neat house and there was no way she would let the foul stench of Delgado's boots violate her rules.

"I'll walk in through the garage. She'll never know."

"You're a brave man," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll miss you."

Solomon smiled as Delgado shook his head before picking up his cellphone and making a call. "Any movement?" he asked, then, "I'll call you back." Turning to us, he said, "It's getting late and we haven't seen anyone enter or exit the house. No lights came on. No television."

"Maybe the bad guys are taking a nap?" suggested Delgado.

"At this hour? That's amateur level napping," I said. "No one takes a nap at this time of night. It's almost nine PM!"

"There's a good view of the house. You haven't seen anyone get up for a drink or a snack?" asked Maddox.

"No," replied Solomon.

"Maybe they ditched the van and took off. Is the house abandoned?"

"I took a walk past the mailbox and it's empty. Someone mowed the lawn in the last month," said Delgado.

"Perhaps they ditched the van and went out?" I suggested. We were all quiet for a moment, staring at the silent house.

"I have a bad feeling," said Solomon.

"Has anyone notified MPD?" asked Maddox.

"We didn't even notify the Feds, yet here you are," said Solomon without looking around.

"In an unofficial capacity," said Maddox, unperturbed by the small show of irritation from Solomon. Having worked together before, they knew each other well enough. For a while, it got a little rough, but that soon settled into a friendship of sorts and a level of respect that grew less grudging as time went on. I was responsible for part of that, given my relationships with both men, but I made my choice. Although, when Ruby mentioned polygamy...

"Why is your face screwed up like that?" asked Delgado. He twisted around to look at me again. "What did you just think of?"

"Something dirty," said Maddox. "Probably too obscene to reveal."

Solomon glanced at Maddox, then at me.

"Nothing," I said.

"Huh."

"Yeah!"