Hands fisted on his hips, Clayton Webb stared angrily at his surroundings. The glare of the sun made it hard to see. His quarry was here somewhere, hiding in plain sight. Webb was good at his job. He could spot an enemy in a crowd in Beijing, Bombay, or Berlin. He sure as hell could do it in Belle Haven. «Where is he? Oh, this is not good. Not good at all.»
Webb preferred working alone. But in this case, he’d accepted partnership willingly, thinking that she would bring something to the mission that he might not understand. But he’d managed to lose her too. Running his hand over his mouth, he began to panic.
The mission was supposedly simple. He’d run harder ops with less preparation. Once he’d babysat a Chinese physicist who’d inexplicably demanded the combo plate from Corkey’s Barbeque in Memphis. He managed that. He could handle this. «Where are they?» If he lost them, he’d never live it down.
Sunlight glittered off his sunglasses. Someone shouted and he turned to find out what new danger awaited. His foot stepped on something soft and he fell backwards, hitting the ground hard.
For a long moment he just laid there, eyes closed against the humiliation. But he had to get up and…A shadow fell across his face. Carefully opening his eyes, he groaned. Busted. Brought down low by the very person he was supposed to be following.
"Aunt Sarah?"
"Yes, AJ?"
"Mr. Webb’s foot is in one of the pumpkins. You’re not s’posed to do that."
He could see she was trying so hard not to laugh. "No honey, you’re not supposed to do that."
This was going to cost him big time. He wouldn’t be able to show his face at JAG ops ever again. Rabb would laugh every time they met. AJ would roll his eyes and Roberts! Oh God, he didn’t want to think about what Roberts would say.
She reached out her hand and he sighed but took it to pull himself up. Kicking ineffectively at the gourd ruining his $300 cross-trainers, he felt his control slipping away.
Little AJ knelt down and grasped the ruined pumpkin. Pausing to look up, the five-year old smiled reassuringly. "Hold still Mr. Webb, I’ll hold it for you. Just like I did for daddy last year."
«Well maybe this wasn’t so bad.»
Sarah MacKenzie leaned in and kissed him softly. "You’re a good sport."
«Not too bad at all.»
"Come on. Lets go find that pumpkin," he said bravely.
"Already paid for and in the back of the car. We just came to find you to see if you wanted to get some hot cider."
Wrapping his arm around the best looking woman in the huge pumpkin patch and taking the small boy’s hand in his, Clayton Webb decided that this just might be an acceptable way to spend a Saturday afternoon in late October. And if, after returning young AJ and the pumpkin to his parents, Webb could just figure out a way to get Sarah alone in the spook house, it would be perfect.