Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Saturday morning, Wyl and Rod dressed to go to James and Glenn’s for brunch.
“It’s good to have contacts in our flat complex.” Rod buttoned his shirt. “And the fact that they are a gay couple makes socializing believable to outside observers.”
“It’s all part of the plan, babe. We must appear as a honeymoon couple spending time in Ireland. All the rest is, as far as outsiders are concerned, a coincidence.”
Rod nodded. “I’m impressed with the thought that went into this mission. The plan has considerable depth. Much more than we realized when General Steinburg unwrapped the mission for us at the Pentagon.”
“Rod, you heard General Steinburg say he’s never seen two people more suited to a mission. Much planning went into this, and our backgrounds make it work.”
“Oh, we’ll make it work. I’m amazed at how easily this is falling into place.”
“Wait a minute. Less than twelve hours ago, you were royally pissed at me for playing the game. And now suddenly everything is falling into place?”
Rod chuckled. “Maybe I wanted you to think I was pissed off.”
Wyl crept toward Rod, fingers wiggling in the air.
Rod laughed and darted into the living room, Wyl in hot pursuit.
Wyl tackled him to the couch and dug his fingers into Rod’s ribs.
Rod roared with laughter. “Stop! Okay! Uncle!”
The assault ended, and Wyl gazed at his husband. “Babe, we have a rough road ahead of us. But we’re in this together and will get through it somehow.”
Rod pulled his husband into a warm embrace. “How did I go from college professor at a small rural community college to an International government agent?”
Wyl chuckled. “You married me.”
“Hmmm…I don’t recall the part of the marriage vows that mentioned anything about the Pentagon, top government officials, working with foreign governments, or dealing with cybercriminals. Maybe I skipped the fine print.” Rod stroked Wyl’s cheek, looking into his clear, green eyes.
“Oh? Didn’t I mention all that stuff?” Wyl chided. “My bad.” He pulled Rod into a passionate kiss.
The kiss broke. “Oh yeah…that is why I didn’t remember that detail. You distracted me with a kiss,” Rod said.
“After you made me gay, what else should I do?” Wyl chuckled again.
“I have my ways.” Rod gave Wyl a quick kiss. “Let’s go to James and Glenn’s.”
* * *
Glenn answered the door. “Hey, gents. Welcome to our world.” He stepped back and motioned for them to enter. “James is in the kitchen. Come on in and chat while we finish brunch preparations.”
They followed him into the small kitchen, where the aroma of sautéed onion filled the air as James worked on the omelets.
“Morning, Americans.” James inverted a small bowl of diced ham into the sizzling skillet. Steam rose as the hiss of frying meat filled the kitchen.
Glenn pulled a tray of toasted Irish soda bread from the broiler and slathered butter on the surface of each slice.
“I hope you two like butter on your toast,” Glenn said.
“Are you kidding me? Rod encourages healthy eating, but we won’t give up real butter. Lay it on thick!” Wyl grinned.
“There is something distinctive about Irish butter,” Rod said. “It has more flavor than what we get in the States.”
“We like it too.” James poured scrambled eggs into a cast-iron skillet and set it in the hot oven. “Baked egg casserole will be done in about 10 minutes. Bloody Mary, anyone?”
“You bet,” Wyl said. “Spicy.”
“Me too,” Rod said.
Glenn got four tumblers. James handed Glenn the ice container from the freezer, then opened the refrigerator to retrieve a celery bunch from the crisper. Ice clinking into glasses and a knife cutting through celery foretold the delicious libations to come.
“You lads have any decent vodka in the States?” Glenn set the ice back into the freezer and took out the ice-cold bottle of Boru.
“Actually, yeah,” Rod said. “This little distillery in Austin makes the best vodka ever. Tito’s. It’s like water with a kick.”
“Vodka from Texas? Stop acting the maggot!” James looked in their direction as he rinsed the celery sticks.
“What?” Rod said. “Some Mexican tequila has a worm in it, but not Texas vodka.”
Glenn and James both laughed. “No, gents. That’s an Irish slang term for kidding around. We thought you were teasing about Texas vodka. Honestly, there is vodka from Texas?”
“Yep,” Wyl used his best Texas drawl. “Our little ol’ state covers around 268,000 square miles.
Compare that to Ireland’s 32,000 square miles; our state is eight times bigger than Ireland.
We like to say Texas is a whole ‘nother country. We have several award-winning distilleries, at least five of which are in the Austin area.”
James and Glenn both looked at Wyl, mouths open.
Rod looked at the two Brits and laughed. “My grandma Bonner used to say, Close your mouth, boy, you’re letting flies in.”
The four laughed as Glenn said, “Hell, the entire United Kingdom is less than 100,000 square miles, so Texas is more than twice that size.”
James handed Glenn four celery sticks before reaching into the refrigerator for the chilled spicy tomato juice mixture pitcher. James poured the tomato juice after Glenn added a jigger of vodka to each glass.
“Let’s get these on the table. Brunch is almost ready.”
The oven timer dinged, and James removed the hot skillet, dishing up the steaming egg mixture. “Let’s eat!”
The four sat down to a delicious brunch, accompanied by mugs of coffee and Bloody Marys. Wyl and James were seated at each end of the dining table, with Rod and Glenn on either side.
“Wow, James…you are quite the gourmet,” Rod lifted a forkful of egg to his mouth. The egg casserole had a unique buttery flavor with the right amounts of garlic, chopped onion, sweet pepper, fresh mushrooms, and ham.
“Something my mum taught me,” James bit off the corner of his toasted soda bread.
“My mom taught me to cook as well,” Rod said. “I guess moms are the same everywhere.”
“So, Wyl, what was in the envelope Glenn delivered to you?” James asked. Both he and Glenn were curious about the contents.
“Fergus Rafferty’s course project,” Wyl said. “It’s code and difficult to decipher by itself. I could tell he was working on a password algorithm, but I need to see more to determine how it may fit with everything else.”
“Who is Fergus Rafferty?” Rod asked. “You mentioned him when you opened the envelope, but I’m not sure how he fits into all this.”
“Fergus Rafferty was talking with Keenan Moynihan the morning Moynihan was killed,” James said. “Gardaí suspects MacGowan is connected somehow, but there are no solid leads so far.”
“I wasn’t aware there had been a murder,” Rod’s brow furrowed.
“A student in MacGowan’s program was killed the morning after he visited MacGowan and revealed that he suspected all the student projects dovetailed,” James said. “Chief Superintendent O’Brien is investigating the murder.”
“But we’re here to work on an espionage case.” Rod shook his head. “MacGowan is involved in a plot to create economic havoc.”
“True,” James nodded, “but we believe the murder ties into that entire case. We think Moynihan may have hit a nerve. A nerve that put fear into MacGowan. So, he had him killed.”
“MacGowan is a murderer too?” Rod’s eyes widened.
“Babe, I told you this was about to get interesting,” Wyl reached for Rod’s hand. “This is the dangerous territory I mentioned this morning.”
“Actually, we think Knowlan arranged the murder,” James said. “He has connections to people who would leave no trail and could pull it off without hesitation.”
“Oh my God,” Rod gasped. “I knew we were dealing with a couple of unsavory characters, but I never dreamed we would deal with murderers.”
“Are you okay?” Wyl asked.
Rod shook his head. “No. If Declan can find someone to kill a student, he will have no problem doing the same thing to us.”
Wyl stood to massage his husband’s shoulders. “Babe, they need us. They need me to help finish what the student started. They need you because if anything happens to you, I won’t cooperate. As long as we are needed, we are safe.”
“And you have us watching your back,” James said. “And the four of us have An Garda Síochána at our disposal. One phone call and the local Gardaí are all over us.”
Rod sighed. “Thanks, guys. Hearing about the murder rattled me.”
Wyl kissed Rod’s temple. “Now, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Rod looked at Wyl. “This is a lot of information to absorb at one time.”
“How about a Bloody Mary refill?” Glenn asked. “I think we could all use another round.”
Rod sat dazed. Murder?