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“Can you believe it? She said NOTHING! Absolutely REFUSED to speak!” Agent Pins threw up her hands, looking rather disgruntled. And when Pins, one of Spy Corps’ most experienced agents, was rather disgruntled, you knew it was bad.
Spy Fox placed his hand on her shoulder sympathetically. “Pins, don’t beat yourself up. She’s known to be very stubborn.”
Pins exhaled. “I guess. Welp, good luck, Spy Fox. Hope you get somethin’ outta her.” She proceeded to stomp back up the stairs. With a furrow in his brow, Spy Fox turned the door handle and let himself in the room. Monkey Penny took her eyes off the computer screen in front of her and spun around in her chair to face him.
“You’re here, good. Glad you could make it on such short notice.”
“Hello, Monkey Penny.” Spy Fox peered around the room. “I don’t believe I’ve been here before.”
“Welcome to the control room. This is where we watch what’s in there,” she said and indicated the one-way window. Through the window, Spy Fox could see the dim questioning room. The solitary lightbulb illuminated a table with chairs on either side. And facing the window, handcuffed, was a familiar face.
Coming downstairs, he had known who it was he was going to be questioning tonight. But something about seeing Russian Blue at the table made him wince.
Monkey Penny observed him carefully. “Spy Fox? You have done this before, right?”
Shaking off his wince, he turned to her. “Not much, I’ll admit. But the task is simple. The trick is in the execution.”
She nodded at him, satisfied. “Precisely.” At that moment, Professor Quack waddled into the room.
“Evening, folks,” he greeted them merrily. He hopped onto a stool and beckoned Spy Fox over. “Come closer, Spy Fox, I want to make sure these are put on correctly this time.”
“Don’t embarrass me, now, Quack.” Spy Fox walked over, and Professor Quack began securing what looked like a small microphone to his tuxedo.
“Like you said, the task is simple,” Monkey Penny continued. “We need to question Russian Blue about why she stole the Limburger Cheese. The details are crucial here.”
Spy Fox tried not to move as Quack now began to place the earpiece. “What happened with Pins?” he asked, trying to ignore the tickling sensation inside his ear.
Monkey Penny bit her lip. “Agent Pins is the best when it comes to questioning. But Russian Blue wouldn’t speak. It was like that for thirty minutes, and Pins lost her cool. We had to get her out of there and switch plans, stat.”
“Which is why we called you in here,” Quack piped up. “Chief thought Russian Blue would respond to you.”
Spy Fox grimaced. “Perhaps. But I was the one to arrest her.”
Quack, now done with his preparations, hopped off the stool and shrugged. “Well, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Right you are, Quack,” Spy Fox sighed and turned to Monkey Penny. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Nope. Good luck out there.” She gave him a thumbs-up.
“Luck’s got nothing to do with it,” responded Spy Fox. He ducked through the door and into the dark hallway. He nodded at the two guards posted at the door to the questioning room. They nodded back silently. “Gentlemen,” he acknowledged them. He tried to play cool, ignoring the growing jitters in his stomach. The guards opened the door and let him through. While his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked up and saw her staring at him, wearing disdain on her face. Still, she was as alluring as the day they met.
“Spy Fox. What a surprise,” Russian Blue uttered sardonically.
“That’s the FIRST thing she’s said all day,” Monkey Penny whispered in his ear.
Spy Fox slid into the chair across from Russian Blue, not breaking eye contact. He folded his hands, becoming aware that they were starting to sweat.
“Russian Blue,” he began coolly. “Long time, no see.”
She smirked. “You jest. You arrested me last night.” She shook her cuffed wrists..
“Indeed I did.” The incident at the Frosty Drive-Thru was still fresh in his mind.
She put her hands down. “Your fellow agent didn’t get anything out of me,” she said smugly.
“So I heard. That’s too bad.”
“And neither will you,” she sneered.
Spy Fox leaned back in his chair. “We’ll just see about that.” He was starting to feel more confident. He’d thought of an idea, but he’d wait to try it out. He steepled his fingers.
“So, Ms. Blue, you know why you are here. You were caught stealing the Limburger Cheese from the Museum de Fromage.”
Russian Blue smirked.
He cleared his throat. “We’ve been able to return the Cheese back to the Museum, but there’s no telling what type of restoration those poor curators will need to undertake to restore the Cheese to its former glory.”
She began to laugh, throwing her head back. “What do I care?”
He rubbed his chin, thinking. “Perhaps a better question is why steal the cheese in the first place?”
Russian Blue pursed her lips and leaned back in her chair. He knew sooner or later, Russian Blue would have to say something. It could take hours, but he had plenty of time. He shrugged one of his arms around the back of his chair and kept his face composed.
“Telling us your motive could reduce your sentence,” he offered, raising his eyebrow. “Might be something to consider.”
Instead, her eyes narrowed. She really was not intent on giving up any information. Time to switch tactics.
He asked her, “Do you remember…Acidophilus?”
She froze, and by the look of it, he’d taken her off-guard. “Of course I remember Acidophilus,” she smiled tightly to recover her composure. “Silly fox.”
“Lovely place. And such nice weather,” he mused.
She hummed. “Things were different, were they not?”
“How’s that?” He leaned forward.
His mistake-Russian Blue grabbed him by the collar with her bound hands, bringing his face close to hers. In fact, he was so close that he could smell her cologne. Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched the guards stiffen.
“We had a nice dance together,” she purred. “We could have…been something, don’t you think, Mr. Fox?” Her eyes met his.
At this, he reddened. Having her so close to him, and remembering their tango was making him feel like he was in a sauna. He loosened his collar as if it would rid him of some steam.
“Well, I won’t deny that I enjoyed your presence, Ms. Blue,” he admitted.
She smiled. “As did I, Mr. Fox.”
“Release the agent, Russian Blue,” one of the guards growled. She flinched, and let go of Spy Fox’s collar. He readjusted his tuxedo and wiped the sweat that had beaded on his forehead.
“I’ll tell you, Mr. Fox, on one condition.”
“You’ll…what?”
Russian Blue straightened her posture. “I’ll tell you why I stole the Limburger Cheese. But only if you tango with me one last time.”
He shuddered. He heard his earpiece give a small gasp. Seeing Russian Blue in a tango trance was seductive and a bit scary. Here was the opportunity to get what he needed, what Spy Corps needed. But at what cost?
He cleared his throat. “Wouldn’t you need your hands to tango?” He gestured down at her wrists.
“Well, yes.”
This could get dangerous. He rested one arm on the table and turned to the guards. He half hoped they wouldn’t oblige him. Reluctantly, one left the company of the other.
“You’d best be sure about this, Agent Fox.” The guard roughly snatched the keyring out of his pocket and fumbled with Russian Blue’s hands. Once he released the cuffs, she purred and massaged her wrists. The guard backed closer to the door, watching with billy club in hand. The other guard gave him an incredulous look.
“Excellent.” Spy Fox turned around to the tinted window. “Monkey Penny? Could you entertain us with some…tango music, please?”
He heard a muffled sigh, some shuffling and typing. And then the music started to play.
Russian Blue stiffened, and yanked his hands towards her. One of her hands traveled to his waist as the other held his right hand. He shivered as she led towards the other end of the room. He struggled to keep up with her long strides at first, but it wasn’t long until he caught up with her.
Soon, both of them were in sync, flowing to the music. It was almost enjoyable.
“Mr. Fox, you’ve gotten so much better at this,” she commented pleasantly.
“Well, the dance lessons certainly helped.” He leaned her over into a gentle bend.
“Do you remember why I love the tango?” she asked.
“…That funky beat?” He was pretty sure he’d responded with that quip last time.
Their eyes met, and for a moment, the music disappeared.
She smiled at him, and he thought that it appeared to be genuine. “No, Mr. Fox. It’s because it takes two to tango.”
He brought her back up and spun her, keeping a firm grip. She finished spinning and returned with a step much, much closer to him than was normally comfortable. He could feel the hair on her head brush his chin. He gulped, but kept his eyes on hers.
“William told me to,” she said.
“You do mean…William the Kid?” Spy Fox hadn’t thought about William since he’d returned from Acidophilus.
“Correct.”
“But, why?”
“As a distraction.” She pulled him toward her wicked grin. She quoted, “William had said, ‘in order to keep Spy Fox on the road and out of our hair for as long as possible.’”
“To keep Spy Fox on the road and out of our hair for…wait…” His stomach lurched.
She cackled, their faces close once more. “To enable S.M.E.L.L.Y.’s newest plot.”
His nose wrinkled. “Smelly? What’s smelly?”
“No, silly fox. S.M.E.L.L.Y.” She dipped him, her hand on his back. “The Society for Meaningless Evil, Larceny, Lying and Yelling.”
“Oh.” Oh dear. “So, you’re telling me that…”
Her grin widened. “It was a trap. And you fell for it.”
Spy Fox chuckled awkwardly. The theft of an extremely valuable specimen of cheese, which had resulted in a week-long chase around the world had been constructed just to get him out of the way for something greater. It had all been an elaborate ruse.
“That distraction has allowed us to make progress on our newest plot.” Russian Blue continued.
“Which is…?”
“I cannot tell you. That would spoil the fun.” She brought him back up. As the music cut off abruptly, Russian Blue released his hands and folded her arms.
“I…rather enjoyed our dance, Mr. Fox.” Russian Blue held out her hands as the guard approached her once more.
“As did I…” Spy Fox trailed off. He felt sick as he watched the guard cuff her again. He watched the guards accompany her out of the room. He found the chair again and sat. He was certainly going to be sick if he didn’t leave the room. Chief would surely have his head for this. Moreover, what was this new plot? And this organization? This was not one of the groups Spy Corps had their eyes on.
As he held his head in his hands, he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. “Spy Fox,” a gentle voice said. He looked up and saw Monkey Penny giving a tentative smile. She offered a hand and he took it, standing up.
“Chief wants to talk to you.”
He was about to take a step forward to go upstairs to Chief’s office, but was surprised to see Chief himself standing there behind Monkey Penny. “Well done, Spy Fox.” Spy Fox was surprised to see Chief giving him a look of approval.
“But, Chief, I…” Spy Fox floundered.
Chief cleared his throat. “You employed rather…unconventional…methods with regards to questioning the suspect, but I digress.” He lifted his tea cup. “You are not known for being conventional, and I mean that in the best way possible.” He sipped his tea and set the cup down. “Your ingenuity does not cease to astound me.”
“Well, I…uh…it’s nothing, really. All part of the job.”
“Really Spy Fox, you should take the damned compliment, as your boss speaking.” Monkey Penny covered her mouth and stifled a laugh.
“Well then, sir, I accept. I…appreciate that.”
“But we can only pause so long. You were successful in your mission to get the vital information from Russian Blue, but of course, this means that we are now behind on your next mission..” He removed a folder out of his suit pocket and handed it to Spy Fox. “Your next dossier.”
Spy Fox took the dossier and put it in his tuxedo pocket. There was one thing that lingered on his mind. “Chief, may I speak?”
“Of course.”
“I’m sure you heard the recording. I feel awfully foolish that Russian Blue duped me,” he admitted, trying to look Chief in the eye. But Chief waved his hand dismissively.
“Not your fault, Spy Fox. The enemy is cunning and deceitful. In that situation, you had been sent with Professor Quack to investigate the robbery. You were doing your job by pursuing her.” Chief picked up his tea cup and dunked the tea bag several times. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it would be mine for not questioning why the chase took so damned long.” He shrugged. “But what we can control now is how we react to the current situation.”
Spy Fox relaxed, starting to feel like his old self again. “Chief, I always enjoy hearing your wisdom.”
“Indeed. But like I said, we can only pause so long. Spy Fox, you are to travel to the World’s Fair and investigate this new dastardly plot. You will meet Monkey Penny and Professor Quack there at base. Any questions?”
Spy Fox felt the familiar undercurrent of calm confidence return. “No, Chief. I’m in there like swimwear.”