Hand in hand, Trevor and Helen reached the bottom of the stairway leading to the private suites upstairs.

     "Hey!" Cole yelled, running up to them. "Don't move!" He sounded like the cop he was. "I need to talk to you two!"

     Trevor put his foot on the bottom step. "It's going to have to wait, Cole. We're busy."

     "You don't look busy." 

     "We're about to get busy," Helen said.

     "What do you want, Cole?"

     "Claudia told me to come to you about what I'm supposed to do next."

     "Claudia told...What did you say to this man, Claudia?"

     Nothing from Claudia. Great.

     "What have you been doing, Cole? Where have you been? You have got to be the only person at this party without a mug of broove in their hand."

     "I'm still casing the place. Nothing makes any fucking sense, but you know what?" Cole pointed at his own skull with a forefinger. "I've got it salted away right up here. As soon as we get back, I'm going right to my superiors to give a full report."

     "So you haven't had any broove," Trevor said. "That's what you're telling me."

     "Correct."

     "You said Claudia told you to come to me on how to next proceed?"

     "Correct."

     "Okay, well, in that case, here's what I want you to do. There's a keg of broove right over there. The empty mugs are on that table. Grab a mug and stand in line."

     "And, what, exactly..."

     "I'm sorry. Maybe I heard you incorrectly before. I could have sworn Claudia wanted you to listen to me."

     "She did, but..."

     "So what's with the questioning? You say you want to give a full report about what's going on here?"

     "It's my duty."

     "I can't see how you can do that unless you, at least, get a taste of what everyone else is drinking."

     Cole made no reply to that, but he looked doubtful.

     Damn, Trevor thought, He's going to make me do it, isn't he?

     Trevor handed Cole his own mug.

     "Here," he said. "Go ahead. Take a sip."

     This will be the last time I will ever give you anything, Trevor thought.

     Cole still looked doubtful, but he did as his brother asked. 

     Sip, then, sip, sip.

     Cole's features softened immediately.

     He went to take another sip. Trevor took the mug out of his hand.

     "Get your own," he said.

     "I'd better," Cole replied. "My superiors are going to want to know about this stuff. Maybe even the Pentagon."

     "That's right. Stay on point, Cole." Trevor took his wife's hand. They climbed the stairway together. "We plan to be unavailable for a while."

CONTINUE​

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