His human had left a pair of pants and a shirt hanging off the edge of her bed. That in itself was interesting, but what really captivated the cat’s eyes was the belt. It hung off the end of the bed, teasing him. Finally he couldn’t resist, and he attacked, grabbing the belt in his paws and pulling. He was gratified to feel his prey begin dropping towards him.

But what he didn’t know was that the belt was already looped around the waist of the pants on the bed, and as he kept pulling, Appleby looked up to suddenly see an avalanche of material heading towards him. For a split second he hesitated. It was long enough for the pair of pants to land on his head. He was so startled, he took off across the floor, dragging the cloth with him, until finally he escaped its clutches near the bedroom door. He stopped, looking back at the offending item, and slapped a paw at it. It didn’t move.

Feeling proud of himself for vanquishing his foe, and now bored with his former prey, he sauntered off to the kitchen, deciding food sounded good after all.

Alex came out of the bathroom with wet hair, and only her underwear on. She found her pants on the floor. “Appleby! You’re a brat, cat!” Sighing, she picked up her clothes, noting that the belt had now been pulled tight through the loops, the buckle forcing the material to bunch together. She was pulling everything back into shape when the phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hey, sweety, it’s Sarah.”

“I knew it was you. Only you would have the nerve to call this early in the morning when I’m not even fully awake.”

“Yeah, good morning to you, too. Where were you last night? I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for days, and you call in the middle of the day when you know very well neither one of us is home.”

“Yeah, well, sorry, Mom, but I was with Dad most of the time.”

“Alex, just tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah. Remember what we learned about the word ‘fine’?”

“Um, no.”

“‘Fine’ means you’re ‘fucked up, insecure, neurotic, and emotional.’ “

“Yeah, that about covers me this past week.”

“And what about now?”

“Now? Are you kidding? I’m great. I got to play with Arlea last night.”

“So you were at David’s.”

“Yeah. And the night before I slept through your call. I’m sorry, Sarah, I should have called you Monday night, but I got home late and just didn’t feel like talking to anybody.”

“Well, you’re forgiven.”

“Thank you.”

“But only on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t forget you’re coming to dinner tonight.”

“Oh, please, Sarah, no. I really don’t have the energy to spare for this.”

“Tough. Besides, Maggie wants to see you. She’s planning on that chicken and pasta dish you love so much, you know, with the chives and tomatoes?”

“Yeah?” For a moment she was tempted. Then she remembered the other reason they wanted her there. “No. Not if this is a dinner for four.”

“Oh, come on. You haven’t been over here in ages. I’m beginning to forget what you look like.”

“I’ll come over, but only if it’s just going to be the three of us.”

“Well, it will. For a few minutes, anyway.”

“And then?”

“And then this other friend of ours is coming over. She’s great, you’ll love her. She teaches a class at the women’s center, and that’s how Maggie and I met her. She’s really very charming.”

“So was Sylvia.” That was one name guaranteed to get a rise out of Sarah since that evening had been an unmitigated disaster.

“Alex, how was I supposed to know Sylvia had a split personality?”

“And wasn’t Leah just super as well?”

“Hey, you liked Leah. You even said so.”

“Yeah, I did. Right up until the moment I had to arrest her that weekend.”

“Well, I didn’t know she’d embezzled that money.”

“I know.” Alex struggled into her pants, and gripped the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she buckled her belt. “But I gotta tell you, babe, past incidents have led me to have little faith in your matchmaking attempts.”

She could tell Sarah was pouting. “Fine. Don’t think of it as matchmaking, then. Think of it as just a dinner with three friends, one of whom you’ve never met before.”

“Sarah…” Alex let her voice trail off. She knew she couldn’t really say no.

“Please, Alex. We miss you.”

That did it. “All right. What time?”

“Seven. And thanks. I think you’re really going to enjoy yourself.”

“Remember, you said no matchmaking.”

“Right. I won’t say a word.”

Alex waited.

“But she’s beautiful, and you’ll love her.”

“Sure. Just like Carol, and Ann, and — “

“I’m hanging up now, Alex.”

“Tanya, and Beth —”

“Goodbye, Alex.”

They hung up. Alex turned to see Appleby calmly washing his face in the door to her bedroom. She sighed. “You’re lucky, cat. If she hadn’t called right then, I might have skinned you.”

He gave her the cat equivalent of a raised eyebrow, and went back to licking his paws.

“Yeah, I don’t believe me either.”

She pulled on her shirt, and finished getting ready for work.

*******************************************************

For the first time in her memory, Alex was actually into the office before David. Normally he was always there, and waiting when she walked in. Today, however, due to the snow, everyone was going to be late. It was one of the reasons Alex took the Metro. She didn’t have to worry about snow on the roads.

She decided to take the morning to go over the rest of the reports she’d gotten from Jenny. Although Jenny had said it was still incomplete, Alex was nonetheless intrigued by what she was finding. She was enjoying some tidbits about Teren Mylos, former CIA operative and assassin, now turned karate instructor. For one thing, her birth name had been Terentia Mylanos, but she had shortened it while in her early twenties.

Teren Mylos had no relatives living in the United States, though she did have several cousins in Greece. She had grown up the daughter of a history professor. Her mother was a homemaker who eventually set up her own small accounting company. Her brother, who was just a year younger than her, had died when he was just nine. He had been born with a malfunctioning heart valve, and he’d actually lived much longer than the doctors had expected.

Teren’s father was killed in an auto accident when she was eighteen. Her mother had suffered a stroke just a year later, and by her twentieth birthday, Teren was the only one of her family left. She completed her college degree in political science and American studies at George Washington University in 1989, at the age of twenty-one. The records indicated that she was recruited by several government agencies, including the FBI and the DEA. She had chosen the Central Intelligence Agency, and had virtually disappeared.

Medical records from six months before indicated that Teren Mylos had been admitted to Bethesda Medical Center as a military transfer from an air base in Germany. There was nothing to indicate how she had been injured, but the wounds had been severe, the gunshot to her abdomen leaving her with only one kidney. She’d been released from the hospital after three weeks. It was not known if she would return to active status or not.

“What the heck is this?”

Alex looked up at the sound of Cliff’s voice. “Morning, Cliff.”

“Morning. What are you doing in so early?”

“Early? I got here on time; everybody else is late.”

“Yeah, well, you would be, too, if you had to drive in this crap.”

“I thought the storm was supposed to end soon.”

“Oh, it has. Ended about an hour ago. But it’ll take ‘til this afternoon to get everything cleared up.”

“See, that’s why I don’t drive. Metro doesn’t have anything to clean up.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” He sat in the chair next to her desk. “Whatcha reading?”