"The view up here is amazing," Eric Barber marveled as he surveyed the countryside from his perch atop a utility pole outside the Dixie Pig in West Virginia, "I bet I can see three states from here."

"Four," Auggie answered simply into the earbud, "Task at hand Barber."

"Yeah, yeah, almost set. You should have visual in just a minute."

"Get the parabolic mic set too," Auggie reminded him.

"Working on the visual first. You see anything?" Barber asked and realized what he said, "Sorry boss, I forget sometimes…Stu anything?"

"Yep, nice and clear…" Stu answered.

Auggie turned to the sound of Joan's heels in the doorway, "We have visual, sound coming shortly."

"Class place," Joan commented upon seeing the view from Barber's planted camera.

"Hey, buddy, what are you doing up there!" Eric looked down to see an older man staring up at him.

"Careful…" Auggie cautioned.

"Miss Hearn, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow," Henry said as he swung the massive mahogany door to his home open to allow his visitor to enter.

"Always welcoming, Henry," Liza answered as she crossed the marble foyer and entered the luxurious living room.

Henry went to the small bar in the corner of the room and pulled a crystal glass off the shelf, "Can I get you something?" he asked pouring himself a glass of scotch.

"It's ten in the morning, Henry."

"Five o'clock somewhere…." Henry sat across from Liza on his leather chair. "So are we going to talk about why you're here, or are you just going to watch me have a cocktail?"

"Did you hear me? What are you doing up there?" the old man yelled at Eric again.

Eric began to carefully climb down the pole and found himself standing in front of the man, his full height becoming evident next to the shorter man. "Eric Bening. West Virginia Power and Light," he said pulling his officially forged badge from his front pocket. "We're just running a few tests on the transformers."

"Since when?" the old man questioned.

"My supervisor said that he informed everyone in the area last week that we'd be doing this."

"I didn't get no information."

"Jeez…" Eric said in an exaggerated tone, "They say they inform the customers and then the customers tell me that they don't. I'm so sorry. Want me to get him on the phone for you?"

"No. You just give me the number. I'll find out for myself." It was apparent to Barber that the older man wasn't going to stand down.

Eric took out a pen and an official looking notepad and jotted a number on it for him, ripping it off the pad with a flourish. "Here you go."

The older man yanked the paper from Barber's hand and stormed away.

"Call coming your way Auggie…." Eric said as he began to climb the pole again.

"Better get that mic set up and get out of there," Auggie told him.

Peter Turley stood at the bar and watched his newest waitress get instructions from Gloria, his lead waitress. He still wasn't sure why or how the beautiful woman wandered into his bar in the middle of the West Virginia countryside, but he knew that once the regulars got a look at her, they would be back again and again.

"Petey, you need to start workin' here."

"Huh?" Peter looked away from the waitresses to find a customer sitting at the bar in front of him.

"Who is that?"

"Who?"

"Pretty chick with Gloria."

"Oh, that's Annie. She's replacing Allie," Pete answered, placing a bottle of beer on the worn Miller Lite coaster on the bar.

"Looks like an upgrade to me."

"Yep."

"Just hope that she's better at waitressing than Allie."

"Well, I'm waiting…." Henry said exaggerating the word first word of his sentence.

"How many people do you still have on the inside at Langley?" Liza began with a leading question.

"I have many friends that still work at Langley," Henry replied, . "Where are you going with this?" He took a long drink of his scotch, while eyeing the reporter across from him skeptically.

"You worked there for several decades, I'm sure you have friends. But how many people do you have on the inside?"

"You mean on my side?"

"I suppose you could mean that," Liza was playing a high stakes game of chess with the former Director of Clandestine Services sitting across from her and the current one feeding her information. Playing games with sources was tricky; with spies it could be dangerous.

"There are several people that feel that I was 'retired' before my time. But that may change." Henry narrowed his eyes, "Why do you ask?"

"Because, I have a source, a reliable source, that just informed me that a high ranking official within the CIA has been arrested for attempting to sabotage operations. Could that be anyone you know?"

Henry sat back in the supple leather of the chair and thought about Liza's question for a moment. His mind was whirling with various scenarios. He couldn't be that stupid? Or could he?

Liza watched his face with amusement, "I take it you might know who this official is."

"Stupid son-of-a-bitch," Henry mumbled.

"Jai, got a minute?" Joan called to the younger Wilcox as he passed by her office.

"Just heading back to Hoover," Jai answered as he stepped inside her office, "I'm sure Rosabi will be happy not to see me too early in the morning."

Joan motioned to him to close the door and he did so before crossing her office and sitting in front of her.

"Auggie has Barber and Stu tied up and I don't trust just anyone with this," Joan began.

"Trust…"

"Baby steps," Joan said cautiously, "Roger Dunbar just sent this over, " She handed Jai a file folder, "It's the tentative schedule for the President."

"Busy guy," Jai observed as he glanced at the information in the file and closed it.

"See if you can find any opportunities that our friends might use to their advantage. We're on to them, but if we don't figure out where they're going to strike, all our efforts thus far are useless."

"I'll get right on it," Jai said standing up.

"What about Rosabi?"

"He can wait."

"Jai, I told you to be nice," Joan said with a wry smile.

"What? This is me; being nice. I'm just going to be late."

Annie plopped down on the sticky vinyl chair outside the back door of the Dixie Pig and kicked off her heels. She was used to Christian Louboutins, but these heels from Sears were hurting her feet. She made a mental note to herself that spending the money on expensive shoes really was worth it. The squeak and then the slam of the rusty metal screened door to the kitchen moved her thoughts from her hurting feet to the important operation that brought her here.

"You really outa get some more comfortable shoes," a very large man in a grease covered white t-shirt with suspenders holding up his jeans informed her.

Annie's eyes were level with his stomach and then she looked up at him, "I don't think we've met; I'm Annie," she said standing up; their height difference more apparent by her lack of shoes.

"Tom," he answered while lighting a cigarette, "I've got some empty beer bottles in the freezer, you should roll those under your feet. Girls say it makes them feel better."

"Okay, thanks for the tip," Annie sat back on the chair and gingerly began to put her shoes back on. "Everyone here is so nice."

"Yeah, that's what you think today," Tom let out a laugh, "Allie only lasted two weeks, I won that bet."

Annie realized that there was a wager going on as to how long she would last at the bar, "Really?"

"I'm givin' you three weeks, a month tops."

"You're gonna lose that bet," Annie answered with a cocky smile as she pulled the door open.

"Never do…"

Arthur looked at the ringing cell phone sitting on his desk, the vibrate feature making an interesting echo-like sound as it bounced across the polished wood of his desk. He couldn't help but smile as he dialed his own cell phone.

"She still there?"

"Just left a minute ago," Ben answered from his location down the road from Henry's riverside home.

"He didn't waste any time calling," Arthur said and laughed, "I bet she didn't even hit the main road before he was on the phone."

"Good thing you confiscated Davis's personal cell."

"This is going to get interesting, stay on her."

Thanks for reading.

-M