Angus Flittman was at the Tip-Top Café when the two spies arrived. He was slugging down Orange Crush like there was no tomorrow, and he had pulled a soft-looking brown tweed cap over his head. He smiled pleasantly as they entered. Two other roadies were playing pool near the back of the café, but neither of them looked at Sydney or Vaughn. Neither of them was Weiss. "What can I do for you?"
"Mr. Flittman, is there somewhere we can talk?" Vaughn asked, taking the lead.
Angus looked confused. "Sure," he said. "Come with me."
He led them through the café and into the kitchen, which was well-stocked and completely empty. "What's going on?" he asked. "Something wrong in the corps?"
"No sir," Sydney said. "We're here to talk to you about defecting from the Covenant."
"Oh," said Angus, a look of recognition appearing in his deep brown eyes. "I see."
"We'd like to arrange for extraction ASAP," Vaughn said. "An agent from the Society of Fifth is here, Anya Dombrowski. It would be to your advantage if she did not manage to steal The Puzzle."
"Of course it would," Angus said. "The Society of the Fifth has done nothing more than run after The Puzzle for twenty years, and now you say they've got someone here?"
Vaughn nodded. "Yes. Anya Dombrowski, apparently a top agent for the Society of the Fifth, is posing as a bugle player named Maya Stevenson. That's why it is important to extract you as soon as possible."
"Can't," Angus said, shrugging. "I've got a duty to the drum and bugle corps. Once the tour's over, it'll be a different matter, but I can't do anything before that."
Sydney looked at Vaughn. "All right, but we'd like to arrange for extraction of The Puzzle right now."
"The Puzzle's safe," Angus laughed confidently. "The Society of the Fifth will never find it."
"As true as that may be, we don't want to take any chances."
"They won't find it," Angus repeated. "I'll only be able to retrieve The Puzzle after I'm extracted. Which, as I've told you, won't occur until after the tour."
"Mr. Flittman, you are taking your security into your own hands, which is something I'm not sure I like," Vaughn said. "We'd like to arrange for possible extraction tomorrow."
"No can do," Angus said, smiling. "We leave at five-thirty. You two had better be on the buses, too, or that agent from the Society of the Fifth will know something's up."
"Are you serious?" Vaughn asked.
"I've never been more serious, Agent…"
"Shh!" Sydney cautioned him. "We don't want the Society of the Fifth to get word that we're here."
"Ah. Understandable. But I've never been more serious. The tour must be completed. The corps needs me. And that's all I have to say on the matter."
The two spies left the Café. "Crap," Vaughn said. "You know what that means."
In the darkness, Sydney was half-smiling. "I sure do."
"It means we have to march."
"Darn right it does."
