"I can't tell you how much we appreciate this," Tem said, looking out over the vast green expanse of the Gordon home's front lawn. Refreshments were being enjoyed plein air by the considerable number of people who'd helped with Jeremy and Kate Pike's big move.
"How much you appreciate it?" Federal Agent Stan Wickersham laughed. "The way I see it, it's the least my men and I could do! You three are the ones who saved us from death or worse – and possibly saved our new agency as well. And on top of it, giving us the credit for saving the Franconium when we all know you Secret Service folk did the work?"
Both men understood the reasons for that. Tem, Amanda and Jimmy could take credit at least in secret for 'Presidio Pete' Yerba's arrest all right. But foiling Yerba's larger scheme called for something more. Yerba wasn't the only one gunning for the Justice Department's newest bureau. There were plenty of folks in Congress doing their best to foil even basic cooperation between the Treasury Department's law enforcement officers and these new Investigators. If Charles Bonaparte's agents were going to endure, they needed all the positive publicity they could get. Having the gratitude of the French government didn't hurt either. And a word in the right ears had ensured that France and the State Department sent more – and more competent – representatives than Flemings to escort the dangerous Franconium hydrate on the remainder of its journey through the country.
"Helping us with cleaning out and packing up that old attic was a major help too," Tem reminded him. And a risky one. But here also Wickersham felt he ought to be the more grateful party.
"Dealing with a full hazard obstacle course designed by the legendary agents Artemus Gordon and James West, you mean?" Wickersham looked out at his crew enjoying the picnic. "It's done us good. We needed the training and test of our observation skills, especially if we're going to be facing more like Yerba. I daresay lax building security and false guards won't catch us so easily again. Pity about the real guards, poor devils."
The memory of the corpses unearthed a day after the incident sobered them both. The Secret Service agents, Investigators and Flemings might have escaped with their lives, but not everyone had been so lucky. 'Presidio Pete's original crimes had earned him Treasury's enmity, but Wickersham assured the Wests that Justice would make him pay the price. They were keeping a nice, warm chair reserved for Yerba, Wickersham said, before he goes someplace even hotter.
But today, enjoying sunny but cooler weather, neither man wanted to dwell on such grim topics, especially when there were accomplishments to celebrate and a picnic to attend.
"So have Mr. Bonaparte and the rest come up with the definitive name for your agency yet?" Tem asked.
"So I'm told," Wickersham sighed. "At least until someone changes their mind again! You know, I rather like the name your wife chose for us."
Tem snorted at the joke. The freshman Investigators had been so gushing and enthusiastic over the Secret Service agents' defeat of their captor, the additional training and tips they'd gotten from the three in the days since, their gadgets, the attic, their famous fathers' reputations, everything, that Amanda had murmured to Tem – without realizing Wickersham could hear – they ought to be called the Gee! Men.
"It has a certain ring to it," Wickersham grinned.
"Ah, it'll never catch on," Tem predicted.
Their pleasant conversation was interrupted by Jimmy running up to them with new marching orders for himself and Tem.
"Mandy says it's almost time to cut the cake, and she wants you to bring up another keg of root beer from the cold cellar while I help her pass out the plates!" Jimmy related. "Again! Older sisters are tyrants, aren't they?"
"I wouldn't know," Tem reminded him. "I never had one."
The comment caused the younger man to pause and consider for a moment as an odd, bemused look came over his face.
"Yeah . . . ." he whispered, shaking his head and then smiling sadly. "I guess some people just aren't lucky that way."
Message delivered, Jimmy bounded back to where the tyrant in question was waiting for him, while Wickersham joined Tem on his own appointed task.
"A remarkable young man," Wickersham said. "Difficult to believe he's a full field agent at only sixteen. Very remarkable!"
"You can say that again," Tem laughed. "He's even writing up our official report on the whole Chicago Federal Building incident and Yerba's gang's capture."
"Really?" Wickersham raised his eyebrows in astonishment.
"With plenty of judicious proofreading and editing from 'manda and me, of course," Tem added. There were several details concerning Torres' hypno-lamp and Amanda's clever use of it that would have to be left out, and a slightly more dignified explanation of where and how they had gotten the large quantity of sleep gas compound from invented. But that would be easy enough. No one was likely to believe some of the crazy stories Yerba's gang was trying to use to explain what they were up to and what had really happened in the Federal building. The Investigators had been sworn not to divulge such 'classified' information either. "Denver and Washington want to take advantage of Jimmy's memory for detail and reporting skills," Tem explained. "They're encouraging him to get in the practice. So are we. He's already come up with the perfect title for his report too."
"Oh?" Wickersham inquired.
Both men got a good laugh, though Wickersham didn't know whether Tem was pulling his leg or not when he gave out the title for Jimmy's report:
How I Spent My Summer Vacation.