So, here I am in Scotland and Jack has decided that he may not have thought out his plan for revenge as well as he should have, leaving me to wonder if he experienced some sort of sense-inducing blunt trauma. Happily, I return to my neat and orderly apartment.
I mix a martiki and put on my Bonnie Prince Charlie slippers. Then the phone rings. Thinking I was safe since Jack had given up (for now), (Up)Chuck’s gay admirer had already left his nightly message and Dante was dead, I answer it. It’s Cahill. He wants me to find out who Ms. Maddox is.
I take half a bottle of extra strength aspirins and call Paris, the agent, not the city. She is back in Scotland after having a lovely holiday. She agrees to come to Paris, the city not the agent. Unfortunately, so does Jack.
Another call from Cahill indicates that he wants the team to assemble at a small house in the country outside Paris, the city not the agent, so I call Karin and Mackenzie to meet there. Cahill has contacted (Up)Chuck and Rossi.
Jack and Paris, the agent, not the city, arrive and I put a hard wooden chair on the linoleum in the foyer for Jack before inviting Paris in to sit on my new comfy couch and run her toes through my new soft carpet. Since we have committed a terrible oversight in never having visited the Paris Zoo, we got o see the animals.
Eventually we make our way to Cahill’s country house. He (obviously completely unaware of the importance of the zoo visit) seems a tad upset that I haven’t debriefed anyone. He was unhappy with Karin’s lack of information, but he told her to leave out the parts with Hans, so all she said was that she went to Germany and stole some specimens.
Anyway, the plan is to have (Up)Chuck go back to Germany and firm up his engagement plans with Hilda while looking for work as a security person, hopefully at GenCorp.
I go to the kitchen to cook a feast in celebration of (Up)Chuck’s upcoming nuptials. (Up)Chuck, for some reason fearing for his gastro-intestinal health, has attempted to turn off the gas, but only succeeded in turning off the water (and luckily, the life-giving substance is not an ingredient in Sheila’s Parisian Pot Pie). However, soon (Up)Chuck finds the gas valve, which he breaks.
He runs through the house yelling, ‘nobody light a match.’ As soon as I smell gas, I grab the nearest valuables (that being the Parisian Pot Pie) and run outside. Boy is that (Up)Chuck clumsy! He keeps falling into me and kicking the pot, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he wanted me to drop the Parisian Pot Pie. But then I decide that he must be really hungry, because he keeps trying to take the pot from me. Since it wasn’t quite done to perfection yet, I clearly could not give up possession of the pot.
Cahill, using his experience as an engineer for an energy company, shuts the gas valve off and we return to the house.
Rossi and Paris, perhaps unable to stop the rumbling in their stomachs from the delectable smell of the engagement feast, have gone to town, and Cahill makes me call them to come back.
Anyway, eventually we all start making our way toward Germany with our respective assignments: Jack the-I-have-a-two-million-dollar-price-on-my-head International Terrorist is being sent to Hawaii to check on Paris’s plants (I tried to tell Paris it was a BAD idea to let Jack into your home unattended) and keep the team relatively safe from any would-be assassins; Karin will take Paris to meet Hans, so she can make use of his delivery connections; (Up)Chuck is heading back to Brü n to make nice to Hilda; Mackenzie is researching everybody connected with the German mission; and Rossi and I are going to try to get up close and personal with the well-preserved old men who own the genetics companies.
Karin and Paris arrive at Hans’s apartment. Hans is thrilled to see Karin, especially now that he has so much free time, on account of losing his job because of the caper at Struob Lab. Karin goes to make tea while Paris works her charms on Hans (and she gave him some money, too). He agrees to help get information on shipments to the labs from his UPS buddies and to be available for any legal work that Paris may have for him (don’t hold your breath, Hans).
(Up)Chuck gets his resume together and makes the rounds looking for work. The management at GenCorp. seem interested as he sings the beleaguered white man blues. Hilda is more than happy to make room for (Up)Chuck at her place.
Night descends and the team falls into a restless sleep: unwanted images of Bambi dance through (Up)Chuck’s mind; Rossi smiles as he spends all of his expense money on expensive shades; Mackenzie continues his expose on genetic engineering for which he receives the Nobel Peace Prize; Karin makes up with Hans and his hands; I dream of being back in my apartment and back at my boring job; and horrified visions of Jack destroying her lovely apartment cause Paris to toss and turn all night.