Renegade Read Free

somebody who isn’t so skittish, would you?”
    â€œWhy exactly did she quit?”
    Cash sighed. “The punk rocker was upset about not being allowed into my filing cabinet. I didn’t want to tell her about my baby python being in there temporarily, so I told her I kept top secret flying-saucer material in there.”
    â€œThat’s when she upended the trash can over your head,” Judd guessed.
    Cash shook his head. “No, that was afterward. I told her the filing cabinet was locked for a purpose, and that she’d better stay out of it. I went out to talk to one of the patrol officers. While I was gone, she got a nail file and forced the lock. Mikey, the python, had squeezed out of the cage and was sitting up on top of the file folders when she pulled out the drawer. She screamed like a banshee and when I went running back to see what was the matter, she threw a pair of handcuffs at me! She accused me of booby-trapping the cabinet to upset her.”
    â€œThat explains the scream I heard,” Judd agreed. “I told you it wasn’t a good idea to keep Mikey’s cage in the filing cabinet.”
    â€œIt was just for today. Bill Harris only gave him to me this morning and I didn’t have time to take him home. I put him in there until I got off work, so he wouldn’t frighten anybody who came into the office and saw him. I’m certainly taking him home this afternoon,” he said indignantly, “to make sure he doesn’t get traumatized any more than he already is!”
    â€œThe acting mayor’s niece is afraid of snakes. Imagine that,” Judd mused.
    â€œIt does strain the imagination,” Cash had to agree.
    â€œYou didn’t give her a reason to sue us, I hope?” his friend persisted.
    Cash shook his head. “I just mentioned that I had Mikey’s dad in the other filing cabinet and asked if she’d like to meet him. That’s when she quit.” He smiled pleasantly.
    â€œIf you fire people, the city has to pay them unemployment. If they quit voluntarily, you don’t. So I helped her quit voluntarily,” he added with a grin.
    â€œYou villain,” Judd said, trying not to laugh.
    â€œIt’s not my fault. She had a king-sized crush on me. She thought if her uncle got her this job, she could hike up her skirt and throw out her chest and seduce me,” he said irritably. He frowned. “Maybe I should have filed a sexual harassment suit.”
    â€œOh, that would go over well with Ben Brady,” Judd said tongue in cheek.
    â€œI’m tired of being chased around my desk by secretaries.”
    â€œThey’re called administrative assistants,” Judd said helpfully. “Not secretaries.”
    â€œGive me a break!”
    â€œThat’s why I want you to go to New York.”
    â€œI’ve got a pet to take care of,” Cash protested.
    â€œYou can take Mikey back over to Bill Harris before you leave town. He won’t mind taking care of your baby while you’re gone. You need a break. Honest.”
    Cash sighed and slid his big hands into his pockets. “For once, I agree with you.” He hesitated. “If her uncle calls and asks why she left…”
    â€œI won’t say a word about the snake. I’ll just tell him that you were having mental problems from being followed around by aliens all day,” Judd said complacently.
    Cash gave him a dirty look and went back to work.
    Â 
    L ATE THE NEXT DAY , Cash presented himself in the commandant’s office at the Cannae Military Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The name of the school was amusing to him, denoting as it did the monstrous defeat of mighty Rome at the hands of the Carthaginian guerilla, Hannibal.
    The commandant, Gareth Marist, was known to him. He’d served with the man years before during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq.
    They shook hands like brothers, which they were, under the skin. Few men had