Once Upon a Spy (Humorous Cozy Mystery) by Nic Saint Read Free Book Online

bombs on inner city neighborhoods. There will be families living there. Women and children. What if our intel proves wrong and we level a school, or a hospital? The loss of lives will be devastating.”
    Pyke’s face promptly turned into a scowl. “Nonsense. With the tech you’re developing over at ASS, the possibility for error will be reduced to zero. Isn’t what you told me yourself? Isn’t that why I’m paying for this whole project of yours out of pocket? Don’t tell me you’ve been feeding me a bunch of lies, Kathleen.”
    He wagged his fat finger in her face. For a moment, she felt inclined to slap it away. Being used now to bossing others around, her tolerance for being bossed was becoming lower with each passing year and promotion.
    She managed to keep her cool, though, as she invariably did. “I’m not, sir. It’s just that you can’t use weapons of mass destruction in our own backyard. The public will never allow it.”
    Pyke shrugged his massive shoulders. “What the public doesn’t know won’t hurt them.”
    Kathleen raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “They won’t know drones are bombing houses, sir? They’re not blind. It won’t be long before they take snapshots and post them on the Internet.”
    Pyke’s fat lips curled up into a smile. “Not if the drones are invisible.”
    Kathleen’s mouth opened and closed. “Come again? Sir?”
    “This is strictly hush-hush, Kathleen. Need to know and all that.” He fixed her with his metal-gray eyes. “Your ASS isn’t the only secret project I’ve got simmering on the stove. I’ve set up another one called EYE. Enhanced Yield Equalizer. It’s a project to make drones invisible to the human eye. And it’s looking really promising so far.” He eyed her triumphantly. “So you see? If we hook up your ASS with my EYE, we’re as good as gold!”
    “Ahm…”
    Pyke grinned, displaying two neat rows of yellowed teeth. The sight never failed to revolt her. “Speechless, huh? That’s the way I like it. Once I lose the capacity to render my subordinates dumb with my brilliance, I’m ready for retirement.”
    Kathleen swallowed uncomfortably. “Who’s in charge of your EYE, sir?”
    “That’s the best part. He’s an old friend of yours. Aaron Chinn?”
    Kathleen’s stomach lurched. Far from being an old friend, Aaron was more an old enemy of hers. “Aaron Chinn, sir?” she said morosely.
    “That’s the one. I’ve set up a meeting between the two of you this afternoon to work out the details. And don’t worry, he’s been briefed about ASS so he knows all about it and about you and your involvement.”
    He gave her a cold stare as he chomped down on his cigar. “And Kathleen? I want this project up and running in sixty days, you hear me? Before the year is through, I want the first drones flying over American cities, saving American lives.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    He waved his fat hand. “Dismissed.”

Chapter 10

    Yvonne entered the house with some trepidation. In spite of the fact she was now making her own living, she still hadn’t moved out of her parents’ house in Brooklyn. The three-story structure, which had at one point housed no less than eleven people, was still the hub of the Assenheimer universe, though only Yvonne and her younger brother Albert now remained. Her seven older brothers had all flown the nest at one point or another, usually coinciding either with their first paycheck or when love came into their lives.
    They all lived on the same block, though, except for Theodore, who’d mysteriously moved to the other side of the country and now lived on the West Coast with his girlfriend, an interior decorator working for the stars out in Hollywood.
    He was the only Assenheimer who’d escaped the garbage business, however. Yvonne’s other seven brothers still trawled the New York streets every day, ridding the city from its massive amounts of waste, as did her father and several of her uncles and cousins.
    Was she