Page 125 of Statler

Statler shook his head at the tainted beauty.

What a shame that a place so stunning, held such terrible memories for Eliza.

Statler dragged his phone out and hit the first number on his agenda.

“Blue,” he barked, the minute his operative picked up. “In a nutshell, Eliza is okay. Flazer is dead,” he told her before she could ask. “If you and Amos could head here and take care of all the fallout when the FBI arrives, I’d⁠—”

“No worries, boss. We’ve got this.” Blue didn’t even let him finish. “I’ll call them. You just make sure Eliza is taken care of.”

Statler breathed a sigh of relief. That’s exactly what he wanted.

Blue was awesome.

What would he do without his team?

“Thanks. But I have a couple things to deal with, first. I need to call Granny and let her know Eliza is good. And if Mason will answer his phone, I can find out how the whole bust thing is playing out.”

“You can call him,” Blue snickered, “but it’s actually all over. Wah, wah, wah.” She amusedly made the quiz show, you lose, end of round noise.

“Amos has been in touch with Mason, and the whole operation went off without a hitch. Without Flazer or Jeremy there to rouse any kind of resistance amongst the worker bees, the whole bunch just rolled over and showed their yellow bellies. The FBI is heading in to mop things up and take credit as we speak.”

“That’s great news.” Statler felt one burden lift from his shoulders. “I’ll get the details from Mason, then let Dark know that the job is finished.”

“If our mentor doesn’t know, already,” Blue snorted. “I swear to god, that man is omniscient.”

“Which keeps us in business,” Statler returned. “He can sniff out trouble faster than anyone I know. Which means there’ll be another job coming our way, soon.”

“Just the way we like it,” Blue agreed happily.

Statler hoped the next one would be closer to home. He wanted to bring Eliza back to his place, then spend as much time as possible with her once they determined that she was staying. Forever.

But Eliza was right with what she’d said earlier. Now was not exactly the time to be pondering the future.

Statler cleared his throat and continued. “When you’re finished here at the mansion, meet us back at the cottages for a debrief.”

“Can’t wait,” Blue responded chirpily. “Now do whatever else you have to do, so you can concentrate on Eliza.”

Damn.

Statler loved his crew.

He hung up and dialed Mason, next.

“Everything is good, here,” Mason apprised, picking up to begin talking after only one ring. “How did it go with Flazer?”

“Dead,” Statler told him without preamble, or even a hint of apology in his voice. “And I heard that you had an easy op. Blue told me that the whole house of cards folded the minute you showed up at the factory.”

“It certainly did,” Mason chuckled. “Kind of a letdown if you ask me. Nobody tried to run, and not one firearm had to be discharged.”

“Sucks to have everything work out so well,” Statler teased.

Mason ignored that. “What happened to make Flazer dead?”

“I shot him.”

Statler felt no remorse.

“He was trying to poison Eliza, so I took him out. But nothing will come of it, even if the FBI is sore about losing their key player. Eliza has the whole thing recorded, so it’s very much self-defense. You’ll hear it all once we’re back at the cottages.”