Free Nothing but Trouble by Michael McGarrity Page B

that accentuated her legs and pulled on a scoop-necked short-sleeve top that revealed the tiniest bit of cleavage.
    In the kitchen Patrick and Kerney were at the table, reading Pablito the Pony. Sara nuzzled Patrick’s cheek and stroked the back of Kerney’s neck.
    “Are you just now reading the book?” she asked.
    “For the third time,” Kerney said, glancing at Sara. “You look yummy.”
    “Yummy means good,” Patrick announced as he turned the page.
    “Can you hold that thought until later?” Sara asked.
    Kerney grinned. “Easily. How did your meeting go?”
    “Okay.”
    Patrick poked his finger on the book to get Kerney’s attention. “This is where Pablito gets his hoof stuck in the fence, Daddy.”
    “Right you are,” Kerney said.
    “I’ll get the noodles started,” Sara said, “while you men finish reading.”
    The phone rang. Sara went to the living room and answered. Kerney paused, hoping it wasn’t the Pentagon calling her back to work. She was still on the phone when he finished reading the story. He closed the book, sent Patrick off to his bedroom to put it away, and found Sara in the living room, her eyes dancing with excitement.
    “Good news?” he asked.
    “I’m staying at the Pentagon for at least six more months,” Sara said, “in a new temporary assignment, with a new boss.”
    “What’s the job?”
    “I’m supposed to develop a military-police training course for reserve and National Guard units.”
    “How did you pull that off?”
    Sara shook her head. “I don’t know.”
    “Does this mean your leave is canceled?”
    Sara snuggled up to him. “No way. We’re still going to the Bootheel with you to play Hollywood cowboy.”
    Kerney grinned with relief, held her close, took in her scent. “Well, for now, that’s another piece of puzzle solved.”
    “For now is good enough for me,” Sara replied.
    “I’m hungry,” Patrick said, as he bounded into the living room and grabbed his parents by the legs.
    After a great weekend with Sara and Patrick, Kerney returned to Santa Fe late Sunday night, caught a few hours of sleep, and arrived at work in time to convene an interagency planning meeting for the upcoming Santa Fe Fiesta.
    Every year in September the city celebrated the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico with pageantry, religious services, music, dances, parties, and the public burning of Old Man Gloom. It was a time when a good number of the citizenry got drunk, started fistfights, brawled in bars, vandalized property, fought with spouses, drove under the influence, and occasionally shot or knifed each other. Additionally, the birthrate in the city always spiked nine months later.
    Santa Fe’s finest hated fiestas so much that many officers counted their years to retirement by the number of remaining celebrations they would be forced to work before they turned in their pension papers.
    The meeting, held in the council chambers at city hall, brought together supervisors and commanders of all local, county, and state law-enforcement agencies, plus fire department, EMT, county jail, and hospital ER personnel. Working through the full agenda took the whole morning. Decisions were made on the streets to be closed and manned by uniformed personnel, where first-aid stations would be set up, how many personnel would be assigned to saturation foot and roving traffic patrols, the number of plainclothes, undercover, and gang-unit teams that would operate during the long weekend, and where DWI checkpoints would be established.
    After setting SWAT command-and-control protocols for crowd and riot control, the meeting moved on to a discussion of what bars, liquor establishments, and convenience stores would be targeted for alcohol sales to underage drinkers, and how transportation to the jail and hospital would be coordinated.
    Kerney brought the meeting to a close with a word of thanks and the announcement that he would be on vacation during the fiesta, leaving Larry Otero, his