Free Tag, You're It! by Penny McCall

side of the street.
    The sheriff's office sat at one end of town, and a closed railroad station anchored the other; Tag suspected they'd driven it out of business so they could hunker in their little valley and not be tainted by the outside world. Good thing there were pickups and cars parked on the east side of the street or he'd be concerned about inbreeding.
    "This is the first chance I've had to check in," he said to Mike.
    There was silence from the other end of the phone, the kind of silence that came from disbelief warring with past history. Past history won out. "It's not the most outlandish thing you've ever told me," Mike finally said. "Hell, it's not the strangest report I've had this week. You should hear about Jack Mitchell's last mission. I'd tell you—if it wasn't classified."
    "Mitchell? He still breathing? I figured some drug dealer would've gotten him by now."
    "It's not the drug cartels, it's the women," Mike said, chuckling. "He ran into one who… Let's just say Pablo Corona was no match for her. Neither was Jack."
    "Sounds entertaining, but can we focus on me for a minute?"
    "Yeah, chucked out of an airplane on Dr. Doolittle," Mike said, all business despite the amusement still light in his voice. "How'd you live through that?"
    "The plane wasn't very high when they pushed me out, there was a couple feet of snow, and Dr. Doolittle has a conscience." He told Mike the rest of the story, filling in some pieces he hadn't shared with Alex, carefully cleansed for public consumption, just in case. "About all I know is that Alex is in the middle of this thing and I need to stick close to her if I want to find out what's going on."
    "If? You still hoping I'll pull you off this case?"
    "I shouldn't be on this case."
    "You're right, you should be taking time off like the psychs suggested."
    "You're not going to start that garbage about how I shouldn't be in the field so soon?"
    "Would it do me any good?" Mike didn't wait for an answer. "I gave you this case because I knew you'd go crazy sitting around, and then you'd go after Anthony Sappresi."
    "He killed Zukey," Tag said. "He tried to kill me. You're damn right I'm going after him—"
    "You know the rules, Donovan."
    "Yeah." The bureau wouldn't put him on the investigation into his partner's murder. Tag chewed on that for a minute, but he already knew he was in for the duration. That didn't mean he had to be happy about it. "Okay, so now that this busywork case is going to shit, what do you suggest?"
    "I suggest you get into Dr. Doolittle's brain, see what she knows."
    "She doesn't know anything," Tag muttered sourly, then hissed out a breath. "That's my gut talking," he admitted, and he didn't trust his gut anymore.
    "Yeah? Well, my gut's been talking, too," Mike said. "And this case may not be the open and shut busywork you think. Watch your back."
    "Spill it," Tag said, grateful Mike hadn't questioned his instincts. Tag had been doing enough second-guessing for the entire bureau.
    "Can't," Mike shot back, his gravelly voice dropping to what passed for a whisper. "You aren't the only one who can be overheard."
    And the FBI offices were hotbeds of gossip, just like every other white collar beehive in every other city in the world. "You saying you didn't send me on this assignment just to keep me busy?"
    "It may turn out that way," Mike said, "but there's been some rumblings coming out of Boston, from Sappresi's general direction. And before you ask I'm not getting into specifics."
    "Fucking rules again," Tag said.
    "Not just the fucking rules," Mike shot back. "I could be jumping to conclusions, here, Donovan, or I could be flat-out wrong."
    But he wasn't. Tag might have lost faith in his own gut, but he'd have staked his life on Mike's. There was more going on than simple fraud being perpetrated on a bunch of ignorant investors. Still, Mike was right about jumping. Kind of like being pushed; you never knew where you might land. Or on whom.
    "I've done what I