So it's been...a while. Test anxiety is nobodies friend. 

Anyway, I didn't forget or anything. Hopefully I'm back on the horse now.

To go back and start at A, click here.

Nobody who worked personal security enjoyed anonymous threat jobs. At least fifty percent of the time they turned out to be nothing. Turned out to be someone harmless in the mark’s life angling for attention, or the mark themselves, or… Really, if someone wanted to end the mark’s life it made sense not to warn them.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the times when that wasn’t the case were worse. At best, when the threat was serious, the job ended bloody and difficult. And just crazy. Because, obviously, it made sense not to warn someone you wanted to kill them, so once that warning was issued ‘sense’ was somewhere in the rearview and everybody was going to have a bad time. Especially the poor idiot who’d agreed to throw themselves between the mark and the eventual hail of bullets, or explosions, or…

When JJ had started there’d been a case with exotic poisonous frogs she’d been really happy not to be part of.

All of that meant that as personal security, you walked into an anonymous threat job honestly, fervently hoping you were going to find some overcommitted romantic interest, or family member trying to make a point. That didn’t mean you didn’t turn them in to the appropriate authorities, or fail to finish the job, it just meant you didn’t have to spend the rest of the job waiting for the inevitable descent into crazy-town.

JJ more or less frog-marched Corbet into his temporary office at the University early the next morning, but it was already full. As wanting Corbet to back out of his prime place in this whirligig was just as good a reason to be sending him threats as any—seriously, the dude had fewer associates and connections than she did—JJ needed an understanding of the people inhabiting Corbet’s life for the next three weeks. Was the department secretary infatuated? Did the person who would have done the conference without Corbet harbor some resentment?

“Ah, Liam!” A white-haired man in a bow tie who looked like he’d stepped out of a movie about universities at the beginning of the 20th century was on them before they’d made it through the door.

“Professor Higgins!” Liam shook hands warmly. “You’re looking well today.”

Higgins laughed. “Reports of my demise were sadly over-stated. The doctors assure me if I put up with their torture I’ve got another dozen active years in me.” He fiddled with his bow-tie and cast a glance at JJ. “Campus security informed me of what’s going on. I won’t ask if you’re sure.”

“My grandmother’s hired Commander Jennings, and I’ve done what I’ve been asked to.” Liam shrugged. “I’m here, and I have every intention of going through with my life as uninterrupted as I can.”

“Be nice if you gave the rest of us the same courtesy,” another man hissed, nearly bumping JJ out of his way as he barreled through the department lobby.

JJ watched him disappear into an office and turned to Corbet. “It’s generally not the person comfortable being rude in public, but I’m still going to ask.”

“Professor Dane has…” Higgins paused. “A brilliant mind but poor people skills.”

“And Mr. Corbet’s position in this situation would be his if Mr. Corbet was…not here?”

Liam snorted. “No, because my position requires talking to people and James is not a talker. He also doesn’t, I think, like me any less than he does anyone else.”

“I’m not sure that says much, given how less than fond he is of humanity in general,” a woman said, handing Corbet a tablet and a bottle of water. “I am to remind you that you’re talking for the next three weeks and you will lose your voice if you don’t drink enough water and do your exercises.” She looked at JJ and waved ineffectually. “I am Cherry Higgins, I’m in charge of guest services for the conference.”

“Higgins?” JJ looked between them, they didn’t look particularly similar.

Cherry handed another bottle of water to the old man. “I’m married to Professor Higgin’s long-suffering nephew, for my sins.”
Higgins laughed. “Charles is certainly long-suffering.”

“Is Charles here today, I wanted to pick his brain about something,” Liam asked, fiddling with the tablet.

“He is not.” Cherry pushed the sleeves on her jacket up to her elbows and glanced at the clock. “But he should be here during your break between presentations this afternoon.” She forced a smile. “And I’ve told him to stop lecturing, because you have security and it’s unfair to expect you to hide in your apartment forever, but you know Charles.”

Liam grinned. “I’m sure he’ll approve of Commander Jennings.”

“Miss Higgins, can I borrow you for a moment?” crackled over the intercom system.

She rolled her eyes and headed for an office in the corner. “Liam, don’t forget your lunch meeting changed. It was a pleasure meeting you, Commander. Please let me know if you need anything.”

Professor Higgins sighed. “I have work to do. Good luck today, Liam.”

“Thank you, sir.” Liam stepped back. “I hope you’ll have time to see a bit of the conference.”

“I intend to.”

JJ followed Corbet into his private, temporary office and closed the door behind them, but didn’t engage the privacy screening. Brown had popped in her ear a couple of times that everything was clear on the outside, and he was running standard background on everyone they’d run into and also deep background on the people with closest connections to Corbet.

He’d left Cherry Higgins off the list of associates, which was annoying but probably just an oversight as she was connected with the conference and not technically with the department.

“I’m sorry I didn’t put Cherry on the list,” Corbet said, adjusting things on the desk.

“Is there a reason for it?”

He shrugged. “I thought she wouldn’t be here. Last week Charles said she was going to step out this year and keep an eye on Bert if they let him out of the hospital.”

“What happened to Bert?”

Corbet blinked at her. “He had a heart attack. Fairly minor, but as it wasn’t his first there were concerns.”

JJ felt that particular sensation rush up her back. “So last week Professor Higgins, and his niece-in-law, were both not going to be involved. Is her husband one of the presenters?”

“No.” Corbet shook his head. “No, Charles in City Justice. He takes his vacation time and contracts with the university to oversee security for the conference, because of the influx of people and attention.”

So even if, as things had stood last week, he’d been on premises he might have been reasonably assumed to be preoccupied. “If you’d stepped out because of these threats, who would have done the conference instead?”

Corbet blinked at her. “Bert, I imagine, but he was ill last week.”

“Is that part of why you weren’t willing to cancel?”

Corbet’s face leached of all expression and looked down at his desk. “No.”

JJ almost pushed that because jesus talk about telegraphing that there was an issue. But it wasn’t any of her business and given she didn’t have a reasonable expectation of actual threat and she still needed him willing to listen when she gave him instructions it wouldn’t do any good to get his back up.

“Does it matter,” he asked.

​JJ shrugged. “It depends on whether or not someone actually wants to hurt you, or if they just want you to step out of the conference. It might. It might not.” She’d wait and see what deep background turned up.

Alright. So I'm going to tell you to come back tomorrow for E, but I maybe won't be upset if you don't believe me...

And I'm officially behind...
Test anxiety is no ones friend.

Anyway, here is C on the day D should be happening. I'll get caught up by the weekend (presumably).

Go back to A here.

JJ took her time gathering her things, dragging the window and door systems she preferred out of storage, packing her go bag. She’d done last minute jobs plenty, where you had about five minutes to pack everything you needed and go, and she’d do them again. Anybody worth their salt learned to keep themselves organized and as prepared as it worked to be.

She could have been ready and probably even at Jacqueline Corbet’s house before they arrived.

But reasonably she didn’t need to be, and Jacqueline Corbet had a more than satisfactory security system. They’d agreed the job didn’t start until she appeared at the Corbet mansion and took possession of the client.

She got her stuff together, and introduced herself to his building security, and did an external pass of the University, and went and sat at some seedy bar she found and had her last drink for three weeks. Then she pulled up at the security gate in front of the mansion and pressed the intercom button.

“Yes?”

“Commander Jennings.” She pressed her ID up to the camera. “I’m expected.”

“They told us,” a gruff voice answered. “Come on in. Mr. Liam says you’re to use the front door.”

“Does he,” JJ muttered. “Thank you.”

She pulled up the immaculate drive, and into the wide circle in front of the house. There was a secondary entrance around the side—the tradesmen’s—and normally she’d have rather used it. It was less visible, had better cover.

Liam Corbet was sitting, lit up like a goddamn beacon, in the middle of the front stairs.

JJ rolled the passenger window down. “You realize an even halfway descent shot could make all this academic from outside the perimeter, you sitting in plain sight.”

He blinked at her. “If I aggravate a military grade sniper I’ll remember that.”

JJ rolled her eyes, and leaned across her car and popped the door open. “I promise if you do you won’t get the chance.”

“See.” He stepped up and slid into the car. “Then there’s no point in worrying about it. Why aren’t we just taking your car?”

“I’m security, not your chauffeur, this is a one-time ride.”

“Ah.” He looked out the window, easy expression on his face.

JJ tensed her hands on the steering, and started out of the house gate. She checked her mirrors, and elected to take the round about route from the mansion to his apartment.

“So…”

“If you’d like to get where you’re going alive, never distract your detail,” JJ snapped. She didn’t need the concentration, probably, but she wasn’t in the mood to sit and listen to him prattle at her about how unfair it was they were making him do this. Or about Maman’s dinner party. Or anything else.

Corbet watched her for a minute, and then went back to silently staring out the window.

Even taking the long way, and changing plans mid-stream, they pulled up to his building in less than twenty minutes. JJ signaled to the support officer she’d told to meet them there—there was no way she was leaving her car in a lot around here somewhere. If they needed it in an emergency she’d deal with the logistics of that then. In the lot controlled by Joint Security was much safer. She left the car on, and put it in park. She’d barely slid out of the seat, and stepped away when they were in the car and Corbet was staring in shock as it pulled away from them.

“I’m assuming your car wasn’t just stolen?”

JJ took him by the elbow, and headed for the door. “It wasn’t.”

The doorman was the same gentleman she’d met earlier. Chuck—they were always named Chuck it seemed—was about twice her age, and going slightly to seed, but he’d worked as personal security, and a bouncer, and a couple of other jobs that meant he knew how to handle himself when he needed to. He swept the door open before them and closed it directly behind them, greeting Corbet warmly.

“Grandmother insisted,” Corbet was explaining.

Chuck hit the elevator button for them. “Well, insisted she might, but Joint Security wouldn’t take the job if it wasn’t worth taking, man.”

Corbet sighed. “I’m coming to terms with that.”

Chuck smiled at her and saluted. “Let me know if you need anything.”

JJ nodded once and shut the elevator door. She just needed him to do his job, and they’d already discussed that earlier in the afternoon.

The one plus to how hard his elevator was trying to be one of the mirrored Art Deco numbers was the chance to surreptitiously watch the mark. Corbet was standing next to her, staring at the gradually ascending numbers on the elevator, like the lights were on and nobody was home.

When the final paperwork had come through there’d been a personal file on Corbet attached. It might have been all theoretical and…academic, but he had an actual job. Never married. Only went to required social functions—he had about a million cousins and there seemed to be one getting married all the time. He didn’t have any known associates, just the people he tangentially worked with.

Her earpiece crackled to life then. “Brown, reporting.”

She pressed the speaker button. “Eta one minute.”

There was a sigh. “Roger. You realize this job wasn’t supposed to start until at least tomorrow.”

JJ scanned the hall when the elevator opened, hand pressed to Corbet’s chest to keep him in the elevator carriage until she was sure it was clear.

“It’s clear,” Brown groused.

“Roger,” JJ replied, and waved Corbet at his door. “And the job starts once we’re responsible for the client.”

Corbet opened his door, his door security was biometric and coded, and the packet said nobody had the code but she was going to make him change it anyway.

“This dude has the most boring apartment in the building, you realize that?” Brown muttered.

JJ knew the layout, but she hadn’t actually seen the inside before. It was…tasteful and expensive, but not as flashy as she might have expected.

Corbet kicked his shoes off underneath the console table in the hall. “The room on the end is my office, the one in the middle is the room you can use. Is there anything you need me to do?”

JJ watched the fatigue in his eyes, and the way he was digging his toes into the high pile carpet. “I’ll need you to reset your door code once I get the system rigged. And stay away from the windows.”

He waved them around. “They’ll all covered in blackout blinds anyway.” He turned and headed for the kitchen. “I’m going to eat something normal, do you want anything.”

​“I ate before.” She started fishing her systems out. It was going to be a long night for her, but she was sincerely hoping he decided to go to bed. Everything would be easier without him under foot.

Come back tomorrow for D is for...(?)

Day 2! I promise eventually these will start happening before the end of the day.

I'll keep telling us that anyway.

If you missed yesterday, click the button down there to go to A is for Alliteration. 

“We have some logistical issues, Mr. Corbet.”

“Liam,” he corrected.

“Liam.” Todd smiled winsomely. “We understand you have a commitment and we applaud your dedication…”

“But your itinerary is a mess,” JJ interrupted.

Todd stepped back and let her. Because the fact of the matter was this was the moment where they tested whether or not Corbet was willing to follow directions. This business didn’t work if the mark wasn’t willing to follow directions. JJ wouldn’t have a chance of getting him through the three weeks.

Corbet blinked at her. “Is it? I’m not really used to having an ‘itinerary’ so that’s not a surprise.” He offered her a hand. “I read the thing they sent me but I don’t remember your name.”

She shook hands, because it would be rude not to. “Commander Jennings is fine.”

“Commander.” He smiled, like he thought this was amusing, and looked at the board. “What part in particular did you have problems with? I can’t really change my speaking arrangements, or my apartment.”

She swiped across the board, moving to his scheduled itinerary. “The apartment is fine, or I can make it fine. There isn’t enough time in your planned itinerary for us to ensure your safety in transport. You’ve said you’ll leave the apartment at 0900 and begin your engagement at 0930, given travel time that doesn’t allow for perimeter maintenance.”

He blinked. “I’ll be awake by six. How much time do you need?”

Todd relaxed, and leaned against the desk. “In general at least thirty minutes on either side is preferable. You’re okay with us adding that in?”

Corbet nodded. “Sure.”

Todd smiled at her as he adjusted the schedule. JJ withheld her grumble and moved to the next part.

“You requested no detail on the weekends.”

“I’ll be at home most of the weekend.”

“But your threats were specific to this time period, and sounded like they had something to do with the conference.” JJ folded her arms over her chest. “The assumption that that means you are only in danger while at the conference is erroneous, and likely to lead to your safety being compromised in the entirety.”

Corbet wrinkled his nose in distaste. “So you’re going to follow me for the entire three weeks.”

“If you just want someone to follow you, hire a bodyguard.” JJ smiled, hard.

“Traditionally, Mr. Corbet, a security professional will orchestrate your movements for the period of the job, it is the best way to ensure ones safety,” Todd soothed. “It is inconvenient, I’m sure, but—”

“Less inconvenient than getting hurt,” Corbet said dryly. “I suppose I can manage three weeks. Did you have other concerns Commander Jennings?”

“A few.” She flipped to his listed modes of travel. “But the largest is the insistence that you travel on the E.” She highlighted where he’d listed all the different times and trains on the public transit system he’d listed.

“He has access to a driver he generally refuses to use.”

“I don’t need a driver,” Corbet insisted. “The E works just fine.”

JJ rolled her eyes. “Sure. It also has at least a few dozen, possibly a few hundred people on it I can’t easily account for.” If he wanted to slum it on the train with the normies the rest of the time, that wasn’t her business.

The twenty percent completion bonus wasn’t going to help much if she couldn’t complete the job.

He looked at his grandmother. “And this doesn’t have anything to do with you not liking the fact I take the E.”

“Yes, darling, you’ve found me out, I sent you death threats so you would use the driver we are already paying,” Jaqueline retorted.

Corben laughed, and gave her a one armed hug. “Well, I wouldn’t put it past you.” He looked back at JJ. “Should we just give you the contact information for the driver and you can arrange when he’ll be picking us up and where?”

“Yes.” JJ relaxed her shoulders. She didn’t like him, she’d honestly never met a trust-fund baby she liked and she’d met plenty of them in this job. But she didn’t have to like him to successfully run security. And if he was going to listen, and not be a stubborn idiot, she didn’t have a reason not to take the job.

She’d have liked to have a reason not to take the job, but she didn’t.

“I’ll need to adjust the start date on the contract. If you intend of leaving your apartment Monday I’ll need to set up the day before, at least.”

“Liam has an engagement at my house this evening, I’ll be taking him with me,” Jacqueline insisted, settling her jacket and adjusting her purse. “I can refuse to release him until the morning if you would prefer.”

JJ flipped back through the pages. “I can be ready by this evening.” It was barely noon now, that gave her more than enough time to lock her place up and gather supplies. “I can provide transport for this evening.”

Jacqueline nodded, and looked at Liam. “Is that agreeable to you, dear?”

“You don’t sound as if I have much choice, Maman.” He smiled, and nodded, though. “But yes. That’s fine.”

Todd pulled the contract tablet off his desk and held it out to Jacqueline. “I need your thumbprint and an acknowledgement of the change in quote, and then you can be on your way.”

She scanned through the contract before signing it, at least. Not that JJ was surprised by that. Jacqueline Corbet carried herself like the kind of woman who was capable and ready to rule the world. The kind of woman who fully understood the ins and outs of how her world worked and knew trusting anyone was a fool’s errand.

“It’s been a pleasure, Ma’am.” Todd shook her hand again, and opened his office door while shaking Liam’s. “Feel free to contract me if you have any concerns.”

JJ took a snapshot with her personal system of Corbet’s contact information. “I’ll contact you when I’m ready for retrieval this evening.”

“I shall endeavor to be waiting like the sack of potatoes I am.” He saluted jauntily and followed his grandmother out of the office.

Todd closed the door carefully, and let the privacy screens engage. “Well.”

JJ rubbed her face. “Why do I let you talk me into these jobs?”

“Because they pay well.” Todd cleared the board. “And he took notes real well, for a mark.”

“He did. I’m sure it won’t hold.”

Todd chuckled. “Eventually we’ll get those positive thinking lessons to stick.”

“Sure.” She grabbed her helmet off the chair in the corner. “I’ll work on that. Maybe when I take that retirement package.” She gave him a hard smile. “Excuse me while I go reorder my life because you didn’t tell the client showing up the morning of wasn’t an option.”

Todd tossed her the secure tablet that held all the mission particulars. “You’re picky about clients. There’s no point in my putting in extra effort if you’re going to refuse to take them.”

JJ waved the tablet at him, and had her hand on the door when he stopped her.

“JJ…”

She stopped, and turned. “Chief?”

“In all seriousness, those letters didn’t look like nothing. If you need more, let me worry about whether they’re going to squabble over the price.”

​She nodded in agreement. “That’s what you’re for. I always do.”

Alright. Come back tomorrow, wherein JJ is not all judge-y about Liam's apartment. C is for Coddle.

Right. New year, new story!
If you haven't been around for this before, a couple of caveats. This is a story in progress, meaning most of the time that days entry will be written shortly before it gets posted. This means my ability to do anything more than a passing edit is...negligible. Be prepared for some rough patches. Feel free to comment if I've renamed a character suddenly, or confused you about a plot point (though I'm fond of the sideways story so maybe hold that concern for later in the month). 

Let the adventure begin! 

Jasmina Jade Jennings—JJ to people she liked, Commander Jennings to people she didn’t, and Jennings everyone else—had two simple rules.

One, never take a job she didn’t know all the specs of. This saved a lot of trouble she’d seen other people working personal security detail get into. The sort where they took a ‘simple’ job that was supposed to be transport or special job security and it turned into a three-month saga and enough paperwork to paper mache an oceangoing raft. The joke around the Officer’s Club was that these were ‘just’ jobs. Any job someone pitched to you as “You’re just doing x.”

JJ didn’t do ‘just’ jobs.

The second rule?

Never take a job where the mark wanted to be her friend. She’d learned real quick not to take jobs where the mark wanted to be her friend. It never worked. She couldn’t be their friend, not and protect them in any reasonable amount.

She also just…just didn’t want to? The kind of people who could afford to pay for her type of security were not the kind of people she had anything in common with. They were so rich their great-grandchildren wouldn’t be able to spend it fast enough, and half the time they’d never been outside the secured zones, and always they had expectations of who she was and what that meant.

She’d come out of training knowing she didn’t want to do ‘just’ jobs. And scored high enough marks she could be picky about that. Graduating top of her class had some perks, being worth too much for ‘simple’ jobs was one of them. The jobs where the mark wanted to be her friend were a little hard to dodge, but so far she’d managed a solid five years and she’d worked repeat jobs, but nobody had ever invited her to a social gathering yet.

“Ah, Commander Jennings.” Todd stood in the door to his office while she stepped off the lift, and smiled the bright, toothy kind of smile that said the client was already in his office and she was probably going to have a bad day.

“Chief Todd.” JJ tucked her helmet under her arm. She could have worn her dress uniform today, plenty of people did. It made the clients feel fuzzy and special. “I hope I’m not late.”

Todd stepped back. “Perfectly on time, as always.”

JJ stepped into the office, and nodded deferentially to the woman taking up the chaise against the wall. She was older, probably at least sixty, with a perfectly turned out suit that cost more than JJ made in a year, and her ‘day’ jewels, without a hair or a freckle out of place. She had the kind of china white skin that’d gone out of fashion forty years ago, even if the suit was a newer model.

“It’s an unsual circumstance,” Todd said gently, sitting on the edge of his desk.

He’d said that in the quote for services, but nobody talked about that in front of the client. JJ stood at a relaxed attention and waited patiently.

“Allow me to introduce Jacqueline Rose Corbet.”

JJ shook hands the way she was expected to. She knew who the Corbet’s were. Old money, and more power than most people thought anyone should have, and family tendrils everywhere. “Ma’am.”

“Mrs. Corbet is the client, but she’s not the person who needs protection.” Todd smiled that perfect customer service smile at Mrs. Corbet and then turned and locked eyes with her.

So, Mrs. Corbet had been told this wasn’t an ideal way to do this, and she’d dug her heels in.

“I see.” It didn’t matter if she’d been told already. She’d be told again, even if it wasn’t just by JJ. “I understand your dedication to your family, Ma’am.” It’d be a grandchild, probably, given the age attached to the service quote. “But it’s…difficult to provide security for people who don’t want it.”

Jacqueline Corbet watched her through pale eyes. “My grandson is a bright young man, and very good at what he does. He is not the most…practical soul.” She shifted, relaxing back. “I understand your concerns, Commander Jennings, but I assure you he will not be unwilling. I am instigating the contract for logistical reasons, not because he was unwilling.”

Which she’d bet a year’s salary meant he was a giant man child. JJ could handle that, probably. He wouldn’t be the first entitled, trust fund idiot she’d been forced to physically drag from point a to point b. For a while there, those people had been her bread and butter.

“Mrs. Corbet understands our reluctance, and attached a twenty percent completion waver to the contract,” Todd said. “Though I’ve pointed out you’ll have to meet the target and assess viability yourself.”

JJ nodded. Because she did, and she would. “The exact details of the job seemed…tenuous.” In that they’d been more or less nonexistent. A three-week contract wasn’t unusual, but a three-week contract with no actual listed reasoning and very little information was.

“My grandson has received threats of a personal nature. They have been properly turned over to the appropriate security officials. In normal circumstances however worrisome that situation might be, it likely wouldn’t lead to the need for personal security.” Jacqueline adjusted her bracelet. “My grandson is a professional, and he has a speaking and teaching engagement beginning this coming week. For three weeks there will be an order of magnitude more people in his life than there generally are.” She sighed. “He refuses to step back from this commitment, and no amount of the rest of us pointing out his professional life isn’t worth losing his life over will convince him.”

Todd nodded. “As such Mrs. Corbet and I have discussed a general shadow arrangement, with appropriate digital backup.”
Which was pretty standard. She’d go everywhere the mark went, and there’d be a separate contract for digital surveillance she could liaise with at need. “And the completion waiver?”

“If Mrs. Corbet’s grandson makes it through the full three weeks without sustaining serious injury, as defined by the contract terms, the bonus is paid. You’ll want to read them, but they’re standard.”

Meaning as long as he didn’t have to be admitted to the hospital for injuries sustained under her care the job paid an extra twenty percent.

“Monday isn’t a lot of time to plan, given I haven’t met the target.”

“He’s late,” Jacqueline insisted dryly. “But he informs me he is on his way.”

JJ nodded, and looked at Todd. “Do you have layouts of the venue and his living arrangements?”

“I do.” He nodded. “As well as his normal travel itinerary.” There was a connotation there, but he wouldn’t clarify it in front of the client.

Wonderful.

JJ stepped up to the digitized board next to the desk and looked at the apartment scans they’d provided. It was a relatively low-key place, three bedrooms in an older building. But it had its own building security she’d need to evaluate by Monday morning. They’d marked the guest room next to the master as where she’d be expected to stay while she was on the job.

​She’d moved on to the systems listing—what kind of windows the building had, and how the doors were connected to the security feed made a difference in what kind of portable systems she could attach without compromising building security. She could have compromised building security, if she felt like she needed to, but people got twitchy when you did that and most of the time she didn’t find it warranted.

A shadow moved in the door, and JJ looked up and instantly knew he was the mark. He looked like a mark.

He knocked loudly on the frame in a clever rhythm and smiled perfect white teeth in a perfect jaw. “Maman!” He exclaimed and practically jumped across the room and kissed Jacqueline on the cheeks. “Sorry I’m late. I promise I didn’t forget.”

“Liam.” Jacqueline sounded tired. “Do behave yourself with some comportment.”

He sat down next to his grandmother and beamed at her. “Now now, if I can’t be excited and indelicate with my grandmother who can I be?” He looked over and jumped back up, holding a hand out for Todd. “You must be Chief Todd.”

Todd shook. “Mr. Corbet.”

“Liam, please.” He looked at the schematics on the board. “Oh, is that my place? How interesting. I’ve never seen it like that. It looks very serious.”

JJ blinked at him. There were rhinestones on his designer jeans, and his stupidly expensive polo shirt at the little digitized moving alligator logo, and he was leaning in to look at the schematics like it was a band poster.

Absolutely. Not. JJ thought, wondering if it was time to add a third rule.

Alright. That was A for Alliteration. Come back tomorrow for B (Title to be Determined).

If you're just bored and looking for something to read, you can started here, at the letter A in Cornucopia Conundrum, my story from 2017.

Or you can started here, at the letter A in 2018's story (that I apparently never gave a title).