Let's Make a Deal (Bob and Nikki Book 11), стр. 69
“There is, but neither one of us understand it, so we don’t know how to tell it.”
“What problem did he find, then?”
“One of the Ambassador’s people had put a noisemaker in his briefcase that was keeping us from being able to concentrate when we were talking about the things we were trying to agree on. Snitz came and pointed it out to us, and Andre took care of it. After that, things went a lot smoother.”
“Briefcase, is that the little suitcase he carries around with him?”
“Yep.”
“I saw Snitz growl at it yesterday. I kept him from bothering the Ambassador, though.”
“That explains how he knew about it, then. You didn’t understand what he was trying to tell you, so he came and told me. Now I understand.”
“Understand what, Dad?”
“We couldn’t figure out how he knew to come and tell me about the case. He just decided to follow me around this morning, for no reason I could see. As soon as he showed me the case, he wandered off. It was all kind of strange.”
Janet took a minute to get her head around that one. Then she said, “You mean he waited till the Ambassador showed up, and told you about the noise?”
Nikki said, “That’s exactly what he did. Amazed us, for sure.”
“Did things go better, without it?”
I said, “They sure did. We got a lot done today.”
Nikki said, “Then your Dad had to go and shoot his mouth off as they were leaving. I hope he didn’t set us back.”
Janet looked at me, wonderingly. I said, “I just asked if they would prefer to pick up their sensor platforms, or watch Tex blow them to smithereens.”
Nikki said, “I thought it was odd that Snappi knew about them, but Natti didn’t.”
“That was odd. Maybe we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
Janet asked, “Wait a minute, you mean they didn’t tell the Ambassador they had put out sensor platforms?”
Nikki said, “No, they didn’t. Hey, Caveman, I had a thought. Could it have been a gambit to see how good our sensors are?”
“That begins to make sense, my dear. I played right into their hands, didn’t I?”
“I think you might have. At least, Snappi knows we’re not willing to play around about it.”
“Oh well, ‘You live and learn, or you don’t live long’, I suppose.”
Nikki looked at me. “Movie?”
“Nope. Book. Heinlein, but I couldn’t tell you which one off the top of my head. At least, that’s where I think I picked it up.”
Stella came out with our meals, and we dug in. I didn’t realize how hungry I was, until the room was suddenly in color again. I said, “Nice appetizer. Is our supper coming soon?”
Nikki said, “I know what you mean. You wouldn’t think sitting around talking would take it out of you so bad, would you?”
“Nope. At least we made good progress today.”
Janet said, “I’m going over to Milly and Rhonda’s for a while. See you later.”
I said, “Later.” Nikki said, “Be good.”
I looked at Nikki and said, “You’re getting the hang of this Mom thing, huh?”
“I suppose I am. Comes from keeping you out of trouble, I think.”
“That could be. Why is it I’m not better at being a Dad, then?”
“You don’t keep me out of trouble, you instigate it.”
“I thought I was the one who fixed the trouble?”
“Only the big stuff. The little stuff, you start, just to keep things from getting boring.”
“I guess you could be right about that.”
“I didn’t say it’s not enjoyable, ya big goof!” She smacked me on the shoulder.
I asked, “What do you want to do now?”
“I’m worn out. I think I’m going to head to the cabin.”
“That sounds like a plan. I need to track down Snitz, the wonder dog, and I’ll be there.”
“Don’t forget your evening debrief with Jim, in the grass room.”
“You’re probably right about that. I’m sure Gene thinks I need to talk about the events of the day.”
Snitz came running up. I said, “Thanks, Gene.”
“No problem, Boss.” I kissed Nikki, and she headed for the cabin. Snitz and I took off for the grass room. Sure enough, Jim and Molly were there. Jim said, “Evenin’ Boss.”
“Hey Jim. What do I need to talk about this time?”
“Gene just told me to be here, he didn’t give me any detailed instructions.”
“I had a productive day, even if it was tiring. I suppose I could have done without finding out that Snitz, here, is smarter than me, but that’s not all that bad.”
“How do you figure he’s smarter than you?”
“He figured out somebody had put a noisemaker in the Ambassador’s briefcase, to slow down the talks.”
“Things are going better, now?”
“They are. Of course, I had to go and fall for their ploy to see how good our sensors are.”
“How’s that?”
“I asked them whether they wanted to pick up their sensor platforms, or watch us blow them to smithereens. If I had kept my big mouth shut, they wouldn’t have known we had good enough sensors to find the things, and we could have blown them at our leisure.”
“They would still have found out that we could find their stealthed platforms, as soon as you had them blown. I can’t imagine you would let them watch our operations for very long, in any case.”
“I hadn’t looked at it that way. Thanks, that makes it easier to take getting fooled. We didn’t lose much, anyway.”
“Anything else that has you worried, since I’ve got my counselor hat on, anyway?”
“I don’t think so. It just bugs me that I didn’t think to check for tricks, when the talks were going so slow.”
“You trust the Ambassador, right?”
“Yep.”
“Why would you think he would sabotage the talks?”
“I