"It looks like someone stole my partner."
Seeing Jack and Harry chatting and laughing as they left the surveillance apartment, Gibson, who had parked his car and was waiting on the side of the road, couldn't help but feel jealous.
"Your partner will be back in two days at most," Jack said with a feigned distress.
The surveillance operation had officially failed. Just now, news came from the CIA's Rome station that Juno Skinner was suspected to be there.
After the two got in, Gibson started his GMC Canyon pickup truck, his face a look of a veteran worker. "Well, we just have two days off, why don't we go to the bar for a drink tonight?"
Harry nodded without waiting for Jack to refuse. "Good idea, as a thank you to Jack for saving Jess in New Mexico."
"So what exactly happened then?" Gibson scratched his head. "Why shouldn't I know?"
Harry patted his partner's shoulder and said earnestly, "Believe me, you don't want to know."
Gibson made a disdainful "tsk" and was about to turn around, but Harry stopped him. "Take Pennsylvania Avenue and drop me off when you pass Lafayette Square."
"What's wrong?" Gibson asked curiously.
"I missed the birthday cake that Helen had prepared for me the other day, which disappointed her, so I thought I'd treat her to lunch at noon as a surprise."
"Then what should I do?" Gibson showed a "hurt" expression again.
"How about I buy you lunch?" Jack suggested. The Helen Harry was referring to was obviously his wife, Helen Tasker, Jessie's mother.
"Sure." Though a man in his forties, like Harry, Gibson possessed a cheerful personality. As a team, their personalities complemented each other quite well.
"I remember there was a delicious food truck near the square."
—
"So besides burritos and burgers, there's no other street food in this country, right?" Jack frowned at the delicious food truck Gibson had mentioned. It still specialized in the familiar tacos.
"Give me a little of each sauce," Gibson instructed the stall owner, who gave Jack a strange look. "The fried noodles near Chinatown are pretty good, too, but isn't that all they have for lunch?"
"Never mind," Jack waved, ordering a chicken wrap and paying the bill.
The two of them ate and chatted near the car, Gibson trying to get Jack to understand what had happened in New Mexico.
Just as Jack was considering making up a passable story to get by, he saw Harry, who had excitedly walked into the law firm across the street, now walking across the street with his head bowed, like a zombie.
"Hey! Wait, asshole!" Gibson rushed over to help Harry over, cursing the passing driver who had slammed on his car and honked impatiently.
Jack crumpled up the chicken roll wrapper and threw it into the trash can, then leaned over and asked, "What happened?"
Harry frowned, still keeping his head down. Gibson had a flash of inspiration, "It's Helen, right? What happened to Helen?"
"Helen. Helen, Helen..." Harry looked breathless, and his good partner Gibson was extremely anxious.
"Helen cheated on her husband." Harry looked as if he had just heard that the end of the world was about to come.
"Haha!" Gibson heaved a sigh of relief and hugged Harry, laughing out loud, "Welcome, man, welcome to the club."
Harry was in a state of self-doubt, muttering to himself, "How could... How could this happen?"
"This is normal, man. Everyone thinks this kind of thing can't happen to them." Gibson seemed to have finally found a comrade, "Remember when my second wife cheated on me?
I didn't believe it at the time, until one day when I came home, I found the house was emptied, she even took away the beer in the refrigerator."
"What kind of woman would be so perverted that she wouldn't even want to leave a bottle of beer?"
However, before he could finish, he was pushed away by Harry, still muttering, "That's Helen, Helen, how could she..."
"Listen, Harry, Helen still loves you, she's just tired of it and wants to change her bed partner. It's nothing, just bear with it and it will pass."
Gibson's words made Jack, who was listening awkwardly, frown. How could it be so comforting? Is this the European and American version of "If you want to live a decent life, you have to be a little cheating"?
Sure enough, the next moment, he was slammed against the car by an enraged Harry. "Shut up! Are you even my friend?"
The two middle-aged men stared at each other in this position for a long moment. Only after he was sure his partner had calmed down did Gibson ask with a dry laugh.
"Who do you think is to blame? She's a woman, and you're never home when she needs a man. It was only a matter of time."
"Ahem!" Sensing the risk of being watched, Jack coughed softly, interrupting their "conversation." "It's a little early, but I think you could find a bar and chat."
—Who
am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
Looking at the two drunken middle-aged men before him, Jack felt a headache, deeply regretting his suggestion just hours earlier.
He had a general understanding of the whole story. Unlike real FBI agents, the identities of Omega agents were strictly confidential.
Therefore, not only was Jessie, his daughter, but Helen Tasker was also unaware of her husband's true work.
She had been working as a clerk in a law firm for decades, day in and day out. Their life wasn't exactly uneventful, but it was certainly uneventful.
The story that followed was akin to what happens to ordinary couples around the world at the same time. A husband, rarely at home year-round, suddenly felt the urge to surprise his wife of more than twenty years.
However, as Harry entered the law firm's large office and approached Helen's desk, he overheard her on the phone with a man named Simon.
Harry then overheard keywords like "mysterious boyfriend," "handsome guy," and "midday tryst" in Helen's conversation with a gossipy female colleague and best friend.
As a result, Jack now had two drunks around him: the heartbroken Harry and his best friend, Gibson, who comforted him.
After downing several glasses of lemonade, applying a healing spell, and visiting the restroom to make sure the alcohol was completely eliminated, Jack finally managed to get the two drunks into his car and drove to the house he had visited a few days ago.
(End of Chapter)