Togo (Goes) on Assignment (More Clues)
Chapter 6: The Answer, Scene 16
Togo Goes on Assignment is published weekly as a series. If you came in late, you might want to go back to the beginning. Or, if you’re cut from the same adventuresome cloth as Togo, feel free to read on and figure things out as you go. If you’ve been reading along and just forgot what happened in the last episode, you can click here.
On the flight to D.C., Togo kept going back through the information Communications Officer Doug, the Dove had shared back in Albuquerque. His interest was also piqued by the additional packet of pictures Doug had collected from other operatives.
Agent Marisue M. had sent in a variety of photos from around the country. Togo was a bit concerned when one envelope was labeled “Elk Preserve.” “Who in their right minds would want to make elk preserves?” Togo thought. “And wouldn’t the jars have to be truly ginormous?” He called Doug on his satellite phone.
Doug quickly pointed out that the pictures were of elk who lived on a game preserve in Arkansas. “Besides,” Doug added, “I clearly wrote ‘elk preserve.’ ‘Elk Preserves’ is a totally different and unseemly concept.”
Togo looked through the photos again. Just a bunch of big furry creatures lounging around a pond. He flipped through the remainder of the prints from Agent Marisue M. Several nice shots of peacocks roaming through Fort Worth, Texas.
Togo shuffled to the front of the plane with the pictures. “What do you make of these?” he asked Agent Nikki.
“Well,” she said, “I’ve seen a lot of pictures of Texas longhorns and horses parading through Fort Worth, but never peacocks.”
She shuffled through the prints and pulled out the one on the bottom of the stack.
“This one’s cute. Look at the little dog hanging around with his best friend, the cat!”
Togo growled a bit and the fur on his back bristled.
Looking at Doug’s notes, he announced, “Says here that the dog is named Cacharita and she’s pictured with an unnamed cat.”
“Hey, Siri! What does Cacharita mean?”
“I can’t find a meaning for ‘Cacharita,’” Siri says. “But I’ve found a picture of a very lovely dog with that name who apparently likes cats.”
Togo sighed, “Must be an alias. I’d have an alias, too, if someone caught me posing with cats.”
The last two photos in the file were from Agent Lynna’s travel files. One was taken of an Arizona cliff dwelling. Togo couldn’t really see a cliff but it did look like a big boulder from the cliff fell on the house. And the other was from the beach at Port Aransas, Texas. Togo chuckled. It was a sand sculpture of a big dog on a throne.
“Wait a minute,” he said out loud. “Is that who I think it is?!”
Holding the print sideways, he squinted and nodded his head. How could Scooby Doo find time to get to the beach to pose for a sculpture? Togo made a mental note to hire an agent to get great gigs like that.
Togo pushed all of the extra evidence photos back into the manila envelope.
“Hey!” Togo hollered up to Nikki. “I’m going to close my eyes back here and let my unconscious mind solve this puzzle.”
Nikki looked back from her spot in the co-pilot’s seat. “Don’t you mean ‘subconscious mind,’” she started but caught herself. As Togo began to snore more and more loudly, she realized he had said what he meant. Togo was well on his way to dreamland.
Nikki smiled a bit and looked forward to the upcoming meeting with Margot Lance, Togo’s boss at S.H.E.D. Togo might take a little longer than others to draw a conclusion. But he was one of the world’s most prominent problem solvers . . . especially when he was asleep.
