“Hello?â€? George answered the phone, not recognizing the number.

“Mr. Stephens. This is Yugo Svenson. I’m an assistant of Mrs. Fields.â€?

“The cookie lady?â€?

“Yes.â€?

George turned in his chair, away from the computer monitor, devoting his attention to the call. “Cool. But why did you call me?â€?

“You work for Barton Sloan, of Sloan Confections?â€?

“On occasion. What’s it to you? Or Mrs. Fields for that matter?â€? George turned back to the monitor and typed “Mrs. Fieldsâ€? into his Google Toolbar. A craving for chocolate chip cookies surged through his body; his mouth became noticeably moist.

“We have been developing a new cookie recipe that we feel will change the face of mall bakeries forever.â€?

“I was unaware there was a face of mall bakeries to change.â€?

Yugo cleared his throat. “Yes. Well, this recipe was recently stolen from our lab by Mr. Jose Montega.â€?

Montega? George’s eyes widened. “Ok, so what’s this got to do with me?â€?

“We would like to pay you fifty thousand dollars to retrieve the recipe for us.â€?