Behind Closed Doors

gulp.

“You're welcome,” Connor murmured wryly. “Next time I'll bring chamomile tea. And a Xanax.”

“Are you sure nobody followed you here?” Seth demanded.

Connor sat down and peered into the monitor, not deigning to reply to that. “Well, if it isn't Barbie's dream house,” he commented. “How much you want to bet she's a natural blonde?”

“Mind your own goddamn business,” Seth snapped.

Connor's lean face settled in grim lines. “Nobody at the Cave knows about you, Mackey. Nobody will. And your business is my business.”

Seth could think of no response to that statement that was not offensive. He kept his mouth shut and waited, hoping that the other man would get uncomfortable or bored enough to leave.

No such luck. Seconds ticked by. They turned into minutes. Connor McCloud gazed at him and waited patiently.

Seth sighed and gave in. “Was there something that you wanted?” he asked grudgingly.

Connor lifted an eyebrow. “Been a while since you contacted me. Just wondering what you're up to. Besides jerking off while you watch Lazar's new concubine, that is.”

“Keep the smart-ass remarks to yourself, McCloud.” Seth stabbed (he print button and waited for the printer to spit out the Juan Carlos e-mail. He reached for the file, but Connor snatched it off the desk.

“Let me have a look. Lorraine Cameron, American citizen, degree from Cornell, summa cum laude, woo woo, smart cookie. Fluent in six languages, yada yada, appears to have lied about her professional experience on her job application. Hmm. Maybe Lazar didn't care once she showed him her tits. How are her tits, by the way?”

“Fuck off,” Seth snarled.

“Lighten up,” Connor replied. “You know, when this babe first showed up, I thought maybe it was good for you to have something to think about besides Jesse. But it's out of hand. You're obsessed.”

“Spare me the pop psych bullshit, please.”

“You're a bomb set to blow. Not that I care, but I don't want you to take me and my brothers with you.” Connor shoved back his shaggy dark blond hair and rubbed his forehead, looking weary. “You're wound too tight, Mackey. I've seen it happen. A guy gets that look you've got on your face, then he fucks up, then he dies badly.”

Seth schooled his face back to an indifferent mask. “Don't worry” he said, through set teeth. “I swear I'll keep it together until we flush Novak out of his hole. After that, whatever. Lock me in a padded cell if you want. I will no longer give a shit.”

Connor looked pained. “That's a very, very bad attitude, Mackey.”

“I've had a bad attitude since the day I was born” Seth wrenched the blonde's file out of Connor's hand and shoved the Juan Carlos e-mail into it. “Don't take it personally. And don’t step on my toes.”“Don’t be an asshole,” Connor said. “You need me, and you know it I have the contacts you need to make this work.”

Seth glared into Connor's cold, narrowed eyes. He wanted to deny it, but it was true. Seth had the tech know-how and the money to launch their private campaign against Lazar and Novak, but Connor's years in various law enforcement agencies had garnered him a formidable local network of informants. Problem was, Connor and he were both bossy, arrogant and accustomed to command; both by nature and by profession. It made for an uneasy partnership.

“Speaking of contacts, I was down at the Cave today,” Connor said. “I played up my limp. Made like I don’t know what to do with myself on disability leave. Nobody has the heart to tell me I'm underfoot except for Riggs. He told me to go get my ass to a tropical beach, drink some mai tais. Watch the bunfloss bikinis walk by. Get laid, if I can.”

“Did you tell him to fuck off?”

“Nah,” Connor said mildly. “I'm not as casual as you are about burning my bridges. Not until I get this thing sorted out”

Riggs. Seth sorted through his memories of Jesse's memorial service. He'd lurked in the back with a miniature video camera hidden in his coat, filming the faces of Jesse's colleagues and speculating upon which one was the bastard that had sold his brother out. He remembered a thickset, balding man who had read some vapid thing that would have made Jesse puke laughing. “Was Riggs the potbelly and glasses who made the stupid-ass speech at Jesse's service?”

“I was in a coma at the time, but the stupid-ass speech has got to be Riggs,” Connor replied, pulling a bag of tobacco out of his pocket “You got any more of those warehouse raids planned?” He fished for his rolling papers, his casual tone belied by the hopeful gleam in his eyes.

Seth snorted, “You McCloud boys really get off on that, huh?”

“It's a blast,” Connor admitted. “Better than sex, messing with Victor Lazar's head. Maybe I missed my calling. A life of crime has its charms. God, what a rush.”

Seth shrugged. “Sorry to disappoint you, but that phase of the operation is over.”

Connor's eyes narrowed. “Lazar's taken the bait?”

“Yes.” Seth did not elaborate.

Connor waited. Seconds ticked by. “And?” His voice was steely.

“I'm going to Lazar's corporate headquarters tomorrow morning,” Seth admitted. “He's invited me to explain to him why Mackey Security Systems Design is the solution to all his problems. The cover story to his staff is that I'm here to design a radio frequency GPS inventory tracking system, so tomorrow's meeting is just theater. Then the day after tomorrow, Lazar and I are meeting privately out at the warehouses to discuss the details of a full-out TSCM sweep.”

“Ah.” Connor's eyes narrowed. “TSCM. Don't tell me, let me guess. That stands for... technical surveillance...”

“Technical surveillance countermeasures,” Seth finished impatiently. “Debugging.”

Connor pulled out a pinch of tobacco, his face expressionless. “Wow. One hell of a stroke of luck, that he called you, hmm?”

“Not luck,” Seth said. “It's called planning. Lots of people in the field owe me favors. I made sure he would hear about me and my firm when he started looking around to solve his security leak problem.”“I see” Connor stared down at the snarl of tobacco nestled in the fold of the rolling paper, “And just when would you have gotten around to mentioning this development to me?” His voice was soft and cold.

“As soon as you needed to know,” Seth countered smoothly. “You aren't planning on smoking that in here, of course.”

Connor finished the cigarette with a deft twist of his fingers, and scowled at it. “It's raining outside.”

“Tough,” Seth said..

Connor sighed, and stuck the cigarette into the pocket of his coat. “You blame me for Jesse's death, don't you?”

The brutal facts behind Jesse's death lay between them, heavy and cold. Someone at the Cave had tipped off Lazar to the investigation and blown Jesse's cover. Seth meant to find that person and rip him limb from limb. But that person was not Connor, who had been Jesse's best friend as well as his partner. Connor had almost died in that disastrous fuck-up. He would carry the scars for the rest of his life.

“I don't blame you “ Seth said, feeling suddenly weary. “I don't want to make the mistake Jesse made.”

“Which was?”

Seth shook his head. “Letting too many people know his business. Ever since he was a little kid. I never could break him of it.”

Connor was silent for a long moment, his face somber. “You don't trust anyone, do you?”

Seth shrugged. “I trusted Jesse,” he said simply.

They watched the blonde wander into her kitchen and stare blankly at her freezer for a minute, as if she'd utterly forgotten what she had planned to do. She shook herself out of her daze, took out a frozen dinner and stuck it into the oven.

“We'll find the mole, Seth,” Connor said finally.

Seth swung around in his chair. “He's mine.”

Connor's eyes were as full of ghosts as Seth's own. “Take a number and get in line, man,” he said softly.