you don’t live to eat lunch.”
“You would do that?”
Tommy rolled his eyes. “Eddie, I just broke your nose. You don’t think I’d give you up to these terrorists? Shit, I’d give them your home address and sleep like a baby.”
Eddie’s eyes roamed around the bar searching for something, maybe thinking of a way out. Tommy wasn’t about to spoon feed him the answer. It was always better if it was the mark’s own idea.
“What if I can help the sheriff find these guys?” Eddie blurted, his nose beginning to leak again.
Tommy took the kid’s hand with the towel and placed it up to the leaky nose.
“That something you can do?” Tommy asked while applying pressure to Eddie’s nose.
“Uh huh,” Eddie murmured through the towel, excited about seeing a positive ending to his dilemma.
“Okay,” Tommy said. “Let’s see what you got.”
Tommy grabbed Eddie and pulled him from the booth. As he headed toward the door, he noticed Norm Jennings was no longer sitting at the bar. He looked around but didn’t find him. A loose thought entered his mind. It wasn’t something he wanted to think about.
Chapter 22
Nick lay in bed next to Julie and wondered if she was asleep. He glanced over at the digital clock on the nightstand. It was only a minute later than the last time he looked. She was turned away from him. He reached over and touched the small of her back.
“Will you find him?” Julie’s voice came out of the dark.
Since she didn’t know about The Russian, he knew she was talking about Barzani. “Yes,” he said.
She took a long breath. “I believe you, Sweetie.”
A few seconds passed while Nick’s mind raced with dire thoughts. He needed to keep Julie safe, physically and mentally.
“Do you think they’ll be more after he’s gone?” Julie asked.
“No. His crew is the last cell they have here.”
“But what about others from Turkey?”
“It would take years to develop enough soldiers to infiltrate the states.”
“But …”
He knew where she was going. It only took one maniacal terrorist to destroy her world and take the father of her baby away from her.
“It’s a long shot, Honey,” he said. “There’s a better chance I’ll get hit by lightning.” Or killed by a Russian assassin, he thought.
His words seemed to hit the proper note, however, because he could sense her breathing slow down.
“You need to sleep,” Julie said.
“I have lots of needs,” he said.
Julie turned to face him. Even in the dark he could see her teeth smiling back at him. “Oh, really. Care to name one?”
“Yes. I have the insatiable need to feel your belly.”
This made her eyes twinkle as she pulled up her sleeping shirt.
Nick placed his hand low on her stomach. She was soft and warm. “I feel something moving.”
“That’s the chicken quesadilla,” she said. “I’m too early to be able to feel the baby.”
“Still,” he said. “A guy can dream can’t he?”
He felt her fingernails caress the inside of his thigh. He tried to turn, but his damaged shoulder kept him on his back.
“I’m a little immobile at the moment,” he said.
“The better for me to take advantage of you,” Julie said as she sat up and pulled off her shirt. A slice of moonlight cut across her naked body and exposed her smooth, shiny skin.
She straddled him, then leaned forward, her lips brushing against his ear. “You just stay right there, sailor,” she whispered. “I’ll do all the heavy lifting.”
• • •
“Who were those girls you were with?” Tommy asked Eddie as he drove the sheriff’s car down an empty two-lane road. Eddie was in the passenger seat pushing buttons on his phone with his thumbs.
“My sisters. I’m sending them a text right now,” he said. His bloody towel sat on his lap and occasionally he would place a clean spot to his nose to check for any new blood. The kid seemed to calm down once he was put in the sheriff’s car. As if it gave Tommy some legitimacy.
Tommy had only been driving a few minutes when a pair of distant headlights popped into his rear view mirror. The roads were extremely quiet, yet the car behind him didn’t seem to gain on him.
“I want you to do me a favor, Eddie,” Tommy said. “I want you to promise me you’ll throw that gun away.”
“Okay,” Eddie agreed too easily.
“Eddie,” Tommy said firmly. “I’m serious. Don’t tell me what I wanna hear. Carrying a gun will get you killed. Especially an unloaded one. You understand?”
Tommy glanced over at the kid. Eddie was nodding, as if to himself.
“Yeah,” Eddie said. “I understand.”
“Good. You’re not a bad kid. You’re just watching too many action movies. Start watching comedies, then go around impressing the girls with your wit instead of your unloaded weapons.”
“Okay,” Eddie said, then glanced down at a text message.
Tommy pulled out his phone and pushed a contact button.
After a couple of rings a breathless voice said, “Yeah.”
Tommy looked at the clock on his dashboard. 10:45 P.M..
“Nicky?” Tommy grinned. “You working out?”
“Very funny,” Nick rasped. “What’s up?”
“Well, I found Eddie Lister,” Tommy said. “He’s with me now.”
“That’s great. Does he know something?”
“I think so.”
“Bring him right over.”
Tommy checked his rear view again and saw the headlights keeping its distance. “Yeah, well, let’s meet at your office instead.”
“Something wrong?”
“Probably not. Just being careful. Go back to your workout and I’ll meet you there.”
Tommy ended the call, then pushed a couple of buttons and handed the phone to Eddie.
“Here,” Tommy said. “See the red beam?
Eddie looked confused. He aimed the beam at his feet. “What is this?”
“It’s a radar detector. I want you to turn around and aim it at the car behind us.”
Eddie twisted in his seat. “I don’t see any car?”
“I know, he’s back there a ways. Keep your eye out for him.”
Tommy took his foot off the gas and the car slowed.
“Who is it?” Eddie asked.
“I have an idea.”
The road was tree-lined and had gentle twists. A few seconds later a pair of headlights popped out around a distant curve.
“Okay, Eddie, point and read me the display.”
Eddie was on his knees completely turned, arms outstretched.
“Sixty-five,” Eddie said.
Tommy let the Sheriff’s car slow to a gentle roll.
