in.”
“The guards? Take them in for what? So they can sue LLE for putting Stingers in them while they were just doing their jobs? No, we don’t want to take them in,” Chris said. “I wasn’t conscious when they brought me in, so I have no idea of who knew what. Besides, the fewer…”
“The fewer people involved, the better. I get that. LLE hates to actually arrest people or even acknowledge that they are fighting crime. I
“Yes, but you have to be able to work with it,” Chris said, exchanging the fresh clip for the spent one in the Stinger Livvy’d given him.
“Louie, stay close,” Chris said as Louie clambered over the chair that was holding the door jammed open and into the hall. His wound had stopped bleeding.
By now wisps of smoke were drifting down the stairs and lending the whole place an eerie atmosphere, especially around the sprawling forms of the three fallen guards.
When they had stepped over the first body, Livvy touched Chris on the arm again and, holding his attention, said soberly, “Mickey Bedford and her bodyguard were killed last night. Jesse was kidnapped.”
Chris met her eyes, his expression grim.
“Hell. The bastard did it. He actually did it. We need to find Jesse. Now. Even though I think we may still have some surprise on our side, it’s going to be daylight. And unless I’m mistaken, the man himself will be there. Your obviously well-honed ninja skills,” Chris said, looking her over, “aren’t going to be enough.” He lost the brief trace of a smile. “That cold-blooded, arrogant son-of-a-bitch.”
But as much as they wanted to, and Livvy was quite sure that Chris wanted to head directly after Bedford at least as much as she did, they couldn’t leave right away. They searched the rest of the rooms in the basement, finding staff quarters, which they ignored, and a hotlab, which they totally demolished. Then, on the slight chance that Josephson and Jesse were somewhere in the house, they searched room by room, counting on Louie to let them know if there was someone lurking behind a door or the drapery.
If the underground level had been eerie, the ground floor and upper floor were downright creepy. Disturbed by drafts from the windows Livvy had destroyed across one side of the house, the smoke was drifting over marble floors and opulent furnishings and wreathing the fallen forms of the guards like mists on a moor. Louie stopped and sniffed each sleeping man’s face, as though he was creating a record for his own file, but he didn’t alert them to anyone still active in the house.
“That was creepy fun. A haunted house. I kept expecting one of those guys to reach out and grab my ankle,” Livvy said as they walked out the front door.
A few of the Spritzers were still sputtering out on the lawn and in the flower beds, and there were some pink clouds in the east. Although the perimeter wall was too high to see it, the sun had come up while Livvy had been inside.
“Do we worry about the neighbors? Bruno said they wouldn’t even call.”
“Bruno’s right. They’re either with us, and glad to see us doing our job, or, sad to say, all too anxious not to draw attention to themselves,” Chris said.
“Even if they didn’t pick up your badge, they’ll assume that if it was anything other than LLE, or at the very least, if Bedford had nothing to hide, that his security would call it in. If they know Bedford at all, they’ll dismiss it as a raid on a hotlab.”
For Livvy the strangest sensation yet was walking out the ornate front gate as though they were revelers departing after a very long night. Now that they were on the street they could see the sun, a brilliant yellow with an orange halo easing into red highlights under the few clouds. A new day, her sixth in LLE.
“Where are we going to start?” she asked as they approached the car. “Bedford has three more properties in the immediate area, another one in D.C. proper, and two in Adams Morgan. These are his high-end apartment buildings. Then there are the warehouses and retail properties which, as far as I could tell from the official records, are all currently leased to active enterprises. Of course, he could have easily falsified some of that information. He also owns a horse farm out near Lexington, which he appears to use as his private country residence.”
Chris was already on the new comu Livvy had given him, studying a map as he walked. When Livvy mentioned the horse farm, he looked up.
“That’s where we go first,” Chris said. “Bedford’s been paying Josephson for years. He needs someplace isolated and pleasant where he can maintain another hotlab and keep the doctor happy and where he can live in safe and comfortable seclusion while he stages the identity switch. A nice place in the country where he’d be less likely to be spotted accidentally.”
“Do you think he’ll have a lot of guards?” Livvy asked plaintively.
“If Josephson and Jesse are there, probably at least as many as here. How many clips did you bring for the Stingers?”
They’d reached the car. Louie jumped into the back and Livvy set her pack on the floor in front of her seat so she could rummage in it.
“I’ve got plenty of duoloads and I saved some Smokes. By the way, you need to tell your friend Cara, the next time you see her, that I am half in love with her husband. Bruno thought of everything.”
“He does that. I guess you’ve had a long night,” Chris said, easing into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll be okay. Just a little tired. Missed some sleep. Psyched a coworker. Dodged some bullets. You know the kind of thing.”
“The thing is, Hutchins,” Chris said, and shifted in the seat, “I’m not sure I can do this without you.”
“McGregor. You took two 45’s at point blank range. You’ve probably got broken ribs and you’re moving like an old man,” Livvy said as she watched Chris try to get comfortable.
“Like I said…”
“You’re welcome,” Livvy said.
When they’d gotten onto the glassene on their way to Lexington, Chris prompted her, “The coworker…?”
“Agnew, in a moral quandary.”
“Well. Williams is his partner.”
“That seemed to be the focus of the quandary, although no doubt he is eaten up with worry about you somewhere deep inside, too. He said he didn’t really know anything, but he gave me the address, which, strangely enough, Williams visited openly one day while they were together.”
“So we have some strong evidence against Williams. A Forensics investigation into his finances would probably do the rest,” Chris said flatly.
“But you knew already, didn’t you?” Livvy asked.
“No,” Chris said. “He was my only suspect, that’s all. There’s a difference. We still don’t know.”
“Actually, we do.”
“How? I don’t remember seeing who shot me,” he added, “or who took me to Bedford’s, but I owe him. What made you sure that Williams is in Bedford’s pay?”
“As I said, he lead Agnew to the mansion. But he let slip that he knew about the bunker. Is he a stupid man?” Livvy asked curiously.
“No,” Chris said. “Not at all.”
“I didn’t think so either. It was pretty obvious.
“What happens to him? Williams? Agnew should come out okay. At least, I did what I could.”
“Good. He has potential,” Chris said. He grew thoughtful. “So Williams gave himself away, and not unintentionally.”
“Either he wants to get caught, which is what I suggested to Agnew, or it’s a trap somehow. I’m too tired to decide.”
They had reached the section of glassened highway that ran through the countryside. The road had some low spots that were holding a thick fog and the trees on either side were more verdant and lush in the dawn light than anything Livvy remembered from coastal California. She stared out the window, wondering if she could hold up for another skirmish.
