Longevity

“Livvy.” Chris sounded almost apologetic. “I need to hear if there is anything new on our prisoners and that finger.”

Livvy yawned and leaned her head against the window so she could watch the countryside. “Don’t worry, you’re not asking for much. Nothing. Not a thing. Maas still won’t talk, and our two pros, assuming the finger came from a pro, are still anonymous. It takes deep pockets to achieve that kind of… obscurity.”

“It’s another reason for the hotlab. It’s part of the compensation package for assassins on retainer. Free, undocumented resets so they can continue to stay off the grid. Goes a long way towards creating loyalty to an employer. Dust that. They’ve had their last,” Chris said from a long way away.

Chp.15 Combat Escalation (Saturday)

Livvy jerked awake, aching just about everywhere.

“Get enough sleep?” Chris asked without raising his head. They were pulled over by the side of a road just off the highway and he was studying a map again on the new comu Livvy’ had given him as they left Bedford’s mansion.

“Where are we?” Livvy asked, rummaging in her pack until she found a pair of energy bars. She handed one to Chris and, started opening her own.

“About 25 kilometers from Bedford’s place.”

“Please, please don’t tell me you want us to run the rest of the way from here to preserve the surprise.”

“Could you?” Chris asked, lifting his head and looking at her as though to assess her conditioning, then suppressing a smile and turning back to the comu. ‘No, you’re not ready. Too many years in Homicide. We can’t afford the time, and it would put me way ahead of you”

Livvy stopped eating. “Either I’ve just been doubly insulted or you’re not thinking clearly yet. We’re not splitting up again. You’re practically incapacitated. We’re going in together and getting Jesse out.” She started pawing through her pack again.

“Bruno gave me a few more tricks,” she said. “Of course they’ll all be awake even if they haven’t been alerted to what happened in the city, so the advantage I had at the mansion…”

Chris put a hand on her arm and when she stopped and looked at him, he said seriously, “Here’s our problem. I took three Stingers, which means it was too much for my reversal implants and I was out for hours.”

“It could have killed you.” Livvy said.

“Not likely. The point is, whoever shot me probably has access to everything LLE uses on a regular basis, and they had plenty of time to inject a tracer. The tracers LLE uses are unjammable. We have to assume he knows I’m coming.”

“Slick,” Livvy said. “Well, we have to think of a way around it. There must be something…”

She took another bite of her energy bar. When it hit her, she quickly swallowed. “You know Williams is out here and that he tagged you because it’s what you would have done. What you did! You did the same to him. When? How?’’

“Two… no three days ago. His shoes. I set it up in a barbed spike – one of Bruno’s toys – near his desk and he obligingly stepped on it.

“It’s one reason I was so sure we should start in Lexington. I should have been able to pick him up in town if he was at any of the other properties you mentioned, although it was always possible that he’d just go home – he lives in Davie – which would put him off the grid as well. Or worn different shoes, I suppose. I just confirmed that Williams, or at least his shoe, is here in Lexington. Which makes us either right on target or on our way into a trap. What are the odds, do you think?”

“Or Williams is here with his shoe and knows we’re coming, but hasn’t told Bedford. We should start an office pool. You tell me, since you’ve known him longer, would keeping it secret from Bedford appeal to him?” Livvy asked. “Perhaps he’s had it with Bedford and his ego.”

“It’s where I’d put my money,” Chris said agreeably. “Playing the wild card. William’s favorite role.”

“I like my poker pure. So we’ve narrowed it down: Bedford knows we’re coming, or doesn’t,” Livvy said. “This will be fun. We’ll need to be quick and pack efficiently.” She pulled a clip belt out of her pack and started putting it on.

“We’ll go in simultaneously from two directions,” Chris said.

“Don’t you think we should stick together? You’ll need some cover.”

“No. It wouldn’t help. They may know I’m coming. I’m also not in any shape to be jumping fences, as you so kindly pointed out,” Chris said. “You’re another matter. You aren’t tagged.”

Livvy sighed. “All right. Give it to me. You know, you’ve had a nice long run but I haven’t a clue how, and I’d really like to know,” Livvy said. “Breathing,” she added when Chris looked at her quizzically.

“You get to stealth your way in the back way, neutralize the guards, and find Jesse. I walk in the front door and distract Bedford and talk to Williams.”

“Uh huh. Like I said.” Livvy folded her arms. “My partner, who is straddling the line between merely gimpy and totally laid up, wants to walk in and confront the people I just salvaged him from. You working on a dare, or do you just have this driving need to haze the LLE rookie? Williams is corrupt, no matter what kind of game he thinks he’s playing. In the end, he knows that unless he kills you, and probably me, his career is over and he goes to prison.”

Chris was silent.

“Doesn’t he?”

“LLE handles things differently.”

“I get it, I do. And I’ll never forget it, as long as I live.”

“And more importantly, at the moment, Williams knows it as well.”

There was a longer silence.

“I know LLE reveres the Laws with a capital ‘L’ but operates one step away from anarchy, in secrecy. I understand that it’s all to save everyone else from chaos. But you guys are still all brainsick. Mickey Bedford and her bodyguard are dead, and Bedford has Jesse, and Williams is definitely a bare-bellied snake,” Livvy said slowly.

“Hutchins. Stowe the outrage, or at least focus it. We can’t know that Williams anticipated Mickey’s murder.”

“No,” Livvy admitted, “we don’t know what he anticipated. Williams might have his head where no head should fit and he only heard about Mickey and Jesse when Enforcement did, and he may not be in on the big plan. But he’s out here now, and we think Jesse is too, don’t we? So he has to realize…”

“As far as Williams is concerned, it may have slipped away from him,” Chris said. “All of this, before Mickey died, could fit in with a rich man’s determination to preserve his personal hotlabs and relationship with Josephson. Even what he did to me could fit in with that. Williams may have some inkling now that it’s much more than an issue of some hotlabs, but feel he’s in too deep. He’s probably feeling like a tiger on a leash. I can fix that.”

“Jackal. That’s jackal on a leash,” Livvy said distractedly. “I know he’s LLE, but you have no idea how Williams will react. He may shoot you, really shoot you, not just with Stingers, on sight.”

“I’ve worked with him ten years.”

“He doesn’t even like you,” Livvy added, meeting his eyes.

“I’m aware. It’s mutual. But I know a little about what matters to him,” Chris said.

“Maybe less than you realize,” Livvy said, with a worried look on her face. “You don’t think like him.”

“Possibly,” Chris said, “but I’ve had a lot of experience trying to communicate with people who don’t think like me. I still need to talk to him. And since we can’t do an all-out two-pronged attack, we need the distraction. If I wasn’t already tagged and in no shape for running I’d flip you for it. Hell, you’re a walking billboard for distraction. Hopefully, we were successful at maintaining some secrecy at the Potomac Falls house and they won’t even be watching for you, even after I show up.”

“Billboard?” Livvy said distastefully, then noticed that Chris appeared to be staring at her chest.

“What?” she asked, annoyed, and looked down at her tunic, which she’d already toggled back to off-white. It should make her less visible than the black she’d used last night.

“I was just thinking. We’re too urban. You really should be in camouflage. I’m going to suggest you spend a few moments rolling in the mud before you get close to the farm,” Chris said. Livvy opened her mouth, but not a word came out.