We’d just settled at the kitchen table to enjoy a cup of coffee before our next guests arrived, when one of the cell phones we’d borrowed from the two creeps buzzed. I picked it up. “Yeh?” I grunted.
“Open the garage. We’re here.” The line went dead.
Dave jumped up from his chair. “Showtime. I’ll take the driver.” He disappeared towards the front door.
I stood, ensuring my pistol had a round up the barrel before entering the garage and pushing the door opener. I’d made sure the lights in the garage would stay out during this next part.
* * *
I straightened from the job of taping the last victim, and rubbed my face. This was getting to be more like work all the time. “Let’s put these two in the bedroom,” I said. “No sense in leaving them all in the same room.”
Dave was dragging his towards the bedroom doorway before I finished my sentence. “Good idea. It’s almost four, and we need to get the hell outta here before it begins to lighten up outside. Wouldn’t want some nosey neighbor getting a look at us.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall as I drug the last guy into the bedroom. “Time sure flies when you’re having fun.”
By four-thirty, I’d driven halfway across town to a parking garage only ten blocks from the Federal Building. I parked in the basement, and laid my seat back down. “Let’s grab a little sleep before we do anything else,” I muttered, exhaustion nibbling at my innards.
“Good thinking.” Dave hesitated, giving me a glance. “What’s our next move?”
“We’ll call my FBI contact, read him in on what we’ve been doing, and especially about that van heading for the border. Since they’re stopping for the night before crossing, we got some time. Then we’ll keep looking for Willie. I still want a word with him.” I blinked sleepily, shifting around into a more comfortable position.
“Okay. Sounds like a plan.” Dave paused again. “I saw the look in your eyes when you took down that first guy. Thought for a minute you were going to finish him off.”
I let my eyes close. “Yeah. Truth be known, I wanted to kill something ‘bout then.”
There was a rustling as Dave settled into a more comfortable position. “Don’t mean to pry, but it seems as if there’s more feeding your anger than what happened at Wildacres.”
I sighed in resignation. “Yeah, I’ve been fighting for a few years with some issues. Tend to get carried away with the revenge bit sometimes.” For the next ten minutes I told him of my past, and highlighted the points that led to my having a problem controlling my emotions.
“…So I’ve been struggling ever since with my tendency toward violence…” A buzzing snore from the lump in the passenger seat drove a chuckle out of me. Guess I’d have to improve on my storytelling, couldn’t keep an audience interested anymore. I squirmed around, sleep cutting me off in mid-thought.
The sound of a seatback being raised brought me back to the land of the living. I groaned theatrically while raising my seat. “What time is it?”
“Seven a.m.,” Dave said through a huge yawn. “I gotta hit the head. How ‘bout making that call to your contact? Then we can get somewhere that has a bathroom.”
I nodded, feeling the same urges. “Good idea. Besides that, we might want to find a place to eat. I’m starving!”
* * *
I held the phone away from my ear, astonished at the language I was hearing from my normally unflappable FBI contact. “Hey, tone it down, Mike,” I said, managing to catch him between breaths. “First off, you don’t have any evidence I was involved. And second, if you want the rundown on what happened at Wildacres from my viewpoint, meet us at the Waffle House. It’s the one where Arrowood Road and I-75 intersect, less than a mile from your office.” I hastily shut off my phone, and turned attention back to the waffle in front of me.
Dave frowned as he looked up from his bacon and eggs. “You sure he won’t bring the cavalry down on us? He sounded pissed.”
“Pretty sure he won’t,” I said, stuffing a piece of waffle in my mouth. God, I sure hoped not. That would put a crimp in our plans to chase down Willie. I looked around the almost-deserted restaurant while I chewed, willing away the tension that kept stealing into my mind. Have to work up a good story for Mike, one that would make sure we were still free by the end of the day.
We’d just finished our meal and were on our second cup of coffee when Mike came through the door, followed by a still-bandaged Lenny who looked like she should still be in the hospital. I gave her a closer look, since she definitely looked twenty years younger under all those bandages on her head. Instead of grey, her hair was now a light brown.
She gave me a hug, and a whispered “Thank you!” before sliding into the booth. Mike was back to his bland look, which made me nervous. Much rather see some emotion, so I knew where we stood with him.
“Lenny insisted I bring her along. Everyone outside the Bureau thinks she’s still in the hospital, on her death bed. The truth is she only has a couple dents in her head and a cracked rib.”
I caught her eye and smiled. “Y’know, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced. What’s your last name?”
She smiled back. “Briggs. Lenora Briggs. But please call me Lenny.”
I turned towards Dave. “This is Dave Cutlip. He was a big help at Wildacres; saved several people from being killed. Ex-Army like me, by the way.”
Mike smiled as he shook Dave’s hand. “That’s what John Morrelli said. In fact, he praised both of you to the skies.”
I straightened, senses becoming more alert. “You know him?”
“Know of
