“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.
“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.”