“We’re putting the band back together,” Buzz said.
“Alpha?”
“Something new. A variation on the theme. It’s got your name written all over it.”
“I appreciate the offer, Buzz, but I’m really not in that line of work anymore.”
“You’re not in any line of work, from everything I’ve been able to gather.”
I had to admit, he had a point.
“You got nothing else going on, Logan. We both know that. Nothing holding you down. Nothing to come home to at night except what, that cat of yours? I’m offering you a chance to do good work again, to get back in the game. Maybe even save the world.”
A porch light came on. From behind the front door of the house came an older woman’s voice:
“I’m calling the police if you don’t get off my property right now.”
Buzz looked back at me. “How about I read you in and give you the full brief while you drive me to the emergency room?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The Buddha said that uncertainty along the path of life is the only certainty there is. I had no way of knowing at that moment where my path would lead me. But Buzz was right about one thing: wherever it led, I had little to keep me from following it.
We started back toward Mrs. Schmulowitz’s house and my truck.
“Sorry I stabbed you, buddy.”
“Hey,” Buzz said, “once a badass, always a badass.”
And then he grinned.
For the first time in a long while, so did I.