“We saw Denise latching on to you. How did that turn out?”
“Damned if I know, Gus. She’s on Oxy. That’s a bad one to kick. I made a few Dr. Phil points, and told her I would never cheat on Rachel. She took it well, and look what it got me – another clue to our local problems. Maybe some good deeds do go unpunished. I’m hoping for Lisa and Ray’s sake Denise gets her head out of her ass. She has a lot of good things to lose.”
“That doesn’t sound very touchy-feely, partner.”
“I know. Right now, I’m concentrating on our mysterious stalker. Here we are at the humble abode, and I don’t see any police cars, or damsels in distress. You want to hang around, Gus? I have no idea where this is all going.”
“I’ll stay with you until we find out what’s happening. That guy may not be connected to Tracy and Luta, but someone directing those two makes a lot more sense. If it’s a guy trying to get the ‘Hack Chip’ he’s going to be shit out of luck. Maybe once he finds that out, he’ll leave, and take his minions with him.”
“What you say is true, Gus. If he was tied in with Brody, and had anything to do with Carol’s death, he would be out of the info loop, and might not know where the chip is now.” Nick opened the door. “This may not be a discussion Jean should hear. Do you want to do your homework on the deck with us, kid? I shouldn’t include you in this too much information talk, but I’d be stupid to keep you and your Mom in the dark after all the things we’ve been through together.”
“I want to do my homework on deck with you and Uncle Gus. I want you to tell me the truth, Dad. I liked Tracy, but she’s in trouble. I know I’m only nine, but I understand her setting her pimp on my Mom is wrong in a way where she has shown us she’s our enemy.”
Nick put his arm around her shoulders. “You’re a special girl, and I don’t ever forget that. There’s no use in my pretending I’m a Dad with a nine to five job, when you already know the truth. Grab whatever you need to do your homework and meet me and Uncle Gus in our new designated conference room. Your Mom was taking a nap, so she may not be awake yet.”
“I’ll grab my laptop and meet you there. I did most of the notes at school, but I want to type them into the laptop.” Jean ran upstairs to her bedroom to fetch what she would need.
“Jean is something else,” Gus said, as the two men watched her flight up the stairs. “We’d both be arrested in this day and age for exposing her to the conversations we have.”
“What would be worse is me pretending I’m a conventional Dad. Let’s get upstairs on the deck. I don’t give a shit what happens. I’m sipping one while I find out who my mystery man is.”
“I’m with you. I never thought this bestselling writer gig would be this tough. I thought we could take a contract once in a while, and then you’d do your novel writing. I prodded you into staying in touch with your inner devils, and look what happens: absolute chaos. In no time at all, I’ve caused havoc with rescued prostitutes, a priceless ‘Hack Chip’, my almost blood sister-in-law getting mugged in the restaurant she’s working in, and potential killers gathering info at the school where a kid I love like my own goes to school. These are screwy times for me, brother.”
“Let’s go find out some facts, keep our prostitute’s whereabouts under observation, and kill a few brain cells, Gus. You may have instigated what’s happened, but I went right along with your recommendations. I never envisioned my getting out of the life. Remember… I planned on using Rachel and Jean as a cover for my contracts. C’mon. I have the alarms set. We can go find out some facts without getting bothered. I picked this house because we can’t be targeted on the deck… and yeah, I did figure at some point that might happen.”
Chapter Seventeen
New Contract
Gus watched Nick’s mouth tighten into a thin line of controlled anger. He glanced down at his tablet, making sure Tracy had not found a way out for Luta Palamo to get free of custody yet. He noticed Jean watching Nick too, even while typing into her laptop. In spite of what Nick stated, Gus felt responsible for the chain of events. Whether he was right about Nick not being able to handle a normal life or not meant nothing now. They were in a complicated situation with no way to undo what had already been done. The only options left to deal with reality would be tied into death. He knew Nick would either kill until there was no threat, or die. The look on Nick’s face pointed more in the direction of multiple deaths.
“I see you found something.”
Nick grinned over at his partner. “You could say that. You remember I asked Carol how she was assigned to that rat-hole in Saudi Arabia?”