“You did save the purse though with a hidden surprise.”
“That was a bright spot, because I’ll turn it over to Carol for some favor to be named later,” Nick replied. “Tracy’s alive. If she has a lick of sense, she’ll get the hell out of town, and except for reading my books, stay the hell out my life. You know Fahid will have people interested in the ‘Hack Chip’. Even if we pluck him off the Shalimar, he may have shared Tracy’s address. I’m not giving that disc to anyone but Carol. It’s not that I don’t like her minion, but I’m not taking chances with it.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened to the three guys last night, or should I wait for the news report?”
“We’ll have to watch the news anyway,” Nick replied. “I set the scene so it could be accepted as a couple of them went loco and killed each other. It looked pretty good last night, but I’ll check for confirmation when we get to the house. If the scene isn’t accepted the way I staged it, Tracy may not get the benefit of the doubt in staying alive. If the cops are hunting for a killer when Tracy sees the news flash, you can bet she’ll have some evil thoughts.”
“Like fronting a stone cold killer… I don’t think so. You may be thinking a little too carefully, Nick. She could take her suspicions to the cops, but come on… she’s a hooker. The cops wouldn’t buy a story Tracy fed them without proof.”
“Maybe. We’ll see. The Shalimar should have left port by now. We’ll turn on the boob tube news, you can check the Internet with your iPad, and I’ll track the lovely Shalimar. I’m adding an RFID to my emergency equipment bag. I could have tagged Tracy with it.”
“Or you could have given her purse back with an empty transponder case and no disc,” Gus replied. “She would have had some late night or early morning visitors not wanting to hear the tale of the empty disc case.”
“Oh, believe me. That did cross my mind. I couldn’t take a chance on Fahid sending more thugs before we dropped Tracy off at home. That’s thinking on your toes though, Guster. Well done.”
“I understand why you think the way you do. That’s what scares me. The fact your answer to most human interaction problems is to erase the problem from this plain of existence, and that I’m beginning to see that as a viable solution, is indeed worrisome.”
Nick chuckled. “Well, partner, we have one on tap for tonight, and a violent chapter yet to be written. The good part is I’ll need my favorite Captain of the seas with me. It will be an exciting midnight cruise involving the crusader of justice, and his trusty sidekick, the Guster. We must once again bring a dastardly villain into the light.”
“Actually… into the crypt of horror. I haven’t taken my Lucky Lady II on a run for a couple weeks. I prepped her to go out for a jaunt after we made it back alive from overseas, but then Danger… I mean Jean, gave us marching orders to go against the Kader family psychos. My postponed voyage has been hijacked, and the Lucky Lady seduced by the black-hearted pirate, Murderous McCarty.”
“Did you rehearse that in front of the mirror?”
“Maybe a couple of times,” Gus admitted. He peered ahead as Nick’s house came into view, looking for trouble. “It looks like you’ll be able to return home for a change without a greeting party. Was Rachel okay with going into work this morning?”
“Oh… she was really looking forward to it. I only had to slap her around three times on my wakeup call runs and reruns. I’m not sure why Rachel continues working other than she loves Joe, and he needs her. It’s good exercise for her, but I’m not so sure what the stress level does to her. Joe wants her to continue working there so bad, he offered to put in a nursery. Well, here we are. Ready to get to work?”
“I’m ready to blow off the whole day, spike some coffee, and watch the ocean from your upstairs deck.”
“Damn it, Gus!” Nick opened the door, letting his canine and human pals zip in ahead of him. “You would have to put that idea in my head. Now I can’t think of anything else. Diego’s ripping the inside of my head apart trying to force me back to writing, and you have to add my favorite location with hot spirits to sip on the side. Screw this cloak and dagger shit. I need to retire again.”
“C’mon. We’ll go get our prep work done, and then we’ll plot some mini retirement days before the road trip. How’s your head been looking under the bandage?”
Nick took out a bowl for Deke’s special food, filled it, and placed it down in front of the ravenous Deke. “Pretty good. I need to air out the wound anyway, so have a look.”