The Shack series

Chapter 31

"I can't argue with the results, but it sounds dangerous."

"Mom would have stuck her in a private mental ward if Tara and I hadn't threatened to go ballistic and ruin everything. She'll barely even say Delaney's name anymore."

Tiffany paused, then fixed me with a stare. "Whatever is going on, make goddamn sure if anything happens to her, you don't live through it. Needles will burn the Hoover Building to the ground just getting started. You really don't want to know what that man is capable of."

She was dead serious, and if Delaney was any indication, he might just be able to do it. "I'm not sure I wouldn't help right now."

Tiffany shifted and stretched, then started looking me over again. "So...murder?"

"I know how weak this sounds, but I've been framed."

She gave a chuff of a laugh. "That does sound pretty damn weak. So who did you supposedly kill, anyway?"

"Michael Sandaman. He was my...close friend."

She looked at me sharply. "From the way you said that, 'friend' might not be the right word."

I took as deep a breath as I could, flinching from both kinds of pain. "He was a lot more than a friend."

"So, what happened?"

"I don't know. I wasn't even in town when he was killed, and I'm not sure why I was accused. I got a cryptic voicemail from Michael about a something he needed to give me, then I found out he was gunned down when the DA's office called." My voice caught at that.

"I told them I was coming in to see what was going on. I was ambushed before I even got to my car. I killed one, and the other was unconscious when I left. They both had FBI credentials. Then more cars started showing up, shooting. So I ran. I heard my name on the radio less than 10 minutes later as wanted for Michael's murder."

Tiffany looked curiously at me for a second. "The second agent died in the hospital. They've started talking about treason too."

That didn't make any sense at all. "Who?"

She thought for a moment. "Some tool on C-SPAN, named 'Reasoner' or something like that."

"Reisner?"

"She nodded. "That sounds right."

"Thomas Reisner. He's the Assistant Attorney General for National Security."

"You know him?"

"Standard issue corporate drone, he moves back and forth between private industry and government." Reisner had always struck me as a typical bureaucrat.

"Well, he doesn't seem to like you very much. He's been on a lot."

I puzzled over that. Reisner was kind of a bland bureaucrat nonentity, but before I could say anything, Delaney came back into the room. "All set up."

It took about a century for them to get me to the great room and the waiting chair.

Delaney looked me over, then looked at Tiffany. "How long before I can move her?"

Tiffany shook her head. "We need to get..."

"I'm not getting you and Eric into this any more than I have to. I need to get her out of here, but I don't want to kill her. If you kill the principal, you don't get paid."

"Eric has another twenty hours on shift, so give her at least 12 hours of rest, and we can monitor her. That keeps Eric completely out of it. I've worked with the government; they don't move that fast."

I shook my head. "Not everybody after me is government. The guys that kept catching up to me before I found the trackers weren't. And they don't want me in custody; they want me dead."

Delaney nodded. "I talked to K2 and sent them a picture of the ID I took off the guy I whacked over the head."

Tiffany shot her a glare, and Delaney held her hands up helplessly. "What? He's alive. Just has a concussion."

"This isn't the movies. You don't knock people over the head without doing serious damage. Concussions kill people all the time."

I held my hand up. "He was going to kill me."

The wind seemed to go out of Tiffany's sails, but she gave a low look at Delaney before looking back at me. "I hear that an awful lot. You really wouldn't believe how often."

Delaney rolled her eyes and looked very, very sixteen for a second. "Jesus. The fucker's alive, okay? Anyway. The... uh, contractor ID'd him as a mercenary, former Spetsnatz, who used to work for the Volkov Group. He had a 'falling out' with them."

I let my head fall back. "Damn it."

"What's the Volkov Group?" Tiffany was lost.

"It's technically a mercenary group." I squeezed my eyes shut. "But they pretty much only work for the Russian government, so if they're involved, it's the Russian government."

Delaney shook her head. "Ki...K2 doesn't think so; they think he's working for some transnational company." She paused. "I was told to tell you they think this is about 'Reinhardt.' Whoever that is."

I don't use foul language, it just isn't my thing, but sometimes nothing else will do.

"f**k, I'd rather it was the Russians."

I closed my eyes and let the mix of excellent bourbon and even better pills carry me away, thinking about what that likely meant.

*****

Refuge...and Gardening

*****

I blinked awake and stared up into Delaney's eyes. She put a finger to her lips. "Shhh. We need to move. I know Tiff wanted us to stay longer, but you're my problem. You've had eight hours. I don't want her involved any more than she has to be."

There was an undercurrent of fierce loyalty to all of Howard's associates, no matter how far removed from him they seemed to be. I nodded in agreement. "I know."

We slowly, painfully slipped out through the kitchen, and she settled me into the car, every movement agonizing until I was fully strapped in.

It was at least an hour before I asked the obvious question. "Where are we headed?"

"Gotta get you somewhere until I can hand you off. Somewhere nobody would ever look for you."

"Sounds kind of grim."

She snickered. "I don't know about grim, but it sure as hell won't be what you're used to."

There was no way I was going to try to pry any more information out of her. She was having too much fun, obviously very entertained by whatever the hell she was up to, and I didn't have the energy for those kinds of games. I just closed my eyes.

At the edge of my mind, I tried to fit things together. Reisner. Evelyn. Reinhardt IG. Michael.

It was a good two hours before we reached our destination, a small, neatly kept mobile home in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere.

When Delaney had me up to the door, she banged loudly and shouted in a harsh voice. "Open Up! FBI!"

Her air of authority was immediately destroyed when she fell into a squeaky laughing fit at the sound of somebody inside scrambling in panic.

The door yanked open, and a pale young disheveled blond guy leaned out, his face unevenly red and blotchy. "C'mon, man, that's not funny!"

Delaney descended into soft giggles. "It's good for you! Besides, you fall for it every f*****g time, Mooky."

"It's not funny, Delaney."

"You weren't busy anyway." She stopped and c****d her head and eyed him suspiciously. "Wait, were you skeezin' with a ho in the back?"

Mooky's eyes widened in shock. "I'm not..."

He trailed off to an exasperated head shake.

Delaney made a mock sad face. "Too bad. We gotta find you a girlfriend. Help me get her inside; she's been hurt."

"Ooh, sorry. Is it like an accident of some kind?" He jumped down, clumsily helped me up the stairs into the trailer and awkwardly sat me in a rather careworn easy chair.

"Um, no, she's been shot."

The guy leaned over and looked at my face for a second, then backed away wide-eyed, holding his hands up defensively. "No, no, no, nono nooo! She can't be here!"

"Where's your sense of adventure, Mooky?"

"She's on the news, she's, like, the F.B.I. In here!" He gestured behind him, and I realized that most of the trailer was a collage of lush green m*******a plants, grow lights, and an overly complicated drip irrigation system.

As soon as he saw me looking past him, he jumped up, waving his arms frantically trying to block my view, sending Delaney into a paroxysm of giggles. I might have even given a weak laugh or two.

Delaney clutched his arm. "It's okay. I'm pretty sure she isn't going to call you in. She's wanted for murder."

"Mur...murder?" Mooky stumbled back until he ran into the kitchen counter.

"And treason, I think."

His jaw dropped open. Then he shut it with an effort. "Treason?"

Delaney nodded eagerly. "This is perfect. They'll never look for her here. She can't report you to the police and..."

She trailed off for a second and twisted her mouth in puzzlement. "Okay, it is kinda hard to find a part of it that works for you, but I'll figure something out."