Chapter Thirteen #2
“But I had finally gotten close to Victor Red when things started to go wrong. After my handler died, Walsh put me with good ol’ Mick Reed.
He was supposed to be my new handler and he was good at it.
But looking back now, I should have realized that after my first handler died and Reed became my new partner, I didn’t lunge up the hierarchy as I had been before.
I think they weren’t yet sure what to do with me, but I still worked with them for a couple of weeks.
Why I didn’t suspect Reed was because he helped me.
He helped me look deeper into all of it.
I was so close to having all the information I needed.
Close enough that if I’d have kept going, it would have ruined Red.
It would have given us the proof to put that man away for a long time, but they got to me.
When I went too deep they made sure to stop me. ”
He slips around me to get back into the water where he washes the shampoo out of his hair.
“They tied me up and asked what intel I had. They tried getting the information out of me. How much do the police know? Where was my information? What information did I have? Red stayed out of it. I think he might have come in once, but I’m not sure.
He never touched me. The man that did this to me was arrested.
They could find absolutely no ties between him and Red.
When held in court he wove some tale about this happening because of a case I was on years ago.
Again, Red knew just what to do and what to stay to get out any situation he’s put into.
“Thankfully…I wasn’t with them long. They wouldn’t have stopped with my eyes.
They’d have kept going until I gave them something they wanted.
The only reason that I got away was that they were being lax.
I guess when you’re dealing with a guy you’ve just blinded, you tend to think they’re helpless.
I managed to get out and get far enough away that someone found me.
But what the fuck did I gain out of any of it?
Nothing. And now everyone sees me as useless. ”
“So…we go in and get something,” I say.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Lane says as he shuts the shower off and gets out.
I’m still covered in the soap since he’d been hogging the water, so I turn it back on and step under it.
“Let’s take it one step at a time. Right now, we’ll stop at James’s, talk to his wife, and grab some clothes. Then we’ll move forward.”
“Okay,” I say. “But don’t forget your newest asset.”
“Which is?”
“Me. I’m really damn good at stealing things,” I say.
“I’m not putting you in danger.”
I don’t fight him because I know that right now, he’s not going to agree to anything I say. But I’ll get him to see my side of it.
We get dressed in our dirty clothes from yesterday, which are actually Mick’s. The shirt is so long on me that I could wear it as a dress and too tight on Lane. Needless to say, we look sexy as we leave the hotel and walk down the street with Copper between us.
When we reach James’s apartment, we can at least figure out how to find the right door.
I knock on it and when the door opens, a pretty woman steps out.
Her hair is dyed dark brown with blonde roots showing.
It’s thrown up into a messy bun and her makeup looks like it’s been on for a few days at least. She rushes forward and grabs onto Lane, hugging him tightly.
He seems a little startled, like he hadn’t been expecting it, before wrapping his arms around her.
“Lane, please help me,” she says as her voice cracks.
“We’ll find him,” Lane says as he squeezes her.
She pulls back. “I’m sorry…please come in.
” She steps into the apartment, but Lane waits for me to lead him inside.
“Grab anything you need. I have the keys to his weapons safe,” she says as she ushers us into the homey apartment.
It’s nice and looks well lived in. The kitchen and living room are all one big room and in the middle of it is a table with a cat sitting on top.
The moment the cat sees Copper it flees. Copper’s ears perk up, but he doesn’t seem to care as the cat runs in place on the linoleum a moment before getting enough grip to propel itself out of the room.
“Right in here,” Janice says as she hurries through an open door.
We follow her into a second bedroom. It looks like it is being used for storage, but there is a small futon crammed in the corner. She goes to the closet where she kneels before a safe and sticks the key into it. She pulls it open and steps back, so we can access it.
“Lane…do you need help with any of it?” she asks.
“No, I’m fine,” Lane says.
“Are you guys hungry? Have you eaten breakfast?”
“We could eat something,” Lane says.
“I’ll go make you breakfast.” She turns to the door before her eyes catch mine. “I’m sorry, I never introduced myself. I’m Janice.”
“Hi,” I say. “I’m Felix.”
“James has said really good things about you,” she says. “I’m glad this arrangement is working out, but I’m sorry you’re getting swept up into this mess.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s all Lane’s fault,” I assure her.
She smiles weakly before leaving the room. I walk over to the safe and pull Lane down next to me. I swing the door open and look in at a really nice collection of guns.
“Ooh.”
“Can you tell me what they are?” Lane asks as he hovers over the safe.
“There are some little pew pews and a couple of big pew pews,” I say.
“You’re useless.”
“I don’t know what the heck they are! There are a few handguns and a rifle? I don’t know.”
“Hand me one of the handguns,” he says.
I tentatively pick up the heavy object of mass destruction and hand it over to Lane.
He holds it in one hand and feels his way down it with the other.
After setting it to the side, he holds his hand out for the next one, so I hand it to him.
He does the same to this one, and then the last handgun before passing the first one back to me.
“Put that one away,” he says so I do. “Ammo?”
I see that there are a couple of boxes at the bottom of the safe. “Yeah.”
“Grab it,” he says as he holds his hand out.
“Mind me asking why you need three guns?” I ask. “I wouldn’t think a blind man would need one .”
“I don’t like Reed’s gun,” he says. “The other is for you.”
“HA! Funny, Lane. Funny.”
“Thanks,” he says as he stands up. “Ask Janice if James has a spare holster around here somewhere.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hopefully, it has three spots for all three of your guns,” I say. “Because I’m not touching one.”
“You want to stay with me?” Lane asks.
I stare at him, knowing this question is going to come back and bite me in the ass. “Yes…”
“Then you’re going to carry a gun.”
“You blind have a better chance of doing something with a gun than I do,” I say.
“I know, but sometimes you need it for show.”
“Then can I have something awesome? Like a battle axe? I mean, I definitely wouldn’t fuck with a guy toting a battle axe around.”
“Those noodle arms couldn’t lift a battle axe, let alone carry it around all day,” he says.
“These noodle arms have saved your ass,” I remind him as I get up to find Janice.
When I find her, I almost wish I hadn’t.
She’s sitting on the kitchen floor, sobbing.
It’s not that I’m heartless, it’s that I have no idea how to comfort a human being.
My mom would comfort me by calling me a pussy and walking away.
I don’t think that would work in this situation, so I kind of stop and just stare.
But she has already heard me and shows it by looking right at me.
“Hey…” I say quietly. Is that a good way to start? Probably not. I walk over to her and kneel in front of her. “You alright?”
She quickly wipes at her eyes and her running nose. “I’m fine. Sorry.”
“You sure? Why don’t you stay with someone so you’re not here alone?”
She nods. “I will…I just…thought if he came home…I needed to be here. I just…I know what happened to Lane, and I just…James is different than Lane. James isn’t as…Lane…he’s better at this.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” I say as I wrap my arms around her. “We’ll do everything we can to help, okay?”
She nods. “I know you guys will.”
“I don’t know much about this whole…stuff that’s going on, but I think you would be safer somewhere else. Why don’t you go to your parents or something? When James comes home, he’s not going to just come here and not contact you.”
She nods as she wipes her eyes. “I know, I’m being stupid.”
“Of course not,” I say. “You’re worried.”
I stand up, and since I can’t see any Kleenexes, I grab her a napkin. She wipes her eyes and then blows her nose on it. As she tosses the napkin in the trash, she takes a deep breath, so I hold my hand down to her. She takes it and I pull her up to her feet.
“Did you come out here because you needed something?” she asks.
“Lane wanted to know if James had a holster or anything for his guns?”
“Yeah, let me find them,” she says. “Do you guys need clothes as well? You both look a little out of place. Get Lane and meet me in my room.”
“Alright, thanks,” I say as I head back to retrieve Lane. When I walk in he’s standing by the door looking upset. “You alright?” I ask.
“Yeah, just makes it harder to hear Janice cry,” he says. “Hard to stay composed, I guess.”
“I know,” I say as I grab his hand and squeeze it gently. “I’ve lived in this world long enough to know that not everything always turns out the way you hope and expect, but we are going to try our hardest to make sure it does this time, alright?”
He nods, so I give his hand a tug and pull him after me. We walk into Janice’s bedroom where she is tearing clothes out of the closet and tossing them on the bed.
“Lane, you’d fit in James’s clothes, wouldn’t you?” she asks from where she is buried in the closet.
“Yeah, he’s about the same height as me,” he says.
“Just…honestly, grab anything, look through the dresser, the closet, whatever you want. And Felix, you’d fit in a pair of my pants, right?”
I want to tell her no. I want to disagree with all my might that I would fit into her pants, but I grudgingly nod. “Yeah…probably,” I say in defeat.
She rummages around her drawer and holds up some pants. “These should fit, and grab anything you want from the closet. Honestly anything,” she says. “I’m going to make you guys French toast. Do you like French toast?”
“That would be amazing,” Lane says, and she quickly leaves.
“What’s our plan?” I ask. “Like what kind of clothes are reasonable?”
“We’re going to a posh club. Find something nice,” he says.
I rummage through the clothes on the bed and hand Lane a pair of dark blue jeans before going over to the closet. I find a nice rich red button-up and a black suit jacket that I grab and head over to Lane. “Is red good?”
“Yeah,” he says as he pulls his shirt off. I hold the new shirt up and guide his arm into it. When he pulls it straight in the front, I start buttoning it.
“What time does the club open?”
“Not until tonight, but I’m not sure what else we should do before then. It’s not like we can run in guns blazing. Especially when you won’t even shoot one.”
“True,” I say as I move down to the next button. The shirt is a little loose on him, but it fits better than Mick’s.
“Arms up,” I say as I push one sleeve over his arm.
“What is this?”
“A suit jacket,” I say.
“We’re not going to a wedding.”
“Lane, Lane, Lane. Have you ever watched Lucifer? ”
“No.”
“Yeah, well, you should because he looks damn sexy.”
“Are you just…trying to tell me who you have wet dreams about or something?”
“He wears this sexy suit or vest for the whole show. I’m just trying to up your sexiness a bit,” I say as I leave it unbuttoned in the front. Then I step back just to eye my masterpiece. “And you do look mighty fine.”
I pull on Janice’s jeans and die a little inside when they’re too long on me, so I pretend that it looks hotter if I roll them up.
Then I go to her closet and leaf through it until I find a plain black shirt and pull a gray blazer on.
The outfit is a tad feminine, but it’s better than most things I’ve worn lately.
“Go see if a pair of James’s sunglasses is on the dresser,” he says.
I walk over to the dresser that is very messy. There are books, papers, clothes, but no sunglasses. Instead, I find a winter hat which I grab and head over to Lane. I pull it onto his head and pull it down over his eyes.
“There ya go. Now you’re pulling off the Daredevil look,” I say with a grin.
“I feel like an idiot,” he says.
“Yeah, but you look like a superhero,” I say.
“If this is how I have to look to be a superhero, then I have no interest,” he says as he tosses the hat in the general direction of the dresser. It misses by a foot, so I pick it up and toss it on top.
“No sunglasses…ooh, look at this cute hat,” I say as I pick up a flat cap hat.
“No, I’m not wearing one of James’s ridiculous hats. He thinks he’s from the twenties or whenever those things were popular.”
“We’re blending in,” I say as I pop it on his head. “Oh…you actually look good with it on.”
“Why do you sound surprised? It tells me that your original intention was to put it on because you thought it wouldn’t look good.”
I laugh. “Come on,” I say as I pull him after me.
“Did you find everything you need?” Janice asks as she peeks through the open door. She actually smiles when she sees Lane. “Nice hat, Lane.”
“Yeah…James would be ecstatic,” Lane says.