Chapter 36

36

"Back again?" Daisy the waitress said as we piled into The Forge.

Over her head, I saw there were more people here now than when we had left. The dining room was lined on both walls with mostly white-haired pensioner couples and what looked like two teens on a date. The party of construction workers were howling now as Scotty and another younger waitress came out of the kitchen door beside the bar, wheeling a rolling cart with a giant ice cream cake with sparklers on it.

"Yep, Daisy. Back again," I said, smiling as we slid into the same booth from earlier.

That it was more crowded was good, I thought. If the jokers after Jodi and Colleen were still on the fence about actually doing this, this would at least stall them. They didn't want so many witnesses to something like this.

Whatever this was, I thought as I watched the dining room and the door.

"So, what can I get you guys?" Daisy said.

"Let's go with the two dozen hot wings to start," I said. "And I'll have the steak sandwich."

"With peppers," Daisy said.

"But of course," I said.

I smiled over at Colleen and Jodi, who looked back as if I were nuts.

"Where are my manners, ladies? Please order," I said.

"Order?" said Jodi, wide-eyed.

"Of course," I said, smiling like an idiot. "We're here to eat, ladies, right? It's dinnertime so you need to order."

Colleen ordered a burger and Jodi got a Caesar salad.

"What the hell are we doing, Mike?" Jodi said when Daisy left. "They're going to come in here in five seconds and—"

"Listen to me," I said quietly. "You're damn right they might come for us. We're going to be looking at—I'm not even sure what—but it could get bad. We just can't let anyone here know we are the target, okay? It's not a good idea. You want to get out of here, we have to hide in the crowd and play as stupid as possible and keep it cool. Just follow my lead."

A sad roar from the bar made all of us look over. Back in normal world, the Penguins had just tied up the game with the Hurricanes.

I suddenly wished I was in the Carolinas. Or hell, even Pittsburgh would be fine at this point.

"I have no idea what you're doing," Jodi said, sitting up. "This doesn't seem like a strategy. This is just crazy to sit here. Suicidal. In fact, this is not acceptable."

I stared at the neatly coiffed Martha Stewart look-alike with a patient smile. Obviously, the lady was very afraid and worked up, forgetting that she had come to me seeking help. I needed yet another tangle with the authorities like I needed a root canal without Novocain.

But her attitude wasn't exactly growing on me. I wasn't a presidential dining room waiter back at the campus. And if she kept treating me like one, she was going to find a fly in her soup.

"Relax, Jodi. Mike knows what he's doing," Colleen said, picking up on my mood. "He was in the NYPD SWAT and the Special Forces before that. Why do you think I brought us here?"

"Special Forces?" Jodi said, squinting at me.

"He was a SEAL in Iraq, a combat vet. Right, Mike?" Colleen said.

Jodi's face suddenly changed. There was a sudden far-off look in her eyes.

"My first husband died in Iraq," she said.

That was the last thing I expected to hear her say.

"I'm sorry, Jodi. What unit?"

"The 984th MP Company out of Fort Carson. In 2004 in the beginning of the spring fighting, he was in charge of a unit helping with the arrest of some Iraqi army people in Najaf when someone in the protesting crowd shot him. His name was Bill. Lieutenant William Dunne."

"I'm really sorry," I said again.

"Our daughter was born four months later."

I didn't know what to say to that.

Luckily, Colleen came to the rescue.

"Jodi, we're all rattled," she said, patting her on the shoulder. "But we need to pull together here, okay? Mike knows what he's doing. Let's trust him."

"Of course," she said, suddenly rubbing at her forehead. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just overwhelmed, I guess. I can't believe this is happening. That my husband would... I'm sorry I roped you into this, the both of you."

"No problem at all, Jodi," I said, tapping her hand. "We're going to get through this. Let's all just stay on the same page."