Chapter 52

CHAPTER 52

T he next morning, I headed for Ecstasy. Rose had fallen back to sleep after waking up with my hands on her—from ecstasy to Ecstasy—and yes, we got a little distracted, but Maggs was on guard now. I passed some blood spatter in the alley from the Russian. The next rain would wipe away all sign of his existence. What was a little blood in an alley? This was Rocky Start.

I exited the alley and noted that Norman's van was still missing. Hopefully gone for good. The CLOSED sign was facing out at Ecstasy, but Pike was inside, again sitting at the side counter, Coral across from him.

I tried the door and it was unlocked, which made me wonder if I was becoming part of their morning ritual in some way. Coral was wearing the same skin-tight black dress as the first day I'd met her, minus the hat, which was resting on the bakery case for later. She was already prepared for Oz's celebration that night.

"Good morning," Coral called out.

"Morning."

"You had an exciting evening, did you not?" Coral asked as I approached the counter .

Not as exciting as my morning, I thought, remembering Rose hot in my arms. Good way to wake up. "It was interesting."

Coral put a cup of coffee in front of me and I tasted it. Four sugars.

"Thank you." I looked at Pike. "We need to stop this, whatever it is."

Pike frowned. "It's not clear-cut. I pulled the Russian's prints and sent them to the Ferrells along with his image and the tattoos. The prints didn't get any hits. Nor facial recognition. The tattoos were, as we thought, Spetsnaz and Wagner."

"Is he still with Wagner or whatever they're called now?"

"They don't publish a current-duty roster," Pike said. "And it's pretty much defunct."

"Is he from the Cauldron?"

"Serena's been known to contract Russians," Pike said. "Hell, damn near anyone with the right background and no scruples. But it's also possible that if it looks like a duck and is tattooed like a duck, it's a duck."

"You said the file Oz kept had evidence Serena was a traitor. But that was decades ago. Why would the Russians still care about that?"

Coral cleared her throat and stared at Pike, and I knew there was another story to the story.

"There were a lot of files in that cabinet," Pike said. "And it took us three days to make it back to the States from the ‘Stan on the 130."

I'd done those long multi-stop hops on a C-130 across the ocean. A lot of time wandering around the cargo bay. Usually, you rolled out your sleeping pad and caught some Zs. Or read KGB files if they were handy.

"We took more than just the microfilm proving Serena's treachery," Pike said. "We also took some good stuff that Herc and the CIA could use. Help the country."

Now I finally understood the real foundation of Rocky Start. It was built on intelligence. "You traded that to Herc for him backstopping this town." And for forgetting about the pile of cash for the Stinger buy-back. That had seemed too neat an oversight for Herc from the start. He might not have cared about the money, but he cared about how it would look not to care about the money. Unless he got something worth it in return. There's no such thing as a free lunch in Herc's world.

"Yeah," Pike said. "Herc used that info to roll up several Soviet networks not just in Afghanistan but across Southeast Asia." He glanced at Coral. "Even hurt some ops they had in Europe. Pissed the Russkies off mighty bad. Got Herc a big attaboy and nickels in the bank at the Agency. He's still milking that for favors. Made him the legend he thinks he is. The problem was that from the mujahideen we hired to hit the convoy, the Russians knew it was Oz and me. But, like Serena, the Russians thought we died when the plane went down."

Fucking Herc. He hadn't come up with that cover story just for Serena. He'd done it to get the Russians off their trail, too, and protect the source of the intelligence. Herc was the master of making every situation pay multiple dividends.

Pike went on. "Herc told me there was a KGB officer, Alexei Dmitri, who took the fall for the lost files. They were his responsibility. He was demoted, sent to Siberia or some end of the world place like that. Typical Soviet bullshit."

"He still alive?" I asked.

Pike looked at Coral, which seemed odd. What was even odder was that she answered.

"Yes," Coral said. "Retired, like the rest of us."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Max," Pike said in a warning tone.

"How would the Russians have learned of Oz dying?" I asked.

"I'm still wondering how Serena found out." Pike shook his head. "We don't know anything for certain."

Coral glanced at me and I saw something in her eyes, and I realized she was worried about Pike. For the first time I wondered how Ozzie's death had affected them. They were both old soldiers and while still tough, they were, as MacArthur had famously said, fading away. Oz had gone completely.

"And if it was a freelancer looking for money?" I said. "Want to share your thoughts on the leak in town?"

"Not at the moment," Pike said .

"And if he was looking for this other thing Serena said you and Oz took from the Russians? Beyond the files?"

Pike shook his head. "There's nothing else."

"Serena doesn't agree."

"Serena, like everyone else, is just working off rumors."

Whatever it was, Pike wasn't going to share.

He shook his head. "Hell, I don't even know where the damn film that Oz kept is."

"And where's the Russian's body now?" I asked.

"Melissa Merriweather took care of it. No longer an issue."

The door opened, a CLOSED sign being no impediment to the citizens of Rocky Start, and Lian walked in. She appeared troubled. Coral was already preparing her a cup of tea.

Lian smiled as best she could manage at Pike and me. "Good morning."

Both of us nodded back.

She went to the end of the counter, standing there so that she faced all of us. "Herc called again last night."

"What did he want?" Pike asked.

"To talk to Mei," she said. She looked at me. "Rose told me Herc sent you here to check on her."

I started to protest, but Lian waved it off. "You didn't know. I understand the way Herc works, playing people. I'm happy you're here with the way it turned out." But she went back to her worries. "I'm afraid he's going to come here with Ozzie gone." She looked at Pike. "No disrespect, Pike, but Ozzie is the only person I know who actually scared Herc."

Pike didn't take offense. "Oz scared a lot of people. But we'll keep an eye out for Herc."

Somehow, I got the feeling I was part of that "we."

"So what do we—" I began but heard the door open and turned as Norman came in, a big smile on his face for Coral. That smile washed away when he saw me. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open .

"Hey, Norman," I called out. "Come on in." Internally, I was debating whether to shoot him or let Pike handle it.

"Have an interesting night, Norman?" Pike asked as the door swung closed, hitting Norman on the shoulder.

"Uh. Yes," Norman said, blinking. He gave a foolish smile. "There was some shooting."

"Really?" Pike said.

"I think someone tried to break into Oz's store but then there was a shot and then there was this guy running and then someone shot him." Norman said it all fast, the words tumbling.

"How do you know all that?" Pike asked.

"Uh, I was parked down the street."

"You weren't there when I got there," Pike said.

"I drove away because, you know. There was shooting."

I could see why Norman was a dog, not a player.

He tried a different approach. "I think whoever shot the guy was trying to protect Rose."

"But the guy was running away," Pike said. "He'd already broken in."

"Was he? Did he?" Norman's beady little eyeballs shifted from Pike to me to Coral to Lian then back to Pike, and he knew none of us were buying his bullshit.

"And it was dark," Pike added. "Could have been anyone. I don't like people randomly killing people in my town."

Norman finally made a command decision. "Got to go."

He did an about-face and left. He moved surprisingly fast for a pudgy old man.

"Fucking Norman," Pike said. "He saw a target of opportunity and went for it."

"Except I was the target," I said. "You just going to let him go?"

"I want to see what he does next," Pike said.

"That could be me," I said.

"Yeah." Pike looked at me, evaluating. "I'll have a word with him. Wouldn't want to lose you now that you're part of things. "

"About that—" I began, reaching into my pocket to give him the badge back, and then I remembered Rose and Poppy and Coral with four sugars and loading a body into a truck with him last night. For a moment I thought, I should have kept walking , but that was a lie.

I was where I was supposed to be, for now at least.

"Yeah, I guess," I said and drank my coffee.