Chapter 10

?

W hen Amarylis got a phone call toward the end of the day, she just knew it would be Tristan. She groaned as she answered it. “Are you canceling our dinner date?”

After a moment of surprise, he replied, “I guess it wouldn’t be good if I did, huh ?”

“If you have a good reason, then, of course, you do what you’ve got to do, but I was looking forward to it.”

“Good,” he said, “because I wasn’t calling to cancel.”

Smiling, she asked, “What’s the problem then?”

“I just wanted to ask if I could meet you at the restaurant, as I’m held up here for a bit.”

“Sure, we can do that. What time?”

“How about six? But make sure you take your guard with you.”

“Sure, it’s not as if he’s had an easy day of it, as I’ve been on the tables most of the time. The poor guy had it much worse than he expected,” she shared. “I had a lot of them today, but nothing quite so bad as what you’ve been dealing with though.”

“And yet your information brought about a breakthrough, so we appreciate that.”

“Good, I’m glad I could be useful. You can fill me in at dinner.” And, with that, she laughed and was gone.

He sent her a thumbs-up and a heart emoji in a text right away, almost making her feel bad for hanging up but not quite. As she got through the rest of her day, she went to find her guard. “So, apparently you’re still on duty, huh ?”

“Apparently so,” Scott said, with a nod.

“You don’t have anybody to switch out with you?”

“I’ll switch out when it’s time to switch out,” he shared, with a gentle smile. “Don’t you go worrying about me.” She frowned at him. He grinned back at her. “Besides, you should be getting away from all that nastiness in there soon, right?”

“Maybe,” she said, with a smirk, “but it’s a nastiness I’m used to.”

“How is it that you can even think about doing that stuff?” he asked, with a shudder.

“It doesn’t require thinking at all. It’s what I’m good at, what I trained for, and it doesn’t bother me at all.”

“That’s the part I don’t get,” he replied, staring at her. “You look so sweet and innocent, and now here you are, carving up bodies all day.”

At his description, she laughed. “I guess for some people that sounds very strange, doesn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah, like for everybody. I can’t imagine there is anything not disturbing about it for most people.”

“That’s because most people don’t want to think about death, but it’s a natural part of living. The one guarantee you have when you’re born is that you will die. You just don’t know when or how.”

“I prefer it that way myself,” he muttered.

“Maybe, but a lot of people do want to know,” she pointed out. “We can’t always give them that level of information. Sometimes I don’t think we should either.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I think we would probably live better if we didn’t know when that day was happening.”

He shrugged. “If we did know the day of our death, in some ways we might appreciate every day a little bit more and make the most of it.”

“Maybe,” she agreed. “Anyway, it’s time to meet Tristan at the restaurant.”

“ Right .” He chuckled. “From the morgue to a date.”

She rolled her eyes. “Still not sure about how this whole date thing came about.”

“That’s easy,” he replied, with a grin. “It’s when a man meets a woman, and they fall in love.”

She burst out laughing, which she knew was exactly what he intended, but he had said it in such a comical way that it was hard not to.

“Glad you’ve got a sense of humor,” he replied, with that smile of his.

“Yeah, I do, and sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps me going.”

“You do deal with all those creepy things on the table over there.”

She nodded in amusement. “Most people wouldn’t say bodies were creepy.”

“They obviously don’t spend enough time with you then,” he quipped. “My God, the things you do to them.”

“Yes, and all in the name of science and getting answers for people,” she explained.

“I get it. I do, but I don’t think I would ever want my body autopsied. You’re not kidding when you say you get into every bit of their life.”

“That’s because I have to, in order to get the answers. So, we have to cut open all parts of the body and see what’s going on,” she clarified. “And, once we’ve made as many cuts as we need to, if the answer is still not there, then we have to dig deeper, and sometimes we have to go even farther. But still, generally the body gives up its answers—not always, not every time. However, if we’re lucky, the body does release those answers and makes our lives just a little bit easier.”

He shook his head at that. “I still think it’s creepy.”

She laughed. “That’s fine. You keep thinking it’s creepy.” She waved him off. “I’ll keep doing my job regardless.”

With a mutual agreement to stay out of each other’s work, she headed home where she quickly had a shower and got changed. When she stepped out again, her guard, Scott, nodded approvingly. “You clean up nice, Doc.”

She batted her eyes at him. “Gee, thanks, damned with faint praise.”

He flushed. “I didn’t mean it that way,” he said awkwardly.

“Oh no, that’s okay. I always put away my knives before I go out on a date.”

“Good, I can’t imagine dating somebody who was touching dead bodies all day.”

“The thing is, I leave the bodies in the morgue,” she noted. “It’s not something I work on at home. Just think of all the guys who bring their work home, and be happy that I don’t.”

He stared at her in shock and asked, “The coroners couldn’t do that though, right?”

“No, they sure couldn’t,” she reassured him, and then she shrugged. “Sometimes we have to bring tissue samples and things like that home.” He shuddered and she laughed. “They would be under microscope glass, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Yeah, you say that,” he muttered, with a mocking grin. “So Tristan told me to drive you to the restaurant and that he would bring you home,” he shared, with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“Good,” she replied calmly, “that suits me just fine. That way I can have a drink and not worry about driving.”

“Right, drinking . So I guess I could be driving you both home then, huh ? Still, he did warn me that he might get called off of your date, so I should stick around, just in case.”

“Our date could be interrupted with a call from his team,” she noted. “As far as drinking goes, I don’t think Tristan ever allows himself to unwind enough to have anybody else drive him.”

“I think you may be right.” Scott frowned. “Those guys, they have a hell of a reputation.”

“I would imagine it’s more than a reputation,” she noted, “or at least a reputation that they earned fairly.”

“Oh absolutely,” Scott agreed, with a nod. “They’re still scary dudes though. They have that reputation, and it’s definitely something that we respect, but it’s also something that we hold slightly apart from the rest, just because we know they’re the people they are.”

“And yet good people,” she said uncertainly.

“Oh, you don’t have to convince me.”

“I was hoping you would convince me.”

“Ah,… well, I’ve been watching some of that team for a long time,” he shared. “I often wondered about becoming an investigator myself, but, if it means going into your morgue on a regular basis”—he held up his hands—“no thank you.”

She grinned at him. “Just think, by then you could be totally comfortable in my morgue.”

“I doubt it. I don’t think anybody could be comfortable in there.”

“And yet you forget that I don’t work alone. I have assistants, technicians, and Dr. Cox, my boss, who works there with me. Also we have admin people, and then all kinds of work that people clean up after us.”

“Oh no, no, no, hell no.”

That image may have been too much for Scott. She burst out laughing as they walked outside and got into the MP’s car. When he turned it on and pulled out of the parking lot, she asked, “Did Tristan tell you where we’re going?”

He nodded. “Yeah, he sure did.”

“Good, because I don’t know all that many places around here yet.”

“We have a lot of places to get a good meal here,” he noted, with a smile, “and Tristan seemed pretty adamant that you will like this one.”

“Good. I trust him, so whatever he picks out is just fine with me,” She yawned, rubbing at her face.

Scott frowned. “You shouldn’t have gone into work today. You’re tired.”

“I am tired, but it’s a good tired. It’s a tired borne of doing something good, of helping out. You know, that kind of tired.”

“Maybe so, but still you work too hard.”

“You’re not the first person to tell me that,” she admitted, with a chuckle, “and you won’t be the last, so thank you, but I’m fine.”

“In other words, butt out, right?” he asked, with a note of humor.

“Sure, butt out works.”

At the restaurant, Scott parked, checking out their surroundings, and said, “Come on. Let’s go.” And he walked her inside.

When she saw Tristan, she felt relief easing the tension inside her and gave a long sigh.

Scott chuckled. “See? I told you that he would be here, the lucky sod.” She shrugged. “Hey, outside of your job, you’re pretty hot,” Scott shared, and, with that, he stepped back out of the restaurant.

Surprised at his comment, she shook her head and walked over toward Tristan, who was standing up, waiting for her.

“Hey,” he greeted her, as she arrived at the table. “I hope you’re okay that Scott brought you here?”

“It was fine. I have to admit that I was a little perturbed because I wasn’t sure if everything was okay out there. You get a little spoiled having personal treatment like this.”

He smiled at her. “It’s okay, and Scott is nice.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I would hate for him to be one of the bad guys.”

Tristan winced at that. “We all would, and we definitely know somebody in our world is double-crossing us,” he shared, “but we haven’t figured out who just yet.”

She winced and nodded. “So, in other words, still watch my back.”

“Always, but I wouldn’t have had you with Scott if I didn’t trust him.”

“Sure, but it seems as if these days we don’t know who we can trust,” she muttered. She sat down in the chair that he held for her, and as soon as she was seated, he walked back around and sat down across from her. She smiled. “You look a little tired.”

“A little tired is definitely something I can deal with. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night.”

She nodded. “I was wondering about that. Just because I went back to sleep for a little while doesn’t mean you got that opportunity.”

“Nope, I sure didn’t,” he confirmed, leaning closer to her, “but our prisoner is still alive, so we’ll take that as a good thing.”

“I hope he stays that way,” she replied in a serious tone. “In all honesty, I do. There’s been so much death already.”

Tristan nodded. “That’s definitely something we’re concerned about, and we do have security on him, but it’s only as secure as we can make it.”

She nodded. “And I suppose you carefully chose his guard.”

He smiled. “The ones who we have looking after Terry have been thoroughly vetted, so that’s not a concern.”

“Glad to hear that, so…” She looked around to see if a waitress was coming.

“You’re hungry?”

“I am,” she admitted, with a smile, “so if food is available, bring it on.”

“Food is always available.” He chuckled.

Just then the waitress arrived, bringing two glasses of red wine. Amarylis smiled in delight as one was placed in front of her and the other with Tristan. “Look at that, a man who likes to make decisions.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve met a lot of guys who would never order a glass of wine for a lady,” she shared, with a smile, “just in case it was wrong.”

“If it was wrong, it could be easily changed,” he noted. “Besides, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t take care of the extra glass too.”

She chuckled. “It always seemed to me that it would be an easy thing to do, and I do enjoy a good glass of wine and a red one at that, so that’s an interesting choice.”

“It’s just how I like it and hoped you would appreciate some too.”

Amarylis hadn’t even had a chance to look at the menu, feeling too tired to even deal with it. More as a challenge to him than anything, she asked, “What are you having?”

“A steak with a baked potato and a Caesar salad.”

Smiling, she said, “That sounds great. Make that two.”

He nodded, and the waitress returned, so he quickly ordered, including toppings for the potato. “Was that a bit of a challenge or just you tired?” he asked Amarylis.

“Both,” she said, followed by a yawn. “I’m tired. The lack of sleep has definitely affected me.”

“Of course, but we’ll get you a good meal, hopefully in a relaxing atmosphere, so then you can go home and get some sleep.”

“That’s the hope, but I don’t know if it will work out that way.”

“Let’s hope so. We do have the one prisoner still, and he’s formally asked for protection.”

She stared at him, her jaw slowly closing in shock. “Seriously?”

He nodded, a grin on his face. “Jasper’s working on arranging it right now. I’ve been waiting all afternoon and was finally relieved of guard duty when Masters came in, so I headed out.”

“Interesting that our intruder has changed his tune on that,” she noted, staring at him.

“Every once in a while, we do catch a break.”

“But he hasn’t told you anything, has he?”

“No, not until we make an agreement with him,” he said, with an eye roll.

“I guess you can’t blame the guy.”

“Maybe not, but, once Terry realized his sister was dead, which did take a bit for him to believe, he looked at things differently. I also think he recognized Drew, Mason’s sniper, though Terry didn’t say anything, but his facial expression did. He didn’t appear to know anything about Nicholas.”

“And that’s the other investigator who was missing for so long, right?”

He nodded. “Exactly.”

“Interesting,” she murmured. “How much of this is multiple arms of the same headache?”

“Anything is possible,” Tristan noted cheerfully. “It’ll be hard to know, until we get further down this pathway. However, we are pretty excited about potentially having somebody to talk to and to get more information from.”

“And Masters is okay? You trust him?”

“Absolutely. Master’s is one of the good guys.”

“It seems all the good guys work in your department,” she said, with a smile.

“Some of them are our own hand-picked guys, and we totally trust them. Hard to keep the good guys down,” he added, with a smile.

She sighed. “But, if something does go wrong, you will lose yet another witness.”

“Don’t say that. That’s not what we want to hear.”

“Of course not. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“No, it’s all right. We’re certainly aware that this is a problem, but we’re hoping that it isn’t that big of a problem.”

She just nodded and didn’t say anything.

A few minutes later Tristan’s phone buzzed, and he winced and apologized. “Sorry, but I do have to take any calls coming in.”

“Take them, and keep me filled in.”

He laughed, looked down at his phone. “It’s Jasper.” In a low voice he answered the call, and she heard just a little bit of the conversation. When he hung up, he was smiling. “Good news. Sounds like your intruder made a deal.”

“That is great news. So, what will you do after dinner?”

“I was hoping to get some sleep, but instead I’ll head back to see what we can get out of this guy.”

“Oh, wow. Even tonight?”

“Yes, especially tonight. We can’t give the bad guys too much time to find Terry.”

She winced and nodded. “You’re right. I guess I was thinking that, at some point in time, you would get off this godforsaken case.”

“At some point in time I will,” he declared, with a smile, “but not today.” She nodded. “Does that bother you?” he asked after a moment.

“Does what bother me?”

“The hours I work.”

Surprised, she shook her head. “No. Do the hours I work bother you?”

“Sure,” he admitted cheerfully, “I might give you a talking to because you work too much. Then I may chew you out for not taking more time off.”

“Ah, and will you take more time off?”

“No, and you probably won’t listen to me either.”

“Nope, I wouldn’t. Yet I do think, in that regard, we will both understand each other.”

He looked over at her and smiled. “I’m pretty sure that’s a given.” As they talked about various things going on in their worlds, she asked him, “After you solve the Mason matter, will you be staying here on base and working in this investigation department?”

“Possibly,” he said, with a thoughtful look. “I haven’t been offered a full-time job yet, but I’ve certainly been offered a job with him. Jasper has taken over the department, although that’s not public news yet.”

“That’s good though, right?” she asked him.

“It is, but I also don’t know how many of the other guys on the initial investigation team will stay or will have the option of staying, and that in itself has caused some hard feelings.”

“And yet that’s not your problem.”

He burst out laughing and nodded. “You’re right. It isn’t, and yet somehow… it is.”

“Right. Things have a way of becoming our issues just because of who we are.”

“Exactly.” Their steaks arrived soon afterward, and that ended up being one of the best meals she’d had in a very long time.

When they were finished, she patted her stomach. “Gosh, I can’t remember the last time I ate that much.”

“You did fair justice to it,” he noted in admiration as he eyed her almost-empty plate.

She pointed to his and added, “Not quite as good as yours though.”

“Ah, I was very hungry.”

“Obviously,” she muttered. When his phone rang again, she held up her hands. “Sounds like our signal for dinner to be over.”

“It could be.” He checked the text and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. There will plenty of times when I’ll have to step away because of work too.”

He looked over at her and smiled. “Sounds like you think we should continue this relationship.”

“Oh, I do. It’s lovely to find somebody who’s as much of a workaholic as I am.”

He rolled his eyes at that. “I can see how you might think that, but I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to help each other to do less of it.”

“That will remain to be seen,” she noted, with a chuckle, “but the good news is that, even in this crazy turbulent time, it appears we have found each other.”

“I agree because that’s exactly how I feel.”

She nodded. “In that case”—she tilted her head and gave him a smile—“let me get home and get some sleep. Then we’ll talk tomorrow. Of course, if you figure out anything you can share, I would love to hear it,” she added.

“If I can share, I will, and that’s always the challenge,” he admitted.

“But I do this work too,” she noted, “so I get it, and I would never ask you for anything more than you can give.” The smile on his face warmed her heart.

Tristan walked her outside, noting Scott was waiting by his car. Looking up at Tristan, Amarylis suggested, “We could give Scott a bit of a show.”

Tristan burst out laughing and pulled her into his arms. “I’m not too worried about giving Scott a show, but, damn, I would love a good night kiss.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with a ferocity that surprised them both. When he pulled back, he whispered, “Wow, I didn’t mean for it to come across quite like that.”

“Oh, don’t say that,” she murmured, “because I wanted it to come across exactly like that.”

His eyes widened, and a twinkle entered his gaze. “Does that mean I’m supposed to come to your place after work?”

She pondered that and said, “If I didn’t think it would likely be two o’clock in the morning, I might take you up on it, but how about another night?” She tapped his bottom lip. “Hold on to that ferocity, will you?”

“Absolutely,” he murmured, as he leaned over and kissed her again. “Now let’s get you home and into bed.” He walked her over to Scott’s vehicle, keeping a watchful eye out the whole way.

Taking his orders to heart, she got into the car with Scott and waved at Tristan until they were out of sight.

Scott muttered, “Okay, you’re both some years older than I am, but, damn, even I could tell that was laying it on pretty heavy.”

She chuckled. “It might have seemed like laying it on pretty heavy to you, but, honest to God for us, it was wonderful.”

“It did look that way too,” he admitted. “It made me feel envious for a moment.”

“Don’t you have a girl?”

“Nope, not at the moment. She didn’t like the hours I work.”

“That was part of the discussion we just had.” Amarylis chuckled. “The fact that we’re both workaholics may work for us.”

“From what I’ve seen, you both are workaholics, but it seems you suit each other.”

“Good, that kind of talk is never wrong.”

“Says you,” he muttered, with an eye roll, “but seeing the two of you makes me think it would be nice to meet somebody again.”

“It would be,” she agreed. “I’ve been alone for a long time, just waiting, seeing what was right in my world.”

“Do you think Tristan’s right for your world?”

“I do,” she stated, with a smile. “I do.”

“I hope you’re right,” Scott replied, “because, man, the two of you and that kiss? That was enough to make me want to go find a girl right now.” She burst out laughing, and he grinned at her. “Hey, at least I’m honest,” he protested.

“At least you’re honest,” she agreed, still chuckling. “Just pick the right woman for you. Now get me home so I can get some sleep, then wait for a chance to see Tristan again.”

“Won’t you see him tomorrow?”

“Oh, I’ll see him tomorrow,” she said, with a silly grin.

“Or tonight?” he asked, with a knowing smile.

“No, not tonight. We both decided sleep was a necessary thing, and he may not be off work for several more hours yet.”

“Right,” Scott murmured. “It’s always about sleep, isn’t it?”

“Sometimes it is, but sometimes it’s about grabbing the moment because the moment’s there. Other times it’s literally just about enjoying what time you have because you never know when it’ll be gone.”

“Ouch, and that’s you talking about the morgue again.”

She burst out laughing. “My job may color my thinking, but I’ve also seen a lot of life, and I want to see a whole lot more yet,” she pointed out.

“Good,” he agreed, as he pulled up to her apartment. “Now let’s get you upstairs so you can get some sleep and be all sparkling and fresh for your boyfriend tomorrow.”

She chuckled. “I don’t know about boyfriend .”

“Oh, don’t worry. We’ve all already heard that you are off limits.” When she raised her eyebrows, he shrugged. “Tristan made it fairly clear right off the bat that you were his.”

“I can’t say that I appreciate that highhanded possessive BS,” she conceded, frowning at Scott, “but considering Tristan’s keeping me safe, I won’t argue the point right now either.”

Scott laughed. “Somehow I don’t think you’re all that upset about him warning off the rest of us, especially considering he’s looking after you and is clearly smitten.”

“If you say so,” she muttered uncertainly, shaking her head.

“Oh, I do.” He saw her expression and laughed. “It’s all good.”

*

Leaving Amarylis was one of the hardest things Tristan had ever done. As far as timing went, it was shitty, except he didn’t just want some quick roll in the hay. He was all about taking time to enjoy the moments that they had, not just get in and out, pardon the pun. He smiled at his own joke, knowing that it wasn’t very funny, considering the stage of life they were both at. He wanted to take her away and spend a week together, just the two of them, getting to know each other apart from all the stress and panic they were both dealing with. That way they could find out who they both were on the inside and how compatible they would be.

He had a pretty good idea, but it wasn’t the same thing as walking on the beach and holding hands, talking until the midnight sun disappeared, or smiling when you wake up beside her because she’s still there, still part of your heart.

He wanted to show her so many things and take her around the world to see more. He didn’t have a clue if she liked traveling, and that could be an issue because it was important to him. He liked getting out and acknowledging how much of the rest of the world was available, just waiting to be explored. This was something that he loved to do and so hoped they would have a chance to explore together.

He headed back to the office, exhausted, knowing he would have to take a break somewhere along the line. As he popped in, the place was empty. Frowning, he looked around, then headed for the couch in his office. He would give himself just a few minutes until the others showed up; sleep had been in short supply lately, and he was starting to run on empty.

He closed his eyes, and, before long, something jarred him out of sleep. He quietly remained on the couch, wondering what woke him. Then he heard voices, thought to sit up, but something prodded him to stay silent in the darkness.

“It’s got to be in here, Lem,” somebody growled. “Somewhere.”

“I don’t know whether it’s in here or not,” Lem snapped. “All we know is that it’s no longer at the scene.”

“We also know that it was picked up and bagged with evidence, that it disappeared from the lockup at the lab, and that somebody wants it forever.”

“Of course they do,” Lem snarled. “So we have to be in and out of here fast. We can’t get caught inside, Stu.”

“Fast or not,” Stu snapped, “we aren’t leaving until we have it.”

Shifting to the floor, Tristan rolled over until he was tucked up against the desk, knowing that eventually they would come into this room.

“We’ve got a damn-short window to find that thing, and then we have to get out of here.”

“How long do you think we have?”

“He told me not more than twenty minutes.”

“Shit, that won’t be long enough. This building is huge.”

“It has to be.”

Shaking his head at that, Tristan texted Jasper and then Masters. He didn’t know where the hell everybody was or if something had gone wrong and had nixed their meeting. He expected some of his team would be here already, but they weren’t and right now he could use some backup.

He heard the two voices, Lem and Stu , and, if only two were here, Tristan could get out of this just fine, even without backup. However, he didn’t want these assholes to leave. He knew the desired USB key wasn’t here, but would these two listen to him telling them that fact, if they found him? Probably not, not any more than the others had so far.

With his own weapon out and beside him, he waited to see if they entered his room. He heard chaos in the room outside, as they searched through as many desk drawers as they could. Yet, if they didn’t even know what the USB key looked like, it would be almost impossible for them to find anyway.

Maybe that was intentional. Maybe somebody had deliberately not told them what to look for or had not shared how unique this particular USB was.

Then one of the men muttered in frustration, “What does it even look like, for Christ’s sake?”

“I already told you. He mentioned it was unique, shaped like some car.”

“A car?” he repeated, with a sneer. “Are you sure he’s not just losing it?”

“Doesn’t matter if he is or not. He’s paying us. Remember that.”

They quickly raced from one room to another, one desk to another, and when they finally stepped into the room Tristan was hiding in, he hunkered deeper inside the well under the desk, where the chair went. When the chair was abruptly pulled out, a man sat down and started opening drawers. Tristan just waited with his eyebrows raised, but they didn’t even once look underneath. Of course the room was still in darkness, as they used flashlights to search through things.

“I don’t see anything, Lem,” the man in front of Tristan growled. He pushed the last desk drawer closed and stood up, kicking the chair farther back.

“Hey, nobody is supposed to know we were in here,” his partner Lem added. “Remember that.”

“Too damn late for that,” Stu grumbled. “I’ve left a trail everywhere.” After a moment of silence, he muttered, “Jeez. We will have to get the hell out of here soon anyway.”

“We didn’t find it though.”

“Yeah, and that makes me even more antsy to get out of here. What if it’s a trap?” Stu asked.

Tristan waited until they stepped out of his room, before he slowly stood, walked over to the doorway—where he could stare into the other room—then watched. As the two men headed to the private offices in the back, Tristan silently stepped up behind the one in the rear and held his gun to this intruder’s head. “I wouldn’t take that next step if I were you,” Tristan whispered.

As the man raised his hands slowly, Tristan hit him hard enough on the back of the head to drop him, catching him to muffle the noise, then quickly moving his limp body out of the way. He stepped forward, prepared to face the other man, who still hadn’t realized that not finding the USB wasn’t his only problem.

“Where the hell can it be?” the man roared.

Tristan smiled and cocked his gun.

Recognizing the sound, the man froze and slowly turned to him. “Shit, where the hell did you come from?”

“Doesn’t matter, but where did you come from, and who’s paying you to come in here and toss this place, looking for a stupid key?”

The guy’s eyes widened, as he realized that Tristan must have heard something. “Where is my fucking partner?”

“Your partner is out cold,” Tristan replied, “and I suggest he stay that way for a little bit longer.”

“No way, man. If you hurt him,” he snapped, “I will have something to say.”

“Yeah, you might, especially when—What is he, family or something? Someone you dragged into some trouble?”

The guy paled. “He’s my brother-in-law. My sister will kill me.”

“Yeah, she sure will. Especially when she finds out you took her husband on a midnight jaunt to make some money, when there isn’t any.”

“There’s money,” he declared, his eyes wide. “What are you talking about? There’s always money.”

“Everybody involved in this case so far has taken a bullet between the eyes instead of getting paid. Is that what you want?”

Nothing but silence came for a long moment. “I want to get out of this alive.”

“You should have thought of that before you came in here then,” Jasper interjected, as he came through the rear door at the intruder’s back. “So are you Lem or Stu?”

“Lem.” He turned to face Jasper. “Now that you’re here, don’t mind us if we just mosey on out.”

Jasper looked over at Tristan. Tristan smiled and shared, “They’ve got this idea that they can come and go as they want, with no penalty for breaking and entering into a military facility.”

“Not like this is any a special place,” Lem replied.

“Oh, but it is,” Jasper remarked, with a smile, “which begs the question as to how you got onto the compound.”

“Oh, Stu and me got a ticket for that,” Lem explained. “We do service work on base all the time.”

“ Great , and does your boss know about your B&E sideline?”

“N-n-no,” Lem stuttered, “he doesn’t know, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell him.”

Tristan snorted at that. “No way you’re just walking out of here, so you might as well accept the consequences.”

“What do you mean?” Lem glared at him. “It’s not as if you guys will stop us.”

Tristan looked over at Stu, who was trying to sit up now. “Seriously?” Tristan asked, pointing at his incapacitated friend.

Lem shook his head. “It would be nice if you didn’t.”

“It would have been nice if you and Stu hadn’t come in here and tossed the place either,” Jasper stated, then turned and motioned to the MPs behind him. “Lock up these two,” he ordered.

Immediately Lem bolted for the door, but two more MPs were stationed there, who quickly snagged him. “We didn’t do anything,” he roared.

“You and Stu both entered restricted base offices,” Tristan explained. “You already admitted that you work for a company and used their privileges and credentials to come in here and do this, looking for a data key you couldn’t find, so theft was your intent.”

“Then on top of all that,” Jasper added, “you told two navy investigators that we can’t do anything about it.”

“And you’re wrong about that, Lem,” Tristan confirmed. “You may want to call your families right now before you leave here, so they’ll know what happened to you.”

Lem frowned at him. “Surely it can’t be that bad. They just wanted a USB key, for Christ’s sake.” He stared at his partner in crime. “You’re such a dumb fuck.”

Stu glared at his buddy. “If I’m in trouble, it’s your fault. You’re the one who got me into this,” he snarled. “So, when your sister gets on her high horse and bitches me out, I’ll just tell her to come talk to you.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Lem grumbled. “It’s not as if she’ll talk to you in jail as it is.”

“I won’t do no jail, so ain’t nobody starting that shit with me,” Stu muttered. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Yet you did,” Tristan corrected, staring at him. “The military authorities might go a little bit easier on you if you talk.”

Immediately silence filled the room, and Lem and Stu eyed each other for a moment, then looked back at him.

“How about you let us go free and clear, and then we’ll talk?” Lem suggested.

“No way because, once you step out of this building, you will take a bullet between the eyes, courtesy of the people who hired you,” Tristan pointed out cheerfully, “and we won’t get any answers that way.”

“You said that before,” Lem pointed out in a testy voice, “and I’m telling you that they’re not like that.”

Jasper shook his head. “Everybody else is in the morgue.”

Tristan cut in and confirmed, “I’ve already told them that, and they don’t believe it, though the one might have been sleeping when I had that discussion with his partner-in-crime. Anyway they don’t want to believe it. They think they’re friends with these guys and know them well. They don’t understand how the boss man will kill them because they failed to find the USB, just like the others were killed for failing to do their jobs.”

Smiling, Jasper added, “That’s not Lem’s and Stu’s problem, is it? As far as they’re concerned, they probably think that whoever is in the morgue did something to deserve being killed. Yet they didn’t deserve death,” Jasper shared. “Just like you two, those other people didn’t realize that failing to do their jobs—or failing to get the infamous key—will have boss man issuing a kill order on you.”

“So, just let us have the key,” Lem alternatively suggested, “and nobody gets hurt.”

“Not happening,” Tristan replied, with a smile. “Nice try though.”

Stu, the smaller of the two men, got desperate and said, “Look, if we say anything,… we’re dead.”

“Exactly,” Tristan agreed. “Yet, if you don’t say anything, you’re also dead.”

Lem laughed. “Look. I’ve been dealing with these guys for months. No way they’re like that. This was just a simple job. The one even told me that, if we couldn’t get the key,… no big deal.”

“Oh, did they now?” Jasper snorted. “That’s an interesting thing for them to mention. Did they say what they wanted the USB for?”

Lem replied, “Just that they didn’t want something of a personal nature released.… Man, I get that too. Shit, I’ve done some stupid things in my time, and I wished I could have gone back and gotten rid of all the video feeds.”

“I bet,” Tristan agreed, with a snarky voice. “So, that’s what he told you this was, huh ?”

“Yeah,” said Lem. “Some pictures caught him in a bad light, just when he’s about to marry somebody. So he didn’t want that to screw things up—you know, some big hoity-toity family and all that.” He laughed. “She’s a looker too. Damn, she’s a looker.”

“You’ve met this fiancée?” Tristan asked him.

“ Nah , but you know,… big high-society wedding coming up, not too many of those in the news right now.” Lem fell silent, and Stu just stared at him in horror.

Tristan smiled and asked Stu, “Do you want to confirm that?”

He shook his head. “Man, I don’t want anything to do with that conversation. This isn’t good.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s bad,” Stu stated. “You shouldn’t know anything.”

“Maybe we don’t know anything truthful and honest. Maybe your partner Lem here is just full of shit.”

“I am not,” Lem declared. “I might not be the smartest cup in the cupboard, but that guy did something pretty stupid, and he doesn’t want to lose his wife-to-be over it. Yet we couldn’t find the key.” Lem sighed.

Tristan nodded. “You failed to find the key, so what will you do about it now?”

“Keep looking for it wherever he tells us to,” Lem muttered. “It’s different, looks like a bloody car.”

“That’s interesting. How would he know what the key even looks like?” Tristan asked.

“Something about… he saw it.”

“Maybe he’s the one doing the blackmailing?” Tristan asked.

“No,” Lem said. “He’s the one being blackmailed, and he just didn’t dare let it get any further because of the wedding. His father-in-law isn’t the kind to stand around and to let that shit happen to the family name.”

“Yeah, and what about Trinity? How did she feel?” Tristan took a stab in the dark at the name, as he remembered a big society wedding coming up and a lot of buzz about it, with a military husband-to-be.

“I don’t think she thinks very much of it. So, you know her name?” Lem asked.

“Yeah, glad you caught on to that.”

“I don’t think she knows her fiancé is catting around, and she probably won’t bother Daddy about it at all, just as long as she gets her spending money.”

“ Right .” Tristan nodded. “I’ve met a few of those in my time.”

“ Right. ” Stu rolled his eyes, adding his two cents. “I would like to bang a chick like that, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to try and keep one happy paycheck-wise,… if you know what I mean.”

“Man, you can’t even keep my own sister happy,” Lem complained, staring at his brother-in-law in disgust, “and you might have just got yourself killed.”

“Yeah, not likely,” Stu countered in a harsh tone.

Stu said, “This is not my fight, not my problem. You’re the one who got me into this shit.” He snarled and huffed at this partner. “If anybody pays, it’ll be you, Lem.” Stu just shook his head.

Stu turned to Tristan. “So, now what?” he asked in disgust.

“You tell me. You’re the one who’s not talking.”

Lem chuckled at that. “Yeah, I talked, so I walk out of here free and clear,” Lem declared, with a big grin. “Wait until my sister hears that I made a deal and that you’re the one stuck holding the bag.”

Stu just glared at him, then turned to Tristan and stated, “You know that this is bad news for us, right?”

“I’m telling you how it’s bad news no matter which way you look at it,” Tristan repeated, “but you knew that going in. You knew exactly that you were up to no good and what the penalty would be. I suspect you were hoping that Lem would get blamed and that you would get out free and clear.”

A smile played at Stu’s lips. “Not a bad plan.”

“Except Lem’s the one already talking.”

“He always talks. That’s the thing,” Stu complained. “However, you can’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth. He’s loose that way.”

“I am not.” Lem glared at Stu. “You’re the one always talking,”

Tristan asked Stu, “The question right now is, do you confirm what Lem just told us?”

Stu shrugged. “I guess. It’s not as if I can deny it now.”

“See?” Lem, the big guy, pointed at Stu. “You always talk.”

“Yeah, but what you just did was put us in deep trouble.” Stu snarled. “If the boss finds out you talked, we’re shit out of luck.”

Jasper shook his head. “You still don’t want to believe it, but you’re both pretty much doomed either way.”

“And if we are”—Stu turned to face Tristan—“then you guys have to look after us.”

“Why is that?” Tristan asked, eyeing him with a bored expression. “You’re the ones who broke in here. Nobody gives a shit about a couple of two-bit hoods.”

“That’s not true,” Lem spoke up, rejoining the conversation. “We have information.”

“What information? You already gave it to us.”

Lem opened his mouth and then slammed it shut, knowing that to be true.

Stu turned to his brother in-law and muttered, “You dumb fuck.”

“What?” Lem asked. “I didn’t tell him about Tony or about the bar where he spends his time or nothing like that,” he argued. “We should still bargain with that.”

Stu just groaned and looked over at Tristan, who had a big grin on his face.

“Interesting people you hang out with, Stu,” Tristan noted, with a bright smile.

“Hey,” Lem cried out. “I told my sister not to marry him, but she didn’t listen, and now look at the shit I’ve got to deal with.”

“So, what else do you have to bargain with, Stu?” Tristan asked.

Stu went silent, but Lem spoke up. Again. “Hey, I’ve got something. It should be worth something,” the big man began, looking at Tristan. “Where Tony stays, all kinds of things about him.”

“Yeah, so do you know why he wants the key?”

“I told you that already,” Lem replied in confusion.

“Have you ever heard the name Mason?” Tristan asked.

“Yeah, that’s some guy Tony hates.”

Jasper turned to face Lem, staring intently. That caught his interest and Tristan’s too. “Any idea why?” Jasper asked.

Lem shook his head. “No, I don’t know why, but whatever is between them is bad, as in ugly bad.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t tell me anything about what or why.”

“I can’t tell you that because I don’t know,” Lem admitted. “I really don’t.… All I know is, Tony clams up and gets an ugly look on his face when somebody mentions Mason’s name. Just don’t know what it’s all about though.” Lem shrugged. “And, if you’re smart, you would stay away from that topic too.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice? But it’s not an option in our case.”

“It sucks to be you then,” Lem replied. “I just know that Tony has some serious hate for Mason.”

“Enough to hire a sniper to take him out?”

Lem considered it. “Maybe, but I don’t know anything about that.” He shook his head and went on. “If that’s what you’re after, we don’t have any information on that. We just know about the key.”

“And you’re pretty sure it was Tony’s stuff on the key that he wanted to protect?”

Lem shrugged. “I didn’t question it, just assumed what he told me was the truth, but who the hell knows with people these days.”

“What do you mean?” Tristan asked.

“Everybody lies.”

“They sure do,” Tristan confirmed, with a wry look at Lem, “including you.”

“Hey, I’m just saving my ass to get cleared here,” he declared. “We aren’t armed or anything. So we didn’t come here looking for any trouble.”

“No, but you sure found it, didn’t you?”