P Deutermann - Darkside

“You mean whether this is one dude or maybe a crew?”

“Exactly. Then up the ante a little. Wire the detectors as hunting cues, so when they get a hit, I can be waiting somewhere, like between him and the appropriate exit hole.”

“And then?”

“Whack him upside the head with a baseball bat, strip him, tie him up naked to a tree on the Johnnie campus, and then spray-paint his face for him.”

“Tut-tut,” Bagger said. “And you a federal officer. That would be serious brutality. The tree part anyway.”

“Actually, you’re the federal officer. I’m just a Navy civilian employee.”

“With a sock Glock.”

“Well, that’s mostly habit.”

“And a carry permit, I hope. Damn. This Guinness stuff grows on you. I’m gonna do one more.”

“Then don’t drive for a while,” Jim warned. “Only thing the Irish are serious about is their alcohol.”

The pretty Goth girl was fixing her other shoelace. This time, most of the men in the bar were ready for the show, and she did not disappoint them. She gave Jim a fairly direct look, almost as if she recognized him, and then huddled back down with her two acolytes. The bartender brought Bagger his refill. Jim realized he would either have to leave or join Bagger in some serious drinking. He decided he wasn’t in the mood, and from the looks of it, he wasn’t in Bagger’s league as a booze hound, either. Plus, that Goth girl might now know he was with the Academy and be planning some bullshit scene.

“I’m going to secure,” he said. “I think the bartender told those Goth girls that we’re with the Academy. Don’t want a scene in a public bar. Nice legs, though.”

“How nice?”

“Really nice, you get all the fetish rags and greasepaint off.”

A slow grin spread over Bagger’s face. He looked five years younger with the sudden gleam in his eye. He turned around very deliberately to stare at the three girls. The pretty one stared right back, then flicked her tongue in and out of her red-and-black mouth like a snake. Bagger flashed her a smile and turned back around. Jim saw her look back in their direction once, then get up and slink along the bar toward the bathrooms in the back. Standing, she looked ridiculous in the costume.

“Hey, look,” Jim warned. “Don’t let those freaks lead you anywhere-that’s how that vampire mugging shit’s been going down.”

“Oh, hell,” Bagger said with an elaborate shrug.

Jim repeated his warning and then slid out of the booth. “I’ll let you know when I have the motion detectors set up. Maybe you could join me, help me control my bad temper. And watch that Guinness.”

“Absolutely,” Bagger said. “But make sure it’s a metal bat. Lots easier to clean.”

Jim laughed and left the bar. He hoped Bagger was mostly posturing about making a run on the Goths. There had been three girls, and usually two marks who followed them out into the dark alleys. Bagger could probably handle it if it was a setup, as long as he quit the Guinness at three. He stopped a block away from the bar. Should he go back? Make sure? Across the street, a woman opened her front door to retrieve a cat and gave him a wary look. He smiled and resumed walking down Maryland Avenue toward the Academy’s front gate.

Hell with it, he thought. Bagger’s a big agent now. Jim was going to concentrate on catching his rocket man.

Ev was reading Andrew Gordon’s amazing history of the naval battle of Jutland when the phone rang. He glanced at his watch-it was almost midnight. He picked up. It was Julie.

“Hey,” he said. “You’re up late.”

“I’m on my cellular. The passageway phones are secured.”

He thought he could hear the sound of wind blowing into the microphone of the cell phone. “You in your room?”

“Not exactly,” she said.

“Tell me you’re not up on the damned roof.”

“Well…”

He sat straight up in his chair, the book spilling onto the floor. “What the hell, Julie? Are you nuts?”

“Chill, Dad. Dudes come up here all the time. It’s kind of a firstie rate. There are even chairs-you know, those lawn chairs without legs? It’s safe.”

“Is that a fact? Recommended by the Brian Dell family?”

“I’m not going to fall, Dad. And no one can see me. I’m way back from the edge, on the bay side. It’s just a cool place to hang out.”

“Is there anyone with you?”

“No,” she said. “We had an interview today. With those NCIS people. I think Lawyer Liz is pissed at me.”

“Why would she be pissed at you? You’re the client.”

“She doesn’t believe me about Dell. I don’t know why. And she was really hostile to those people. Then they started talking like they were coming after me. Dad, I didn’t do anything!”

The wind blew across the cell phone again, making a ruffling noise. Liz wanted him to probe Julie’s relationships at the Academy. Here was a way in. “Have you told anyone else what’s going on?” he asked.

“No,” she said miserably.

“How ’bout Tommy Hays? Or is that permanently off?”

“Tommy’s, well…”

“He’s what?”

“He’s mad at me, too. Everything’s ending here, and he’s resisting reality.”

“How so?”

“Basically, he’s going surface line, which means he goes to Newport, Rhode Island. I’m going aviation, which means Pensacola, Florida. Long way apart.”

“He want to get married or something?”

“He wanted some kind of long-term commitment. I won’t have time for that, what with flight school and all that.”

“College romance confronting graduation day.”

“I guess. Tommy’s a great guy. Swim team kept us together. But now…”

Ev thought of what Liz had said about the swim team. “So the swim team thing is done? No more eight hours of practice every day?”

The wind blew against the cell phone. When she answered, there was a touch of reserve in her voice. “I still swim every day, but it’s for exercise. The coaches are mostly working with next year’s team. I do some coaching in the freestyle.”

“Well, at least you don’t have to get up at zero dark-thirty anymore.”

He heard Julie sigh. “She asked you to ask me that, didn’t she?” Julie said. “Didn’t she?”

Ev thought about playing dumb, then decided against it. After all they had been through in the two years since Joanne had died, Julie could read him like a book. “Yes, she did. She does think you’re holding back, Julie. That you do know something about this Dell case. She can’t protect you if you hold back on her.”

“Then to hell with her,” Julie snapped. “I don’t need her. I haven’t done anything wrong. I want to clear the air with those people. I’m not going to have some damned plebe’s problems screwing up everything I’ve worked for these past four years. No damned way!”

“Now, Julie, listen-” he began, but then stopped. He thought he heard the sound of a car going by over the phone. She was on the damned roof.

“Look, Dad, I had nothing to do with what happened to Dell. I’m sorry he’s dead. But I’m a big girl now, and if those NCIS people want to talk to me again, I’ll waive my rights and tell them whatever they want to know about me, because I had nothing to do with Dell.”

Ev tried to think of something. “So you really want me to pull Liz off the case?”

“Yes. I don’t need Liz, ” she said. “I think maybe you need Liz more than I do.”

Ev tried to suppress the spike of anger he felt, but failed. At least now he knew what some of Julie’s antagonism was all about, no matter what she’d said to Liz on that tape. “Tell you what,” he said as evenly as he could. “I’ll tell Liz to stand down. I’ll tell her what you’re going to do, against her advice, of course. But you didn’t hire her. I did. So you can’t fire her. And I won’t fire her. Which is not to say she won’t fire you as a client.”