Steveâs hand and chuckled. âI know, because otherwise Iâd have to kill you.â
James looked away and swallowed a smile, as his partner sat back very slowly and raked his hair. Laura was on her feet.
âUhmmm, why donât I show you to the shower, and Iâll make some broiled fish and something more substantial for you to eatâthe fruit was just to take the edge off.â
Akhan stood slowly with a wry smile. âYes ... and then James can show me the fine points of how to use his gun.â
No one said a word as Akhan and Laura left the room. They just simply stared after them, rendered mute.
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âYou all right, man?â James said, landing a heavy hand on Steveâs shoulders.
Steve rubbed his palms down his face and blew out a long breath. âOh ... shit ...â
âYeah,â Jamal said, fixing a cup of tea to take into the next room. âPop donât play. But once youâre in, youâre in, unless you do something to fuck that up.â Jamal glanced at Najira. âHe means what he says. He will shoot your ass, if you yank my sister around.â
Najira grasped Steveâs hand and squeezed it hard, glaring at Jamal. âHeâs not like that, and you know it.â
âI feel you. Iâm just saying.â
âAll right, yâall,â James said, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. âCrisis number two for the day averted. Let the old man sip his tea in his room, eat, get some shut-eye, and then weâve gotta make some decisions on how to move forward.â
A vibration on Jamesâs hip made him open his eyes, sit forward, and bring his cell phone to his ear. All eyes were on him as he took the call.
âYeah, Cap. Good to hear from you. Whatâs up?â
âGot a delivery of some really interesting equipment, with ID that hit a brick wall when we tried to do a database search on it.â
âWhat kind of brick wall?â James said, cautiously.
âA federal brick wall,â Cap replied, lowering his voice. âA you-do-not-want-to-fuck-with-this brick wall.â
âThen you know that me and Laura ainât in it, right?â
A long silence filled the receiver.
âMy hunch as a detective says youâre clean,â Cap finally replied.
âYou got anybody local that can do a hack, on the DL?â
âMaybe,â Cap said, not committing.
âYou already did it, didnât you?â
Nervous laughter filled the receiver.
âCall me curious,â Cap muttered. âThis guy has an international rap sheet, and did a lot of âspecial projectsâ for the feds. Heâs Russian. Names too many and too hard to spell to give you on the phone. Suffice to say, this ainât some local, regular vendetta shit. But with a senator dead and a trail leading to an old federal black ops pro, wonât be long before I have to give up the evidence and turn this over to higher authoritiesâyou know what Iâm saying. Itâll be outta my hands. You all just stay safe.â
âI hear you,â James muttered back. âThanks for the heads-up, Cap. I owe you.â
Cap chuckled. âYeah, yeah, yeah, thatâs what they all say.â
By the time the call disconnected, Laura had returned to the kitchen. She was greeted by blank stares of pure disbelief.
âWhat happened?â she asked quietly.
âGot a call,â James said, standing. âIâll tell you about it while you fix Akhanâs fish.â
They all sat around the dining room table, barely picking at the broiled sea bass and steamed vegetables that Laura had prepared in a zombie state. Akhan ate slowly, methodically, as though measuring each bite of food with the slow recount of each witnessâs words, thinking.
âJames and I need to resurface and draw the fire our way,â Laura finally said, taking a careful sip of her herbal, mango tea.
âI