by Sean Black
“What you gonna tell them?” said Ty.
Lock mulled it over. There were some laws he didn’t mind breaking, as long as there was a compelling reason. Insurance fraud didn’t really fall into that category, and he wasn’t sure his policy covered fishtailing another vehicle off the road. “Maybe I’ll just get it repaired on my own dime.”
Ty grinned. “It’s not like you don’t have the money. I mean, look at you, cold chillin’ in a condo on Wilshire.”
A car horn sounded behind them. They turned to see Carl Galante leaning out of a brand new black Mercedes.
“I guess working for a billionaire does have its advantages,” Lock conceded, as he directed Galante towards the visitor parking.
They waited for him to turn off his engine and get out. He paused to check out Lock’s damaged Audi as he walked over to join them.
“Let me guess, you let Ty here drive?” said Galante.
“No, that one was on me,” said Lock.
“Everything good?” Galante asked him.
“Yeah. Just had to tie up some loose ends. Emily and Charlie are on their way home. What are the LAPD saying?” said Lock.
“I’d keep a low profile for a while, if I were you,” said Galante.
“We plan on it. Isn’t that correct, Tyrone?”
“Yeah, sure. Hey, I don’t go looking for trouble, it just has a habit of finding me.”
The three men walked toward the elevator. The doors opened, and they got in. Lock hit the button to take them up to the lobby. They’d catch the next elevator in the lobby that would take them up to the sixteenth floor and the new apartment Lock was going to share with Carmen.
When they hadn’t been able to agree on whether she should move in with him or vice versa, a new place had seemed like the obvious compromise. Lock hadn’t lived with anyone since his fiancée back in New York, but this seemed like a natural next step. Life went on, and he loved Carmen. The housewarming party had been her idea, and he’d been happy to go along with it.
“One other thing,” said Galante, as they stepped out into the plush lobby.
“What’s that?”
“They got the autopsy back on the kid’s biological father, Tang Bojun.”
“Why’d they have an autopsy? Dude must have been shot like seven or eight times,” said Ty, his comment drawing an alarmed look from the building’s concierge.
Lock directed an apologetic “What are you gonna do?” look in the direction of the concierge. “Go on, Carl.”
“Guy had a tumor the size of a melon in his liver, plus some others scattered around his major organs. All of them malignant. If he hadn’t been shot, he maybe had only a few months left. If that. Could have been weeks. He must have been taking steroids or something to function like he was.”
“That’s why he didn’t want to wait when he got the news,” said Lock.
“Looks like it,” said Galante.
They got into the elevator.
“Sorry,” said Galante. “Here’s me talking about this stuff when you and Carmen are all set to start your new life together. I don’t mean to be a downer.”
“It’s okay,” said Lock. “I feel better knowing.”
They settled back into the silence that for some reason was customary in an elevator. Lock took the time to say a silent prayer for the man who’d laid down his life for a daughter he’d never been able to know. He wasn’t sure what lessons could be drawn from it. Maybe there weren’t any, except that it was no bad thing to count your own blessings.
61
Lock stood by the window, a glass of single malt whisky in his hand, and looked out over the lights of Los Angeles. Behind him, the party was in full swing. People were talking, laughing and sharing stories. Over by the large open-plan kitchen area, Ty was in his element, surrounded by several attractive female friends of Carmen’s. It seemed like a million miles away from the events of the past week.
In the night sky, a jet’s tail light flashed red as it came in to land at LAX. Lock tracked it, thinking again of Emily, out somewhere over the Pacific, cocooned again in a life of luxury and privilege. He took a sip of his Scotch, enjoying the biting but warm sensation of the spirit.
“Great place.”
Lock turned toward a male attorney around his age whom Carmen had introduced to him as Jake. She had dated him very briefly before she’d met Lock. He could tell that Jake still had feelings for her. Lock didn’t blame him. She was a rare blend. “Yeah, it’s pretty nice, isn’t it?” he said. Small-talk at parties wasn’t his forte.
He could see Carmen in the living area chatting with an older couple. She caught his eye and smiled, but her expression said, “Play nice.” He raised his glass in her direction. She winked.
He turned back to Jake but didn’t say anything.
Jake cleared his throat. “Carmen tells me you’re in private security.”
Here we go, thought Lock. He tended not to discuss his work in polite company. Like politics and religion, he’d found it was a subject best avoided. “Yes,” he said, hoping they’d move on to sport, not that he had much to say about that either.
“But she said it was like high-end stuff,” said Jake.
Lock nodded, hoping the guy would take the hint.
“Must be why you can afford a place like this,” said Jake, taking in the new apartment high above the city with a sweep of his beer-bottle-clutching hand.
“We’ve had a good month.”
Jake took a sip of his drink. “Doesn’t it get kind of boring, though? Y’know, babysitting rich people.”
Lock smiled to himself. There were many words that could have been applied to the past few days, but boring wasn’t one of them. He took another sip of single malt, and tried not to look too amused.
“I don’t mean to . . .” Jake trailed off. “I mean a lot of the stuff that crosses my desk, it’s pretty dry. Trusts, estates, that kind of thing. But, hey, it’s easy money.” He raised his bottle to clink Lock’s glass.
“Here’s to it,” said Lock. “Easy money.”
Also by Sean Black
The Ryan Lock Series in Order
Lockdown (US/Canada)
Lockdown (UK/ Commonwealth)
Deadlock (US/Canada)
Deadlock (UK/Commonwealth)
Lock & Load (Short)
Gridlock (US/Canada)
Gridlock (UK/Commonwealth)
The Devil’s Bounty (US/Canada)
The Devil’s Bounty (UK/Commonwealth)
The Innocent
Fire Point
Budapest/48 (Short)
The Edge of Alone
Second Chance
The Deep Lonely (Short)
The Red Tiger
Ryan Lock Thrillers: Lockdown; Deadlock; Gridlock (Ryan Lock Series Boxset Book 1) - (US & Canada only)
3 Ryan Lock Thrillers: The Innocent; Fire Point; Second Chance
The Byron Tibor Series
Post
Blood Country
Winter’s Rage
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About the Author
To research his books, Sean Black has trained as a bodyguard in the UK and Eastern Europe, spent time inside America's most dangerous Supermax prison, Pelican Bay in California, undergone desert survival training in Arizona, and ventured into the tunnels under Las Vegas.
A graduate of Oxford University, England and Columbia University in New York, Sean lives in Dublin, Ireland.
His Ryan Lock and Byron Tibor thrillers have been translated into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portugese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.