by Dale Mayer
The man backed away, shaking his head. “No, no. I didn’t.”
But, for the first time, his tone made Badger doubt him. Badger studied him for a long moment. “I don’t believe you. You knew the information was bad, but you sent it anyway.”
The other man winced and sagged into the closest seat. The couch made a groaning sound as it took his weight. “I didn’t know it was bad, honest. But what I didn’t do was I didn’t check Corporal Shipley’s tag. I should have checked to make sure the information was good. And later, when I did, I realized there was no Corporal Shipley.”
“Shit.”
The informant nodded. “How do you think I’ve felt these last two years? It’s because of me that you got blown up.” He looked at Badger, his eyes red-rimmed, drug induced, hazy. “I’m so sorry.”
What the hell was Badger supposed to say to that? Seven men badly injured, their careers completely wiped out and Mouse, … poor Mouse. He stared at the man with contempt. “Was anything ever done to follow-up?”
The informant shook his head. “No, because I had already passed it on as solid intel. After the incident, my superiors assumed I had either received bad intel, mixed up the routes, or you just hit an antitank land mine that nobody knew about.”
In the eyes of the military, theirs was just one more accident in a long string of accidents. There was no way to tell if the intel was bad or good—except there was no Corporal Shipley in the navy. He let his breath out slowly. “Were there any background noises? Other voices?”
The informant looked up and nodded. “Yes. But I couldn’t hear very much. Voices in the background. Honestly it sounded like a truck full of guys.”
“Any chance you made a mistake about the information?”
He shook his head. “No, it was taped.”
Badger’s interest piqued. “Do you have a copy of that tape?”
The man stared at him and then slowly nodded. “I do. I erased it at the base when I realized what had happened. It’s garbled too. Another reason why the military decided to look the other way and make an excuse that it was an accident. But I taped a copy first. It’s not great, but it’s still something.”
“I want it,” Badger said in a harsh voice. “Where is it?”
The man dug into his sweatpants pocket, pulled out a USB key and held it up. “But I want the money first.”
Badger walked over to the small table in front of the window, plunked down the pack and took out the money. He placed it on the table and said, “And now I want that key.”
The man hopped up and raced over, his hands eagerly reaching for the money.
Crack.
The hole that appeared in the window was followed by a hole in the informant’s forehead. The look of stunned surprise crossed his face. It all happened too fast.
His body crumpled to the floor.
Badger ducked, quickly grabbing the money to shove it back into his bag. On his hands he crawled over to the informant. He took a picture of his face, snatched the key out of his hand, stuffed it in his own pocket and crawled to the door. He didn’t know how long before the police would arrive, but he had to make sure he wasn’t here when they did.
With a gloved hand, he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. He took the first fire exit and bolted downstairs.
He went out the back door to the alley and around the block. When he entered the pub seconds later, he watched the relief cross Kat’s face and realized just how much she was starting to care. Damn good thing. Yet every step he took down this road, he realized he might never come back. However, something about his relationship with Kat was a lifeline for him. If anybody would stop him from dying in this quest of his, it would be her.
Chapter 10
He slid into the empty seat. Kat leaned over, kissed him quickly on the cheek and whispered, “What the hell happened?”
He gave her a sharp look. “What makes you think something happened?”
She gave a half snort and settled into her chair.
He glanced at the others and said in a louder voice, “Did you order for me?”
Just then the waitress delivered platters of fish and chips. He smiled. “How very British.” A beer arrived at the table in front of him.
Kat watched him glance around the room as if to see if anyone could overhear. Apparently satisfied, he leaned forward and said, “The informant is no longer.”
Kat stiffened. She stared at him in horror.
He rolled his eyes. “Not by my hand.”
She sighed and relaxed slightly.
Erick asked, “Was he dead when you got there?”
Badger shook his head. Kat listened as he explained what happened, but inside she was too shocked. She’d warned him that this was a dangerous route. That the man was shot right in front of him was unbelievable. And yet, after what she’d been through, how could she be surprised. Maybe the surprise was that she’d spent the first thirty-something years of her life untouched by this kind of violence. And now there just didn’t seem to be any end to it. As much as she was shaking and could hardly pick up her glass of beer, Badger appeared to be completely calm.
Erick said in a low tone, “Did you see anyone?”
Badger shook his head and nodded to the street across from the pub. “The shot came from that corner building. Fourth floor would be the most likely.”
“Should you go look? Where’s Talon?” Kat asked. She couldn’t believe what she was asking. “And what about the police?”
“I haven’t heard any sirens,” Cade said. “Keep in mind this is a slum area. Violence isn’t abnormal here.”
“I left the door as I found it, which was a hair open. If nothing else, now somebody is likely to go in and case the place and see if he’s got anything to steal. Maybe Talon saw something, but I doubt it.”
She couldn’t let that happen. “It’s not fair to the informant. I don’t want to consider his body sitting there in that room for days going unnoticed.”
“It won’t,” Badger said. “I have a contact here. I’ll get the word to the police.”
With that she had to be happy. Still the fish and chips she’d been looking forward to before didn’t look quite so appetizing now. She couldn’t believe he’d come close to getting shot. She raised her gaze, studying him. “Was the bullet meant for him?”
He looked at her with respect. “Good question. And, yes …” He lifted his finger and as if imitating a bullet, drove it directly into his forehead.
She swallowed hard. “You’re lucky. You could have been next.”
“I could have been,” he said cheerfully. “But they never got a second chance. It would have been better for them if they’d taken me out first and then him.”
There was silence for the next few minutes as everyone digested what had happened. She watched as Badger plowed through his food. His appetite seemed unnatural. Wrong somehow. He had just watched a man die in front of him. Then she remembered grabbing the pizza when she was hiding at her own house. Was that any different? Was that a reaction to the stress? Or was it the instinct of knowing she would need the food for fuel?
As she stared down at her plate, she realized Badger was being the smart one.
She attacked the fish on her plate with a zero-minded focus that had her inhaling the rest of her food in seconds. When she sat back, she saw all three men staring at her in surprise. With her mouth still full, she shrugged, embarrassed at her actions. When she finally swallowed, she said, “I realized I needed the food. It didn’t matter whether I wanted it or not, but, since we don’t know what’s coming, it was fuel.”
All three looked at her with added respect and nodded. Just then Talon walked in, spoke to the waitress and joined them.
Badger looked at him, questioning. Talon shook his head.
“Too bad. It still feels wrong,” Kat said.
“Death should always be wrong,” Badger said quietly. “It doesn’t matter who or how.”
She wrapped her
arms around herself, wishing the chill would go away. They’d only just arrived, and yet they’d already accomplished the intent of what they’d come for. And, in many ways, had gotten themselves in peril and something so much worse. “Are we going home now?”
“We’ll return to the hotel and dig some more.”
She nodded and sipped her beer, while the men finished their platefuls. Talon received his food and dug in. Afterward they paid for the meal, got in the car and drove back to the hotel. The whole time she felt like she was being watched. She didn’t think she really was; it was more a case of nervousness. She’d always lived on the right side of the law, had a certain amount of respect for those in that position. But these men … Not that they were on the wrong side of the law, but they understood it in so many different ways than she did.
She listened as the men discussed the night’s events but came up with nothing new.
Back in her room she lay down, tucking the pillow under her head. It wasn’t that she was tired, but a few minutes time out from the world was not a bad thing.
Badger grabbed the blanket across the bed and flung it over her shoulders, covering her up. “If you want to sleep, go ahead.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I can. I’m just not sure what’s happening right now.”
“The others are coming in soon. We’ll have a powwow.”
When Talon walked in, he carried a small device. He turned it on and walked the room. She watched in surprise, but, when he was done, he pocketed the device as if nothing was unusual about his actions.
She sat up slowly. “Did you just check for bugging devices?”
“I did,” he said cheerfully. “The good news is, there aren’t any.”
“Why did you think you needed to check?”
“Because chances are the reason the informant was shot was so he couldn’t speak to Badger.”
“But he was shot after speaking to Badger.”
“Did the shooter know that? And maybe he was also sending a warning to Badger—to stop or we’ll stop you permanently.”
She flung back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “This isn’t the world I’m used to.”
“And you don’t want to get used to it. It’s a world very few of us live in. The public, by and large, is safe. Law-abiding citizens go about their day, working their eight-hour shifts, raising a family and enjoying weekends. Not all of us have to skulk in the shadows all the time.”
“Did any of you consider you no longer have to?” She kept her voice even, calm, but a part of her felt these men needed to be reminded they were no longer active SEALs.
Yes, she understood there was no such thing as an ex-SEAL. But these guys were no longer on missions either. They were retired. On medical leave. Whatever it was they wanted to call it to make themselves feel better. It was important for them to understand this wasn’t the way it necessarily had to be.
The men just stared at her. Not one said a word. She brought up her hands, palms up. “Fine, just ignore me then. But you could choose peace and quiet for a lifestyle now.”
“Like you did?” Erick asked, his tone full of interest. But there was also no humor.
She gazed at him. “Watch it, or I might just stick something in your prosthetic that backfires.”
“Would that be backfire, like a gun that misfires, or something that backfires, like a stink bomb exploding all over me so I embarrass myself in public?”
Her jaw dropped as she stared at him. “Wow. And here I thought I was being creative with the prosthetics. Maybe I should just go full-on crazy with yours.”
He sat down on the bed beside her, a big grin on his face. “Please do. I don’t know if you can make them wild-ass crazy designs too, but I’d sure like to have something original and just for me.”
She smiled. “Stone’s girlfriend has been doing a lot of design work. She’s done some pretty amazing ones for prosthetics.”
“I’ve heard that,” Erick said. “But that’s more of the pretty design work after the structural work is done. Honestly, the kind of stuff you do is pretty awesome, but I think you could get a little more futuristic looking in your designs.”
She rolled her eyes. “I have a bunch of designs. But I haven’t exactly worked out the engineering yet.”
“Let’s see.” He picked up her laptop and brought it to her. “If you’ve got them, I’d love to take a look.”
“Is this an attempt to keep my mind off what just happened?”
He shot her an innocent look. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Right.” She turned on her laptop and waited for it to boot up.
The other men sat on the other bed or stood around with their heads together.
She nodded toward them. “I really don’t want to know the details. But I don’t want you making plans with my life that I don’t have any say in.”
“Don’t worry, Doc. We will do everything we can to keep you safe.”
“Safe isn’t necessarily the answer either.” With her laptop up and running, she brought up her folder on design work. There was a lot she could do. If she was at home right now, she’d be going over these designs anyway. It was one of the things she had fun with. Her heart was very much caught up in what people could do. Bionics was a world all on its own. And she really wanted to be at the leading edge of that.
She just wasn’t sure that she’d be able to.
She opened the folder, set it up as a slide show and turned it so Erick could take a look, then hit Start. He sat in rapt attention as the slide show went through the images she’d saved. These were hand sketches, some done in digital programs, others done on paper and scanned in. As she watched his face, her heart warmed. These were the men she was working toward helping.
It was one thing to give them a practical way to live their life; it was another to give them something they were proud to wear. And would fight over for a better design. After a long moment she realized the other men had come to cluster around Erick to see the designs themselves. When it ran through one time, Badger restarted it. She listened to their comments as they discussed the various adjustments that would work for them.
“Is that a pocket? Like a place to hide a knife?”
“It’s a knife sheath. Along this back piece is a space that would hold a 9 mm Glock,” she said quietly. “I was thinking of the law enforcement men who I work with.”
They whistled and laughed like little boys as each design came out, from hands to arms to legs. Even a couple for back support.
Talon looked at it. “Surely those steel plates haven’t been implanted in anybody, have they?”
She glanced at the one he referred to and shook her head. “No, that’s a plate for around the waist, rods driven down through the legs for a particular patient I’m working with. His pelvis and hips aren’t strong enough to support him. We’re looking at ways to give him some stability at the same time.” It was an extremely advanced design and would require surgery. She shook her head. “It’s not very practical yet at this stage. But I can’t stop thinking about how to make his life better.”
When the room fell silent, she turned to look up at them. Every one of the men stared at her with a different expression on his face. She frowned. “What’s with the looks?”
“I don’t think you realize how special you are, Doc,” Cade said with a smile.
Erick patted her hand. “Anytime you feel you want to create something completely off the wall for my problem, please just do it.”
She laughed. “None of this is cheap,” she admitted. “If I could find a way to 3-D print the pieces and have it survive you guys longer than a couple weeks, I would do it in a heartbeat. Certainly 3-D printing works for some things. But the metals are a whole different problem. The vet I wanted to visit over here implants permanent rods coming out of his patient’s legs that he uses as a base to attach simple joints and legs. Artificial knees, artificial hips, artificial legs, feet, ankle joint
s. There are cats running around with just steel pins for stumps. You put a rubber stopper on the end so they have traction, and it works very well.” She glanced at Badger. “If I thought I could get a surgeon to take on your case, I’d want to see something like that for you.”
The others all turned to look at Badger. He crossed his arms and glared at her. “I don’t like the idea of surgery.”
“No, but how do you like the idea of losing your prosthetic because your stump is on the short side? What if you had permanent metal implants coming out of the bone that could attach to prosthetics? You wouldn’t have to worry about them falling off, coming loose, scarring up your flesh, nothing.”
He frowned at her. “Is that possible?”
She shook her head. “Not in the human world. But it certainly is in the animal world.”
He looked interested in spite of himself. “But we’d need a gifted surgeon to come on board?”
“And lots and lots of tests, yes,” she said with a smile. “I imagine the surgery would be minor, but we’d have to make sure your body wouldn’t reject the metal.”
“It’s an interesting thought though.”
“It’s actually the future. Not that the legs have to be something that can come off and on, but you want them to be something you can switch out for a new design, like running blades.” She shrugged. “Something with a better knee. Something you can lie down with and put a lot of weight on for workouts. It’s hard to imagine all the different uses. It’s just a matter of how much design work we can do, and that’s individual to each body. Because each joint is different—each man’s weight, tone, muscle, and what’s actually left for me to work with. There’s nerve damage, muscle damage, tendon damage.” She shrugged again. “No simple answers. Just a lot of research.”
“But it sounds like you’re the one to do it.”
“Oh, I’m certainly the one who would like to do it.” She laughed, the sound freeing and happy, grateful for the change of conversation. “That’s what I really love to do.”
Badger waited on a phone call. Several of them actually. But, with this new twist of events, he’d like to get Kat back home as soon as possible. The trouble was, her house was still a mess. And they had come all this way. It seemed a shame if she didn’t get a chance to do something for herself.