Or so we thought.
END interfered.
Some say it was the only operation The Boogiemen botched, but others say it was that botch that formed them.
The mission was not supposed to involve bullets. We’d only brought guns out of habit. Some of us had even complained about being assigned the thing in the first place. We were better than that, after all. We were meant for serious shit, you know, shit that put hair on your body while simultaneously burning it off. Not glorified secretary work in bumfuck Africa.
I don’t know for sure what went down on the field. Even Charlie couldn’t give an accurate account, though he was as close as one could be without actually being in the building. Dom was a building away with me, working recon. Charlie was scoping the grounds, and the original seven Boogiemen, who at that time were just your regular Joe and Sally hitmen, were inside. All lines of communication were open, it all checked out fine.
Then everything went black.
Dom and I lost contact and sight for over an hour. Charlie disappeared and by the time we found him his memory had been wiped. When the rest of our eyes came back, it was over.
Seven people had gone inside the building but only six came out. The Boogiemen were formed, and no one speaks of that operation.
“END organized the hit?” I replied. “Well…” Pulling open the doors, I scanned my eyes across the bar, searching for Lennox. “That complicates things.”
“Fuck yes it complicates things. Leave Vic. Gather your loved ones and get the hell out. They’re probably already on their way.” My eyes settled on Lenny’s auburn hair.
“Thanks for the heads up.”
I grabbed Lenny by the shoulder and spun her around to face me. She teetered slightly on her barstool when I demanded, “Do you have any idea what I had to go through to find you?”
“Oh, hey Vic.” Shrugging out of my grasp, she gave me a lukewarm smile and tipped her drink at me.
“Do you?” I pressed.
Her smile faded. “I don’t know, you had to get in a fucking car and drive five minutes?” I pressed a finger to my temple. She was right, of course. I didn’t have to do much to find her. Even if I hadn’t turned on her GPS, this would have been the first spot I would have checked. It was the same bar I’d driven to earlier, the bar where it all began. That night was inked on my gray matter.
Dance with me. It hadn’t been a question then. She’d followed me to the middle of the bar and I’d held her close, making her dance to music that no one in their right mind would dance to. Then again, we weren’t really the poster kids for sanity.
“You’re coming home.” It wasn’t a question now.
Lenny eyed me coolly. “You clearly didn’t want me at your party, Vic.” I wondered if the poles were shifting and the magnet that had held us together for so long was switching. Maybe that ethereal, wraithlike entity that had pulled us close and kept us from falling apart so many times was on its last legs.
I reached for her right as she turned away and gestured to the bartender for another one. Just as my fingers landed on her shoulder, another pulled me back.
“Back off the lady, pal.” I glared at the mass hiding beneath leather and jeans.
His hair was thinning and he was sweating, even under the air conditioning. I wrestled myself free from him and turned back to Lenny.
“Who the fuck is this?” I asked her.
Lenny shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been buying me drinks.”
“The fuck you say, bitch? I’ve been buying you drinks for an hour and you don’t know my fucking name?” Anger enveloped his face as he moved to approach Lennox. I stepped between them.
“I think it’s time you back off.”
A moment of determination passed over his face before he said, “Whatever, no cunt’s worth getting cut over.” He grabbed his keys off the bar and left. I thought about his words for a moment before turning back to Lenny. She hadn’t even bothered to look up, her eyes transfixed by the brown liquid of her drink.
I grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at me.
“You could have gotten yourself killed.” This nameless bar that had taken us in so many times was different. It was a little dive that most people ignored, but it served the best bourbon around and Joe, the owner, was a solid guy. Unlike douchey bartenders who couldn’t wait to prey on the first drunken girl to leave their flock, Joe was a good man. Bad things rarely happened here. It was as close to a safe haven as we would get. Still, that didn’t mean Lenny could just let her guard down.
“Fuck off, Vic.” Lenny yanked her chin away. “I didn’t ask you to save me.”
I let go of her chin and stepped back. “You know what? You’re right. Find your own way home.” Of course I didn’t leave her. I waited outside the bar, my alarm blaring the entire goddamn time. I was so in the red now, I was practically painted. Still, I couldn’t just leave Lenny. So I waited. And waited. And fucking waited for her to leave the bar.