“To bed.”
He closed the door behind him. I stood there for several minutes not knowing which way was up or down. I felt my world spinning around me and I felt totally powerless to do anything to prevent it. But here was the only chance I had. Bill was helping me and I had the feeling that he was the only one who truly could.
I had to stick to him and just hope that he was right when he said that he could protect me. I didn’t think we had to worry about finding out who these guys were. When they came for us, Bill would kill them and then we’d find out who.
And honestly, I wasn’t sure who I was more afraid of, them or Bill.
Chapter 4
Bill
I was seething mad when I laid back down to bed. I didn’t let it show too much, but I was ready to melt some heads. Those bastards had actually come to my home and thought about taking me out. And they were going to kill Zion. I knew they would come but part of me thought just by some rare glimmer of hope they would wise up and realize they shouldn’t mess with me, but then again, they didn’t know who I really was. They didn’t know that they were all signing their death warrants.
They just saw dollar signs.
I knew all of this had to be about money somehow. Only money could make people do such stupidly desperate things.
When I woke up the next morning I made a quick breakfast of cereal and toast with a little bit of orange juice. Zion actually ate two bowls of cereal. It was good to see she hadn’t lost her appetite.
“So, what are we going to do today? I need to go to work. Do you think it’s safe?”
“Sure. I’ll drive you. The police will probably try to escort us without drawing attention to us all, but that will backfire miserably. I’ve got some work to do as well.”
“What do you do?”
“Well, I’m retired military, but I have used my expertise to teach others. And modern technology has made it easier for my message to reach a lot of people. I’m a YouTuber.”
She began to laugh.
“What?” I asked. I got the joke, but it was fun to play along.
“You are a YouTuber? I just didn’t picture you as something like that.”
“I have a channel about military tactics, self-defense, and how to survive in the outdoors. It’s kind of a mixed bag. I also do hold seminars here and there as well.”
“That’s fantastic,” she said. “Very interesting. I’ll have to check that out.”
“Don’t patronize me,” I replied. She was teasing me a little bit. It was kind of fun.
“I’m not,” she said. “I’m just saying I might become a fan. I’ve met a celebrity. That’s hot.”
I put my finger in my mouth and pretended to gag myself. She laughed.
“Yeah, you should go to work and act like it’s a normal day. I’m sure word will have gotten around by now about your friend Tyler, and you will be a grieving friend, maybe even more so since you were there. But it’s very important you don’t act like you are actively trying to find out what Tyler was into and why he was killed. That’s a job for the police. You are just trying to keep yourself safe from these psychos. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“You can’t draw that kind of attention to yourself. Odds are that whoever Tyler was working with works there as well. That’s how these things usually work. You have to stay as far from that as well. And stay visible. Do not go behind closed doors with anyone. Try to bury yourself in your work and keep yourself in public as much as possible.”
“Ok. What about after work? What then?”
“After I finish my stuff, I’m going to the police station. A friend of mine is a homicide detective. I thought they would have called him in last night, but they didn’t. I left him a voicemail and he got back with me saying that he would work on finding out some things, things the other cops probably won’t tell us.”
“Ok,” she replied. “I’ll do that.”
We finished breakfast and I dropped her off at her office building. The place looked pretty huge. It wouldn’t have been difficult for someone hiding in plain sight to just wait and pick her off. I hoped she’d be ok, but there was no way I could be with her every second of the day. Besides, she wouldn’t have let me if I’d wanted her to.
I watched her go inside and then I waited a moment. The police detail was right behind me and I watched the cop make a turn into the parking garage. I guessed he was going to observe some things before he finished this morning routine. That was something I guess.