No More Tears In The End

“That’s exactly what I need,” I said to Monika and somebody knocked on her door.

“Excuse me a minute,” she said and went to answer the door.

When she came back Monika said that it was Kevon knocking. “He said that Bobby called and needs to talk to you. He said it was important.”

I stood up. “Let me go see what Bobby wants. You stay on this and talk to Travis about doing that other thing. We’ll talk more about that after you talk to him.”

Monika walked me to the door. “I’ll call you if I get anything else I think you can use. Do you want me to take a look at Marshall?”

I thought about Marshall knowing that she was looking at Vinnelli. “Yes-and no.” I took a step closer to Monika and leaned in close to her ear. “It was Marshall that gave me that name. When I talked to him, he told that he knew you were looking at Vinnelli; said you were very talented.”

“I’m flattered by the compliment, but that is not good. I’ll try to cover my tracks a little better,” Monika assured me. Then she thought for a second. Monika put her hands on my chest and I stepped closer as she whispered. “There might be another explanation. Other than me being sloppy, I mean. Felix and General Peterson used to work for Diego.”

“Felix is the guy you and Nick used to work for, right?”

Nick told me about him. They used to call him Uncle Felix, I don’t know why. After the rest of their unit was killed, they were flown back to Fort Brag, debriefed, and processed out. Uncle Felix approached them the next day. He told them that General Peterson, their former commanding officer, had recommended that he talk to them. He recruited them to do jobs for him that required their skills. It was Felix that set them up in a front business as private investigators.

“Right. Marshall was partners with Diego, so he had to know what we were doing in South America.”

“And that you, Nick and Jett survived,” I whispered in her ear.

“He would know what skills we had, and he knows Nick works for you now.”

“Which means he knows who you are-”

“And probably has somebody shadowing my on-line movements. It won’t happen again.”

“For the time bein’, you stay on Vinnelli.”

“Does that mean I can’t, say, ask an old friend, say, in Israel, to stick his nose in?”

“No, it doesn’t it mean that at all. I like the way you think. We’ll talk soon,” I said and left.

When I got in the car Kevon handed me the phone; it was already ringing. “Where you at?” Bobby asked as soon as he answered.

“Just leaving Monika’s apartment.”

“Did you fuck sexy one eye?”

“No, I got her workin’ on that thing for me.”

“That don’t mean you ain’t fuckin’ her.”

“What you want, Bobby?”

“Did I miss a meeting today?”

“No.”

“I just wanted to be sure.”

“That’s what was so important?”

“Yeah, that was it. You coming by the club tonight?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“CeCe was up here askin’ for you the other night after you left.?