“I knew it was a conspiracy.”
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Kasabian drops down into his desk chair. He tries to straighten his bum leg, but can only manage to get it about two thirds out.
“I’m fine over here, Nick and Nora. Thanks for asking.”
Declan has a pretty big hole in his head and it’s bleeding all over the Chateau’s pricey carpet.
I say, “I’m going to dump the body. Why don’t you two clean up the blood as best as you can and cover what you don’t get with a throw rug or the sofa?”
Kasabian shakes his head.
“Forget it. I’m not cleaning up your mess.”
“I kept this asshole from killing you.”
“You brought him here.”
Kasabian and I have ended up here before, but this is the last time.
“You’re right,” I say. “I put you in danger. Maybe it’s time for you to take all that money you have stashed away and find your own place.”
He frowns.
“What?”
I point to Declan’s corpse.
“This isn’t the last time this shit is going to happen. If anything, things are going to get worse as the Angra get closer and people start scrambling for whatever they can grab.”
“See? Looking for any excuse to get rid of me. I told you you’d do this.”
“I brought you here to save your sorry ass, but I guess you forgot that. What we’re talking about right now, though, this is your choice. You don’t want to be a team player? Fine. I’ll help you get back in our old room at the Beat Hotel. But just remember that from now on you’re going to be watching your own back, and if you want any more work from Manimal Mike, you’ll be paying for it yourself.”
“You’re going to let him do this?” he says to Candy.
“Sorry. I’m on the crazy man’s side on this one,” she says.
“This is how it is from now on. Everyone works with everyone else. You want to play lone wolf, you’re on your own.”
Kasabian rubs his chin with a metal paw.
“So what, we’re going all Super Friends now?”
“Something like that.”
“He wasn’t trying to get me shot?”
Candy shakes her head.
“No. The bastard was trying to get me shot.”
Kasabian thinks for a minute.
“Okay. You have your demands. I have mine. You drop all the ‘Old Yeller’ stuff. You want me to be a team player, you treat me like part of the team and not the equipment.”
“That’s downright cruel, man.”