Blair scowled darkly at the floor of the cabin. It just figured that Viki would have absolutely no alcohol to speak of but every cleaning agent known to man. She scrubbed away at the blood on the floor until she knew she wasn't going to get it any cleaner.
"I could really use a drink," she muttered as she put the bucket and brush aside. "I could use a whole lot of them."
"Me too," a small voice replied from the couch.
Blair moved over to him and laid her hand on his forehead. A whisper of a smile touched his lips at her touch but she frowned. He was warm to the touch but still clammy. None of this was a good sign. Neither was the feverish argument Todd had engaged in with an Irene only he could see.
"I'd go get us some rum but you are definitely in no condition to be left alone."
"You were gonna leave earlier," Todd replied feebly.
Blair sighed and pulled up a rocking chair. "Even if I'd gone through with leaving, I wouldn't have gone very far."
Todd made a noise that Blair assumed was his weak attempt at a laugh in his condition. "I'm in trouble, Blair."
"When aren't you?" Blair sighed, propping her feet up on the coffee table. She was in for a long night. She was glad she'd been able to find some extra clothes upstairs for her and Todd. Both of theirs were bloody messes. And there were plenty of blankets in order to see the chillier mountain nights through. Blair didn't expect anything too worrisome, temperature wise, unless it pertained to Todd.
She was very worried about him.
"I'm serious."
"I know," she reached over and patted his leg through the blanket she had tucked around him. "I know. We'll get through it. We'll figure it out."
He focused on her, his gaze intense. "You're really on my side," he said wonderingly.
Her brow furrowed. "Of course I am, you idiot," she snapped. She was getting tired of this crap. How much shit did she have to swallow? How many times did she have to roll over and forgive for Todd to get it? She had just saved his life and dug a bullet out of his body, for God's sake. "If you haven't figured it out by now..."
"Easy there..." Todd murmured. "Didn't mean to make you mad."
"As if you have to try."
"True," that feeble laugh sound came out of him again. "My girl's always been sharp angles and over-sensitive. A lot like me. Probably why we're so perfect together."
Blair blinked back tears and watched as Todd drifted off again. She wished she knew if he even meant what he said... or if he was aware of what he said... because every moment in his presence reminded her of where her heart truly lay. There was no cycle to break. She would always and only truly love Todd Manning.
"Can we go over it again, Louie?" John asked. He knew he was pushing it but he wanted to make absolutely certain that Louie's story was accurate. He'd hidden the homeless man away in a safe house. Louie was probably happy to have a roof over his head, a warm bed and some regular meals but even with all of that, John could tell he was getting tired of this repetition.
"He gave me the gun," Louie said slowly, as if he were talking to a child. "I told him about your guns for cash program and asked if he'd give me the gun so he did. He talked a little about the things he was going through and then he wished me a good evening, reminded me to take the gun straight to you, and headed off.
"Except I didn't get very far. I heard another voice when I turned the corner so I went around the alley to come out the other side and see what was going on."
"And what did you see?"
"Red-haired lady, older," Louie laughed. "Maybe about as older as me, you know what I'm saying?"
John smiled. He always did like Louie.
"She was saying something about how his brother was dead and the only question that remained was if he was going to die, too, or go down for killing the brother." Louie scratched his head. "Manning asked her what she wanted from him... why she kept doing this... and she said that he wouldn't give her what he wanted. Manning got real hot about that. Practically screamed at her that she kept him locked up and tortured him for eight years for some phantom item that he didn't even know about." Louie paused.
"Go ahead, Louie, what then?"
"I was just thinking," Louie said quietly. "It just reminded me of some of the boys that came back from the war... much later. The POWs that got shut up some place... tortured... beaten... starved... It doesn't sit right with me that was done to our own. On our own soil. That ain't right."
"No," John agreed quietly. "It's not." There was a lot to deal with in regards to this whole situation. For one thing, the guy he had always thought was Manning wasn't that man. The replacement didn't seem to be much better than the original as far as deeds done but even with all of that John had major issues with what had been done to Todd. He had been Bureau once and the thought of CIA taking matters into their own hands in regards to US citizens on US soil and locking them away didn't sit well with him either. "Go on, Louie, the clearer I am on what went down that night the better."
"They went back and forth on that for a while. She didn't believe he didn't know what she was talking about. He couldn't believe she didn't believe him... finally said something about how if he had known what she wanted he would have told her ages ago so he'd either have been let go to come home to his family or put out of his misery. She finally laughed and said she wanted the chip."
"The chip," John nodded. Louie had mentioned this in every retelling of what he had witnessed. The question was... what chip?
"Yeah, that's right. Manning didn't seem to know what she was talking about. After a few minutes of that, him denying, her not believing, she finally said that if he didn't know how to get what she wanted then he was no use to her. That's when she shot him."
Louie sighed heavily. "She didn't kill him, though. He was on the ground, clutching his shoulder and she walked over to him real slow like. I was getting ready to shoot her myself... I was thinking I had to do something. But he kicked her legs out from under her and they both went for the gun. I'm thinking he could have disarmed her easy but with that wound, and it was bleeding pretty bad, he was definitely not at his best. Hell, I wouldn't even say he was at his best before he got shot... man looks like he's been through a wringer for a long time.
"Anyway, they struggled and the gun went off. She went down and he looked... surprised... not quite there... stunned." Louie frowned in remembrance. "He backed into one of the crates and it snapped him out of... whatever he was in. I've seen that look before, McBain. That look he had... I've seen it in boys on the other side of the world. That Manning needs help. Bad."
John nodded. "Keep going, Louie."
"He looked around like he wasn't sure what happened... saw the woman on the ground, moved towards her like he was ready to run if she twitched... then checked her pulse and realized she was dead. That's when he realized he was holding the gun. He dropped it like was on fire and then took off."
"What about the gun he gave you, Louie?" John prompted. "What happened to it?"
"Well, I was catching my own breath when I heard someone running and that's when she showed up."
"Describe her, please."
"Tall woman. Skinny. Very pretty. She was calling for Todd. She saw the woman and just about lost it. She started screaming Manning's name. I... I was afraid she was going to call some bad attention to herself making all that noise so I stepped out. She sure wasn't happy to see me at first, looked wary and asked me if I killed the woman. I said no and she pointed to the gun I had... I held it out to her, holding it by the barrel and she recognized it. She demanded I give her gun back to her. I said I was turning it in for cash. She wanted to know who gave it to me. I wasn't too keen on giving up anything but she gave me this look and said that her ex-husband stole that gun from her house and if I didn't give it back to her I'd be sorry."
John smiled lightly. It sounded like Blair to him. "So what did you do?"
"I said I didn't want any trouble and gave her the gun. Then she gave me $200 and asked if I knew what happened. I wasn't sure where to start but she asked if I'd seen Todd and I told her that he ran off and pointed the way. She went after him immediately."
"She didn't ask about the dead woman after that?"
"She seemed far more interested in Manning's whereabouts but she did tell me to call the cops as she left. Which I did. And that's when I called you."
John nodded. "Okay Louie. Thanks for going through it again. I'd like you to hang out here for a little longer if that's all right."
Louie shrugged. "That's fine. That's fine. For now... can't stay gone too long or things pass by."
"Yeah," John nodded again. "I guess they do."
"Bless your beautiful hide," Blair sang to herself as she rinsed out a washcloth in the sink. "Wherever you may be. I don't know your name but I'm a-stakin' my claim, you're the gal for meeee."
"What the hell are you singing?" Todd asked, his voice irritated and still weary.
"Oh, sorry," Blair came over to check on him. His fever was still up. Luckily, Tea would be there soon with the antibiotics that Dorian had prescribed. "That movie was on the other night and the songs are in my head."
"What movie is that?"
"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."
"Sounds like a recipe for disaster."
"Oh, you'd like it. It's about a bunch of boorish, asshole men and the women who love them anyway."
"Tell you what," Todd let his head fall back on the cushions Blair fluffed for him. "If I make it through this we'll watch it together."
"Well, you're going to make it through this," Blair assured him. "And if that's the deal you're making, I want you to watch it without snorting constantly the way you do through any movie that doesn't involve ridiculous amounts of blood or fart jokes."
That faint smile touched his lips again. "Deal."
John watched Victor for several moments. He couldn't imagine that the man was going to be remotely helpful. There was some mysterious chip somewhere that was worth killing and dying over and if Manning himself didn't know where it was then there was the definite possibility that Victor might. He had infiltrated Manning's entire life, after all.
The problem was that Manning's return effectively changed Victor's life and it wasn't necessarily for the better. Victor was living off of Manning's money and had already dug his feet in about holding onto everything. So John couldn't imagine that Victor was going to be forthcoming about anything he knew that might jeopardize the life he'd created.
Tea did not seem to John to be a very good option. She might be interested in finding a solution to their situation but, at the same time, she was protective of her husband and a defense lawyer. She wasn't likely to participate in anything that would go against his interests.
John was frustrated by Blair and Todd's disappearance but Blair was not likely to abandon her children and Starr had already informed him that she had spoken to her mother. The young woman stubbornly refused to reveal anything else. John was getting really sick of the whole family. Apparently, Blair's behavior while they were involved was the exception rather than the rule and even then she got secretive, stubborn and manipulative at times.
It left John with precious little to work with and the only option he could see was Tomas Delgado. Tomas had no love of Victor so he wasn't likely to protect him. However, his interest in Blair might prove to be an issue. Still, it was a better choice than the others. Given Tomas' own history with the CIA it was likely he'd have some insight and he had certainly been eager to go against his former employers in dragging Irene out into the light. Still, the CIA and the FBI were natural adversaries. John may not be considered a current agent and Tomas' status wasn't exactly clear but they did come from two opposing forces.
Yet, it wasn't a rift that was unable to be bridged. John moved towards Tomas who was sitting at the dining room table and nodded at him.
Tomas got John's wordless request immediately and stood up. They retreated to the back yard by the pool and Tomas waited for John to start.
"There's some item of importance that Manning apparently had in his possession that Irene wanted. Do you know anything about it?"
"An item?" Tomas shrugged. "My involvement in Todd's handling was based on falsified information that he was funding terrorists. Are we talking about records of that nature or something else?"
John shook his head. "A chip."
"A chip," Tomas frowned. "Is that all?"
"It's what I have right now. A chip. A chip that Irene was so desperate to get a hold of that she falsified records to unlawfully imprison Manning. I'm not even going to go down the number of laws that were broken in that act alone."
Tomas rolled his eyes. "Save your convenient morality for someone else, McBain. I'm not going to apologize to you for the things I've done."
"Have you apologized to Blair?"
"That's between me and Blair."
"And where is Blair?" John asked. "Has she contacted you since yesterday?"
"Weren't you asking me about a chip?"
Which meant 'no.' John had a feeling that whatever progress Tomas had made with Blair had come screeching to a halt upon Manning revealing himself at the premiere. And laying a scorching kiss on Blair while doing so. John almost felt sorry for the guy until he recalled the sorry state of his own love life and then did legitimately feel for him. "Any ideas?"
"On what's on it? I can speculate that it's information. Information worth killing over. It's likely a microchip of some kind. It could look like just about anything but it would probably be fairly small. If Manning had it then Victor would have had access to it but since Irene was still torturing Todd over it then clearly Victor didn't know how to get it."
"Or he didn't know that Irene was looking for it," John replied. "Victor may be a bit of a loose cannon but it seems he disappeared so completely into the role he played that he wasn't any real use to Irene, either."
"He's still unstable which is what makes him so dangerous... at least it did to Irene. What's left of her organization is questionable but I would imagine that finding that chip would be the best way to dismantle it completely."
"Well, you live here," John pointed out. "Maybe you can keep your eyes open."
Tomas' expression didn't change but there was a glimmer of interest in his eyes. "What are you suggesting, McBain?"
"Don't be coy, Delgado. I've told you what Irene's been looking for. What you do with that is up to you."
"With the unspoken expectation that I'll bring anything I find to you," Tomas confirmed.
"I guess we understand each other."