Road to Nowhere

Part 12

Sam and Jack arrived in Los Angeles in the midafternoon and Jack insisted they have a late lunch at Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles before meeting their next contact. Sam thought it an unlikely combination of food and stuck to ordering a salad with chicken. Jack on the other hand got both chicken and waffles with a beer and truly savored his meal. Sam got slightly nauseous just thinking about that combination.

"So tell me about this guy Rusty that we're going to meet," Sam said trying to take her mind of his meal.

"Oh, he's cool. Met him in eighty-four or eighty-five, maybe eighty-six…" Jack took a bite of his chicken and tried to think of the particular year before shrugging. "Eighty-something. Anyway, my team was supposed to spring one of our agents being held outside of Leningrad. The guy wasn't there but they did have two Americans prisoner, Rusty and his pal Danny. So we sprung them instead. Turned out the guy we were after was a double agent anyway." He speared another piece of chicken and smeared it around in the syrup on his plate.

"What were they doing in the Soviet Union?"

"Stealing things. The czars left behind some pretty nifty stuff."

Her eyebrows rose in astonishment. "So, this guy's a thief?"

"Yeah."

"And you trust him?"

"Sure," he nodded. "We probably wouldn't have made it out of there if he and Danny hadn't used their contacts to smuggle us across the border. Besides he owes me from another little mishap in Turkey."

Sam shook her head, "You know some odd people."

"Hey, you don't exactly have room to talk. At least Rusty's 'of this world'." Jack popped a piece of syrup-coated waffle in his mouth and took a sip of his beer before continuing. "He's a good guy. You'll like him. Besides, we aren't exactly respectable folks ourselves anymore."

"True," Sam sighed. He was right. They were wanted by a supposedly legitimate government organization and it was only natural that the look to help from not so legitimate sources. This was definitely not her area of expertise. "I'm just glad one of us knows what they're doing."

"Trust me," he smiled encouragingly. "I do know what I'm doing. When we need to take something apart or work complex algebraic equations, it's your show." Jack pushed his now empty plate around him. "So, pie?"

"Well, Reuben told me to expect company but you're the last one I expected to turn up on my doorstep."

Jack smiled at the blonde man in the doorway. "Well, this is the last place I expected to be a couple of days ago."

Rusty leaned against the doorframe taking in Jack's rather strange appearance. He was wearing his Diesel jeans and black sport coat, though this time with a sky blue t-shirt under it. "This is a new look for you, isn't it? You going Hollywood, Jack?"

"Disguise," Jack sighed dramatically. "You develop a coke habit, Russ?"

"What?"

Jack gestured to his nose.

Rusty rubbed his face and his hand came away sprinkled with white powder "Oh.," he said before holding up a bag of powdered donuts. "Donut?"

"Nah, we just ate."

"And what a lovely other part of 'we'," Rusty smiled at Sam and she smiled back.

"Watch it," Jack warned and Rusty shared a grin of amusement with Sam. "Rusty, this is Sam. Sam, this is Rusty."

"C'mon in." Rusty stepped back into his apartment and gestured for them to enter. Jack and Sam settled on the couch and Rusty sat across from them still eating donuts.

"So what can I do for you? I still owe you from that unfortunate incident that we won't discuss in Turkey."

"Need a place to crash tonight and somebody to run a couple of errands."

"Sure. Whatever you need," Rusty told him as he liked the powdered sugar off his fingers.

"Butch,

Sundance and Etta have disappeared. Have they gone to Bolivia? Is LaFours in pursuit? The Whole-in-the-Wall Gang could use your advice.

Henry Jones Jr," Janet read aloud. She turned from the computer screen an gave Daniel a skeptical look. "Are you sure Maybourne's going to understand that?"

"Sure. Jack and Sam are the Sundance Kid and Etta Place. They went to Bolivia to escape the law, so that would mean that they're running away from something. LaFours was the lawman chasing them so that would mean the NID was after them. We're the Whole-in-the-Wall Gang."

"I get that, but what if Maybourne isn't a fan of westerns?"

"Butch Cassidy was the alias he used last time he was in the area," Daniel explained. "I figured it might catch his attention."

"I hope you're right, Indy," Janet smirked slightly at him and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"Me too."

TBC