TWELVE

.

Lenore looked up from her notebook, across the study table. "Ok, so we have the location and a good idea of numbers," she said. "What we need to know is how to get in and out safely. Best case scenario - Kato can drive but not leave the car - under any circumstances. Worst case? He can't go."

"Yeah," Britt allowed, frowning. He was quiet for a long moment. "He'll be ok, right?"

"With rest, yes," she said quietly. "Peony said he'll be fine."

"He looked pretty bad."

"So you do after an all-night party, and yet here you are," she smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so." He paused. "You think we should check on him?"

Her face fell. "I think… he's better off on his own. If he needs something he'll find us."

"You sure? You know he'll just be like 'I can handle this' and never mention he's dying. He's such a stubborn bastard sometimes."

"Maybe he has a good reason," she said, looking at her notebook. Then she looked across the table to her bag. Reaching in she fished around for her phone. She looked at Britt, then bit her lip.

"What?"

"Well… he won't let us look after him," she said. "But I bet there's one person he won't turn away."

"Genius!" he gushed. "The pool guy!"

"No," she tutted. She opened up one of her social media accounts quickly, then scrolled through names. She stopped on someone. Her thumb hovered over the 'call' button.

"Old Man Fung?" Britt hazarded.

Lenore looked at him - just looked. Then her thumb touched at the phone symbol. She sniffed, smoothed her hair round the side of her neck, sat up straighter, and put the phone to her ear. It rang and rang.

Britt's mouth opened.

She lifted an index finger, not even looking at him.

His mouth closed.

The line clicked. "Hello?"

"Oh hi," Lenore said, in her best sunshine voice. "I know this is really forward of me but I'm Lenore - I work with Kato."

"Oh, yeah," the voice said brightly. "Hi. He's mentioned you. You're good friends, right?"

"Yes, we are," she said, sitting back and folding an arm across her. "That's why I'm calling. He was doing some work in the garage today and he had a bit of an accident."

"What? Is he ok?"

"He's fine - or he will be. But he's gone home by himself and I'm pretty sure he has to take antibiotics on time, painkillers, things like that."

"Sounds serious."

"He was doing work on this car and - well, accidents happen. And you know what he's like," Lenore said. "He won't tell anyone how bad it is. I would go round and check on him but he'd just chase me away, so—"

"Do you want - uh—. I… Well if you're busy then… I could go?"

"Are you sure?" she asked critically. "You don't need to, I mean I don't know how far it is from you but—"

"Oh it's no trouble," the voice breezed. "I could drop by. I messaged him earlier but he stopped replying, so… I just thought maybe he was busy."

"Maybe his phone is flat," Lenore said.

"Yeah… Yeah he does have a habit of running it right down."

"Anyway. Sorry to call you out of the blue like this - so glad you accepted my friend request."

"Oh no that's fine! It's nice to meet another of his friends. I'll go check on him - maybe take him some soup."

"That would be perfect," Lenore grinned. "Thanks. You can always message me, you know."

"Thank you! Ok - I'll get going. Bye!"

"Bye." She touched at the red button and looked at Britt with a grin so wide it was a wonder it didn't fall off her face.

"Who was that?" he asked, confused.

"Amy!"

"Oohh - Amy," he heaved. He nodded. "Yeah - that'll do it."

Lenore put the phone down. "Anyway - plan?"

"I'm all about rockets," he said with a grin.

.


.

A banging made him give up on trying to force himself to go back to sleep. He opened his eyes. Then he realised his phone was buzzing from its rather smug position on the couch. The banging continued and he winced at the door, figuring out that it must be someone knocking on it.

With great effort he levered himself out of bed. He rubbed at his face, unsure whether to answer his phone or the door first. He shuffled to the door dumbly, not even looking through the spyhole before he opened it up.

"Hi!" Amy said brightly, her sunny yellow t-shirt and skinny jeans just pleased to be out and about. She had her phone to her ear, but touched the red key and let it drop to her side. "Oh you poor thing - look at you," she tutted, walking past him and into the apartment.

"Uh…"

"Lenore is worried about you, after you hurt yourself like that working on some car," she tutted, her eyes going round the spacious yet chaotic flat. She shrugged her bag up her shoulder.

He shut the door, turning and leaning on it. "Sorry - you should go. I'm not… I can't…"

She turned and looked at him. "I brought you soup," she smiled, holding up a food flask and looking toward the kitchenette. "Do you want some now or do you have to take your pills with food? My brother has to take pills with food - something about the way they make them, they have to be digested together. But he's terrible about taking medication. Honestly, it's like having a dog - I have to roll his favourite food round the pill so he'll eat it without tasting it." She walked over, finding nowhere to set down the flask except the two-ring stove. She shrugged and put it down, looking through the cupboard at head height for a large mug. "He still does it and he's like thirty-eight. I guess some things you can't grow out of."

"Amy."

She paused, then turned and looked at him.

He was studying his feet. "I'm tired but I can't sleep. I don't need food, I need to be by myself."

"Do you actually need to be by yourself?" she asked softly. "Or… can I stay to check on you?"

"I don't need you to."

"I know," she said, walking back over to him. "But sometimes it's nice to have the luxury of someone doing it for you."

"I don't want you here," he said, walking past her. She watched him cross to the bed but he paused by it, as if weighing something up. "Sorry," he added quietly.

"Tell me why you don't want me here. And then I'll go."

He sniffed. "I don't know, ok?"

"You do. You just don't want to tell me."

"Just - please - let me sleep."

"You said you couldn't sleep. And if I leave you like this then you definitely won't sleep."

He huffed, eyeing the bed. He turned slowly but he kept his eyes on her Converse footwear. "Sorry. Just go. I call you later."

"No, you'll get back into bed and I'll watch you until you wake up."

His head tilted but he didn't look up. "Until I wake up?"

"Well yes. I couldn't sneak out while you're asleep - that's just rude. And what if you need waking up every few hours to check you're ok or something?" She walked over to the couch and sat. She put her bag down and unlaced her Converse, leaving them by the sofa. "Ok, into bed with you, come on."

His mouth worked. Then he turned, and with great stiffness and a groan of pain, he got himself back under the covers and laid out on his back. She watched him shift around, then slipped a paperback book out of her bag. She climbed on the foot of the bed, crawling up the empty half. She turned herself round and laid out on her back, the book on top of her, sighing in comfort.

"This is… a good bed," she said, surprised. She noticed him roll away from her, onto his left side. "So what did you do? Drop a car on your foot?"

"No." He pushed the covers down then lifted up his basketball shirt.

Her eyes fairly bulged at the white patches over his side, the tape keeping them in place. "Holy shit, Kato!" she blurted. "Don't they hurt?"

"A little."

"Don't lie - I bet they sting like a bastard," she tutted. He smiled in surprise. She rocked his shoulder, then pushed herself up. "We're doing this wrong. Move back, where I was."

"But I'm comfortable."

"And you will be again. Go."

He shuffled back and she got off the bed, collecting up phones. "Now I'm going to put these on charge, so they work when we need them." She paused. "Also on silent."

She found cables by the bedside table and plugged them in, hearing the little bong of power. Then she flicked at settings to turn off the sounds before she shooed him further across the bed. Once she was satisfied he was far enough away, she sat and turned herself around, on top of the covers. She stretched out on her back.

She looked at him on her right. "Ok, now come here."

"Where?"

She tutted and leant her hand back, snaking it under his neck. He moved up until his head was lying on her shoulder. Her right hand went round his back, sliding up and into his hair. "There. Now you can relax - and you're not allowed to move."

"And you can't leave."

"I'm kind of trapped," she giggled.

"No I mean… You can't leave." He paused. "Not until I wake up."

"Yeah, I already said I'm not leaving till you wake up."

"No - you have to make sure you stay. Until - until I wake up."

"Yeah, I—." She bit her lip, stroking at his hair. It was quiet for a long moment. "Is that… is that what your parents did? Disappeared while you were asleep?"

"Everyone," he said quietly. "Always they wait until I'm asleep. My parents left me asleep and went out at night. They died. I didn't know what happened - I was four."

She frowned, turning toward him a little, stroking at his hair gently. "I get it."

"And then my best friend - I think he's my best friend. We run away from the orphanage and we make a plan to make money. A week later I wake up - he's gone. Took my share of the food and ran without me. I was twelve." He huffed. "And the woman I helped with the car shop - we recycled parts together. She disappeared one night. With all the money we'd made."

"That's horrible. I am so sorry," she whispered. She turned her head, pressing a kiss into his hair. "I can't promise to know what will happen in the future… but I can promise I will never leave you sleeping. If I ever have to go, you'll see me do it."

"Sure?"

"You know that bit you told me about in one of your favourite Feng Yun volumes… When Huo Bu Tian tells Wind he'll always be watching out for him, even when he doesn't think he needs to? Like that," she whispered.

"You remembered?"

"I listened," she corrected. "Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up - I promise."

He didn't move, didn't react, for a long moment. Finally he inched up until he was lying more on her. His head slotted under her chin and his right arm went over her to slide round and under her shoulder blade. She turned toward him slightly, stroking at his hair.

As she studied the ceiling, letting aspects of the afternoon sink in, she felt his fingers in her back release just a little. Gradually, his whole hand relaxed - and then abruptly it was as if he were melting. Every muscle, every shred of tension just seemed to drain away. She was left holding onto an exhausted, vulnerable soul daring to trust that someone, somewhere, would just do what they said they would.

She lifted her paperback and shuffled awkwardly through to the first page with her thumb. She sniffed, shifted to be more comfortable, and slid her fingers through his hair as she got into the first paragraph.

.


.

"Morning everyone! Happy Monday!" Britt gushed as he walked through the open plan office. Heads came up and a few people waved.

"Morning Mr Reid!" said a young woman in his way. "Uh - Mike asked if you had time to see him in his office as soon as you're free."

"Hell yeah - anything for Mike," he grinned. "And your name is…?"

"Veronica."

"Veronica! Of course," he said. "I'll make sure I see him before I go. Hey - what do you think about a replacement party? For the one that didn't end so well?"

"Oh, well…" She bit her lip, thinking. "I couldn't make the last one - deadlines."

"What?" he gasped, outraged. "Then we're definitely having another one - and it has to be a night when you're available."

"Uh - thanks?" she managed, surprised.

"Honest - get your boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, whoever and make sure they come too, ok?" He walked off, turning back to point at her. "Make sure you're there, Veronica - won't be a party without you!"

She smiled. "Thanks."

He grinned and opened his office door, twirling in with a happy whistle. He turned and jumped, spotting Kato in his chair, tapping at his laptop. "Dude what the hell," he hissed, closing the door quickly.

"My home wi-fi keeps stopping," he muttered, pre-occupied.

"No I mean what are you doing here? You should be asleep or something," he urged, trying to keep his voice down. He crossed to the back of the laptop, looking down at him. "Are you even supposed to be upright right now?"

"I'm fine," he grumped.

"Like hell you are."

Kato paused his hands. He looked up at him. "Saturday afternoon I sleep. Saturday night I sleep. Sunday morning I sleep. Sunday afternoon I watch TV - then I sleep again. All night I sleep. I need to do something that is not sleep."

"I get it but - just - be careful," he hissed. "What if you tear some stitches or something?"

"They are ok," he said. "Amy checked them before she left last night, changed the dressing."

"She checked them?" he said, starting to smile. "That all she check?"

Kato glared at him. "How is the DA?" he asked deliberately.

He huffed, pulling out the small chair and plonking himself down in it. "I keep taking her like real food, loads of water - I got her a chair so she can at least lie down or get up." He paused. "You know what? I think she's bored of sleeping too."

"Then let's end this and we can let her go."

"Well Lenore and I came up with a plan. We just need to be sure you're ok to drive, buddy."

"I can drive," he said stiffly. "I can always drive."

"Yeah but I mean this plan is about no-one leaving the car. So if you're ok to drive, then you can drive. But if you're not ready then we don't do this."

"I can do it," he tutted.

Britt eyed him. He gestured with his chin to the laptop. "You ah… looking at cool new stuff for the car?"

"Yes." His fingers tapped away, light, graceful and fast, as Britt just watched.

"You want any help?"

"Not yet."

"Yeah, ok." He sniffed to himself. "Listen I know you're like hurt and everything, so…"

"What now?" Kato said curtly, looking at him in irritation.

"I was just gonna say - let's not go to your favourite bar this week, ok? Maybe you should take it easy and then… we'll just go another time."

Kato glared at him. And then he huffed and looked at the laptop.

It was quiet for a long moment.

"How about…" he muttered.

Britt tried not to look eager. "Well?"

"We will move tonight on the next place?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then… I help you find the good Indonesian movie. I can rest and we can watch the movie at the same time. Before we go out and kick ass."

"Awesome!" Britt grinned, slapping his hands together and rubbing. "Let's do it!"

"I need a beer though."

"With your drugs and stuff you have to take?"

"Alcohol does not affect the ones I have - that is a lie they tell to Americans to stop them getting drunk when they have STDs so they cannot go out and spread them," he said dismissively. Britt looked at him - just looked. Kato shrugged. "Amy told me. She knows a lot about drugs."

"Oh yeah? How many meth labs does she run?" he grinned.

"Her brother had cancer. Twice."

Britt's face fell. "Shit. Sorry."

He shrugged. "She handles it. She is very strong like that."

"I told you she was cool," Britt teased.

"She is cool." He hissed and moved on the chair, making Britt's smile die. But then Kato was closing browsers and emptying cashes. His hands went to the table and he used it to help him get up slowly.

"You done?"

"I go to the garage - check to see if a delivery has come for the cars."

"You know… if we don't need it tonight then just leave it," Britt said quietly.

"I check it's come in - then I leave it in the box."

"Yes - that," Britt agreed, nodding. "What time tonight?"

"I need to go home first. Then I come to yours about… eight."

"Done."

Kato walked past him. "And now I will steal coffee and bagels from the break room," he said as he reached the door.

"Take two," Britt grinned.

"See you later."

"Yep."

He closed the door and was gone. Britt went round to the chair in front of the desk, sitting heavily. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his messages. Picking up on the end of a thread, he murmured to himself as he typed. "Made him… go home… to rest. Movie tonight… then… he just drives." He pressed Send.

And then he opened the laptop and went about searching for cocktail recipes.

.


.

She lifted her coffee mug, found it empty, and got up from her desk. She looked over the partition to the next occupant. "Hey Sean - you want one?"

"No I'm good - thanks," he said, totally pre-occupied.

Amy carried her mug through the open plan office and went down the stairs, walking into the break room. She wandered over to the machine and thought about trying to read the instructions yet again.

"I think you come here on purpose to get me to make you coffee," said a voice from the doorway.

She turned and looked at Kato. "I think you follow me down here."

"I am a very busy EA," he blustered, sliding a hand down his black tie as he walked up to her. "I don't have time to follow you around." He reached past her, entirely too close, to pick up her mug and set it on the machine.

"I'm pretty sure you could take some days off," she smiled. "The boss wouldn't mind."

"I sleep too much already - makes me cranky."

She stood back, her arms folded, and watched him create two perfect cups of coffee. He offered one to her and she stepped forward to take it. He pulled it back, a small, naughty smile on his face as he walked backwards, making her follow him across the room. Finally he was in the corner of the room, out of view of the door, and he stopped. He put her cup down on the worktop to their left.

"Thank you for coming Saturday," he said seriously.

"It really was no trouble," she said. "I got to read a whole two books while you were asleep this weekend, so thank you." She put a hand up and straightened his tie with a smile. "I think you need tonight to yourself, Cat That Walked By Himself."

"A cat?" he asked, offended.

"Oh - it's a story," she said. "A very good story. I have the complete Rudyard Kipling Animal Stories - I'll lend it to you."

"Animal stories?"

She grinned. "My mother gave me a copy when I was a child and I've never been without the one about the cat since."

"Tomorrow night," he said quietly. "Bring it over tomorrow night."

"With beer and pizza?"

"Yes." He paused, his eyes flicking down her face. "And then after…"

"What?" she teased.

"You asked me for a Chinese movie. Tomorrow night I show you a very good one. Get ready for subtitles."

"What is it about?" she asked, finding she had stepped just a tad closer.

He had one hand round his mug, the other in his pocket. "A man who has fourteen blades."

"Action?"

"Yes - but also some love story. —Not like a Hollywood love story, but…" He paused, his eyes sliding up to the side as he thought about it. "Definitely a love story."

"I'm intrigued," she said with a smile. "Sounds like a good night in."

"If you are there."

She reached up and kissed him - it was a whole minute later that his hand came out of his pocket and pressed into the small of her back.

Something made a noise to his right. They parted quickly, Kato running a thumb over his bottom lip as he sniffed casually. Amy stepped back and turned, picking up her cup, to see who had walked in.

"Hey Steve," she said brightly, taking a sip of coffee. "How are things in… uh… Impressions, right?"

"You know I can't say," he shrugged, watching his hands on the machine. "Anyway, I'm much too busy to talk out of turn."

"I hope so," she said politely.

"I also am busy," Kato said, nodding to Steve and then looking at Amy. "We talk later."

"Ok," she shrugged.

He kept his eyes on his coffee and walked out. Amy sipped hers leisurely, then tilted her head. "You still going to the sports bar Friday night?"

"Yeah," Steve smiled. "There's a big game on - ice hockey. You finally going to come?"

"I might," she said. "See you."

"Yep. Have a good one," he nodded, watching his coffee start to pour.

She smiled and walked out. Steve's eyes followed her, and then he smiled to himself as he lifted his coffee cup. He whistled his way back out and across the office, finding his cubicle and seating himself.

The pod had three other people working away, their partitions not tall enough to block out the smug look on his face. The woman to his left paused and eyed him.

"What is it, Steve?" she asked curiously.

He straightened up. "Nothing, Linda," he said loftily.

"Don't give us that when you've got that face on," the man to his right said. "Come on - what do you know?"

"I just walked in on some first class making out, that's what I know," he said.

"What?" the second woman, opposite him, managed. She cleared her throat, leaning across the table to keep her voice low. "Just now? In the break room?"

"Yeah," he hissed back. "I mean I pretended I didn't see anything, but…" He shrugged. "Classy, too. No torrid, badly written Hollywood stuff."

"You gonna tell us who?" the man demanded quietly.

"I really shouldn't," Steve said.

"You really should, or I swear I will hit you with this stapler," Linda said. "And don't leave anything out."

"Well you know Amy, the woman in Support and Admin - does all the fact checking, always gets back to our emails?" he said quietly, looking at them all.

"Mmm… which one?" the man asked slowly. "I'm not good with names."

"The efficient one," he said. "Brown hair, quite long - wears like grey and black skirt suits with a waistcoat - has that whole care-free Portuguese vibe about her?"

"Yeah - she's cool. Chatty."

"Well her."

"Obviously," Dave tutted. "And who?"

"You'll never guess."

"No we won't - so just tell us!" Linda warned.

"What do I get?" he teased.

"You get to live," Linda said meaningfully.

He chuckled. "Ok, fine. But you didn't hear it from me." He paused. "The EA from the top floor."

"What?" they all chorused.

Steve shushed them, noticing other pods now watching them. "I walked in and they pretended they were just getting coffee - but I know what I saw."

"The EA?" Linda echoed. "The good looking one in the suits?"

"Well how many EAs are there in the building?" Steve shot back. "Yes, it was him."

"Doug's going to be crushed," she sighed.

"Why?" Steve asked.

"He was hoping the EA was gay." She sat back. "But hey, good for them. At least someone's happy."

The others grinned and Steve sipped his coffee. "They sure looked that way."

.


.

Britt knocked on the door, swinging it open to poke his head in. "Hey, Mike. You wanted me?"

Mike Axford sat back from the desk and waved him in. "Britt. Just the person."

He walked in and round, his hands in his pockets, appraising the decoration. "Man - it's crazy that they could put this back nearly like it was."

"It does almost feel like your father's office," Mike agreed. "Sit down, son. I have a question."

Britt smiled, definitely bemused, before he found a chair opposite Mike's desk and fell into it. "If it's about the party and everything that ruined it, then—"

"It's not about the party," he said quietly. "I think we have a problem."

"A problem? What kind of problem?"

Mike swung his chair to look at Britt directly. "It looks like someone is taking information out of the building. And giving it to people."

"You mean like stealing it?" he gasped. "What the hell?"

"We had a story about a few gang members but withheld it until we could check the facts. The next thing we know, the Times runs it on its front page. Now luckily for us, our fact check turned up things that would have prevented us from running the story anyway - all that happened was the Times ended up printing the retraction that was all over the news last week."

"Oh. I didn't see that - you know I only get the Sentinel," he muttered.

"So I have to ask… have you seen anything suspicious around here?"

Britt blinked. "Me? See anything - like - suspicious?"

"Yeah. I know sometimes you're in late at night, or early in the morning. Was there anyone here who you thought shouldn't be?" Mike asked.

He stared out of the window behind Mike, thinking hard. Eventually he shook his head slowly. "No. I mean… I don't really know anyone." He pointed a finger at the desk, wagging it slowly. "Lenore though - she seems to know everyone here. If anyone was going to pick up on something weird it would be her."

"She's not normally in the office, now she's working from home."

"Oh yeah," Britt groused. "Bummer."

"Well I'm sure we'll root them out. In the meantime… be careful who you share info with."

"Me? Like I know anything about anything?" Britt scoffed.

"Sometimes you know more than you think - and you never know who's listening."

Britt got up slowly. "Right. Well… I'll keep my eyes peeled. Anything else?"

"I think that's it," he said. "We have a couple of juniors trying to see if they can locate a police informant, but apart from that…"

"Sounds way cool when you say it," Britt grinned. "Keep it up, and all that."

"Thanks, Britt."

"No sweat." He nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him.

And then he looked out over the busy floor, his eyes narrowing as he imagine who might be taking home more than their coffee mug.

.