Page 33 of Bitten By Zombie

Considering Stan locked eyes with them through the fence when he shot the man in the temple, that passage was as good as sealed. Plus, he was protected at all times. An entire brigade of armed god-fearing men surrounded him. The same ones who surrounded the old prophet.

The only time he was down to two bodyguards was…

“He never entered the apartment, and the landlord knows it. He’ll have to silence him, sooner rather than later, or the investigation turns in on Stan once the police interview the landlord. Stan will make sure there is no landlord to interview.”

“Then we wait until he comes for the landlord and take him out? Risky but doable,” Santa offered.

“No, that won’t work. He’ll likely send someone to do his dirty work. His balls only descend when he’s at the compound. Plus, we can’t risk a citizen. We need to get Stan back into Heidi’s place. We hit him there and cleanup is contained,” Zombie countered.

“How do you propose we do that, prez? The landlord would have to let him in and then he’d be exposed. He seems on the up and up. I have a feeling he’ll call the pigs if he witnesses a man entering and not exiting, then us casually hauling out a human burrito in a shag tortilla while whistling Dixie.”

Leave it to Santa to talk about a dead body so casually. Running Eureka Clean and handling crime scene cleanup on the regular is definitely the perfect fit for him.

“As unappetizing as you’ve just made Taco Tuesday for the foreseeable future, you have a point. But you know what else you’ve got? A relationship with the man. You said yourself, people like you. You and Outlaw convince him to take a week off and you’ll handle things for the sake of your niece’s possessions. If he’s not convinced, share some of her story with him. If he’s the type of man we all seem to think he is, he’ll look the other way, I bet. Take the documents you need and if that doesn’t work, use some legal mumbo jumbo and confuse him into allowing you to sit on the office for a week while he takes an all-expenses-paid vacation to Vegas.”

“On it, prez.” Outlaw and Santa left them to hammer out other details knowing they’d get their assignment settled. Their brotherhood operated like a well-oiled machine when they had a mission or skin in the game.

And this time, they had both.

“So, we’ll get Santa to act as a temporary landlord while Walt is playing penny slots and downing warm beer. Stan will produce false docs, I assume, and we lie in wait in the apartment?” Wall Street plotted out.

“No, I think it’s best if, A, Santa calls Stan. If we wait, Stan will have already played his hand by trying to hurt Walt, thereby exposing his man to Santa. We gain nothing in that. Instead, we have Santa call Stan first. Santa will pose as Walt’s ne’er-do-well cousin and temporary landlord. He’ll say he heard from Walt that she’s gone, so he reckons she won’t mind if her brother has a look around. Then he’ll offer to let him in for a price while Walt’s away. Stan would much rather shell out a few bucks than have another person who can contradict his lie to the police and claim he had fake docs,” Zombie laid out.

“That way, we control the scene—time and place—and take home-field advantage,” Squatch added almost gleefully. His gleefulness was way scarier than his rage. That was for damn sure.

“Not to mention, Santa is tops at playing an old drunk with very little boundaries and zero memory retention. So, convincing Stan he saw a business opportunity when Walt was whining about the tenant in 3B will be child’s play for him,” Hook added. “And B?”

“B, we don’t hide inside. We need to see where he goes once he’s inside, and her apartment is small. If we’re in the wrong place, we may never find out what he’s after. We need whatever he’s hiding. I can guarantee it doesn’t just impact him. There’s a maintenance passage that runs along the west wall of her place. We wait there and watch the live feed. As soon as we see where he’s headed, what he’s reaching for, we go in. Handle what needs to be handled, let Iron and Santa do what they do best, and clean the scene.”

They hammered out the plan of how to pull off the other details like not getting seen by prying eyes. Lucky for them, 3A was empty. Virus pointed out that the unit with a view of her front door, 4A could be blocked with a perfectly parked van.

“So, after we handle business inside the apartment, we‘re in the wind discreetly. Iron will roll up immediately, faking some care trouble, a little oil tossed on the engine will smoke enough to sell it as long as the fucker who lives there isn’t a mechanic. Roll into place and then knock on 4A, asking if it’s okay to leave it there while he gets a tow. That way he’s disarmed them to seeing some activity. Hook rolls in. Iron and Santa get to work while Hook takes his time waiting for the owner to come back with the keys. We roll out, and Heidi gets her life back.”

“What about the cover for where’s she’s been and where Stan’s gone?” Wall Street asked.

Before Zombie could come up with something, Virus had it all worked out and it was solid.

He gaveled the meeting closed and before he made it across the common area, Croon approached him.

“Hey, prez. Gotta minute?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I hate to add to everything else going on, but it’s my sister. I can’t get in touch, and she hasn’t called. It’s not like her. Mom says she ran off with someone, but that doesn’t sit right in my gut.”

It didn’t exactly sit right with Zombie either. Croon’s mom was a piece of work but Devin was a dutiful daughter.

“Gotta trust your gut. Let’s not raise the alarms just yet, but a little recon wouldn’t hurt.” Zombie pulled out his phone.

“She’s just outside Omaha, yeah?” Croon nodded and Zombie scrolled his contacts. “Let me call Irishman.”

After two rings, a voice came through the speaker. “Yeah.”

“Hey Irishman, it’s Zombie from Provo. You’re on speaker.”

“You too, what’s up?” The disembodied voice filled the area.

“I got Croon here. He’s worried about his sister, Devin. He can’t reach her. She stays about an hour south of you. I was hoping you could put his mind at ease and do a welfare check. Get eyes on her? Says it’s not like her to go dark, so he’s worried.”

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