Page 53 of Lord Have Mercy Part Four: Big Son

As if on cue, a knock sounded at the chapel door. Boomer stuck his head through and said, “Boss? Feds are here.”

~*~

Nowitzki hadn’t come alone. She’d brought her partner, Daniels, and both of them looked tired, sweaty, and pissed – her more so. They’d left their entourage outside, though, and Aidan took that as a sign in his favor.

Walsh and Aidan approached them together, where they stood in the center of the common room, hands on their hips in a way that flashed their badges. Walsh had removed the IV needle from his arm and slapped a flesh-colored bandage over the vein before they rounded the corner. He’d wobbled a moment, and Aidan had been ready to catch him, but Walsh had waved him off and seemed steadier now.

“Mr. Teague,” Nowitzki greeted, mouth pinched unflatteringly. “I didn’t take you for a practical joker.”

“Good thing you didn’t meet me in high school, then.” The joke fell flat, as he’d known it would, but was worth making for the way her nostrils flared in agitation. “Lemme guess: you’re not here to fuck around.”

“No.”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and affected innocence. “Find anything interesting out at the Parker place?”

Her eyes flashed, but before she could answer, Daniels stepped forward, staying her with a low hand gesture.

“It’s a crime to file a false police report,” he said, and Aidan thought he was aiming for stern, an effect ruined by the crooked set of his tie, and the massive bags beneath his eyes. He was tired; tired was good; tired meant he wasn’t having the time of his life, the way Boyle had been.

“Yeah, I know,” Aidan responded, easily, “so it’s a good thing I didn’t file one, huh?”

He half-expected Walsh to step in here, but he kept quiet at his side. Aidan wondered if he was letting Aidan have his headwith this one…or if it was taking all his concentration not to pass out.

Daniels’s frown deepened. “You–”

“I had breakfast with your partner here.” He gestured to Nowitzki with a head tilt. “And we talked a little. Apparently, she took something I said and ran with out.”

Nowitzki bristled, breath hissing out of her, shoulders bowing up. “You stupid shithe–”

Daniels gripped her sleeve and dragged her back. “That’s enough,” he barked. He leaned in toward Aidan, and said, “Okay, you had some fun. You fucked us over.”

“Legally, I might add,” Walsh finally spoke up. “Are you here to arrest him?”

Aidan said, “’Cause I could always tell you there’s bodies buried under the parking lot at City Hall. It might even be true.” He shrugged. “Who knows.”

“I don’t care if it’s legal or not,” Nowitzki said. She was vibrating with fury, teeth bared. Aidan thought that, given her youth, he’d made her look damn foolish in front of her partner and mentor today, and she wanted a pound of flesh as retaliation.Good luck with that, sweetheart. “You wasted valuable federal resources and man hours, and you can’tdo that.”

“He did it, and he did it well,” Walsh said, and Aidan felt a flash of warmth in his chest. Was that…a compliment? Directed at him? Second only to Walsh’s initial speech when he’d nominated him. “You might as well get over being mad about it,” he told Nowitzki.

Daniels sighed. “I get it: we fuck with you, you fuck with us.”

“No,” Aidan said, and both agents looked at his face with the sort of sudden, fixed attention that left him wondering what he’d done with his voice to inspire that sort of reaction.Whatever it was, he felt the weight of Walsh’s gaze, too. “I was getting your attention.”

Nowitzki’s expression pinched yet another fraction, but Daniels lifted his brows.

Walsh picked up the thread. “When you got to town, we told you that a member’s son had been kidnapped by one of your own. To our knowledge, all you’ve done is kick rocks trying to find something incriminating on a dead man.Twodead men.” He lifted two fingers for emphasis. “We lost our president, and one of out most valued members, and we tell you a boy’s missing, and what did you do about it?”

“You wasted our time,” Aidan said, “so I wasted a little of yours. Call it even?”

The two agents exchanged a long, fraught look. When they turned back to them, Daniels said, “I called my superiors about the boy. They told me to leave it.”

Walsh snorted. “And why do you think they’d do that?”

“You’re being played by your own people,” Aidan said. “Maybe it’s time you pushed back.”

Seventeen

It was easier to target Hames than it had been Sawyer: he was a man, and men were less careful. They didn’t worry about their own safety and wellbeing to the same extent.

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