Page 21 of The Deeper Game
“Who’s Bolo?” I asked.
Odin held up a hand. “What else?” he asked Manning. “Anything else? Shirt? Pants?”
Manning shook his head.
“Could it have been Bolo?” Odin barked. “You know him.”
Manning shrugged.
“Who’s Bolo?” I asked.
“No way. How the fuck would Bolo know we’re here?” Thor asked.
Manning showed Thor empty hands. The universal gesture for,What do I know?
Odin put a hand on my shoulder. “He’s…we’ll tell you.” He eyed Manning. “You can’t say it was or wasn’t Bolo.”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like Bolo’s style. To skulk. But physically,” Manning said. “He made only a slight impression. It could be nothing. But you’ve got eyes everywhere now. Look at this.” He started sliding through screens on the notepad. Wewatched the camera views click around. “Terrible thing, that package. Blood.” He quickly looked at Odin. “We all set?”
Odin slapped him on the back and they walked off together.
“If it’s Bolo, we can handle it,” Thor said.
“How well do you know A/V Robert Manning?” I asked.
“We know him pretty well,” Thor said. “He’s pulled us out of some hot situations. Looked out for us in the past.” He turned to me. “You’re not thinking…”
“No,” I said. “But I don’t like his whole calling memissstuff. What’s up with that?”
Thor frowned. “It wouldn’t be him. Christ, if it’s him…”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I said. “It seems a way to keep me at arm’s length. I would never call my friend’s significant othermister. ‘Sorry to hear that, mister.’”
“He’s always been an ally,” Thor said. “We considered pulling him in on a job once.”
I nodded. That was the highest level of trust, pulling a guy in on a job.
Odin was back.
“Are you one hundred percent on Manning?” Thor asked him.
“Manning?” Odin asked.
“She got a weird hit off him,” Thor said.
“Not weird, just…I’m jumpy,” I said. “I’m going to freak out about everybody who isn’t you.”
Odin grabbed a suitcase out of the closet. Or, I thought it was a suitcase until he opened it up to reveal weapons, silencers, rope, a drill, and some other hardware. “You two stay here. I’m going to shake the trees for Bolo. See if I can figure out where he lives and pay him a little visit. I’ll get Zeus at five and we’ll regroup.”
“What if it’s not Bolo?” I asked.
“Then he has nothing to worry about. We need to handle this. Thor, get on Bolo’s social media. Isis, keep working on the feather.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s pigeon,” I said, trying not to think about how a drill might figure into paying Bolo a visit.
“Are you one hundred percent sure?” Odin asked.
“No, but seriously? The feather? I don’t need busywork.”
