Page 36

CHAPTER 36

I was hoping Dmitri would give me a break and focus on taking care of Betty before harassing me again about the treasure. I needed a few days off. That didn’t mean I didn’t have work to finish.

Since I had some time before getting dressed up for dinner at the Wok Inn—which primarily meant changing my present t-shirt for my clean t-shirt and putting on Oz’s jacket—I headed over to the post office. Lionel had the CLOSED sign on his door, so I reluctantly went across the street to Dottie’s domain. I went in and heard loud voices echoing from the back room where they sorted mail. Dottie and Lionel were arguing, about what I did not care. I noticed that the high-tech cameras in each corner on the far side of the counter had their little red lights on, meaning they were live.

I tapped the bell on the counter. After a moment Dottie appeared, a very fake smile plastered on her face (Rose could teach her a few lessons on Cheery Boost) which melted away when she saw me and went back to her angry bird face because she saw no point in wasting that nonsense on me.

“What do you want, Reddy?”

“Lionel was downloading and translating some?—”

“Old-school microfilm,” Dottie finished for me. “Yeah. We don’t work for you, Reddy. And who the fuck do you think you are, telling Lionel to cut Herc’s feed? It’s Herc , for Chrisssakes. You trying to get us killed?”

Lionel appeared behind her, looking bedraggled. Going back to married life had not put a spring in his step.

“I’ll deal with Herc,” I said.

Dottie replied to that with a scornful laugh. Even I could pick up the scorn in it, so it was a very good scornful laugh. She had that down. “Yeah. Good luck on that.”

“The microfilm?” I asked past Dottie to Lionel.

Dottie looked over her shoulder and glared at Lionel, who shifted his feet nervously as he replied. “It was thousands of pages. A couple of years’ worth of traffic between a remote SCIF in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and KGB headquarters in Moscow. I mean, these Russians did not keep things to the point. Lots of bullshit.”

I thought of some of the classified message traffic I’d read in various SCIFs around the world. The Russians didn’t have the market cornered on that. “Did you translate it?”

“I ran it through the AI translator,” Lionel said.

“What format did you put it in?” I asked.

Lionel shook his head. “PDF, but?—”

“But we don’t have the microfilm anymore,” Dottie said. “Nor do we have the download Lionel stupidly did for you. Big mistake.”

“Where is it?” I demanded.

“Herc has both,” Dottie said. “And he wants to talk to you.”

“You gave the microfilm and the translation to Herc?”

“He asked for it,” Dottie said, as if that was answer enough. And, yeah, it kind of was.

Right then, my satphone buzzed. “Did you tie Herc back into the feed?”

“Hell, yes,” Dottie said.

“Damn it.” I pulled out the phone and stepped outside onto the sidewalk, not wanting to share what was coming with our postal service dynamic duo.

“Yes?” I said after hitting the accept button.

“Max, Max, Max,” Herc said.

I waited.

“Last I knew, you don’t run Rocky Start, Max,” Herc said. “You’re a visitor. Passing through.”

“I’m part of the town now.”

“Really?” Herc said. “Interesting. Even Oz wouldn’t have dared shut down my feed. You’re not Oz.”

“No. I’m not.”

“But it seems like you’re thinking about taking his place.”

“Junior Stafford is dead. You lied to me. You told me he wasn’t running the Cauldron.”

“Why’d you cut my feed?”

“Because you lie.”

“I tell people what they need to know, when they need to know it,” Herc said. “You should be used to that by now.”

“Why do you need a SCIF in Rocky Start.”

“That’s my business.”

He was, of course, lying. I moved on. “Betty Baumgarten almost got killed. So did Rose’s daughter, Poppy, best friend to your daughter.”

“There’s a Russian in town,” Herc said.

“Two Russians,” I said.

“Alexei Dmitri,” Herc said. “I haven’t heard his name in a long, long time. Is he still looking for the treasure he says he lost?”

That was phrased oddly. Another one of Herc’s quirks. Which I knew weren’t quirks. They were attempts to keep the other person off-balance. But I was feeling pretty grounded right now, here in Rocky Start.

“He’s staying with Betty Baumgarten,” I said.

Herc laughed, but there was no humor. “She shot him once.”

“He got better,” I said.

“He’s not there for Betty,” Herc said. “He’s there for the treasure.”

“You told me that was just a rumor,” I said. “Of course, you also told me that Junior wasn’t running the Cauldron.”

“Dmitri is dangerous, Max,” Herc said. “Has he found what he’s looking for?”

“You said there is no treasure.”

“Dmitri thinks there is,” Herc said. “He didn’t come to Rocky Start to give Betty Baumgarten another llama.”

“It’s surprising what people will do for love.” I didn’t add that he wouldn’t know anything about that.

“Keep me updated on Dmitri,” Herc was saying. “And if he finds the treasure, terminate him and let me know.”

I blinked. “Remember when you said I don’t work for you anymore and hung up on me?”

“I lied,” Herc said. “You’ll always be mine, Max. When has anything good ever come from a former KGB officer? If you’re worried about danger in Rocky Start, Dmitri should be at the top of your list. If you’re protecting Rocky Start now, he’ll attract people you don’t want coming to town. Undesirables.”

I was stuck back on the “always be mine” part, like he was a vengeful ex.

“Why don’t you just leave everyone alone?” I said.

“Because Rocky Start is my town,” Herc said. “Always has been. And you keep fucking with me. Don’t screw with my SCIF or my feed. Or my town.”

“Fine.” I wanted to ask him why he didn’t have the latest encryption and tell him that the Russians were reading his stuff, but giving Herc any information at this point seemed foolhardy. He was sounding a bit strange, and that wasn’t good. Some of that was no doubt due to the fact that our relationship had shifted. He was no longer the boss who sent me contracts. In fact, I wasn’t quite sure who he was any more. But he was being awfully possessive of Rocky Start.

“And stop trying to use Lionel and Dottie,” he went on. “They don’t work for you. That microfilm is mine. Always was. I let Oz keep it because he did nothing with it. Didn’t even translate it. It’s trouble. That’s what Serena came to town for and it’s what got your little woman in trouble. Much better that it’s in my hands now. Like it always should have been.”

Little woman? What the hell? “What’s on it?”

“Old crap,” Herc said. “Nothing that matters now.”

“Then why do you care?”

“I’m cleaning up loose ends. You’re lucky I don’t come down there and crack some heads. I am not happy your girlfriend stole it from me.”

“Right.” Although, it was kind of nice he was acknowledging Rose as my girlfriend. Like making it official. God had noticed.

“Max, listen to me very carefully. You want to be the new Oz? The new keeper of the peace in Rocky Start? Then you work for me. Do you understand? I keep a big umbrella over that town. It’s mine. You deal with the stuff inside. You do not screw with my stuff.”

His umbrella wasn’t working too well, but now wasn’t the time to tell him that. He was offering a truce, a way to work together, and given the power he wielded, I’d be a fool to turn it down.

“All right,” I said.

“I need Rocky Start to be stable, Max. Can you do that?”

I blinked at the sudden change in his voice. He was actually asking me, not ordering. “Yes.”

“Good. Stay on Dmitri. Do not trust him. Keep me updated.” The phone went dead.

I went back inside, where Dottie was glaring at me, arms folded, with Lionel lurking behind her, trying to be as small as possible.

“What did Herc say?” Dottie asked.

There was no use lying to her since the red lights on those cameras were staring at me. “He said that I’m the new Oz.”

“And?” Dottie prodded. “What about us?”

“He said you don’t work for me.”

Dottie nodded and sneered over her shoulder at Lionel. “Told you. Get lost, Reddy.”

I reined in my anger. I really had no idea what I had done to get on her shit list, but I understood her knuckling under to Herc. She’d been doing it for years.

It was all very tiring and I was already exhausted. “Don’t push it, Dottie. I still remember you gave info to Norman and almost got some people I care about killed.”

“I didn’t—” she began, but I held my hand up and she stopped.

I spoke slowly and clearly. “Do. Not. Fuck. With. Me.” She started to sputter and I kept going. “Do. Not. Fuck. With. This. Town. You’re going to have to decide: Herc or Rocky Start. I am not happy you gave that microfilm to Herc.” I was saying that as much for Herc’s benefit via the cameras in the corners as hers.

She folded her arms. Lionel hung his head.

I pushed harder. “Do you know who has been flying a drone over the forest at night?”

“What kind of drone?” Dottie asked in a way that told me she knew exactly what I was talking about.

“Small one. Observation only.”

Dottie shrugged. “Some kid got an early Christmas gift.”

“You’ve got a drone,” I said.

“We do,” Dottie acknowledged. “And neither of us has flown it since the night of Ozzie’s funeral.”

Lionel nodded, supporting her statement. “No reason to.” But he wouldn’t look me in the eyes.

“You’re paranoid, Reddy,” Dottie said.

“I’ve got reasons to be paranoid.”

I turned and walked out. Before I’d gone ten feet, Lionel was behind me.

“Max?”

“What?”

He held some mailers. “Mail for Oddities.” He held it toward me. I automatically put my hand out.

“Thanks for setting Dottie straight,” he said, but the important part was the thumb drive he was slipping me in the mail. Then he whispered, “The drone is Herc. We launch it when he tells us to, and fly it where he wants to look at whatever he wants to see.” I was startled by that, and even more startled when he whispered, “ Help us .”

He turned and walked away, back into the hellhole that was his wife’s post office, under the ceaseless scrutiny of Herc.

I walked back to Oddities, knowing that things weren’t quite as peachy here in Rocky Start as I had thought.