The Lady in Blue Ch. 14

Ted held onto Lisa, letting her start to cry. I felt the same urge but focused on the parking lot instead. The old pickup was gone, but now I had a real lead. I knew who had jumped me in Calvin's office and knew he was connected to the DA here in Galveston. That explained the easy access. No way that man came in through the window. He had a key.

The level of smoke pouring from the ship was coming down. The staff was getting it under control. Off in the distance, I heard sirens getting closer. I wasn't looking forward to explaining this one.

Sitting back down by the lovers, I touched them both. "I told you to be careful," I said gruffly. "I don't want to have to..."

Lisa threw herself onto me and tried to squeeze the life out of me, crying again. "Oh, Hawk! I thought we were going to die!" The side that had been hit with the pool cue ached, but I ignored it.

I held onto her, but looked at Ted. "Not on my watch. Nobody messes with my friends. I saw the man. I wish I had been thinking, because I could have gotten his tag numbers."

Ted nodded. "They might have a camera that caught that. Parking lot security. His coming here might just be his first big mistake. He got all of Calvin's stash except for a data CD that Lisa has."

"I have good news, too. I got a line on the bomber. I had his info in my jacket, but it's toast now." I shook my head in disgust as I thought about my mental note in the bar. I hadn't meant it literally. I made another mental note to be more careful about my mental notes, and then shook my head again. This nonsense wasn't getting me anywhere. "Anyway, he was a young guy, not a geezer man. Fake ID, but there is a picture on file at the place where he stole the explosives."

I looked at the fire engine pulling into the lot. "We know some of the players but not the game. We need to keep the police out, for now. Digger tagged my bike with an illegal tracker, and that makes me suspicious. I don't know if he's a part of this or not, but I'm smelling a rat somewhere. The police investigation has been derailed and that sure looks like someone inside, as much as I hate to admit it."

Ted stood up, pulling Lisa back to him. "We should get moving before someone official comes over."

I nodded and stood up, but before we could take more and two steps, I saw trouble. Murphy driving through the gate.

"Shit. Here we go," I muttered.

Murphy climbed out of his car with a grunt and headed right for us. I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off.

"You folks okay?" he asked loudly. "You need paramedics?" Then he dropped his voice. "I don't know what's going on here, and I don't want to know. The DA and some prick from the Texas Rangers have a hard-on for all three of you and it smells really bad. The DA opened warrants for all of you, linking you to the bombing. It's total crap, but any cop that sees you won't have a choice but to arrest you." He paused a beat. "Good thing for you I never saw you." Murphy poked me in the chest. "You owe me, Hawk. You owe me big time. Now, beat it. All three of you."

He walked off, leaving me totally flabbergasted, to direct the scene.

"We need to go. Now," Ted said.

"Yeah," I muttered, "before Jordan shows up to give me a backrub."

We took our vehicles and cleared the area before the majority of the uniforms arrived. Lisa directed us onto some back streets and then onto the highway. She pulled us over into Texas City and to a small house.

I climbed off the bike and looked at her, confused.

"My mother's house," Lisa said. "We need to clean up, eat and plan our next move. Things are coming to a head. Let's park in the back."

Ted stepped back to the car. "You girls start without me. I'll hit a Stop and Rob for some fresh food and supplies we might need, and then come back. Save me some hot water."

Lisa opened the back door while I stashed my bike. The house was small, but neat. She was waiting for me inside the door, already half-naked.

"Strip. We need to wash the clothes," Lisa said.

We were both a mess, covered in soot. I stripped and she stuffed our clothes into the washer.

Lisa took my hand and pulled me against her, wrapping her arms around me. She kissed me deeply, stirring a heat inside me. "Go shower," she said softly. "And thank you. I'll wait for Ted, so I don't tempt myself."

With a sigh, I nodded. I found the shower and let the hot water beat on me. God, what a day this had been.