J. Huss - PANIC

“Do you live in LoDo?”

“Yes.” I blink and breathe to give them something to think about besides my lie. I can do this all day long.

“OK, Mr. Flynn,” the older man running the machine says. “Let’s get down to business. Are you aware of any human trafficking in Denver?”

“No.”

“Have you ever had a conversation about human trafficking?”

“No.” I blink and breathe again. What the fuck is this about?

“Do you know Rook Walsh’s real name?”

Blink, breathe. “Yes.”

“Is it Rook Walsh?”

“Yes.” Another lie. This is a good one because they don’t know if I know it or not.

“Has Mrs. Walsh ever mentioned her husband Jon Walsh?”

Ah, here we go. “Yes.”

“Has Mrs. Walsh ever mentioned a safe deposit box in Las Vegas?”

I blink, breathe, and lie. “Yes.” Because this is getting weird and these assholes actually get a little excited about that answer.

“Did she tell you what was in the box?” Abelli asks hurriedly.

A break in protocol from Agent Abelli is not a good sign. “Yes,” I lie.

“What was it?”

I just stare at Abelli and then ask calmly, “What?”

“What’s in the fucking box?”

“That’s not a yes or no question. Take the straps off and we can talk normally, but I’m not answering any more questions that deviate from the standard test format.”

Machine guy cuts in. “We’re done here. You’re free to go.”

And then I’m being unstrapped and ushered out of the room and over to the elevator where I’m handed off to some bald-headed goon in the FBI uniform.

The next thing I know I’m fucking driving down Speer Boulevard towards home. I cut over on Market and then swing around the building and park the truck. “What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened?”

Human trafficking? That’s what this is about?

It’s bizarre, but I’ve been gone almost three hours so I gotta get back upstairs and check shit out with the girls and Roger. I might have to get in touch with Ford tonight and set up a meeting. Vegas. Safe deposit boxes and human trafficking. Yeah, this is not right. This is just not right. Because typically when I’m called in for a polygraph, you know, I’m being questioned about a crime I’m actually connected to. And I don’t know anything about human trafficking or a box in Vegas that may or may not have something to do with Rook.

But I have a very bad feeling that Rook does.

I take out my phone and almost press Ford’s contact, but then I come back to my senses and clear the screen.

That’s what they want me to do. Call my partners and give the Feds another clue.

Fuck.

I get out of the truck and hop the stairs three at a time. Everyone is busy inside the studio. Clare is doing a shoot with Billy, the other girls are milling about in lingerie or getting fixed up in the salon, and even Elise and Antoine are hanging out in the kitchen eating fruit.

“Antoine,” I say in French. “I need a minute.” He follows me out onto the terrace where the roar of afternoon traffic down on 21st Street is enough to layer over our conversation if someone is getting nosy. “I just got back from the police station,” I continue in French. His eyes dart back and forth, a slight panic becoming detectable by the pulsing of his carotid artery in his neck. “Don’t worry, it really wasn’t about me. I think it was about Rook. I think I need to go up North tonight and ask her some questions. Should I go?”

“Do you think it’s safe to involve Spencer and Ford?”

I shrug. “Not sure, really. I’m not sure this is really about us, Antoine. I think it’s about Rook.”

He stares down at the traffic for several minutes and ponders the question. Antoine would never make a good partner in our little private business because he can’t make hasty decisions. He likes to think for a while before committing to things. Most of the time this drives me up a wall but not this time. Rook might be in trouble and I only get one chance to make a move. It’s worth the extra time.

“I think it’s too risky, Ronin. You don’t have enough information yet. Give it one more day, then one of us will go up to the shop tomorrow and see if they’ve heard anything. OK?” He puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes.

“Yeah, all right.”

“Just go back to work and we’ll talk more later.”

We go back inside and I take my place near Roger, pretending to have an opinion on the shoot Clare is doing or what the fuck ever. But really, all I can think about is Rook.

What if she’s in danger again?

And what if this time I’m not around to help her? 

Downtown Fort Collins is at the north end of town and even though the main drag is still College Avenue, it’s not wide and busy like it is down south by the Best Buy and PetSmart. It’s one of those old historic Western towns and has cute shops and lots of restaurants and bars. There’s even a trolley that runs down Mountain Avenue from Old Town to City Park. And Spencer has told me numerous times that it’s seriously been voted Best Place to Live in the World or some shit like that. I can see it, actually. It’s got a big university smack in the center complete with veterinary hospital and research buildings, but it’s still old-timey in many ways. Like parking in the middle of the street to shop in downtown. Literally. You pull into the center of the street and park between the north and southbound lanes of College Avenue.

I’ve passed by Veronica’s downtown tattoo shop dozens of times, so I know where it is, I’ve just never been inside. I pull the truck into a spot a few businesses down and turn the engine off. My stomach is doing all kinds of flips.

Why? Why does everything have to be so dramatic? I know the guys have secrets, but I just assumed that the secrets were about the hacking stuff they do. Did. Do. I’m not sure if they still do that shit or not. Obviously they did it for me, but whether or not they’re doing it for someone else right now, I have no idea.

But stealing from deadbeats and selling human slaves are two very different things.

It doesn’t add up.

I am kicking myself for not taking those papers from Gage right now. At least then I could read the whole thing. Because last time Gage said they were accused of murdering someone and got away with it. So when you combine all the shit Ronin is being accused of human trafficking, murder, grand larceny, and selling blow.

I have no idea what this means, but I’m not buying it one bit. It’s total bullshit.

I get out of the truck, wait for a few cars to pass by, then jog across the street and head up towards the tattoo place. I stop outside and look up at the sign. It says Sick Boys Inc. According to Spencer, Veronica Vaughn is the youngest non-Y chromosome member of the Sick Boys gang and she, her father, and all four of her brothers work at this shop. Apparently she is just one of the Boys around here, because from the sign you’d never know there was a girl inside doing ink.

It’s dark out now and the lights are on, but I can’t see anything because the front windows are frosted up like they belong in a bathroom. So all I can make out is a large blurry shadow and the faint buzzing of a tattoo machine.

I pull the door open and walk in, get slightly disoriented by the massive wall of tattoo photos that practically slams me in the face, and then startle at the voice to my right.

“Shrike Fucking Bikes? Roonnnnnnn-eeeeeee,” the guy bellows out in a deep voice. “Spencer’s Blackbird is here!”

I turn around to see someone who is probably one of the Sick Boys and look him up and down. He’s huge, for one. Massive. Like over six foot two. And his tatted-up biceps are bulging out from a t-shirt that hugs every spectacular muscle on his upper body. His light hair is cropped close, military-style, and his dark eyes convey a roughness that matches the scruff on his chin. “Who the hell are you? And how do you know who I am?”

“Vic Vaughn, and your name’s on the sleeve of your jacket and the backside says Shrike Fucking Bikes. Not Shrike insert-expletive-here-because-we-are-so-cool, but actual Shrike Fucking Bikes. Like that’s the name of his business. And only Spencer Shrike would put ‘fuck’ in the name of his business on the back of a jacket. You don’t need to be Cujo to figure that one out.”

I squint up at him because that just makes no sense, then look down at my jacket sleeves. One is painted up to say Blackbird and the other says Gidget. I automatically get a little protective of Spence and retaliate appropriately. “Cujo is a nasty-ass, rabies-ridden dog. You’re thinking of Columbo. And this is a pretty hot fucking jacket if you ask me.”

Vic Vaughn winks at me. “So’s the girl inside, even if you didn’t ask me. And I was just testing you on that Cujo thing. I heard you’re a film freak. You should come by the FoCo Cinema sometime, me and the boys wouldn’t mind gettin’ ya in the dark for a movie.”

“Shut up, Victor,” Veronica says as she comes around a corner dressed like she’s doing a root canal back there. She’s wearing pink scrubs, a white lab coat, a pink visor with a clear plastic face shield that she flips up as she approaches, and a blue mask over her mouth. “Hey, Rook, come by for your free tat?” she says through the mask, making it puff out a little with each word.

“Uh, no.” I stammer for a moment because her get-up is pretty distracting. “Actually, I was wondering if you had a minute to talk. About…” I look over at Vic, and then cover my mouth and whisper, “Spencer, Ronin, and Ford.”

“Hey, Blackbird? You’re like two feet away, I can still hear you. Well, Ronnie, I win this bet. I said a week and it’s been”—he looks over at the calendar—“nine days.”