I watched Vance (Vance was very watchable), but into the phone, I said, “I need to call Brody, get him on it, see if the feeds were hacked.” My eyes on Vance, and particularly the unhappy expression he was wearing, I told Ren, “Vance just got here, and I’m getting the sense this is not a random drop in. I’ll phone Lee and Hank after Brody, but I suspect they’re already on it and likely both heading this way.”
“I’m also on it,” Ren told me. “This shit needs to get shut down. You see your brother, Ally, you tell him he needs to find the source before me. Are you with me, babe?”
I had a feeling I was, though I thought it might be prudent to get particulars.
“Maybe we can discuss this tonight over dinner,” I suggested.
Vance was in the store and my eyes were aimed down Broadway, where I spotted a black Porsche approaching.
Luke.
“I’m not in the mood to cook,” Ren replied. “I’ll pick up Chinese.”
“That works for me. But I can also pick it up,” I offered.
“That works for me,” Ren agreed. “You know what I like.”
I was feeling weird, freaked, something was gnawing at my gut, but still, Ren pointing out I knew his Chinese preference still made my insides warm.
“Yeah, I know what you like, honey,” I murmured.
“Gotta go. Shit to do,” Ren stated.
“Okay, but just an FYI, I got fired today so we have time to talk tonight.”
This got me nothing.
So I called, “Zano?”
“You were fired?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“From Brother’s?” he requested further details.
“Well, Indy’s not going to fire me,” I noted.
“Babe, your apartment just blew up,” he reminded me.
“Zano, that isn’t something I’ll forget.”
“There’s eyes on you. New Mexican lunatics after you. We don’t know the fallout from your activities in the mountains. Your apartment is rubble. And you tellin’ me you just lost your job is an FYI?”
“It isn’t like I don’t have another one,” I told him.
Or two.
“Fuck, does anything shake you?” he asked.
“Not really,” I answered.
A beat of silence before he shared, “Right now, I don’t know what to do with that.”
“Admire it?” I suggested.
It was then his voice went sweet.
“Baby, I do admire it. And that is no lie. It’s one of the many things I love about you. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to keep sharp, and nothing keeps you sharper than you bein’ smart enough to be freaked.”