him right out.”
Dougie said, “Ruth, I told Justice the broken nose would look good on him, make him look a bit tougher. He liked that. He said someone is after him. He’s scared, did I tell you that? You’ll take care of him?”
“Yes, we will. Thank you for calling me, Dougie.”
Dougie reached out, touched her arm. “Really, Ruth, he’s scared, more scared than I was when the FBI came hunting for Manta Ray, even though I gotta say they didn’t roust any of us.”
Justice Cummings opened his eyes, saw three strangers staring at him. His heart stuttered. They’d found him.
Dougie leaned over him. “It’s all right, boy, you don’t want to try to run, you don’t have any pants on. And your boxers have blood on them from your leg. These three folks are FBI agents. That’s Ruth, I told you about her. She’s my friend and I’m her snitch. Remember, I asked you if I could call her? Did I tell you that? Anyways, she brought them with her, swears they’re gonna help you. This here’s Ruth.”
Justice looked up into Dougie’s dirty face, at the Marriott towel on his head, at his vague, kind eyes. He felt a spurt of hope, swallowed. His voice sounded scratchy. “You’re really an FBI agent, Ruth?”
“Yes, I am. Agent Ruth Noble. And you’re Justice Cummings. It’s a pleasure to meet a friend of Dougie’s.” And she shook his hand, like everything was normal, like he wasn’t lying in a derelict warehouse wearing bloody boxers. “Dougie and I go way back to my days in Metro.” She introduced Savich and Sherlock. They all pulled out their creds and held them close so Justice Cummings could read them. He slowly nodded. “You’re not CIA, and that’s a relief. That might sound crazy, but somebody set me up, they knew where I’d be. I don’t know who, and that’s the problem. I don’t know anything.”
Savich said in an easy voice, “Do you remember running into the street? You hit a spinning car, flew over the hood?”
“I see it over and over. I was running, and looked back to see how close they were, and wham. I thought I was going to die.”
Sherlock took his hand. “I was driving the car, Mr. Cummings. I know, that’s quite a coincidence. I’m very pleased we’re both going to be all right. Dougie and Major Hummer have taken very good care of you. We know you took an Uber here to Alexandria, and you were dropped off not far from here, and you smashed your phone, right?” At his nod, she said, “That was well done. Why did you come here to the warehouse district?”
“I remembered passing by this area several years ago. I knew nobody would come here to look for me. I didn’t know what else to do, who I could trust, so like you said, I had an Uber drop me off three blocks over and walked here. I managed to get inside this building and knew I couldn’t go any farther. Major Hummer found me. He and Dougie have taken care of me. And Miss Sally sings show tunes to me. Major Hummer says the wound on my leg doesn’t look infected what with all the antibacterial cream he’s smeared on me. It looks like I’m going to live.”
Savich said, “Yes, you are. You’ll be fine in a couple of days. You’ll need to get your nose looked after, and your leg checked out. We will help you with that. We have a lot to discuss, Mr. Cummings. You up for it?”
Justice grabbed Sherlock’s hand, held on for dear life. “You won’t tell anyone, will you? You’ll keep them away from me?”
“Don’t worry. We won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“You found my cell phone? How did you know it was mine? I really smashed it but good.”
“No, we didn’t find it, it went offline so we figured you’d destroyed it. Justice, we haven’t located your wife and kids, either. Where are they?”
“My—oh, Melissa—Mellie—she and the kids are in the Poconos, at her aunt’s cabin. There’s no cell service, so you have to know to call Aunt Josie’s landline to reach them. I was supposed to be with them, but then she got really pissed at me. She wants me to quit the CIA and get a real job. And that’s the problem. I really like being an analyst. I think I’ve helped our country. She called this a time-out—sounds stupid, it’s what she says to the kids.