End of Days (Pike Logan #16)(78)

We began walking past the guard shack, now in daylight, and a new guard appeared, saying something in Italian. I thought, Here we go again . . .

Knuckles said, “Do you speak English?”

He nodded and said, “Can I ask your business?”

Knuckles said, “Just going to visit a friend.”

“What’s the name? I’ll call up.”

That most definitely wouldn’t do. I said, “Did you have a police presence here last night?”

“Yes. Is that about your visit?”

“Yes, it is.”

“In that case, I really can’t let you pass. Let me call the police.”

Knuckles turned to him, his face as hard as stone, saying, “You asked my business. If you don’t get back in that shack and let us go, you’re going to see what that means.”

The guard looked startled at the change in his demeaner. He saw the violence in Knuckles’s eyes and quit. Just like that. He stuttered something, then retreated to the guard shack.

I grabbed Knuckles’s elbow and said, “Hey, man, we don’t want to make a scene here. Stop that shit.”

He said, “Fuck that guy. They could have prevented the assault last night. They did nothing. They’ll do nothing now.”

And I knew he was right. Well, maybe.

I said, “Aaron, watch him. No phone calls.”

Aaron nodded and went into the shack with the guard, scaring the shit out of him.

We went up to the third floor, and I knocked on the door, waiting to see if anyone would answer.

Nobody did. The damage we’d done to the lock was still in place, the door handle and lock cylinder gone, a jagged hole in its place with duct tape over it. I said, “Maybe she didn’t stay here because she no longer had an ability to secure the door.”

I knocked again, and the door cracked open. I saw Lia through the crack, an internal chain holding the door closed, her eyes bloodshot, mascara smearing until it looked like someone had beat her. She’d clearly not had any sleep.

I said, “Hey, you remember me?” I pulled Shoshana forward and said, “And her?”

“Yes. What do you want?”

“I think I’ve found your killer, and I want your help to get him.”

She said nothing, just holding the crack of the door. I said, “We really need to talk, and I’ve brought some people in to do that. Can we come in?”

She closed the door, worked the chain locks, and opened it back up. She was wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and a silk robe, the front cinched tight. She looked at me and said, “I can’t do this. I’m not doing this. Not today.”

Knuckles stepped in and said, “Hey, we only want to talk. You don’t have to do anything at all. We both want the same thing.”

He gave her his hippie look of concern and empathy and I instinctively knew what was about to happen. For some reason, anyone of the female persuasion fell for that guy. It was ridiculous, but also the reason I’d brought him.

She said, “Who are you? And why are you here?”

“I’m with Pike. You and I are trying to do the same thing. My name is Knuckles, and I wish I’d been here last night, but I was in your police headquarters because someone put a bomb on my car. That someone is the man you’re chasing. He tried to kill me, and now I want to kill him. Can we come in?”

She opened the door.

We entered, and she said, “So what’s going on? Who are you with? CIA? FBI? Should I call my headquarters?”

Jennifer recognized she was not right. Not right at all. She said, “Hey, I saw what happened last night. I get it.”

Lia flashed her eyes, letting Jennifer know she had no idea of what she’d been through. She collapsed in a chair, giving a brittle laugh. She said, “Get what? You ever been told to take a dick in your mouth or you’ll die?”

Lia was going for shock value, but she didn’t understand who she was talking to. Which is why I’d brought her. Jennifer squatted down in front of her, locked eyes, and said, “Yes. I have. And I was rescued by the men in this room. When I say I understand, I mean it.”

Lia said nothing, her mouth parting at the words.

Jennifer pulled up a chair and sat down across from her. She said, “I know the fear you felt. I know the sense of helplessness. I have literally been there. Pike is the one who prevented it, just like here. Since then, I’ve followed him to do the same. I was the one on the other end of the computer who gave him the intelligence to save you.”

From the chair, Lia looked at me and said, “Who is this?”

I smiled and said, “My protégé. Trust her. We penetrated your house last night through some things I can’t discuss, but it’s the reason you’re alive. Talk to her.”

She flicked her head to Knuckles and said, “Who’s he?”

“He’s with me.”

She took a deep breath, let it out, then said, “I can’t do this right now. I’m still . . . a little screwed up.”

Knuckles took a knee in front of her, grasped her hand, and said, “I understand, but sometimes you don’t get the chance to quit. Sometimes you just have to keep going. For the others. For the other women.”

And I saw he was connecting. Jennifer looked at me, and I shook my head, telling her to let Knuckles work his magic. He had some weird ability with the opposite sex, and I wasn’t going to question it. He was always hooking up with women, but unlike a simplistic bar hound, he was always sincere in his efforts. He had no ulterior motives other than a connection. While he might have used his charms in another situation that would end up with the woman in bed, in here, it was completely different, more like a priest.