Page 96 of Anarchy Missing

“Nah,” I say. “Go ahead.” I’m not ready to join the real world just yet and the thought of riding down to Cathedral City with Thomas, unable to have a conversation with Lulu except on a headset… Well, I can do without that.

Thomas walks off towards the secret panel in the great room and disappears down to the cave.

“Can you find me a suit before you take him?” I ask.

“Case,” Sheila says in her overly patient tone that she uses when people are asking for things she can’t deliver. “This is Lincoln. He’s got jeans, thermal shirts, and leather jackets. And a few tuxes. So, if you’d like to wear a tux—”

“Forget it,” I say, walking to the other end of the house where Linc and Molly’s bedroom is. “I’ll make do.”

Making do is exactly what she described. Jeans, thermal shirt, leather jacket. I even snag a pair of boots, because fuck it. If I’m gonna pretend to be Lincoln this morning, I might as well look the part.

I’ll have time to go home and change after I drop Lulu off at work anyway.

When I get back to the media room, Lulu is brushing her long, blonde hair with one hand and applying some lip gloss with the other. “I’m ready,” she says. “Randy has already called me again since you left, demanding to know why I’m not there yet. I had to tell him where I was so he knows it will be a good hour before I make it in. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Why would I mind?” I ask back, absently gathering up my phone and wallet and stuffing them into my pockets. I find the little bottle of pills Thomas threw at me last night and read the label. Xmotions. Clever. That sneaky motherfucker even has my name on it. With instructions. Take one pill a day, every day, for the rest of your life. Dumbass.

“What’s that?” Lulu asks.

“The pills? Just some shit Thomas takes to turn himself into an emotionless freak.” I smile at her, shove the bottle in my jacket pocket, and reach for her hand. “Ready? Got a coat?”

Lulu nods to the coat on the couch. I walk over, pick it up, and then hold it open so she can slip her arms inside.

“And don’t worry about Randy Shits,” I say, remembering her comment a few seconds ago. “I’m sure he’s gonna be busy as fuck this morning. He shouldn’t have time to worry about you.”

I lead her to the garage, snagging the keys for one of Lincoln’s trucks as I pass the cabinet where he keeps them, and get in. I have to help Lulu up into the cab, it’s so damn big. “It’s the safest way to get down the mountain fast,” I say, explaining my choice of vehicle. “It snowed last night.”

“I trust you completely,” Lulu says, when I get in my side and start it up. “I can’t wait to hear what Randy thinks happened yesterday.”

“Yeah, that should be interesting,” I say, backing out of the garage and heading down the long driveway to the highway that will take us back into Cathedral City. “And if that fuck tries to blame Lincoln for this shit, I will be pissed. It definitely wasn’t Linc.”

“Yeah,” Lulu says. “I can’t see that either. It makes no sense. But Molly does call him Bike Boy?”

“What?” I say, squinting my eyes into the sun glaring off the pristine white snow.

Lulu sighs. “I’m probably not supposed to tell you this, but there was a message inside the code we found for that bank heist. And it said Bike Boy. And Randy told me they went into Molly’s personal stuff at work and she called Lincoln Bike Boy in some emails.”

“Hmmm. Yeah, I have heard that little nickname before. It’s got something to do with the day they reunited. But I don’t care what that code says. It wasn’t Lincoln.”

“And there was another reference, Case. To someone called the Red Robber. Do you know what that means?”

My stomach cramps in a way that reminds me so much of the inhibition sickness, I almost consider pulling the damn truck over. But then it subsides just as quick as it came.

What the fuck was that?

“Case?” Lulu asks. “You OK?”

“Yeah, sure. I just… kinda felt sick there for a second. Red Robber?” I ask, trying out the word myself, just to see if the sickness comes back.

Nothing.

“Yeah. Randy says whoever robbed the bank was calling himself the Red Robber and he used a computer hack that he thinks implicates Lincoln.”

“It’s not Lincoln,” I say, trying not to be annoyed. “If he was doing shit like this, I’d know. Believe me, Lulu, that guy is all kinds of twisted, but if there’s one thing I know for sure it’s that he won’t keep secrets from me. He tells me pretty much everything. Even when he knows I’m gonna get pissed. He could not pull off something as big as what’s been happening without help from me and Thomas. I covered for his ass last time so—”

“Last time?” Lulu interrupts. “What last time?”

I look over at her, narrowing my eyes. “If I tell you, you cannot say anything to Randy Shits.”