Page 79 of Best Laid Plans

“Lil? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I think so. I’m sorry to bother you at work.” I explain what I found. “So I was wondering if you found anything in Rebecca’s backpack or if you might be able to ask her if she knows anything about a key.”

“Let me go ask, and I’ll call you back.”

“Thanks, Delphi.”

“No worries.”

I hang up and look up at Powers. “She’s going to call me back.”

“Alright, let’s find G and see what he says.”

“I’m nervous. Why am I nervous? The cops are already after this guy. What difference could any of this make?”

“I don’t know, but Lauren obviously thought it was important enough to make sure you got it.”

I nod. We head into the saloon and find it almost empty.

“Anyone seen G?” Powers calls out.

“He’s with Amity. She’s shooting on location today, and G had a bad feeling, so he rode up to join her along with Viddy as backup.” Crane yells back.

“Who the fuck is Viddy?” Powers frowns.

“Someone who owed Chaos demons a favor, apparently. She’s been digging into the doc to see what she can find, and this woman has contacts that you wouldn’t believe.”

“Shit.” He runs his fingers through his hair as I take in who is here. Crane, Probe, Mack, Toot, Dice, and Hoops. Conan and Blade are playing pool. Tick is behind the bar, but everyone else must be at work.

“What about Havoc?”

“Talk of the devil, and he shall appear,” Toot says, looking behind me. I turn and see him walk in with Tink.

“Hannibal’s guys are fifteen minutes out,” he says, before looking at Powers and me. “What’s wrong?”

I explain everything I found, but before I can finish, my cell phone rings. Seeing it’s Delphi, I answer it. “Hey, Delphi, you find anything?”

“I asked Becca, and I kid you not, she opened up the back of her doll where the batteries go, and pulled out a key.”

“Shit. Okay, I’ll pass it on. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

I hang up and nod at Havoc. “Becca has the key.”

He licks his lower lip as he thinks. “Dice, Toot, Mack, and Hoops, I want you to ride to The Book Nook and grab the key. Mack and Toot, ride ahead and take it to G. He never leaves home without his laptop. Him and Viddy can figure it out while on set. Stay and act as backup, and call me the second they have shit figured out. Hoops and Dice, I want one of you to stay behind and keep an eye on The Book Nook, but I’d feel better having Delphi and Rebecca here, so I want one of you to bring them back in the truck.”

You got it,” Mack says, walking over. I hand him the envelope with the numbers on it. He takes it from me with a nod.

“You got a bad feeling too, Pres?” Toot asks, looking at Havoc.

“Yeah, maybe I’m paranoid and G’s rubbing off on me, but I’m not gonna risk it. The Carnage and Purgatory boys are patrolling the town without their cuts. I doubt James will know them, so they’ll blend in easily. And if shit does go down, then we have boots on the ground ready to pull people out if necessary.

“Probe, Crane? Circus is working a job up at Crenshaw. He has his construction crew with him, but I don’t trust them to have his back the way we will.”

“Plus, he won’t be pissed if it’s us, because we do what we want anyway.” Probe shrugs. Circus has been struggling because all he wants is to grieve in silence, but at the moment, nobody is safe alone.

They head off as Havoc scans the room, spotting Con carrying in a crate of soda. “Con?”