Clearing his throat, he asks, “Do you need one?”
My sassiness comes out full throttle when I give him my tongue in cheek comeback. “That doesn’t answer my question, sir. Am I sitting here with no protection? That makes me a sitting duck for the hunter, Slayer. But yeah, to give you my answer, I need one so I can head to the courthouse and deliver some paperwork to the filing clerk.”
“I’m working with a skeleton crew, Letti. Give me some leeway here, I’m doing the best I can with the hand I’ve been dealt. Bardello promised me you’d be safe there. He claims he’s added extra security to the building. Is that not true?”
“If he says he’s done it then he has, Slayer,” I say in defense of my boss. My idol.
“And since when do you hand things off to the courthouse? I was given a description of your job duties and that wasn’t one of them,” he brashly states.
“Typically, it’s not but today, it is,” I reply. “This is important, Slayer. I have to have this wrapped up no later than one this afternoon. Help a girl out, please.”
“I don’t have anyone to spare, Letti. But I have some free time around eleven, can you be ready to go and get back quickly? I have something I have to take care of too.”
“I’m ready now,” I exclaim. “Text me when you’re here and I’ll head out.”
True to his word, Slayer showed up when the clock struck eleven. Since it’s only two miles from the office, it took us no time at all to get here.
To utter chaos.
There’s a blockade holding off pedestrians and they aren’t allowing anyone to gain entrance. Even the parking lot is taped off, holding everyone back.
“What do you think is going on?” I inquire as we try to find a place to park along the curb at a meter.
“I have no earthly idea,” he responds, bringing his phone up to his ear. “Booker. Need you to find out what’s happening at city hall and the courthouse.”
“This can’t be good,” I mumble as he disconnects and pairs his phone to the truck’s Bluetooth operating system. “What kind of threat would have them running from the building, gathering in the lot, and taping it off.”
“Nothing good,” he mutters. We sit in utter silence as we wait for Booker to do his thing. When he calls back, it’s through the speakers and I get to hear everything he’s managed to dig up. “Talk to me, Booker.”
“An anonymous caller tipped off the facilities to a potential bomb in both buildings. The call was untraceable, but they’re taking the threat seriously. It appears to be authentic because the bomb squad is on the way from the Metropolis. They foundsomething high-tech and sketchy so I highly doubt it was a scare tactic to evacuate the buildings.”
“I’m sorry, Letti, but we’re not sticking around to see how this plays off,” Slayer apologizes. “I can’t take that kind of risk when it comes to you and your safety.”
“I understand, Slayer. Icer would hand us both our asses if we did,” I retort. “Can you take me back to the office?”
“Sure can. Buckle back up,” he orders before putting the truck in drive and heading back to the office district. Slayer makes a few, short calls along the way, one of those was to Riptide where he left a detailed message since it went straight to voicemail.
“Gonna call Icer too?” I inquire, not looking forward to being a spectator for that particular phone call. Doesn’t sound like a good time to me.
“Nope,” he says, popping his P. “I’m going to leave that alone and let you handle it.”
“Spoilsport,” I mumble. “That ball should be in your field, not mine.”
“Not happening, Letti. And to keep up with your baseball metaphor, you’re the only one with a big enough glove to catch the flaming pile of shit that man’s going to throw at us.”
“He’s not that bad,” I lie, knowing I’m full of it. It is going to be that bad and he’s going to throw one helluva temper tantrum when he finds out I was sitting dead center of the blast zone if that bomb had gone off. Slayer and I both would’ve been obliterated.
When we pull up to the building, it too has all of the occupants standing outside of it. “What the hell now?” Slayer hisses.
My boss notices us and purposefully strides our way. When I roll down the window, he leans in, a soured expression on his face. “We couldn’t locate you, Letti. Why didn’t you let someone know you were leaving?”
“The only service I found had no availability for the day so I took it upon myself since you said it had to be done in a certain timeframe,” I defend. “I took the appropriate steps and called for an escort like I’m supposed to.” I emphasize that point by waving my hand toward Slayer. “I didn’t take any unnecessary chances, bossman.”
Slayer grips the steering wheel, his knuckles going white from the strain as he presses his chest into it. “Bomb threats had the entire courthouse emptied, Bardello. Is that what’s happening here?”
“More or less,” he replies. “Our office is the target. I think it’s due to this case I’ve taken on. It’s politically connected, but that’s all I can say about it.”
“Then consider this Letti’s resignation,” Slayer spits, grabbing the envelope sitting between us and passes it over to Mr. Bardello.
