NaturesBounty(37)
Nate scowled. “I told her to make it sound realistic.”
“A little too realistic.”
Asa was laughing. “Fair enough. I suppose I underestimated you. But then, I had my reasons.” There was shuffling. “And now I see that your box might be worth helping you out, depending on the favor. Unmarked bills?”
“Of course. That’s a good part of my life savings, I’ll have you know. Never trust everything to the bank.”
“Smart cookie. So what’s this favor of yours?”
“After I escaped, I contacted Andrew to work out a deal. Turns out that was why he had guys after me anyway. Only, he can’t make all of it go away now since I sort of left town. And on top of that, by now I’ve got a pissed-off bounty hunter out there wanting my head on a platter for stealing his car.”
“You could say that. He called me a little while ago, actually.”
“He did?”
Benny and Nate exchanged glances.
“He was pissed and a half, that’s for sure. Said you gave him the slip.”
“You just told me you heard I was still with him.”
“I wasn’t sure I believed him. I wanted to hear it from you.”
“Smart shithole,” Benny whispered.
“Then again, it wasn’t completely unthinkable,” Asa was saying. “Truth is, you’re right about Nate. He’s been off his game for a while. Screwed the pooch on his last few bounties. It’s past time he hung it up for good.”
Nate gritted his teeth. “I’m not through yet, you bastard,” he muttered.
“I’ll say,” she said. “I’m hardly an expert, and I managed to get away. Although I suppose I should be grateful he’s so useless.”
Okay, Nate thought. He’d heard just about enough of her realism.
“So why come to me?” Asa was asking. “What do you want?”
“After hearing Andrew’s story about how you were responsible for all of this, I knew I had to come to you. I need to make this go away.”
“He told you I was responsible for all of what?”
“This whole thing. He told me it was your idea to frame me for the theft in the first place.”
“That’s a fucking lie.”
“Don’t be mad. It makes sense. I mean, this way, you got the fee for posting my bond, plus what he paid you. In exchange, you made sure he got what he wanted. I’m just saying I want in. I’ll pay you so I get what I want.”
Asa’s tone went up three levels’ worth of honked off. “This is a load of bullshit. I had nothing to do with his plan to keep you quiet.”
“Don’t piss him off too bad,” Nate warned silently.
“Not the way he tells it. And wow, it does seem that you know all about what he did to me.”
“He came to me, bitch. Offered to sweeten the bond amount if I helped him grab you before the cops could. He had the manpower, but not a bloodhound to track your scent. So I sent Nate. His prime might be past, but he still has his uncanny instincts for finding people.And he won’t use guns or shit anymore, so I figured it’d be easy for Andrew’s guys to take you off his hands.”
“So I’m supposed to believe you only helped Andrew after the fact, without knowing upfront that he was guilty.”
“Of course I knew he was guilty. Innocent people don’t go around paying off guys like me to work around the system. But that doesn’t mean I suggested he frame you in the first place. He did that to save his own neck. I helped him find you so he could offer you the deal. Now he’s trying to turn it all around on me? Thankless prick.”
“Join the club. He’s good at that.”
“So what is it that you think I’m going to do for you now?”
“You’re going to make all this go away. I need your help to wipe the slate clean.”
That was the cue. With any luck, Lydia was well away from the door.
The two-way crackled to life.
“We’re moving in,” came the voice.
“Copy,” Nate said. “We got enough on him?”
“More than enough.”
“Ready, partner?” Benny asked, checking the ammo on his handgun and shoving the clip back in.
Nate smiled at him. “Let’s stick something where Asa’s sun don’t shine.”
The van roared up just as Benny and Nate were crossing the street. Cops in riot gear tumbled out like clowns from a Volkswagen, and all were amazingly light-footed while they gestured at Nate to hang back.
“Like hell I will,” he said, coming up behind them. He had no jurisdiction in this, of course, other than his participation in getting the charges against him dropped. But he wasn’t going to sit around while Lydia was in the middle of a takedown.