Inner Workings

Inner Workings - Part 39

Massaru found a back room in the Laundromat to talk to Paro while Will stood outside the door and kept guard. The truth came out, Massaru had become a target due to his work, and Louis and Will were his bodyguards; a mock-up of witness protection without having to involve the Watch or any official papers. What else Massaru said Will couldn't make out, he couldn't understand the lilting language the doctor used, but the tone from his wife made Will cringe. First disbelief, then anger, worry, and then downright fear. By the time Massaru was done, Paro looked more like one of the distraught storm victims with her home washed away.

Will could make out some of what Paro asked next. Ram and Mary.

Paro's silence after Massaru's halting response was brief.

"We are not leaving them alone out there!"

Paro grabbed Will's arm and yanked him into the room. She didn't look like a victim anymore. She looked pissed.

"Ow!" Will rubbed at his arm, right on the scrapped bruise she had gripped.

"We are going after my son, right now!"

"We will once I make sure both you and your husband are safe."

"When will that be?"

Will grimaced. "As soon as possible." His cell chimed and checked the screen. Reese. "Maybe sooner than I thought."

He answered and heard a low thumping through the speaker. "Hello?"

"Where are you guys?"

"Inside a Lundromat. Where are you?"

"Searching for someplace to land this thing."

"Land? Who's flying? Wait, nope. Don't answer that."

"I won't, just give me some directions."

***

A park clearing, little more than a patch of mud on the north side of Everett, served as a landing pad. Jeff crossed his arms in a compact huff as Beni and Reese got their bags out of the helicopter. Reese slower than Beni due to his arms still shaking, his shoes squishing in the mud.

"I'm gonna report this to air control," Jeff called out bitterly, scrunched up like an indignant pug dog. "You'll never be able to get on a chopper for as long as I live."

"I'd be happy with that," muttered Reese, popping the collar of his trench coat up against the drizzling rain and the wind from the chopping blades. He grabbed the bags and dragged them over to the sidewalk.

Beni leaned back into the cockpit, full-lipped smirk and eyes half lidded. "Was it so bad letting me hold your stick for a while?"

Jeff grimaced, but a tint of red glowed on his cheeks. "It's the principle of the thing, like mid-air kidnapping, unauthorized use of an aircraft. And you lied."

"Well..." Beni leaned closer, hand on the pilot's shoulder, and voice dipping low. "At least I got a good ride with you."

Gripping Jeff's leather flight jacket, Beni tilted her head and kissed him breathless. It wasn't that hard to do; in two seconds the pilot had gone slack in the chair and Beni pulled back.

"Think of this as an opportunity to do some heroic service. Lots of people in stuck in the mud could use a guy like you." A wink and she joined Reese with the luggage.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Reese. "He can't make due on those threats, you realize."

"Nope," said Beni. "But it helps."