Chapter Sixteen: Fighting back.
Lisa's point of view
After we finished eating and putting the house back in order, we stepped out the back door. Hawk took one of my mom's light jackets to cover her shoulder holster.
"I think we need to stick together," Hawk said. "They know who we are and have shown no hesitation at trying to kill us - publicly. Now we have your boss after us, too, Lisa. We have two threads to pull on. Him and the mysterious bomber. Since we know him, I think we should start there. The guy that stole the bomb equipment will fall if we can flip the rest."
"But, Hawk, he's at work," I protested. "We'll never get to him right now and what about the disk?"
"I didn't see a computer around here, so we'll have to look at it when we can find one we can use. Is your boss married?" Hawk asked.
I shook my head. "He was, but his wife passed away a few years back. No kids. He's a fairly young guy for that position. He's in his forties."
"Then let's go make ourselves useful and dig up some dirt on him. He's not afraid to break the law to get us, so we'll have to break it to get him. We need to get into his house," Hawk said firmly.
I shook my head. "He lives in a secure community. So, we'd have to get past the front desk. Anything we find will be inadmissible in court, so how can that help us?"
"We'll figure out a way to do that later," Hawk said confidently. "First, we need a distraction. Let me look the place over and see what I can come up with. He's the only member of the conspiracy that we've identified, so let's take the fight to him." Then she grinned. "Yah know, information turned over to the authorities by an anonymous source is admissible, so we'll get it and turn it over to someone we can trust with no lead back to us."
I nodded reluctantly. "Okay, I suppose you're right. It's still so hard to believe. Like a bad dream, you know. In any case, since they're looking for you, we need to leave the bike here. The police may pick you out by it. We shouldn't take Ted's car either for the same reason. Mom's car is in the garage, so we'll switch Ted's for it."
"I thought you said she wrecked it," Ted said.
I nodded. "She did. I guess I should have said it's Dad's old car. It's a sweet ride. I give it a spin every once in a while just to make sure it keeps working. Come on."
Hawk scowled, but nodded. "Fine. I don't have my jacket anyway."
When I opened the garage, Ted whistled at the bright cherry red, vintage '68 Mustang. "Yeah, we'll be inconspicuous in that. It doesn't have dual-exhaust glass-packs does it?" he asked, almost drooling.
I smiled. "No, silly! Dad wanted it pristine and didn't go for the noise factor in his muscle car," I chided. "He always said this was his walk on the wild side. He told me to watch out for Mom, because all the guys would come sniffing around his baby and seduce Mom to get close to it. He was such a card."
Hawk laughed and nodded. "If I can't ride my hog, this will do."
After swapping the cars, and putting Hawk's bike into the garage, we drove back into Galveston and ducked off the main lanes as quickly as we could. Best to take as few chances as possible when avoiding the police. I drove to the building - a high-rise of secure condos. No external fire escapes here and no access to the first floor except the main entrance.
"He lives on the fifth floor, condo 502," I said. "That means getting past the front desk. The doorman will see us as soon as we come in and he's not in the habit of letting people in without the go ahead of the residents."
Hawk climbed out of the car, giving the building a good look. Then she smiled. "There's our ticket in. Come on."
Hawk jogged across the parking lot to a car that had just pulled up. A little old lady climbed out stiffly and was digging at the grocery bags in the back seat. "Ma'am, let us help you carry those in," Hawk said.
The woman peered suspiciously at Hawk. "I really shouldn't let strangers help me into my apartment."
I pulled out my District Attorney's ID and badge. "I'm an officer of the court, ma'am. Does that help?"
The old woman nodded and smiled. "Yes, it does. Ya'll are so sweet. You know, you have to be so careful these days, especially as you get on in years. It's good to see nice young people again."
"We're happy to help you, ma'am," Ted assured her. "Let us carry these up for you and then we can go visit our friends."
As a group, we carried the woman's groceries in. The uniformed guard at the desk chatted with her as she walked past. Her name was Mrs. Lanier. He didn't give us a second look.
Her condo was on the third floor. It was nice and neat. Very orderly, with pictures and flowers everywhere. We set her bags on the table and politely declined her offer of tea with thanks.
Hawk grinned smugly on the elevator ride up. "It's about time we had some luck swing our way. Remind me to send her some flowers."
The fifth floor looked exactly like the third, pale walls and light blue carpet. Hawk stopped at Zed's door and knocked. I about came out of my skin.
"What are you doing?" I hissed. "There could be someone in there!"
Hawk nodded. "Wouldn't you rather know if someone's home
before
you broke in?"
It's hard to argue with that logic. When no one answered, Hawk slid what looked like a small kit of screwdrivers from a hidden pouch on her shoulder holster. She opened the kit and I saw an assortment of oddly shaped hooks and picks. She knelt and inserted two into the lock.
"Lock picks? Where did you learn to pick locks?" Ted whispered. "Isn't that kind of an odd skill for a cop?"
"Oh," Hawk said airily, "someone owed me a favor and gave me some lessons. You never know when you might need to go through a locked door."
"Uh, huh," I muttered. "What if there's is an alarm inside?"
Hawk looked up from where she was working. "Then we have four minutes to search before we scram. I doubt there will be, though. This is a
secure
community."
Thirty seconds of work and the lock clicked. "
Who's
