Chapter 27

We gathered at Beth Martinson's house just before midnight. It was dark, but not cold, not in July, and not quiet either. When I'd first come to Albuquerque, back in 1992, things slowed down as the night progressed, at least in decent neighborhoods, but these days there isn't anywhere you can get away from people roaming the streets, drinking or perhaps worse, swearing, looking like they want to mug and rape even if that's the furthest thing from their minds.

Beth was wearing what I'd expected, and her gray braid was longer than it had been the last time I'd seen her. As she led us toward the kitchen it swayed down her back, reminding me of an ateva from C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner novels. Only the braid reminded me, though – a tall man is a short ateva, and the atevi are all black, with yellow eyes that shine in faint light like a cat's.

Kim was wearing a white button-down shirt with the cuffs turned back, black BDUs, black lace up boots, and a duty belt with her gun, a pair of handcuffs, a Maglite, and a canister of pepper spray on it. She's five feet even, and slender, but tough – nearly as tough as Cecelia.

Cecelia had followed my advice, and was wearing black jeans, a pair of scuffed up cowboy boots, and an ivory blouse that in the dark would be as good as white. She and I both had our guns on our belts. Beth wasn't wearing hers, but when we got to the kitchen I saw that it was on the table – a big pistol, a .38 revolver that I knew she habitually shot .357 ammo out of. She strapped it on, a shoulder harness, while I introduced her to Kim and Cecelia. She'd met my wife once before, but was pretty distraught at the time and probably didn't remember it well.

We sat down around the table and I took charge. "I appreciate y'all being willing to help. Kim, charge me your usual rate. Beth, unless you've raised your rates, I'll pay what I paid the last time we worked together." They both nodded. "Cecelia, because this is outside your duties, I'll pay you extra – it's somewhat negotiable, but I am your employer." Cecelia grinned at that.

"Okay, here's how it's gonna go. Straight – I don't know any other name for him – says he'll be outside a warehouse at 1:30 this morning." I gave them the address in a light industrial area in the Northeast Heights, not all that far from where I'd lived when I'd met Cecelia. "Why he's picked that location I don't know – it's further out of his usual path than it is out of mine, so he's at a disadvantage when it comes to the general terrain. Perhaps he'll be on a job up there.

"Anyway, I've scouted it, and there's a place where I can park – we'll all go in the Blazer, since it's got plenty of seating – without lighting us all up. He'll be in the dark, I know, so that we won't see him easily. So will we be in the dark."

I looked around at everyone. "Y'all are my backup. You don't start anything. If it comes to shooting, then shoot, but you wait for him to start it. Does everyone understand?"

I waited till I got affirmative reactions before going on. "Here's your individual assignments. Kim, you're the quickest on the shoot. You'll follow my lead and Beth's. You're here because if it does come to shooting I know you won't hesitate – but you're to follow our lead because I don't want any premature shooting.

"Beth, you're steady. I've seen you work, and I know that you won't shoot unless it's necessary, and that you'll hit what you shoot at. One question – are you up to it?"

"Yes."

"Okay." I'd asked it on the phone, but wanted to be sure. "You'll watch me and Straight. If I go for my gun, you go. If he goes for his gun, and I don't, then you go anyway. I want you to be sure that it's necessary before you reach, but don't wait for anyone to get shot before you reach.

"Cecelia, you'll follow me and Beth too. You're the one with no experience here. I know you can shoot, but you've never been in combat before – don't even think about your gun until and unless Beth or I reaches." She nodded, jerkily. She was nervous, and with good reason. "You're here because I know that if it comes to it, you won't hesitate to defend me. Beth and Kim are good, and having agreed to be my backup they'll do a professional job. But you've got a personal interest in my welfare, and I'm depending on that."

I looked at her for a moment. "And I'm depending on you, if it all goes to pieces, to make sure Straight pays if I go down."

"I'll do that."

I nodded. "I don't, though, expect it to come to shooting." I looked around the table. "That's why there'll be four of us. Straight is a crook. He's a killer, though I've never had courtroom proof of it, nor even enough to go to the cops until now. But he's not an idiot. He won't take on four people, two of whom he knows, one of whom I'm sure he's heard about, and one of whom has a pretty fearsome reputation on Central even if she's never done anything to earn it."

"Who's that last one, Mr. Carpenter?" That was Beth, who had been an enlisted person in the Air Force and always treated me like her commanding officer.