Page 21 of Flesh and Fury
“I admit, I’m happily surprised they all agreed to meet,” Eoghan said. He glanced over at Ari, who made sure to send him back encouragement and love all in one look. He smiled.
“I just hope the new Alpha in Hawthorne doesn’t suspect Alvin of killing Oscar,” Eoghan said. “Assuming he doesn’t and is willing to give little Galen Walters back, this might turn out to be a successful and bloodless meeting after all.”
Ari wasn’t so sure about that, and he really hoped they wouldn’t be walking into some sort of trap; he didn’t want to see anyone get hurt.
“Marshal Brown and I should check in with our chief,” Eoghan said, pushing away from the table. He and Ari both stood, followed by the others.
“That’s fine, son. Do you want to ride into Hawthorne with us or get there on your own?”
Eoghan glanced over at Ari before looking back at the chief. “If it’s all the same, we’ll meet you there, sir.”
“No problem at all. See y’all at six.” They all shook hands, and Eoghan pulled out money to give to the chief when he held up his hand. “Never mind about that. I’ve got it this time.”
“Thank you, sir,” Eoghan said before they headed out but were stopped by Washington’s voice.
“Fellas?”
They both turned. “Yes, sir?” Eoghan asked.
“After this works out in everyone’s favor, I’ll be happy to discuss the furtherance of your chief’s other agenda.”
“Sir?” Eoghan asked.
The chief smiled. “Did Arizona tell you that she and I used to work together down there in L.A. before I got my promotion?” He didn’t wait for an answer before going on.“That is, we worked together several times over the years. We even worked together after I got my first assignment as a brand-new chief based out of Phoenix. Worked a lot with Flagstaff, and your chief, Arizona Priest, is a good friend.”
Ari couldn’t believe it. “So, you’re telling us that she sent us up here to Bishop to deal with this problem with another—”
“Let’s leave it at that for the time bein’, son,” he said, cutting Ari off. “One problem at a time, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Eoghan said. He glanced at Ari and the two of them walked out of the restaurant.
Ari said quietly, “I can’t believe it. Do you think he knows about the Agency problem and she sent us up here to deal with this so we could plead our case with Deputy Chief Washington?”
Eoghan smiled at him. “I wouldn’t put it past her. He said they were good friends and he clearly knows King John Townsend if he headed up the Arizona office for a while.”
“I wonder why he’s in Hawthorne, Nevada,” Ari said. “I bet there’s some reason he was moved from his position in the capital of one state to a flyspeck of a satellite office in a neighboring state.”
“You’re right and what do you want to bet it had something to do with rubbing someone at the Agency the wrong way,” Eoghan concluded. He pulled out his phone and Ari reached out to stay his hand.
“What are you doing? You can’t talk about this on your regular cell.”
Eoghan smirked at him. “We really do need to bring her up to speed on this case and our meeting.”
“Oh,” Ari said, feeling stupid. “Okay.”
“And later, after we’ve had time to talk to Washington, that’s when we’ll talk to her about this.”
“Okay. Makes sense.”
“Thanks,” Eoghan said.
“After you call her…what do you wanna do?” Ari looked at his watch. “We’ve got a whole day to kill.” He grinned. “In Bishop of all places.”
Eoghan grinned back. “Yeah, not a lot to do here, that’s for sure.”
“Well, we could go visit a mine or something.”
“A mine?” Eoghan chuckled.