Chapter XX

illiam reached over and uncovered the head of the form next to the wall and was almost sick at his stomach.  Both eyes had popped out of her head from the force of the blow of the big long barrel .44 magnum with which she had been slugged.

He covered the form back over, and left Billy where he was even though he had a very powerful urge to pick him up and hold him closely to his chest.  Danny had not stirred as of yet, and he wanted to look around before he called the authorities.  Leaning up against the window sill was a .30 0 6, with a scope, a muzzle flash deflector and a tube at the end of the barrel.  On the floor was a photo of Chief Amanda Williams.

Danny had watched her enough to learn her movements, then took her out at his convenience.  No wonder no one heard the shot.  From a distance, it would have not so much as sounded any louder than a cough.  The investigator in William had arisen enough to cause him to don thin gloves so his fingerprints would not be on anything.  He was careful in the manner of which he touched everything, and still, very little touching at that.

He picked up a cellphone which was close to the box of ammo sitting on the sill, and went through the pictures.  The entire lot of pictures was on the murder and the scene following of Chief Amanda Williams.  He himself, was also in the pictures as he bent over Amanda for her last word.

Danny was groaning.  "I think I need to go over and give him some more to groan about."  But, he didn't want to risk removing his shackles, and William would not just work on a helpless man like that.  In his mind was a growing question.  "Where are the discs and the weapons?"

He scanned the outside of the building from his vantage point and could see two more guards standing at the opposite corners of where he'd entered and taken out the first two.  "Impressive" he thought to himself.  From what he'd seen of the corpses laying around, there had been plenty to keep them in the know that quite a battle was raging inside.

As of yet, their boss, who William figured was Slayton, had not relieved them of their post or duty, so they'd stay.  William carefully moved from the window back toward the staircase which descended into darkness below.  He could barely see Danny who was attempting to sit up.

Unbeknownst to William, Danny had been carrying the satchel in his hand when he first slugged Danny.  Amidst the noise of the struggle which ensued, the satchel fell and slid down the stairs landing on a corner, balanced for a second, then fell away to one side into the shadows.  William had looked the upstairs over pretty good on is first go around and had come up empty.

He stepped back down the stairs and was nearly to Danny when another voice spoke from the left side of the building.  "Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance mate?"

William knew exactly to whom the voice belonged, and scrunched up his eyebrows in question.  "What in tarnation are you doing here Mason?"

"Attempting to retrieve the same thing you're after.  Quite a job you did on Slayton here.  Did you shoot him from ambush or was it a real stand-up toe to toe fight mate?"

William didn't like the edge to Mason's voice.  He'd never heard him speak in that tone before.  Being a friend of Lens, William had only met him a couple of times in little nfo share meets.  He always seemed jolly enough and never menacing.  What in the world he was doing here at this time of the day was more than he could figure.

"Well, I found the rifle with which Amanda had been killed, another corpse up here, and two below.  Looks like Danny has been quite busy this morning.  I can only imagine the hand you've had in this process Mason.  You were the one who coerced Chief of Police Clemens to set up the heist for the weapons, right?"

"Aha, but you're the smart one.  What else have you figured out mate?"

"That it was you who'd given Danny the pile of money we found at the Pep Boys building in La Dago.  Right?  And then you followed Rhonda here in the attempt to find Danny and relieve him of the weapons.  You must have seen Ron tailing Rhonda.  Must have been quite a parade coming north.  How did you elude Ron's catching on to you?"

Another voice spoke from the opposite side of where Mason hid.  This was a woman's voice, and she had a heavy brogue.  Her voice was cold and course, and extremely businesslike and to the point.  "It is no hard job following someone if you have two vehicles . . . "

In his mind William was attempting to place a face with the voice, and finally, it came through.  But he'd only seen her across the room at the Police Department.  She was the Russian lawyer Lane had entrusted to represent Lela, Grace and Mary.  "Cozy . . . " William said slowly.  After a brief pause he resumed.  "What, you couldn't coerce the information concerning the whereabouts of the weapons from your clients?"

Alma spoke to Mason, "lets get this over with and get the weapons and get out of here.  We're wasting time.  Forget the money."

"What's the matter mate?  'you getting cold feet?" asked Mason.  I don't think William has the weapons as of yet or he'd have already began the destruction of them.  William, you walk down here very carefully.  Lose the XD" Mason instructed.

There's always something one can count on with a baby around.  It will always wake up at the wrong time.  And this was the wrong time!

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