Seven

LAWLESS

BLACK’S FRIEND, KEVIN Lawless, wasn’t what I expected. 

For one thing, he was a lot older than I’d thought he’d be. I’d expected someone more or less Black’s and my age, partly because Black muttered about having met Lawless in the military, and partly because of the age of the missing child.

Instead, after an older Thai woman ushered us through the foyer and into a high-ceilinged living room with bamboo shades and traditional-looking ceiling fans, a grizzled man who had to be at least in his mid-seventies got up to greet us. He looked a little surprised to see me, but broke out in a guileless grin when he saw Black standing just behind me.

After nodding a greeting in my direction, he walked right up to Black to throw his arms around him in a bear hug. I watched, smiling a little in spite of myself as Lawless broke out in a full-on grin, right before he smacked Black on the back and then began dragging him bodily into the room, despite the fact that Black had to be over a foot taller than him and probably had thirty pounds on him at least. 

I don’t think Lawless let go of him once after that initial hug. Even as he extended a hand towards me after Black told him my name, he gripped Black’s arm in his other hand.

He still looked openly curious as he gave me a warm, strong handshake.

He didn’t bother to hide that curiosity either as he looked me over before raising his eyebrows at Black in an open question.

“Welcome, welcome,” he said to me, pumping my arm energetically.

He had calloused hands at the end of long, tanned, tattooed arms. The tattoos had faded quite a bit with time and were half-covered in a light coating of gray hair, but I still recognized one of them beside the blurred images of dragons and jungle cats and Thai characters––the distinctive de oppresso liber crossed arrows and sword mark of Army Special Forces.

So he’d been a green beret. Interesting.

I glanced around nonchalantly while Lawless said something to the older Thai woman, who acted more like a maid or a housekeeper than a girlfriend, I noticed, despite the fact that she yelled at him a few times in the course of their discussion. Maybe a caretaker, I thought, given his age and the fact that he appeared to live alone.

This didn’t look like a place where a child lived, although I definitely saw signs that one visited.

A widescreen television sat in the corner by a long cloth couch, with two brand new game controllers on the carpet below. A trunk stood against the same wall that might have toys in it. Most of the room had a distinct “bachelor” look to it, however. Art hung on the walls. Tall bookshelves contained spines written in Thai and English and in front of them stood pictures of people, some in color and some black and white. In at least one I glimpsed, a red-haired child smiled out of the frame, covered in freckles.

I didn’t get close enough to really look, though.

Holding both arms out to herd us deeper into the room, Lawless continued chatting to Black about what he’d done to the house, motioning towards the back end where apparently he’d re-landscaped the backyard. I happened to glance at the older Thai woman as he did it, and saw her watching me, a harder scrutiny in her eyes. Her face blanked as soon as I looked at her, so completely and seamlessly that I blinked, doubting that I’d seen that scrutiny at all. Did she know who Black was? Was she curious about me showing up here with him too? 

I honestly couldn’t tell. Just looking at her, without being able to use my psychic ability, I got nothing.

Even as I thought it, she turned to Lawless, saying something else to him in Thai. Whatever it was, Lawless only nodded, waving her off as if to say, ‘it’s fine’ or maybe ‘go,’ and the woman exhaled in irritation before picking a purse up off a table on the other side of the room. I watched as she walked back into the foyer, slipping on shoes from the wooden rack that stood there and opening the front door. She walked out without looking back.

I glanced down at my own shoes.

“Should we...”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Lawless said, waving me off. “Black here says you have to grab a flight soon. No need to bother, given that. Ignore Elsa. She likes to be annoyed.”

I frowned a little, then shrugged it off. Screwing up the local customs while jet-lagged, possibly having my life threatened and with no sleep didn’t strike me as the worst faux pas in the world, especially since I’d been here less than twenty-four hours.

Still, I must have had an odd look on my face, because Lawless gave me a reassuring smile when I glanced back in his direction.

“She’s just gone to do the shopping,” he explained. “It’ll take hours, the way she does it. I told her not to come back for awhile, so she’ll probably visit friends, too. Want some tea?” he said cheerfully.

I started to say no, but Black gave me a meaning-laden look.

“Sure,” I said, looking back at Lawless and smiling. “Thanks.”

Sitting on a second couch when Lawless indicated––a lower, faux-leather version that stood under a window sill covered in plants––I looked around and tried to feel less out of place. Apart from the few signs of kid life, the room had a simple but clean feel that struck me as very Asian, although I knew nothing of Thai styles specifically. Lawless himself was about as white as you could get, with bleached hair that might have been red once, but had since gone mostly to snow white. His tanned, freckled skin might have a touch of skin cancer––unsurprising given his coloring and where he’d chosen to live––but otherwise he looked healthy.

Lawless had obviously lived in Thailand a long time, but that wasn’t why I felt strange being here. I more wondered if I should have waited in the car so Black and Lawless could talk freely, the way old friends did only when they were alone.

Especially given why we were here.

I watched Black rise with his usual grace and follow Lawless into the kitchen.

Realizing why he’d likely done that, and what he probably intended to tell his friend once he got him alone, I tensed, feeling even more like I shouldn’t be here.

It seemed like only a few minutes later that I heard a crash from the other side of that extended wall. The murmured voices I’d heard grew louder, but I didn’t try to make out what was said. I wasn’t even positive all of it was in English, although I definitely caught a few English words here and there. I fought to blank out my mind so I wouldn’t eavesdrop, looking out the window in front of me. Blinking, I noticed a cat perched on that sill, a black long-hair who blinked at me incuriously with dark green eyes before it went back to watching the birds vying around a hanging feeder outside.

Then I heard crying.

Feeling a pain rise in my chest, I bit my lip, feeling more intrusive than I had maybe in my entire life. I wondered again if I should go wait in the car with the driver.

No, doc, Black murmured in my mind. Stay. Please.

Swallowing, I nodded, even though no one else was in the room.

It seemed like a really long time before the two of them came back.

When they did, I had no idea what to say or do. I watched Black lead his friend back into the living room and over to the couch, where he urged him to sit down next to me. I moved over to make space for him, then watched Black retreat back to the kitchen, presumably to finish making the tea, since neither of them had brought anything back with them.

I felt my stomach twist into knots as I looked reluctantly at the man sitting next to me, still feeling like I was eavesdropping on his grief.

He just sat there, staring at the coffee table in front of him, his hands clasped.

I still hadn’t decided whether to speak when he turned his head, his blue eyes shining with tears. “Did he tell you?” he said.

For the first time, I heard a trace of an accent. Brooklyn.

I nodded, clasping my own hands. “I’m so sorry,” I said.

The man nodded, rubbing his nose. For a long moment he didn’t speak.

“He’s alive,” he said then, clearing his throat. “That’s what’s important.”

I nodded back. “It is. I can’t even imagine how hard this must be though.”

“Grabbed him right out of the park,” he said. He motioned vaguely with one hand towards the window. “It was a damned field trip. Dusit Zoo. He was with other kids and the teacher from the international school and everything.” Stopping, he seemed to lose words. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell my little girl.” Tears began running down his face. “Her husband got stationed here so they’d be closer to me.” He bit his lip, his eyes welling again.

I felt my chest clench more as I understood.

Grandchild. This had to be his grandchild.

That actually made a lot more sense.

Awkwardly, I reached out, rubbing his shoulder.

I felt him relax under my fingers and relief hit me that I’d done the right thing. Touching people was a no-no for the most part in my practice, but this felt different somehow. When he turned his head next, the look he gave me held gratitude, but mostly I just saw that pain. Frankly, I’d never felt pain like that before, not since my sister Zoe died; it nearly overwhelmed me, sitting so close to him, so much so I was struggling to control my own emotions. I could feel him desperately not wanting to go there, though. I didn’t want to make things worse for him by bursting into a sob myself.

Even as I thought it, he wiped his face, giving me a wan smile.

“So. Black has a girlfriend,” he said, clearing his throat. He wiped his face again. “I admit, I never saw that coming.”

I bit my lip, then shook my head. “Black and I, we’re not––”

Another voice cut me off.

“––Her choice, not mine,” Black said, walking in holding a bamboo tray. “She’s my employee. She’s managed to otherwise resist my charms so far.” He winked at me, but the humor didn’t reach his gold eyes. “I know that’s probably a shock to you, Lawless. In fact maybe I should have held off on telling you that...especially with your bad heart.”

The other man chuckled, shaking his head. “Bullshit,” he said. He glanced at me then, his face apologetic. “...Sorry.”

I waved him off, suppressing a smile. No one had bothered to apologize for swearing in front of me in a long time. I worked around cops for crying out loud. The other man was looking between the two of us though, his eyes holding a harder scrutiny.

Maybe this is why Black wanted me here, I thought.

Maybe I was just another kind of distraction.

“So how did you two meet?” I said, trying to keep the distraction going. “Black said something about the service? Did you two serve together?” I tried to keep the skepticism out of my voice, given their age difference.

Lawless didn’t react the way I expected. Instead of embracing the distraction I offered with both hands, like I’d thought he would, he hesitated, darting a wary questioning look towards Black himself. I watched, puzzled, as Black met that gaze and then waved off whatever concern he saw in Lawless’s expression.

“It’s okay,” he said. “You can tell her.”

Lawless quirked an eyebrow at him. “Really? Since when?”

“I have some discretion. She’s my employee.”

Lawless let out another disbelieving chuckle. I saw him about to say ‘bullshit’ again, then he darted a glance at me. “You clear that with the boys?” he said only.

“I don’t have to. Not for this.”

“Black...”

“Just tell her, for fuck’s sake,” Black said, his voice annoyed. “Oh, and you can swear in front of her too, by the way. This is the twenty-first century, Lawless...not the dark ages, or whenever it was you last knew the touch of a woman.” He gave me a wan smile. “You should have heard her yelling at me this morning. Like a drunk sailor.”

Lawless chuckled, glancing at me. “I’m sure he deserved it.”

“He did,” I assured him.

Lawless laughed louder at that, but I saw the sharper look behind the smile. I also caught the second once-over he gave me as he appraised me again. It hit me that he’d embraced the distraction Black and I were offering––just in a different way than I’d expected. Rather than embracing social normalcy, he’d gone from grieving grandfather to green beret.

Maybe that was intentional on Black’s part too.

Either way, Lawless’ puzzlement didn’t exactly dissipate once he’d finished looking me over that second time, but he shrugged, as if washing his hands of it.

“Vietnam,” he said finally.

It was my turn to quirk an eyebrow. “Vietnam?”

“Yup.” Lawless glanced at Black. He gave him a harder look, as if to say, ‘I thought I could tell her?’ When Black waved him on, Lawless turned back to me. “We were both in the 13th. I was twenty-two. It’s strange to think I’ve known this bastard that long...” He smiled at me, still gauging my reaction to the information. “Black here hasn’t grown up at all since that time either, far as I can tell...and not just physically. Maybe you can help him with that.”

“You’re fucking hilarious, you are,” Black muttered.

I looked between the two of them, but met only level stares.

Biting my lip, I went back and forth on whether I should state the obvious. Namely that Black was about forty years too young to have met this ex-green beret where and when they were both claiming.

I went for the other not-very-believable thing first.

“There is no 13th,” I said, looking back at Lawless. At the man’s chuckle, I motioned towards his arm, where the de oppresso liber tattoo remained visible below his rolled-up sleeves. “You were a green beret. There is no 13th. Never has been.”

He gave me an appreciative smile, and I realized it was because I even knew that.

“You served?” he said.

I glanced at Black, who quirked an eyebrow at me, smiling wanly. “Up to you, doc. I don’t know anything about your security clearance.”

I let out a grunt. “Well, we both know that’s a lie.”

Kevin chuckled again, looking between us. The interest in his eyes was on the surface now.

Meeting his gaze, I shrugged. “Not as a green beret.”

Kevin smiled wider, then looked at Black. “She’s cagey. No wonder you like her.” He looked back at me, that appraising look sharpening again. “Intelligence then. For one tour, at least. Or was it two?”

My frown deepened, but I only nodded. Glancing between the two of them when neither provided more information about what they’d told me, I exhaled in frustration. They obviously weren’t going to let me off the hook.

“There’s no possible way Black was in Vietnam,” I said, letting them hear my annoyance. “Not during the war. It’s not possible.”

They just smiled, giving each other looks.

“It’s confidential, doc,” Black said to me, his voice more serious. “You can’t say anything about it. Not even to my other staff. Not to anyone.”

My jaw hung briefly, then I closed it with a snap. “You’re lying. I have no idea why you’re lying, but you are...you have to be.” I motioned at Lawless. “And you’ve roped him into backing you up in this insane lie.”

Black’s mouth pursed, right before he glanced at Kevin with a shrug.

When I looked at Kevin, he only shook his head, chuckling a little.

“Clearly he wants you to know for some reason, Ms. Fox. I don’t know why, but I can guess.” He gave Black a meaningful look, to which Black rolled his eyes. Smiling, Kevin looked back at me, aiming a finger at Black as he spoke. “He looks exactly the same as he did the first day I met him. In fact, I thought he was older than me back then. I just had no idea how much older.” He gave Black another measured look. “You were in Korea too, weren’t you?”

I let out an openly disbelieving snort, but Black ignored it.

I watched him give a short nod to Kevin’s question, his eyes still on mine.

“Unofficially,” he said, still studying my face. “POW extraction, but it was in the period while they were negotiating the armistice, so technically after the war. I could tell you details, doc, but then I’d have to shoot you.”

Lawless chuckled at that, too.

Black’s eyes never left mine.

The look there bordered on cautious.

He did want me to know this, I realized.

Maybe he really did think having his friend Kevin here backing him up would lend his ridiculous story more credence.

“So...you’re what?” I said derisively. “Eighty-five years old?”

“Ninety and change, doc,” he said, his voice still deliberately casual. “But who’s counting?” He smiled at me wanly. “A mere babe in our years, I assure you. All of my parts are fully functional...unlike Lawless here. Nothing’s about to fall off or go limp unexpectedly. Technically, I haven’t even reached full sexual maturity yet...”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Lawless grunted.

Even so, I saw Lawless’s attention perk when Black said “our.” He looked at me with renewed interest, a more wondering look in his eyes. When Black flicked a bottle cap at his head from the coffee table in front of him, Lawless ducked, laughing.

“Touchy, touchy.”

“Don’t talk shit in front of my girl,” Black muttered.

“I thought she wasn’t your girl,” Lawless said. When Black flicked another bottle cap at him, Lawless chuckled before adding, “...And if you don’t want me to talk smack, keep your editorializing to yourself, Black, regarding other people’s parts. Karma’s a bitch and everyone gets old eventually.” He gave me a wink before adding, “Although he’s right about him being a child still...mentally, at least. That hasn’t changed either. He had the emotional maturity of a stewed eggplant when we first met, too...”

“You really are quite amusing, Lawless. Droll, some might say,” Black said.

When I swiveled my gaze from Black back to Lawless, the gray-haired man laughed, probably at whatever look he saw on my face.

“She really didn’t know,” he said, addressing Black while still looking at me. “And this is how you choose to tell her? You chickenshit bastard. Or did you just know she’d laugh you out of the room without some kind of witness to back you up?”

“Something like that,” Black said. “I’m multi-tasking.”

“Multi-tasking,” Lawless grunted. “Why the urgency, Black?” He nudged my shoulder, smiling at me teasingly. “You that anxious to show her that deformed wang of yours? Is this foreplay I’m helping you with?”

“Maybe,” Black said, his eyes still on me.

“You know about Black,” I said, looking between them. “About what he is? What he says he is...” I let my voice trail, looking at Black questioningly.

“Yes,” Black answered for the other man. “He knows, doc. A handful of people do. Lawless is one of them. It’s a very short list, doc.”

“Why?” I said, looking at Black.

Black lifted that same eyebrow. “Because I trust him?”

I shook my head. “No. I mean...why did you tell the government? Isn’t that...” I glanced at Lawless. “Dangerous? For you, I mean?”

“I didn’t tell ‘the government,’ doc,” Black said, his voice faintly warning. “One of my commanders figured out something was...different...with me.”

“How?” I said.

Black shrugged. “How doesn’t matter. Luckily, he ended up being someone I could trust. He created the thirteenth to keep the records sealed. So you’re right, doc. There is no thirteenth. There never was.”

“Were there...others?” I said, still not sure how much I should say aloud. “In the thirteenth?”

“Like you and me?” Black said. Again Lawless looked over at me in interest, his eyes wider. “No. But the other side had at least one. Russian.”

“That same guy? Mr. Lucky?”

Black glanced at Lawless, making a gesture with his hand I’d seen before but still didn’t know how to interpret. If I had to guess, it meant something along the lines of sort of or maybe. When I looked over at the gray-haired man, it was his turn to stare between me and Black, his mouth slightly ajar. 

“You told her about Lucky Lucifer?” he said, his voice openly startled. “Jesus, Black. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

I flinched at the full name, then looked at Black.

“Lucky Lucifer?” I said.

Black was frowning at Lawless though.

“I told you. Doc’s in the circle.” He made a tight, circular motion with one hand, glancing at me. “The very small circle. Don’t forget that, doc. And really...don’t talk to anyone about this unless I give you the express go-ahead. It’d be bad for both of us. Really bad. In fact, don’t even think about it if you can help it. After today, I’m thinking I need to teach you some mental concentration stuff. Some of Lawless’ Buddhism bullshit.”

“Buddhism bullshit,” Lawless muttered. “Nice, Black. Respectful. Be sure and say that good and loud when you go visit one of the wats later...it’ll endear you to the locals.”

“I have all kinds of respect, Lawless. With all forms of religious bullshit.”

Lawless waved him off, his expression vaguely annoyed, but he looked at me. “Doc?” he said, seeming to notice the nickname for the first time. “You a doctor, Ms. Fox? Or is it Dr. Fox?”

“She’s a shrink. So you can call her whatever you want.”

I gave Black an irritated look, but he only smiled. Unfortunately, he has a really nice smile, which tended to disarm me even when he was being an ass.

A flush of heat hit me, right before his mind rose. You pick now to flirt with me? Really, doc? You’re a cruel woman...

Is he all right? I sent back, ignoring the still-pulling heat on him. Should we really be talking about this right now, when you just told him his grandson is being held as ransom by human traffickers? 

It’s perfect, doc. It’s weird enough to be distracting and he likes you. I can tell.

I sighed, staring at him in annoyance. How did you get him to go along with this insane trade of theirs anyway? Anders and his “two weeks” crap?

Go along with it? Black met my gaze, his sculpted lips turned in a frown. Lawless lives here, doc. He knows how things work. No one goes against the traffickers here...even the damned military treads lightly around those scary fuckers. He doesn’t have any more choice in “going along with it” than I do.

Are you sure he’s all right?

Of course he’s not all right. But talking to him about it isn’t going to help him. You should know that...you’re a shrink. He shrugged, rearranging his weight in the chair. I’ll take him out and get him drunk after you’re gone. We can watch pretty Thai girls shimmy on poles or something...that should distract him.

I fought the impulse to roll my eyes, conscious we weren’t alone.

Men, I thought at him instead.

We have our ways. You have yours. His mind grew more serious. I calmed his light down some already in the kitchen, doc. I wasn’t totally kidding about his heart. It’s not going to do him any favors to go there right now. I’ll stay with him tonight...help him through the call with his daughter. Tomorrow too, if I need to.

I didn’t answer.

Mostly because, as much as I hated to admit it, everything he said made sense.

Well, maybe everything apart from the Thai strip clubs.

I glanced at Lawless, conscious suddenly of the length of the silence. He smiled at me, taking a sip of tea and reminding me that mine still sat untouched on the coffee table, likely stone cold. Kevin was looking between me and Black when I glanced up from my cup, almost like he knew something had passed between us.

After a pause, he smiled wider, clasping swollen-knuckled hands between his knees. I still saw the sadness in his eyes, but I felt what Black had been talking about too, that veneer of calm he’d somehow placed over his friend’s mind.

“He really likes you,” Lawless announced. He glanced at Black. “I wonder if he’s admitted to himself how much.”

“He has,” Black said somberly.

I glanced at Black to find him watching me. I let out a low snort, letting him know exactly how much I believed that little flirtation.

Lawless laughed. “She’s got your number, that’s for sure. If you could have seen him, back when we were in Saigon. He had a different girl for every day of the––”

“Lawless!” Black sounded genuinely angry. “Shut the fuck up! I mean it.”

The other man laughed louder, looking at Black. “Oh, you’ve got it bad, boyo. You really do. It’s almost heartwarming...really. Of course, karma dictates that this one chews you up and spits you out. You know that don’t you, Black?”

Black rolled his eyes. “Lord save me from Buddha’s converts.”

“Doesn’t make it any less true,” Lawless said, winking at me. He motioned at Black with a finger. “And you’re mixing up your religions again.”

Black shrugged, his expression sliding back into neutral. He lifted an eyebrow, glancing at me. “Don’t get all philosophical on me, Kev. I’m just being polite. Doc here gets jealous. It’s how I almost got scalped at the pool this morning.”

My smile faded.

I fought not to react, but couldn’t keep it off my face entirely.

Well, I assume I couldn’t, because Lawless broke out in another laugh. 

“I guess someone’s okay with sleeping alone tonight,” he said to Black. “You haven’t learned jack shit about women yet, have you Black?”

“I was sleeping alone tonight regardless,” Black said at once.

When I turned to give him a piece of my mind, I stopped short when I saw his expression, biting back the retort forming on my lips. Rather than smug, his face looked cautious again. Moreover, a question lived in his eyes as he studied my expression. It took me a second to realize what it meant. Once I did I found myself fighting not to laugh, if not really in humor.

He was actually trying to tell me something.

“Don’t sprain anything with the effort, Black,” I said.

Lawless grinned, but Black’s gaze didn’t waver.

“It’s no trouble, doc,” he assured me.

“You sure about that?”

“I’m very sure.”

I let out an overtly skeptical sound, shaking my head.

I’d appreciate it if you returned the favor, he said in my mind.

Biting my lip, I glanced at Lawless before staring back at Black, that time in open disbelief. You want to talk about this now? Here? In front of your friend?

Before you leave? He paused. Yes. Because if we don’t talk about it and you were to go back and spend the night with someone else in San Francisco before we could talk about it...someone like, say, your police pal, Nick... His eyes flickered up, growing perceptibly harder as I gaped at him. I’d be hurt, doc. Really hurt.

“You are unbelievable,” I said aloud.

“The question still stands.”

“What question would that be?” I said coldly.

“You understood me just fine.”

“Maybe,” I shot back, gesturing sharply by either side of my face. “Or maybe my head’s so clouded by female hormones and ‘jealousy’ I might not be thinking straight...maybe you need to write it down for me, Black.”

Lawless laughed again, louder that time.

When I glanced at him, he looked genuinely amused as he glanced between us. I looked back at Black and was startled to see actual emotion on his face. I couldn’t interpret what that emotion meant exactly, but in those few seconds I didn’t doubt that it was real.

You’re not the only one who gets jealous, doc, Black sent.

I shook my head though, exhaling.

I hadn’t slept yet, I reminded myself. I hadn’t slept in almost forty hours, thanks to Black, and I was about to get back on a plane, where I was unlikely to sleep for about twenty-five to thirty more hours. Remembering that, I rose to my feet. 

“I think I’d better go,” I said. I looked at Lawless, feeling a wash of guilt when I realized how blunt I’d sounded. Somehow, in that brief exchange with Black I’d almost forgotten why we’d come here. “I’m really glad to have met you, Mr. Lawless,” I said, meaning it. 

“Kevin,” he said at once, standing up to face me. “Call me Kevin, Ms. Fox. Please.”

“Then please call me Miriam,” I said. “And I’m sorry to leave so abruptly, Kevin, I really am...but thanks to my employer here, I have a plane to catch. I don’t want to miss it.”

I took Kevin’s offered hand in both of mine. Pushing Black out of my head when he didn’t stand, I focused on Kevin alone.

“I’m so sorry about your grandson,” I murmured, clasping his hands tighter. “But I’m sure he’ll be okay. I’m sure of it.”

Somehow, just in saying it aloud, the reality hit me again, even though I’d been determined not to pull Kevin back into that place. It hit me hard enough to catch in my throat, and suddenly I was fighting tears for real. I didn’t want to go there, not in front of someone who had real reason to be afraid, but emotion nearly overwhelmed me for those few seconds.

Black was right. There was no reason not to make this easier for him.

For that reason alone, I should go.

I was too exhausted to be of much use to either of them in that.

I glanced at Black as I thought it, and saw him watching me, his gold eyes once more impossible to read. Even so, it crossed my mind that I might have really hurt his feelings. I don’t know why I thought so; I could see no hint of it on the symmetrical planes of his face, nor in the odd flecks that shone from the depths of his eyes.

For some reason, I would remember that later, though.

That I hurt him, I mean.