THIRTY-SEVEN

 

 

September 26th, 2016

Las Vegas, Nevada

 

LOTT LOOKED AROUND and then had the very sudden realization that if Paul was who he said he was, and he was telling them the truth, his life and all of their lives right now were in great danger from some seriously deranged people wanting to stop him.

They needed to have their guard completely up before something else went sideways on them. They needed to be in control.

“Everyone down and away from the windows,” Lott said.

He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of this before now. They had just been standing and sitting there, open targets.

It didn’t take Andor, Julia, and the chief a fraction of a second to act. He moved over as well with his back to a wall and out of any target sight from outside.

All of them had guns drawn and were against walls beside windows, leaving only Paul sitting out in the open looking suddenly stunned and confused.

“Paul, would you please crawl under that table right there and stay out of sight completely.”

Paul dove for the table and disappeared under it.

Lott grabbed his phone and got Mike.

“How long until you can have a full protection detail around my house, sniper guards and all?”

“Twenty minutes to scan the neighborhood to make it all clear, another twenty to secure it completely,” Mike said without even asking why.

“Please hurry,” Lott said. “And get a detail around Fleet and Annie and Doc as well at their offices. “I’ll warn them you are coming.”

“That bad?” Mike asked.

“Could be some very desperate people wanting to cover up a lot of killings,” Lott said. “We have Paul Walter, aka Paul Vaughan, in the house here willing to help.”

“Jesus, good thinking,” Mike said and hung up.

Lott, without looking at anyone else at their posts beside the windows, called Annie.

“We have Paul Walter here in the house and he’s basically turning against The Families, as he calls them. I have Mike’s people on the way to set up a protection detail around this house and your offices. Stay put until they get in place and stay away from windows.”

“Will do,” Annie said without a question, understanding the situation perfectly. “I’ll call you back when we are secure here.”

Lott hung up and glanced at Julia, who nodded to him.

“Great thinking, partner,” Andor said.

“Do I need to call in my people?” the chief asked.

Lott pointed at the boards. “Not until we make sure which ones of your people are on the right side of things.”

“You know my chief in Reno?” Julia asked.

The chief nodded.

“Chief Norbert is one of the main family leaders,” Paul said from under the table. “Detective Lott is correct, sir. Trust no one until verified. And we can only hope that no one saw me come here. Hopefully, in their arrogance, they would never consider me this stupid, since they have worked hard to pin all this on just me.”

The chief looked stunned for a moment, then nodded.

“Dinner will be slightly delayed, however,” Andor said.

Lott laughed and the chief actually smiled.

And then they just all waited.