Chapter 87

Hugo might not have kicked the guy's ass, but he wouldn't let any of them near me. My cover was blown to anyone with a smart phone and facial recognition software. Odd are none of them did, but I didn't want to take the chance at the moment. I needed time to think without that 'brain on drugs' fog.

So when Mission came in and said, "Okay, this has been quite the love fest, but I'm taking her away for a few days at least."

"Do you trust this SBI bitch," Hugo asked me loud enough for Mission to hear.

"Yeah, I do Hugo. I know it doesn't look like it now, but they have been on my side since forever. If they had their shit together, and the agents had thought of us as part of the team, he wouldn't have sprayed the woods." I said.

"You know that isn't fair. You knew we had that boat covered. It wasn't going to escape. You were wrong to shoot it and you know it. Hell you knew it was wrong at the time," Mission said.

"Let me tell you what I know," Hugo said. "I know the boat didn't get away. I know that boat with those to big assed motors would have run off and left your piss ant of a boat in its big assed wake. So it instead you got to convince them to lead your sorry asses back to the mother ship. So don't try to tie an unnecessary shooting to her ass, cause I'm not an SBI agent and I'm not going to cover it up for your ass Agent Mission."

"Hugo, when I get clear of all this, I am going to give you a blow job," I said smiling.

"That's the drugs talking," Mission said. "And Hugo she didn't know what kind of boat we had, when she pumped the motors on the smuggler's boat full of lead. So you may be able to sell that to the shooting review board, but I know better. If Terry doesn't make a stink about the agent's shooting at her, I expect we will be prepared to not make an issue of her firing into the boat."

"Now you have both shown me yours and I'll have to decide whose is bigger," I said.

"She does cut right to it," Mission said. Hugo nodded.

For some reason my hand was in a cast, when we left the hospital. Mission and I were alone in the state unmarked car. I wore the Kevlar vest and the upside down shoulder rig complete with my trusty .38 wheel gun. My pockets were stuff with crap but there was room for the box opener. Even if I could only use it with one hand, which mean no throat cutting.

"You hungry, I always am after waiting to see if you are going to live or not," Mission said.

"You realize that it is a rural community hospital we came from. There is no restaurant for fifty miles," I said.

"There is a lunch counter inside a country store near here, so says your friend Hugo," she said.

"He is going to stop there along with a couple of our people, including the one who sprayed the woods with .223 rounds. He wanted to tell you he is sorry," Mission said. "I figure it will be safe enough."

"As long as you don't try to feed me Green tea, we are good," I said.

"There maybe some good news on that front as well. The AG's investigator called me. They have set up a meeting with the Greens for this week. He thinks they might be ready to roll over for a plea deal. Seems they don't like jail so much after all. They probably figure they might like prison even less. We might need you to stay in hiding for a couple of more weeks. At least until the plea deal is inked, if it comes off at all," Mission said.

That made me feel better. I had been in hiding three months and that was more than enough. I was looking forward to being me again. Of course that would bring up new problems. How to get my old job back for one.

"So let's eat breakfast and get somewhere I can lay my head. They must have shot me up with something in the hospital. I have absolutely no stamina." I said. If they got the plea deal through I could go back and say a proper goodbye to Hugo. There was no doubt I would be leaving the fish and game service. I just fit better into a more rough and tumble lifestyle.

"You are going to have to sleep in the car then. We have a long drive again," Mission informed me. The ride was long alright but not for me. I fell asleep within five minutes of getting into the rear seat of the four door Ford. It had a smooth ride and a good heater, so sleep was easy. I awoke once en-route when Mission stopped for gas. The next time I awoke it was at a farm house looking place. It took about a second after waking for the pain to become unbearable.

"Mission I need something for the pain and I need it now," I said.

"Here take this," she said slipping me a pill.

I swallowed it without water. I didn't even ask what it was. I made it into the house before I fell asleep again. When I awoke next a young woman said, "Hi there is food and a pill on the tray by the bed."

"I'm not hungry, but my hand does hurt," I said.

"Well wash the pill down with the orange juice at least," she said.

For what seemed like a week I would wake up from the drugs and a woman I didn't know would help me to the bathroom. I would then take a couple of bites of whatever they had by my bed, and take another pill and try to sleep. I finally awoke in pain but I didn't want to sleep again. I took that as a good sign. I was also hungry, so I got out of bed to go to the toilet then to search for food.