Chapter 23

We had some tentative plans worked out by the time I finally got sick of sitting around the toilet and made my way back out. I walked back past the elevators and peeked around the corner back toward the entrance. It was, as I'd expected, empty except for Fred still sitting there stolidly.

He didn't turn, but maybe I hadn't been as quiet as I'd tried to be. "So, you are still here, Larry," he said.

I laughed out loud. Fred was well along, into his early 70s I guessed, but you didn't slip much past that old man. "How'd you know it was me?" I asked.

In answer he just pointed to a small mirror fixed above the chair where he sat. I hadn't noticed it before, it was unobtrusive, but it gave him a rear view of the lobby behind him. Good idea for an entry guard, I guessed, he knew not only who was coming in but who was going out as well.

He started to stir in his chair. "It is best that you do not come out," he said. "Here can be seen from the street and twice there has been a car drive slowly past that may contain your 'friends.' Perhaps they remain parked in some nearby location. I will come to you."

We shook hands warmly. "So, my friend, there is trouble for you," he observed.

"Kind of," I admitted. "I guess it was pretty obvious that those guys weren't exactly my best buddies."

"Your warning was much appreciated. It allowed me to make myself ready. I move less quickly than once I did."

"It was all I could do for you."

"It was enough. The large one, I believe he meant to fire after you, but the one in front"—he meant Cesar—"was in command. He made them to withdraw. If they had not, my own gun was ready. The glass"—he gestured back toward the entrance—"protected me for so long as they remained outside." He told me about their abrupt retreat. "Is it that you are in the debt of these men?"

"No, Fred, it wasn't about money at all," I said. "It's ... well, it's complicated. They wanted something they thought I had, something they thought somebody else had given me for safekeeping. I don't have it, but if I'd stuck by that it was going to get bad, so I told them it was here."

"Ah," he said, nodding. "That was clever."

"Did you tell the fire guys what went down?"

"No. I thought it might not be the best for you. I simply said I did not know who had opened the fire door, but that I thought it might be some person who had stayed late to work and took the short way out forgetting the alarm."

"Thanks," I said sincerely. If he'd spoken up the cops would've been called, and the whole thing would've turned into something of a clusterfuck. What I really didn't need was more complications in what was turning out to be plenty complicated enough already.

"Have you considered your actions from here?" he said. "I would help you if there is some way I can do so."

It surprised hell out of me. I didn't even know Fred, not really; other than the one conversation we hadn't interacted much at all. Yet here he was offering me help against three guys I'd already told him were armed, with weapons that had to be better than the piece he carried.

I guess my surprise showed, because he went on. "Few here speak to me or even acknowledge me," he explained. "They hurry in, they hurry out, and I am just a part of the door through which they pass. You spent time with me, you even spoke to me in the old language. When you come, when you go since then, you give me your greeting. It is much to one of my years. Now that my Berthe is gone"—his face grew momentarily sad—"I am alone and I have little contact with others. If there is a way in which I may assist you, please to tell me."

"Thanks again, Fred, more than I can say," I said. "But I'm not going to get you into my problems. Those were some pretty bad dudes."

He shrugged. "Larry, I am old already. I have no children who might provide me comfort in my remaining years. There is nothing for me but sitting here at night until I am too old even for that, and then there will be nothing at all. Again I offer."

For a minute I was tempted. In the morning I was going to have to do a couple of things that would leave me briefly but dangerously exposed. I was pretty sure I'd be OK, but "pretty sure" was a long way from certain, and it'd be damn comforting to have somebody with me who could shoot back if Cesar and his pals found me and brought out the artillery.