The flight home from England had, thankfully, been uneventful. Our pilots taxied us directly into a hanger, where we disembarked. Benny and Trigger unloaded the luggage, Dee played with her tiger, and I took the time to pay my pilots.

These two young men were cousins of Benny who had needed a helping hand in order to keep them out of the drug dealing that was so proliferate in their neighborhood. In need of pilots at the time, I had agreed to send the boys to flight school, provided they fly for me whenever I needed them. The deal had been accepted readily, and now the two made money on the side with charter flights (all approved by me when my plane was used), or renting themselves out to those who had a plane, but were in need of a pilot.

Once they were paid, the two headed off in order to start spending their money, leaving me to stand and either watch the boys unload, or my girlfriend play with her pet. I chose the latter, obviously. But as I watched her, I couldn't help but be reminded of her actions in England. Was this girl, who could be so gentle, really the same one that I had watched disembowel two men? The difference in her was like night and day.

Now she wandered over to me, holding Tangram like a baby. She nudged me, playfully, and leaned against me. Her actions that day had been nothing to her, but they plagued my dreams.

"Eddie, we're hungry. Can we stop someplace and have lunch? Someplace where we can take him with us?" she asked, waving one of Tangram's paws at me.

"The only place I could think of going is over to Garibaldi's. Renato has a private room that he'll let us sit in."

She frowned at me. "I'm not really in the mood for Italian right now."

"Well, what do you want? We can order something to go and eat it back at the warehouse, if you'd like."

"I want to spend some time alone with you while we eat. Away from home," she pouted.

I sighed. I was tired, not really in a mood to put up with her finicky ways at the moment. "Fine. Oswald will let us bring him into the Iceberg Lounge. He'll give us a booth out of sight so no one sees him. That little ruffian is still being searched for, you know."

Dee stood on tiptoe and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you, Eddie."

Tangram yawned in her arms, then chuffed at her, pawing her chin.

"We're going to go eat, darling. Daddy's going to take us out, and we'll get you a nice steak to eat," she said, touching noses with the beast.

"Benny, Trigger, would you take the bags back to the warehouse? We're going to go eat and we'll be back soon enough."

"Sure thing, boss," Trigger replied, slinging a bag of my suits over his shoulder.

"Your bank accounts should be up-to-date by this evening. There's a lot of business that I need to attend to, and I might need your help later this week or next. Other than that, feel free to take some time off."

The two nodded. I made a quick phone call to the Iceberg, and then led Dee out of the hanger. Oswald was sending a car for us, and preparing a booth. While the man was a pompous windbag at times, he did take care of his customers.

~ ~ ~

"Happy?" I asked after we had been served.

Spearing a piece of roast chicken onto her fork, and covering it with mashed potatoes, she nodded with a grin. "Very! This is really good. Want some?" she offered.

"No, I'm fine, thanks," I said, eating my steak.

The good thing about being a regular at the Iceberg Lounge was that everyone not only knew who I was, but knew what I wanted and liked. The bartender had sent over a tumbler and my reserved bottle of scotch without even having to be asked. Another great thing was if you wanted some privacy, you got it. Well, sort of. I knew, for a fact, that Oswald had many of the "private" booths bugged with listening devices, and some with visuals, all for the sake of getting information on his customers that they wouldn't willingly share with him.

I had just finished my food, and was working on getting pleasantly buzzed with scotch, when Raven, one of the hostesses, came over to let me know there was a phone call for me, from Trigger. Now, normally, they would bring over the cordless extension. However, she said that Trigger had asked that I come to the front desk to take the call. I felt the hair go up on the back of my neck.

"Yes, Trigger?"

"Boss, you gotta come back to the place right now," he said, sounding anxious.

"Trigger, I'm in the middle of eating. Is it really that important?" I asked, exasperated.

There was a loud crash, and I could hear Benny in the background, shouting.

"Trigger, what is going on over there? That noise had better not be coming from my study or my room!"

"I'm in the study right now, boss. That's um..." There was a short pause. "Your room. Look, you really need to get back here now!" he insisted.

"I'll be over as soon as I can. Let me just get Query and..."

"No! Boss, don't bring her!" warned Trigger, his voice going beyond anxious, to outright paranoia. "It's... It's... Boss, the girls are back."

At that moment, I felt my heart stop, and I was suddenly sweating profusely. I nodded, even though I was on the phone.

"Trigger, keep them away from my room any way you have to. I'm coming over right now."

Hanging up, I asked Raven to get a ride set up for me, immediately. As she did that, I hurried back to the booth, where Dee was busy having Tangram snap chicken necks out of the air.

"Kitten, something came up, and I need to deal with it right now. Take your time and finish your meal. I'll send one of the boys to pick you up here in a little while, ok?"

She tilted her head and looked at me. "Is everything ok? You need me to go?"

Waving my hands, I said, "Oh, no! No. Everything is ok, just this er... Business. Yes. Business that I need to get done right now. It'll just be boring for you. No need for you to go."

Without another word, I turned and headed back to the front desk, cursing myself. That was not smoothly done at all, and I would have a lot of explaining to do later. But she was staying, and at this moment, that's what mattered.

Raven held the door for me as I swept out, and into the awaiting car. I gave the driver instructions, and tried to regain my composure on the drive to the warehouse.
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