Seven’s Warning
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Bagus had been arrested, detained, questioned and released back
into the wild. Declan thought they were working him and it would lead them
somewhere. Sonny disagreed. They followed Bagus for three days and for three
days he refused to report in to anyone on the street. He barely left his
apartment and when he did, he walked the same streets and ate at the same
restaurants. Sonny was less that impressed by Declan’s plan. Declan explained
that Bagus was now considered toxic by his gang. Everyone would have known he
had been arrested. No one would trust him. Three days of the same routine was
his way of showing that he wasn’t going to lead the police anywhere and that no
one was following him. Someone on the street had noticed and reported it.
“Wouldn’t they just notice us too?” asked Sonny.
Declan didn’t like to be questioned.
On the fourth day a car arrived outside Bagus’ apartment and a
group of Japanese men and one woman paid him a visit. Declan took that to mean
he had been right all along. Sonny wished they had bugged the apartment in
advance, but supposedly Declan didn’t have the authority to do it.
“How will we know what they talked about?”
“We’ll pick Bagus up again later.”
“And he’ll tell us the truth?”
“Well first we see if they kill him or not. Then yeah, next time
he talks to us he’ll tell us the truth, or we won’t release him back into the
wild again. Next time we can let everyone in the neighborhood he talked to us.
Then he’ll have to talk to us.”
Bagus didn’t leave his apartment that day, but close to midnight
he received another visitor. This time a lone woman. Declan didn’t recognize
her, but added her to his list.
The next day Declan was more interested in tracking down Kaylee
than following up on any of Bagus’ leads. Declan explained he had Kaylee trailing
one of the Dragon Claw Agents for weeks now. If she wanted to meet, she must
have important information. He apologized for not telling Sonny sooner about
her missing but it was important to keep it as secret as possible to prevent
anyone from finding out who she was or what she was doing. The Dragon’s Claw had
contacts everywhere and Declan couldn’t trust many people.
Kaylee told them about her encounter with Seven and his warning
and his fears of upcoming gang wars. Declan listened and considered the
information. Sonny thought he might reproach her for being foolish or taking
the risk of meeting Seven in his apartment. But Declan said nothing.
After a minute he told them he had to go, with no further explanation.
He said they should keep an eye on Bagus and figure out who he was meeting with
and what it had to do with The Dragon’s Claw, and then he left.
“Should we follow him?” Sonny asked Kaylee.
“I think we do what he asked.”
Sonny sensed Kaylee knew more or was suspicious of something but
wasn’t saying.
“What do you know about him? You trust him?”
“I think he has contacts I don’t.”
“But you trust that?”
“I don’t know if it’s totally safe or legal, but I think he knows
where to find things out. I think he can find out if Seven is telling the
truth.”
Sonny thought about his experiences with Declan and searching for
the counterfeiters. Declan certainly seemed to know his fair share of criminals
and understood the workings of the underground. He didn’t like being left out
once again, but Kaylee was probably right and Declan had good reasons not to reveal
all his secrets.
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