The Cabbie and the Cop – 31

“No games?” Vergil asked as he scanned the icons before opening a clean document file.

“A few.” Simeon tapped a folder in the bottom corner of the screen. “And you’re not to even think about going in there until after this is over. I don’t want to loose you to playing and have you forget what’s important at the moment.”

Vergil grinned, then muttered under his breath when the folder wouldn’t open. “No fair.”

“Once we’ve dealt with Calaul, then you can play to your heart’s content.”

“Killjoy.” Vergil returned to the blank document. “Okay. Describe him, please.”

“Approximately five-ten, average build, medium brown hair, blue eyes, very nondescript all in all.”

“That helps—not. There’s nothing to make him stand out?”

“Vergil, he’s a hired killer, of course there isn’t. Any more than there’s anything which makes you stand out as long as your marks are hidden.”

“Other than my classic good looks.” Vergil turned to grin at him.

“Don’t flatter yourself. In this world good-looking blond males are a dime a dozen.”

“I know, I was just kidding. I couldn’t do my job if I stood out, any more than he could. So this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“A very sharp needle.” Simeon rubbed his forehead between his fingertips in frustration. “I wish I was artistic. Then maybe I could draw him for you.”

“You do know what he looks like which is a start. Now we just have to pull him out of the woodwork somehow.”

“He’ll only come out when he’s certain he can kill you without any complications.”

“Then I have to be visible but in such a way that I seem to be trying very hard not to be.”

Simeon pulled over the one other chair in the office to sit, putting one elbow on the edge of the desk so he could rest his chin on his fist as he thought about that. “It’s too bad there’s not mole in your department. It would make things much easier.”

“There is, although the lieutenant hasn’t been able to pin down who it is yet. Someone leaked the information to one of Harwood’s confederates that I was a plant. It was too late for them by the time they found out, but still someone alerted them.”

“Excellent. This could work to both your lieutenant's and our advantage then. First we have to find a place for you to go to ground that would be defensible and yet seem to have weaknesses.”

“Somewhere not in the heart of the city. I don’t want any innocents getting hurt.”

“Absolutely, and I know just the spot.”