Page 55 of A Friend in the Glass

Rufus’s breath came out in white plumes as he turned to face Lew. He demanded, “All right, Q-tip. What the fuck has been going on?”

“I got shot!” Lew hunched, pressing one hand against the wound in his leg. His color wasn’t good, and he was shaking. “You’ve got to get me to a hospital!”

“Tell us what’s been going on with Colonel Bridges and Del Jolly and then maybe I’ll call you an ambulance,” Rufus countered.

Something changed in Lew’s expression—a flicker, deep in his eyes. He seemed to dismiss Rufus and turned to Sam. “I don’t know what you and dipshit think you’re doing, but I’m out of here.”

Sam didn’t answer. It looked like maybe he couldn’t answer. His features were fixed, and he was breathing hard. He folded his arms and settled himself in front of the exit.

Lew threw a quick glance at Rufus again, then back to Sam. “Are you out of your fucking mind, Auden? This is kidnapping. This is false fucking imprisonment.”

In the distance, the sound of the sirens was getting closer.

“Get out of the fucking way!” Lew shouted. “Do you know what kind of shit you’re in?”

“Answer the question,” Sam said. He didn’t sound like the Sam Rufus knew. He didn’t sound like anybody. “Or I’ll beat you to death.”

Lew’s throat moved reflexively. He took a step back, his gaze swinging to Rufus again in a way that was almost a plea.

Rufus nearly missed that desperate look flicker across Lew’s face because he’d been too busy staring at the stranger Sam had become. Just like that. Like a switch had been hit. Rufus licked his dry lips, tried for a deep breath, but it was like theharsh cold air couldn’t reach his lungs. To Lew, he said, “I’m not kidnapping you or imprisoning you, so chill the fuck out. I want to understand what the hell is going on because people are dropping dead and I—” Rufus hesitated and then shrugged. “I just want to protect Sam. That’s all.”

Seconds trickled past. Then Lew laughed. He was still trying to apply pressure to the wound, and it must have hurt, but the sound wasn’t amused—it was hard and ugly. “You want to protect him? Jesus, kid, that’s so fucking sweet. If you want to protect him, get the fuck out of here. Like, now. Take a vacation. How does Iowa sound?” To Sam, he said, “Are you for real with this amateur hour shit?”

But Sam didn’t reply.

“Hey,” Rufus barked, and he could feel his face heating despite the cold. “I’m not a kid. I’ve been through enough shit in thirty-three years to make your hair turn white.” Hands on his hips, Rufus said, “Answer my fucking question or you’ll becrawlingto an ambulance.”

Lew shifted his weight, and pain flashed in his face. He took a calculating look at Sam, and then the tension in his body slackened, and he gave a weary shake of his head. “Someone tried to take me out,” he said, the fight draining from his voice. “What the fuck does it look like?”

“Who?” Rufus demanded.

“Great question.” Lew looked around and hobbled over to a crate. He eased himself against it—not quite sitting, not quite standing, but it seemed to help. The bleeding from the graze on his leg looked like it had slowed, and he closed his eyes for a moment, brow furrowed, before he opened them again. “I don’t know.” He must have thought Sam was going to say something because he held up his free hand and said, “Honest to God, I don’t. Those two fucking train wrecks have been following mearound all day, but I don’t know who they are. I could have handled them if Brady hadn’t pussed out.”

“Stonefish,” Sam said.

“Shit. I told them that bitch would find you.” Lew made a face as he stretched out his leg. “Goddamn fucking Stonefish.”

“It was a cover-up,” Sam said. He was breathing more rapidly now. The color in his cheeks was high, but otherwise, his face looked washed out, his eyes ringed with dark circles.

“Not a very good one.”

“Say it.”

Lew gave him a considering look. “Nobody wanted to go down for that.”

“What about Went? Did Went want to go down for it?”

In the heartbeat before it happened, Rufus realized something was about to go wrong. It was there in the way Lew paused. In the slight arch of his eyebrows. The too-smooth way he asked, “Who?”

Sam launched himself across the unfinished room.

“Sam!” Rufus threw himself into the other man’s path. “Don’t.”

“You killed him!” Sam continued to charge forward, fighting to get past Rufus. “You goddamn piece of shit, you killed him because you were too much of a fucking coward to carry your own fucking water!”

“He killed himself!” Lew shouted back. Somehow, he’d gotten to his feet, although it was clear it was costing him. He stabbed a finger at Sam, aiming past Rufus. “That stupid pansy killed himself! It wasn’t anybody’s fault—it was a fucking disaster!” And then, with a child’s outrage at the unfairness of it all, “Why the fuck should I take the fucking heat?”

Rufus, still shoving Sam back, the soles of his Chucks scraping against the bare concrete floor, shouted at Lew, “Can itwith that tired, bullshit story. Sam, come on.Sam! If you kill him, you’re no better than everyone else involved.”

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