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Behind them, a door opened onto a wooden stairway. They followed Able up the stairs to a party room, twelve or fifteen men and a half-dozen women, twenties and thirties and one very tattooed and tee-shirted senior citizen. Jan, the bass player, was there, and nodded at Letty. The others acknowledged Able and, cautiously, Letty and Baxter, as one man asked, “Who are they?”
Able asked him, “Have you been on SlapBack today?”
The man said, “Really?” and a cluster formed around the newcomers and somebody asked Letty a question she didn’t understand and she said, “I don’t do computers.” She tipped her head at Baxter and said, “Paul does... Anyone got a beer?”
Baxter got into the computer talk and fifteen minutes later, Able asked, “Everybody good?”
Most were, a few weren’t—and Able said, “C’mon. You all know about Loren and Brianna. What’s this about Danny Delph?”
Somebody said, “He’s gone. We can’t find him.”
“Who is he?” Letty asked. She was limping around the room with her cane.
“A friend of Loren’s, he was on the train raid,” Able said. “Did he take off, or...”
A blond woman, thin, wearing a man’s cowboy shirt with pearl snaps and ripped jeans, said, “He didn’t take off. Either he or Anniewould have told me. He’s gone and I don’t know where, and neither does Annie.”
Letty: “Did he say anything about Russians?”
The blonde shrugged and said, “Not that I heard. But I think we should be scared. My William is in the LAPD files and he looked at the reports on Loren and Brianna and they say they were both executed.Executed. Then the FBI landed on those Russians in the Valley and they had hand grenades and machine guns. The Russians did.”
Letty asked, “Did you go into Delph’s place?”
“No, we don’t have any way to get in.”
“House or apartment?”
“Apartment. Up the street in Santa Monica... sorta. Maybe not quite Santa Monica, but up there... in that direction.”
“Gimme the address,” Letty said. “Paul and I’ll check. You could come along if you like.”
The blonde was reluctant, but eventually coughed up the address; she didn’t want to come along. Baxter was deeply involved in a discussion of the SlapBack hack and Letty asked the blonde if she knew anything about a Russian railroad attack.
“I’ve heard about it from my William...”
“Your friend...”
“Yes. When the news said the killers might be Russian, he started packing up. He thinks we ought to head for Vegas. Lay low.”
“Not a bad idea,” Letty said. “Is your William here?”
She turned and looked toward the party bar, which lacked a bartender or any drinks, and said, “The guy in the blue shirt.”
The man in the blue shirt didn’t want to talk and tried to turn away as Letty limped up, but Letty said, “Look at me,” and he turned back and asked, “Why?”
“I’ve got some things to ask you and some things to tell you,” Letty said. “You don’t have to answer the questions, but you better listen to me.”
She told him the story about driving west to find Ordinary People, hoping for help in getting money out of a Bitcoin wallet. And then Able had told them about the Russian train hack.
“From what I can tell, the Russians are here and they’re pissed. They’re not only pissed, they’re worried you might fuck with their trains again, right when they need them, if they invade Ukraine,” Letty said. “I’m afraid you’ve contaminated me and Paul—Loren and Brianna were killed right after we talked to them, and it’s possible that the Russians trailed them from Able’s house. If they did that, they’ve got my name and Paul’s and our truck tags and the same thing for a bunch of Able’s friends.”
“I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to disappear,” William said. “As soon as we’re done here.”
“That’s not a long-term solution. If the Russian intelligence people are here, with guns, they’ll find you. The long-term solution is to spot these guys and give them to the FBI,” Letty said. “You’re all smart—you oughta be able to do that.”
“Youspot them. My Melody and I are gonna take off.”
“You think Danny Delph took off?”
