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4
Adelaide neared the entrance of the bar alone. She had her communication unit on. "Entering in five steps."
"Roger."
"Roger."
Her teammates replied. She pulled open the door and schooled her features when the odor of old beer, cigar smoke, and body odor assaulted her. Another din of mixed signals. Washington had a no smoking in public places order, yet here were all the congressional law makers doing what they wanted regardless. These assholes would have other bar owners fined for allowing this. Maya was right about hating Washington. It was a cesspool of the worst kind.
She spotted Senator Jackson right away. Not because he was so handsome. Far from it. He was a hundred pounds overweight. Balding. The hair he did have needed to be cut six months ago. He had a half-assed comb-over which literally consisted of about ten hairs. His clothes fit sloppily, his posture was nonexistent. All in all, what else could this frump do for a living except this?
He stood in the middle of the floor, pointing his pudgy forefinger at another man who looked him in the eye and stared him down as Senator Jackson spewed.
"You promised if I voted for your mother-fucking farm-aid bill you'd stump for me and advertise with me. When the time to pay up came along, you were hard to fucking find."
The younger gentleman simply shrugged a shoulder and took a drink from his bottle of beer.
Myles and Henry entered the bar from the back and ambled closer to the melee to hear Senator Jackson expel profanities and accusations. The nod she gave them was so slight you'd have to be looking to see it.
The younger man tired of Senator Jackson's mudslinging and walked away, missing the swing Senator Jackson flailed at him.
Henry stepped in front of Senator Jackson and softly said, "Can I buy you a drink. It seems as though you've had a hard time of it and could use one."
"Yeah. Yeah. Hard time. Fuckers hung me out to dry."
Addy neared the bar where there were three empty stools and plopped down on the farthest one to the left. Henry steered Senator Jackson to the middle stool, next to her and planted himself on the other. Myles stood to the end of the bar, watching for signs of danger. Maybe retaliation for the senator's harsh words this evening. As the drinks flowed, tempers seemed to shorten.
Senator Jackson tapped his fingers on top of the bar. "Bartender!" He bellowed. "Give me a beer."
The woman behind the bar glanced at him. Her lips turned down at the corners and her wary, or maybe weary eyes looked into Addy's. Addy grinned slightly and nodded in commiseration and the woman behind the bar turned and pulled a bottle of beer from the bank of coolers behind her.
Opening the bottle, she set it down neatly on a coaster with the bar's name printed in red around it. Henry spoke up. "This is on me. I'll take a Coors and get the little lady what she wants."
The bartender stepped in front of Addy. "What'll you have hon?"
"I'll have a Coors too. Thank you." She smiled brightly, knowing this woman was likely in need of someone less surly and more friendly by this point.
She returned Addy's smile, set the beers on the bar, neatly in the middle of the coasters and Henry threw money on the bar. "Get yourself something too."
The woman bit her bottom lip and hesitated. Addy encouraged her. "If you can't drink behind the bar, get a soda or something. But you need to keep yourself hydrated."
The grateful bartender nodded and pulled a can of soda from the cooler.
Senator Jackson huffed out a breath. "Thanks for the drink. What're you after?"
Henry shook his head. "I'm not after anything. It simply looked like you needed a break. When I came in it looked like you against the entire bar."
Addy picked up her beer bottle and held it up toward Henry. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Senator Jackson turned to her then, "I haven't seen you here before."
"No, I'm from out of town. My friend said she and her husband visited here last year and it was worth checking out."
"It's kind of a shithole." The senator responded. "But, we like it here because we're largely left alone. Out on U Street, people are always asking us to vote for this bill or help with that bill or whatever the new need is for the day. Sometimes it's nice to come here and not be hounded."
Addy nodded. "I can see that. But it sure looked like you weren't having any fun a bit ago."
