A short while later

Michael parked outside the office. Lani had put on her vest and duty belt, almost looking like a bail bondsman about to drag someone back to jail. Michael had also grabbed his duty belt and got it put on with Lani’s help while driving. They stepped out of the suburban and walked to the main entrance. Tom was waiting with a singular escort.

Tom held his hand up, “now now, let’s be calm about this,” he tried to say in hopes of keeping tensions down.

Michael shrugged, “he’s croaked isn’t he?”

Tom shook his head. “He woke up as he was being loaded into evac,” he said calmly, “he said you were coming to kill him.”

“Kinda deserves it,” Lani piped up, “but if we build a case we can destroy him worse than if I choke him with butane.”

Tom's eyes went wide, “Why do I believe that you’ve done exactly that?”

Michael chuckled, knowing that there was a small amount of truth to what Lani said.

Lani shrugged. “I mean, it wasn’t butane but sure.” she turned to Michael and in her chibbiest loli grin possible, she leaned to him. “Someone tried to bug the old house, and I may have burned him from the inside with gas stuff.”

Michael wrapped an arm around her shoulders with a big smile and leaned his head to her ear. “Trying to send a message?” he asked her as he tried to contain his chuckling. All Lani could really do was look at him with a straightened face of darkness. Though most men would fear such coldness and brutality, Michael smiled. “That sounds like my little sister doing work.”

Lani smiled wide as she felt Michaels approval.

Tom stood there with his arms crossed, waiting for someone to remember that he was still standing there. “Wanna look in his office then?” he piped up trying to get the focus back on the issue at hand. “I’m sure we can administratively log into his computer,” he said in something just above a mumble.

Michael looked up at Tom, his eyes narrowed. “He might not have left anything on his computer to be found.”

Lani started walking towards Bernards office, “Worst case scenario I can hang him with his cable!” She continued to walk to his office where she was met by two guards standing in front of it.

Tom had chased behind her, waving the guards out of her way. One of them stepped back immediately, the other grabbed a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door before stepping out of her way. “Here you go ma’am,” the guard said softly, “We’ll make sure you don’t get disturbed.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Lani walked in and sat at the computer, she went first to the drawers where she found some of them locked. This didn’t matter as she simply ripped them open. Shuffling through papers, she found nothing unusual. She moved to the computer and turned it on. After a few minutes, she found that it didn’t require a password to get in. You’re a government worker and don’t protect your shit? Lani started sifting through emails and files. She found an alternate email under some encryption, but the encryption was so weak that she didn’t have to spend much time digging through it. Eventually she found a correspondence with someone calling themselves Shinigami. Japanese, God of Death? The messages between them were weird. They were talking mostly about where Michael and Lani had been going, and when to avoid going to those places. There were more recent messages about delivering weapons, including the phosphorus ordinance. 81mm Mortar tube, and a truck to move it around in. There was even an instruction manual tossed in to make sure they could use it right. The last message stated that Michael and Lani were headed down a certain highway, and that they could be ‘dealt with’ there.

Too convenient, Lani thought to herself. She printed out all the emails before ripping the power cable from the computer and taking it with her. She took the stack of documents and fed them into a copying machine. She had three copies of the entire stack made. One stack, she left on Bernard's desk. One stack, she handed to Tom. The original print she handed to Michael, and the last copy she kept as she walked to the suburban.

Michael got the hospital location before jumping in and driving.

“Michael,” Lani said softly, “these motherfuckers are gonna murder people.”

“I see that.” Michael said flatly.

“They’re gonna burn people, blow them up,” Lani continued to go on.

“Lani,” Michael interrupted, “I get it just as much as you.” He grabbed her hand and held it firmly. “We’re gonna make this right.”

Lani clenched his hand tight. “They weren’t extorting him,” she said through her teeth. “He jumped at the opportunity to throw us to these people!”

“I get that,” Michael said firmly, “And it’s no different than when he had Sarah killed for convenience.” He kept his focus on the road while still holding Lani’s hand. “He’s been scum from the time I’ve known him all the way till now.”

“Convenience?” Lani had sorta heard him say this previously, but she hadn’t put much thought into the backstory of it. “What convenience did he get?”

Michael rolled his eyes, having tried not to put much thought into things that bothered him. “She owned a building,” he said through a grumble. “I didn’t care enough to ask what he gained from her death.”

“You don’t usually miss a chance to question people,” Lani said softly.

“I wasn’t allowed to kill him then,” Michael said back, “if I had continued the conversation he’d have probably killed himself with his answers.”

For a moment, there was silence as they rolled down the road toward the hospital. Lani sat staring out the windows for a few minutes before finally uttering some words. “We’re the consequence for shit like this.”

Michael nodded, with a soft smile.