The moment Edgar closed the door, Devon came at him with a vicious right hook that would have tore his head off had it connected. Edgar knew Devon too well, and was already ready to block the incoming shot, grabbed his attacker's arm and used it to fling him over his shoulder and into the wall with a horrendous thud. It took Devon a few moments to shake it off but he got back to his feet and tried again, and the two men blocked punches and kicks for a few seconds. Devon broke things up by grabbing Edgar's leg and tossing him across his desk, knocking him and scattering all the stuff on top his desk onto the floor. Devon walked over to the other side of the desk, picked Edgar up off the floor and pinned him to the wall. The big man didn't seem happy at that point for some reason.
"Why didn't you care to fill us in on this information?" Devon asked, his annoyance coming through rather well. "Don't you think we deserved to know what kind of trouble you bastards were getting us into before we agreed to work for you and that crazy kid at the white board?"
Edgar responded with a swift kick to Devon's left knee that caused him to buckle and loosen his grip a little. Edgar than used the moment of freedom to deliver a swift uppercut that connected squarely on Devon's jaw, sending the biker falling to the floor, landing on his back with another ugly thud. After taking a large huff, Devon attempted to get back up. It was something Edgar didn't approve of as he kicked he bounty hunter back to the floor.
"Stay down there for a few moments," Edgar said, "Or I'll put you down again and this time you won't be able to get up. Understood?"
"When were you going to tell me about all this crap?" Devon sharply asked, wiping the blood of his chin, "My team and I had a right to know about this. It's one thing to deal with personal body guards, but dealing with covert government agencies is another matter all together!"
"You haven't even accepted the job yet, you ignorant son-of-a-bitch!" Edgar yelled back, "Why am I going to give away vital details of the case to someone who isn't even officially onboard yet?"
"You knew that there was a chance my team might back out if we knew that the doors we might be knocking down happened to be on government property." Devon said without an ounce of regret, "You deserved that shot for being an arrogant, untrusting prick."
"Well, I'd rather be hated than boring." Edgar said as he didn't give a shit what Devon thought of him, "We had every intention of telling you because your job isn't just to help us with the search but to watch our backs in case some of these wild stories ring true."
"Do you really believe that brat's theories?" Devon said as he sat up but remained seated on the floor, "Because they sounded really out there."
"That's what we've been hired to do." Edgar crouched down and looked Devon in the eyes, "Find out whether the story is true or if it's just another harebrained assumption." We may not like each other very much, but I trust you. We have a history that goes a long way, and when doing a job this dangerous I need someone who I completely trust to have my back. In order to look forward and search for the difficult answers, I can't afford to keep looking behind me to make sure everything on my side is all right. I'm going to cover my ass when things get out of control, just in case that nut ball is right. Your team's uncanny ability to sneak up on someone and hunt them down would be an asset for this kind of case."
"I don't get it. Why are you tossing so much money my way? She doesn't look that loaded to..." Devon paused as his brain seemed to pick up the pace and answer the question for him, "Shit."
"Keep going," Edgar said.
"Someone else is picking up the tab," he spat a little blood out from the side of his mouth, "Give me a name. Who wants us to look for a person that some else just as powerful doesn't want us to find?"
Edgar responded by walking out of the room. Devon picked himself off the floor and sat on the corner of the messed up desk and waited for him to return. Everyone who was in the conference room came out into the lobby to listen to the fight going on inside Edgar's office. As he walked out, Edgar raised his hand and stopped Tuck from saying anything. Instead he took the manifest away from Jerome, turned around and then walked right back into the office and slammed the door behind him. He handed the piece of paper to Devon and then sat down in his chair. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and huffed out loud
"Just let me know when you come by a name that should be familiar to us both." Edgar said, as he patiently waited.
Devon scanned the piece of paper and than finally stopped when he reached the name Edgar knew he would recognize.
"Sweet Jesus," the bounty hunter cursed as it started to all make sense, "I thought that rolling prune wasn't talking to you anymore."
"That would make two of us, but then he invited me to lunch and gave me that manifest as a peace offering." Edgar reached into a drawer and pulled out his scotch bottle and two shot glasses, "He wants us to take Ms. Johnson's case with the hope that if one of them could be found then so could his daughter."
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"Fuck me," Devon said, "How much is that old bastard paying us to chase this lead?"
"Enough to make me want to work with you again." Edgar answered.
Devon took his rink and downed it. "That's a lot of fucking money."
"You have no idea," Edgar said as he passed a full shot glass to Devon. After putting the bottle down, he slammed down his own shot glass,
"Goddamn," Davon said, passing his glass back.
"So are you in?" he quickly asked.
Devon paused for a moment, "Tuck said all expenses are covered, which means the money you're offering is all take home?"
"That's correct." Edgar confirmed, "What did your team say?"
"Some are worried about the danger," Devon answered, "While others are more than eager to take your money. We're on board with this one Edgar, but I need you to be 100% honest with me or it will only stall any attempt we make at trying to find this person."
"Sounds fair to me," Edgar said, "Anything else?"
"Yeah," Devon said as he finally got back to his feet, "I only answer to you. There's no way in hell I'm taking orders from that old fart."
"He's not going to be here," Edgar added. "Norsberg wants to keep a very low profile."
"That's the first smart thing I've ever heard him do." Devon admitted.
"For once I happen to agree." Edgar said, as their conversation was finally starting to turn pleasant, "I know how you work, and for that reason I know you'll be the best man to for this job. I really hope the team is willing to work with us on this."
"The only reason why I'm willing to do this is for the green," Devon said, sighing deeply. "That being said, I want three hundred large upfront and another hundred after we find the woman. Given the kind of people we are possible bound to piss off, I think that's very reasonable."
Edgar knew this was coming. Now that Devon knew who was footing the bill, it was foolish to assume he wouldn't up the bounty. Truth was Edgar needed Devon a hell of a lot more than Devon needed the money, "Two fifty now, and another two fifty after you find her."
Devon was taken back by Edgar offering more, but given the situation the detective was taking a page from the old man's book. It seemed to work as Devon gave Edgar a smile and reach out to shake his hand.
"Deal," Devon said, "Sorry about the office."
"I get it," Edgar said, "Let's try to be more civil next time."
"Alright," Devon conceded, "I'll try."
"So," Edgar started, "Shall I have Tuck wire the first payment to the usual account?"
"No." Devon replied rather quickly, "I'll give new account info to Tuck."
"Is there anything else we need to discuss before we let everyone know things are cool again in here?" Edgar said as he put the booze away.
"No," Devon said as he backed to the door, "It just felt good to get a few licks in after what happened last time. We're cool."
"Good to hear," Edgar said as he huffed loudly as he got out of his chair, "Because we have work to do. We're working on the basics right now. You have enough to brief your team don't you?"
"I do." Devon said, "And what if some of my people don't want to participate in this little adventure? I don't force people to work cases they're not comfortable with."
"Then they get to take nice long vacation, without pay." Edgar responded, "And they can meet up with you after the case is over."
"I'll let them know. We'll be back tomorrow morning to get things started." Devon said as he started to walk to the door, "I assume the funds will be in my account by then?" he quietly asked.
"Two hundred and fifty large." Edgar confirmed, "Give Tuck the new info and he'll take care of it as soon as possible."
Devon walked out of the office and didn't say a word to anyone as he walked over to tuck and passed him a piece of paper, "New account number, mate. He'll fill you in on the new numbers."
Without saying anything else, Devon walked straight through the lobby and out the door. As Edgar walked out, he knew exactly what Tuck was going to ask and got ahead of him.
"Relax partner," Edgar said, "They're still onboard. The details of the case just inflated his price. I've got things are under control."
Edgar suddenly realized that during his scuffle with Devon the Chinese they ordered had finally arrived. He grabbed a small box of battered shrimp, sat down and started to pop a few pieces.
"Is Devon going to be a problem?" Tuck asked, somewhat concerned.
"At first I thought so," Edgar answered, "He just needed a moment to get something off his chest and onto my chin. Now that we've gotten that out of our system, we're on the same page. He's on board but needs to re-brief his team."
"That seems fair," Tuck said, "They need to make an informed choice."
"We also need to think about a way we can locate this women without alerting people of what we're up to." Edgar added, "We can't run around posting flyers and stuff. This means the usual PI stuff won't work because if we ask questions to the wrong people, they could tell someone else who might spoil what chances we have of finding her. We're going to work by finding stuff that her Mom likes, such as habits and hobbies and use those to locate her. That's where you come in."
It took a second for everyone to realize he was gesturing to Jessica.
"What do you want to know?" Jessica asked, ready to help out.
"We need to know every detail about your Mom," Edgar started, "From there we'll plan our attack. I want to know if she likes a specific kind of food, a favorite fast food chain. If she likes to hit the shopping network, what products get her reaching for the plastic. Basically everything she does and likes to do. We can try to track her by exploiting those details and hopefully that will allow us to get close enough without setting off any alarms. What way we'll attempt to find her through means that no one else will think of or look for."
"Alright." Jessica said, as she agreed, "Let's get started."