Outline
Outline
Skinner didn’t try to move when the other man sat up in bed, throwing his legs over the side. There were familiar scars on his back, scars they shared, scars from wounds he’d helped patched up, and a few he’d put there himself. There were new ones though that weren’t so new but years and distance had kept them from reconnecting. It was a shame really. So many of them were gone, their old buddies who’d bled with them.
“There is some strange shit in this world Walter.”
The FBI agent smiled. “Are you talking about us, or in general?”
John looked over his shoulder and smiled. There was something stiff about it, like it was something he didn’t do often but it loosened and it reached his eyes as he laughed lightly. “Both.” He looked down and shook his head, letting out a deep breath. “We both know I came looking for you for a reason.”
Walter nodded and waited for the shoe to drop. “I got two boys now Walter. Mary died when they were little and… it was something nasty. My boys and I have been hunting it since, but… my boy, my Dean… he got into some trouble. Nothing he did but he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and…”
“You want me to look into it?”
“No. I want you to make it disappear.”
Walter sat up in bed. “You’re asking me to get involved in a police case?”
“No, I’m asking you to wipe out the FBI case. The local stuff we can take care of on our own.”
“Jesus John, you never did go small on your favors.”
John just nodded and there was nothing else to say to that. Years and miles apart, but Walter figured they still knew one another just about better than anyone. Maybe not the details but the outline was still the same. John was still the same man who’d pushed and pulled and sacrificed to get him out of enemy hands and Walter would never be able to repay the debt that John had never allowed him to repay. Only now, for his son, he was asking for it.
“Never saw a reason to.”
Walter nodded slightly. “Now that we’re done with business, get your ass back in here.”
John just smiled as he slid back under the covers, debt and trouble forgotten.