Just Enough Power - 17

Wig's arm was extended in marksman pose, though his Glock was less than five feet from Lonnigan's face. The laser dot on her forehead moved up and down with every beat of his heart, but it didn't move much. Wig was good with a gun.

She didn't speak, didn't respond, just kept her eyes locked on his. The silence in the room stretched out - five seconds, ten, then twenty. Lonnigan allowed herself to blink, her eyelids catching on her dry eyes. Still, she said nothing, and still, the laser sight on Wig's weapon gleamed. A bead of sweat ran down from her scalp onto her face, reflecting and refracting the beam; out of the corner of her eye, she saw it glint redly on the glass-fronted cabinets.

The sweat ran down, the laser light flashed, and still, she said nothing.

Wig pursed his lips into a scowl and lifted his weapon to point upward, resetting the safety in the same motion. For a moment, the laser dot shone on one of the ceiling tiles before he thumbed it off.

"Goddamn it, Lonnigan!" he said. "You know goddamn well you should have reported this! Mr. Kim is NOT going to be happy about this breach of security, and I swear to God, if he tells me to kill you, I'm gonna do it with a smile on my face. This is bullshit, Lonnigan, this is total and complete bullshit! It's no way to treat family!"

"And is that what I am, Wig?" She was running the heel of her hand across her forehead, wiping away the slick of sweat. "Am I part of the family or not? After hitting Tong's data storage facility, I figured that was the end of my probation. After all, I killed four of Tong's people while I was getting Mr. Kim that little plum, and I did it solo. Did I pass the test or not?"

"Don't question Mr. Kim, Lonnigan. Don't even try."

"Fuck you, Wig, I will question it when it comes to this constant suspicion about me. He recruited me, watched me, tested me and decided I'm OK. Hell, I even got to go out for an afternoon by myself for a change. But I guess I wasn't really by myself, was I, Wig? What was it? Live surveillance or a bug? You didn't shoot me the instant that fucking DOJ guy came up to me, so I'm guessing it was electronic, and you only just today got around to reviewing the feed? I figured there was some stupid ass reason you called me for a reset, and this bullshit interrogation is it."

"You're on thin ice, Lonnigan. You better calm down."

"Don't FUCKING tell me to calm down, Wig. In case you didn't notice, that Glock is still in your hand, not your holster. You've got some kind of fucking nerve, you know that? Speculating about whether or not I can be trusted when you were ready to kill me just because you didn't like the truth when you heard it. Why the hell should I trust you, huh? After all these months, I thought maybe we were friends, or at least friendly. Now I know we aren't, and never will be."

Wig holstered his gun. "Lonnigan, you meet with a federal agent, it sets off alarm bells. Simple as that."

"I didn't meet with him, he tagged me. He wants the same thing Mr. Kim wants, to knock over Tong." Lonningan got down from the table and reached to put on her shoes.

"Yeah?" Wig's arms were crossed. "And is that what you want? Really?"

"What I want? It's what Mr. Kim wants, and I work for Mr. Kim. However, none of you assholes trust me because I haven't worked here as long as you. Therefore, nobody gives a shit what I want, and every one of you will continue to not give a shit what I want until I prove to you that I'm part of this organization. I was GOING to gift wrap Mr. Department of Justice and give him to Mr. Kim at the staff meeting tomorrow morning. Stringing the DOJ along and throwing them at Tong will, at the very least, distract the Tong organization while we rip into them. It's a nice plan, it's MY nice plan, and I was GOING to use it to get some respect around here. All you bastards get to run down leads independently and set up stuff that you think might turn a profit. But me? Oh, hell no, I'm not allowed to do jack shit by myself, not even have lunch, apparently, let alone set up an op." She straightened and looked him in the eye again. "But that's fine, Wig. Fine. I don't care. Let's go up and see Mr. Kim right now, and I'll lay it out for him. He can do whatever he wants." Her hand was on the doorknob now, ready to leave.

"Hey, Lonnigan."

She took a deep breath, then turned to look back at Wig. "What?"

"I... might have overreacted." He scrunched his face up and squinted at her. "I say 'might have'. Mr. Kim will decide about that. But, regardless, I just... well, look, I'm sorry I scared you."

Lonnigan rolled her eyes. "You didn't scare me, Wig. For chrissakes, don't pat yourself on the back."
"Listen, tough guy, I saw the sweat roll down your face. You were scared."

"Wig, I've had my Talent since I was five. Without this fucking psi-suppressor collar, I could have frozen your Glock and broken your neck, and taken less than a second to do both. However, with this collar on... well, let's just say that self-restraint doesn't come naturally to me, especially when it comes to instinctive self-preservation reflexes, but I'm working on it. It's an effort, but I'm working on it."

She opened the door and walked out of the room. Wig caught the swinging door and followed.

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