Lance
I take a bite of my toast with peanut butter as Jeannette plays with Nathan on the floor.
It’s nice having this kid around. He’s friendly, and pretty well-mannered. It reminds me of how Danny was like as a baby. I only have a few memories of him that age, but I remember he was fun to be around too.
Nathan crawls around, picking up his colorful, plastic toys and bringing them to Jeannette.
“Oh, good boy!” she coos as she takes the proffered gift. Nathan’s face breaks out into a wide smile. “Aw, come here, honey.”
Jeannette scoops Nathan up in her arms and he squeals with delight. She reaches over to the bowl with some dry cereal in it, picking out one of the O’s.
“Open up, baby.”
Nathan obediently opens his mouth and she sticks the food in, letting his inexperienced lips and tongue take it from her finger. She smacks at the breakfast cereal while Jeannette bounces him in her lap.
“Have you and Katie thought about having kids?” she asks me. I raise my eyebrows as I chew the food in my mouth, washing it down with a slurp of coffee.
“Um, we haven’t really talked about it,” I confess. “To be honest, we’ve mostly been focusing on our careers.”
“Hmm,” she says, focusing on Nathan as he bounces up and down. “You’d make good parents.”
“Oh. Thank you.” I don’t know what to say to that. Jeannette smiles at Nathan, making faces at him, causing him to giggle.
Having children of my own had never really been on my radar. I’ve thought about it, sure—who hasn’t? But thinking about having a baby and actually having one are two very different ballgames. It would certainly be fulfilling, having a child of my own. And having one with Katie … I can think of no one else I’d rather do that with. But then again, I’d have to quit the work I do. Katie wouldn’t be able to go into it. And Thailand would almost certainly be off the table.
Having a baby would compromise my freedom. My whole life would change. For the better or for the worse … it’s hard to say. Like comparing apples to oranges. Or freedom to happiness.
The bedroom door opens, interrupting my thoughts, and Katie steps out. She’s dressed in a sharp black blouse under a purple jacket and thin black skirt. She’s also wearing stockings and high heels, something she’s hardly done since we got together. Her hair is up, and her makeup looks professional without being overwhelming.
All this she told me before going in there.
“How do I look?” she asks, stepping into the living room. Jeannette looks up from where she’s sitting. Even Nathan seems interested. I put my toast down on the plate and get up from the couch.
“You look very professional,” she says.
“I like it,” I tell her.
“Yeah?” Katie looks down at herself, opening her arms to the side. “I don’t want to seem too amateur. Looking at me, do you think I could be the CEO of a business?”
“Definitely,” Jeannette says. I nod too.
“You’ll be fine. Will Silver’s sharp. He’ll be focused more on how you act than how you dress.”
“Well,” Jeannette says, “how she dresses is important too. It makes the first impression. But I think this,” she indicates Katie again, “will definitely make an impression.”
Katie breaks out into a relieved smile.
“You’ve got your gun on you?” I ask her. Katie nods and shows me the holster, hidden underneath the purple jacket. “Good. I don’t imagine you’ll have to use it, but just in case things go awry or you get into danger. But if you play it cool, you’ll be golden. I’ve always thought the best weapon is whatever your mark believes.”
Katie nods. She looks nervous, but ready.
“I’m going to get some coffee,” she says. As she turns for the kitchen, my cell phone rings. I pull it out and look at the display. Jake. Just in time.
I answer it. “Jake.”
“Lance. How’re things looking?”
“Good. Katie’s dressed for the part. We’re ready to go.”
“Good. So Lance, before I come over, there’s been some development.”
My brow furrows and I glance at Jeannette and Nathan, who are back to playing on the floor. Turning so my back is to them, I ask, “What’s up?”
“Nothing big. I, uh … got back together with Merryn this morning. I’m at Trista’s place right now. Also, she and Flynn are back together. I told them the plan. They want to help. Is it all right if they come too?”
I keep my face impassive, even though Jake’s on the phone.
“I don’t know what they can do to help,” I tell him. “We’ve got things pretty much sorted out. They’d have to stay here.”
“That should be fine.”
“Okay … let me check.”
I lower the phone and turn back to Jeannette to see her eyes cast up in my direction. She drops them as soon as I turn, and I can’t help but smile.
“Jeannette?” She looks up again. “I’ve got Jake on the phone. He wants to bring some people with him.” My brain catches up to me. “Actually, one of them is Trista … er, Officer Pearson. Also her boyfriend, and Jake’s girlfriend. Is that all right if they come over? They’d stay here while we’re doing the job.”
Jeannette’s eyebrows had risen when I mentioned Officer Pearson.
“Sure,” she says. “I thought you two didn’t know each other. When I told you about her before …”
“Yes, a lot’s happened in the past few days,” I say. I life the phone back up to my ear. “Jake?”
“That’s Jeannette?” he asks me. He must’ve heard our conversation.
“Yeah.”
“How much did you tell her about the plan?”
I glance down at Jeannette again, but she’s back to playing with Nathan.
“Not much.”
“Okay … good. We’re heading over now. We’ll be there in a bit.”
“Give me a call when you arrive. I’ll come let you in.”
I hang up the phone. Katie’s back in the doorway to the living room, holding a cup of coffee, looking at me with eyebrows raised.
“Jake’s on his way over,” I tell her. “Merryn, Trista, and Flynn are all coming too.”
“Oh,” she says. “They aren’t …”
But I shake my head. “No, they’ll stay here. We’ve already got things sorted out.”
So the four of us hang out in the living room until I get another call from Jake, about fifteen minutes later.
“We’re here.”
I leave the apartment and go down to the parking lot to receive them. Flynn looks terrible, but he says it’s not that bad, although I clock his limp when he walks. The four of them follow me up to the apartment where I let them in. Katie and Jeannette stand up to receive the visitors, Jeannette scooping Nathan up in her arms.
“Hi Officer Pearson.”
“Oh, just Trista now.”
“Oh wow, is this Nathan? I’ve heard about you!”
“Jake and I are expecting in about six weeks.”
“Well, you look amazing!”
“Lance, mind if I grab some water?”
“Uh yeah, the glasses are above the sink.”
Jake leaves for the kitchen while everybody else fills up the living room. There’s hardly enough space to sit, leaving most everyone to stand. Nathan is nervous about the crowd at first, but he warms up quickly. Merryn takes a seat on the couch with Nathan in her lap, who’s fascinated by her large belly.
“Can I get anyone a drink?” I offer.
“Water would be great, thanks.”
“I’ll have some coffee.”
“Same.”
I go into the kitchen, filling up glasses with water, mugs with coffee. I put another pot on once the current one’s empty. Coming back into the room, I realize I’m not cut out to be a waiter.
“Jesus, this is hard, keeping track of what everybody wants,” I tell Katie. She smiles and pats me on the shoulder, taking water glasses from me and helping to dole them out.
Eventually, though, everybody settles down.
“Flynn, what happened to you?” Katie asks, concern obvious in her voice.
“Ah, I tried doing a little vigilante work last night,” he says. “There are these facilities that we—the Bullets—gutted and outfitted to be places for Will to make drugs, right? We did these all over the city. Anyway, the night before last I went to one and managed to burn it down.”
“I heard about that,” I tell him.
“Will was saying it was an electrical fire,” Merryn pitches in. “To cover it up.”
“Well, the truth wouldn’t sound as good,” Flynn says. “Anyway, I tried doing another last night but they’d beefed up their security and I got caught.”
“The cops did that to him,” Trista says with scorn in her voice. “They just beat the shit out of him.”
“Oh my god.” Katie’s shaking her head. “That’s awful.”
But Flynn somehow manages to chuckle. “Well, in their eyes I kind of had it coming.”
“I was going to use that as the excuse to get Will out of PharmaChem, the burned-up building. It’s good to have some back story to it, I guess.”
“Wait, so, just to make sure I’ve got this right,” Merryn asks, “Katie’s going in on her own and Lance and Jake are going to hang back to follow Will and Craig to the site?”
“What?” Jeannette pipes up. Oh no. My heart skips when I realize what Merryn just said. “Did you just say Craig? As in, Craig Silver?”
I share a look with Jake and Katie. Considering what Jake told us about how Craig might have raped Jeannette and gotten her pregnant with Nathan, we figured it’d be easier keeping her in the dark about that part of the plan. That just blew up in our faces. Jeannette starts to breathe heavily. Nathan senses her panic and begins to cry.
“Oh,” Merryn looks apologetic. “I didn’t—”
“It’s all right,” I say. “Jeannette, yes. Craig Silver is a part of this plan.” She begins to panic some more. “But he doesn’t know you’re here,” I say a little bit louder. “He has no idea. And the plan has nothing to do with you. He doesn’t even know you’re involved.” A white lie. Katie dropped Jeannette and Nathan’s names at our meeting with him yesterday, but it didn’t go far. Nothing Jeannette needs to know about. “So you have nothing to worry about.”
Jeannette is still breathing hard, and Nathan is struggling on her lap, little tears coming out of his eyes. Nobody else is saying anything.
“Hey,” Katie says, and she lays a hand on Jeannette’s arm. “Look at me.”
Jeannette looks up into Katie’s eyes. They’re filled with fear.
“You have nothing to worry about. Okay?” Katie’s voice is calm and soothing. She has Jeannette’s gaze locked in place. “This is a safe place. You’re safe here. Nobody knows that you’re here. Nobody’s coming to get you. And when this is all over, you’ll be free. Both Craig and Will will be gone and out of your life for good.”
Jeannette’s breathing has calmed down. She nods, her eyes still trained on Katie’s. Nathan has calmed down too. Man, that kid’s perceptive. Katie’s hand slides down to Jeannette’s, giving it a squeeze. And then she lets go.
Jeannette is visibly calmer. She blinks a few times, glances around the room at the rest of us. Gives an embarrassed laugh.
“I’m sorry,” she says, prompting us all to assure her it’s all right. “I’m just …”
“It’s okay,” Katie says. “You have every right to feel that way.”
Trista nods. Jeannette gives a shaky smile and takes a sip of her coffee.
“So, to answer your question, Merryn,” I say, making a few people laugh, “yes, Katie’s going in on her own. She’ll have a gun with her, though.”
“But that’s a just-in-case,” Katie pipes in. “I’m hoping I won’t have to use it.”
“I don’t think you will. Jake and I will be outside. When she leaves with the others, Katie’s going to call me with the site and we’ll meet them there.”
“How’re you going to follow him?” Trista asks.
“I’ll be in my car, Jake’ll have his bike,” I tell her. “Katie’s going to take a cab to PharmaChem.”
“Why don’t you use my bike?” she offers. “Let Katie take the car. It’ll look better.”
I consider it, nod. Katie’s nodding too.
“That’s very generous, thank you,” she says.
“Anything I can do,” Trista replies.
“And once we’re out there,” Jake chimes in, “the plan is to kill Will Silver. For real this time.”
“What about Craig?” It’s Jeannette asking this time. Jake halts for a moment before answering.
“Um, we told him he’ll be able to leave after this. But …”
“We can get him arrested,” Katie cuts in. Trista nods fervently. Katie turns to Jeannette. “You’re still willing to testify against him for what he did?”
“Absolutely,” Jeannette says.
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Once Will is gone hopefully the judges won’t be influenced, but if need be we can try to get it done somewhere out of the city.”
“We’ll figure that all out later,” I tell her. “Right now we need to focus on what we’re about to do. How’re you feeling?”
Katie nods. “Good. I’m good.”
As if on cue, Jake’s cell phone rings. We all turn to look at him as he pulls it out and looks at the screen. He gives us a knowing look and then answers it.
“Hello?” Silence all around the room. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay, yeah, meet us on the street corner of Holloway and Arbor. Fifteen minutes. Bye.” He hangs up. “That was Craig. It’s showtime.”
Jake, Katie, and I get up. The rest follow suit to say goodbye. Trista fishes her keys out of her pocket and pulls off the key to her bike, which she hands to me.
“Thanks again,” I tell her.
“Good luck,” she says. “Call if anything goes wrong.”
I give her a smile. “Hopefully nothing will. But okay.”
Merryn gives Jake a long hug and kiss. The rest of us get ready.
“Be careful,” she says. I try not to watch, but I see her wipe tears from her eyes.
“I will. I’ll see you later.”
Jeannette approaches me, holding Nathan in her arms.
“Thank you,” she says in a low voice. “For all of this.”
I nod. “It’s no problem. If we can make this a better place … then it’ll be worth it.”
She returns a weak smile, goes to say goodbye to Katie and Jake. Soon enough the three of us are ready to go.
“All right.”
We leave the apartment and walk through the hallway. Our footsteps seem loud. It’s a bit for Katie to keep up in her high heels, but she does it. None of us are speaking. I feel the usual calm fall over me—the one that comes before I do a big job.
We descend the stairs and step outside. My car is parked in its usual place, with Jeannette’s car close by, and I see Jake approach two bikes. I reach out and touch Katie’s hand as she heads for the car. She stops and turns. I pull her towards me, making her smile before our lips connect. My hands find her back and I try not to think that this might be the last time we ever kiss.
“You’ll do great,” I tell her when we break apart. She gives me a cute smirk.
“I know.”
Winking, she turns for the car again, letting her arm trail out, holding onto my fingers until the last possible second. And then we let go. I swallow, pushing my emotions back down, and turn for Trista’s bike.
Jake is already astride his. He watches as I swing a leg over the seat. I’ve ridden bikes before, but they’re definitely not my favorite way to travel. The key turns in the ignition and I feel the engine roar to life, vibrating right between my legs, making sure I feel it.
“You ready?” he calls over the noise.
I nod and we back out of the parking spaces, turning our bikes around and leaving the lot for the street corner. Katie follows us in the car.
My apartment’s right on the corner of the intersection, but we cross the street anyway, facing south, towards PharmaChem. The monstrosity looms up in front of us, blocking out half of the horizon. It’s there that we idle, waiting for Craig to show up. A minute passes, and then two. I look over at Jake, beside me. He’s looking from side to side, and catches my eye.
“Is he late?” I yell to him. The light turns green in front of us and cars pass us by, pedestrians crossing the street. Jake pulls his phone out of his pocket, checks it, puts it back.
“He’ll be here!” he shouts.
I look back at Katie, sitting behind the wheel of my car. She raises her hands in a questioning manner and I shrug, turning to look out as well. Traffic approaches the red light from the south and Jake shouts out.
“There he is!”
I look at the oncoming cars and see Craig behind the wheel of one of them. He’s spotted us. The light turns green and he drives through, turns into the parking lot of my apartment, and wheels back around, crossing the street to join us on the side. He pulls up next to us, putting on his four-way flashers. A car behind him honks his horn but ends up switching to the left-turn lane for a moment before speeding away.
“Hi!” Craig yells through the rolled-down passenger window. “Sorry I’m late!”
“It’s okay!” I yell back. “Are we good?”
“Yeah! Dad’s expecting us!” A pause, and then, “Is everything … good?”
“Yeah!” I shout back. “We’re good! Now go ahead! Katie’ll follow you, and we’ll hang back. Don’t worry about us! Just make sure everything works out!”
“Okay!” Craig shouts back. He looks uncertain, and he hesitates a moment longer, but then he nods and turns off his four-ways. The light is green and he starts through it. I look back at Katie and motion for her to follow. She nods and checks her mirror before spinning the wheel, turning onto the next lane and riding past us. My heart skips a beat. Be careful, Katie. And with that Jake and I start following them, the four of us on our way to PharmaChem.