by C L Bauer
“I know,” Dev admitted reluctantly. His old Army buddy had really placed his life and cover on the line for him. “I have a good idea on who their contacts are and by the grace of God they haven’t moved violently on my friend. But things are getting tight. If the Cartel is putting pressure on them, they are sooner, not later, going to put pressure on my girl. Someone is going to get hurt and then they’ll never get their drugs. They need to understand that.”
Carlos shook his head. “She means something to you?”
Dev paused. “Yes. I am supposed to be protecting her.”
“No, you’re supposed to be solving this case.”
Carlos took a drink as he searched his friend’s face. Dev was concerned about this girl. The furrowed brows, the tight jaw and the way his friend popped his watchband were all tell-tale signs that Dev cared and was scared. He’d seen him this way when they tried to rescue that orphanage outside Kandahar. They’d only been in country six weeks in Afghanistan when they found that building, the Taliban setting up guns right outside the perimeter of their playground.
Across the back of the structure, IED’s were strategically placed to eliminate an exit. Dev and Major Plant developed the mission and Carlos had watched them plot every detail. Dev had tightened that jaw, furrowed those brows and popped that watchband for a full hour until just before dawn when they went in.
Carlos could still remember the screams, the children scattering into their cohorts’ arms as Dev and he took out those guns and the nasty men guarding them. They’d only lost one child who had opened the back door. They hadn’t planned on that. First they saw the swinging door, they heard the crack and saw the pink mist, a true sign of the vaporization of a child that was there one second and with Allah the next. No one could plan on everything but Captain Devlin Pierce sure thought he could, thought he should. The man didn’t talk to anyone for a day. It was like John the Baptist in the desert, in prayer and anguish of the uncontrollable.
“We have her in protective custody right now but they’ll be releasing her and two others some time today. She has a business and she’s going to have to do that work no matter what. They won’t be able to stop her.”
“Then find the drugs. Shut down these contacts and be done with it.”
Dev shook his head. “I don’t want to lose anyone. I’ve got a plane to catch.”
Carlos closed his eyes and saw nothing but Kandahar and pink mist. Dev was going to the rescue again and this time he didn’t have a plan to plot.
Lily woke to voices in the other room. She had no idea what time it was but the sun was up and shining in her eyes through the hotel’s curtain sheers.
“But Babe, I thought you’d come into the room last night.”
“I had to stay with Lily.”
“Why? She’s just fine.”
“No, I promised I’d take care of her until her,” Abby searched for the words, “until her boyfriend gets back into town. I promised him.”
“You gonna ever tell me what’s going on with all this? I mean, did you really get a free night from the hotel?”
Lily was entertained by Jeremy’s naivety. Bless his little heart.
“Yes, yes we did, Jeremy. Now why don’t you go check out the food and see what there is for breakfast.”
The door opened and shut and Abby came in to see her sitting up in bed.
Lily’s arms were crossed in front of her chest. “So, Dev made you promise to take care of me? What else did you two talk about yesterday?”
Abby’s sheepish demeanor answered Lily’s questions. There would be no need for an interrogation. She would give up all information willingly.
“He was worried about you. He wanted to make sure you were taken care of and wondered if you were about to lose it. I told him no and he told me I needed to take care of you until he gets here. I think he’s out of town.”
Lily felt like he cared but maybe this really was how he treated everyone he protected.
Hopefully he never held hands with some biker dude under his protection!
Lily got out of bed and walked over to hug Abby. “You are a great person. I’m fine and you don’t need to take care of me. I’m good. I’m going to try out that rain shower just for fun and then I’m going to join Jeremy for breakfast. You know he will still be eating the free food!”
Abby laughed. “You know it. I’ll use his bathroom. I’m starving. This mission impossible stuff really makes you hungry. Do you think Dev has ever hung from an airplane like Tom Cruise in the last movie?”
And her little nitwit was back.
Thirty minutes later, Lily and Abby found Jeremy at a table near the window, still eating.
“Told you,” Abby said as she greeted him with a peck on the cheek.
“These are the best little sausages.” He pulled one from his plate and showed them like it was a shiny toy to present to mommy.
They finished breakfast and were enjoying another cup of coffee when Agent Fullerton entered the room. He waved to them, got his own cup of coffee and joined them.
“How are we doing this morning?” Lily really liked him. The times he’d come in for flowers for his wife had proved a highlight of her day. He was originally from Michigan but had met his wife at Stanford. He’d played football there but he’d also gained his law degree. When the FBI opportunity had come around they’d already had a son and daughter. Their young family picked up everything for his career. He insisted they were still a tight family. He was such a nice man, a nice man with a gun holstered to his left side under his jacket.
“Wonderful. Thanks so much for the free night at the hotel. It was great but I really do need to get back to work,” Lily answered, emphatically insisting on the ruse for Jeremy’s sake.
“Yes, I bet you do.” He eyed Jeremy who was now eating a sticky bun. “You all going home first?”
“That would be nice,” Lily answered. “Then Abby and I need to go back to the shop. I can’t disappoint my bride.”
“Of course not, Ms. Schmidt. That’s perfect. Your homes and then the shop. Sir, where will you be going on this beautiful day?”
He looked in Jeremy’s direction and it took a gentle nudge from Abby before he stopped paying attention to the bun, wiped icing off his cheek and answered, “Oh, I’m pooped. I’m sleeping all day.”
Lily shook her head. Suddenly he reminded her of Wilbur, the pig in “Charlotte’s Web”. Lay around, eat, sleep, lay around some more, eat, sleep.
Tom Fullerton turned his head to the side, smiling at Lily.
“Well, so happy you enjoyed your stay. We will be seeing you soon, I hope.”
Agent Fullerton got up from the table.
“Thanks, man. It was great.” Jeremy waved as the man walked away. “He seemed like a cool dude.”
Lily and Abby grabbed their heads at the same time in complete wonderment how the boy had survived this long in the world.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Everything was going according to plan, at least to Lily’s plan. Abby and she stepped back as they surveyed their work at the venue. At the front of the room where the bride and groom would say their vows a trellis stood with flowing ivory tulle and nosegays of flowers placed here and there. The color palette was clean with only whites, creams and greens, and yes there were hydrangeas. Down the aisle they had placed cylinders with floating candles, white petals strewn on each side and white hydrangeas arrangements in glass vases that would be set by the coordinator later on the guest tables.
They’d already given the bouquets to the bride’s young coordinator. She was a new up-and-comer who had grown up in Kansas City and already knew just about everyone in the wedding business. Her family had run a restaurant and shop for years in the city. Abby and Lily had already decided they liked her. She was one of them, more worried about the bride and her day than how they looked or how popular they would become from the publicity of the wedding.
“So, have you heard from Dev?” Abby finally had the gut
s to ask her boss what she’d been wanting to ask her for two days.
“No,” Lily answered softly as she packed up their boxes. “I have seen police. Oh and I’m sure we’re being watched by the FBI too. There was that one girl on the sidewalk yesterday…”
“Oh, yah, the one with the ponytail? She looked very military.”
Lily laughed. She wasn’t sure Abby would know military from circus clown. But she’d suspected the same thing. The girl did look military and she’d hovered in the area for over four hours. No one does that no matter how pretty of a fall day it was.
Abby’s phone rang. Lily knew it was Jeremy as she saw her assistant move away from her and begin to talk in soft tones. All the boxes were stacked together to take back to the shop. They’d had a long day but the look had been worth all the work. She took the occasional photo for the web page. Lily looked out the windows that overlooked the Plaza. The sun was beginning to set on a very long day, on the end of a very long week.
Her phone rang in her hand. It was an unknown caller.
“Hello.”
“Lily, are you hanging in there?”
It was Dev. Finally. Where had he been? Why hadn’t he been with her? “Yes, but it has been a long week. Where are you?”
“I’ve been working on the case but I know everyone has been watching over you.” She made the noise that her mother always did when she was exasperated with her.
“Well, yes, they have been doing that. They aren’t very subtle either. Even Abby spotted a couple of them.”
Dev laughed lightly. “They were meant for show. The ones who are actually protecting you, you won’t see them.”
She gulped. Really? There were more of them? What had she gotten herself into? How big was this case of his?
“When will I see you?” Her voice had been soft, almost little girl like.
“Soon. You two almost done for the day?”
“Yes, we’re heading out as soon as Abby gets off the phone. She’s talking to Jeremy.”
“How is the little idiot?”
She laughed. “Well, he’s grown to full out nitwit now but he’s her nitwit so he’s fine. He is a good guy. He’s accomplished so much with just half of a brain, imagine what he’ll do when they insert the other half.”
He laughed out loud over the phone. “Now, that’s my Lily.”
Silence came between them very quickly. It spoke volumes for him. Lily really did mean something to him, what, he wasn’t actually sure yet. For her the silence was their old comfortable friend coming between them once more. Who would be the first to end it?
“I’ll let you get on with your work. Hang in there. It really is almost over.”
She didn’t even get to say goodbye before the line went dead. If it really was almost over, then they were too…their friendship, their relationship. It really was almost over.
Lily brushed away a few tears from her eyes and placed her phone in her bag. Abby was walking toward her.
“Jeremy is going to pick me up here and we’re going back to my place. Will that work for you?”
Lily looked up quickly with a pretend smile on her face.
“Of course. You do that. It’s been a week and you two deserve some alone time, well with your detail outside.” She looked out the windows once more and it was pitch black. “I absolutely hate daylight savings time. It’s a beautifully colored sunset and then black. It’s bad enough that we lose an hour in the spring but in the fall I want to go to bed so early since it’s so dark. Hate it.”
“Boss?” Abby was searching her face for some kind of an answer when Jeremy came walking into the room. She was really worried about Lily, deep down nauseous in your stomach worried.
“Thought I’d help you out with the stuff.”
Abby ran to Jeremy. “You are so sweet, honeybun.”
Lily shook her head. Honeybun? She did not want to know how or why Abby came up with that term of affection. But it was sweet of him. Besides, it was nice to have his extra set of hands.
As they loaded the van, Lily saw a patrol car pull up behind them.
“Ms. Schmidt, I’m following you back to your shop. Agent Fullerton gave me the order.”
Jeremy hadn’t heard. He was too busy loading the last of the leftover flowers into the right side of the van.
“Thank you. Leaving in a second.”
Abby gave her a quick hug and kiss and grabbed Jeremy. As they walked to the car she heard the little nitwit ask Abby if the cop was hassling her boss. Lily just shook her head. He was absolutely clueless.
Lily’s entourage of one followed her closely back to the shop and parked in the farthest part of the back parking lot, near the alley. She decided she wouldn’t unload all the boxes in the dark but she did want to get the leftover flowers into the cooler. Besides, her car was parked near the alley too. She unloaded her bag and the one bucket of flowers. The police officer was watching as she unlocked the door and came into the back of the shop. The cooler’s light was bright enough for her to walk across the room without any problem. With the flowers delivered, she locked the back door and began to walk through the front of the shop.
“Lily, don’t come any farther.” She gasped out loud as she heard Big John’s voice coming from the middle of the room. “Please don’t. You know I don’t want to hurt you.”
She was concrete again. She wasn’t even near her desk, nor any implement for protection. “You weren’t supposed to be here.”
She dropped her bag on the floor and kicked it under her desk. She had to do something; had to say something.
“John, why are you involved in this?” Her voice was barely a whisper. She couldn’t find the volume switch.
“Little girl, I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you any of this. I just need those drugs. Where are they? Just give them to me and we can be done with all of this.” His words were more pleas than commands or threats. She could physically hear the anguish in his voice.
“John, I know people, we can get this solved. We can fix it.”
She could see the outline of his shaking head. “Nothing can be fixed. Now, where are those drugs?”
“I don’t know,” she cried out. “I have no idea.”
He was rubbing his face in confusion. “I have to have them, Lily.”
As a car drove by the flash of the headlights illuminated John’s figure, a gun pointed toward her in his right hand.
“John, I can’t give you something I don’t have.”
He shook the gun. “You don’t understand what they’re going to do to you, to me, to my family… give me the drugs.”
She screamed out his name in hopes the officer in the parking lot would hear. John ran toward her and held his hand over her mouth, turning her in his arms.
“Lily, just stop. I’m not going to hurt you, but these people, we just can’t mess with them any longer.”
There was another flash of light and that’s when she realized it was raining. She heard thunder and saw the lightening. The officer wouldn’t hear her. She was on her own. All she could think about was the fall schedule. Who would do the weddings? Oh for heaven’s sake, Lily Schmidt, stop thinking about the weddings.
“I’m going to release my hand. Don’t shout again and don’t try to fight me. You know I’ll win and if I have to hurt you, well, I don’t want to, please, please.”
She nodded and he released his hand plus the hold he had on her. They stood only inches apart, looking at each other, searching each other’s face for compassion. She saw a frightened man betraying his friend. What did he see? Did he see a scared little girl? Is that how he always pictured her? She’d thought the term of endearment was one of sincere friendship but looking back had he seen someone he could overtake and utilize, betray?
“John,” Lily began, “I don’t know why you’re involved or why we’re all in danger, including your family. I’m sure you have your reasons but honestly, I have no drugs.”
“They were in that box months ago. Y
ou have them.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t. If you’re talking about those packets and those ice blocks… they’re gone. Someone took them.”
“Don’t take me for a fool, Lily. I’ve searched this shop so many times.”
“Yes and you got those ice blocks,” she screamed. Fear was being overrun by anger. “You got the damn ice blocks.”
John was confused. “But the drugs weren’t in there, Lily. We stole the packets off the flowers and then the ice blocks out of your freezer, but the drugs weren’t there.” His voice was rising. “Did Abby or that boyfriend of her’s take them? Do they know where they are?”
“No, there’s no way they did that before you got to them.”
“What about your boyfriend? I haven’t seen him around. Do you trust him?”
She nodded. “Yes, John with my life. He’s a government agent.” It was time for the truth.
He shook his head and held the gun down to his side. “I knew he was ex-military. So he was on the lookout for the drugs?”
She nodded again.
“Well, he was a really good actor or he’s someone who really cares about you.”
Lily felt the tears trickle down her cheeks. She could see the tears in John’s eyes with the flash of the lights.
John stopped talking. Both of them could hear the rain on the roof. It was coming down so hard that the cars driving by were blurred images from her window.
Lily leaned against the file cabinet. Her knees were weak. Where was the police officer?
Didn’t he find it unusual that she hadn’t made it out to her car yet? Oh no, she was Jessica and the officer was Sheriff Amos! The man was probably out there eating a sandwich. Sandwich!
“John,” she said softly, “you didn’t take the ham sandwich.”
“What?”
“You didn’t take the ham sandwich.” She needed time and she needed her friend to be her friend again.
